Are You an Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You! - Based on David Graeber's Essay

A short video based on David Graeber's essay "Are You An Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You!"

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[werewolf]

As a teenager who was raised by strict parents. I value freedom more than anything. And I feel uncomfortable with the idea of one human having power over other human lives, you hould be in charge of your own life. No masters

[rawmarshrewilder]

At the age of 17 I decided I was an anarchist. I later read Marc, then Lenin and thought of myself as a communist. I quickly became disillusioned with Leninist party structures which are more concerned with the party not the working class, so I described myself as a socialist working in the Labour party. I have seen, over the years, how political parties are corrupted by hierarchical structures. As said in the video power corrupts. At the age of 59 (almost 60) I have returned to the anarchist fold. The capitalist and bureaucratic socials systems hold no answers for humanity.

[maeleelavery]

I’m a anarchist and I didn’t even know until I watched this

[heavenleighdollanger]

Shit I’m an anarchist. Thanks for this.

[gjcobvkf]

I took the political compass test and realized I’m an anarchist haha. I did more research and I was like “wait.... I’ve always been one”

[airquotescomedian]

I didn't think I was an anarchist; I initially that I was a social democrat. I always thought anarchy was for *ahem certain types of people who weren't me. Then I took the time to read some anarchist texts and found myself nodding along, for the most part, in agreement. Anyway, long story short, fuck authority and down with capitalism.

[MrTweedyDocumentaries]

The trouble is that people have a knee jerk reaction on hearing the word anarchist, for this reason I use Libertarian Socialist. Otherwise people get defensive almost straight away. Good video.

[xPancake]

I've identified as a socialistic democrat for years.... I think it's time to accept the fact that I've been an anarchist all along.

[bigrigbutters]

ANARCHY!!! I don't know what it means but I LOVE IT!!!

[totallyrealnotfakelifeadvi]

I read the book without even knowing who this is! It’s wonderful we have so many comrades still alive today (:

[loverainthunder]

Some people are actually born evil, I've witnessed it in my own family. But I think anarchy can prevent people like them getting into power.

[shady]

Brilliant. Took the thoughts right out of my head

[clecticmaniac]

I feel I can't call myself an anarchist, I think tbis is just grass roots teachings. Also as a native american we use the same idealology for the most part but we have leaders. But our definition of a leader is completely different. Especially, with what they do compared to western leaders. I think i would say i follow grass roots teachings.

[koruchi]

I didn't think that I'm an anarchist all along until a friend show this video to me

[loregaming]

i love this it put so many pieces together thank you

[jimbology]

I've heard of this essay before, and I would half-agree with this. I think it would be better described as "Could Anarchism be a fit for you?", "How much do you agree with Anarchy?" or "Do you align with Anarchy?" rather than "Are you an Anarchist?" because, while everything said in the video about anarchists and anarchism is correct, there's a lot that's left unsaid.

First and foremost, the critical component is "the total liberation of all sentient beings". You need to hold this as a value and approach the world from this perspective, in order to see the world as an Anarchist sees it, and to begin to see issues and approach solutions that would lead towards an anarchistic society.

This leads into #2, the unity of means and ends. Simply put, this goes as follows: The means that you employ will determine your outcome before you've reached it, and conversely, the ends that you aspire to therefore dictate the means you can use. You cannot use the state to achieve a stateless society, and you cannot use capitalistic structures to liberate yourself from capitalism; the only thing that can result from those is more state, and more capitalism. As such, you'll often find many anarchists simply refusing to vote in elections; from the anarchist perspective, it's generally thought of as a waste of time for this reason, though it can have tactical use in a given place or time.

I think these details are important to include and clarify, otherwise you'll have a bunch of liberals and libertarians who, while usually well-meaning, are calling themselves "anarchists" while still approaching the world from an entirely un-anarchistic point of view, with wild views, solutions, and tactics that don't make any sense in an anarchistic framework.

[thatyoutubechannel]

Yo what is that font called that you use in the middle of the screen? That's the font they use in Modern Warfare

[tahaiftikharneedsattention]

This is just telling me that im an anarchist

[kyyran]

so many people think anarchy is just complete chaos, but it's actually very reasonable. that might seem biased since im an anarchist, but anarchy is truly not chaotic at all.

[barbarajohnson]

Beautiful. So grateful for David Graeber's work, and for yours. Thank you.