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+3 votes
i get confussed when i hear the words post left and individualism , are there some good book i can read to better understand anarchy .

edited to add tags
by (210 points)
edited by
ALC's comment links to one good starting point, in addition, here's some more stuff to check out:

http://www.anarchy101.org/1435/who-should-i-read-up-on

In addition, I would add "Willful Disobedience" by Wolfi Landstreicher & the collection "Enemies of Society" for more on individualist/egoist thought. Both are published by Ardent Press and available for purchase through http://www.littleblackcart.com, though I am pretty sure most of what makes up the content of each is available free at http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org. Which is worth checking out in general, if you haven't.

These could be good starting points, I hope they help!
Also archangel, could you please tag your question so it cross-references better? Possibly with "post-left" and "individualism," though there might be other relevant ones as well.
A cunning ruse!

edited to make a comment

1 Answer

+1 vote
the link that ALC gives is to an answer he wrote that would be better posted here. in fact, here it is:

Post-left anarchy has developed thought in six main areas:

1. The Left
-critiquing the Left as nebulous, anachronistic, distracting, a failure, and at key points a counterproductive force historically ("the left-wing of capital")
-critiquing Leftist activists for political careerism, celebrity culture, self-righteousness, privileged vanguardism, and martyrdom
-critiquing the tendency of Leftists to insulate themselves in academia, scenes, and cliques while also attempting to opportunistically manage struggles

2. Ideology
-a Stirner-esque critique of dogma and ideological thinking as a distinct phenomenon in favor of "critical self-theory" at individual and communal levels

3. Morality
-a moral nihilist critique of morality / reified values / moralism

4. Organizationalism
-critiquing permanent, formal, mass, mediated, rigid, growth-focused modes of organization in favor of temporary, informal, direct, spontaneous, intimate forms of relation
-critiquing Leftist organizational patterns' tendencies toward managerialism, reductionism, professionalism, substitutionism, and ideology
-critiquing the tendencies of unions and Leftist organizations to mimic political parties, acting as racketeers/mediators, with cadre-based hierarchies of theoretician & militant or intellectual & grunt, defailting toward institutionalization, and ritualizing a meeting-voting-recruiting-marching pattern

5. Identity Politics
-critiquing identity politics insofar as it preserves victimization-enabled identities and social roles (i.e. affirming rather than negating gender, class, etc.) and inflicts guilt-induced paralysis, amongst others
-critiquing single-issue campaigns or orientations

6. Values
-moving beyond anarchISM as a static historical praxis into anarchY as a living praxis
-focussing on daily life and the intersectionality thereof rather than dialectics / totalizing narratives (except anarcho-primitivists tend toward epistemology)
-emphasizing personal autonomy and a rejection of work (as forced labor, alienated labor, workplace-centricity)
-critiquing Enlightenment notions of Cartesian dualities, rationalism, humanism, democracy, utopia, etc.
-critiquing industrial notions of mass society, production, productivity, efficiency, "Progress", technophilia, civilization (esp. in anti-civilization tendencies)
by (53.1k points)
good call, dot. that is a solid set of talking points regarding a post-left perspective.

i don't see alc post here much anymore, too bad.
yea, i miss his writing/perspective too. :(
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