Anarchists Are Misunderstood

I remember working in downtown Seattle during the World Trade Organization (WTO) riots in the late 1990s and being attacked by a group of young people in green turtle suits who probably thought I was part of the establishment because I was wearing a suit and tie. At the time, I had no opinion either way in regards to what the WTO was about or what the kids in the turtle suits cause was. I do remember hearing a lot of people blaming "anarchists" for causing a lot of the violence and taking over the city. In reality, a lot of the people looting Radio Shacks and breaking into Starbucks were not real anarchists. Just like the individuals dressed in Mickey Mouse uniforms at the Denver Democratic convention, they were merely punks posing as anarchists who just enjoyed an excuse to cause trouble, giving true anarchists a bad name.

A true anarchist who understands the philosophy and lives and breathes the philosophy on a daily basis adheres to a specific set of principles. According to the market anarchist site StrikeTheRoot.com, the first principal is that they are anti government because of the historical fact that historically governments have caused more death than any organization in World history, including 200 million people who were killed in the 20th Century as a direct result of government sponsored wars. The second principal is that authority must justify itself and can't be accepted just because it's called authority or the law. They also believe that violence or forcing someone to do something is unacceptable regardless of intentions or national affiliation.

As the buttoned up crowd at the political conventions act "appropriately" and decry protesters as freaks, anarchists, and a threat to safety, the very policies of this buttoned up crowd has resulted in over a million deaths in Iraq according to numerous health organizations including Johns Hopkins University, not to mention over 4,000 American deaths and tens of thousands horrific lifelong injuries of other Americans. As people like Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman at the Republican convention say we're at war, they ignore the inarguable legal fact that we are not at war. There was no constitutional declaration of war, nor did the United Nations agree to it, which makes it murder and the highest international crime against humanity, pure and simple.

Personally, I don't believe that an anarchist society would work right now. I'm more of a libertarian. Some government, one that governs least, might govern best. However, the image of the violent anarchist is largely a fictional interpretation. In reality, just how many people have died as a result of anarchist activity, and maybe rather than simply blame them for causing problems, why don't we look to the root cause of what they're rallying against. Just because someone has a crew cut and wears a suit and tie does not mean they are any less dangerous than the rebel with the earrings, spiked hair, and black makeup. In fact, I'll take my chances with the latter. Also, simply waving a flag, having military parades, and putting on a uniform with a flag does not make your violence any less troublesome than an anarchist smashing a window or your killing any less evil than the acts of a serial killer. There is no justification for violence or killing unless it's in self defense of an imminent threat.

Being orderly, acting, dressing and speaking "appropriately" does not mask murder for profit, which is what many American wars are about. Hitler and the Nazis were very orderly, militaristic and masters at logical thinking and efficiency.

The problem may not lie with the anarchists, but in what they're fighting against: governments. According to Howard Zinn, a professor at Boston University, who is a confessed anarchist who believes that there is no such thing as a just war, said there is no anthropological evidence that man is prone to violence. Violence only becomes indoctrinated as a normal part of humans as a result of governments (i.e. military training, football in school). With an individual person, the natural emotion is compassion.

Following the 911 terrorist attacks, there was little thirst for more death and vengeance amongst the people I knew, there was only passion, sadness, and a renewed respect for anarchy and a desire to help, not fight. However, the government twisted that compassion, and the sorrow the world felt, into a lust for more death, and linked it with a justification for endless war and endless death and trying to make this an integral component of patriotism and Americanism.

George Bush and the entire U.S. Congress, with the exception of a few, has ignored the constitution and rule of law both nationally and internationally with war, torture, imprisonment without access to legal council and unaccountability for treason with the Scooter Libby scandal; in other words, lawlessness. Sounds like anarchy to me. The only difference is, the government is engaged in anarchy for evil purposes, whereas anarchists are opposed to evil.