He Zhen, Qiu Jin & Anarchism

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

Feminism movements emerged in modern China since the lase decades of the Qing dynastic rule. He Zhen (also known as He Yin-Zhen) was among the most famous Chinese feminists during this period, while she was also very well-known for her anarchist ideologies. Qiu Jin, while was not usually recognised as an anarchist as He, was indeed a “feminist warrior” and radical in advocating of anarchism-patterned ideologies, as claimed by Louise Edwards.

Shifu: Can We Consider the Views of China’s Famous Anarchist ‘True’ Anarchy?

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

Born to an upper-class family as Liu Shaobin, Shifu (1884-1915) lived through the collapse of the Qing dynasty and converted to anarchism while studying in Japan. Known for his commitment to living anarchist principles, Shifu’s purist example and devotion to promoting the common good through his educational reforms influenced subsequent generations of Chinese anarchists, attracting others to the anarchist movement which reached its peak in the early 1920s. While Shifu’s early career mirrors other anarchists of the time in his support of assassination and revolution-driven violence, some argue that, because his later efforts depart somewhat and are marked by a renunciation of violence, he fell away from anarchy.

Anarchist Roots vs Authoritarian Reality of Maoism

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

Of all the ideological contradictions within Maoism, none is more profoundly ironic than its relationship with Anarchism. The core conflict between the two can be defined as a centralised vanguardism vs decentralised spontaneity. But the true irony lies not just in their methodological divergence, but in the complete reversal of Mao’s own stance. A central paradox is revealed, as Mao’s quest to destroy one form of authority became a reproduction of the very power it sought to overthrow.

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.

The Anarchy of the Peripheries: Preliminary Notes to a Study of Rebel Peripheries

From Muntjac

In the internal peripheries of various States in the former Third World, State power cannot fully cohere and territorialize. Usually situated among mountainous formations, these internal peripheries have long defied civilizational imposition. James C. Scott described it in the Zomian highlands of mainland Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, peoples would routinely escape the Spanish colony by practicing *remontar* or escaping to the mountains.

Anarchism, Daoism, and the Great Sage: A Review of Black Myth: Wukong

From Notes toward an International Libertarian Eco-Socialism by Javier Sethness

The marvelous PC and video game Black Myth: Wukong (2024), created by the previously low-profile Chinese company Game Science, is a spirited blockbuster adaptation of Wu Cheng’en’s epic fantasy novel, Journey to the West (c. 1592). Considered one of the four classic Chinese novels, Journey to the West presents a mythological spin on the monk Xuanzang’s unsanctioned seventh-century pilgrimage from China to India to recover Buddhist scriptures. While both Xuanzang and his literary counterpart Tang Sanzang are absent from Black Myth: Wukong, the “Great Sage” Sun Wukong—the novel’s beloved trickster monkey god and Sanzang’s main bodyguard—plays a prominent role.

Uncovering Chinese Anarchy Part 2

From Medium by 1/0
November 18, 2024

Uncovering Chinese Anarchy Part 2: Mohist Activism and Yangzi’s Individualism

In this part, two distinctive alternatives to Confucianism will be examined. As the opening quote suggests, in the time of Mencius, almost a hundred years after Confucius lived, these alternatives had become concerning challenges to Confucius’s way. We have no way of knowing how exactly prevalent these tendencies were, but that they were considered a threat points to the diversity of thought operating in China at the time.

Burma’s revolution and the role of Beijing’s imperialism

From ASF-IWA
by Comrade Kay (Yangon Anarchist Association)
January 16, 2024

From the start of the coup, the junta (SAC) faced a series of sanctions and diplomatic pressure imposed by the Western superpowers. The military junta (SAC), being isolated from the West, was left with no choice but to increase its reliance on Russia, China, and India.

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