Szerkesztő:Tothh417/Anarchizmus

Anarchizmus Afrikában egyaránt előfordul egyes ősi afrikai kultúrákban, illetve az afrikai politikai élet anarchisztikus mozgalmaiban.

Hagyományos kultúrák anarchista jellegei

Sam Mbah és I. E. Igariwey így írt az Afrikai anarchizmus: egy mozgalom története című könyvben:

„Nagyobb vagy kisebb mértékben minden [...] hagyományos afrikai társadalomban jelen voltak anarchista elemek, melyek közelebbről nézve azt a történelmi tényt igazolják, hogy a kormányok nem mindig léteztek. They are but a recent phenomenon and are, therefore, not inevitable in human society. While some "anarchic" features of traditional African societies existed largely in past stages of development, some of them persist and remain pronounced to this day.”

The reason why traditional African societies are characterised as possessing "anarchic elements" is because of their relatively horizontal political structure and, in some cases, the absence of classes. In addition to that, the leadership of elders normally did not extend into the kinds of authoritative structures which characterise the modern state. A strong value was, however, placed on traditional and "natural" values. So for example, although there were no laws against rape, homicide, and adultery, a person committing those acts would be persecuted together with his or her kin. The principle of collective responsibility was sometimes upheld.

Class systems had already existed in some African civilisations (such as Nubia, Egypt, Axum and the Hausa Kingdoms) for millennia, but processes of social stratification accelerated from the fifteenth century onwards.