Anarchism would seem to be the antithesis to capitalism, and yet it is the very basis of the astounding success of Zingerman’s, a tiny delicatessen in Michigan that has given the artsy, bookish city of Ann Arbor a large part of its identity in recent decades. Since it first opened in 1982, the deli has expanded to 10 interlinked food businesses with more than 750 employees, and more than $65 million (€58.5 million) in annual revenue.
How could anarchism lead to such multimillion-dollar revenues? That’s what business executives and corporate leaders now flock to Ann Arbor to find out from the deli’s co-founder, Ari Weinzweig, who is coming to Dublin in October to spread his gospel of business anarchism.
“First off, anarchism is not about chaos and violence, despite what people think,” he tells me over the phone from Michigan. “Of course, there were violent anarchists, just as there were violent Catholics, Democrats and Jews, but anarchism is actually about a belief in human dignity and creativity – the idea that every individual matters. It’s about tearing down hierarchy.”
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