Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.06.2009, Side 31

“[I look to the] anthropologists pointing out that this
really is what is going on – anarchism is the normal
state of human communities – and then the theorists
who are theorizing about anarchy as politics and
then the romantic anarchists who are just ‘ahh, fuck
everything, just have fun, that’s the natural way. Live
your life!’ I mix all these together.”
The group that’s not a group at all but still kinda
thinks like a group and looks like a group even
though they’re totally not a group
“All of us are individuals. I think that is important
to understand to start with,” began Swedish
transplant Freyja in the community space of Kaffi
Hljómalind. “We don’t have an organisation of five
guys who run everything. We’re friends. We do things
together. Some things I want to be a part of, some
things I don’t.”
“People come and go; they’re not always the same.
They do what interests them. It’s the meaning behind
the actions that are common,” added Fotini, another
foreigner taking an active role in Reykjavík’s
anarchy scene.
“Of course we’re a group right now but we won’t
be a group in ten minutes, we’ll be individuals,”
contributed Vermundur. Reacting to the look of
slight confusion on my face – people who work
together to achieve common ends after being
brought together through shared ideologies are
just about as textbook ‘group’ as it gets in my
experience, and such anarchist organisations as
Aftaka and Öskra do exist… and they’re definitely
groups – the Icelander joked “this is going to take a
while, we had better start thinking about dinner!”
I’m not going to lie, the whole non-group/
organisation concept is an issue for me. I,
personally, had a hard time grasping their claim
of not being organised. I get that they’re not
members of some anarchists union in which I
could be Anarchism Member No. 426902 if I keep
up with my monthly dues, but they have a system
that must have taken some organisation. Sitting
in Hljómalind, these young people had a series
of hand signals worked out to keep track of the
order in which they wanted to speak (I was quickly
told that it was not my responsibility to keep
track when I felt like a teacher who had to point
to students with raised hands); they have a private
mailing list to circulate information amongst
anarchists online; they (on an international level)
send out a weekly mass e-mail to anarchists and
other interested parties throughout Europe, the
Grapevine included. That’s pretty damn organised,
no?
Still, the anti-group concept the young activists
are pitching is valid and any misunderstanding
on my part was, admittedly, based solely upon
semantics. Anarchists are not a group, at least
not in an official sense. They are individuals with
ideologies that are generally anti-hierarchical
and anti-capitalistic in nature. Of course, not all
anarchists will even agree on that and it has been
noted that those calling themselves anarchists
share little more than a vague family resemblance
in most cases.
This lack of universality of thought among
those calling themselves ‘anarchists’ is the very
motive for asserting the non-group characteristic.
Members of a group must be personally
responsible, to some extent, for the actions of
the group as a whole or members thereof acting
on behalf of the group. Since the ideologies of
anarchists sometimes overlap but can also find
themselves at far ends of the social spectrum, it is
in the interest of anarchistic individuals to remain
as such and take responsibility for their actions
alone.
“People who don’t understand the structure will
see that the anarchists squatted a house and it was
published on this website and then the next article on
that same website is that someone shat on a ballot.
And people will ask, ‘are you really involved with
these people?’ This is a very common discussion
that I encounter,” says Vermundur. “Like ‘oh, there
is a photo on that website where you are stealing a
house and I read about it and there are some good
points being made. But then you’re hanging out with
the same people that shit on a ballot!? Something is
seriously wrong with you!’ But, knowing the people
does not mean that I approve of their actions. This is
not a group. A group will always be judged on their
actions as a group, but these are just individuals that
share ideas some of the time, not all of it.”
Sitting in that same community space, adjacent
to the anarchism library that he established and
maintains, Siggi Pönk shed some light on the
non-group of local anarchists. “They don’t have
organised meetings, they don’t have a name. It’s a
movement. Iceland functions like a village so you
don’t need to have a phone network or e-mail network
to get the people together and get things organised.
The anarchist movement is the same way. We have
e-mails where we exchange ideas of what to do next.
If somebody has an idea and says, ‘hey, I want to do
this, who wants to join me? Come meet me here.’”
Anarchism f lourishing in the ‘village’ of Iceland
is not surprising in modern times. Especially
considering that anthropologists have cited ancient
Iceland as an anarchist settlement. Harold Barclay,
a noted anarchist and anthropologist and author of
People without Government: An Anthropology of
Anarchy, writes of Iceland’s chief system, in which
leaders (Goðorðsmenn) were not granted a set
period of time to rule based upon elections, rather
they could remain in power so long as they held
the favour of the people. This was done through
fair and ethical rule and not making a show of the
power they held.
Today, the anarchists believe, power is easier
to achieve by those least deserving of it, and it is
dangerously wielded. Siggi Pönk explains: “People
who do police work or have more power than the
public, they are not in any way more trustworthy than
any one of us. And the people in government, they’re
as stupid as me, they make the same mistakes as me
but I don’t have power. My mistakes in life don’t affect
the rest of the world.”
Got a problem? Don’t just sit there, do
something about it!
The minor mistakes of an individual may not have
widespread consequences, but that is not to say
that the actions of individuals are equally narrow
in scope. Group or no group, anybody observing
anarchists within Reykjavík or elsewhere in the
world is sure to note that they are more motivated
by their ideologies than the average citizen.
Many people see something wrong within their
community and they complain within their group
of friends or to their families, making critical
statements but doing nothing more to affect
change and remedy what they see as a dysfunction
in their society.
Anarchists see a problem, meet other people
concerned with the same problem and then they
try and do something about it. These young
people I spent time with, trying to understand
their motivations and beliefs and goals, impressed
me to no end and made me feel terribly inactive
on the social scene – I’m prone to bitching about
communal issues that rub me the wrong way,
not getting out on the streets and acting on my
sentiments in hopes of changing the system.
As Freyja eloquently puts it: “If you want to
change something don’t just get somebody who is
higher up than you to change it, get out on the fucking
street and change it yourself in some way. Start
working for your community rather than begging
somebody else to work for your community.”
Siggi Pönk matches this sentiment in the
context of the protests that rocked Iceland in the
past year and the input he received from those less
active within the community.
“All these people who are telling people how to do
things better, why don’t they do it themselves? With
the actions after the crash but before the big protests
happened people were always giving us points on
what to do next. ‘Oh, you should protest over there,
you activist guys.’ But we’re tired, too. This is what
happens when people are used to being served.
Someone to take care of the garbage for you; someone
to take care of your protest for you. They want people
to take care of their anger for them so they don’t have
to do it themselves. It pisses a lot of us anarchists off
sometimes. ‘I’m not doing it myself, but you should
keep on doing it.’”
It’s probably easy for most to relate to the
inactive commoner, bogged down by the feeling
of being a David taking on a Goliath. Each of us
is just one person, what can one person do? This
mentality, Siggy Pönk believes, is what drains the
passion from a lot of anarchists and activists pre-
maturely.
“I don’t believe in a revolution as something
happening next week, I believe it’s about learning
new ways of going around each other. That’s why I’m
sowing the seeds. When I started publishing books I
thought this was going to have an affect some fifty
years after I’m dead. If you’re an activist you’re just
going to burn out if you think your activism is going
to save the world next week. So I just look at myself as
part of a movement that has been going on since the
beginning of humanity.”
Happily ever after
Anarchism is a heavy subject. One can diligently
read through every book on the subject in Siggi’s
extensive library and still not have exhausted all
the theories and considered all the sides to the
concept. Anarchism, as it is being widely practiced
in such a small place as Reykjavík, is a testament
to how massive and elusive the philosophy is:
individuals, sometimes coming together in
pseudo-groups, sometimes sharing ideologies,
sometimes with opposing opinions. Anarchism
within a community, it seems, is like a living
thing, growing and evolving and changing to suit
equally amorphous ideals and goals. With this
f luidity of meaning in mind and the realisation
that anarchists, as individuals, have the free will to
pick and choose their battles. I suppose Njáll fits
the bill after all, regardless of being unimpressed
with what is possibly Iceland’s most significant
social-movement in recent history.
Njáll is an anarchist.
Siggi Pönk is a 41-year old heavy hitter in Reyk-
javík’s anarchy scene. Starting off as a young punk
rocker, breaking windows at McDonalds and causing
a general ruckus around town, Siggi has progressed
in his ideologies and now maintains the anarchist
library out of Kaffi Hljómalind. He has always been
known to have a Jesus-complex, striving to save the
world as best he can. Though he grew up on a farm,
his vegetarianism and empathy toward animals pro-
hibited him from continuing in the family business
and, instead, is an ER nurse in Reykjavík.
‘Freja’ is a Swedish girl in her early twenties. She
moved to Reykjavík to study and has since found her-
self active in the anarchist movement. She was drawn
to anarchism out of an urge to affect positive change
within her society. “I want to live with people where
we create a better society, where I don’t ask some-
body else to do something for me. I don’t do things to
fuck the police, why would I want to fuck with the po-
lice? I do it out of pure love for my society. It’s a dream
of society where we show solidarity that brought me
to activism. I want to be empowered to affect my so-
ciety, not just vote every four years.”
‘Njáll’ is an Icelander in his early twenties who has
been actively involved with Food Not Bombs since its
inception just over a year ago. He is not a student,
he has no job, he collects no social benefits, and he
spends the bulk of his time on his music and develop-
ing social projects. He was drawn to anarchism “be-
cause I see that in my relations to people that how I
treat other people and how I am treated are not sepa-
rated, they are the same thing.”
‘Berglind’ is an Icelandic woman in her late twen-
ties, with children and a high-maintenance cat that
demands to be walked outdoors on a leash. She
has always been anarchy-minded, opting to adopt a
vegetarian lifestyle at the age of five and questioning
the morality of women wearing fur around the same
time. She forayed into active anarchy while living in
Australia, when she was presented with the opportu-
nity to participate in a protest in support of refugees.
She was so touched by the dedication of strangers
to making a change for struggling refugees that she
continued to be involved in anarchist actions upon
returning to Reykjavík. She calls herself a “green
anarchal-communist with nihilistic tendencies.”
Pics unrelated. Except the top one.
That really is Siggi Pönk.
Meet Your
Friendly
Neighbourhood
Anarchists!
“This is what happens when
people are used to being served.
Someone to take care of the
garbage for you; someone to
take care of your protest for
you.”