What the heck is an anarchist?

Question

What the heck is an anarchist?

Answer 1

McCain

Answer 2

Rebel without a cause.  Or as Marlon Brando said in the movie "The Wild Ones" when his biker/gang banger was asked what he was rebelling against, "What have you got?"

Answer 3

An anarchist believes that there should be no government whatsoever.  There would be no taxes, no police, no military, no government-built roads and bridges.  It would be a dog-eat-dog society where the dog with the sharpest teeth prevailed

Answer 4

There are a few kinds of anarchists. But the most general type is someone who doesn't believe in any kind of government. Most anarchists follow only one rule, that is to survive. Anything after that is a second priority, including laws.

Answer 5

It's an ignorant person who makes a lot of noise, and spends a lot of time shouting at the rain, but who actually never does anything of substance.

Answer 6

Someone who believes that there should be no government and that people should govern their own lives.

Wikipedia it.

Answer 7

An anarchist supports free association, opposes the state, and opposes hierarchy. (At the very least, anarchists oppose involuntary hierarchy; anarchists often try to create egalitarian alternatives to the semi-voluntary hierarchies too).

There are several different traditions which respect these values, and usually recognize each other as forms of anarchism. These traditions borrow ideas from classical liberalism, from early socialism, from each other, and sometimes from other sources.

People depend on each other. People tend to create their own voluntary social order, including free association, reciprocity, mutual aid, and, if necessary, mutual defense. Once people create this order, a state, or any other criminal gang, is in trouble. So the state, to preserve itself, must preempt voluntary social order.

Highleyman, "An introduction to anarchism:"

http://www.spunk.org/texts/intro/sp00155...

"An anarchist FAQ:"

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/193... or

http://www.infoshop.org/faq/index.html (same text)

Answer 8

There is a great deal of misunderstanding of the nature

of anarchism.

Anarchists (also known as libertarians or libertarian

socialists, in the original sense of socialism as worker-

ownership-and-control of the means of production)

oppose illegitimate authority and hierarchy, and therefore

oppose capitalism and the state; anarchists do not oppose

all organization: anarchists favor voluntary, non-

hierarchical, self-organization. Anarchists do not oppose

all rules and laws; anarchists oppose rules and laws

imposed involuntarily by illegitimate authorities, such

as the state, and favor voluntarily-agreed-upon rules and

laws.

"Anarchy 101", an excellent introduction to anarchism,

can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/2fq4d2

"An Anarchist FAQ", giving an in-depth treatment of

anarchism, can be found here:

http://www.anarchistfaq.org/

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News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo/