The Alchemy of Anarchy is the title of a workshop I’ll be doing at the Stop G8 convergence centre in central London on Sunday June 9, at 12 noon.
Contrary to the general perception, alchemy isn’t principally about an unrealistic attempt to turn base metals into gold, but about the need for an inner renewal, also projected outside the individual on to society.
Its philosophy is linked to early Christian mysticism, to Sufism and also, I will argue, to anarchism.
If you think that sounds far-fetched, consider that Gustav Landauer writes about the “transformative ambitions” of anarchism, Michael Bakunin talks of the need to “purify our atmosphere and transform completely the surroundings in which we live” and Emma Goldman describes the anarchist revolution as a “mental and spiritual regenerator”.
I’ll be going into all this in more detail, and hopefully sparking a general discussion, at the meeting on June 9.
To find out where the convergence centre is and how to get there, keep an eye on http://network23.org/stopg8
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