c4ss

A Critical Consideration of my Critical Consideration

Center for a Stateless Society by Eric Fleischmann

It’s been explained to me that every writer—whether of highbrow novels or online internet discourse—always has one or two things they’ve written that they dislike and which haunts them. For me that piece is “A Critical Consideration of Hensley’s Appalachian Anarchism,” which is a response to Dakota Hensley’s article “Appalachian Anarchism: What the Voting Record Conceals.” I do not fundamentally disagree with anything I wrote in said response, but rather I take issue with how I wrote it and what I omitted or did not expand upon.

Why “No Gods” – How To Avoid Atheist Zealotry

No Mods, No Authors

From C4SS

With consideration to its present use by anarchists and special attention to context, “No Gods, No Masters” is a statement against authority – whether divine or secular – from which follows firm advocacy of total autonomy for all, the end of the state, and liberation from systems of domination. It does not follow that all religion is therefore authoritarian. Given the choice between secular -archy and religious -archy, the anarchist sees no meaningful difference beyond the language with which the rulers justify their position. Neither one is being honest about its intentions, it’s all about power.

Coup de Gras Mardi Gras Festival Returns for 2023

From Center for a Stateless Society, received via email

We are very excited to announce that the annual Coup de Gras Mardi Gras Festival & Unconference will be returning this year to Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville, LA. An annual anarchist Mardi Gras celebration thrown by Krewe de Main and the Center for a Stateless Society deep in the bayous of Cajun Country, Coup de Gras is equal parts anarchist bookfair and Carnival celebration.

Domination, Hierarchy, Authority, Rules, “Justification,” and The Burden of Proof

*justified hierarchies intensify*

From Center for a Stateless Society by Alex Aragona

The burden of proof to “justify” certain hierarchies, authorities, or rules is on those that are proponents of their continuance. And, the only way one can “justify” the establishment or maintenance of hierarchy, authority, and rules to challenges or inquiries from within or without is if it can be demonstrated that the contexts or dynamics of domination are not present. [...] And if they can’t demonstrate the absence of domination and the presence of consent, they ought to be viewed as unjustified and illegitimate.

I am “Bread-Pilled” by Kropotkin’s Vision of Social Utopia

Hype for the long-awaited sequel: "The Decolonization of Bread Pudding"

From Center for a Stateless Society by Hank Pellissier

I just finished reading The Conquest of Bread by the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921). The book inspired Catalonia syndicalists in the Spanish Civil War, Magonism in Mexico, and the Occupy movement but still… I wasn’t expecting anything, I thought I’d be very bored because the book was written in 1892, I was sure it was going to be outdated, irrelevant, but instead, to my surprise…

Is Anarchy the Answer? (w/ Cory Massimino)

Is Anarchy the Answer? (w/ Cory Massimino)

From C4SS

Longtime C4SS Fellow, Mutual Exchange Coordinator, and contributor Cory Massimino was recently interviewed by Aaron Ross Powell on (Re)Imagining Liberty about anarchy, political authority, the viability of stateless societies, and the relationship between anarchism, liberalism, and modernity.

Eric Fleischmann on Laurance Labadie & Historical Materialism

Eric Fleischmann on Laurance Labadie & Historical Materialism

From C4SS via Mutual Exchange Radio

This month on Mutual Exchange Radio, we are joined by Eric Fleischmann, leading an informative and inspiring conversation about their comprehensive Laurance Labadie archival project, Labadie’s special relevance for the market anarchist tradition, their study on Historical Materialism and more.

“Car Culture”: Just Stop

"Fire that destroyed nearly 4,000 cars at RSW rental lot, causing $100M in damage ruled an accident"

[T]the point is that a future anarchist society with an irrelevantly small fleet of automobiles is entirely possible, without the need to prohibit automobiles in a rather un-anarchic way. I should expect this fleet to comprise farm trucks and other utilitarian vehicles, a handful of emergency vehicles, and a bewildering array of pleasure vehicles, sports cars, specials, speedsters, motorcycles, trikes, motorsport vehicles, off-road vehicles, and all manner of rolling artworks the significations of which are incomprehensible outside their specific contexts — and that is not only perfectly fine, it is vibrancy, creativity, expression, and fun. There is no need to maintain the least semblance of sneering contempt lest suffering all this to exist result in smog, exurban isolation, and pandemic road deaths all over again. That much should be obvious, if popular car culture does not cause institutional car culture.

The Nothing

stirner this, stirner that

From Center for a Stateless Society by Ash P. Morgans

Bloody Rule and a Cannibal Order! Part III

This final essay began as a few scattered notes meant originally for the Egoist and the Anarchist which I’ve worked to develop into something of their own piece. My aim here is to challenge what I see as a problematic line of thinking present all throughout this symposium and unfortunately because of that, it has to deal with one of Stirner’s most important, and therefore most difficult, challenges: the problem of language.

The Modern Urban Form as a Capitalist Construct

"There are no cities, no cities to love..." - Sleater Kinney

Understanding it as a specific structural process of capitalism and not a historical inevitability allows an exercise of counterfactual imagination in which we ask concerning urban form, if not the actual history of capitalism, then what can be imagined in its place? This exercise provides at every turn a grounded default projection, a human pattern with a wide application and a long history, rooted in the realities of human stride and stamina: not “anyone’s guess.” It is wholly baseless to assume as a default, absent specific design to the contrary, the persistence of the capitalist city in an anarchist future.

Bloody Rule and a Cannibal Order! Part II: The Anarchist

From Center for a Stateless Society by Ash P. Morgans

There is something else happening in Byas’ account of our own self-enslavement that I find interesting. It’s not just that Byas’ portrayal of anarchism is meant to be retroactively binding, emerging from our selves only to ensnare us after the fact. There’s something about this portrayal that forces a binding conclusion.

Bloody Rule and a Cannibal Order! Part I: The Egoist

From Center for a Stateless Society by Ash P. Morgans

Many problems rear their heads when attempting to establish moral systems. Determining proper criteria, defining rights and wrongs, or establishing a certain degree of objectivity are just some of the rocky surfs on which these different attempts have run aground. As such, it’s unsurprising that we see these very problems in the so-called moralist “egoism” described by Jason Lee Byas in a series of essays written against the idea of Stirner’s applicability to anarchism; essays about Stirner where Stirner’s actual thoughts seem typically misunderstood. Byas’ work — Against Moral Cannibalism, Anarchy is Moral Order, and The Authority of Yourself — represent the latest in a long history of surprisingly similar critiques perhaps all wondering that maybe if they say the exact same thing as their predecessor, this time they’ll get the grab on the Stirnerian Cheshire cat. This is meant to be a grinning response.

The Enragés: Psychopathic Dumbfuckery with Andrew Kemle

from Center for a Stateless Society

For the 15th episode/14th installment of The Enragés, host Eric Fleischmann met with Andrew Kemle (@SadKemle) to discuss Andrew’s article titled Libertarianism vs Psychopathic Dumbfuckery or The Difference between Libertarianism and Psychopathic Dumbfuckery

From Stirner to Mussolini

From Gillis to Trump, the anarchist mutualist origins of the Republican Party

From C4SS by William Gillis

Review: The Anarchist-Individualist Origins of Italian Fascism

In 1910 Luigi Fabbri and Armando Borghi abducted an anarchist woman who had shamed their friend by divorcing him. Together, they forced her into a gynecological exam so the doctor could publicly pronounce her deformed and incapable of sex.

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