Submitted by Passive_Nihlist in Anarchism

Several times on the Anews podcast Aragorn! Discusses the lack of anarchist mentors as a severe weakness of the American anarchist milue. Contrasted to places like Greece, where even though these relationships/bonds have only been built in the last generation, they are already quite strong and most people have known eachother most of their life (this is also due to proximity), or in Mexico stories told from ITS about how the memories and stories of their family inspire their actions.

Did you/do you have an anarchist mentor?

Have you ever taken on an apprentice?

What sorts of skills did you learn/did you wish you learned?

What would you teach to the young anarchists today?

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halfway_prince wrote

kill your gods kill your heros kill your mentors

haven't listened to the Anews podcast so sorry if I am reiterating points already made. i think this is a cool/interesting question so wanted to post my (somewhat) unrefined take.

Assuming since you use the words mentor and apprentice you're referring to the traditionally structured diodic (unidirectional) mode of knowledge transfer from mentor to menteee.

Under this relationship hierarchy, the mentor would expected to have the "correct" knowledge, ideas, praxis, etc. that will be in some way transferred to the mentee. I think a major flaw in this is the assumption that the knowledge that is transferred is "true" in some universal sense and should be accepted without extensive analysis from the mentee. While this can be helpful for transferring certain knowledge - e.g. learning principles/praxis of security culture - I believe it inherently discourages (but obviously doesn't completely eliminate the possibility of) both the mentor and mentee from engaging in rigorous reflection and analysis of those "teachings" which can lead to the perpetuation of problematic beliefs and practices across generations.

Also, it's literally a knowledge hierarchy...the assumption that older folks will inherently have the best practices/knowledge i think is deeply flawed...we see great tactics/strategies that come from new people and new ideas.

This is not to say that there should be no knowledge transfer, but i think framing knowledge transfer through the lense of a mentor/mentee relationship is antithetical to anarchism.

Rather, I would say that skill sharing or (as a biologist i'm going to throw this term in, if you're not familiar with the analogy look up horizontal gene transfer vs. inherited genetic traits) horizontal knowledge transfer between equals who come from different backgrounds, identity groups, etc. should be facilitated and encouraged.

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Passive_Nihlist OP wrote

I think the way A! Meant it was as something that could hopefully break out of these sorts of hierarchal structures but perhaps the critique is still important. I would think that mutual ways of learning and sharing skills and knowledge could fall into this idea. Iirc A! Described their own idea of it working as a sort of network one would move through, you'd find someone you can learn from and learn what you can until you then move on and find someone else and so on.

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justpassingby wrote

An interesting subtext to this is that A! was looking for a mentor, not an apprentice.

I wish I had elders in my life. idgaf if it's 'hierarchical' or has a 'power inbalance' or whatever anarchists like to obsess over. My life would've been infinitely better if someone older and wiser had stepped the fuck up and been there for me.

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Passive_Nihlist OP wrote

I do think it's interesting that despite A!'s own search for a mentor I would say in a way I have found many of the stories he has to share, mentor like. But I think the urban nature of anarchism A! Would talk about contributes to this lack. Since we are so far away from each other and even when we aren't we aren't aware of eachother.

I don't think anarchist mentors are non-existent though, or at least I think they take a non-traditional form. A!'s stories which still exist as recordings of his podcasts/radio shows I think are such an example. But even those along the way who have helped show me certain texts or teach certain lessons. I'm reminded of a peer who helped me understand the problems of justice, especially through their own stories, when I found myself in a similar situation.

In a way I try and be a mentor for what skills I do have. I thinkn this mainly takes the form of trying to spark conversations but I'd also consider the relationships I've had living on the road, where we were all helping eachother learn things whether it be dunpstering or hitchhiking etc. So I don't think being a mentor has to be an extraordinary thing but is something we can try and do to help eachother. Especially in sharing stories.

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