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Introduction & Synopsis of This Week’s The Anarchists
Following the trend set in the previous episode, this fourth episode of The Anarchists takes a deep dive into the people involved in this movement in Acapulco. Specifically, this episode takes a microscopic look at Lily Forester, John Galton, and Jason Henza and how the Anarchapulco community reacted to these events.
The Crumbles
What unfolds in this episode of The Anarchists is more irrefutable evidence that the anacaps of Acapulco are only grifters and businessmen and women masquerading as anarchists. Following the murder of John Galton, Lily Forester posts the news of her partner’s death and Jason Henza’s injuries. At the start of the documentary, of all the people that Lily reached out to, only Erika Harris and Richard Alexander made meaningful attempts to help Lily and Jason. Meanwhile, all the other subjects filmed thus far in this documentary refused to help in any way. What we see in this episode is how anarcho-capitalism fails not only to be a valid form of anarchism but also fails those who subscribe to it as an ideology and praxis.
Now, before proceeding, I want to bring attention to something that Schramke had said at the start of this episode. It foreshadows much of what is wrong with anarcho-capitalism and how it plays out throughout this episode. About six minutes into the documentary, Schramke says, “We always knew Acapulco was a dangerous place, but the anarchist community seemed to have created a warm bubble floating above the fray of a cartel-run city, and with the fourth annual Anarchapulco conference only nine days away, it couldn’t have been a worse time for that bubble to burst” (06:15, The Anarchists).
Cut to Larken Rose complaining that the media is making John Galton’s death out to be an attack on Anarchapulco followed by Berwick bemoaning the possibility that the murder could bring about the end of the conference. While the ancaps worry themselves about the damaged reputation of Anarchapulco, Lily is on the run, this time without her John, her only comrade thus far in her flight from the United States to Acapulco, Mexico.
From previous episodes, we know that many of the ancaps in Acapulco live in safer areas of the city. Berwick, the Freemans, and their ilk live in rather luxurious homes or in the Anarchastle. Whereas John, Lilly, and Jason live in a seedier, less safe part of the city. Once again, the class lines are drawn quite clearly. John, Lily, and Jason, unlike the other ancaps of Anarchapulco, only have enough capital to live in the lap of luxury. While their place is by no means a desolate hovel, it was made clear to us from the start, that it was in the dangerous part of the town. Both Lily and John were aware of this, as they follow a Facebook page that documents all the murders and violent crimes in Acapulco and had observed how entire families buried in graveyards had been killed on the same day. It is no secret that the cartels run the city, and only those with the means can afford to live in security. Those without the means perish.
Going back to the murder of John Galton, it is unclear at this point who is responsible. As of now, it looks to be a cartel hit that is being made out to be possibly tied to Paul Propert’s (former roommate of John and Lily) cocaine business.
Ancaps React to Galton’s Death
Returning to the quote that the previous section kicked off with, let’s take a look at how the ancaps of Anarchapulco reacted to John’s murder.
We’ll begin from the top, with Jeff Berwick himself. Berwick’s primary concern above all else is the integrity of his reputation and the continuation of the Anarchapulco conference. Berwick’s first actions, as portrayed by Schramke, is to redirect the heat off of himself and the conference by stating that John Galton’s murder had nothing to do with the work that was being done by the ancap community and that he was not the reason that John was murdered.
Now, to be fair, this all appears to be true at this point. The issue with this is that he was so quick to distance himself from anything that John, Lily, and Jason were involved in and this behavior is repeated all throughout the ancap community in Acapulco with very few exceptions. Here is where we begin to see another critique of the ancap community begin to more seriously critique how Berwick and the other “anarchists” are handling the situation.
Erika Harris, a documentary subject that has gotten less of the spotlight, had moved to Belize to escape the drama of the Anarchapulco. The Bitcoin frenzy and the division between those who made it big and those who lost it big contributed to her leaving as well as the fact that, as a person of color, she had believed there were conversations about her being had when she was out of the room. Her self-imposed ostracization from the ancap community made gave her a clearer vision of the issues running rampant. It appears to be coming to a head in this episode, where she had offered to house Lily and Jason after John’s murder. Once this was made known, she was told by the ancaps of Anarchapulco that it was a bad idea to help them because there were possible consequences.
In this documentary, outside of Lily’s criticism of Anarchapulco, the only other person to outright critique the ancap community in Acapulco is Erika Harris. As one of the voices that I have not yet focused on in my reviews, her critique of the Anarchapulco community treating Lily as radioactive — paired with her moving away due to the tensions caused at the conference by the Bitcoin boom — makes her a major critique with an even clearer sense of the fragility and superficiality of this ancap community. Here, we see more and more how anarcho-capitalism is not an anarchist ideology but rabid individualism where those outside of Olympus must fend for themselves.
The Expats v Refugees
Most of the major players in the Anarchapulco scene are men and women that have left their countries of origin to settle in Acapulco to help Berwick build his community. Throughout the documentary, they call themselves many things that they have not earned the right to call themselves, such as anarchists, activists, and freedom fighters.
Readers, these people have no right to call themselves such things. The only freedom they fight for is the freedom to continue to build a surplus of capital and use it to secure safety from the cartels and power over those who can only dream of ascending to Olympus. The fact that HBO has the gall to continually pass call this show The Anarchists — and do nothing but present us with a pathetic attempt at exploring the complex and nuanced ideology by reciting to us the first search result they see on Google — is indicative of how little they know of anarchist history, theory, and of the countless martyrs who have suffered at the hands of the state fighting to make this world a better place.
People like Berwick and his ilk like to think of themselves as refugees from the state, but they’re nothing but pathetic expats who bought their security. No one in this documentary can be classified as a freedom fighter or activist. Thus far, the only refugees in this documentary are John Galton and Lily Forester. Though I may not agree with their ideology and what it stands for, I can appreciate their journey fleeing the United States for Mexico. Moreover, as refugees from the American State, they never pretended to be anything that they were not. As American refugees, they hustled in Acapulco to survive by selling food and cannabis edibles. Among a sea of ingenuity that is Anarchapulco, I am glad for this one spot of genuineness.
Final Thoughts on The Anarchists Episode 4
While my review is critical of HBO’s decision to pass this documentary off as something remotely close to an examination and exploration of anarchism, this episode has proven to a great degree how invalid anarcho-capitalism is as an anarchist ideology. But moreover, the best part of this documentary, as I had said before, was how the stories of the people being examined are being told.
This episode follows a rather somber thread, where we explore the tragic childhood of Lily Forester and how that made her into who she is today, and how difficult it was for John Galton’s family to properly retrieve his body from Mexico to bring back to the United States. The Anarchists Episode Three shed much more light on the dire situation in Acapulco at this moment in time. What was particularly striking to me was how overwhelmed city morgues were, to the point where there is not enough storage and many of the corpses being brought in were left to rot in basements, as was the unfortunate case with John Galton’s body.
While The Anarchists has proven to be a pathetic excuse for a documentary on anarchism and its theories and practical applications, it is shaping up to be a decent documentary on how flawed and invalid anarcho-capitalism is.
On a final note, after all has been said and done, let us pay respect to those who have suffered the most throughout this ordeal. Rest in peace, John Galton, my sincerest condolences to your family and friends.
This article was edited by John Tangalin.