Anarcho-primitivism

• 1. Introduction

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  Anarcho-primitivism once filled the pages of a journal in Eugene, Oregon, that called itself an "anti-civilization journal of theory and action." That journal, Green Anarchy, first appeared in 2000 as a 16-page newsprint tabloid. It later grew into a 76-page magazine. Its writers were not asking for reform. They wanted civilization abolished and a return to the life of hunter-gatherers. Why would anyone argue that humanity took a wrong turn and should undo it? Where did the idea come from, who shaped it into a modern school of thought, and what did its followers actually do about it?

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• 2. The Subtraction Program

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  The Neolithic Revolution is where anarcho-primitivists locate the original mistake. When people shifted from hunting and gathering to farming, they say, coercion, social alienation, and social stratification followed.

  The Industrial Revolution draws the same suspicion. Primitivists question both its origins and its supposed progress.

  Deindustrialization sits at the head of the primitivist program. Next comes abolishing the division of labor and specialization. Large-scale organization is to go, along with every technology except the prehistoric kind, and agriculture is to be dissolved.

  Most advocates picture a tribal-like way of life. A few believe an even simpler existence would serve people better. Underneath it all lies one claim: civilization is the root of both societal and environmental problems. Where exactly the damage began is a point on which the movement's own thinkers disagree.

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• 3. Roots in Philosophy

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  The roots of primitivism reach into Enlightenment philosophy and the critical theory of the Frankfurt School. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an early-modern philosopher, blamed agriculture and cooperation for social inequality and for habitat destruction.

  In his Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau painted the state of nature as a "primitivist utopia." Yet he stopped short of urging a return to it. He asked instead for political institutions to be built anew, in harmony with nature and free of the artificiality of modern civilization.

  Max Horkheimer, a critical theorist, later made a different argument. He held that environmental degradation came directly from social oppression. That oppression, in his view, had placed all value in labor, and widespread alienation followed. Rousseau's reluctance to go back to nature would not bind the thinker who gave the modern school its shape.

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• 4. Zerzan's Case

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  John Zerzan did more than anyone to develop the modern school of anarcho-primitivism. His work appeared just as green anarchist theories of social ecology and deep ecology were starting to draw interest. Primitivism then gained its own following as enthusiasm for deep ecology began to wane.

  Zerzan claimed that societies before civilization were inherently superior to modern ones. In his view, farming and the growing use of technology had left humankind alienated and oppressed. He argued that under civilization, humans and other species had been domesticated. That process stripped them of agency and placed them under the control of capitalism.

  His charges reached further, to language, mathematics, and art. These, he said, swapped "authentic reality" for an abstracted picture of it.

  Zerzan's remedy was a return to a state of nature. He believed this would raise social equality and individual autonomy by abolishing private property and organized violence. Other primitivist writers read the roots of alienation quite differently.

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• 5. Rival Diagnoses

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  Paul Shepard aimed his criticism at domestication. He believed it had devalued non-human life and reduced human life to labor and property.

  John Fillis blamed technology instead. Richard Heinberg offered a third explanation, claiming that alienation was the result of addiction psychology.

  These writers shared Zerzan's conviction that something had gone badly wrong, while naming a different culprit. Whatever the cause, the practical question was what to do about it, and the answers ranged from skill-building to sabotage.

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• 6. Rewilding and Violence

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  Ecological rewilding became the shared practice of primitivists and green anarchists. In their usage, it means using reclaimed skills and methods to work toward a sustainable future while undoing the institutions of civilization.

  Ted Kaczynski, an eco-terrorist, took up primitivist ideas. More pacifistic anarcho-primitivists have repeatedly criticized him for his violent means. They advocate non-violent forms of direct action instead.

  Beyond individual figures, the ideas also reached organized radical environmental groups.

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• 7. Groups and Journals

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  Earth First! is among the groups whose direct actions drew on primitivist concepts, which had taken root within deep ecology. The Earth Liberation Front, another radical environmental group, was directly influenced by anarcho-primitivism and its calls for rewilding.

  Printed journals carried the arguments. Green Anarchy covered monkeywrenching topics, including pipeline sabotage and animal liberation. Species Traitor, edited by Kevin Tucker, calls itself "an insurrectionary anarcho-primitivist journal." Adjacent periodicals include the radical environmental journal Earth First!

  Species Traitor publishes essays against literacy and for hunter-gatherer societies. The essays against literacy show how far the movement's critique of language extends.

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