Black anarchism

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A flag representing Black Anarchism

Black anarchismis a term applied to a group ofpeople of African descentwho identify with the principles ofanarchism.The individuals to whom the label has been applied all oppose the existence of thestate,the subjugation and domination ofBlack peopleand other ethnic groups and favor a non-hierarchical organization of society. In general, these individuals argue forclass strugglewhile stressing the importance of ending racial and national oppression, opposingcapitalism,patriarchy,the state, andwhite supremacy.

Quotes

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  • I tried to figure out how this applies to me. I began to look at Black history again, atAfrican history,and at the histories and struggles of otherpeople of color.I found many examples of anarchist practices in non-European societies, from the most ancient times to the present. This was very important to me: I needed to know that it is not just European people who can function in ananti-authoritarianway, but that we all can. I was encouraged by things I found in Africa—not so much by the ancient forms that we call tribes—but by modern struggles that occurred inZimbabwe,Angola,Mozambique,andGuinea-Bissau.Even though they were led byvanguardistorganizations, I saw that people were building radical,democraticcommunities on the ground. For the first time, in these colonial situations, African peoples where creating what was the Angolans called “popular power.” This popular power took a very anti-authoritarian form: people were not only conducting their lives, but also transforming them while fighting whatever foreign power was oppressing them. However, in every one of these liberation struggles new repressive structures were imposed as soon as people got close to liberation: the leadership was obsessed with ideas ofgovernment,of raising a standing army, of controlling the people when theoppressorswere expelled. Once the so-called victory was accomplished, the people—who had fought for years against their oppressors—were disarmed and instead of having real popular power, a new party was installed at the helm of the state. So, there were no real revolutions or true liberation in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe because they simply replaced a foreign oppressor with an indigenous oppressor.
  • Some of our ideas about who we are as a people hamper our struggles. For example, theBlackcommunity is often considered a monolithic group, but it is actually a community of communities with many different interests. I think of being Black not so much as an ethnic category but as an oppositional force or touchstone for looking at situations differently. Black culture has always been oppositional and is all about finding ways to creatively resist oppressionhere,in the mostracist countryin the world. So, when I speak of a Black anarchism, it is not so tied to the color of my skin but who I am as a person, as someone who can resist, who can see differently when I am stuck, and thus live differently.
  • One of the most important lessons I also learned from anarchism is that you need to look for the radical things that we already do and try to encourage them. This is why I think there is so much potential for anarchism in the Black community: so much of what we already do is anarchistic and doesn’t involve the state, the police, or the politicians. We look out for each other, we care for each other’s kids, we go to the store for each other, we find ways to protect our communities. Even churches still do things in a very communal way to some extent. I learned that there are ways to be radical without always passing out literature and telling people, “Here is the picture, if you read this you will automatically follow our organization and join the revolution.” For example, participation is a very important theme for anarchism and it is also very important in the Back community. Consider jazz: it is one of the best illustrations of an existing radical practice because it assumes a participatory connection between the individual and the collective and allows for the expression of who you are, within a collective setting, based on the enjoyment and pleasure of the music itself. Our communities can be the same way. We can bring together all kinds of diverse perspectives to make music, to make revolution.
  • Those Anarchists who are Black like myself recognize there has to be a whole newsocial movement,which isdemocratic,on thegrassrootslevel and is self-activated. It will be a movement independent of the major political parties, the State and the government. It must be a movement that, although it seeks to expropriate government money for projects that benefit the people, does not recognize anyprogressiverole for the government in the lives of the people. The government will not free us, and is part of the problem rather than part of the solution. In fact only the Black masses themselves can wage the Black freedom struggle, not a governmentbureaucracy(like theU.S. Justice Department), reformist civil rights leaders likeJesse Jackson,or a revolutionaryvanguard partyon their behalf.
  • Anarchists believe the first step toward self-determination and theSocial revolutionis Black control of the Black community. This means that Black people must form and unify their own organizations of struggle, take control of the existing Black communities and all the institutions within them, and conduct a consistent fight to overcome every form of economic, political and cultural servitude, and any system of racial and class inequality which is the product of this racist Capitalist society.
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