The American militia phenomenon is certainly significant from an
anarchist/Chomskian standpoint. It may be said that militia groups have a
pathological distrust of the state, a position that might in some respects
be pretty rational. In many ways, the militia groups are prototypically
anarchist in that:

1. They are genuinely popular organizations, drawing from disempowered
sectors of American society.

2. They are purely voluntary organizations.

3. They present a detailed critique of illegitimate state and
corporate power.

4.Many militia groups advocate a form of local autonomy, and overtly
refuse to recognize the authority of the central state.

5. Militia groups ardently reject the political forms of globalization,
recognizing  that these are corrosive to local control and democracy. Your
average militia member will likely have a better analysis of NAFTA or GATT
than you'll hear in the New York Times or a Clinton cabinet meeting.

Really, I think in many cases the "instincts" of the militia people are
sound, as is much of their analysis--it's the conclusions they draw from
these that are often faulty and morally bankrupt. They have, however,
arose in a political context in which radical/left influence in minimal,
as a result of the obvious domination of the media, academia, etc. by
elite interests and the persistent inability of the "left" to effectively
organize. Folks who find the militias attractive are responding ultimately
to the realization of their own lack of power; this recognition could be
the basis for all sorts of responses, ranging from fascism & racism to
non-violent anarchist revolution. Unfortunately, given the prominence of
xenophobic, racist, and social Darwinist sentiments in well-organized and
well-funded "conservative" circles, this is the direction most militias
gravitate towards.


I think the worst thing radicals/anarchists could do is uncritically join
the liberal supporters of state repression of the militias, and to dismiss
every position espoused by militia groups. One needn't be an admirer of
Timothy McVeigh to recognize that the FBI's actions at Waco were, in fact,
criminal, and bore an uncanny resemblance to similar repression carried
out against left/popular groups like AIM or the Panthers in the days of
COINTELPRO. Instead, we should be speaking to, listening to, and aiding
those disempowered groups that give rise to militias.