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+++THE ASSOCIATION FOR <a href="hakim/ontologicalanarchy.htm">ONTOLOGICAL ANARCHY</a> gathers in conclave, black turbans & shimmering robes, sprawled on shirazi carpets sipping bitter coffee, smoking long chibouk & sibsi.+++ |
'''QUESTION:''' ''What's our position on all these recent defections & desertions from anarchism (esp. in California-Land): condemn or condone? Purge them or hail them as advance-guard? Gnostic elite...or traitors?'' |
Actually, we have a lot of sympathy for the deserters & |
their various critiques of anarchISM. Like Sinbad & the |
Horrible Old Man, anarchism staggers around with the corpse |
of a Martyr magically stuck to its shoulders—haunted by the |
legacy of failure & revolutionary masochism—stagnant |
backwater of lost history. |
Between tragic Past & impossible Future, anarchism seems to |
lack a Present—as if afraid to ask itself, here & now, WHAT |
ARE MY TRUE DESIRES?—& what can I DO before it's |
<em>too late</em>?...Yes, imagine yourself confronted by a sorcerer |
who stares you down balefully & demands, "What is your True |
Desire?" Do you hem & haw, stammer, take refuge in |
ideological platitudes? Do you possess both Imagination & |
Will, can you both dream & dare—or are you the dupe of an |
impotent fantasy? |
Look in the mirror & try it...(for one of your masks is the face of a sorcerer)... |
The anarchist "movement" today contains virtually no Blacks, |
Hispanics, Native Americans or children...even tho |
<em>in theory</em> such genuinely oppressed groups stand to gain |
the most from any anti-authoritarian revolt. Might it be |
that anarchISM offers no concrete program whereby the truly |
deprived might fulfill (or at least struggle realistically |
to fulfill) real needs & desires? |
If so, then this failure would explain not only anarchism's |
lack of appeal to the poor & marginal, but also the |
disaffection & desertions from within its own ranks. Demos, |
picket-lines & reprints of 19th century classics don't add |
up to a vital, daring conspiracy of self-liberation. If the |
movement is to grow rather than shrink, a lot of deadwood |
will have to be jettisoned & some risky ideas embraced. |
The potential exists. Any day now, vast numbers of americans |
are going to realize they're being force-fed a load of |
reactionary boring hysterical artificially-flavored <em>crap</em>. |
Vast chorus of groans, puking & retching...angry mobs roam |
the malls, smashing & looting...etc., etc. The Black Banner |
could provide a focus for the outrage & channel it into an |
insurrection of the Imagination. We could pick up the |
struggle where it was dropped by Situationism in '68 & |
Autonomia in the seventies, & carry it to the next stage. We |
could have revolt in our times—& in the process, we could |
realize many of our True Desires, even if only for a season, |
a brief Pirate Utopia, a warped free-zone in the old |
<no>Space/Time</no> continuum. |
If the A.O.A. retains its affiliation with the "movement," |
we do so not merely out of a romantic predilection for lost |
causes—or not entirely. Of all "political systems," |
anarchism (despite its flaws, & precisely because it is |
neither political nor a system) comes closest to our |
understanding of reality, ontology, the nature of being. As |
for the deserters...we agree with their critiques, but note |
that they seem to offer no new powerful alternatives. So for |
the time being we prefer to concentrate on changing |
anarchism from within. Here's our program, comrades: |
<ol> |
<li>Work on the realization that ''psychic racism'' has |
replaced overt discrimination as one of the most disgusting |
aspects of our society. Imaginative participation in other |
cultures, esp. those we live with. |
<p> |
<li>Abandon all ideological purity. Embrace "Type-3" |
anarchism (to use Bob Black's pro-tem slogan): neither |
collectivist nor individualist. Cleanse the temple of vain |
idols, get rid of the Horrible Old Men, the relics & |
martyrologies. |
<p> |
<li>[Deoxy:tcrime.htm#work Anti-work or "Zerowork" movement] extremely important, |
including a radical & perhaps violent attack on [Deoxy:creative.htm Education] & |
the serfdom of children. |
<p> |
<li>Develop american samizdat network, replace outdated |
publishing/propaganda tactics. Pornography & popular |
entertainment as vehicles for radical re-education. |
<p> |
<li>In music the hegemony of the 2/4 & 4/4 beat must be |
overthrown. We need a new music, totally insane but life-affirming, |
rhythmically subtle yet powerful, & we need it NOW. |
<p> |
<li>Anarchism must wean itself away from evangelical |
materialism & banal 2-dimensional 19th century scientism. |
"Higher states of consciousness" are not mere SPOOKS |
invented by evil priests. The orient, the occult, the tribal |
cultures possess <em>techniques</em> which can be "appropriated" in |
true anarchist fashion. Without "higher states of |
consciousness," anarchism ends & dries itself up into a form |
of misery, a whining complaint. We need a practical kind of |
"mystical anarchism," devoid of all New Age shit-&-shinola, |
& inexorably heretical & anti-clerical; avid for all new |
technologies of consciousness & metanoia—a democratization |
of [Deoxy:shaman.htm shamanism], intoxicated & serene. |
<p> |
<li>[Deoxy:prudes.htm Sexuality is under assault], obviously from the Right, |
more subtly from the avant-pseud "post-sexuality" movement, |
& even more subtly by Spectacular Recuperation in media & |
advertising. Time for a major step forward in SexPol |
awareness, an explosive reaffirmation of the polymorphic |
eros—(even & especially in the face of plague & gloom)—a |
literal glorification of the senses, a doctrine of delight. |
Abandon all world-hatred & shame. |
<p> |
<li>Experiment with new tactics to replace the outdated |
baggage of Leftism. Emphasize practical, material & personal |
benefits of radical networking. The times do not appear |
propitious for violence or militancy, but surely a bit of |
sabotage & imaginative disruption is never out of place. |
Plot & conspire, don't bitch & moan. The Art World in |
particular deserves a dose of "Poetic Terrorism." |
<p> |
<li>The despatialization of post-Industrial society provides |
some benefits (e.g. computer networking) but can also |
manifest as a form of oppression (homelessness, |
gentrification, architectural depersonalization, the erasure |
of Nature, etc.) The communes of the sixties tried to |
circumvent these forces but failed. The question of <em>land</em> |
refuses to go away. How can we separate the concept of |
<em>space</em> from the mechanisms of <em>control</em>? The territorial [Local:GangsOfAmerica |
gangsters], the <no>Nation/States</no>, have hogged the entire map. |
Who can invent for us a cartography of autonomy, who can |
draw a map that includes [Deoxy:ct/whatyouwant.htm our desires?] |
</ol> |
+++<no>AnarchISM</no> ultimately implies anarchy—& anarchy is chaos. Chaos is the principle of continual creation...&+++ |
--[http://www.hermetic.com/bey/taz_cont.html A.O.A. Plenary Session, March '87, NYC]</p> |