Decolonizing Anarchism

230 Pages·2012·1.07 MB·English

Decolonizing Anarchism: Expanding Anarcha-Indigenism in Theory
and Practice
By
Adam Gary Lewis

A thesis submitted to the Graduate Program in Cultural Studies
in conformity with the requirements for the
Degree of Master of Arts

Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
September, 2012

Copyright © Adam Gary Lewis, 2012
Abstract

In this thesis I argue that anarchism, as a political philosophy and social movement practice
committed to resisting all forms of oppression and domination, needs to place colonialism
more clearly and consistently at the centre of its analysis of interlocking systems of
oppression. I argue that colonialism has largely been absent as a system of domination and
oppression within anarchist theory and practice, with the exception of a small number of
theorists and activist groups. My contention is that an anti-colonial orientation needs to be
further encompassed in part because of anarchism’s commitment to resisting all forms of
oppression and domination, but also because anarchist movements carry out and theorize
resistance against the backdrop of settler colonial realities and on Indigenous lands. This
thesis contributes to these aims by seeking to expand and push further work done on
anarcha-Indigenism that examines the possible points of contact and resonance between
anarchist and Indigenous politics, philosophy and action.

I conceptualize anarcha-Indigenism first as a ‘third space’, following post-colonial theorists,
and extend this concept towards an ‘n-dimensional’ space of meeting, where theoretical
perspectives can come to engage with one another. This space consists of points of contact
and resonance chiefly between Indigenist, anarchist and feminist theory and practice, but
also extends to any perspective that might meet the core commitments of anarcha-
Indigenism, namely resistance to all forms of oppression and domination. Within the ‘n-
dimensional’ space of anarcha-Indigenism I examine the possibilities of anti-colonial
research methodology, solidarity relationships between settlers and Indigenous peoples,
engagements between anarchist and Indigenous feminisms and contemporary manifestations
of anti-colonial anarchist resistance against the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the Toronto
G20. These successive chapters seek to make anti-colonial interventions into anarchist
theory and practice as well as further develop the richness of anarcha-Indigenism and its
complexities. Overall, I argue that anarcha-Indigenism, as an ‘n-dimensional’ space of
meeting can further resistance to all forms of oppression and domination, and has the ability
to make anti-colonial interventions into anarchist theory and practice specifically.
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Acknowledgements

First I would like to acknowledge the land of the Haudenosaunee people of Six
Nations where the majority of this thesis work was completed and where I currently reside
as a settler seeking to work towards decolonization. Let us never forget our histories as
settlers living on stolen and contested lands and let that inform our theory and practice. I
offer this thesis towards such goals.
This thesis has been a long time coming. It has made it through the trials and
tribulations of house arrest, bail conditions, the court system, incarceration and finally
freedom. My arrest at the Toronto G20 has been the backdrop to this work and significantly
affected my own life as well as my engagements with anarchism and political work in general.
These experiences will stay with me always and are no doubt reflected in the work below.
This struggle, and the continued struggle against all forms of oppression and domination,
and towards a better, more just world, is embedded within this work. It is what has, and
hopefully always will, connect my theory and practice. To this end there are many that need
to be thanked for helping and supporting me through this trying time and the thesis that has
come out of it. First and foremost, my partner Laura deserves thanks and love beyond words
for her strength throughout all of this. She has been continually by my side, no matter the
circumstances, and has been a big part in this thesis finally being completed. She has also
been a source of editorial assistance and theoretical development, and so much more.
Further, copious amounts of thanks are to due to my ‘co-conspirators’ with whom I have
travelled the road of resistance and repression these last two years. Your strength is an
inspiration to the movements and world we are trying to create. In particular Alex and
Mandy need to be acknowledged as they are still in jail as I write this and continue to refuse
to remain silent and passive. The struggle continues and we must never forget those who are
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on the inside. Further thanks are due to my parents, who took me in and struggled with me
through the last two years. Your unflinching love and support is beyond any of the thanks I
could give here and it is what has made me who I am today. Particular thanks, then, are due
to all those who have supported me, my co-accused and all other political prisoners over
these last years. You are what kept us going and showed that our resolve is only
strengthening.
On a different plane of my existence, namely that of the university, thanks are due
first and foremost to my supervisor Richard Day who went above and beyond to make sure
I could continue to work on my M.A. even while on house arrest far, far away and who
provided feedback on this work throughout the entire process. Scott Morgensen as well has
been a cornerstone in assisting me in developing my ideas and theoretical perspective. Scott
has always challenged me to think further and delve deeper and I hope that this thesis
reflects such prompting. To all those who provided feedback, suggestions, guidance on some
or all of these thesis chapters, thanks are also due. Sara Matthews, Gary Kinsman, Alex de
Costa and many of my Cultural Studies peers have been especially helpful in thinking
through many of the ideas presented here and further challenging my theory and practice.
Last, but certainly far from least, thanks are due to all the awesome folks in Cultural Studies,
whether students, staff or faculty. You made me feel at home in the department, bent over
backwards to help me out and accommodate my exceptional circumstances. Without many
of you, getting through this M.A. simply would not have been possible.
Thanks again to all those cited above and many more who are simply too numerous
to name or who I may have forgotten. You are all what keeps me motivated to continue
fighting for something better in the face of any adversity.
Love, rage and solidarity!
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‘I pledge allegiance to the world, nothing more nothing less than my humanity.
Until the last lock breaks, none of us are free.’
Strike Anywhere, ‘To the World’
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Table of Contents
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………..…………iii
Chapter 1: Introduction...………………………………………………………………….1
Chapter 2: Anarcha-Indigenism as an ‘N-dimensional’ Space of Meeting ..…………...…...31
Chapter 3: Finding Resonance: Indigenous and Anti-Colonial Research Methodology and
Anarchism ..……………………………….…………………………….……74
Chapter 4: Solidarity as Methodology: Recognizing the Imperative of Anti-Colonial
Resistance ………………………………………….………………..………..91
Chapter 5: Toward An Intersection of Feminist Resistance: Anarcha-Feminism, Indigenous
Feminism and the Development of Anarcha-Indigenism….……………….....139
Chapter 6: Anarchism, Anti-Colonialism and Riot 2010: Anti-Colonial Resistance to the
Vancouver 2010 Olympics and the G20 Summit in Toronto ………………..172
Chapter 7: Conclusion……………………………………………………………..……..201
References……………………………………………………………………….………207
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Decolonizing Anarchism: Expanding Anarcha-Indigenism in Theory and Practice
By Adam Lewis

Chapter 1
Introduction1
Anarchism is a political philosophy and practice that aims to resist and remove all forms of
oppression and domination, coupled with anti-state and anti-capitalist politics. Often derided
in historical representations and contemporary media accounts as an extremist ideology
premised on violence, anarchism has begun to come to the fore in current social movements
and political practice. Emma Goldman, one of the primary historical theorists of anarchism
and of an anarchist orientation to feminist concerns, suggests in her book Anarchism and
Other Essays the following definition of anarchism as a project committed to the destruction
of all forms of oppression and domination:
Anarchism, then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the
dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of
property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands
for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of
producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee every human being free
access to the earth and the full enjoyment of the necessities of life, according to
individual desires, tastes, inclinations (Goldman, 1969 [1917], 62).

With swirling talk of Occupy movements, anti-globalization protests, Olympic and G8/G20
resistance and global movements on the rise, talk and engagement with anarchism seems to
be on the increase throughout the world. Randal Amster (2012), David Graeber (2009),
Richard Day (2005) and Uri Gordon (2008) (amongst others) have all pointed to the

1
 Sections
 of
 this
 chapter,
 and
 an
 edited
 version
 of
 Chapter
 3,
 were
 published
 as
 Lewis
 (2012).

Thanks
 are
 due
 to
 the
 helpful
 editors
 at
 Social
 Movement
 Studies
 for
 their
 comments
 and

suggestions.

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contemporary resonance of anarchism within broader social movements and point to its
contributions in both theory and practice.
This increasing interest in anarchism has led to further work on a variety of aspects
of anarchism and its relationships to other political and theoretical projects. This work has
challenged a variety of aspects of anarchism and sought to hold anarchism to its
commitment to resisting all forms of oppression and domination that manifest in society
while seeking to construct alternatives to the current dominant order.
Indigenous theory and practice2–including but not limited to Indigenous feminisms,
cultural resurgence, political theory, anti-colonialism and decolonization–has been largely
ignored by anarchists, save a small number of theorists and those on-the-ground movements
that are creating specific types of relationships with Indigenous peoples and communities.
Further, anti-colonialist calls for decolonization directed to settlers (an understanding of
which I offer later in this chapter) have largely gone unheeded by anarchists or at the very
minimum have not garnered widespread attention and development, especially within more
academic streams of anarchist theory. This is, therefore, a particular gap that might be

2 Although this is the shorthand terminology that I use to indicate my attention to the diverse
Indigenous understandings of political theory, direct action, community resistance, feminism,
epistemology, research methodology etc. it is important to note, following Simpson (2008, 44, note
39) that ‘The term “Indigenous theory” or “Indigenous Thought” is problematic because it
reinforces an artificial division between thought and embodiment. For Indigenous Peoples, thought
is fully integrated into living, being and performance of our traditions’. I use such a term here with
the understanding that Indigenous thought is specifically connected to Indigenous communities,
traditions, epistemologies and relationships to land. Settlers do not have such holistic connections to
this land, lacking a grounding in the interrelation of animate, inanimate and spiritual beings, having
lost such connections when we left our original landbases. This is not to say that settlers cannot
develop any relationships, but suggests that the relationship is located within a different grounding
than that of Indigenous peoples, who have been connected to these lands since time immemorial via
oral histories, traditions, ceremonies and cultural knowledges (see for ex. Atleo, 2004). Thus the term
Indigenous thought or Indigenous political theory encompasses a much deeper connection and form
of integration than Western or anarchist theory, and suggests that there will continue to be elements
that are unknowable and inappropriate for settlers to ‘know’ or ‘understand’ (see Haig-Brown, 2010).
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identified in anarchist theory most specifically, and within large anarchist currents more
broadly (see for example Ramnath 2011).
This thesis is an attempt to expand anarchist theory and practice in relation to
colonial histories and contemporary manifestations and anti-colonial, decolonizing and
unsettling (Regan 2010) work that has been taken up by Indigenous communities and their
settler allies, in part under the banner of anarcha-Indigenism. My aim is to develop and
expand anarcha-Indigenism in order to push anarchism further to respond to the work of
Indigenous peoples on colonization and decolonization and develop anarchism's own
perspective and commitment to anti-colonial resistance and solidarity with Indigenous
struggles of resurgence and resistance. I focus on contemporary theoretical and activist
works, most of which date within the last 20 years or so, to give context to the more
contemporary articulations of both anarchist and Indigenous theory and practice. This thesis,
therefore, does not perform a grand historical survey of all the potential engagements that
anarchist theory has had with either anti-colonialism or Indigenous peoples. Nor is it
exhaustive in examining any of the many themes in the following chapters. This is beyond
the scope and length of the current work here, though more in-depth treatments are to be
taken up in my later doctoral work.
Geographically, my work is located nearly exclusively within North America (or
Turtle Island, Anowarakowa Kawennote as termed by Haudenosaunee peoples (Alfred, 2005,
287) and in Nishnaabeg communities (Simpson, 2011, 65)) and even more so within the
colonial states of ‘Canada’ and the ‘United States’ (though the anarchist theory I engage does
come from the ‘Western’ world more broadly, including Western Europe). In part this focus
comes from my own participation in movements that exist in these two countries and that
frequently cross or seek to destroy the borders that exist between them. Indigenous peoples
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often refuse colonial borders all together, asserting the connections between Indigenous
nations that cross state-imposed borders. Although the term ‘Indigenous’ carries a far-
reaching definition, which I discuss in more detail below, I conceive of the term in reference
to the original peoples that continue to reside on Turtle Island, in territories claimed by the
Canadian and US colonial states. I have deliberately excluded Indigenous peoples in the
Mexican state on account of differing colonial histories and differing relationships to what
are admittedly largely white anarchist movements in North America. My focus is also
pragmatic in the sense that I am connected to Canadian and US anarchist movements, not
those within the Mexican state. My theoretical work here occurs within an entirely English
theoretical field, based on my own limitations and thus has centred on specific aspects of
North American anarchist and Indigenous theory and practice. This is not to say that there
aren’t useful and urgent questions or examinations elsewhere however, such an analysis is
beyond the scope and possibility of my current work.
Specifically, I frame the work of this thesis through anarcha-Indigenism, as a meeting
point developed between anarchism, Indigenous political theory and feminism, and seek to
expand the understanding and richness of this term and politics. Each of the subsequent
chapters interrogates specific aspects that meet under an anarcha-Indigenist commitment to
theory and action that can hopefully push anarchism to further its engagement with anti-
colonialism and decolonization.
With this general outline of the main themes and discussions of this thesis I now
turn to some of the considerations of why I have chosen to take up this work. I aim to
situate myself within the fields of anarchist and Indigenous political theory before discussing
the terminology of ‘colonialism’, ‘post-colonialism’, ‘anti-colonialism’, ‘settler’ and
‘Indigenous’ and presenting a more detailed outline of the chapters to come.
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