Excellent readings of essays which remain as vital today as they ever were. One small point I would make, in "Prisons: A Social Crime And Failure" you quote the annual costs of prison upkeep incorrectly, saying million instead of billion... or at least it's billion in my copy of the essay text.
Not that this really detracts from the impact of the essay whatsoever. Just thought I should mention it.
Keep up the good work.
Was the narrator in the movie "Waking Life"? His voice sounds very familiar.
This is an excellent set of essays. Emma Goldman, unlike some anarchist thinkers (and doers!), does not fail at acheiving that timelessness that she will always have.
i adore her and what she stood for with every ounce of my heart please keep this site going i tell eveyone i meet to check it out thank you for your time and efforts on this project it means alot to alot of people out there
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Brilliant site.
Marriage and Love
Left Wing "Marriage is horrible icky restrictive oppression doomed et cetera"
Right Wing "Free love is an irresponsible undignified diseased doomed et cetera"
Neither side seems to ever be able to reallize that contrary to each sides popular notions...there is no "one size fits all" plan for how humans are or should be. We are all individuals, we are all different. We each have our own fears, loves, hates, aspirations et cetera. Trouble begins when people start thinking they can entice, coerce, or otherwise force a single rule set apon EVERY human. That essentially is the heart of Anarchy...the reallization that there never has been, is not now, and never shall be a "perfect eternal one size fits all plan". Therefore the best possible political solution for humans is...total freedom for everyone (Anarchy).
This website implies Anarchy, but really is just a feather on the Left Wing. Real Anarchists wouldnt be beholden to any social ideology, except that which they choose for themselves (but once the anarchist has chosen a 'lifestyle system' he/she/it has given up being an anarchist and instead has become a conformist...by choice to a system of conformity they themselves chose...such as "being in the free love system" or the "market based system" et al). Real Anarchists wouldnt promote groupism of any kind...left or right (as if those were the only two exclusive ways to think).
Beleiving in and promoting "free love" as a form of freedom from control is at best self contradicting dishonesty. Because any form of social ideology (religion, politics whatever) that are "FORCED apon" via either coersion, or brainwashing, or bribery (or whatever) is totalitarian...therefore a complete contradiction to the "free" part of "free love". Furthermore when forced apon people who dont actually truly want it..."free love" is then oppression.
And either way..."free love" is another one of the many mental limitations of Left Wing politics. Anarchy is beholden to no one, no limitations, no rules, no restrictions. Period.
The tone of this article implies that the "free love" "movement"...
(one sec let me switch to my Hitlarian/Stalin mode)...."will NOT be stopped in its battle to force everyone on the planet to adhere to the philosophies of Free Love. BECAUSE...anyone who does not adhere to the worship of free loveology is a horrible terrible human who is DEFINATELY living a lie. We must rescue ALL humans from whatever lie they choose to believe and MAKE them see things OUR way, and if peaceful attempts fail then we shall employ the final solution against all non-free lovers. WE are the only hope for the future, WE alone know whats best for EVERYONE".
(now ill switch to my jesus/mohamad/messiah/savior/blah whatever mode)
"Verily I say unto thee that any man woman or child who does not beleiveth in the eternal all knowing all perfect church of Free Love is unworthy. Go forth my children and convince the world to become mindless drones to the Cult of Free Love. My holy predecesor who wrote the holy book of Free Love declares "verily tis the only solution and anyone who refuses it is icky and bad and should be guilt tripped, bribed, threatened, defamed, demonized into submission to this most holy blessed, and flawless ideology. Failure to comply will result in permanent banishment to an icky place".
Funny how many ways humans find to convince themselves that conforming to some system or another is somehow "freeing" themselves from conformity.
This website is a Left Wing site, not Anarchist. Left Wing or Right Wing either way its still the same Turkey in the middle...US.
Free Love is a system of conformity and restraint, period. Free Love is only good for, and can only work for those who want it. Which makes it absolutely no different than any other "system" currently avaible in your local social ideologies supermarket. No better and no worse. And apparently like its "opponants" it is clearly NOT above using the usual mind games...ie "lies, false claims, false promises of hope, airs of superiority....et cetera ad nauseum".
When you free lovers go goose stepping out into the world on your conquest to make people submit/conform to YOUR ideologies....just remember that you are individuals scared to stand alone in the dark, who desperately want the company of "like minded" individuals with which to share what you percieve as your most wonderfull journey through life, and you'll do and be whatever you think, and or are lead to believe you need to in order to be in such a group. Also remember that in reallity the only difference between YOU and nazi's, christians, polytheists, athiests, republicans, democrats, gang bangers, kkk, unions, et al, is purely asthetic preference.
To all groups/ists, in the spirit of Darwinian reallity, I wish you all the best of luck and may the fittest conformism win.
I enjoyed reading your post, which recognized one of the most fundamental obstacles to true freedom: categorization. Divide, divide, divide. I do hope, though, that your use of the word, "Darwinian" was a joke. I'll assume it was.
altrough i find some elements of your style a bit alien, i know the problem, and it's really annoying sometimes, how some people labels me at least "living in a lie", when they find out my preference towards monogamy. but, hey!
the ideea isn't that each of us are allowed to have any "perversity" as long as we aren't forcing others to di them? Like in Fourier's rather funny theory (he imagined a society of a complicated system of classes, not economical or of domination, solely based on every person's own ("perverse") preferences, the society's mayor task being assuring, that people with compatible preferences have a chance to meet...) Living free and without letting too much of your soul fixed around anyone is nice, but i consider the other need, to _trust_ someone, to permit yourself to be defenseless sometimes, because you know, that that other one won't take advantages... to relax, and sometimes permit yourself to cry, like a baby, without getting stressed if your partner (in the case of the baby, your mom) will not tolerate the temporary problems and will just disappear... i'm not speaking about masochism, but every of us have our weak moments... so this version has exactly the same legitimity.
I'm as much for open, sincere communication as anyone and I would never try hijacking a declaratedly "FREE!" person into getting stable with me as i wouldn't try (being a hetero) to pick up someone gay who doesn't like my gender... frankly, i wouldn't have any chance for any of the two, so you shouldn't worry for your safety. Gay people aren't gay _against_ anyone, and stable couples, or, horribile dictu, married ones aren't doing it to upset you or to limit you in your freedom. at least the ones that deserve payed attention at.
there are even multiple strategies, maybe i have more than one orientation, in analogy with what in gender terms can be described as bisexuality... it's sometimes hard to manage it, but i guess there's no shortcut for this kind of trouble. :)
so, freedom for everyone, even for morons like me...
será que vocês tem algum projeto de traduzir para o português ou espanhol??????
no aguardo de resposta
milenasou@yahoo.com.br