Circling the Ⓐ: Revolution in a Single Syllable

From No Selves, No Masters

Love it or hate it, the “Circle A” — scrawled on walls, carved in bathroom stalls, printed on punk merchandise or painted on rebellious banners — is among the most widely recognized symbols of anarchy and anarchism. Learning to spray paint the circle A as a teenager is every bit as joyful and liberating (and annoying to adults) as learning the word “no” is for a toddler. Later on, if we grow up into “serious anarchists”, we might learn that it has a deeper symbolic meaning: the circle is not just a circle, but an “O”. “Anarchy is the mother of Order”, they say. Whether or not this is actually true is less relevant than the meaning it holds for militancy1. We’re not just here to rebel and destroy anymore: we want to build a new world in the ashes of the old. No more juvenile “fuck you” graffiti politics for us, thanks.

White lotus, red turbans, black flags: revolutionary buddhist heretics

from No Selves, No Masters

Hello, my patient readers. Believe it or not, the work continues behind the scenes. Among other things, I have been interested in revisiting the pre-modern historical roots of Buddhist Anarchism. This is because I have clarified my historiographical methods. Instead of searching for analogues of Anarchism in the distant past long before it was developed I will look for its ancestors. This helps us avoid anachronism and the pitfalls of projecting modern ideologies onto the people of the past.

Uchiyama Gudō’s Anarchist Buddhism

From Rethinking the World in East Asia 1850s-1990s

The Impact of International Socialism on Japanese Buddhism

Uchiyama Gudō’s background in Buddhism inspired his socialist beliefs; therefore, he understood socialism and anarchism not as departures from Buddhism, but as natural expressions of Buddhist egalitarianism. What he failed to grasp, however, were the conflicting natures of Buddhism’s inner liberation and anarchism’s outer revolution.

TotW: Against What? Whatchu Got?

The sad treatment of the topic of hostility from various folks, and a friend's question about definitions of anarchist, and an old @101.org question of whether anarchy could exist without the/a state, brings me to this question, which could be simplistic or complicated, depending on where y'all want to go. Below are various routes into this topic, pick the one(s) that interest you most. 

Historical Writings: Excerpt

From No Selves, No Masters

Apologies to readers for the long delays between posts. My work has been unstable for the past year and a half, and has been keeping me from writing. I have also been engaged in other political education projects over at especifismostudies.org. That said, I have been continuing to plug away at a full length draft which narrativizes my historical research on Buddhist Anarchism.

Death of the Anarchist Jacques Lefort

From Vallées en Lutte

Fellow peasant and anarchist Jacques Lefort left us this week, at the age of 81, following the spread of cancer.

Jacques Lefort (May 26, 1941, Paris – February 22, 2023, Saint-Pierre-d'Argençon)

Fellow peasant and anarchist Jacques Lefort left us this week, at the age of 81, following the spread of cancer. Warmly surrounded by his loved ones and his precious books. It was peaceful, serene, which he fought this last battle.

Anarchists struggle in Burma

From Libcom by Hein Htet Kyaw

This article explains how anarchism used to be in Burma and how it's developing at the moment. This article informs how the anarchist movements in Burma were misdirected by divisive neoliberal identity politics and how they're being claimed back by the anarchists from a class-based intersectional perspective.

Burma: The Rebellion is built on Hope

This article is an article written by a Burmese anarchist comrade "Obi-Y Kanochi". Obi-Y Kanochi reflects a lot of issues on Myanmar's revolution and the current situations in Burma. Besides, comrade Obi-Y Kanochi conducted an interview one of the female rebels "Leisa" regarding armed struggles and her insights on the ongoing revolution in Burma.

Anarcho-Buddhism or Buddhist Anarchism?

From No Selves, No Masters by reed w ingalls

A friend of mine who teaches foreign language reminded me today of a curious problem in English. We don’t often take the time to understand what our compound words and prefixes do to the meaning of a term. For example, anarcho-communism is often used synonymously with anarchism, libertarian socialism and so on. However, the order of the words and hyphenation indicate that communism is the subject, and anarchism is the modifier. What kind of communism? Anarchist communism.

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