Posted on by anarchominimalism

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Anarchominimalism: a minimalism for extremists

Intro

As the name suggests, Anarchominimalism is a synthesis of both anarchic and minimalistic behaviors and ideologies. The primary intention is to incorporate minimalist processes into the lives of the anarchic to allow us to live free from excess possessions, labor, surveillance, stress, and many more detractors from our autonomy. Additionally, the introduction of anarchic thought to already self-proclaimed minimalists may be a happy byproduct of this project, challenging the preconceived notions of those who desire anti-consumption, working less and living naturally, but who don’t quite see what all of those things do with each other in a systemic sense.

Often, liberation-minded people leave freedom in the ever-distant utopic future, unwilling, and unable to recognize that there are actions that can be taken on a day to day basis to increase one’s daily autonomy. Actions including, but not limited to, a rigorous interrogation of the things that they are beholden to: physically, emotionally, digitally, and temporally. Simultaneously, minimalists are obsessive over simplifying their possessions and lifestyles in order to limit a corporeal, emotional, financial, and ecological systematic enemy that they see as a failure of their personal lifestyle behaviors instead of that of a failing society.

Anarchominimalism, or AM, submits a new alternative life by fusing the systemic understanding and ideological rigor of the anarchist, with the daily praxis of the minimalist, to offer a simpler, more-liberated life to both.

For the anarchists

While the aesthetics of “punk” culture often tied to contemporary western anarchism may seem antithetical to what is colloquially known as minimalism, our scenes are already inundated with examples of anarchists living in minimal ways:

Oogles and train kids carrying their entire lives in their packs
People on tours (musicians, workshop/book/speaking tours at info shops, and convergence hoppers)
Political prisoners inside with only a handful of possessions in their cell
Underground folks traveling light to stay under the radar
Treesitters with nothing but a backpack and a compost toilet
Primmies living simply in the woods
Squatters trying to keep a low profile
Insurrectos burning their gear after a night of fun
Schemers having No-Phone Conversations™

Some of the main facets of minimalism that many anarchists already embrace are things like:

Trying to work as little as possible
Re-using/dumpster-ing/acquiring things outside of a capitalistic structure
Sharing books, tools and resources with each-other
Technophobia and/or a general avoidance and skepticism of technology and social media
Embracing an eco-friendly lifestyle (from eating vegan to making [redacted])

There are numerous examples of unconscious minimalism in our community; bridging the gap to a more minimalistic anarchism doesn’t require a huge leap.

For the minimalists

Some of you are already more than halfway there! There are minimalists who want to travel more, who want to live cheaper, and who want to live more naturally. Some folks just want to simplify their lives so they can stop working the jobs they hate, some try to digitally declutter by finding the perfect dumb phone, some budget their money so they may achieve FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), and some just want to live a nomadic Van Life™.

But there are also self-proclaimed minimalists who spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars chasing Instagram influencer aesthetics, building their tiny homes and vans into Airbnbs, or buying the newest MacBook, all while spending more money on “eco-friendly” brands so they can fit a fashionable bohemian aesthetic. The worst of all are those minimalists who desire minimalism simply so they can improve their productivity at work.

We can’t blame consumerism and then turn around and lift Steve Jobs up on a pedestal because he wore the same uniform every day. The reason we struggle at work or feel terrible about how much we buy or what we wear isn’t just consumerism, it’s because of capitalism and techno-civilization. Civ is killing our spirits, our desire to live simply, and of course the planet and its inhabitants.

While we can choose to live more mindfully, simply, and in accordance with what we believe to be “nature,” we must remember that we are victims of a structure that is beyond each of our individual control, and that there is no amount of ethically-sourced linen we can buy that will change that.

There are several ideological shifts anarchominimalism hopes to offer minimalists:

From being anti-consumerist to anti-capitalist
From searching for a work/life balance to refusing to sell labor
From living ecologically to fighting for the end of the industrial world
From buying less to finding ways to “acquire” what we need for free
From aesthetics to actions

Western minimalists have all the resources to see it, but are often oblivious to the answer in front of our faces. An ideological minimalism requires an ecoforward techno-phobic anti-capitalism, something an anarchist lens can offer.

So what is Anarchominimalism?

Anarchominimalism, aims to bring the benefits of both anarchist and minimalist modes of living into a series of Processes. It is not a manifesto, a pledge, or a set of rules. Actions may either be closer to or further away from the process that is anarchominimalism, but the intention is to provide both anarchists and minimalists ways to alleviate some of the pressures and stresses of living in a world of consumer “goods”, mind-numbing labor, electronic surveillance, and mass extinction.

If one is desiring to live more anarchominimally, some of the following Processes can be performed:

  1. Owning only the amount of things that serve you
  2. Minimizing the amount of labor you expend
  3. Circumventing the economy (Sharing, Repairing, Scamming, and Stealing)
  4. Reducing ecological impact and resource extraction
  5. Removing physical and digital evidence
  6. Limiting digital footprint and screen time
  7. Building skills for enjoyment, sustainability, mutual-aid, self-defense and self-care
  8. Preparing for ecological or social disasters
  1. Owning only the amount of things that serve you

The first Process is what most people call decluttering, or getting rid of all of the extra possessions in your life. The amount that “serves you” is subjective, and designed to be. Not everyone needs to only surround themselves with white walls and house plants. Some people like their dirty punk caves full of zines, and that’s okay. What we are asking is for you to question each thing that you allow into your life. Anarchists are trained to question everything: ideologies, symbols, media narratives, graffiti, evidence, each other, etc., so why are we allowing just ANYTHING to take up space in our backpack/room/tent/squat/punk house? Just because something was easy to steal, or your friend was giving it away, doesn’t mean YOU need to have it. There are many simple decluttering tips (some at the end of this text) that can allow you to get rid of the things in your life that no longer serve you.

What’s important is to think about you, your life, and your threat model.

Do you live alone or with other people? What can/could be communal? Are there things in your punk house that someone left four years ago that everyone assumes belongs to someone else? Are you housed or are you based out of a pack? How much weight do you want to travel with? Are you able-bodied or disabled? What can you travel with safely? Are you willing to keep your weapons or sketchy zines on your person while you are traveling? Is there anything incriminating around your house that should be disposed of?

The amount you own will vary, but it should all serve you. Every black hoodie and every pocket knife should be questioned and verified for necessity and love. Surround yourself, especially if you have your own private space, with ONLY the things that truly serve you. Every single possession should bring you joy and/or have a distinctive purpose for why you need it in your life.

When you’re done decluttering, we encourage you to offer these decluttered possessions to friends and strangers alike. There are always “really really free markets” you can give them to, or mutual aid groups, but please don’t inundate other people with your trash. If its actually trash, and can’t be rehomed or reused, just trash it. Please don’t leave it to haunt your local punk house or infoshop.

  1. Minimizing the amount of labor you expend

It’s simple, but easier said than done. Don’t sell a second more of your time than you have to. Every cent you earn selling your labor is a moment of your life you can not and will never get back. Make a budget. Yes, seriously. See how much you are spending any given month and try to reduce it. What are you paying for that you shouldn’t be? How can you get around that? Find creative solutions (See Process 3). When it comes down to it, less is less. The less stuff you buy, the less work you have to do to pay for it, and the less work you have to do to clean and maintain it. Some of us have nice union jobs, some of us do sex work, some of us do both. But your life isn’t made for selling labor. Life isn’t “what you do outside of work.” Take back your life. Really consider what you are spending money on. Find the trade-offs that make you happiest. If you’d rather sell more labor so you can live alone instead of in a cheap punk house, that’s totally understandable. If you need to work to maintain your health-insurance, work the minimum required hours to keep it. If you have a chance to make a lot of money right now and then take some time off (read: temporarily living your life without selling labor,) then do that. Just try to find how much you need to live the life you want, and then only work enough to achieve that and MAYBE a little extra for saving. Remember, the goal isn’t just survival, it’s freedom.

But is wage labor the only type of labor to minimize?

Absolutely not.

Think about where else you can minimize unwanted efforts in your life:
Are there events/bookfairs/shows/convergences that you don’t want to go to? Ignore them.
Are you in Signal chats that constantly stress you out? Leave them.
Are there people in your life you can’t trust? Dead ‘em.

Minimalism isn’t just for the physical objects in your life weighing you down, it’s about every single attention thief (derogatory) stealing your autonomy consciously or unconsciously. Simplify every thing in your life that you can. Reduce non-essential efforts and find ways to automate tasks you don’t like. Don’t offer your valuable time and attention to people in your life that detract more than they add. You don’t have to be in every single mutual aid group in your area. It’s okay to specialize. If you’re the “gun girl” in your area, just be that, and be that well. Just because you are a street medic doesn’t mean you have to go to every single protest.

You do not have to be a martyr for some mythical revolution.

Reject the messianic self-importance.

Do only the things you love, and work the least amount you can so you can spend more time doing them.

  1. Circumventing the economy
    (Sharing, Repairing, Scamming, and Stealing)

I am trying to reduce my labor, but there are so many things I still need to buy!

Do you? Are there other ways you can get those things in your life? Do you need to be the one who owns it, or is it something that can be shared? Can we question the petite bourgeoisie desire to own things instead of sharing things communally? Does anyone you know have something that could do the trick that they can loan you? Is there something you could fix or make that will fill the need?

Okay fine, you found something you need to own. What next? Well there are ways to acquire what you need without money. Anarchist and illegalist praxis offers many solutions to fulfilling our needs with varying input of capital and risk. The recent anonymously written
Time and Being breaks down ways of acquiring food, housing, transportation, and cash with different levels of legality. For the few possessions that require individual ownership, before buying, exhaust every other alternative.

Acquisition Pipeline
Sharing > Renting > Scamming > Stealing > Buying Used > Buying New

We want the end of the economy. Demand economic collapse. Excuse my French, but destitution of the economy should be our goal. Just because something will actually bring joy to our lives, doesn’t mean we should have to sell our precious limited time for it. The economy relies on theft (derogatory) of the land, its resources, and our time-labor. Steal them back.

  1. Reducing ecological impact and resource extraction

Every object that Leviathan produces is inundated with the energies of the efforts that created it. Every piece of farmed produce contains everything from the sun and water that helped it grow, to the gasoline in the trucks that shipped it to the grocery store. Every smartphone contains the blood of the children who mined the lithium for its battery. Every object contains the energies it took to be produced, so honor those energies in your decisions. Conscious consumerism and greenwashing are traps, but not all of their lessons are wrong. We live in a manner of seemingly unlimited growth, on a planet with limited resources.
It cannot continue.

When choosing to add a new possession as an anarchominimalist, it’s recommended to find something that is high quality and will last a long time. Although it can be fun, circumventing the economy (Process 3) can take a lot of effort, energy, and time. It’s better to acquire something more expensive once and have it last for years than to keep acquiring the same cheaper object multiple times because it keeps breaking. It’s ideal to expend less effort in the acquisition process and create less chances to get caught; as anarchominimalists, we like less.

The less we have and/or consume, the less has to be made, reducing the energy, effort, and resource cost.

Obviously there are other ways to reduce one’s personal impact on the environment like eating vegan or riding a bike, which are wonderful tangible ways to consume less resources. But as anarchists, we often prefer to stretch what it means to be an “environmentalist”.

This isn’t a piece about the specifics of those stretches, but just a casual reminder that only material actions have material consequences.

  1. Removing physical and digital evidence

One of the most important Processes that anarchominimalism offers is reducing evidence that can be held against you or your loved ones. While navigating through Process 1, really consider the value-risk level of the objects you’ve decided to keep. Holding onto souvenirs from illegal actions is dangerous. Sketchy zines and fliers are great resources, but they need to be thought of as temporary sources of information, not things to keep in your room or on your hard drive. Learn from and share the information and then get rid of it. Quickly.

Really consider the ways you “flag” in public with slogans and stickers on your water bottle/car bumper/wheelchair/t-shirt/etc.

Are the “knowing winks” at the cafe worth the “investigative squints”?

We’ve all seen the most ridiculous commonplace (to us) stickers and posters used as evidence in the domestic terrorist cases of our friends. We ought not live life in fear of a spontaneous investigation of our belongings, but as things escalate it is increasingly important to consider the ramifications of keeping those possessions. It’s highly recommended you declutter the clothing worn or tools used on certain outings as soon as you can.

Now digital surveillance is a whole other beast, and one that can be partially mitigated by a slew of fancy counter-surveillance tools like encryption, vpns, Tor, Signal and other tricks of the trade, but frankly the easiest way to mitigate digital surveillance is to
GET OFF OF THE INTERNET.

Delete all social media. Right now. Not just the apps, but the profiles too.
Delete any photos or texts that can possibly implicate you, even if they are on some allegedly encrypted app.

While you are scrubbing yourself from the internet, we also recommend taking time to remove yourself from public information resources that your enemies could use to dox you. Here are a list of personal information aggregators that you can request removal from:
https://msha.ke/securitycultureworkshop

Disclaimer: The authors of this text are not security experts. If you are looking for specific evidence-reducing tips we recommend using Tor to check out the information available at: Anarsec https://www.anarsec.guide/
The Counter-surveillance Resource Center https://www.notrace.how/

  1. Limiting digital footprint and screen time

So now that the wildfires of digital surveillance are starting to wane, it’s time to take a more rigorous personal inventory of your digital life. Now is the time to think about not just the amount of time you spend on screens, but what you are spending those hours doing. We are all familiar with the numerous studies that show how increased screen time correlates to physical, mental, and emotional distress. Let’s honor our bodies, minds, and souls by reducing those stressors.

So what is the right amount for you? We all seem to recognize the importance of No Phone Conversations™, but what is keeping us from expanding that mindset to all corners of our lives? The more technophobic of our friends have been repeating this over and over again as our more chronically-online keyboard warriors defend why they need to have an account on every social media platform, with the location set to Always-On on their phone, or god-forbid, their Smart Watch.

Some of us “need” to use screens and social media for work. Okay fine. But if you completed Process 2, you have already reduced those hours to their minimum.

Some of us use screens and social media to “organize.” We concede that a lot of research on our enemies and our targets is often easier and safer to do behind screens, but when was the last time you got excited about an Event you found online? We all know that all the good Events have fliers that say “Keep off of social media, only share on Signal,” the better Events have small paper 1/4 sheet fliers that someone passed to us directly, and the best Events are the ones shared only by word of mouth directly from friend to friend.

Speaking of friends, one of the biggest excuses of screens and social media is that it connects people and helps us find each other. We concede that they have the capacity to initiate some of that contact, but we all know not to trust people we only know from the internet. Trust isn’t something that can be built online, especially in our circles where cops and informants are rampant. Real conversations and real solidarity are the things that build trust between friends.

So with that, we repeat, “What is the right amount for you?”

Like you did during Process 2, track and see the way you spend your screen time (labor), recreationally or not. Interrogate that. What can you get rid of? During Process 4, we’ve already deleted the worst of our screen time culprits, social media. So what is left? What type of screen time truly brings you joy, and doesn’t leave you feeling like you just touched a cursed artifact?

Maybe your screen time is now just reading and writing communiques?
Maybe your screen time will be limited to watching movies and playing videos games?
Maybe it will include making digital art, movies, or writing?
Maybe it will be limited to encrypted communication with loved ones?

Wherever it lands, consider Processes 1 and 2 in your digital decluttering by keeping only the things that you truly need, and returning your time and attention to your real, embodied, life.

  1. Building skills for enjoyment, sustainability,
    mutual-aid, self-defense and self-care

After decluttering your possessions, labor, schedule, and screen time, what is left to be done? This is the moment to embrace the intangible and the abstract. Start becoming the person you want to be. If you want to be the aforementioned gun girl or street medic, now is the time to start training. There are many avenues to learn these skills. Many available on and offline; classes at community centers and infoshops, zines, books at the library and skill shares. But the best option is more direct. Ask someone you know who does it already. If you don’t know someone directly, reach out to your friends if they know anyone who does. This isn’t just for skills, learning together both builds community, and helps reinforce the teachers’ knowledge of the topic. Once you know enough to help teach, turn around and share that knowledge with others. Build more community, and grow more skills.

Obviously it’s always great to learn the skills that make us more dangerous, but there are plenty of other skills that make us more free. Start learning to grow food or how to forage locally which will help reduce personal impact on the planet (Process 4). Plenty of skills, like learning how to install solar electricity, treating water, and building structures, all minimize our reliance on the State and Civ.

There are no shortage of skills worth knowing, from properly maintaining a rifle to darning a sweater. Learn skills that bring you joy: crafts, cooking, yoga, meditation, etc. Take the time to learn the ways to best help yourself self-regulate. Learn Conflict Mediation. Frankly minimalism is also a skill in itself; by reading this you are already beginning to build that skill.

This is the time in the Process to be greedy. There are no drawbacks to skill acquisition. You will never have to declutter them. You will never have to leave them at your house during a flood. You will always be able to cross borders with them. While hyper-specialization is great, it is also fine to be a jack-of-all trades. Besides, as anarchists we prefer to be “Masters of None”.

  1. Preparing for ecological or social disasters

Skill building and their acquisition (read: community building) are the two most important aspects of preparation for upheaval. Whether it is surviving flood waters or surviving street battles, the skills and community you build will help you be prepared for whatever is coming your way. Emergency Preparedness is something that must be taken seriously by anarchominimalists. Regardless of how much or how little we have left after Process 1, we still need the tools to survive and protect ourselves when, not if, an emergency strikes.

Maintaining a bug-out bag is an absolute necessity. Frankly, it’s a great place to store a few of your less-used, but still mandatory, possessions like Individual First Aid Kits or flashlights. Obviously, if you are already living out of a pack then you already have your set up, but make sure it has staple things like food/water, prescriptions (including a small stash of supplies if you are chemically addicted to certain substances), copies of important documents (if not just the documents themselves), spare cash, a source of light, a set of hot and cold weather clothing, and a multitool. There are hundreds of “kit lists” online from both chuds and friends. Find what works for you and leave the rest.

However as anarchominimalists, we encourage you to consider your threat-model. If you need escape a natural disaster or go underground at the drop of a hat, what do you actually need? What can be left behind? Especially if you are going to be carrying your pack for long distances. Do you have limited mobility? Figure out how much weight you can logically and reasonably carry and work backwards from that. Pack measurements generally come in liters, we recommend finding a pack that can hold between 30-50 liters. More or less is fine, but once again let’s check our threat models. What are our goals? Are we packing to live out of our packs for two weeks? Are we bushwhacking or staying urban? Do we need to be stealth or can it be obvious what we’re doing? Preparing for civil war will have a different load out then going underground and hopping the next train out of town. Maybe you should leave your fully kitted AR and plate carrier at home. Maybe you should have your pack be less than 20 liters so you just look like a student going to class. Tailor it to your specific situation.

Outside of bug-out bags, we recommend revisiting your purse/fannypack/EDC (everyday carry) set-up as well. Do you have a back up of at least a days worth of your prescriptions with you in case you don’t make it home tonight? How about a small multitool? Narcan? These things are worth keeping on you at all times. What’s especially NOT worth keeping on you, is anything incriminating. Don’t leave sketchy zines, fliers, or receipts crumpled at the bottom of your purse. If you HAVE a phone make sure it is locked and encrypted and possibly even in a Faraday bag. You want what you carry with you (and what you have in your life in general), to serve you, not to incriminate you or weigh you down.

Lastly, now that you have more space in the closet after decluttering, stock up on supplies that will last you at least a week. Shelf stable food, a gallon of water per person in the house per day, external power for medical devices, flashlights, etc. Once again, there are plenty of lists like these online. Do some research and tailor your list to yourself, your roommates, your house, your town, and your threat model.

Final Thoughts

Through this text, we have laid out an interlocking system of reductions-from and additions-to one’s life that we are calling anarchominimalism. It’s our belief that each one of these connected Processes is dependent on each other one. We have applied our beliefs of simplification to the processes and support that each one of them is a necessary part of living more anarchominimally. If any of these Processes speak to you, we encourage you to incorporate as many or as few of them as you’d like. Each Process can help liberate your life from at least some of the drudgery of living within this civilization we call Leviathan. However, like any permaculture system, the yield compounds when the interlocked systems are allowed to flow as one single Process. We encourage you to join us in becoming more free. Every step out of Leviathan’s maw is one more step towards slaying it.

Life should be easy. Make it easier.