Green Anarchy #14

36 Pages·2003·15.91 MB·English

by  Green Anarchy Collective

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GLOBALIZATION AND ITS APOLOGISTS:
AN ABOLITIONIST PERSPECTIVE
by John Zerzan
IN ITS HEYDAY IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH, SLAVERY NEVER LACKED promises, while it continues to metastasize. Net/Web culture Although the wind is shifting in some quarters, it’s somewhat
for apologists. Writers, preachers, and planters chimed in to (a revealing nomenclature) is a prime example, extending its baffling that theory has seldom put into question this institution
defend the peculiar institution as divinely ordained and justified deprived version of social existence via virtual space. Now that (or domestication, for that matter). The latent desire for wholeness,
by the racial superiority of whites over blacks. The Abolitionists, embedded, face-to-face connectivity is being so resolutely simplicity, and the immediate or direct has been overwhelmingly
who burned the Constitution, hid fugitives, and attacked annihilated, it’s time for virtual community. dismissed as futile and/or irrelevant. “The task we now face is
federal arsenals, were widely viewed as dangerous firebrands fit According to Rob Shields’ chilling formulation, “the presence not to reject or turn away from complexity but to learn to live
for prison or the gallows. of absence is virtual.” 8 “Community” is unlike any other in with it creatively,” advises Mark Taylor.15 We must “resist any
In hindsight, the word “slavery” connotes a world of oppression, human memory; no real people are present and no real simple nostalgia,” counsels Katherine Hayles, while granting that
violence, degradation, and resistance. The vile, deluded racism communication takes place. In a convenient, disembodied virtual “nightmare” may well describe what’s been showing up lately.16
of slavery’s 19th century apologists is unmistakable from our 21st community, one shuts people off at the click of a mouse to In fact, even more confounding than lack of interest in the
century viewpoint, but how many see our century’s version of “go” elsewhere. Pseudo-community moves forward on the roots and motive force undergirding the present desolation is the
slavery in a similarly revealing light? ruins of what is left of actual connections. Senses and sensuality fairly widespread embrace of the prospect of more of the same.
In the name of progress, world development and empire are diminish apace;9 “responsibility” is interred in the expanding How is it possible to imagine good outcomes from what is clearly
enslaving humankind and destroying nature, everywhere. The postmodern Lost Words Museum. Shriveled opposition and generating the opposite, in every sphere of life? Instead of a
juggernaut known as globalization has absorbed nearly all fatalistic, resigned shirkers forget that anti-slavery abolitionists, hideously cyborgian program delivering emptiness and
opposition, overwhelming resistance by means of an implacable, once a tiny minority, refused to quit and eventually prevailed. dehumanization on a huge scale, Hayles, for instance, finds in
universalizing system of capital and technology.1 A sense of Certainly none of this has happened overnight. The AT&T the posthuman an “exhilarating prospect” of “opening up new
futility that approaches nihilism is now accepted as an inevitable telephone commercial/exhortation of some years back, “Reach out ways of thinking about what being human means,” while high-tech
response to modernity: “Whatever….” The poverty of theory is and touch someone,” offered human “systems evolve toward an open
starkly illuminated in this fatalistic atmosphere. Academic contact but concealed the truth that future marked by contingency
bookshelves are loaded with tomes that counsel surrender and such technology has in fact been and unpredictability.”17
accommodation to new realities. Other enthusiasts have climbed crucial in taking us ever further What’s happening is that a
onto the globalization bandwagon, or more commonly, were never from that contact. Direct experience “what we have lost” sensibility is
not on board. From an abolitionist perspective, the response of is replaced by mediation and being overwhelmed by a “what
most intellectuals to a growing planetary crisis consists of apologia simulation. Digitized information have we got to lose/try anything”
in endless variations. supplants the basis of actual orientation. This shift testifies
Patrick Brantlinger2 suggests, for example, that in the “post- closeness and possible trust profoundly to the depth of loss
historical” age we have lost the ability to explain social change. among interacting physical beings. and defeat that civilization/
But the reasons behind global change become evident to those According to Boris Groys, “We patriarchy/industrialism/modernity
who are willing to examine fundamental assumptions. The just have to deal with the fact has engineered. The magnitude of
debasing of life in all spheres, now proceeding at a quickening that we can no longer believe our the surrender of these intellectuals
pace, stems from the dynamics of civilization itself. Domestication eyes, our ears. Everyone who has nullified their capacity for
of animals and plants, a process only 10,000 years old, has has worked with a computer analysis or vision. For example,
penetrated every square inch of the planet. The result is the knows that.”10 “Increasingly the question is not
elimination of individual and community autonomy and health, Globalization is likewise scarcely whether we will become post-
as well as the rampant, accelerating destruction of the natural new on the economic and political human, for posthumanity is
world. Morris Berman, Jerry Mander, and other critics have scene. In the Communist Manifesto already here.”18
described the “disenchantment” of a world subordinated to Marx and Engels predicted the Technology as an injunction to
technological development. Civilization substitutes mediation for emergence of a world market, based forget, as a solvent of meaning,19
direct experience, distancing people from their natural surroundings on growing production and con- finds its cultural voice in
and from each other. Ever greater anomie, dispersal, and loneliness sumption patterns of their day. The Spanish empire, 300 years postmodernism. Articulated in the context of transnationalism
pervade our lives. A parallel instrumentalism is at work in our earlier, was the first global power network. whereby globalization renders its totalizing nature glaringly evident,
ecosystems, transforming them into resources to be mined, and Marx contended that every technology releases opposing postmodernism pursues its refusal of “any notion of representable
imperiling the entire biosphere.3 possibilities of emancipation and domination. But somehow the or essential totality.”20 Helplessness reigns; there are no foundational
At base, globalization is nothing new. Division of labor, project of a humanized technology has proven groundless and places left from which to think about or resist the juggernaut. As
urbanization, conquest, dispossession, and diasporas have been result-free; only technified humanity has come to pass. Technology Scott Lash states, “We can no longer step outside of the global
part and parcel of the human condition since the beginning of is the embodiment of the social order it accompanies, and in its communications flows to find a solid fulcrum for critique.”21 His
civilization. Yet globalization takes the domesticating process to planetary advance transfers the fundamental ethos and values misnamed Critique of Information announces total abdication: “My
new levels. World capital now aims to exploit all available life; behind that technology. It never exists in a vacuum and is never argument in this book is that such critique is no longer possible.
this is a defining and original trait of globalization. Early 20th value-neutral. Some alleged critics of technology speak, for example, The global information order itself has, it seems to me, erased and
century observers (Tönnies and Durkheim among them) noted of advancing “to a higher level of integration between humanity swallowed up the possibility of a space of critical reflection.”22
the instability and fragmentation that necessarily accompanied and nature.”11 This “integration” cannot avoid echoing the With no ground from which to make judgments, the very
modernization. These are only more evident in this current, quite integration that is basic to civilization and its globalization; namely, viability of criteria dissolves; the postmodern thus becomes prey
possibly terminal stage. The project of integration through world the cornerstone institutions that integrate all into themselves. to every manner of preposterous and abject pronouncement.
control causes disintegration everywhere: more rootlessness, Foremost among them is division of labor. I. Bluhdorn, for example, simply waves the little matter of
withdrawal, pointlessness… none of which have environmental catastrophe away: “To the extent that we
arrived overnight. The world system has become a manage to get used to (naturalize) the non-availability of
high-tech imperialism. The new frontier is cyberspace. universally valid normative standards, the ecological
In the language of perennial empire, global powers problem…simply dissolves.”23 The cynical acceptance of
issue their crusading, adventurous call to tame and every continuing horror, clothed in aesthetized irony and
colonize (or recolonize).4 implicit apathy.
Marshall McLuhan’s “global village” concept is back Downright bizarre is the incoherent celebration of the
in vogue, albeit with a clonal tinge to it, as everyone marriage of the postmodern and the technological,
is designated to be part of a single global society. One summed up in a title: The Postmodern Adventure: Science,
interdependent McWorld, kept alive by the standardized Technology, and Cultural Studies at the Third Millennium.24
sadness of a draining consumerism. It should be no According to authors Steven Best and Douglas Kellner,
surprise that among those who speak in the name of “The postmodern adventure is just beginning and alternative
“anti-globalization” there are actually a growing number futures unfold all around us.” To speak of defending the
who in fact oppose it, whose perspective is that of particular against universalizing tendencies is a postmodern
de-globalization, who realize that a far more thorough- commonplace, but this is mocked by the eager acceptance
going critique and vision is urgently needed. of the most universalizing force of all, the homogenization
The “global village,” subject to almost instantly machine which is technology.
worldwide epidemics5, has become a downright scary Andrew Feenberg discusses the all-pervasive presence
place. Since the 1980s the term “risk” has become of technology, arguing that when the Left joins in the
pervasive in almost every discursive field or discipline celebration of technological advances, the ensuing
in developed societies. The power of nation-states to consensus leaves little to disagree about. A leftist himself,
“manage” risks has demonstrably declined, and indi- Feenberg concludes that “we cannot recover what
vidual anxiety has increased, with the spread of reification has lost by regressing to pretechnological
modernization and globalization.6 This trajectory also brings A state of growing passivity in everyday life is one of the most basic conditions, to some prior unity irrelevant to the contemporary
growing disillusionment with representative government and a rising, developments. Increasingly dependent—even infantilized—by a world.”25 But such “relevance” is what is really at issue. To
if still largely inchoate, anti-modern orientation. These outlooks have technological life-world, and under the ever-more complete effective remain committed to the “contemporary world” is precisely the
strongly informed anti-authoritarian movements in recent years. control of specialized expertise, the fractionated subject is vitiated by foundationless foundation of complicity. Postmodernity as the
There is a perceived hollowness, if not malevolence, to basic social division of labor. That most fundamental institution, which defines realization or completion of universal technology, globalization’s
institutions across the board. As Manuel Castells puts it, “we can complexity and has driven domination forward ab origino. Source of all underlying predicate.
perceive around the world an extraordinary feeling of uneasiness with alienation, “the subdivision of labour is the assassination of a people.”12 When the basics are ruled off-limits to contestation, the resulting
the current process of technology-led change that threatens to Adam Smith in the 18th century has perhaps never been excelled in his evasion can have no liberatory consequence. Infatuation with
generate a widespread backlash.”7 eloquent portrait of its mutilating, deforming, immiserating nature.13 surface, the marginal, the partial, etc. is typical. Postmodernism billed
A technified world continues to proliferate, offering the promise It was the prerequisite for domestication,14 and continues to itself as subversive and destabilizing, but delivered only aesthetically.
of escape from the less and less attractive context of our lives. be the motor of the Megamachine, to use Lewis Mumford’s term. Emblematic of a period of defeat, the image consumes the event
Hoping no-one realizes that technology is centrally responsible for Division of labor underlies the paradigmatic nature of modernity and we consume the images. The tone throughout Derrida’s work,
impoverished reality, its hucksters spread countless enticements and (technology) and its disastrous outcome.
...continued on page 3
THE FALL ‘03 ISSUE PAGE 1 GREEN ANARCHY #14
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a review of two summer eco-anarchist gatherings
Green Anarchy #13 (Summer 2003) was put together in June
As the seasonal summer fires burn around the west, those in attendance seemed very
on the eve of anti-bioengineering protests at the Sacramento
I contemplate incendiary “sparks” I witnessed in other interested in the anti-civilization critique,
World Trade Organization meeting. We are assembling this
bioregions. Much like wildfire restoring necessary and brought up many stimulating questions. We
issue in September as the WTO “ministerial” summit takes
nutrients to the soil, eco-anarchists are revitalizing then made our way to Cleveland, Ohio, where we had
place in Cancun. Last summer, peasants, anarchists, and
movements long plagued with leftist and reformist an urban edible/medicinal plant walk and an informal
students (overlapping categories, to be sure) stopped cold a
tendencies, and are getting to the roots of the discussion on green anarchy, followed by videos. Folks
planned mega-airport near Mexico City, so courageous resistance
problems we all face. here said that most of the local “activism” was either
may also be the watchword at Cancun.
This year, the annual Earth First! Rendezvous liberal or syndicalist oriented, and they were very
Meanwhile, the U.S. military occupation of Iraq absorbs daily
was held in upstate Minnesota, near the Boundary excited about the night. They seemed to be a group who
casualties from various quarters. We may be witnesses to a
Waters along the Canadian border. The site was a had been alienated by the “red” anarchist scene (those
decisive turning, in which no form of colonialism, traditional
beautiful spot along the shores of one the region’s now producing the uninspiring and often pointless
or neo-liberal, will be accepted anymore.
thousands of lakes. The organizing collective (which Onward anarchist publication). They said many of the
Eight states in the Northeast and Midwest, plus parts of
is decided each year for the following rendezvous) local red anarchists are hostile towards any anti-civ
Canada, felt history’s biggest power failure in mid-August, as
was a fresh and energetic crew, mostly from the ideas, but that they were enthusiastic about the
50 million people were severed from the techno grid for a couple
Minneapolis area. They added a much-needed questions we raised.
of days. The higher the hypercomplexity of the “Network
change from the old-timers who seem to dwell We finally made our way to the long anticipated Black
society,” the more vulnerable, the further to fall. Just one of so
almost entirely on the “good ol’ days” and promote and Green Gathering, an event long overdue. We
many baffling failures of this Tower of Babel system and a sign of
washed-up analyses and tactics. Despite some need to be strong on our own, and not depend on
things to come. The World Trade Towers, Enron, the power grid,
naiveté, especially reformist environ-
all the components of this rotten order are falling. Already falling.
in dealing with law mental conferences
It is our own energy failure that should concern us most. Some
enforcement and or sectarian anar-
“anarchists” since 9/11/01 have shrunk back into single-issue
media, the logistics chist gatherings
politics, forgetting that whenever the whole is not called into
came together to get our critique
question the whole is strengthened. The reform posture, dreary
relatively well. It out and make
and shallow, is no answer to the steadily deepening crisis.
was smaller than connections with
Even academics, generally allergic to most reality at large,
usual (under a like-minded people.
have begun to wonder if we haven’t already entered the Age of
hundred people), From the start, the
Permanent Disaster. On every level, from the psyche to the
but most were organizers of the
social to the environmental, the grim evidence confronts us.
really intent on event were faced
At the same time, a torrent of words declares the inevitable
making the gather- with financial difficul-
victory of the cyber/cyborg/digital/ virtual/Information Technology
ing a meaningful ties and frequently
juggernaut. As the world Machine moves all the more clearly
endeavor. There distracted by constant
toward complete global integration, genocide and ecocide are
were discussions harassment from
illumined as having been a part of the movement of Progress all
ranging from “Green local, state, and
along. If catastrophe looms, it is increasingly difficult to say that
Anarchy 101” and federal authorities
it couldn’t be discerned.
“Civilization and (not to mention pos-
Unlike the chronic manipulativeness of the Left, the strength
Patriarchy” to “Back- sible infiltrators, and
of anarchy is its openness and transparency. Now more than
woods Stealth Train- annoying wannabe
ever we need to stress our contempt for concealed agendas and
ing” and a variety pigs, much like those
freely share our visions and critiques. Autonomy of thought
of direct action-oriented workshops. Lots of room sometimes at work here in Eugene). The location had
and action is anathema to the Left (which has always labeled it
was made for spontaneous discussions, informal to change in the last couple weeks because federal
“divisive”), but second nature to anarchists. Right?
dialog, and of course swimming, canoeing, and agents pressured the campground to cancel the
beer drinking. organizers’ reservation. Black and Green was
Probably the most important discussion to transpire contacted by the campground and asked, “Why didn’t WWWWWeeeeelllllcccccooooommmmmeeeee TTTTTooooo IIIIIssssssssssuuuuueeeee #####1111144444 ----- FFFFFaaaaallllllllll 22222000000000033333
was the “Earth First! Movement Self-Criticism”. There you tell us you are terrorists?” Organizers were also
was no consensus as to any specific direction of “the harassed in person. Despite the difficulties, the While we have no specific “theme” for this
movement”, but it was unanimous that Earth First! gathering went on as planned. The site could have issue, a major element, as usual, seems to be
needs to recognize that the problems facing the earth been a little wilder, and the groups camping across the search for where we have been and where we
and all of her inhabitants run very deep, and thus the field–a group of civil war re-enactors and one are going, and thoughts on how we might
require an appropriate resistance, as opposed to of young marines–made for quite a surreal weekend. proceed.This issue features articles on
more of the same symbolic gestures. Some viewed The content and enthusiasm, however, more than made globalization, nihilism, collapse, indigenous
EF! as a stepping stone for more radical action, while up for any logistical problems. For three days, close to revolts, authoritarianism, progress,
others envisioned an EF! which embraced a diversity a hundred of us ate, played, learned, and talked. We colonization, and more. We had the opportunity
of tactics from tree-sits and office occupations to had almost no down time as we went through basic to do a wonderful interview with Chellis
low-level sabotage, while endorsing and explaining to in-depth discussions about anarcho-primitivism, Glendinning, which we will conclude in our next
the need for more intense actions. My favorite green anarchy, civilization, patriarchy, political issue. We have also included a new feature -
vision, however, wished to see EF! move closer to prisoners, direct action, anarchist parenting, spirituality, “Back to Basics”. We feel that sometimes we may
its rhetoric (NO COMPROMISE IN DEFENSE OF and much more, not to mention every afternoon had gloss over some primary ideas or important
MOTHER EARTH!), and become a vital component extended sessions on primitive skills like fire-starting, concepts for the green anarchist trajectory.
of a full-on eco-war, taking ALL NECESSARY action shelter building, foraging, and other post-industrial So, for this issue, we have produced a special
to stop the destruction of our mama, regardless of essentials. My favorites topics of discussion were insert on the “Origins of Civilization”. This
what the “mainstream” would think of it, or whether “Beyond Veganism”, a challenge to our often dogmatic lays out some basic anarcho-primitivist
the “movement” is in agreement. (Let’s be clear, it is and limited lifestyle choices, and “Hit Where It assumptions and questions. Our schedule for
not vanguardist to take the action you think is Hurts”, an evening campfire discussion on strategy future “Back to Basics” inserts include: Winter
necessary to achieve liberation for yourself and the and tactics aimed at crippling the techno-industrial (#15) - “The Problem with the Left”, Spring (#16) -
planet. It only becomes so, if you expect everyone machine. What civilization is, what we are going to “Primitive Skills/Re-wilding”, and Summer (#17)
else to follow your lead.) Inspiring action is necessary do about it, and how we can exist outside of it, were - A revised “Introduction to Green Anarchy”.
to fuel the momentum we sometimes seem to have central issues to almost every discussion. Interestingly,
We look forward to any thoughts and contributions
lost, but even more important are effective and alcohol and drugs played almost no part (except for
along these lines, or suggestions for other
meaningful actions, those which actually make a very limited and discreet circumstances) in this
topics. Of course, in this issue we also have
significant impact in the techno-industrial infrastructure gathering, which was a pleasing change, probably
lots of action reports, news, updates, and various
or create a substantial cultural shock. If the biocentric vital for how much we wanted to accomplish in such a
opinion pieces, including reviews, letters, and
earth-warrior myth of Earth First! is to have any short time. With lots of connections made and
other assorted anarchist critiques. We feel
relevance in the future, it needs to draw on the more information shared, it was good to see a gathering of
that, as anarchists, we must always be putting
positive aspects of its past, move away from its often this type, especially in the northeast–the bastion of
everything, including our own projects, into
nostalgic and insular scenes, and develop strategies lefty politics. Overall, I was inspired and refreshed to
question. This is not to be divisive, self-
for a authentic resistance. Currently, there seems to see the anti-civilization critique becoming more vibrant
righteous, or limiting, but so that we can
be a profound synthesis of the founding deep ecologist and widespread, especially among direct action-
actually grow and be effective, and not continue
conservationists of the ’80s (who were willing to focused and young people. The flames are continuing
sabotage the machinery of the earth destroyers), the to grow… to make the same mistakes over and over. It is
social activists of the ’90s (who connected many of not a “waste of time” to be critical; it is
the dots of how and why the earth is being killed), Note: A Green Anarchy speaking tour is currently essential. We want to be clear, we do not
and the non-reformist anti-authoritarian and anarchist being scheduled for this fall in the northeast. unanimously agree with everything stated in
folks of today (who comprehend the magnitude of Contact: [email protected] for details. this publication, but we feel that it is all
change required). Overall, I was impressed by what I Next year, the Earth First Rendezvous will be on relevant to the furthering of the anti-
saw this year, a radical trend I have been feeling within the coast of Maine (see www.earthfirstjournal.org) civilization and general anarchist theory
Earth First! for a number of years now (although not and the second annual Black and Green Gathering and practice. We are a collective, who don’t
always reflected in the EF! Journal), that of green anarchy. “Against Civilization” will be here in Oregon, with always agree with each other, but share our
On our way to the next gathering, we stopped briefly the hope that it will be hosted in a different common hatred of civilization and stagnancy, and
bioregion each year. Already people are getting
in Madison, Wisconsin, to talk with a small crowd and love for life and resistance.
together to make it happen. Check-out:
show videos at the university. Despite a low turn-out
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(most classes had been out for well over a month),
GREEN ANARCHY #14 PAGE 2 THE FALL ‘03 ISSUE
A SURREALIS T RE-IMAGINING OF CANADA (1929)
While the French(cid:3)Canadian connection vis a vis Québec might have called the
attention of French surrealists like Tanguy to what was then a recent dispute(cid:2)
instead of operating in terms of French diasporic nationalism and simply redrawing
the map with Labrador granted to Québec(cid:2) the surrealist resolution of this conflict
has Labrador absorb almost all of what was then Canada(cid:2) including Québec and
Newfoundland as well(cid:1)
In so doing(cid:2) the surrealist map magically returns Canada to Native sovereignty(cid:1) In
this sense(cid:2) Tanguy’s re(cid:3)imagining of the map of Canada demonstrates surrealism’s
admiration for the primal art and culture of Native peoples(cid:2) such as Labrador’s Inuit(cid:2)
and a passional attraction to wilderness that recognizes the utter expendability of
the imported European civilization(cid:1) For Tanguy(cid:2) all of what was then Canada
became Labrador(cid:2) except for the seemingly autonomous little corner of Canada
[[[[[[IIIIIINNNNNNSSSSSSEEEEEERRRRRRTTTTTT MMMMMMAAAAAAPPPPPP]]]]]]
nearest to where I presently reside(cid:2) represented on the surrealist map by the Queen
Charlotte Islands (shown in French as Iles Charlotte and known to the Native people
The unbounded territory of the imagination known as surrealism has always
of the Northwest Coast as Haida Gwaii)(cid:1) The obvious connection here was
included what is called Canada(cid:1) From its earliest years(cid:2) European surrealists have
surrealism’s reverence for the awe(cid:3)inspiring Haida totem poles and carvings(cid:1)
recognized Canada as a realm of the marvelous precisely because it was so un(cid:3)European(cid:1)
The surrealists urge us to forget about that old colonialist mapmaker(cid:2) Mercator(cid:2)
While many Canadians pride themselves on their links to Britain and the Royal
and(cid:2) we might now add(cid:2) even the more progressive Arno Peters(cid:1) Instead they ask:
Family or to France(cid:2) surrealists have downplayed these connections(cid:1) Instead(cid:2) right
What if you could design a map of the world that made no pretense to realistic
from the start(cid:2) they proclaimed their affinity with Canadian aboriginal people by
cartographic boundaries? Back in (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:5)(cid:2) surrealists imagined a world without
publishing what has come to be known as The Surrealist Map of the World(cid:1)
Empire(cid:1) On their map(cid:2) the UK ceased to exist(cid:1) Its future imperial successor(cid:2) the
Originally appearing in the surrealist issue of the Belgian review(cid:2) Variétiès in (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:5)
continental USA(cid:2) was literally wiped off the face of the earth(cid:2) emphasizing instead
under the title(cid:2) “Le Monde au temps des surréalistes” (The World in the Time of the
the wild tundras and “Eskimo” people of Alaska(cid:2) and the Oceanic culture of Hawaii(cid:2)
Surrealists)(cid:2) it has been attributed to French surrealist painter Yves Tanguy(cid:1) The
which at that time had not yet been absorbed as an American state(cid:1) The surrealist
map is notable not only for its “plotting against Eurocentrism” as David Roediger
map implicitly poses the question(cid:2) ‘Why not demolish imperialism at its very source?’
has so brilliantly illuminated (Roediger in Sakolsky(cid:2) Surrealist Subversions(cid:2)
Given twenty(cid:3)first century American imperial history(cid:2) an interesting contemporary
(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:6)(cid:2) pp(cid:1) (cid:8)(cid:6)(cid:9)(cid:3)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:4))(cid:2) but for(cid:2) what would now be called in certain anarchist
footnote is that while the USA has been transformed out of existence on this map(cid:2)
circles(cid:2) its “anti(cid:3)civ” content(cid:1)
Afghanistan retains its fabled position as a fertile East(cid:3)West crossroads(cid:1) So while
In reference to the depiction of Canada(cid:2) the surrealist contempt for the European
the surrealist map does not totally eliminate the nation state as a point of reference(cid:2)
imperial project and its critique of civilization itself is(cid:2) shall we say(cid:2) all over the
it recognizes Native autonomy and affirms a basis of sovereignty rooted not in
map(cid:1) Indeed(cid:2) Labrador has absorbed the entire mainland of Canada(cid:1) Historically(cid:2)
civilized realpolitik(cid:2) but with reference to the only true surrealist compass(cid:2) the radi(cid:3)
aside from the obvious First Nations’ claims(cid:2) the legal possession of Labrador was
cal trajectory of the unfettered imagination(cid:1)
disputed between Quebec and Newfoundland (itself not then even a part of Canada)(cid:1)
In (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:9)(cid:2) the British Privy Council(cid:2) not surprisingly(cid:2) awarded Labrador to Newfoundland(cid:1) RRRRRooooonnnnn SSSSSaaaaakkkkkooooolllllssssskkkkkyyyyy(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2) DDDDDeeeeennnnnmmmmmaaaaannnnn IIIIIssssslllllaaaaannnnnddddd(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2) SSSSSuuuuummmmmmmmmmeeeeerrrrr(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2) (cid:6)(cid:6)(cid:6)(cid:6)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)
GLOBALIZATION AND ITS APOLOGISTS:
by John Zerzan References:
1 Anthony King, “Baudrillard’s Nihilism and the End of Theory,” TELOS 112 (Summer 1998).
...continued from page one
2 Patrick Brantlinger, “Apocalypse 2001; or, What Happens after Posthistory?”
for instance, seems never far from mourning. The abiding so lonely, so abandoned?” asks philosopher Bruce Wilshire.31 Cultural Critique 39 (Spring 1998).
sadness of Blanchot is also to the point. The postmodern, It should no longer appear paradoxical that a deepening 3 To speak in terms of a supposedly “unfinished project” of idealized modernity
according to Geoffery Hartman, “suggests a disenchantment that malaise co-exists with the escalating importance of expertise in is bizarrely out of touch with reality.
4 The globalization of the dominant culture is revealed in “The Culture of Globalization” by
is final, or self-perpetuating.”26 managing everyday life. People distrust the institutions, and have
Klaus Muller (Museum News, May-June 2003). Eighteen of the world’s leading museums,
The subject, in the current ethos, is seen on the one hand as an lost confidence in themselves. Elissa Gootman’s “Job Description:
including the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Hermitage, announced in
unstable, fragmented collection of positions in discourse––even Life of the Party” discusses hired party “motivators,” professionals December 2002 that artifacts of various cultures must be available to an international public,
as a mere effect of power, or of language––and on the other hand who guarantee successful socializing.32 On a more serious note, and therefore would not be returned, even if they had been seized during colonial rule.
as part of a positive, pluralist array of alternatives. By avoiding instrumental rationality penetrates our lives at ever-younger ages. 5 Christine McMurran and Roy Smith, Diseases of Globalization (Earthscan
examination of the main lines of domination, however, Kids as young as two are now routinely medicated for depression Publications Ltd.: London, 2001) discusses deteriorating conditions.
6 See Joost Van Loon, Risk and Technological Culture: Towards a Sociology of
postmodernists blind themselves to the actual, deforming and insomnia.33
Virulence (Routledge: London, 2002).
characteristics of technology and consumerism. The forgetful An array of postmodernisms and fundamentalisms seems to
7 Manuel Castells, The Internet Galaxy (Oxford University Press: New York, 2002), p. 276.
self of technology, buffeted by the ever-shifting currents of have displaced belief in the future. Marcuse wondered whether 8 Rob Shields, The Virtual (Routledge: London, 2003), p. 212.
commodified culture, is hard-pressed narcissism’s yearning 9 Lee Silver proposes an extropian and horrific solution: the bionic transfer of the sense
to form an enduring identity. There for completeness organs of bats, dogs, spiders, etc. in Remaking Eden: How Genetic Engineering and Cloning
is, in fact, an increasing distance and perfection might Will Transform the American Family (Avon Books: New York, 1997). For his part,
Gregory Stock sees no likely opposition to such grotesqueries. “To ‘protect’ ourselves
between dominant global forces and not contain the
from the future reworking of our biology would require a research blockade of
the endangered coherent individual. germ of a different
molecular genetics or even a general rollback of technology.”-from Redesigning
The high-tech network of the reality principle. Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future (Houghton Mifflin: New York, 2002), p. 6.
world system is completing the trans- Even whether, contra 10 Boris Groys, “The Insider is Curious, the Outsider is Suspicious,” in Geert
formation of classes into masses, the Hegel, reconciliation Lovink, ed., Uncanny Networks: Dialogues in Virtual Intelligentsia (MIT Press:
erosion of group solidarity and could only happen Cambridge, 2002), p. 260.
11 Andrew Feenberg, Transforming Technology (Oxford University Press: New
autonomy, and the isolation of the self. outside of historical
York, 2002), p. 190.
As Bamyeh points out, these are the time.34
12 D. Urquhart, Familiar Words (London 1855), quoted in Marx, Capital I, p. 363.
preconditions of modern mass de- Such “critics” as 13 Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
mocracies, as well as the basic political there be (Chomsky, [1776] (Modern Library: New York, 1937), pp 734-740.
features of global modernity itself.27 Derrida, Ricoeur, 14 “The great leap backward,” according to Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox, The Imperial
Meanwhile, participation in this Plumwood, for Animal (Holt, Rinehart and Winston: New York, 1971), p. 126.
15 Mark C. Taylor, The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture (University
setup dwindles, as a massified, example) call for a
of Chicago Press: Chicago, 2001), p. 4.
standardized techno-world makes a global governance/
16 Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman (University of Chicago Press:
joke of the idea that any of it could planning apparatus– Chicago, 1998), p. 106.
be changed on its own terms. –under which, it must 17 Hayles, ibid., p. 285.
Elections, for instance, are widely be said, the individual 18 Hayles, ibid., p. 246. The occasional assertion by such commentators that this reality is
understood to be insulting and would have even at the same time being “highly contested” is the height of irony, as is the mandatory
repeated use of the buzzword “body” in virtually every postmodern work of the 1990s.
meaningless rituals, technicized less of a voice. Anti-
19 Very helpful here is Lorenzo Simpson, Technology, Time, and the Conversations
and commodified exercises in manipulation.28 Fulfillment totality Derrida wants a “New International,” apparently
of Modernity (New York: Routledge, 1995).
and freedom are fast evaporating, while the predominant note of ignorant of the actual zero degree of “democracy” that obtains in 20 Mohammed A. Bamyeh, The Ends of Globalization (University of Minnesota
social theory seems to be completely uncritical. The subject is merely the current political jurisdictions. Such superficiality, avoidance, Press: Minneapolis, 2000), p. 100.
a shifting intersection of global networks; “the I is a moment of and illusion surely constitutes acceptance of the ongoing 21 Scott Lash, Critique of Information (Sage: London, 2002), p. 220.
complexity,” says Mark Taylor in unconcerned summary.29 devastation. Of course, if statist regulation could be an answer it 22 Lash, ibid., p. 1.
23 I. Bluhdorn, “Ecological Modernisation and Post-Ecologist Politics,” in G. Spaargaren,
Along with health-threatening obesity (largely due to the rapid would necessarily be totalitarian. And it would be partial at best,
A.P.J. Mohl, and F. Buttel, eds., Environment and Global Modernity (Sage: London, 2000).
spread of “fast food” and other processed foods), depression has because it would never indict any of civilization’s motive forces, such as
24 Steven Best and Douglas Keller, The Postmodern Adventure: Science, Technology, and
become an international scourge. Among various consequences of division of labor or domestication. Cultural Studies at the Third Millennium (Guilford Press: New York, 2001), p. 279.
development, depression testifies directly to the loss of deeply What is clear to some of us is that a turn away from the virtual, 25 Feenburg, op.cit., pp 4, 189.
important ingredients of human happiness. But as Lyotard has it, global networks of power, unlimited media, and all the rest is a 26 Geoffery Hartman, Scars of the Spirit (Palgrave/Macmillan: New York, 2002), p. 137.
“despair is taken as a disorder to control, never as the sign of an necessity. A break with this worsening world toward embeddedness, 27 Bamyeh, op.cit., p. x.
28 See Theda Skocpol, Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in
irremediable lack.”30 Already the fourth leading cause of disability in the face-to-face, non-domination of nature and each other.
American Civic Life (University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 2003).
the U.S., depression is projected to take second place by 2020. Todd Gitlin, while rejecting such a refusal as mere “wishfulness,”
29 Taylor, op.cit., p. 232.
Despite the general reactionary focus on genetics and chemical is helpful on the subject: “So consistent abolitionists have little 30 Jean-Francois Lyotard, Postmodern Fables (University of Minnesota: Minneapolis,
palliatives, depression has much more to do with the growing isolation choice but to be root-and-branch, scorch-and-burn primitivists, 1997), p. 31.
of individuals within developed society. The figures about declining scornful of the rewards of a consumer society, committed to 31 Bruce Wilshire, Fashionable Nihilism: A Critique of Analytical Philosophy
social and civic membership or affiliation are relevant; the rise of cutting the links in the invisible chain connecting modern (SUNY Press: Albany, 2002).
32 Elissa Gootman, “Job Description: Life of the Party” (New York Times, May 30, 2003).
autism, binge drinking, and illiteracy betoken depression’s progress production, consumption, and the technologies implicated in
33 Bonnie Rothman Morris, “Lullabies in a Bottle” (New York Times, May 13, 2003).
as an even more profound phenomenon. “At the time of the both. Only unabashed primitivists can create postindustrial
34 Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization (Little, Brown: Boston, 1955), p. 153, for example.
so-called triumph of the West, why do so many people feel so crappy, wholeness.”35 35 Todd Gitlin, Media Unlimited (Metropolitan Books: New York, 2002), p. 163.
THE FALL ‘03 ISSUE PAGE 3 GREEN ANARCHY #14
The World Needs Not “Our” Science,
The World Needs Not “Our” Science,
RREECCUUPPEERRAATTIIOONN
TTHHEE
MMIISSEERRYY
BBuutt IIttss DDeessttrruuccttiioonn aanndd OOuurr RReebbeelllliioonn OOFF
AANNDD TTHHEE
MMIISSEERRYY
OOFF
RREECCUUPPEERRAATTIIOONN
DDDDDiiiiisssssooooobbbbbeeeeeyyyyyiiiiinnnnnggggg aaaaannnnn ooooorrrrrdddddeeeeerrrrr
iiiiisssss nnnnnooooottttt ttttthhhhheeeee sssssaaaaammmmmeeeee ttttthhhhhiiiiinnnnnggggg aaaaasssss
The role of the university as a center for the reproduction Masses characterized by their utter loneliness. The field of free
oooooppppppppppooooosssssiiiiinnnnnggggg ttttthhhhheeeee cccccuuuuurrrrrrrrrreeeeennnnnttttt
(simple or expanded), formation, and systemization of the selection of which is epitomized in the dilemma of Coca-Cola or ssssstttttaaaaattttteeeee ooooofffff ttttthhhhhiiiiinnnnngggggsssss iiiiinnnnn iiiiitttttsssss
dominant ideology has not essentially altered in the course of Pepsi-Cola. One of the Goody’s [a chain of cafeterias] or one of tttttoooootttttaaaaallllliiiiitttttyyyyy::::: ooooonnnnneeeee wwwwwhhhhhooooo dddddiiiiisssssooooobbbbbeeeeeyyyyysssss
time; indeed, it is not bound to alter until the abolition of all the “traditional” tavernas. Kampanellis or Brecht. Ritsos or Elytis cccccaaaaannnnn aaaaalllllsssssooooo bbbbbaaaaassssseeeee ttttthhhhheeeeeiiiiirrrrr
relations of property and power. Moreover, the university domain [miserable poets]. Markopoulos or Mikzoutsikos [Greek composers aaaaaccccctttttiiiiiooooonnnnn ooooonnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee iiiiidddddeeeeeaaaaa ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt
fulfills and confines itself in techniques, methods, and programs of dumb pseudo-folk music]. Rancid choices in a marketplace of lies. iiiiittttt iiiiisssss nnnnnooooottttt pppppooooowwwwweeeeerrrrr iiiiinnnnn iiiiitttttssssseeeeelllllfffff
designed to block thinking and the flow of experiencing. This sort ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt nnnnneeeeeeeeeedddddsssss tttttooooo bbbbbeeeee eeeeellllliiiiimmmmmiiiiinnnnnaaaaattttteeeeeddddd
Ladies and Gentlemen,
bbbbbuuuuuttttt rrrrraaaaattttthhhhheeeeerrrrr jjjjjuuuuusssssttttt iiiiitttttsssss
of policing, disciplining, and conditioning reaches even the point
cccccuuuuurrrrrrrrrreeeeennnnnttttt aaaaarrrrrrrrrraaaaannnnngggggeeeeemmmmmeeeeennnnnttttt.....
of producing a special mind police/mind squad, generally known
the Performance Has Just Started “AAAAAccccctttttiiiiinnnnnggggg” cccccooooonnnnnssssseeeeeqqqqquuuuueeeeennnnntttttlllllyyyyy
under the euphemism ‘psychiatrists.’
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The present situation in the Greek universities is determined by
aaaaassssssssssuuuuummmmmppppptttttiiiiiooooonnnnn,,,,, ooooonnnnneeeee cccccooooouuuuulllllddddd
the attempt on the part of the State Right- and left-wingers, all carrying the eeeeevvvvveeeeennnnn sssssiiiiimmmmmuuuuulllllaaaaattttteeeee (((((iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee bbbbbeeeeesssssttttt
(‘Civil’ or ‘Organized Society’, according tokens or rather insignia of progressiveness, ooooofffff cccccaaaaassssseeeeesssss))))) ssssstttttrrrrruuuuuggggggggggllllliiiiinnnnnggggg aaaaagggggaaaaaiiiiinnnnnsssssttttt aaaaa cccccooooonnnnnssssstttttiiiiitttttuuuuuttttteeeeeddddd
to its beautifiers) and the professors- are “fighting” on our behalf, arbitrarily, aaaaauuuuuttttthhhhhooooorrrrriiiiitttttyyyyy (((((llllleeeeettttt’sssss sssssaaaaayyyyy aaaaannnnn EEEEEmmmmmpppppiiiiirrrrreeeee))))),,,,, pppppooooosssssiiiiinnnnnggggg aaaaasssss ttttthhhhheeeee
as-shepherd dogs to stabilize a system of without asking us; manipulating and hhhhheeeeeaaaaaddddd ooooofffff ttttthhhhheeeee “mmmmmooooovvvvveeeeemmmmmeeeeennnnnttttt ooooofffff mmmmmooooovvvvveeeeemmmmmeeeeennnnntttttsssss” wwwwwhhhhhiiiiillllleeeee,,,,,
studies intensification and strict selection, directing our truths, our desires and our iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee ssssstttttrrrrruuuuuccccctttttuuuuurrrrreeeee aaaaannnnnddddd aaaaadddddooooopppppttttteeeeeddddd ppppprrrrraaaaaccccctttttiiiiiccccceeeeesssss,,,,, ttttthhhhheeeee
in order to create a technocratic elite needs into socialist or pro-socialist sssssaaaaammmmmeeeee aaaaauuuuuttttthhhhhooooorrrrriiiiitttttaaaaarrrrriiiiiaaaaannnnn ccccchhhhhaaaaarrrrraaaaacccccttttteeeeerrrrriiiiissssstttttiiiiicccccsssss aaaaarrrrreeeee rrrrreeeeevvvvveeeeeaaaaallllleeeeeddddd.....
(polytechnic schools) as well as an politics, inside the molds and clichés AAAAAnnnnn iiiiimmmmmpppppeeeeerrrrrccccceeeeeppppptttttiiiiibbbbbllllleeeee dddddeeeeetttttaaaaaiiiiilllll ssssseeeeeeeeeemmmmmsssss tttttooooo sssssllllliiiiippppp bbbbbyyyyy:::::
ttttthhhhheeeee cccccooooommmmmpppppllllleeeeettttteeeee nnnnnooooonnnnn-eeeeexxxxxiiiiisssssttttteeeeennnnnccccceeeee ooooofffff aaaaa tttttrrrrruuuuueeeee mmmmmooooovvvvveeeeemmmmmeeeeennnnnttttt
inferior executive caste (intermediate of ideology, of the inverted and petrified
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technical schools), both ideologically theory of the past.
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manipulated and aptly (mis)educated. We believe that reactions against
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Furthermore, the directing commissars proposition 815 [an attempt by the State
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of the parties and student unions (poor to regulate the university issues by mmmmmiiiiinnnnniiiiisssssttttteeeeerrrrrsssss wwwwwhhhhhooooo,,,,, tttttaaaaakkkkkiiiiinnnnnggggg ooooonnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee rrrrrooooollllleeeee ooooofffff ssssspppppoooookkkkkeeeeessssspppppeeeeeooooopppppllllleeeee,,,,,
relatives of the prevalent form of controlling even tighter the student pppppaaaaarrrrrtttttiiiiiccccciiiiipppppaaaaattttteeeee iiiiinnnnn ttttteeeeellllleeeeevvvvviiiiissssseeeeeddddd tttttrrrrraaaaannnnnsssssmmmmmiiiiissssssssssiiiiiooooonnnnnsssss,,,,, pppppssssseeeeeuuuuudddddooooo-
capitalism and necessary policing body] is the pretext and the rallying bbbbbaaaaattttttttttllllleeeeesssss cccccaaaaarrrrrrrrrriiiiieeeeeddddd ooooouuuuuttttt wwwwwhhhhhiiiiillllleeeee lllllooooooooookkkkkiiiiinnnnnggggg uuuuupppppooooonnnnn pppppaaaaarrrrrtttttiiiiieeeeesssss
levers—i.e. bridges of its transition into point for the spreading of a generalized aaaaannnnnddddd uuuuunnnnniiiiiooooonnnnnsssss,,,,, aaaaannnnnddddd “sssssoooooccccciiiiiaaaaalllll ccccceeeeennnnnttttteeeeerrrrrsssss” ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt ooooowwwwweeeee
state capitalist forms) aim at rendering contestation and negation, for a generalized ttttthhhhheeeeeiiiiirrrrr eeeeexxxxxiiiiisssssttttteeeeennnnnccccceeeee tttttooooo fffffuuuuunnnnndddddsssss gggggeeeeennnnneeeeerrrrrooooouuuuussssslllllyyyyy gggggrrrrraaaaannnnnttttteeeeeddddd
us docile automata, instruments at their revolt; as was more or less the occasion bbbbbyyyyy ttttthhhhheeeee vvvvveeeeerrrrryyyyy gggggooooovvvvveeeeerrrrrnnnnnmmmmmeeeeennnnntttttsssss aaaaagggggaaaaaiiiiinnnnnsssssttttt wwwwwhhhhhiiiiiccccchhhhh ttttthhhhheeeeeyyyyy
ccccclllllaaaaaiiiiimmmmm tttttooooo ssssstttttrrrrruuuuuggggggggggllllleeeee,,,,, aaaaasssss aaaaalllllllllliiiiieeeeesssss.....
disposal; they aim to bridle, distort, with the rivalries over soccer results in
RRRRRaaaaattttthhhhheeeeerrrrr ttttthhhhhaaaaannnnn ttttthhhhheeeee sssssuuuuubbbbbvvvvveeeeerrrrrsssssiiiiiooooonnnnn ooooofffff ttttthhhhheeeee eeeeexxxxxiiiiisssssttttteeeeennnnnttttt,,,,,
cripple, and detour our desires in the Megara, the State-regulated cucumbers’
ttttthhhhheeeee “nnnnneeeeewwwww ggggglllllooooobbbbbaaaaalllll” aaaaaccccctttttiiiiivvvvviiiiissssstttttsssss ttttthhhhheeeeeooooorrrrriiiiizzzzzeeeee aaaaannnnnddddd,,,,, tttttooooo
pursuit of occupying a better position price for the farmers of Crete, and the
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in the production process; to manipulate “immoral” episcopate of the Ionian
pppppaaaaarrrrrtttttiiiiiccccciiiiipppppaaaaatttttiiiiiooooonnnnn iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee mmmmmaaaaannnnnaaaaagggggeeeeemmmmmeeeeennnnnttttt ooooofffff ppppprrrrreeeeessssseeeeennnnnttttt
us, the passive, inconsiderate and perhaps well-accommodated islands. Let’s utilize and develop the dynamic of these aaaaannnnnddddd fffffuuuuutttttuuuuurrrrreeeee hhhhhaaaaarrrrrmmmmm.....
student “masses”, in order to sooner or later cast us into the socialist struggles. It is necessary, however, to combine the revolt with TTTTTooooo aaaaannnnnyyyyyooooonnnnneeeee wwwwwhhhhhooooo iiiiinnnnnvvvvviiiiittttteeeeesssss uuuuusssss “nnnnnooooottttt tttttooooo hhhhhaaaaattttteeeee ttttthhhhheeeee
or communist labor market they are envisaging. multiple, thoughtful, imaginative, and polymorphous corrosion mmmmmeeeeedddddiiiiiaaaaa,,,,, bbbbbuuuuuttttt tttttooooo bbbbbeeeeecccccooooommmmmeeeee ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt mmmmmeeeeedddddiiiiiaaaaa”[!] iiiiittttt iiiiisssss
As Teng Xiaobing, the notorious bureaucrat and modernizer of and subversion, something that will not automatically appear and uuuuussssseeeeellllleeeeessssssssss tttttooooo eeeeemmmmmppppphhhhhaaaaasssssiiiiizzzzzeeeee ttttthhhhheeeeeiiiiirrrrr bbbbblllllaaaaatttttaaaaannnnntttttlllllyyyyy rrrrreeeeeppppprrrrreeeeessssssssssiiiiivvvvveeeee
the Chinese Capital, put it, “white cat — black cat, all cats swallow manifest itself as such. rrrrrooooollllleeeee::::: ttttthhhhhrrrrrooooouuuuuggggghhhhh ttttthhhhheeeee cccccrrrrreeeeeaaaaatttttiiiiiooooonnnnn ooooofffff aaaaa mmmmmaaaaassssssssss,,,,, pppppaaaaassssssssssiiiiivvvvveeeee,,,,,
moles.” Indeed, if the old mole of revolution (Grandfather Karl’s Daily misery, sexual repression, the financial, emotional, and aaaaatttttooooommmmmiiiiizzzzzeeeeeddddd aaaaannnnnddddd nnnnnuuuuummmmmbbbbbeeeeeddddd hhhhhuuuuummmmmaaaaannnnn bbbbbeeeeeiiiiinnnnnggggg,,,,, ttttthhhhheeeee
fffffooooouuuuunnnnndddddaaaaatttttiiiiiooooonnnnnsssss ooooofffff aaaaa nnnnneeeeewwwww tttttoooootttttaaaaallllliiiiitttttaaaaarrrrriiiiiaaaaannnnn rrrrreeeeegggggiiiiimmmmmeeeee aaaaarrrrreeeee
expression) does not succeed this time, the totalitarian society existential impasse, the desperateness of a generation surrounded
lllllaaaaaiiiiiddddd,,,,, ttttthhhhheeeee ooooonnnnneeeee dddddeeeeevvvvveeeeelllllooooopppppeeeeeddddd bbbbbyyyyy ttttteeeeeccccchhhhhnnnnnooooolllllooooogggggiiiiicccccaaaaalllll sssssoooooccccciiiiieeeeetttttyyyyy
sketched by George Orwell is near, very near. The scientist is at and suffocated by the older ones, here are the obstacles to the
ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt aaaaattttttttttaaaaaccccckkkkksssss eeeeevvvvveeeeerrrrryyyyy hhhhhuuuuummmmmaaaaannnnn ppppprrrrraaaaaccccctttttiiiiiccccceeeee uuuuunnnnntttttiiiiilllll iiiiittttt
the same time the product, victim, and buttress of the bourgeois realization of imagination, of the dream, and of our being.
rrrrreeeeennnnndddddeeeeerrrrrsssss ttttthhhhheeeee hhhhhuuuuummmmmaaaaannnnn bbbbbeeeeeiiiiinnnnnggggg iiiiitttttssssseeeeelllllfffff uuuuunnnnnnnnnneeeeeccccceeeeessssssssssaaaaarrrrryyyyy.....
social organization and, specifically, of the fragmentation and State-organized suppression, power, authority, and the infallibility
TTTTTooooo aaaaannnnnyyyyyooooonnnnneeeee wwwwwhhhhhooooo ppppprrrrrooooopppppooooossssseeeeesssss “cccccooooonnnnntttttrrrrrooooolllllllllliiiiinnnnnggggg GGGGGMMMMMOOOOOsssss
brutalization of labor. S/he will of science and its hierarchy, the fffffrrrrrooooommmmm bbbbbeeeeelllllooooowwwww”,,,,, iiiiittttt iiiiisssss uuuuussssseeeeellllleeeeessssssssss tttttooooo mmmmmeeeeennnnntttttiiiiiooooonnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee
cease being the victim only if separation between manual iiiiinnnnntttttrrrrriiiiinnnnnsssssiiiiiccccc nnnnnaaaaatttttuuuuurrrrreeeee ooooofffff iiiiinnnnnddddduuuuussssstttttrrrrriiiiiaaaaalllll ttttteeeeeccccchhhhhnnnnnooooolllllooooogggggyyyyy::::: aaaaannnnn
s/he negates his/her social role labor and knowledge; these are iiiiinnnnnssssstttttrrrrruuuuummmmmeeeeennnnnttttt ooooofffff pppppooooowwwwweeeeerrrrr.....
as well as this fragmented all temples to be assaulted with TTTTTooooo aaaaannnnnyyyyyooooonnnnneeeee wwwwwhhhhhooooo aaaaattttttttttrrrrriiiiibbbbbuuuuuttttteeeeesssss vvvvvaaaaallllluuuuueeeee (((((iiiiifffff ooooonnnnneeeee
science, and the castrated/ revolutionary zeal! The social wwwwwaaaaannnnntttttsssss tttttooooo dddddeeeeefffffiiiiinnnnneeeee iiiiittttt aaaaasssss sssssuuuuuccccchhhhh))))) tttttooooo cccccooooonnnnntttttrrrrriiiiibbbbbuuuuutttttiiiiinnnnnggggg iiiiinnnnn
castrating/ossified knowledge. prestige of “students” should ttttthhhhhiiiiisssss wwwwwaaaaayyyyy tttttooooo aaaaa qqqqquuuuuaaaaannnnntttttiiiiitttttaaaaatttttiiiiivvvvveeeee gggggrrrrrooooowwwwwttttthhhhh iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee
mmmmmooooovvvvveeeeemmmmmeeeeennnnnttttt,,,,, iiiiittttt iiiiisssss dddddiiiiiffffffffffiiiiicccccuuuuulllllttttt tttttooooo rrrrreeeeevvvvveeeeeaaaaalllll ttttthhhhheeeee lllllaaaaaccccckkkkk
How can s/he negate all these? be shattered, together with
ooooofffff aaaaannnnnyyyyy rrrrreeeeevvvvvooooollllluuuuutttttiiiiiooooonnnnnaaaaarrrrryyyyy qqqqquuuuuaaaaallllliiiiitttttyyyyy wwwwwhhhhhaaaaatttttsssssoooooeeeeevvvvveeeeerrrrr.....
First, by rejecting the profes- anything that inhibits liberation.
TTTTTooooo aaaaannnnnyyyyyooooonnnnneeeee wwwwwhhhhhooooo rrrrreeeeepppppllllliiiiieeeeesssss tttttooooo ttttthhhhheeeee cccccrrrrriiiiitttttiiiiiqqqqquuuuueeeeesssss,,,,,
sional/corporate oligopoly Colleagues in daily misery:
mmmmmooooovvvvveeeeeddddd bbbbbyyyyy ttttthhhhheeeeemmmmm tttttooooo lllllaaaaammmmmeeeeennnnnttttt ttttthhhhheeeee aaaaabbbbbssssseeeeennnnnccccceeeee ooooofffff aaaaannnnnyyyyy
of knowledge; by attempting No more efforts aiming at a
pppppooooosssssiiiiitttttiiiiivvvvveeeee ttttthhhhheeeeessssseeeeesssss,,,,, ooooonnnnneeeee hhhhhaaaaasssss tttttooooo rrrrreeeeessssspppppooooonnnnnddddd ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt iiiiittttt iiiiisssss
its detournement, the re-appro- more comfortable social nnnnneeeeeccccceeeeessssssssssaaaaarrrrryyyyy fffffiiiiirrrrrsssssttttt ooooofffff aaaaallllllllll tttttooooo ssssstttttaaaaarrrrrttttt fffffrrrrrooooommmmm aaaaa cccccllllleeeeeaaaaarrrrr
priation/transformation of that accommodation; let’s ccccchhhhhoooooiiiiiccccceeeee ooooofffff bbbbbaaaaattttttttttllllleeeeefffffiiiiieeeeellllldddddsssss.....
minimal part which is really struggle so that we cease being
AAAAAssssssssssoooooccccciiiiiaaaaazzzzziiiiiooooonnnnneeeee CCCCCooooonnnnntttttrrrrrooooo lllllaaaaa RRRRRooooovvvvviiiiinnnnnooooosssssaaaaa
useful by the “people,” by the wretched and castrated of
AAAAAvvvvvaaaaannnnnzzzzzaaaaatttttaaaaa dddddeeeeellllllllllaaaaa TTTTTeeeeecccccnnnnnooooolllllooooogggggiiiiiaaaaa IIIIInnnnnddddduuuuussssstttttrrrrriiiiiaaaaallllleeeee
the interested proletarianized the earth. Let’s occupy and
(((((AAAAACCCCCRRRRRAAAAATTTTTIIIII)))))
individuals. destroy the production centers
The system and its science of specialized idiots. Let’s [AAAAAssssssssssoooooccccciiiiiaaaaatttttiiiiiooooonnnnn CCCCCooooommmmmbbbbbaaaaatttttiiiiinnnnnggggg ttttthhhhheeeee RRRRRuuuuuiiiiinnnnnooooouuuuusssss
are founded on a nexus of destroy the places, lifestyles, AAAAAdddddvvvvvaaaaannnnnccccceeeee ooooofffff TTTTTeeeeeccccchhhhhnnnnnooooolllllooooogggggyyyyy aaaaannnnnddddd IIIIInnnnnddddduuuuussssstttttrrrrriiiiiaaaaallllliiiiisssssmmmmm]
separations and categorizations, and modes of boredom, non-
this straightjacket of reality, on thinking, and non-living. We
ignorance, outright or garnished should transform the destruction
lies, illusions and deceptions, on direct or indirect suppression. of pleasure into the pleasure of destruction. Those of us who study
A radical critique of science-in-itself will dumbfound and paralyze accounting can settle nothing more than the balance of our miserable
it. We are the cogs of an impersonal and depersonalizing machine. life. The only ‘red university’ is the one which is burning down.
Let’s negate this condition since the security that we will not die
Council for the Spreading/
of hunger is backed by the assurance that we will die of boredom;
like the daily death we are suffering in the army, in the galleys of
Advancement of Occupations
wage labor, in the ghettos of recreation (sic), in the campuses, in
prisons and psychiatric clinics.
All those who believe that the student unions have copped out, Literary Postscript (January 1979, source unknown)
they are willfully blind by deceiving themselves. The role of the
student unions is to professionally manipulate us by channeling “...So we move from [faculty] building to building, from autonomous
the student struggles into electoral politics, as a trump card of the meetings to rock concerts, looking desperately for communication,
opposition parties. It is obvious by now that the governmental which is nothing more than an illusion of community, something
lockout of the universities is part of a collusion which included that we should have realized a long time ago; looking for the
the plausible “escalation of the struggle”, that is, the controlled realization of our chronically squeezed desires and needs; all these,
and disciplined occupations, designed to prevent the already spreading in an admittedly badly organized show. At least let’s manifest our
wildcat-type situations. The “Students’ Guarding Teams” do not disgust for those roaming fixed looks, ghosts of a movement which
guard anyone except us, the students. Every single activity of the neither moves nor lives. At least let’s find the capacity, the courage,
student unions is confined within these walls built around us. and the talent to transform for good this illusion of experiencing
On the one hand, they serve and perpetuate the ideology of the into the experiencing and supersession of illusion.”
ruling class (either bourgeois or bureaucratic); on the other,
By anonymous Greek friends
they launch this ideology (either with parliamentary politeness
or bullying violence) to the miserable student masses.
GREEN ANARCHY #14 PAGE 4 THE FALL ‘03 ISSUE
“““““(((((NNNNNiiiiihhhhhiiiiillllliiiiisssssmmmmm))))) ssssstttttaaaaannnnndddddsssss llllliiiiikkkkkeeeee aaaaannnnn eeeeexxxxxtttttrrrrreeeeemmmmmeeeee ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt cccccaaaaannnnnnnnnnooooottttt bbbbbeeeee gggggoooootttttttttteeeeennnnn bbbbbeeeeeyyyyyooooonnnnnddddd,,,,, aaaaannnnnddddd yyyyyeeeeettttt
iiiiittttt iiiiisssss ttttthhhhheeeee ooooonnnnnlllllyyyyy tttttrrrrruuuuueeeee pppppaaaaattttthhhhh ooooofffff gggggoooooiiiiinnnnnggggg bbbbbeeeeeyyyyyooooonnnnnddddd;;;;; iiiiittttt iiiiisssss ttttthhhhheeeee ppppprrrrriiiiinnnnnccccciiiiipppppllllleeeee ooooofffff aaaaa nnnnneeeeewwwww bbbbbeeeeegggggiiiiinnnnnnnnnniiiiinnnnnggggg.....”””””
----- MMMMMaaaaauuuuurrrrriiiiiccccceeeee BBBBBlllllaaaaannnnnccccchhhhhooooottttt,,,,, TTTTThhhhheeeee LLLLLiiiiimmmmmiiiiitttttsssss ooooofffff EEEEExxxxxpppppeeeeerrrrriiiiieeeeennnnnccccceeeee::::: NNNNNiiiiihhhhhiiiiillllliiiiisssssmmmmm
If we desire another world, what is necessary for us to do to It is arguable that anarchists inherited ‘propaganda by the and not things. Strategic nihilism provides us a solution to
achieve this end? Specifically what changes must we enact deed’ from the Russian nihilists. Nihilism’s theorists5 continued existentialism and liberalism. It argues for an active
personally, socially, and as a movement?1 Beyond a coming- to be cited as precursors to the revolutionary activity in Russia pose in this world and for the inviability of reformist
to-power, what is the task of resolving the contradictions of until they were ‘disappeared’ well into the Bolshevik regime. solutions. When confronted with the horror of your
not only the current methodological system of social organization, What does nihilism have to offer beyond a mere avocation existence, race towards the bleak consequences, not away.
but the partial solutions offered by others who would also of destruction? The nihilist position does not allow for Deal with the moralism explicit in your stated irrelevance
pursue social power? To what extent must these changes happen the comforts of this world. Not only is God dead to a by identity politics, communism, and post-
now or can they be part of the action-as-consequence? nihilist, but also everything that has taken God’s place; modernism with a sword in
Here is where nihilism can provide some new perspective. idealism, consciousness, reason, progress, the masses, s hand. Moralists should be
m
A definition of nihilism2 could be the realization “that culture, etc. Without the comforts of this meta- a spared no patience.
conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make physical ‘place’ a strategic nihilist is free to drift What if you are struggling in
destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any unfettered by the consequences of s ‘the movement’? Nihilism
constructive program or possibility.” This exposes one of the her actions. i A ! can provide you a suite of
greatest idealistic flaws of modern activism: The articulation y tools. The first is deep
of the specific world-to-be as a result of your actions does not l y skepticism. Every action,
g b
guarantee that world’s creation. i every meeting, is filled
It is the tradition of the materialist conception of history e with politicians-in-waiting
h
that allows for the fallacy of causality to pollute the spirit of who are easy to discern, with
today. If production and exchange are the basis of t their plastic smiles and fluency with
i
every social structure throughout history, ‘the process’. A strategic nihilism allows
a
then we can limit ourselves to N its practitioner to see these types for what they
studying them to understand how r are; and the ability to do with them what is necessary by
any transition to another world your analysis, and not theirs.
t
may occur. Therefore an under- The second is a new eye towards history. Whereas before it may
standing of economic systems should S “A nihilist is a have been easy to get caught up in the details of the who’s, when’s
suffice to understand the strategic person who does not and why’s of the Paris Commune, now it is easy to see the failure in
opportunities for transition. Since the bow down to any authority, who the partiality without getting bogged down in the specific half-
vast majority of economics is under- does not accept any principle on faith, measures. Time devoted to arguing how many angels dance on the
standing the relationship of institutions however much that principle may be revered.”6 head of a pin is time away from the pursuit of anything else.
(which are only accountable to the current Philosophically, much has resulted from the nihilist Finally, a strategic nihilist position allows for a range of
power structure) to each other, such an ideas on value, aesthetics and practice. motion heretofore not available. The ethical limitations of
analysis seems like trying to understand an internal combustion Most notably in Adorno’s conception of Negative Dialectics, a ‘doing the right thing’ have transformed movements for social
engine from the motion of a car. principle which refuses any kind of affirmation or positivity, a change. From pacifists and ethicists who sanctimoniously wait
Materialism has largely been seen as an incomplete conception principle of thorough-going negativity. The nihilist tradition for the club to fall or the strength of their convictions to
of history. This is partially due to the power structures includes Adorno, Nietzsche, Bakunin, much of classic Russian shatter capitalism, to adherents of the Vietnam-era form of
embedded in the formation of most institutions but also due literature, Dada, punk rock, some of Heidegger, existentialist, post- social protest. It is clear that the terrain allowed by morality
to the moral forces that challenge materialism’s functionalist structuralist and post-modern thinkers, and much of anarchism. is bleak and filled with quagmire. Armed struggle groups, who
underpinnings. In the simple case, a benevolent God created What does this really mean on the modern stage? Strategic led non-existent masses toward their better world, have shown
the universe and has some vested interest in how things happen nihilism allows for the possibility that there is no future. The similar failure. If these are not the models that frame your
here. Therefore moral systems exist in the name of God’s possibility of radical social transformation then becomes conception of change, you are free to make moves on a
interests, as stated in holy texts and by fallible interpreters. unhinged from the utopian aspirations of its proponents. Their chessboard that no one else is playing on. You begin to write
Since the dispersion of the Reformation and the secularization ‘hope’ can clearly be shown to be disconnected from the the rules that those in power are not prepared for. You can
of the rise of Science, morality is usually defined in relation social and material reality of both the society as-it-is and the take angles, you can pace yourself, you can start dreaming
to politics. This has led to the moral component to Marx’s potential society that-could-be. If the destruction of the current big again, instead of just dreaming as large as the next demo,
analysis and of the Left in general. order must be achieved, for our own potential to be realized, action, or war.
“The Communists, therefore, are on the one hand
Notes:
practically, the most advanced and resolute section of
the working-class parties of every country, that section
which pushes forward all others; on the other hand, 1. The term movement is used to provide perspective here. It is a matter of
scale in Western Culture to begin with the self and end with the society. While
theoretically, they have over the great mass of the
we reject this tautology, we embrace the clarity of its apparent simplicity.
proletariat the advantage of clearly understanding the
2. There are about as many definitions of nihilism as there are of
lines of march, the conditions, and the ultimate general Anarchism. The difference is that to the extent that there is a social
results of the proletarian movement.” phenomenon of nihilism it is largely regressive and insular. Anarchism
has puppet shows, nihilism only has black coffee and cigarettes.
[The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels]
3. “When that explosive detonated yesterday it broke all the windows
Moral value, or ‘good’, is defined by the specific in the family’s house. I was in the process of being served tea and playing
with the two small babies. I’m having a hard time right now. Just feel
cultural values of Europe, of a developed Christian sick to my stomach a lot from being doted on all the time, very sweetly,
worldview, and the developing beliefs in individualism, by people who are facing doom. I know that from the United States, it all
sounds like hyperbole. Honestly, a lot of the time the sheer kindness of
meritocracy, and mercantilism. These are still the the people here, coupled with the overwhelming evidence of the wilful
hurdles that even the most starry-eyed of protesters destruction of their lives, makes it seem unreal to me. I really can’t
believe that something like this can happen in the world without a
trip over, sometime spectacularly.3 bigger outcry about it. It really hurts me, again, like it has hurt me in
Historical evidence, if it is to be believed, would the past, to witness how awful we can allow the world to be. I felt after
talking to you that maybe you didn’t completely believe me. I think it’s
actually demonstrate that the visions of “successful” actually good if you don’t, because I do believe pretty much above all
social revolutionaries have shockingly little to do with else in the importance of independent critical thinking. And I also realise
that with you I’m much less careful than usual about trying to source
the form of the new society they create. Take the French every assertion that I make. A lot of the reason for that is I know that
Revolution, where the form of class society was to be you actually do go and do your own research. But it makes me worry
about the job I’m doing. All of the situation that I tried to enumerate
changed. It did, from the three estates of church, above - and a lot of other things - constitutes a somewhat gradual–often
nobility, and commoners to a powerful state, centralized for its own sake, for the children, it may be better to do it with hidden, but nevertheless massive - removal and destruction of the ability of a particular
group of people to survive.” -Rachel Corrie (to her mother)
bureaucracy, and burgeoning capitalist infrastructure. All it took open eyes than purposely blinded ones. A strategic nihilist 4. “This policy was initiated in 1921 to replace the policy of War Communism, which
was the Committee of Public Safety, a Reign of Terror, and a understands that an ethical revolution does not create an had prevailed during the Russian civil war and led to declines in agricultural and (non-
military) industrial production... a policy of substituting a tax instead of requisitions;
15-year Total War effort that would transform warfare forever. ethical society. An ethical anarchist is not one concerned with of allowing the peasantry to dispose of their surplus within the limits of “local trade”;
For the Russian Revolution many differing tendencies aspired to non-utopian social transformation, only an idealized one. of allowing the development of capitalist concessions to a delimited extent, and of state
capitalism. This state capitalism, in industry and agriculture, was allowed a consider-
revolutionary victory. Its eventual leaders called for “All power A strategic nihilist understands that the infrastructure of the able field of possibilities in which to develop, while the proletarian government retained
to the Soviets” and ended up settling for crushing their opposition modern world embeds its own logic and inhabitants, and the control of the key industries, state banking; that nationalization of the land remained
and that the state held a monopoly of foreign trade.” Encyclopedia of Marxism
and enacting the New Economic Policy.4 The twentieth century nihilist is willing to toss it asunder anyway. 5. Chernyshevsky, Pisarev, and Herzen
has ended with a steep decline in not only successful social change Vaneigem states in Revolution of Everyday Life, that “Juvenile 6. Ivan Turgenev’s 1861 novel Fathers And Sons
but also a poverty of visionaries who are pursuing change at all. delinquents are the legitimate heirs of Dada.” This speaks to
Anarchism and nihilism share a common antecedent. a positive nihilism that may be a comforting way in which we “Eventually the system will reach a point – the word
that provides the social cue is “integration” – where
Bakunin’s 1842 dictum, “Let us put our trust in the eternal can approach the troubling consequences embedded within
the universal dependence of all moments on all
spirit which destroys and annihilates only because it is the nihilism’s logic. Anarchists have generally accepted property
other moments makes the talk of causality obsolete.
unsearchable and eternally creative source of all life. The destruction in their humanist vision of an ethical social change.
It is idle to search for what might have been a cause
desire for destruction is also a creative desire,” sparked both Things matter less than people. Nihilism informs us that this within a monolithic society. Only that society itself
movements. Nihilism’s cultural peak was in the 1860’s, although dichotomy ties us to the world we must supercede, before we remains the cause.” - Theodor W. Adorno,
its activism continued almost to the early twentieth century. are capable of actually having social relationships with people Negative Dialectics
THE FALL ‘03 ISSUE PAGE 5 GREEN ANARCHY #14
Bri ngi ng It All Back Hom e . . .
AAAAAnnnnn IIIIInnnnnttttteeeeerrrrrvvvvviiiiieeeeewwwww wwwwwiiiiittttthhhhh CCCCChhhhheeeeelllllllllliiiiisssss GGGGGllllleeeeennnnndddddiiiiinnnnnnnnnniiiiinnnnnggggg (cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3) PPPPPaaaaarrrrrttttt IIIII
Chihuahua. They are very much a part of my life and they come into place, we will find that there is a boundary to
CCCCChhhhheeeeelllllllllliiiiisssss GGGGGllllleeeeennnnndddddiiiiinnnnnnnnnniiiiinnnnnggggg is a psychologist, political
also come from a land-based perspective. So it’s kind of a knowledge. There is a boundary to what you can have an
activist and writer. Her books include: OOOOOffffffffff
ttttthhhhheeeee MMMMMaaaaappppp::::: AAAAAnnnnn EEEEExxxxxpppppeeeeedddddiiiiitttttiiiiiooooonnnnn DDDDDeeeeeeeeeeppppp IIIIInnnnntttttooooo EEEEEmmmmmpppppiiiiirrrrreeeee aaaaannnnnddddd double thing going on. I am living in a village where people opinion about.
ttttthhhhheeeee GGGGGlllllooooobbbbbaaaaalllll EEEEEcccccooooonnnnnooooommmmmyyyyy,,,,, which won the National see things according to place, according to family, according I have come to think this way, so that when I leave here,
Federation of Press Women 2000 Book Award; to relationship to the river, the mountain, corn, the horses, I go through the same kind of cultural shock that many
MMMMMyyyyy NNNNNaaaaammmmmeeeee IIIIIsssss CCCCChhhhheeeeelllllllllliiiiisssss aaaaannnnnddddd IIIII’mmmmm IIIIInnnnn RRRRReeeeecccccooooovvvvveeeeerrrrryyyyy FFFFFrrrrrooooommmmm
where the kota grows, where the osha grows–and then on indigenous people go through when they leave their place
WWWWWeeeeesssssttttteeeeerrrrrnnnnn CCCCCiiiiivvvvviiiiillllliiiiizzzzzaaaaatttttiiiiiooooonnnnn;;;;; WWWWWhhhhheeeeennnnn TTTTTeeeeeccccchhhhhnnnnnooooolllllooooogggggyyyyy WWWWWooooouuuuunnnnndddddsssss,,,,,
top of that, I’m relating to people who, although they are and enter into the dominant society. After September 11,
which was nominated for a Pulitzer Price in
1991; and WWWWWaaaaakkkkkiiiiinnnnnggggg UUUUUppppp iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee NNNNNuuuuucccccllllleeeeeaaaaarrrrr AAAAAgggggeeeee..... She has displaced, also carry a kind of loyalty to their place. I went with some Chicano friends to a Jungian event to think
also written for all kinds of newspapers and So not only has the form of my writing changed from so- about the effects of September 11, the shock, trauma,
journals, including San Francisco Chronicle, ciological to storytelling, but also the content has changed. dislocation, and confusion that came with that horror. All of
San Francisco Bay Guardian, New Mexican,
Now, it’s not that I didn’t have really great politics before— the people on the panel were saying “we,” as if they were
Mother Jones, Orion, and Utne Reader. Chellis
– or as her friends call her, Che – lives in I did, I think—but I have dropped speaking for all of humanity. Finally one
Chimayó and is currently working on a book to a deeper level of understanding. of my Chicano friends had to get up and
about the illicit heroin trade called Chiva: the Human beings belong on the land, leave, because the “we” that the educated
Ups and Downs of a Heroin Village. and we belong surviving on the land. Anglo psychologists were insisting on
We had the opportunity to ask Chellis a
We belong in a lineage of people was not at all inclusive of him and did
number of questions. These are only the first
who have been in that relatively not represent his attitude. I feel very
few, focusing on her life, political work, and
the direction of her current writing. A second same place. I am fascinated by the fortunate in my life to have been re-
interview will be featured in our next issue. central dynamic of the last, some educated by my community into
would say, 400 years—back to the something that is much more of a
GGGGGAAAAA::::: Your books possess a very personal nature, European Age of Exploration; some human-scale perspective on life.
dealing with immense subjects from a human-
would say 10,000 years–back to
scale. How does your daily life influence your GGGGGAAAAA::::: What have you been writing
the Neolith when domestication
writing? about lately?
became something that was
CCCCChhhhheeeeelllllllllliiiiisssss::::: Goodness, that’s a book in itself! Well, I live in identifiable; or back to changes CCCCChhhhheeeeelllllllllliiiiisssss::::: I have been writing about my
Chimayó, New Mexico–in a Chicano land-based culture that Mexicano friends. Now, there’s some-
that took place in the Paleolith–
still functions, but that is being mowed over by the mechanisms, thing very interesting in the way I just
having perhaps to do with the
thought forms and technologies of the global economy. It’s a said that. I did not say that I’m writing
beginning of active hunting. No
very special place because the infrastructure, attitudes, and about border issues or U.S.-Mexico
matter what I’m writing about, it
values of a land-based culture are still very much in existence. relations. I’m writing about my friends.
always comes down to that cutting
People here are still identified by lineage, family, and village. Right there is revealed a principle by
political friction between imperial
Northern New Mexico is structured by villages, and then there which I move through the world and do
systems and land-based, in-place,
is a central town, Española, where the railroad used to be– my work. This is something that I came
sustainable, and anarchistic community.
a town of bartering, exchanging, and coming and going. But into in the feminist movement, way back in the ’70s. I’m not
If I look at the theme of all of my writing, really, but particularly
the villages have plazas and a social structure that date back saying this is the only way to do it, I’m not even saying it’s
in the past few years, this is what it’s about. I judge every-
hundreds of years. People are judged based on their preferred. It’s how I’ve come to work. I do my politics by
thing based on the human background of what should be,
contributions to the community, on their values, their kindness, relationship. It is on a human scale. It is by a connection. It is
which is what was, for a million if not two million years of
their realness. through a trust. I didn’t start off wanting to write about
human existence before we seem to have taken an unfortunate
So my writing is very influenced by this place. Before I issues having to deal with the flight of Mexicans into the
and disastrous turn for the worse.
moved to the village of Chimayó eleven years ago, my writing United States. I came into it because I met Jorge. I met Raul.
was much more sociological, more lifted up and looking GGGGGAAAAA::::: So, in what ways does your perspective, I met Miguel. I met Raymundo–and we became friends. So
down, identifying things from up above. Robert Romanyshyn, your political and personal analysis, apply through these friendships, I learned about the issues. Rather
to your everyday life?
a brilliant thinker who teaches at Pacifica College in southern than, say, if you were a journalist at a newspaper, you would
California, has written a CCCCChhhhheeeeelllllllllliiiiisssss::::: Well, there’s research all the statistics, and then you would go out and you
about a perceptual distancing ““MMyy tthheemmee iiss aallwwaayyss tthhee how I live. New York would find someone who would be an emblem for the issue.
that took place in Europe Magazine interviewed You might spend 45 minutes with that person, just enough so
around the 1500s and 1600s rreellaattiioonnsshhiipp bbeettwweeeenn me when they were writing you can write the article. Whereas for me, I am usually living
that evolved into linear about Kirkpatrick Sale my life. I’m attracted to certain situations and certain people,
perspective, so that you’re tthhee ppeerrssoonnaall aanndd tthhee and his Rebels Against the and it’s only as an afterthought that I end up writing about them.
viewing things from far ppoolliittiiccaall.. IItt’’ss aa tthheemmee Future. They were trying One night, Jorge and Raul were leaving the discount food
away or from up above, and to throw a put-down, and market in Española, in their unregistered, uninsured auto-
there’s distance involved in tthhaatt II lleeaarrnneedd iinn tthhee they said that I live in a mobile with no drivers’ licenses, and the police pulled them
that perspective. The art of “mud hut”. I wrote back: over, and pretty soon they were deported. First, they were in
Europe had been very ffeemmiinniisstt mmoovveemmeenntt “You would die to live in the INS holding jail. Then they had a three-minute court case,
tactile and, we might say, this mud hut!” I live in an and they were sent by bus to Juarez. It was the dead of
eeaarrllyy iinn tthhee
disorganized by its attention adobe house set against a winter. They didn’t have coats, and they didn’t have money.
to sensuality. Then linear 11997700ss,, aanndd hill. To the back of me is They made their way over to Agua Prieta, below Tucson on
perspective arose and it the village, and to the the Mexico side of the border, and they walked back up
reorganized perception the iitt’’ss aa tthheemmee front of me are acres and through the desert, dodging the surveillance technologies and
way that cities are organized– acres of what we call la the Border Patrol, the helicopters and SUVs. They walked
with boulevards, mechanistic, tthhaatt hhaass mal tierra, the badlands, with a group of 38 other folks from Michoacan, from Chiapas,
mathematical. So the develop- upland desert that used to from El Salvador and Guatemala. Then, they were kidnapped
iinnffoorrmmeedd mmyy
ment of civilization at that be the bottom of the sea. by assault rifle-toting smugglers who insisted they pay a certain
point in Europe’s history wwrriittiinngg eevveerr ssiinnccee..”” I heat my house with pas- amount of money, and if they didn’t pay, they would be killed.
was lifting people up from the sive solar and a wood- Throughout this journey, my friends were calling me up
sensuality of the experience of burning stove. The wood and saying, “This is what’s happening now. Now we’re in
the moment. As a psychologist, I see this lifting up and distancing is usually given to me by the men from a village up the mountain Juarez. We’re freezing, and we don’t even have any money.
as comparable to what happens when you’re being traumatized. as a gift, because for many years I did political work for We don’t even know what to do.” Or “We are now about to
And indeed, Europe was being traumatized in the 1500s and 1600s. them. I love to hang out at the general store, meet and greet launch off into the desert.” Or! “The barrel of a gun is at my
And we are being traumatized now. the folks. I have in the past also been known to hang out at temple. Can you save us?” These things were happening to
Here in this village, where everything is face-to-face and the dump. In other words, the places where people come, people that I love. I tried to meet each predicament with what-
human-scale, my writing has changed. I write now much more where you can find out what’s going on. ever resources I had. When we finally got them back here,
from a sensual perspective. I’ve become more embodied But I think that my perspective also applies to my daily everybody said, “You’ve got to write about this.” So I ended
in myself, and therefore I’ve become more embodied in life through my politics. Now, thank the lord for all the people up writing a three-piece series for the Santa Fe New Mexicana.
my writing. I’m interested in storytelling. I began this shift who are fighting the dominant society from within and at its I’m interested in continuing to write about this situation.
in Off the Map [see review, p.13]. edges. I don’t mean to bring up that obligatory conflict I’ve learned a great deal. I’ve learned the history behind it,
There’s a second thing I want to mention. In recent years, between reform and revolution . I mean, people who live in the politics, the reasons why Mexicanos are coming here.
we have been inundated by what are called the dominant society and are fighting for life from that location. For a large portion of my week, I live inside their world.
indocumentados—those who have found that their lives in But because I live in a land-based community, my job as a I have dinner with them. We go shopping at the Goodwill
Mexico are so unbearable by the economic forces of NAFTA, political person has become to preserve this place. My politics together. We hang out at their house. We hang out at my
that they must leave home just to survive. The average Mexican have come to be about the sovereignty rights of this place. house. We go dancing at the Club Lumina, the Mexican
lives on less than $1.90 per day in urban areas and less than This is a different perspective than always thinking about cantina in Española. They’re here using my telephone to talk
$1.30 per day in the country. So many of them have come everything. When we grow up in the empire, the educational to their families. I get to talk to their wives.
here to work just so their families won’t starve. They come system teaches us not only to think about everything, but to By the way, I have to tell you that I ended up arranging the
according to their villages. Here in Chimayó, we have whole have an opinion about everything. Right here is the basis of rescue from the assault rifle-toting smugglers by getting help from
groups of Mexican indocumentados from Sinaloa and from imperialism. When we finally do break down the empire and folks in our movement. I didn’t know anybody in Arizona!
GREEN ANARCHY #14 PAGE 6 THE FALL ‘03 ISSUE
. . . and Living My Life
and yet he never waivers. His every act is something that he As a psychotherapist, I see that healing process as a political
judges by the morality of the implications of what he’s going act as well, to allow for a healing process, to come back into
to do–in every single act, every single relationship. The a wholeness that was ripped from us by the politics of
ongoing trauma seems to bounce right off of him. I mean, he civilization.
is struggling, but it’s not cracking to his core. I attribute this
GGGGGAAAAA::::: In the newest edition of Off The Map, you
to the way he grew up–in a culture that was coherent and
have extended your amazingly provocative sixty-
making its way on the land. There is a relationship between
year timeline of global capital (and your
that coherence and the relationship to the land. Human beings relationship to it), past 1999, to include some
are finally completely human when the environment in which of the more recent resistance to globalization,
we live is the natural world, and where that separation is and also the events of September 11th, 2001.
Do you think that Sept.11th has opened up more
minimized, hopefully to the point where it simply doesn’t exist.
opportunities for people to question
So, you and I who hail from the dominant society–who
fundamentally the mechanizations of power ?
don’t have the benefit of having grown up being held by our
mothers, fathers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, passed around CCCCChhhhheeeeelllllllllliiiiisssss::::: As we know, September 11th opened up the
American psyche for more patriotism, more red-white-and-
in a culture where people were actively involved in the process
of garnering food from the land, coming into consciousness blue, more defensiveness around Wall Street corporations
in an environment where the birds and mother’s hair are a and the American way of life. But, at the same time, it ripped
Curiously enough, the person who was most important in single experience —how goes the healing? open the political psyche of this country to connect us with
helping was an anarchist from Tucson, Dan Todd. The rescue One part of healing is being able to stand up for oneself. a certain urgency, a certain clarity of language, a certain
was truly the best of anarchy–starting off with one person I see political action as not only being need to act. I have lived on this Earth for 56 years.
who doesn’t have the right resources and reaching all over effective in making external changes, but I started my political work in the civil rights
the country until a whole number of people spontaneously also being psychologically effective. movement in the 1950s. I have seen the anti-war
came together. One person put up the money. One person That’s what Frantz Fanon was saying, movement, the feminist movement, the development of
came to get the money. One person did the transfer to get although he was speaking specifically of holistic health and the natural foods movements, the
Raul and Jorge. One person drove a certain distance. One person violence. I’m rather saying that it’s any environmental movement, indigenous rights and
met them. One person fed them when they got back. It was a kind of standing up for oneself in the bioregionalism, immigration rights–all these movements.
beautiful thing and a real testimony to our movements. political arena, whatever form it takes. And Then there was a malaise that came over us. I think part
of course, healing is about recreating our
of it was fatigue after the ’60s. Part of it was the natural
GGGGGAAAAA::::: As a psychologist — much like Frantz Fanon
cultures, coming back to place, coming back
did almost a half century ago — you offer a co-optation that takes place in a commercial society that
to family. Maybe
unique perspective on the mutilating effects picks up themes that are radical and neutralizes them.
of colonization and the healing process needed for many of us, Part of it was a backlash against the ’60s,
to overcome these effects. Could you comment our families are
the right-wing ’80s politics of Ronald
on how the perspective of eco-psychology affects so shattered and
Reagan, George Bush I, George Bush II, the
your analysis? disjointed that
rise of Wall Street, and the final fruition of
CCCCChhhhheeeeelllllllllliiiiisssss::::: First of all, thank you for even putting me in the it’s not possible the global economy which had been in the
same sentence with Frantz Fanon! What an incredible to come back to
making since 1944. I have lived through
pioneer. He was a Martinique black man who, because of them, but I mean
periods of great upheaval and great
his service to France during World War II, was able to use coming back to
awareness, times when language truly put
the GI bill to become a psychiatrist. Then he was able to take family in new
the academic language that he had learned, and turn it back forms. And creating words onto power relations. And I have
on itself to redefine the experience of colonization. His most the rituals that will lived through decades of malaise, where
famous work is The Wretched of the Earth which, for the reconnect us. Creating the people who had been radical before fell
time, was brilliant and with breakthrough concepts. I really ways to find and procure back into whatever comforts and
have to just give praise where praise is due. food in our places—these are distractions can be found in American
Anyway, I would like to answer this question in a way that’s all absolutely crucial. Under- commercial society. Now, there is a
embodied, rather than hurling about generalizations and standing what sovereignty is clarity again.
sociological language. I’d like to do it by talking about Jorge. all about. As soon as you begin
GGGGGAAAAA::::: How effective do you feel the
Jorge grew up on an ejido, which were land-based to know the sovereignness of your
environmental and anti-global-
communities. Many of the Native groups of Mexico have, place, then you do come up against the fact ization movements have been in
through the years and through the various forms of colonization, that it’s being invaded by the global economy– slowing down the assault on life and
been scattered and the ejidos were formed after the Mexican and we’re back to standing up for oneself. the proliferation of the global economy?
Revolution of 1910-1920. Groups of people received land I want to add something about healing that comes from my CCCCChhhhheeeeelllllllllliiiiisssss::::: Here in northern New Mexico, I can say things
that they could live on in a communal and sustainable experience as a psychotherapist. I specialize in trauma re- have gotten worse. Whatever fighting we’ve done has not
fashion, land many had lost to the rich haciendas that grew covery, the ways in which each one of us have been harmed, saved the acequias or our communities or the animals or the
up through various imperial structures—railroads, silver have been traumatized. Whether you were raped, or the school air. But we’re residing at an interesting point in history! As
mining, and plantations that fed into the world commodity teacher beat you with a stick, or you were a soldier in war people living in the United States of America, we are now
market. Jorge was born in the mid-1950s. At that time the and you witnessed unspeakable violations, or perhaps were linking to radical perspectives and peoples around the world,
ejido was still a sustainable unit. He grew up growing corn. made to enact unspeakable violations–however it is that and this is an incredible gift. Where this is all going, I cannot
Los Mochis is 15 miles from the Sea of Cortez, just inland trauma came into your system, it has to be expiated in the say. I don’t think there’s anybody who is reading this
from the Pacific Ocean. He grew up fishing and raising same way. Specifically, it has to be expiated through the telling periodical who doesn’t already know that we are in a life-or-
cattle–so he’s a man of the land. He grew up dancing death situation. Most of the forces are pushed toward
the dances of his ejido. ““OOnnee ppaarrtt ooff hheeaalliinngg ffrroomm ttrraauummaa death, and so there is nothing for us to do but to allow
I have witnessed him enduring colonization. There’s for life, to push for life, to fight for life, and to do that in
the historic colonization of him, his people, and other iiss bbeeiinngg aabbllee ttoo ssttaanndd uupp ffoorr oonnee-- every moment of our lives. Whether we are battling the
land-based people within Mexico, and its ongoing forces-that-be or we are sharing kindness to someone
effects. And there’s the colonization that’s taking place sseellff.. II sseeee ppoolliittiiccaall aaccttiioonn aass nnoott on the road, or we are in a process of personal healing–
right now through the global economy, in which
all of these things are political acts.
massive numbers of peoples around the world are made oonnllyy bbeeiinngg eeffffeeccttiivvee iinn mmaakkiinngg
to leave their homelands just for sheer survival,
* Our next issue – Winter (#15), will feature
oftentimes at risk to their lives and oftentimes for work eexxtteerrnnaall cchhaannggeess,, bbuutt aallssoo bbeeiinngg
Part II of our interview with Chellis
in which they reside at the bottom of the social order. Glendinning, in which we ask her questions
ppssyycchhoollooggiiccaallllyy eeffffeeccttiivvee..””
I witnessed Jorge being taken into involuntary servitude pertaining to: trauma, addiction, abuse,
by a local Chicano man who not so long ago was the ecological destruction, technology, alien-
ation, western civilization, imperialism,
butt of colonization himself. I saw him being made to
concepts of abstraction (maps, borders,
work ten, twelve hours a day for weeks on end to pay back a of the actual stories. In the case of people whose experiences
cybernetics), eco-feminism...well that
fictitious debt. Where was Jorge going to find the money to have been repressed, because they were so terrible that the should be more than enough.
buy food in this situation? How was his family going to get nervous system was unable to handle them, the stories must
* OOOOOffffffffff ttttthhhhheeeee MMMMMaaaaappppp is in bookstores. MMMMMyyyyy NNNNNaaaaammmmmeeeee iiiiisssss
the money to eat? These were not questions on this man’s be remembered. With what people, in what place, with what CCCCChhhhheeeeelllllllllliiiiisssss aaaaannnnnddddd IIIII’mmmmm IIIIInnnnn RRRRReeeeecccccooooovvvvveeeeerrrrryyyyy FFFFFrrrrrooooommmmm WWWWWeeeeesssssttttteeeeerrrrrnnnnn
mind. I’ve witnessed him without money in his pocket, without technologies the trauma occurred. In other words, to enter CCCCCiiiiivvvvviiiiillllliiiiizzzzzaaaaatttttiiiiiooooonnnnn can be ordered from a bookstore
a means to get around, constantly being on the lookout for into a land-based community, to create an intentional or via [email protected]
the police. I’ve talked with him at great length about his community, to have a consensus process, to have your own * Also, check-out: U.S. Off The Planet: An
experience of coming over the border, which is highly garden—these are things that are very healing and very Evening With Ward Churchill And Chellis
militarized with all kinds of high-tech surveillance equipment, important. But if you have specific ways in which you have Glendinning, a wonderful documentation of
helicopters, unmanned airplanes, government patrols, and been traumatized, then you must embark upon a psychological, two speeches delivered by Ward and Chellis
on June 17th, 2001, for the two year anniversary
now self-appointed vigilante patrols of right-wing ranchers. perhaps body-oriented, perhaps homeopathic process in
of the anti-capitalist insurgency in Eugene.
Jorge has experienced all that. He’s experienced being which whatever has been fragmented and cast aside is Available from the Green Anarchy Distro on
deported 20 times–and yet he is one of the most integrated, reintegrated into your psyche–so that you may become CD or Video (see page 35).
moral human beings I’ve ever met. The trauma is ongoing— the beautiful and whole person you were meant to be.
THE FALL ‘03 ISSUE PAGE 7 GREEN ANARCHY #14
Barbarism or Authoritarianism
(33 Years of Chilean History and the Failure of the Left)
by Jesús Sepúlveda
This Chilean way was a peaceful transition relegation in rural and faraway locations; and Homogenization and uniformity were indeed
toward a better society through elections and using unknown places for detention. In these the goals of the regime since its beginning.
confidence in parliamentarian power. Allende unknown places, torture and kidnapping with Chilean writer Volodia Teitelboim recalls that
refused to arm civilians when one of the most the result of death were mainly practiced. In on September 11, 1973, “soldiers lighted
influential and radical groups of the time, the the 1991 report of the “Truth and Recon- bonfires, burning 20 original manuscripts of
MIR (Revolutionary Movement of the Left), ciliation” Commission, presided over by Raúl Chilean authors and destroying around 20
asked him to do so. On the contrary, leftist Rettig, there were around 3,500 documented million books from the Quimantú publishing
leaders of Allende’s government supported the cases of political prisoners, who were either house (the biggest editorial house in Chile at
politics of ‘popular fronts.’ Founding executed or who “disappeared” during the that time), plus 1 million, 100 thousand books
popular fronts of wide ranges of progressive military regime. In Argentina there were in the process of being printed. University and
social groups in order to win all electoral around 30,000 cases. union libraries were also devastated and there
scenarios was the international platform of *** were raids (allanamientos) of private houses
communist parties around the world. to make sure that there was no
Most of the time, popular fronts ended ‘subversive’ literature. High schools
up in brutal repression. Political alliances were prohibited to study topics such as
are not strong enough to resist military Human Geography, World History and
coups, military interventions, genocides, the French Revolution because it could
ecocides, et cetera. The Pinochet cause political discussions.”
regime ended a naïve democratic ***
“they make a great tree line
dream which believed it was possible Before the imminent institutional-
avenue where free men pass...”
to transform the plutocratic system into ization of the regime and the failure of
a truly democratic social coexistence. political negotiations, the Communist
In 1936 this dream ended up in a Party decided in 1982 to form a political-
nightmare when Franco destroyed the military organization to carry out the
Spanish Republic and put himself in politics of popular rebellion. Frente
power until 1977. This also happened Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez [Manuel
in Brazil in 1964 when João Goulart’s Rodríguez Patriotic Front] was named
progressive government was also over- after the guerrilla fighter of Chilean
thrown by a military coup monitored by Independence in 1810. The FPMR
the CIA. Latin America as an area of had an enormous logistic capacity of
geo-political interests has been controlled operation, such as: bank robbery,
directly by US imperialism through the kidnapping military officers, rescue of
training given to officers and high rank prisoners from jail, smuggling weapons
military agents in the “School of the inside the country, and realizing the
Americas”. Liberals and social democrats in The Chilean military dictatorship not only assassination attempt of Pinochet in 1986. In
Chile believed in the constitutional spirit of imposed a panoptic society of control, but also December 1982 a splinter group of the United
the army. But the only Constitution the army a neoliberal model based on the so-called Popular Action Movement, MAPU-Lautaro,
respects is that which defends the rich and the ‘popular capitalism.’ The experts who emerged. Lautaro was a Mapuche Indian
interests of powerful people. Not understanding experimented with this model in Chile studied guerrilla who led a rebellion against the
this is not only naïve, but suicidal. This naïveté in the Business School in Chicago under the Spanish colonizers in the XVI century.
was the failure of the left—which cost thousands gable of Milton Friedman. The trickle-down MAPU-Lautaro’s main actions were directed
of lives and drove the left itself toward political economics applied in Chile in the seventies has to looting chain stores, actions of expropriation,
suicide. The leftovers of this left are represented been nurturing the model for the New World Order and murdering cops. Also, by the beginning
by the current Chilean President, the so-called and Imperial expansion through Globalization. of the ‘80s, the MIR was reorganized. Through
nioc eht fo secaf owt eht socialist, Ricardo Lagos, and the the creation of Miguel Enríquez Rebel
Brazilian President and leader of the Youth, named after the MIR founder and
T Workers Party, Luis Inácio “Lula” da leader who died in a six-hour shootout
HE SEPTEMBER 11TH MILITARY COUP OF 1973 Silva. These two governments got into in 1975 in a poor neighborhood in South
ended an electoral democratic system in Chile power compromising the lives of Santiago, the MIR grew rapidly among
which had functioned with few interruptions people and their environment to the young people. These three groups
since 1830. It also exposed the real character World Bank, the International Monetary coordinated their actions through a
of representative-electoral democracy. Fund and the Interamerican Development Revolutionary Coordination, establishing
Experience shows that anytime there is an Bank. Thus, the electoral system cannot that 1986 was going to be the ‘decisive
attempt to reform the system in a drastic way, be reformed in a radical way because year’ for the insurrection. Since national
like the socialist reforms of Allende, the monetary interest is its main concern. protests sprung up in 1983—after two
reactionary forces unleash the army—and the Indeed, all systems tend to perpetuate hunger marches in December 1982, and
cops—to repress the population and to retake the mechanisms of power that allow March 1983—and kept going almost
political control of the territories marked by their own existence. In this sense, the every month for three years with no
the national-state’s borders. Reactionary left also failed because the main issue interruptions, the whole country was
forces operate with the monetary, military and on its agenda was taking power instead going in the direction of a civil war. In
political help of corporate capital, establishing of abolishing it. As the Bolivian July 1983, the first civilian minister of
alliances between the Latin American national anarchist poet, Humberto Quino, said: the Pinochet regime, Sergio Onofre
elites and imperialist power. “in order to abolish coups de êtats, Jarpa, occupied Santiago with 18,000
The coup in Chile was not only fostered by it is necessary to abolish the state.” soldiers. At each protest there were
multinational corporations, but by the US. In In order to eliminate military coups hundreds of deaths, but the opposition
1998 Clinton opened the files that finally it is necessary to eliminate the army and confrontation against the regime
proved what everybody knew: the Chilean and the state. became direct. Denunciation and
coup was part of a plan of intervention of the *** selective repression were no longer an
CIA and the White House. The form this The Chilean military dictatorship effective means of intimidation. Protests
intervention took in Chile was through a sort imposed a terrorist state regime which started with people lighting candles and
of neo-fascism. The form it is taking now in physically eliminated the urban banging on cooking pots at 8:00 p.m.
Venezuela is through corporate and media guerrilla resistance in three years. The And by 10:00 p.m. direct actions were
boycotts in order to create a civil war. The form Chilean military regime imposed a being carried out in the form of city
it is taking in Colombia is through military and ‘panoptic society of control’ based on blackouts and barricades. There were
logistic support. The form it took in Grenada surveillance, domiciliation and also student and worker strikes, and in
was the military invasion. The form it is taking imprisonment. After three years of poor neighborhoods and shantytowns
in Bolivia is through austerity measures. The bloody repression, the military junta (poblaciones) the territories were liberated
form it has taken in Mexico was through kept forcing people to be at home through the According to Greg Palast, under the spell of and police were afraid to be in the peripheral
territorial control and currently through the curfew as well as through the propaganda the Chicago Boys’ theories, the Pinochet areas. Cops were hung from light posts at night.
North American Free Trade Agreement. machine, passing anti-terrorist laws, and regime “abolished the minimum wage, outlawed ***
These experiences show the limits of creating a state of permanent paranoid alarm. trade union bargaining rights, privatized the It was the FPMR’s Command September 4th
representative democracy. The real plutocratic Domiciliation is a tactic of domination—which pension system, abolished all taxes on wealth that attacked Pinochet on September 7th, 1986,
nature of the representative democratic forces civil social life and public practices to and on business profits, slashed public in the Andean foothill area of Melocotón. The
system is based on money and interests in uniformity. This laboratory of power relies on employment, privatized 212 state industries plan was to create a crisis of leadership inside
strategic bioregions. In 1970, socialist the imprisonment system, which, in the and 66 banks and ran a fiscal surplus.” This is the regime by killing Pinochet. After
elected President Salvador Allende tried to Chilean case, adopted three forms: jailing the “neoliberal” model, the so-called free market, Pinochet’s death, the plan was to take main
create Socialism in a Chilean way, the opponents of the regime; sending political which runs the world. cities from peripheral areas in the direction of
so-called “vía chilena al socialismo.” prisoners to concentrations camps or places of *** power centers. In that context tons of weapons
GREEN ANARCHY #14 PAGE 8 THE FALL ‘03 ISSUE
were smuggled inside the country by ocean to be judged as a criminal against humanity. to be able to buy plastic products. This struggle
then through the Northern desert of Atacama. Last year Lagos’ government violently against western penetration goes beyond the FFFFFOOOOORRRRRWWWWWAAAAARRRRRDDDDD GGGGGUUUUUEEEEERRRRRRRRRRIIIIILLLLLLLLLLAAAAASSSSS
Centrists and social democrats came out then repressed several Mapuche Indian communities nation-state projects of development and
with a political way out through a referendum, in Southern Chile to capture members of the shows a way to go in future struggles. The LLLLLuuuuuiiiiisssss FFFFFeeeeellllliiiiipppppeeeee dddddeeeee lllllaaaaa PPPPPuuuuueeeeennnnnttttteeeee
which took place in 1988, in order to avoid Mapuche resistance. This year Lagos signed socialist government has strongly repressed hhhhhooooopppppeeeee ooooofffff aaaaa ttttthhhhhooooouuuuusssssaaaaannnnnddddd aaaaassssssssssaaaaauuuuulllllttttteeeeeddddd pppppeeeeeooooopppppllllleeeeesssss
the coming revolution. They compromised a Free Trade Agreement with the US. The some Mapuche communities, even killing hhhhhaaaaasssss dddddiiiiieeeeeddddd iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee rrrrreeeeellllleeeeennnnntttttllllleeeeessssssssss mmmmmaaaaawwwwwsssss
with the regime to isolate the Revolutionary neoliberal model runs the country, while the young activists. Radical actions have been the tttttuuuuurrrrrnnnnniiiiinnnnnggggg hhhhhiiiiisssss fffffiiiiinnnnnaaaaalllll fffffaaaaaccccceeeee tttttooooowwwwwaaaaarrrrrddddd dddddaaaaannnnngggggeeeeerrrrr
Coordination, to demobilize people toward a left still talks about taking power and running response of Mapuche people, including hhhhhiiiiisssss bbbbblllllooooooooooddddd hhhhhiiiiisssss hhhhheeeeeaaaaarrrrrttttt dddddrrrrreeeeedddddgggggeeeeeddddd wwwwwiiiiittttthhhhh cccccaaaaauuuuussssseeeee.....
‘civilized’ way of opposition, and to not the state. However, a new movement flows, burning state installations and private land.
process any officer for his responsibility in the creating a new type of resistance. The The Zapatista movement learnt from the BBBBBuuuuuttttt hhhhheeeee fffffiiiiirrrrreeeeeddddd ttttthhhhhiiiiisssss bbbbbrrrrriiiiilllllllllliiiiiaaaaannnnnttttt tttttooooorrrrrccccchhhhh
cases of torture and disappearance. Since the Mapuche renaissance is crucial in this process Mayan communities a new way of resistance, hhhhhooooossssstttttiiiiillllleeeee llllliiiiiggggghhhhhttttt ooooofffff ooooouuuuurrrrr rrrrreeeeevvvvvooooollllluuuuutttttiiiiiooooonnnnn
rocket that hit Pinochet’s car didn’t explode, as well as the anti-authoritarian movement in more focus on autonomy and self-sufficiency aaaaannnnnddddd kkkkkiiiiinnnnndddddllllleeeeeddddd ttttthhhhheeeee ssssshhhhhooooouuuuuttttt LLLLLeeeeettttt cccccooooowwwwwaaaaarrrrrdddddsssss dddddiiiiieeeee!!!!!
the whole plan of the Revolutionary urban spots. This new resistance grows than on taking power and imposing a State iiiiinnnnnsssssiiiiidddddeeeee nnnnnooooo fffffeeeeeaaaaarrrrr ooooofffff aaaaannnnnyyyyyttttthhhhhiiiiinnnnnggggg ooooorrrrr bbbbbooooodddddyyyyy
wwwwweeeee ssssshhhhhaaaaallllllllll mmmmmaaaaakkkkkeeeee gggggooooooooooddddd ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt cccccrrrrryyyyy.....
Coordination failed. After the assassination organically more than in terms of organizations. model in Mexico. The Mayan experience in
attempt there was severe repression and most It doesn’t have leaders and it is not in search Chiapas has been a new matrix for the EZLN,
FFFFFooooorrrrrwwwwwaaaaarrrrrddddd GGGGGuuuuueeeeerrrrrrrrrriiiiillllllllllaaaaasssss!!!!!
militants had to go underground. Others were of power. It has also a non-hierarchical which started as a classic Marxist guerrilla
cccccaaaaarrrrrrrrrryyyyy ooooonnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee vvvvvaaaaasssssttttt cccccooooonnnnnssssstttttrrrrruuuuuccccctttttiiiiiooooonnnnn
killed. Protests decreased and by the end of perspective and an indigenous community- group. There are no platforms for the resistance,
hhhhhiiiiissssstttttooooorrrrryyyyy llllleeeeefffffttttt hhhhhaaaaalllllfffff bbbbbuuuuuiiiiilllllttttt ooooonnnnn ooooouuuuurrrrr sssssoooooiiiiilllll
1987 they were totally controlled by liberals, based orientation. so there shouldn’t be organizers of people
llllleeeeettttt ooooouuuuurrrrr aaaaannnnngggggeeeeerrrrr bbbbbeeeeeaaaaattttt iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeeeiiiiirrrrr eeeeeaaaaarrrrrsssss
centrists and social democrats, who initiated *** either. The movement grows organically, and
tttttooooo ttttthhhhheeeee fffffuuuuunnnnneeeeerrrrraaaaalllll rrrrrooooollllllllll aaaaannnnnddddd ffffflllllaaaaassssshhhhh ooooofffff fffffiiiiirrrrreeeee.....
rallies as a main form of opposition and people organize themselves. Mutual
political action. This opposition won agreements without ideological barriers FFFFFooooorrrrrwwwwwaaaaarrrrrddddd GGGGGuuuuueeeeerrrrrrrrrriiiiillllllllllaaaaasssss!!!!!
referendum and the election the next are more liberating than the agendas NNNNNooooowwwww iiiiisssss ttttthhhhheeeee tttttiiiiimmmmmeeeee aaaaammmmmiiiiigggggooooosssss
year, getting into office Christian of political parties. The beat of the iiiiinnnnnjjjjjuuuuussssstttttiiiiiccccceeeee pppppooooovvvvveeeeerrrrrtttttyyyyy pppppaaaaaiiiiinnnnn
democrat Patricio Aylwin. The opponent planet is the only one who should be aaaaannnnnggggguuuuuiiiiissssshhhhh aaaaannnnnddddd gggggrrrrroooooaaaaannnnniiiiinnnnnggggg bbbbbeeeee ccccclllllooooossssseeeeeddddd
centrist organization, Democratic Alliance, keeping the motion awake, and not the aaaaannnnnddddd iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeeemmmmmssssseeeeelllllvvvvveeeeesssss fffffooooorrrrr eeeeevvvvveeeeerrrrr ssssslllllaaaaaiiiiinnnnn.....
became the current governmental coalition mechanized imperial industrial labyrinth.
NNNNNooooottttthhhhhiiiiinnnnnggggg hhhhhooooollllldddddsssss bbbbbaaaaaccccckkkkk nnnnnooooowwwww ttttthhhhheeeee gggggooooodddddllllleeeeessssssssss aaaaarrrrreeeee
in power, Coalition of Parties for ***
dddddeeeeessssspppppeeeeerrrrraaaaattttteeeee
Democracy (Concertación de Partidos The corrupt neoliberal ‘democratic
ttttthhhhheeeeeyyyyy kkkkknnnnnooooowwwww aaaaacccccrrrrrooooossssssssss ttttthhhhheeeee hhhhhooooouuuuurrrrr ooooofffff ttttthhhhheeeee NNNNNeeeeewwwww
por la Democracia). And the left divided transition’ has failed the Chilean
ttttthhhhheeeee fffffiiiiieeeeellllldddddsssss ttttthhhhheeeee ffffflllllooooowwwwweeeeerrrrrsssss ttttthhhhheeeee wwwwwiiiiinnnnnddddd
into moderate and hard-core positions. people. The social gap, unemployment
ttttthhhhheeeee sssssiiiiieeeeerrrrrrrrrraaaaasssss ttttthhhhheeeee rrrrriiiiivvvvveeeeerrrrrsssss wwwwwiiiiillllllllll bbbbbeeeee ooooouuuuurrrrrsssss.....
Unfortunately, the lives of many people and marginality are still the main
and the history of a whole country were social issues in Chilean society,
TTTTThhhhheeeeennnnn ooooouuuuurrrrr ttttthhhhhiiiiinnnnnggggg wwwwwiiiiillllllllll ffffflllllyyyyy
depending on a rocket badly shot. although today there are also enormous aaaaannnnnooooottttthhhhheeeeerrrrr llllliiiiiggggghhhhhttttt wwwwwiiiiillllllllll llllliiiiiggggghhhhhttttt ooooouuuuurrrrr ssssstttttrrrrreeeeeeeeeettttt
*** problems of alienation, pollution, nnnnnooooo mmmmmooooorrrrreeeee hhhhhuuuuunnnnngggggeeeeerrrrr aaaaannnnnddddd pppppooooovvvvveeeeerrrrrtttttyyyyy
Centrist negotiation, military capitulation natural devastation and mental illnesses ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt mmmmmiiiiissssseeeeerrrrraaaaabbbbbllllleeeee aaaaannnnnddddd uuuuuggggglllllyyyyy tttttrrrrriiiiiccccckkkkk
and left division were the new scenario as well. This is indeed the failure of wwwwweeeee llllleeeeettttt hhhhhaaaaappppppppppeeeeennnnn iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee pppppaaaaasssssttttt.....
after the referendum in 1988, burying the an unsustainable system, which
revolts. Most radical people at that time overlooks the radical problem of FFFFFooooorrrrrwwwwwaaaaarrrrrddddd GGGGGuuuuueeeeerrrrrrrrrriiiiillllllllllaaaaasssss
felt frustrated because it was obvious that Chile’s foundation: colonization and yyyyyooooouuuuu aaaaarrrrreeeee ttttthhhhheeeee fffffuuuuullllllllll sssssaaaaaiiiiilllllsssss ooooofffff ggggglllllooooorrrrryyyyy
centrists, social democrats, and some industrialism. It seems fundamental that ttttthhhhheeeee pppppaaaaassssssssssaaaaagggggeeeee ooooofffff yyyyyeeeeeaaaaarrrrrsssss tttttooooo cccccooooommmmmeeeee
leftists gave in for a political way out, political interaction with social-empirical aaaaannnnnddddd ttttthhhhheeeee hhhhheeeeeaaaaarrrrrttttt bbbbbeeeeeaaaaattttt ooooofffff hhhhhiiiiissssstttttooooorrrrryyyyy
which was not going to produce radical reality has to be based on autonomy hhhhhaaaaasssss tttttooooo ttttteeeeellllllllll uuuuusssss ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt
changes in Chile. Negotiation kept business as The Mapuche movement in Southern Chile rather than on power, and self- sustainability
OOOOOnnnnnwwwwwaaaaarrrrrddddd vvvvvaaaaallllliiiiiaaaaannnnnttttt aaaaannnnnddddd wwwwwaaaaarrrrrbbbbbooooorrrrrnnnnn ggggguuuuueeeeerrrrrrrrrriiiiillllllllllaaaaasssss
usual with some civilian ornamentation. and Argentina is reclaiming the land taken from rather than on a “global-market” industrial
Hard-core protesters found more individual the native people centuries ago, and resisting platform. The left has never acknowledged
-This anonymous poem is taken from a mimeo-
ways to operate and started questioning the the building project of six dams in the Mapuche this matter. Maybe through a deeper
graphed student broadsheet, Rebelion‘ (feb.1966).
authoritarian, hierarchical and vertical structure region. The Mapuche fight is also for autonomy analysis of Chile’s history in the last 33
It pays honor to Peruvian revolutionary Luis de la
of political organizations. There was a profound and non-intervention of Chilean and Argentine years, more vital forms of political thought Puente, who was specific in his call to Peruvian
critique of political parties and different collectives states in their territories. They want to maintain can emerge and be shared by fighters of University students to join the revolutionary struggle
sprung up spontaneously. This situation allowed their community-based lifestyle focused on other bioregions. as guerrillas.
the emergence of a rebel culture that distrusted self-sufficiency rather than working in sweatshops August 2003.
the system and felt betrayed by the left. Some
of the people who formed part of this counter-
Nationalism or Community?
culture accomplished political, social and
cultural work in an autonomous way, with an
anarchist and nihilistic perspective. Self-
Fragment #20 from the Garden of Peculiarities
management initiatives for autonomy happened
in poblaciones and combative universities. In
In order to deterritorialize the state it is imperative to oppose militarism Some people, for example,
the Metropolitan University of Santiago—the
and its ideological base—the idea of the nation state. If it were possible repeat discourses that are
former Pedagógico—the group ‘Vanguard’
to suppress the imaginary of the imagined community, those which exist spread by ideology in the
animated long battles with police from inside in the diverse nation-building projects, community would become a real first person plural. The
the campus, responding with molotov-cocktails group of people with faces and identifiable names. Its daily interaction verb is conjugated as
to the police tear gas. There were improvised would be on a human scale, and the community would truly exist. In this “we,” promoting an
way the state would be deterritorialized. idiomatic control and
magazines, fanzines and books published at the
reinforcing identifications
same time that a new consciousness started.
The idea of the nation state is linked to the idea of race: the foundation between country, flag,
Freedom was more valued than political agendas of xenophobia and racism. The state has never stopped being a classist government and people.
or plans for taking over the power. The desire and racist instrument of control and oppression. Its territorialization To say, for example, “we
was to dismantle power and authority— occurs through the movement and deployment of armed forces. In order have a park, a mountain
to dissolve the state it is necessary to dismantle militarism and the arms range, a good sports team,
crystallized in the state—and feel free. Maybe
industry. The state operates as if it were a great national warehouse that or a stable economy,” implies a kind of linguistic acceptance of an imposed
the Argentine uprising of December 2001 that
invests in warlike exercises: wars. With the dissolution of the state the and/or assigned collective national identity. This is the royal we, adapted to
overthrew three presidents in a row represents nation is deterritorialized, and borders lose their reality, becoming what modern times to make the people think that the government and its financial
on a mass scale this feeling. In fact, the they are: artificial limits constructed by the high-priests of all kinds of institutions represent the common individual.
sensibility of this rebel culture of the late ‘80s nationalisms and regionalisms. These limits are the political bonds
imposed by the state on its subjects. Nationalism continues to subjugate People speak of the actions of the government as if they have had some
in Chile was highly resistant to civilian values
people through the sedentary practices derived as much through urban participation in governmental decisions or in the use of military
fostered by the new political dominant group,
control as through the territorial economy of agriculture. The effect of repression. This is the nationalist alienation that facilitates the appearance
and highly aggressive against any military symbol. these practices is domiciliation, which attaches itself to the domesticating of fascism. Indoctrination is reproduced through schools, sports,
From academia the supposedly derogatory action of the state. Notwithstanding, when the apparatus that promotes traditional values, rules, official narratives and means of control.
adjective “barbarian” came to name this new the concept of national territory dissolves, one of the mechanisms of Propaganda is brought to life through luminous screens (television,
standardization also stops functioning. To move freely from one zone to movies, information technology, etc.), the press, radio, education, etc.
and isolated counterculture because of its
another—from community to community—without being subject to Fascism is crystallized through the notion of nation. Because of this, all
undomesticated and bohemian nature, which
customs or police controls, brings with it a freedom that is embodied in assigned and/or imposed notions of community identity tend to
never really dissipated. daily practice. Constant movement is an uncontrollable force. Its reinforce said notions: nationality, regionalism, language, social role,
*** libertarian character is found in its capacity to abolish sedentarism and professional relationships, religious beliefs, familial clans, brotherhoods
The so-called ‘democratic transition’ in Chile domiciliation, destroying all state control. To displace oneself is to and orders, work relationships, job or profession, etc.
undomesticate oneself. Going from one place to another, meeting people,
has lasted 13 years (from 1990 to today). There
learning their languages and understanding different visions of the world Real community does not walk the path of these applied identities. Real
have been three presidents since then. All of
is a liberating praxis. This praxis sharpens peculiarity. community has to do with camaraderie and friendship. And it isn’t difficult
them are from the government Coalition of to imagine. Those who constitute it are those family and friends we see
Parties for Democracy. Simultaneously, Fascism is fomented by nationalism: a feeling of national property daily and with whom we prefer to relate and enjoy every day. There,
Pinochet was the commander in chief of the exacerbated by the possessing and monied classes. This feeling is everyday solidarity is experienced and the presence of the state is negated.
transferred to the dispossessed and poor of the cities through the There, mutual recognition and true respect exist. There also, borders are
army until his arrest in London in 1998. That
mechanisms of civic, official and national propaganda and indoctrination. deterritorialized, and the torpid banners of xenophobia are bravely repelled.
ended up a sui generis transition with the
dictator still in power. The third President of
Note: Sections of Jesús Sepúlveda’s Garden of Peculiarities are featured regularly in Green Anarchy.
the current government is Ricardo Lagos, a
The book’s 2nd edition will be released in Chile this December, and an English translation will be released
member of the Socialist Party. Lagos was the
next fall by Feral House. Stay tuned more for details.
one who negotiated the return of Pinochet to
Chile, so he wouldn’t be extradited to Spain
THE FALL ‘03 ISSUE PAGE 9 GREEN ANARCHY #14