You are not an anarchist, you are a thug

As I sit here in my scholarly exile in Edinburgh, I find myself deeply concerned for the safety of my brother-in-law and my friends who live in downtown Toronto (thankfully my sister and her two year old fled the city before the violence started). I also feel a deep and fiery disgust for the idiotic self centered fools that are terrorizing an entire city. Make no mistake, these people are not anarchists. I sincerely doubt that many, if any, of the violent protesters have an intellectually consistent world view.

I have met many anarchists in my day (for some reason we tend to go to the same parties). I have not met a single one that was violent or irrational. In fact the whole basis of their ideology is founded on ideals of non-violence and rationality. True anarchists believe that we can all live peacefully without the coercion of the state. True anarchists would feel every bit as disgusted at these protesters as I do, perhaps more because they are corrupting a word that they hold dear.

I don’t think that anarchism would work for reasons that I won’t get into now. My point is that anarchism is not only a valid philosophical position, it is also rooted in ideals that are completely contrary to the behaviour of these so called anarchists in Toronto.

Smashing up a coffee shop and burning cars does not make you an anarchist warrior, it makes you a thug.