As an anarchist there is a difficulty that persists in this debate.
Anarchism is very much an attitude, a state of mind, rather than any
particular system of organisation. An anarchist society would be made up
of...? anarchists, and implicit in being an anarchist is respect for others
and, especially, the absence of any desire to wield power over others. Rape,
for example, has no place in an anarchist society, in the same way that you
don't find battery farming of poultry amongst Jains. Exploitation of people
is anathema to anarchists, as violence against all living things is to the
Jains. You ask what an anarchist society would be like, and especially how
it would deal with the problems of non-anarchist society. The obvious
answers are, to the former, it is not possible to say what the society would
be like, especially in terms of its institutions and processes, because
anarchism is not about setting up a utopian vision and trying to convert
everyone to it - it is more about freeing people so that they can give a
proper expression of themselves in the company of a community of peers who
are similarly empowered. In this sense anarchism is nearer to living the
utopia with the utopia being the life itself... - something the 'situ's' say
far better. The answer to the second problem, how anarchist society would
deal with all the problems that are the consequence of non-anarchist
society, is probably self-evident. All of this doesn't mean that anarchist
society would not have problems, but it does mean that it is pointless
trying to formulate responses to that which evolves in a space beyond our
experience. Final thought - introductory anthropology texts are a great way
to break out of a worldview that sees mainly 'universal truths' - Kropotkin
was an anthropologist of sorts, and while his anthropology may be a little
dated, it is still well worth reading 'Mutual Aid' or an essay like 'An
Appeal to the Young' (available online - maybe through blackened-flag) for
an understanding of the anarchist heart.

b

bruce sandford
Private Bag MBE 163
Hamilton 2001
Aotearoa - New Zealand

ICQ: 20816964
Fax: USA(707)215-6524

> -----Original Message-----
> From: The philosophy, work & influences of Noam Chomsky
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of alister air
> Sent: Friday, June 25, 1999 4:21 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CHOMSKY] Anarchy won't work?
>
>
> At 13:53 25/06/99 +1000, Bill Bartlett wrote:
>
> >I think we agree that the laws don't actually prevent these
> outcomes, they
> >merely punish them. I regard the deliberate killing of people as an
> >undesirable outcome and would prefer to concentrate on avoiding
> it, rather
> >than punish it by killing someone else.
> >
> >The present system thus fails the test of being able to justify itself in
> >terms of better outcomes. It creates worse outcomes.
>
> Hi Bill,
>
> I've a question then.  Having seen self-proclaimed leftist types also be
> rapists and perpetrators of domestic violence, and haivng seen their
> comrades stick up for them (both male and female), what should we then do
> about such a situation?  I don't believe an anarchist society
> could abolish
> such acts - people who do know better still rape.  So what do we do with a
> violent rapist?
>
> I tend not to be a frothing-at-the-mouth lock-them-away forever type - but
> I've seen the damage caused, and she'll be living with that forever.  And
> nothing serious happened to him.
>
> Alister
>
>