Amit Varma wrote:
For those that want to read an excellent book that covers the basics of
Anarchist thought and practice, I can't recommend this book enough, which
one can download for free, enough:
http://www.prickly-paradigm.com/paradigm14.pdf
I should point out that anarchism [1] means different things to differently
people, and the anarchism of Kropotkin, quoted at the start of the above
paper, is *very* different from Friedman's Anarcho-libertarianism, which has
individual property rights at its heart.
I could not agree more. I just think there is a far richer tradition, in
theory and in practice, when it comes to the anarchism of Kropotkin,
Bakunin, Bookchin than that of Anarcho-libertarianism (but correct me if
I am wrong here).
It also seems to me that often time when people use the term anarchy,
they use it colloquially, which is, well anarchy, without organization
or simply without the state. But the philosophical tradition,
instantiated in the past in the unions in Spain or more recently in the
organization of meetings before the Seattle WTO protests, is highly
organized (almost tediously so) because of a commitment to consensus.
Another great book that explores the strengths and limits of both
anarchism (in the classical, enlightenment tradition) and capitalism is
the Dispossessed by Ursula l LeGuinn.
Gabriella
--
Gabriella Coleman, Assistant Professor
Department of Media, Culture, & Communication
New York University
239 Greene St, 7th floor
NY NY 10003
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http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/dcc/Home/
