I’m digging anarchists’ more hands on, pragmatic approach to politics. I finished The Conquest of Bread a couple of weeks ago and I’m currently working my way through Bullshit Jobs. Any suggestions about theory, praxis, mutual aid, etc. would be appreciated

    • anarchotoothbrushist@lemmy.mlEnglish
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      2 years ago

      Seconding this.

      AFAQ gives overviews on topics with a lot of quoting from books and essays. It often notes that a book is ‘essential reading’ for a certain topic.

      So it’s not only an informative read in itself, it’s a great source for people looking for reading recommendations.

  • zzzeyez@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    (this is all philosophy)

    learn Marxism op!!! or trip on Deleuze, and then add Tiqqun’s Cybernetics

    Zizek’s Sublime Object of Ideology is one of my favorites.

    Nick Land’s Fanged Noumena is fucking insane if you’re curious about accelerationism and the singularity.

    Mark Fischer’s Capitalist Realism is a cool starting point to organize with.

    you can search these topics on instagram or youtube to get a quick understanding. it’s well worth your time.

  • Hotchip@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Fan of Bookchins work myself. I would suggest googling him, and if you’re into podcasts: give srsly wrong a listen. Its libertarian socialist thought broken down in a podcast with skits and well humored education/interviews. Their discord also has a fantastic bookclub with live readings and discussion.

  • CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.netEnglish
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    1 year ago

    Beyond theory I found practical examples were extremely helpful in understanding how anarchist politics relate to real life, so I’d recommend Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women’s Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan.

    • Michael H. Jenkins@infosec.pub
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      1 year ago

      Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women’s Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan

      I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in new ways of community building or the current events unfolding in the region.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I’m digging anarchists’ more hands on, pragmatic approach to politics

    I saw this post from /all…

    But isn’t the entire point of anarchy no government, how exactly do you think thats “hands on”?

    Or is this one of those things where people have invented new definitions for existing terms like saying the USSR was communist?

    • masquenox@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      how exactly do you think thats “hands on”?

      It’s really simple… the whole idea behind anarchism (and all libertarian socialist thought, for that matter) is to put the power of decision and action back into the hands of communities and not a bunch of far-removed and unaccountable political racketeers (which is essentially how anarchists view “formal” political establishments - and they are entirely correct in this view)

      Or is this one of those things where people have invented new definitions

      No. Nothing new about it… the meaning behind the term “socialism” (for instance) has always referred to a condition where the workers own the means of production. The big split in the left happened because Marxists believed the state could represent the workers - the Bakuninist anarchists believed the state would simply form a new “political elite” and simply become the new elite repressing the working class. This happened long before the Russian revolution… and subsequent events proved the anarchist side correct beyond a shadow of a doubt.

  • pbpza@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 years ago

    You may join local IWW, help with local food not bombs, go to some anarchist bookfair near you etc. About theory, there is a website called the anarchist library with a lot of books concerning anarchism for free!

  • vxnxnt@feddit.deEnglish
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    2 years ago

    I haven’t read any anarchist books myself yet, but I have read plenty of shorter texts I found online (mostly from The Anarchist Library).

    Here are a few I found to be worth a read (in no particular order):

    Since you already read The Conquest of Bread I decided to leave out most of Kropotkin’s shorter texts, as I assume that you should already be familiar with his ideas and principles.

    Although not anarchists, I still find many libertarian Marxists to be pretty insightful as well (some may as well be Anarchists in denial). Anton Pannekoek’s and Rosa Luxemburg’s works being some I really enjoy reading.

    I also have What is Anarchism? (by Alexander Berkman) and Anarcho-Syndicalism (by Rudolf Rocker) standing on my bookshelf, but I haven’t gotten around to reading them quite yet. If they sound interesting enough you could give them a try.

  • purahna@lemmygrad.ml
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    2 years ago

    first off, I’m a Marxist but y’all are my comrades, so my suggestions are coming from the outside but these are a couple pieces I used when I was finding my feet politically. These are a couple of the works that I found that make a compelling case for anarchism.

    https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/errico-malatesta-anarchy

    https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-mutual-aid-a-factor-of-evolution and anything else Kropotkin, sounds like you read the bread book and liked it (it’s a banger)

    https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anonymous-desert

    https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/dean-spade-mutual-aid (haven’t read this one but heard good things)

    • zzzeyez@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      first anarchist revolution, The Paris Commune, was marxist. marxism is anarchist 'til you introduce Lenin’s stuff, which i don’t

      i’m not marxist (im hegelian) but i consider many marxists to be anarchists

    • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 years ago

      Thank you, I appreciate it! I’m not 100% an anarchist but I’ve really become enamored with the concept and wanted to dive deeper. It scratches that social libertarian itch that a lot of other leftist ideologies don’t spend a lot of time on (at least in my reading so far)

      • purahna@lemmygrad.ml
        0·
        2 years ago

        It really does. That is one upshot of anarchism for sure, it provides a framework for individual liberty that right-libertarianism kind of falls flat on by allowing corporate power to influence individuals as a stand-in for a state. Marxism also doesn’t scratch that itch, you have to buy in to the need for a balance between the rights of the individual and the rights of the collective (which then come back around and benefit the individual, if all things go according to plan)

        • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemmy.worldOP
          0·
          2 years ago

          I also find a lot of Marxism to be agreeable. I’ve read a bit of Marx, the principles of communism by Engles, I’m about half way through Imperialism by Lenin. I’ve done some reading on life in the USSR, the Chinese revolution, as well as Allende and project cybersyn. There’s some great concepts laid out and good arguments as well. Where Marxism/ML/MLM kind of lose me is social liberties. I’m coming from the perspective of “my rights end where yours begin”. We all ultimately make concessions to our freedom in order to peacefully live in a society. I feel a governments only duty to social issues is to intervene when a groups rights are being violated and to not interfere otherwise. There’s some nuance to that obviously but speaking generally I feel it’s a good rule to go by

          I see a lot of praise for China and modern day Russia from Marxists spaces online. And while I’m able to admit I’m not the most informed on life in either of these countries, China particularly because its pretty difficult to find reliable info on the social climate there. Things like the Uyghur concentration camps, LGBT rights, racism, and general discrimination along social lines seems pretty common and largely accepted. I get it’s kind of the pot calling the kettle black on these things coming from the US, but I’d think a socialist government would be better equipped and much more willing to tackle these problems. Support for modern Russia just straight up doesn’t make sense to me. They’re a capitalist society, rife with inequities and corruption like every other capitalist state. I see no reason to support them. The amount of support for them leaves a sour taste in my mouth. As I continue to learn that may change but it’s hard reconciling what I read with what I see