do anarchists support democracy

Do Anarchists Support Democracy? (2018) by ziq

via 7pg kindle version from anarchist library [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ziq-do-anarchists-support-democracy]

notes/quotes:

3

Understanding Democracy

The word “democracy” comes from two Greek words:

demo- a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “people.”

-cracy: a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, with the meaning “rule,” “government,” “governing body.”

So democracy literally means: “Rule by the people.” Or more specifically, the majority of the people.

In my mind, anyone that aims for us to be ruled, even by “the people” (as abstract and meaningless as that concept is) is not promoting anarchy. But unfortunately this view is not always shared by the people calling themselves anarchists today. It’s difficult for me to imagine that an anarchist; who is presumably opposed to authority in all its guises and hopefully rejects the very notion of rulers, would then consent to being ruled by “the people”... I know I sure as hell don’t want to be ruled by anyone. But a lot of anarchists continue to romanticize democracy, perhaps because they’re unable to break through the years of propaganda fed to them by the state and its schooling and media apparatuses.

the thing we’ve not yet tried/seen: the unconditional part of left to own devices ness

[‘in an undisturbed ecosystem ..the individual left to its own devices.. serves the whole’ –dana meadows]

From an early age, it’s hammered into us that democracy = freedom. Any anarchist will tell you that although most of us live in societies that are governed by forms of democracy, none of us have anything resembling freedom. Yet a lot of us make excuses to ourselves so we can continue to romanticize democracy… Tell a room full of anarchists that you oppose democracy and you’ll no doubt hear impassioned insistences that what we have now isn’t “real” democracy, but “if we had anarchism, we’d have “real” democracy and things would be different, because anarchism is the only real democracy!”

A lot of anarchists spend a lot of effort holding onto oppressive phantoms like democracy and go through great lengths to fuse these liberal concepts with anarchy, when we really have no reason to. Anarchists who insist anarchy and democracy are one and the same when democracy is responsible for an endless list of horrible atrocities do no service to anarchy.

to me.. as do anarchists who claim ‘no rule’ yet load up on re ness es et al..

Our rulers use democracy to separate us into in-groups and out-groups, pitting the majority group against the minority groups and giving everyone a false sense of control. We’re made to believe we have a say in how our lives are run because we get to participate in glorious democracy.

seat at the table ness et al

4

The Failure of Democracy

Democracy is the tyranny of the majority, however you try to window-dress it. In practice, all forms of democracy have been used by a majority group to control or otherwise dictate to a minority group.

public consensus always oppresses someone(s)

Democracy or Anarchy?

So do anarchists support democracy? Not if those anarchists have a fully developed understanding of what anarchy entails. Not if they’re serious about liberating themselves from authority and crushing hierarchies as they form.

to me.. if ie: crushing hierarchies.. still beholden to rulers..

Democracy is really not compatible with anarchy in any permeable way. It could be a useful process for gauging the views of each member of a small group, but that shouldn’t be enough for us to make the claim that “anarchy is democratic”. *Anarchy is the opposition to authority. It’s the struggle against oppression. The quest to limit suffering. We shouldn’t be claiming anarchy is defined by democracy; which is a specific system of government that **demands people be ruled by other people.

*opposition ness and struggle ness.. to me.. are cancerous distractions to legit free people..

**rather.. any form of people telling other people what to do

Collectivist-minded anarchists will usually insist on direct-democracy and consensus-democracy as decision-making mechanisms, but it frequently leads to problems when certain members of the group don’t fall in line with the majority’s agenda. The bigger the group, the more likely this is to happen. The minority members will inevitably grow frustrated at this oppression and either leave the group or be forced to conform in order to stay.

rather.. always..

5

The Authority of Democracy.

There has been a lot written outlining why the concept of democracy simply cannot be made compatible with anarchy, yet a lot of people identifying as anarchists today refuse to let go of the idea of democracy as a revolutionary method, and insist it can somehow overcome its inherently hierarchical nature and long history of oppression. In all honestly, a lot of these people are simply confused minarchists that don’t actually want to abolish hierarchy; but instead minimize it.

Consensus Democracy?

Consensus democracy aims to get everyone in a group to agree to take a unified path of action. It sounds good in theory, but the only way to get everyone from disparate backgrounds and experiences to agree to the same thing is to water down the plan to such an extent that the action will likely become meaningless. Consensus democracy assumes the majority group won’t bully or peer pressure the minority group into folding to their will. It ignores the basic reality that some people will aggressively force their will on others, or at least shame or manipulate opponents into submission.

again.. public consensus always oppresses someone(s)

6

Anarchy Doesn’t Need Democracy

Instead of a large group laboring to make democracy work so they can agree on a course of action, it would be far more productive for smaller groups made up of people with shared interests to splinter off and co-operate to follow their own plans that require no compromise because their interests are already aligned. Throughout history, democracy has existed to legitimize authority, providing justification for hierarchical power structures by framing every oppressive action the state takes against us as “the will of the people”. It has long enabled the powerful to crush the powerless. People who insist on associating anarchism with democracy are trying to legitimize anarchism, to associate it with comfortable institutions embraced by thoroughly indoctrinated liberals. But anarchy has no want or need for legitimization. Anarchy doesn’t need to be watered down to broaden its appeal to a public that is high on hierarchy.

nothing to date has been legit free.. legit non ruled.. et al.. since nothing to date has gotten to the root of problem

legit freedom will only happen if it’s all of us.. and in order to be all of us.. has to be sans any form of measuring, accounting, people telling other people what to do

how we gather in a space is huge.. need to try spaces of permission where people have nothing to prove to facil curiosity over decision making.. because the finite set of choices of decision making is unmooring us.. keeping us from us..

ie: imagine if we listen to the itch-in-8b-souls 1st thing everyday & use that data to connect us (tech as it could be.. ai as augmenting interconnectedness)

the thing we’ve not yet tried/seen: the unconditional part of left to own devices ness

[‘in an undisturbed ecosystem ..the individual left to its own devices.. serves the whole’ –dana meadows]

there’s a legit use of tech (nonjudgmental exponential labeling) to facil the seeming chaos of a global detox leap/dance.. for (blank)’s sake..

ie: whatever for a year.. a legit sabbatical ish transition

otherwise we’ll keep perpetuating the same song.. the whac-a-mole-ing ness of sea world.. of not-us ness.. of part\ial ness.. [again].. for (blank)’s sake..

Anarchists always oppose monarchy; the rule of one. We always oppose oligarchy; the rule of a few. So why wouldn’t we oppose democracy; the rule of many? Why should the many get to decide how you or I live our lives? A ruler is a ruler is a ruler. Democracy has been expertly wielded as a weapon by the elites in society. By combining democracy with meticulously-crafted propaganda, the powerful are able to control voters and manipulate them into voting against their own interests.

You can’t strive to replace an artificial system as brutally hierarchical as democracy with a supposedly more egalitarian version of the same thing and call it anarchy. You have to throw the whole rotten system out.

rather.. try a nother way .. that makes everything else irrelevant

Reject democracy. Reject the notion that you should be ruled by anyone. Embrace self-determination. Embrace anarchy.

again.. to me.. reject ness .. any form of re ness is a cancerous distraction to the dance

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