A Few More Thoughts on Anarchist Revolution

Historically, anarchism in the Americas, Spain and now Syria sprung out of war. The Russian and Chinese revolutions as well. The French revolution happened just after the U.S. revolution and major French military losses over there. The U.S. revolution is less clear to me, but the there are general tendencies to identify.

1st: The chaotic state and disorganized production, logistics, temporary housing etc allowed for an easier transmission to a new system since the old one wasn’t really present anymore.

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité – How to Reconcile Liberalism and Socialism

This was the most well-known slogan of the French Revolution 1789 and it means freedom, equality and brotherhood.

I’ve been trying to understand #gamergate lately, thinking it’s a 21st century Western middle-class teenager grassroots protest and as such indicates where the entire world is heading. Whether that is wise or not is debatable. Either way, my idea of what needs to be done in society is centered around the notion that a lot of structures have been created, for various reasons, and that these structures are in part designed to prevent and slow down changes aimed at improving the living conditions of the general population, even including animals. In other words, those who are currently being favoured by the structures are fighting to maintain the status quo. This is not a simplistic view though, as not all structures are bad and not all progressive ideas are good.

Quote of the Day: Muammar al-Gadaffi

From “The Green Book”:

“The democratic press is that which is issued by a People’s Committee, comprising all the groups of society. Only in this case, and not otherwise, will the press or any other information medium be democratic, expressing the viewpoints of the whole society, and representing all its groups.”

Now, I’m an anarchist and an individualist, I don’t believe in representative democracy anymore than Gadaffi seems to do, but in my view the whole point of true democracy (anarchy) is that every individual has a voice of their own. It is impossible to extract a common opinion from a group of people, which is why any system must allow for freedom of speech, press, expression, thought, opinion, religion, politics and so on, no matter what the individuals believe or think (as long as they don’t infringe someone else’s right to the same things). Also, although I know too little of Libya, I’m under the impression that the People’s Committee has either not been implemented or failed to represent the entire spectrum of opinions in the country, usually in favour of the opinions of Gadaffi and his closest friends.

This didn’t make sense:

“Private individuals have the right to express only their own, and not anyone else’s opinions.”

Full quote from the chapter PRESS:

Quote of the Day: John Ball

“When Adam dalf, and Eve span, who was thanne a gentilman? From the beginning all men were created equal by nature, and that servitude had been introduced by the unjust and evil oppression of men, against the will of God, who, if it had pleased Him to create serfs, surely in the beginning of the world would have appointed who should be a serf and who a lord” and Ball ended by recommending “uprooting the tares that are accustomed to destroy the grain; first killing the great lords of the realm, then slaying the lawyers, justices and jurors, and finally rooting out everyone whom they knew to be harmful to the community in future.”

When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?^[3] From the beginning all men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. For if God would have had any bondmen from the beginning, he would have appointed who should be bond, and who free. And therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come, appointed to us by God, in which ye may (if ye will) cast off the yoke of bondage, and recover liberty.^[4][5]

– John Ball “mad” priest of Kent holding a sermon on a hill during the peasants revolt 1381.

The Middle-East Revolution

Some facts you need to know about the Middle-East as a foreigner:

The terrorist muslims were created by the Saudi Arabia monarchy, allowing this Bedouin fanaticism to gain a political influence in the Middle-East and beyond.

The West betrayed the region after WW2 ended, only looking after their own colonial interests. The Nazis killed half of all the jews, already living in diaspora, it’s not the only genocide in recent history, but the US and UK wanted a military presence in the oil-rich region. The UK-captured land was divided up and the UN nations feeling guilty about the holocaust agreed to let the Jews have a piece of the land. Since then jews have slept with guns in hands, fearing another genocide, and have not made friends with their new neighbours. The Israelis, the different Arab groups and the rest of the world are not good friends and nobody trusts anyone.

There are a lot of poor people, a lot of young people with higher education and a lot of different ethnic/cultural/political groups who havn’t settled their differences yet.

The internet was such a force in the Egypt usurpation that their 82-year-old dictator didn’t understand what was happening and it’s a force for spreading the revolution to Yemen, to Tunisia, to Jordan, to Syria, to Algeria, to Saudi Arabia, to Iran (they’re already in the business though), to Libya, to Morocco and Sudan.

The muslims have no pope to unite them, they all have individualized or regional views on the truth, more like protestantism than catholicism.

So what’s gonna happen?

It will take a lot of time to usurp every dictator as some will be more stubborn and brutal. Economical improvement takes time too, and comes at the expense of the already big economies, which will intentionally or inadvertently be a hindrance to economic development. Islam will gradually become more like Christianity in the West, a private and less obviously influencing power in society. Women will become equal with men. The problems in Sub-Saharan Africa, the area south of Russia and India will be a factor in the problem-solving of the Arab world. All these things point to slow progress, but they also point to inevitable progress.

I hope you crazy Arabs read this. Know that we are all humans, we all want the same happiness, all the peoples of the Earth will one day be free and happy and therefore you have my support in your struggle.

Down with the pharaohs! Long live the revolution! Et cetera!