If our methods shape our outcomes, what does that mean for how we think about power itself?
In Episode 1, we explored how means shape ends – how hierarchical organizing produces hierarchical society, while horizontal organizing builds capacity for collective self-governance. Now we confront what this implies.
This episode examines the logic of power that dominates conventional politics and asks why radicals reject it entirely. We trace the anarchist critique of hierarchy through Bakunin, Kropotkin, and Malatesta, and explore the distinction between “power over” and “power with.”
We also tackle a question that trips up many people: Does rejecting hierarchy mean rejecting all authority? The answer requires us to rethink what authority actually means – and what makes it legitimate.
Finally, we look at Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) and the Zapatistas in Mexico to see how horizontal organizing functions in practice at a massive scale.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Bakunin, God and the State
- Kropotkin, Mutual Aid
- MST (Movimento Sem Terra)
- Zapatistas / EZLN