Anarchists need no introduction; they are individuals who oppose all forms of social organization and instead advocate for flat societies where everyone is equal, and where there is no government, no corporations, and often times no private property, although this will very greatly depending on the nature of the anarchism that's being espoused, since they are hardly a unified bunch. The Autonomist Alliance, while it's seen better days, is still fairly strong, and has a long history that dates back to the Yellowstone Demarchy - an example that humanity did not need the God AIs to control their fates - and beyond.
Who the Autonomists AreAutonomists come in a variety of different, sometimes mutually contradictory types. The one thing they all have in common is that they reject hierarchy and leadership positions and instead advocate for any number of flat alternatives to social organization, which range form the demarchist model to direct democracy, where everyone in the habitat votes on a particular policy or course of action, putting the power directly in the hands of the people. The most common type of anarchist is the libertarian socialist, also called the libertarian Marxist or anacho-communist, although there are minor differences between them; this is an individual who advocates the elimination of the state and common ownership over all goods and the means of production, often achieved through the collective ownership of fabricators. They are often democratic anarchists, promoting direct democracy where everyone votes on everything that the community is going to do, although a fair number are also demarchists, supporting a sort of lottery where individuals are chose to serve as community "leaders" for short periods of time, although it should be noted that demarchy isn't just restricted to anarchists. This type of anarchism looks a great deal like post-scarcity anarchism or communitarianism, although the two aren't synonyms since communitarianism often exists within the confines of a State.
A second most common are mutualists, who advocate for a socialist economy that's based on free markets, with its most distinctive feature being the community-owned credit unions where individuals within the community can take out loans to afford projects. These are among the most stable and self-perpetuating of the anarchist forms of social organization. The Verge Consortium practices a type of this "anarchism," but it's not group anarchism so much as it is anarchism on a much larger scale, applied to nations, states, and corporations. Related is syndicalism; this is a type of government where labor unions make most of the decisions and these labor unions get together in a council and promote common policies; Nariac was (and to an extent, still is) the largest syndicalist state in human history. These types of anarchism - libertarian socialism/anarcho-communism, mutualism, and syndicalism are the most sustainable and productive types of anarchism; no other type of anarchism works as well as they do. Adjacent anarchist philosophies include the so-called "extropian" and "anarcho-capitalist" fields of thought; often tied to "minarchism" and "libertarianism." Groups practicing these ideologies often quickly fall back into the state mold, with the exception that the state and hierarchy that they support exists to enshrine their inherent social privilege, which is the primary reason for these ideologies to exist in the first place. These often wind up looking totalitarian and are often lead by brutal dictators; Chile under Augusto Pinochet is the prime example of a libertarian or minarchist state; this doesn't stop people from trying, it just means that they will always yield similar results, since the positions they take will inevitably lead to the same conclusions. |
|
What Anarchists Want
Generally, anarchists promote anarchy; some many be revolutionary anarchist who more fit the bomb-throwing mold, while others may be less revolutionary but no less devoted to the cause. A small but growing number are becoming insular; seeing the outside world as a waste of time and acknowledging that anarchism isn't for everyone, and it's a mistake to try and make everyone fit the mold. Anarchists also tend to promote anti-corporate and anti-private property memes as well, and in general push back against claims that anarchism means "without order." These memes may be subversive in design, or they may be overt. Similarly, they tend to provide reputation and support to Black Bloc activities and Anarchist Parties within the Technocracy, the Consortium, and the Regency, although it should be noted that Anarchism is illegal in the Monarchy and in the Imperium.
What Anarchists can Provide
Anarchists tend to reject wealth and social status, but Reputation is very important, especially @-Reputation. Thus, it's possible to call on anarchists for assistance. Some of what they can provide includes:
- Accommodations. Often whatever is available, although visitors should be aware that private property won't be respected in some cases.
- Backup. Like organized labor, anarchists can bring guns when need be.
- Hideouts.
- New Gear. Mostly from public fabricators.
- Provisions. Also from public fabricators.
- Training
Autonomist alliance Rank Structure
Rank
0 |
Title
None |
Advantages
Rank 0 |
Different Schools of ThoughtWithin the Autonomist Alliance, there are four broad schools of thought. Each of these schools can be thought to form a subfaction within the faction, and out of them are sub-subfactions. As noted above, the one thing that defines them is a rejection of hierarchy and a promotion of horizontal ways to do things. The first and largest of these are the anarchists, who generally consists of anarcho-collectivists; these individuals tend to practice a type of post-scarcity communitarianism and often engage in collective decision making. Anarchists form the bulk of the Autonomist Alliance. The next largest is technosocialism; this isn't necessarily a true anarchist philosophy but it's usually seen as being anarchist adjacent, and is a type of post-scarcity communitarianism that runs on university modes of organization and Intellectual Property distribution. After them are the extropians, who form a broad collective that consists mostly of those anarchists who reject the collectivism of both anarchism and technosocialism and instead promote an extreme degree of individualism and egotism. They often don't even have public access fabricators; every fabricator belongs to someone and so that fabricator must be licensed. Finally, there are the post-scarcity egotists, who are also sometimes called scum. They are often tribal in nature, relying on a wholly reputation-based economy (most in the Autonomist Alliance rely on reputation-based economics, but scum in particular) and who pursue hedonism with a zeal. |
History of the autonomist alliance
To some degree or another, all the various parts of the Verge and Bleed are at least sympathetic to the autonomist alliance; the majority of the habitats got their start or received a massive population boost from people who didn't want anything to do with the God AIs dictating civilization and ruling over humanity like digital overlords, and many autonomists still feel that way, arguing that it was a mistake to allow AIs to run over humanity not because AIs are inherently bad, but because AIs are too like humans for it to function properly. This sentiment is common across all the various schools.
Tracking down the date that the Autonomist Alliance was founded is tricky. Anarchists and autonomists have always been a feature of civilization since the first isolated habitats realized that they had nobody to depend upon but themselves. In many ways, the Autonomist Alliance is for anarchist groups what the Verge Consortium is for governments and states, so many try to find a parallel between them historically. However, any parallel is likely just a false correlation. As a group they don't emerge until well after the Ascension Crisis, when faith in the governments and the ability for civilization to flourish was at an all time low; they maintained their relative strength through the Battle of Storm into the modern era. However, with the destruction of several prominent anarchist and autonomist groups by the Monarchy and the ascendancy of the meta-empires (both modern and historical), support for the alliance has begun to wane again. The rise of the Yellowstone Demarchy, the formation of the Lucullus League, and the integration of several new polities has muscled the alliance out of the popular consciousness, although the alliance still remains where it always was, ticking away.
Tracking down the date that the Autonomist Alliance was founded is tricky. Anarchists and autonomists have always been a feature of civilization since the first isolated habitats realized that they had nobody to depend upon but themselves. In many ways, the Autonomist Alliance is for anarchist groups what the Verge Consortium is for governments and states, so many try to find a parallel between them historically. However, any parallel is likely just a false correlation. As a group they don't emerge until well after the Ascension Crisis, when faith in the governments and the ability for civilization to flourish was at an all time low; they maintained their relative strength through the Battle of Storm into the modern era. However, with the destruction of several prominent anarchist and autonomist groups by the Monarchy and the ascendancy of the meta-empires (both modern and historical), support for the alliance has begun to wane again. The rise of the Yellowstone Demarchy, the formation of the Lucullus League, and the integration of several new polities has muscled the alliance out of the popular consciousness, although the alliance still remains where it always was, ticking away.
Autonomist Alliance Subtypes
AnarchismAnarchists are anarcho-collectivists; these are individuals who work together, often have no private and limited or no personal property, and regulate their community using rules and guidelines that are flexible and voted on depending on the circumstances. Citizens are often heavily armed, public access fabricators can produce almost anything, and having a high reputation score is vital for survival. They tend to be technoprogressive as well, and if pressed, would espouse the use of modern technologies in their quest to create a more egalitarian and flat society, where everyone works together.
|
ExtropianismExtropianism is a type of individualist anarchy. Extropianism is staunchly technoprogressive, but it tends to favor capitalism and ownership of private property and personal property. Contracts are vitally important in extropian society, which often refer to themselves as libertarian in nature, and there is no police, no fire, no military, no mandatory ambulance service, or any social safety net at all; individuals must contract and pay for all of it using reputation. Extropians believe they maximize personal freedom by erasing the state completely, and allowing everyone to fend for themselves.
|
Green AnachismGreen anarchism tends to take a number of forms: anarcho-primitivism maintains the collectivist tendencies of anarchism but rejects the idea that technology is inherently good, since it's the product of a capitalist system based on exploitation. A sub branch called techno-primivitists hold that technology is necessary for living a natural and primitive life, and they often use technology to support their primitivist lifestyle. Nanoecologists who are also anarchists fall into this group, and believe that terraforming of a planet should be done by the people for whom that planet is for, not in the name of big businesses.
|
Christian AnarchismArguably the oldest form of anarchism, Christian anarchists relies on the teaches of Christ to guide themselves, rejecting the existence of the state. They have a collectivist bent to them, with many of them also being communitarian or communitarian-adjacent, and are usually confused for conventional anarchists until their reason for being anarchist emerges. The most widespread Christian anarchist philosophy is Neo Adamism, found on the Diadem structure (a Stoneburner habitat in the Verge and Bleed), which is anarcho-Christian, communitarian, naturist, and rejects violence in most circumstances.
|
Islamo-anarchismArguably, anarchism in Islam is as old as Islam itself; the Khawarj were one of the religion's first sections and already there are those challenging the centralizing of power and the authority in the early Islamic states. The Nadjat and strains of Mu'tazila thought had similar ideas, challenging the authority of unjust Imams (with the Nadjat arguing that if no suitable individual could be found for the position, the position should be done away with entirely). However, modern Islamo-anarchists tend to be small in number compared to other anarchist factions, preferring an Imam-centered type of post-scarcity communitarianism. This is not true for them all, however.
|
Demarchy/PanarchismDemarchism is a type of anarchy that allows individuals to choose what type of government they want to live under, with each habitat or collection of habitats having their own government styles. Individuals from within those habitats are chose via sortition to lead the overall "government" that guides the various habitats, which tends to function more as an an advisory board to adjudicate jurisdictional issues and the like, as well as maintain election integrity and the like. An even less organized version of demarachism is called panarchism, where there isn't much organization at all and individuals are often allowed to claim their own habitat to territory.
|
TechnosocialismThe most organized form of anarchism, Technosocialism isn't even really anarchism in the proper sense, but it is anarchist adjacent. Technsocialism promotes a type of post-scarcity communitarianism but with a flat and totally transparent government that is directly answerable to the population, who nominate and vote on legislation that the appointed ministers of various departments of the government devise. The population also vote on the prime minister, who appoints these officials and heads the government. This blending of direct democracy with representative democracy requires the use of the parliamentary system by necessity.
|
Autonomist alliance Culture
Anarchists are a fractured bunch, with very little uniform beyond "reputation-based economy" and a disdain for hierarchies being traits that they collectively share. However, there are a number of other features that get left out of these discussions: Autonomists usually (but not always) tend to exist in the margins of civilization, and always have. Anarchist historians who reject the nation-state view of history point out that regions like Zomia and Appalachia have always been anarchist by sheer dint of them being beyond reach of the lowland civilizations beyond them. Civilizations, anarchist historians note, only have so far of a reach, and that's true of governments, too. On Earth, that reach was historically limited to the valleys, coasts, and river banks, with the mountains, deep forests, and isolated lakes being places where the state had a hard time reaching. Presently, that now includes the void between the stars.
This has a profound impact on the way that autonomists organize; autonomists are often isolated, and so have to depend upon themselves and their surroundings. For this reason alone, things like anarcho-capitalism have a much harder time sustaining themselves; capitalism, like the mercantilism it descends from requires governments to function and without governments, it ceases functionality and collapses on itself. This would seem to support the view that capitalism is an inherently authoritarian system, but any economic philosophy can work so long as enough dedicated individuals work towards it, and so as a result, there are a number of anarcho-individualist habitat as well, although these tend to be on planets that are more accommodating to "I'll do it myself" rather than the harsh void of space, which requires everyone work together or everyone die ∎ |
Anarcho-FascismAt first glance, the concept of "anarcho-fascism" or "anarcho-nationalism" (the two terms are used interchangeably) would appear to be mutually contradictory. However, authoritarian anti-statism is a development that emerged during the early part of the interplanetary period when the "right" and "left" traded organizational strategies near the first end of Neoliberalism as part of an ongoing shift in "right"-wing thinking, a consequence of the Vietnam War breeding anti-statism into the political right that first became apparent with Ruby Ridge and Waco. As a movement, it supports the existence of the nation but not the state and government, and believes that each nation, or people, should have the right to self-determine without having a government enforce things like multiculturalism and ethnic pluralism on them. In short, these are functionally White and Han supremacist groups who dislike the idea of having to share with people who look different from them. However, the thing about space is that space is big, and it means that existing without sharing is definitely a possibility. So these supremacist and racist groups not only exist, but they practice their stateless authoritarianism free from any interventionism at all. Anarchists tend to see this as an oxymoron, since anarchism is inherently against hierarchies and nationalism as well as statism, and promoting racial or ethnic supremacy is, by its very nature, promoting a hierarchy. |