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Transocialist t1_j10074v wrote

Reply to comment by Desmond_FanClub in Anarchism at the End of the World: A defence of the instinct that won’t go away by Sventipluk

I would defend my stuff myself or get my neighbors to help me or call the local defense council, sure. I mean, what stops you from doing that now? I see shit get vandalized every day and cops don't seem to do anything about it.

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VitriolicViolet t1_j15jnnk wrote

whats to stop the local defence council from simply taking over and becoming a defacto government?

never seen any actual mechanism to prevent strongmen/warlords or the inevitable return of some form of hierarchical state, just some nebulous BS about how the 'people' would stop it.

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Transocialist t1_j15pcv7 wrote

There's two parts to this:

  1. How do you prevent the people with arms in your community from banding together and taking over? Well, I'd imagine you'd spread defensive readiness across different sectors of your community, embedded within the populace. You would complement seasoned volunteers and appointed or elected leaders, probably with some measure of training for all adults. Ideally you would rotate your soldiers across communities too.

  2. How does a society prevent a different society from gathering enough strength to conquer them? I don't know, that's an open question. Once any society has figured this out we can talk.

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Desmond_FanClub t1_j100fpt wrote

I’ll get an even BIGGER group of people to overwhelm the “local defense council” (whatever such a thing would actually, specifically look like in our modern context which anarchists never explain)

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BaldrClayton t1_j103gqe wrote

Well then I'll put a trap and hide it very well so you wouldn't be able to detect it and fall into it 100% if you ever try to steal my stuff. And it would not matter how many people you'd bring because I'd just put as many traps +1

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Desmond_FanClub t1_j104jvj wrote

Jokes on you, the local trap council has been paid off (by me) and all your traps are disabled

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BaldrClayton t1_j1055i2 wrote

AHA ! money doesn't exist in Anarchy so you lose ! (also my dad is in the trap council)

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Transocialist t1_j104bez wrote

The local defense council would be a group of people elected or appointed by the community who are responsible for training, arming and organizing members in the community. How specific are you asking? Like what level of detail would convince you?

What stops you from doing that in hierarchical societies? I mean, powerful people in our society use their wealth and power to inflict terrible pain and misery on the poor. So, what's stopping them?

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SnapcasterWizard t1_j10crf4 wrote

Lol so you would call the local government in a system without authority???

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Transocialist t1_j10jctb wrote

I would call the people who have volunteered to defend the community. Anarchist societies would still have institutions and organizations - but they should be organized as least-hierarchically as possible, built by the community democratically.

Anarchism is a set of ideals and organizational principles, not some utopian end goal.

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