Education

Why does the anarchist movement have such an anti-educational bent? Why do we hate those among us who are trying to educate themselves? We claim to be about education, about spreading knowledge, but we get hostile when one of us really attempts to.

When I say education, I mean college typically. I don't mean those of us who are trying to learn how to screen-print t-shirts or photocopy zines, but I mean those of us who want to be doctors, teachers, nurses, mechanics, etc. You know, the people we need.

Let's face it, street medics are only so effective. Workshops will only get us so far. DIY isn't the way we'll win. We need anarchists who can preform surgical procedures, we need anarchist chefs (the way to a person's heart is through the stomach!), that sort of thing.

I'm not talking about creating some sort of "anarchist elite", I'm talking about people who can actually do jobs, and do them well, that need to be done.

This pretty much ties in with my chapter on infrastructure (note: I'll post that eventually as well), which says that we need sustainible organizations to replace capital's structures.

Let's look at the Black Panthers, for example. They weren't anarchist, I know, but they did damned fine work. The BP opened free clincs, with trained pros, to treat their communities. They opened food kitchens, and other structures which needed to exist.

Now think about it. If we managed to set aside our differences, and open a clinic somewhere, how the hell would we run it? I'm not talking about the form of organization used, the funding, or any of that. I'm talking about the staff issues. Who do we have in our movement who could staff such a clinic? Street medics? No offense, but they're just not trained enough, and no regular person would trust us.

Now think about if we raised the funds, and sent a few street medics to med school. Some to become doctors, and some to become nurses. Now, if we had diplomas hanging on the wall, you think anarchists would be taken a bit more seriously? Not just that, but don't you think we'd have a better chance at being successful?

We need more trained, educated anarchists in our movement, to take over when capital falls, and to provide needed services to our communities NOW. The way we're going to take down capitalism, is to not only be ready to replace itwhen it does fall, but to build the structures now to facilitate that fall.