this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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Anarchism
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You sure about that? Piggy manages it all the damn time. And if a pig - the worst of the working class - can do it, anyone can.
Counter-culture does not win wars. It sure as hell doesn't win (or even start) revolutions, either - never mind building workable and sustainable societies afterward.
I see them, too - but it doesn't make me smile, because I know the teen who made it doesn't know what it even means.
I live in a country with a 40% unemployment rate - perhaps you should reconsider your conception of "normalcy." There is a big difference between merely rebelling against "normality" and posing an existential threat to the status quo - the risk profile of the latter comes with real bullets, real torture and lots and lots of real death.
counter-culture there’s the word I was looking for when describing punk. That's what I meant with "only one side of it". Counter-culture is only one side of anarchist culture. The side called punk. But there are so many other facets to anarchy that punk doesn't cover. I agree that counter-culture can't build up social systems, which is why I don't call anarchist culture counter-culture. It's something different. Not simply about opposing what exists but also building and imagining what can.
Are you sure of that? They might not know the theory but just by drawing it they showcase a willingness to act against the established rules. That's a good first step towards learning about anarchy, and while they could "grow out of it" they could also find actual anarchist movement and go deeper into it.
The person who drew it also doesn't matter. It doesn't change what I think when I see it. It doesn't change how much it matters to me. The symbol lives it's own life and even if the person who drew it didn't know that, the people who see it might. Some more curious might find anarchism because of looking up what the deal with them is.
My "normalcy" is the direct result of the environment I was raised in and the people I interacted with. It is an idea that changes and evolves constantly as I interact more. I don't only reconsider my conception of "normalcy" but of every word I use as I grow and learn. But in the context that I exist in normal people do not act anarchically.
Which is scary, which makes it unappealing, which makes it actively detrimental for outreach. There are many ways to fight battles, many ways to oppose the status quo and culturally is most certainly one of them. It's not inferior to military action just because people don't die doing it, but I also know it wont be enough on it's own. Just like militancy won't be enough.
One of the joys of anarchism is getting to choose where you belong. Being able to dictate what you do and how you do it. I am a pacifist. My aversion to violence is one of the foundations of my anarchism. I could never be on the front lines. It scares me. But I know I can do other things, help out in other ways, and that me being able to do that is foundational to anarchism.
If you're going to cast anarchism as "culture," I just have to ask... what does this "culture" actually offer the rest of the working class?
Yep. The rebellious teens who drew it everywhere here back in the nineties was doing so because the anarchy symbol was "popularised" during the Satanic Panic of the late eighties - and I can assure you that most of the kids who did so are now full-blown fascists.
Neither do anarchists - I have yet to meet an anarchist who has successfully "opted out" of the capitalist mode of production. If they could there'd be no need for anarchism, would there? There may be some extremely privileged ones who gets to do so... but I have no interest in what they have to say. Politics that aren't rooted in the experience of the working class is less than useless to any leftist.
But do you? Anarchists can pretend that they are "choosing" this or that... but their choices are subject to the mathematics of the capitalist mode of production no differently than the (so-called) "normies" in the working class. Counter-culture can provide a safe-space socially, but it cannot provide you with an economic one - unless you're Chumbawumba, I suppose.
Well, neither can I... my health isn't what it used to be (and it wasn't really all that good to start off with), but that's not what this is about. It's about understanding the true nature of revolution... and the inevitable counter-revolution.
Anarchism. Although I understand that that term means different things to us so I'm going to use the meaning you gave it a few comments back:
And this cultural anarchism is taking that critique and applying it to culture. To everyday situations. To the way children are being raised and workers are being hired. To song, writing and all the other arts. What it offers to people is anarchism. A way to live your life without archy. Or as AFAQ calls it: "social revolution" https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/sectionJ.html#secj7
This is what I mean when I say revolution: A complete change to the entire social structure. The biggest driving force in any society is culture. While economic forces to play a part they can only exist as long as they are reinforced by culture. The value of money exists in culture. The concept of property exists in culture. An anarchist culture is about looking at these concepts in a way that consciously opposes archy.
Also participating in capitalism does not yet disqualify you from acting anarchically. It's not a all or nothing scenario. You do what you can, where you can. Obviously you should be on the lookout for better alternatives and constantly keep in mind what it is your participating in every time you shop, but as long as your thinking about it, considering your actions in an anarchic framework, you are acting anarchically.
And the more people keep doing this the more they start considering alternatives, at which point anarchic spaces become a vital component to in the process to collectivise the economy. You connect people with skills who don't like having to shop for food and some of them might start their own farm, and because they already have connections to other people in that space they start being able to benefit from that venture as well.
The social/cultural isn't separate from the economic which isn't disconnected from the political. Society is a collection of all and in order to effectively dismantle one we need the help of others. And culture is the easiest by far because all you need is for people to listen and consider the things you say. Culture is nothing more than the ideas we hold and ideas are a hell of a lot more easier to change than political or economic realities.
But that's just the framework that I use to think about anarchism and society at large. You probably have your own.