Exploration of Ideologies: Freedom Bookstore!

Anarchism, you either love or you hate it...

Today we visited the Freedom Bookstore, Whitechapel where we were on a hunt to find a book that would clearly illustrate what anarchism is and answered all the question which some were less eager to ask. For instance, the question on what would society look like if it was based on anarchy, would there be more murders and rapes?

The Hidden Bookstore

‘Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Anarchism But Were Too Afraid To Ask’ (Unknown) was the book that had the answers to all our questions. The answer to the one mentioned above is that anarchism would create a much safer society because psychology has proven that murders, rapists and paedophiles often form that behaviour as a result of a bad upbringing which can be an overall result of a poor society. Thus, anarchism would make sure all people in society are satisfied and violence is decreased. So if something bad has been done to one, they cannot do it on another because they wouldn’t have learnt that behaviour.

The Golden Book

“Our present society, with its values of oppression and violence, creates its own criminals”

The book covers nearly all possible questions that could be asked about anarchism like: what about education? Will we need police? Why is it so bad we have a leader?

For the question on education, anarchists see the education system as ‘keeping up with the Germans’ where England only created an education system after they realised how powerful the Prussian army really was with its educated and technically proficient soldiers. Our ‘National Curriculum’ promotes marriage, political participation as well as equality through the rule of law – thus education is used as a tool to keep people engaged.

Anarchists see the education system factory like where they teach children the same things; obedience, respect to authority and silence. Those who reject these rules will fall behind by being sent to the bottom or be kicked out of school entirely. Ultimately, schools mirror the society we live in – thus anarchists do not encourage education because it keeps the cycle going.

But why do we need police they say? The book explains how in this world people know what they want to do, therefore, murders know exactly who they want to target and that makes it hard for the police to prevent such crimes. Like nearly all things, crime is a product of power and money where businesses would kill off their competition to get rid of them, allowing themselves to win the bid.

Our justice and legal system is said to be a crime in itself, as explained in the book. The book tells us that we spend over £3 billion on the police force – and that’s just in London, but the police are unable to prevent crime from occurring or the legal system are unable to prevail justice. Yet they cost us ten times the total amount of goods stolen. That’s why the book justifies it as a crime.

Lastly, why is it so bad that we have a leader?

Well behind every authoritative figure there is some hollowness – they choose to tell us what to do because their arguments and reasons have failed them e.g. pay a £50 fine. These individuals or groups of people claim they ‘know best’ and will back up their orders with a system of punishment. So just ordering people about creates its own dynamic rebellion. Thus the reason why anarchists choose not to have a leader and rule by their own means.

Our Review:

This book was an amazing text to read and as I’ve mentioned to my group members, I feel as though I’ve been converted into the idea. The book is fantastic at explaining point’s clearly and justifying the thoughts and beliefs of this particular ideology. Many people see anarchism as chaos, but this book really broke down what anarchism is about and answers many key questions. This book questions other philosophies and thinking such as Marxism and Capitalism which also helped justify their points better.

I’d recommend anyone to read this book whether you’re interested in anarchism or not because the book covers possible questions that most may not even know about.