How realistic is it for an anarchist society to be implemented in a globalized world with such a large population?

Question

I have always had my doubts about the practicality of an anarchist system in such an interconnected and globalized planet. To my understanding, the basis of anarchism is non-coercive free association of people. Would this be possible in societies of thousands or millions of people? Would a fragmentation into much smaller groups be necessary, and if so, would that be feasible?

Answer 1

Fragmentation is decentralized. Anarchists generally like decentralization (as a vision if not necessarily a principle). Most anarchists don't have plans for a globalized planet-wide system of formally federated communes (although probably most syndicalists would gravitate toward that). Seems that this sort of question -- of scale -- has much more to do with the questioner's globalized humanist prejudices ("we have to save everyone") than with notions of practical face-to-face community that most anarchists desire.

Answer 2

i agree with lawrence about scale. i have no hope for an anarchist  "society" on a global scale, much less any desire for such.

i find the very concept of a "global" society repulsive. it seems impossible without so many of the institutions and mindsets that predominate in the shithole that is current mass society - democrapitalism. such belief in and struggle for "mass" seems unlikely to break in any real way from the status quo of the modern world. massification, homogenization, lowest common denominator, "equality", etc.  it just doesn't seem possible to me, for there to be a single anarchist "society" on that scale.

thousands or millions of smaller tribes/clans, each of which might constitute their own small "society" and would choose when and how to interact with other smaller tribes/clans,  is an alternative vision (yes, a very vague one in this case) that to me seems much more amenable to an anarchist perspective.