Politics and Activism
Anarchism is often misunderstood as chaos and/or violence. My understanding of anarchism is closely related to nonviolence: it means the organisation of a society without hierarchies, based on mutual respect and the common ownership of the means of production.
Anarchism is not a strict ideology, but rather provides a set of values which guide me in my political thinking and work. Anarchism is not a blueprint for a new society, but rather a vision which can help to create a free society, without hierarchies and exploitation of nature.
Climate justice is a social and political demand that advocates for the redistribution of power, knowledge and wellbeing. It proposes a new notion of prosperity within natural limits and just resource distribution, advocating for a true connection between traditional and westernised knowledge systems. It calls for a public and participatory science to address the needs of humanity and of the earth, principally to stop the climate crisis.
As such, climate justice needs to be anticapitalist, anticolonialist, antipatriarchal, and against all other forms of oppression, and aims for a new economic, political and social system in harmony with nature.
From my anarchist perspective, antimilitarism is always linked to antistatism and pacifism, since it fights against the very existence of the military institution – considered one of the pillars of the modern state. This anarchist antimilitarism has adopted various forms throughout the years, all of them connected to the European and American tradition: conscience objection, draft-dodging, insubordination and, of course, civil disobedience.
Nonviolence is not only a way of life, more importantly, it is a powerful tool for social change. For me, nonviolence is closely linked to my understanding of anarchism. It includes an understanding of power, and the rejection of power over in favour of power with – the power to change the world together with other people.
Nonviolence includes respect for others, and the belief that everyone is able to change.
Nonviolence is closely linked to antimilitarism, the rejection of a system and belief that force and the military can solve any problem.