The Impossible Community: Realizing Communitarian Anarchism

324 Pages·2013·4.63 MB·English

by  John P. Clark

The Impossible

Community
CONTEMPORARY ANARCHIST STUDIES
A series edited by
Laurence Davis, National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Uri Gordon, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Israel
Nathan Jun, Midwestern State University, USA
Alex Prichard, London School of Economics, UK
Contemporary Anarchist Studies promotes the study of anarchism as a
framework for understanding and acting on the most pressing problems of
our times. The series publishes cutting edge, socially-engaged scholarship
from around the world – bridging theory and practice, academic rigor and
the insights of contemporary activism.
The topical scope of the series encompasses anarchist history and theory
broadly construed; individual anarchist thinkers; anarchist-informed analysis
of current issues and institutions; and anarchist or anarchist-inspired
movements and practices. Contributions informed by anti-capitalist,
feminist, ecological, indigenous, and non-Western or global South anarchist
perspectives are particularly welcome. So, too, are manuscripts that promise to
illuminate the relationships between the personal and the political aspects of
transformative social change, local and global problems, and anarchism and
other movements and ideologies. Above all, we wish to publish books that
will help activist scholars and scholar activists think about how to challenge
and build real alternatives to existing structures of oppression and injustice.
International Editorial Advisory Board:
Martha Ackelsberg, Smith College
John Clark, Loyola University
Jesse Cohn, Purdue University
Ronald Creagh, Université Paul Valéry
Marianne Enckell, Centre International de Recherches sur l’Anarchisme
Benjamin Franks, University of Glasgow
Judy Greenway, University of East London
Ruth Kinna, Loughborough University
Todd May, Clemson University
Salvo Vaccaro, Università di Palermo
Lucien van der Walt, University of the Witwatersrand
Charles Weigl, AK Press
The Impossible

Community
Realizing Communitarian
Anarchism
John P. Clark
NEW YORK • LONDON • NEW DELHI • SYDNEY
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
175 Fifth Avenue 50 Bedford Square
New York London
NY 10010 WC1B 3DP
USA UK
www.bloomsbury.com
First published 2013
© John P. Clark, 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting
on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication
can be accepted by Bloomsbury Academic or the author.
EISBN: 978-1-4411-5451-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clark, John P., 1945–
The impossible community : realizing communitarian anarchism / John P. Clark.
pages cm. – (Contemporary anarchist studies)
ISBN 978-1-4411-4225-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) –
ISBN 978-1-4411-8547-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Anarchism. 2. Socialism. I. Title.
HX833.C562 2013
335’.83–dc23
2012051337
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
CONTENTS

Preface vii
Acknowledgments ix
1 Introduction: In search of the impossible community 1
2 Critique of the Gotham Program: From libertarian

socialism to communitarian anarchism 27
3 The third concept of liberty: Theorizing the

free community 53
4 Against principalities and powers: Critique of

domination versus liberalization of domination 93
5 A narchy and the dialectic of utopia: The place of

no place 127
6 T he microecology of community: Toward a theory

of grassroots organization 149
7 B ridging the unbridgeable chasm: Personal

transformation and social action in anarchist
practice 169
8 D isaster anarchism: Hurricane Katrina and

the shock of recognition 193
vi CONTENTS
9 The common good: Sarvodaya and the Gandhian

legacy 217
10 Beyond the limits of the city: A communitarian

anarchist critique of libertarian municipalism 247
Bibliography 291
Index 303
PREFACE

This book is about the quest for the free community, the community of
liberation and solidarity. It seeks to convey the message that we need to
think more deeply and carefully about the meaning of free community, and
about the obstacles that stand in the way of its realization. Above all, it
seeks to convey the message: “create it now.”
Underlying this work is a sense of horror and a sense of hope. The horror
arises from the fact that humanity is in the process of inflicting on the planet
the sixth great mass extinction in the history of life on earth, while at the
same time we have the means to flourish without devastating the biosphere.
The horror arises from the fact that over a billion human beings live in
absolute poverty, suffering from chronic malnutrition and other ills, while
we have much more than an adequate material basis for a good life for all.
A question underlying everything here is why we continue to live in a state
of denial and disavowal, and how we might emerge from that state.
The hope comes from the fact that we have long had an answer to these
questions, and some have begun to make that answer a reality. The effective
response to such an extreme denial of reality was discovered thousands of
years ago. This response is that, first, we must do whatever is necessary
to awaken ourselves from our deadened state, and to open ourselves up
to reality, to others, to nature, to the things themselves. Second, we must
dedicate ourselves to a path of liberation and solidarity. And third, we
must find, here and now, a community of others who have taken the risk of
awakening, and who are following the same path, for this the only way that
the path can be sustained.
This work is inspired above all by the experience of community and
solidarity. I would like to express my deep gratitude for the knowledge,
support, and inspiration I have received from the many small groups,
communities, cooperatives, publishing projects, research groups, and
collectives in which I have participated, or to which I been close personally,
over the years, and which have in various ways helped shape my thoughts
and feelings about community.
Among these are A Rivista Anarchica, Black Pearl Mutual Aid and
Pleasure Club, Blue Iris Sangha, Borsodi’s Coffeehouse, Broadway Food
Co-op, Capitalism Nature Socialism, Centro Studi Libertari, Common
viii PREFACE
Ground Collective, Community Co-op, Crescent City Anti-Authoritarians,
Delta Greens, Divergences, Earth First!, Ecosocialist Horizons, Fifth Estate,
Freeport Watch, Free University of New Orleans, Frontyard Cooperative
Preschool, Glad Day Books, Harvest Moon Co-op, Industrial Workers of
the World, Innovative Education Coalition, Institute for Social Ecology,
Iron Rail Bookstore & Library, Lha Charitable Trust, Libertaria, Louisiana
Himalaya Association, Loyola Greens, Mesechabe, New Orleans Food
Co-op, New Orleans Food Not Bombs, New Orleans Free School Network,
New Orleans Friends Meeting, New Orleans Libertarian Alliance, New
Orleans Philocafé, New Orleans Social Ecology Group, NOLA Anarchists,
North American Anarchist Studies Network, Pax Christi New Orleans,
Occupy NOLA, Oystershell Alliance, Planet Drum Foundation, Psychic
Swamp, Research on Anarchism, Seventh Ward Soul Patrol, Solidarity
Economy Group, “Street Named Desire” Collective, University Cooperative
Preschool, and the ZigZag Study Group.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Portions of this book were published previously. We are grateful to the
following publications and presses for their generous permission to reprint
the text.
To Situations: Project of the Radical imagination, a publication of The
CUNY Graduate Center for portions of Chapter 2: Critique of the Gotham
Program.
To Manchester University Press for portions of Chapter 5: Anarchy and
the Dialectic of Utopia.
To Capitalism Nature Socialism for portions of Chapter 6: The
Microecology of Community, Chapter 8: Disaster Anarchism, Chapter 9:
The Common Good.
To Perspectives in Anarchist Theory for portions of Chapter 7: Bridging
the Unbridgeable Chasm.
To Guilford Press for portions of Chapter 10: Beyond the Limits of the
City.
To the Journal of Environmental Thought and Education and Sougou
Ningengaku (Synthetic Anthropology) for portions of Chapter 3: The Third
Concept of Liberty.