This piece is the fourth essay in the June C4SS Mutual Exchange Symposium: “Anarchy and Democracy.” Democracy is a word that evokes an array of affective responses depending on time, place, and people involved. For the Patriot movement, democracy stimulates a constellation of ideals, values, and principles.

Anyone arguing against compulsory education will inevitably encounter (a variant of) this objection: “but a child cannot possibly know what is good for them and what they need to function well in society, we need some basic standards that everyone can conform to.”

This piece is the third essay in the June C4SS Mutual Exchange Symposium: “Anarchy and Democracy.” Democracy: the universal war cry of justice. We’re told by the left — both moderate and radical — that all socio-political problems almost always arise from a pure lack of democracy.

This piece is the second essay in the June C4SS Mutual Exchange Symposium: “Anarchy and Democracy.” “Democracy” and “anarchism” are broad, vague, and hotly contested terms. Even if we stick to specific definitions, there are still arguments about what these definitions mean in practice.

This piece is the opening essay in the June C4SS Mutual Exchange Symposium: “Anarchy and Democracy.” Fighting over the definitions of words can sometimes seem like a futile and irrelevant undertaking. However, it’s important to note that whatever language gets standardized in our communities shapes what we can talk and think about.

Mutual Exchange is the Center for a Stateless Society’s effort to achieve mutual understanding through dialogue. Following one of the most divisive Presidential elections in recent American history and a dangerous victor’s contested ascension to power, the political climate is one of intense ideological strife and disagreement.

I am of the ACAB (All Cops Are Bastards) and FTP (Fuck The Police) ideological lineages: even though, as a blameless bastard child, I resent the comparison. However, many who engage in this critique of state-backed mercenaries fall into rhetorical traps at the simplest rebuttal.

The latest entry in panics over social justice comes from my hometown, where some folks have created a list shaming restaurants and foodcarts that were owned by white people but sold “non-European international cuisine.” One of the more annoying restaurants on that list has now closed as a result of hate mail.

The subject of police — by far one of the biggest issues related to gun violence — is not tackled by modern gun control legislation. We can attempt to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals all we want. But until the state stops providing some of these criminals with special uniforms and weaponry to use against us with little to no consequence, and then puts them in charge of enforcing the state’s (or even their own) will, we will be no closer to solving the problem.

Egoism has a long history among illegalist anarchists. These illegalists rejected the moralistic ideals of their comrades, who argued that seizing the property of the capitalist class was an act of reclamation: one that was justified by the unjust nature of the present property system. But the illegalists found this justification unnecessary.

Right-libertarian shills for school charterization like to use the euphemism “school choice,” which is about as misleading as referring to proprietary walled garden platforms like Uber as the “sharing economy.” The charter school movement’s inroads occur, almost without exception, in places where choice has been suppressed by the state. The Charter Mafia hates choice.

At first glance, H.R. 1759 — the “Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA)” — seems like a big victory for animals. TEAPSPA actually seeks to abolish an entire cross-section of animal exploitation. One that is as old as mankind: circus animals. Many parts of the world are already aware that circus animals endure great suffering…

Generally, people on the ‘right’ of the political spectrum are more vocally against abortion. If they do agree with it, it’s usually only in some limited capacity (such as when an unplanned pregnancy is the result of rape or incest). On the other hand, the political left tends to be far more vocally supportive.

Given increasingly prominent calls for a Universal Basic Income (UBI), it is worth considering the extent to which such proposals accord with the principles of freedom and justice. UBI divides opinions and elicits controversy from across the political spectrum because it seems to be both idealistic and fatally flawed.

For many people, mental illness is a terrifying Other to be shamed and attacked. The mentally ill are to blame for mass shootings. Authoritarian leaders are only authoritarian because they are mentally ill. Mental healthcare means locking people up or medicating them until they act “normal.” But this stigma is largely unearned. Mentally ill people are more…

This is the fourth part in a series. Be sure to check out parts 1, 2, 3 and 5. Advocates of gun ownership for marginalized people must talk about one of the biggest threats faced by such groups: hate crimes. Oftentimes, the media confuses this kind of bigotry with mental illness: but bigotry is not a mental illness at…

Whether it be in school or adulthood, bullying and suicide remain tragic facts of life. However, one aspect of the discussion around these issues is often glossed over; compulsory education can exacerbate suicide risk and make children more inclined to be both bullies and the victims of bullying. This increased risk of bullying can also amplify the…

The classic alt-right, neo-nazi, and national anarchist line is that social trust is higher in countries with higher degrees of ethnic homogeneity. They go on to claim that where there is higher trust, there is less crime and corruption, which leads to a higher standard of living. In order to defend this argument, they often…

On the night of April 6th 2017, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syria. This was an attempt at retaliation and deterrence after Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical weapons attack against the Syrian people. Acts of war in the Middle East (and elsewhere) by the United States under the pretense…

Intellectual property ‘rights’ trace their origins back to copyright in literature, from which they have since expanded. With this in mind, it is fruitful to examine how authors can be compensated in the absence of copyright. Essentially, proponents of copyright in literature argue that they see no other way of compensating authors for their work. Indeed, many…