CONTENTS - ouroboros ponderosa

More documents

Recommendations

Info

.l.1O hllM :\ NII (·(INII·N I IN 1·I I·kll·N I .... (II· 1{1.I.l l .... :\1 Paris Commune or J '(1, 71, Makhnovisls, III{". New York ('ily Il( '()p,ic-I ill ya puke party and power outage of 1'177, the MLK assassination riots, May '68 in France and so i()rth, While not all of the abovt: events arc discussed in EoR, investigation into these occurrences revcJls si m ilar findings as to their participants; the vast majority were employed, or employers, artisans, weavers, farmers, mechanics, sailors, officer catkts, studcnts, merchants, tavern keepers, local elected officials; they were not solely nor even conspicuously the industrial proletariat. Throughout the historical essays in EoR, Zerzan makes this point, implicitly and explicitly using primary sources. Zerzan isn't the first theorist to unCOver this information. Crane Brinton, a colleague of Marcuse's at the Office for Strategic Services (forerunncr of thc CIA), in a study of the rcvolutionary milieux during the Terror, found that the Jaeobins presented t()r a brief period of time the spectacle of men acting without regard for their own material interests. Brinton, an apologist for the dominant society with a sneaking admiration for revolution, seems clearly stunned by this and fails to follow the insight to its logical conclusion. The potential impact of this thesis regarding the insurrectionary subject, particularly in the context of a post-industrial economic situation, is shattering.To enumerate just one development, it provides some empirical substantiation to Camatte's thcsis that humanity, in the years since the Second World War, has been utterly proletarianized, altering the insurrectionary project from one of class versus class to species versus society or specifically, social concept. There are many other implications of this thcsis, to be workcd out in the coming years by theorists who have as yet to find a voice, a method (and a publishcr). Violcnce, as tool for social change, fell into disrepute in the midtwentieth century, and has yet to regain the prc-eminentplacc it formerly held in the revolutionary milieLLx of the nineteenth century. It is sometimes forgotten just how enamored our political ancestors were of violence. Albert Parsons' publication of Johann Most's article on dynamite in The Alarm, indeed Most's popular pamphlet, Revolutionary Military Science, contained recipes and use instructions for everything from fulminate of mercury to prussic acid. Beyond the printed word, the global wave of assassinations, bombings and bank robberics, that virtually defined anarchist revolutionary activity during the last decade of the nineteenth and the first decade of the twentieth centuries. Somewhere, however, all this was replaced with the gospel of nonviolence, civil disobedience, non-cooperation, etc, lt is only recently that violcnce has re-entered serious discussion in anarchist milieux. Zcrzan in many of his essays draws the proper conclusion when he finds that 1·1 1 {l.1I III', III '\[·I II·,.\[ Vi(}il-IHT has hTII all I"SS('llli;tI !";HTI Ill" historical refusal. In addition, he Ililillis ou l Ilial violellCl seems to have just as great a propensity . to deliver the goods as other methods of redrcss or refusal. P.M., the SWI SS ;Iul hor of holo 'halo, an anarchocommune·ist utopian blueprint, discusses vinlcncc in detail as an integral part of his post-revolutionary society (requiring its own institutional resolution), framing the argument in allthropological terms. This seems a proper next line of inquiry and returns us once again to the project of a philosophical anthropology. The rc-valuation of violence also indicates one of the final breaks with the "New Left" of the sixties, and its failure to achieve even a single positivc outcome. Finally, it should be noted that the Unabomber has focused much discussion on the debate about the re-valuation of violence. As one might expect many who once endorsed propaganda by the deed are now running fo r cover as fast as their trcmbling legs can carry them (hfth b'late, as an example), while there arc those who, in spite of the problems with the choice of targets and the possibility of collateral casualties (a handy term providcd by the nation-state to justify its random violence, why not ours?), support FC, in some instances, for no other reason than the fact that someone, somewhcre finally and really did something. For those who would doubt the efficacy of violence, the Unabomber also presents a powerful cxample of just what a political bombing campaign can produce; the FC Manifesto (Industrial Society and Its Future) has been translated into dozens of languages and read and discussed by thousands if not hundreds of thousands of persons. It should be clear as well that the project that Zerzan has outlincd is far from finished. Indeed, in many of his essays he leaves more unsaid than explicated, more questions remain than answers given. In some cases this is unavoidable, in others it indicates a necessary working out of some of thc more basic philosophical questions. An example is the issuc of identity. Theorists currently working the critical fields fall, to my thinking, into two general categories, those who abhor the identity thesis and those who uphold it. Adorno in Negative Dialectics forccfully raised the issue of identity and the conundrum continues unabatcd. To my knowledge Zerzan has as yet to wrangle with identity, though it's difficult to contextualize any critical statement without understanding where the theorist stands on this most central issue. In addition, Zerzan identifies division of labor as one of thc single concepts responsible for the dominant culture . This is accurate, howcver, an examination of division of labor, particularly in the context of post-industrial society needs to be
!-"I mr"" l\ NI ) ( " 'N / I -N ' IN '''" ' " N°" , , ' " . . , II \1 ' [1\,\1 uone. This, not only lo strcll,J.',thl'1I hi.'i Ilr('vit )us {,SS'IV' " 1.' .,1" , I . . I . f d" f a oun . atlon _o where ,other Iheorist:-; will undouhtedly ,go, " ' , " < , °PIUVH (' Leavmg both mnovat.ons and critique hehind h(,w" v" •. /./ R j' I ' ' . ' v .... . , " ('''U'nls (1/ e usa remaInS a semmal book III the critical tradition II st',.·( " I People th'nk' d . ' . . . . < c< many I mg a , n movIng III directions where they were loathe to '0 It has re-framedvlrtually the entire critical project as it enters the t ,' first century, and provided renewed vigor to a dialectical ex : the dommant culture , " wen y: am malton 01 ° .. NOTES Ikginning of Time, End of Time L Oswald Spengler, The De.cline of rhe West, vol. [ (New York, 1926), p. 131. l. Fii(Js Canetti, Crowds and Power (New York, 1962), p. 397. I, Guy Debord, Sociny of the Spf'clacie (Detroit, 1977), thesis 125. Ii. Max Horkheimer and Thcodor W. Adorno, Dialektik der Aufklanmg (Ams terda m, 1 9 47) , p. 274 . . 'l. eioran, not to mention a host of nnthropologists, makes this confusion; it is one reason he could say, "There is no going baek to a pre-linguistic paradise, to a supremacy o v er time based upon some primordial stupidity." E.M. Cioran, 'fI,, Fall Into Tim e (Chiag o, 1970), p. 29. Another reason is the failure to imagine this "going back" as necessanly a social transformation on the order of the most basic "revolution." 6. Spengler, op. cil., p. 390. 7. Herbert Mareuse, Ollr.-Dimemionai Mall (Oosten, ]964), p. 326 . 8. Lucien Levy-Bruhl, Primitive Memality (New York, 1923), p. 93. Paul Hadin's Primitive Man As Ph ilmophe.r (Ncw York, 1927) is, it should be noted, a neccs. ..ary correctiVe to Levy-Bruhl's view of early thought as non-individuated and dominated by "mys t ic" and "occult" patterns. RCldin demonstrated that individuality, self_ex p ression and tolerance mark early humanity. 9. H. and H. A. Frankfort, 711e Intellectual Adventure. of Ancient Man (Chicag o , 10. Marie-Louise von Franz, Time: Rhythm and Repose. (London, 1978), p. 5. 1946), p. 23. 11. Jacquetta Hawks, Man 011 Earth (London, 1954), p. 13. . 12. John G. Gunnell, Polirical Philosophy and Time (Middletown, Conn., 1968), p. 13; Mlfcea Eliade, Cosmos and History (New York, 1959), p. 86. 13. Cited by Thomas .T. Cottle (Iud Stephen L. Klineberg, The Presmf of Things Future (New York, 1974), p. 166. 14. Ibid., p. 168. 15. The hunter-gatherer mode occupied more than 99% of the span of human lfc. 16. Eric Alden Smith and Bruce Winterhi'llder, H u nte.r Gatherer Foraging Straugws (Chica go, 1981), p. 4. 17. See, [or example, Marshall Sahlins, Stone Age. Economics (Chicago, 1972). 18. G.]. Whitrow, Along fhe Fow1h Dimension (London, 1972), p. 119. 19. Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality (New York, 1963), p. 51; E.R. Dodds, The Ancient Concept of Progress (Oxford, 1973), p. 3; W.K.C. Guthrie, In the Be.ginning (Ithaca, 1957), p. 69. 20. Norman O. BrO\\'n, Love's Body (New York, 1966), p. 148. 21. Walter Benjamin, l1luminatiom (New York, 1978), p. 328. 22, Mircea Eliade. Siulmanism (Princeton, 1964), pp. 508, 486. 23. Loren Eisely, The Invisible Pyramid (New York, 1970), p. 113. 24. Claude Uvi-Strauss, Structural Anthropology (New York, 1976), p. 2R. 25. Grinnell, 0p. cit., p. 17. 26. Grahame Clark and Stuart Piggott, Pre.historic Societies (New York, 1965), p. 43. ,
Page 1 and 2:
!\cknowleJgcmcnts Many people provi
Page 3 and 4:
i, II)l} Nl'W YUI k, Nl'W York 1'1
Page 5 and 6:
nllill 1:\ 11tlll·II()IIJ.III(l"';
Page 7 and 8:
II, ;111 illll'lIl alld strategy: t
Page 9 and 10:
, 'II and domination, With the adva
Page 11 and 12:
i - - ·""II'I\ · ( jl 1 11\ 11 I
Page 13 and 14:
;II'ltlptl,\ is lliis Slllllilli ll
Page 15 and 16:
LANt jLI\(jL ORl
Page 17 and 18:
. • '''lloJl\J \NI ' 1\., \ N j,'
Page 19 and 20:
' . 1 ' II, \IJ ) 1\ 11 ,\NINr , di
Page 21 and 22:
NUMBER: ITS ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION Ih
Page 23 and 24:
I ,' " NI IlHJ l{. II'. ()IUI ;)N .
Page 25 and 26:
Nllr\II\I Ie ITS ()J..:lt ilN ,\ NI
Page 27 and 28:
NI If\II1I 'H: IT ()I,lf jIN .\NI )
Page 29 and 30:
the quantum theory, is that which i
Page 31 and 32:
'1'111 CASI'. ;\"AINSI ;\1{1 reflec
Page 33 and 34:
critique at best. Frequently compar
Page 35 and 36:
AGRICULTURE Agriculture, the indisp
Page 37 and 38:
I'anlll:rs starvTd ;tiS() kslil ' y
Page 39 and 40:
SII Many thcories havc been advance
Page 41 and 42:
\( ;]Z]( ' [ il.l'! IIZI cd, proces
Page 43 and 44:
PART TWO
Page 45 and 46:
INDI)STRIAIJSM ANI> i)(lMJSrJ('ATH
Page 47 and 48:
INI)[ IS'II
Page 49 and 50:
11111 INIHI .... ,I";\ ] 1.'\1\.1 .
Page 51 and 52:
IIJ.I INIHISII' Ir\I.lSM ANI ) 1)(I
Page 53 and 54:
IllS dismayed hy the rash of strike
Page 55 and 56:
';' AXIS POINT OF AMERICAN INDUSTRI
Page 57 and 58:
J\dS "( )jN-.- f,, · AMI·',U·r\N
Page 59 and 60:
,\ .\1', ('( liNT ()] !\1\·l I IW
Page 61 and 62:
11·1 AXIS , 'c lIN l" eJl- ;\r\II-
Page 63 and 64:
A.\I\ I't liNT Ill- !\r-.1 I·11(
Page 65 and 66:
THE PRACTICAL MARX Karl Marx is alw
Page 67 and 68:
1'111 " IL\( 'II( ,\ 1 MAle, revolu
Page 69 and 70:
1·111 '1'111. 111, :\1 ' 111 ',\1
Page 71 and 72:
- .. ORIGINS AND MEANING OF WWI Wor
Page 73 and 74:
'; ("rc dN" ·\ NJ , 1\.1 1 .\ NINI
Page 75 and 76:
()I,l< ilNS .\ NII r'vl l',\ NIN( ;
Page 77 and 78:
1.")/1 ()I.: I\ ;INS ,\N I I MI·:\
Page 79 and 80:
Irll) ()Il( ilN.\ .'\NI ) MI :\ NIN
Page 81 and 82:
()Ir("N', .\Nl l l\'11 ,\NINr, ( H'
Page 83 and 84: If, ; ' / , \YI(H\ I.',I\I ;\ NI I
Page 85 and 86: I / ,I ('I all IIlIillll :lppr():lc
Page 87 and 88: I INII IN I/. \II'JN IN '\ I\I I .
Page 89 and 90: lSI) I INI( )NI/,\TH )N Ir,J ;\' 1\
Page 91 and 92: III;I/ln; Ililt l 1 iiI" II 11\\111
Page 93 and 94: IXX ()H( ;,'\NI/I'IJ J.,\ IIC IH \'
Page 95 and 96: PI,' I ) l,c ,\Nl/I JI 1 . \ , ,,·
Page 97 and 98: I II" arhilralnr Rohcrt I ':. Burns
Page 99 and 100: , " , II \\ " " ' 1'. , '''
Page 101 and 102: Ti ll ' I{H'I I'." 1 II' '1"1 '( li
Page 103 and 104: . " IS AN IJ Wi tH .... :\ NJ ) 111
Page 105 and 106: important local collahorativL: setu
Page 107 and 108: THE PROMISE OF THE '80s For many, t
Page 109 and 110: ' 1'111' 1·1( )I'vIISI · (II 1111
Page 111 and 112: J.) ·1 undcr-s pply u . cpitc a 6
Page 113 and 114: i\ flllllH"I" 1H"ISIHTlivl' lHI (i,
Page 115 and 116: "u. 'rilL PH( )M1SI ". (H' Ti ll' '
Page 117 and 118: Sl" H'I";tI di ... ·d rllsl nf ins
Page 119 and 120: · . , " " " ' ''' ''" .. ' " " " "
Page 121 and 122: I ' THE '80s SO FAR " rom new lcvel
Page 123 and 124: Ti ll ' 'xu .... :'-,( ) 1-",\ 1, t
Page 125 and 126: , . , , ) " TI ll' 'OS SI ) " ,\1,
Page 127 and 128: PI'.! '.1 -N I I' \' "H I \ I I 1 I
Page 129 and 130: ,. MEDIA, IRONY AND "BOB" It is not
Page 131 and 132: " c' • n', " .' ' . , .f.: . ' ,'
Page 133: I'( )HM ANI ) ('()Nrl-NT IN 1, ' 1
Page 137 and 138: .) /f, N( )JI' , . : lIlllH:r H{Tk
Page 139 and 140: J%6), p. 3t1, n. 1.1. N( )II ', 48.
Page 141 and 142: S6. White, qUOh.:d ill Kulik, ("/ I
Page 143 and 144: ,(0)) ,. T,lylm, op. ("if., p. J..I
Page 145 and 146: 2J.. l'red ('ouk, " l lanl ! LlL.,;
Page 147 and 148: Appendix: Excerpts from Adventures
Page 149 and 150: NUCLEAR MADNESS ... VIOLENCE AGAINS
Page 151 and 152: If it's humiliating to be ruled, ho
show all

CONTENTS - ouroboros ponderosa

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?