1mo ago

The liberal brain simply cannot comprehend anarchism

Libs thinking we're on their side, until the point we reject electoralism and US imperialist propaganda. Then label as as "tankies".

Campists thinking we're on their side until the point we reject "AES" and "left unity". Then label as a "liberals".

Anarchists are clearly the rare species of "liberal tankie" 😆

92 comments

I took college courses on comparative politics. It wasn't until I read The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin that I really understood what anarchy and communism are. I really love that book. It does a great job of portraying that world from both a biased, personal lens and then again from outsiders perspectives.
That being said - until we have a planet dedicated to it, I believe any attempt at anarchy will just get overrun by coordinated assholes with guns (read: states).
- Finding a way to defend yourself without reinventing the machinery of the state is certainly one of the larger practical problems facing anarchism.
  
  Anarchists can defend themselves just fine. We just need to learn not to trust MLs and libs to do it with as they'll backstab anarchists at the first opportunity they have to grab power. This sort of rhetoric is like claiming that democracy is a failed concept in the middle ages, because democracies "can't defend themselves from monarchies" or some shit.
  
  Honestly it makes me understand why tankies exist. I don't agree with them, but I get it. Just like I get capitalism. They both suck but they're both right for different reasons.
- Most anarchists agree that there is need for some kind of transitional society. Just not what tankies call "socialism".
- The dispossessed had the same affect on me as well, though i only recently read it, about a year ago.
- Even with our own planet, I fear someone would chuck an asteroid our way, à la "it's free real estate!" once the dust settles...
- never heard of that book, I'll add it to my reading list;
  
  ++ recommend. Dont expect that there isnt criticism of the anarchist state
My favorite definition comes from an anarchist woodworker.
Yes. Anarchist woodworker.
You can buy the book or download the PDF for free:
Anarchist's Tool Chest:
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-tool-chest
"For me, it’s quickest to explain what anarchy isn’t. It’s not about violence, the overthrow of governments, the dismantling of corporations or even the smoking of a mild hallucinogen made from boiling banana peels (actually, I tried this. I don’t recommend it or the searing headache it brings). Instead, anarchism is the realization that all large institutions – governments, corporations, churches – have divided up the tasks we do in our jobs to the point where these institutions do wasteful, dehumanizing and stupid things.
Eunice Minette Schuster states in the book “Native American Anarchism” that American aesthetic anarchy is “the isolation of the individual – his right to his own tools, his mind, his body, and to the products of his labor.”
It’s a desire to work for yourself and to run in social and economic circles made up of other individual artisans."
2 other books in the series, same deal, PDFs are free.
Anarchist's Workbench:
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-workbench
Anarchist's Design Book:
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-design-book
Also worth reading:
Ingenious Mechanicks:
https://lostartpress.com/products/ingenious-mechanicks
- Eunice Minette Schuster states in the book “Native American Anarchism” that American aesthetic anarchy is “the isolation of the individual – his right to his own tools, his mind, his body, and to the products of his labor.”
  It’s a desire to work for yourself and to run in social and economic circles made up of other individual artisans."
  And when EVERYONE's petty bourgeoisie, no one will be.
- Thank you for this post. This is gold praxis.
I mean its pugjesus man, no one that dedicated to criticizing leftists isn't a cryptofash
- Impossible, his other favorite things are the Roman Empire (specifically not the Republic) and the universe of 40k!
  
  As we all know, normal liberals like Rome and Warhammer, and not fascists on Twitter.
- He punches left, then wonders why leftists don't like him.
- Buddy it's lemmy, there are no conservatives here. Punching left when the only place to punch is left hardy makes someone a "crypto-fascist" lmao
  
  Yeah but its like ~~nearly all they do~~ a core part of their identity. It's not that they punch left its how often they do it, how they do it, and the rhetoric they have shown themselves to be comfortable with.
Filtering Pugjesus' posts was the greatest boost to my lemmy experience.
- And any complaining about evil ml
  
  Lol filtering ml was the biggest boost for me
this whole thing has been salami tactics, but applied to instances.
like they just make up shit, but as long as it's about 'tankies' it just goes around getting repeated unverified. they then expand the definition of 'tankie' as they see fit.
- So what you’re saying is, first they came for the “authoritarian” communists.
  Speaking of: you seldom come across the original version these days. “Communist” is almost always replaced with “socialist,” because fuck tankies.
shocking that turbolib pugjesus would be totally ignorant of what anarchism is.
Wasn't this under the post about someone denying Uyghur genocide?
- “Denying” is a strong hyperbole to “overblowning.” Pugjesus is literally tankiejacketing instance administrators in an attempt to coagulate enforcement with his fash dynamics.
  Instead of collaborating means of liberation, he’s not ending American DeathCamps in his own yard. Something about an a log stuck on your eye and all that.
  
  @rockerface@lemmy.cafe downvote me all you like. Pugjesus is comfortable sending Palestine genocide protestors to deathcamps, and he’s doing shit about it.
  Talk about denying Gaza genocide. Fucking ameko.
This was posted in MeanwhileOnGrad. There's a level of dedicated anti-socialism there that's a bit beyond using even the most pejorative use of 'lib'.
- /c/MeanwhileOnFash™
  
  thanks I'm stealing this for !libjerk@anarchist.nexus for a bit
Dude is a joker at best. Not worth taking seriously.
But what libs don't realize is that they're just western tankies. Same ideology, different empires.
- It's the other way around. Tankjesus has to be taken seriously as a fascist saboteur, instead of a jokester.
  Let me know first hand when he liberated 🇺🇲. He seems to be enjoying deathcamps too much.
Old mate puggy is like the embodiment of the ?mark fischer? quote "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism".
Then again, apparently I'm a tankie and racist who's going to move to the usa to inform on people with the wrong paperwork according to one user here.
we reject “AES” and “left unity”
Real Spanish Republican Hours. Who is ready for the next Franco Dictatorship?
anarchists being called tankies made me shit my pants laughing
It really fucks up my mind trying to say who's the worst anarchist between the ones defending america's propaganda and the ones defending china's genocide. And it's not like they're really that much disagreeing, it's just relatively minor differences in their analysis, they all could probably agree that China is genociding Uyghurs and that Western right wings are amplifying it.
Clueless right wingers.
There is no such thing as left unity.
- orgs with differing views work together all the time including many flavours of unions, religious organizations, and lefty organizations. Just because people can’t agree on a particular theoretical point online doesn’t mean they don’t unite around causes irl.
  
  Looking at the current political climate with a unified right and a disorganized left I’d have to disagree.
- Sure there is - hating the Trots!
  
  I think everyone of any political stripe can agree that diarrhea sucks.
  Except libertarians they probably like that shit.
If nothing else, anarchists need to rebrand and come up with a new name for the same philosophy. "Anarchism" as a term has long been thoroughly poisoned. People who aren't deep into political theory at best dismiss it as an edge lord philosophy.
- There's no term that will not be poisoned. We saw it happen with innocent things like DEI, BLM, Woke and so much more. changing names is not achieving anything, but if you want you can use libertarian socialism.
- Why should we change when they misunderstand what the word means?
  
  Because at some point, the philosophical has to give way to the practical, unless you intend for your movement to be nothing more than an academic thought exercise. The unfortunate reality is branding matters. At a population level, no amount of explaining or reading suggestions is going to break through the preconceived notions people have about anarchism.
- I mean, it’s kind of like the difference between “feminist” and “egalitarian”. All egalitarians are inherently feminists. But not all feminists are egalitarians. Part of the issue is that you can’t stop others from claiming the title, even if you disagree with them. Anyone can claim to be an anarchist, the same way anyone can claim to be a feminist. Even if their views on specific policies differ from your own, or from what most would consider anarchist.
  And opponents have 100% used this to poison movements, by inserting living strawmen into groups, then pointing at them to portray the entire group as crazy.
Solidarity.
- Yeah this is not the space for you to go on a platform. Check the sidebar
  
  OK. I see it now.

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