RE: French 'Yellow Vests' Push For Anarchistic Evolution? Referendum Initiated by Citizens?
Is he making a statement of the principles of anarchy? I think yes and no.
Yes, it is in as much as his statements are calling for self-governance by the citizens; but, no, in as much as anarchy isn't really sustainable.
Rather I see this as a call for the establishment of a government that is subservient to the citizens under its rule by design. A government that can be, and often will be, destroyed by its people and rebuilt. A government whose only purpose is to protect the citizens from external threats, leaving them free to interact according to their own will.
My perspective, which I am certain is heavily biased by my life as an American with anarchist leanings, is that the nearest we can get to a sustainable anarchy, is through the establishment of a republic that creates, by design, a weak central government. (Sadly, such a republic only remains free so long as the citizens chose to remain so.)
I'm not certain what is going to come from this movement, but I hope for all those on the street that they achieve self-rule.
Yes, he is not calling for true anarchy and I don't know how much he even knows about it. Having participated in a few anarchy groups online for quite a while, it has become clear to me that most people who call themselves anarchists actually don't really understand what it really is in it's deepest form... So I am not surprised that more people don't fully support it or think it is possible or sustainable.
The deceivingly simple description for anarchy is 'no rulers' - not 'no rules', but simply that there will be no overpowering of one by another. The part that is usually missed is that once someone seeks to overpower another - whether deliberately or not - anarchy no longer exists.. So it is not that anarchy automatically results in violence, but that once violence begins, anarchy has ended.
I understand what you are pointing to with regards the sustainability, in that people often do resort to violence and overpowering.. However, any form of government is also a form of overpowering - so cannot be superior to anarchy. The only solution then, that can work, is if all those who wish to survive on Earth voluntarily choose to increase understanding and awareness and balance, such that they are empowered and can help others to be empowered enough to never resort to such barbarism as would end anarchy.
I'm planning to read John Locke's "Two Treatises of Government" this January. I'm hoping that this will give me a better understanding and language to discuss this topic. I know the type of government I would like to live in, and I'm certain that wiser people than I have already written extensively on the topic.
Great ok - I haven't read much anarchist writing, only enough to know that I agree with many of the original thinkers on key issues.