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Wednesday 20th January 7pm PST/Thursday 21st January 3am GMT

Anarchist philosophy is often dismissed as violent, chaotic and irrational. But that is not the whole picture. We live in a world in which political authority figures have been unable to tackle inequality in any meaningful way in centuries – arguably seeking to uphold it. Yet despite “anarchist” being used as a derogatory and stigmatizing term to undermine dissent, many anarchist ideals are in fact grounded in human rights, respect for nature, mutual aid, and accountability.

Questions to consider:

  1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living under State rule – even if that State is oppressive?
  2. Is anarchism’s assumption one of human nature as good or corrupt?
  3. Do human beings have a tendency towards freedom or repression? Order or chaos?
  4. With questions 2 and 3 in mind, what would an Anarchist community look like?
  5. How is anarchist philosophy related to other areas of philosophy? E.g. Frankfurt School, the Stoics ‘the power to live as you will’, etc.
  6. What are the (de)merits of groups/movements founded in anarchist philosophy? e.g. cooperatives, religion (St Paul: God is the only authority; Buddhism: autonomy and self-discipline)
  7. To what extent is representative democracy actually democratic?
  8. Anarchists are against the nation state, so can they effect change in e.g. the Scottish independence referendum by reducing the size of the state as a starting point? Would their vote be hypocrisy?
  9. Related to Qu 8: Is it enough to “widen the floor of the cage”? (Mikhail Bakunin, 19th-century anarchism). I.e. work with the State as far as is possible to expand freedoms.
  10. States appear ill equipped for the impacts of climate change and what may be a new era of global viruses - what does anarchy have to offer in this context?

Choose from: (add additional suggestions in comments below – thank you!)

• Brief Explanation of Anarchism https://philosophynow.org/issues/128/A_Brief_Explanation_of_Anarchism
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anarchism/
• Anarchism can be hard to pin down – e.g. some link it to direct democracy, some resist all forms of leadership. An anarchist against all democracy https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ziq-do-anarchists-support-democracy
• Anarchism as synonymous with direct democracy https://search.proquest.com/openview/11fc80ad3d4dccf5346f8f4bba754ba3/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2006343 (sorry only preview available but abstract summarizes well)
• In our time with Melvin Bragg. First 4 minutes gives a great summary or listen to the whole 45 minute episode. Podcast: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0038x9t Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1faPowjEqs&list=PLVw52Y8qwILCtZpzY_G4GlNfKQYFx5iZ-&index=15
• Noam Chomsky on Anarchism as identifying "structures of hierarchy, domination and authority that constrain human development and seeks to subject them to a very reasonable challenge – justify yourself, and demonstrate that you are legitimate. And if you can’t, the structure should be dismantled and reconstructed from below” www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB9rp_SAp2U&list=PLVw52Y8qwILCtZpzY_G4GlNfKQYFx5iZ-&index=11
• The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero impact upon public policy www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/america-is-not-a-democracy/550931/
• History of freedom press founded by Charlotte Wilson 1886 https://freedompress.org.uk/history/
• Anarchist Library http://theanarchistlibrary.org/special/index
• How would anarchism actually work? (5 parts x15 mins) www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzEl5RIMp7M&list=PLCcemL_x8RtdtFuib1Wl6VwyuYOEDb5Wv
• Carne Ross from British Diplomat to Anarchist www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHKesHPIYgg&list=PLVw52Y8qwILCtZpzY_G4GlNfKQYFx5iZ-&index=3
• Green anarchism strives to remove all hierarchy including relating to non-humans https://freedomnews.org.uk/green-anarchism-towards-the-abolition-of-hierarchy/

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