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anarchism: a beginner’s guide
replication was assured. 12 Perlman puts a similar case. The birth of
Leviathan set in motion a fundamental change in organization.
Although the beast was resisted and although for many years people
found ways of escaping or withdrawing from it, in time, it extended
its octopus-like tentacles to all parts of the globe. And as smaller
Leviathans were swallowed by larger ones the routes of possible
escape were eventually closed off.
This unusual consensus breaks down when anarchists evaluate
primitive or stateless societies as models for anarchy. Discussions
about the potential for modelling anarchy in this way have focused
on two issues: the possibility of reconciling traditional or primitive
ways of life with anarchist values, and the possibility of recovering
primitive modes of behaviour in technologically developed societies.
The first issue, which has rumbled on more or less uninterrupted
since the publication of Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid, is about the space
traditional societies provide for creativity and self-expression. In
contrast to Barclay, some anarchists have treated traditional stateless
societies as straightforward indicators of anarchy, suggesting that
there is no conflict between membership of the community and
individuality. Notwithstanding his suspicion of social myths,
Maddock claimed that the African tribe, the Nuer, ‘if not actually
living in anarchy ... were as close to it as social existence could be’.
Such Kropotkinite appreciations of indigenous ways of life chime in
with the efforts of non-European anarchists to develop principles of
organization designed to protect cultural traditions. For example,
Teanau Tuiono defines the Maori struggle for self-determination –
Tino Rangatiratanga – as a battle against capitalism and colonialism
that is directed towards a ‘vision of society free of racism, class
exploitation, women’s oppression, homo-phobia and the oppression
of indigenous peoples’. Yet neither the struggle nor the vision
conforms to European standards. Indeed, there are ‘some aspects of
Tino Rangatiratanga ... that are for Maori only’. In conclusion
Tuiono argues:
It is simply dangerous to assume that what happens in Britain or
Europe can be simply applied to NZ [New Zealand]. Where there
are broader trends that are the same, we need an indigenous analysis
of class struggle and capitalism in NZ not the borrowed writings of
British authors applied mindlessly and indiscriminately to a country
12,000 miles away. The Polynesian populace is overwhelmingly
working class ... our values and outlook are not the same as British