Anarchy and the Media

Listening to events in Haiti there seems to be a repeated use of the word "anarchy" to describe the situation. While this isn't technically inaccurate. It does annoy me that the media always uses the word anarchy when ever a situation like this pops up. The reason I say this is because "Anarchy" and "Anarchism" are not synonomous. The former is a descriptive term[1] and the latter refers to a variety of political ideologies including mutualism, collectivism, anarcho-syndicalism, and anarcho-communism.

Anarchy has been mentioned in the news like this so much that when anybody even mentions Anarchism as a viable[2] alternative to goverment then a knee jerk reaction goes off, associating it with Anarchy and shutting down any possibility of discusion with remarks like, "oh so you'd have people killing each other in the street" and "Why don't we just all become commies"[3] I have had both these things said to me when I suggested that living in a Anarchist society, was doable.

Living in a Anarchism state wouldn't mean the same as living in a state of Anarchy as depicted by imprints on the nureal pathways by the media. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anarchy is not simply a lack of government any more than Democracy is simply lack of a king. Anarchy is a form of non-hierarchical organization based on freedom, equality, and mutual aid. Anarchism has a rich two-hundred year history of theory and practice from Prodhoun to Kropotkin to the Spanish Civil War to the Irish Workers' Solidarity Movement. Anarchism may be utopic. It may be unrealistic, unworkable, or downright naive. What it isn't, however, is the warlordism and chaos currently going on in the streets of Port-au-Prince.


[1]Anarchy

Absence of any form of political authority.
Political disorder and confusion.
Absence of any cohesive principle, such as a common standard or purpose.


[2]Or it would be if people weren't shits to each other. Unfortunatly I don't have time to get into the pros and cons of Anarchism at the moment, ment to be working.

[3]Don't worry I don't have time to get into the pros and cons of communism (still ment to be working), but
this is another political veiw that has gone the same was as Anarchism.