We anarchists are generally averse to cooperating with the police, for very good reasons. However, as I understand it, at times the only real way to protect the community in the society we currently live in seems to be talking with the pigs.
Suppose you believe yourself to have evidence incriminating a serial killer. In an anarchistic society the serial killer could be sent to the psych ward and dealt with humanely. But what about the modern day? Do you turn over the evidence to the police?
This question has been bothering me for about 3 days now. It was provoked by learning about Aufhebengate. It made me wonder under what circumstances snitching is justifiable.
Because the alternatives are:
Prison
Execution
Exile, which offloads your problem to some other community
Letting someone who is a danger to themselves and others continue to be a danger
I think there are far more alternatives and also ways to mix them.
One more alternative would be constant care taking by one or more people. In case the community cant/doesnt want to provide that full time, it might be possible to mix this with other options that might reduce the persons autonomy.
Reasonable idea. Thank you.
you’re writing that in your anarchist society there would be a “psyche ward” where people deemed dangerous by the society would be incarcerated.
Is that correct?
Not really incarcerated, per se. And only a subset of the dangerous people.
If someone commits murder in a fit of rage and regrets it afterwards, they would not need any obligation or coercion to undergo psychiatric treatment.
are you familiar with Foucault’s work?
Not much, but I am aware that some of it had to do with psychiatry.
psychology, psychiatry, hospitals and of course what you may call “psyche wards” (among many other subjects)
the question of when we started to establish psychiatric institutions; who did we incarcerate in them and with what justifications. If this and similar subjects interest you, there you have a person who spent their life examining them.