Oxford Studies 2016
BOUKIS, ALEX CRITIQUE 1 PAGE 1
OF 1
Name: Alexander Boukis
ID Number: 2209898
Critique: 1
Word Count: 604
On January 28th at 7:30 pm in Williams Hall, I attended a presentation by Mark Bray called
“Anarchism, Terrorism and Human Rights in Spain: Past and Present”. Mark Bray is currently a PhD
Student at Rutgers University studying Modern European History and Women‘s and Gender history, with
a particular geographical focus on Spain. His presentation at Oxford helped establish the basis for a
primitive understanding of the various, isolated instances of anarchic violence that took place throughout
Spain. I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation, especially because I have a yearning desire to learn as much
about political violence as possible – it is simply a developing, academic passion of mine.
Throughout the presentation, Mark Bray articulated a particular definition of anarchism that may
not be established throughout the general public. According to Mark, the intuitive definition of anarchism
has it such that one believes it to involve the complete, yet cryptic topple of the pre-existing government.
However, that is not necessarily always the case – especially when it comes to the unique social dynamics
of a political regime like Spain. For me, personally, I always imagined instances of anarchism to involve
elusive and generally unsuccessful attempts at pushing any sort of ideological agenda. At least in my eyes,
anarchists would take on actions as individuals, rather than collective political bodies, and I always
figured that there were never any recorded successful anarchic attempts. As far as I was concerned,
unless the government was effectively destroyed as a result of anarchism, then the anarchic attempt was
unsuccessful. If anything, up until Mark Bray’s presentation at Oxford College of Emory University, I
certainly had no reason to believe that anarchism was prevalent in modern society. At this point in time, I
have ultimately realized that I am actually wrong.
From the establishment of the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo to fall of the New Republic,
prolific anarchism fundamentally rooted itself in the political atmosphere of modern day Spain. Such was
made especially true via Mark Bray’s articulation of the chronological history of anarchism. According to
motivates me to pursue my own interests and aspirations. I have already taken steps to reach out to Mark
Bray so I could further the dialogue about anarchism in Spain, and I hope I can learn more from him.