Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

ziq OP wrote

When you label yourself with an ideology that has a long and storied history, you can't really protest when people then engage you based on their lived experiences of the material reality of your professed ideology.

If I went around saying I'm a monarchist but monarchy is good, actually, because my monarchy is different and pure and not at all like real world monarchy, I wouldn't expect people who have a problem with the ideology of monarchy to keep their views about monarchy to themselves because I insist my monarchy is nothing like every other monarchy in the world.

If you're going to get on a soapbox to promote an already existing ideology in a public venue, you can't honestly expect people to not voice any disagreement or to ignore 100 years of history and current communist expreriments (China, Cuba, Vietnam, etc).

When you label yourself with a word, you can't ask people to ignore all the context that words comes with.

2

celebratedrecluse wrote

I don't want people to ignore the context, hopefully. I would like to say that, it's a term which is diluted in common usage with a multiplicity of contradictory approaches and meanings.

The same could be said of anarchy and anarchists, and I think it's OK to still try to talk about anarchy and anarchies, just like I speak of communists and communal networks from time to time.

I don't disagree with your argument, you raise a good and perhaps for me uncomfortable point, but do you think it is equally uncomfortable if applied the same way to anarchy?

3

ziq OP wrote

no because anarchy isn't a system. it doesn't rule anyone or genocide minorities or create catastrophic famines or ecocide or slavery

all things communism has done and continues to do

anarchy doesn't have any capacity to create institutional tyranny because it rejects all institutions and systems of control

1

celebratedrecluse wrote

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchist_Catalonia#Criticism

I think your reply is totally blinded to the reality of what anarchists have actually done in the world, under the banner of anarchy.

3

ziq OP wrote

syndicalists, not anarchists.

1

celebratedrecluse wrote

They were anarchists, who called themselves anarchists, while they created the best known anarchist project in the history of anarchist projects.

The fact that they were also syndicalists doesn't really change the fact that they were anarchists.

3