Anarchy & Architecture
Author: Anonymous
Date:
What do you think of when you hear the word “anarchy”? For many people, it’s something like broken windows, looting, violence, and chaos. I’m not sure what to think of it myself. One thing I’m pretty sure of these days, though, is that I don’t have a whole lot of confidence in the world’s governments.
At a time when there are so many problems in the world, there also seems to be a whole lot of corruption and unfairness in the administration of our governments. It seems paradoxical to me that while government should be - and ostensibly is - there to solve problems and make the world better, at least for its citizens, it so often does the opposite - causing so much violence and economic oppression.
The word “anarchy” comes from the ancient Greek anarkhia, which means “without a ruler” - “an-” meaning “without” and “arkhos” meaning leader (think “archon” or “monarch”). Lately, I’ve found myself wondering what the word really means, and whether we human beings have given too much of our power and trust to leaders, leadership, and governments.
Today, power in government is based on what might be called a monopoly on using violence (or force) against others. Governments, as sovereign entities, are able to use violence against others without any legal consequences. I wonder what the world would look like if government power were based on something else. Could it be? How might we achieve a peaceful form of government or governance? This sort of thinking gets me wondering about anarchy.
To me, anarchy is about what the world might look like if every living being were opposed to the use of force, violence, harm, and coercion against any other living being. I admit that it’s an idealistic picture, and I’m not sure that it’s really even possible to truly live that way in this world as it stands. For example, every time we take a step, boil water, or cook food, we are harming organisms not visible to the naked eye. Further, any actions that we take have consequences, and we don’t always know what these consequences may be. It could be that by taking a step in one direction, we somehow contribute unknowingly to the harm of another living being or many of them.
For me, the important thing, then, is to try to move toward that idealistic picture of living without harming others, and to try to live that way, as much as we can. I’m not sure if that’s anarchy or not, but it seems to have some kind of relationship to it. In any event, that’s a big part of what community is about for me. It’s what I’d like this blog to be about. It’s something that I’m trying to do in my own life. And it’s something that I see more and more of in Newburgh.
Next up, Archtober! For those who may not know, Archtober Newburgh is a free, month-long celebration of the city’s architecture, with more than 50 walks, talks, and workshops across October, organized by The Fullerton with Archtober NYC.
Interestingly, “architecture” has the same root as the “arch” in anarchy. “Architect” is arkhitektōn in Greek, “chief builder”, from arkhi- (chief, first) plus tektōn (builder).
More on Archtober is on the way.