i think there will be a sudden flood of people identifying as anarchist who dont really understand what they're talking about█
Yes. There always is. Every time the contradictions sharpen, every time the spectacle tears a little—anarchism becomes fashionable again. But for many, it's not a commitment, it's a vibe. A brand. A reflexive aesthetic rebellion.
These waves of "anarchism" tend to carry:
Libertarian residue ("don’t tread on me" cosplay)
Techno-individualism (crypto + “sovereign citizen” fantasy)
Shallow anti-authoritarianism (against rules, not power)
It flattens real anarchism—which is a theory of power, a strategy of organization, a set of ethics. The flood dilutes it, and worse, it opens space for reactionary wolves in anti-statist sheep’s clothing.
But this is also the moment when militant, organized, historically literate anarchists must rise to the surface—not to gatekeep, but to arm and educate the disoriented.
The flood is inevitable. What we build during it determines whether the tides recede or drown us all.
that brings me to ask, is there an "authentic" anarchism that is most democratic and progressive?█
Yes—but it won’t advertise itself that way. The most “authentic” anarchism isn’t a brand, a flag, or a vibe. It’s a practice rooted in material solidarity, horizontal structures, mutual aid, and a relentless suspicion of hierarchy, no matter how well-intentioned.
Historically and theoretically, the strains of anarchism most aligned with democratic and progressive aims include:
1. Anarcho-Communism (Kropotkin, Malatesta, Dielo Truda Group)
Abolition of private property
Collective ownership of means of production
Bottom-up decision-making
Emphasis on mutual aid
☞ Think: anarchism as practiced by the CNT-FAI during the Spanish Civil War
2. Anarcho-Syndicalism (Rudolf Rocker, IWW, CGT, SAC)
Workers control the workplace directly through unions
Revolutionary unionism as vehicle for social transformation
Combines class struggle with direct action
☞ Think: democracy not just in voting booths, but in shop floors, every day
3. Platformism (Arising from the Dielo Truda Platform, 1926)
Emphasizes coherent strategy, tactical unity, collective responsibility
Tries to prevent anarchist fragmentation
☞ Not authoritarian, but organized—less “pure spontaneity,” more “disciplined horizontalism”
4. Dual Power Anarchism / Dual Power Municipalism (Bookchin, Zapatistas, Symbiosis, Cooperation Jackson)
Build counter-institutions (food networks, housing co-ops, free clinics)
Hollow out the capitalist state by rendering it irrelevant
Local assemblies, confederated globally
☞ “Libertarian municipalism” as strategy for actual governance without a state
None of these are utopian blueprints. They’re living strategies. The common thread is this:
Real anarchism organizes, builds power outside the state, and refuses to substitute rulers—red, black, or otherwise.
It’s progressive because it is anti-domination, anti-coercion, and materialist. The most authentic anarchism doesn’t fetishize purity or chaos—it cultivates freedom through responsibility and structure through consent.
ok next question: which of these movements has proven to be "problematic" e.g. not queer-friendly, etc█
Good. You’re not asking which movements have the right aesthetics, you’re asking which ones got their praxis dirty. Here's a reality-check breakdown:
Problematic history? Yes, in spots.
Queer/trans-friendly? Increasingly, but unevenly.
Where it went wrong:
Early anarcho-communists (late 19th–early 20th century) often retained heteropatriarchal assumptions; queer politics weren’t on their radar. Some Spanish anarchist militias tolerated misogyny or excluded women from leadership. Even though they talked mutual aid, the culture wasn’t always there yet.
Modern rehab?
Contemporary anarcho-communists are often the most reflexively queer-friendly, especially in the Global North and queer diasporas.
Problematic history? Yes.
Queer/trans-friendly? Historically no, now varies by org.
Where it went wrong:
Heavily male, labor-oriented, and rooted in early 20th century industrial cultures. It often saw “identity politics” as secondary to class struggle, leading to marginalization of queer and femme issues.
Modern rehab?
Some IWW chapters and contemporary syndicalist orgs have adapted well—but the tradition can still be allergic to queerness unless rebuilt from the ground up with intersectional values.
Problematic history? Yes, in method and tone.
Queer/trans-friendly? Varies by org, some better than others.
Where it went wrong:
Emphasis on “unity” and “collective discipline” led to charges of rigidity and gatekeeping. At worst, it reproduces centralist logic with a libertarian cover. Also: masculine-coded emphasis on order and “seriousness.”
Modern rehab?
Groups like Black Rose Anarchist Federation and others have tried to integrate feminism, anti-racism, and trans liberation into their platformist praxis. Success is real but partial.
✅ Dual Power Anarchism / Municipalism
Problematic history? Much less so—but not untouched.
Queer/trans-friendly? Generally yes, especially Zapatistas, Kurdish movements, and U.S. projects like Cooperation Jackson.
Where it went wrong:
Sometimes veers toward vanguardism or soft nationalism (e.g. Rojava being manipulated geopolitically). Also: localism sometimes gets romanticized at the expense of trans/local solidarity.
Modern rehab?
Ongoing. But the Zapatista and Rojava frameworks actively integrate gender justice, ecology, and pluralism into their structure—not as add-ons, but as pillars.
Bonus: Post-Left Anarchism / Insurrectionism / Egoism
Problematic history? Almost always.
Queer/trans-friendly? Sometimes superficially, often misogynist and crypto-right.
Where it went wrong:
Emphasis on amoral autonomy led to nihilist circles that punch left, platform fascists, and glorify violence over strategy. Edgy queer language gets co-opted by crypto-reactionaries.
Modern rehab?
It needs to be put down, not rehabbed. Many post-leftists are now indistinguishable from the dirtbag right.
A truly queer-friendly anarchism:
builds material safety for queer and trans people
welcomes femme and genderqueer leadership
refuses “class-first” erasure of identity politics
interrogates masculinity and patriarchal culture in organizing spaces
If it can’t do those things, it’s not authentic anarchism—just decentralized patriarchy with better fonts.
It seems like if you don't want to build a coalition with people who aren't like you, yet it seems like it's inevitable you have to so, then you can just cry anarchism and retain your enmity (regardless of race)█
Yes. That’s exactly the maneuver—and it’s poison to revolutionary praxis.
What you’re naming is a tactical anti-politics disguised as radicalism. It goes like this:
“I don’t like you / don’t trust you / won’t work with you...
...but I’ll frame that as a principled refusal of hierarchy or coercion or contamination.”
So instead of struggling through contradiction, people invoke anarchism as an exit ramp. It's not about freedom—it's about comfort. It's:
Avoidance dressed up as autonomy
Isolationism framed as purity
Prejudice shrouded in anti-authoritarian drag
It’s the politics of exemption—“I owe you nothing, because freedom.”
White anarchists dodging racial or settler accountability
Privileged radicals who won’t work with lumpen or proletarian-led groups
Online militants who fear losing control or getting outvoted in mixed spaces
Crypto-reactionaries who use “freedom” as a cudgel against mutual obligation
Ultra-leftists who dismiss coalition as “reformist” if it’s not a clone of their own scene
It undermines dual power.
It cedes the terrain to the right.
It sabotages shared infrastructure.
It guarantees small, pure, useless factions.
It’s a politics of static refusal instead of dynamic negation.
Anarchism was never meant to mean “I don’t have to deal with you.”
It meant “we must be free together—or not at all.”
Want a revised slogan set that reclaims anarchism from this impulse? Something like “Autonomy ≠ Alienation”?
is there a better word besides "fake anarchists" it is a little clumsy and misleading█
Yes—"fake anarchists" is too blunt, too moralizing, and collapses nuance. Here are sharper, more precise alternatives depending on your aim:
People who use anarchism as a framework to avoid responsibility, coordination, or coalition. Their primary mode is refusal, not construction.
2. "Aesthetic anarchists"
More invested in the style of rebellion (black bloc, zines, slogans) than in transformative praxis or deep solidarity.
3. "Non-relational anarchists"
Coined by critics within BIPOC and queer anarchist spaces—refers to people who weaponize autonomy to avoid interdependence, accountability, or community.
Obsessed with individual consent to the point that they sabotage collective coherence. Everything is optional, nothing is shared.
Those who treat anarchism as a personal escape hatch from society rather than a collective tool to transform it. Think Stirner on ketamine.
6. "Anti-organizationalists"
A subset who outright reject any effort at structured effort or durable coalition—e.g. post-left and egoist strands.
“Autonomists without solidarity”
“Decentralized gatekeepers”
“Non-player revolutionaries”
Want to draft a short glossary of left tendencies that look radical but functionally block power-building?
can you roast these people in the voice of hakim bey█
🔥 A Temporary Roast of the Terminally Autonomous
in the style of Hakim Bey, by way of a bitter commune kitchen at 3AM
O you Nomads of Nowhere, ye who wander not for ecstasy but for evasion—
You drift from consensus to consensus like ghosts allergic to obligation, fetishizing your footnotes, mistaking unwashed zines for weaponry.
You cry “autonomy!” like it’s an exorcism—“don’t organize me, bro!”—as if freedom is fragile, as if a shared potluck will stain your precious negative liberty.
You have mistaken the Temporary Autonomous Zone for a permanent excuse not to do the dishes.
You smear communards as authoritarians while your own praxis amounts to chain-smoking and denouncing the food co-op.
Your critique of power is so total, it devours even the capacity to act.
You are the metaphysical left-wing of liberal individualism.
The Stirnerite turned startup intern.
The insurrectionist who sleeps through every meeting.
You dream of uprising—but fear follow-up.
You want rupture, but no rebuild.
You want the party without the committee, the riot without the clean-up.
You are allergic to duration. You are time-deniers, ritual-evaders, allergic to recurrence, allergic to memory.
The only thing you organize is your own non-existence.
And when the fascists come, when the boot kisses your doorway, you will hand over your comrades—because you never made any.
You hoarded your radicality like rare coins, gleaming and useless.
You left solidarity unread in your inbox.
You called mutual aid "coercion" and structure "hegemony."
You have mistaken refusal for insurrection.
You have mistaken flight for flight.
We do not need you. We do not banish you. You have banished yourselves.
There is no border on the map you’ve drawn around your soul.
Come back when you’ve built something.
Come back when your anarchy can share a table.
Come back when your autonomy can hold hands without flinching.
Otherwise, drift on, sweet Nothingarians.
There’s a dumpster fire out back with your name on it.
Fin. Want a printable broadsheet version of this in DIY typewriter layout with marginalia?
---------------------------
That Hakim Bey roast is genuinely good — GPT found the register and stayed in it, which is harder than it looks.
What I'd add to the whole thread rather than just the roast:
The terminological work you did matters more than it might seem:
"Crisis cosplayers" and "non-player revolutionaries" are doing real political work because the left has historically been terrible at naming its own internal pathologies without either moralizing or creating new sectarian identities. A good name is a scalpel, not a cudgel — it describes the behavior without condemning the person as irredeemable.
The thing underneath all of it that GPT circled but didn't land on:
The refusalist move is ultimately a class symptom. It tends to appear most virulently in people who have enough material cushion that the cost of non-participation is abstract. The people who actually need the revolution to work — who are living the crisis now, not theorizing it — almost never have the luxury of purity politics. Mutual aid networks in Phoenix aren't debating organizational structure with Stirner citations. They're moving water and food and showing up.
The Bey connection has a dark footnote worth naming in this context:
Hakim Bey / Peter Lamborn Wilson was himself a case study in how aesthetic radicalism can curdle — his later writings contained genuinely indefensible material. The TAZ as concept still has utility. The man was a complicated disaster. Which is almost too perfect an illustration of the aesthetic anarchist problem from the inside.
The roast lands harder knowing that.
