AnarchistStudies.Blog

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.’

Intellectual Property is Theft – Towards an Anarchist Culture of Knowledge Sharing & Translation

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.’

Why Boris Johnson still isn’t a libertarian

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’.

When You Fear Yourself! ‘Freedom’ in Bangladeshi Academia

 

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.

On Saving Marxism From Itself (A Response to Mutapha Mond’s ‘A Brief Question of Syndicalism’)

While we may not be able to gather as usual this International Workers’ Day, we are marking May Day by bringing 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.

A Simple Idea

In solidarity!

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 had proven to be a temporary exception to the statist/capitalist norm, and that as ‘normal’ daily life returns, these solidaristic social relationships have disappeared.

Mutual Aid in the COVID-19 Crisis – a Short-Lived Exception?

[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].

In this article, Thomas Swann 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.

Anarchism, Cybernetics and Mutual Aid – A Reflection One Year On

[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].

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.

Everyday Anarchism – Temporal Impermanence and Liberation in Everyday Action

[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].

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.

Pandemic and Reaction – Developments in France and Greece

[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].

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.

Experiences of Mutual Aid Organising in Glasgow and Brighton

[Part of a series of articles reflecting on anarchist responses to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown, one year on].