ABSTRACT
Anarchism offers something other than a politics of representation, normativity, and policing. The anarchist tradition has long recognized that normativity and representation are intertwined with hierarchy. The link between the naturalized performativity of gender and the naturalized performativity of the state is found at the anarchist roots of queer theory. Anarchist love can never be phrased in terms of fulfilling one’s selfish interests, because it is not mere selfish love between lovers themselves but an outgrowth of respect and love for all people. Dropping the borders between people, between nations, between any constructed categories of identity involves dropping the protective barriers built around the heart. Many people in the movements speak of themselves as protagonists, of a new subjectivity, and of social protagonism. Numerous commentators have highlighted the detrimental effects of people identifying as activist heroes, saving the world through a certain version of what constitutes activism.
