Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Modern Anarchy

It came to me in a flash last night what links all my my favourite topics. 
I listed them yesterday as:

Self-sustainable living
Fashion: with a heavy leaning toward Rockabilly and Vintage

Sewing and other D.I.Y.
Anarchism and Self-Management
Practicing Buddhism
Being Vegetarian (I’m a vegan wannabe)
Dogs and Animal Welfare
Permaculture
Running and other awesome sports like roller derby
Alternative lifestyles

and I'm kind of giving the answer away in the title here but .... what links all my my favourite topics?
Anarchy

You see, I don't think of anarchy as something that scary people in black hoodies do, that usually involves breaking windows, blowing things up or worse. 

Anarchy to me is all about self-management. Empowerment of the people.

And we're all people, right? Like-minded people are perfectly good at getting together, forming communities and managing themselves.

Amazingly enough neighbouring communities are often willing to negotiate, be compassionate and look out for each other, even when their governments are unwilling to do so.

Look at all the grass-roots campaigns in Israel and Palestine where people are trying to bridge the gap themselves.

I know that's an idealistic example, but being an anarchist isn't all about 'fuck-ing the po-lice' or 'the fascist regime'. To me, it's about being responsible for yourself and your actions, in a way that doesn't rely on the government, the police, or anyone to tell you how to behave.

That's why trying to produce as much of your own food as possible is modern anarchy. 
YOU look after YOU.

Similarly, buying second-hand or vintage clothing (or making your own clothes) is a form of separating yourself from the birth-consumer-death cycle that most of us are in. If you aren't a 'consumer' of cheap crap from the likes of Walmart, Target, Big W etc. then their lobbying power over your government is lessened as is the likelihood of the tragic incident in Bangladesh this week.

OK, I'm definitely sliding off topic now...

But I do believe that the more self-sufficient we are, and the more conscious our consumer choices are, the better the world will be. And that, to me, is modern anarchy.

Leave a comment below. What do you think anarchy is and does it have a place in modern society?

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