Why is this solarpunk? Because changing society takes people power. Because protests change nations. Because for the last decade protests inspired by democratic anarchist principles have sprung up in nation after nation, from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street. And the after action report of the first two decades of the 21st century shows not just how anarchist-inspired protests began but how they fail - and who takes advantage of that failure.
This article is long, complex, and hard to read. Emotionally hard. It holds some truths that are hard for punks and anarchists to hear.
And if your activism is more than just posting online it may be the most important article you read this year.
care to elaborate? I’m genuinely interested
Well, for starters, MPL wasn’t anarchist-inspired, it’s a coalition movement. Saying it’s anarchistic would be like saying Pride is anarchistic due to the lack of a single formal leadership.
I’ve been in anarchist circles for years, and never, ever saw anyone mention the book “Change the World Without Taking Power”. Most anarchists here are more inspired by older, classical works. I myself tend to critique them for not reading anything after 1950s.
And he must be referring to anarchists here when he talks about horizontalists, because the other political organizations in MPL are MLs, trotskyists, and maoists. What’s insane is that the vast majority of the Brazilian radical left is marxist leninist and pretty much allergic to horizontalism. The reason they build coalitions is because they are in most cases weak and small, not a lack of authority.