How do you express anarchist ideas in mixed company? We are told that “anarchists must say what only anarchists can say,” but what must we say, and how?

The Duponts encourage us to be “poppers of balloons” to dispel the illusion of liberalism, which to them meant going to rallies to yell at protest leaders and disillusion the people they’re duping and today might include posting a spicy meme or bagging on liberals on social media. To them, “[anarchists] must say what only they can say, they must refuse the script written for them by leftists and liberals — there is nothing to be gained by repeating easy leftwing slogans, truth and not recruitment should be the decisive factor” ("Anarchists must say what only anarchists can say").

Yet Aragorn! cautions us that “if the post-left has anything to teach us it is that being right, and informing others of it, isn’t nearly enough. It may be preferable to maintain the affect of the happy fool, the politically naïve, while tilling the soil for the seeds to feed those who will engage in the challenges of how to engage (as anarchists) with politicians” ("Political Naïveté").

How do you speak with a non-anarchist audience? Does what you say change depending on who’s listening? Are you a tiller of soil? A popper of balloons? Both?

Comments

Avril Lavigne (not verified) Sun, 07/24/2022 - 12:00

The Duponts are not anarchists. Who gives a rat's rectum what they think anarchists should be or say? I say, "fuck the Duponts!"

Pop balloons, till soil, write, rob, play, whatever. Just stop waiting for non-anarchists or dead anarchists to tell you what to do. Take note of your present situation and do some motherfuckin' anarchy! Let your actions "speak" to others if you want.

He was a punk, she did ballet. What more can I say?

Fauvenoir (not verified) Sun, 07/24/2022 - 14:02

In reply to by Avril Lavigne (not verified)

Lemme spoil the punch to u...

They fucked.

Then 10 years later they were found to be liberal yuppies with 1-2 kids living in a gentrified area of town. Happy ending? Who cares, it's the neo-'80s, so nobody does by default.

anon (not verified) Sun, 07/24/2022 - 20:20

the joy of not having a political project to defend. the serenity of not needing to convince anyone of anything.

anon (not verified) Sun, 07/24/2022 - 20:48

ive just taken to bullying dsa and the likes in my free time. you wouldn't be surprised how painful AND fun it is

anon (not verified) Sun, 07/24/2022 - 21:24

people are really smart and sure of themselves or they think they are, anarchist or not. really, trying to press any issue is a losing battle, and i pick my battles and hills to die on, which are none

anon (not verified) Sun, 07/24/2022 - 22:11

Not sure if the topic writer or the commenters read or understand the referenced Dupont essay at all.

fee Mon, 07/25/2022 - 10:54

In reply to by anon (not verified)

I just checked and you’re right: they were waaaaay off. Don’t worry, they’re out of thecollective. Maybe if you explain your reading of Dupont, it will help us find a suitable replacement? Thanks!

cyberdandy Mon, 07/25/2022 - 09:34

I try to avoid expressing anarchist ideas in mixed company unless I think that I will have the time to elaborate on them or I know that the specific idea I am expressing isn't very negative. When I do think that I will have the time, I try to start off by asking said company what they think anarchism is. Since people usually indicate that they know next to nothing about anarchism with their response, I then discuss the history of anarchism. By emphasizing the historical context from which anarchism developed, the motivations and goals of anarchists are given a realistic foundation and the relatively complex problems of 21st Century USA can be temporarily set aside. The historical context also makes it easy to relate anarchism to the other major ideologies of the 19th Century that people are more familiar with. And since people tend to respond poorly to negativity, the historical context also helps to paint anarchism as a positive project ...one with constructive goals and solutions to problems of the time that other ideologies wouldn't or couldn't solve.

Eventually, everyday life in 21st Century USA comes into the picture. For the most part it seems like people easily accept anarchism as a valid historical movement, however they also think it is antiquated by the features of our societies today. To deal with that objection, I try to focus less on North America and more on regions that have either larger anarchist movements or are thought to be more open to changes that anarchists want to create. This is important because a lot of people feel like the United States is arrested in its development, or even moving backwards on issues of social justice, labor, etc. So beyond what anarchists propose, people are very cynical about any proposed improvements in the USA. My response to that is to grant the objection, but to point out that even if anarchist projects are difficult here and now, there is a big world out there. And since anarchism isn't nationalist, the success of anarchist projects anywhere still counts.

anon (not verified) Mon, 07/25/2022 - 14:26

anarchists are saying a whole bunch of shit. call this chaotic cacophony "anarchy". the non-anarchists are doing the same, and much louder. noise get lost in the noise.

sporks (not verified) Mon, 07/25/2022 - 21:50

I find most people, even self proclaimed anarchists, don't actually want to hear or deal with the implications of what anarchy means. Most people want the utopian aspects of anarchy but none of the responsibility or difficult choices that would come with anarchist so-called society.

For instance, once i tried to tell my uncle about anarchy. He was very excited about no government because his idea was he would no longer have to pay taxes and he could do whatever he wanted. He was not so keen on having to decide, along with the rest of his community, how to live in this new found freedom. (What? Consequences for my actions? )
This is a simplistic example, but that's how it goes with some people.

Before even starting to talk about anarchy the amount of bs one has to excavate just to get to a place of common knowledge can be overwhelming. It's like trying to tell a fish about water (except of course fish need water) but humans don't need coercion or hierarchy or leadership. Still, most people will stand around waiting for an authority before dealing with even minor situations. So showing rather than telling is useful. For instance, once at a large outdoor event, there was a line of Porta potties but only one or two were "unlocked" (the "lock" was a plastic tie) and everyone was just standing in line for those two. I went down the line of potties with my multitool cutting the plastic ties.
Ugh. Not that it made any difference. Oh fuck. Nevermind. We're doomed.

anon (not verified) Mon, 07/25/2022 - 23:20

In reply to by sporks (not verified)

"Ugh. Not that it made any difference. Oh fuck. Nevermind. We're doomed."
A guy said the same thing 2,000 years, albeit more politely to his audience.
"The meak shall inherit the earth" :/

anon (not verified) Tue, 07/26/2022 - 02:45

In reply to by anon (not verified)

“I went down the line of potties with my multitool cutting the plastic ties.”

A true anarchist will dig a hole on the ground and do the deed. For shame sporks, for shame.

Kevin Tucker (not verified) Tue, 07/26/2022 - 21:59

Hey y’all, going up against shut offs and desperately needing to replace a tire. Anything helps.
Thank you!

C$sh$pp: blackandgreenpress
V$nm$: blackandgreen
P$yp$l: blackandgreen

lumpy (not verified) Wed, 07/27/2022 - 09:01

definitely more of a balloon popper. kids these days are too cynical for utopian leftist bullshit even if I wanted to discuss it. the old "read desert" meme even seems trite now after the pandemic, only necessary for the tiny handful of folks still drinking liberal activist koolaid. nobody else needs to be reminded how bleak their situation is.

also benjamin's "divine violence", for those who aren't completely paralyzed, before the next eco activist cult gives them brain worms.

anon (not verified) Thu, 07/28/2022 - 14:08

an approach some anarchists have adopted when speaking to an non-anarchist audience is to draw upon legitimated literature from academia, like Graeber for example. it's easier to get the liberals to nod in agreement with appeals to authority (be it that of the peer review board of an academic journal or whatever) , but it's harder to say anything subversive in that way

anon (not verified) Thu, 07/28/2022 - 19:43

The Dupont writers were involved with the anarchist federation in the uk, afaik. I’m sure people will have problems with it being a formal, anarcho-communist organization, but there it is.

I always appreciated the concept of “what only anarchists can say”, of critical bubble-bursting, because there are many moments when anarchists are functionally indistinguishable from a whole range of other possible forms of life- not just when working, sleeping, etc but even when doing activities carried out in an anarchist spirit, with other anarchists (such as giving food to the poor, raising funds for Ukraine etc). Not that all such activities are thus suspect or even non-anarchist but the thing about having principles, especially hardcore anti-authoritarian ones, is that you should be able to identify hypocrisy when you see it.

anon (not verified) Fri, 07/29/2022 - 08:53

You need time or a clever intervention to circumvent preconceptions regarding anarchy. Ruth Kinna once remarked that anarchy can occur at any moment where language stops. Personally I'm disinclined to say anything anarchist related unless the situation particularly lends itself to doing so.
I volunteer in a politics bookshop where we get a surprisingly decent proportion of non-scene anarchists. Many are young, various genders, sexualities and usually religious or ethnic minority groups and have some great conversations. I live for moments like those.

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