Seeing Like an Anarchist: Reflecting Upon Anarchist Tactics for Countering Extreme Right Violence

Historically, countering violent extremism (CVE) programs in the United States and in the West, more generally, have often disproportionately targeted Muslim and Arab-Americans while ignoring violence from the extreme right. The recent rise of extreme right violence has directed attention to policies and practices that need to be in place to counter it and to prevent such violence in the future. This is especially the case for white nationalist and white supremacist violence that are increasingly common and remain a threat to society. However, the majority of these proposed CVE programs still rely on the state, official law enforcement, or on state-recognized non-governmental organizations as the main actors involved in designing and implementing CVE programs. This often ignores alternative approaches to countering the extreme right that do not depend on the state or on officially-sanctioned civil society groups. This paper addresses this by drawing upon anarchist thinking and practices to outline a series of tactics and a methodology for countering extreme right violence. This paper draws on some key anarchists’ conceptualization of violence and of the role of individuals to outline anarchist-inspired countering violent extremism tactics. Many anarchist thinkers, especially those writing at the turn of the 20th century, theorized ways to prevent and counter a rise in extreme right sentiments. They were also living in a context of a rise in extreme right violence, including rising anti-Semitism, anti-immigration, and xenophobic nationalism. The first part of this paper draws on their experiences and writings to do what James C. Scott called: “seeing like an anarchist”. In doing so, it outlines an anarchist methodology towards countering extreme right violence in the 21st century. The second part of the paper utilizes this methodological lens to examine the lead up to and the aftermath of the events of January 6, 2021 in Washington DC, when the extreme right attacked the US Capitol. This section draws out tactics and practices of people who have been working beyond the state or formal institutions to counter the extreme right in arenas beyond the state and official institutions. Overall, the paper argues there already exists anarchist practices of countering extreme right violence from beyond the state, especially those that have been countering white supremacist violence.