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:
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
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.
First of all, let’s define what Food Justice is. Food Justice has three main aspects: Access to healthy, locally grown, fresh food Living wages for all of those involved in the food system Community control of the food supply
The Food Justice movement is in opposition to the racial and class influence on people’s ability to acquire healthy, fresh foods. It also brings light to issues facing farmers, food workers (we’ve all heard about the media talking about how fresh food will be left rotting in the fields due to having no migrant workers to pick them, but have you ever thought about why it is that large agricultural groups target migrants and others of lower socio-economic status to pick their food?).
Some of you may have heard the term “food desert”, usually in conversations where people who are not living in one use their existence to justify why they can’t go vegan. A “food desert” is defined as “an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food.”, this usually means that for the population within the area there are no places in which to buy sufficient fresh, healthy food, or that such places are inaccessible for the population there. The term food desert tends to ignore other factors other than proximity, such as racism, cost of living, people being time and cash poor, and due to this has largely been replaced by the terms “food apartheid” or “food oppression”.
Places living under food apartheid often have an overabundance of cheap, processed foods (think fast food chains and petrol station food), which while they may be cheaper in the short term, usually end up being much more expensive in the long term due to ill health caused by poor diet. Communities of colour, as well as low-income areas, are most at risk of food apartheid due to the system we live under.
One method of challenging this system of food apartheid is community food gardens, which enables the community to reclaim control over the production of food. This enables communities to grow healthy, vegan food without having to rely on big businesses and the agricultural industries to decide whether or not their communities are deserving of healthy foods. This ties into the Anarchist idea of mutual aid, relying on building strong communities instead of the State. This also allows the community itself to decide where certain resources can be best allocated, and allows stronger communal bonds to be formed as everyone has a share of the work, and a share of the produce at the end.
For more information regarding food justice, and how food apartheid can be combatted, check out:
As some of you who have followed this page for a while now, you’ll know our views on cops, and the institution of the police, we hate them. In this A is for Anarchy, we’re going to explain why that is, and why the cops are not your friends.
The main reason for our hatred of cops is that they exist solely to maintain the status quo, which in today’s capitalist society means upholding the systems of oppression that affect anyone not of the ruling classes. The Police willingly choose to uphold unjust laws, evicting people from their homes, stealing people’s possessions simply because they’re sleeping on the streets, criminalising sx-wrkers for simply making a living, locking people up for stealing food to live, and yet the large corporations who exploit humans, animals, and the planet go unchallenged, ask yourself, why do you think this is? Why can a CEO be praised for stealing millions of pounds yet someone stealing an overpriced vegan wrap is criminal filth in the eyes of the law?
Some of you may ask “but aren’t the police just people like us, shouldn’t we try to get them on our side?” or “I’ve never had a bad experience with the police” (I’m looking at you Extinction Rebellion). Whilst I guess cops are technically people, they are not like us. Do you really trust someone who’s morals can be bought for the right price? If you’ve never had a bad experience with the police, you’re very likely to be privileged, submissive, or both. The reality is accepting the police into any movement not only alienates communities that face significantly more police oppression, it also puts every activist in that movement at risk. The people who sign up to be cops choose to base their livelihoods around protecting the status quo, they know exactly what they’re signing up for and what they will be expected to do as an arm of the State.
Now you may be wondering what we can do to challenge policing in our local area, the easiest way to do so is to start a community “CopWatch” (as long as it is safe for you to do so). What this involves is recording how cops interact with the community, either by writing it down or taking video evidence. Providing those under arrest with information about their rights is also another good way to challenge the abuses by cops, again, only if it is safe for you to do so.
We’ve all seen the headlines “100s of black clad anarchists riot through downtown” “black bloc smash Starbucks windows”
But what is the black bloc, and why is it used? The black bloc is often seen as a gang or group by the media and the right wing, yet this is not the case at all, the black bloc is simply a tactic used to protect the identity of protestors by giving a uniform appearance across all members of the protestors. This allows protestors to sabotage infrastructure, protect communities, prevent police incursions into established autonomous zones, and more, all whilst maintaining their anonymity.
The black bloc is not a new tactic, having originated in West Germany in the 1970’s and 1980’s prior to the fall of the Berlin wall. During the economic recession occurring at this time, as well as massive amounts of people leaving the cities for the suburbs, many areas of the inner city were left abandoned and were squatted, providing people with free housing.
Within these squatter communities, radical political ideas began to emerge, which caused clashes with police and other government agencies to occur. Due to the violence from the police, protestors donned motorcycle helmets, steel-toed boots, and other protective clothing along with ski-masks to enable them to continue protesting through the violence from police and avoid being targeted for arrest.
Is the black bloc tactic always useful and recommended? Not necessarily, as sometimes it has the opposite effect, such as being the only person in black bloc meaning you stand out and are more likely to be the target of police violence and arrest.
For more information on the black bloc (as well as an insight into the 2012 Montreal student demonstrations that heavily used the black bloc tactic) check out https://sub.media/video/a-history-of-the-black-bloc/
For a history around the world of black bloc tactics, check out “Who’s Afraid of the Black Blocs: Anarchy in Action Around the World” by Francis Dupuis-Deri
We now accept Bitcoin and Monero as donation methods! Please visit "Support Us" page to find out how.
