Nietzsche Anarchism An Elective Affinity And A Nietzschean Reading Of The December 08 Revolt In Athens

This book aims to establish the bond between Friedrich Nietzsche and the anarchists, through the apparatus of “elective affinity”, and to challenge the boundaries of several anarchist trends – especially “classical” and “post” anarchism – and “ideologies” like anarchism and libertarian Marxism. Moreover, it highlights the importance of reading Nietzsche politically, in a radical way, to understand his utility for the contemporary anarchist movement. The review of the literature concerning the Nietzsche-anarchy relationship shows the previously limited bibliography and stresses the possibility of exploring this connection, with the methodological help of Michael Löwy’s concept of “elective affinity”. The significance of this finding is that the relevant affinity may contribute to an alternative, to the dominant, perception of anarchism as an ideology. It may also designate its special features together with its weaknesses, meaning the objections of Nietzsche to certain aspects of the anarchist practices and worldview (violence, resentment, bad conscience), thus opening a whole new road of self-criticism for the anarchists of the twenty first century. In addition, the location and analysis of the elective affinity serves the debunking of the Nietzschean concepts used by conservative and right-wing readings in order to appropriate Nietzsche, and of the accusations that the German philosopher had unleashed against anarchists, which reveals his misunderstanding of anarchist politics. The final part of this book applies the whole analysis above on a Nietzschean reading of the December ’08 revolt in Athens based on the “Of the Three Metamorphoses” discourse from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, offering an alternative view of the events that shook Greece and also had an important global impact.

This book aims to establish the bond between Friedrich Nietzsche and the anarchists, through the apparatus of “elective affinity”, and to challenge the boundaries of several anarchist trends – especially “classical” and “post” anarchism – and “ideologies” like anarchism and libertarian Marxism. Moreover, it highlights the importance of reading Nietzsche politically, in a radical way, to understand his utility for the contemporary anarchist movement. The review of the literature concerning the Nietzsche-anarchy relationship shows the previously limited bibliography and stresses the possibility of exploring this connection, with the methodological help of Michael Löwy’s concept of “elective affinity”. The significance of this finding is that the relevant affinity may contribute to an alternative, to the dominant, perception of anarchism as an ideology. It may also designate its special features together with its weaknesses, meaning the objections of Nietzsche to certain aspects of the anarchist practices and worldview (violence, resentment, bad conscience), thus opening a whole new road of self-criticism for the anarchists of the twenty first century. In addition, the location and analysis of the elective affinity serves the debunking of the Nietzschean concepts used by conservative and right-wing readings in order to appropriate Nietzsche, and of the accusations that the German philosopher had unleashed against anarchists, which reveals his misunderstanding of anarchist politics. The final part of this book applies the whole analysis above on a Nietzschean reading of the December ’08 revolt in Athens based on the “Of the Three Metamorphoses” discourse from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, offering an alternative view of the events that shook Greece and also had an important global impact.

This sympathetic critical analysis corrects some popular myths about Kropotkin's thought, highlights the important and unique contribution he made to the history of socialist ideas and sheds new light on the nature of anarchist ideology.

'As the primary liberatory project, anarchism - the project which aims at the abolition of all forms of power, control, and coercion - remains entitled to appropriate the work of one of the greatest iconoclasts of all time. And although Nietzsche was rather harsh on his anarchist contemporaries - or more precisely on a type of contemporary anarchist - he nevertheless in some respects shared with them a vision of total transformation. The notion of a transvaluation of all values clearly remains not merely compatible with, but an integral component of the anarchist project, and the idea of philosophy with a hammer underlies the anarchist commitment to radical social transformation.'- John Moore, in "Attentat Art"This collection of essays is intended to examine various dimensions of the interactions between anarchism and Nietzsche. The aim of this volume is twofold: first, to provide instances of the historical appropriation of Nietzsche by anarchists, and second, to provide instances of appropriations and readings of Nietzsche by contemporary anarchist thinkers and commentators.The volume is thus divided into two sections, the historical and the contemporary, or in other words the periods of modernity and postmodernity. The historical section comprises four essays which consider historical appropriations of Nietzsche from a variety of ideological perspectives from the early twentieth century. Daniel Colson provides an overview of Nietzsche and the libertarian tradition and focusses on the appropriation of Nietzsche by French anarcho-syndicalists. Leigh Starcross reconstructs the ideas of Emma Goldman on Nietzsche and thus investigates an important intersection between anarchism, individualism and feminism. Allan Antliff considers the synthesis between anarchism, Eastern traditions and Nietzschean thought effected by Ananda Coomaraswamy, providing an important post-colonialist perspective to the topic. Finally, the modernity section includes the neglected but historically significant 1902 essay by the British anarchist Guy Aldred who provides an early and brief but very sophisticated anarchist reading of Nietzsche. The book's second section explores the relevance of Nietzsche to contemporary anarchism. At the core of this section are five essays-by Andrew Koch, Franco Riccio, Salvo Vaccaro, Saul Newman and Max Cafard-which from different perspectives deal with post-structuralist and post-modern readings of Nietzsche, and consider their appropriateness or otherwise for anarchists. These specific engagements with contemporary interpretations of Nietzsche are complemented by two essays focusing on specific aspects of Nietzsche's work from anarchist perspectives: John Moore provides an anarchist, post-situationist interpretation of Nietzsche's aesthetics, and Peter Lamborn Wilson considers the Islamic dimensions of Nietzsche's philosophy.

How is it possible to live free and joyful in this world of domination? The key idea Nietzsche offers us is this: don't hide from struggle in fantasy worlds or imaginary futures, but affirm life, say yes to life here and now. With all its violence, cruelty and loneliness; and all its encounters of tenderness, wildness, delight and possibility. The first part of the book is a reading of Nietzsche's philosophy of individual self-making. It begins with his radical psychology of "drives", which understands human beings as always multiple and always open to change. It works through his theories of incorporation, herd instinct, the sovereign individual, and slave morality, to reach the image of the "free spirit" who stands against the norms and creates new values. The second part builds on these Nietzschean ideas with others from more recent thinkers, to develop an "ontology for social war", a framework for thinking through relations of conflict and affinity, power and domination. It addresses questions such as: how do we form groups that are not conformist herds? How do we spread anarchic desires, without becoming advertisers or missionaries? How do we fight, without becoming cruel or cold? While the first part of the book can be read as an accessible introduction to core aspects of Nietzsche's thought, this is not a work of scholarship but one individual's use of some Nietzschean ideas as weapons for self-transformation and social struggle.

The battles between Athenian anarchists and the Greek state have received a high degree of media attention recently. But away from the intensity of street protests militants implement anarchist practices whose outcomes are far less visible. They feed the hungry and poor, protect migrants from fascist beatings and try to carve out an autonomous political, social and cultural space. Activists within the movement share politics centred on hostility to the capitalist state and all forms of domination, hierarchy and discrimination. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork among Athenian anarchists and anti-authoritarians, Anarchy in Athens unravels the internal complexities within this milieu and provides a better understanding of the forces that give the space its shape.