Note
The moral of this powerful short text by John Zube is that anarchists that are not, at the same time, panarchists (i.e. practicing tolerance and voluntarism) are simply a bunch of violent people no different from the statists they so vehemently oppose.
What Panarchy means
Panarchy means:
No taxation without individual consent. (Replacement of taxes by prices,
fees and subscriptions.)
No dictatorship - unless it is wanted by the individuals involved.
No majority votes - except among volunteers and applying only to them.
No conscription.
No nuclear targets any longer.
No national borders and national enemies any longer.
No economic or political monopoly or privilege any longer. Only those remain
that are based on the unanimous consent of volunteers and that are practised
at their expense only.
It would mean, especially,
for our times:
No funds, soldiers, targets, motives and enemies for nuclear war but, rather,
friends and allies everywhere - against a few remaining criminals, enemies
of man.
Panarchy means a free
market for politics and economics, for systems and ideologies, even including
those amounting to anti-politics and anti-economics.
Each to his own choice.
Each to be the master
of his own fate and none to be master over the fate of other more or less
rational adults.
That also implies
that all their own free actions take place only at their own expense
and risk.
Each would purchase,
on the free market, whatever political or economic or insurance package
deal he likes for himself, at competitive prices. Alternatively, he
would provide such services cooperatively, charitably or would receive
them in this way.
Consumer sovereignty in all spheres. This would mean even a free market for central planning efforts among central planners, for regulators among those who like to be regulated, for despots among those who like to subordinate themselves to them.
Naturally, it also
means anarchism for anarchists, not only archism for archists.
Panarchy means tolerance
in the sphere of actions, also experimental freedom and unrestricted liberties
and rights - where they matter most, nowadays, in politics, economics and
social arrangements.
Panarchy opposes collective
responsibility and all "weapons" which apply this "principle" quite wrongly,
as, for instance, nuclear devices and all other indiscriminate mass extermination
devices inevitably do.
Panarchy IS the only
rightful and workable alternative for all. It is the proper framework for
all attempts to do the own thing differently.
What Panarchists can achieve
Panarchists have friends,
neutrals and allies everywhere - and very few fanatic enemies - because
panarchism favours exterritorial autonomy even for fanatic dissenters and
all their followers, as long as they do apply their fanaticism only among
themselves.
Panarchists feel and
act as allies of all minorities, everywhere, that strive for autonomy -
no more. Thus their potential for solidarity with others exceeds that of
all other ideological movements.
The various minorities
between them do constitute the largest majority. Panarchism can mobilize
their combined strength. It could exceed that of the present great powers.
Panarchists can act
as spokesmen for all rightful aspirations and can thus make friends and
allies everywhere.
Only panarchists can
realize fully liberating liberation efforts, i.e. efforts that do not go
beyond the degree of liberation that various people want for themselves.
They let each advance at his own speed towards his own ideals, alone or
in association with others
Panarchy as a-territoriality
Is man a territorial
animal? He is rather an animal that forever seems to move to new territories
and even when he is settled somewhere, he still seems to roam a lot around
his country or the world, time and funds permitting and he pursues his
profession, hobbies and interests regardless of and independent of those
of others - in a relatively tolerant way.
Among the worst aspects
of exclusive territorial rule over voluntary and involuntary members is
that it channels progress only in one direction, that approved by politicians,
bureaucrats and the majority.
Imagine what would
happen if we did the same regarding religion, philosophy, arts, science,
technology, medicine and agriculture!
It is simply absurd
to make the realization of innovations, in one's own sphere, dependent
upon government or bureaucratic or majority approval.
A-territorial autonomy
of volunteers would constitute the best kind of "propaganda by deed" of
those who are nihilists towards "establishment" values and institutions.
It would constitute anarchy in action.
Most people cannot
be persuaded, they can only learn from practical examples that are not
set in some foreign countries but right before their own eyes. Then curiosity
and envy will do the rest.
Panarchism can realize
what is rightful among the aspirations of terrorists and can thus turn
them from their indiscriminately destructive and murderous activities into
creative ones.
Even in family, friendship
and scholarly circles, people don't fully agree. How can we expect them
to agree in whole territories? Let them sort themselves out, individually,
according to individual preferences, for TOLERANT experiments among themselves,
self-realizing the degree of liberty which they do want for themselves.
Everything else, even when running under anarchistic slogans and banners,
amounts to despotism.
Panarchy as Freedom
Panarchy is freedom
of choice and choice of freedoms.
Freedom of expression and information are to many almost self-evident liberties. But they alone do not suffice for our purposes, as decades of rather fruitless anarchist agitation have demonstrated. They must be supplemented by freedom to act upon one's information, however limited and misleading it may be, at one's own expense and risk.
Freedom of action and experimentation are moral and useful not just in some limited and minor spheres but in all.
But they must be subjected
to the primary requirement of voluntarism, of individual choice.
This implies freedom
to join any and to secede from any group or system or organization, even
an anarchistic one.
Not just some licensed
and limited autonomy is to be achieved as a moral and essential state of
affairs, but full autonomy that is limited only by individual choice, which
means non-territorial and personal law organization and voluntary membership.
Any old or new ism,
like any religious faith, is right for all its believers and thus the believers
should be free to practice it - among themselves.
Panarchists and Anarchists
The all too popular
attitude among anarchists towards dissenters to the anarchist faith or
conviction can be summed up with: No freedom for non-anarchists that disagrees
with our own notions of freedom. Organizational variations are only permitted
to anarchists.
Anarchism, when proclaimed
or implied in this form, amounts almost to a declaration of war against
all others and it does also disagree with its own original and primary
notions of rights, individualism, voluntarism, choice, tolerance, independence,
consent and equal liberty
Anarchists want the
State ABOLISHED, either by revolutions or by reforms or non-violent actions.
Panarchists want to abolish only 2 of its most important and coercive features:
Territorialism and compulsory membership. They would leave the rest up
to individual choice.
To anti-property anarchists: That people ought to be free to "exploit" each other, if they want to, in a propertarian and contractual and free trading way, in their own voluntary associations and free contracts with outsiders, does apparently go beyond the imagination of fanatical enemies of property. They want to destroy it for all, even for those who highly favour it among themselves. In this they are as totalitarian as those who advocate and insist upon either abstinence, or monogamy or polygamy for all.
They are blind to
the understanding that a propertarian society permits all to pool and share,
socialize and combine their property and use it between them as they please.
They are also blind
to the various free market options for the acquisition of considerable
private properties for all willing to work for them or use their current
assets for this purpose.
Thus "robber-anarchists"
might be a more suitable term for these "anarchists". They want to establish
their free and non-violent society by theft, ignoring, for instance, the
lease and purchase options, even their savings and the future value of
their own labour ( which could be capitalized and used for purchasing enterprises
).
Thereby they rather
prefer violence and bloodshed (associated with expropriations and occupations)
to peaceful trade.
Since even anarchists
cannot fully agree among themselves, even after discussions spanning at
least 150 years, and can agree far less with others, their framework for
the future ought to make possible the highest possible degree of autonomy
for dissenters, even non-anarchists.
Such a framework is
inevitably panarchistic and would offer to all kinds of anarchists the
full chance to realize their particular ideal for themselves.
Anarchist enemies of
Panarchism argue in practice, often unaware, AGAINST
a ) an extension of freedom, cooperation and competition,
b ) maximizing tolerance,
c ) experimental freedom for all, in all spheres,
d ) minority autonomy,
e ) individual sovereignty,
f ) individual secessionism or withdrawal options,
g ) voluntary associationism,
h ) the consent requirement,
i ) freedom for individual choices.
OR AS IF THESE IDEALS
APPLIED O N L Y TO ANARCHISTS!
In the political and
economic sphere they want us to fill our shopping basket only with the
same assortment of goodies that are "officially sanctioned" by the anarchist
movement - or their particular section of it.
They are, often quite
unaware, advocates of
a ) territorial rule,
b ) imposed laws (however few and anarchistic and informal these may be),
c ) imposed uniformity (even if only the uniformity of an anarchist utopia),
d ) government (even if it is a highly limited and decentralized one).
In short, without being panarchists, they are not really anarchists.