Anarchy and anarchism is a much maligned word. For the vast majority
of our society anarchy means chaos or disorder. You have probably
already wondered if I make bombs in my spare time or if I have
a coloured mohawk? Well sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t.
The Oxford Concise Dictionary anarchism is defined thus "1. Disorder,
especially political or social. 2. lack of government in a society."
The legacy of years of misinformation about what anarchy and anarchism
are, means that while the first definition is far from what anarchy
means to most anarchists, even the second definition is not quite
accurate, as anarchists are generally opposed to both statist
government and capitalism. This misinformation is typical regarding
ideas that threaten to topple the powerful.
If one were to believe those who hold power and their allies,
anarchists would be a group of murderers who sought to take all
they could from society at the expense of others. Nothing could
be further than the truth. Instead, it is those who are in positions
of power in our society who more properly fit the popular definition
of anarchy. No anarchist would give so much power to such a thing
as ‘the market’, no anarchist would support going to war to protect
one group of oil barons from another.The supposed New World Order
is clearly an oxymoron. One thing is clear though - in our society
being able to take an order is deemed a skill, being able to think,
speak and provide for yourself is deemed dangerous. When one strips
anarchy down to its Greek roots one finds that it means ‘without
a ruler’ or ‘without authority’ and this is how most anarchists
have thought of anarchy. This is why anarchists generally oppose
not just the state but all forms of hierarchical institutions.
Contrary to the arguments of some socialists, this does not mean
that anarchists are opposed to organisation. Anarchists recognise
that organisation produces results and a social cohesion that
is impossible without some form of organisation. As a practical
example, anarchists throughout the world manage to produce newspapers,
form unions and create community resources such as food and book
co-ops. Without organisation, none of this activity would be possible.
It would be impossible to change society without organisation.
While anarchists do not reject organisation, they do reject hierarchical
organisation which seeks to install ‘leaders’ who will tell ‘followers’
what they should do. Leadership works best when it comes from
respect, competency and example, rather than passive acceptance
or domination.
There is no one school of anarchist thought. However, all anarchists
desire a society in which power flows from the mass of society
upwards, not from the top downwards as is currently the case.
Anarchism is not strictly an ideology but a flexible mode of thinking
based upon the premise of removing hierarchy from society. An
anarchist’s ideas are in a continual state of evolution as society
changes. As anarchism is against hierarchy, there is no anarchist
vanguard that aims to control a future anarchist society - there
are merely anarchists who share the goal of creating a new society.
A vision of a new society must include a critique of the current
society. Anarchists believe that the social, political and ecological
problems that we face are all interconnected. Like the ecologist,
anarchists do not believe that any of these problems are solvable
in isolation - they must be solved together. Poverty, social marginalisation,
pollution, domestic violence and the destruction of forests are
all connected. Unlike the proliferation of ‘experts’ who occupy
positions of authority within our society, anarchists believe
that a piecemeal approach to any of these problems is one which
lends itself to failure. The domination of nature by humanity,
of nation over region, of women by men, of the rich and powerful
over the poor are all entwined in a nexus of domination and hierarchy
which restricts our human potential.
Anarchists wish to create a society in which individual liberty
and social equality (this is why anarchism is also sometimes called
libertarian socialism) are maximised, and where ecological destruction
is minimised through the creation of a more equal and less wasteful
society. Many people wish they could work less hours, spend more
time with their family and friends and live without being fearful
of old age. People all over the world wish that they could overcome
and reverse the ecologically destructive practices of the state-capitalist
alliance. The structure of our current society makes this a difficult
achievement.
Many of us feel that we are being taken for a ride - bigger roads
have not reduced traffic jams, for those lucky enough to have
full employment, the average full-time working week remains at
five days or somewhere over forty hours, our forests are woodchipped
for paper packaging we don’t need and the elderly fear the young.
It is clear that something is wrong with our ‘ordered’ society.
Anarchism suggests holistic solutions to these problems.
The broad-based or holistic concern of anarchism has been such
that anarchists have had a considerable concern for ecological
or environmental matters. Peter Kropotkin developed a considerable
body of though on anarchism and ecology in the nineteenth century.
While ‘eco-anarchism’ did not develop until the work of Murray
Bookchin in the 1950s, anarchism has been concerned with the relationship
between place and society.
The belief in the need to decentralise society makes it necessary
that anarchism considers environmental issues. In recent times
Anarchists have been at the forefront of campaigns and movements
to reconcile working class communities and environmentalism, as
evidenced by Earth First’s work with forest workers in the US.
All over the world, anarchists have been part of coalitions which
have sought to stop roads from destroying peoples homes and environments.
In a move to overcome the often antagonistic relationship between
working class people and enviromentalists, anarcho-syndicalists
have proposed that unions develop environmental strategies which
seek to hold employers to account and which educate their members
about environmental problems.
Many of the ideas of the environmental movement have roots in
anarchist thought and practice. More and more people are realising
that they cannot trust ‘the markets’ or government to look after
them or their environments. Our ‘hyperconsumer’ society promotes
all sorts of forms of useless consumption in order to keep capitalism
expanding. Vast amounts of hours go into looking after the bureaucracy
that is necessary in a capitalist economy. As capitalism expands
it takes more and more from both the land and the average person,
giving the benefits to a select few. For the anarchist, ecological
problems will not be able to be solved until all problems of domination,
hierarchy and the expansionist nature of capitalism are solved.
Unlike some greens, anarchists do not believe that bad environmental
practices just happen. Ideas are products of given social relationships.
Thus anarchists cannot agree with ‘eco-consumerism’ which is quite
content to leave all the modes of domination intact so long as
people buy ‘green’ products. Changing your buying habits can reduce
wastage and promote more environmentally sound practices.
However, most environmentally damaging activity occurs in the
process of production. Thus it is far better to reject consumerism,
and consider what we truly need to enjoy life. Doing so will probably
give you more time and money to do things which you consider worthwhile.
While ideas and values need to and should be challenged, the social,
economic and political structures influencing and binding these
ideas must be changed for any lasting and real change to take
place. For many people, adopting environmentally sound habits
is expensive or difficult, given things such as a lack of public
transport, the promotion of non-renewable agriculture and a society
structured around waste.
This is why anarchists reject the tendency of blaming individuals
for environmental problems without considering the social structures
that create and encourage environmentally destructive practices.
Anarchists argue strongly that there are systemic reasons for
the problems that are faced by our society and our planet.
In the meantime, capitalism continues to expand and corporations
continue to take a greater part in controlling our lives. We are
encouraged to accept the patenting of DNA and the genetic engineering
of foodstuffs without question. At the same time, the knowledge
of planting and growing things and the ability to meet our own
needs is being removed from us at an increasing rate. Anarchists
believe that we must reclaim and regain the knowledge of our own
immediate world which will allow us to create ecologically viable
communities.
Patenting of traditional foods and seeds must also be fought against
if we want to retain the ability to provide for ourselves. The
centralisation of power and capital in Australia and throughout
the world means that we are removed from the production of our
food and that there is a huge amount of time and energy spent
on taking goods to the cities. The alienation of city from country
is reflective of the alienation of humanity from nature and our
alienation from each other. Much ecological, social and political
progress could be made by us being able to grow more of our own
food in the cities.
Anarchists are not so naïve to believe that the old society or
cities will disappear overnight - only the weapons of nation-states
can cause such destruction. No, anarchists recognise that a number
of strategies will have to be taken to ensure that people can
choose whether they wish to remain in existing cities or whether
they wish to create new forms of dwelling. Community gardens,
food co-ops, edible landscapes, increased public transport, reduced
working hours and the decentralisation of workplaces, political
power and capital will all function to make city living less ecologically
destructive and will enrich the lives of the vast majority of
our society.
Given the decentralisation of power and capital that would be
inherent in an anarchist society, many people might find that
they no longer have a reason to live in a city. It is highly likely
that people would have greater leisure time in an anarchist society,
as production would be less wasteful. Some people would work less
and some would work harder in an anarchist society, however the
vast majority of people would find work less stressful and more
meaningful as they saw and reaped directly, the fruits of their
labour.
As mentioned before, there is no one vision of an anarchist society.
There cannot be such a thing because anarchists recognise that
different ecosystems require different societies and that different
people will react differently when freed from domination and hierarchy.
However, given their concern for equality and liberty, anarchists
have consistently focussed on a greater complementarity between
humanity and its environments, the decentralisation of industry,
worker control of the workplace, the reskilling of workers and
the use of more ecologically sustainable technologies and practices.
The creation of workplace and local community assemblies would
mean that large-scale marketing and production would become obsolete
as would the imperative to produce more and more in the pursuit
of profit. Such assemblies would very likely be federated into
regional or quasi-national bodies, which would undertake the role
of organising things like the management of railways and communications.
Given that there would be no profit-extracting class there would
be no need for growth for the sake of growth. Instead the economy
and industry would function for the benefit of society and not
to the detriment of environmental values. The removal of hierarchy
would remove the institutionalised basis for greed. Instead, the
decentralisation of decision making and the removal of domination
from society would mean that economic and social decision making
was made at the point of impact upon a community - within the
community itself. A community would not be forced to accept pollution
through state bullying or corporate bribery. Anarchist eduaction
would encourage cooperation and respect, while seeking to fully
develop the potentials of each person.
Thus many of the problems or our society, which begin in our schools
would be addressed from an early age. A bad education makes it
harder to accept the value of freedom, equality and mutuality.
Anarchists want the best for all of society, not just a small
minority as is currently the case. In the anarchist vision there
is no party vanguard who become a new aristocracy, nor is there
room for unrestrained corporate activity which would threaten
to completely trash our environments.
This article cannot hope to give a truly comprehensive picture
of anarchism and ecological issues. However, it hopefully got
you thinking about some of the assumptions that we all make about
how we are to overcome the many problems that currently beset
you, humanity, other species and the planet as a whole. Some say
anarchists are negative, but our criticism comes out of our concern
to create a better world.
Many anarchists are involved with projects that seek to put anarchist
ideas into practice such as food co-ops, various collectives,
tool and book libraries, youth groups and helping out in their
community in some way. If environmental problems become more prevalent
and harder to solve, anarchism offers a solution which does not
involve a turn towards some form of eco-authoritarianism. If you
start to put the notion of ‘no liberty without equality, no freedom
without responsibility’ into action, then surely the world will
be a better place. Start now.
