In this essay, Pranay Somayajula critically examines the anarchist movement’s relationship to anticolonial politics. Drawing on a rich history of anticolonial movements, from the Kurds in Rojava to the Zapatistas in Chiapas, who have sought national liberation and self-determination without being confined by the nation-state, he argues for an anarchist politics of anticolonial solidarity rooted in a radical conception of nationhood without nationalism.
Pranay Somayajula is an Indian-American writer, researcher, and cultural critic currently based in Washington, D.C. His writing has appeared in outlets including Jacobin, The Nation, and The Drift, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock. He can be found on Twitter at @p_somayajula.
Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Twitter @arglboro.
Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).
Artwork by Sam G.
Essay #43: Laura Galián, ‘Anarchism in the South of the Mediterranean’
Essay #42: Sophie Scott-Brown, ‘Adventures in Anarchist Autobiography’
Essay #41: Nathaniel Andrews, ‘Anarchist Children and Childhoods in the ‘Argentinian Barcelona’’
Essay #40: Sarah Gelbard, ‘Practicing Performances of Punk Anarchism in the Academy’
Essay #39: Frankie Hines, ’Anarchism, Literature, and the Problem of Representation’
Essay #38: Dorian Wallace, ‘Liberation Music Therapy’
Essay #37: Janet Biehl, ‘Their Blood Got Mixed’
Essay #36: Elizabeth Vasileva, ‘The Curse of Morality’
Essay #35: Mark Bray, ‘The Anarchist Inquisition’
Essay #34: Alice Béja, ‘Emma Goldman, the Glorious Undesirable”
Essay #33: Chantelle Gray, ‘Algorithms, Automated Politics, and Anarchist Responses’
Essay #32: Michael Denner, ‘Anarty’
Essay #31: Anthony Ince, ‘Uncharted Territory: Thinking about Space Beyond the State’
Essay #30: Eric Laursen, ‘Climate Change, Anarchy, and the End of the State’
Essay #29: Jeff Ferrell, ‘Dumpster Diving as Direct Action‘
Essay #28: Hayyim Rothman, ‘Anarcho-Judaism and the Thought of Avraham Heyn‘
Essay #27: Adam Barker, ‘Pitfalls of Anarchist Solidarity with Indigenous Communities‘
Essay #26: Iwona Janicka, ‘Anarchism: Solidarity with Singularity and Mimesis‘
Essay #25: Laney Lenox, ‘Methodology as Political Process‘
Essay #24: Vittorio Frigerio, ‘Anarchism and Literature in France: A Complex Love Affair‘
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL