249 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
249 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
**Anarchy Works** is a
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[book](List_of_Libertarian_Socialist_Media "wikilink") by [Peter
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Gelderloos](Peter_Gelderloos "wikilink") aiming to provide a picture at
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how an [anarchist
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society](List_of_Libertarian_Socialist_Societies "wikilink") might
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function, deal with certain problems and fulfill the needs of the
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people.
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## Summary
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### Part 1: Human Nature
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#### Aren't people naturally selfish?
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The notion of selfishness and [sharing and
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generosity](Mutual_Aid "wikilink") are explored. Even in societies which
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have endured [capitalism](capitalism "wikilink") for hundreds of years,
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people still frequently engage in altruistic behavior like sharing
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dinner or helping strangers. The notion of a [gift
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economy](Gift_Economy "wikilink") is explored through the economic
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practices of the [Semai](Semai "wikilink") in what is now
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[Malaysia](Malaysia "wikilink") and [Really Really Free
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Markets](Really_Really_Free_Market "wikilink"), a protest movement in
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much of the western world.
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#### Aren't people naturally competitive?
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The concept of [competition](competition "wikilink") has been largely a
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product of socialization in the west. But non-capitalist societies often
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had very strong concepts of cooperation and even hostility towards
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competition. The [Mbuti](Mbuti "wikilink") is what is now Central Africa
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are explored in generous detail showing various aspects of how
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cooperation runs in all parts of their society, from
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[childrearing](childrearing "wikilink") to economic activities to
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[gender equality](Gender_Equality "wikilink") as well as the destruction
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of Mbuti communities from war backed by capitalists. The activities of
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people after [Hurricane Katrina](Hurricane_Katrina "wikilink") are also
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explored, how complete strangers were suddenly helping to save the lives
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of others whilst the [police](police "wikilink") left them to die and
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the [media](Mass_Media "wikilink") spread lies.
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#### Haven't humans always been patriarchal?
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Numerous societies have existed without
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[patriarchy](patriarchy "wikilink") and fluid concepts of
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[gender](gender "wikilink") and within patriarchy there has been strong
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resistance to it, such as [FIERCE\!](FIERCE! "wikilink") - who organize
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against [gentrification](gentrification "wikilink"), privatized
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[healthcare](healthcare "wikilink") and
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[discrimination](discrimination "wikilink"). Another resistance was
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[Pocasset](Pocasset "wikilink"), a [colony of
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England](Colonialism "wikilink") in what is now the
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[US](United_States_of_America "wikilink") during the 1600s, which fought
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for [direct democracy](Democratic_Assembly "wikilink"), gender equality,
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[indigenous rights](Indigenism "wikilink"), religious freedom, freedom
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from [debt](debt "wikilink") and abolition of [punitive justice
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systems](Punitive_Justice "wikilink"). Societies outside the west have
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also had gender equality and fluid concepts of gender, such as the
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pre-colonial [Igbo](Igbo "wikilink") in what is now
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[Nigeria](Federal_Republic_of_Nigeria "wikilink"), where women practice
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collective self-defense against gender violence and abusive men. The
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[Haudenosaunee](Haudenosaunee_Confederacy "wikilink") in what is now the
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US and [Canada](Canada "wikilink") are also explored, with women
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organizing and leading councils for decision-making and economic
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distribution.
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#### Aren't people naturally warlike?
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The institutions of [power](power "wikilink") - media,
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[academics](University "wikilink"),
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[government](State_\(Polity\) "wikilink"),
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[religion](Organized_Religion "wikilink") - frequently exaggerate levels
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of [warfare](War "wikilink") and [violence](violence "wikilink")
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throughout history, especially in areas without the state. Frequently
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using heavily biased or outright fabricated research to support their
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worldview. But even within the state, people frequently are horrified by
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the actual consequences of violence, setting up [protest
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camps](Protest_Camp "wikilink") and movements like the [Falsane Peace
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Camp](Falsane_Peace_Camp "wikilink") and [Greenham Commons Women's Peace
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Camp](Greenham_Commons_Women's_Peace_Camp "wikilink") in the
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[UK](United_Kingdom "wikilink"), the [Life and Labor
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Commune](Life_and_Labor_Commune "wikilink") in the
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[USSR](Union_of_Soviet_Socialist_Republics "wikilink") and the [Catholic
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Worker Movement](Catholic_Worker_Movement "wikilink"). Anarchistic
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societies like the Semai have some of the lowest murder rates in the
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world due to their low levels of [alienation](alienation "wikilink") and
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[poverty](poverty "wikilink"), stemming from a policy of gift economics.
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War is not a natural fact of human nature, but the consequence of the
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structure of society.
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#### Aren't domination and authority natural?
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It's becoming increasingly harder to ideologically justify the state as
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more and more research finds that egalitarian societies are extremely
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successful and people still form egalitarian networks and communities
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under capitalism. However, it is worth remembering that even
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gatherer-hunter societies have had brutal systems of hierarchy and
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patriarchy, even going as so far as slavery and gang rape. Whilst plenty
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of societies with agriculture and metal tools have been egalitarian.
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Hierarchical societies have always generated resistance, with the best
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resistances forming 'reverese dominance hierarchies' where leaders were
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often killed. The Amazigh in what is now Morocco managed to resist
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state-formation for centuries, and resist against the state is common to
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all cultures. In Medieval Europe, peasant rebellions against increasing
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taxes, privatization of common land and forests and increasing
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privileges of the ruling class, notably in the German Peasants Uprising
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in 1524 and 1525, where 300,000 slaughtered knights and lords. The
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anti-globalization movement across the world has resisted the
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establishment of capitalism, notably with the Zapatistas. Plenty of
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people have also fled the state, such as those in South America
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researched by Pierre Clastres, Haudenosaunee in North America, Cossacks
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in Russia and Zomia in Southeast Asia.
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#### A broader sense of self
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[Peter Kropotkin](Peter_Kropotkin "wikilink") famously wrote in his work
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on [Mutual Aid](Mutual_Aid:_A_Factor_of_Evolution "wikilink") that
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people are more likely to work together than against each-other. The
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assumption in the west that small-scale
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[forager](Forager_Economy "wikilink") societies are 'primitive' and
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large post-industrial societies are 'advanced' and have nothing to learn
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from 'primitive people' is at best ignorant and at worst openly
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[racist](Racism "wikilink"). All human societies are tremendously
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complicated and we can learn a lot from studying them, and in current
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social struggles the seeds of a new society are being built.
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### Part 2: Decisions
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#### How will decisions be made?
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#### How will decisions be enforced?
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#### How will settle disputes?
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#### Meeting in the streets
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Hierarchy is simply not capable of making the best responsible decisions
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for millions of people. The MST shows that millions can make decisions
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at a grassroots level, the Oaxaca Uprising shows us that anarchists can
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organize in modern cities and against militaries. Infoshops and
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[Kibbutz](Kibbutzim "wikilink") show us that groups can survive even
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under capitalism and the Nuer show us how this kind of decision-making
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can survive the most brutal forms of colonialism. Most societies in
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history have been egalitarian, and we still have the capability to
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return to that lifestyle once we liberate ourselves from capitalism and
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the state.
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### Part 3: Economy Edit
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#### Without wages, what is the incentive to work? Edit
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#### Don't people need bosses and experts? Edit
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#### Who will take out the trash? Edit
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#### Who will take care of the elderly and disabled? Edit
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#### How will people get healthcare? Edit
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#### What about education? Edit
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#### What about technology? Edit
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#### How will exchange work? Edit
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#### What about people who don't want to give up a consumerist lifestyle? Edit
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#### What about building and organizing large, spread-out infrastructure? Edit
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#### How will cities work? Edit
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#### What about drought, famine, or other catastrophes? Edit
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#### Meeting our needs without keeping count Edit
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### Part 4: Environment Edit
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#### What's to stop someone destroying the environment? Edit
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#### What about global environmental problems, like climate change? Edit
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#### The only way to save the planet Edit
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### Part 5: Crime Edit
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#### Who will protect us without police? Edit
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#### What about gangs and bullies? Edit
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#### What's to stop someone killing people? Edit
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#### What about rape, domestic violence, and other forms of harm? Edit
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#### Beyond individual justice Edit
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### Part 6: Revolution Edit
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#### How could people organized horizontally possibly overcome the state? Edit
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#### How do we know revolutionaries won't become new authorities? Edit
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#### How will communities decide to organize themselves at first? Edit
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#### How will reparations for past oppression be worked out? Edit
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#### How will a common, anti-authoritarian, ecological ethos come about? Edit
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#### A revolution that is many revolutions Edit
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### Part 7: Neighboring Societies Edit
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#### Could an anarchist society defend itself from an authoritarian neighbor? Edit
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#### What will we do about societies that remain patriarchal or racist? Edit
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#### What will prevent constant warfare and feuding? Edit
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#### Networks not borders Edit
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### Part 8: The Future Edit
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#### Won't the state just reemerge over time? Edit
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#### What about other problems we can't foresee?
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Anarchist societies will face problems we cannot possibly foresee right
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now. In an anarchist society, we would have to invent entirely new
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solutions for wholly unpredictable problems. Should we earn the
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opportunity, we will do so with joy, getting our hands dirty in the
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complexities of life, realizing our vast potential and reaching new
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levels of growth and maturity. We need never again surrender the power
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to solve our own problems in cooperation with those around us.
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#### Making Anarchy Work
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Where oppression exists, resistance does to. You can help out by doing
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anything from graffiti to armed rebellion against the government. It is
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important to support struggles even if they are not explicitly anarchist
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and to not ever think you can work within the state or capitalism to
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build a freer world.
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## External Links
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- [Anarchy
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Works](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-works)
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at [theanarchistlibrary.org](theanarchistlibrary.org "wikilink")
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- [Anarchy
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Works](https://libcom.org/files/Gelderloos%20-%20Anarchy%20Works.pdf)
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at [libcom.org](libcom.org "wikilink") |