Anarchy Works.pdf - Infoshop.org

neighboring societies
Anarchy Works
where the primary purpose of the marines stationed on
naval vessels was to keep the sailors in their piaceP7
Pirate societies cultivated greater gender equality as well, and
a number of pirate captains were women. Many pirates thought
of themselves as Robin Hoods, and few considered themselves
subjects of any state. While numerous other pirates engaged in
mercantilism, selling their stolen goods to the highest bidders,
or even participated in the slave trade, another current in piracy
constituted an early force for abolitionism, aiding slave rebellions
and involving many ex-slaves. Authorities in North American
colonies like Virginia were concerned about connections between
piracy and slave insurrections. Fear of slaves running away to join
the pirates and rob their former masters, and of racially mixed
uprisings, encouraged the development of laws in the colonies
to punish racial mixing. These were some of the first juridical
attempts to institutionalize segregation and generalize racism
among the white lower class. Throughout the Caribbean and other
parts of the world, liberated pirate enclaves thrived for years,
though they are shrouded in mystery. It is a documented fact that
these pirate societies were a Widespread and long-lasting problem
for the imperial powers, and that many of them were shockingly
libertarian, but other information is lacking. This is not surprising,
given that they existed at war with the writers of history. It is telling
that the best described pirate utopia, Ubertalia or alternately
Ubertatia, is heavily disputed. Many parts of its history are
generally recognized to be fictitious, but some sources allege that
Ubertatia in its entirety never existed while others maintain that
its legendary founder, Captain James Misson, was just a literary
invention but the pirate settlement itself did exist.
The expanding navies of Great Britain and the United States
117 "Pirate Utopias," Do or Die, No. 8, 1999, pp. 63-78.
finally crushed piracy in the nineteenth century, but in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries pirates constituted a
powerful stateless society that waged war against imperialism
and government, and enabled thousands of people to liberate
themselves at a time when the oppressiveness of Western
civilization surpassed all the previous barbarities in world history.
What will we do about societies that
remain patriarchal or racist?
Anarchism emphasizes autonomy and local action, but it is not an
isolationist or provincial tendency. Anarchist movements have always
concerned themselves with global issues and distant struggles. While
governments also profess concern about problems in other parts
of the world, anarchism is distinguished by its refusal to impose
solutions. Statist propaganda claims we need world government to
liberate the peoples of oppressive societies, even as the UN, NATO,
the US, and other institutions continue to foster oppression and
engage in warfare to uphold the hierachical world order.l1S
Anarchist approaches are both local and global, premised on
autonomy and solidarity. If a neighboring SOciety were patriarchal
or racist or oppressive in some other way, an anarchist culture
would offer a range of possible responses beyond apathy and
"liberation" by force. In all oppressive societies, one can find
people fighting for their own freedom. It is much more realistic
118 To name just one example, "humanitarian" UN missions have been
caught repeatedly setting up sex trafficking rings in the countries where
they are stationed for peacekeeping. "But the problem goes beyond
Kosovo and sex trafficking. Wherever the UN has established operations
in recent years, various violations of women seem to follow." Michael
J. Jordan, "Sex Charges haunt UN forces," Christian Science Monitor,
26 November 2004. \\'hat the mainstream press crumot go so far as to
admit is that this reality is universal to militaries, whether they wear blue
helmets or not.
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