anarchism – emma goldman

Anarchism is the only philosophy which brings to man the
consciousness of himself; which maintains that God, the State, and
society are non-existent, that their promises are null and void,
since they can be fulfilled only through man’s subordination.
Anarchism is therefore the teacher of the unity of life; not merely
in nature, but in man. There is no conflict between the individual
and the social instincts, any more than there is between the heart
and the lungs: the one the receptacle of a precious life essence, the
other the repository of the element that keeps the essence pure and
strong. The individual is the heart of society, conserving the
essence of social life; society is the lungs which are distributing
the element to keep the life essence–that is, the individual–pure
and strong.

“The one thing of value in the world,” says Emerson, “is the active
soul; this every man contains within him. The soul active sees
absolute truth and utters truth and creates.” In other words, the
individual instinct is the thing of value in the world. It is the
true soul that sees and creates the truth alive, out of which is to
come a still greater truth, the re-born social soul.

(…)

Real wealth consists in things of utility and beauty, in things that
help to create strong, beautiful bodies and surroundings inspiring to
live in. But if man is doomed to wind cotton around a spool, or dig
coal, or build roads for thirty years of his life, there can be no
talk of wealth. What he gives to the world is only gray and hideous
things, reflecting a dull and hideous existence,–too weak to live,
too cowardly to die. Strange to say, there are people who extol this
deadening method of centralized production as the proudest
achievement of our age. They fail utterly to realize that if we are
to continue in machine subserviency, our slavery is more complete
than was our bondage to the King. They do not want to know that
centralization is not only the death-knell of liberty, but also of
health and beauty, of art and science, all these being impossible in
a clock-like, mechanical atmosphere.

Anarchism cannot but repudiate such a method of production: its goal
is the freest possible expression of all the latent powers of the
individual. Oscar Wilde defines a perfect personality as “one who

develops under perfect conditions, who is not wounded, maimed, or in
danger.” A perfect personality, then, is only possible in a state of
society where man is free to choose the mode of work, the conditions
of work, and the freedom to work. One to whom the making of a table,
the building of a house, or the tilling of the soil, is what the
painting is to the artist and the discovery to the scientist,–the
result of inspiration, of intense longing, and deep interest in work
as a creative force. That being the ideal of Anarchism, its economic
arrangements must consist of voluntary productive and distributive
associations, gradually developing into free communism, as the best
means of producing with the least waste of human energy. Anarchism,
however, also recognizes the right of the individual, or numbers of
individuals, to arrange at all times for other forms of work, in
harmony with their tastes and desires.

Such free display of human energy being possible only under complete
individual and social freedom, Anarchism directs its forces against
the third and greatest foe of all social equality; namely, the State,
organized authority, or statutory law,–the dominion of human
conduct.

Just as religion has fettered the human mind, and as property, or the
monopoly of things, has subdued and stifled man’s needs, so has the
State enslaved his spirit, dictating every phase of conduct. “All
government in essence,” says Emerson, “is tyranny.” It matters not
whether it is government by divine right or majority rule. In every
instance its aim is the absolute subordination of the individual.

I would not lead you into this promised land if I could, because if I could lead you in, someone else would you out.

We might find some hope in the growth of opposition to war and occupation worldwide. Or we might be inspired by the growing reparations and prison-abolition movements, or the rising immigrant-rights movement and the stirrings of working people everywhere, or by gay and lesbian and queer people courageously pressing for full recognition and rights. But mainly, hope resides in a simple self-evident truth: the future is unknown, and it’s also entirely unknowable. History is always in the making, and we are – each and every one of us – works in progress. It’s up to us – nothing is predetermined, and we are all acting largely in the dark, with our limited consciousness and our contingent capacities. This makes our moment here and now both hopeful and all the more urgent – we must find ways to become real actors and authentic subjects in our own history. We may not be able to will a movement into being, but neither can we sit idly waiting for a movement to spring full grown, as from the head of Zeus. We have to agitate for democracy and egalitarianism, press harder for human rights, learn to build a new society through our self-transformations and our limited everyday struggles. At the turn of the last century Eugene Debs told a group of workers in Chicago, “I would not lead you into this promised land if I could, because if I could lead you in, someone else would you out.” We must figure out how to become the people we have been waiting for.

bill ayers, fugitive days

não concebo o espírito isolado de si mesmo.

<<(…) não concebo o espírito isolado de si mesmo. Cada uma das minhas obras, cada um dos planos de mim próprio, cada uma das florações glaciares da minha alma interior goteja sobre mim..>>

Antonin Artaud

Excerpt from Emma Goldman’s speech at the second Anarchist Congress in 1907:

“The charge that Anarchism is destructive, rather than constructive,
and that, therefore, Anarchism is opposed to organization, is one of
the many falsehoods spread by our opponents. They confound ourpresent social
institutions with organization; hence they fail to
understand how we can oppose the former, and yet favor the latter.
The fact, however, is that the two are not identical.

“The State is commonly regarded as the highest form of organization.
But is it in reality a true organization? Is it not rather an
arbitrary institution, cunningly imposed upon the masses?
“Industry, too, is called an organization; yet nothing is farther
from the truth. Industry is the ceaseless piracy of the rich against
the poor.
“We are asked to believe that the Army is an organization, but a
close investigation will show that it is nothing else than a cruel
instrument of blind force.
“The Public School! The colleges and other institutions of learning,
are they not models of organization, offering the people fine
opportunities for instruction? Far from it. The school, more than
any other institution, is a veritable barrack, where the human mind
is drilled and manipulated into submission to various social and
moral spooks, and thus fitted to continue our system of exploitation
and oppression.
“Organization, as WE understand it, however, is a different thing.
It is based, primarily, on freedom. It is a natural and voluntary
grouping of energies to secure results beneficial to humanity.
“It is the harmony of organic growth which produces variety of color
and form, the complete whole we admire in the flower. Analogously
will the organized activity of free human beings, imbued with the
spirit of solidarity, result in the perfection of social harmony,
which we call Anarchism. In fact, Anarchism alone makes
non-authoritarian organization of common interests possible, since it
abolishes the existing antagonism between individuals and classes.
“Under present conditions the antagonism of economic and social
interests results in relentless war among the social units, and
creates an insurmountable obstacle in the way of a co-operative
commonwealth.
“There is a mistaken notion that organization does not foster
individual freedom; that, on the contrary, it means the decay of
individuality. In reality, however, the true function of
organization is to aid the development and growth of personality.
“Just as the animal cells, by mutual co-operation, express their
latent powers in formation of the complete organism, so does the
individual, by co-operative effort with other individuals, attain his
highest form of development.
“An organization, in the true sense, cannot result from the
combination of mere nonentities. It must be composed of
self-conscious, intelligent individualities. Indeed, the total of
the possibilities and activities of an organization is represented in
the expression of individual energies.
“It therefore logically follows that the greater the number of
strong, self-conscious personalities in an organization, the less
danger of stagnation, and the more intense its life element.
“Anarchism asserts the possibility of an organization without
discipline, fear, or punishment, and without the pressure of poverty:
a new social organism which will make an end to the terrible struggle
for the means of existence,–the savage struggle which undermines the
finest qualities in man, and ever widens the social abyss. In short,
Anarchism strives towards a social organization which will establish
well-being for all.
“The germ of such an organization can be found in that form of trades
unionism which has done away with centralization, bureaucracy, and
discipline, and which favors independent and direct action on the
part of its members.”

organizar a resistência

“As respeitáveis formigas começaram com o formigueiro e acabarão, pelos vistos, com o formigueiro, o que só honra a sua perseverança e positividade. Mas o homem é uma criatura leviana e pouco escrupulosa e ,talvez , à semelhança do xadrezista, apenas goste do processo de ir para determinado objectivo e não do objectivo em si. E quem sabe (não há a certeza) se, talvez, todo o objectivo a que a humanidade aspira na terra consista exclusivamente nesta ininterrupção do processo de ir para um objectivo, por outras palvras, na própria vida e não no objectivo em si, que sem dúvida outra coisa não é do que o dois e dois serem quatro, ou seja, uma fórmula, mas dois mais dois são quatro não é vida, meus senhores, e sim o início da morte.”
Fiodór Dostoiévski, Cadernos do Subterrâneo.

à gestão privada dos hospitais oponho a gestão livre da força criativa

“Quem diz comércio diz troca de valores iguais; por que se os valores não são iguais e o contratante lesado se apercebe disso não consentirá a troca e não se fará comércio. O comércio só existe entre homens livres: por toda a aparte pode haver transacção conseguida pela violência ou pela fraude, mas não há comércio. (…) Assim, em qualquer troca, há a obrigação moral de nenhum dos contratantes ganhar algo em detrimento do outro; quer dizer que o comércio, para ser legítimo e verdadeiro, deve estar isento de toda a desigualdade; é a primeira condição do comércio. A segunda condição é que seja voluntário, quer dizer, que as partes transijam com liberdade.”

P. J. Proudhon

à necessidade de nacionalizar oponho a necessidade de emancipar!

We might find some hope in the growth of opposition to war and occupation worldwide. Or we might bbe inspired by the growing reparations and prison-abolition movements, or the rising immigrant-rights movement and the stirrings of working people everywhere, or by gay and lesbian and queer people courageously pressing for full recognition and rights. But mainly, hope resides in a simples self-evident truth: the future is unknown, and it’s also entirely unknowable. History is always in the making, and we are – each and every one of us – works in progress. It’s up to us – nothing is predetermined, and we are all acting largely in the dark, with our limited consciousness and our contingent capacities. This makes our moment here and how both hopeful and all the more urgent – we must find ways to become real actors and authentic subjects in our own history. We may not be able to will a movement into being, but neither can we sit idly waiting for a movement to spring full grown, as from the head of Zeus. We have to agitate for democracy and egalitarianism, press harder for human rights, learn to build a new society thrught our self-transformations and our limited everyday struggles. At the turn of the last century Eugene Debs told a group of workers in Chicago, “I would not lead you into this promised land if I could, because if I could lead you in, someone else would you out.” We must figure out how to become the people we have been waiting for.

Bill Ayers, Fugitive Days

e se a revolução for apenas isto?

“a world full of rucksack wanderers, Dharma Bums refusing to subscribe to the general demand that they consume production and therefore have to work for the privilege of consuming, all that crap they didn’t really want anyway such as refrigerators, TV sets, cars, at least new fancy cars, certain hair oils and deodorants and general junk you finally always see a week later in the garbage anyway, all of them imprisoned in a system of work, produce, consume, work, produce, consume, I see a vision of a great rucksack revolution thousands or even millions of young Americans wandering around with rucksacks, going up to mountains to pray, making children laugh and old men glad, making young girls happy and old girls happier, all of ‘em Zen Lunatics who go about writing poems that happen to appear in their heads for no reason and also by being kind and also by strange unexpected acts keep giving visions of eternal freedom to everybody and to all living creatures…”
Jack Kerouac, Dharma Bums

há um amanhecer em mim

<<A manhã, o período mais memorável do dia é a hora do despertar. Há, então, menos sonolência em nós: e pelo menos durante uma hora, a parte de nós que dormita o resto do dia e da noite acorda. Pouco se pode esperar do dia, se a isto se pode chamar de dia, para o qual não fomos acordados por nosso Espírito, e sim pelas cutucadas mecânicas de um criado, para o qual não fomos acordados por nossas próprias forças recém-adquiridas e aspirações íntimas, acompanhadas de ondulações de música celestial em vez de sirenas de fábricas, e de uma fragrância a encher o ar — para uma vida superior àquela em que caímos adormecidos; e assim a escuridão produz seu fruto e se mostra não menos importante do que a luz.

(…)

Devemos aprender a despertar novamente e a manter-nos despertos, não com ajuda mecânica, mas pela infinita expectativa do amanhecer, que não nos abandona em nosso sono mais profundo. Desconheço fato mais encorajador que a inquestionável habilidade do homem para elevar a vida através do esforço consciente. É importante ser capaz de pintar determinado quadro, ou esculpir uma estátua, e desse modo produzir objetos belos; é, porém, muito mais glorioso esculpir e pintar a própria atmosfera e o ambiente através do qual vemos e que podemos construir no plano moral. Modificar a natureza do dia, eis a arte superior às demais. Compete a todo homem a tarefa de fazer a própria vida, inclusive nos pormenores, digna da contemplação de sua hora mais elevada e crítica.>>

Henry David Thoreau

Dominação da natureza, ideologia e classe

“A libertação material é um preâmbulo à libertação da história humana, e só assim pode ser ajuizada. A noção do nível de desenvolvimento mínimo que se impõe atingir desde já, aqui e ali, depende justamente do projecto de libertação por que se optou, e portanto de quem fez essa opção:as massas autónomas ou os especialistas no poder. Os que adoptam as ideias de determinada categoria de organizadores sobre o indispensável, poderão ficar livres de qualquer privação no respeitante aos objetos que os organizadores em questão hão-de optar por produzir; mas nunca ficará, com toda a certeza livres dos próprios organizadores. As formas mais modernas e mais inesperadas da hierarquia serão sempre um dispendioso remake do velho mundo da passividade, da impotência e da escravatura, seja qual for a força material que abstratamente a sociedade possua;  representará sempre o oposto da soberania que os homens exercem sobre aquilo que os rodeia e sobre a sua história.

Internacional Situacionista, nº 8