I basically said anarchy is me taking his stuff and killing him because I had guns and he didn't, and there was nothing he could do to prevent that. He couldn't call the cops, as with anarchy, there are no laws to break.
Even the riots during the 1968 heyday of the SDS and anti Viet war groups were choreographed. Anarchy is spontaneous.
Most professed anarchists don’t really know what anarchy is.
Very right, or rather it always starts out that way. How it ends up rolling is never how it's planned. I had the same conversation as you did with a couple of young friends about what they imagine "anarchy" is. It isn't Bakunin or Kropotkin making dramatic, righteous speeches to an admiring crowd, it's downtown Beirut in the 80's or Sarajevo in the 90's.
This won't be anarchy, this will be political theater, which is a very different thing. The protesters come, they scream, they tangle with police, the news cameras roll. There are kabuki dances less formal. It is "safe" violence because the government must play by the rules, which is the very opposite of anarchy.
That doesn't mean it won't be a hot summer. I was in Seattle for the WTO riots, and there are several bits of advice I'd like to offer for unwilling participants:
1. Stock up on necessities because you might not want to leave the house when the idiots in black are having their fun outside your door.
2. Be ready to go to a temporary location if it really gets crazy, meaning that you find out, as Seattleites did, that tear gas goes right through locked doors and windows and into residences and it's really nasty.
3. Get back in touch with local news and police scanners.
4. Be ready to defend yourself in the gravest extreme. Even organized political dramas have psychopaths in them.
Other than that, have a nice summer!