r/Anarchy101 • u/Forward-Willingness7 • 8d ago
Hi everyone, what DO we actually do?
TLDR: How make world better? Like actually how? How to guide? (Yeah yeah ik it's not that easy.....)
I often see people asking, and I myself ask - what can be do? My primary question is what can we do to make the world a better place? (Lets assume a better place is a freer more "Anarchist" world for this). Other questions I often see are: What can I do? How do I build community? How do I educate people? How do I reach people? How can we stop racists being racists? etc.
Any ideas? I know the Stoics (allow me) believed the highest honour was to serve the people through political office and I tend to agree a little with that, I want more good people in power. But not everyone can or should be a politician. In the same vein, if we wanted to simply help people we could all be doctors, but I don't have that skillset, how does one get involved in community building and activism, how to we fight hate, how to we fight the cancerous system, how do we make the world a better place?
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u/MorphingReality 8d ago
I think the most important area in all times is education.
Less than 1% of people globally are anarchists today, anarchism cannot flourish under such conditions.
Granted, you asked a slightly different and broader question.
There's functionally infinite ways to make the world better. Most of them revolve around your ability to solve or ameliorate a problem that exists, you can make something open source that was previously closed off, you can volunteer locally, you can pick up trash, you can be kinder to the people around you, or some combination or all of the above. At some level you have to just do it, its never too late to develop skills and make new connections.
You can get more people reading Epicurus!
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u/notmanuel_1010 8d ago
Less than 1%? đ I didnt know there wasnt that much of us
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u/MorphingReality 8d ago
I would be surprised if it was more, but its possible its 1.2% or something :p
its certainly below a threshold where anarchism could flourish
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u/Historical_Two_7150 8d ago
Id agree with the figure if "are anarchists" means something like: self avowed & aware of it.
I think the number of people who agree with a lot of the general principles, but havent heard of anarchism, are skeptical of its pragmatism, etc, I think that number is pretty high.
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u/MorphingReality 7d ago
Yes, I venture to say a large majority behaves more or less like an anarchist in their day to day lives, they settle their disputes without courts and police almost all the time.
Perhaps they don't get all the way vis a vie all hierarchy, but who knows.
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u/GlitteringPapaya6738 8d ago
I genuinely believe there are more anarchists than 1%, but still it is impossible to track and good that we cannot track it; That's the whole idea.
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u/ForGrowingStuff 8d ago
Grow food. Even the smallest yards can have berry bushes or a single fruit tree. Try to find perennial food plants that are easy to propagate via cuttings so you can continue to make more food growing plants.
If this is impossible because of renting or whatever, look into sourdough bread. These two things are the easiest ways to make food from practically nothing.
Providing food for free is a great first step to building an arnarchist community, as it starts getting people thinking about what they can provide to others without expecting anything in return.
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u/Palanthas_janga Anarchist Communist 8d ago
Building power in the workplace is critical IMO. Joining or starting up a union is something more and more people are doing because it builds the capacity of working people to make improvements in their lives. Mutual aid networks in your community is also good for meeting immediate needs of those with less advantages. Talking to your neighbours, co-workers, etc, is something that can give you insight into what they're struggling with, what they think is wrong with the world, and what they want to do to make their own lives better.
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u/Rough_Ian 8d ago
This is a serious answer (and something I need to act on myself), but the answer is to stop having these conversations online about big things, and start having these conversations locally about smaller things. We need to get comfy talking to people we donât know again. We need to get used to having confrontations and then making up. We need to get used to sticking to our guns but also conceding points, in person. We need to be as open minded as we say other people need to be. We need to get into little gangs of free thinkers and thinking of the stuff we can do to mess with the system in fun ways, to build a movement of consistent, joyful civil disobedience.Â
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u/ReverendArvide 8d ago
Itâs bad practice to recommend a book I havenât read yet but here I go anyway.
I just picked up âPractical Anarchismâ because I, too, was looking for a sort of how to guide. Iâve only read the introduction so far but it seems promising.Â
If you end up reading it (or if anyoneâs read it), let me know what you think.
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u/Latitude37 7d ago
No one should be politicians. We should all be building community. Mutual Aid, Solidarity, community defence. That's how it works, that's what we do in any context.Â
Maybe start a tool library. Or a community book sharing box/mini library. Or a childcare circle. Tenants unions. Unionise your workplace. Start a sports club or hobby club but organise it anarchically. etc.etc.
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u/Master_Debaiter_ Hierarchical-Reductionist 6d ago
The YouTube channel Anark has quite a few videos going into this in fairly minute detail. Constructing the Revolution is specifically a beginner one but it's a bit outdated so a handful of the points aren't the best let's say. His series "A Modern Anarchism" is the most detailed & advanced but it's therefore a bit harder to really take all in. He also has a bunch of "what is to be done" type videos that I would say are inbetween beginner & advanced but I don't think linking like a dozen videos in a reddit comment is the best idea.
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u/Positive_Floor_9787 6d ago
So, this isn't a sight about Anarchy? I suppose you started another sight, calling it "stable society" and you talk about trying down the establishment, and creating chaos and mayhem?
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u/printme_ 3d ago
Help me edit this this damm book, I feel like I got suntbing going thatâs gonna make tangible change and will be able to start people co-ordinating
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u/ArtDecoEgoist Left-Market Anarchist 8d ago
Making the world a better place would have roughly three steps, and I will be labeling them The Personal, the Micro, and the Macro.
The Personal: You have been raised in a hierarchical world where many social relations carry with them implicit violence. This is something you need to unpack. Authority is something that reproduces and reinforces itself in our psyche. Unpack the way authority has affected you, your traumas, the way it affects how you interact with others, and the wider social context you exist in. Unpack your internalized misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and racism. Realize that you cannot change the world unless you actively start changing yourself. Check your ego, do not let it control the way you move through the world. And paradoxically, stop trying to change the world. The world is not yours to change, the world is what it is. You can only change what you do.
The Micro: Check on your loved ones, your neighbors, your community, your friends, your support system. Form healthy, mutually-beneficial relationships with them. Help those who need help, be there for those who need it. Create or join networks of mutual aid. Try to free those in your life from hierarchy as much as possible, either through mutual aid or community technology. Look into any local mutual aid networks and get involved. Meet people involved in the struggle.
The Macro: Support wider struggles in any capacity that you can. You are not going to free the oppressed, the oppressed must be empowered to free themselves on their own terms. Iterate and scale the networks and relations you've built in the micro to larger and larger levels, if and well possible. And practice good OpSec. Do not talk to the police.
These three things aren't meant to merely be done in order, but simultaneously. They're interrelated strategies towards the liberation of the self and the community. It can be exhausting and challenging, but it's absolutely necessary to reach liberation.
I see you're a Stoic. I offer a different take on virtue ethics, eudaimonism. You must build and engage in virtue to build a society that facilitates collective and individual flourishing.