A collection of writing attempting to systematically posit a conception of race which is inherently de-essentialist; a non-European anarchism which is self-determinedly disparate and plural; and finally, a critique of the anti-war movement (organizational and rhetorical/semantic critiques) from one non-European anarchist perspective of (ideally) many. These arguments are explored in the sections: “The Prison-House of Color," “Non-European Anarchism," “A Non-European Anarchist View of the Anti-War Movement."
This collection is a must for those frustrated by the reductive binarism of much of the rhetoric around “White Anarchist/APOC" dynamics, in that this pamphlet attempts to articulate the ways in which experience is both tenuously expansive and intricately singular. These essays argue for a more nuanced understanding of individual and collective experience, thus challenging the reader to have these insights inform the way they reflect on their own unique experiences within many different narratives ranging from tradition and history to resistance and the contemporary.
Some highlights from “Towards an Anarchist Theory of Race":
Against the objectification of alterity:
“I strongly distrust calls for the universality of our experience and then our response. Every call for action by 'people of color' against this or that public policy of state-crafted indignity sounds like another phrasing of the same old failed politics of the state. […] Which brings me to the assertion that the term 'people of color,' or 'person of color,' is inadequate in its purpose to unify me with other people. It is inadequate because of its determinism."
Towards a fluid conception of non-European anarchism:
“The formation of a non-European anarchism is untenable. The term bespeaks a general movement when the goal is an infinite series of disparate movements. […] A category should exist for every self-determined group of people to form their own interpretation of a non-European anarchism. The principle is that if European anarchism could be shifted onto the shoulders of the people living outside the burden of the European system than it could be borne far more easily. It could be carried more 'anarchistically' than when safe-guarded by the current group of cosmopolitan materialists."