Anarchism is the belief that authority is unnecessary and harmful. Anarchists oppose the unearned privilege of the upper class, the virtual domestication of humanity, and the absurd notion that Bush is better qualified than you are to run your own life. Anarchism is generally considered a form of
socialism that rejects the state as well as
capitalism, but some anarchists, particularly primitivists and post-left anarchists, are
hard to classify as
socialist, per se.
Anarchism has been given a bad
name by its associations with wanton violence, punk music, and so on. However, none of these are inherently tied to anarchism (some anarchists have even been pacifists). Nonetheless, the image of the anarchist as a wantonly anti-social rebel has been exploited by many clothing lines and punk bands attempting to cash in on the image.
Anarchism is often confused with ochlocracy, nihilism, objectivism and other forms of laissez faire
capitalism, and Nietzscheanism. However, it should be noted that anarchism is, with few exceptions,
socialist and consistantly anti-capitalist. While some anarchists do come off as rather nihilistic, the idea itself is not necessarily part of anarchism. Obviously, as well, Nietzscheanism and anarchism have little in common since Nietzsche was a stauch supporter of hierarchy and a defender of slavery.
Common symbols of anarchism include the circle A and the black
flag. Well-known anarchists include Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and Peter Kropotkin.
