Do you also find yourselves defending communist positions because they are misunderstood by most people? Do you also find yourselves specifying the type of anarchism you refer to because most people have a conception of anarchy as simply chaotic rebellion?
Personally, I find it more effective to define myself as an anarcho-communist in order to emphasize the concept of anarchy as a structure and to highlight the concept of communism as a proletarian organizational tool.
people who ask are usually friends or acquaintances so I just say I’m “basically a communist”
If I’m talking to a leftist, I’m an anarchist.
If I’m talking to anyone else I just talk around anarchism without saying the word.
But in all cases I’m lying, as I’m a communalist. It’s not worth dragging anyone down that rabbit hole!
Mostly go by libertarian cuz I’m not quite fully anarchist. Mostly use it as a umbrella term encompassing both anarchism, communalism etc. But I feel like i need to lightly explain every label I use anyways.
Queer anarchist (as in my bio) is the easiest way to get other leftists to understand where I’m coming from. To people I’m organizing with or talking to in person and willing to explain, I’m an anarcho-pantherist
It depends on who I’m talking to and how informed they are on politics, especially radical politics. Someone I’m already close to or friendly with, I’ll be upfront that I’m an anarchist and explain what that means to me. To just about anyone else, I’ll say I’m on the left, and if we dig into issues, I argue more along the lines of democratic socialism and social democracy. Anarchism just has too bad a rap in many people’s minds, and I’d rather get them to move left in their thinking than to try to convince them of anarchism explicitly. If they are someday solidly on the left, then we can start splitting hairs about communism vs syndicalism vs mutualism and all that jazz
Instead of saying I’m an anarchist I talk about things from an anarchist perspective without mentioning the word “anarchy”. I usually will defend communism because I consider myself communist, but if you mean socalled “communist” states, I’ll usually point out that none of them were actually communist
Assuming we are talking about meatspace here…
I just tell people I am an anarchist.
They then nearly always project some insane nonsense onto what they think that means, and then I understand at least 80% of their worldview in about 30 seconds.
I am done explaining things to angry morons with no curiosity or humility.
I actually do not care what they think, I have better things to do with my time.
If they present humility or genuine curiosity, well then, that’s probably a person worth at least a bit of my time.
Alternatively, I tell people I am an ex-corpo cyberpunk, because I literally am.
If they don’t understand that, or laugh at it, I act confused, or laugh at them.
I don’t because I don’t have a clue where I am in that regard.
I’m here only because I suspect I might fall into the anarchist side after agreeing with a bunch of things I heard but at the end of the day I don’t really know what it means.
I don’t worry too much about it. In fact, I probably don’t think about it at all until someone brings up the topic.
Ultimately it’s about valuing consent. Necessitating flat, granular, answerable structures of power. Not just government but business etc as well. Often expressed via mutual aid and community building.
There are always slogans like: “property is theft”, “no gods, no masters” and “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need”. I like to mention: “if you don’t work, you don’t eat” and apply it to the capitalist class.
Once the dialog gets to labels, I am direct with everyone but police.
I am an anarchist. I want to eliminate the state’s monopoly on violence and the heirarchy thereby imposed by said state. Humans are naturally social and collaborative.
I am a communist. Workers own their labor and the means of production.
Definitions solidify from there if the person cares to have a dialog on politcs and philosophy.
anarcho-utopist, “mostly harmless”, dadaist + anti-speciesist
hello,
Why not “Solarpunk”? 👍
Do you use it? It works? :D
Yeah, sometimes. Depends on the audience obviously.
Usually as an anti-authoritatian leftist. From there, it depends on the person I’m talking to and how knowledgeable and/or strongly opinionated they are.
“Communism” as a label got really bad reputation in Ukraine due to Soviets using it to cover up their totalitarian bullshit.
Humanitarian.
“Whatever you think of me, the truth is almost certainly worse” … Can you tell I dislike the very concept of trust?
I say I’m an anarchist cyborg witch, that usually does the trick. Honest and clear.
