Anarchism is old, and the internet is new. Younger people’s views on the subject are severely over-represented on internet forums, and lack the experience and gravitas of a longer life of living anarchism.
Anarchism is both a theory and a practice, and while I don’t agree with Chomsky on all counts, I deeply respect his practice of the philosophy throughout his life. He was a champion of anarchism at a time when it was even more unpopular and repressed, and his tireless advocacy had given it stronger roots that bear fruit to this day.
I wouldn’t say that Chomsky-anarchism is watered down; only that Chomsky saw anarchism not as a terminal goal, but a means to end war, poverty, and systemic injustice. Defining specifically and succinctly what that anarchism looks like takes a back seat to identifying and critiquing the systems of control and power that were obstacles to those terminal goals. It’s very easy to determine what anarchism is not from Chomsky’s corpus; but it will leave you unsatisfied if you’re looking for someone to describe exactly what is the perfect Anarchism. I don’t think Chomsky was wrong in his focus.
I don’t mean to denigrate anarchists that only seem to exist on the internet, what is theory today may be practice tomorrow. But it’s helpful to study lives, societies, and groups that are practicing anarchist ideas and doing anarchist work.
Anarchists during the French Commune, Spanish Civil War or the Russian Revolution formed militia, rationed resources, distributed land. They built mutual agreements similar to constitutions, and created incentives to keep those agreements. They created laws by popular assembly, and enforced those laws. They made a lot of mistakes we can learn from, but it was the overwhelming forces that opposed them rather than the flaws in their beliefs that doomed their movements.
The lesson I think you’re picking up is that they’re a lot of diversity in Anarchist thought, and no single authority on what is or isn’t anarchist. While enforcing the ontological boundaries of anarchism isn’t a worthless endeavor, living anarchism is much more difficult and meritorious. You could pick a much worse model than Noam Chomsky.
Anarchism is old, and the internet is new. Younger people’s views on the subject are severely over-represented on internet forums, and lack the experience and gravitas of a longer life of living anarchism.
Anarchism is both a theory and a practice, and while I don’t agree with Chomsky on all counts, I deeply respect his practice of the philosophy throughout his life. He was a champion of anarchism at a time when it was even more unpopular and repressed, and his tireless advocacy had given it stronger roots that bear fruit to this day.
I wouldn’t say that Chomsky-anarchism is watered down; only that Chomsky saw anarchism not as a terminal goal, but a means to end war, poverty, and systemic injustice. Defining specifically and succinctly what that anarchism looks like takes a back seat to identifying and critiquing the systems of control and power that were obstacles to those terminal goals. It’s very easy to determine what anarchism is not from Chomsky’s corpus; but it will leave you unsatisfied if you’re looking for someone to describe exactly what is the perfect Anarchism. I don’t think Chomsky was wrong in his focus.
I don’t mean to denigrate anarchists that only seem to exist on the internet, what is theory today may be practice tomorrow. But it’s helpful to study lives, societies, and groups that are practicing anarchist ideas and doing anarchist work.
Anarchists during the French Commune, Spanish Civil War or the Russian Revolution formed militia, rationed resources, distributed land. They built mutual agreements similar to constitutions, and created incentives to keep those agreements. They created laws by popular assembly, and enforced those laws. They made a lot of mistakes we can learn from, but it was the overwhelming forces that opposed them rather than the flaws in their beliefs that doomed their movements.
The lesson I think you’re picking up is that they’re a lot of diversity in Anarchist thought, and no single authority on what is or isn’t anarchist. While enforcing the ontological boundaries of anarchism isn’t a worthless endeavor, living anarchism is much more difficult and meritorious. You could pick a much worse model than Noam Chomsky.