CONTEMPORARY ANARCHIST STUDIES
A series edited by
Laurence Davis, National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Uri Gordon, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Israel
Nathan Jun, Midwestern State University, USA
Alex Prichard, London School of Economics, UK
Contemporary Anarchist Studies promotes the study of anarchism as a framework for understanding and acting on the most pressing problems of our times. The series publishes cutting edge, socially-engaged scholarship from around the world – bridging theory and practice, academic rigor and the insights of contemporary activism.
The topical scope of the series encompasses anarchist history and theory broadly construed; individual anarchist thinkers; anarchist-informed analysis of current issues and institutions; and anarchist or anarchist-inspired movements and practices. Contributions informed by anti-capitalist, feminist, ecological, indigenous, and non-Western or global South anarchist perspectives are particularly welcome. So, too, are manuscripts that promise to illuminate the relationships between the personal and the political aspects of transformative social change, local and global problems, and anarchism and other movements and ideologies. Above all, we wish to publish books that will help activist scholars and scholar activists think about how to challenge and build real alternatives to existing structures of oppression and injustice.
International Editorial Advisory Board:
Martha Ackelsberg, Smith College
John Clark, Loyola University
Jesse Cohn, Purdue University
Ronald Creagh, Université Paul Valéry
Marianne Enckell, Centre International de Recherches sur l’Anarchisme
Benjamin Franks, University of Glasgow
Judy Greenway, University of East London
Ruth Kinna, Loughborough University
Todd May, Clemson University
Salvo Vaccaro, Università di Palermo
Lucien van der Walt, University of the Witwatersrand
Charles Weigl, AK Press
Realizing Communitarian Anarchism
John P. Clark
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
175 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010 USA
50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP UK
First published 2013
© John P. Clark, 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury Academic or the author.
ISBN: 978-1-4411-2487-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clark, John P., 1945–
The impossible community : realizing communitarian anarchism / John P. Clark.
pages cm. – (Contemporary anarchist studies)
ISBN 978-1-4411-4225-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) –
ISBN 978-1-4411-8547-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Anarchism. 2. Socialism. I. Title.
HX833.C562 2013
335’.83–dc23
2012051337
1Introduction: In search of the impossible community
2Critique of the Gotham Program: From libertarian socialism to communitarian anarchism
3The third concept of liberty: Theorizing the free community
4Against principalities and powers: Critique of domination versus liberalization of domination
5Anarchy and the dialectic of utopia: The place of no place
6The microecology of community: Toward a theory of grassroots organization
7Bridging the unbridgeable chasm: Personal transformation and social action in anarchist practice
8Disaster anarchism: Hurricane Katrina and the shock of recognition
9The common good: Sarvodaya and the Gandhian legacy
10Beyond the limits of the city: A communitarian anarchist critique of libertarian municipalism
This book is about the quest for the free community, the community of liberation and solidarity. It seeks to convey the message that we need to think more deeply and carefully about the meaning of free community, and about the obstacles that stand in the way of its realization. Above all, it seeks to convey the message: “create it now.”
Underlying this work is a sense of horror and a sense of hope. The horror arises from the fact that humanity is in the process of inflicting on the planet the sixth great mass extinction in the history of life on earth, while at the same time we have the means to flourish without devastating the biosphere. The horror arises from the fact that over a billion human beings live in absolute poverty, suffering from chronic malnutrition and other ills, while we have much more than an adequate material basis for a good life for all. A question underlying everything here is why we continue to live in a state of denial and disavowal, and how we might emerge from that state.
The hope comes from the fact that we have long had an answer to these questions, and some have begun to make that answer a reality. The effective response to such an extreme denial of reality was discovered thousands of years ago. This response is that, first, we must do whatever is necessary to awaken ourselves from our deadened state, and to open ourselves up to reality, to others, to nature, to the things themselves. Second, we must dedicate ourselves to a path of liberation and solidarity. And third, we must find, here and now, a community of others who have taken the risk of awakening, and who are following the same path, for this the only way that the path can be sustained.
This work is inspired above all by the experience of community and solidarity. I would like to express my deep gratitude for the knowledge, support, and inspiration I have received from the many small groups, communities, cooperatives, publishing projects, research groups, and collectives in which I have participated, or to which I been close personally, over the years, and which have in various ways helped shape my thoughts and feelings about community.
Among these are A Rivista Anarchica, Black Pearl Mutual Aid and Pleasure Club, Blue Iris Sangha, Borsodi’s Coffeehouse, Broadway Food Co-op, Capitalism Nature Socialism, Centro Studi Libertari, Common Ground Collective, Community Co-op, Crescent City Anti-Authoritarians, Delta Greens, Divergences, Earth First!, Ecosocialist Horizons, Fifth Estate, Freeport Watch, Free University of New Orleans, Frontyard Cooperative Preschool, Glad Day Books, Harvest Moon Co-op, Industrial Workers of the World, Innovative Education Coalition, Institute for Social Ecology, Iron Rail Bookstore & Library, Lha Charitable Trust, Libertaria, Louisiana Himalaya Association, Loyola Greens, Mesechabe, New Orleans Food Co-op, New Orleans Food Not Bombs, New Orleans Free School Network, New Orleans Friends Meeting, New Orleans Libertarian Alliance, New Orleans Philocafé, New Orleans Social Ecology Group, NOLA Anarchists, North American Anarchist Studies Network, Pax Christi New Orleans, Occupy NOLA, Oystershell Alliance, Planet Drum Foundation, Psychic Swamp, Research on Anarchism, Seventh Ward Soul Patrol, Solidarity Economy Group, “Street Named Desire” Collective, University Cooperative Preschool, and the ZigZag Study Group.
Portions of this book were published previously. We are grateful to the following publications and presses for their generous permission to reprint the text.
To Situations: Project of the Radical imagination, a publication of The CUNY Graduate Center for portions of Chapter 2: Critique of the Gotham Program.
To Manchester University Press for portions of Chapter 5: Anarchy and the Dialectic of Utopia.
To Capitalism Nature Socialism for portions of Chapter 6: The Microecology of Community, Chapter 8: Disaster Anarchism, Chapter 9: The Common Good.
To Perspectives in Anarchist Theory for portions of Chapter 7: Bridging the Unbridgeable Chasm.
To Guilford Press for portions of Chapter 10: Beyond the Limits of the City.
To the Journal of Environmental Thought and Education and Sougou Ningengaku (Synthetic Anthropology) for portions of Chapter 3: The Third Concept of Liberty.