Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

Introduction
The impulse fo r this intervention was twofold: to bring
an anarchist approach to anticolonialism, and an anticolonial
approach to anarchism. I tackle the first by
addressing practices of historiography and active solidarity.
Both interventions are linked through the need to
know other histories besides the familiar European/North
American one. Furthermore, recognizing those other histories
as relevant to the anarchist tradition means seeing anarchism
as one instance of a polymorphous engagement with
certain key questions and issues, as one manifestation of a
larger family of egalitarian and emancipatory principles.
The seeds for this writing were planted over a decade
of involvement with global economic justice, antiwar,
and Palestine solidarity work, all framed as part of an
anti-imperialist analysis, and then fertilized during the
better part of a year spent studying in India, 2006-7. It
wasn't my first trip to my father's country of origin, and
it wouldn't be my last, as I hoped eventually to spend a
significant amount of time there each year. With this in