By Troy Southgate

Similarities have been drawn between National-Anarchism and aspects of the Dark Mountain Project and therefore it was only a matter of time before its chief spokesperson, Paul Kingsnorth, made an effort to distinguish his ideas from ours. Richard Hunt, one of National-Anarchism’s main influences, once insisted that place is significantly more important than race and that communities are best founded on geographical principles and a shared ethnicity is unimportant. Personally, I find both interpretations acceptable.

In a new article on the Indian Adivasi communities of Abujhmad, Kingsnorth says “it’s not where you come from that matters, but how you live in a place. If there is a line to be drawn, it is not to be drawn between ethnicities, nations, religions or tribes, but between the dislocated and the located.” Surely, given that people refrain from being antagonistic or coercive, it is perfectly reasonable for the ‘dislocated’ to ‘locate’ themselves within the boundaries of such categories?

National-Anarchism provides us with an opportunity to define ourselves in the manner of our own choosing and this may be centred on place, race, religion or nothing-in-particular. As long as there exists a healthy desire for anarchism, peace and co-existence with others of like-mind, as well as a respectful indifference towards the contrasting habits and peculiarities of one’s neighbours, arranging themselves into ethnicities, nations, religions or tribes will not prevent the ‘dislocated’ from becoming ‘located’ or attaining the contentment and satisfaction they require. In most cases, it will heighten that sense of belonging.