Other Ideologies: Primitivism

[AndyC]

Discuss @BClick 's article here

 

[Uhura's Mazda]

I really ought to stop giving guest slots to people who are better than me.

For a bit of SERIES CONTINUITY, note that the Earth First! organisation, mentioned herein, got a brief passing mention in my Third Position article two weeks ago. The French neo-fascist party Nouvelle Resistance infiltrated the French leadership of EF!, and I believe Troy Southgate (of National Anarchism fame) had some involvement with the British franchise.

 

[Makemakean]

I really ought to stop giving guest slots to people who are better than me.

For a bit of SERIES CONTINUITY, note that the Earth First! organisation, mentioned herein, got a brief passing mention in my Third Position article two weeks ago. The French neo-fascist party Nouvelle Resistance infiltrated the French leadership of EF!, and I believe Troy Southgate (of National Anarchism fame) had some involvement with the British franchise.

Yes, I mentioned Frank Chodorov--who greatly influenced the young Murray Rothbard--had himself started out as a Georgist with a similar purpose in mind. If we ever get around to Social Ecology, Murray Rothbard's odd friendship in the late 60s with Murray Bookchin will provide a further point of series continuity.

 

[OHC]

Yes, I mentioned Frank Chodorov--who greatly influenced the young Murray Rothbard--had himself started out as a Georgist with a similar purpose in mind. If we ever get around to Social Ecology, Murray Rothbard's odd friendship in the late 60s with Murray Bookchin will provide a further point of series continuity.

That would be spicy - I didn't get around to talking about that for lack of space, but Bookchin hated everyone I mentioned in this article.

 

[Makemakean]

That would be spicy - I didn't get around to talking about that for lack of space, but Bookchin hated everyone I mentioned in this article.

I've always had a pretty favourable impression of Bookchin. I don't agree with him much politically, but unlike far, far, far too many radical leftist thinkers out there, he more than anyone seems to have been conscientiously aware of how radical leftism, in particular when put into practice, could lead to thoroughly authoritarian results, and the importance of guarding against these pitfalls.

Admittedly, I am far from an expert on Bookchin. I've got a copy of Social Ecology I picked up many years ago in the Anarchist Bookshop in London that I've yet to do more than to skim through.

 

[The Red]

Great article, this series never fails to be fascinating but it was particularly interesting to see how such a fringe ideology still has its influences in mainstream society. The fact the Unabomber still has an audience is particularly bizarre.

 

[RyanF]

Interesting cultural point raised in the article about ecoterrorists being America's bogeyman in the absence of 9/11. I always presumed the militia movement as being the source of American fears during the 1990s, with the likes of the Waco siege and the Oklahoma City bombing being major flashpoints and this being reflected in programmes like The X-Files.

Though as the article points out there are these slivers of similarities between the militias and the ecoterrorists, perhaps in a world without 9/11 and the subsequent changes in the American psyche we might have seen these coalesce with the militias adopting some tactics designed to preserve the world after the gubmint/FEMA/Illuminati/Rectillians come for them and for the monkeywrenchers to go more and more off grid and survivalist in nature.

 

[OHC]

I've always had a pretty favourable impression of Bookchin. I don't agree with him much politically, but unlike far, far, far too many radical leftist thinkers out there, he more than anyone seems to have been conscientiously aware of how radical leftism, in particular when put into practice, could lead to thoroughly authoritarian results, and the importance of guarding against these pitfalls.

Admittedly, I am far from an expert on Bookchin. I've got a copy of Social Ecology I picked up many years ago in the Anarchist Bookshop in London that I've yet to do more than to skim through.

I haven't read too much of his stuff either, but I'd like to learn more. Social Ecology would be an interesting one for this series because it's had a big influence on the Kurdish liberation movement and I think there's an element of it in the way Rojava has been set up, so it might have the distinction of actually having been tried in real life. (@stefanbl and @Skaven will probably know more about that.)

Interesting cultural point raised in the article about ecoterrorists being America's bogeyman in the absence of 9/11. I always presumed the militia movement as being the source of American fears during the 1990s, with the likes of the Waco siege and the Oklahoma City bombing being major flashpoints and this being reflected in programmes like The X-Files.

Though as the article points out there are these slivers of similarities between the militias and the ecoterrorists, perhaps in a world without 9/11 and the subsequent changes in the American psyche we might have seen these coalesce with the militias adopting some tactics designed to preserve the world after the gubmint/FEMA/Illuminati/Rectillians come for them and for the monkeywrenchers to go more and more off grid and survivalist in nature.

There's definitely potential for overlap there. Edward Abbey's fictional Monkey Wrench Gang and their defictionalized descendents in Earth First both saw federal land management agencies as their primary opponents. Their rhetoric actually had a lot in common with those of the Bundy family a few years back - just with a different idea of what to do with the land once it was reclaimed from the tyrants in Washington. There's also the anti-immigration stance in common. (Abbey's hatred of Mexicans makes him very much a Problematic Fave for me and someone to engage with critically rather than just enjoy - he's a great writer, but the racism isn't something you can ignore because it's actually integrated into his worldview.)

Probably the best example of potential for a monkeywrencher-militia alliance is that Ted Kaczynski and Timothy McVeigh became friends in prison.

 

[Makemakean]

I think it's weird how it's never really brought up that Tyler Durden's terrorist gang and Project Mayhem in Fight Club is all about trying to create an anarcho-primitivist society. I mean, that's really what struck me the first time I saw the movie, the whole thing about the Narrator finding his very materially comfortable life with his apartment full of IKEA furniture deeply unfulfilling, and it is first when he loses it all that he begins to find satisfaction with life, and all that talk about "you are not your job, you are not how much money you have on the bank".

I mean, Tyler at one point even gives the following little speech about his vision for the future: "In the world I see—you're stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You will wear leather clothes that last you the rest of your life. You will climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. You will see tiny figures pounding corn and laying-strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of the ruins of a superhighway."

 

[OHC]

I think it's weird how it's never really brought up that Tyler Durden's terrorist gang and Project Mayhem in Fight Club is all about trying to create an anarcho-primitivist society. I mean, that's really what struck me the first time I saw the movie, the whole thing about the Narrator finding his very materially comfortable life with his apartment full of IKEA furniture deeply unfulfilling, and it is first when he loses it all that he begins to find satisfaction with life, and all that talk about "you are not your job, you are not how much money you have on the bank".

I mean, Tyler at one point even gives the following little speech about his vision for the future: "In the world I see—you're stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You will wear leather clothes that last you the rest of your life. You will climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. You will see tiny figures pounding corn and laying-strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of the ruins of a superhighway."

I actually forgot about that aspect. Might have to look around and see if Zerzan or somebody has done a review from a true believer's perspective.

 

[Tabac Iberez]

I mean, Tyler at one point even gives the following little speech about his vision for the future: "In the world I see—you're stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You will wear leather clothes that last you the rest of your life. You will climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. You will see tiny figures pounding corn and laying-strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of the ruins of a superhighway."

Th' everloving fuck was the author of that smoking at the time? You try and grow or live in New York without a veneer of modern technology to support you, and the ugly reality of urban pollution buildup is going to shoot you in the back of the head.

 

[napoleon IV]

Th' everloving fuck was the author of that smoking at the time? You try and grow or live in New York without a veneer of modern technology to support you, and the ugly reality of urban pollution buildup is going to shoot you in the back of the head.

I mean, Tyler Durden is the split personality of the protagonist so it's not like he's exactly sane.

 

[OHC]

One thing I didn't include in this article was much about what's going on with primitivism today. That's mostly because there isn't much other than the usual fringe-politics squabbling, but I did keep coming across rumors about a group in Mexico called Individualidades Tendiendo a lo Salvaje supposedly responsible for a string of bombings at nanotechnology labs in the early 2010s. The vagueness of a lot of the stories - mostly quoting from dormant blogs - and space concerns made me decide to leave them out but if you're interested in primitivism outside America they might be worth looking into.

Naturally, the Unabomber put out a snide communique explaining that ITS had misinterpreted his ideas.

 

[Makemakean]

With the risk of being a massive dick here for pointing out minute little flaws here, but the completionist inside me cannot help it. @AndyC it would appear that in posting the Privitivism article, you missed adding it into the Alternate Ideologies categories, so you don't get it up as part of the series when you click the Alternate Ideologies tag.

 

[AndyC]

With the risk of being a massive dick here for pointing out minute little flaws here, but the completionist inside me cannot help it. @AndyC it would appear that in posting the Privitivism article, you missed adding it into the Alternate Ideologies categories, so you don't get it up as part of the series when you click the Alternate Ideologies tag.

Thanks - amended

 

[OHC]

Kind of an update to this in case anyone is interested - Earth First! is currently helping striking miners in Harlan County block coal trains. It's a good illustration of how the organization's politics have changed over time; solidarity with people who have to work environmentally destructive jobs is pretty much the opposite of tree spiking.