From Debate Me, Bro by MK Zariel
q: i worry about possible loopholes capitalist techbros would be able to abuse/exploit. i know that there’s no way to 100% bigot-proof any ideology. that being said - in your opinion, which genre/ school of anarchism do you feel would present the least amount of backdoors for the fascists to try to bust it open to just flip us back to the capitalist fascist hell that is our days
a: in philosophical anarchism, there can often be a line of thinking about anarchy as an idealized system. in the manner of an author or worldbuilder creating an idyllic future, we can speculate about how some aspect of public life might look under anarchism. we sketch out elaborate descriptions of how we’d distribute food, how we’d provide healthcare, how we’d house people, what art and theater would look like, what it would mean to be in trans community, how we’d deal with conflict and how we’d defend ourselves and how we’d defend each other. and then, inevitably, the anxieties creep in.
it would keep any anarchist organizer up at night: what if somebody hoarded resources? what if an interpersonal conflict couldn’t be easily resolved? what if somebody wanted hierarchical power and was really convincing about it? what if somebody was homophobic, racist, sexist, and/or an all-round jerk? we freak out—because of course we do, statism is meant to frighten—and so we try to come up with an ideological solution. some of us might find anarcho-communism to be the best solution, thinking that planned systems keep people’s needs from falling through the cracks. some of us might opt for an egoist or anarchonihilist framework. some of us feel most secure in mutualistic or otherwise exchange-based settings. some of us convert to Discordianism, thinking that imposed order itself enables fascism…okay, maybe that last one is just me.
what we forget, in this doom loop, is the knowledge that, while states are top-down—deciding on systems, laws, norms to be imposed—anarchist spaces adapt. if an anarchist group had a member who pushed fascistic ideology in the vein of tech bros, the people in the group wouldn’t announce that they were prefigurative and this would never have happened if they were BashBack aligned (or vice versa). they would pursue transformative justice, and failing that, kick the individual out.
in an anarchist society, this type of accountability would happen on a larger scale; no matter the genre of anarchism—and every anarchist space, from those as small as a friendgroup to those as large as an autonomous zone, will have people who ascribe to many different schools of anarchism—what matters most is the practice of anarchism. spaces that can provide offramps for fascists, spaces that practice community defense when transformative justice isn’t possible, and spaces that are unafraid to address conflict are more likely to be able to handle potential co-optation than those that shy away from these aspects of organizing.
when researching what informancy tends to look like in anarchist spaces, one hears a lot about tactics that can also look like standard issue social pot-stirring; informants tend to goad people toward tactics they wouldn’t usually choose, start interpersonal conflicts, unnecessarily complicate decision processes, and use drama to distract everyone from their organizing work. at the end of these day, these tactics are not specific to any one school of anarchism; libertarian socialists are just as vulnerable to provocateurs as post-leftist and egoist types are. fascist co-optation and ML entryism tactics present similarly in that any anarchist formation can experience it, regardless of their ideological leanings.
to state my own bias, i consider myself an egoist anarchist, integrating anarchonihilist, Discordian, and trans liberationist perspectives. but if you had to hold me to it, i’d say the genre of anarchism that has the fewest backdoors for fascist co-optation is probably a combination of prefigurative anarchism and insurrectionary anarchism. prefigurative approaches insist on the means of organizing, not only the ends, reflecting anarchist values—making hierarchy in an organizing space impossible to justify—and insurrectionary or BashBack aligned anarchism integrates the possibility of direct action and mutual aid focused on solving present-day injustices rather than aiming for futured ideals. that said, a space with these stated values could still allow for co-optation if their practices around transformative justice and conflict management were lacking. anarchists are people, and people can be swayed by interpersonal harm. therefore, the ability to manage interpersonal harm is more important in a functional anarchist space (or society) than a specific anarchist ideology ever will be.
Comments
18th century notions of…
Renzo Novatore (not verified) Fri, 04/03/2026 - 04:49
18th century notions of ideology for the 21st century wargame, when will youse learn.
I'm working on the ten…
GO3 Fri, 04/03/2026 - 17:48
I'm working on the ten commandments of scenespace. Something that could be universally agreed upon by all.
1. No raping
2. No farting
3. No saying the n word
4. No sex
5. No violence
6. No drugs
7. No smoking
8. Safety first
9. Stranger danger
10. Keep the peace
This is a work in progress.
no don't, stahp!
anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/03/2026 - 20:28
In reply to I'm working on the ten… by GO3
no don't, stahp!
Why 4, 5, 6 and 7 tho? So I…
anonymous (not verified) Sat, 04/04/2026 - 01:20
In reply to I'm working on the ten… by GO3
Why 4, 5, 6 and 7 tho?
So I get your brainlet attempt at sarcasm, but 1 and 3 are nowhere on the same level as the other items, or at least from outside of your messed up brain where rape is an ok form of sexual endeavor.
That was a serious attempt I…
GO3 Sat, 04/04/2026 - 07:53
In reply to Why 4, 5, 6 and 7 tho? So I… by anonymous (not verified)
That was a serious attempt I'm not being sarcastic. Why don't you make your own list?
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