Anarchist Essays

In this essay, Graham McGeoch speaks about his research of Orthodox Christian influences on Anarchism in Latin America. A fuller version of the research was published in the edited volume, Orthodoxy and Anarchism: Contemporary Perspectives (ed Davor Dzalto, Rowman & Littlefield, 2024). Dr Graham McGeoch teaches Theology & Religious Studies at Faculdade Unida de Vitoria, Brazil and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His most recent publications include, Russian Émigré Theology and Latin American Liberation Theology (Volos, 2023), World Christianity and Ecological Theologies (eds. Raimundo Baretto, Graham McGeoch & Wanderley Pereira da Rosa, Fortress Press, 2024), Theology After Gaza (eds Mitri Raheb & Graham McGeoch, Cascade, 2025). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Jesse Spafford argues that plausible libertarian premises support the classical anarchist conclusion that no one has any moral property rights over land or resources. Drawing on the argument advanced in Chapter 4 of his book Social Anarchism and the Rejection of Moral Tyranny, he contends that neither states nor would-be property owners can impose obligations on others without consent. Jesse Spafford is a Lecturer in philosophy at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, where he researches moral debates between libertarians, socialists, and anarchists. He is the author of Social Anarchism and the Rejection of Moral Tyranny (available open access on the Cambridge University Press website) and various other papers on anarchism including "Social Anarchism and the Rejection of Private Property" and "An Anarchist Interpretation of Marx's 'Ability to Needs' Principle." A complete list of his research and public-facing work is available on his website. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.  

This essay is adapted from Jim Donaghey's excellent collection, Fight for a New Normal? Anarchism and Mutual Aid in the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis . It discusses some of the applications of 'mutual aid' in government agencies and its articulation in nineteenth century anarchist thought to flesh out a grassroots, transformative conception. Ruth Kinna is a member of the Anarchism Research Group at Loughborough University and the author of The Government of No One. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay Keith Jacobs considers the relevance of Colin Ward's work for addressing contemporary housing challenges. It is claimed that Ward's writings on housing offer both a trenchant critique of managerially inspired policies and a set of political interventions that merit consideration. Keith Jacobs is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Tasmania. His two most recent publications are: ‘'Historical sensibility' and its relevance for contemporary housing studies' 10.4337/9781800375970.00010 and ‘Political economy perspectives and their relevance for contemporary housing studies' (coauthored with R. Atkinson and D. Warr) 10.1080/02673037.2024.2359411. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Rhiannon provides an Afterword summarizing some of the key themes in a recently published volume of collected essays edited by Jim Donaghey titled Fight for a New Normal? Anarchism and Mutual Aid in the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis. Rhiannon also playfully problematizes the title of the book, arguing that rather than fighting for a new normal, anarchists should be fighting against normativity itself. Rhiannon Firth is Lecturer in Sociology of Education at the Institute of Education, UCL Faculty of Education and Society. Rhiannon's most recent publications are Disaster Anarchy and Entangled Futurities.  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Matt Grimes discusses the continuing significance of anarchism among a group of ageing anarcho-punks, who first engaged with anarchist ideologies and politics in their adolescence in the 1970s and 1980s. Drawing on the relationship between ageing, identity, memory and nostalgia, Matt explores how this group of ageing anarcho-punks have negotiated their anarchist beliefs, alongside the responsibilities often associated with adulthood and ageing. Dr Matt Grimes is Course Director BA (Hons) Music Business and Senior Lecturer in Music Industries and Radio. Matt's most recent publications are; Way, L. and Grimes, M. (2024) (eds) Punk, Ageing and Time. London: Palgrave MacMillan and Grimes, M. (2024) "I'm not someone who calls himself an anarchist, I am an anarchist". Anarcho-punk praxis and the continuing ideological significance of  British anarcho-punk in the later lives of its ex-adherents'. In: Laura Way and  Matt Grimes (eds) Punk, Ageing and Time. London: Palgrave MacMillan. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.    

In this essay, Dana Williams discusses the many complicated connections between sociology and anarchism. In particular, Williams explores what could be meant by "anarchist-sociology" and the potential for a social science anarchist studies. Dana Williams is Professor of Sociology at California State University, Chico in California (USA). Williams's most recent publications include "The Uncivil Sphere and Anti-authoritarian Movements: Problems of Status Quo Violence, Internationalist Militancy, and Non-state Civil Society" (published in Theory in Action) and "Anarchist and Anarchistic Anti-Systemic Movements in World-Systems Perspective: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Non-State Spaces" (with Spencer Louis Potiker and Jake Alimahomed-Wilson, in Journal of World-Systems Research), and a forthcoming book about radical trust with Pluto Press. Williams can be found on social media at: https://scholar.social/web/@dmw  and  https://bsky.app/profile/dmwilliams.bsky.social Full-text articles available here: https://hcommons.org/members/dmwilliams/  and  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dana-Williams-4 Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.    

In this essay, Alexandria Hollett describes how liberal and conservative approaches to civic education in the so-called United States dangerously position the nation-state as the incontestable organizer of contemporary life, promote national myths, encourage young people to develop affinity for the nation-state, and position voting and other constitutional processes as exclusive tactics for social change. By contrast, this essay offers direct democracy, mutual aid, and direct action as anarchist interventions into the ongoing crisis of civic education.  Alexandria Hollett is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at California State University, Northridge. Alexandria Hollett's most recent publication is ‘No Gods, No Masters: Practicing Freedom through Anarchist Civics' and she is a member of the Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation. You can find her at https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/alexandria.hollett or on Instagram at @alleholle.  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Libera Pisano explores Gustav Landauer's unique approach to anarchism, grounded in a rejection of death as both a literal and symbolic concept. Landauer's philosophy emphasizes the transcendence of individual isolation through community and mystical consciousness, positioning revolution as a life-affirming path to unity and interconnectedness. Libera Pisano is a Research Associate at Nova University Lisbon. Her recent publications are “Resisting Nihilism: The Motif of Entwurzelung in Jonas's Early Writings,” in Hans Jonas: The Early Years (eds. D. Herskowitz, E. Lapidot, C. Wiese; London: Routledge, 2024), 201-217 Hans Jonas: The Early Years - 1st Edition - Daniel M. Herskowitz - Ela, and “Die Grammatik der Hoffnung: Diasporisches Hören und weiblicher Abgrund bei Margarete Susman,” in Margarete Susman: Beiträge zu Werk und Wirkung (eds. M.J. Kudla, C. Battegay, I. Sauter, W. Goetschel; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2024), 317-333 Margarete Susman. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Alexander Sawatsky talks about his recent book, Anarchist perspectives for social work: Disrupting oppressive systems.  Along with a summary of the main topics and themes, he describes how he arrived at the idea of writing this book as well as his motivation to work towards an anarchist informed social work practice. Alexander teaches and is chair of the social work program at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where he lives with his partner, Wendi and his two children, Marianne and Lukas.  His most recent publications are the following: Sawatsky, A. (2023) What is at the centre? Faith, social work & anarchism, Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 42:4, 477-495. Sawatsky, A. (2024). Anarchism & social work. Critical Social Work.   Vol. 25, No. 1.  Sawatsky, A. (2024) Anarchist Perspectives for Social Work: Disrupting Oppressive Systems. Oxford University Press. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.  

In this essay, Leonard Williams reflects on the course of the 2024 presidential campaign in the United States. He then explores some implications of a second Trump presidency for both anarchists and anarchism. Leonard Williams is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Manchester University in Indiana. His forthcoming book entitled Hybridity and Ideology was co-written with Benjamin Franks. Other recent publications include Black Blocks, White Squares: Crosswords with an Anarchist Edge and the edited volume, Anarchism: A Conceptual Analysis. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Jim Donaghey reads an adaption from the introduction to DIY or Die! Do-it-yourself, do-it-together and punk anarchism – the latest volume in The Anarchism and Punk Book Project. The essay goes beyond and before punk to explore the radicality that runs through DIY, in its diverse applications from home improvement to anarchist political philosophy. Jim Donaghey is a punk working in academia, currently as a Research Fellow at Ulster University. You can read his publications at his website. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Alex Christoyannopoulos maps out and discusses the main qualms aired by anarchists about pacifism and nonviolence (around effectiveness, origins and compromises, and dogmatic censorship). He also fleshes out a rejoinder for each, and reflects on the mutual resonances and overlaps between the two.  Alex Christoyannopoulos is Reader in Politics and International Relations at Loughborough University. His most recent publications include a contribution to a forum debate on Andreas Malm's How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a paper articulating an anarcho-pacifist reading of international relations, as well as two pieces he mentions in this essay: a longer paper mapping out the tensions and similarities between anarchism and pacifism, and the editorial to the founding issue of the Journal of Pacifism and Nonviolence. A fuller list of his publications is available on his website.  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Jon Burke describes Qalang Smangus, an aboriginal village in Taiwan which has been collectively organized. Jon makes a case for identifying it as an intentional Christian anarcho-collectivist community, assesses its success, and identifies its internal and exernal challenges. Jon is a former lecturer in photography and media studies at Ming Chuan University in Taiwan, and is currently a technical writer in Melbourne, Australia. His most recent publications are ‘Learning to love fakes: how to overcome the inauthenticity of digital artifacts', for the 2023 conference Medievalisms on the Screen III: Digital Medievalisms and the Teaching of History, hosted by Central European University, and ‘Anarchitecture: Anarchist Principles Made Concrete for the Anarchist Studies Network 7th International Conference, 2022.' Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Jess Dillard-Wright and Danisha Jenkins make the case for an anarchist approach to nursing. Part love note to a problematic profession we love and hate, part fever dream of what could be, we set out to think about what nursing and care might look like after it all falls down, because it is all falling down. Jess Dillard-Wright is an associate professor of nursing at Elaine Marieb College of Nursing at University of Massachusetts Amherst. You can learn more and find Jess's contact information here.  Danisha Jenkins is an assistant professor of nursing at San Diego State University.  Jess and Danisha's most recent publications are:  Jenkins, D., Cohen, J., Walker, R., McMurray, P., & Dillard Wright, J. (2024). Getting Ours? “Girlbossing” and the Ethics of Nurse Reimbursement Models. Health Equity, 8(1), 480-492. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/heq.2024.0059  Dillard-Wright, J., & Jenkins, D. (2024). Dangerous and Unprofessional Content: Anarchist Dreams for Alternate Nursing Futures. Philosophies, 9(1), 25. https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/9/1/25  Dillard‐Wright, J., & Jenkins, D. (2024). Nursing as total institution. Nursing Philosophy, 25(1), e12460. https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.12460  Out of the hospitals. Into the streets. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Cahal McLaughlin reflects on the influence of anarchist principles on his documentary filmmaking practices in societies affected by state violence, using case studies from South Africa, Haiti, Brazil and Ireland. Cahal McLaughlin is Professor of Film Studies, Queen's University Belfast. His recent publications include Challenging the Narrative: Documentary Film as Participatory Practice in Conflict Situations (Anthem Press, 2023) and We Fight For This Land: Quilombola and Ka'apor Communities in Brazil (2024, 62 mins). See more at www.itstayswithyou.com and www.prisonsmemoryarchive.com Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Henry Brown examines the controversial participation of anarchists in the Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War (1936-9). Despite the universal association of anarchism with antimilitarism, the Spanish anarchists responded to the demands of antifascist war in a nuanced fashion, creating a distinctive military subculture based on solidarity, comradeship, and clandestine political agitation. Henry Brown is a PhD candidate at the University of Kent, examining military culture and identity in the Popular Army of the Spanish Republic (1936-9). His most recent publications include ‘The Anarchist in Uniform: The Militarisation of Anarchist Culture during the Spanish Civil War' and his contribution to the Special Issue ‘Iberian Anarchism in Twentieth-Century History': ‘“¡Vivan las tribus!”: persecution, resistance and anarchist agency in the Popular Army.' Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Alex Doyle examines how anarchists in late 19th and early 20th century Cuba grappled with thorny issues of the nation and nationalism in their pursuit of social revolution. Contrary to common assumptions about anarchism which posit that the movement wholly rejects and ignores the nation, the anarchists in Cuba, through their discourse and praxis, cultivated a critical engagement with the nation characterised by a fascinating mixture of compromise, support and rejection. Alex Doyle is an independent researcher. He recently completed a Master's of Research at the University of Leeds with a focus on class, transnationalism and national identity within Cuban anarchism. His most recent publication is ‘Transnationalism, class and national identity in the Cuban labour movement (1898-1902)'.  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).

In this essay, Diogo Duarte proposes a different look at the history of the State, urban planning and social housing in Portugal, by bringing into the picture the often forgotten presence of a significant anarchist movement in the country. As he suggests, to fully understand some of the social and political processes that were underway in Portugal during the first decades of the 20th century, it is essential to consider the threat that anarchism posed to the economic and political elites. Diogo Duarte is a researcher at the Instituto de História Contemporânea (Institute of Contemporary History) in NOVA University Lisbon. He has a PhD in contemporary history with a thesis about the history of anarchism in Portugal and in 2024 he published the book "O Anarquismo e a Arte de Governar, Portugal (1890-1930)" (Edições Fora de Jogo). Recently he has also published the articles "Anarchism, colonialism and the question of "race" in Portugal (c.1890-1930)", in the Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, and "'Um grito de alarme contra a degenerescência da espécie': Homosexuality and Decadence in the Anarchosyndicalist A Batalha in the Early 1920s", in Portuguese Studies, both co-written with Richard Cleminson.  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

This essay introduces a short series of podcasts emanating from last year's 'Iberian Anarchism in Twentieth Century History' special issue. Joshua Newmark highlights some of the parallels and linkages between the Spanish and Portuguese anarchist movements, while Sophie Turbutt explores the key themes emerging from the special issue and what they contribute to research on anarchist history.  Joshua Newmark is a fourth year PhD student in the School of History, University of Leeds, researching internationalism in the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist movement, 1910-1939. In 2023 he published an edited collection on British and Irish solidarity with the Spanish anti-fascist struggle. Sophie Turbutt is a third year PhD student in the School of History, University of Leeds, researching gender and comradeship in the Spanish anarchist movement, 1923-1939. In 2022 she published a journal article on sexual revolution and the Spanish anarchist press. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, David Christopher explores and unpacks the mutually anarchistic and apocalyptic propensities in the early films of David Cronenberg. Christopher positions Cronenberg's films as exemplary of an innovative new methodology of cinema analysis for films following Cronenberg's influence. For more on these topics, see Anarchist Studies 32.1. Dr Christopher is a Lecturer in Popular Screen Cultures at the University of Leicester for the School of Arts, Media, and Communication.  David's most recent publications are: Flexing Armageddon: Displacing Climate Change Anxiety through Soft Power Nationalist Interests in GuoFan's The Wandering Earth, Brill - Youth and Globalization Journal: Cultural Production in Asia, Spring 2024. DOI - tba. Horror and the Cube Films: An Unlikely Vehicle for the Negotiation of Nationalist-Cultural Ideologies, Mutual Images – On Politics of Visual Media, Issue 11 (2023-24): pp. 139-170. (Co-edited and with and Introduction by Dr. David Christopher and Dr. Marco Pellitteri, pp. 53- 59). https://www.mutualimages-journal.org/index.php/mi/issue/view/11/14. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.  

In this essay, Andrew Whitehead examines the two most lethal incidents linked to anarchism in London's history: the murder of three police officers during an attempted armed robbery at Houndsditch in December 1910 and the ensuing siege of Sidney Street in Stepney. He looks particularly at the links between the mainly Latvian perpetrators and three anarchist luminaries then living in exile in London, Peter Kropotkin, Errico Malatesta and Rudolf Rocker.  Andrew Whitehead is an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham and an associate editor of History Workshop Journal. His latest book A Devilish Kind of Courage: Anarchists, Aliens and the Siege of Sidney Street, was published by Reaktion Books in March 2024. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Jayne Malenfant and Hannah Brais unpack an anarchist approach to confronting housing precarity by bringing together existing anarchist scholarship while proposing housing interventions that support agency, anti-colonial work, and justice. They confront the inadequacy of existing housing interventions and propose an alternative vision that aligns with anarchist values of solidarity, agency, prefigurative politics, and harm reduction. Jayne Malenfant is an Assistant Professor at McGill University in Tio'tia:ke/Montreal. Their work focuses on housing, homelessness, community-led research and anarchist education. Hannah Brais is a doctoral candidate at McGill University in Tio'tia:ke/Montreal. Her work focuses on improving practices and policies for people experiencing homelessness. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

This essay examines the rise of 'direct action' as a key concept in anarchist and radical politics over the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It traces the transnational arguments, texts and networks that made this possible. Sean Scalmer is a Professor of History at the University of Melbourne. This essay is a greatly edited version of a recent article: 'Direct Action: Invention of a Transnational Concept', International Review of Social History, vol. 68, no. 3, December 2023, pp.357-87. (An open access version is here).The research and the essay forms part of a research project on 'Direct Action and Democracy: Utopia, Experience, Threat', funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.  

In this essay, adapted from his recently published book, Sam C. Tenorio (he/they) reconsiders the Watts Rebellion of 1965 and its ruinous disruptions, like arson, theft, and vandalism, as a cataclysm that clears material and discursive ground and proffers its own questions of property. It argues that the cataclysmic vantage of the Watts rebellion overflows on a state narrative meant to misapprehend both the political subjectivity of Black people and their conditions of possibility. Sam C. Tenorio is Assistant Professor in African American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University. He writes about carcerality and black radical practice as well as black trans and trans of color critique. His most recent publications are Jump: Black Anarchism and Antiblack Carcerality (NYU Press) and “White Carceral Geographies” (South Atlantic Quarterly).  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Nolan Bennett traces through Alexander Berkman's 1912 Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist an unresolved tension between two approaches to the prison: advocacy for political prisoners and advocacy against the politics of prisons. Berkman's ambivalence between these approaches amid his memoirs and later activism signify the book's importance and point toward enduring tensions in contemporary prison politics. Nolan Bennett is a political theorist and assistant professor of Democracy and Justice Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Nolan's most recent publications are "The Ambivalence of Alexander Berkman's Anti-Prison Anarchism" and "George Jackson's Perfect Disorder." Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Peterson Silva talks about metaphors for freedom among anarchists. He particularly discusses a metaphor concerning failure in complex systems, pointing out that anarchists relate freedom to the deep transformation of social patterns. A list of the references he cites in this episode is available here. Peterson Silva is a writer, translator, and PhD student of Sociology and Political Science in Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil. Peterson Silva's most recent publications are Modelos anarquistas de legitimidade [Anarchist models of legitimacy] and A posição anarquista nos debates sobre privatização, burocracia e meritocracia [Anarchists on privatisation, bureaucracy, and meritocracy]. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Chris Robé explores the origins of video activism from the ecology, women's liberation, and anarchist movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then traces the state's increasing surveillance of video activism and recent debates regarding the value of such activism among participants of the Stop Cop City movement. Chris Robé is a Professor of Film and Media Studies at Florida Atlantic University in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies. He writes about media activism of all varieties and has recently published Abolishing Surveillance: Digital Media Activism and State Repression with PM Press. He occasionally writes film reviews for PopMatters. He is also vice-president for his faculty union, pushing back against the attacks against academic freedom while pursuing creating a quality and free public higher education for all. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Pranay Somayajula critically examines the anarchist movement's relationship to anticolonial politics. Drawing on a rich history of anticolonial movements, from the Kurds in Rojava to the Zapatistas in Chiapas, who have sought national liberation and self-determination without being confined by the nation-state, he argues for an anarchist politics of anticolonial solidarity rooted in a radical conception of nationhood without nationalism.  Pranay Somayajula is an Indian-American writer, researcher, and cultural critic currently based in Washington, D.C. His writing has appeared in outlets including Jacobin, The Nation, and The Drift, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock. He can be found on Twitter at @p_somayajula.  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Christopher Powell examines how sovereign statehood generates an economy of shame that fosters identification with the imagined sovereign.  Achieving anarchy requires a shift in who is shamed and for what, shifting self-worth from ‘higher' ideals to horizontal solidarity. Christopher Powell is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Toronto Metropolitan University. His most recent publication is “Radical Complexity: Using Complex Systems Theory to Think About Social Transformation” in New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry.  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Elena Pagani presents theorising and practices of freedom as interpersonal and intersubjective. She does this through the conceptions of agonistic self-creation and agonistic empathy in conversation with empirical findings from a militant research of radical worker co-operatives in Greece. Her presentation invites us to imagine and prefigure an anarchist utopia where the notion of power would be redundant (without 'archy') in the now, or otherwise, how we could potentially get rid of informal hierarchies. Elena Pagani is an activist and currently a Lecturer in Organisation Behaviour at the University for the Creative Arts. Her doctoral thesis was Organising Equal Freedom: from antagonism to agonism. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Deric Shannon outlines the anarchist analysis and critique of capitalism. He also gives some potential explanations for capitalism's resilience. Deric Shannon is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Emory University's Oxford College. His most recent books are The State of State Theory: State Projects, Repression, and Multi-sites of Power  and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Pedagogy and Place-Based Education: From the Abstract to the Quotidian.  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Sonia Hernández describes the central role Mexican women played in the emergence of anarcho-syndicalist organizing during the early 20th century. She examines the emergence of transnational feminism influenced by anarchist ideas in the Gulf of Mexico region - such women's labor activism left an indelible mark on the greater history of the US-Mexican borderlands. Sonia Hernández is a Professor of History at Texas A&M University. Her most recent publications are For a Just and Better World: Engendering Anarchism in the Mexican Borderlands, 1900-1938 (University of Illinois Press, 2021) and "Gendering Transnational State Violence: Intertwined Histories of Intrigue and Injustice along the U.S.-Mexican Borderlands, 1900-1913," Journal of American History, Volume 110, Issue 2, September 2023: 258-281.  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Benjamin Franks identifies the core principles that lead anarchists to reject participation in democratic elections. It then explores the occasions where anarchists have engaged in different forms of electoral engagement and showing the particular conditions that make some constitutional interventions compatible with anarchist principles. Benjamin Franks is a Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Philosophy, School of Social and Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow. His most recent publications are:  Anarchism, Postanarchism and Ethics (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020) and (2020) “Four models of anarchist engagements with constitutionalism”. Theory in Action, 13(1), pp. 32-69. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.    

In this essay, Carne explores the spiritual dimension of anarchism, which he once assumed was more a ‘political' philosophy about how people make decisions and transact business. He concludes that there is indeed a vital spiritual element and moreover that anarchism centres love and human connection at its core. Carne Ross is a writer. His most recent book is ‘The Leaderless Revolution: how ordinary people will take power and change politics in the 21st century'. His articles, films and other writing can be found at carneross.com. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.    

In this essay, William Marling asks why there seems to be so much rhetoric in/about anarchism. He digs for an answer in his recent book on Ammon Hennacy, finding an answer in the practice of "parrhesia," or speaking truth to power. William Marling is Professor of American Literature and Film at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. His most recent books are Christian Anarchist: The Life of Ammon Hennacy and Gatekeepers: The Emergence of World Literature. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Rhiannon Firth reads from an article published in DOPE Magazine issue 22, which is part 2 of a 2-part summary of her latest book, Disaster Anarchy: Mutual Aid and Radical Action, published by Pluto Press last Autumn. In it, she offers a response to the question: Do anarchist approaches to disaster relief have more to offer beyond state-friendly 'social capital', mopping up the failures of the austere neoliberal state? How do anarchists engaged in disaster relief stay radical, rather than just papering over the cracks in a failing neoliberal system? Rhiannon Firth is Lecturer in Sociology of Education at IOE, UCL's faculty of Education and Society. Her most recent publication is Disaster Anarchy: Mutual Aid and Radical Action (Pluto 2022) and she is soon to publish the co-edited volume Utopian and Dystopian Explorations of Pandemics and Ecological Breakdown: Entangled Futurities (Palgrave, 2024). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Gabriele Montalbano considers the Italian-speaking anarchists of the end of the nineteenth century and their involvement and legacy in trade union movements and strikes in Tunis during the first decade of the twentieth century. This essay demonstrates the connection between diasporas, anarchism, and labour movements, and the place of Tunis in the global radical network. For the English version of the talk: 00.41 - 16:07 For the Italian version of the talk: 16.11 - 30.31 Gabriele Montalbano is Postdoctoral Researcher and Adjunct Professor in History of Colonial and Postcolonial Spaces and in History of Maghreb at the University of Bologna. His most recent publications are ‘Tunis in the Global Radical Web' and Les Italiens de Tunisie.     Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.  

In this essay, Javier Sethness Castro presents a new, queer reading of Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy's life and art. By referencing homoeroticism in Tolstoy's diaries and comparing the anarchist writer's libidinal and political desires with historical and literary examples of uprisings and revolts, Sethness highlights the liberatory potential of queer anarchism and sexual revolution. Javier Sethness Castro is a primary-care provider, author, and translator. His most recent publications are Queer Tolstoy: A Psychobiography and Eros and Revolution: The Critical Philosophy of Herbert Marcuse. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Ryan Essex considers what anarchy could do for health and healthcare. Drawing on a number of historical and contemporary examples he argues that anarchist thinking and praxis is too often overlooked and has the potential to radically alter how we approach health. Ryan Essex is a Research Fellow at the University of Greenwich. His most recent publications include explorations into the intersections of healthcare and resistance and anarchy and health. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.    

In this essay, Clara Vlessing looks at the cultural memory of Louise Michel (1830-1905). The essay compares Michel's domestic remembrance with her international afterlives to explore how an anarchist individual is adopted, appropriated or taken as the nominal leader for many different causes.  Clara Vlessing is a lecturer in comparative literature at Utrecht University. Her most recent article “Campaigns to Remember: Writing in the Afterlives of Sylvia Pankhurst” appears in Nineteenth Century Gender Studies. Her chapter "Scarcity in Visual Memory: Creating a Mural of Sylvia Pankhurst” is included in the newly published edited collection The Visual Memory of Protest (Amsterdam University Press).  Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.  

In this essay, Robert Leach discusses the gradual awakening of British radicals after the sleepy 1950s, especially some of the festivals that they mounted. Robert Leach is former lecturer at Edinburgh and Birmingham Universities, freelance theatre director, and writer. His most recent works include the two-volume Illustrated History of British Theatre and Performance, the biography Sergei Tretyakov: A Revolutionary Writer in Stalin's Russia, and the poetry collection Unraveled Knots. Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365 Artwork by Sam G: https://www.instagram.com/passerinecreations

In this essay, Chi Shing LEE discusses the relationship between anarchism and nationalism. He introduces the anarchist thought of Ng Chung-yin, an important anarchist figure in Hong Kong during the early 1970s, and elaborates how his anarchism exposes the contingency of the concept of national origin. Chi Shing LEE is a PhD Candidate at Chinese University of Hong Kong. His most recent publication is "The utopian homeland: new left internationalism, diasporic Chinese nationalism, and anarchism in Hong Kong, 1969–1973.” The Global Sixties: An Interdisciplinary Journal 16 (1): 1-21.  Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, adapted from his recently published book, Anarchist Atheist Punk Rock Teacher, DaN McKee reflects on his personal experiences with the inner conflict of being an anarchist teacher working within a school-system built on discipline and control.  He looks back on his misguided attempts to subvert such systems through strict adherence to their absurd rules, and the more successful moments of subversion that came when he restored humanity and horizontalism to his classroom. DaN McKee received his PhD from Cardiff University in 2009 and is currently Head of Theology and Philosophy at a secondary school in the West Midlands.  Alongside Anarchist Atheist Punk Rock Teacher: A Memoir of Struggle, Grief, Philosophy and Hope (out now on Earth Island), his recent publications include Authentic Democracy: An Ethical Justification of Anarchism  and ‘Character Flaws – An Anarchist Critique of Character Education in England's Secondary Schools' in Anarchist Studies. His forthcoming paper, ‘An Error of Punishment Defences in the Context of Schooling' will be published in the Journal of Philosophy of Education soon. DaN also produces music under the name of Strangely Shaped By Fathers and runs the websites www.philosophyunleashed.com and www.everythingdanmckee.com  Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Pablo Angel Lugo analyzes the involvement of anarchists in assisting illegal immigrants through the production of forged documents, facilitating their lawful settlement in the UK between 2015 and 2019. Pablo Angel Lugo is the sole judicial expert in Public Art in Mexico. His recent publications include "Theft, Plagiarism, and Destruction: Violated Creators and Artists" and "Practices of Disobedience and Clandestine Citizenship: A Proposal Towards an Anarchist Theory of Art." The latter examines a phenomenon that occurred in the UK between 2015 and 2019, where a group of anarchists assisted illegal immigrants by producing forged documents that facilitated their legal settlement in the country. 00.38 -14:43 English 14:48 – 28:42 Spanish Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Richard White encourages us to think about why anarchists should embrace the plight of farmed animals, insects and more than human worlds. If anarchism is a understood as a ‘purity of rebellion' then how might we reflect this more fully in own praxis? Richard is a Reader in Human Geography at Sheffield Hallam University. Richard's most recent publications are ‘Critical Animal Studies and Activism' (2023) and ‘Vegan Geographies: Spaces beyond violences, ethics beyond speciesism' (2022). Details of these and other publications can be found here.   Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Jesse Cohn reconsiders the European anarchist tradition's place in modernity. How might our commitments to modernity's foundations compromise our alliances with peoples whom modernity has marginalized? Can we disentangle anarchism from those assumptions? Jesse Cohn teaches English at Purdue Northwest in Indiana. His most recent publications are his translation of Daniel Colson's A Little Philosophical Lexicon of Anarchism from Proudhon to Deleuze and (with Eugene Kuchinov) a translation of Abba Gordin's revolutionary fable, Why? Or, How a Peasant Got Into the Land of Anarchy. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Spencer Beswick argues that anarchist infrastructure, values, and tactics played a key role in the development of militant antifascism in the late twentieth century United States. He explores how anarchists in Anti-Racist Action (1987-2013) and Love and Rage (1989-1998) confronted fascists in the streets while also organizing radical movements that sought to address the root causes of the broader social crisis. Spencer Beswick is a PhD Candidate at Cornell University writing a dissertation titled “Love and Rage: Revolutionary Anarchism in the Late Twentieth Century.” His most recent publications are “From the Ashes of the Old: Anarchism Reborn in a Counterrevolutionary Age (1970s-1990s)” in Anarchist Studies and “Defending Democracy Through Elections Won't Be Enough to Stop Fascism” in Truthout. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.  

In this essay, Chris Rossdale reflects on the status of rebellion as a political concept. While Extinction Rebellion have been the most prominent advocates of rebellion in recent times, the essay also looks at right-wing mobilisations in order to situate rebellion as entangled with liberal citizenship and bourgeois freedom. Nevertheless the essay closes by arguing that rebellion is essential to anarchist politics, turning to Black Anarchism for a more radical conception. Chris is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Bristol. They write about social movements, rebellious politics, and militarism and state violence. Their recent publications have engaged with the Black Panther Party as radical theorists of racial militarism and security, and explored the continuities between the arms trade and police power. They tweet at @crossdale. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.

Saidiya Hartman asks, “Is love a synonym for abolition?”. bell hooks writes that “true love requires an ongoing commitment to constructive struggle and change”. This essay proposes that anarchism is a practice of honest, dedicated and expansive love that opens our lives and our political societies to the possibility of transformation. Charlotte Lowell is an undergraduate student at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, where they investigate ‘how things change' in the context of love, physics and anarchism. This episode of ‘Anarchist Essays' was supported by a grant from The Lipman-Miliband Trust. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Nora Ziegler critically explores “radical hospitality” as a diversity of tactics that co-construct relationships of mutual aid across differences of power. Her reflections are based on her experience of living and working in the London Catholic Worker's house of hospitality for migrants with no recourse to public funds. Nora Ziegler is an independent researcher and writer, active in mutual aid and union organising. Her most recent publications are “Power Relations in Grassroots Groups: An Anarchist Dialectics” and “Herd Mentality, Deathbed Radicalism and Other Things On My Not-To-Do List”. This episode of ‘Anarchist Essays' was supported by a grant from The Lipman-Miliband Trust. Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro Artwork by Sam G.