The word "anarchism" has gained some negative connotation. To some, it evokes images of angry masked folks throwing molotov cocktails. To others it simply means "everyone can do whatever they want." Neither are particularly accurate.
Anarchism is the name given to the principle under which a group of people may organize without rule. It is being against one group or person having "power over" others. For us, anarchism begins with naming and resisting those things that oppress, rejecting social hierarchies that place one group of people over another. Anarchism rejects the logic that places some over other on the basis of race, ethnic or cultural background, legal status, social status, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, or any other rationale used for one group to exercise domination over another. It means challenging capitalism with its social inequalities based upon private property and wage labor and instead envisioning a society that emphasizes cooperation, mutual aid, holding land in common, and workers sharing ownership of the means of production. It means committing ourselves to undoing the legacies of oppression that have been passed down to us as we seek to build communities of hospitality and inclusion. |
Anarchism and Christianity: a Primer Mark VanSteenwyk and Sarah Lynne Gershon explore the intersection of Anarchism and Christianity at the 2011 Jesus Radicals Conference.
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