“I do not demand any right, therefore I need not recognize any either.”— Max Stirner
If we seek radical change, we need to set our agenda outside the discourses of those who hold power, outside the framework of what their institutions can do. Our movements need to stop presenting demands and start setting objectives. Our collective power must be assessed by our own effectiveness at being able to cause material change, not by what politicians believe is possible.
The main argument presented here is the following: making demands puts you in a weaker bargaining position!
Limiting a movement to specific demands results in:
– Stifling of diversity, setting it up for failure
– Undermining movement longevity
– Creating the false impression that there are easy solutions to problems that are actually extremely complex
In addition, making demands…
– Presumes that you want things that your adversary can grant
– Legitimizes the power of the authorities you are demanding recognition from, which centralizes agency in their hands instead of ours
– Can prematurely limit the scope of a movement, shutting down the field of other possibilities
– Establishes some people as representatives of the movement, which creates an internal hierarchy and gives them an incentive to control other participants
Instead, our challenge is to create spaces where people can discuss and implement solutions directly on an ongoing and collective basis. Rather than proposing quick fixes, we should spread new practices. We don’t need to follow manifestos or rigid programmes, but points of departure. In fact, our desires and dreams will never be accepted by those in power. By making demands, we minimize and distort our abolitionist desires in language and terms that are suitable to those in power. When we become legible to the state, we lose our autonomous potential and fall into the trap of visibility and reformism. When demands are made, suddenly, our dreams of liberation encounter a reduction in the face of the bureaucracies and re-legitimization of the state.
From this vantage point, we can see that choosing not to make demands is not necessarily a sign of political immaturity. On the contrary, it can be a savvy refusal to fall into the traps that disabled previous generations of movements. Let’s learn our own strengths, outside of the cages and queues of representational politics — beyond the politics of demands.
In the words of James Baldwin: “Perhaps, however, the moral of the story (and the hope of the world) lies in what one demands, not of others, but of oneself.”
Further Reading:
“We Demand Nothing: On the Practical Necessity of Demanding Nothing” by Johann Kaspar
“What is Policing? and Tactical Terrain Analysis: a How-To Guide” by Tom Nomad
“Defend the Territory: Tactics and Techniques for Countering Police Assaults on Indigenous Communities” by Warrior Publications