Submitted by anarchoreposter in Anarchism
Western leftists tend to only "Struggle" against perceived oppressions whereby the perpetrators are predominantly white males in western countries. When racism or totalitarianism occurs in non western countries they will either ignore it, try to justify it (if it's done by a leftist like Nicolás Maduro or Evo Morales or even simply an "anti-imperialist" like Assad), or create a conspiracy theory where the west is fully and directly to blame for every oppression around the world.
I think if Anarchists truly support uprooting oppression in all its forms, they can not afford to ignore the suffering of any group. The reality of trends like this in anarchist circles make us seem like a movement of hypocrites.
The abahlali baseMjondolo for example have been struggling against the South African state for many years, seizing land from the government and providing shelter, food and education while practicing consensus and democratic decision making. They have been repeatedly attacked by ANC-supporting Militias with trucks and machetes. The Abahlali baseMjondolo have a strong anarchist current built into their society. In many ways they are walking the walk that many Anarchists only will ever talk about. Yet they seem to get little recognition or support from the wider international anarchist community.
We need to cut this shit out as a movement. All oppression needs to be fought.
An_Old_Big_Tree wrote
I think this is mostly an accusation appropriate to authoritarians, no? I'd be curious to see when anarchists do this. i'd be amazed to hear an anarchist support Assad in any way. And hearing an anarchist support Maduro or Morales for me is like hearing an anarchist support Bernie - not so anarchist.
The idea that we'd support an authoritarian leftist is absurd to me; which sometimes seems to me like a super-liberalism, whereby we become completely coopted into a system that insidiously 'works', so long as you are a bootlicker. Anarchism is the un-coopting and disenclosure of everything, not the rendering of ourselves all under one big 'benevolent' umbrella.
I post about Abahlali pretty often here, and basically made f/Squat_And_Occupy for them. They're pretty good and generally badass and very resilient, but definitely also have some dodgy stuff going on. They're well known in left spaces around Southern Africa.