Anyone who knows me will be aware that over the last six years, I’ve been on a political trajectory that has seen me move out of the anarchist movement. It should be pointed out that it was one hundred percent me voluntarily deciding to leave rather than anyone actually forcing me out.

When a significant element of a movement goes off on a trajectory that leaves you baffled and sometimes speechless as you try to understand the thought processes that are taking place, leaving really is the only option! In the unlikely event that anyone claims that they played a part in forcing me out as part of a process of ‘cleaning up’ the movement, they are disingenuously puffing up their own egos.

The disagreements have taken in rows over gender identity politics, irreconcilable understandings of what the Covid ‘crisis’ was actually about, differences of emphasis in explaining the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and last but by no means least, me trying to convince former comrades that most people opposed to ’15 minute cities’ are not raving fascists.

It should be noted that the disagreements have cleaved in different ways depending on which grouping of anarchists we’re talking about. Suffice to say, there have been and continue to be more than enough differences to convince me that it’s not worth the aggro involved in staying on the ‘inside’ and trying to convince people. For me personally, life is too short to waste time and energy attempting to convince people who refuse to listen.

Before I move on, in the interests of transparency, I’m listing pretty much all of the posts I’ve written since February 2022 about the differences I’ve had with various elements in the anarchist movement. If anyone thinks I’m obsessed about these seemingly irreconcilable disagreements, the posts listed below are just eight posts out of the one hundred and seventy eight that have been published since this version of The Stirrer was launched in February 2022.

Why do I do this to myself? 14.4.23

What next? Dystopia? 18.3.23

The abuse of a term 12.3.23

Honesty vs tribalism 17.2.23

A bit of a situation… 2.11.22

Where the f**k do we go from here? 9.10.22

Double standards? 24.9.23

Thoughts that really shouldn’t be published, but… 23.5.22

If you have read all of these posts, congratulations! If you have read just one or two, thanks for taking the time to do so, it’s appreciated:) Given where I now operate politically, I probably haven’t done myself any favours posting this list of articles up. So be it, I’d rather be true to myself than live a lie in a desperate bid to have a few ‘mates’.

Anyway, it’s time to move on. The door is always open to anyone who wants a serious discussion about these differences. Meanwhile, there are a few issues I seriously want to get my teeth into, some of which are articulated in this post: The future of movement on a finite planet 20.3.23.

Dave – the editor