Alright, so let's talk Anarchy. First of all, I'd like to somewhat define that term because while there are as many forms of anarchism as there are anarchists, anarchism isn't complete chaos and 'every person for themselves'.
Instead the word anarchy is composed of the root words "an" which is ancient Greek for "none" or "without" and "archia" which is again ancient Greek and means "ruler". So anarchy is literally a 'rule of none', a society without rulers. Not that it's without rulers, not without rules.
Indeed even a truly anarchist society has rules. It's just that those rules are not imposed on the people by some sort of government and instead are entirely a social contract. So no, anarchy isn't burning cars and people running around beating up grandmas, it's a society that is without hierarchy where decisions on the rules are made via the process of consensus, which is out of the scope of this guide and I ask you to research on your own.
So what is anarchist action then? Well it's certainly not going to set your local post office on fire, and while technically speaking attacking certain borderline autocrats (you know who I mean and if you don't please apply this to whatever fascists are on the rise where you are) is anarchist action that is not what this guide is focused on either. Instead we're going to go over some stuff that is significantly less likely to end up with you going to jail, seeing how being imprisoned will very swiftly put a stop to any further anarchist action you could be taking in the future.
Now you might be saying "okay, Sascha, but what do I do?" and this is of course a guide to anarchist action so let's get into it.
This might be the simplest thing you can do. Find your local homeless shelter, soup kitchen or whatever else and go volunteer for your community. I do realise that this requires a certain amount of ability, I for one have chronic fatigue so I can do very little in terms of volunteer work, but still, if you're able to do it you should be doing it. And keep in mind that community work is great for this, especially if you're a people person, but there are lots of other options too. Volunteer at an animal shelter if you're an animal person, volunteer with an environmentalist group if that's more your speed. Generally: if it helps the community or the planet? It's a good place to do something.
This might seem obvious, but having a community around you is important, especially if you can't volunteer. Find your local queers, your local leftists, your local anarchists, go to the local nursery home and play cards with some old people (if that's allowed but it probably is), talk to the people around you, get to know your neighbours, the people in your school/university/work, in short, find and help to maintain community. Hell, if you're willing to recognise that we're not going to abolish governments overnight you might even want to get involved in local level politics or join a political party and push for social goals and projects in your community.
And if you're asking why you need community? Simple. Because anarchism is all about community. Decisions in anarchism are made by the community. And if you help grow a respectful community, especially in the world we're living in, in this society that is slowly but surely eradicating third spaces and disconnecting us from our physical communities by shoving us into algorithmic bubbles based on aesthetics, this will lead to an overall healthier community that is harder to radicalise to the right, harder to subjugate and overall able to organise.
3 Resistance
But of course there is no such thing as a change in the system without resistance against the way it currently is. And while community and mutual aid are, themselves, forms of resistance against the way things are, there are more ways of resisting than those two.
Talk about anarchism, talk about capitalism, talk about systems of oppression. Yes, even to your right wing great-uncle at Christmas dinner. So let me let you in to a trick on how to discuss these things without having to loudly argue about it. You're going to talk about these things, but you're not going to call them by all these big words. Anarchism? Talk about community, talk about how the government shouldn't tell people what to do, talk about helping each other. It's easy to say "it never works and now stop with your politics shit" when you say something like "we should aim for an anarchist society" but it's really hard to argue against "I think people should help one another.". It's easy to tell you that you're just some snowflake when you talk about "how systems of oppression directly harm everyone and not just marginalised people but especially marginalised people" but it's hard to argue against "I think people should be nice to each other". I think you get the idea. It's of course not ideal and those equivalents are less than perfect, but there is a very genuine issue with the left seeming heady and unapproachable to a lot of people because we use a lot of big, academic terms.
This one should come obvious. Go on protests. Do I think that anything has ever been solved by peaceful protest? No. Do I think that protests are great to bring visibility to an issue? Absolutely. And protesting is a great way to feel less helpless and since a feeling of helplessness will hinder your ability to do all the other things in this guide I say go forth and protest. For the climate, for equality, for people's rights. Counter protest right wingers and fascists, be visible, be loud. There are guides to do this relatively safely when it's not safe to do so openly on the internet, I implore you to use google.
Not literally, of course, but I've always been on team "punch a Nazi" given that said Nazis isn't bringing his friends and you have a reasonable chance to actually win. In short, I'm all for Nazi punching, but doing it myself would be blatantly suicidal which is why I'm not about to do it but I fully support you if you're going to do it. But even outside of beating up Nazis, there are things you can do. Misgender a TERF (in real life, don't give them platforms on the internet), over paint or put your own stickers on Nazi graffiti and stickers, stand up for your marginalised friends if you're in a position of privilege, use gender neutral language, normalise wearing masks when you're sick for the sake of people with weakened immune systems and the chronically ill who'll end up with flareups when they're sick (please do this, I beg of you), I think you get the picture. And for the love of all hells, I don't care how die hard anarchist you are, go vote for fuck's sake. Vote for the least terrible option, and I know it doesn't feel like you're doing anything either way but just do it. If even just 2 percent more people actually vote that will make a difference.
The revolution is not going to happen overnight. It shouldn't. At least not with a lot of planning. We all long for the revolution, yes, for a drastic change in the system for the better, but there always needs to be an exit strategy and a shift in thinking. Otherwise you have a violent revolution and then chaos and what happens then? While you're still a military regime of whatever kind? That's right the U.S. comes and kicks your ass for being communists and you can't do shit about it because you didn't have the time or plan to stabilise. So I propose a more gentle revolution, a slow easing into rather than a violent overthrowing of the regime. I very genuinely believe that an anarchist society can exist but only after people have realised that Money isn't a force of nature, that people are indeed equal and that Government and law aren't inherently things humans need. So foster your communities, be kind to people, help each other and then, when the revolution comes, when things finally change, we can stand together, not as people of a nation, but as people of a community.
So I hope you are well, I hope you are organising and I hope you know you are loved because you are
Sascha <3