39 Comments

Excellent. Thank you. Most illuminating and well written. God bless you. Amen.

Expand full comment

For decades philanthropic organizations such as the Rockefeller and Ford foundation as well as many others of the same ilk have poured millions into subverting prominent Leftists and their political movements.

Expand full comment

Great piece, thank you for staying true to the root value of anarchism which is resistance to tyranny in all forms. It was also heartening to see Keith McHenry of Food Not Bombs has chosen correctly. I was one of a gaggle of of people arrested in San Francisco in the early 90s for the "crime" of serving food to the homeless.

Expand full comment

I have been deconstructing the philosophy of classical liberalism for two decades, in an effort to fully understand and justify my own ideological inclinations. That process has finally led me to anarchism, which is the inevitable destination when the principles and premises of that philosophy are carried to their logical conclusion.

I finally get here only to discover that even "anarchism" has been, as a movement, undermined by statist controlled opposition. Yuck!

Still, though, nothing can fully mar the joy I feel at finally understanding the truth…even if the truth might not be fully realized in human social life for generations…

Expand full comment
Sep 2, 2023Liked by Paul Cudenec

No one has strengthened my spiritual sword arm more in the last few years than you, Paul Cudenec. Thank you truly 🌳🧡🌳

Expand full comment

There is strong anarchist sentiment and counter-cultural living here in central Victoria through the permaculture. David Holmgren was attacked but resilient

Expand full comment
Apr 7Liked by Paul Cudenec

WOW. GLAD I HAVE FOUND YOU! I have been wondering where I might connect with people awake to the madness, without the overlay of red-pill capitalist flag-waving. I am excited to look into your work. Great interview- clear and concise. Thank you!

Expand full comment
author

Cheers

Expand full comment
Sep 2, 2023Liked by Paul Cudenec

Thanks. I read the article on the funding sources for many of those groups. Interesting.

Expand full comment

Greetings from Florida. Over the past year there has been a motion in my heart towards what your words describe in this piece. It has given me more courage.

Thank you!

Expand full comment
Sep 2, 2023·edited Sep 2, 2023

It's very hard for me to align with any political group or ideology or religious belief. I never really have and I guess I'm not going to start now especially after the last decade of confusion and deliberate attempts at finger pointing and blame casting between all the very well funded factions.

I remember reading a long time ago the phrase "Walking away from the King." I imagine that's what a true anarchist would strive for and possibly those who call themselves libertarians too.

The problem I perceive with all these ideologies is that they tend to fall apart when applied to the "real world." In practical reality, people tend to organize into groups and the inevitable conclusion of that (due to natural forces and human behavior) is that a pyramid structure is established with alpha personality types rising to the top of the heap. And eventually, we get the sociopaths and psychopaths taking up positions either as front men or behind the scenes masterfully pulling the strings and dictating the activity of the herd.

Any movements that attempt to push back or replace the existing order will have to (at some point) look inwards and understand that they will become the thing they were trying to replace. Just read Animal Farm to see how it ends... every single time.

IMO the closest we have come to achieving these lofty goals is embodied in the US constitution. If it has to be written again for a new audience then so be it, as long as the core values pertaining to individual freedoms are maintained.

I think this is all we can hope for unless people want to drop out to a log cabin in the woods which is hardly practical for the vast majority of people today.

Expand full comment

Have you considered that the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence might be the evidence of a colossal con job created by sly lawyers and their legalese?

https://francesleader.substack.com/p/what-does-the-rule-of-law-mean

Even if it was re-written it would still be signed by members of the same enslaved profession!

Expand full comment

Hi Frances! Yes, I agree 100% with that consideration and without going too far down that road (although many others have in various books on the subject) the Founding Fathers of America are no more trustworthy IMO than all the other characters that have pulled the strings throughout history. I understand (and believe to be true) the claims that the British establishment backed off from the colonies so as to rule over them as a corporation via the method of the hidden hand. And America became the largest corporate entity in the history of the world and it still operates under that methodology to this day including it's centralized military, Big Pharma, Big Agra and Big Media operations.

That said, the values contained in the Constitution are more or less noble, it's just that we don't need permission or any written words to validate what we innately know to be true. If given a choice, most of us would prefer to be free and not under the authoritarian dictates of the state.

In practice though, society functions because most people submit to the set of rules as laid out by their government and the legal system and after much consideration I'm not sure a system of industrialized civilization can operate successfully without this set of rules and the acceptance of them by the majority of the working population.

For now, the human species operates much like a network of ant colonies. If this is to change in some way, it would most likely take the form of increased automation and changing roles for the humans involved or a collapse back to simpler ways of life if they are even possible.

Expand full comment

Human values can be as noble as we like..... if they are written and signed by people registered at the Temple Bar, they are null and void. If a contract is signed by members of the same organisation, allegedly representing both sides of the agreement, then they have no more legality than an internal memo. That is the essence of my article (as linked above).

Expand full comment

Well... try proving that in a court of law. (just kidding)

For some reason I didn't see the link (link blindness setting in)?

I'll give it a read. I assume you favor a system of common law or natural law based on basic values of do no harm?

In that case, I would like to see such a system rise up to replace the one we have. As you say, this is entirely possible if the majority of people will it into action and from what I can see it's already happening at a certain level and if everything goes well (we can allow for a few ups and downs) we should reach a tipping point (maybe only 15 to 20% of alignment with these ideas required) relatively soon.

And that could potentially lead to a complete revamping of the entire human experience inside and out much like the transformation we observe of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

I would like to see that.

Expand full comment

"I assume you favor a system of common law or natural law based on basic values of do no harm?"

I have no idea what form of law would be ideal. I just know that one based in the edicts of the Roman Empire must be dismantled because it is creating Totalitaria.

https://francesleader.substack.com/p/totalitaria-snubbed

Expand full comment

YOU are a totalitarian, YOU want to disarm the population just like the WEF crowd.

Expand full comment

Do you have a better idea gun grabber? (Yes I have had a run in with this person, yes she is a gun grabber)

Expand full comment

Well, I don't like gun grabbers... so that's something we have in common!

Expand full comment

You are wrong, I am living in a cabin the woods and it's great, I even have broadband, at least for now.

Expand full comment

Well... good for you! Now apply your logic to billions of people currently living in cities, suburbia and small towns.

Here... I'll help you... it wouldn't work.

And another thing... the minute anything goes wrong in the cities and suburbia the zombies will pour out into the surrounding countryside and beyond looking for anything edible. And the gang members among them will probably want a little more than that.

Of course, I hope things don't get THAT bad, but the way things are going... who knows.

Expand full comment

LOL we are better shots than any of those assholes. They fuck around, they will find out.

Expand full comment

Good luck with that! Hope you got some zombie traps set up for when the hordes arrive in stolen trucks loaded with as much guns and ammo they could loot from the local stores and cop shops.

Expand full comment

Like I said we are better shots then these assholes and we know how to use guns. For example a stolen gun isn't much good if it isn't sighted in. We will snipe them from hidden positions in the woods with "deer rifles" accurate to 100s of yards out. They will stick to the roads because they are as dumb as dirt and they won't even know what hit them. Knowing the territory and fighting on your home turf is a huge advantage, that's for example how the Viet Kong and Taliban were able to defeat the U.S. military with vastly inferior weapons. It will be as easy as the American revolutionary patriots who hid behind trees picking off redcoats...

Expand full comment

You are correct. What some apparently don’t realize is, at the very least, the simple math involved, I.e., the laws of averages and probability.

Nihilistic attitudes have no absolute value, no pun intended.

Expand full comment

You are delusional. I've had this conversation many times over the years with your type. Again, you are simply delusional. There is no defense against reasonably well organized and determined waves of drug gang or cartel members unless you have a well trained and provisioned military of your own.

If the American military had wanted to or been allowed to win in the situations you mention they would have made mincemeat of their opposition. They were ordered to stand down or hold back in all of these encounters.

I repeat, you will not hold off waves of hundreds of attackers. You will be overwhelmed. They will use fire to smoke you out. Then they'll roast you and yours on a spit and move on to the next farming community and do the same again.

They lose a few? No problem. They'll learn from their mistakes very quickly and adapt their strategies for the next community they hit.

They'll attack at night, use stealth, take hostages, and set fire to everything. Or they'll simply lay siege and block your exits.

Hunger is a powerful motivator.

Expand full comment

Lately I've seen a poster in the street advertising for anarchist conferences. I said cool. Then the program was all about radical feminism and the genre question...

I think it just sounds cool to say I'm an anarchist without even knowing what it entails exactly so people identify as such but are just fake.

I can say the more I read your writings the more I feel strongly about being anarchist.

I've never felt the need to include myself in a political group. I think there are good ideas everywhere. But anarchism strikes many chords inside me!

During the covid era I was desperate to see absolutely no reaction from the university students. From what we were enduring I really thought I would have the chance to live a revolution like in the 70's. People were brain-dead...

You can count me in the movement ;)

Expand full comment

In 1997 I was demonstrating at APEC in Vancouver. In 1999 I was demonstrating at the WTO in Seattle. I remember Indymedia. In the anti corporate globalization movement there were many anarchists not just the Black Bloc. While I do not consider myself an anarchist there are many aspects from anarchism such as mutual aid that I like, and I loved working with many anarchists on different issues in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Fast forward to 2023: where the heck did all the anarchists go? It was shocking for me to see so many anarchists in Canada go pro mandates and pro vaccine while I opposed both along with conservative friends.

I strongly feel that the fight is not left versus right anymore. Instead it is freedom lovers versus authoritarians (left and right).

Expand full comment

Woke ideology is not compatible with communism. It’s a bourgeois ideology. In actual communist countries, it’s not prevalent. China regularly mocks the west for it. Also, when the people of China tired of the covid restrictions and protested, the government listened and restrictions were eased.

Anarchism has been used by the CIA since the 60s to prevent communist movements from being organized in any effective way. It’s mostly been anarchists I know pushing critical theory and covid compliance. I actually had to leave an entire group of anarchist friends over it.

Marxist-Leninist organizations and people I know, especially non-western ones (the PSL and CP are compromised) reject woke ideology and are critical of vaccines and Covid mandates. The reason people on the right and left in the western world are conflating communism with woke bullshit is bc the security state(s) are doing a damn good job at psychological warfare.

Expand full comment
Sep 3, 2023·edited Sep 3, 2023

If I remember correctly... much of the Woke ideology stems from ancient beliefs in non-binary deities and mythological characters such as angels or the Baphomet.

Aleister Crowley's influence on Western culture promotes "Do as thou wilt" which viewed from a more sinister angle means "absolutely no restrictions on your behavior" where annoyances like "morality" take a back seat.

I believe it was Madame Blavatsky and her protege Alice Bailey that developed these ideas for the West with Alice establishing Lucifer publishing later changed to Lucis Trust to further these goals.

Not sure if they are satanists per se, but there are some roots in the pagan beliefs of old that state that God is a non-binary entity and many of the mythological gods are hybrid creatures blending human and animal qualities.

Maybe what we're experiencing is simply a resurgence of this cult and their secret societies are enabling the return of these values in the modern age.

I would suggest that the Transhumanist faction (previously The Eugenics Society) has been embraced even more than the others with its promise to uplift people out of their humdrum human existence.

Their members are understandably seduced (seduction being key here) into believing that they will live forever in a utopian state of being where they can take any form they so wish.

To live as gods themselves, as it were.

Kurzweil even gave talks as a female avatar to prove this point.

You can be anything you want to be in the New World. That is the message that is currently being pumped into the brains of impressionable young girls more than any other group.

I imagine it will all end in tears because these ideologies are not grounded in reality.

Expand full comment

Thanks Paul, MA and WS. Thoroughly interesting.

I’m particularly interested in the objections to Extinction Rebellion - i’ve listened to a couple of Roger Hallam interviews over the last few months, and much of what he says (whether one agrees with their methods or not) would seem to be very much talking about dismantling the top down and in favour of local organising as long term solutions and he’s certainly completely critical of the “technology led solution” idea, the total upheaval of individuals lives being sold as the solution with no change required for the corporations. He also draws a lot of connections between the lurch towards authoritarianism, suppression, the total disregard for humanity and nature of the rapacious and predatory capitalist system.

I guess i need to read your pieces on it to discover more...

I do however notice a worrying rejection by many of not only the ludicrous and non solutions being pushed on the people, which are nothing more than further methods of control, but also the premise that there is, environmentally, something to worry about. Chucking the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. A trend i have to say that i find most worrying.

When you have a moment, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

Glad to have, at long last it would seem, discovered your work.

Expand full comment
author

I certainly wouldn't suggest that there is no environmental cause for concern - quite the contrary! However, by shunting that concern primarily into the climate question, for which "solutions" are to be sold, the system not only distracts attention from wider issues of industrial destruction and contamination, but also encourages accelerated "sustainable" development - the Fourth Industrial Revolution - which can only make matters worse. Additionally, you're right, this manipulation risks putting many people right off environmental thinking as a whole - another "win" for the industrialist profiteers!

Expand full comment

Anarchy (which just means equality under the law AKA 'no rulers') is the default way of transacting in the modern world. Those who violate the principles of anarchy by imposing force/ theft on others are called out as muggers, thieves, terrorists, rapists etc.

The internet is removing any last remaining justifications for centralisation of decision making/ social organisation, and thus 'power'.

The Problem-Reaction-Solution 'crisis' events of the last 25 years (including 'covid') seem to be an attempt by the ruling class to RETAIN their grip as 'rulers' in a society which is heavily orientated towards the rights of the individual.

In the past their right to rule was a given.... but now they need to invent constant imaginary or contrived threats and loads of drama so that they can justify their rule in terms of 'keeping us safe' during an 'emergency'.

This strategy betrays their lack of control, although it also makes this the most dangerous of ages for the same reason that a dying lion should not be approached because it is liable to tear your face off.

Expand full comment

i used to wonder how left movements found the the money to print fancy rally cards and banners. after working in the “institutional left” i now know that the money comes from the very corporations and monied interests that we ought to be rallying against.

our current left has been kettled into fiefdoms that serve corp interests.

thank you for reminding me of what a true, uncaptured left looks like.

Expand full comment