“Anarchy for the UK – It's coming sometime maybe.” John Lydon, 1976

The Cides believe that the government has increasingly become more authoritarian during the last two years under the guise of preventing the spread of a virus, this we predict, is only going to get worse and Anarchy in the UK is exactly what is required now.

Governmental legislation since 2020 has enforced rules, mandates, surveillance and the extension of police powers under the guise of the COVID pandemic. Authoritarian in nature, the governmental rules have been disproportionate and non-sensical and not only did they insult our intelligence and common sense they were also extremely harmful to the mental and physical health of many people. While too many people accepted the government policies and narrative, the extreme measures it seems also inadvertently evoked an “awakening” of sorts in others. The corrupt nature of the global leaders was exposed, leading to anarchy seen in our cities with mass social movements unified in a global solidarity unlike any other seen in our lifetime.

Hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets of cities across the world, in protest to the undemocratic rulings enforcing lockdowns, vaccine passports and authoritarian governance. The Sunday Express in the UK reported that demonstrators said the protest was about “Freedom”. One demonstrator commented that “People are angry. They’ve had enough of being told where they can go, who they can see, who they can hug, whether they can socialise, how they can travel” (source ).

The Nature of Anarchy

There may have been very few protesters who would identify as an anarchist, but these protests which continue today are certainly anarchic in nature. Unfortunately, anarchy is too often wrongly associated with riots, vandalism and all things negative, more than likely because the term “anarchist” is used by leaders to disparage a mass movement that is more often than not protesting against the undemocratic policies from the states.

The word ‘anarchy’ comes from the ancient Greek and means ‘no ruler’ and what it really is, in simple terms is a longstanding political, economic, and social tradition based in the struggle against top-down systems and institutions, such as states, capitalism, and racial and gender domination.

Although often associated with Marxism, anarchism is not a theory and the “founders” of anarchism did not think that this was a new invention, quite the contrary, they saw its basic principles of mutual aid, voluntary association, egalitarian decision-making which is as old as humanity according to anthropologist and anarchist, David Graeber, (who sadly died in September 2020). Marxism, he believed has tended to be a theoretical or analytical discourse about revolutionary strategy. He adds that anarchism has tended to be an ethical discourse about revolutionary practice, therefore, although Marxism has produced theories it’s mostly been anarchists who have been working to put them into action (source).

Walking the Walk

As a political philosophy, as well as a theory of action, anarchism suggests that individuals can form their own organizations and relationships without the force, permission, or influence of formal institutions with hierarchical structures. Anarchist organisations or relationships are horizontal, with individuals interacting as equals within movements which are direct democracies. Individuals within the movements make decisions for themselves and hold the same principles that they hope to achieve.

As a result, anarchists:

Reject capitalism, imperialism and feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive globalisation

Embrace the full dignity of all human beings and reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination
Advocate direct action and civil disobedience when the need arises in support of social movements’ struggles
Advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples’ rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism
Believe that transnational capital is the only real policymaker and therefore lobbying governments is futile

The State – The Oligarchy

Arguably, from 2020 onwards it became far more obvious to the people, that we do not live in a democratic state, in fact, a “democratic state” to an anarchist is a contradiction in terms. The dissenting voices reacting to the undemocratic COVID policies were, at best, ignored. Graeber argues that the state is a governance system in which some govern and others are governed. It is made up of hierarchical institutions and relations of power in which a few, elected or otherwise (rather than the whole society), make binding, value-laden decisions for the rest of us.

Therefore, despite the fact that the country was divided in their opinions, there was never a democratic conversation or vote to ascertain whether they were in fact they were acting on behalf of the people. Graeber believes, they see democracy as a collective self-governance by popular assemblies and as such they were dead set against it, arguing it would be prejudiced against the interest of the minorities, and the particular minorities being the rich (source).

Biased Pluralism

This was evidenced by a study in the US that found the economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy. The report, "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens" (PDF), used extensive policy data collected between 1981 and 2002 to empirically determine the state of the U.S. political system. The researchers sifted through nearly 1,800 U.S. policies enacted in that period and compared them to the expressed preferences of the American people.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, mass-based interest groups and average citizens have “little or no independent influence". The researcher concluded that the U.S. system fitted a theory of "biased pluralism" as policy outcomes "tend to tilt towards the wishes of corporations and business and professional associations". The policy outcomes over the COVID period, it could be argued also tilt towards corporations and associations, such as Black Rock, the World Economic Forum and the Gates Foundation, to name a few who have agendas resting on those policy outcomes. At the same time, our freedom to act against those policies was stripped away from us (source).

Autonomy

Our freedom or autonomy is one of the most important principles of anarchy, we all must be free to make decisions and act them out without having to ask permission to from a higher power. Autonomy is the quality or state of being self-governing; especially the right of self-government, although similar to liberty they are very different concepts.

Liberty dates back to the 18th century and the age of enlightenment and sought to limit the absolute power of kings and queens who were also expected to respect the inalienable rights granted to individuals by God. As the rallying cry of both the French and American revolutions, the concept of liberty helped to overthrow Feudalism and usher in the era of liberal democracy (source).

***Chapter 13: The French Revolution – Western Civilization: A Concise History by unknown artist***

Liberty was a human right, according to Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire, although it has never been universally applied as such, as since the beginning of its existence, liberty has been tied up with European global conquest, facilitated by colonialism, slavery and genocide. (Even today the concept of liberty is used to mobilise the support of imperialist wars, for instance when the US claimed to be bringing freedom to Iraq).

Liberty is bound by a social contract, that requires the individual’s obedience to the state authority, and in return is granted freedoms, such as freedom of expression, and freedom to associate, but these rights as we have witnessed throughout the last two years, can and often are taken away. Autonomy, however, does not rely on a contract with the state, it cannot be gifted to us in the form of a bribe, autonomy does not come from a top-down governance, benefitting the “elite” few, but starts with the individual and scales up.

Repressive Power

Ultimately it is down to the politicians to decide whether we have liberty and which rights we are able to exercise and they have state police which aids in the consolidation of too much repressive power (source). The police are able to criminalise non-criminal actions, violate our human rights and show utter disrespect for their fellow man. Instead, they favour the orchestrators of the New World Order (NWO) regime. (A top-down totalitarian rule from a one-world government that aims to exert ultimate control over the world population). Nonetheless, even prior to this period, the overwhelming majority of anti-social behaviours and crimes are due to structural inequalities under capitalism and other systems of socioeconomic oppression.

Since the governments upped the ante on exploitation and oppression, the unhealthy core of the capitalist system is becoming evident to more and more people. What we are now witnessing within the mass freedom protests exhibit three essential concepts which are synonymous with anarchist ideology:

Anti-statism
Anti-capitalism organisations of people working together to pursue the world they want to create.

This looks like Anarchy - and it is about time too!

Research by Patricia Harrity

Anarchy in the UK – Finally!