Anarchism: What It Really Stands for

When you ask people what anarchism is, they will probably think it’s when anyone can do what they want, like what happens in the Purge movies. Anarchism is when individuals in a society can do whatever they choose to do, but cannot interfere with other people’s ability to do what they want to do. It comes from the Greek word anarchia, which means the absence of government. It can also be a self-governing society, in which there is no government and the citizens make their own set rules that everyone agrees on and follows. With a system like, anything can, good or bad. It may benefit some people, but others will think that society needs my control.

Examples

• Rojava
• Freetown Christiania
• Frisian Freedom
• Cheran
• Republic of Cospaia
• Saigon Commune
• Utopia Ohio
• Yellow Turban Rebellion
• Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers

When I first heard about anarchism, I thought that it was all chaos like the Purge movies. After researching anarchism it really enlightened me what anarchism. I think that anarchism can be a good government system in a community, only if there are certain rules that the citizens have agreed with.

Freetown Christiania is an example, a community in Denmark, Copenhagen. Itself governs its community. It is immune to Denmark’s law. They have created some strict rules that are mandatory to follow. They have their own flag and a unique way of life. Back to the rules, Freetown Christiania has very unique laws. No violence, no running, no cars, no pictures. The community has been around from 1971 till now.

Freetown Christiania Flag

Another example is Frisian Freedom, a region in Europe where there was no Feudalism. The place was inhabited by Frisians, a Germanic ethnic group that is indigenous to northwestern Germany and coastal parts of the Netherlands. During this time there was no monarch in that region to claim the land and rule it. For the region to have an organized system, local leaders joined forces to attempt to apply laws to the whole region of Frisia. There was nobody or a group of people with power to enforce these laws, it ended up for individual communities to enforce the law. The lack of good leadership led to the end of Friasian

Pros

• allows individual privacy
• rejects guilt, shame, or fear
• rejects the negative elements.
• adds creativity to solving problems

Cons

• creates followers
• can lead to chaos
• overly ambitious

I wanted to focus on this benefit because I think if we all, as humans have experienced this in our lives. What is basically saying, these three feelings can hold a person back to discover their full or true potential? The government has imprisonment to create fear so individuals to commit certain acts. Another example is a religion, religion has endless criticism to create fear if done committed a certain act. These feelings are connected to an individual’s morality. With anarchism, you can control what morality means to you.

In anarchism, no one is required to be in an agreement whenever dealing with a societal issue. The priority for those people is personal need than the community need. The absence of a government means that large community to vulnerable because there is no true representative to act on behalf of the community.