Add new comment

I have been trying to introduce an-caps to left wing anarchism. Most of them don't actively reject it, but are truly unaware its existence. Many self-identified an-caps haven't read much theory at all outside the Austrian economists. Even having the conversation with these people gets them interested sometimes, and on rare occasion they do come over to the left towards something like mutualism. Unfortunately sometimes they end up going full tankie, but that's another story...

Anarcho-capitalism is mostly an online thing, but don't confuse that as being insignificant or something worth ignoring. Theoretical, intellectual discussions can unexpectedly bleed into tangible action. Don't automatically assume a mostly online movement will remain online.

Anarcho-capitalism is also mostly a USA-centric thing, with some centers of mass in Australia, Canada, and the UK. There are, however, an-caps outside the "first world". Latin America especially has a long history of radical liberalism (land and liberty kind of stuff) in combination with institutionalized neoliberalism which seems to increase the appeal of an-capism. Having openly corrupt governments or incompetent governments also makes people more open to an-cap ideas (more of them than you'd expect in sub-Saharan Africa, India, and Russia!). Again, don't assume there are too few of them to make an observable impact - ideas can expand in sudden, punctuated moments if the environment is right.

On another topic, anarcho-capitalists are much more theoretically interested in collaborating with left anarchists than vice versa, although it's a minority on both sides. Not sure what to make of it.

My background in the free software/open source movement may have increased my initial tolerance for these things. I've always had to deal with an-coms and an-caps hanging out in the same chatrooms and whatnot so it never struck me as odd to have conversations with both sides.