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What is Autarchism? Autarchy means `Self-Rule'. Autarchism is the philosophy that people should seek to govern themselves as much as possible. People who are filled with the spirit of Autarchy and manage to put this into practice can be called `Autarchs'. Those who have no spirit of autarchy and have their thoughts and activities structured by others can be called `Allarchs'. (`Other-rule'). It can seem that we are largely a nation of allarchs content to be robotic workers, passive consumers or uncritical TV news viewers. However if we take no part in our own government then we are putting ourselves at the mercy of others to decide what quality of life we might enjoy, and even affect how long we might live. Autarchists however seek to encourage the spirit of autarchy along with the practical knowledge needed to bring a good effect. Autarchists concentrate first on self-rule in the realm of ideas. We need to be free to think any thought, free to roam across the terrain of past ideas, free to share our thoughts with others, free to construct our own thought-structures to suit the needs we perceive without interference from others. Secondly Autarchists seek self-rule in their desire to associate with others and engage in community with them. A face-to-face community is the basic social structure which people rely on to engage in collective action. A community has a shared common understanding, and a shared loyalty and trust which facilitates collective action. A community is able to organise joint action, or provide a social home which provides for the needs of its members. Thirdly Autarchists seek self-rule in their desire to shape their environment. For this to happen without friction an Autarchist community needs to have sole-ownership of a piece of territory within which it can determine what happens without unjustified outside interference. This territory could just be the private homes of its members, but it might include community-owned territory, or on a larger scale a whole country. 2005/6, revised 2009 |