Autonomies

Anarchism for termites: A manifesto

Anarchism for termites: A manifesto

From Autonomies
For Bruno Latour (1947-2022)

When we began to write this “Manifesto”, it was to compliment an earlier exercise in manifesto writing – A moss-like anarchist manifesto – and to continue the sceptical exercise of distilling images and concepts from parallel reflections that have served as inspiration for our own, in this case, Bruno Latour’s essay, After Lockdown: A Metamorphosis.

Of war and revolution: Ukraine

A Ukrainian soldier stands in the ruins of the Azovstal metalworks in Mariupol, Ukraine. Photograph: Dmytro Kozatsky

And without wishing to linger further on the Marxist debate around war and revolution, anarchists were historically confronted by the very same dilemma. For some, anti-militarism was a categorical imperative – as it remains now – while for others, wars of resistance against domination were an obligation. And if the “theory” seemed to be clear in its opposition, anarchist practice always revealed a more complex political reality. In the three “great revolutions” of European anarchism – the Paris Commune, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Revolution –, anarchists never acted alone. They were always part of broader fronts of actors who did not share the anarchist vision, but which by itself did not prevent them from engaging militarily. But then this was the failure of the anarchists, some contend; a judgement whose soundness rests only on the clarity of ideology and hindsight.

Post-foundational anarchism

Post-foundational anarchism

From autonomies.org by Tomás Ibáñez

From the date of his first publication, in 1962, to the present, Tomáz Ibáñez has engaged with anarchism with a depth, sensitivity and generosity matched by few of his contemporaries. To walk through this work is to discover a complex path, like the weave of a rope. But like a rope, held together by a seemingly small set of intuitions or ideas, or perhaps even a method, that Ibáñez continually returns to, not repetitively, but as with an expanding musical refrain, turning ever again on itself, simultaneously changing and clarifying its first steps and the next.

Chiara Bottici: Anarchafeminism

via autonomies

[T]here is hardly any publication in the field today that does not engage with the concept of intersectionality — whether to promote it, to criticize it, or simply to position oneself with regards to it. Yet, strikingly enough, in all the literature engaging with intersectionality, there is barely any mention of the feminist tradition of the past that has been claiming exactly the same point for a very long time: anarchist feminism, or as I prefer to call it “anarchAfeminism.” The latter term has been introduced by social movements trying to feminize the concept, and thereby give visibility to a specifically feminist strand within the anarchist theory and practice. This anarchafeminist tradition, which has largely been neglected both in the academia and in public debate more in general, has a particular vital contribution to offer today.

10 years of neighbourhood anarchism: The FAGC

10 years of neighbourhood anarchism: The FAGC

From autonomies.org

We translated and published our first post dedicated to the Federación Anarquista Gran Canaria in May of 2013. We have since tried modestly and from a distance to follow the remarkable activity of those who have made the Federación and its anarchism a living reality, and this in ways that are today uncommon.

The Legacy of Peter Kropotkin

via Autonomies

These words are part of Peter Kropotkin’s heritage. But he himself went through a sad episode: he became intoxicated by the nationalism of French and English culture, supposedly progressive and favourable to the next revolution in the Latin and Slavic countries, which weakened his analytical capacity.With incredible courage, in very fragile health, after forty years in exile, Kropotkin decided to return to Russia, already liberated from Tsarism in 1917, to end his life there. It was then that Lenin wanted to meet and manipulate Kropotkin. Or was it his attempt to do the opposite? We will see this strange situation on another occasion.

Ruymán Rodríguez and the Federación Anarquista de Gran Canaria: An Interview

anarchists talking to journalists

From autonomies.org translation by Julius Gavroche

An interview for the spanish newspaper, El Salto diario (05/10/2021) …

The Canarian anarchist activist Ruymán Rodríguez visits the Valencian Community, invited by the Mostra del Llibre Anarquista d’Alacant, to share the work carried out by the Sindicato de Inquilinas and the Federación Anarquista de Gran Canaria.

Anarchism: Giving form to autonomy

Lenin Statue from Theo Angelopoulos’ Ulysses Gaze (1995)

from Autonomies

This post was born of an exchange of letters between John Holloway and Michael Hardt that focused on the issue of “anti-capitalist social movements” and their “organisation” and “institutionalisation”. The letters date from 2011, but their subject remains contemporary, as does the much older “exchange” between anarchism and Marxism by which we introduce the letters.

Occupy Wall Street/Occupy, ten years on

from Autonomies

The act of remembrance is not for us, as we so often repeat, one of simple commemoration, nor of retrospective evaluation: was an event, a movement, a revolt, a revolution, significant? The question begs criteria, criteria of what is politically and socially important, which is in turn judged according to “measurable” changes in what exists.

The Utopian Function in the Anarchist Imaginary

from Autonomies

Utopia lies at the horizon. When I draw nearer by two steps, it retreats two steps. If I proceed ten steps forward, it swiftly slips ten steps ahead. No matter how far I go, I can never reach it. What, then, is the purpose of utopia? It is to cause us to advance.

Fernando Birri quoted by Eduardo Galeano

In praise of insurrection

From Autonomies

We share below a short essay by Diego Conno, published with lobo suelto (27/10/2019), even though we might disagree with some of the text’s terminology (e.g., “popular”, “the people”, “moblisation”) – though even here, the words intimate new possible meanings – and we would dispute the need for “leadership” in riots and uprisings. And we do so, because it reflects a light on our times which may very well be our immediate future, that is, multiplying insurrections which are internally plural (they possess no centre, make no fixed demands, and are leaderless) and thus defying any single ideological and/or organisational form. And it is into this reality that any radical politics must plunge into.

Chile: From protest to insurgency

From a las barricadas via Autonomies

Every protest against inequality, or the perceived assault on former “equality” and the arrogance and blindness of politicians, is today a potential spark for rebellion and insurrection. Today it is chile, lebanon, hong kong; just yesterday, it was ecuador, haiti, nicaragua, france. And if we push back the calendar to the beginning of this century, then it may rightfully be said, with Alain Badiou, that we live in times of riots.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Autonomies