The Anarchist Family
(A dialog with some of today's Anarchists)
Introduction:
Ironically enough most Anarchists do not call themselves Anarchists in verbal settings. Some would rather choose to call themselves black feminist theorists or anti neo colonialists or anti imperialist libertarians. This is due to the overall lack of communication with others who have underdeveloped opinions of Anarchism, so the Anarchist is more discrete and creates dialog. Now Libertarianism can be seen as the same as what some Republicans might disguise themselves as, what Anarchists I interviewed attempt to do is create a new form of society within the present society by critiquing and working toward communal relationships with the Capitalist, Socialist, Communist etc…To bring about awareness on the way these systems and functions of society work in our children, buying, spending, working, marriages and educational pursuits the list goes on but in this particular piece I am discussing the affects of Capitalism in America on the family therefore addressing an Anarchist Family perspective with the hopes that the joy, empowerment and purpose I have found in convictions, community and self education will indeed help families who are hoping to raise their children in a healthy, critical, empowered way.
Complexities and Arguments:
The Anarchist family is quite complex in its framework and structure. To the average person the idea of anarchism is one of disorder, disarray, drug abuse, or on the bright side one of compassion but inability to formulate and make real the actual lifestyle change and belief in actualization of the movement. So most decide to leave their anarchist passions and find themselves lost in a liberal point of view that has an appearance of change and radicalism but truly will never impact change the way the idealist believes, so the family and society as a whole garner back to the ideology and know all of living liberal and believing in reform as a means to change social disenfranchisement. This in turn makes the argument for a new form of family seem problematic, now in many ways an individual would probably not live this way. This form of lifestyle is a gift, which brings about deep conviction if embraced by the truly sincere anarchist working toward political, economic and world change.
The argument that seems to be profound in my ideas is in the stereotyping of anarchism in punk rock and how squatters are seen as illegitimate anarchists. I agree that some squatters seem to find themselves entrenched in to the ongoing deadening cycle of heroine addiction. This I have witnessed from doing outreaches in the downtown New York City area of the city. Many young punks who adopt this form of ideology never fully develop this perspective; their ideas are always started but never finalized. This in particular hurts the argument of what is called the "university anarchist" now this form of body is in line with their brothers and sisters who live on the streets but their ideas are more practical more believable than a "squatter." Why is that? Well mostly because like how radicals are opinionated so are the upper echelon capitalists of New York City the capitalists knows that their system of economics hurts the world, but there is no other feasible way of living outside of this, there arguments are rooted in the framework of this country. And therefore the anarchist must know and be able to rebut the argument of the capitalist in order to provide basis for change.
A Right-Wing Libertarian may sound good in that it's for liberty and individualism and less governmental influence but by being right-wing their beliefs go with what makes the economy strong and that's war, consumerism with good programs for the poor, imperialism to keep the conquest going therefore the more we spend the easier the time in America, and then the religious implications that come with such a perspective which in turn destroys the beliefs of so many who have faith yet have committed an abortion or had a drink, or have had sex out of marriage, this is ridiculous and profoundly idiotic. We need a new form of thought; this government can not provide that, this is where the "university anarchist" comes in. While many youth are squatting and creating new forms of organic living off of the waste of the middle and upper class, the students are critiquing and mastering the thinking and strategies of the capitalist to create and maintain that new form of life. We come in all forms and sizes we are everywhere, the anti neo-imperialist are usually anarchistic in belief but liberal in application. The overall idea is that Anarchism is adopted by many.
Black Feminism and Black Nationalism as a historic approach toward Anarchist Theory:
Arrays of scholars on the subject of progressive feminist thought are very anarchistic in their individual critiques on capitalism. The authors in this paragraph have profoundly shaken the social structure of family and society in more ways than one. Patricia Hill Collins whose extremely insightful piece Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment[1], has empowered my ideas of justice and creating family that is more loving and focused on personal edification than on the prospect of personal economic achievement.
Viewing the family from the eyes of Collins can help to illuminate misconceptions on the perfect family story of white Americans and bring about personal accountability for the current situation with our black, Latino and Asian brothers and sisters. Our success has come from their backs, our critiques on their families has been actualized by oppressive systems through capitalism. Ideas of patriarchy and male dominion have worked to destroy the importance of a woman's voice. The black family is continually in a state of financial destitution, turmoil, attacks from the criminal justice system that is hinged on racism and stereotypes.
bell hooks, Feminist Theory: from Margin to Center[2], argued that women who desired to be mothers who foster nurturing relationships with their children would be written off as evidence of the innate motherhood role of parenting. Her argument is not that women should not desire to be mothers but that black women who became mothers were only trying to establish a relationship that is based on nurturing and less on providing since African American women have worked from the day of their arrival to America and therefore were never in a place to have a relationship with their kids. White women on the other hand were always forced to be home with the kids under the domination of men.
When given the opportunity to be home many women of color faced insurmountable opposition from male domineering institutions. For centuries America has taught women to be in subjection to male rule and to socialize this into parenthood, childhood, scholastics and even sports have embraced this idea that women are inferior. But, for instance if one is to address the oppression and division Capitalism creates then you have women of color who are amazing parents and clearly hard working women being seen as a type of pathological concern in a red light district.
hooks, used an idea of feminizing men in the sense that rather than always engaging in "male" type functions or familial activities, the man could work toward doing "female" responsibilities in the home especially with children. "Until males are taught how to parent using the same model of effective parenting that has been taught to women, they will not participate because they have been taught to think they are inadequate or ineffective child-bearers." Still the same the importance of a male presence must be shared. Men in society generally are not optimistic or enthusiastic of parenting a child. But, more attention needs to be paid to this. I think what is interesting is that when interviewing a group of anarchists, the idea of family was very important.
Unlike the capitalist approach toward family motivated in patriarchy, materialism, consumerism and blind religion, an anarchist family is built on community and that's not to be confused with a community in a suburb, no this means a community of people who live together and work together, eat together and find solutions to life's problems together; this idea that you are not alone and that you and your child should grow up with other leaders and mentors around. From my interviews I learned that many anarchist's if not all want the most for there child, that there ideas of love and health for the child are very similar to that of mainstream society the difference is in the way the anarchists goes at it.
Many forms of having family but all are generally built around community and collective ideals through the progression of all. Some will want to live more naturally off of the resources of our earth and live more as a vegan for practical purposes, where another family will want to live in a way that is more in the society and more based on living among the society but not necessarily living according to the norms and roles of society. Perhaps, a family that has extensive education and has a father who works at NYU and a mother who works as a teacher in one of NYC's schools the family together will have a decent income and probably be able to provide more so than the family that has a lower income. But, this does not discredit the fact that the family is an anarchistic family and critiques the systems and oppression. The idea is to understand that living comfortable is not un anarchistic but living plentiful and not being concerned with injustice and the system in a sense politicized is in many ways a form of pseudo anarchism.
For Patricia Hill Collins who I am not sure if she is an anarchist but clearly her critiques on the framing of this country is not patriotic in the sense of politics and at times is simply un patriotic and very concentrated on economic adjustment that gives women of color and poor white women a space of freedom and individual justice.
Christian Anarchists Family:
The not well know anarchist Jesus Christ[3] who is known for his play in framing Christianity and his name being used for countless horrendous stories and historical realities in this world, who divinely has not been taught well was an anarchist and when he prayed to the Father he prayed, "that they would not be taken out of the world but protected from the evil one", the evil one over time has been known to be the devil but to the Christian anarchist the evil one would represent world powers, structures that oppress, injustice, the ills in our society that our so called leaders create and support in the name of politics.
For the Christian anarchist a family is founded on the doctrine of the bible but is closely critiqued and lived out according to the anarchist. The child is raised to see God as an anarchist and fellow sufferer with the people oppressed by the systems in place. Encouraging the follower that this will end and in the main time we should do all that we can in life and practice to eradicate this world of injustice by living a life that is respectful toward the earth, animals, and people. Embracing ideas that women should be praised and loved, that queer theorist should be loved and respected that all life is made by the God of our understanding and that no matter what this world has taught that he/she is love and the embodiment of love. Therefore, the child is brought up in this community of believers who are Christian yet very similar to the non-Christian anarchist.
Friends of mine who I interviewed shared that the structure of the family is based on God. Based on what all families should be and that's love, work, and community. The problem is that our system of capitalism does not award anyone for that virtue, there is always a hidden agenda and that's not what we were made for. One would say there is nothing wrong with working but does your work consume you, one would say there is nothing wrong with community but do you need space and what is your community? How do you define community? Some would say that a community is the neighbors and schools in your district for instance but to the anarchist the whole world is your community and all are apart of the planet. Meaning we should all be in communication and sharing living in a way that is more like the beginnings in Africa.[4]
To some the future of mankind is found in Africa, that we are being brought naturally through failure and exploitation to a place that brings about a more primitive, Paleolithic hunting and gathering society where the community is responsible for the bringing of a child.
Derek Bloom, "Well the relationship between a husband and a wife is a partnership and they daily try to forget patriarchal ways of life always trying to lift each other this family is monogamous but do not think it is wrong to be queer."
Diana Marino, "A nuclear family should treat one another with the same respect they treat everyone else. An anarchist family would be actively involved in the community they live-in and if they go to other communities in the world, they should respect the culture of that community and learn from them. The Anarchist family should go by all that I've been describing. I am not opposed to women using birth control but I do believe in natural family planning. I believe that women and men should know exactly what happens when they have intercourse and should know each other's bodies very well, especially the women's because women are the ones to carry the offspring. All artificial methods of birth control are harmful to the female body and to the unborn creatures. Women should know how their bodies work, (men should also) when they're ovulating (there are many ways of knowing) and avoid the drugs of "the man"…. the powerful drug companies. I am not opposed to people having children but I think that families should control the amount of children that they bear because many kids in our world need parents and don't have any. I would like to have a child or two one day but I hope that I will adopt too. I don't know if I would home school my children though. There's the positive and negative thing about home schooling. I would like them to be with other children too. I would like other people to teach them too and then my children can use what I and their father have taught them and take what they want from their education.."
Radical Health Concerns:
The overall diet that would be encouraged in the family would be a vegan vegetarian diet or simply a more conscientious diet of where the food products come from and what is happening to the animals are there alternative ways to relieve pain in this eco idea of the world. We are responsible for the up keeping of the earth and the resources we use. In a capitalistic, consumerist society based on access to goods and resources we don't hold a strong care for eating healthy well, there are commercials and campaigns to eat better to live better but generally this choice takes money and many people affected by the commercials are poor people of color, not to exclude other people but in reality people of color are in great distress and need our help and consciousness ideas to help give more of a choice.
Raising a Child:
So how does an Anarchist raise a child? An Anarchist family may lead a child to think independently and to think for her/him self by teaching the idea that you are a person and need to experience and believe in what you want to. The formal application to family is not neglected but probably altered; now in a Capitalist society family is built and solidified through the work model. Which means a father and mother or if they are unfortunate enough to not have both parents there. Then that family would not have to be worried about the implications, fears, secluded ness, the abnormal ness of not having both parents because the anarchists would know and educate that we are all family and we may not be blood but we are still connected and if that child did not know there father that would be a little more ok than it would be in the capitalist system that would make the child outcast and strange. So the child is encouraged to know the community in the collective, learning from them, how to work with his/her hands and abilities developed as a young person then once identified encouraged.
Schools:
When raising a child the idea of school must be approached. School is overall seen in many societies as a training ground for either being a conduit for financial/economic success to the capitalist system or if the student is not an over achiever then the student is socialized to be a lowlife, failure, and insignificant to the nature of the climate in society. The truth is that we are not naturally to be a conduit for financial exploitation we are here to live and grow and nurture. Education should be to teach a child to find individual worth and then share that worth with his/her classmates. But, that's not what happens. Therefore anarchist families will generally opt toward the home schooling option of education. When interviewing my friend Neil I asked about the idea of schooling and he without hesitation commented on home schooling. I asked why and he said, "I think the school system today is totally insane, it's not working, especially for people who don't learn in the two ways they teach in the school system, socializing kids is important some home school kids are weird, maybe in a small community schools lead by parents where after children have been exposed, to all realms of academics and trades, they are ready to choose in which trades to go."
Although, the idea of children coming out weird after being home schooled it's probably safe to say that stories of children coming out weird from being home schooled is low. Many children that are home schooled become great college students and go on to embark in great stimulating occupations. But, this idea of home schooling is what is paramount, rather than feeding our children to a structure that educates and teaches our children more than the actual parents can, because of the ongoing need of work and inability to be their for the child so that a lifestyle that is never going to be actualized to the average family can be accomplished.
Joel a fellow Christian anarchist explained the school system from the perspective of being raised in Puerto Rico. He more or less explained that to him school was one of brainwashing[5] and teaching him that if he never went to college than he would be nothing when he got older. This is the purpose for home schooling more focus on helping children to choose what is truly encouraged by, if we don't do this then we will never have a child that likes school. As an anarchist school is the education of people and learning from the realness of a relationship with people and others in the community who have learned. School is a business and this needs to be critiqued.
Economics and Finances
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of an Anarchist family would be the full distribution of wealth where everyone has an equal say and part in the fullness of providing needs and wants. Money has always seemed to control those who do not have money but in this form of collectivism everyone will have because unlike Communism the fellow comrade will help out to see that everyone has from an individual choice not by force. The anarchist should never force their ideals on anyone but should rather offer there insight and allow the hearer to choose for themselves.
A very influential friend of mine shared with me her idea and what actual anarchists do about finances and the various methods to this revolutionary lifestyle that is being adopted daily. Which must be considered is the fact that none I mean none of the structures roles or goals of the collective are to be forced but organically agreed upon to the benefit of the person and their community (true democracy).
Marriage:
"When monogamy becomes labor, when desire is organized contractually, with accounts kept and fidelity extracted like labor from employees, with marriage a domestic factory policed by means of rigid shop-floor discipline designed to keep the wives and husbands and domestic partners of the world choke-chained to the status quo machinery-is this really what we mean by a "good relationship"?", (Kipnis, 19)[6] Is monogamy in trouble in Laura Kipnis she makes the argument "Against Love" that our general everyday ideas of love and sex are changing and that when we don't allow ourselves to adapt then we become oppressed along with the oppressive systems that we hate.
[7]Imagine that marriage was an institution that brings about exploitation that comes from a capitalistic frame of thinking then you will see why the puritanical stereotypes and false teachings are so heavily enforced upon us. To the anarchist marriage, relationships, sexual orientation, or sexual practices should never be forced but openly discussed and allowed to mature between the monogamous or multiple partner relationship. This idea of open communication is encouraged in society but little is really done to keep this up. More and more couples are falling into the habit of going to seek help from professionals who can at least share their stories or remedies from books, only to find that maybe the relationship needs change and that's ok.
Closing Arguments:
We don't need to be normal in order to function, there is no form of normal and that is the problem. In a society where capitalism is its basic socialization tool to produce thoughts and values then a person will grow up feeling like he/she is normal or not normal based on the beliefs of something they have never seen only heard and read. A society that does not think is the society that power structures want. The anarchist's thinks about everything that is the anarchist who is in to the destruction of oppressive systems and not merely to look different. So the argument remains on two distinct forms of stereotypical anarchists one is a "squatter" the other "university anarchists", we need to understand that both are anarchist. Both have amazing ideas and reasons for the choices made in the practice of life and many have an answer. We as a people should consider that we can live outside of capitalism one by one and day by day, new forms of progressive thinking is going on and new forms of collective thought are being embraced.
If one was to understand how capitalism has destroyed so much in so little time then those people would renounce this oppressive network of greed. Family is a framework toward beauty and love, family should have never been the painful reality that is happening now. So many problems in family have to do with beauty, money, education, finances, lack of family time, working, the list goes on and the family continues to crumble. One can not expect the system to change in a day but if we take the time to educate each other one by one we can create and set fire to a small flame of consciousness that goes farther than a one day revolution into an everyday revolutionary mindset that takes over the individual and gives them passion, joy, empowerment and love for all. This is the idea of an anarchist family this is the idea that change can happen and this is the idea that Anarchism is here and it's real and it's practical.
[1] Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought. Routledge New York City, 2000
[2] hooks, bell. Feminist theory: From Margin To Center. South End Press (1984) Cambridge, MA
[3] Important to note research on Jacques Ellul, Anarchy and Chsritianity.To understand the overall idea and complexities of the anarchism of Jesus and his critique on power, religion and domination.
[4] See Kelley, Robin D.G. Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. Also see Collins, P.H. Black Sexual Politics.
[5] Consult Dead Prez, They Schools. By listening to this song the overall idea of brainwashing is addressed and how brainwashing occurs. Rage Against The Machine also talks about this in the song Know Your Enemy available on Epic Records.
[6] Kipnis, Laura. Against Love: A Polemic. Vintage Books (2003) New York, New York. Her argument is to create controversy with everyday norms of the family, relationships and sexual politics. Her critique is very anarchistic in how she addresses oppression which an anarchist does as well.
[7] Warner, Michael. The Trouble With Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life. Harvard Press (1999) Cambridge, MA. This is also anarchist in the sense that Queer Theory is truly radical and anti-political to the right or left but more so to the far left and reaches to the people in a way that can only be seen as radical.
(A dialog with some of today's Anarchists)
Introduction:
Ironically enough most Anarchists do not call themselves Anarchists in verbal settings. Some would rather choose to call themselves black feminist theorists or anti neo colonialists or anti imperialist libertarians. This is due to the overall lack of communication with others who have underdeveloped opinions of Anarchism, so the Anarchist is more discrete and creates dialog. Now Libertarianism can be seen as the same as what some Republicans might disguise themselves as, what Anarchists I interviewed attempt to do is create a new form of society within the present society by critiquing and working toward communal relationships with the Capitalist, Socialist, Communist etc…To bring about awareness on the way these systems and functions of society work in our children, buying, spending, working, marriages and educational pursuits the list goes on but in this particular piece I am discussing the affects of Capitalism in America on the family therefore addressing an Anarchist Family perspective with the hopes that the joy, empowerment and purpose I have found in convictions, community and self education will indeed help families who are hoping to raise their children in a healthy, critical, empowered way.
Complexities and Arguments:
The Anarchist family is quite complex in its framework and structure. To the average person the idea of anarchism is one of disorder, disarray, drug abuse, or on the bright side one of compassion but inability to formulate and make real the actual lifestyle change and belief in actualization of the movement. So most decide to leave their anarchist passions and find themselves lost in a liberal point of view that has an appearance of change and radicalism but truly will never impact change the way the idealist believes, so the family and society as a whole garner back to the ideology and know all of living liberal and believing in reform as a means to change social disenfranchisement. This in turn makes the argument for a new form of family seem problematic, now in many ways an individual would probably not live this way. This form of lifestyle is a gift, which brings about deep conviction if embraced by the truly sincere anarchist working toward political, economic and world change.
The argument that seems to be profound in my ideas is in the stereotyping of anarchism in punk rock and how squatters are seen as illegitimate anarchists. I agree that some squatters seem to find themselves entrenched in to the ongoing deadening cycle of heroine addiction. This I have witnessed from doing outreaches in the downtown New York City area of the city. Many young punks who adopt this form of ideology never fully develop this perspective; their ideas are always started but never finalized. This in particular hurts the argument of what is called the "university anarchist" now this form of body is in line with their brothers and sisters who live on the streets but their ideas are more practical more believable than a "squatter." Why is that? Well mostly because like how radicals are opinionated so are the upper echelon capitalists of New York City the capitalists knows that their system of economics hurts the world, but there is no other feasible way of living outside of this, there arguments are rooted in the framework of this country. And therefore the anarchist must know and be able to rebut the argument of the capitalist in order to provide basis for change.
A Right-Wing Libertarian may sound good in that it's for liberty and individualism and less governmental influence but by being right-wing their beliefs go with what makes the economy strong and that's war, consumerism with good programs for the poor, imperialism to keep the conquest going therefore the more we spend the easier the time in America, and then the religious implications that come with such a perspective which in turn destroys the beliefs of so many who have faith yet have committed an abortion or had a drink, or have had sex out of marriage, this is ridiculous and profoundly idiotic. We need a new form of thought; this government can not provide that, this is where the "university anarchist" comes in. While many youth are squatting and creating new forms of organic living off of the waste of the middle and upper class, the students are critiquing and mastering the thinking and strategies of the capitalist to create and maintain that new form of life. We come in all forms and sizes we are everywhere, the anti neo-imperialist are usually anarchistic in belief but liberal in application. The overall idea is that Anarchism is adopted by many.
Black Feminism and Black Nationalism as a historic approach toward Anarchist Theory:
Arrays of scholars on the subject of progressive feminist thought are very anarchistic in their individual critiques on capitalism. The authors in this paragraph have profoundly shaken the social structure of family and society in more ways than one. Patricia Hill Collins whose extremely insightful piece Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment[1], has empowered my ideas of justice and creating family that is more loving and focused on personal edification than on the prospect of personal economic achievement.
Viewing the family from the eyes of Collins can help to illuminate misconceptions on the perfect family story of white Americans and bring about personal accountability for the current situation with our black, Latino and Asian brothers and sisters. Our success has come from their backs, our critiques on their families has been actualized by oppressive systems through capitalism. Ideas of patriarchy and male dominion have worked to destroy the importance of a woman's voice. The black family is continually in a state of financial destitution, turmoil, attacks from the criminal justice system that is hinged on racism and stereotypes.
bell hooks, Feminist Theory: from Margin to Center[2], argued that women who desired to be mothers who foster nurturing relationships with their children would be written off as evidence of the innate motherhood role of parenting. Her argument is not that women should not desire to be mothers but that black women who became mothers were only trying to establish a relationship that is based on nurturing and less on providing since African American women have worked from the day of their arrival to America and therefore were never in a place to have a relationship with their kids. White women on the other hand were always forced to be home with the kids under the domination of men.
When given the opportunity to be home many women of color faced insurmountable opposition from male domineering institutions. For centuries America has taught women to be in subjection to male rule and to socialize this into parenthood, childhood, scholastics and even sports have embraced this idea that women are inferior. But, for instance if one is to address the oppression and division Capitalism creates then you have women of color who are amazing parents and clearly hard working women being seen as a type of pathological concern in a red light district.
hooks, used an idea of feminizing men in the sense that rather than always engaging in "male" type functions or familial activities, the man could work toward doing "female" responsibilities in the home especially with children. "Until males are taught how to parent using the same model of effective parenting that has been taught to women, they will not participate because they have been taught to think they are inadequate or ineffective child-bearers." Still the same the importance of a male presence must be shared. Men in society generally are not optimistic or enthusiastic of parenting a child. But, more attention needs to be paid to this. I think what is interesting is that when interviewing a group of anarchists, the idea of family was very important.
Unlike the capitalist approach toward family motivated in patriarchy, materialism, consumerism and blind religion, an anarchist family is built on community and that's not to be confused with a community in a suburb, no this means a community of people who live together and work together, eat together and find solutions to life's problems together; this idea that you are not alone and that you and your child should grow up with other leaders and mentors around. From my interviews I learned that many anarchist's if not all want the most for there child, that there ideas of love and health for the child are very similar to that of mainstream society the difference is in the way the anarchists goes at it.
Many forms of having family but all are generally built around community and collective ideals through the progression of all. Some will want to live more naturally off of the resources of our earth and live more as a vegan for practical purposes, where another family will want to live in a way that is more in the society and more based on living among the society but not necessarily living according to the norms and roles of society. Perhaps, a family that has extensive education and has a father who works at NYU and a mother who works as a teacher in one of NYC's schools the family together will have a decent income and probably be able to provide more so than the family that has a lower income. But, this does not discredit the fact that the family is an anarchistic family and critiques the systems and oppression. The idea is to understand that living comfortable is not un anarchistic but living plentiful and not being concerned with injustice and the system in a sense politicized is in many ways a form of pseudo anarchism.
For Patricia Hill Collins who I am not sure if she is an anarchist but clearly her critiques on the framing of this country is not patriotic in the sense of politics and at times is simply un patriotic and very concentrated on economic adjustment that gives women of color and poor white women a space of freedom and individual justice.
Christian Anarchists Family:
The not well know anarchist Jesus Christ[3] who is known for his play in framing Christianity and his name being used for countless horrendous stories and historical realities in this world, who divinely has not been taught well was an anarchist and when he prayed to the Father he prayed, "that they would not be taken out of the world but protected from the evil one", the evil one over time has been known to be the devil but to the Christian anarchist the evil one would represent world powers, structures that oppress, injustice, the ills in our society that our so called leaders create and support in the name of politics.
For the Christian anarchist a family is founded on the doctrine of the bible but is closely critiqued and lived out according to the anarchist. The child is raised to see God as an anarchist and fellow sufferer with the people oppressed by the systems in place. Encouraging the follower that this will end and in the main time we should do all that we can in life and practice to eradicate this world of injustice by living a life that is respectful toward the earth, animals, and people. Embracing ideas that women should be praised and loved, that queer theorist should be loved and respected that all life is made by the God of our understanding and that no matter what this world has taught that he/she is love and the embodiment of love. Therefore, the child is brought up in this community of believers who are Christian yet very similar to the non-Christian anarchist.
Friends of mine who I interviewed shared that the structure of the family is based on God. Based on what all families should be and that's love, work, and community. The problem is that our system of capitalism does not award anyone for that virtue, there is always a hidden agenda and that's not what we were made for. One would say there is nothing wrong with working but does your work consume you, one would say there is nothing wrong with community but do you need space and what is your community? How do you define community? Some would say that a community is the neighbors and schools in your district for instance but to the anarchist the whole world is your community and all are apart of the planet. Meaning we should all be in communication and sharing living in a way that is more like the beginnings in Africa.[4]
To some the future of mankind is found in Africa, that we are being brought naturally through failure and exploitation to a place that brings about a more primitive, Paleolithic hunting and gathering society where the community is responsible for the bringing of a child.
Derek Bloom, "Well the relationship between a husband and a wife is a partnership and they daily try to forget patriarchal ways of life always trying to lift each other this family is monogamous but do not think it is wrong to be queer."
Diana Marino, "A nuclear family should treat one another with the same respect they treat everyone else. An anarchist family would be actively involved in the community they live-in and if they go to other communities in the world, they should respect the culture of that community and learn from them. The Anarchist family should go by all that I've been describing. I am not opposed to women using birth control but I do believe in natural family planning. I believe that women and men should know exactly what happens when they have intercourse and should know each other's bodies very well, especially the women's because women are the ones to carry the offspring. All artificial methods of birth control are harmful to the female body and to the unborn creatures. Women should know how their bodies work, (men should also) when they're ovulating (there are many ways of knowing) and avoid the drugs of "the man"…. the powerful drug companies. I am not opposed to people having children but I think that families should control the amount of children that they bear because many kids in our world need parents and don't have any. I would like to have a child or two one day but I hope that I will adopt too. I don't know if I would home school my children though. There's the positive and negative thing about home schooling. I would like them to be with other children too. I would like other people to teach them too and then my children can use what I and their father have taught them and take what they want from their education.."
Radical Health Concerns:
The overall diet that would be encouraged in the family would be a vegan vegetarian diet or simply a more conscientious diet of where the food products come from and what is happening to the animals are there alternative ways to relieve pain in this eco idea of the world. We are responsible for the up keeping of the earth and the resources we use. In a capitalistic, consumerist society based on access to goods and resources we don't hold a strong care for eating healthy well, there are commercials and campaigns to eat better to live better but generally this choice takes money and many people affected by the commercials are poor people of color, not to exclude other people but in reality people of color are in great distress and need our help and consciousness ideas to help give more of a choice.
Raising a Child:
So how does an Anarchist raise a child? An Anarchist family may lead a child to think independently and to think for her/him self by teaching the idea that you are a person and need to experience and believe in what you want to. The formal application to family is not neglected but probably altered; now in a Capitalist society family is built and solidified through the work model. Which means a father and mother or if they are unfortunate enough to not have both parents there. Then that family would not have to be worried about the implications, fears, secluded ness, the abnormal ness of not having both parents because the anarchists would know and educate that we are all family and we may not be blood but we are still connected and if that child did not know there father that would be a little more ok than it would be in the capitalist system that would make the child outcast and strange. So the child is encouraged to know the community in the collective, learning from them, how to work with his/her hands and abilities developed as a young person then once identified encouraged.
Schools:
When raising a child the idea of school must be approached. School is overall seen in many societies as a training ground for either being a conduit for financial/economic success to the capitalist system or if the student is not an over achiever then the student is socialized to be a lowlife, failure, and insignificant to the nature of the climate in society. The truth is that we are not naturally to be a conduit for financial exploitation we are here to live and grow and nurture. Education should be to teach a child to find individual worth and then share that worth with his/her classmates. But, that's not what happens. Therefore anarchist families will generally opt toward the home schooling option of education. When interviewing my friend Neil I asked about the idea of schooling and he without hesitation commented on home schooling. I asked why and he said, "I think the school system today is totally insane, it's not working, especially for people who don't learn in the two ways they teach in the school system, socializing kids is important some home school kids are weird, maybe in a small community schools lead by parents where after children have been exposed, to all realms of academics and trades, they are ready to choose in which trades to go."
Although, the idea of children coming out weird after being home schooled it's probably safe to say that stories of children coming out weird from being home schooled is low. Many children that are home schooled become great college students and go on to embark in great stimulating occupations. But, this idea of home schooling is what is paramount, rather than feeding our children to a structure that educates and teaches our children more than the actual parents can, because of the ongoing need of work and inability to be their for the child so that a lifestyle that is never going to be actualized to the average family can be accomplished.
Joel a fellow Christian anarchist explained the school system from the perspective of being raised in Puerto Rico. He more or less explained that to him school was one of brainwashing[5] and teaching him that if he never went to college than he would be nothing when he got older. This is the purpose for home schooling more focus on helping children to choose what is truly encouraged by, if we don't do this then we will never have a child that likes school. As an anarchist school is the education of people and learning from the realness of a relationship with people and others in the community who have learned. School is a business and this needs to be critiqued.
Economics and Finances
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of an Anarchist family would be the full distribution of wealth where everyone has an equal say and part in the fullness of providing needs and wants. Money has always seemed to control those who do not have money but in this form of collectivism everyone will have because unlike Communism the fellow comrade will help out to see that everyone has from an individual choice not by force. The anarchist should never force their ideals on anyone but should rather offer there insight and allow the hearer to choose for themselves.
A very influential friend of mine shared with me her idea and what actual anarchists do about finances and the various methods to this revolutionary lifestyle that is being adopted daily. Which must be considered is the fact that none I mean none of the structures roles or goals of the collective are to be forced but organically agreed upon to the benefit of the person and their community (true democracy).
Marriage:
"When monogamy becomes labor, when desire is organized contractually, with accounts kept and fidelity extracted like labor from employees, with marriage a domestic factory policed by means of rigid shop-floor discipline designed to keep the wives and husbands and domestic partners of the world choke-chained to the status quo machinery-is this really what we mean by a "good relationship"?", (Kipnis, 19)[6] Is monogamy in trouble in Laura Kipnis she makes the argument "Against Love" that our general everyday ideas of love and sex are changing and that when we don't allow ourselves to adapt then we become oppressed along with the oppressive systems that we hate.
[7]Imagine that marriage was an institution that brings about exploitation that comes from a capitalistic frame of thinking then you will see why the puritanical stereotypes and false teachings are so heavily enforced upon us. To the anarchist marriage, relationships, sexual orientation, or sexual practices should never be forced but openly discussed and allowed to mature between the monogamous or multiple partner relationship. This idea of open communication is encouraged in society but little is really done to keep this up. More and more couples are falling into the habit of going to seek help from professionals who can at least share their stories or remedies from books, only to find that maybe the relationship needs change and that's ok.
Closing Arguments:
We don't need to be normal in order to function, there is no form of normal and that is the problem. In a society where capitalism is its basic socialization tool to produce thoughts and values then a person will grow up feeling like he/she is normal or not normal based on the beliefs of something they have never seen only heard and read. A society that does not think is the society that power structures want. The anarchist's thinks about everything that is the anarchist who is in to the destruction of oppressive systems and not merely to look different. So the argument remains on two distinct forms of stereotypical anarchists one is a "squatter" the other "university anarchists", we need to understand that both are anarchist. Both have amazing ideas and reasons for the choices made in the practice of life and many have an answer. We as a people should consider that we can live outside of capitalism one by one and day by day, new forms of progressive thinking is going on and new forms of collective thought are being embraced.
If one was to understand how capitalism has destroyed so much in so little time then those people would renounce this oppressive network of greed. Family is a framework toward beauty and love, family should have never been the painful reality that is happening now. So many problems in family have to do with beauty, money, education, finances, lack of family time, working, the list goes on and the family continues to crumble. One can not expect the system to change in a day but if we take the time to educate each other one by one we can create and set fire to a small flame of consciousness that goes farther than a one day revolution into an everyday revolutionary mindset that takes over the individual and gives them passion, joy, empowerment and love for all. This is the idea of an anarchist family this is the idea that change can happen and this is the idea that Anarchism is here and it's real and it's practical.
[1] Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought. Routledge New York City, 2000
[2] hooks, bell. Feminist theory: From Margin To Center. South End Press (1984) Cambridge, MA
[3] Important to note research on Jacques Ellul, Anarchy and Chsritianity.To understand the overall idea and complexities of the anarchism of Jesus and his critique on power, religion and domination.
[4] See Kelley, Robin D.G. Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. Also see Collins, P.H. Black Sexual Politics.
[5] Consult Dead Prez, They Schools. By listening to this song the overall idea of brainwashing is addressed and how brainwashing occurs. Rage Against The Machine also talks about this in the song Know Your Enemy available on Epic Records.
[6] Kipnis, Laura. Against Love: A Polemic. Vintage Books (2003) New York, New York. Her argument is to create controversy with everyday norms of the family, relationships and sexual politics. Her critique is very anarchistic in how she addresses oppression which an anarchist does as well.
[7] Warner, Michael. The Trouble With Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life. Harvard Press (1999) Cambridge, MA. This is also anarchist in the sense that Queer Theory is truly radical and anti-political to the right or left but more so to the far left and reaches to the people in a way that can only be seen as radical.
