Non Serviam Podcast #24 | Peter Gelderloos on State Formation and Non Violence
Channel: Non Serviam Media
Date: 05/12/2020

When first hearing about anarchy and its aspirations, many people dismiss it as utopian, dangerous, or impossible. If you're an anarchist, you've probably come across this knee-jerk reaction lots of folks seem to have when initially coming into contact with the ideas. It’s in these moments I’m reminded of a quote attributed to Mikhail Bakunin: “By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible. Those who have cautiously done no more than they believed possible have never taken a single step forward.” It’s important to remember that our understanding of ‘the possible’ is embedded in a cultural context that often attempts to cage our ambitions and silence our desires. We who have the audacity to defy these psychological borders and strive for a social reality beyond domination have challenging terrains to navigate. How do we go about expanding cooperation in a world obsessed with coercion? And what led humans to adopt these destructive ways of relating to one another to begin with? There is much to be learned and unlearned and, in this episode, we discuss how states originally formed and how we can move beyond them.

Peter Gelderloos is an anarchist, activist, and writer whose work has come to be known by many as foundational anarchist literature and essential canon for anarchist thought. The titles of his books are Worshipping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation, The Failure of Nonviolence: From the Arab Spring to Occupy, Anarchy Works, and How Nonviolence Protects The State.

Follow Peter on Twitter- https://twitter.com/PeterGelderloos

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