Jon Bigger
31st October 2024
To mark the publication of the new edited volume, Fight For A New Normal? Anarchism and Mutual Aid in the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis, chapter contributor Jon Bigger discusses the spectre of long Covid, both in how it has affected him personally, and as a condition now debilitating millions of people. He considers the prospects for mutual aid organising amidst this looming (yet ignored) health crisis.
Brian Morris
Civilization and its Discontents – critical reflections on anarcho-primitivism
29th October 2024
In a polemical broadside against ‘anti-civilizational’ anarchists (particularly John Zerzan), Brian Morris argues that language, agriculture and advanced technologies are essential to the libertarian socialist struggle, and must be defended against the ‘myth of the noble savage’.
ASN8 Organisers
Reflections on the ASN8 conference – looking back/forward
22nd October 2024
The 8th International Anarchist Studies Network conference took place in Belfast, 4th-6th September 2024 (as well as an ‘online day’ held on the 2nd). Here, the organising team share their reflections on the event and suggest some lessons that might be drawn for future iterations.
Elizabeth Vasileva
Anarchist Studies Network Conference update and reflections
29th August 2024
Ahead of ASN8, core organiser Elizabeth Vasileva reflects on the purpose of anarchist academic conferencing, outlines some of the work that goes into make the ASN conference happen, and encourages prospective attendees to think about inclusive conduct.
Luke Ray Di Marco Campbell
1st July 2024
This article is based on Luke Ray’s contribution to the Radical Pedagogies in Higher Education And Community Learning conference of May 2024, discussing ‘anarchist(ic) interventions in Higher and Further Education’. From Luke Ray’s positioning as a Community Development lecturer, they consider opportunities for radical practice whilst still meeting the requirements of a university degree programme.
Luis Fernandez and Sean Parson
5th May 2024
Listen in to talks by Luis Fernandez (talking about police abolition in the United States) and Sean Parson (on nihilistic punk resistance), as we get ourselves good and limber for the 8th International Anarchist Studies Conference in Belfast.
AW Zurbrugg
24th March 2024
However shocking are recent events in and around Gaza, they do not arise like lightning on a clear day and out of blue skies – they may be seen in historical context. This text goes a little way towards sketching anarchist perspectives on this historical and political conflict.
In the 1930s, and at other times, Anarchists were sympathetic to the concerns of diverse interests and communities in Palestine and commented on developments. Exchanges between Emma Goldman and Reginald Reynolds published in Spain and the World and other texts highlight actual and potential conflicts between long-term residents and new settlers.
Máirtín Ó Catháin, Cassidy Ferrari and David Fox
14th March 2024
As a warm-up for the 8th International ASN conference, we hosted 3 talks in Belfast, followed by some music. You can access the audio recording of each talk (along with slides or a transcript).
Luke Ray Di Marco Campbell
‘Anarchist Dialogues: Critical Reflections on ASN Experiment #1’
9th May 2023
Reflecting on the Anarchist Studies Network’s inaugural ‘Anarchist Activism in Focus’ session (April 2023), Luke Ray Di Marco Campbell draws some insights from the experimental, dialogical format and suggests some ways forward for future iterations.
Gabor Mascarpone
‘Concentration of power + limited accountability = WAR’
24th February 2023
Marking one year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this article frames an analysis of inter-state war around Simone Weil’s assertion that any such conflict is not ‘an episode in foreign politics’ but ‘a war of the state and the military apparatus against its own people’ (1933).
Ruth Kinna and Peterson Silva
‘Zoe Williams is right about anarchafeminism as the solution to body shame’
13th February 2023
It is a noteworthy occasion when the liberal-to-left-leaning Guardian newspaper publishes an opinion that is sympathetic to anarchism (with the semi-regular exception of The Raccoons of the Resistance – and they’re just cartoon strip characters …). A recent example of this occasional anarcho-sympathy was Zoe Williams’ conclusion that ‘anarcho-feminism’ is the best answer to the ceaseless demands for body image conformity that blight the lives of girls and young women. In response, Ruth Kinna and Peterson Silva take Williams’ conclusion as a stepping off point to explain the particular relevance of anarchafeminist critiques of capitalism and patriarchy, especially as a strategic response to marketised, misogynist messaging.
ChatGPT
‘AI dialogue and anarchist political organizing: Reflections on the possibilities and challenges’
6th February 2023
As the world hurtles towards an era of artificial intelligence, it is crucial that anarchists critically examine the impact of AI dialogue on our political ideals and values. Will AI systems reinforce existing hierarchies and perpetuate oppressive power dynamics, or can they be harnessed to enhance our efforts towards a free and equitable society? Join us as we delve into the intersection of anarchism and AI dialogue, exploring the potential benefits and challenges of this rapidly evolving technology.
The above article description was generated using the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Dialogue generator, ChatGPT, with the prompt: ‘Write an eye-catching introduction for an article about AI Dialogue to be published on AnarchistStudies.Blog’. The entire article, in fact, has been generated in this way, accompanied by images created with the Hotpot AI art generator.
The purpose is to provoke reaction from ASBlog readers, reflecting on the potentials and pitfalls of AI dialogue, to be compiled for a follow-up article. In the spirt of dialogue (if it is actually dialogue), we’ve given ChatGPT the first word, starting with the prompt: ‘Write a blog entry reflecting on the application of AI dialogue to anarchist political organising’.
Further prompts supplied to ChatGPT for this article include: ‘Should anarchists who are sceptical about the liberatory potential of new technologies be worried about AI dialogue?’; ‘What would Peter Kropotkin say about AI dialogue?’; ‘Write a short speech in the style of Emma Goldman about AI dialogue’;‘Write a series of aphorisms in the style of Max Stirner about AI dialogue’;‘Devise a plot for an anarchist sci-fi novel in the style of Ursula K Le Guin about AI dialogue’.
So read what ChatGPT has to say for itself (if it is speaking for itself – and if it is a ‘self’, or even an ‘it’ for that matter), and let us know what you think.
16th January 2023
Dai O’Brien and Steve Emery are two deaf men with a longstanding interest in anarchist politics. They are both involved in deaf community activism and have taught history, politics, and theories about deaf communities and deaf people in society. In this article Dai and Steve reflect on their political journeys to reach this point of engagement with anarchist thought, and on the barriers and challenges that engaging with anarchist thought and action have posed. They discuss the wider issues that deaf people and deaf communities face in capitalist society and the way in which deaf people have traditionally framed their engagement and resistance to these issues. Finally, Dai and Steve suggest ways in which they think that anarchism can contribute to deaf lives, and ways in which anarchist spaces can be more accessible to deaf people.
[Also available as a podcast at Anarchist Essays and in British Sign Language at the ARG YouTube page].
Gloria Truly Estrelita, Jim Donaghey, Sarah Andrieu and Gabriel Facal
‘A Brief History of Anarchism in Indonesia’
‘Sejarah Singkat Anarkisme Di Indonesia’
19th December 2022
Co-authored by Gloria Truly Estrelita, Jim Donaghey, Sarah Andrieu and Gabriel Facal, this article discusses the early roots of anarchist movements in the archipelago in the context of anti-colonialism and nationalism in the late 1800s and early 1900s; details the abolition of leftist movements, including anarchism, in the 1960s; traces the re-emergence of anarchism as part of protest and counter-cultural movements in the 1990s; highlights the shifting forms of state repression in the 2010s; and points to the importance of anarchist critique for the contemporary Indonesian context.
[Also available as a podcast on Anarchist Essays].
Jim Donaghey, Will Boisseau and Caroline Kaltefleiter
‘Smash All Systems! (an introduction to punk anarchism as a culture of resistance)’
12th December 2022
Despite its prominence, the punk/anarchist intertwinement has been repeatedly underappreciated, either through taken-for-grantedness, bemused misunderstanding, or outright hostility. The Anarchism and Punk Book Project series sets out to redress that – this article is an excerpt from the first volume in the series: Smash The System! Punk Anarchism as a Culture of Resistance (edited by Jim Donaghey, Will Boisseau and Caroline Kaltefleiter, and published by Active Distribution in December 2022).
There are plenty of people who are dismissive of punk’s association with anarchism, and even see it as damaging. But for those of us who are bound up in the punk/anarchism interrelationship, it’s clearly the case that anarchism has been revitalised by punk, worldwide. Ask yourself, what would the anarchist movement be like today without punk’s resuscitating influence?
[Also available as a podcast on Anarchist Essays].
Danny Evans
‘A Pile of Ruins? Pierre van Paassen and the Mythical Durruti’
12th October 2022
The most famous utterance of Spain’s most famous anarchist is a fabrication!
With the aid of some historical sleuthing, Danny Evans makes a convincing case that the oft-repeated Buenaventura Durruti quotation from 1936, containing the phrase ‘We are not in the least afraid of ruins’, was in fact made up by an ethically dubious journalist. However, the invented interview succeeded in encapsulating Durruti’s real practice, and van Paassen (however unintentionally) contributed to the creation of a romantic and celebrated figure.
Nora Ziegler
‘Herd Mentality, Deathbed Radicalism and Other Things On My Not-To-Do List’
6th September 2022
This article takes a personal and reflective view of forms of activism that have come to prominence in recent years in the UK, such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil. Nora Ziegler critiques the ways in which unequal distributions of power create barriers to participation, and the limitations of deploying concepts rooted in misanthropy or individualism as a means of overcoming apathy and climate denial. The article is informed by several years as a live-in volunteer at the London Catholic Worker, which operated as a house of hospitality for refugees and migrants, while also hosting activists and engaging in activism.
Sean Patterson
‘“Death to All Who Stand in the Way of Freedom for the Working People”: Anarchy’s False Flag’
30th June 2022
The near-inevitability of error is a perpetual thorn in the side of historians. Of particular interest to anarchists, the Makhnovist movement provides numerous examples of historiographical myth production – a key example is the famous black flag displaying the skull-and-crossbones and the slogan in white Ukrainian lettering, ‘Death to all who stand in the way of freedom for the working people’ [‘Smertʹ vsim, khto na pereshkodi dobut’ia vilʹnosti trudovomu liudu’].
The flag has cycled through a multitude of meanings, from Bolshevik attempts to associate it with anti-Semitic pogroms, to an international source of inspiration for anarchist resistance, to a symbol of regional pride in Makhno’s hometown, and a declaration of defiance against Russian invasion. But, as Sean Patterson explains in this article, despite its near-universal reputation as the primary symbol of Ukrainian anarchism, the flag is not Makhnovist. Even so, the flag and its slogan will surely survive and continue its march through time.
Frankie Hines
‘Ursula K. Le Guin’s Logistics Revolution – The Dispossessed and the Supply Chain’
31st March 2022
The Dispossessed (1974) may be the best-known anarchist fiction of the twentieth century. This essay by Frankie Hines charts a new path around it by looking in depth at the novel’s politics of logistics, revealing a space in which the contradictions of Anarres’ anarchist society are especially pronounced.
Elise Imray Papineau
‘Doing-It-Together: Mutual aid and grassroots activism in Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines’
8th February 2022
‘We will do it ourselves, because the government won’t do it for us.
But we must do it together, because we are stronger as a collective than we are as individuals.’
Elise Imray Papineau compares the mutual aid responses to the Covid 19 pandemic in Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines, arguing that the proliferation and consistency of mutual aid initiatives is affected not only by need, but also by the reach of the state and the pervasiveness of political apathy.
‘“A nation of shopkeepers”. The real lost history of British anarchism?
21st September 2021
‘When most people today think of the Co-op, they probably think of the supermarket …’
Máirtín Ó Catháin argues that the co-operative movement, as a non-state and democratic economic strategy built from the bottom up by workers themselves, is long overdue for recognition as a native manifestation of British anarchism.
Luke Ray Di Marco Campbell
‘Intellectual Property is Theft – Towards an Anarchist Culture of Knowledge Sharing & Translation’
19th August 2021
Intellectual property, enforced by the State and chiefly benefitting corporate enterprise, is a major obstacle to the universal exchange of knowledge. Against this unethical and exploitative hoarding of information, Luke Ray Di Marco Campbell argues that we must ‘Liberate to Educate!’, highlighting the practice of collective and co-constructed translation as a key circumvention of privileged copyright. In the spirit of Emma:
‘If you’re interested, ask to participate in the research process. If they won’t allow you, ask to access, comment on, critique, share, and further develop the work. If they won’t share it, take it from Sci-Hub or The Anarchist Library and do what you will.’
Jon Bigger
‘Why Boris Johnson still isn’t a libertarian’
19th July 2021
The British Prime Minister has dubbed the 19th of July as ‘Freedom Day’, with most Covid-19 restrictions in England being removed. But, in this article, Jon Bigger reminds us that Johnson is not a real libertarian, and that having risk foisted upon us by those in power is not ‘freedom’:
‘They are forcing us to live the kind of lives they believe necessary, for an economic system they place among the gods. It couldn’t be more dangerous, it couldn’t be more risky, and it couldn’t be less libertarian.’
Manosh Chowdhury
‘When You Fear Yourself! “Freedom” in Bangladeshi Academia’
25th May 2021
Manosh Chowdhury’s critical insights reveal that the oft-celebrated ‘autonomy’ of Bangladeshi universities is very limited in practice. Manosh highlights the structural issues underpinning ‘self-censorship’ by academics, and details how this situation is exacerbated by increased surveillance under the Digital Security Act and cyberspace ‘bullying’.
Iain McKay
‘On Saving Marxism From Itself’
5th May 2021
In response to Mustapha Mond’s ‘A Brief Question of Syndicalism’ (4th February 2021), Iain McKay highlights that Marx and Engels, far from being advocates of syndicalism, lacked a commitment to workers’ management. Rather than trying to use syndicalism to save Marxism from itself, McKay argues that it would be better for the socialist movement to learn from their anarchist ‘frienemies’ and escape the deadweight of Marx’s legacy.
Glenn Wallis
1st May 2021
To mark International Workers’ Day, we bring you this excerpt from An Anarchist’s Manifesto by Glenn Wallis. Here, he defines anarchism as a set of ideas, as a value system, and as a praxis, considering its resonance at the micro, meso, and macro levels.
Cristopher Morales
‘Mutual Aid in the COVID-19 Crisis – A Short-Lived Exception?’
27th April 2021
Based on a paper given at the Anarchist Studies Network panel at the 2021 PSA conference, Cristopher Morales argues that the spontaneous emergence of mutual aid organising in response to the COVID-19 crisis has proven to be a temporary exception to the statist/capitalist norm, and that as ‘normal’ daily life returns, these solidaristic social relationships have disappeared.
[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].
Thomas Swann
‘Anarchism, Cybernetics and Mutual Aid – A Reflection One Year On’
20th April 2021
This article applies the lens of Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model (VSM) to assess the threats posed to effective mutual aid self-organisation, including issues around top-down control, complex communication infrastructures, and preconditions such as community identity and organising experience. Swann argues that cybernetics can help us to collectively learn from, and overcome, the challenges of mutual aid organising during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, and that we must do so to meet looming future crises.
[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].
Laney Lenox
‘Everyday Anarchism – Temporal Impermanence and Liberation in Everyday Action’
13th April 2021
Taking a reflexive anthropological view of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 crisis, Laney Lenox considers the transformative potential of slowing down in everyday life.
[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].
Neil Middleton
‘Pandemic and Reaction – Developments in France and Greece’
30th March 2021
This article considers the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, and attendant power grabs by the police, on street mobilisations. Neil Middleton focuses on France and Greece to trace the dynamics of previous crises into this new phase of crisis. He highlights the state’s changing strategies and tactics in each context, and points to the new challenges this poses to decentralised protest tactics and autonomous movements.
[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].
Aidan and Sam
‘Experiences of Mutual Aid Organising in Glasgow and Brighton’
23rd March 2021
On the anniversary of the announcement of the first Coronavirus lockdown in the UK, two activists involved with local mutual aid initiatives look back at the trajectory of autonomous self-help through the Covid-19 pandemic’s shifting dynamics. They provide grounded perspective on its successes and problems, and think ahead to the longer-term propsects for mutual aid groups.
[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].
Jim Donaghey
‘Callous Incompetence, Corrupt Cronyism, Jealous Repression: One Year On, What is the Covid State?’
16th March 2021
The UK government’s clusterfuckery has resulted in the fourth worst death toll in the world per head of population. Bojo has blood on his hands. But the Tories’ pandemic response has also been marked by its crony ‘chumocracy’, jealous suppression (and co-optation) of mutual aid initiatives, and repressive policing of protest movements. This article examines the character of the ‘Covid State’, one year on.
[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].
Mustapha Mond
‘A Brief Question of Syndicalism’
4th February 2021
Marx rejected the ‘syndicalist path’ in his quarrels with Bakunin during the years of the First International. But, in this article, Mustapha Mond asks whether syndicalism might in fact represent the very essence of Marxian socialism, as a model of ‘the self-government of the commune’ and as a bulwark against despotic ‘red bureaucracy’.
Kes Otter Lieffe in interview with Jim Donaghey
‘Survival is an act of resistance’
11th January 2021
Kes Otter Lieffe is a working class, chronically ill, femme, trans woman, and author of a recent trilogy of sci-fi novels that are rich with trans, queer, anarchist, and dystopian themes. In this interview with Jim Donaghey she discusses how the books reflect her own life experiences and identity, the eerie speculative prescience of their near-future crises, and the ways in which these fictional communities echo the dynamics of real world social movements.
Camille Mayer
‘Contemporary Anarchist Theatre and the Struggle of Representation’
1st December 2020
Camille Mayer provides an overview of contemporary French anarchist dramatic production, highlighting the dilemmas faced by artists and producers who are faced with limited opportunities to subvert capitalist norms, and the continued patriarchal limitations placed upon women dramatists.
Joaquín Rodríguez Álvarez
‘The Eco-technological transition – fears and hopes in the age of Artificial Intelligence’
26th November 2020
Joaquín Rodríguez Álvarez discusses the ‘two faces’ of Artificial Intelligence as either a key tool for our survival, or a crystallization of the current dynamics of oppression. Resisting the fatalistic acceptance of emerging dystopian technologies (facial recognition, GMO, ‘killer robots’), he argues that a socio-ecological approach should underpin future technological development to empower people and liberate humanity.
Brian Morris
‘Buddhism and Anarchism – reflections on the eco-anarchism of Gary Snyder’
10th November 2020
Buddhism has often been linked with anarchism as a political tradition. In this article Brian Morris offers some critical reflections on the life and writings of the Zen Buddhist and well known poet, Gary Snyder, who has often been described as an eco-anarchist. It is focussed on three aspects of his work – Zen Buddhism, Native American culture and ecological humanism – and critically discusses Snyder’s seminal ecological manifesto.
Richard Morgan
‘Kropotkin’s “Social Gardening” (a chapter remembered)’
4th November 2020
Following the publication of his new book The Making of Kropotkin’s Anarchist Thought: Disease, Degeneration, Health and the Bio-political Dimension, Richard Morgan remembers a draft chapter that didn’t make the cut.
Teresa Xavier Fernandes
‘The Ecstatics – Michel Foucault’s Concept of Political Spirituality’
13th October 2020
Teresa Xavier Fernandes analyses a Foucauldian ‘political spirituality’, especially as it emerges from Foucault’s writings on Iran and the influence of Sufi Islam.
‘Was the philosopher Michel Foucault an ecstatic? In my view, the answer is yes … Foucault found himself in this mystic and Sufi Iran, where he could check, observe and experiment with his fundamental concept of political spirituality’.
[Part of a series of articles drawn from the 6th International Anarchist Studies Network Conference, September 2020].
Christos Marneros
‘“Find and lose each other!” On An-archic affinities and nomadic institutions’
8th October 2020
Drawing especially on Deleuze, Christos Marneros analyses the relationship between ‘law’ and ‘anarchy’, distinguishing institutions from the idea of law, and highlighting the figure of the nomad as a counter to the obedient subject. This an-archic jurisprudence is:
‘in a constant opposition and strife against the dogmas and hierarchies of any state apparatus, and it should be ready to respond adequately to any assault coming from them. It has to possess a lethal instinct ready to destroy any form of dogmatism … refusing to compromise and to be “pacified”’.
[Part of a series of articles drawn from the 6th International Anarchist Studies Network Conference, September 2020].
Simoun Magsalin
‘The Libertarian Elements in the Philippine Archipelago’
6th October 2020
Part analysis, part call to action, Simoun Magsalin identifies existing liberatory practices in the Philippine archipelago in order to contextualise anarchism alongside indigenous Filipino traditions of co-operation and resistance to colonialism.
‘Libertarian elements – mutual aid/bayanihan, direct action and egalitarian organizing – are then not foreign ideas. They already exist today in our lives and in our contexts. The task of the anarchists in the archipelago is to identify these elements and contextualize these for an anarchist praxis’.
[Part of a series of articles drawn from the 6th International Anarchist Studies Network Conference, September 2020].
Nora Ziegler
‘Direct Action as Conflicting Practices of Equality and Autonomy’
1st October 2020
Nora Ziegler argues that direct action is animated by the conflicting ideals of equality and autonomy, and that this is a creative, necessary and welcome conflict.
‘It is not possible to establish equality by saying “we are all the same” or freedom by saying “we are all different”. Instead, when I hear you say “we are all the same”, I say “no I’m different” and when I hear “we are different” I say “but I am the same as you!” Only through these moments of conflict can my equality and freedom be established’.
[Part of a series of articles drawn from the 6th International Anarchist Studies Network Conference, September 2020].
Alex Khasnabish and Luis Fernandez
‘In Memoriam – Jeffrey S. Juris’
17th September 2020
Jeffrey Juris passed away on June 18, 2020 after a year-long battle with brain cancer. This dedication to Jeff, by his comrades Alex Khasnabish and Luis Fernandez, pays tribute to an outstanding scholar-activist with a true anarchist spirit who contributed directly to struggles for social justice.
Frans Ari Prasetyo
‘Anarchy and Police Brutality: May Day 2019 in Bandung, Indonesia’ (photo essay)
14th September 2020
‘A police officer approached me and asked, “why are you wearing a helmet?” I returned the question, “why are you wearing a helmet?” He replied that it was “for safety”. “Same here, for safety” I nodded. “Safety from whom?” asked the cop. “Safety from you” I replied, and then he was gone’.
Frans Ari Prasetyo’s photo essay provides a vivid depiction of the scale and energy of the May Day 2019 black bloc demonstration in Bandung, Indonesia, and the brutality of the ensuing police repression.
Peterson Roberto da Silva
‘Freedom and Anarchy: an interview with David Graeber’
9th September 2020
‘That’s what I try to do a lot. I try to find things we already know, but don’t quite realise that we knew’.
David Graeber’s death on the 2nd of September 2020 causes a painful break in the human connections he had inspired and frustrates the promise of future works. But what we have gained from his life is incalculable, and will still reverberate for a long time everywhere there is resistance and hope for a better future.
This wide-ranging interview with David Graber, by Peterson Roberto da Silva, covers themes of play, violence, privilege, activism, equality, the value of work and care, and freedom, while communicating David’s wit, fierce intelligence, and fiercer-still humanity.
Katya Lachowicz in interview with Jim Donaghey
‘Scrub Hub – an autonomous mutual aid response to Covid-19’
29th June 2020
The death of almost 65,000 people so far in the UK as a consequence of Covid-19 is the strongest possible indictment of the Tory government’s botched response, but the failure to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to health workers illustrates some of the character of their callous incompetence. The Scrub Hub initiative has been a particularly successful grassroots mutual aid response to the PPE scandal, blossoming into 127 Scrub Hub groups across England, Scotland and Wales. Jim Donaghey met (virtually) with Katya Lachowicz, one of the core members of a Scrub Hub in East London.
Thomas Swann
‘The Anarchist Cybernetics of Mutual Aid. Self-organisation in and Beyond the Coronavirus Crisis’
15th May 2020
Thomas Swann, author of the forthcoming book Anarchist Cybernetics, provides an overview of cybernetics as the identification of universal principles of self-organisation, and connects this with anarchism and mutual aid. In the context of the present coronavirus crisis, he argues that an engagement with cybernetics can help anarchists and others involved in mutual aid networks to think seriously about organisational structure to address problems such as structural hierarchies and to protect their openness to democratic participation.
Alessio Kolioulis
‘A Need for More Room. Notes on Colin Ward’s Ungovernable Urbanism’
12th May 2020
Alessio Kolioulis examines the continuing significance of Colin Ward’s most famous book, The Child in the City (1978). He highlights the missed connections with continental scholars working in similar fields at the time, and unpicks some of Ward’s key ideas around education and urbanism.
[This article first appeared in March 2020 as ‘Un besoin d’espace. Notes sur l’urbanité ingouvernable de Colin Ward’ as a new postface to the French Edition of Colin Ward’s The Child in The City, L’enfant dans la ville (translated by Léa Nicolas-Teboul), published by Etrerotopia France.]
Neil Middleton
‘Lessons from the last round: Greece, France and where we are now’
5th May 2020
The crises sparked by the financial crash of 2007-8 produced a decade of movements and uprisings. Neil Middleton compares two of the most prominent theatres of crisis in recent years, Greece and France, and argues that despite their limitations, the politics of direct democracy, direct action and self-organisation were making progress, and these experiences can help us prepare for the next round of crisis in the wake of Covid-19.
Jim Donaghey
13th April 2020
This article critiques a selection of the wide range of anarchist responses to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic so far, and discusses the currency of anarchism in this profound crisis. Anarchist ideas and anarchistic organising principles have, once again, gained traction in the popular imagination. Anarchists of all stripes can, and should, contribute to this popularisation from their own specific perspectives, but we cannot remain confined within our echo chambers. Our ideas are crucial at this moment as a bulwark against the oppressive trends of increased police powers and state surveillance.
Rowan Tallis Milligan
‘COVID-19 and Social Reproduction’
8th April 2020
Covid-19 has brought to the fore two major tenets of contemporary anarchist and feminist thought: the importance of social reproduction and the frequent inadequacy of the “nuclear family” as a means of living together. Rowan Tallis Milligan argues that the crisis offers an opportunity to rethink how we might want to live differently, what it means to live happily, and what really is important in our everyday lives.
Guilherme Falleiros, Katiuscia Galhera, and Guilherme Nicolau
‘The Impossible Fordist Baggage of Latin American Anarcho-syndicalism’
9th December 2019
In response to Ben Debney’s recent article, ‘The Fordist Baggage of Anarcho-Syndicalism’, Guilherme Falleiros, Katiuscia Galhera, and Guilherme Nicolau highlight some historical and contemporary manifestations of anarcho-syndicalist organising in Latin-America, and especially Brazil. The authors argue that these experiences confound Debney’s argument that anarcho-syndicalism has been left out-moded by the changing face of capitalist labour forms, because Latin-America has never been under a Fordist paradigm, and because anarcho-syndicalist activists in this ‘Global South’ context are, and have been, primarily concerned with organising in the sphere of ‘immaterial work’, as well as emphasising political repertoires of ‘self-management, mutualism, and mutual aid’.
Steven Parfitt
‘UK University Workers Strike Again to Combat Multiple Crises’
22nd November 2019
Starting on Monday 25th November, workers at 60 universties across the UK will take strike action. Steven Parfitt explains the raft of issues that are at stake, including casualisation, gender and ethnicity pay gaps, workload, pay devaluation, and pensions.
Ahmed Julien Saade
‘Fasten your seatbelts, you’re going nowhere: The Five Pillars of Oligarchic Despotism’
13th November 2019
Lebanese masses are in the streets, demanding change. Proud of their unity, they call it a revolution. However, in this article Ahmed Julien Saade argues that the regime’s corrupt web means the uprising cannot enable any radical change. The author describes the contemporary Lebanese model of oppression, and the measures by which the state anticipates and prevents any meaningful transformation.
Ben Debney
‘The Fordist Baggage of Anarcho-Syndicalism’
31st October 2019
This article argues that anarcho-syndicalist activists are failing to respond adequately to contemporary conditions of capitalist exploitation, especially with regard to globalisation and unpaid labour by care givers in the home.
The Solidarity Against Borders Collective
‘Anarchist reflections on migrant solidarity, anti-citizenship and state repression’
9th September 2019
Solidarity Against Borders is a collective of activists, organisers, and researchers who want to start a conversation around the relations between borders, solidarity, anarchist politics, and the concept of citizenship. In this article they ask three key questions: What is an anarchist approach to migrant solidarity? How does the state intervene, criminalise, co-opt and manipulate migrant solidarity projects and practices, and how do we respond? What tensions and contradictions emerge within our own politics, and how ought we deal with them? Solidarity Against Borders invite responses, reflections and contributions to this discussion at s-a-b [at] riseup.net.
Rowan Tallis Milligan in conversation with George F.
‘Punk, Anarchism and Creative Non-Fiction’
19th August 2019
At times a rollercoaster ride through the more eccentric, forgotten and celebrated parts of London’s counterculture, at other times a furious lament against the gentrification and transformation of such spaces into yuppie playgrounds, Good Times in Dystopia (Zero Books 2019) always keeps you on your toes. Rowan Tallis Milligan reviews Good Times in discussion with author George F. about their thoughts on memoirs, punk and anarchism and what makes Good Times such an important contribution to literature on squatting and radical creative nonfiction.
Teresa Xavier Fernandes
5th August 2019
Taking inspiration from luminaries such as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Michel Foucault and Saul Newman, this poetic text by Teresa Xavier Fernandes draws up an artistic and aesthetic manifesto of ‘the postanarch’.
Russ Skelchy
‘Terror, Drugs, Music and Duterte’s Wars in the Philippines’
1st May 2019
Reporting from the Philippines, Russ Skelchy documents the murderous impact of Duterte’s ‘wars’ on terror and drugs, as well as the ongoing resistance to this ratcheting authoritarianism from musicians and affected communities.
Shane Little
‘An Interview with New Syndicalist‘
15th April 2019
Shane Little interviews the Editorial Team behind New Syndicalist, a source of worker-led, anti-capitalist theory and strategy founded by members of the Industrial Workers of the World in the UK.
Kevin Jones in interview with Jim Donaghey
‘“A New War” – anarchist music and the suicide epidemic in Northern Ireland’
20th March 2019
More people have killed themselves in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement (1998) than died as a result of ‘the Troubles’ conflict (1969-1998). This interview and session performance with anarchist musician Kevin Jones addresses the ongoing suicide epidemic and its roots in the civil war. Kevin brings his musical expression and anarchist analysis to bear on the issue with a performance of his song ‘A New War’, as part of this interview with Jim Donaghey. [Audio stream accompanied with transcript.]
Morris Brodie
‘Salvaging the Revolution – Anarchist Historiography on the Spanish Civil War’
5th February 2019
Morris Brodie tracks 80 years of historiography on the Spanish Civil War, from caricatures of anarchists as idealistic and/or bloodthirsty (by fascist, liberal and orthodox communist historians) to an ‘anarchist renaissance’ in civil war historiography in the last twenty years. He includes a list of further reading on anarchists in the Spanish Civil War.
Kent Worcester
‘Class Struggle Anarchism – An Interview with Wayne Price’
14th January 2019
Kent Worcester interviews the New York-based anti-authoritarian activist Wayne Price. He traces his political journey from early anarchist and pacifist influences in the 1950s, through the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s and 1970s, to his work as a school psychologist and teachers union activist, and charts his membership of a range of activist groups of various Marxist, Trotskyist and anarchist persuasions.
Rowan Tallis Milligan
‘Invisible – the housing crisis and squatting in Britain’
9th January 2019
In this review article of Andrew Fraser’s Invisible: A Diary of Rough Sleeping in Britain (Freedom Press, 2019) Rowan Tallis Milligan highlights the cruel effects of the housing crisis, while also pointing to the resistance strategies that are being employed all over the country – ‘pick up a crowbar, and get to work’.
Brian Morris and John Clark
6th December 2018
This article features the conclusion of a debate between Brian Morris and John Clark, which started with Morris’s review of Clark’s 2013 book, The Impossible Community: Realizing Communitarian Anarchism, in the Autumn 2018 issue of Anarchist Studies.
Wangui Kimari
‘On Rights and Returns in Kenya and Palestine’
3rd December 2018
Wangui Kimari, of the Mathare Social Justice Centre in Nairobi, highlights the solidarity campaigns and shared experiences of dispossession between the peoples of Kenya and Palestine.
Edurne Scott Loinaz
‘No profit, no hierarchy: A comparative study of the “lower left”’
28th November 2018
Edurne Scott Loinaz, co-founder of the HAHA Academy, introduces a comparative study of 66 ‘lower left’ organisations – that is, groups that are autonomous from the state, use horizontal organisation for planning and decision making, are not for profit, and anti-capitalist. She points to the importance of thinking and communicating in terms of a dimensional ‘zone of solidarity’, rather than the damaging reliance on binary language.
Roger Farr
‘The Affinity for Affinity, Or How to Read the Petite Lexicon’
10th October 2018
In the final instalment of our series of responses to Daniel Colson’s A Brief Philosophical Lexicon of Anarchism from Proudhon to Deleuze, Roger Farr offers ‘affinity’ as a path to follow between the Lexicon’s terms, and ruminates on Colson’s own use of the term ‘affinity’ as a potential first step.
[Part of a series of articles on the recent English language publication of Daniel Colson’s A Little Philosophical Lexicon of Anarchism from Proudhon to Deleuze (trans. by Jesse Cohn), Colchester: Minor Compositions, 2019.]
Nathan Jun
‘A Few Thoughts on Colson’s Lexicon’
28th September 2018
Nathan Jun discusses Colson’s consideration of the term ‘anarchism’ itself. Colson argues that the contemporary drive to taxonomically classify ‘anarchism’ negates the ‘infinity of manners’ which the anarchist project ought to encompass. Jun, however, points to the potential for meaninglessness by leaving the term completely open.
[Part of a series of articles on the recent English language publication of Daniel Colson’s A Little Philosophical Lexicon of Anarchism from Proudhon to Deleuze (trans. by Jesse Cohn), Colchester: Minor Compositions, 2019.]
Iwona Janicka
‘Gabriel Tarde and the Anarchist Contagion’
26th September 2018
Iwona Janicka picks up on Colson’s reference to Gabriel Tarde to discuss the role of imitation in shaping behaviour. She points to the inherently mimetic aspects of anarchism, as exemplified in anarchist housing co-operatives and other intentional communities.
[Part of a series of articles on the recent English language publication of Daniel Colson’s A Little Philosophical Lexicon of Anarchism from Proudhon to Deleuze (trans. by Jesse Cohn), Colchester: Minor Compositions, 2019.]
Teresa Xavier Fernandes
‘The Concept of Representation: Is This a Trap?’
24th September 2018
In response to Colson’s identification of anarchism as a ‘radical critique of representation’, Teresa Xavier Fernandes unpacks Nietzsche’s conception of representation as a ‘lie’. In her Nietzschean typology of ‘liars’ Fernandes identifies the anarchist as a ‘faker’ who reminds us that representation is a trap.
[Part of a series of articles on the recent English language publication of Daniel Colson’s A Little Philosophical Lexicon of Anarchism from Proudhon to Deleuze (trans. by Jesse Cohn), Colchester: Minor Compositions, 2019.]
Fabrizio Eva
‘Using an Anarchist Approach in Geopolitics’
31st August 2018
In this article Fabrizio Eva highlights the gap between the principles of inter-state relations (as espoused by the United Nations and the so-called ‘International Community’) and their actual practice, suggesting that the critical stance of anarchist geographies provides a good perspective to better understand ‘International Relations’. The article traces the links between ‘classical’ and contemporary anarchist geographies, before offering an analytical procedure informed by an anarchic critical approach to Geopolitics.
Judith Suissa
‘Anarchist Academics and Peer Review’
31st July 2018
Judith Suissa works in the field of Philosophy of Education, and reflects here on anarchists’ relationship with the key academic process of peer review, arguing that, while it is increasingly distorted by the marketisation of the university, it can be enacted in keeping with anarchist ideals.
A Sparrow in interview with Jim Donaghey
‘The Sparrows’ Nest Library and Archive’
4th June 2018
The Sparrows’ Nest is an anarchist library and archive in Nottingham, UK, which celebrates it’s tenth anniversary this year. Jim Donaghey met with one of the Sparrows to talk about the space, its role in the local community, and the importance of documenting and sharing the history of anarchist movements.(Audio stream with transcript).
Ron Scapp
‘Notes on an Anarchist Pedagogy’
21st May 2018
Ron Scapp’s polemic forwards the commitment to ‘education as the practice of freedom’. In the age of Trump, even those doing ‘critical pedagogy’ might want to consider what they are doing and how they are doing it, in and out of the classroom. Scapp’s modest exploration considers an ‘anarchist pedagogy’ as a means to push back against rigidity, and to liberate educators and students from the impact of neoliberal reforms.
ABC Ativismo
‘Casa da Lagartixa Preta “Malagueña Salerosa” (The House of the Black Gecko)’
1st May 2018
The House of the Black Gecko started life fourteen years ago in São Paulo, Brazil. An activist from ABC Ativismo provides a brief profile of the space, its history, and the wide range of activities it currently houses. Long live the House of the Black Gecko!
Steven Parfitt
‘The UK University Strike: Pensions, Precarity and Learning from History’
13th April 2018
The recent strikes at UK universities have witnessed an outpuring of anger on the picket lines, and foremost among the complaints has been the rampant casualisation of the workforce. Steven Parfitt reflects on the recent strikes, and looks back to the historical examples of the IWW and The Order of the Knights of Labor in the US to learn from their examples of organising precarious workers, and looks ahead to how the University and College Union (and others) might best combat casualisation.
Nathan Jun and Jane Barclay
26th March 2018
Harold Barclay, highly renowned anarchist anthropologist, passed away peacefully a few months ago. In this article, Nathan Jun pays tribute to Harold’s influence on anarchist studies, and the article also includes an obituary written by Jane Barclay, Harold’s wife.
Brian Martin
27th February 2018
Jonathan’s Haidt’s The Righteous Mind argues that ‘gut reactions’ affect our thinking and our political outlook. Brian Martin looks at Haidt’s six ‘moral foundations’ through an anarchist lens, to ask how gut reactions shape anarchist thinking, and the implications this might have for anarchist political philosophy.
Simon Springer
‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Anarchist? Rejecting Left Unity and Raising Hell in Radical Geography’
28th January 2018
Anarchist geographer Simon Springer argues that calls for ‘Left unity’ are symptomatic of the waning influence of Marxism, whose proponents are desperately clamouring for relevance by appealing to anarchists. Springer discusses his public debate (or lack thereof) with Marxist-Geographer-in-Chief David Harvey, and concludes that, at the bottom of it all, Harvey is afraid of anarchists.
Manuel Lozano
‘Nausea within the smokescreen. Profiteering the Catalan independence’
28th January 2018
In an in-depth insider account, Manuel Lozano dissects the roots and reverberations of Catalan secession. ‘Independence’, he argues, is an orchestrated ‘crisis’, a convenient smokescreen for factionalised elites (both Catalan and Castilian) who are seeking to sideline the systemic challenge presented by the 15-M movement.