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Indybay Feature

Academic Peer Review: Simon Springer and ‘Anarcho-Geography.’  

by Darin
Recently Simon Springer attended a Geography conference in San Francisco, he met with like minded anarchists and anarcho-geographers. His general symposium was in regards to his recent essay, "Fuck Neo-liberalism." A resilient researcher, author and essayist on the subject of neo-liberalism, anti-capitalism, anarchist and anarcho-geographic theory, I felt that a peer review was necessary to help local anarchists understand his theories, and the somewhat recent exchange between he and David Harvey.
            In Simon Springer’s[1] Anarchist Geographic Manifesto; Anarchism! What Geography Still Ought To Be[2], Springer begins with an abstract that indicates rather than creates further real-time spatial geo-variance on post-colonialism [emphasis post; non-oligarchic/capitalist/neo-liberalist space,] in which to structure a non-violent trajectory. To Springer, anarcho-geography is at least based in part historically on the work of anarchist geographers such as Reclus and Kropotkin. In Springer's idea of Geography Anarchy is already axiomatic, especially in regard to how one inner-personally might navigate formulations of non-violent direct action simply in the spirit of daily existence. Although all of his work on anarchist geography or neo-liberalism[3] seem to suggest as much, this specific conceptual abstract drew me in further, compared to that of his other works, and I felt more closely related to the subject matter initially. Springer also tends to use anarchist concepts to challenge conventional thought regarding Marxism in a spirit of idealistic political theory. Essentially to Springer anarchist theory seems to define geography, in that it should be considered what neo-liberalism [etc.] is not. It must be noted that Simon Springer’s many writings on Anarchist Geography can be found for free online on academia.edu which is a local Bay Area academic digital online resource. The author David Harvey[4] has reviewed at least one of Springer’s examinations of radical geography highlighted by Springer’s response, also located in academia.edu.[5] Springer’s introduction includes quotes from Reclus, Kropotkin, and Goldman to create a consideration for non-violence and a sense for the emancipation of liberty. Including a dis-alignment with hierarchy he defines arkhi, and continues with a documented stance against violence based on historical circumstances.
            “Anarchism is presented as a preferable alternative insofar as it disavows nationalism and recognizes that there is no fundamental difference between colonization and state-making other than the scale upon which these parallel projects operate, meaning that any substantively “post-colonial” positionality must also be “post-statist” or anarchic.”
            Earth is indeed post-colonial. However the rest of the universe might not be, which could suggest that colonialism is theretofore obsolete, and that those who cannot adopt post-colonial standards must have intense delusions of grandeur. [Defining the 1%: my emphasis.]
“Rather than advancing a revolutionary imperative, I encourage an embrace of the immediacy of the here   and now as the most emancipatory spatio-temporal dimension, precisely because it is the location and moment in which we actually live our lives.”
            Temporal harmonics can sometimes become problematic, so I can appreciate the stance of Springer with much enthusiasm as he continues with an anti-neoliberal and capitalist consideration also. Springer continues with a quote from Blunt and Wills that would otherwise seem to create difference with the science of geography in that it does not characterize contemporary philosophical standards outside of mainstream dogmatism. He again as in his introduction asserts that anarchism is largely ignored until the revolutions of the 1970s.
            “In arguing that the reality of mutual aid among non-human animals undermined the naturalistic arguments for capitalism, war, and imperialism that dominated geographical thought at the time, like the social Darwinists, but in precisely the opposite way, Kropotkin sought to find in nature the social form he wanted to legitimate in society (Kearns 2004). Geography was accordingly to be conceived not as a program for imperial hubris, but as a means of dissipating prejudice and realizing co-operation between communities (Kropotkin 1978[1885]).”
                A more overtly feral or naturalized connection with our more [intimate] initiative homogenizations could indeed be found in 1970s culture and seems to be concurrent with trends today towards stabilizing ecological standards with indigenous populations [anti-fracking and tar sands,] the obsession and denial of recycling, the popularity with nutrition in the face of eco-mono-cultural dogma such as GMOs, health, yoga, and considerations such as paganism, among others. Springer is sharp also in both the initial and secondary section to infer that Marxism is too embedded in Geography and suggests a definitive critique that further suggests a poli-philo conceptual consideration regarding [my stated emphasis on] dogma. What is the periphery of the neo-geo-dogmatic? How do we define the spaces in between? What is the intersectionality of that precipice at this juncture?
            To define colonialist theory Springer essentially critiques Marx’s interpretation of capital noting the violence of necessary accumulation, [Today we refer usually to the didactic of the have’s and have nots in relation to economic inequality, my emphasis,] inferring perhaps that the question of property being theft is less critical than the intention or use of objects in general, since Marx is limited by his considerations of capital. Harvey being a more modern [or neo-modern,] consideration, education is tied to one of Marx’s proponents of capital, although Springer relates Harvey’s use of “new-imperialism,” to our comprehension of both studies and how they relate to each other, despite conflicts in theory by non-anarchists, non-geographers, communists, fascists, capitalists, and socialists.
                “There are, in truth, no worse counter-revolutionaries than revolutionaries; because there are no worse citizens than the envious…” (Anselme Bellegarrigue 1848:np).
”These are not dreams for a distant future, nor a stage to be reached when other stages are gone through, but processes of life about us everywhere which we may either advance or hold back...” (Roger Baldwin 2005:114).
“In this vein Harvey (2009:200) asks, “How will the reifications of this anarchist ideal actually work on the ground in absolute space and time?””
“I have almost lost the imagination of what a world that isn’t capitalist could look like. And that scares me” (Harvey and Haraway 1995:519).
For alternatives or conceptualization on direct action Springer offers that Harvey’s positivism is in his consideration reductionist, although I’m not exactly certain if that proves that Springer is nihilistic or not. It is difficult for me to presume to understand the tenants of poli-philosophy here entirely as to how they temporally reinstate or constrict isocratic tendencies. Springer’s interpretation suggests that Harvey is for a neo-liberal state. My ambivalence here should suggest a more in depth review of Springer’s work on neo-liberalism, geography, space [the commons,] and revolt, could be necessary. With poli-philo, I personally tend to take the good and leave the bad, because many of these researchers have intelligent insights that shouldn’t be ignored, even when they should be reformatted for adaptation to a more isocratic framework. At least Springer is already seemingly self-formatted towards that preference.
Beyond anti-capitalism and the destruction of oligarchy I do disagree that homo homini lupus is the antagonist to our efforts, as an allegiance with the Canis Majorans seems eminent. I have to assume that Springer has read Marshal Berman [I don’t know if he has read Jane Jacobs or Rebecca Solnit,] and that he understands urban and political theory in this matter, he does invoke the concept of D.I.Y. ethics. He invokes Proudhon and this reminds me of the Boy Scout Motto, Be Prepared. The revolution should stay active and fit and not wait for the decisive moment[6] and be ready for it when it arrives. The here/now is of relevance. Temporal conceptual ideological considerations, theory? How one derives the derive, could be based on the concept of emancipation. With Springer direct action as poli-philo seems to be based in our personal politics then so to it could emancipate with that of the extraneous despite conflicts with post-structuralism and the like.

“Where geographers are actually well positioned to contribute , as feminists thinkers have demonstrated (see Lawson 2009; Nolin 2010), is towards the issue of building trust ,by shattering prejudices and intervening with creative new energies rooted in the nurturing capacity of emotion and everyday life as the actual terrains of human interaction. By engaging the “affective turn” (Thien 2005) in understanding emotional connectivity and the politics of affinity as the fundamental basis upon which any lasting transformation might take place, it is to such intimacy and immediacy that the possibilities of anarchist geographies could be productively dedicated.”

Reciprocity, emancipation, harmony are coupled by an infinite demand to end encapsulation. Anarchist geographies consider cartographic alternatives to state institutional renditions of that such as the museum. One must assume that in a grassroots effort to help condition society to a non-patriarchal status that this would be amongst other tactics and considerations. Springer’s assessment relates to Anderson in that mapping in itself is institutional, and essentially counter-productive to a humanist rendition of the academy as one example of anti-capitalist restructuring. He further relates a relational ethics of struggle in light of anti-capitalist protesting and other efforts beyond mainstream encapsulation. Yet he doesn’t necessarily disagree with radical cartography [Example: Rebecca Solnit; my emphasis,] he hopes for an ethos beyond encapsulation, and bio-politics. His methodology would seem to induce a glocality such as that of the Autonomous Geographies Collective, and as Kropotkin has stated that is what geography ought to be.

1 Associate Professor Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Canada.
2 https://www.academia.edu/587264/Anarchism_What_geography_still_ought_to_be
3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNMakfcZzAo , https://www.academia.edu/23908958/Fuck_Neoliberalism and, et al; academia.edu.
4 http://davidharvey.org/2015/06/listen-anarchist-by-david-harvey/ , The emphasis here is that it is an exhaustive review based on historic animosity between Marxists and Anarchists, “Back in the 1960s, most orthodox Marxists regarded environmental issues as preoccupations of petite bourgeois romanticists (this was what infuriated Murray Bookchin who gave vent to his feelings in his widely circulated essay, “Listen, Marxist!”, from 1971’s Post- Scarcity Anarchism).” –Harvey.
5 https://www.academia.edu/12638612/The_limits_to_Marx_David_Harvey_and_the_condition_of_postfraternity
6 French photographer, and surrealist, Henri Cartier-Bresson. 1908-2004. Most famous for candid street photography, urban photography.



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