Category: A is for Anarchy

Received anonymously via email:

“It is common to hear folks eager to take action but not knowing how to start. It can be daunting to take the step into direct action when you do not have people around you to train you. Yet, direct action has always been rooted into DIY culture, and because of security concerns, people taking direct action don’t normally tend to open up to newcomers. With this short series I want to propose steps to empower yourself into taking action by utilising the concept of anarchist calisthenics, even if it doesn’t necessarily fit the description!

So what is Anarchist Calisthenics? A term coined by James C. Scott explaining that small acts of resistance build the muscles for bigger acts of disobedience. Whilst James proposes a future where we will be forced to fight back, I would say that we are already there, and the need to fight back against oppression is already heavily felt by many. The jaws of the machine are strong, and sometimes it is difficult to feel empowered enough to push back against things that feel extremely oppressive, so anarchist calisthenics proposes a playful training ground where daily acts of insubordination to the status quo gets us more comfortable with the idea of throwing blows back!

Anarchist calisthenics might perhaps not completely fit into how to empower oneself to take direct action for animal liberation, but it gives us a good guideline: start small, with innocuous actions, and build a spirit of continuos resistance through the mundane, so that in the future when you see the big monster of speciesism you are already prepared to punch back, knowing that you can indeed fight with might!

In future parts of the series we will discuss ideas for small acts of resistance against speciesism, but I would like to pose the question to all of you. Without claiming responsibility and incriminating yourself, what small actions can people do to get comfortable with taking action?

Fight back, until we win!”

One of the go-to critiques of anarchism is essentially that “if there isn’t hierarchy and the constant fear of having no shelter or food, then no one will do any work”. So let’s talk about it: can we work without a boss breathing down our necks?

We already do! While the threat of homelessness is probably needed to get someone working 70 hours a week doing something they hate to make billionaires more profit, people do actually want to help each other. Doing labour to care for your community is something people have been doing since long before shareholders ever existed. Even while exhausted from labouring for shit bosses, many people are still so compelled to care for others that they help their older neighbours by taking the bins out, go litter picking, have friends crash for extended periods, cook for each other, and provide emotional support. With covid-19, as governments failed, we saw communities come together in mutual aid. Setting up local networks to check up on each other and make sure urgent needs got met and distribute supplies.

How can we apply these principles of voluntary contribution more, especially within activism? See a job, do the job. Make anarchy reality by not waiting on someone else to do what you see needs doing. People talking to cops at demos? You print some bust cards with advice on why we shouldn’t talk to cops and links to further resources to help people navigate interactions with filth. Community fridges, copwatch groups, and so many other campaigns have all started with someone simply deciding that they weren’t gonna wait for someone else to address the issue but get started themselves. Write to prisoners, check in on your mates, take down ads and cover fascist graffiti. Anarchy is found in action.

It takes a lot of hoarding of resources and propaganda to make people think we don’t want to care for each other when we really do. Fight like all we have is each other, because it’s true.

The cops are not your friends! Cops are the guardians of the state, and their purpose is to protect property and perpetuate oppression. Therefore the cops will never be on the same side as radical movements, not with anarchists, nor with anyone who fights for the liberation of non-human animals. Some cops will still try to be friendly to you. Don’t go for it! At all times, the cops are trying to gather information, even if they are pretending to be helpful or “just having a chat”! Remember, the cops are your enemy. Therefore you shouldn’t talk to them! 

If you still have to deal with the cops, like during an interrogation, it can be good to know the laws of the country where you live, to use them to your advantage. For example, if can you bring a friend as support during interrogation, or if you are entitled to a lawyer, or if you are (or not) allowed to give a No Comment interview.

The cops have different interrogation tactics. For example, they may ask questions about everyday things, to trick you into start talking. They might ask you if you’d like some water, or if the chair is comfortable, or if you need more clothes. Every question is an attempt to build report with you. Don’t fall for their tricks! It is to your and your friends advantage that you remain silent. A good counter-strategy during questioning can be to always answer in the same way. For example, “No Comment”. In this way you make it easier for yourself not to fall for their tactics, and you don’t risk telling the cops anything that could jeopardize the safety of you and your friends.

On arrest, the cops task is to gather information to build a case against you or your comrades. The police station and the setting are all built in order to push you towards talking to them. They might say things like “this is your time to tell me what really happened” or “Now you can tell me your side” or “we know you are innocent you need to help us prove it”. Your innocence (in most countries) is presumed until proven otherwise. You do not need to prove your innocence, and you do not need to give them a single word. Don’t make their job easier. If you feel you need to represent yourself or your actions, it is not at the cop shop but on trial where you might have time to say what you need to say. The cops don’t care, they just want to charge you!

Remember, the cops want to collect information about you and it’s difficult to know in advance what information the cops want and what it might be used for. If nobody talks, everybody walks!

Autonomy is, to an extent, freedom, freedom over yourself. The right to self govern, make decisions, and follow through on them without asking an authority for permission. 

Individual and collective autonomy are fundamental to anarchism. People choosing to come together and work towards a collective goal, whether that’s teaching each other self-defense, growing veg communally, or beheading the monarchy. Autonomy is not something we are dependent on a state or other authority giving us, though they can and often do punish us for practicing it. Autonomy starts on an individual level and grows. Instead of a top-down model as with hierarchy, it’s bottom up, with people choosing freely to come together make decisions and take action.

Every time we make a choice without being coerced we are practicing autonomy. Every time we make decisions and follow through without holding ourselves back and waiting for our boss/government/police/royalty to tell us we are “allowed,” we are being autonomous.

Waiting to be told what to do, or what you can’t do or think, is something that is drilled into us from an early age. Resisting this oppressive dynamic, even when you’re conscious of it, can be a challenge, but practice makes perfect. 

For further reading on anarchist concepts, check out these anarchist publishers/bookshops:

https://www.akpress.org

https://redemmas.org

www.woodenshoebooks.org

Where? Your local bins.

In a society of constant production and waste, one that pushes consumption, but always attached to a hefty price tag, dumpster diving can be a fun activity and a lifeline. Much like shoplifting but sometimes dirtier and often less risky, dumpster diving can let you access things otherwise out of reach behind a paywall.

So much food and materials are thrown away and with just a bit of bin diving you could be walking away with some sweet treasure and nifty supplies.

Become at one with the racoon’s.

First things first locate the bins. What do you need? Food? Furniture? Electronics? Go to where they sell these things and most likely that’ll be where they throw them away too. Have a walk about and see if you can locate the bins and asses how accessible they are. If the bins a close maybe take 5 mins to stop by everyday so you can see what get thrown out when. Remember that unless you’re rudely interrupted by angry staff then don’t leave the bins in more of a mess than you found them. Put what you don’t want back in the bin once you’re done.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED *maybe

Bags- for your wanted finds.

Bolt cutters- if the bin you want is a padlock away.

High vis jacket- if you want to look like you belong anywhere/everywhere.

Torch- pretty obvious.

Four way utility key- most commercial bins are easily unlocked using a four way utility key that you can order online for cheap or grab from your local hardware store.

The best way to get started is to just start looking for and in the bins near you but if you want some more tips and guidance YouTube is full of videos made by dumpster divers and crimethic have a write up about it in their book ‘recipes for disaster’ which is available for free in PDF.

Happy diving!

PS: You’ll often find a lot of rat traps around commercial bins, do what you will with that piece of info

Mutual aid has been in the spotlight recently in light of the current crisis, but what exactly does it mean? And what makes it a powerful form of anarchist praxis unique from charity and volunteering?

Well, ‘mutual aid’ is essentially the very radical notion that co-operation, rather than competition, is what drives communities forward. It is the most practical expression of solidarity, aiming for everyone to be taken care of, incentivising but never expecting reciprocity. It is decentralised and grassroots, relying on the collective skills, resources and efforts of the community rather than state intervention or making demands.

In the animal kingdom, it is second nature – Kropotkin’s evolutionary observations in “Mutual Aid” displayed how mutual support networks, rather than mutual struggle, play the greatest role in species prosperity. But like most forms of commonality that pose a threat to capitalism in all its neoliberal individualism, our instinct for mutual aid has been ironed out and repressed. Organising in this way is therefore a display of solidarity which threatens to crush the destructive fallacy of “Every one for himself, and the State for all”. It breeds a form of collective abundance that endless economic growth will never succeed in creating, and that the state will never understand.

Reclaiming it is taking the fuck back our humanity, our animality, from the capitalist machine. Practicing it, is an act of resistance and an embodiment of an alternative system that we can carry out here and now; anarchism does not sit around and wait for capitalism to collapse. It lives and breathes in the present. Now more than ever, it is not something you pray for… it is something you do.

NOTE: Today’s A is for Anarchy is in solidarity with the RATS at Resisting Anti Trespass, who are under siege right now being attacked by cops in their squat in London.

We all need shelter, it is a basic need and like so many of our needs capitalism exploits it. We live in a society that profits from exchanging a lot of labour for temporary shelter. A society that makes it impossible for most people to own their own home and thrives off the constant threat of withholding a roof over your head. Rent is theft.

Squatting is a radical action against this. It involves occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area (of which there are many) which the squatter/s doesn’t own, rent or have any lawful permission to be there. Squatting is a lifeline to so many people. Squatting is reclaiming our right to shelter in a world full of empty buildings and extortionate bills. Squatting is protest. Squatting is a landlords worst nightmare.

In many ways squatting is anarchism in action. Squatting is in direct opposition to capitalism and it challenges ideas and norms surrounding ownership of land. Squatting takes space without asking our overlords for permission. It uses direct action to tackle the housing crisis and/or tactically takes specific targets in protest or to enable further protest. For example the squats in Exarchia that anarchists set up in solidarity with refugees and migrants without papers who need space and as much shelter from the hostile state as possible.

While there are many debates to be had surrounding and within the world of squatting, and it is not without its challenges, it is a means of resistance and survival. It rejects the authority of the ‘landowner’, gives the state the finger and not only shows us how we can reimagine ways we could live but actually puts it into practice. Let’s hope the queen can look forward to having squatters as neighbours again.

Squat the world.

Further reading:

Advisory Service for Squatters (UK Based): www.squatter.org.uk

https://crimethinc.com/2011/11/27/breaking-and-entering-a-new-world-pioneering-the-future-of-the-occupy-movement

https://crimethinc.com/2018/04/12/resisting-the-eviction-of-the-zad-fighting-for-our-dreams-fighting-for-another-reality

video by: sub.media

Gender has become a huge topic of discussion in the past few years. From the clusterfuck of assimilation by liberals to projects of gender liberation by radical activists and without ignoring the “traditional” concept of gender that the right insists on, gender isn’t something you can avoid in conversation.

The reality is, you can’t avoid gender in society either. Gender qualifies you even before you are born, setting parameters about who you are, how you will behave and how society will see and understand you. It infiltrates everybody and categorises them within a binary concept of male and female that for the most part we have accepted, assimilated and perpetuated. The problem with the assimilated gender binary comes in two separate arguments. The gender binary acts as a societal marker that defines the opportunities you will have, the privileges you will benefit from and the abuses you will face. Secondly, it further erases the variety of identities already under attack by western globalisation and colonialism.

Throughout history and in different groups around the world, gender has been defined as a lot more than the current gender binary. It has only been through colonialism that gender has been constricted to the binary. A blatant example of this is Vasco Nuñez Balboa, a Spanish invader who in 1513 fed forty two-spirited people to the war dogs after deciding they were “devilish, sinful sodomites”.

So what is the alternative? It lies within. The main aim when talking about gender is to stop thinking of people in terms of gender. We all do it. The first thing we do to describe someone is to split society into the binary and explain the gender we perceive they express. We assume that the bearded person walking down the street is a man, for example, as we have learnt what gender markers define someone within the binary.

Gender Anarchy is a do-it-your-way gender expression. There is no “right way” to be a woman, a man, or a skirt-wearing femme boi. This means you can express yourself how you want, regardless of how you identify, and that you do not owe an explanation to anyone on either your gender or your expression. The whole idea is to destroy what society understands as masculinity and femininity, as it is the fastest highway to destroying transphobic, homophobic and sexist behaviours.

Gender Anarchy does not mean to be forcefully out and proud, or to practice Genderfuck regularly. Whatever makes you comfortable and keeps you safe is your personal Gender Anarchy. Whilst Genderfuck is a great way of expressing oneself and conflicting society with their internalised concepts of the binary, you are not a flag to be waved by the movement. Regardless of how you express your gender and even who knows the reality of your identity, you still are you.

To fight patriarchal society we must destroy what we understand as the gender binary and we must destroy what society perceives as gender roles. For that, community organising, victim retribution, collective problem solving and the creation of inclusive spaces is a life-saving necessity within our neighbourhoods. The whole concept is simple; by identifying abusive behaviour we can solve problems before the transgression goes too far.

So be gay, do crime, express whatever you want to express, take care of one another and remember to cause a whole lot of trouble.

A large, perhaps central tenant of anarchism is a rejection of hierarchy, an opposition to the idea that we need kings, bosses, the police or an authority of some kind to keep us in line and aware of our place, the suggestion being that that place is bellow a superior person or class. A ruling class that thrives off our labour, off our flesh, with no regard for us as individuals or anything beyond what we can provide to those ‘in charge’. Sound familiar? The stripping away of autonomy and the deprivation of an environment that should be abundant is something that not only happens to the masses (humans) but to so many exploited non humans too. Unwillingly we are all stuck in the machine of industrialisation, just bodies making a few much richer.

A system that has turned capable and curious generations into obedient workers who sit in cubicles or stand in factories or stuck behind counters serving all day and all night. Most of us unable to access clean water or food outside of what we can exchange for money earned through endless labour. Our lives are transformed to something so far from nature that life cut off from the system becomes almost impossible. Meanwhile our non human comrades are also deprived of their natural habitat and their bodies, like our minds, are systematically transformed to produce what we want from them as fast and as much as possible. Their bodies are commodified at every turn and they have become such frankensteins that there is no returning to the wild for them. Not that there’s much wild left to return to anyway.

The state is unnecessary and harmful to both human and non-human animals and that is something that both veganism and anarchism reflect on.
“More than just a refusal to take part in violence against non human animals for food, clothing, etc, veganism is a refusal to take part in the violence that affects society as a whole. Veganism works to expose and end the subtle indoctrination of industry in capitalist society that wishes to desensitize humanity to the violence against the many for the gain of the few.” —Joseph M. Smith “The Threat of Veganism”.

The Animal Liberation Front operates as a decentralised and leaderless group and is an example of how the philosophy for animal liberation and human liberation share a desire for no masters. Oppressive dynamics in social relationships are always based on an “us vs them”. Oppressors being seen and seeing themselves in clear distinction from the oppressed. The comfortable middle class person who is horrified by someone stealing food or other necessities and sees criminals instead of people, is easily comparable to those who see themselves as separate and above the pig whose flesh they eat for breakfast. The wealthy ‘understand’ their big houses and multiple holidays are acquired by ‘fair’ methods and not by the unequal distribution of resources just like the eggs they eat came from ‘free range’ chickens and the lamb they eat for dinner was ‘humanely’ killed. Both oppressor and oppressed are led to believe it is the poor’s incompetence which holds them down, just like the animals who we farm couldn’t possibly exist without the farmer and butcher.

Mutual aid has been in the spotlight recently in light of the current crisis, but what exactly does it mean? And what makes it a powerful form of anarchist praxis unique from charity and volunteering?

Well, ‘mutual aid’ is essentially the very radical notion that co-operation, rather than competition, is what drives communities forward. It is the most practical expression of solidarity, aiming for everyone to be taken care of, incentivising but never expecting reciprocity. It is decentralised and grassroots, relying on the collective skills, resources and efforts of the community rather than state intervention or making demands.

In the animal kingdom, it is second nature – Kropotkin’s evolutionary observations in “Mutual Aid” displayed how mutual support networks, rather than mutual struggle, play the greatest role in species prosperity. But like most forms of commonality that pose a threat to capitalism in all its neoliberal individualism, our instinct for mutual aid has been ironed out and repressed. Organising in this way is therefore a display of solidarity which threatens to crush the destructive fallacy of “Every one for himself, and the State for all”. It breeds a form of collective abundance that endless economic growth will never succeed in creating, and that the state will never understand.

Reclaiming it is taking the fuck back our humanity, our animality, from the capitalist machine. Practicing it, is an act of resistance and an embodiment of an alternative system that we can carry out here and now; anarchism does not sit around and wait for capitalism to collapse. It lives and breathes in the present. Now more than ever, it is not something you pray for… it is something you do.

Further reading –

• COVID-19 Mutual Aid groups UK (https://freedomnews.org.uk/covid-19-uk-mutual-aid-groups-a-list)
• Surviving the Virus – An Anarchist Guide (https://crimethinc.com/2020/03/18/surviving-the-virus-an-anarchist-guide-capitalism-in-crisis-rising-totalitarianism-strategies-of-resistance)
• https://itsgoingdown.org/autonomous-groups-are-mobilizing-mutual-aid-initiatives-to-combat-the-coronavirus/
• https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-works
• Video – What is Mutual Aid by Stimulator https://youtu.be/oRvX0abNWvg
• Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid; A Factor of Evolution (Free ebook https://b-ok.cc/book/3315603/3d1c32)