Essay #2: Ole Birk Laursen, 'Decolonising Anarchism: M.P.T. Acharya, Anticolonialism, and Anarchism, 1922-1954

10/19/20 • 19 min

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In this essay, Ole Birk Laursen looks at the Indian anarchist M.P.T. Acharya (1887-1954), his activities within the international anarchist movement, and his attempt to bring anarchism into India's independence struggle and the post-colonial era in order to think more closely about decolonising anarchism.

Ole is a Research Fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden University (https://www.iias.asia/profile/ole-birk-laursen). His research focuses on anticolonialism, anarchism, and socialism, and he is the editor of M.P.T. Acharya, We Are Anarchists (AK Press, 2019) and Lay Down Your Arms (OOOA! Publishing, 2019). For a recent publication on Acharya, see: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13688790.2020.1751914.

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro

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Artwork by Sam G: https://www.instagram.com/passerinecreations

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Essay #1: Lisa Matthews, 'Solidarity, the Sea, and Subverting State Power'

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In this essay, Lisa Matthews looks at examples of refugee and migrant solidarity, the importance of that solidarity not being limited to nation-states and citizenship, and the sea as a site of potential subversion and opportunity.

Lisa is a Coordinator at Right to Remain. Working with grassroots asylum and migrant groups in the UK, Right to Remain help people navigate the UK asylum and immigration system and campaign for positive change in the asylum and immigration system. For more information, visit www.righttoremain.org.uk

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365

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Essay #3: James Gifford, 'Rue Sainte-Ursule'

In this work of creative non-fiction, James Gifford explores how narrative form can engage with anarchism by looking for evanescent moments of freedom between reactionary nostalgia for the past and prefigurative utopianism for the future.

James is Professor of Literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Director of FDU Press. His work is on anarchism, literary modernism, and popular culture, and his recent books are A Modernist Fantasy: Anarchism, Modernism, & the Radical Fantastic and Personal Modernisms: Anarchist Networks & the Later Avant-Gardes. For his latest article see 'Goblin Modernism: Modernism, Anarchism, and the Radical Fantastic'

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365

Artwork by Sam G: https://www.instagram.com/passerinecreations