Troy Southgate

Nov 06, 2024

I WAS recently having a debate in which somebody told me they did not believe that National-Anarchism could work. My reply to this was that many people associated with National-Anarchism already have smallholdings and allotments, educate their children at home, live in squats and farmsteads, practice bushcraft and generally make a conscious effort to operate outside of the System. National-Anarchism, in other words, is not something that lies far off in the future, but has a strong sense of immediacy about it.

Our ideas, not to mention the perennial tribalism that one already finds in countless so-called Third World countries, are already well-established. We may not operate on a vast scale, but National-Anarchism will never be a mass movement and neither do we have any real intention of becoming one. In many ways, our influence already extends far beyond the number of people who may attend a National-Anarchist gathering or perhaps write an essay for a National-Anarchist website.

An interesting analogy between the immediacy of National-Anarchism and the naïve Far Left / Far Right tendency to await some ‘glorious day’ upon which the awakened masses will suddenly storm the proverbial barricades and achieve liberty, comes to us from the world of Zen Buddhism. I am referring to the difference between the Rinzai and Sōtō schools of Zen. The former, similar to the proselytising approach that one finds at either ends of the political spectrum, relies to some extent on dogma. Employing the more demanding form of seated meditation, rigorous kōan dialogue and physical activities that are designed to achieve total concentration, Rinzai Zen believes that enlightenment lies far away and that without hard work its attainment is virtually impossible. Unsurprisingly, Japanese members of the Rinzai school often go on to take up important positions in government. In short, the ‘work’ never ends.

Alternatively, Sōtō Zen uses a form of Shikantaza meditation that allows the practitioner to achieve instant satori. Indeed, the very process of meditation itself is said to be a form of enlightenment and rather than resist unwelcome thoughts the subject merely allows them to pass through him as a constant stream of non-interference. A form of ‘riding the tiger,’ if you will. The adherents of Rinzai Zen once accused their Sōtō counterparts of practicing a form of ‘rustic Zen,’ due to its more down-to-earth qualities. Conversely, Rinzai’s martial aspects are such that whilst it prepares the individual for years of ‘struggle,’ that longed-for horizon of enlightenment often remains just as elusive as ever. Herein lies the great dissimilarity between the two.

Returning to the world of politics, whilst many people who describe themselves as ‘revolutionaries’ look forward to some distant manifestation of their ideals, the advocates of National-Anarchism – compared here to the followers of Sōtō Zen – believe that the realisation of objectives is not something that is far away at all, but already taking place within the realms of action. National-Anarchism is not a striving for some remote fantasy, it is an unlimited process of constant endeavour. It is happening right now.