An Ascent Towards Anarchy

I've always been left of centre politically. How far left has depended on the issue. But lately I've noticed a change.

The Embrace

How far left I went always depended on the issue, but lately I find myself going as far left as it is possible to go, on all issues. I've started to embrace Anarchism.

This might seems strange - I'm writing this (hopefully well ordered) short treatise while sitting on a nice deck, drinking a cup of Russian Caravan tea. Last night I was building a model ship. Not exactly the classic Anarchist stereotype right?

I am of lower-middle class Labourist stock. But recently this class, my class, of people seem to be migrating to the Right in droves. Believing the lies of the Conservatives that the heart of their issues are from the other - The Immigrant, The Union, The Woke - instead of from the Conservative Neo-Liberal system that we are all living in.

So is this embrace just some kind of 'Middle Class Anarchism'? A 'look a me' reaction to the Conservatism that I see all around me? An almost cosplay type of political leaning? The type that wants law to protect me, and what I have and what I like and simply let everything else descend into Chaos?

Morality and Society

The short answer is of course, No. For one, I have long since given up on the Law being any kind of moral or societal arbiter. On the rare occasions that law and societal expectations do align, the vicious and mean-hearted enforcement, aimed only at punishment, immediately renders the Law immoral.

Where then do we look for morality? And how can we ensure that this 'morality' is upheld ? Is upholding morality even desirable?

Morality is probably the wrong word to use here, but its good shorthand.

These are all issues that society will have to grapple with in a late- and post-capitalism world. There are no easy answers here.

Defund the Police

One step society could take immediately is defunding the Police. All this means is ceasing to make every issue a police matter. Protests do not need to be controlled by the police. People suffering mental health conditions do not need to be controlled by the police. Someone being drunk or high in public does not need to be a police matter.

We have, as a society, let Policing control every aspect of our lives to such an extent that we now can't imagine a sociery without their influence. And every year we give them more money, more power and more control over everything.

Defunding police organisations would allow increased funding in areas that actually need it; mental health, behaviour change programs, crime rehab programs, housing programs, drug rehab programs.

Of course, Defunding the Police isn't just an anarchist proposal, many in the mainstream are talking about it too. But from an anarchist perspective it will get Government out of all aspects of our lives.

And ultimately, that has to be the goal of Anarchism.

Where to from here?

Society is not at a stage where Anarchism is possible. I don't know whether it ever will be. I haven't even fully embraced it myself yet. There are dangers in adopting it as a system and a philosophy; dangers that only become scarier the closer we get to it. There are contradictions too, which also only become more obvious.

But the dangers and the contradictions of our current system, the one that is quickly destroying the planet, can't be ignored; and they are far worse than anything Anarchism will throw at us.

As for my journey, I don't know where it will take me. I have to keep living in this society after all - and that means wading through the depths of capitalism every day. But now there is something to aim for, something worth it at the end. Something to ascend to.

Freedom. In every sense of the word.