By Cake Boy
Three poisons corrupt modern anarchism. Removing these three poisons can restart anarchism and make it relevant again. This may be needed because I think there will be turbulent times soon.
What are the poisons?
- Pop/woke anarchism
Wake anarchism is actually a form of communism. A woke anarchist party is a top-down hierarchy/bureaucracy in which the individual freedom of its members gets suppressed. Woke anarchism is against free speech because woke anarchism assumes that the leaders of the cult know everything. Woke anarchism also sometimes attacks people outside of the cult. For example, rightwing/neoliberal, populist, or libertarian politicians who formulate opinions that do not correspond with the views of the cult get threatened and attacked. Pop/woke anarchists think it’s ok to attack someone if he/she says things that you disagree with. Woke anarchism is also against freedom of expression and art. For example, when a comedian makes a silly joke, they threaten this comedian because they don’t understand that the comedian is playing a character or isn’t serious. In a way, they behave like little dictatorships. They behave like we already live in the USSR
I also call it pop anarchism sometimes because it mostly exists as an adolescent subculture, not an actual political force. Pop anarchists are insecure, often young people who want to be part of an ingroup. Anarchism is used as a vehicle for adolescent experimentation. So, woke anarchism is communism masked as anarchism, mainly consisting of adolescents. In my country, most people think of these kinds of woke anarchists when they think about anarchism because the popular media likes to make fun of them.
2. Vulgar libertarianism
Vulgar libertarianism is the sort of libertarianism that’s actually just a conservative neoliberalism. Vulgar libertarians act as if the current neoliberal corporatism/capitalism is a free market. They forget all the state-imposed monopolies, restrictions to the market, restrictions to travel/movement between places, zoning regulations, so-called ‘free trade agreements’, regime change in favor of corporate elites and national interests, and the entanglement between big business and the state, that keep neoliberalism alive.
Vulgar libertarians are inconsistent. They say: don’t complain, work hard, capitalism is great. But they also say: we never really had capitalism, the current system is rotten!
To vulgar libertarians, anarchism often means something like when the state does fewer things for poor people or homeless people.
Javier Milei of Argentinia is the figurehead of vulgar libertarianism. The Frankenstein monster that came out of the libertarian movement. Milei, the so called ‘anarcho capitalist’ president. Who will send the cops to you if you refuse to obey his supreme command? If you would refuse to pay taxes for his…state…
Classical libertarian thinkers were at least critical of the current order, which they saw as corporate collectivism and wartime capitalism. However, the current neoliberal libertarians don’t know if they are against the current order or if they embrace it.
Where pop anarchism is an infantile version of leftist anarchism, vulgar libertarianism is the infantile version of Rothbard’s libertarian theory. Vulgar libertarianism, is neoliberalism/Trump style populism masked as libertarianism.
3. National anarchism
National anarchism is just a confused and redundant version of anarchism, which is terrible for the reputation of anarchism and libertarianism in general. So, different political movements can use anarchism as a host and deform the project.
Anarchism means ‘the idea that all social relations should be voluntary.’ It doesn’t mean you should beat up people who disagree with you. It doesn’t mean we need fewer government regulations so that BlackRock can make more money from artificial property titles. It doesn’t mean white people are better than black people.
