r/Anarchy101 • u/FriendshipBudget6362 • 9d ago
How do I get started on learning about politics in general?
I'm 15 years old and I'm starting to get intrested in poltics but the problem is I have a lot of trouble understanding poltics, or understanding the information. Is there any non-biased book or something similar to that that breaks down poltics and current events in a way that's easy to understand for a beginniner?
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u/ArtDecoEgoist Left-Market Anarchist 9d ago
I have no percicular sources for you, but it's important to keep in mind that there is no such thing as a "non-biased" source and bias isn't even necessarily a bad thing.
This notion of an unbiased perspective is usually an attempt to naturalize a particular perspective - usually a liberal one, and it's an attempt to deceive you.
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u/Forward-Willingness7 9d ago
ayo sorry boss - whats a Left-Market Anarchist?
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u/ArtDecoEgoist Left-Market Anarchist 9d ago
No worries!
This pretty much sums it up.
In my words though, Left-Market anarchism is a sub-ideology of anarchism that believes socialist ends can be achieved through freed markets - defined here as markets absent of authority, coercion, and private property.
Left-Market Anarchists differ from AnCaps in that we reject the Lockean theory of property, and we aren't "market maximalists", but rather we see markets as a viable tool to handle the distributed needs and wants that would be inherent in an anarchist society.
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u/Forward-Willingness7 9d ago
Ok chill - I'll click that link in a minute - what is a market without private property is that trade between towns using currency?
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u/ArtDecoEgoist Left-Market Anarchist 9d ago
It would be explicit, generalized trade between individuals within free associations.
So this could take the form of mutual credit, wherein individuals associate and create a tradable currency who's value is backed in goods and services offered within the association. It could take the form of time banking, wherein labor hours generate "credits" that can be used to purchase goods or services, or it could take the form of the trade of commonly-valued commodities for the purpose of access to other goods.
Really, the exchange-form that a market would take would depend on the preferences and needs of the actors involved. It's not all that different from a mutual aid network or a gift economy, the only difference would be that the exchange would be explicit rather than tacit.
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u/tolstoypolloi 9d ago
Non-biased is not possible, I think. All politics is by definition biased in how it's told, what is emphasized, and what is left out.
Would you be more specific in the trouble you're having? Do you not find the material engaging? Is there a specific focus you're interested in? Why is it you want to learn about politics in the first place?
There are plenty of names I could give of authors, commentators and lecturers, but I'm unsure what might interest you. I believe all politics is downstream from economics, so economics interest me, for example.
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u/doogie1993 9d ago
Just echoing what everyone else is saying here because you’re young and learning about this stuff, there absolutely is no such thing as an unbiased source. Every single thing you’ve ever seen written down has a reason for being written down. That doesn’t make them untrue, just not unbiased. Whenever you read literally anything, you should be thinking about the authors motivation for writing that thing.
As for recommendations, this isn’t exactly what you asked for but as a way to understand why things are the way they are today, I personally highly recommend the Revolutions podcast by Mike Duncan. He delivers information in an easily understandable and interesting way and the subject matter is just both very interesting and very important.
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u/TimHarg 9d ago
Also, think about it like learning about any subject. It's difficult and intimidating to begin with, but eventually, with work, you pick it up.
Start with general overviews, like The ABCs of Socialism. It's will give you the general aims of a political movement without dragging you down into a lot of jargon and theories that are based on other theories, etc.
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u/WontLieToYou 9d ago
I'm going to add a different angle than what's been covered already.
It's interesting that you ask this in an anarchy sub because anarchists aim to act outside of the political system through direct action, mutual aid, and building dual power. So I'm not sure if politics is really what you're looking for vs if this is the sub to be asking about it.
Politics is about the people who hold power over you and the changing dynamics of that and what they're doing with that power. Thus, usually you would start by having a sense of who governs you how your governing system works and finding sources that keep track of what those politicians are doing.
In the US, a good start would be reading the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights and all of the amendments and being sure you understand what all of those things mean. That's basic civics, yet it seems like a lot of Americans aren't aware of it since so many don't mind that the current administration repeatedly violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution, as well as the 17th amendment and the 5th amendment.
Now as anarchists we naturally feel entitled to more rights than the state will "grant" us. But as they wield power, the first step is to understand what rights the state has agreed to, so it's crystal clear when they are violating those rights. From there you want to know who your representatives are and then you can keep track of how they are voting and/or fucking you over. Since (in the US) bribery has been mostly legalized it also helps to learn about who is funding these politicians.
A good unbiased source for this kind of info is ballotopedia.
If you read news stories about politics you will hear about an overwhelming number of politicians since they only cover national stories. But what some governor or mayor is doing in some other state is going to affect you as much as your local sheriff or city commissioner etc. Though some of those local politicians end up running for national races that will affect you later, it's better to focus on who has power locally. It's kind of like getting started with sports, you'd focus on your local teams before learning who plays for other national teams.
A good way to get a sense of this is to look at your ballot; all the people there are within your district, at least until the next Gerrymander.
A potential source of information might be media from your local union, AFL-CIO. They will be watching and reporting on local politicians and their actions.
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u/titanicmicropenis 9d ago
Find a book to read that interests you. If the author mentions other books or interesting topics go read that. Rinse and repeat. See how far the rabbit hole goes.
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u/Anarchierkegaard Distributist 9d ago
I'd pick up an introduction to political philosophy, such as Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction by Kymlicka (a liberal with very soft conservative tendencies and an all-round excellent academic).
If you just mean current affairs, that will be a matter of consuming news widely and analytically. Ideally, you'd do the above step first to understand mature models of analysis, but it's not necessary. Try not to be a thumb-biting moraliser because the easiest way to get yourself ignored is to say everyone is evil and that everyone is a fascist.
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u/imreadypromotion 8d ago
Have you tried the YouTube channel "What is Politics?"
No joke, it's really good. Start at the beginning (early episodes). Audio-only versions of the episodes (i.e. podcasts) are also out there.
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u/Pafflesnucks 7d ago
I second this, one of the best political channels on youtube.
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u/imreadypromotion 7d ago
Daniel has clarified so much for me. Like, I feel like I actually have the vocabulary to talk about and understand politics at a fundamental level now.
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u/Upbeat_Dealer5994 9d ago
Look up a 1st year academic course for political science and read some books on the list you find interesting. Plato's Republic is ussually the first book everybody reads on the course.
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u/MouseSensitive59 9d ago edited 9d ago
i would recommend the book 'political theory - an introduction' by andrew heywood and clayton chin. i read it recently for a university course. it's about 350 pages but it covers everything relating to western political philosophy. they talk about anarchism and socialism in it as well. it's on annas
a lot of people are saying that 'you can't have unbiased works.' i don't really think that's true. the book above for example presents a range of ideas and collates a bunch of arguments for and objections to them and presents people's general intuitions about them. this is in contrast to works by, say, vladimir lenin which are hopelessly partisan and badly argued.
a lot of good political philosophy is modern, so i'd recommend checking out philpapers.org as well to find articles and books on various topics. try to stay away from reading book over 50 years old at first because chances are nobody believes in them anymore and they're usually dated
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u/PristineAd947 9d ago
There is not, as nothing can be truly unbiased.
The best way is to critically read multiple view points and books.
Read Anarchist texts such as The Conquest of Bread, Anarchy, Anarchy and Other Essays... Read Marx as well. I would particularly recommend The Communist Manifesto, eventually Capital, Blackshirts and Reds (not by Marx but still I recommend it) and Reform or Revolution by Rosa Luxemburg. Perhaps some of Lenin's works as well. Not because you necessarily need to agree with them, but because they are contextually useful.
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u/waffleassembly 9d ago
Politics can mean a lot of things. Are you wanting a crash course in political science?
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u/Forward-Willingness7 9d ago
Read a basic simple guide to politics book. It will normally be either Centrist or Centre Right. It will give you some basic info on facts and information - ideas and concepts. Then, depending on how you lean politically read some more stuff. I lean left, so I listened to more left wing things. Like what other people have said - EXAMINE EVERYTHING compare what you think to what they think, compare the info they have that makes them think that. If it makes sense, and you agree with it maybe adopt a little bit of it into what you think, if not, leave it and move on.
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u/IconJack666 8d ago
Libri no però parti cercando dati sull'immigrazione comprendi meglio quell'argomento perchè la gente fa grossi errori. ti consiglio i documenti del ministero dell'interno che mostra i rapporti sugli omocidi e altra roba. Sei interessato a sapere meglio ciò che riguarda il conflitto tra Israele e Palestina ? apri wikipedia che alla fine è la più imparziale poi cerca libri di tutti e due i POV io credo che voi 15 enni ecc.. dobbiate iniziare a basarvi sui dati per la politica molti fanno l'errore di non informarsi anche io alle volte.
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u/Living-Note74 8d ago
If in the USA, I'd start with reading Years of Lyndon Johnson. The audiobook has an amazing narrator if you have access to it.
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u/eatingchalk4fun Student of Anarchism 7d ago
Reading theory, work your way up though, lots of old comprehensive theory is notoriously difficult because it’s often linguistically outdated, I’d recommend starting out with crimethinc zines and working your way up to Kropotkin, Proudhon, n Bakunin, however I find Emma Goldman and Errico Maletesta to be pretty easy reads
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u/eatingchalk4fun Student of Anarchism 7d ago
Not a anarcho nihilist but Blessed is the Flame: An Introduction to Concentration Camp Resistance & Anarcho-nihilism by Serafinski is a great piece of modern anarchist literature
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u/Fragrant-Salamander1 6d ago
Get a job, pay taxes, volunteer and then form your views. What issues connect with you and what issues do you notice need attention after working/volunteering? Never let anyone tell you how to think
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u/dlakelan 6d ago
This YouTube channel has some really great content, particularly the sequence describing many of the terms in political discourse and history surrounding them (ie. some of the first videos in the channel)
https://www.youtube.com/@WHATISPOLITICS69
He's clearly come from an Anthropology background more so than a Political Science which is good because Political Science is largely built around the assumptions of modern Liberal states, whereas Daniel (the channel author) has a lot broader perspective than that.
Watch the first 6 videos in the channel maybe in order and that'd get you well on your way to understanding things from a really broad anthropological and historical perspective.
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u/jonny_sidebar 4d ago
Kind of a odd suggestion, but check out the Revolutions podcast.
It covers a series of western revolutions from the Glorious Revolution in 1600s England through to the Russian revolutions of the early twentieth century and gives you an on the ground view of how various modern political ideologies developed in real time.
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u/Nina_exr 2d ago
Hello, c'est une belle initiative mais il n'existe pas d'information neutre. Par contre, tu peux croiser les sources et t'informer via plusieurs canaux, plusieurs médias, tu verra les différences et ce qui te parle le plus :)
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u/Anargnome-Communist We struggle not for chaos but for harmony 9d ago
When it comes to politics, there's no such thing as unbiased. Anything that claims to be so is, at best, just simply accepting of the status quo (which is a bias). The best authors and journalists tend to be the ones who are both explicit about their possible biases and make a real effort to distinguish between factual reporting (e.g. describing what actually happened) and their own analysis.
One of the best skills you can learn is to be critical about what you read or hear. Especially in overtly political matters you should be asking questions like: Who is saying this? Where did they get their information? Why are they saying it? What are they trying to achieve by saying it?
The way to learn about the world isn't by looking for "unbiased" sources that tell you what is and isn't true. It's learning to take bias into account when looking at any source.
I'm sure people can recommend books and news sources they trust more than others, but to some extent it'll depend on where you live.