From: Open Revolt
By Dan Canuckistan
I agree that the state vs. anti state debate can become as Manichean as the traditional left right paradigm. I also recognize the limitations “anti statists” and “statists” alike face due to a failure to “acknowledge the nuanced blend of possible and existing solutions.” As Dan states “for decentralization to make any sense at all…you have to acknowledge the possibility that people of a given locality or region may freely choose a different political or economic model than pure anarchism/libertarianism.”
As much as I can see this dichotomy among revolutionaries as a form of philosophical quagmire/masturbation, I believe this debate can and will lead to the “nuanced and realistic solutions…at the core of decentralization” and indeed a pragmatic and populist “ solution has to work for real people, not for the sake of some abstract ideology of either left or right.”-Craig FitzGerald
There’s an old military term, not used much nowadays, called “counter-scorch”. Counter-scorch operations were traditionally conducted by small units sent behind enemy lines not to destroy things but to preserve them from retreating armies, or vengeful mobs, bent on a scorched earth policy or just mindless destruction. A squad of paratroopers, for example, would be air landed to seize a strategic bridge before it got blown up or an armoured column sent ahead to protect a site of particular cultural or historical significance. In our age of “creative destruction”, however, such considerations are rarely taken into account unless it coincides with the interests of war profiteers. Oil ministry buildings are protected while museums and archaeological sites are allowed to be looted.
As National Revolutionaries, we face a similar conundrum: which institutions do we preserve and which do we allow to be razed to the ground? Do we allow neo-liberal Shock Doctrinarians to gut public institutions and enclose what is left of the commons, or do we fight back with a counter-scorched earth campaign?
Some revolutionaries of a more libertarian persuasion have replaced the outdated left/right dichotomy with an equally Manichaean concept of “statist/non-statist”, the former being absolutely evil and the latter completely desirable & good. Personally, I think the “statist/non-statist” distinction is as useless as the “left/right” one because it doesn’t acknowledge the nuanced blend of possible & existing solutions.
