Insurrection of singularities. A conceptualization of (anti)political action in postanarchism

Abstract

The article reveals the political and philosophical core of contemporary anarchist thought using the example of such its theoretical variation as postanarchism. Seamlessly engaging into the current left-wing radical discursive context, postanarchism at the same time reflects the micro-political, localist and largely spontaneous tendencies that characterize today’s forms of political protest and resistance in many countries of the world. Having arisen as a reaction to the crisis of legitimacy of political and economic institutions, these tendencies lead to a rethinking of standard political categories by modern philosophy: “class”, “revolution”, “democracy”, “sovereignty”, “political”, etc. The postanarchist perspective, revealing distinctly anarchic features in current forms of radical politics (decentralization, network character, distrust of official institutions), also offers its own reinterpretation of a series of concepts on purpose of radicalizing and updating libertarian theory. In particular, this article focuses on the logic of differentiating the concepts of revolution and insurrec­tion, which is carried out by the leading theorist of postanarchism S. Newman, who starts from the philosophical individualism of M. Stirner and also proceeds from the crisis of metanarratives proclaimed by the postmodern. Furthermore, within the framework of an at­tempt to define a new political subject, that is common to Western left thought, Newman develops the concept of singularity in a number of his texts, actively using the philosophical studies of some continental thinkers. Finally, in terms of postanarchism, the conceptualiza­tion of political action and the subject of this action through the concepts of rebellion and singularity not only contributes to the clarification and revitalization of anarchist discourse but is itself a subversive gesture that destabilizes the normative political language.