What is Representation?

Representation is a broad concept that 
relates to many different spheres of daily life:  

language, media, economics, politics, culture 
and social identity itself. Understanding the  

different ways that representation functions is 
crucial to understanding the operation of power.  

When wielded by states and capitalists, 
representation can be a powerful tool of  

manipulation, disenfranchisement, and oppression. 

Representation is most commonly understood 
as a visual, written, or audio depiction  

of something, or someone. It can refer broadly 
to what images mean, and how they come to take  

on those meanings. It can also refer to the 
process of how an individual comes to serve  

as a stand-in for a given community, political 
party, or ideology. The concept of representation  

is important for anarchism because of the 
fundamental role it plays in producing and  

reproducing social and political hierarchies. 
Anti-authoritarian perspectives analyze and  

understand how representation sets the 
terms for what is considered truth,  

what is deemed normal,

what we should think of 
others,

and what we should think about ourselves.

The use of representation as a form 
of power and a means of control  

has been around for centuries.

Powerful  nations have always maintained their status  

not just through the deployment of military 
force,   

but through the spread of ideology. 

And one of the most successful ways of spreading 
ideology has been through the idea of  representation.

The history of colonialism is not 
just a series of military conquests.  

It is also a history of religious 
decrees, fictional literature,  

academic writings,

scientific reporting

museum exhibitions

Western european countries painted the picture of "the 
other" to describe individuals, communities,  

and entire nations who didn't belong to the 
dominant group, and were therefore different in  

some fundamental way.

 In other words, people 
became marked as distinct from "the norm"  

or made out to be more prized or vile, 
based on how they were represented.  

The longterm subjugation of colonized 
people through this racist system of  

representation lies at the very foundation of 

settler-colonial cultures and political systems.

 Colonial depictions of certain ethnic and 
racial groupings are bound tightly to other forms  

of oppression,

such as white supremacy 

and patriarchal concepts of gender.  

The ruling classes maintain their control 
by creating images and tropes of common enemies.  

Whether this enemy is represented as the figure 
of the terrorist, immigrant, homosexual, or  

anarchist, it can be used to help corral patriotic 
sentiments and develop a sense of us vs. them,  

binding a segment of the people to their rulers 
through the shared bonds of identity. 

This use of representation was foundational 
to the formation of nation-states.   

And to this day,

dehumanizing representations of 
internal and external enemies permeate popular culture.

It shapes societies' collective psyche, 

and forges new forms of reactionary allegiance.

Representation is the life blood of politics.  

It is at play every time political actors advocate 
policy   

or act on others' behalf in the political arena

In liberal democracies, elected 
representatives are understood to reflect the  

will of the majority. These politicians claim to 
represent their constituents' interests, thereby  

ensuring that they have a voice 
in public policy-making. 

This is a lie that fools fewer people every year. 

Whether a state is ruled by liberal democratic  institutions, 

military dictatorships, 

one-party rule,

or hereditary dynasties,  

representation is key to the maintenance 
of legitimacy and power. 

Behind the  scenes,

 bartering,

optics

competition,

manipulation

nepotism

and an array of underlying social dynamics  

always factor into how authority is upheld and maintained.

But to the public,

sacred state institutions 
and charismatic leaders are represented  

as a stand in for abstract concepts 
like majority rule and a nation's freedom. 

Representative democracy promotes the 
idea that our only way of wielding power  

is by choosing who will represent us. 

This  discourages us from learning how to wield power for ourselves.

Democracy is not alone in this, 
even if it may be more effective in its illusions.  

All governing institutions constrain 
individuals into passivity and subjugation,  

then rely on the language of representation 
to maintain hierarchies and divisions that  

disempower people from 
taking collective action.  

The idea that common people are active participants 
in a well-meaning political system is a   

comforting lie,

which serves to hide 
the fact that we are, more or less,  

merely spectators of a rat race 
between the people in charge. 

We must understand and confront how various 
institutions use representation  

to keep us divided, weak

and tied to the dominant 
system. 

Politicians, corporations, media outlets

organized religions, and non-profits continue 
to spread dangerous ideologies that result  

in widespread marginalization, subjugation, 
prejudice, micro-aggressions,

and even death.  

The detrimental effects of mainstream 
representation around race,  

gender, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, and 
more cannot be ignored.

At the same time,  

we must not fall prey to the myth 
that being represented in more  

positive ways equates to social, 
political and economic liberation.

The ways in which people are seen, and they 
ways they see themselves are   

essentialcomponents of revolutionary struggle. 

But under liberal democratic capitalist regimes,  

notions of equality are often conflated 
with, and swallowed up, by representation.  

By co-opting ideas around how historical radical 
grassroots movements

have addressed their own oppression,

major corporations, non-profit 
organizations and academic institutions have  

attempted to prioritize reformist, non-violent 
steps towards more progressive representation.  

This common political tactic coincided neatly 
with the rise of neoliberal globalization,  

and its increased focus on individualism. 

Neoliberalism has restructured the global market 

into a worldwide labor pool. 

It's been accompanied by an ideology 

that places heavy emphasis on privatization and 
individual responsibility.

Under this system,  

states and capital have used representation to 
weave together the illusion of a global community;  

they point to increased diversity within the 
ruling classes to support the idea that  

"free and open" markets

are evidence of how "democratic" 
and "tolerant" the neoliberal order is.  

Neoliberalism has transformed political 
representation from a framework to address  

racism, sexism, and all other forms of 
injustice that thrive within capitalism 

into a demand to diversify the political and 
economic elite

without addressing the massive  

wealth and income inequalities that form 
the material foundation of oppression.  

As a result, a new kind of 
multicultural universalism has prospered,  

one that lionizes difference, even as 
it ignores real-world, systemic issues. 

Today,

capitalisms ability to profit 
from the representation of marginalized  

communities is more evident than ever.

The internet encourages the creation and constant  

shaping of multiple accounts and identities, 
suggesting that our social media profiles can  

portray different sides of ourselves 
to the outside world, in all sorts of  

unique, endlessly customizable ways.

 So-called 'late capitalism' skews our perception  

of representation's power.

Instead of being granted equality,

we are being sold a product:  

a representation of "equality" from 
the very systems that make us unequal. 

Representation not only shapes what our culture 
looks like.  

It impacts our sense of reality. 

And it is the people who are creating mass systems 
of representation who end up defining what reality is. 

This keeps us all locked in a 
never-ending spectacle, without honestly  

confronting our systemic disenfranchisement and 
alienation;

it is a constantly shifting trap  

for maintaining a status quo that will never 
address the root of structural inequality. 

We must reject increased representation as the 
ceiling and litmus test for social change.  

Instead, we should focus on building new ways 
to celebrate our diversity  

and promote our own means of artistic and cultural production.

 This means that any representation we do take part in

should prioritize authenticity, community empowerment,

and an explicit  drive to build a new, more liberatory 
world, 

all while challenging the current world order. 

Anarchism rejects the idea that anyone can 
genuinely represent another person's real needs.  

It rejects the idea that those in power 
should coordinate people's desires and interests.

 At the base of anarchist philosophy 
lies a deep desire for an interdependent,  

ungovernable world. 

No representation or  representatives inside a mass system will  

ever help us build that world.  

We must do it for ourselves.