All our lives we are told that authority is essential. Without authority the world would be chaos: This is the message we learn everywhere—at school, at university, on the street, from employers, in the newspapers, on television. Alas, the evidence for this claim is weak indeed. Is the present world chaos due to a lack of authority? Who is on the verge of atomic, bacteriological or chemical warfare which will destroy the world for good—governments or the anti-authoritarian students? The powerful directors of armament factories and other aggressive industries, or the common people of the world who have no power? Everything points to the view that, thanks to the authoritarian organization of society, it is those who wield power who are responsible for abuses. It is authority that threatens us. There is no evidence at all to support the false but current notion that, without authority, things would disintegrate further. On the contrary, it seems clear that societies not built on authority create a type of person less open to its abuse because at an early age they have learnt how to co-operate with others, instead of ruling or obeying, and how to be responsible for others and themselves. Fear holds us back from freedom. Anyone who fails to consider the catastrophic consequences of authoritarian power is all too ready to resign himself to it. —Roel van Duijn, founder of the 1965-67 anarchist Provo movement
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 22:22:19 +0000
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