what do when hierachies gain support?
how would/could anarchists handle people who want to bring back hierachies in an established anarchist society? not necessary someone who wishes to be at the top of the hierarchy (i can already imagine how to deal with that) but people who decide they want to give away power. they can of course be told by the others, that it is a bad idea but what if that doesn't work? do people have the freedom to enslave themselves? what if they want to establish representative democracy for everyone?
and please don't tell me, it just won't happen because anaechist societies are perfect. even if you don't believe it is possible, let's see it as a hypothetical.
Posted Jan 24, 2022, 10:18 PM UTC
24
They would have all the usual tools available to prevent and dissuade “unjust hierarchies” (protest, petition, meeting, soapbox) but as Nozick theorized, if a group of people in a community feel threatened by outside marauders, they may band together and hire a Protective Service for safety. This makes others in the community have to choose whether to ignore it, hire or create their own, or try to stop it. Nozick tries to show in Anarchy, State and Utopia that anarchism would tend towards this “minarchism” without violating major principles of anarchism - but that is still up for debate.
Anyone who says it won’t happen is wrong. Also, anyone who says there is nothing that can be done is also wrong. But it may ultimately be inevitable as anarchism cannot be an identifiable stasis, but rather, is a creative process.