Political philosophy has always been of interest to me. As someone who is constantly dissatisfied with the state of things around me, I constantly ponder the question: “How can we live with each other better?” America’s current system seems flawed — just about every major presidential candidate I’ve witnessed has been some concoction of idiot, impotent, uncharismatic or insane.

At the same time, the other forms of government described to us in school seem even worse. Fascism and Soviet Communism seem most horrific. But I always felt that there was another way.

For the last two weeks or so I had been hanging around Discord, a lovely program for setting up rough, semi-private chat rooms on just about any subject. To get into a room you need a link, and they don’t show up on google or other search engines, making them great for small communities wishing to avoid the insanity of larger sites like reddit or the heavy costs of independent sites. Through a twist of fate, I ended up on an Anarchist Philosophy and Politics server.

My curiosity was instantly peaked. I quickly arranged with an interview with one of the head admins, Baffy, which is enclosed here. As always, comments are in braces and some spelling mistakes may be corrected. Otherwise, the text has been copied from Discord itself.

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{Note: My Discord is MythosSanta}

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:17 PM

kk

Let's begin then

First, would you kindly introduce yourself and the collective?

baffy-Yesterday at 9:19 PM

hold up

which collective

what's this interview about

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:19 PM

basically my goal is to get a sense of you

and introduce people to modern anarchist thinking

baffy-Yesterday at 9:20 PM

oh ok

I'm Eric Blank and I'm currently not a member of a formal collective

I've previously been with Hactive.net and Food Not Bombs

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:21 PM

I see

And how long have you been an Anarchist? And to which variety of Anarchism to you subscribe?

baffy-Yesterday at 9:22 PM

I've been an anarchist for 16 years, and I consider myself a Left Libertarian

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:23 PM

A Left Libertarian being?

baffy-Yesterday at 9:25 PM

the wider current encompassing anarchism, communalism, libertarian forms of marxism, and mutualism

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:26 PM

So, now that we have a bit about you

The question of the day is: What is Modern Anarchism

baffy-Yesterday at 9:29 PM

Modern anarchism is heavily influenced by the Internet and ubiquitous access to mass communication. It is allowing the spread of radical ideas far beyond what was possible in the past, being, for now, out of the control of the traditional gatekeepers of knowledge. People historically without a voice are building large audiences, and personal technology is allowing unhindered documentation of the abuses of the ruling class and its distribution to a worldwide audience.(edited)

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:30 PM

If I may hazard as such, this appears to hint at a shift of focus. What is the focus shifting from?

baffy-Yesterday at 9:33 PM

Traditional organizing was focused on mass organization via on-the-ground groups and rare, expensive underground media, such as newspapers and book clubs. This can be easily sidestepped by multimedia Internet communication, allowing access to people and places unreachable in the past, and information resources used to quickly and easily cite historical and sociological evidence to support anarchist theories

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:35 PM

Ok, so now the cause has a significantly better means of accomplishing it's goals, not to mention recruitment.

baffy-Yesterday at 9:35 PM

exactly

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:35 PM

But what's the ideaology?

baffy-Yesterday at 9:36 PM

The ideology is overwhelmingly socialist in active real-life anarchist groups. Other, non-socialist forms of anarchism are fringe, and generally only occur in isolated internet communities

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:37 PM

So how is socialist anarchism different from regular socialism.

?

baffy-Yesterday at 9:39 PM

State-based forms of socialism have always lead to authoritarianism and mismanagement, creating inherently anti-socialist class divides between the rulers and the ruled(edited)

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:40 PM

So what does a none state-based form of socialism look like?

baffy-Yesterday at 9:41 PM

Direct democratic worker control of the means of production, and society organized via community councils composed of people affected by the decisions being made

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:42 PM

Dang, for an idealogy that people paint as beyond the pale, that's quite sane and resonable

baffy-Yesterday at 9:43 PM

It's more boring than most people realize

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:44 PM

Which brings up the interesting question of: Why do most people think that anarchism equals "molotovs and make-shift explosives"?

baffy-Yesterday at 9:46 PM

Historical propaganda, and the reality that the ruling class won't give up power non-violently. The people have a natural right to defend themselves from state violence, and those types of weapons are the most accessible to movements without the resources for military-grade weapons.

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:46 PM

hmm

Now, would I be correct in assuming there are many, many forms of Anarchist thought?

baffy-Yesterday at 9:49 PM

Yes, tons of them

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:50 PM

Would you kindly list a few of the more popular, notable and infamous one? To get the lay of the land so to speak

*ones

baffy-Yesterday at 9:51 PM

anarcho-communism, anarcha-feminism, mutualism, egoism, individualism, vegan anarchism,

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 9:52 PM

Ok, so some of these seem pretty obvious. But what's anarcha feminism, mutualism and egoism?

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 10:04 PM

(everything alright?)

(we can pick this up another day if you're too busy rn)

baffy-Yesterday at 10:16 PM

sorry i had a call

I'm not an expert on the specific theories, but my understanding is that anarcha feminism has, obviously, a feminist focus, and sees oppression of women to be the historical foundation of all following oppressions

mutualism is a form of free-market socialism, composed of worker-managed cooperatives that trade freely among each other

Egoism, I'm not too sure, it has only recently gained in popularity

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 10:18 PM

I see

Now I have a few questions from curious peers if you don't mind. What is anarcha-capitalism and anarcha-humanism, and what steps do you take in your everyday life that are in accord with your philosophy

*transhumanism

baffy-Yesterday at 10:22 PM

anarcho-capitalism is an oxymoron. it was named by people without knowing the historical progression of anarchist theory, and more closely resembled feudalism. anarchism as a political philosophy is a critique of hierarchy, and so-called "anarcho" capitalism is based completely on undemocratic hierarchies

anarcho-transhumanism is the same as regular transhumanism, the idea that using technology to seize control of our development as a species. it just believes it should be done in an anarchist way, and lead to an anarchist society

in everyday life i expose my friends to anarchist concepts, and organize for various movements on the internet, technology being my specialty. i often attend protests and was a participant in Occupy Los Angeles and my college occupy group

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 10:25 PM

Finally, can you give some links or ways for people to learn more and get involved?

baffy-Yesterday at 10:26 PM

I would suggest:

http://www.crimethinc.com/tce/

To Change Everything, an anarchist appeal

The case for complete self-determination—a guide for the furious, the curious, and the pure of heart

http://anarchism.pageabode.com/afaq/index.html

As well at the Wikipedia Anarchism Portal at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Anarchism

Portal:Anarchism

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 10:28 PM

That all?

Also, anyone or anything you want to plug in general

baffy-Yesterday at 10:29 PM

also, Submedia.tv has the Stimulator vidcast that is highly recommended

No, not particularly

MythosSanta-Yesterday at 10:29 PM

Sweet, thanks for the interview!

baffy-Yesterday at 10:29 PM

no prob

{End Interview}

Afterwards

What struck me, for about the whole thing was it’s reasonability. Baffy himself proved to be quite sane and decent, along with most everyone else on the Discord. He presented a notion of Anarchism, a direct, socialist democracy where the people in power can’t run away from the decisions they make, that seems like a positively great idea. And who knows, maybe it actually is.

Best wishes to my readers,