Everyday Anarchism

Power exists because the people with less power allow it to exist. But we spend a lot of time telling ourselves that’s not true. If we can learn that we -- each one of us -- is actually in charge, that our decisions matter, and that we in fact have a decision to make, then everything will work better. When people think about anarchy, or anarchism, they think about radical change, revolution, destruction. But that’s not necessarily what the leading anarchist thinkers have thought and written over the past 200 years. Many of them focus on the collective, on helping and supporting each other -- Mutual Aid. The core idea of this podcast, Everyday Anarchism, comes from David Graeber, who wrote that our everyday life is mostly run on anarchism, and at the same time people believe that anarchism doesn’t work. One of these is wrong. All the forces that shape our lives are secondary to our own choices, and our own communities. Let’s get this bread. What you’ll hear This podcast is based around 2 ideas or purposes: To illuminate the ways that our communities already depend on Mutual Aid, in big and small ways To excavate the historical events or trends people already know about, but have never thought about in terms of anarchism. Along the way, you’ll learn some history and some philosophy, you’ll have the opportunity to join in the conversation, and above all, hopefully you’ll be entertained. What if I hate anarchy? Well, I like to call it anarchism, to differentiate from the type of black bloc street fighters that we often think of as the face of anarchy, and also to differentiate it from the negative sense of anarchy meaning “the war of all against all.” There’s another version of anarchism, focused on helping each other. Focused on promoting equality and equity. Focused on giving everyone a leg up. If you hang with me, you’ll hear about why these are all great examples of anarchist concepts: Jesus of Nazareth The Lord of the Rings Divorce Captain America Traffic Circles I hope you’ll give anar