WHAT IS ANARCHISM

Anarchism is not disorderly chaos - it is society without rulers

Anarchism is an idea about a new social order - a society in which there will no longer be domination of one person over another. Those who cannot imagine a social order in which there are no rulers, or who simply object to it, reject this idea and regard it as the ultimate disorder. However, there are lots of examples, which prove that human beings do have the ability to manage themselves without rulers. All over the world there have been and there still are at present, self-managed cooperatives and various kinds of communes.

Anarchists have a most serious attitude towards the eternal urges of human beings for freedom, equality and fraternity, already expressed in the slogan of the French Revolution. Anarchism is, more than anything else, about the struggle and organization of millions of revolutionary anarchists, who by their activity have been changing the whole world over the last hundred and fifty years.

As a result of the urge for freedom, anarchists object to the common capitalist democracy, in which the citizens are called once every few years to vote for those who will rule over them and force them through physical power or by threat to obey the law - to act according to laws they did not legislate and cannot annul or change.

In the name of the urge for equality without which there cannot be real freedom - as sooner or later, the weaker ones always find themselves poor and "willingly" giving up their freedom to the powerful and rich through coercion, - we call to put an end to the rule and exploitation of human beings. The cancellation of government and private ownership of the means which enable specific individuals to live on the toil of others, will abolish the need to use coercion, which is needed to protect the privileges which result from governing others and from private ownership. This will render any kind of coercion impossible.

For a meaningful affiliation and solidarity - which is not always found these days even within the families of the present social order, and based on the freedom and equality which are essential for it - the new social order will be organized as grass-roots communities. These will self-manage their daily life without the domination of one person over another - with such collaboration that will enable both warm friendship and efficiency. Society organized in such a way, will not only free everyone from the need to work so many hours each day but will also provide full freedom and equality to the female members on which most of the toil of house-keeping and child-rearing is usually forced.

We have the alternative to modern capitalist society, which is becoming more and more fragmented. A society in which the majority of people are pushed to the status of executors of orders, where their uniqueness as individuals is blurred and their wishes are frustrated. A society in which divide- and-rule is the norm, and human-to-human is just a wolf. No, we do not offer the alternative of a fictitious dream of returning to the "golden era" of the past. We do not propose the fragmentation of the modern society into small, independent and primitive units while throwing away all the technical know-how and the knowledge humanity has accumulated with so much effort. We "only" suggest a new kind of organization, which is more rational, more suitable to the human nature, and more just.

We call this form of organization direct democracy. It is a relatively new form of organization in which the political power always remains in the hands of the people, and never delegated to elected representatives or leaders so they will rule us. Every political decision or with general relevance will be brought to public assemblies of the members of the relevant communities, for discussion and consultation. Only decisions supported by the majority will be implemented by those who will be mandated- delegated to do that which needs to be done.

In a society without rulers, those who are mandated to fulfill a social or organizational task will not gain from it other than the emotional satisfaction of being the emissary of the people, meeting a challenge (and especially not substantial or political one). Every person who is mandated to fill a role or to do a job - after s/he volunteered is chosen - will report from hir own initiative on hir activities to the relevant forum, whenever asked - even to the whole community. The forum that delegates a person to fulfill a task will be able to recall hir and cancel the mandate, as will the assembly of the community s/he is a member of. No- one will continue in the same role beyond a reasonable period.

In every sphere of life - including work and education, those involved will be able and also expected to organize themselves autonomously, as delegates of the community or of society at large, within the boundaries of the guide lines provided.

Whenever possible, social and organizational tasks will be done after the 4-hour work day in which everyone who is able to will take part.

All the organizational and coordination tasks - as well as other tasks, in units larger than the grass-roots communities - will be done too by mandated delegates who are subject to the procedures of direct democracy - the same as those within the grass-roots communities.

Anarchism means freedom and liberty for all, but not in the style of "every man for himself"... only in the equal and just distribution of opportunities while taking into consideration the freedom and liberty of others.

Anarchism means equality in the options to live in freedom, liberty and happiness - not a mechanical equality in which every one must be the same as others or receive the same things in the same amounts.

Anarchism means fraternity (social solidarity), but not of the type that asks the individual to sacrifice hirself, hir uniqueness or hir wishes for an abstract "society". It is the fraternity which includes the "all for one" as well as the "one for all". The aim of such a society is to maximize the actualization of the uniqueness of all the individuals which make up the society and their wishes and to best meet their emotional needs, in a social environment that is both supportive and sympathetic, and really care.

In an anarchist society there will be no kind of punishment, jails, army, or police. The application of (physical) force will only follow decisions of the assembly of community members and will be restricted to the treatment of individuals who cannot or refuse to restrain themselves and act in a way that seriously infringes on the freedom and liberty of others (or harms their persons). In all other conflicts, social and educational pressure will be the only measure taken. In an anarchist society everyone will be asked to contribute according to hir ability - both within the working hours and within the social sphere during the rest of the day.

Not conditioned on contribution to society, each person will receive according to hir needs - from within a wide spectrum of options, according to the wishes of each person, and according to the ability of the society to provide.

Everyone will have the option to contribute hours of freedom (to work more hours than the norm) in return for satisfying wishes for extra services, products or vacations.

No-one will be forced to stay within any community - whatever hir reasons are. Everyone will be welcome in every community n which s/he consents to contribute hir share of work and social activities.