disinformation | eugene oregon's #1 export: the death of civilization

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eugene oregon's #1 export: the death of civilization
by Nick Mamatas (laddertrick@gvny.com) - December 28, 2000

Forget logging.

Eugene, Oregon, a college town of about 150,000 and home to the University of Oregon, has a very different claim to fame.

Young anarchists, of the anti-technological and anti-civilization breed, have made Eugene their home. Inspired by the Luddism and "neo-primitivism" of thinkers like John Zerzan, the Eugene anarchists have spent years theorizing, tossing the occasional rock and writing in their fanzines, all while preparing for their public debut. And like the belle of the ball, the Eugene crew, its ideology of anti-civilization and its praxis of largely symbolic property destruction, had the attention of all the boys during the 'Battle of Seattle' in 1999.

The Eugene group isn't huge, but it sure is busy. Zerzan hosts weekly meetings of the Black Army Faction, a group centered around the low-rent neighborhood of Whitaker. The movement is larger than the BAM, and many hangers-on, less-than-ideological camp followers and a significant number of thoughtful true believers have embraced this theory of anarchism.

While the anti-civilization roots of anarchism can be found in many major thinkers, from Thoreau to Kropotkin, the mainstream of anarchist thought never encouraged such a complete rejection of modernity. The heyday of anarchism was brought on by unprecedented industrial expansion, and the concomitant expansion of state power into the realm of everyday life. People were driven off the land and funneled into factories and the armed forces, and later into schools to be trained to be good workers, and anarchism was a clear response to the new authority which had overwhelmed the personal lives of most working people.

Some anarchists were syndicalists, and concentrated on building revolutionary unions. These groups wouldn't just negotiate contracts, they attempted direct action (sabotage, factory takeovers, co-ops) in order to take back precious moments of their lives. Their eventual goal was the social ownership of the means of production, not the destruction of technology by individuals.

Other anarchists oriented themselves more pointedly towards (well, against) the state itself. The government was the most obvious oppressive apparatus, and even progressives were being sucked into bloody battles over the new ideology of nationalism. The state had to be smashed to end both war and oppression, and anarchists didn't feel the need to differentiate states by degree of evil the way liberals and some Marxists did.

The anti-civilization school of anarchism, as practiced (but not yet gotten right) by the Eugene activists is something relatively new. Combining premises of deep ecology, Max Stirner's individual anarchism, and the ape-man urge to smash technology that one doesn't control, this flavor of anarchism is beginning to make sense to more and more young people.

It isn't just capitalism that is bad; indeed, many of these anarchists can't tell the difference between capitalism and mere trade between cave people. The state is terrible to be sure, but a bunch of middle-class white folks in a little college town aren't going to be victims of military aggression or police brutality unless they make themselves targets. The alienation of computers and cars and heavily mediated relationships (we even learn how to love and have sex from TV) are omnipresent though. When one reaches out with an angry fist, one can't help but smash a bit of machinery or a little time-saving device.

In heavily wooded Eugene, it is easy to forget that most people can't sleep outside in the winter, and eat whatever happens to be lying around. In this little college town, it is easy to miss the forest for all the very civilized and commodified trees.

Anarchist, Kaczynski Sharing Spotlight
Newspapers wouldn't be talking to me if (the Unabomber) hadn't been blowing things up, says Zerzan in this Oregonian article (December 31st, 1997) by Tom Bates and Janet Filips, which attempts to smear Zerzan through association with the Unabomber. Not that Zerzan ever mailed a bomb to anybody, but still, they think alike. Poor reportage also ignores the central question that brought Zerzan and Kaczynski together: why was Kaczynski barred from talking to a reporter?

Peasant Revolt!
The oft-reprinted communique (ooh, sounds sexy!) from the N30 Black Bloc. Useful in that it points out that the black bloc is a tactic carried out by groups, rather than a group in and of itself. The statement really reads a lot into smashing a window though. Global capitalism has had the productive capacity to replace a pane of glass for a couple of centuries now.

A Revolutionary Movement Hits Small-Town America
Another frequent reprint. This Los Angeles Times article (August 3rd, 1999) by Kim Murphy examines the Eugene phenomenon, with a special focus on the attacks against the Blair Island Caf�. The whole adventure reads like an argument between Old School hippies and New School radicals over who gets to be more punk rock. A lot of furious energy was expended over a small business, because goshdarnit, the International Monetary Fund just won't relocate to Eugene and stand there while the kids overthrow it.

Anarchy For Anybody
A collection of links and articles written especially for the lifestyle anarchist. Many radicals view capitalism as an undefeatable totality. Working was formerly seem as a position of power, since one could organize and strike, stopping production in its tracks. The decline of labor radicalism saw the rise of lifestyle and consumptive politics. It isn't what you do, now it is what you buy, or don't buy. That this tactic is simply a manifestation of the way neoclassical economic describes the power of the free market never seems to come up. To earnestly destroy civilization, one must destroy irony first, it seems.

Anarchohood Oregon
A set of links about the Eugene Oregon anarchists, taken mostly from mainstream sources. More interesting is the link to Eugene Active Existence, a very complete page examining the day-to-day struggles of the movement from the inside. If I was a Eugene anarchist, my nickname would be "Sucky!"

Eugene Anarchists Explain Point Of View
From The Oregonian (February 26, 1999) this brief article by Debra Gwartney describes an attempt by some Eugene anarchists to appeal to both the state (as represented by the police) and capital (as manifested by gentrification) to just stop botherin' 'em. Good luck with that, boys and girls. Radical rhetoric is often accompanied by pandering to the state: there's a reason why Marxists often refer to anarchists as "liberals with a bomb."

John Zerzan
An index of writings by John Zerzan, thanks to the good people at Spunk Press and their hideous deathbeast web servers which should all be smashed to free us to run naked in the woods. The anti-civ bunch is definitely without a sense of irony.

Molotov Cocktail For The Soul
A good page with critiques of anti-civ anarchism and a few articles on workplace sabotage and resistance. Keeps all four pyramids in spite of its appeal to Internet wishful thinking and the attempts of large companies to undermine local food production in the Third World via the "Hunger Site" link. It is easier to click a button than to actually fight capital, after all. Click click. "McAnarchy In The Playpen" remains a must read though.

The Spanish Revolution
A well-designed and thorough site examining the role of anarchism in the Spanish Civil War. Shows that anarchism is not the same as disorganization, or chaos, or the rejection of modernity in toto. Worth reading, especially for any unwashed rock throwers who may be reading this dossier while in their tree house.

Time And Its Discontents
A pamphlet by John Zerzan, originally published in Anarchy. An excellent piece about the way in which society steals our own existence out from under us, one moment at a time, and deadline by deadline. An abstract appeal to quantum physics to demonstrate that time is nothing other than a observer-created phenomenon is a little far-fetched, and serves as nothing more than wishful thinking. If time is only in our heads, smashing clocks will solve the problem. If it isn't, we will have to take over our own world, and take back our own lives. And that's hard!

Disinformation Dossier On The Battle In Seattle
Check out the Disinformation dossier on The Battle In Seattle.

Disinformation Dossier On The Woodpecker Effect
Check out the Disinformation dossier on The Woodpecker Effect.

Disinformation Dossier On Julia 'Butterfly' Hill
Check out the Disinformation dossier on Julia 'Butterfly' Hill.

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