Anarchism has always sounded ominous to my ears. Just
recently I have discovered that there is more to anarchism than the sole
ambition to break the existing foundations of society apart. Firstly anarchism tries to redefine the
concept of work understood generally as activity which produces wealth or
ownership. Work has more to do with creation of values. People with no work or
propensity to laziness tend to be also productive and innovative. In this sense
also employment can generate positive outcomes if people are willing to see
increased amount of (free)time as a precondition to freedom.
The most used slogan heard from anarchist’s lips would probably be: Free yourself! Now days many people feel that by working they can achieve money which gives them possibilities to do things they have always dreamed of. Freedom has to be acquired through labor and hard work. Once I have earned my pension I can do whatever I wish. As we can all easily agree this has little to do with actual freedom. Freedom has to be available for all of us whatever our age or current state of life would be. The more we have dependencies or the more we are controlled and restrained by other people, commodities or forces such as religion or ideologies (even science) the less we are free. Most of all freedom has everything to do with individual´s feel of one´s own life. Freedom cannot be objectively categorized; it has to be experienced. We need to free ourselves from at the same time cryptic, constraining and enchanting thinking and start to act according to our primitive traits.
The most used slogan heard from anarchist’s lips would probably be: Free yourself! Now days many people feel that by working they can achieve money which gives them possibilities to do things they have always dreamed of. Freedom has to be acquired through labor and hard work. Once I have earned my pension I can do whatever I wish. As we can all easily agree this has little to do with actual freedom. Freedom has to be available for all of us whatever our age or current state of life would be. The more we have dependencies or the more we are controlled and restrained by other people, commodities or forces such as religion or ideologies (even science) the less we are free. Most of all freedom has everything to do with individual´s feel of one´s own life. Freedom cannot be objectively categorized; it has to be experienced. We need to free ourselves from at the same time cryptic, constraining and enchanting thinking and start to act according to our primitive traits.
Pacifism is a movement or a state of mind which sees violence
or aggression useless when settling indifferences between different human
consortiums. Anarchists feel that war is imminent consequence of states unable
to operate with one another. Wars could be prevented if people would deny their
compulsion as means to achieve something. People would need to become aware of
how wars are actually only methods of possession. Individuals don´t go to war
against each other; countries with objectives do. I like to consider myself
also a pacifist because I feel that wars are only sustained because people are
unable to acknowledge the true absurdity of their existence. Every soldier and
civilian engaged in wars are always victims. Now some might say that Finland
fought its independence on battlefield and achievements of Finnish veterans
should be cherished. The case is not whether I think highly of veterans or not,
I just want to point out how people wage wars without questioning why wars are
fought in the first place. I think that soldiers are also targets of mass manipulation
like us outsiders trying to make up our minds whether to support or resist
different forms of killing. Usually we accept the means of warfare but aren’t
really sure on what terms.
It is some way understandable (yet not acceptable) why many
see terrorism as a way to change the world. Those who have the power are not
willing to let it slip away from their grip. Voting and political participating
are considered pointless because they only uphold the status quo. I believe
that change is possible, yet it requires a total swift in the thinking of the
masses. Everyone should start questioning what are the authorities that we obey
indubitably, which of our values are self-ratified and which implemented
through indoctrination and are we actually free or just enslaved even though we
have a sense of autonomy.
I think in all of us there is a pinch of revolutionary
spirit. We are just so stuck into our shared and silently approved life conventions
that thinking outside the box has become a job for those who have nothing to
lose or who are abnormal. Everyone else has to survive by doing things that
everyone are supposed to be doing. Those chained in labor markets fight for
their right to earn money which they use to pay taxes, to consume products and
to chase a life imagined repeatedly from childhood on and replicated from
foregone generations. We are politically alienated and at the same time slaves
for the system we cannot or don’t want to understand. Even rational thinking
has turned into marginally effectuated activity. It is much easier to be a part
of something that sounds convincing than to try and find out how things really
stand (by using our brains and rational abilities).
I don’t think I could ever really be an anarchist as it
takes so much deep-felt determination, endurance of solitude and rebellious
attitude. I would have to sacrifice more than is personally acceptable. Still I
understand that anarchism is in many ways necessary to set change in motion.
I´m continuing my journey to find my own way of contributing to the battle of a
better world. At least I have revised my values and concluded that something
can be done. I feel that as an educator I have good chances to really make a difference.
It all comes down to how the youth of today (and tomorrow) is able to see the
reality as it is instead of how it is presented to us. That day of realization
will be liberating.
