Anarchism “People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.” -Emma Goldman
Anarchism can be loosely defined as a “social philosophy which aims at the emancipation; economic, social, political, and spiritual, of the human race.” (Emma Goldman) In the simplest terms, no one is your master and no one is your slave. Many average people misconstrue the term “anarchy” as chaos, mayhem, disorder, violence, no disincentive for bad behavior, no such thing as right and wrong, no cooperation or organization (survival of the fittest), and no protection from thugs or foreign invaders (every man for himself). However this is not the case. In fact, the anarchism symbol of an “A” with an “O” surrounding it represents the meaning “anarchism is the mother of order”.
Anarchism has no true “founding fathers”. The word anarchy derives from the play “Seven Against Thebes” by Aeschylus in 467 BC where the words “anarchos” and “anarchia” were used which means “without ruler”. Many attempts were made to liberate humanity from a form of government/authority. For example, in 1649 Gerard Winstanley wrote the pamphlet, "Truth Lifting Up Its Head Above Scandals", and he wrote that” power corrupts, that property is incompatible with freedom, and that men can only be free and happy in a society without governmental interference, where work and its products are shared (what was to become the foundation for Anarchist theory in the years to come). He led a group of followers to a hillside where they established an Anarchist village, but this experiment was quickly destroyed by local opposition”. (Brian Crabtree)
Mainly, any individual going against any type of authority is considered to be an anarchist in the eyes of a true anarchist. Technically YOU, the reader, is also considered an anarchist. Not because you've CHOSEN to read my writing but because you are a living breathing human being who has clearly demonstrated free will and believe it or not, you own yourself and should never let anyone else tell you otherwise; and any attempt to deny this fundamental fact of human existence, is an attempt to deny your very free will.
In today’s society, however, we are not all “free” and we are imprisoned to our religious beliefs, imprisoned to our coercion of property, and shackled/restrained by our government. The rest of the paragraph is mine and most anarchists’ personal beliefs on controversial issues that we see as corrupting the human mind. So to elaborate on “we are imprisoned to our religious beliefs”, I interpret it as follows. Religion is powerfully motivating and belligerent humans fight over it. It goes from parents forbidding their children to marry people of other genders, religions or races to people fighting over and in history having wars over which God is better, holy lands, and “because God told them to.” Even today religion still causes conflict. (I actually wrote more here about religion but noticed I was ranting too much)
Modern society, more than any other time, the average American citizen is persuaded to believe that there is a social norm, and if you are not a part of this class then you are considered an outcast. For example, everybody in school just got the new iPhone and you are the only one still with a Motorola Razor. Your choice is to either conform or go with the crowd or to be seen in their eyes as the pariah. Same goes for physical appearance. We see all these ads with celebrities and models with extremely good looking characteristics and are almost forced to believe we have to be like them; how they dress, their body type, hairstyle, etc. Anarchists believe that this type authority should not rule over US. We believe that we should be ourselves and express true free will to do, dress, and/or look how WE want and not how anyone else would think of us.
An anarchist believes that government should be abolished. Another symbol of anarchism representing this is the “black flag”, which represents the absence of a flag and means the rejection of the idea that any person, institution, or state can sufficiently represent a group of individuals. Some people dismiss anarchism as a Utopian idea that would only work if everyone were generous and compassionate. Obviously everyone is not generous and compassionate all the time. But these people need to look at the other side of the coin. If people are too stupid, greedy, and malicious to be free, aren't they too stupid, greedy and malicious to rule over others? In fact I have a great example of how greedy our ruling class really is which might shock you. We have already developed the cure for most cancers. If you don’t believe me there are numerous sites which can prove you otherwise. The case is, the cure is so cheap that it would cost pharmaceutical companies millions of dollars if they switched into testing and distributing the cure. This is due to the fact that chemotherapy cost runs an average person about $10000 and it would cost these business owners to lose lots of money. So at the cost of HUMAN LIVES, they decide to keep it hush-hush and forbid funding of the dispensary of the real cure. I actually KNOW a stem cell researcher who keeps a vial of concentrated stem cells because if he were ever to get a fatal disease, poison, cancer, etc., he can formulate an antidote using the vial for it. (Not the cure for cancer I found but just a fun fact) Anarchism is probably one of the most important philosophies in my life right now. It inspires me to not care what anyone else thinks about me. It also influences me to strive for all my long and short-term dreams. This is because I believe that in this one life I most likely ever get to experience, I should live my life to the true fullest potential and not let anyone have authority over my actions. Furthermore, I believe that if a person wants something bad enough, they should seize it in the most intelligent matter possible. Lastly, like Kurt Cobain once stated “the duty of youth is to challenge corruption” and many people in my generation are so closed minded and boring.
This speech I can honestly say is one of my favorite movie speeches. When I first saw this speech I already believed in everything he said but it made me more motivated to do even better. In his time where the world was going through dark times he was able to show many the “light”, beauty, and humanity. His very stimulating message encourages the viewer to do away with hate, intolerance, greed, and brutality and evokes his audience to unite against unnatural men like Hitler. This speech has pure anarchism beliefs in the aspect where all humans are equal and nobody should rule over us. Charlie Chaplin himself is a political anarchist. He’s given me a reason to help make everyone’s life on this world “free and beautiful”.
One online digital group of anarchists are the Anonymous of 4chan.org. Anonymous are a group of anarchists whom oppose censorship and control from hierarchies. The Anonymous group has no leaders; rather a well-organized group of individuals who work together for a common goal or “simply for lulz”. The Anonymous were able to hack and shutdown systems of the Department of Energy, FBI, U.S. Army, Department of Help and Human Services and others. Most Anons believe that the government is corrupted by greed and Anons work to protect the rights of all individuals globally.
Anarchistrevolt.com is a website written by a person who uses the alias "Punkerslut". This person defines their website as "the soft hum of electronic propaganda, an online repository of subversive literature, a classic example of reckless freedom of speech." This site aims to educate people about anarchism through articles, critiques, books, music, video, and graphics. Furthermore it makes the viewer more curious as to what really is going on around them and question everything more frequently.
Anarchism.net is a more biased view on anarchism. They more or less fit into one school of thought of anarchism but aim to provide a basis for open discussion where all anarchists are welcome By doing so, they are able to build an all anarchist network where all the ideological views of anarchism can be pooled together to formulate radical ideas of freedom and liberty. Even though some anarchist ideas do not coincide with each other, the unity of these ideas can make powerful insights and arguments for abolishing the state. This website also offers their own opinion on how the ideal "free" society can be established.,