Hey guys,
Danse (who sometimes calls himself) Durruti here. :)
Here's a passage from a critique of primitivism:
"The evasive language Zerzan uses in his response to me is typical of the primitivist approach to the population question. And although he might throw out the red herring that "I do not know anyone who says this could happen overnight " in the original essay I actually quoted some primitivists who either saw the collapse of civilisation as a short term inevitability or who worse - like Derrick Jensen - wanted to bring it on. As I pointed out in the original article, Jensen is on record as writing "I want civilization brought down and I want it brought down now†(6). In fact since my article was published he has taken this further with a call for concrete action "We need people to take out dams, and we need people to knock out electrical infrastructures" (7). So while Zerzan may be smart enough to be evasive on this not all of his followers are (8). And while Zerzan may have forgotten Jensen he does know him - at least he was interviewed by him in 2000 (9) and the 10,000 word interview that was published which would suggest they have at least spent some hours in each others company."
And:
"This reached its logical conclusion when the magazine supported the actions and ideas of the (non-anarchist) Unabomber and published an article ("The Irrationalists") by one of the then two editors stating that "the Oklahoma bombers had the right idea. The pity was that they did not blast any more government offices . . . The Tokyo sarin cult had the right idea. The pity was that in testing the gas a year prior to the attack they gave themselves away." [Green Anarchist, no. 51, p. 11] A defence of these remarks was published in the next issue and a subsequent exchange of letters in the US-based Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed magazine (numbers 48 to 52) saw the other "Green Anarchist" editor (at the time) justify this sick, authoritarian nonsense as simply nonsense as simply examples of "unmediated resistance" conducted "under conditions of extreme repression." Whatever happened to the anarchist principle that means shape the ends? This means there are "limits" on tactics, as some tactics are not and can never be libertarian.
I recommend Michael Albert's debate with John Zerzan, available on Znet.
Unlike Albert and (eg) the late Murray Bookchin I think the "primitivists", including figures like Jensen and Bob Black, have a lot of wisdom to offer; the questions of "work" and "authoritarian technics" (borrowed from Lewis Mumford) are particularly important; unfortunately we are often presented with a false either/or dichotomy. All "primitivists" would be well advised to read David Noble's "A Social History of Industrial Automation" (I know, light reading ;). Relevant quotes are assembled here:
http://www.infoshop.org/faq/secD10.html
...as well as the work of Buckminster Fuller.
I chose not to interview Jensen for my upcoming film, but am glad that David Noble (no relation) agreed to an interview, as well as David Graeber and Andrej Grubachic, who wrote:
"While small-a anarchists are slowly incorporating ideas and practices learned from indigenous allies into their modes of organizing or alternative communities, the main trace in the written literature has been the emergence of a sect of Primitivists, a notoriously contentious crew who call for the complete abolition of industrial civilization, and, in some cases, even agriculture.(6.) Still, it is only a matter of time before this older, either/or logic begins to give way to something more resembling the practice of consensus-based groups."
Attacking some all-encompassing "civilization" without reference to capitalism and hierarchy in the context of its (mal) development is, frankly, ridiculous. I think Richard Heinberg has a much more sensible take:
"Obviously, we cannot turn back the clock. But we are at a point in history where we not only can, but must pick and choose among all the present and past elements of human culture to find those that are most humane and sustainable. While the new culture we will create by doing so will not likely represent simply an immediate return to wild food gathering, it could restore much of the freedom, naturalness, and spontaneity that we have traded for civilization's artifices, and it could include new versions of cultural forms with roots in humanity's remotest past. We need not slavishly imitate the past; we might, rather, be inspired by the best examples of human adaptation, past and present. Instead of "going back," we should think of this process as "getting back on track."
In any discussion of primitivism we must keep in mind civilization's "good" face--the one characterized (in Lewis Mumford's words) by the invention and keeping of the written record, the growth of visual and musical arts, the effort to widen the circle of communication and economic intercourse far beyond the range of any local community: ultimately the purpose to make available to all [people] the discoveries and inventions and creations, the works of art and thought, the values and purposes that any single group has discovered.
Civilization brings not only comforts, but also the opportunity to think the thoughts of Plato or Thoreau, to travel to distant places, and to live under the protection of a legal system that guarantees certain rights. How could we deny the worth of these things?
Naturally, we would like to have it all; we would like to preserve civilization's perceived benefits while restraining its destructiveness. But we haven't found a way to do that yet. And it is unlikely that we will while we are in denial about what we have left behind, and about the likely consequences of what we are doing now.
While I advocate taking a critical look at civilization, I am not suggesting that we are now in position to render a final judgment on it. It is entirely possible that we are standing on the threshold of a cultural transformation toward a way of life characterized by relatively higher degrees of contentment, creativity, justice, and sustainability than have been known in any human society heretofore."
Finally, I would recommend the work of Frances Moore Lappe, whom I also interviewed. Her books on world hunger pretty much demolish the idea of scarcity as source of world's ills. The "Primitivist" outlook is not only fatalist but illogical. Again, this isn't to say that primitivists have nothing to offer, only that their worldview is necessarily limited.