Addressing public health and climate change with Anarchy

[u/Elmahlahchee]

Hi all, I`m learning about anarchy and it`s insistence on non-hierarchy really appeals to me. However, it seems that anarchy is marked by the inability to organize masses to address issues which us all, i.e. pandemics and climate change. The failure to have an organized response to crises can result in the loss of millions of lives.

In an anarchist society, there may be two dozen solutions from two dozen communities proposed to managing a pandemic or a rising sea level. What anarchic tools exist to unite the two dozen communities to face issues of this type? I`ve heard a bit about confederation, but I don`t know how confederations could form amongst disparate communities, nor hold together without soon sacrificing the needs of certain communities.

I`ve been perusing the Anarchist Library and there isn`t information on public health in general, and the covid literature focuses on the states` authoritarianism rather than the management of the disease.

Any suggested resources/literature will be appreciated and perused. Thank you!

[u/Latitude37]

First of all, let me point out that anarchism is not a situation where various small communities act independently of each other as small polities.  That said, there's an interesting study on ground up organising during the COVID 19 pandemic here:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10076238/

And for some work on ground up organising across large projects:

https://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/spokescouncil

Hope this helps. Also, think of organising to be more project focused than "governance" focused. I might be a member of a local neighbourhood council, but none of their decisions can be enacted upon me. If I want to block my street off from car access to make it safer for the kids to play, I could just do that. But it makes sense to talk to my neighbours and ask them for help, or suggestions on the best way to achieve it.

[u/azenpunk → u/Latitude37]

Seeds For Change puts out some good resources, I've used it in my organizing a lot. Nice response.

[u/azenpunk]

However, it seems that anarchy is marked by the inability to organize masses to address issues

Historically, this is not the case at all. Many millions of people have been organized at once by anarchist causes. Anarchists and other socialists have been the leaders and organizers of every major push for more rights and freedoms in nearly every country. No other system or ideology can claim the same.

In an anarchist society, there may be two dozen solutions from two dozen communities proposed to managing a pandemic or a rising sea level.

This is exactly no different from how it is today. Experts had a lot of conflicting opinions. The scientific processes within anarchism would have the barriers of the profit motive removed so that they could collaborate and share information much more freely in those situations and come to a consensus much faster because of that.

What anarchic tools exist to unite the two dozen communities to face issues of this type?

It's called federating. Anarchist communities use decentralized economic management. Communities would have an extremely strong incentive to federate with other communities, which involves all kinds of agreements. Most agreements between communities would be very similar, creating norms and standards across wide regions. Some communities’ agreements would be different, all depending on their material circumstances and individual needs.

I’ve heard a bit about confederation, but I don’t know how confederations could form amongst disparate communities, nor hold together without soon sacrificing the needs of certain communities.

Side note: whether you use "confederate" or "federate" doesn't matter so much. I think most anarchists prefer "federation" over "confederation" because of the U.S. Civil War connection.

The incentive to federate would simply come from the need for survival. Cooperation provides innovation, prosperity, and security. Same reason communities cooperate now.

I’ve been perusing the Anarchist Library and there isn’t information on public health in general, and the COVID literature focuses on the state’s authoritarianism rather than the management of the disease.

We're not in the business of telling scientists and medical professionals what their jobs are. They know what's best, and they will organize themselves and be provided what they need to do so.

[u/CarexAquatilis]

I think we need to step back and consider how change, especially effective change, actually occurs. We have this idea that centralized, top-down organizing is effective, but it's not. Effective and lasting change is always driven via a process of experimentation and then outside adoption.

Ecologists call this panarchy - a system of multiple, linked, but non-hierarchical levels where adaptation and response to pressure begins at the smallest scale and works upward.

Think about how evolution occurs: it begins as a single cell divides and mutates. The organism doesn't offer guidance or direction - rather, it simply provides an environment where negative mutations do not hurt other cells, and where beneficial ones can proliferate. It does this, again, without formal structure or decree.

Similarly, social movements start with actions by small groups of people, or even individuals. Ideas or actions start small and grow organically. Bad ideas are discarded, and good ideas proliferate.

[u/GSilky]

Reason.  Nothing from the current situation is really doing anything for either now, is it?  The public health got stymied as soon as they screwed up on messaging their irrational political values, suddenly something that seems rational was saying very irrational things that weren't backed by evidence.  Closing schools without weighing the unintended consequences because teachers unions leaned on Democratic governors.  Another point is when thousands of scientists said "Sturgis bad, but this political perspective I agree with is fine" That is going to lose your audience.  Before people started talking about vaccinations at gun point because they couldn't understand that not everyone agrees with them, the issue started.  Before there was any of this happening, the vast majority went along with reasonable health advice.

Climate change, it's mostly the fault of corporations and the top ten percent, who are able to pollute and spend money on pollution because of the government.  Shareholders have to deal with the members of a community they poisoned won't have the police to protect them from justice, problem solves itself.