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The idea of banning people seems to be all the rage these days now that President what's-his-name wants to ban large swaths of people from entering the U.S. Within anarchist circles, however, the idea of banning people from anarchist spaces has long been popular among certain people as well. Some people argue that banning people is perfectly fine and is in alignment with the anarchist principle of free association. Other people say that banning people is not at all okay, saying it is by it's very nature exclusionary and leads to certain people having more influence and power than others.
The topic this week is banning people from spaces. When and where is it okay to ban people? Who should be banned and who should do the banning?
In explicitly anarchist spaces, should market anarchists and national anarchists be banned, even though these people claim to be anarchists? What about leftists and other people who have no problem with the existence of a state, should they be banned from anarchist spaces?
In terms of behavior, how many times should people be given a chance before they are given the boot? When should people be given time to change their ways, and when should people be immediately expelled? Should people be allowed to return to anarchist spaces after a certain period of time has passed? And how should all of this be carried out? Should formal procedures be written up about this? And will these procedures realistically even be followed if they were?
