Yale political scientist and anthropologist Professor James C. Scott, author of the whimsical 2013 book Two Cheers for Anarchism, suggested pursuit of justice demands occasional insubordination and disregard for rules. He described:

…an anarchist sensibility that celebrates the local knowledge, common sense, and creativity of ordinary people. The result is a kind of handbook on constructive anarchism that challenges us to radically reconsider the value of hierarchy in public and private life, from schools and workplaces to retirement homes and government itself.

Two Cheers for Anarchism: Six Easy Pieces on Autonomy, Dignity and Meaningful Work and Play

Insubordination and disregard for rules is precisely what happened on March 7, 1965 when civil rights activist John Lewis led hundreds of marchers across a bridge in Selma, only to be attacked by Alabama State Troopers. The event became known as Selma’s Bloody Sunday. State-sanctioned violence was a common response to those seeking to protect their rights.

The rising racial tensions finally bubbled over into bloodshed in the nearby town of Marion on February 18, 1965, when state troopers clubbed protestors and fatally shot 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson, an African American demonstrator trying to protect his mother, who was being struck by police.

In response, civil rights leaders planned to take their cause directly to Alabama Governor George Wallace on a 54-mile march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery. Although Wallace ordered state troopers “to use whatever measures are necessary to prevent a march,” approximately 600 voting rights advocates set out from the Brown Chapel AME Church on Sunday, March 7. 

How Selma’s ‘Bloody Sunday’ Became a Turning Point in the Civil Rights Movement

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Protesters’ disregard for rules imposed by political and economic elites was evident in British Columbia when they objected to occupation and destruction of traditional Indigenous lands. The province’s response would have pleased George Wallace. The segregationist Governor of Alabama for 16 years might have said, “How dare these people interfere when we are working to exploit them.”

The term “anarchy” comes from the ancient Greek word “anarchos,” which means “without authority.” Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a 19th century French anti-capitalist who may have been the first to use the term. He described anarchism as the absence of a master. Proudhon believed capitalist accumulation of property enabled exploitation of others, but he allowed that individuals needed enough property to allow independence and livelihood. He opposed collectivism, saying it suppressed individual freedoms.

We are convinced that liberty without socialism is privilege, injustice; and that socialism without liberty is slavery and brutality.

Russian revolutionary anarchist Mikhail Bakunin

The title of Scott’s book echoed E.M. Forster’s Two Cheers for Democracy in 1951. Forster wrote:

We may still contrive to raise three cheers for democracy, although at present she only deserves two.

Many people in 2023 are determined to lower Forster’s ranking from two to zero.

Professor Scott discussed common social and political interactions as well as mass protests and revolutions. He said that judging when it makes sense to break a law requires careful thought, Princeton University Press described the book:

Far from a dogmatic manifesto, Two Cheers for Anarchism celebrates the anarchist confidence in the inventiveness and judgment of people who are free to exercise their creative and moral capacities.

Of course, Scott is not a radical anarchist and many skeptical of all justifications of authority and power criticized his work. But the free-market libertarians of the Cato Institute said, “Scott’s insights have applications throughout the modern industrial world, and for economies both planned and spontaneous.”