What has happened to the anarchist and anti-capitalist youth movements?

Question

Where are the next generation of anarchists? As the global capitalist market has expanded and it's power has become ever more far reaching, it seems as if many anarchist/anti capitalist movements have lost their way or given up. The excitement that may have surrounded radical politics in years past has dwindled. Anarchism was once considered by many a genuine radical alternative to our current system of state sanctioned capitalism. Now it is scoffed at by those who seem to view it as naive and idealistic to imagine humans living together in harmony without needing constant policing and systems of oppression. It only takes a few minutes on Wikipedia to find that not too long ago there was a wealth of, now defunct, underground groups and news outlets, catering to anarchists and libertarians. Maybe I am just not connected enough to find those that still exist, but I am finding it increasingly hard to find groups of like minded individuals even in this age of instant communication. I would be much obliged if anyone can point out to me remaining organisations, if only to restore my faith in our will to change things. Maybe I am entirely misinformed and I simply don't know the right people.

Comments

i like this question...and i wonder too....i felt so much more rebellious against authority in my youth....and now in my older age too....and i don't see much fight in most younger people i know today, despite the increasingly more difficult conditions brought about by the governmental, economic, and authoritarian structures. maybe a lot of the very young people have never experienced anything else than the conditions placed upon them since birth....but i think a desire for living more freely probably still dwells within most people, however muted (which unfortunately feels very much so today). i suppose fear works pretty well at suppressing other feelings.

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It seems to me that there is a bit of a split of ways that people can get involved in anarchism.  One being identity politics, and anti-oppression masked as anarchy, the other is passive nihilism.  I see people younger than me get super hard into identity politics, maybe for reasons explained here by squee, http://squee.anarchyplanet.org/developmental-psychology-for-anarchists/  .  I suppose that anarchy isn't immune to trends and it seems that egoism and nihilism dominate right now (probably for lots of reasons as well).

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selftormentor, when i read your statement above, it comes across as a bit binary (ip/anti-oppression vs passive nihilism). is that in fact how you see it? 

anti-capitalism, for example, can be part of an anti-oppression perspective. but i don't think that is the only way it can be described and/or perceived. every nihilistic anarchist i know is anti-capitalist. so is every individualist anarchist i know.

were you alluding to "social" vs "individual" -based perspectives? not that i think that binary is accurate either.

for sure, anarchists are not immune to trends. but the more recent interest (?) in individualist anarchist perspectives (can't say for nihilist) could be just as much a reaction to the failures and dogma of "social" anarchist perspectives and behaviors, as it could be a "trend". not that those are mutually exclusive, either. when one sees how futile it is to try to deal with the (anarchist-perceived) problems in the world on a social/mass level, it is easy to resort to a "fuck it all, i'ma do what the fuck i want" attitude. that can be a lazy fallback position; but it can also be much more.

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the question here reminded me of another discussion....

http://anarchy101.org/8908/average-time-someone-identifying-anarchist-anarchist-ideas

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 Where i live those are two currents that are really strong.  Albeit in those who I know, who are generally around the anarchist spectrum.  They aren't completely exclusive to anarchism by any means, I agree with how you explained that funkyanarchy, but I don't see the gusto of anarchy or to identify as an anarchist that once was when say insurrectionary anarchism was more de jour. 

I wonder about a normalization of passive nihilism though for people just getting into anarchy though.  Seems like it is working towards a generation of really good sociologists.

 

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"Where are the next generation of anarchists?"

Do you mean in the US? If so, probably in their dorm room or on reddit. Beats me. I do know that a lot of the younger folk seem to be big into the ID politics stuff, as selftormentor mentioned.

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I live in the UK, but the question is global rather than national really.

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Ah... Isn't there afed and solfed in the UK?

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In theory, yes. But both of them are sporadically active and mostly dormant. Updates to the calendar and the website are few and far between and we have seen a lapse in communication for the most part.

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i can't (nor want to) speak to the concept of "movements", but as for the question of young anarchists, that's a good one. ba@ linked to a related question on this site, which has some decent discussion on the topic.

when i was about 15, my best friend was a marxist, and turned me on to "marx for beginners", which planted the seeds of anti-capitalism that ultimately led to my anarchistic perspective. 5 years later, in 1980, that same friend voted for ronald reagan, and has been a card-carrying republican ever since.

back when i was closer to @ scenesville (bay area, eugene), i was often around young anarchists. few and far between were the ones i met that seemed to have a deep enough, personal enough critique to possibly last past that few years of youthful, rebellious, anti-establishment energy. unfortunately, that bears out more often that i wish it did.

i think the answer by metalist on that question ba@ linked to (http://anarchy101.org/8908/average-time-someone-identifying-anarchist-anarchist-ideas) speaks somewhat to what i am getting at here. simply put: (youthful) idealism vs (a more grounded) self-interest. i am not describing it as a dichotomy, just contrasting.

[quick edit for clarity]

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today i was thinking about how i might live my life publicly doing awkward/strange things, and intentionally irritating authoritative rule and smooth functioning...

as you can see, im rather bereft of ideas!

Answer 1

partial answer: brandon darby and anna happened

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=brandon+darby+&t=ffsb&ia=about

http://filmmakermagazine.com/4151-an-anarchist-infiltrator/

https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/conspiracy-of-dunces/content?oid=80311

the youth are more suspicious now. one hopes.

Comments

yep.

https://earthfirstnews.wordpress.com/informant-tracking/

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dot, do you mean to imply that "informing" has happened more recently than it did previously?

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ba@: not necessarily. but that the security issues that come with the modern era (including the infamous issues with social media, but also getting the word out about moles and snitches) is different than it used to be, and that there are waves of activism/action/activity.

i myself come from a time of no US anarchist activity at all. so it wouldn't surprise me if that ebb came again.