There We Are Human Again: A Diplomat's Journey to Anarchism

Part memoir, part political argument, There We Are Human Again declares that a much richer way of living is possible, and within our grasp today, together - to be truly human, at last. The world is sliding towards one kind of anarchy: incessant conflict, environmental collapse, and a disturbing sense of insoluble crisis and hopelessness. But there is another kind of "anarchy" entirely - not chaos, but organising ourselves, cooperating without domination or coercion, and therefore living - and loving - together in peace. In this book, former British diplomat Carne Ross tells the story of how he went from negotiating conflict and terrorism at the UN and resigning in disgust over the Iraq war, to working with liberation and democracy movements around the world, and in the process discovering anarchism as an inspiring yet surprisingly plausible politics. His journey spans disillusionment, despair and psychological collapse, and finally the discovery of a new way of looking at life - and love - and with it a personal reconstruction and revival of hope. There We Are Human Again argues that control by the state -claimed as necessary and inevitable - in fact foments humiliation and conflict rather than cooperation and fulfilment. Humans can live much better without dominating one another, instead centring relationships and mutual aid, and celebrating love - not profit or power - as the organising principle and very point of society, and of life itself.