I haven't had a chance to read this article in its entirely until today, and I try very hard not to post articles or videos which I haven't read or listened to myself. In short, I highly recommend it as an excellent overview of the history of anarchism in all its complexity.
It's clear why anarchists are always targeted for abuse and even violence: it's because they eschew all hierarchical associations. This, of course, offends so many: from those in ruling classes and to those in left oriented anti-capitalist organizations that function in some sort of hierarchy whether overt or disguised.
Marshall also deals with probably the most common articulated objection to anarchism propagated by those who have been thoroughly indoctrinated in hierarchical thinking:
The most common argument against anarchism, from those who typically do not understand what anarchy is, is that without some form of "authority," the world would be chaos, people would be killing each other, and we would have disorder and destruction.
The simplest answer to this, is to ask the person what we have in the world today: we live in a world of extreme authority, of more globalized authority in every sector of human action and interaction than ever before in human history, yet so much of the world is in chaos, disorder, destruction, war, starvation, decimation, division, segregation, exploitation, and domination. It is not a lack of order and authority that has brought this to be, but rather the exercise of authority in the name of order. People see anarchy as a paradox without acknowledging the paradox of the ideology versus reality of the world we currently live in.
