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| '''Post-colonial anarchism''' is a new tendency within the larger ] movement. The name is taken from an essay by Roger White, one of the founders of ] and a well known activist in ]n ] circles. Post-colonial anarchism is an attempt to bring together disparate aspects and tendencies within the existing anarchist movement and re-envision them in an explicitly ] framework. Where traditional anarchism is a movement arising from the struggles of ] in industrialized western European nations - and thus sees history from their perspective - post-colonial anarchism approaches the same principles of ], ], opposition to ], and community-level self-management, ], and ] from the perspective of colonized peoples throughout the world. In doing so it does not seek to invalidate the contributions of the more established anarchist movement, but rather seeks to add a unique and important perspective. The tendency is strongly influenced by ], anti-state forms of ], ] among other sources. | |||
| == Issues == | |||
| Post-colonial anarchism is syncretic and diverse, incorporating a wide range of sources, as is to be expected from a tendency which draws from such a wide range of perspectives. | |||
| ===Nationalism=== | |||
| ] have a long history, going back to prominent anarchist theorist ]'s early involvement in the ] movement. Anarchists have participated in left-nationalist movements in ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and many other nations. Modern anarchist organizations working on ]s include the ] in ]. | |||
| While post-colonial anarchism clearly has objections to nationalism,{{specify}} it recognizes that a key element of imperialism is the waging of ] by the conquerers against subject nations in an attempt to destroy the identity of the conquered and make them easier to govern. Post-colonial anarchism therefore seeks not only the abolition of ] and the ], but is an effort by colonized peoples to promote, preserve, and defend their cultures, dignity, and identity. As ] puts it in "Beyond Nationalism but Not Without It": | |||
| <blockquote>For me, even the nationalism of a Louis Farrakhan is about saving my people, though it is also thoroughly sexist, capitalist, homophobic and potentially fascist. Yet, it has played an important part in keeping a certain black pride and resistance going. Their "on the ground" work is very important in keeping an anti-racist mentality going. As a black anarchist, that’s MY issue to deal with cuz they’se MY FOLKS. But it points to where anarchism and nationalism have differences, and that is in anarchists having NO understanding of what it means to be BLACK in this fucked up society.<ref>Ashanti Alston. Anarchist Panther Zine issue 1. </ref></blockquote> | |||
| Ashanti thus sees value in the ] where it acts as a force for good by helping ] in America stand up for themselves and demand equality, but also recognizes the negative impacts of the N.O.I.'s approach and urges the black community to stand up and speak out against the N.O.I. and other ] groups where they cross the line from pride in self to the promotion of ] against others. He is also strongly critical of the larger anarchist movements tendency to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater and dismiss black nationalism and other national liberation struggles out of hand. | |||
| At root, the basic difference between anarchism and anti-state nationalism is that in nationalism the primary political unit is the ], or ], whereas in an anarchist system the primary political unit is either the individual (in ]) or the local community (in ]). Post-colonial anarchism is therefore clearly distinct from any form of nationalism in that it does not seek to make the nation a political unit - let alone the primary political unit. Just as social anarchists seek to create a socialist economy but oppose the tyranny of Marxist ], post-colonial anarchists oppose the tyranny of nationalism. and argue that the achievement of meaningful ] for all of the world's nations requires an anarchist political system based on local control, free federation and ]. <ref>Post Colonial Anarchism, by Roger White. Anarchism, nationalism, and national liberation from an APOC perspective.</ref> | |||
| ===Race and racism=== | |||
| Post-colonial anarchism is self-consciously ], though different groups have differing ideas of what that means. ]-identified groups seek to bring together the perspectives of ] within the anarchist movement and have a strong commitment to combating white supremacy, but are often reluctant to recognize the validity and importance of anti-imperialist struggles in Europe. Indigenist thinkers like ], by contrast, make a point of showing support for such movements and actively encourages white anti-racists to explore and learn from historical and ongoing anti-imperialist struggles in Europe. All the various strains of post-colonial anarchism, however, are explicitly opposed to and denounce claims of ] by any group and see the abolition of racism as a fundamental goal of anarchism. | |||
| Post-Colonial Anarchists are also opposed to attempts by far-right groups, including ] to appropriate Anarchist rhetoric and use it to promote racial and cultural segregation.<ref>Autonomism & the Culture War, by Lynx. http://emceelynx.com/2008/06/autonomis/</ref> | |||
| ==African anarchism== | |||
| {{Main article|Anarchism in Africa}} | |||
| ] and ] in ''African Anarchism: The History of a Movement'' make the claim that: | |||
| {{cquote|To a greater or lesser extent, all of traditional African societies manifested “anarchic elements” which, upon close examination, lend credence to the historical truism that governments have not always existed. They are but a recent phenomenon and are, therefore, not inevitable in human society. While some “anarchic” features of traditional African societies existed largely in past stages of development, some of them persist and remain pronounced to this day.}} | |||
| The reason why traditional African societies are characterized as "anarchies" is because of their horizontal political structure and absence of classes. In addition to that leadership of elders normally did not transcend into the authoritative structure, which characterizes the modern state (see also ]' thesis expounded in ''Society Against the State''). | |||
| Starting in the ] the ] began to form in the last empires of Africa, although it had already existed in some African civilizations (such as ], ], ] and ]) for millennia. However, many societies have until this day remained as what is called “tribes without rulers”, a form of “ordered anarchy”. | |||
| From a post-colonial perspective, African anarchism is therefore an attempt to re-imagine anarchist politics based on a conception of anarchism not as some utopian future society, but as a real functional model for society which was actually the norm for pre-conquest Africa, was disturbed by European aggression and imperialism, and which provides the single best blueprint for how African societies can move forward and create a just and equitable future. | |||
| ==Celtic anarchism== | |||
| The most basic aspect of the ] tendency is the belief that pre-conquest ] societies had strong aspects in common with anarchist ideals of how society should be structured, and that modern anarchists would do well to investigate these early models. ], prior to ]'s invasion, is held up as a positive example. The tendency is thus similar to ] in that it seeks inspiration for anarchism in the history and practices of ancestors, rather then relying solely on political theory and speculation. There is also a strong movement to seek out the good in the ongoing anti-imperialist movements in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Bretony, Cornwall, and Galicia. | |||
| ===Ecology=== | |||
| The influence of the modern revival of Celtic culture on anarchism are particularly evident within the radical wing of the ], particularly ]. ] is one of the largest networks organizing around these issues and is organized along anarchist lines with many of the people who work under its banner self-identifying as anarchists. It is perhaps natural that the ] and ] Earth First! movements in particular would seek inspiration from and consciously seek linkages with Celtic identities, given that the ancient Celts are commonly portrayed as being more in touch with nature then modern consumer society. ''The Earth First Journal'', the main publication of the movement, organizes its printing schedule around the Neopagan ], which consists of four Gaelic festivals and four Germanic ones, with issues named for ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. <ref></ref> | |||
| ===Post-colonial anarchism in Ireland=== | |||
| The armed struggle against British rule in Ireland, particularly up to and during the ], is portrayed as a ] struggle within the Celtic anarchist mileau. Anarchists, including the Irish ], support a complete end to British involvement in Ireland, a stance traditionally associated with ], but are also very critical of statist nationalism and the ] in particular. In two articles published on Anarkismo.net, Andrew Flood of the WSM outlines what he argues was the betrayal of class struggle by the IRA during the war of independence,<ref name=irl>Flood, Andrew. "", Anarkismo.net.</ref> and argues that the ] of traditional Irish nationalism forced it to place the interests of wealthy Irish nationalists who were financing the revolution ahead of the interests of the vast majority of Ireland's poor. The example of the ], a workers militia which was led by ] and based in the radical wing of the Irish union movement, is held up as a better example of how the larger revolutionary movement could have - and should have - been organized. | |||
| Anarchists are extremely critical of the ], because of its use of what they see as terrorist violence and internal ]ism. From the anarchist view, British and Irish nationalism are both statist, authoritarian, and seek to dominate and exploit the Irish nation to empower their competing ]s. Anarchism would instead create a political system without states and where communities are self-governing on the local level. The achievement of home-rule, or political self-determination, is therefore a precondition for and a consequence of anarchism. At root then, the anarchist objection to Irish nationalism is that nationalists use reprehensible means to demand far too little. Still, anarchists seek to learn from and examine the liberatory aspects of the struggle for Irish independence and the W.S.M. includes a demand for complete British withdrawal from North Ireland in its platform. | |||
| ==Chicano anarchism== | |||
| ] anarchism is an effort to understand how anarchism relates to the Chicano experience in the United States, or better said how the two relate to one another. A Chicano/a being a person of ] descent who was born and raised in the ], more specifically a politicized person of Mexican descent born in the United States. Chicano anarchism, although the term itself is quite new, has it antecedents in the Mexican anarchist ]’s propagandizing in the Spanish-speaking communities of ] and the southwest during his years of exile, and in the ]. Since the 1960s when the modern Chicano radical movement begin, and especially the late 60s and early 70s when it reached it’s zenith, to identify as a Chicano (rather than ] or ]) has been to identify with a self-consciously subversive political stance. Chicano anarchism thus seeks to take this form of radical self-identification and push it beyond the current emphasis on cultural-nationalism and towards class struggle and solidarity with the international working class, while keeping their analysis rooted in their unique history and culture. | |||
| One of the primary goals of Chicano anarchism is to inject a ] anarchist critique, made primarily by class conscious Chicano anarchists, into the modern nationalist Chicano movement and transform the movement away from the reactionary ideas of cultural-nationalism and into a movement that works in collaboration as comrades with the international working class, of which the mass of Chicanos are a part. <ref>Revolutionary Autonomous Communities. , Anarkismo.net</ref> | |||
| ==Black anarchism or Panther anarchism== | |||
| {{Main article|Black anarchism}} | |||
| '''Black anarchism''' opposes the existence of a ] and subjugation and domination of people of color, and favors a non-hierarchical organization of society. Black ] seek to abolish ], ], and the state. Theorists include ], ], ], many former members of the ], and ]. Black anarchism rejects the traditional anarchist movement. | |||
| Black anarchists have criticized both the hierarchical organization of the Black Panther ], and the anarchist movement, on the grounds that it has traditionally been European and/or white-based. They oppose the ] conception, based on the ] of the ], which is proposed by the anarchist workers' tradition, arguing that it is not adequate enough to struggle against ] and that it disguises real inequalities by proclaiming a ''de jure'' ]. | |||
| Black anarchists are thus influenced by the ] and ], and seek to forge their own movement that represents their own identity and tailored to their own unique situation. However, in contrast to black activism that was, in the past, based in leadership from hierarchical organizations such as the Black Panther Party, black anarchism rejects such methodology in favor of developing organically through communication and cooperation to bring about an economic and cultural revolution that does away with racist domination, capitalism, and the state. From Alston's ''@narchist Panther Zine'': | |||
| <blockquote>"''Panther anarchism is ready, willing and able to challenge old nationalist and revolutionary notions that have been accepted as ‘common-sense.’ It also challenges the bullshit in our lives and in the so-called movement that holds us back from building a genuine movement based on the enjoyment of life, diversity, practical self-determination and multi-faceted resistance to the Babylonian Pigocracy. This Pigocracy is in our ‘heads,’ our relationships as well as in the institutions that have a vested interest in our eternal domination.''"<ref>''@narchist Panther Zine'' October 1999, '''1'''(1).</ref></blockquote> | |||
| ==Notes and references== | |||
| {{Refs}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
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