My Anarchy

I’m very determined to not look at anarchy as a political system.  Anarchy does not have to be the absence of government; instead, it can be brief uprisings within oppressed society; and it can be the path which promotes individual liberation.  Anarchy exists in all societies, but it is also, in developed, and many other nations, suppressed.  As anarchists we must choose to stand in solidarity with all peoples hindered by political systems, for their pursuit of liberation, from the notion of property, from the existence of a class society, and from a militarized police force.

Choosing sides in my fight for liberation has, in my lifetime, seen me in the depths of self-doubt.  There was a time when I thought the best I could hope for was to spend the rest of my life in jail.  Earlier in life, as an adolescent, I set out to be as unruly as I could—as unconcerned with my future as I could muster.  Among the people I hung out with the most daring of us were the ones who most risked doing jail time. 

Beyond just simple mischief as a young man, I really made a concerted effort to disregard bourgeois ideals.  I wanted to buck the notion that an education was something that I needed to get ahead.  To this day, I see little need to use institutions to further my own cause; as I see it, these institutions which I am to use for my own personal gain only dilute my ideals.  By stepping forth into the professional world with the intent to wield my education as a means to raise my standard of living, I would function to sustain oppressive economic structures.

Self-education became a priority in my life at the age of twenty-two.  My intention in study wasn’t to get a better job or learn how to write.  What I wanted was to get a proper education for founding a jail gang; I studied military science and martial arts philosophy to create a code of ethics for this gang.

Eventually, I came around to see that there were much better things in this world for me than to found a jail gang.  The ground work I laid down, as an adolescent, in creating as much havoc as I could, and dismissing societal values in exchange for this misguided aspiration, has afforded me that I squander the opportunity to be well-off.  And I am far more aligned to my personal ideology for it.  The turnaround I made in life—from disheartened and defeated man—to an educated and independent individual—was necessary.  I could not have lived on—long—from having sacrificed so much from my quality of life.

All in all, I’m very happy with my decision, as a young man, to test the boundaries of the imposed political system.  Having been on the receiving end of the oppressor’s will gives you an emotional reservoir with which to forge independence.  Toughness is necessary to live with true liberty in a society composed of rigid conceptions of what is valued.  Anarchy is to me to disregard the consequences of forging your own ideal.