Anarchism

This is a label and identity I've been toying with since leaving the church and engaging with the activist movement. In a lot of ways I like it's ideal and if I think rationally about it for long enough I agree with it, But I have such a hard time getting over all the baggage associated with it. When one talks about anarchists I still have this image in my mind of feral revolutionaries who just want to cause chaos. This image is still reinforced by references in the main stream media around large protest groups.

The first time I really felt ready to adopt the label was when I was cycling around London. I guess cycling around any large city designed for cars and pedestrians is enough to make anyone break the rules and make up your own system - well it is for me anyway. But four years on my commitment to owning the label still wavers under attacks from those feral revolutionaries that exist only in my mind - and maybe yours? The reality is most self defined anarchists I've met are not feral and only some are revolutionaries. Most of them are in fact nonviolent. My perception of the few feral revolutionaries that are out there is that they're mostly socialists who are interested in different concentrations of power as opposed spreading power out.

But I guess the key thing is to define what I mean by anarchism - such a contested label and see if I can hold to that. So recently I came up with
An Anarchist:
- opposes systems based on hierarchy
- and supports egalitarian social and political systems that are created and maintained by the people involved in them.
Add to this that I sit towards the reformist end of the anarchist spectrum and maintain my commitment to nonviolence and you get an anarchism that isn't as radical as it sounds. In fact it's really just a natural expression of the principles I outlined in my core beliefs post.

So there you go, I've entered the fray. I am an anarchist and that's what I think it means. I'm sure I can add to that definition though, so questions welcome.