The time for action is now! Anarchist theory, critical pedagogy, and radical possibilities Abraham P. DeLeon University of Connecticut, USA "When the rich assemble to concern themselves with the business of the poor it is called charity. When the poor assemble to concern themselves with the business of the rich it is called anarchy." Paul Richard Rudolf Rocker (1989), a 19 th century anarchist, proclaimed that anarchist theory was separate from a state driven, hierarchical socialism in that, “…when a revolutionary situation arises they [the people] will be capable of taking the socio-economic organism into their own hands and remaking it according to Socialist principles” (p. 86). Arising from the idea that small cooperatives of people could form without the need of a coercive and hierarchical state, Rocker envisioned a society that was based on cooperation, community participation, and mutual aid. Rocker’s vision of society, and other anarchist-communist (or anarcho-syndicalist) theorists, is especially relevant in a time that has seen a “war on terror” that was not supported by the global community, the rollback of civil liberties with legislation such as The Patriot Act, and educational laws such as No Child Left Behind that are focusing on narrowly-defined “standards” for public schooling. Historically, anarchists have been marginalized in academic literature, but have still been involved in radical political struggles throughout the world (Bowen, 2005; Chomsky, 2005; Day, 2004; Goaman, 2005). Within radical circles, anarchist literature has begun to gain popularity over the past several years (Bowen & Purkis, 2005). An anarchist presence can be seen in the anti-globalization movement, the “Black Bloc” protests against the IMF and World Bank, and other smaller, localized resistance efforts such as Anti-Racist Action (ARA) and Food Not Bombs (Bowen, 2005; Goaman, 2005). Unfortunately, because of the increasingly conservative nature of the mainstream media and the conservative restoration of the United States that has been occurring over the past thirty years, their voices and critiques go unheard (Apple, 2000; Bowen & Purkis, 2005).