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Summarizing Primitivism for purposes of
exploration and debate with Michael Albert
By John Zerzan, Eric Blair,
and Green Anarchy Collective
It's amazing that so many insurrectional anarchists allow themselves to be
drawn into energy-draining, rhetorical debates with liberals who attempt to
turn strategic issues into moralistic ones, i.e. their attempts to define
property destruction and economic sabotage as "violent", and thus, control
the rage of those who have clearly identified their oppressors and who are
rising up against their rule. Reverence for property is loyalty to
capitalism and to the values of the system that some of us are serious about
destroying, not reforming. We know that our enemy worships property, and
that the source of their power - in the world that they've created - is
their stolen property and wealth and we have no reverence whatsoever for
anything the system uses to oppress us. If we're attempting a genuine
jailbreak out of the prison of this society, if we're ready to make a move
on our oppressors while there is still time, then we have to strike blows
against them that hurt, and this is not going to be accomplished through
voting or peace vigils. Our enemy - the industrial mega-machine - has to be
weakened before it can be completely destroyed, and this can be very
effectively accomplished by striking ruthless, crippling blows at the
System's key, strategic pressure points, with the intent of impairing the
industrial cancers' ability to spread and replicate itself. Movements like
the Earth Liberation Front have demonstrated that economic sabotage can be
effective in forcing specific industries out of business; our task now is to
put this system in it's totality out of business.
REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE
While most of us strive for a peaceful and harmonious existence among
ourselves and the rest of life, it is important to recognize the context we
currently live within. Most of the world's people are living under
deplorable conditions, not because they have not become "civilized" or
"modernized", but instead are forced to be the workforce and dumping ground
for, or dependent on, the so-called "first world" powers. Those of us living
in the "first world" are also suffering from this rotten set-up. With
extreme alienation, physical deterioration, psychological distortions, and
spiritual emptiness, there is no question we are all quickly headed down a
one-way path of ultimate doom. Needless to say, it is also undeniable that
we are on the verge of ecological collapse. With this being said, it is
important for us to take responsibility for this situation and to take
action now. . . as we understand that time is running out!
Inherent in being a revolutionary anarchist is the notion of insurrection,
or the promotion and insurgence of uprising for the purpose of liberation.
This can take many forms, but reform of the systems of domination cannot be
viewed as revolutionary. While most actions anarchists take would be
considered non-violent, there can be no limitation set on our resistance. As
anarchists, we should flatly refuse any ideological and philosophical
confines to how we choose to resist. Physical interaction with authority
needs to move beyond the passive and symbolic. In fact, many anarchists
embrace revolutionary violence as a necessary and natural reaction to
oppression. If we look anywhere in the natural world, we see that self-
defense is instinctual. This cannot be overridden by hypothetical ideals. It
is important to question ideological limitations stemming from a place of
extreme privilege. Most people on earth do not have the comfort to decide
what the most "righteous" response to domination should be, and often the
stakes are life and death. It is not a matter of individual reflection or
ideological refinement; it's do or die. This is not to say that everyone
needs to engage in violent resistance, but rather, to say that it exists, it
is justifiable (in many situations), and should not be condemned.
Revolutionary violence, in a variety of forms, is a necessary response to
the system's institutionalized violence, and necessary for the continuation
of all of life. Yes, we need to heal the wounds caused by this death-trip we
call civilization, but the healing process can only go so far until we are
able to stop the infliction of these wounds by our oppressors. As Franz
Fanon suggested, there is also a kind of catharsis and deepening in
connection between one another in the act of revolt and in the physical
removal of one's oppressor. Although some cannot or refuse to see that we
are all looking down the barrel of a gun, it is there and we must respond to
it in an act of self- defense and of liberation.
http://www.zmag.org/summprim.htm
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