Q: If anarchy is a belief system, why is it referred to as political?
A: I could do a serious answer to this, but why would I, when I could do a listicle? So without further ado, here are the top 14 reasons why anarchy is misconstrued as political. Odd-numbered answers here make sense. Even-numbered ones were AI generated. Just to keep things interesting ;)
Because some organizationalist anarchists with a “movement-building” focus, consider anarchy to be leftist—and thus treat anarchist organizing as a Revolutionary Social Movement with structure and concrete demands. (Side note: such movements tend to face much more state repression.)
Because nothing says "organized chaos" quite like calling it a political belief system.
Because of different definitions of the political. If anything pertaining to social organization is political, then everything is political—anarchy included.
Because if chaos were a political party, anarchy would be its enthusiastic spokesperson.
Because frontists and “left-unity” adherents may choose to frame anarchy as political in order to gain traction with other anti-capitalist tendencies—a political movement is easier to understand than a decentralized tendency, so may be a useful framework for some.
Because who needs a government when you can have a lively debate about rules in the midst of mayhem?
Because in a society where anti-queerness is normalized, the (anti-political) reality of queerness is construed as political…and anarchy is a historically queer movement…so yeah.
Because in the anarchic world, even the concept of categorization is up for a rebellious revolution.
Because of misconceptions about what anarchy is—people who think that anarchy means the immediate abolition of all hierarchy (i.e. Revolution rather than insurrectionary and prefigurative approaches) are indeed describing a political ideology, just not one that most anarchists align with.
Because labeling anarchy as apolitical just didn't have the same ring to it.
Because authoritarian-communist ideologies have much more visibility than anarchic ethics—therefore, some might assume that any anti-capitalist tendency is political.
Because when it comes to political ideologies, anarchy decided to break all the rules – including the one about being political.
Because anarchy is anti-political rather than apolitical, so is still very much commenting on politics while existing outside of them.
Because if anarchy were a sitcom, it would be the sitcom where the characters refuse to follow any script.
TLDR: anarchy is political in the same way homophobia is gay.
(Also, ChatGPT knows absolutely nothing about anarchism. Just putting it out there.)
But being serious for a second here: anarchy is not apolitical, because to be apolitical is to erase every lived experience that is politicized—queerness is so often erased under the name of Apolitical, Bipartisan Organizing, and anarchist movements don’t do that. Anarchy is anti-political, refusing to exert power and thus existing in a way that is entirely conflictual with politics. Thus, it is considered political because it dismantles the hierarchy and domination that are central to politics—and its universal love extends to politicized identities, meaning it is often miscast as political.
However, just because this is true of anarchy as an experience doesn’t mean it’s true of all “anarchist organizing.” In some Revolutionary Anarchism oriented spaces, it’s accurate to call anarchism political, because it is framed as a social movement with definable goals and tactics. “Libertarian socialism” is political, as are many other movements that incorporate some anarchist ideas while staying within the framework of politics. And some anarchists might self-identify as doing political organizing work, especially those engaged in electoral harm reduction—or working to end anti-trans or otherwise harmful legislation. There isn’t anything wrong with political action, but trying to politicize anarchy itself risks centralization. Like every tendency, anarchism is pluralistic and diverse, and some “anarchisms” are political while others are anti-political. But queer anarchy as a lived experience? While politicized, that will always be defined by (or undefinable because of) its total negation of politics.