Anarchism

1419 readers
97 users here now

Discuss anarchist praxis and philosophy. Don't take yourselves too seriously.


Other anarchist comms

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
26
 
 

I found this answer on a reddit thread pertaining to the question and I thought it would be worth sharing.

“ Becoming disabled in my late 20s greatly accelerated my move towards radical leftism. As such I can speak to why ideologies like this appeal to disabled people, even if I can't go into the nitty-gritty details.

Disability is explicitly incompatible with the capitalist system. The way it's supposed to work is that you work for the means of survival, and then the meritocracy rewards those who work harder or in a more innovative way with luxuries and wealth. Those who refuse to work are left by the wayside; people who only do the bare minimum only recieve the bare minimum in return.

(This is bullshit, but that's how it's supposed to work)

The existence of disabled people is a massive problem for this system. What is society to do with people who are unable to work through no fault of their own? Leaving them (that is to say, us) to starve would clearly be barbaric, which is why only conservatives will countenance it, and even then they usually have enough shame not to say so directly.

The enlightened, progressive solution to this problem--the one that even those supposedly socialist European countries deploy--is to give disabled people the bare minimum they need to survive. Obviously we won't leave them out on the streets, but giving them enough money to go on holidays or buy nice things, or even to live independantly on their own, well that would be unfair! People are supposed to earn those things. From the meritocracy. The reality is that once you become disabled, the things that are supposed to make life under a capitalist system worth living are placed beyond your reach.

To a mind not warped by neoliberal capitalism, this is clearly absurd and cruel. The only reason why this attitude would ever be seen as reasonable is because we live in a system that enshrines ruthless competition between people as a positive good, and in which all things are provided to others for profit.

I currently live in a country that has a generous and accessible benefits system compared to the US and UK, and even then my disability payments would not be enough for me to live on by themselves. The only reason I can live comfortably in my current situation is because of other factors, which are mostly down to luck and privilege. Had I been born in a different situation or if random events outside my control had played out differently, I would be far worse off than I am now, with no way to improve my circumstances.

Again: this is the humane, progressive solution to the "problem" of disability.

Anarchism isn't the only ideology that pushes back against this--any anticapitalist worldview is addressing the root cause of oppression of the disabled--but I find the anarchist focus on grassroots mutual aid to be very positive. I am skeptical of the willingness of a communist state to treat disabled people better than capitalist governments currently do. Even if they did, I inherently dislike the idea that my quality of life and humanity are in the hands of a centralized authority with the power to discard them if it's deemed to be necessary. “

source: reddit, r/anarchy101

27
 
 
28
29
 
 

She speculated that it was recipes.

30
31
37
submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
 

I had a discussion with @[email protected] recently where they insisted that Anarchists on Hexbear accept Lenin's analysis of Imperialism and therefore all support "Actual Existing Socialist" states such as Cuba, USSR and I guess North Korea as well.

In fact, they argued it's the reason most anarchists of Hexbear don't like to discuss anarchism away from hexbear, explicitly because outside anarchists do not support "AES".

So I'm curious to see what your thoughts are on this. If you're an anarchist who supports "AES" how do you square this support with the conflict these states have with anarchist theory on hierarchy?

32
84
submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
 

You call out Russia or China, MLs think if they regurgitate "read theory" that solves my issues with them.

You call out American liberals and how they aid fascists, you're calling a secret Trump supporter.

You say that genocide is an evil action, liberals and Tankies will defend their favorite country's actions because you're a shill for the enemy if you do.

You say America did something kinda good, you're somehow a neolib in disguise. You lightly praise the USSR, you're Stalin's second cousin as an AI.

I just don't want people harmed by a government force. Fuck me, I guess? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills for applying the same morals to every politician and country, even ones I live in or slightly like.

Edit: If someone said it was annoying being an leftist and a bunch of liberals came in exusing their actions and doubling down, everyone would be singing a different tune. Just kinda fascinating.

33
 
 

Found some discussion on hexbear where dbzer0 was once more found to be living rent-free in their heads, but it got me thinking:

I find it telling that tankies will constantly prattle about "critical-support" of fascist chuds like Asad, and red-fash regimes like North Korea, or more often, just unironically bring up bog-standard SocDem capitalism like China as "Actually Existing Socialism" (AES), but will immediately marginalize, dehumanize or expel from their spaces anarchists who don't support AES, or who support market-based forms of socialism (such as mutualism).

Likewise, why not give "critical support" to other SocDems for their good policies? (note, I don't support socdems in either liberal-capitalist of state-capitalist form, I'm just asking questions, philosophically)

I can't quite put into words why this bothers me, but I suspect it's due to the usual hypocrisy I see from them. What do you think of this phenomenon?

34
 
 

Wrote this a while ago, but someone just brought back the same tired argument 16 years later (goddamn!) so I felt it was a good time to repost.

35
36
 
 

agdo.blackblogs.org

Edit: I dont get why people feel like they need to image negative things when they see a cute and obviously consensual group cuddling. Maybe they should start looking inward and think about what makes them doing that.

37
38
 
 
39
8
The Beginning of the Middle (all-cats-are-beautiful.ghost.io)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
40
 
 

when asked to share your fav text/writing/blog/etc. on anarchy or anarchist principals, historical or modern, what do you send and why?

41
42
 
 

Anark explains how a celebrated essay by Engels is utter garbage.

43
42
The Anarchist Library (theanarchistlibrary.org)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/26614587

The Anarchist Library is a great archive of free books and essays on the topic of Anarchism. Some newer books won't be available there due to copyright (thanks Capitalism! /s).

Here's some recommendations to get you started:

*Dear mod: I don't think there's any copyright concerns with the linked texts, but if there is I'll remove the direct links. I only added them because the search function on the archiveis a bit borked, so it can be hard to find what you're looking for.

44
45
 
 

Today is the 97th anniversary of the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti.

46
47
 
 

A very interesting counter argument to the pro-electoralism position as presented by counterpoints

48
 
 
49
50
view more: ‹ prev next ›