← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Madrid burns
Thread ID: 9363 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2003-08-28
2003-08-28 20:05 | User Profile
Classic Anarchism has often been defined as Anti-Authoritarian Socialism. In much the same way one could briefly describe National-Anarchism as Anti-Authoritarian Nationalism. It is a widespread idea that Nationalism is synonymous to Fascism because the nationalist identifies with the huge, governmental structure of the State. Nationalism, however, neednââ¬â¢t be focused on the State. Many years before the nineteenth-century ideas of large-scale "nation-state", groups such as the Dutch Sea Beggars heralded another form of Nationalism: A Nationalism in which the Nationalist identifies not with the State but with his people, ethnic group or local community.
There have even been (and indeed there still are) people who reject the State and the underlying idea of power as the basic principle of society that such an institution implies, and instead pursue the outermost individual freedom but at the same time take pride in and cherish their ethnic background.
It is these people who can be designated National-Anarchists and their ideology as National-Anarchism.
National-Anarchism is thus connected to modern day Nationalism in much the same way as contemporary Anarchism is connected to Socialism. Anarchists like Bakunin and Kropotkin had the same agenda as the rest of the Socialist labour movement: to change radically the economic distribution within society and thus create an economically egalitarian society. Their means of reaching these goals, however, was different. In much the same manner National-Anarchists aim to create a society build upon traditional Nationalistic principles of Ethnic sovereignty, solidarity and self-sufficiency. But the National-Anarchist way of achieving this kind of society is different from that of the typical modern Nationalist.
National-Anarchist is, like the classic Anarchists, against authoritarianism and sees personal freedom as the most important principle in the world - thus rejecting the State and authoritarian organisations as a means of reaching a Nationalist society. National-Anarchism is therefore in opposition to the ideas currently dominating the nationalist scenes and which aim to seize State-power and push through the Nationalist ideals through force.
National-Anarchists realise that true Nationalist sentiment* must flow from the masses to the elite and not the other way around.
The National-Anarchist thus aims to create a kind of popular Nationalism in which the culture of his/her Nation is kept alive through a living, vibrant interest in the public for the culture of the Nation rather than through artificial State-support: A popular Nationalism in which people freely decide to indulge in their own culture.
National-Anarchism is, of course, not just an ideology that focuses on internal politics. To the ideology belongs also an idea of how to handle international relations and solve international problems. Going in-depth with this would make this text too long but basically National-Anarchists aim for an international system built on traditional Nationalist principles of sovereignty for all people and Anarchist ideas of a world of small, self-governing and self-sufficient political units.
Some might say that that such a combination cannot work as Anarchism and Nationalism cannot work together**. Upon further reflection I am confident, however, that most people will see that several things in fact relate Nationalism and Anarchism to one another. First and foremost both deologies are freedom-based. While Nationalism concerns itself with the freedom of the national group, Anarchism concerns itself with the freedom of the individual.
According to the National-Anarchist idea these two forms of freedom - national and individual - can be combined: even more so they are each otherââ¬â¢s preconditions! No group can be truly free if the individuals of that group are not free, because no individual who has a true, emotional attachment to a group feels free unless the group as a whole is free. Therefore any struggle for the freedom of a group - be it National, Religious, labour or otherwise - must at the same time be a struggle against general oppression for the freedom of the individual: from the liberation of the group should immediately stem the emerging of a decentralised society with local and individual self-determination. Therefore Anarchism and Nationalism compliment each other excellently!
By Darksphere
NOTES
*Nationalistic sentiment here meaning the pride in and interest for one's background - not national-chauvinist hatred or contempt for others!
**If, indeed, you can talk about a combination as the Anti-Authoritarian Nationalism we are referring to here as National-Anarchism is in fact much older than both Anarchism and the ââ¬Ënineteenth century-typeââ¬â¢ pro-State ideology which is today associated with the term Nationalism.
More info in: [url=http://www.terrafirma.rosenoire.org/]http://www.terrafirma.rosenoire.org/[/url]
2003-08-28 20:27 | User Profile
Hans-Herman Hoppe and his followers would seem to be National-Anarchists. see [url=http://www.hanshoppe.com/]http://www.hanshoppe.com/[/url]
See also NATURAL ORDER, THE STATE, AND THE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM [url=http://www.lewrockwell.com/hoppe/hoppe-margins.pdf]http://www.lewrockwell.com/hoppe/hoppe-margins.pdf[/url]
Hoppe is a German currently teaching in Nevada.
2003-08-28 22:44 | User Profile
:o It seems that NA is a anticapitalist movement
National-Anarchism: Beyond the Fascism of the Right & the Dogmatism of the Left
IN April 2000 a unique debate was launched on the Internet as a means of introducing the ideas of National-Anarchism to the world for the very first time. The news was greeted with typical hysteria by those on both the Right and Left of the political spectrum. Indeed, whilst the former described us as 'an alliance of homosexuals and satanists' the latter insinuated that we are 'neo-nazis' and 'homophobes'. Thus we find ourselves denounced by the dogmatic Left-Anarchists of the IWW and Freedom Press on the one hand, and reactionary fascists like the British National Party and International Third Position on the other. The following question and answer format should help dispel the myths surrounding the whole ethos of National-Anarchism: A liberating and revolutionary force for anti-Capitalism in the twenty-first century.
Q. Why 'national' anarchism? Surely nationalism is incompatible with anarchic principles?
A. National-Anarchists do not support nationalism in the sense that we look to artificial nation-states or borders and boundaries. In a realistic sense we are Indo-Europeans and therefore part of an ethnic heritage that includes not only Europe itself but also countries like Iran, Afghanistan, India and Tibet. Therefore we base our 'national' outlook on a much broader framework, not on the limited parochial attitudes of nineteenth-century imperialism. When we speak of nationhood we are referring to its tribal and organic implications.
Q. So do you support some kind of Eurasian superstate?
A. No. We firmly believe in political, social and economic decentralisation. In other words, we wish to see a positive downward trend whereby all bureaucratic concepts such as the UN, NATO, the EU, the World Bank and even nation-states like England and Germany are eradicated and consequently replaced by autonomous village-communities.
Q. Are National-Anarchists racist?
A. Certainly not. On the contrary, our vision is based upon the realities of self-determination for all peoples and not on mindless racial hatred towards others. Furthermore, we do not subscribe to a supremacist agenda or wish to enforce our worldview on others. National-Anarchists are racial separatists and wish to build links with like-minded individuals and organisations regardless of their racial or ethnic background. This is part of our plan to re-establish the Natural Order, of which humanity is an essential part.
Q. Natural Order? But surely this is a man-made concept devised by those with a given point of view?
A. Natural Order is not a half-baked political or theological manifesto like those conceived by Christian theologians such as Augustine and Aquinas, indeed, it relates to the fields of ecological and environmental preservation. Racial miscegenation, for example, is viewed by National-Anarchists as something which runs contrary to nature. Similarly, we regard issues like human cloning, euthanasia, homosexuality, genetically-modified foodstuffs, vivisection and abortion in the same way.
Q. So do you plan to outlaw mixed-race relationships, homosexuality and abortion?
A. Not at all. These are issues which must be decided by those concerned, although we do remain adament that such practices remain outside of our own naturally-based Anarchic communities.
Q. But what if people disagree with your ideas?
A. Fine. We have no problem with that. As long as they do not prevent us from occupying our own space and land in which to live according to our own principles and beliefs. Those who attempt to interfere with our way of life or prevent us from realising our distinct vision based upon Natural Order are nothing short of fascistic and authoritarian. We do not wish to persecute others or bend them to our will. Let them found their own communities.
Q. How do National-Anarchists intend to pursue their objectives?
A. In years to come the Capitalist System will begin to disintegrate in the way that the Roman Empire planted the seeds of its own destruction by initiating a policy of gradual expansionism and the control of the periphery. Therefore we must hasten its demise by encouraging revolution on the periphery and, thus, depriving the urban centres of their resources. Once we enpower the exploited peoples in the so-called Third World, we can finally cut off the tentacles of Capitalism one by one until the very cores of political and economic power are completely eradicated. Destroy from within and create from without, that is the solution.
Q. The centres of power are mainly in Europe and North America, so what will become of the West?
A. Who cares! The whole concept of Western civilisation has been built on exploitation and greed. Moreover, it is an historical progression which has taken mankind away from its natural state and led to the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many.
Q. But surely this process will lead to technological regression?
A. Of course. National-Anarchists are not opposed to technology per se - or at least those forms which do not harm the environment - but it remains a fact that once the internationalist system begins to wither away and people start to return to a more natural lifestyle, the factories will stand idle and therefore nobody will be on hand to produce computers, televisions and other such items. People will be forced to live without cars and supermarkets, chat shows and telephones, vibrators and central heating. Eventually this will lead to a more leisurely way of life, quite simply because hunter-gatherers work on average something like two hours a day in order to satisfy their basic needs.
Q. What is the way forward for National-Anarchists?
A. We will continue to forge useful links between all opponents of Big Business and globalisation, in the hope that eventually we will become one of the movers and shapers of the developing anti-Capitalist movement. So in this regard we extend the hand of friendship and co-operation to all like-minded peoples both in Europe and around the world.