Against Civilization Readings & Reflections John Zerzan, editor 1999. 2 Introduction...............................................................................................................................4 Section One: Before Civilization..............................................................................................6 ROY WALKER: THE GOLDEN FEAST (1952) ................................................................................................ 7 HOXIE NEALE FAIRCHILD: THE NOBLE SAVAGE: A STUDY IN ROMANTIC NATURALISM (1928).........................11 JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU: DISCOURSE ON THE ORIGINS OF INEQUALITY (1754)...............................................14 HENRY DAVID THOREAU: “EXCURSIONS” (1863) .......................................................................................17 FREDY PERLMAN: AGAINST HIS-STORY, AGAINST LEVIATHAN! (1983)...........................................................18 ARNOLD DEVRIES: PRIMITIVE MAN AND HIS FOOD (1952)..........................................................................20 MARSHALL SAHLINS: “THE ORIGINAL AFFLUENT SOCIETY” (1968)............................................................... 22 LYNN CLIVE: “BIRDS COMBAT CIVILIZATION” (1985)................................................................................. 25 JOHN LANDAU: “WILDFLOWERS: A BOUQUET OF THESES” (1998)................................................................ 26 THEODOR ADORNO: MINIMA MORALIA: REFLECTIONS FROM DAMAGED LIFE (1947)........................................28 Section Two: The Coming of Civilization.............................................................................29 GEORGE P. MARSH: THE EARTH AS MODIFIED BY HUMAN ACTION (1907)....................................................30 FREDERICK TURNER: BEYOND GEOGRAPHY: THE WESTERN SPIRIT AGAINST THE WILDERNESS (1980).............. 33 JAMES AXTELL: THE INVASION WITHIN: THE CONTEST OF CULTURES IN COLONIAL NORTH AMERICA (1985).....37 JOHN ZERZAN: ELEMENTS OF REFUSAL (1988)............................................................................................39 PAUL SHEPARD: NATURE AND MADNESS (1982)......................................................................................... 42 MARK NATHAN COHEN: HEALTH AND THE RISE OF CIVILIZATION (1989)....................................................... 46 ROBIN FOX: THE SEARCH FOR SOCIETY (1989).......................................................................................... 51 CHELLIS GLENDINNING: MY NAME IS CHELLIS AND I’M IN RECOVERY FROM WESTERN CIVILIZATION (1994)......52 Section Three: The Nature of Civilization.............................................................................54 FRIEDRICH SCHILLER: ON THE AESTHETIC EDUCATION OF MAN (1793)..........................................................55 CHARLES FOURIER: THEORY OF FOUR MOVEMENTS AND GENERAL DESTINIES (1846) .....................................56 SIGMUND FREUD: CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS (1930)......................................................................57 JOHN LANDAU: “CIVILIZATION AND THE PRIMITIVE” (1995)..........................................................................58 MAX HORKHEIMER: ECLIPSE OF REASON (1947) ........................................................................................59 MAX HORKHEIMER: DAWN AND DECLINE (1961) .......................................................................................61 RICHARD HEINBERG: “WAS CIVILIZATION A MISTAKE?” (1997)................................................................... 62 BARBARA MOR: HERE: A SMALL HISTORY OF A MINING TOWN IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST: WARREN BISBEE AZ (1985)...................................................................................................................................................67 IVAN ILLICH: TOWARD A HISTORY OF NEEDS (1978)................................................................................... 70 ZYGMUNT BAUMAN: MODERNITY AND THE HOLOCAUST (1989).................................................................... 72 T. FULANO: “CIVILIZATION IS LIKE A JETLINER” (1983).............................................................................. 75 UNABOMBER (A.K.A. “FC”): “INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY AND ITS FUTURE” (1995)............................................... 77 Section Four: The Pathology of Civilization.........................................................................78 MAX NORDAU: CONVENTIONAL LIES, OR OUR CIVILIZATION (1895)..............................................................79 WILLIAM H. KOETKE: THE FINAL EMPIRE: THE COLLAPSE OF CIVILIZATION AND THE SEED OF THE FUTURE (1993)...................................................................................................................................................80 JOSEPH A. TAINTER: THE COLLAPSE OF COMPLEX SOCIETIES (1988).............................................................84 THEODORE ROSZAK: WHERE THE WASTELAND ENDS: POLITICS AND TRANSCENDENCE IN POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETY (1972)...................................................................................................................................................87 ANDREW BARD SCHMOOKLER: THE PARABLE OF THE TRIBES: THE PROBLEM OF POWER IN SOCIAL EVOLUTION (1995)...................................................................................................................................................90 PETER SLOTERDIJK: CRITIQUE OF CYNICAL REASON (1987).......................................................................... 92 FREDRIC JAMESON: THE SEEDS OF TIME (1994)..........................................................................................94 LABOR OF LUDD: “THE MEDIUM IS THE MEDIUM” (1998)............................................................................ 96 DES RÉFRACTAIRES: “HOW NICE TO BE CIVILIZED!” (1993)........................................................................97 DAVID WATSON: “CIVILIZATION IN BULK” (1991) ..................................................................................... 99 RICHARD HEINBERG: MEMORIES AND VISIONS OF PARADISE (1995).............................................................104 Section Five: The Resistance to Civilization......................................................................105 RUDOLF BAHRO: AVOIDING SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL DISASTER: THE POLITICS OF WORLD TRANSFORMATION (1994).................................................................................................................................................106 JOHN ZERZAN: FUTURE PRIMITIVE (1994) ............................................................................................... 109 WILLIAM MORRIS: NEWS FROM NOWHERE (1995) ....................................................................................110 3 FERAL FAUN: “FERAL REVOLUTION” ....................................................................................................... 113 “DON’T EAT YOUR REVOLUTION! MAKE IT!” (1995)............................................................................... 115 GLENN PARTON: “THE MACHINE IN OUR HEADS” (1997)......................................................................... 116 ALON K. RAAB: “REVOLT OF THE BATS” (1995)......................................................................................122 KIRKPATRICK SALE: REBELS AGAINST THE FUTURE: LESSONS FROM THE LUDDITES (1995).............................125 DERRICK JENSEN: “ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS” (1998)...........................................................128 ANTI-AUTHORITARIANS ANONYMOUS: “WE HAVE TO DISMANTLE ALL THIS” (1995)...................................130 Section Six: Under the pavement, the beach. (Paris, 1968)..............................................132 Permissions...........................................................................................................................133 Biographical Note..................................................................................................................134 4 Introduction Discontent with civilization has been with us all along, but is coming on now with a new freshness and insistence, as if it were a new thing. To assail civilization itself would be scandalous, but for the conclusion, occurring to more and more people, that it may be civilization that is the fundamental 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 civilization 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 600 percent increase in teen suicide over the past thirty years; count the ways to be heavily drugged against reality; ponder what is behind the movement away from literacy. One could go on almost endlessly charting the boredom, depression, immiseration. The concept of progress has been in trouble for a few decades, but the general crisis is deepening now at a quickening pace. From this palpable extremity it is clear that something is profoundly wrong. How far back did this virus originate? How much must change for us to turn away from the cultural death march we are on? At the same time, there are some who cling to the ideal of civilization, as to a promise yet to be fulfilled.