[Noisebridge-discuss] Anarchist? Libertarian?

[Johny Radio]

Snail snailtsunami at gmail.com, Wed Jul 31 19:19:00 UTC 2013 wrote:

 >We attract a lot of anarchists or anarchist-interested, and also some 
libertarians and libertarian-interested, because ...we don't have big 
lists of rules... People like to throw around the word "anarchism" in 
Noisebridge or they are saying it kind of jokingly because of how 
non-organized we are & that is what they think anarchy is [chaos], 
whether that's correct or not.

You're right, Snail. Anarchy does not mean "chaos", that's a common 
misconception. In my view NB has chaos, not for political reasons, but 
for immaturity reasons-- kinda like, when i was a kid my bedroom was 
always a mess.

Nor does Anarchy mean "no rules", as i discussed in my post, "Anarchy Is 
Not Anti-Structure".
https://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/2013-May/037095.html

Although, there's some debate about this. In January 2012, Snail created 
a page on the wiki titled "Against policy". Snail quotes an Anarchist 
essay, titled "Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology". So I guess, 
Snail, you are one of the Anarchists or anarchist-interested that you 
mentioned, and you quoted an Anarchist essay on the Noisebridge wiki in 
support of having no rules at Noisebridge.

    The notion of "policy" presumes a state or governing apparatus which
    imposes its will on others.
    https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Against_policy_(a_tiny_manifesto)
    <https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Against_policy_%28a_tiny_manifesto%29>


My response:

    If people manage their own affairs by collectively developing a
    policy which they accept and agree to willingly, then they cannot
    legitimately complain of a government imposing its will on them.


When i refer to anarchistic aspects of NB, I'm talking about aspects 
which i believe are intentionally inspired by and informed by Anarchist 
Theory: leaderlessness and Consensus. These are baked into Noisebridge, 
by intentional design, and they are Anarchist. It seems the "no rules" 
aspect of NB was also inspired by anarchism. So, I'm not sure why anyone 
would be surprised that someone would think NB is an anarchist project.

But what's the shame? Anarchy contributes a valuable deconstructionist 
perspective-- it's anti-fascist, and I cannot argue with that.

But personally, I think a group can be non-fascist, pro-liberty, and 
still have some common sense, communally-agreed on policies, which 
protect people from those who would impose their own freedoms in a way 
that restricts the freedoms of others.

Like, "dogs who bite people and start dog fights are not allowed."


Johny Radio

Stick It In Your Ear!

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