{UAH} ANARCHY OR ISLAMIC TERRORIM

Afuwa Kasule,

Of late you have been posting examples of violent groups, most in the
USA, and using them to counter-pose to the the rise of Islamic
Terrorism IN THE WORLD. Some of these groups may borrow from, or
embellish their violent asctivities with quotations from the Bible,
but it seems to me that you have totally failed to understand the
difference between violent groups that use methods rightly described
as ANARCHY and those that use violence to propagate religious
convictions.

Below is a very simplified definition of ANARCHY, and below it an
article on the phenomenon as a social and political movement. You will
find that, the groups you mention and refer to as "christian terrorist
groups" are actually simply anarchist groups, whereas Islamic terror
groups are engaged in a clear mission to establish an Islamic
Caliphate, and justify all their violent activities with quotations
from the Koran. Please try to understand the distinction between the
two, otherwise you will remain perpetually trapped in an ignorant maze
or caccon that has somehow led you to t equate the IRA or the ETA
nationallist separatist groups as "christian organisations" or the
totally infantile and extemely childish view you hold that a racist,
anti-black group like the KKK is a "christian terrorist" group.

Bobby


anarchy
Simple Definition of anarchy
: a situation of confusion and wild behavior in which the people in a
country, group, organization, etc., are not controlled by rules or
laws
Source: Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary
Full Definition of anarchy
1. 1 a : absence of government b : a state of lawlessness or
political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority c : a
utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without
government
2. 2 a : absence or denial of any authority or established order b :
absence of order : disorder

Related to anarchy
a state of lawlessness and disorder (usually resulting from a failure
of government)
Synonyms:
lawlessness
Types:
nihilism
complete denial of all established authority and institutions
Type of:
disorder
a disturbance of the peace or of public order


CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ANARCHY

Defining Anarchism

Anarchism has been defined many ways by many different sources. The
word anarchism is taken from the word anarchy which is drawn from dual
sources in the Greek language. It is made up of the Greek words av
(meaning: absence of [and pronounced "an"] and apxn (meaning:
authority or government [and pronounced "arkhe"]). Today, dictionary
definitions still define anarchism as the absence of government. These
modern dictionary definitions of anarchism are based on the writings
and actions of anarchists of history and present. Anarchists
understand, as do historians of anarchism and good dictionaries and
encyclopedias, that the word anarchism represents a positive theory.
Exterior sources, however, such as the media, will frequently misuse
the word anarchism and, thus, breed misunderstanding.
A leading modern dictionary, Webster's Third International Dictionary,
defines anarchism briefly but accurately as, "a political theory
opposed to all forms of government and governmental restraint and
advocating voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals
and groups in order to satisfy their needs." Other dictionaries
describe anarchism with similar definitions. The Britannica-Webster
dictionary defines the word anarchism as, "a political theory that
holds all government authority to be unnecessary and undesirable and
advocates a society based on voluntary cooperation of individuals and
groups." Shorter dictionaries, such as the New Webster Handy College
Dictionary, define anarchism as, "the political doctrine that all
governments should be abolished."

These similar dictionary definitions of anarchism reflect the
evolution of the theory of anarchism made possible by anarchist
intellectuals and movements. As a result, dictionary definitions,
although fair, only reflect watered down definitions of the word
anarchism. Professor Noam Chomsky, in fact, has refuted the
definition, as written in the New American Webster Handy College
Dictionary, describing anarchism as a "political doctrine." According
to Chomsky, "...anarchism isn't a doctrine. It's at most a historical
tendency, a tendency of thought and action, which has many different
ways of developing and progressing and which, I would think, will
continue as a permanent strand of human history." Other modern
definitions of anarchism are thoroughly explained, not as a word, but
as a history of movements, people and ideas. The Encyclopedia of the
American Left, in fact, gives a three page history of anarchism, yet
does not once define the word.

Prior to the existence of the word anarchism people used the term
"Libertarian Socialism," which meant the same thing as anarchism.
Libertarian socialism was used largely by Mexican radicals in the
early eighteenth century. William Godwin was the first proclaimed
anarchist in history and the first to write about anarchism. He was
born in 1756 in Weisbech, the capital of North Cambridgeshire. He
later married feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and had a daughter, Mary
Shelley - author of Frankenstein. Godwin published a book called
Political Justice in 1793 which first introduced his ideas about
anarchism, Godwin was forgotten about, however, and after his death
Pierre Joseph Proudhon became a leading anarchist figure in the world.
His book What is Property? incorporated greater meaning to the word
anarchism; anarchism became not only a rejection of established
authority but a theory opposing ownership of land and property as
well.

Anarchism fully blossomed as a defined theory when Russian anarchists
Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) and Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921 started to
write and speak. Bakunin had a major influence in the world and
introduced anarchism to many people. Kropotkin was one of the many
people inspired by Bakunin. Kropotkin wrote many books on anarchism,
including Muitual Aid, Fields Factories and Workshops, and The
Conquest of Bread, and greatly aided in the evolution of the theory of
anarchism. Kropotkin wrote the first adept encyclopedia definition of
anarchism in the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica in
1910. His definition was fifteen pages long. He started the definition
by introducing the word anarchism as:

the name given to a principle of theory of life and conduct under
which society is conceived without government - harmony in such a
society being obtained, not by submission to law, or by obedience to
any authority, but by free agreements concluded between various
groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake
of production and consumption, as also for the satisfaction of the
infinite variety of the needs and aspirations of a civilized being, In
a society developed on these lines, the voluntary associations which
already now begin to cover all fields of human activity would take a
still greater extension so as to substitute themselves for the state
of its functions.
Following Kropotkin, Leo Tolstory furthered the ideas which make up
the meaning of the word anarchism. Tolstoy introduced Christian
anarchism (rejecting church authority but believing in God) and
broadened anarchism's meaning. Tolstoy, in favor of the growth of
anarchism, wrote "The anarchists are right in the assertion that,
without Authority, there could not be worse violence than that of
Authority under existing conditions."

As the 20th century emerged anarchism began to peak and the definition
of anarchism became concrete with the growth of new anarchist writers
and movements. The execution and imprisonment of eight anarchists in
Chicago in 1886 sparked anarchism's growth in the United States. The
"Haymarket Eight" flourished anarchists such as Voltairine de Cleyre
and Lucy Parsons. Parsons was born into slavery and later became an
anarchist and an ardent speaker and working class rebel; the Chicago
police labled Parsons, "...more dangerous than a thousand rioters."
Emma Goldman also became a part of the anarchist movement due to the
Chicago Martyrs. Described as a "damn bitch of an anarchist," Goldman
also broadened the meaning of anarchism and introduced the greatest
and most important ideas of anarchist feminism in history which
prevail, as a result of Goldman, to this day.

Emma Goldman's life long comrade, Alexander Berkman, played a major
part in helping to define the word anarchism. He wrote a book called
ABC of Anarchism which defined and describes anarchism and is still
read today. Berkman wrote, "Anarchism means you should be free; that
no one should enslave you, boss you, rob you, or impose upon you. It
means you should be free to do the things you want to do; and that you
should not be compelled to do what you do not want to do."

Anarchism was put into action by giant movements throughout history
which proved its definition was more than theoretical. The communal
efforts of anarchism were seen in the Paris Commune in the early 19th
century, the revolutionary organizing of Mexican working class rebels
was proven possible by anarchists such as Ricardo Flores Magon and
revolutionaries like Emiliano Zapata, and the Spanish Revolution of
1936-39 proved anarchists' capability of creating anarchism within
small sectors of the world. Certainly today we can see anarchism in
action in places like Mondragon, Spain, where anarchists are working
in collectives and trying to live free of authority.

Although the word anarchism is understood by many in its classic sense
(that defined by dictionaries and by anarchists of history), the word
is often misused and misunderstood. Anarchism, because of the threat
it imposes upon established authority, has been historically, and is
still, misused by power holders as violence and chaos. As anarchist
historian George Woodcock put it, "Of the more frivolous is the idea
that the anarchist is a man who throws bombs and wishes to wreak
society by violence and terror. That this charge should be brought
against anarchists now, at a time when they are the few people who are
not throwing bombs or assisting bomb throwers, shows a curious
purblindness among its champions." The claim that anarchism is chaos
was refuted long ago by Alexander Berkman when he wrote:

I must tell you, first of all, what anarchism is not. It is not bombs,
disorder, or chaos. It is not robbery or murder. It is not a war of
each against all. It is not a return to barbarianism or to the wild
state of man. Anarchism is the very opposite of all that.
These refutations of stereotypes associated with anarchism are
sometimes trampled by the popular misuse of the word anarchism. It is
not uncommon for a Middle Eastern nation in the midst of U.S.-imposed
turmoil to be labeled by the media as "complete anarchy," a phrase
which undermines the true definition of the word anarchism and all
those who toiled, and who do toil, to make the word anarchism mean
what it does today.

Modern anarchists still work hard to help anarchism maintain its
validity and history. Anarchism today is being used to find solutions
to the problems of power; not just state power, but corporate power
and all immediate forms of domination among individuals and
organizations. Anarchists such as L. Susan Brown have introduced ideas
such as existential individualism, while other anarchists remain loyal
to anarcho-syndicalism and class struggle. Anarchism has also been
spread around the world through music and bands such as Crass,
introducing anarchism and anti-speciesism and urging self-sufficiency
among workers and community members. Other anarchists such as Lorenzo
Kom'boa Ervin, an ex-Black Panther, are introducing new means of
organizing and directly challenging racism. Furthermore, anarchism has
become integrated into ecological issues thanks in part to
eco-anarchist ideas and freethinking organizations such as Earth
First! Also, we see anarchists working to keep anarchism, in theory
and practice, alive and well around the world with anarchist
newspapers such as Love and Rage in Mexico and the United States,
anarchist book publishers such as AK Press in the U.S. and the U.K.,
and political prisoner support groups such as the Anarchist Black
Cross.

As documented, the word anarchism has a long history. Although the
word is simply derived from Greek tongue, the philosophy and actions
of anarchists in history and present give the word anarchism proper
definition. Dictionary definitions, as quoted, are sometimes fair to
anarchism, but far from complete. The misuse of the word anarchism is
unfortunate and has been a problem anarchists have had to deal with
for the last century. Because of the misuse of anarchism, the simple
dictionary definitions of anarchism, and the different interpretations
of anarchism the word can take on many meanings, but the truly
accurate meaning of the word anarchism can be found in anarchist
history, anarchist writings and anarchist practice.

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