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Horizon anarchism is a political concept used to describe newly emerging anarchist communities at Burning Man and in the Burner culture. It was introduced by Dale Pendell in 2006 during his Palenque Norte lecture at Burning Man. In some ways similar to the traditional anarchist concept of "building the new society in the shell of the old", he uses the term to denote the current building of alternative structures by planning for a long-term anarchist future, "on the horizon". In the lecture Pendell analyzes, among other things, the relation between the state and cultural institutions like Burning Man. His ideas draw on the writings of Noam Chomsky and Hakim Bey. Unlike some other forms of anarchism, Pendell describes Horizon anarchism as not being opposed to reformism, saying
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I want to see the president, when it comes time to sign a bill, even if [the bill] may be necessary, to recognize--instead of being proud of every piece of legislation that’s passed--to recognize that it represents a failure of our collective social nature. And, instead of giving away all these pens with fanfare, he should light a stick of incense, and say 'My fellow Americans, it is with deep regret that I must announce to you [that], because we could not solve this problem on our own, we have had to enact another piece of legislation. Let us pray we can recover our senses and repeal it as soon as possible.' [1] |
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Some characteristics of Horizon anarchism described by Pendell:
- keeping principles in practice
- reforming the existing system
- planning for the very long-term
- getting together in an alternative society
[edit] Quotes
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Isolation is one of the keys of state power, so it's very important for us to get together and have fun. It is a political act. |
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Just because [the rich] have acquired their wealth essentially through theft, that does not necessarily give us the right to steal it back. In anarchism, the basic principle is that the ends do not support the means. It is our practice, that what we do should be embodying the ends where we want to go. |
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[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Full transcript, "Horizon Anarchism" speech, September, 2006.
[edit] External Links
