A-Infos (en) France, CNT-AIT: Anarchosyndicalisme #186 - Abolish the State (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Perhaps as a result of the situation in the world today, questions about 
the State, its origin, its role... are once again arousing interest. 
Conferences, articles in magazines or in major dailies, are multiplying. 
For us, anarchists, the question is settled: the State is the enemy of 
humankind. ---- For hundreds of centuries, men lived "without faith, 
without law, without king" (this is how the "conquistadors of the new 
world" described the primitive tribes they discovered) in relative 
harmony with the natural environment; the size of the populations was 
adapted to the resources offered by nature (if primitive societies are 
responsible for the disappearance of some animal species, over all these 
immense periods of time they have not caused major damage to ecosystems).

Then, a few dozen centuries ago, the State appeared, human societies 
that had not previously been hierarchical were divided between dominants 
and dominated, between performers and leaders. No one knows why humans 
chose at one point in time to give themselves masters, but what we are 
sure of is that this event was not fortuitous, because it coincided with 
a number of innovations, both social and technical which have 
revolutionized the life of human societies.

Historians have widely described and commented on these innovations, but 
they have paid little attention to the fact that the birth of states had 
to do with the appearance of wealth inequalities between humans. Not 
only have societies been divided into the dominant and the dominated, 
but simultaneously between rich and poor, between owners of material 
wealth and owners only of their labor force. The simultaneity of these 
two events, the appearance of the State and the appearance of 
inequality, is not in itself surprising: it is impossible to imagine a 
society divided between rich and poor without the existence of an 
institution responsible for protecting the rich from the legitimate 
appetites of the poor. Note that if a society divided into classes is 
impossible without a State, the opposite is also true: a society 
organized around a State is necessarily divided into antagonistic classes.

History has given us enough examples of this; each time a State has 
tried to abolish social classes, for example by nationalizing all 
wealth, we have witnessed, from personnel linked to the State, the 
recreation of a dominant class reigning unchallenged over the rest of 
the society. This is because the primary function of the State is to 
defend its interests, therefore those of the ruling class, to protect 
the rich from the appetite of the poor.

The fact that the modern State has added social functions to its 
traditional powers (the power to make laws, enforce them and punish 
infractions of the law), thus giving itself the appearance of being a 
benefactor of the poor, changes nothing. to his deep nature. By 
redistributing to the poor classes part of the wealth unduly captured by 
the rich classes, the State does not modify the social hierarchy in any 
way: only the method changes, the goal remains the same.

In the life of human societies, the appearance of the State and 
inequalities therefore marked the beginning of class war and the war 
between States. To fulfill its function of protecting the class of 
exploiters against threats both internal (social revolutions) and 
external (ambitions of competing states), the State relies first of all 
on force; It is on its strength, its power that its credibility depends. 
However, the strength of a State is primarily a function of the size of 
the population it controls and this is why it will seek by all means to 
increase its population.

We know that population growth decreases with the improvement of living 
conditions, the development of education and the decline in the 
influence of religions; States will therefore implement pronatalist 
policies, criminalize abortion and contraceptive methods and, above all, 
through religion, exalt the family and motherhood.

These policies, throughout history have fully demonstrated their 
effectiveness, because while during the first eras of humanity, the 
world population had increased only very slowly, since the creation of 
states we have been witnessing a growth continues and has seen 
tremendous acceleration over the past two centuries. From one billion in 
1800, today, more than eight billion people inhabit our earth, the vast 
majority of whom have been transformed into consumers since the 
catastrophic invention of capitalism.

To satisfy the unstoppable appetite for goods of these crowds, all means 
of production have been excessively industrialized and this 
industrialization has taken place and is taking place at the expense of 
nature and the biosphere. Today, the great natural balances which are 
the basis of life on our planet threaten to be disrupted and political 
leaders are holding forums and conferences, drawing up plans and 
promulgating laws which in reality only aim to sustain the current system.

So-called green energy, electric cars and other gadgets described as 
ecological are only the rattles that those in power, frightened by the 
threats that are accumulating, wave before the eyes of the populations 
to make them believe that the situation is under control, that the worst 
will not happen.

In fact, all these posturings only aim to make us forget that everything 
that happens is the necessary consequence of the organization of society 
and that the State which presents itself as the solution is in reality 
the problem. It is only by radically transforming this system, by 
abolishing the State and inequalities, that we will be able to implement 
solutions of radical and libertarian ecology which will allow humanity 
to escape the predicted catastrophes. .

https://cntaittoulouse.lautre.net/spip.php?article1387
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