Portal:Anarchism

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Anarchism (from Greek ἀν (without) + ἄρχειν (to rule) + ισμός (from stem -ιζειν), "without archons," "without rulers") is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support anarchy or the elimination of state, abolition of private property, and prefigurative politics (i.e. modes of organization that consciously resemble the world you want to create. Or, as an anarchist historian of the Spanish Revolution formulated, "an effort to think of not only the ideas but the facts of the future itself".) Though the terms "anarchist" and "anarchy" have been used to describe purported anti-statists and their positions since ancient times, political anarchism originates with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the first self-declared anarchist, and his publication of What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government in 1840. Proudhon's famous declaration that "Property is Theft!," along with his less famous declaration that "Property is Liberty", inspired different anarchist economic models throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

While political anarchism has its roots in the same 19th century social foment that produced Marxism, the two philosophies diverged sharply, beginning with a personal split between Karl Marx and anarchist Mikhail Bakunin. Anarchists were active in the abolition of slavery, and have continually been active in the labor movement, civil rights, women's liberation, anti-capitalism, the anti-war movement, LGBT rights, anti-globalization and alter-globalization, tax resistance, and other forms of anarchist activism.

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I once believed it's too bad that there are a lot of people who work for government who are hard-working and honest people who will get hit (by Assassination Politics) and it's a shame…Well, I don't believe that any more. They are all either crooks or they tolerate crooks or they are aware of crooks among their numbers.

Jim Bell in interview with Wired, on 2000-11-11.

Jim Bell (born James Dalton Bell, 1958) is a contemporary American crypto-anarchist theorist and activist. Bell attracted wide attention in 1996 when he authored a notorious crypto-anarchist essay called "Assassination Politics", which detailed an elaborate assassination market in which anonymous benefactors could securely order assassinations of government officials via the Internet. Bell was targeted and identified by the Federal government of the United States as a "techno-terrorist" in 1997 and following an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, was arrested and subsequently jailed for 11 months on felony charges of harassment and using fraudulent Social Security numbers.

While he was serving his sentence, two of Bell's acolytes succeeded in partially implementing his assassination market scheme and were also swiftly charged and jailed. After his release, Bell was subjected to heavy surveillance and was rearrested for harassment and stalking of federal agents, charged with intimidation and stalking and again imprisoned, this time for a decade-long sentence. Bell protested vociferously against the conduct of the trial, going so far as to file civil lawsuits against two judges, at least two prosecutors, his former probation officers and his defense attorneys, but ultimately to no avail. Bell was hailed by Wired in 2001 as "[o]ne of the Internet's most famous essayists" and "the world's most notorious crypto-convict". (read more...)

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Engraving of the seven Haymarket Martyrs sentenced to death after the Haymarket Riot in Chicago, 1886
Credit: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

Engraving of the seven anarchists sentenced to death in the aftermath of the Haymarket affair, a bombing in Chicago, United States in 1886. The event was a significant milestone in the history of anarchism and of anarchism in the United States, and marked the beginning of the annual tradition of May Day labor movement protests.

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Despite the popular idea of anarchists as violent men, Anarchism is the one non-violent social philosophy.… The function of the Anarchist is two-fold. By daily courage in non-cooperation with the tyrannical forces of the State and the Church, he helps to tear down present society; the Anarchist by daily cooperation with his fellows in overcoming evil with good-will and solidarity builds toward the anarchistic commonwealth which is formed by voluntary action with the right of secession.
Ammon Hennacy, The Book of Ammon, 1964

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