[The historic development of Primitivism, and its popularity in North America, should be of particular concern to all those anarchists who follow the true legacy of the anarchist tradition. The following essay by Brian Oliver Sheppard from 2003 is still the best case against identifying Primitivism with anarchism.]

Read the full text here

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The Demonology of Primitivism: Electricity, Language, and other Modern Evils

Brian Oliver Sheppard

Gar Smith, editor of the Earth Island Institute journal, The Edge, and critic of modem technology, recently complained to journalists, "I have seen villages in Africa that had vibrant culture and great communities that were disrupted and destroyed by the introduction of electricity." He added: "I don't think a lot of electricity is a good thing. It is the fuel that powers a lot of multi-national imagery." When asked why lack of electricity - a hallmark of poverty - ought to be considered advantageous, Smith said, "The idea that people are poor doesn't mean that they are not living good lives." He added, "there is a lot of quality to be had in poverty."

THE BURNING FOREST or "HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA" (1978)

Simon Leys

(This essay was originally published in 1978.)

How much of this is known in the free countries of the West? The information is to be found in the daily papers. We are informed about everything. We know nothing.

-SAUL BELLOW, To Jerusalem and Back

On the question of human rights in China, an odd coalition has formed among "Old China hands" (left over from the colonial-imperialist era, starry-eyed Maoist adolescents, bright, ambitious technocrats, timid sinologists ever wary of being denied their visas for China, and even some overseas Chinese who like to partake from afar in the People's Republic's prestige without having to share any of their compatriots' sacri-fices or sufferings). The basic position of this strange lobby can be summarized in two propositions: (1) Whether or not there is a human-rights problem in China remains uncertain-"we simply do not know"; and (2) even if such a problem should exist, it is none of our concern.

Andrew Feenberg

[Taken from: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/feenberg/nl.htm]

I. Culture and Politics

1. Introduction

The new left and the civil rights movement had at first an undeniably heroic character. In the name of the unrealized democratic ideals of American society, tiny groups of white students and blacks confronted bureaucratic intransigeance and police brutality North and South. There struggles had a quality of righteousness and courage that captured the imagination of the world.

[Or how not to commit yourself to the fight, an "anarchist-moronist" primer- TFGC]

MUNI SOCIAL STRIKEOUT

By Kevin Keating

A critique of our efforts to foment a mass "self-reduction" movement on San Francisco's Muni public transit system.

INTRODUCTION:

In early 2005, bureaucrats in San Francisco's Municipal Transit Authority announced plans for a fare increase and service cuts for Muni, SF's main public transit system. Fares had been hiked in 2003 from $1.00 to $1.25, and the 2005 fare hike, slated to begin Sept.1st, was to be from $1.25 to $1.50. Several dozen bus lines would see drastically reduced service; other lines would be cut altogether. Plans were also announced for mass layoffs of Muni employees, focusing in particular on bus drivers.

In response, a small group of anti-authoritarians initiated an effort aimed at uniting Muni riders and drivers in large-scale action that could spike the attacks.

A series of pages writen back in 1996 and archived on the wayback machine (http://web.archive.org) by Lenny Flank, Jr.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010609224049/www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1587/index.htm

Welcome to the "Non-Leninist Marxism" Page. It contains a number of book-length works I have produced over the years exploring the possibilities of democratic communism and direct industrial democracy. It is my conclusion that the Leninists, in all of their various forms, cannot serve as a model for a successful anti-capitalist revolution, and that they need to be opposed by working class militants to the same extent as the capitalists. My motto is: "Never talk to a Trot without an ice pick in your pocket".