For those seeking an understanding of the anarchist movement, which requires ignoring the definition espoused by Fox News, Schramke’s examination provides clarity without necessarily landing on a single crystallized answer. But if you’re looking for a much stranger-than-fiction TV hit, beware. Jumping into this story is like sucking on a rail only to find out too late that your fun has been cut with itching powder. And once this stuff settles into your membranes, hello it’s impossible to wash it off. “The Anarchists” feels like a perfect, weird documentary, obsessive idea. It may not be strictly a crazy cult or a con artist extraordinaire, but you’ll recognize shades of each in Jeff Berwick. Admittedly, Berwick doesn’t have the dangerous power of, say, a Ma Anand Sheela, and he’s not even close to qualifying as a rogue on the same level as Fyre Festival CEO Billy McFarland. RELATED: Libertarians’ Scary New Star: Meet Bryan Caplan, the Right’s Next ‘Great’ Philosopher What Berwick offered was real: a bootleg gathering that quickly exploded into a destination for wealthy cryptocurrency-savvy counterculture tourists, including members of the Wu-Tang Clan and former Congressman Ron Paul. Jumping into this story is like sucking on a rail only to find out too late that your fun has been cut with itching powder. The slick Canadian liberty-bros describe themselves on one of their websites as an anarcho-capitalist, libertarian and “a freedom fighter against the two greatest enemies of mankind, the state and Central Banks”. He presents himself as a likable “idea” guy, one of dozens that appear on our screens and social media with promises of a life worth emulating. Schramke follows a subset of self-proclaimed anarchists who responded to Berwick’s call, inviting them to Acapulco, Mexico, and Anarchapulco, a “freedom conference” he founded in 2015. It was envisioned as a retreat designed to bring the anarchist community together and explore the practice of philosophy in the real world, it quickly became a crowd selling cryptocurrency with catchy phrases like “the space of freedom.” But the core values of anarchy found market among a few like-minded souls who gravitated to Mexico in search of community. Others faced only frustration, violence and death, either as a result of the destructive side of a lifestyle that fed their baser impulses, or as a result of local drug cartels. It doesn’t help that Anarchapulco welcomed a few figures who interpreted anarchy as lawlessness, giving them the green light to play out their most dangerous impulses. Berwick’s image does not benefit from this aggressive incorporation of the bean. Indeed, he’s such a common snake oil salesman that his presence quickly degenerates from barrel to irritant. It’s clear to see from the first episode that he’ll be the last man standing when it all blows over. he has the general look of a one percenter sporting a lot of hair products, the kind of guy who definitely shouldn’t star in a rap video. (Consider that a warning. And make sure you have a pillow nearby to muffle your screams.) In the docu-series, he is portrayed as your average millionaire businessman who finds enlightenment through an anti-U.S. reserve conspiracy theory textbook. Absorbing his teachings and other anti-central banking texts as he boned the world into “a party of 100 countries,” he drew on Acapulco’s reputation for iniquity. She settled there, married an Acapulco native named Kena (who can be seen, but not heard) and started again as a champion of true freedom, founding a conference in 2015 called Anarchapulco. Acapulco, Mexico – “The Anarchists” (Courtesy of HBO) “The Anarchists” is ultimately organized around three main narratives related to Berwick and this event, but before the series finds itself, we are introduced to a number of characters who gather around Berwick, some of whom truly believe in anarchy and live its principles. One of the first testimonies from Erika Harris, a black woman fed up with the nine-to-five grind who is truly looking for a different way of life, makes a compelling case that living in some version of self-directed bliss is possible. Harris looks really comfortable, like she’s got it all figured out, and she maintains that air of lightness every time we see her. But he is treated more as a balancing device than as a person with a larger story to tell. This may be because he is one of the few “average”, stable people who remain part of any anarchist community still existing in Berwick’s orbit. She seems like a good person to spend time with. That doesn’t necessarily make her the right type of character for a project like this. Nathan Freeman and his wife Lisa fit that bill. The couple left the United States to live as anarchists in Mexico for the sake of their children, along with Lily Forester and John Galton the assumed names of a young anarchist couple to flee to Anarchapulco to escape drug charges related to possession of cannabis. If you recognize the name John Galton, it could be because you’ve either read the sacred conservative text from which it comes, or any of the 2019 international headlines about the murder of an American fugitive in Mexico. All documentary series of this stripe involve some type of crime surrounded by questions of guilt. The fact that Schramke met the couple and filmed them before their shocking tragedy allows survivors to clear up some misconceptions about what happened. Some of it smacks of shameless victim-blaming to protect the Anarchapulco brand, which has been effectively done since its third and fourth year of operation. Untangling and organizing these narratives requires a certain amount of discipline even before one factors in the large role of cryptocurrency in this story. The Anarchists’… reveals that the dividing line between utopia and hell [is] essentially the same as that opening up divisive democracies around the world. But Schramke’s ability to weave all these narratives into a coherent form proves sporadic and limited at best. This may be a product of the director’s closeness to this ragged, densely populated community for six years. some supposed central players appear in archival material or are mentioned in stories without anyone explaining why it is necessary to mention them. Perhaps his stylistic aim is to capture the chaos of the period he chronicles, but such choices contribute to the ambiguity that obscures the key lessons of this cautionary tale, beginning with the community’s failure to agree on a single definition of anarchy. Near the beginning of the series Schramke shares his definition of it as “the organization of society on the basis of voluntary cooperation, without political institutions or hierarchical government.” Berwick declares that Anarhapulco has no leader while positioning himself as the lord of the region. The Freemans play administrative support to his vision, to a point. Forester and Galton see it as an extension of boyishness, which she summarizes to “avoid paying taxes and live within your means.” The common theme of “taxation is fraud” is almost the only part of the concept that everyone agrees on. Everything else is interchangeable. Forester and Galton become the lifeblood of this community and this series, and their extensively explored stories are the best aspects of the later episodes, in which the director gets into the action more often. Through Forester, in particular, we gain a better understanding of how the system fails trauma survivors and why a supposedly stateless way of being would appeal to someone like her. Meanwhile, her friend Jason Henza’s experience shows why such communities often turn out to be mirages. Want a daily digest of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. When “Anarchists” find some semblance of a rhythm, it reveals that the dividing line between utopia and hell was essentially the same as the one that opened up democracies around the world – that is, everything collapses when the holders turn their backs – no. A few years ago “The Anarchists” might have seemed more compelling than it does now, when the hokum spewed on the Anarchapulco stage is played out on Fox News and others in the far-right ecosystem. This does not mean that our society is leaning more towards anarchy, but rather shows how normalized conspiracy theories are. But whatever traction it can muster comes down to something much more basic, explained in the words of Juan Galt (yeah, no relation): the dream of anarchy crashes into the reality of human conflict, and the drama hits the fan. When that last part is off, you can count on the Berwicks of the world to follow their real truth. “As bad as the world is,” he concludes, “you can ignore it, really, and work on yourself.” “The Anarchists” premieres Sunday, July 10 at 10 p.m. on HBO. Watch a trailer via YouTube. More stories like this:
