Changing Anarchism: Anarchist Theory and Practice in a Global Age

264 Pages·2005·6 MB·English

by  Jonathan Purkis and James Bowen (editors contributors)

Changing anarchism
Anarchist theory and practice in a global age
Jonathan Purkis
edited by
James Bowen
and
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Dedicated to the memory of John Moore, who died suddenly while this book
was in production. His lively, innovative and pioneering contributions to
anarchist theory and practice will be greatly missed.
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Contents
List of contributors pageix
Acknowledgements XI
Introduction: Why anarchism still matters James Bowen and
jonathan Purkis 1
Part I Thinking 21
Anti-capitalism and poststructuralist anarchism Dave Morland 23
2 Towards an anarchist sociology jOllathall Purkis 39
3 Lived poetry: Stirner, anarchy, subjectivity and the art of living
John Moore 55
e. 4 Technology is capital: Fifth Estate's critique of the megamachinc
Ag Steve Millett 73
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archist The 04. p vii. 6092&ppg 78 WIn hthaet deyide yoofu t hdeo b ienh tohled Derr -ugc hWiladr,, mDaadd doyr ?a rtCisto?l inj Coraalilg1l a Gore 112459
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viii Contents
Part III Being 159
9 The anarchist travelling circus: reflections on contemporary
anarchism, ami-capitalism and the international scene
Kare" Goamml 163
10 Good news for Francisco Ferrer-how anarchist ideals in education
have survived around the world David Gribble 181
11 Enchantment and its uses: religion and spirituality in environmental
direct action Bronislaw SzerszYllski and Emma Tomali" 199
Conclusion: how anarchism still matters jonathan Purkis and
james Bowen 213
Glossary 230
Bibliography 239
Index 257
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Contributors
James BOLVelllives in \'(fest Yorkshire and works to promote literacy amongchil­
dren of all ages. His other interests include travel, speaking and learning foreign
languages, writing songs and short stories, reading, and playing guitar and
singing in radical folk-roots band Bar the Shouting. He is also a member of the
Lib ED radical education publishing collective.
Colin Craig is <l former senior international consultant in the subject of illicit
drug lise and the prevention of HIV transmission amongst injecting drug lIsers.
He has worked in the former Soviet Union, the United States and Western Europe
on many different contracts rdating to HIV prevention, research into drug
trends, drug-using prisoners, drug user advocacy projects and developing health
promotion amongst injecting drugs users. He is currently working on a history
of the development of the War on Drugs.
Karen Goaman has written a PhD thesis in anthropology at University College
London, on situation ism and contemporary anarchism, and is a part-time lecturer
in communications and cultural history at London Metropolitan University. She
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n a joanna Gore teaches fine art at Middlesex University and is currently writing up
ce i her PhD thesis 'In the eye of the beholder: the role of the artist in the institutional
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narchist The 004. p ix. 96092&ppg tDphraeinv fcdoipu aGnldrly;eb rDbs)la.e r Srwiinnogcretko hendi sH araetlt lia rS ecvmhaoernoielt t yain n od1f 9S 9as2cnh dhoseo S lhcs ahdso uovrli isn(iotgef dwh fihsr iecethe oahcreh diwnegams ococanrreeae toircf,
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m : ess, =10 schools all round the world, written or edited several books and articles and
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chi y P c?i spoken in many different countries. He played an important role in the estab­
hanging Anar ster Universit minicanuc/Do plislahcme eenatc ho fy ethare iInn tae drnifafteiroennatl c Douenmtory.c ratic Education Conferences, which take
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x Contributors
Jaime Heckert IS worklllg towards a PhD III sOCiology at Ulllverslry of
Edinburgh, exploring the concept of sexual orientation and how we can get over
it. He tcaches sex education, writes for The Tartan Skirt, Scots Gay and Green
Pepper and enjoys yoga, swimming and reading science-fiction novels.
Steve Millett lives in York and works for a charity providing support and infor­
mation to lone parents. He recently received his PhD in contemporary anarchist­
communist political theory from the University of Cemral Lancashire.
John Moore (1957-2002) wrote extensively on contemporary anarchist theory in
publications such as Green Anarchist, Social Anarchism, Anarchist Studies and
was the author of several books, including Anarchy and ecstasy and Book of lev­
elling. Until his death, he was regarded as one of the most eclectic and innova­
tive anarchist thinkers around, and he did much to introduce a new generation
ro writings by Fredy Periman, Max Stirner, the Situationist International and
many orher marginalised liberrarian rhinkers. He was also an enrerraining and
highly regarded poet.
Dave Morland teaches sociology and philosophy at the University of Tccssidc.
He has written widely on anarchism and has campaigned on issues such as the
poll tax, the miners' strike, nuclear arms and anti-capitalism. He lives with his
partner and two children in north-cast England, enjoys mountaineering and is a
long-suffering Sunderland AFC fan.
jonathan Purkis teaches media and cultural studies at Liverpool John Moores
University. He has been active in various radical environmental, anticonsumerist
and anarchist groups and wrinen a PhD thesis and various articles on these
movements. He is heavily involved with the journal Anarchist Studies and plays
music with Huddersfield band Bar the Shouting.
Bronis/dIll Szerszynski is Lecturer in Environment and Culture at the Institute for
ge. Environment, Philosophy and Public Policy at Lancaster University, United
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n a also a singer, guitarist and songwriter.
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archist The 04. p x. 6092&ppg nalastoio wnoarl kdse avse alo fprmeeelannt,c ea nreds elainrckhs ewr fitohr rgaednidoe prr oanddu chtiuomnsa na nrdig ahst as ccoonnscuelrtnasn. tS fhoer
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all of the contributors to this collection for providing an
engaging and diverse collection of teAections on contemporary anarchism, as
well as proving that co-operation and negotiation can work in practice. We
would also like to thank Tony Mason and the staff at Manchester University
Press for being supportive (and patit:nt!) throughout the production of the book.
The help of Chayley Collis and Paul Fitzgerald has been particularly appre­
ciated where technical, editorial and artistic matters have been concerned.
Ongoing professional and personal support and interest has also been forth­
coming (sometimes unwittingly) from Jacqueline Gaile, Ian Welsh, Sharif Gcmie
and the Lib Ed Network.
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James Bowen and Jonathan Purkis
Introduction: why anarchism still matters
Global matters
In February 2002, Commander Brian Puddick, then Police Chief for the
(London) Metropolitan Borough of Brixton, posted the following message on
the direct action disclission forum www.urban75.com:
The concept of anarchism has always appealed (0 me. The idea of rhe innate good­
ness of the individual that is corrupted by society or the system. It is a theoretical
argument but I am nor Slife c\'cryonc would behave well if there were no laws and
no system. I believe there arc many people forced into causing harm to mhers by
rhe way society operates at the moment.
These comments, made by a senior British police officer already controversial for
being openly gay and for extremely liberal drug enforcemem policies, created
something of a sensation in the mainstream media (where he also repeated
them). The incident also prompted some sections of the slightly bemused alter­
native media to react with outrage that a policeman was wasting valuable anar­
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e in practice. We live in an era where the politics of information are formulated and
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ory =13 and influence of Paddick's remarks have been on the wider milieu?
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2 Introduction
orgamsatlons, dispossessed or non-lllllolllsed workers, opponents of bIOtechnol­
ogies and militarism, environmentalists, squatters and campaigners against
debt. What unites them is a fundamental questioning of the viability of existing
mechanisms of decision-making, cOlltfol, accoumability and justice throughout
rhe world. The neoliberal economic and political hegemony that has held sway
for almost a generation is beginning to lose its legitimaC)� Whilst it is clear that
the diverse concerns of these countermovements arc not reducible to single polit­
ical programmes or monolithic analytical tools, the theoretical concepts most
apparemly to the fore appear to be those associated with anarchism. This is
something that has been acknowledged by people within those movements,
popular media commentators and even Marxist journals such as New Left
Review (Graeber, 2002).
It is when a liminal moment such as Paddick's occurs, when the barriers
between different forms of hierarchy and oppression relent to allow communi­
cation, about human nature, the desirability of particular political forms, the
practical problems of consistency between means and ends, that anarchism still
matters. It is when the Zapatistas in the Chiapas region of Mexico inspire
Western activists to flock, like so many did to join the International Brigades in
Spain in 1936, to participate in a complex struggle between indigenous cultures,
national interests and international corporate power that anarchism still
matters. When children on the streets of Delhi empower themselves through
alternative education, squaners create their 'occasional cafes' in English cities
such as Manchester and Leeds, needle exchange schemes flout repressive drug
laws in the USA and Australia, then theories of self-organisation and mutual aid
come into their own. When, after a pre-meditated State onslaught on protest
against international finance and development ends in murder, like at the 'G8'
Summit in Genoa, Italy during July 2001, activists regroup and rethink their
tactics, it is then that anarchism very definitely matters.
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ory =14 Goldman or Alexander Berkman means that there are still issues and principles
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n 0 9 courses of resistance: the accessible practicality of Colin Ward; the gentle reason
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