Randall Amster

Contemporary anarchist studies : an introductory anthology of anarchy in the academy

Anarchism, as humanism, is today more relevant than ever, more than at the time of its delivery to the labor movement, more than during the outbursts of heroic rebellion, more than in the era of its exemplary role during the war. It finds its resurgence in modern thought, philosophy, and sociology; among economists and thinkers of all languages and climates; in the nonconformist youth that is shaking the old pillars of society that refuses to be community. All this will and should be reinforced by anarchism like a humanist flag, without adjectives. Here lie the root and the strength to build a better world, a world of the twenty-first century in which we live already. 2

Perspectives on Ecoterrorism: Catalysts, Conflations, and Casualties

The invocation of the label ‘terrorist’ has been deployed with increasing frequency and to such an extent that it blunts effective dialogue on important cultural and political issues. In particular, the burgeoning category of ‘ecoterrorism’ has emerged as the leading domestic threat, according to officials. It has increasingly been invoked as a method of discrediting and investigating mainstream environmental groups that employ strategies of longstanding, acceptable, democratic behavior. The prospects for meaningful dissent are becoming tenuous at best, drawing parallels with US history wherein acts that would now be called terrorism were justified on the grounds that nonviolent petitions for redress had been rendered to no avail. In this sense, the terrorism talisman becomes something of a self‐fulfilling prophecy, since clamping down on legitimate peaceful dissent tends to foster the appearance of more confrontational, even violent, methods. This cycle is not without its casualties, and the personal toll it can take is often omitted in the analysis.

Restoring (dis)order: Sanctions, resolutions, and "social control" in anarchist communities

This essay explores the restorative implications of anarchist communities through an analysis of processes such as norm formation, sanctioning, conflict resolution, and economic exchange. The study explores ways in which anarchist communities employ various restorative measures to maintain group cohesion and achieve a modicum of social control through the application of natural phenomena such as diffuse power, fluid authority, community consensus and mutual aid. Drawing upon studies of communities manifesting anarchist tendencies--Aincluding utopian experiments, indigenous cultures, and the unique case of the Rainbow Family of Living Light--a picture begins to emerge wherein conceptions of property and the social dynamics that inhere within a community are inextricably linked, suggesting the propensity of anarchist communities to promote an organic synthesis of self, society, and nature. In the end, by exploring tenets associated with the nascent restorative justice paradigm, it is observed that anarchist communities manifest principles that challenge the dominant conceptions of criminality and legality, providing a framework for envisioning models of justice-in-practice that appear on the horizon of possibility and potentiality.

Terror tactics: Science in the cross hairs

Self-proclaimed anarchists are waging a violent campaign against science and technology. What do they want, asks anarchist scholar Randall Amster

Just, in time: cultivating the long arc of justice

Justice is an overused concept that is in danger of losing its meaning altogether. Our generational task is to reclaim its essential teachings of empathy and equality as we strive to find the hidden opportunities within the myriad crises presently before us. By placing our intentions and actions within the ambit of ‘the arc of the moral universe,’ we can recapture a sense of wonder that will serve to guide our choices as we navigate the lesson-filled road ahead.