WEBVTT 00:00:09.005 --> 00:00:14.635 Humanity is locked in an asymmetric conflict with the institutions of authority. 00:00:16.504 --> 00:00:20.204 The more powerful they get, the less capable we are. 00:00:20.861 --> 00:00:24.861 The more glory accrues to them, the more impoverished we become. 00:00:25.842 --> 00:00:29.842 The more riveting their spectacles, the more paltry our realities; 00:00:30.841 --> 00:00:35.251 the more stable their structures, the less stable our lives. 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:42.780 The problem is not the people in authority, but the institutions themselves. 00:00:43.533 --> 00:00:49.203 No matter who holds the reins, they produce the same petty indignities and power imbalances. 00:00:49.580 --> 00:00:52.320 It’s not that they are broken; this is just what they do. 00:00:52.609 --> 00:00:54.889 No piecemeal reform could fix them: 00:00:55.180 --> 00:00:59.000 we have to rethink everything according to a different logic. 00:00:59.380 --> 00:01:02.050 To change anything, start everywhere. 00:01:02.812 --> 00:01:05.552 When a war goes on long enough, it becomes invisible. 00:01:05.642 --> 00:01:09.102 We no longer see how militarized our society has become: 00:01:09.343 --> 00:01:14.253 the borders, the security checkpoints, the ranking systems and disciplinary measures. 00:01:14.708 --> 00:01:18.788 Instead of power over our lives, we have the rule of authority. 00:01:20.449 --> 00:01:23.669 What’s the difference between power and authority? 00:01:23.927 --> 00:01:27.037 The workers who perform the labor have power; 00:01:27.660 --> 00:01:31.450 the bosses who tell them what to do have authority. 00:01:31.903 --> 00:01:34.833 The tenants who maintain the building have power; 00:01:35.116 --> 00:01:39.026 the landlord whose name is on the deed has authority. 00:01:39.778 --> 00:01:44.568 Armies have power; generals have authority. 00:01:45.268 --> 00:01:50.918 A river has power; a permit to build a dam grants authority. 00:01:52.235 --> 00:01:55.405 There’s nothing oppressive about power itself. 00:01:55.665 --> 00:01:57.615 Many kinds of power can be liberating: 00:01:57.875 --> 00:02:01.875 the power to care for those you love, to defend yourself and resolve disputes, 00:02:02.605 --> 00:02:06.605 to perform acupuncture and steer a sailboat and swing on a trapeze. 00:02:07.547 --> 00:02:11.547 There are ways to develop your abilities that increase others’ freedom as well. 00:02:12.412 --> 00:02:16.412 Every person who acts to achieve her full potential offers a gift to all. 00:02:17.491 --> 00:02:21.491 Authority over others, on the other hand, usurps their power. 00:02:21.631 --> 00:02:24.611 And what you can take from them, others will take from you. 00:02:24.936 --> 00:02:27.496 Authority is always derived from above: 00:02:28.272 --> 00:02:31.622 The soldier obeys the general, who answers to the president, 00:02:31.788 --> 00:02:34.228 who derives his authority from the Constitution— 00:02:34.441 --> 00:02:37.981 The priest answers to the bishop, the bishop to the pope, 00:02:38.178 --> 00:02:41.808 the pope to scripture, which derives its authority from God— 00:02:42.922 --> 00:02:47.642 The police officer answers to his superiors, just as the judge derives authority from the law, 00:02:47.970 --> 00:02:50.650 and corporations derive theirs from the dollar— 00:02:51.266 --> 00:02:55.666 Manhood, whiteness, property: at the tops of all these pyramids, 00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:58.990 we don’t even find tyrants, just social constructs: 00:02:59.289 --> 00:03:02.119 ghosts hypnotizing humanity. 00:03:02.757 --> 00:03:06.757 We will never have power on our own terms so long as we seek it through authority. 00:03:07.059 --> 00:03:11.599 In hierarchies, we only obtain power in return for obedience; 00:03:11.923 --> 00:03:16.453 power and authority become so interlinked that we can barely distinguish them. 00:03:16.619 --> 00:03:19.869 Yet without freedom, power is worthless. 00:03:21.218 --> 00:03:25.218 Without authority, people have an incentive to work out conflicts— 00:03:25.540 --> 00:03:28.020 to earn each other’s trust. 00:03:28.150 --> 00:03:33.040 Trust centers power in the hands of those who confer it, not those who receive it; 00:03:33.890 --> 00:03:38.670 relationships built on trust are more likely to be mutually beneficial. 00:03:39.703 --> 00:03:43.883 A person who has earned trust doesn’t need authority. 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:48.430 If someone doesn’t deserve trust, why should he be invested with authority? 00:03:48.655 --> 00:03:52.815 And yet whom do we trust less than politicians, CEOs, police? 00:03:53.754 --> 00:03:56.444 There are many different mechanisms for imposing authority. 00:03:56.749 --> 00:03:59.989 Some require a centralized apparatus, like the court system. 00:04:00.313 --> 00:04:03.523 Others can function more informally, like gender. 00:04:03.731 --> 00:04:07.131 Some of these mechanisms have been completely discredited. 00:04:07.407 --> 00:04:10.267 Who still believes in the divine right of kings? 00:04:10.545 --> 00:04:15.565 Others, like property rights, remain so deeply ingrained that we cannot imagine life without them 00:04:16.112 --> 00:04:20.232 And yet all of them only exist on account of our collective belief: 00:04:20.416 --> 00:04:22.707 they are real, but not inevitable. 00:04:22.918 --> 00:04:26.998 The existence of slumlords and executives is no more natural, necessary, 00:04:27.060 --> 00:04:31.060 or beneficial than the existence of emperors. 00:04:32.168 --> 00:04:37.518 It’s not a question of fairness; as long as these mechanisms concentrate power, 00:04:37.588 --> 00:04:40.188 most of us will wind up on the losing end. 00:04:40.462 --> 00:04:48.642 All the revolutions of the 20th century only secured the right to be bossed around by someone of your own color, class, and creed. 00:04:49.104 --> 00:04:54.974 The challenge is to create spaces in which no one can accumulate power over others. 00:04:56.641 --> 00:04:59.271 How could we regain control of our lives? 00:04:59.647 --> 00:05:03.427 Governments promise us rights, but they can only take liberties; 00:05:03.577 --> 00:05:07.577 anything they’re powerful enough to guarantee, they’re powerful enough to take away. 00:05:08.091 --> 00:05:13.311 Markets just reward us for fleecing our fellows, and others for fleecing us. 00:05:13.434 --> 00:05:22.664 The only sure way to secure the things we care about would be to build leaderless mutual aid networks capable of self-defense. 00:05:24.515 --> 00:05:28.155 Doing without the state wouldn’t mean ceasing to provide for those in need; 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:32.549 it would mean helping each other directly instead of feeding a bureaucracy. 00:05:32.820 --> 00:05:36.490 Doing without property law wouldn’t mean you would lose your possessions; 00:05:36.651 --> 00:05:41.811 it would mean that no sheriff or stock market crash could take away the things you need. 00:05:42.436 --> 00:05:49.506 If it weren’t for state-imposed property rights, our relationships to things would be determined by our relationships with each other. 00:05:50.271 --> 00:05:56.481 Today, it is the other way around: our relationships with each other are determined by our relationships to things. 00:05:58.566 --> 00:06:03.656 We want to abolish domination altogether—not to manage its details more judiciously, 00:06:03.979 --> 00:06:09.419 not to swap out who inflicts and who endures, not to stabilize the system by reforming it. 00:06:09.840 --> 00:06:15.280 Rather than calling for more legitimate rules or rulers, let’s find our own strength and learn to use it together. 00:06:15.977 --> 00:06:24.247 Even those who simply wish to exert leverage on the authorities must admit that the most effective way to do this is to develop the power to act autonomously. 00:06:24.712 --> 00:06:28.712 But it would be better still to set our own agenda, on our own terms. 00:06:29.928 --> 00:06:34.648 Our wager is that in standing up for ourselves we will find others who do the same, 00:06:34.895 --> 00:06:38.415 and our struggles will unlock new possibilities for our lives. 00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:44.190 Win or lose, this path offers the richest experiences and relationships that are possible today. 00:06:44.403 --> 00:06:51.863 In a world ruled by petty despots, it produces heroes; in a time of predictable routines, it inspires adventures; 00:06:52.404 --> 00:06:56.954 in the face of the humiliations of modern life, it offers us our dignity. 00:06:57.228 --> 00:07:00.288 To change everything, start anywhere. 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:05.379 If any of this resonates with you, you may be an anarchist.