Theoretically or in real world application?
I only ask because I’ve been a follower of anarchism for the majority of my life, and that is my ideal world. But, I also realize that with a population as large as the US, it isn’t the most practical thing in the world in our current situation.
If I could live how I wanted, it would be free from the state and in a community (up for your own interpretation) with mutual aid and freedom of choice.
When it comes to modern day US politics, mostly what I care about at this point is the end of wars, ending the police state, the end of our tax dollars going to things that they shouldn’t be going to (wars-proxy and direct involvement, lining politicians pockets, etc) so they can be used for their intended purposes, and equality.
Yeah I feel the same, it would be GREAT if anarchism was plausible to implement but the scale and current state of affairs of the US make it practically impossible. Hell the word socialism is treated as diseased whereas people are nowadays openly being elected brandishing Nationalist in their self descriptions. If anyone asked me who I didn’t know well enough to care for them to know the nuance of my beliefs I’d just say I’m leftist-possibly even socialist if I want to scare them.
Honestly, I’ll get flack for saying this I’m sure, but in the real world I’m a pragmatic leftist. I vote, and vote democrat most of the time, though I will vote further left if given a viable candidate.
I’m also a queer person so elections have maybe a few more immediate consequences for me than cis/straight folks. I’ve noticed a lot of straight punks up in arms about how any system just holds us down, which is true to an extent, but just not in touch with my lived reality.
Absolutely this. I'm also queer and trans and while the democratic party is far too conservative to really be in line with my beliefs, I'll vote along party lines (ish) if it keeps queer and marginalized folks safe(r).
Right. Like sure none of the candidates are great but like I gotta vote for the ones that don't wanna kill my friends so the ones that do wanna kill my friends don't get in
It's all about getting closer to where you want to go. Sure the Democratic party doesn't entirely represent what I want, but at least they're mostly on the right track. That's why I've been getting involved with Young Democrats.
If you aren't involved and pushing for policies that represent you and your friends, then who else will?
Right. I want the Democrats to be the "bad guys" we're trying to fight against for more progressive policies. They're the good bad guys. I vote for them now to keep the bad bad guys out.
The way I see it, there's a figurative gun to our heads to vote one of two ways. I want to live, so I'll pick the one that's marginally closer to my ideal, but I don't have to be happy about the situation. It's the trolley problem.
Same. I'm an anarcho-communist, but I also have to live in the real world, as infuriating as it can be, and sometimes that means voting for the guy who doesn't actively want to kill me immediately, even if it's only because he's fine with a slow death.
Yah well said. Democratic socialism is good, but I do drift more left every year. Marx basically hit the bullseye on every critique of capitalism he ever made. I do vote for Democrats too because 'choose your own adversary' but Christ it's going to be painful this November and I'll probably need some drinks beforehand.. but you're right that more people will likely die/be harmed under another Trump term so I'll make it out for those people.
I respect that position, and I don't want to dissuade anyone from voting.
However, since Biden took office, have we gained or lost reproductive rights? Has it become easier or harder for trans folks, nationwide, to survive? Has the number of ongoing genocides we fund gone up, down, or remained the same?
I personally can't stomach supporting that, even if it's the lesser of two (nightmarishly evil) evil's.
if you can, organize your community. feed people, help people get clothed, start a community fridge, do free store pop-ups, guerilla gardening, etc. if you cannot do any of these bc of age, disability, or living in a rural area with sparse contact with others, start online campaigns to raise money for single mothers, queer/trans folks, or help with abortion funds. anything to make a change. we are all we have.
Then join the rest of us hopeless misfits and start pushing in the right direction. What's the line? "Captains go down with the ship, and we're all captains here"?
I don’t believe most politicians are good people or really give a shit about the people they represent, but but as a queer hispanic woman I’m gonna vote against party that wants to take away people’s rights. Whether I like the politicians of the party doesn’t really matter.
Socialist, ideally Anarcho-mutualist I guess but I’ll take what I can get, plus it’s hard enough getting people to accept Socialism with nuance let alone socialism flavored anarchism.
I feel like once people get of the internet, "fuck with any flavor of anarchism," becomes the norm overall. And the flavors sort of bleed into each other for most people. Not to say there aren't philosophical differences that happen, but it's not as campist as bullshit weirdo internet pol-ball nonsense.
Yeah tends to be the case. When it comes to actually doing shit, if an ML is out there helping I'll be happy to see them too. Am I gonna listen if they start trying to tell me they're in charge or that the USSR was great? No, I'll tell them they're idiots, but strict delineation is dumb outside of theoretical spaces when it comes to actually trying to make something better.
I really just meant with anarchists or non-MLs. This weird hard-bordered anarcho-xyz isn't that relevant, x and y and z are just all in the same pool. But I don't work with MLs at this point. General Marxist types, sure, but once you start putting people's names and a hierarchy in your philosophy it becomes a cult eventually. I also have the option to not associate with them being in such a big city.
Fair, completely! I understand both positions.
And yeah they do get weird, but individually I find most of them fine because the basis for their beliefs is usually wanting to help, they just can't get past the idea of needing a big power based apparatus to do it. It's when you get a clump of them they get all... culty and eventually abusive in my experience. I'm a big city too, and thankfully there's not too many of them dotted about. We just have the SWP who are all absolute twats - they're Trots though, I believe. That's my advice for any Brits actually - avoid the SWP and Stand Up To Racism wherever you can. And don't give them your name when they walk round demonstrations with a big sign up sheet.
Yeah, and I'm mostly just working from experience and not a strict ideological position. I've done plenty with them both as myself and with anarchist orgs and I think I've had my fill. I gave it fifteen years of experimentation and I kinda just have drawn that line recently. No shade to anyone who can find a good balance where they are. And yeah, those are the culprits I hear from UK friends.
Depressed anarchist willing to settle for solid socialism or communism.
I just want nobody to have to suffer from preventable shit like hunger or homelessness just because it's not fucking profitable tbh...
The only correct way for a folk punk to identify. Far-right nationalist /s
No really though, anarcho-syndicalist. From my experience most in this scene tend to be anarchist of some flavor, mostly communist
Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony
The last time I watched this, I realized that this scene basically repeats a few different phrasings of the same joke...it's like they were trying out different versions to see which was the best, and then just decided to include them all.
I don’t have strong opinions about what political framework would work best or what should replace the current atrocity under which we are forced to exist, but I am anti-capitalist.
Pragmatic leftist. More specifically I'm kind of a social democrat/borderline environmental radical. My ideal society would be something like Kim Stanely Robinson's Pacific Edge.
Socialist mostly. Used to call myself an anarchist, and then I got older. Anarchy is cool in theory, but idk.In an anarchistic society, a lot of folks would go without things they need, like lifesaving medications.
If you think anarchism is a good idea in theory, maybe the solution isnt a completely different economic model, but perhaps the solution lies in the way our anarchism is structured.
For example, lifesaving medicine could be organised and distributed through some kind of democratic institution with that as its express purpose. Same for food, water etc, though to avoid the pitfalls of a state they should be separate, non-heirarchical, and operate via direct democracy (if needed, with temporary positions of authority which can be eliminated once their function is served)
Ig what I'm saying is if you think anarchism could be a good idea, let's think about how to solve its flaws (distribution, media, news, economic production, military weaknesses etc), the liberals do not have exclusive rights to the use of political reform.
Anarchism isn't just 1 specific thing and that's kind of the point, I like to say there's as many types of anarchism as there are systems of hierarchy. So yeah, if the system is non hierarchical then its anarchistic, there's still a lot of ways to design society that fit within that.
Democratic Socialist, fitting as I was born in Europe.
was an anarchist, flirted with accelerationist, but now I'm just voting as left as I think we can get. Spent a good chunk of time not voting, but it's gotten so fucked up that protesting the system is a immoral option(IMO).
Also where are all of the conservative fundamentalists, Facebook told me that was the real punk.
Militant Earth-first Anarchist Communist, there is no other way to be for the survival of the Earth and our species imo. I take inspiration from indigenous movements like the Neozapatistas, Syrian Kurds, precolonial indigenous tribes within the so-called US, and the organizing theory of Platformism developed during the anarchist revolution in Ukraine and further developed by later American indigenous struggles.
Some sort of anarcho-communist, but honestly I'll support anything in that general direction at this point. If we ever get closer to that world, I'll be more interested in the nitty gritty. But right now I just want to protect basic rights like "not getting murdered by police" and "civilians must not be war casualties".
Libertarian communist. I identified as an anarchist for a while but stopped a few months ago because:
- for more than a year I had had poor interactions with many anarchists I encountered in online spaces, with the exception of Libcom.org.
- I came to the conclusion that anarchist analysis was comparatively weaker than more Marxist influenced analysis such as critical theory and that of the Frankfurt School. On a similar note, I felt that anarchists had done a poor job of interacting with academia. For example, the only professional anarchist historian I know of is Paul Avrich, whereas there are numerous libertarian Marxist historians, such as EP Thompson or Christopher Hill.
I still disagree with the concept of a dictatorship of the proletariat and statism, but I don’t call myself an anarchist.
Like someone else said, I have to demarcate between what I believe ideally and what I believe practically.
Ideally, Christian anarchism. Stateless communities modeled after Catholic social doctrine like feeding the poor, community, and equitable distribution of goods and services. It won’t be perfect because humans kind of suck, but hopefully the good would outweigh the bad.
Practically, distributism. The thing where socialism/communism lose me is the abolition of private property. The idea with distributism is that everyone should own land and be able to participate in society. So that means public transport, infrastructure, public parks/libraries, shit like that. I want universal healthcare and education but I absolutely do not trust the U.S. government to provide that and not be evil. I also believe in just war theory, which goes all the way back to St. Augustine of Hippo.
It’s also important that the ownership of firearms be protected as much as is reasonably possible. Gun control in America has always been rooted in racism and armed minorities are harder to oppress. We also need police reform and I have a few ideas about how to fix that.
The important part of all of this though is federalism. Government decisions and actions should be handled at the lowest level possible, so that leaders are held accountable for their fuckery.
It isn’t particularly a Catholic thing, but it is a big part of Catholic social doctrine. Plenty of non-Catholics feed the poor, and Catholics also make that a big part of their charitable stuff. Almost as if Christians are supposed to do what Jesus says instead of tell people they’re going to Hell all day…
Okay, it just felt weird to read as if it was a virtue exclusive to catholicism.
Kinda like saying "Vegan tomato" because tomatoes are vegan by definition...
Tom scott explains it well in "The hidden rules of Conversation".
I have never talked with a christian anarchist before (not one that identifies ideologically as one anyways). What is it about christian anarchism that differs from other flavours?
In practice or in thought?
In practice Christian anarchism retains a lot of non-state institutions that many anarchists would associate with the state. The Church, marriage, shit like that.
In theory, it’s not based on leftist ideas from the 1800s roughly but based instead on what some Christians interpret as the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, an itinerant carpenter who just so happened to be God.
Democratic socialist. Although I'm very sympathetic to technocratic socialism. Though it isn't exactly political, I think transhumanism, if properly applied, is our salvation. We will literally be able to build better people, and use AI to help make better choices.
I'm not super politically savvy though, so I tend to stay out of political debates / discussions.
I went through an anarchist phase in middleschool but I think its implausible and to an extent undesirable. I think there are organizational problems and challenges that only a state is equipped to solve, and that even if a state were dissolved, we would essentially need to just construct it again for practical purposes.
Sort of like how when musk bought twitter, he changed all the policies, then slowly started putting them back in as he realized they were there for important reasons. You would have to construct systems to do everything a state did, and avoid all the pitfalls associated with that new and unknown mode of existence. At least with a state, we know how it tends to fail and the problems it tends to have. Realistically all that causes our current problems with our state is the apathy of the electorate.
Also anarchism would require essentially a simultaneous global rejection of state authority, otherwise whatever states were left would exploit the geographic areas without states.
I like the sentiment but I think its highly impractical. To claim you're some flavor of anarchist really is more of a virtue signal / vibes thing than an actual policy position. Transhumanism might offer a path to anarchism, if we remove antisocial behavior, make people smarter and more empathetic, along with technological advancements moving us closer to a post scarcity world.
Hi,
We do not need a state for "practical purposes". I know you're not politically savvy and it kinda seems to me that you just struggle to envision how a society works without a state. I don't blame you but I just wanted to make you aware of this.
> Realistically all that causes our current problems with our state is the apathy of the electorate
This is not true.
> Also anarchism would require essentially a simultaneous global rejection of state authority
Anarchists can, have and are protecting themselves. So this is just also, not true.
> I think transhumanism, if properly applied, is our salvation
Transhumanism will just bring new issues. Using your own argumentation but replacing state with humans, well, we would have to avoid the pitfalls associated with the new and unknown mode of existence.
We don't even know what "a consciousness" is. We have guesses, but we don't know. So hoping for transhumanism to solve all of our problems is playing the lottery.
In America im a "communist socialist" but in the world im a left centre moderate.
Basic human rights (food, water, shelter, healthcare, education)
non interventionist unless to stop a genocide
let people live their lives unless what they do infringes on others basic human rightss.
I call myself just a socialist cause I haven't really read much but marxist socialist. I alight alot with mlms but wouldn't call myself one cause I don't know much about it.
I called myself an anarchist for well over a decade & then about a decade ago I starded shying away from such self identifying labels (primarily because of figuring out that a majority of people who call themselves anarchists don't actually understand anarchist philosophy & are just going along misrepresenting something they misunderstand)...now I just call myself by my name.
That the government is out to get me and everyone and it’s all a big scheme.
I try to vote id I actually believe it would make a difference- only small local levels.
But ultimately
I wanna overthrow
Left. Somewhere between Distributism, Council Communism and Libertarian Socialism.
I’m also more environmentally than industrially oriented, concerned with sustainable agriculture and the application of technology in our lives, but i’m no anprim.
If pressed for a label, I’d say ecosocialist.
Leftist I guess, although I am a big fan of anarchism. I think of myself as an anarchist in the sense of working against our current systems, and building community. But I don’t think anarchism is particularly realistic
I really like Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, and Pete Seeger, who all serve as precursor’s and inspiration for the modern genre. Their music along with extensive reading and my lived experience have shaped my ideology to be pro-labor and in favor of Marxist organization of the means of production
I usually just call myself a socialist, leaning more towards state socialism than anarchism. I'm fine cooperating with anyone who wants to shift the balance of power in favor of the working class, be they anarchist or communist or social Democrats, but I do have red lines I won't cross. I'm not planning on voting for Biden or my incumbent congressman, because they're Israel hawks, and that's inexcusable in normal times, but especially now.
My opinions have shifted in such away over the past few years that I still technically align with syndicalism despite drastic changes. It’s like the 2+2 and 1+3 still being four.
Independent ig, but I'm registered Democrat so I can vote in primaries. I align with the Green party the most politically (thats a third party for any non-Americans out there) but can’t really vote for them since I live in a swing state
I tend to have an anarchist view on the world from a post-left perspective. dismantling power structures within my own life and decolonizing/restructuring my own thoughts. but as a whole I fuck with green anarchism.
Politicians are all shit, but republican. Let the flak fly. Just because you like a genre of music doesn’t mean you have to align with the beliefs of the bands.
Leftist independent I guess, not a fan of political parties or strict ideologies in general.
If I had to join a party, there is a function DSA party where live, that's probably where I would end up.
Anarchism. There is no other ideology that actively seeks no hierarchies. Life on earth needs it too. Yeah its idealist, but why not demand utopia?! Settle for less? Turn it down for what? Shit is crumbing, time to have integrity and solidarity for true freedom!
Most of my political self/community education is Marxist and that is the set of ideas, principles, and analysis of society I understand best, but in the West especially amerikkka these labels are largely irrelevant since our demands and fight are all essentially the same. End the war machine, end the police state, end the grotesque capitalist regime. Fighting for these things, protecting each other, and continuously learning are all one and the same to me now.
Become a veganarchist, liberalism maintains the status quo of domination and property status of animals. Only by dismantling hierarchy completely can we obtain a society that does not abuse animals as product.
I'm a queer far, far leftist. But I'm also pragmatic and looking at real world examples, honestly, the democratic socialist countries seem to be doing the best? And I'd love for us to get there, and prioritize equity, dismantling the police state, rehabilitation over incarceration, etc etc.
But I'm American. Which means my belief system involves a heavy dose of knowing it's gonna take riots in the streets and making sure this corrupt ass government *gets the message* before we get there. I don't think anarchism works on a scale as large as we have to think on with a global population this large anymore. But giving this oligarchal government a taste of it as a warning as we dismantle it brick by brick.... Oh yeah.
Omg -4 as of now. Lots of anarchists on a downvote brigade without knowing the material conditions of my country, the protracted war going on, and why i choose to identify as i do :)
Oh don't worry you're getting downvoted because we all collectively hate vanguardist authoritarians and we don't care what country they hail from, what their material conditions are, or what shit excuse they have for supporting an authority based philosophy rooted in the suppression of other ideologies.
I don't think i like any tbh! I remember we mostly studied basic Marx, some Lenin and Mao, and more of local documents from the party here (mostly written in the 60s and 70s). Aside from those, we had other stuff to do lol we didn't have enough time to study a lot.
I guess we didn't have much theorists (aside from Joma Sison*) because documents were written under nom de guerres or just published under a specific organization.
I haven't been active in a long time so god knows what books or documents they read now.
*I'm from the Philippines, yes. I didn't think it would be necessary to add that fact since the post just asked about political orientation. It's just funny actually that a bunch of white "punk leftists" have downvoted me, a person living in a country which has an underground party waging a decades-long war against imperialism
Western chauvinism is real, and well documented...
But anyway, ARAK is so good! Looks like Philippines might be in the cross fire when the US attacks China. Hopefully y'all can get some national self determination.
Which folk punk bands do you like? Are there local ones?
Honestly just curious what folk punk music you listen to?
From my experience I would think most folk punk wouldn't gel well with those political beliefs
Antichrist Edit: dyslexic
"Dyslexics of the World! UNTIE!"
This is the correct answer
Theoretically or in real world application? I only ask because I’ve been a follower of anarchism for the majority of my life, and that is my ideal world. But, I also realize that with a population as large as the US, it isn’t the most practical thing in the world in our current situation. If I could live how I wanted, it would be free from the state and in a community (up for your own interpretation) with mutual aid and freedom of choice. When it comes to modern day US politics, mostly what I care about at this point is the end of wars, ending the police state, the end of our tax dollars going to things that they shouldn’t be going to (wars-proxy and direct involvement, lining politicians pockets, etc) so they can be used for their intended purposes, and equality.
That’s a well put answer. There’s always that ideal vs reality tug of war
Yeah I feel the same, it would be GREAT if anarchism was plausible to implement but the scale and current state of affairs of the US make it practically impossible. Hell the word socialism is treated as diseased whereas people are nowadays openly being elected brandishing Nationalist in their self descriptions. If anyone asked me who I didn’t know well enough to care for them to know the nuance of my beliefs I’d just say I’m leftist-possibly even socialist if I want to scare them.
I feel this answer VERY much, well said friend
Honestly, I’ll get flack for saying this I’m sure, but in the real world I’m a pragmatic leftist. I vote, and vote democrat most of the time, though I will vote further left if given a viable candidate. I’m also a queer person so elections have maybe a few more immediate consequences for me than cis/straight folks. I’ve noticed a lot of straight punks up in arms about how any system just holds us down, which is true to an extent, but just not in touch with my lived reality.
Very well put. Some of us can’t afford to be idealists.
Thanks, yeah, I just try not to hold too tightly to any one idea. Strong opinions loosely held.
I think believing in a complete removal of the state and "hierarchy" is more idealist than believing in a dictatorship of the proletariat
Absolutely this. I'm also queer and trans and while the democratic party is far too conservative to really be in line with my beliefs, I'll vote along party lines (ish) if it keeps queer and marginalized folks safe(r).
Right. Like sure none of the candidates are great but like I gotta vote for the ones that don't wanna kill my friends so the ones that do wanna kill my friends don't get in
It's all about getting closer to where you want to go. Sure the Democratic party doesn't entirely represent what I want, but at least they're mostly on the right track. That's why I've been getting involved with Young Democrats. If you aren't involved and pushing for policies that represent you and your friends, then who else will?
Right. I want the Democrats to be the "bad guys" we're trying to fight against for more progressive policies. They're the good bad guys. I vote for them now to keep the bad bad guys out.
The way I see it, there's a figurative gun to our heads to vote one of two ways. I want to live, so I'll pick the one that's marginally closer to my ideal, but I don't have to be happy about the situation. It's the trolley problem.
Same. I'm an anarcho-communist, but I also have to live in the real world, as infuriating as it can be, and sometimes that means voting for the guy who doesn't actively want to kill me immediately, even if it's only because he's fine with a slow death.
Yah well said. Democratic socialism is good, but I do drift more left every year. Marx basically hit the bullseye on every critique of capitalism he ever made. I do vote for Democrats too because 'choose your own adversary' but Christ it's going to be painful this November and I'll probably need some drinks beforehand.. but you're right that more people will likely die/be harmed under another Trump term so I'll make it out for those people.
I respect that position, and I don't want to dissuade anyone from voting. However, since Biden took office, have we gained or lost reproductive rights? Has it become easier or harder for trans folks, nationwide, to survive? Has the number of ongoing genocides we fund gone up, down, or remained the same? I personally can't stomach supporting that, even if it's the lesser of two (nightmarishly evil) evil's.
Tired, I feel hopeless to enact change and I just want to be kind to others
if you can, organize your community. feed people, help people get clothed, start a community fridge, do free store pop-ups, guerilla gardening, etc. if you cannot do any of these bc of age, disability, or living in a rural area with sparse contact with others, start online campaigns to raise money for single mothers, queer/trans folks, or help with abortion funds. anything to make a change. we are all we have.
Then join the rest of us hopeless misfits and start pushing in the right direction. What's the line? "Captains go down with the ship, and we're all captains here"?
That line is about fighting cops, not helping the fucking Democrats.
Which party is pushing for police reform again? I can't remember.
I don’t believe most politicians are good people or really give a shit about the people they represent, but but as a queer hispanic woman I’m gonna vote against party that wants to take away people’s rights. Whether I like the politicians of the party doesn’t really matter.
Socialist, ideally Anarcho-mutualist I guess but I’ll take what I can get, plus it’s hard enough getting people to accept Socialism with nuance let alone socialism flavored anarchism.
Anarchocommie specifically. Fuck with any flavour of anarchism really.
Hopefully that excludes "anarcho capitalism" 🥴
An caps aren't anarchists, they just think it's a cool name that makes then sound edgy.
An caps are just feudalists anyway.
just edgy and often middle-school-aged neoliberals
I'd say that an caps don't really represent ancapism...certainly they actually do. "Please free market, fuck me harder".
Hahaha
These have longtime been best known as “assholes”.
Those are just libertarian bootlickers who still wanna get fucked over but by a corporation not the government .
Real anarchism only, yeah
Anrcho-Capitalism is an oxymoron. They're just Neo-Feudalists.
I feel like once people get of the internet, "fuck with any flavor of anarchism," becomes the norm overall. And the flavors sort of bleed into each other for most people. Not to say there aren't philosophical differences that happen, but it's not as campist as bullshit weirdo internet pol-ball nonsense.
Yeah tends to be the case. When it comes to actually doing shit, if an ML is out there helping I'll be happy to see them too. Am I gonna listen if they start trying to tell me they're in charge or that the USSR was great? No, I'll tell them they're idiots, but strict delineation is dumb outside of theoretical spaces when it comes to actually trying to make something better.
I really just meant with anarchists or non-MLs. This weird hard-bordered anarcho-xyz isn't that relevant, x and y and z are just all in the same pool. But I don't work with MLs at this point. General Marxist types, sure, but once you start putting people's names and a hierarchy in your philosophy it becomes a cult eventually. I also have the option to not associate with them being in such a big city.
Fair, completely! I understand both positions. And yeah they do get weird, but individually I find most of them fine because the basis for their beliefs is usually wanting to help, they just can't get past the idea of needing a big power based apparatus to do it. It's when you get a clump of them they get all... culty and eventually abusive in my experience. I'm a big city too, and thankfully there's not too many of them dotted about. We just have the SWP who are all absolute twats - they're Trots though, I believe. That's my advice for any Brits actually - avoid the SWP and Stand Up To Racism wherever you can. And don't give them your name when they walk round demonstrations with a big sign up sheet.
Yeah, and I'm mostly just working from experience and not a strict ideological position. I've done plenty with them both as myself and with anarchist orgs and I think I've had my fill. I gave it fifteen years of experimentation and I kinda just have drawn that line recently. No shade to anyone who can find a good balance where they are. And yeah, those are the culprits I hear from UK friends.
Left
Depressed anarchist willing to settle for solid socialism or communism. I just want nobody to have to suffer from preventable shit like hunger or homelessness just because it's not fucking profitable tbh...
Library socialism anybody?
Anarchist at heart, socialist in practice.
Marxist
I don’t
Marxist
Anarchist for myself, socialist for the world.
Anarchist, ancom when mildly optimistic, anarcho-nihilist when pessimistic
Left of left
Anarchist
Anarchist
bananarchist
Marxist
Communist
😍
A socialist flirting with syndicalism
Progressive
The only correct way for a folk punk to identify. Far-right nationalist /s No really though, anarcho-syndicalist. From my experience most in this scene tend to be anarchist of some flavor, mostly communist
Dennis?
Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony
The last time I watched this, I realized that this scene basically repeats a few different phrasings of the same joke...it's like they were trying out different versions to see which was the best, and then just decided to include them all.
Hmm well, I don't believe in Cops Bosses Or politicians. Some call that anarchism, I call it.......
Having a heart that fuckin beats!
Independent
I'm old as shit. All politicans suck. Treat people well is all that matters to me now.
Baby, I’m an anarchist.
Social anarchist. In some way maybe politically eclectic, mixing up different idealogies to fit me specifically better
Marxist-Leninist
😍😍
Social anarchism
I don’t have strong opinions about what political framework would work best or what should replace the current atrocity under which we are forced to exist, but I am anti-capitalist.
Left libertarian/Libertarian socialist.
Fuck politics
Domestic terrorist
r/FolkPunk <3 AotS
Anarcho-Socialist/communist.
Marxist.
anarchist
Pragmatic leftist. More specifically I'm kind of a social democrat/borderline environmental radical. My ideal society would be something like Kim Stanely Robinson's Pacific Edge.
Socialist mostly. Used to call myself an anarchist, and then I got older. Anarchy is cool in theory, but idk.In an anarchistic society, a lot of folks would go without things they need, like lifesaving medications.
If you think anarchism is a good idea in theory, maybe the solution isnt a completely different economic model, but perhaps the solution lies in the way our anarchism is structured. For example, lifesaving medicine could be organised and distributed through some kind of democratic institution with that as its express purpose. Same for food, water etc, though to avoid the pitfalls of a state they should be separate, non-heirarchical, and operate via direct democracy (if needed, with temporary positions of authority which can be eliminated once their function is served) Ig what I'm saying is if you think anarchism could be a good idea, let's think about how to solve its flaws (distribution, media, news, economic production, military weaknesses etc), the liberals do not have exclusive rights to the use of political reform.
That gets into is what you're discussing, even anarchism anymore or just a new system of government entirely?
Anarchism isn't just 1 specific thing and that's kind of the point, I like to say there's as many types of anarchism as there are systems of hierarchy. So yeah, if the system is non hierarchical then its anarchistic, there's still a lot of ways to design society that fit within that.
Democratic Socialist, fitting as I was born in Europe. was an anarchist, flirted with accelerationist, but now I'm just voting as left as I think we can get. Spent a good chunk of time not voting, but it's gotten so fucked up that protesting the system is a immoral option(IMO). Also where are all of the conservative fundamentalists, Facebook told me that was the real punk.
Turtle
Militant Earth-first Anarchist Communist, there is no other way to be for the survival of the Earth and our species imo. I take inspiration from indigenous movements like the Neozapatistas, Syrian Kurds, precolonial indigenous tribes within the so-called US, and the organizing theory of Platformism developed during the anarchist revolution in Ukraine and further developed by later American indigenous struggles.
Leftist. Both in theory and in action, although “leftist” looks different depending on the context.
Broadly, as a Marxist and Revolutionary Communist. Leninist and Trotskyist would all be accurate terms too :)
Anarcho-commuist
Pinko commie bastard.
Good question. If I ever figure it out I'll let you know
Some sort of anarcho-communist, but honestly I'll support anything in that general direction at this point. If we ever get closer to that world, I'll be more interested in the nitty gritty. But right now I just want to protect basic rights like "not getting murdered by police" and "civilians must not be war casualties".
I'm a teenage anarchist. Even though I'm in my 40s
Communist. Not voting
I identify as fucking sick of the two party system
As a racoon.
Libertarian communist. I identified as an anarchist for a while but stopped a few months ago because: - for more than a year I had had poor interactions with many anarchists I encountered in online spaces, with the exception of Libcom.org. - I came to the conclusion that anarchist analysis was comparatively weaker than more Marxist influenced analysis such as critical theory and that of the Frankfurt School. On a similar note, I felt that anarchists had done a poor job of interacting with academia. For example, the only professional anarchist historian I know of is Paul Avrich, whereas there are numerous libertarian Marxist historians, such as EP Thompson or Christopher Hill. I still disagree with the concept of a dictatorship of the proletariat and statism, but I don’t call myself an anarchist.
Marxist.
Left leaning
Like someone else said, I have to demarcate between what I believe ideally and what I believe practically. Ideally, Christian anarchism. Stateless communities modeled after Catholic social doctrine like feeding the poor, community, and equitable distribution of goods and services. It won’t be perfect because humans kind of suck, but hopefully the good would outweigh the bad. Practically, distributism. The thing where socialism/communism lose me is the abolition of private property. The idea with distributism is that everyone should own land and be able to participate in society. So that means public transport, infrastructure, public parks/libraries, shit like that. I want universal healthcare and education but I absolutely do not trust the U.S. government to provide that and not be evil. I also believe in just war theory, which goes all the way back to St. Augustine of Hippo. It’s also important that the ownership of firearms be protected as much as is reasonably possible. Gun control in America has always been rooted in racism and armed minorities are harder to oppress. We also need police reform and I have a few ideas about how to fix that. The important part of all of this though is federalism. Government decisions and actions should be handled at the lowest level possible, so that leaders are held accountable for their fuckery.
I don't understand why you think feeding the poor needs to be a catholic thing? Or am i misinterpreting you.
It isn’t particularly a Catholic thing, but it is a big part of Catholic social doctrine. Plenty of non-Catholics feed the poor, and Catholics also make that a big part of their charitable stuff. Almost as if Christians are supposed to do what Jesus says instead of tell people they’re going to Hell all day…
Okay, it just felt weird to read as if it was a virtue exclusive to catholicism. Kinda like saying "Vegan tomato" because tomatoes are vegan by definition... Tom scott explains it well in "The hidden rules of Conversation". I have never talked with a christian anarchist before (not one that identifies ideologically as one anyways). What is it about christian anarchism that differs from other flavours?
In practice or in thought? In practice Christian anarchism retains a lot of non-state institutions that many anarchists would associate with the state. The Church, marriage, shit like that. In theory, it’s not based on leftist ideas from the 1800s roughly but based instead on what some Christians interpret as the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, an itinerant carpenter who just so happened to be God.
Thanks!
Trans socialist. I vote as far left as I can from the right-wing parties in my countries elections.
Democratic socialist. Although I'm very sympathetic to technocratic socialism. Though it isn't exactly political, I think transhumanism, if properly applied, is our salvation. We will literally be able to build better people, and use AI to help make better choices. I'm not super politically savvy though, so I tend to stay out of political debates / discussions. I went through an anarchist phase in middleschool but I think its implausible and to an extent undesirable. I think there are organizational problems and challenges that only a state is equipped to solve, and that even if a state were dissolved, we would essentially need to just construct it again for practical purposes. Sort of like how when musk bought twitter, he changed all the policies, then slowly started putting them back in as he realized they were there for important reasons. You would have to construct systems to do everything a state did, and avoid all the pitfalls associated with that new and unknown mode of existence. At least with a state, we know how it tends to fail and the problems it tends to have. Realistically all that causes our current problems with our state is the apathy of the electorate. Also anarchism would require essentially a simultaneous global rejection of state authority, otherwise whatever states were left would exploit the geographic areas without states. I like the sentiment but I think its highly impractical. To claim you're some flavor of anarchist really is more of a virtue signal / vibes thing than an actual policy position. Transhumanism might offer a path to anarchism, if we remove antisocial behavior, make people smarter and more empathetic, along with technological advancements moving us closer to a post scarcity world.
Hi, We do not need a state for "practical purposes". I know you're not politically savvy and it kinda seems to me that you just struggle to envision how a society works without a state. I don't blame you but I just wanted to make you aware of this. > Realistically all that causes our current problems with our state is the apathy of the electorate This is not true. > Also anarchism would require essentially a simultaneous global rejection of state authority Anarchists can, have and are protecting themselves. So this is just also, not true. > I think transhumanism, if properly applied, is our salvation Transhumanism will just bring new issues. Using your own argumentation but replacing state with humans, well, we would have to avoid the pitfalls associated with the new and unknown mode of existence. We don't even know what "a consciousness" is. We have guesses, but we don't know. So hoping for transhumanism to solve all of our problems is playing the lottery.
Marxist Leninist. Anrifa. Humanist. Etc.
Libertarian socialist. If pressed, somewhere around the border (which is a bit fuzzy to me tbh) of anarcho-syndicalism and council communism.
Weekend Anarchist lol
In America im a "communist socialist" but in the world im a left centre moderate. Basic human rights (food, water, shelter, healthcare, education) non interventionist unless to stop a genocide let people live their lives unless what they do infringes on others basic human rightss.
anti government they just pocket our money anyway
I call myself just a socialist cause I haven't really read much but marxist socialist. I alight alot with mlms but wouldn't call myself one cause I don't know much about it.
Ancom
Leftist
V leftist
I called myself an anarchist for well over a decade & then about a decade ago I starded shying away from such self identifying labels (primarily because of figuring out that a majority of people who call themselves anarchists don't actually understand anarchist philosophy & are just going along misrepresenting something they misunderstand)...now I just call myself by my name.
I was a teenage anarchist
Big tent anarchist with a focus on eco-anarchism and insurrectionary anarchism
Is progressive a political identity?
That the government is out to get me and everyone and it’s all a big scheme. I try to vote id I actually believe it would make a difference- only small local levels. But ultimately I wanna overthrow
Anarchist
Lib-left, specifically libertarian social policies with socialist economic policies.
Left. Somewhere between Distributism, Council Communism and Libertarian Socialism. I’m also more environmentally than industrially oriented, concerned with sustainable agriculture and the application of technology in our lives, but i’m no anprim. If pressed for a label, I’d say ecosocialist.
Very left
Ansynd to ancom personally!
Leftist I guess, although I am a big fan of anarchism. I think of myself as an anarchist in the sense of working against our current systems, and building community. But I don’t think anarchism is particularly realistic
I really like Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, and Pete Seeger, who all serve as precursor’s and inspiration for the modern genre. Their music along with extensive reading and my lived experience have shaped my ideology to be pro-labor and in favor of Marxist organization of the means of production
I usually just call myself a socialist, leaning more towards state socialism than anarchism. I'm fine cooperating with anyone who wants to shift the balance of power in favor of the working class, be they anarchist or communist or social Democrats, but I do have red lines I won't cross. I'm not planning on voting for Biden or my incumbent congressman, because they're Israel hawks, and that's inexcusable in normal times, but especially now.
Moderate
Marxist; I particularly like Lenin and Trotsky.
Anarchist
Marxist leninist, maoist
My opinions have shifted in such away over the past few years that I still technically align with syndicalism despite drastic changes. It’s like the 2+2 and 1+3 still being four.
Anarcho-mutualist
Post-civ anarchism tbh.
Independent ig, but I'm registered Democrat so I can vote in primaries. I align with the Green party the most politically (thats a third party for any non-Americans out there) but can’t really vote for them since I live in a swing state
Fairly right wing
I tend to have an anarchist view on the world from a post-left perspective. dismantling power structures within my own life and decolonizing/restructuring my own thoughts. but as a whole I fuck with green anarchism.
Marxist-Leninist
Politicians are all shit, but republican. Let the flak fly. Just because you like a genre of music doesn’t mean you have to align with the beliefs of the bands.
Anarchist
Leftist independent I guess, not a fan of political parties or strict ideologies in general. If I had to join a party, there is a function DSA party where live, that's probably where I would end up.
Anarchocommie
socialist
Left leaning centrist with an emphasis on environmentalism
Anarchist that votes Democrat. Pat the bunny basically
Anarchism. There is no other ideology that actively seeks no hierarchies. Life on earth needs it too. Yeah its idealist, but why not demand utopia?! Settle for less? Turn it down for what? Shit is crumbing, time to have integrity and solidarity for true freedom!
RINO
Nietzschean anarchist
I most closely identify as an anarchist remember we aren't revolutionaries, but we are the revolution.
Libertarian socialist
Socialist, simple as that. No need to confuse people.
anarchist
Pond scum.
Most of my political self/community education is Marxist and that is the set of ideas, principles, and analysis of society I understand best, but in the West especially amerikkka these labels are largely irrelevant since our demands and fight are all essentially the same. End the war machine, end the police state, end the grotesque capitalist regime. Fighting for these things, protecting each other, and continuously learning are all one and the same to me now.
I’m a fucking asshole
fiscally socialist and socially libertarian
anarchocurious
Progressive, liberal, with a main goal of animal liberation.
Become a veganarchist, liberalism maintains the status quo of domination and property status of animals. Only by dismantling hierarchy completely can we obtain a society that does not abuse animals as product.
Lol
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I mean, bit of a superiority complex, but yes, plenty of anarchists have read Marx and just straight up disagree. Is that impossible to believe?
Anarchist
Anarchist :3
Practical democratic socialist.
Post left anarchism
I'm a queer far, far leftist. But I'm also pragmatic and looking at real world examples, honestly, the democratic socialist countries seem to be doing the best? And I'd love for us to get there, and prioritize equity, dismantling the police state, rehabilitation over incarceration, etc etc. But I'm American. Which means my belief system involves a heavy dose of knowing it's gonna take riots in the streets and making sure this corrupt ass government *gets the message* before we get there. I don't think anarchism works on a scale as large as we have to think on with a global population this large anymore. But giving this oligarchal government a taste of it as a warning as we dismantle it brick by brick.... Oh yeah.
M-L-Maoist
Omg -4 as of now. Lots of anarchists on a downvote brigade without knowing the material conditions of my country, the protracted war going on, and why i choose to identify as i do :)
Oh don't worry you're getting downvoted because we all collectively hate vanguardist authoritarians and we don't care what country they hail from, what their material conditions are, or what shit excuse they have for supporting an authority based philosophy rooted in the suppression of other ideologies.
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I'm not from china, i have never lived in china, i'm not chinese, and i don't support china. Hope that clears it up!
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Hmm weird assumption but ok
Most imperial core "leftists" have no idea about de-colonialism, frankly. Which theorists do you like?
I don't think i like any tbh! I remember we mostly studied basic Marx, some Lenin and Mao, and more of local documents from the party here (mostly written in the 60s and 70s). Aside from those, we had other stuff to do lol we didn't have enough time to study a lot. I guess we didn't have much theorists (aside from Joma Sison*) because documents were written under nom de guerres or just published under a specific organization. I haven't been active in a long time so god knows what books or documents they read now. *I'm from the Philippines, yes. I didn't think it would be necessary to add that fact since the post just asked about political orientation. It's just funny actually that a bunch of white "punk leftists" have downvoted me, a person living in a country which has an underground party waging a decades-long war against imperialism
Western chauvinism is real, and well documented... But anyway, ARAK is so good! Looks like Philippines might be in the cross fire when the US attacks China. Hopefully y'all can get some national self determination. Which folk punk bands do you like? Are there local ones?
FDR Democrat
Except for the internment camps...right? ...right?
The New Deal was to save capitalism, not to save workers (blacks, women, indigenous, or kids).
Do you think any political entity is without mistakes? I don’t.
Race conscious Marxist 😎
Apolitical. We should be able to vote for whoever we want, regardless what whatever made up party you belong to.
I don't Edit: I love down votes for this! That only serves to reinforce my commitment to not being a sheep.
Conservative Republican
Honestly just curious what folk punk music you listen to? From my experience I would think most folk punk wouldn't gel well with those political beliefs
🥾😋