Theorizing Domination and Resistance with the Many Headed Hydra

In Greek and Roman mythology there appears the snake-like lake monster, the hydra. Descendant of the immortal giant, Typhon, and the half-woman-half snake, Echidna, the hydra is a many headed beast, whose regenerative capacities allow it to grow multiple heads where one is cut off or severed. The hydra is known to be monstrous, highly venomous, and immortal. Yet, as the myth goes, the hydra is eventually killed by Hercules and his nephew, Iolaus, who were successful in killing the beast by cauterizing the wounds after the heads were cut off. In social and political thought, the hydra has been used to theorize historical and contemporary forms of exploitation and domination, as well as expressions, strategies, and formations of resistance and rebellion. The Mexican anarchist, Ricardo Flores Magón, writes of the struggle to destroy the three headed hydra—capital, authority, and clergy—in search of political, social, and economic emancipation; the Zapatistas in Chiapas theorize their struggle for life against the capitalist hydra; veteran of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberations Army, revolutionary Russell “Maroon” Shoatz theorizes the differences in the organizational forms between the dragon and the hydra; and historians Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker trace the motley multiple revolutionary abolitionist subject, the many headed hydra, of the revolutionary Atlantic. This paper stages a conversation between these different revolutionary fighters, thinkers, and historians, engaging their thoughts on the hydra to explore from different angles questions of domination and resistance in the contemporary world. In relation to resistance, the hydra helps us think about intersectionality, class composition, solidarity, insurrection, autonomy, and informal tactics of organization and struggle. In relation to power, the hydra helps us think about the multiplicity of systems of domination and the relationships between them; their capacities for reproduction and survival; and the monstrous character of capitalism, the state, and authority. Looking at the hydra through the analysis of these different theorists and revolutionary fighters, located in their different histories and contexts, this paper offers a discussion into the intricacies and complexities of domination and resistance on a global scale in the contemporary crisis- ridden world.