Anarchists in the Indonesian Insurrections of August–September 2025

From The Commoner

On August 28 in Jakarta, Indonesia, the police deliberately ran over a 21-year-old delivery driver named Affan Kurniawan with an armored truck. Indonesians have been protesting the government and its various scandals since the ascension of Prabowo Subianto, an open authoritarian and son-in-law of the dictator Suharto. Affan's murder was the final spark needed that led to mass unrest and insurrection against the government across the country.

Disabled Anarchists - An Introduction

From The Commoner

Disabled people have been active parts of every liberatory movement. Yet when their histories are recounted, disability is often excluded to avoid tarnishing their reputations. This widespread and harmful practice strips away the full humanity of these figures and reinforces disability as a stigmatising characteristic. This essay aims to celebrate the lives of disabled anarchists by reclaiming their histories and framing disability not as an individual shameful failure that undermines one’s agency, legitimacy and personhood, but rather, as a neutral characteristic within the natural variation of humanity, one which likely deeply impacted their life experiences and perspectives. This essay will provide brief biographies of several disabled anarchists, briefly outline how ableism is foundational to other forms of oppression and provide an outline of The Social Model of Disability.

The Equality Society

From The Commoner by Liao

Original title: The Equality Society: A Preliminary Archival Reconstruction of The Chinese American Anarchist Movement

“Anarchism is still the most beautiful ideal, and I think someday it will come,” wrote Lau Chung-Si (Ray Jones) from a small apartment in San Francisco. At the time he put these words to paper in 1974, he was a relic of another time. Jones was a Chinese man who, in 1909, immigrated to the United States and quickly became enamoured with the ideas of anarchism. He was involved in a collective of Chinese American anarchists in San Francisco named Pingsheh (Equality Society). He also attended meetings held by other anarchist organisations, as well as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). To date, not much has been written about the Chinese anarchists in America, but what has been written has focused on Ray Jones and the Equality Society. While acknowledging and continuing to use the Equality Society as a focal point, I am putting forward a preliminary analysis of the beliefs and praxis of Chinese American anarchists and their international connections as a part of a broader project of conceptualising Asian anarchism.

The Basis & Preliminary Examination for a Theory of Asian Anarchism

From The Commoner by Liao

Throughout my time as an anarchist, I have become intimately familiar with many schools and theories of anarchist thought. The most influential to me are that of anarchist communism, individualist anarchism, synthesis anarchism, and Black anarchism. Black anarchism was particularly influential to me for its unique perspective on how capitalism and the State intersect with racism to more extensively affect Black communities — along with its criticism of class reductionism within leftist movements. As an Asian American, Black anarchism led me to wonder if there was a similar tradition that involved ideas of Asian cultures and historical practices with anarchism, an Asian anarchism.

An Interview with The Federation of Anarchism Era (Part Two)

From The Commoner

The first part of this interview with Asra Anarchism was published in September 2022. In light of recent developments in Iran, we asked the group two further questions which immediately follow this introduction. The second part of the interview will then continue below that.

Please bear in mind much of this interview was translated by a third party and then edited for readability. Therefore, there may be slight differences to the original meaning.

Cyberpunk 2077: An Odyssey through Capitalist Hellscapes

From The Commoner
by Javier Sethness
June 30, 2023

While this review of Cyberpunk 2077 will include some spoilers about the start of the game, it will exclude much of the later plot, especially the ending(s). Still, the author will examine some parallels between the game and the real world.

On Anarchism, Technology, and Transhumanism

From The Commoner by reimagining

The more I wrestle with it, the more I become sympathetic to, if not a full-blown supporter of, anarchist-transhumanism. After much interrogation, the notion of technology as a neutral tool that can be leveraged to act as an oppressive method of control (to reduce agency and confine), an emancipatory tool (to resist domination, to expand agency and empower), or a complex overlapping web of both seems to generally ring true.

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