A.2.4 Are anarchists in favour of “absolute” liberty?

No. Anarchists do not believe that everyone should be able to “do whatever they like,” because some actions invariably involve the denial of the liberty of others.

For example, anarchists do not support the “freedom” to rape, to exploit, or to coerce others. Neither do we tolerate authority. On the contrary, since authority is a threat to liberty, equality, and solidarity (not to mention human dignity), anarchists recognise the need to resist and overthrow it.

The exercise of authority is not freedom. No one has a “right” to rule others. As Malatesta points out, anarchism supports “freedom for everybody … with the only limit of the equal freedom for others; which does not mean … that we recognise, and wish to respect, the ‘freedom’ to exploit, to oppress, to command, which is oppression and certainly not freedom.” [Errico Malatesta: His Life and Ideas, p. 53]

In a capitalist society, resistance to all forms of hierarchical authority is the mark of a free person — be it private (the boss) or public (the state). As Henry David Thoreau pointed out in his essay on “Civil Disobedience” (1847)

“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”

🔻مشهد آخر من عملية الدهس في القدس المحتلة صباح اليوم، ومحاولة المنفذين إطلاق النار من سلاح "كارلو"

🔻Another scene from the ramming operation in occupied Jerusalem this morning, and the antifascists attempt to fire from a “Carlo” weapon.

🔰 Chaos movement in Palestine

🔰 حركة فوضى بفلسطين

📣 #الوحدة_الإخبارية

🔉 #ما_بيصير_هيك

🇵🇸 الفوضى

Demonstration in France by Portuguese exiles on May 1st, 1974, following the Carnation Revolution on April 25th.

I'm gonna tell you a secret.....

January 8, 2024 - A few of the many protests that happened this first week of 2024, as hundreds of thousands braved the weather in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and in condemnation of Israel's on-going genocide and fascist occupation. While our governments look away, the righteous people of the world have NOT forgotten our brothers and sisters in Palestine, suffering under the genocidal onslaught of the Israeli state, being murdered with American bombs. We keep marching, blockading, boycotting, and demanding an immediate end to the zionist occupation of Palestine!

Copenhagen, Denmark

Michigan, USA / Manchester, UK

Oslo, Norway

Milan, Italy / Paris, France / Stockholm, Sweden

Los Angeles, USA / Switzerland / Dublin, Ireland / Leipzig, Germany

Melbourne, Australia

New York City, USA

Hundreds of Jews and allies, including Writers Against the War on Gaza, sagaftramembersforceasefire and Film Workers for Palestine are present in the heart of Hollywood on the day of the Oscars to say: ALL EYES ON RAFAH!

While Hollywood celebrates, Israel prepares for the ground invasion of Rafah, where over 1.3 million Palestinians are seeking refuge. This comes as reports of extreme hunger continue to mount on the first day of Ramadan.

As filmworkers, Jews, and allies, we stand in solidarity with Palestinians. We won’t stop bearing witness. WHILE YOU’RE WATCHING, BOMBS ARE DROPPING" from Jewish Voice for Peace Los Angeles, 10/Mar/2024:

JENIN, JENIN (2002) dir. Mohammad Bakri

I fucking hate the United States moodboard

For usamericans who may not know how to support decolonization and indigenous people in their every-day lives, may I suggest checking this list of native-owned businesses, curated and maintained by indigenous folks. There's food, candles, cbd pre-rolls, clothes, jewelry, hats, baby things, handicrafts, art, and hundreds of other useful and wonderful things. I check this list before I buy non-native owned as often as I can.

Also check out the native-owned (pulitzer-prize winner Louise Erdrich started it!) bookstore and press Milkweed Editions (dot org) for an amazing selection of books by indigenous authors. I recommend Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (a collection of essays that will change your thinking if your mind is open at all) that's great for sitting down to read for bite-sized chunks. For book recommendations, check out this infographic!

Do you own property and want to support landback but still need a place to live? Odds are good that there's established precedence in your area to transfer its jurisduction to a local tribe and pay your land taxes and etc to them instead of the settler government!

Here is a list of charities and fundraisers for indigenous support.

Other ways to educate yourself and learn what indigenous people are working on nationally and locally is to follow indigenous people online! Many Native peoples on various social medias tag with #indigenous, #native, and by looking at those you will find many other tags and people to follow.

If you have extra cash, consider paying indigenous people's bail, donating to some of the causes linked above, or look for local initiatives to support in your own community!

A.2.6 Why is solidarity important to anarchists?

Solidarity, or mutual aid, is a key idea of anarchism. It is the link between the individual and society, the means by which individuals can work together to meet their common interests in an environment that supports and nurtures both liberty and equality. For anarchists, mutual aid is a fundamental feature of human life, a source of both strength and happiness and a fundamental requirement for a fully human existence.

Erich Fromm, noted psychologist and socialist humanist, points out that the “human desire to experience union with others is rooted in the specific conditions of existence that characterise the human species and is one of the strongest motivations of human behaviour.” [To Be or To Have, p.107]

Therefore anarchists consider the desire to form “unions” (to use Max Stirner’s term) with other people to be a natural need. These unions, or associations, must be based on equality and individuality in order to be fully satisfying to those who join them — i.e. they must be organised in an anarchist manner, i.e. voluntary, decentralised, and non-hierarchical.

Solidarity — co-operation between individuals — is necessary for life and is far from a denial of liberty. Solidarity, observed Errico Malatesta, “is the only environment in which Man can express his personality and achieve his optimum development and enjoy the greatest possible wellbeing.” This “coming together of individuals for the wellbeing of all, and of all for the wellbeing of each,” results in “the freedom of each not being limited by, but complemented — indeed finding the necessary raison d’etre in — the freedom of others.” [Anarchy, p. 29] In other words, solidarity and co-operation means treating each other as equals, refusing to treat others as means to an end and creating relationships which support freedom for all rather than a few dominating the many. Emma Goldman reiterated this theme, noting “what wonderful results this unique force of man’s individuality has achieved when strengthened by co-operation with other individualities . .. co-operation — as opposed to internecine strife and struggle — has worked for the survival and evolution of the species… . only mutual aid and voluntary co-operation … can create the basis for a free individual and associational life.” [Red Emma Speaks, p. 118]

Solidarity means associating together as equals in order to satisfy our common interests and needs. Forms of association not based on solidarity (i.e. those based on inequality) will crush the individuality of those subjected to them. As Ret Marut points out, liberty needs solidarity, the recognition of common interests:

“The most noble, pure and true love of mankind is the love of oneself. I want to be free! I hope to be happy! I want to appreciate all the beauties of the world. But my freedom is secured only when all other people around me are free. I can only be happy when all other people around me are happy. I can only be joyful when all the people I see and meet look at the world with joy-filled eyes. And only then can I eat my fill with pure enjoyment when I have the secure knowledge that other people, too, can eat their fill as I do. And for that reason it is a question of my own contentment, only of my own self, when I rebel against every danger which threatens my freedom and my happiness…” [Ret Marut (a.k.a. B. Traven), The BrickBurner magazine quoted by Karl S. Guthke, B. Traven: The life behind the legends, pp. 133–4]

To practice solidarity means that we recognise, as in the slogan of Industrial Workers of the World, that “an injury to one is an injury to all.” Solidarity, therefore, is the means to protect individuality and liberty and so is an expression of self-interest. As Alfie Kohn points out:

“when we think about co-operation… we tend to associate the concept with fuzzy-minded idealism… This may result from confusing co-operation with altruism… Structural co-operation defies the usual egoism/altruism dichotomy. It sets things up so that by helping you I am helping myself at the same time. Even if my motive initially may have been selfish, our fates now are linked. We sink or swim together. Co-operation is a shrewd and highly successful strategy — a pragmatic choice that gets things done at work and at school even more effectively than competition does… There is also good evidence that co-operation is more conductive to psychological health and to liking one another.” [No Contest: The Case Against Competition, p. 7]

And, within a hierarchical society, solidarity is important not only because of the satisfaction it gives us, but also because it is necessary to resist those in power. Malatesta’s words are relevant here:

“the oppressed masses who have never completely resigned themselves to oppress and poverty, and who … show themselves thirsting for justice, freedom and wellbeing, are beginning to understand that they will not be able to achieve their emancipation except by union and solidarity with all the oppressed, with the exploited everywhere in the world.” [Anarchy, p. 33]

By standing together, we can increase our strength and get what we want. Eventually, by organising into groups, we can start to manage our own collective affairs together and so replace the boss once and for all. ”Unions will… multiply the individual’s means and secure his assailed property.” [Max Stirner, The Ego and Its Own, p. 258] By acting in solidarity, we can also replace the current system with one more to our liking: “in union there is strength.” [Alexander Berkman, What is Anarchism?, p. 74]

Solidarity is thus the means by which we can obtain and ensure our own freedom. We agree to work together so that we will not have to work for another. By agreeing to share with each other we increase our options so that we may enjoy more, not less. Mutual aid is in my self-interest — that is, I see that it is to my advantage to reach agreements with others based on mutual respect and social equality; for if I dominate someone, this means that the conditions exist which allow domination, and so in all probability I too will be dominated in turn.

As Max Stirner saw, solidarity is the means by which we ensure that our liberty is strengthened and defended from those in power who want to rule us: “Do you yourself count for nothing then?”, he asks. “Are you bound to let anyone do anything he wants to you? Defend yourself and no one will touch you. If millions of people are behind you, supporting you, then you are a formidable force and you will win without difficulty.” [quoted in Luigi Galleani’s The End of Anarchism?, p. 79 — different translation in The Ego and Its Own, p. 197]

Solidarity, therefore, is important to anarchists because it is the means by which liberty can be created and defended against power. Solidarity is strength and a product of our nature as social beings. However, solidarity should not be confused with “herdism,” which implies passively following a leader. In order to be effective, solidarity must be created by free people, co-operating together as equals. The “big WE” is not solidarity, although the desire for “herdism” is a product of our need for solidarity and union. It is a “solidarity” corrupted by hierarchical society, in which people are conditioned to blindly obey leaders.

We mourn the dead and we fight like hell for the living.

Spending time with my grandpa and having him telling me more stories about the Algerian war of liberation is very distressing because of how horrific it is and because it’s very similar to what Palestinians are going through so it feels like nothing changed our lives are still disposable and colonialism is still acceptable in the minds of too many people.

But it’s also very encouraging because it means that as long as the resistance exists as long as the people are united liberation will happen. France displaced us and put us in camps (over 1 millions of us), France starved us, France killed us (1.5 millions ONLY during the war of liberation you can triple the number if you count all the years of colonialism), France tortured us, France executed us, France traumatized our children our people, France divided us, France tried to steal everything from us including our indigeneity … at the end of the day we’re here. We’re here loud and proud despite their attempts to destroy us. We stand with dignity and only one flag is raised over our land. Our flag. The same flag that they made illegal. The same flag people were killed for waving is the only flag that stands proudly on every Algerian building.

And you know what? That’s what will happen for Palestine. It’s painful it’s horrific but I refuse to lose all hope because we have no right to.

Palestine will be free and only one flag will stand over all that land. The Palestinian flag.

Some pictures from today, March 30th, 2023, of the Land Day protests in Gaza - we mark the 47th annual Land Day in commemoration with the six Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces during demonstrations over land confiscations in 1976, I highly recommend watching this short video to get a better understanding of what the Day of the Land means to Palestinians. From River to Sea - Palestine will be free 🇵🇸

October 7, 2023 - Palestinians tear down part of the apartheids-wall around Gaza at the start of their attack against the Israeli occupation. [video]

Western imperialism and colonialism never ends.

Absolutely no humanitarian need for an American port. So why build one?

1) establish permanent military presence in Gaza

2) look good to get votes

3) access to gas reserves off coast of Gaza

4) advance ethnic cleansing. from Khaled Beydoun, 10/Mar/2024: