[D66] Two Cheers for ...

[A.O.]

(Three cheers for smashing the state)

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/anarchish-james-c-scotts-two-cheers-for-anarchism/#!

Anarchish: James C. Scott’s “Two Cheers for Anarchism”

    By Malcolm Harris, lareviewofbooks.org
    View Original
    November 7th, 2012

[...]

It’s in this situation, with the anarchist position apparently
rehabilitated for reasonable leftists, that a book like James C. Scott’s
Two Cheers for Anarchism: Six Easy Pieces on Autonomy, Dignity, and
Meaningful Work and Play seems to make sense. With the “A” on its cover
circled in red (a symbol first used in 1868 by the Federal Council of
Spain but popularized in Italy in the late 1960s), Two Cheers might at
first appear to be preaching to the converted, but in fact it’s an
attempt to explain and advocate for an anarchist perspective to a
readership not already disposed to smash the state (as the title’s echo
of E.M. Forster’s 1938 slogan “two cheers for democracy” may be meant to
signal). That Scott, an anthropology professor at Yale, even took the
time to put these (admittedly disorganized) fragments of thought into
book form suggests that he thinks there are people who could be
convinced to adopt what he describes as an “anarchist squint” at the
world. Touching all the familiar progressive touchstones (the Civil
Rights Movement, the New Deal) along the way, Scott makes the case for
everyday insubordination and disregard for the rules in pursuit of
freedom and justice.

But rule breaking and insubordination aren’t, in and of themselves,
anarchist, and neither is Scott. Instead, Two Cheers is the best
articulation of an inconsistent mode of thinking that has earned the
deserved ire of committed leftists of many stripes. Espousing a
philosophy that’s one part Bush Administration “ownership society,” one
part Apple “think different,” Scott represents the other side of the
Hedges coin: the latter would eliminate revolutionary anarchists by
excision, the former by assimilation into liberal-progressive
narratives. In Scott’s hands, anarchism is not an insurrectionary
politics but a self-help strategy, a personal faith that promises a
freer and more productive life.

Scott explains his position on revolutionary anarchism clearly in the
book’s preface:


    I believe that both theoretically and practically, the abolition of
the state is not an option. We are stuck, alas, with Leviathan, though
not at all for the reasons Hobbes had supposed, and the challenge is to
tame it. That challenge may well be beyond our reach.

[...]