Alternatives to Police

I don't like cops. The fact that the government assumes we need armed thugs to prod and coerce us into conforming to societal and accepted norms and traditions is, to me, absurd. To paraphrase Michael Parenti, the idea that police keep 'order' and fight crime are simply not true. The true use of a police force anywhere is social control (to force us to conform to aforementioned societal norms) and protection of property (i.e., keeping the property and capital in the hands of the rich elite). The vast majority of police aren't out to protect the working class from anti-social, violent people. Instead, they are out to "protect" the minority (the rich, elite, and authoritarian upper class) from us, the disenfranchised and oppressed majority.

Still, some people assume that a world without police would degenerate into a violent free-for-all, with every person out to kill, rape ans steal. I don't think that this is the case. In fact, I think that society could function very well without police in the commonly accepted traditional sense of the word. I will now highlight some things that we can do as anarchists to demonstrate to the populace why we could very well live without police, and how this perceived impossibility is far more realistic than many assume.

1) Observe and Respect Natural Laws: This should be self-explanatory to the anarchist, but might need explained to those who are unaware of what it means. Natural Laws are common and almost axiomatic things that are "right." The right to free-speech, free-thought and free-expression are natural laws. The right of non-coercion and personal choice are natural laws. The right to live peacefully and defend your health and freedom in the face of violence is a natural law. In essence, following the golden rule and living in communion with your community
sum up what Natural Laws are.

2) When Conflicts Arise, Solve them Internally: Instead of letting a dispute escalate into violence (where most people assume that police would be needed to detain the persons and mediate the argument), don't let it go that far. Work on developing mutual respect for others and practice conflict-resolution without the aid of a guy holding a gun. Being able to talk out a problem and then hammer out a compromise would undermine much of the perceived need for police. Above all, never resort to violence during a petty dispute, no matter how tempting.

3) Move Towards a Tight-Knit Community: Knowing your neighbors and interacting with them will greatly diminish confrontations altogether. they will obviously still happen, but having an active participatory role in your community lessens the chances of alienating disputes between two or more indifferent citizens. Tighten community solidarity by working together as a whole, and being personable. Make friends, share in the labor and fun that go hand-in-hand with communities, and be respectful. When the community is tight-knit and unified in happiness, problems won't arise nearly as often.

In short, live the revolution you want in your everyday life, and we can show the pigs that we don't need them or their "protection."

Authority

I profess the belief that authority is responsible for most of the social problems in the world today. My definition of authority is, "The coercion by force or threat of people who could otherwise make their own decisions regarding their lives." This coercion can be direct or indirect, and can be readily seen or masked under subterfuge.

One place where coercive "authority" can be plainly seen is in the dictatorial regimes dotting Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The people there are subjugated to the ruler's will (often forcibly) at all times. Dissent is crushed under a military boot-heel whenever it rears its head, and freedom of speech is at best a false dream. The people are forced to labor for their overlord, who in turn uses this labor to grow even more powerful. The fruits of the common worker's labor are often automatic rifles, bombs and missiles, never the food, medicine, and education that they would need to loosen the grip of their masters and free themselves.

But, authority does not just reside in other continents--it is easy to see in the United States as well. A country founded by those who disdained any authority (Who we would today label as radical leftist Anarchists and Libertarians) has evolved into a State that mongers repression of the self and a lack of the freedoms that men died for in droves two-and-a-half centuries ago.

The gap between the poor and the rich continues to grow, with the "middle class" scrambling to regain a grip where they now reside. They desperately resist being sucked down into the "Lower Class" but it becomes more of a reality every day.

The class system (being labelled as "lower, middle" etc.) is an acid that dissolves away personal worth, making people believe that they are worth less than they are. People become inhuman, they become meat graded on its ability to feed the slavering jaws of politicians and businessmen. The laborers become nothing but another piece of machinery (See Marx), to be used and abused by the Capitalists who, in their greed, refuse to recognize workers as human. This class system was an invention of the Capitalists to keep the common man under his thumb. This devaluing of the self is one potent weapon that the corporations and government use to make us assume that there is nothing better in the world for us than laboring for them.

The rights that were once deemed absolute now can be dismissed with political misdirection and red-herring arguments. Freedom of Speech is limited in the respect that I have to adhere to certain rules when writing. NO HUMAN CAN REACH THE LIMITS OF HIS/HER ABILITY WHILE CHAINED TO THE GROUND. The adherences of convention, the ideas of obscenity and heresy are all inventions of those who would rather have people not express themselves to a fuller extent. Freedom of the Press is trampled with the amount of political manipulation that seeps into the media, warping what we need to know--FACTS. HUMANS CAN NOT BE EXPECTED TO MAKE A DEMOCRACY WORK WITHOUT UNBIASED INFORMATION THAT DETAILS THE FACTS OF CURRENT EVENTS. Freedom of Religion is sleighted when the Muslim endures torment among Americans, when the Jew is reviled by the ignorant, when the atheist is shunned by the believers. YOU CANNOT MANDATE PEOPLE TO BELIEVE OR DISBELIEVE.

The idea behind "rights" is that we are meant to believe that we were given them. We were not. We were born as humans , born out of the control of authority, and though we were indoctrinated into it early, we were never given rights, never granted them.

We were born with freedom, though some may have forgotten it.