Readings and Interpretations from a Critical Anarchist Left

224 Pages·2012·1.44 MB·English

How Not to Be Governed

How Not to Be Governed
Readings and Interpretations from a
Critical Anarchist Left
Edited by Jimmy Casas Klausen
and James Martel
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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Copyright © 2011 by Lexington Books
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
How not to be governed : readings and interpretations from a critical anarchist left /
edited by Jimmy Casas Klausen and James Martel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7391-5034-4 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-5035-1 (pbk. : alk.
paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-5036-8 (electronic)
1. Anarchism. I. Klausen, Jimmy Casas, 1976- II. Martel, James R.
HX833.H69 2011
320.5'7—dc22 2010043813
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction:HowNottoBeGoverned ix
JamesMartelandJimmyCasasKlausen
1 AnarchistMethodsandPoliticalTheory 1
JacquelineStevens
2 AnAnarchismThatisNotAnarchism:NotestowardaCritique
ofAnarchistImperialism 19
GeorgeCiccariello-Maher
3 BesidetheState:AnarchistStrainsinCubanRevolutionaryThought 47
KatherineGordy
4 KantviaRancière:FromEthicstoAnarchism 65
ToddMay
5 Nietzsche,Aristocratism,andNon-domination 83
VanessaLemm
6 MaxStirner,Postanarchyavantlalettre 103
BanuBargu
7 TheLateFoucault’sPremodernity 123
JimmyCasasKlausen
8 TheAmbivalentAnarchismofHannahArendt 143
JamesMartel
9 EmmaGoldmanandthePowerofRevolutionaryLove 157
KeallyMcBride
10 “ThisIsWhatDemocracyLooksLike” 167
ElenaLoizidou
v
vi Contents
Index 189
ListofContributors 195
Acknowledgments
Iftheproductionofanybookcouldqualifyasacommunalprocess,thenthe
publication of this book in particular could be described as anarchocommu-
nal. James Martel and Jimmy Casas Klausen wish to thank our contributors
first of all for their patience with what must have seemed at times to be a
chaotic endeavor. We are grateful to Phil Green for provoking us to think
more searchingly about critical anarchism after offering us constructive but
critical comments in Boston at the American Political Science Association
panel that sparked this larger project in 2008. Joseph Parry at Lexington
BooksapproachedusandtooktimetomeetwithusinBostonaboutturning
our panelinto abook, andErinWalpolehas usheredusthroughtheproduc-
tion process with Lynda Phung, our production editor and a University of
Wisconsin–Madison alumna. We cannot thank Joseph, Erin, and Lynda
enoughfortheirinterestintheprojectandfortitudeindealingwiththequirks
ofitscoeditors.Finally,thisworkwouldneverhavereachedthepublication
stageifitweren’tfortheepiceffortsofourprojectassistantsRobertGordon,
May Erouart, and Alexander Hanna. Robbie and May probably had no idea
what they were getting into when they agreed to join as project assistants
under the auspices of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Undergraduate
Research Scholars Program; their work was fantastic and much appreciated.
Alexistobecommendedforsteppinginatthelastmomenttohelpcoeditors
who had fled to remote locations. A final word to our skeptics: this book is
humbleproofthatanarchymightnotbeunproductive.
vii

Introduction: How Not to Be Governed
James Martel and Jimmy Casas Klausen
ANARCHISM:INOURTIME?
In thinking about the relevance or possibility of anarchism in our time, we
come up against a set of obstacles. First and foremost is the obstacle of
temporality itself; there is the sense that anarchism belongs to the past and
thatitisthereforeatbestananachronismor,alternatively,thereisthenotion
that it never really took hold at any time and is thus at worst an idea com-
pletely divorced from reality. Perhaps just as important is the idea that an-
archism is a problematical goal to pursue during a time when the state is
underattack,whensovereigntyisbeingerodedbyaseriesofforceswhether
human, nonhuman, or superhuman. The growing threats of global and do-
mestic terrorism, the juggernaut of globalization, resurgences of religiosity,
transnational pandemics,global warming,profit-drivengeneticmodification
offoodsupplies,internationalpiracyandalltheotheraspectsofearlytwen-
ty-first–centurylifewe’retoldtoworryaboutsuggestthatitmaybeperverse
to pursue a theory that opposes state power, regulation, and authority; after
all, we seem to be living in a time when we desperately need the state to
protect us from or at least coordinate responses to the various crises that we
face.Finally,itseemsthat,intheUnitedStatesatleast,therearealreadyaset
ofwould-beanarchistsdoggedlypursuingtheeliminationofthestate.These
are members of the so-called Tea Party; their agenda, far from being an
expression of the left (traditionally viewed as the home of anarchist tenden-
cies),istoseekthe“witheringaway”ofthestatefromthefarrightendofthe
political spectrum. If we pursue an anarchist agenda, are we not in effect
aligningourselveswithsuchamovement?
ix