religion

Finding God in Punk Anarchism: Life in a gnostic underground

From Commonweal (February 2024 issue)
By Aaron Lake Smith
January 30, 2024

I sought and found the Holy Spirit elsewhere, in punk music, which quickly led to anarchist hardcore music, radical politics, rioting, rallies, and trips across the world to disrupt World Economic Forum meetings. The anti-globalization movement was in full swing at the time. I embraced this world based on gut emotions, rather than sustained study of all the Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn books we shoplifted from Barnes & Noble.

Saint-Imier: Fédération Anarchiste statement against attacks

About a fascist-like attack that occured during the St Imier "anarchist international gathering" Bookfair, a communication from the French Anarchist Federation.

FA statement against attacks
From Le blog de Floréal
Translated by Tachanka Makhno (on facebook)
July 24, 2023

Anarchists struggle in Burma

From Libcom by Hein Htet Kyaw

This article explains how anarchism used to be in Burma and how it's developing at the moment. This article informs how the anarchist movements in Burma were misdirected by divisive neoliberal identity politics and how they're being claimed back by the anarchists from a class-based intersectional perspective.

The Original Heresy: Homesickness, Civilization, and Transcendental Religion

Flammorion Woodcut

From A Beautiful Resistance

It’s tempting to imagine that this feeling of internal division is a quintessential part of being human, that we have always felt a pull toward the transcendental. But rather than a function of being human, I suspect that it is a function of being human in civilization.

Quakerism, Anarchy, and Everything In Between

Quakerism, Anarchy, and Everything In Between

From C4SS

Quakers or Friends are members of the Religious Society of Friends, a religious sect rooted in Protestant Christianity which is not restricted to any particular creed or theology but rather brought together by an opposition to violence and a common belief in the God, Divinity, and/or Light in all human beings. In A Quaker Book of Wisdom, Robert Lawrence Smith describes Quakerism as “an experiment in religious anarchy.” More extensively, the Wikipedia page (forgive me) for “Anarchism and religion” states:

Patricia Crone on 9th Century Muslim Anarchists

Patricia Crone on 9th Century Muslim Anarchists

From Robert Graham

Patricia Crone (1945-2015) was an academic historian with a focus on the history of early Islam. In her article, “Ninth-Century Muslim Anarchists,” Past and Present, No. 167 (May, 2000), pp. 3-28, Patricia Crone describes two 9th century Muslim groups as anarchist libertarians.

Why “No Gods” – How To Avoid Atheist Zealotry

No Mods, No Authors

From C4SS

With consideration to its present use by anarchists and special attention to context, “No Gods, No Masters” is a statement against authority – whether divine or secular – from which follows firm advocacy of total autonomy for all, the end of the state, and liberation from systems of domination. It does not follow that all religion is therefore authoritarian. Given the choice between secular -archy and religious -archy, the anarchist sees no meaningful difference beyond the language with which the rulers justify their position. Neither one is being honest about its intentions, it’s all about power.

Islam and Anarchism with Mohamed Abdou

Islam and Anarchism with Mohamed Abdou

From The Final Straw Radio

This week, Scott spoke with Mohamed Abdou, a North African-Egyptian Muslim anarchist activist-scholar who is currently a Visiting Scholar at Cornell University and an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the American University of Cairo. Mohamed is the author of the recent book, Islam and Anarchism: Relationships and Resonances published by Pluto Press in 2022.

Catholic Worker Tom Cornell Dies at 88

Catholic Worker Tom Cornell Dies at 88

From Democracy Now

Radical activist and longtime member of the Catholic Worker movement Tom Cornell died on August 1 at the age of 88. Cornell, who blended traditional Catholicism with radical activism, used his actions and writings to bring Christian nonviolence and war resistance to the forefront of Catholic life. Cornell worked closely with Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day and was a co-founder of Pax Christi USA.

Anarchist Online Study Group, on Immediatism Podcast

Immediatism's favorite online anarchist study group is taking a three-week deep dive into spirituality and religion in the anarchist sphere. (See each week's reading list and links to pdf's at https://chi.st/study-group/.) To support participants and newcomers with the reading, Immediatism has available two of the texts for Thursday 1/13 and is in the process of putting out the 10 episodes of the lengthier text for 1/20 and 1/27/22. The Shamanic Trace is PLW's large scale theory of religion -- its roots and its relationship with the state.

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