My review is it 4 stars, because I find it thought compelling and more or less well written. Matthew Wilson uses citations and refers to anarchist theorists, but he really seems to be writing a critique about how left anarchism actually plays out in self-proclaimed communities vs. what people write about it. I find his assertions honest, and there is no dogma to be found. It's a critique, and you will find very little of that among people who publicly align themselves with the ideology. Hence the need for a book like this.
The ideal of anarchism in a world run by complex systems of other –isms is to take down the very leviathan of institution and create a stateless world. The reality of anarchism today is a largely dis-connected and horizontal population of individuals and small, ever changing, communities across a spectrum. On one end- academics and intellectuals. On the other a seductive, if motley and somewhat organized, crew of mostly dumpster-diving, train hopping, squatting, hacking, storefront busting, punk-rock/indie/post-something listening, sustainable agriculture dabbling, white twenty to thirty somethings who come from solidly middle or upper class households and work hard to wipe their privilege off their identity through their lifestyle. Within these polarities are as many variances as one can imagine. Unfortunately, like most spectra, it is the polarities that so often become the voice.
Matthew Wilson is not the first in his critique of this observed reality.
I don’t know this because I read it on a Reddit thread. I know it after having lived, participated, experienced, and observed it for 20 years of my life. Seems to me the only anarchists I ever met, whether in-action or in principle, were the ones who never or rarely uttered the word. Taking down a leviathan by clipping its fingernails (“We don’t just get violent and destructive, we grow gardens in empty lots and pave roads too!”) isn’t really deconstructing a system so much as pandering to it.
Forget about dancing. What good is a revolution if I can’t even show my face? If people were really concerned about not getting caught while engaging in illegal activities- they’d be just even an ounce more savvy about it. If they really believed that not voting is effective because, by their logic "If voting changed anything it'd be illegal", then they wouldn't be so up in arms about a government trying to criminalize the right to assemble.
They say they aren't organized, or hierachical, or dogmatic- but then I'm not sure what a sea of people wearing an unspoken uniform of one color and utilizing similar tactics to draw attention is.
I used to think it meant a football game was playing in town, and I stayed clear. Now I'm not so sure, but I still try to stay clear. These adult children want their cake and they want the media to feed it to them. When they're not voting they're protesting the people who were voted into office. Or they are starting fights with the far right at marches where both parties are vastly outnumbered. Oh, and they crowdfund to bring water to Puerto Rico and buy camera equipment too. Forget capitalism, even without it their trust and parents' rainy day funds would be worthless.
Like I disclaimed earlier, over the years of my own civic and political engagement I've met several anarchists participating in society in a more honest, deliberate, and informed way. They just usually aren't waving around their identities like gang signs on social media and in public. They usually aren't snubbing their zealous noses at less "radical" forms of political participation (like, aghast, practicing organized nonviolence and trying to engage communities with the groups that claim to service them)
I think critiques are in order, and if they come from the inside then all the more useful.
So long as capitalism exists, and so long as self-proclaimed anarchists benefit from it (Where are the dumpsters in a world without stores? Who can be a scholar without state or corporate funded institutions?), the public and therefore mainstream face of left anarchism, at least in the U.S, will continue to be a sheep in a wolf's clothing. Like sheep, the American anarchists you see in the media are eager for a guru or authoritarian ideologue to herd towards. Hence the outraged pundits and career activists who feel compelled to out-puff anyone who would dare to challenge their domain. While the sheep and the wolves have it out- the foxes, possums, raccoons, rats, and roaches shrug at the spectacle and continue on their way.
Sure, you could follow the Dr.’s orders and find diatribes useful. Seems most individuals these days prefer to have their opinions mainlined. We all love to rant.
Or you could ignore me (please) and anyone else who has so much to say about it and read it for yourself. Make up your own mind. Knowledge is power. Critical and creative thinking trump religious zealotry, and any hope for a world without rulers is futile without people de-institutionalizing their own minds first.
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Top reviews from other countries
Diplomatt
A must read for all anarchists
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2014