Theory & Philosophy Reading Group XVIII: Anarchist Critiques of Democracy

What is democracy, precisely? Will it ever deliver on what it promises? How significant is the difference between state democracy and direct democracy? Is anarchism a kind of direct democracy, or something else entirely? And how do democratic discourse and procedures serve the social movements that adopt them?

The Direct Action Monterey Network isn’t interested in having long conversations condemning one shitty politician or another during this year’s charade of democracy, and instead we’re going to join together with other anarchists and radicals to deconstruct the concept of “democracy” itself.

We will be collaborating with CrimethInc., a decentralized anarchist collective, and other anarchist reading groups and cells around the world to have an interactive discussion on the nature of democracy.

This will be part of our Theory and Philosophy Reading Group for the summer 2016 months.

Readings (available for free online):
Thursday 23 June 2016, 7pm
“The Party’s Over”

Thursday 28 July 2016, 7pm
Lessons from Rojava: Democracy and Commune (Paul Z. Simons)