From Paradox-A
September 17, 2025
One thing I've never really understood is when people with explicit views say they need to clarify this or that before they can get involved (again). These are either people who were previously "politically active" or people who actually never were. The latter sometimes move around in the scene for years without ever organizing themselves into groups, striving for their own actions, or supporting structures.
The former are essentially burned out by their "political work," frustrated, and/or have shifted their focus to children, a housing project, or their paid work. Admittedly, the way in which "politics" was practiced and organized in the so-called left-wing scene in my area is characterized in many ways by performance expectations, social distance, a feeling of permanent inadequacy, and, at the same time, arbitrariness and discontinuity. These factors, of course, vary depending on the context. There may be groups that function well, in which members genuinely connect, communicate well, don't impose constraints on themselves, gradually define goals, and strive toward them. But you can only reach this point by going through many years of strenuous group processes—and not being destroyed by them, but growing.
As for those who merely move within the environment without contributing anything to it, one can essentially say that they have internalized the capitalist consumer mentality, liberal individualization, and usually also the fear of losing their social status, and are unable to work their way out of it. This doesn't mean that one can simply overcome this. But anyone who seriously identifies with a particular worldview and the groups that support it (despite all the identification difficulties of most people who find anarchism attractive, for example) will want to contribute something to them.
Someone plagued by calls for self-discovery may feel isolated or experience social difficulties in groups – but they will still try to relate to a whole and a community rather than their own ego. And just because someone personally doesn't give a shit about the social hierarchy doesn't mean that all worries about survival are wiped away. But the question here, too, is how one deals with it. In other words, it remains a mystery to me how people can move around "the" scene for years without ever getting involved. Whether they primarily gain strength from it in order to engage in other social areas, I also generally doubt, even if that may be the case in individual cases.
I have also frequently come across the statement that people want to work through their psychological, emotional and social problems before they become involved (again). That is clear to people who are currently inpatients in a hospital. Likewise, people need breaks and distance for various reasons in order to process something, to get their bearings in what they want and to see how they can best assess and use their capacities in order to be able to commit themselves consistently and long-term. In some cases it may be that people deliberately take time out, recharge their batteries, reorient themselves and then become involved again. In most cases, however, I have the impression that these people never become active (again).
– And how could they possibly become one? After all, their psychological, emotional, and social problems are a product of the existing form of society. This is precisely a key reason to engage in an anarchist sense: because we ourselves have a need for emancipation, because emancipation occurs through our actions and the associated transformation of us as individuals . Engagement in the here and now must be understood as a component of building a different form of society, different modes of production and life. That's why people get involved in projects, want to achieve and change something together. And not because they're bored, because it's considered good form, or because they feel morally obligated to get involved for some reason.
Even here, the principle applies: To each according to their abilities and needs. This also means, however, that our abilities and needs are socially shaped and therefore must be questioned and shaped. Needs for immediate gratification, for achieving fame and fortune, or for social and material security can only be fulfilled to a very limited extent through engagement in anarchist projects. Or rather, they can even be fulfilled – but not in the way we are accustomed to, given our state-capitalist background, but rather in a different, transformed way.
Anyone who really believes that they must first find stable paid work, first build a secure living environment, first resolve their own problems, in order to then be able to (re)engage in and out of the scene, is only formulating excuses to themselves and others and is creating or maintaining a false self-image.
Comments
"Someone plagued by calls…
anon (not verified) Tue, 10/07/2025 - 20:25
"Someone plagued by calls for self-discovery may feel isolated or experience social difficulties in groups – but they will still try to relate to a whole and a community rather than their own ego"
Why should I put my trust in people I don't know? An autonomist goes for self-reliance in the first place. Connecting with others is important, but when you're in a toxic community led by dilettantes, hipsters, celebrity addicts or just people with shitty sense of interpersonal safety, then yea, maybe it's better to look elsewhere for a while, do other things, then maybe get back to anarchist projects when you meet the right people.
I. Don't. Need. Others. To. Live. It's just good to have some friends.
100% agree with the author…
anon (not verified) Sun, 10/12/2025 - 17:56
100% agree with the author of this piece, aging German anarchists should really get their shit together.
Wghen yus guit fuivcking…
8,nbasll (not verified) Sun, 10/12/2025 - 22:42
Wghen yus guit fuivcking olfder yus havew tio fuibkimng kreep yuis calvcium anmd viotimiun Df3 iontake uop ior yios loise yus fycjking miobiolity loil , .
But what exactly is your goal?
CalvinSmith Tue, 10/14/2025 - 14:52
If you can't find a selfish reason, that actually for contnuing activism, only then is this worth talking about: AT ALL.
The whole reason i stopped being an activist was because i got tired of feeling like a fucking bilboard. What, are you going to bring the whole system down on it's knees because you wrote an essay?
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