Life, Love, and Liberty

This is my contribution to the last Carnival of Anarchy.

The infamous circled A is a very popular anarchist symbol , yet its origins may not be as well known. It’s symbolic of the seemingly paradoxical — from the standpoint of conventional wisdom on the source of stability in society — statement that anarchy is order. This comment is attributed to the French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon who put it forth in his book titled The Confessions of a Revolutionary. It rests on a conception that sees order as emerging spontaneously from the multitude of peaceful interactions between individuals. The intrusion of a centralized aggressively coercive authority into the peaceful relations of individuals would be viewed as destructive to this harmony.

A comparison can be made between the anarchist idea of order (defined as a relatively stable and peaceful society), as emerging from a source other than a central authority, and the ecological balance that results in nature without divine or directed assistance. A good example of this is the phenomenon of evolution, whereby a balance between animal species and other aspects of the environment is achieved without central direction.

Note: I realize that this post ends rather abruptly, but I was very curious to see what others thought of the validity of my argument. I feel like it may be kind of rough, so please do fire away in the comments section.

The Carnival of Anarchy is the place to be! We’re discussing the issue of anarchism and ecology this session. Its been proposed that the festivities continue until next Sunday.

I want to encourage all our participants and those who link here, or read this, to add their views on ecology and anarchism. To that end I suggest we expand the blogging till the end of the month. That is we continue this blog carnival from today until July 1, which is next Sunday. Seeing the small number if contributions on this important topic of our times I want to see as more involvement, comments and contributions as possible.

Eugene

I second the proposal.