The Anarchist Aam Admi
"But what about human nature? Can it be changed? And if not, will it endure under Anarchism?
Poor human nature, what horrible crimes have been committed in thy
name! Every fool, from king to policeman, from the flatheaded parson to
the visionless dabbler in science, presumes to speak authoritatively of
human nature. The greater the mental charlatan, the more definite his
insistence on the wickedness and weaknesses of human nature. Yet, how
can any one speak of it today, with every soul in a prison, with every
heart fettered, wounded, and maimed?
John Burroughs has stated
that experimental study of animals in captivity is absolutely useless.
Their character, their habits, their appetites undergo a complete
transformation when torn from their soil in field and forest. With human
nature caged in a narrow space, whipped daily into submission, how can
we speak of its potentialities?
Freedom, expansion, opportunity, and, above all, peace and repose,
alone can teach us the real dominant factors of human nature and all its
wonderful possibilities.
Anarchism, then, really stands for
the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the
liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation
from the shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for a
social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose
of producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee to every
human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the
necessities of life, according to individual desires, tastes, and
inclinations.
This is not a wild fancy or an aberration of the
mind. It is the conclusion arrived at by hosts of intellectual men and
women the world over; a conclusion resulting from the close and studious
observation of the tendencies of modern society: individual liberty and
economic equality, the twin forces for the birth of what is fine and
true in man.”
- Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays

No comments:
Post a Comment