Daniel Baryon

I think turning anarchism into a youth sub-culture based around the aesthetics of radicalism with no desire to catalyze radicalism in the masses, was one of the most dire strategic mistakes in the last 200 years and we are STILL trying to dig ourselves out of the rut caused by it. Anarchism as a lifestyle sub-culture was an overcorrection against rigid structuralism and growth for the sake of growth. The critiques were largely correct, but the solutions were a failure. The correct approach is popular education, struggle, and organic organizational growth. The result of lifestylism taking over was basically the demolition of anarchism as an effective praxis. It went from carrying out mass regional revolutions to doing weekend charity drives. It went from creating mass power for the people, to creating sparks in the pan.

As we slowly swing back in the direction of organizational anarchism, we need to take into account the critiques against rigid structuralism and destructive self-sacrifice. But after 60 years of treading water, we can know that anti-organizationalist methods were a dead end. All that anti-organizationalism and lifestylism led to were endless performative protests and insurrectionary posturing. They made no gains in dismantling hierarchy, established no lasting structures to maintain power for the people, and failed to even create a growing subculture.

Moreover lifestylism has little to nothing to offer people as they grow older, causing people to "age out." In this way, it actually preps people for deradicalization. Creaky bones don't want to go to another protest. Wearing punk clothes feels increasingly cheesy. For what even? As a result, as these types grow older, if they maintain their radicalism, they tend to disappear into the woods and create a little utopian commune with a couple of friends or integrate into some existing hierarchical structure to survive. The cycle is simply unsustainable.

The only thing that has ever shown sustained success in undermining hierarchical power is the construction of horizontal power structures. This is why, while anarchists have neglected this struggle for the last 60 years, groups like the Zapatistas have demonstrated real progress. It's time to recognize that the experiment of lifestylism has failed and return to what has actually worked for anarchism. The people are not the enemy. The solution is not ideological separatism. We must redevelop holistic interconnection and sincerity and revolutionary power

Nov 18, 2022 at 9:05pmWeb
Show threadCiggy Bringer of SmokeNov 18, 2022
@Anark So one thing I always wonder is how that happened exactly since I grew up in the 80s and 90s and even though I partied with the best crust punks with some Anarchist posturing, I never thought I needed to adopt any more than showing up with beers and smokes. FWIW, I am wary of strong associations and displaying them because I like to think I contain multitudes and like to keep doors/lines open to others...
Show threadfae_tailNov 18, 2022
@Anark definitely good points, though I don't agree with everything said I do appreciate you saying this
Show threadAnarchy GrandpaNov 18, 2022
@Anark Yes, anarchism is not an aesthetic or a lifestyle. It's an ideology that informs all of your actions, and those actions need to be centered towards horizontal organization to make any lasting change.
Show threadAnarkatNov 19, 2022
@Anark 100% agree. This is my problem with a lot of Twitter anarchists. They seem to only really care about the aesthetics of anarchism much like how tankies only care about the aesthetics of Leftism, but don’t really give a shit about organizing with other anarchists or Lefties in general (OUTSIDE THE INTERNET) in order to advance anarchist ideas throughout their communities. I feel like the “go outside/touch grass” meme becomes unironic advice.
Show threadAntifaDucksNov 19, 2022
@live_laugh_loaf
I very much do not care about optics but when I say that, I don't just mean people having negative opinions. I mean that in the terms of if things "look cool" or give you bragging rights as well.
Show threadAnarchy GrandpaNov 19, 2022

Ok, given some of the discussion I've seen Anark's excellent post gather on other social media sites I think some context is in order, especially for people not it the imperial core of capitalist hegemony known as the United States.

After the turbulence of the 1960's with the Civil rights and anti-war movements, one of the backlash effects was that the capitalist powers that be started marketing the aesthetics of those movements as fashion. This continued in the 1970's with capitalism's association of "anarchism" with the imagery of the punk rock subculture of the 70's and the "Skater punks" of the 80's. This is how we end up with a $375 fast fashion "antifa" jacket on sale ot Barney's 5th Avenue.

By reducing ideologies to aesthetics, that's how capitalism defanged social movements. There was, of course, much more going to crush the social movements of the 60's and 70's, however by turning ideologies to imagery you ended up with a bunch of people who only cared about the aesthetics but not the ideology. They liked the look of being anarchists because it pissed off their teachers, parents, etc but never cared about what anarchism actually was or is. It's this very effect Anark is talking about.

Combine the above with capitalist hyper-individualism and it becomes near impossible to build anything lasting to help people. Social movement group break apart over personal squabbles, the most well meaning just kind of give up and, as Anark put it "age out" of the ideology and movement. Hell, I did, I gave up on anarchism as being nothing more than wishful thinking for a long time. It took a lot of soul searching before I realized that believing in this ideology is a core part of who I am.

While non-anglosphere cultures may not have had this problem, it is an ongoing issue here. Would it be wise for those of us in privileged and semi-privileged positions in the dominant culture listen to those in other cultures who never let anarchism devolve into a lifestyle aesthetic, absolutely. Is trying to get the "aesthetic anarchists" to pull their heads out of their asses a problem that has to be dealt with, also an absolute yes. Anyway, those are this old man's thoughts on the issue.

Show threadSp3c73r_M4nNov 21, 2022
I've got an old punk Vietnam era jacket. A military recruiter once used it as an invitation to open a dialog with me about enlisting. That tactic didn't work.
Show threadMazingerNov 19, 2022
@Anark got’damn me and my comrades have been talking about this. It’s incredibly important to understand that having nothing for people to participate in as we age, have families, get sick or disabled, that keeps us connected to our movement, means people drift away to find ways they can do something, that helps somebody, or that they just disappear into the ether never to be seen again.