Practicing Anarchism
I had a chance to respond to a post by Reed, an anarchist friend of mine, about my practice of Anarchism. He was posting about a course by the brilliant Mason Herd and the Institute for Social Ecology on Anarchism (TM): ‘Commune, Council, Party: Marxism and Direct Democracy’ will explore the tangled relationship between Marxist politics and direct self-rule by the masses across history, as revolutionary socialists sought out new political forms for proletarian democracy.” I’m not knocking the course; in fact, I highly recommend it. (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/commune-council-party-marxism-and-direct-democracy-online-seminar-tickets-203589841697) But it’s not how I understand or practice Anarchism.
I’m not much into ideological or programmatic anarchism e.g. Marx, Bakunin, Proudhoun. I’m not a philosopher; I’d rather figure it out on my own with my friends. I don’t do philosophy, like ‘Marxism’. I do “stuff”. I look around the community and I see what needs to be done, and then I find some people to do that “stuff”.
I’ve been part of a few artist communes organized around art. Garden communes organized around gardening. Buddhist communes organized around dharma. Housing communes organized around housing; free bus communes organized around free buses. Queer communes organized around queer arts and performance. Ecology communes organized around local ecology…Let’s see, what else…bike communes organized around biking…Reclaim the Streets… pick-up punk bands, witch and pagan circles…I could go on.
You might have me pegged as a ‘cultural anarchist’ and that’s ok. I don’t care anymore. I try to avoid ideological purity. I’m just into grassroots liberation and creative freedom.
Engage! 
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