Postcolonial anarchism

Post-colonial anarchism is a term used to describe anarchism in an anti-imperialist framework. Whereas traditional anarchism arose from industrialized Western nations—and thus sees history from their perspective—post-colonial anarchism approaches the same principles of anarchism from the perspective of colonized peoples. It is highly critical of the contributions of the established anarchist movement, and seeks to add what it sees as a unique and important perspective. The tendency is strongly influenced by indigenism, anti-state forms of nationalism, and anarchism among ethnic minorities, among other sources.

The term was first coined by Roger White. Between 1994 and 2004, White wrote a series of essays reflecting on his experiences in the anarchist movement. He identifies racial isolation and tokenism as important features of the experience of people of color in the anarchist movement and attributes this to the prevalence European universalism and an approach to class struggle as a binary relationship between workers and capitalists which does not take account of the cultural aspects of imperialism.

At root, the basic difference between anarchism and anti-state nationalism is that in nationalism the primary political unit is the nation, or ethnic group, whereas in an anarchist system the primary political unit is the local community or the place where labor occurs. Post-colonial anarchism is therefore clearly distinct from any form of nationalism in that it does not seek to make the nation a political unit – let alone the primary political unit. Just as social anarchists seek to create a socialist economy but oppose the tyranny of Marxist state socialism, post-colonial anarchists oppose the tyranny of nationalism, and argue that the achievement of meaningful self-determination for all of the world's nations requires an anarchist political system based on local control, free federation and mutual aid.

Further reading

• Galián, Laura (2020). "Decolonizing Anarchism". Colonialism, Transnationalism, and Anarchism in the South of the Mediterranean. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 27–54. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-45449-4_2. ISBN 978-3-030-45449-4.
• Gordon, Uri (2016). "Anarchism and multiculturalism". In Cordeiro-Rodrigues, Luis; Simendic, Marko (eds.). Philosophies of Multiculturalism. Routledge. pp. 71–87. doi:10.4324/9781315516370-11 (inactive 5 November 2024). ISBN 9781315516370.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
• Larson, Ole Birk (2018). "Anti-Imperialism". In Adams, Matthew S.; Levy, Carl (eds.). The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 149–167. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_8. ISBN 978-3319756196. S2CID 150357033.
• Ramnath, Maia (2018). "Non-Western Anarchisms and Postcolonialism". In Adams, Matthew S.; Levy, Carl (eds.). The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 677–695. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_38. ISBN 978-3319756196. S2CID 150357033.
• Wilson, Matthew; Kinna, Ruth (2012). "Key terms". In Kinna, Ruth (ed.). The Continuum Companion to Anarchism. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 329–352. ISBN 978-1-4411-4270-2.

External links

• Post Colonial Anarchism: Essays on race, repression and culture in communities of color 1999–2004 by Roger White
• Black Anarchism: A Reader
• Por la independencia total y la anarquía sin límites by the Icària collective