AGAINST CIVILIZATION AGAINST CIVILIZATION READINGS AND REFLECTIONS ENLARGED EDITION EDITED BY JOHN ZERZAN ILLUSTR.HTONS BY R.L. TUBBESTNG FERAL HOUSE Selections by the following authors, anti-copyright @ 2005, 1999, may be freely pirated and quoted: Anri-AlI(horitarians Anony­ mous, Lynne Clive, Des Refractaires, Feral Faun, T. Fulano, Derrick Jensen, John Landau, Glenn Panon, Fredy Perlman, Alon Raab, Unabomber (AKA "EC."), David Watson, Kevin Tucker, Disorderly Conduct, John Zerzan, and the anonymous authors of "Don't Eat Your Revolution! Make It!" Selections by all other authors in this volume have been reprinted by permission of their respective publishers. Major thanks to Alice Parman fo r assistance and advice concerning every aspect of this book and to Kevin Tucker whose invaluable help made the second edition a realiC)'. A Feral House Book ISBN: 0-922915-98-9 Feral House PO Box 39910 Los Angeles, CA 90039 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 www.feralhouse.com [email protected] Illustrations © R.L. Tu bbesing Designed by Hedi EI Kholri -IV_ Contemporary records indicate that, more than once, both rich and poor wished that the barbarians would deliver them from the [Roman} Empire. While some of the civilian population resisted the barbarians {with varying degrees of earnestness}, and many more were simply inert in the presence of the invaders, some activelyfought f or the barbarians. In 378, for example, Balkan miners went over en masse to the Visigoths. In Gaul the invaders were sometimes welcomed as liberators from the Imperial burden, and were even invited to occupy territory. -Joseph Tainter To combat cultural genocide one needs a critique of civilization itself -Gary Snyder VISUALIZE IND USTRIAL COLLAPSE -Earth First! CONTENTS PAGE Foreword: Chellis Glendinning Introduction: John Zerzan Preface: Kevin Tucker, Vllil/teudcd COllseque1lces 4 SECTION I. OUTSIDE ClVIUZATION 8 II Roy Walker, Tile Go/dm Feast Hoxie Neale Fairchild, The Noble Savage' A SllIdy 111 ROlI/lIIllle l'lllTurafislII 15 19 Jean-Jacques Romsc311, Dircollrse 011 tbe Origills oj IIIt'quality Henry DaVid Thoreau, "Excursions" '.," 27 Fredy Perlman, Agaillst His-story, Agaillst f.roia/ball! 3 I Arnold DeVries, Primifive Mall alld His rood Marshall Sahlim, "The Original Affiucnt Society" 35 L}'nn Clive, "Birds Combat Civilization" 39 John Landau, "Wildflowers: A Bouquet of Theses" 41 Thcodor Adorno, Millill/fl Mort/lifl: Reflectiollsfrom Dalllaged Life . 44 46 Marvin Harris, allr Killd Ramona Wilson, Spokalle iHlIscmll 49 SECTION II. THE COMING OF CIVILIZATION 50 53 George P. M arsh, The F.arth ilf Modified by HIIIII({11 Actioll 58 Frederick Turner, lJeyolid Geogmphy: The Westt"m Spirit Agaillst the Wtldemess Jamcs Ax[cll, Tbe Ilivas/Oll lVithlJl: Tbe Comest of Cultures IJI ColoJ//nl Nonb Alllenca 65 John "Zerzan, ElelJlCllts of Refusal 68 74 Paul Shepard, Nfllure alld Madl/ess 81 Mark Nafhan Cohen, Hmltb flJld tbe Rise of Civili;:'(lIiol/ 90 Robin Fox, Tbe Smrch for Society 91 Chellis Glendinning, tHy Nmlle is Cbdlis alld I'm ill Recoveryfrom lVesten! Civ/Ji-:.atiOIl Pierre Clasfres, Soelety Agtllllst (be S(tIle. 95 ,\lladhusree Mukerjee, Tbe I.alld of tbe Naked People 97 99 Robert Wolff, ReadiJig IIJld IVritiJig -VI!- SECTION Ill. THE NATURE OF CIVILIZATION 102 Fril:drich Schiller, 011 tbe AutiJetic Edllct/tioll of M'III 105 Charles Fourier, Tbeory of FOllr MOJ,'ellle1lts alld Gel/eml Oestillies . 107 Sigmund Frcud, Civifiullioll fflld its Diseollfe1lts 108 John Landau, "Civilization :lnd the Primitive" 110 ,\llax l-lorkheimer, hlipse of HI'aSOII 112 Max Horkheimer, DflwlI alld Declille 115 Richard Heinberg, "\Vas Civilization a Mistake?" 116 Barbara Mor, Here: a sll/alllJlStory o/a IIIlIIlIIg tOW/I III tbe all/meall sOilrb-;:"'esr: 124 wa"eII/l,is/Jee II::' Ivan lllich, Toward II His/ory of Needs 129 Zygmunt Bauman, lHodemity fllid tbe Holocallst 131 T. Fulano, "Ci\'ilil.:ltion Is Like a Jetliner" . 136 Unabomber (""i.. \ "FC"), "Industrial Society and Its Fumre" 139 T:lm:lr:lck Song, Tbe Old Way alld ClViliwflOiI 141 Ursula K. LeGuin, WOllle1l/Wildemess 147 SECTION IV. THE PATHOLOGY OF CIVILIZATION 150 Max Nordnu, COllt'elltiOllffl Lies, or Ollr Civili::,atioll 153 \Villiam I-I. Kocrke, Tbe Filial Empire: Tbe Col/apse of Civili:;{lIioll 155 (Illd Tbe Seed of tbe Flltllff Joseph A. Tainter, Tbe Col/apse of Complex Socidies 162 Theodore Roszak, Wbere tbe Wastelalld Ellds: Poliflcs alld TmIlJCel/dt'/lCt' 167 11/ Postmdllstnai SocIety Andrcw Bard Schmooklcr, Tbe Pllrt/ble of /be Tribu: Tbe Problnll 172 of POWlr ill Soci,t! 1:."1IOIIi/ioll Petcr Sloterdijk, Critiqlle of Cyllict/I Reasoll 176 Fredric J:lmeson, 'J'lJe Seeds of Tillie 179 labor of ludd, "The Medium Is the Medium" 182 Des Refracraires, "How Nice to Be Civilized!" 184 David W:ltson, "Ci\'ilil.:ltion in Bulk" 187 Richard Heinbcrg, Memories fllld Visiolls 0/ Pamdise 196 Chr}'Stos, "T hey're Always Telling Me I'm Too Angry" 19H e Oswald Spcngler, Mall (Illd Tcbnics: A Colllriblltioll to a Pbilosopby of Life 204 John Mohawk, in Seayeb of Noble Allces/ors 206 -VllI- SECTION V. THE RESISTANCE TO CIVILIZATION 212 215 Rudolf Bahro, AVOIdillg Social mid Ecological Difllsfer: The Polifiu of /Vorld TrfmSfoni/afioll John Zen:an, Futllre Primitive. 220 William Morris, Ne-t.Vs from Nowhere 222 Feral Faun, "Feral Revolution" 227 231 Anonymous, �Don't Eat Your Revolution! "'lake h!" Glenn Parton, "The Machine in Gur 1-II::ads" 232 Alon K. Ibab, "Revolt of the Bats" 243 247 Kirkpatrick Sale, Rebel! Ago/IIJttiJe FUlllre: LeJJolfJ from the Lllddiw Dcrnck JCllScn, "Action� Spcak Loudcr Than Words" 252 256 Anti-Authoritaf1an� Anonymous, "\Vc Havc To Dismantle All This" John (Fire) Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes, Tfllkillg to the Owls fllld Blltferjliu 258 Group of Anarcho-Fururists, Allfircho-f.ilfuriit Mfillifesto Ui3 Susan Griffin, WOlllfill fllld Nfltllre: Tbe Roarlllg Jllside Her Ui5 266 COTllmunique #23 from DISorderly COlldllct #6, "Why Ci\'ilization?" . Sources 273 -IX- FOREWORD he thing I admire about Chicano village life in New Mexico is that beneath the sleek overlay of trucks and telephones lies the still�vital infrastructure of an ancient and, until recently, undis­ turbed way of life. Men hunt elk and turkey. Wo men know plants. Curandera-healers with their potent prophetic powers live among us. Everyone knows how to build a mud house, dig the irrigation ditch, grow corn, ride a horse, and navigate through the fo rest 011 a moon-lit night. And despite the raging poverty that universally Aat­ tens land-based communities when they are conquered, colonized, and consumed, there is more happiness here than in any place I have known. Ir's a simple happiness, nothing fancy, a here-and-now con­ tentment: a story wid at the gas pump, an invitarion (Q go fishing, a rwist of language thar illuminates rhe irony ofhiS(Qry. Living here, I have learned not (Q comemplate a rrip to rhe dump or rhe village S(Qre withom carrying with me an extra twemy minmes, or an hour, (Q give and receive. Such experiences reinforce what, afrer decades of research and dozens of social-change movemems, I have long suspected. That it is not just col1lemporary industrial society that is dysfunctional; it is civilization itself. That we humans are born (Q be creatures of the land and the sea and the srars; thar we are relations (Q the animals, cohorts (Q the plants. And that our well-being. and the well-being of the very planet, depend on our pursuance of our given place within the namral world. It is against these musings rhat I ceiebrare the coming of John Zerzan's accomplishment of an anthology harboring the best of civilized people's critiques of civilization. Herein the reader will discover the questions thar need to be asked and the insighrs thar beg to be nurtured if humankind and the natural world as we know it are to thrive into the future. This book is that important. -Chellis Glendinning Chimay6. New Mexico 26 July 1998 -x!- INTRODUCTION )Ol-IN ZERZAN rc:::::..ince (he first edition of Against Civilization [1999] the general U perspective referred (0 by its tide has begun (0 make sense to a growing number of people. An overall crisis-personal, social, envi­ ronmental-is rapidly deepening, making such an indictment feasible, if not unavoidable. This collection is, among other things, a reminder that critiques of civilization itself are anything but new. And the past five yearshave provided an opportunity to add voices to the chorus of doubters, those with enough vision to think outside civilizational confines. The 15 additional selections include correctives to a serious deficiency of the original book: the paucity of women and indige­ nous contributors [not exclusive categories, of course]. The currem edition makes some advance in these vital areas, I believe. Discontent with civilization has been with us all along, bur is coming on now with a new freshness and insistence, as if it were a new thing. To assail civilization itself would be scandalous, blH for the conclusion, occurring to more and more people, that it may be civilization that is the fu ndamental scandal. I won't dwell here on the fact of the accelerating destruction of the biosphere. And perhaps equally obvious is the mutilation of «human nature," along with outer nature. Freud decided that the fullness of civ­ ilization would bring, concomitantly, the zenith of universal neurosis. In this he was evidently a bit sanguine, too mild in his prognosis. It is impossible to scan a newspaper and miss the malignancy of daily life. See the multiple homicides, the GOO-percent increase in teen suicide over the past 30 years; count the ways to be heavily drugged against reality; ponder what is behind the movement away from literacy.