Why Civilization?

Why Civilization? Re-printed from Disorderly Conduct #6

???
With all that s goin
that’s goin’ on in the
world, why do these feral fanat ics,
fanatics,
these rejects of anarchism, these
off-the-deep-end ecologists, these
granola-munchin
granola-munchin’ harbin gers of
harbingers
chaos need to spend so much time
attacking civilization?

The following communiqué was found at the site of a recently

disrupted secret meeting in Dover, Delaware, which was to facilitate
a coalition between Chevron, Pepsi-CO, Microsoft, the Sierra Club,
the Northern New Jersey Federation of Anarcho-Stalinists, Michael
Albert, and the Institute for Social Ecology. This disruption seems
to be evidence that insurrectionary green-anarchist and anarcho-
primitivist actions and ideas are spreading!

Communique # 23
We are often told that our dreams are unrealistic, our demands impossible, that
we are basically out of our fuckin’ minds to even propose such a ridiculous
concept as the “destruction of civilization.” So, we hope this brief statement
may shed some light on why we will settle for nothing less than a completely
different reality than what is forced upon us today. We believe that the infinite
The choice
possibilities of the human experience extend both forwards and backwards. We
wish to collapse the discord between these realities. We strive for a “future- is yours.
primitive” reality, one which all of our ancestors once knew, and one we may
come to know: a pre/post-technological, pre/post-industrial, pre/post-colonial, The civilizing process became more refined and efficient as time
pre/post-capitalist, pre/post-agricultural, and even pre/post-cultural reality - went on. Capitalism became its mode of operation, and the gauge
when we were once, and may again be, WILD! of the extent of domination and the measure of what still is needed
We feel it is necessary to raise some fundamental questions as to where we are to be conquered. The entire planet was mapped and lands were
now, how we have gotten to this point, where we are headed, and perhaps most importantly, where we have enclosed. The nation-state eventually became the proposed societal grouping, and it was to set forth the values
come from. This should not to be seen as irrefutable evidence, the Answers, or prescriptions for liberation; and goals of vast numbers of peoples, of course, for the benefit of those in control. Propaganda by the state,
but instead, as things to consider while we fight against domination or attempt to create another world. and the by now, less powerful church, started to replace some (but certainly not most) of the brute
We believe anarchy to be the ultimate liberatory experience and our natural condition. Before, and outside force with on-the-surface benevolence and concepts like citizenry and democracy. As the dawn of modernity
of, civilization (and it’s corrupting influences), humans were, and are, for lack of better terms, anarchistic. approached, things were really getting sick.
For most of our history we lived in small-scale groupings which made decisions face-to-face, without the Throughout the development of civilization, technology always played an ever-expanding role. In fact,
mediation of government, representation, or even the morality of an abstract thing called culture. We civilization’s progress has always been directly connected to, and determined by, the development of ever more
communicated, perceived, and lived in an unmediated, instinctual, and direct way. We knew what to eat, complex, efficient, and innovative technologies. It is hard to tell whether civilization pushes technology,
what healed us, and how to survive. We were part of the world around us. There was no artificial or vice-versa. Technology, like civilization, can be seen more as a process or complex system than as a
separation between the individual, the group, and the rest of life. physical form. It inherently involves division of labor, resource extraction, and exploitation by power (those
In the larger scope of human history, not long ago (some say 10,000 to 12,000 years ago), for reasons we with the technology). The interface with, and result of, technology is always an alienated, mediated, and
can only speculate about (but never really know), a shift began to occur in a few groupings of humans. These heavily-loaded reality. No, technology is not neutral. The values and goals of those who produce and control
humans began to trust less in the earth as a “giver of life”, and began to create a distinction between themselves technology are always embedded within it. Different from simple tools, technology is connected to a larger
and the earth. This separation is the foundation of process which is infectious and is propelled forward by its own
civilization. It is not really a physical thing, momentum. This technological system always advances, and always needs
although civilization has some very real physical to be inventing new ways to support, fuel, maintain, and sell itself.
manifestations; but it is more of an orientation, a A key part of the modern-techno-capitalist structure is industrialism;
mindset, a paradigm. It is based on the control and the mechanized system of production built on centralized power, and
domination of the earth and its inhabitants. the exploitation of people and nature. Industrialism cannot exist without
Civilization’s main mechanism of control is genocide, ecocide, and imperialism. To maintain it, coercion, land
domestication. It is the controlling, taming, evictions, forced labor, cultural destruction, assimilation, ecological
breeding, and modification of life for human benefit devastation, and global trade are accepted and seen as necessary.
(usually for those in power or those striving for Industrialism’s standardization of life objectifies and commodifies it,
power). The domesticating process began to shift viewing all life as a potential resource. Technology and industrialism
humans away from a nomadic way of life, towards a have opened the door to the ultimate domestication of life - the final
more sedentary and settled existence, which created stage of civilization - the age of neo-life.
points of power (taking on a much different So now we are in the post-modern, neo-liberal, bio-tech, cyber-reality,
dynamic than the more temporal and organic with an apocalyptic future and new world order. Can it really get
territorial ground), later to be called property. much worse? Or has it always been this bad? We are almost completely
Domestication creates a totalitarian relationship domesticated, except for the few brief moments (riots, creeping through
with plants and animals, and eventually, other the dark to destroy machinery or civilization’s infrastructure, connecting
humans. This mindset sees other life, including with other species, swimming naked in a mountain stream, eating wild
other humans, as separate from the domesticator, foods, love-making, ...add your own favorites) when we catch a glimpse
and is the rationalization for the subjugation of women, children, and for slavery. Domestication is a of what it would be like to go feral. Their “global village” is more like a global amusement park or global zoo,
colonizing force on non-domesticated life, which has brought us to the pathological modern experience of and it’s not a question of boycotting it ‘cause we’re all in it, and it’s in all of us. And we can’t just break out
ultimate control of all life, including its genetic structures. of our own cages (although we’re helpless unless we start there), but we gotta bust down the whole fuckin’
A major step in the civilizing process is the move towards an agrarian society. Agriculture creates a place, feast on the zoo keepers and those who run and benefit from it, reconnect with our instincts, and become
domesticated landscape, a shift from the concept that “the Earth will provide” to “what we will produce from wild again! We cannot reform civilization, green it up, or make it more fair. It is rotten to the core. We don’t need
the Earth”. The domesticator begins to work against nature and her cycles, and to destroy those who are still more ideology, morality, fundamentalism, or better organization to save us. We must save ourselves. We have to
living with and understanding her. We can see the beginnings of patriarchy here. We see the beginnings of not live according to our own desires. We have to connect with ourselves, those we care about, and the rest of life.
only the hoarding of land, but also of its fruits. This notion of ownership of land and surplus creates never- We have to break out of, and break down, this reality.
before experienced power dynamics, including institutionalized hierarchies and organized warfare. We have We
We need
need Action.
Action.
moved down an unsustainable and disastrous road.
Over the next thousands of years this disease progresses, with its colonizing and imperialist mentality To put it simply, civilization is a war on life.
eventually consuming most of the planet with, of course, the help of the religious-propagandists, who try to We are fighting for our lives, and we declare war on civilization!
assure the “masses” and the “savages” that this is good and right. For the benefit of the colonizer, peoples are
pitted against other peoples. When the colonizer’s words do not suffice, the sword is never far away with its
genocidal collision. As the class distinctions become more solidified, there becomes only those who have, and
those who do not. The takers and the givers. The rulers and the ruled. The walls get raised. This is how we are
told it has always been; but most people somehow know this isn’t right, and there have always been those who
have fought against it.
The war on women, the war on the poor, the war on indigenous and land-based people, and the war on the
wild are all interconnected. In the eyes of civilization, they are all seen as commodities - things to be claimed,
extracted, and manipulated for power and control. They are all seen as resources; and when they are of use no
longer to the power-structure, they are discarded into the landfills of society. The ideology of patriarchy is
one of control over self-determination and sustainability, of reason over instinct and anarchy, and of order
over freedom and wildness. Patriarchy is an imposition of death, rather than a celebration of life. These are
the motivations of patriarchy and civilization; and for thousands of years they have shaped the human
T.H.U.G.
experience on every level, from the institutional to the personal, while they have devoured life. (Tree Huggin’ Urban Guerrillas)
BACK TO BASICS volume #1 The ORIGINS of CIVILIZATION
 :
The Origins
c s
c k t
Ba volum
o B
e
a
o
si
n e
The
but given the same respect as anyone else in the
community. There is no strict specialization of roles or What relevant
hierarchy of values put on ‘work’ done. A look into these
Introduction
Introduction societies is far from the Hobbesian view of ‘primitive’ changes took place?
The success of civilization can be gauged by just how life as “nasty, brutish and short”. The implications of The shift from nomadic gatherer-hunters to semi-
much it has limited our vision and our aspirations. It’s this are extremely radical, as the nomadic gatherer- sedentary horticulturalists was one of the most significant
nearly impossible for any one of us to really grasp just hunter lifeway that has made up the bulk of human changes to occur in human history. This movement can
how much we have lost by our domestication. Our history is as close to an anarchist reality to have be seen as the real physical grounding towards
senses have been dulled; we’ve been trained to not ever existed. civilization and for three extremely significant reasons:
trust our instincts, subjugated to a fully dehumanized, surplus, sedentism, and domestication. Though
mechanical hierarchy; living in boxes within boxes within
boxes. We mow our lawns, we play along, and we spend
So
So where
where did
did things
things there is a lot of bleed between nomadic gatherer-hunters
and semi-sedentary horticulturalists, a more immediate
our entire lives being pushed through the linear future
that has been scientifically determined to breed the most
start
start to
to go wrong ??
wrong’?
wrong
go ‘wrong distinction can be made between those with and
Like anything, everyone has their own conception of without surplus (accumulation of necessities such as
‘efficient’ consumers. We play along, yet everyone one food, primarily). While all three may not be present in
of us has that urge, that feeling that something is wrong, where things ‘went wrong’; looking towards origins is
no different. It is important to understand that civilization any one society, it is important to recognize the role
or there could be something more. For millions of years that all three play and the effects they have.
we have lived in a way that is completely different from exists as a totality; ‘civilization’ itself is abstract, not
this. We always have to remember that when we’re tangible. It cannot exist on its own; it must be enacted S u r p l u s: The effects of surplus are strongest
looking at ‘savages’ and ‘primitives’ we are really and carried out. This means that civilization is as much and are arguably the most important area to look at as
looking at wild (or more wild as the case may be) a mentality as it is a concrete reality that flows from far as an anarchist critique is concerned. In societies prior
versions of ourselves. They are no different from us in that. The two are completely tied together, so looking to surplus, there was no concept of property. The world
any physical or mental sense, other than the fact that at the critiques of civilization opens up various realms was essentially a part of oneself and everything was more
they have not been beaten down. of possibilities. or less ‘fair game.’ In
In order to understand just how deep civilization’s The emphasis on such a world, there is no
tentacles are, it is necessary for us to begin by looking symbolic thought is an need for property, as all
at its origins. This is essentially the drive of the anarcho- important starting point are capable of making
primitivist critique of civilization. It is not so much an as it shows the basic th e s a m e t o o l s a n d
attempt to lay out a ‘paradise lost’ as it is a recognition tendencies that really e v eryone has equal
of the state we have lived for the majority of our existence opened up the potential access to ‘resources.’
within the community of life, or ‘natural anarchy’. As for absolute mediation. Surplus caused a break
anarchists, we should be questioning all that system- Wh a t i s m e a n t b y with all of this.
atically denies the ability of self-determination and symbolic thought is a Surplus applies to
autonomy. From the anarcho-primitivist and green movement from direct the compiling of food
anarchist ‘perspective,’ that ‘thing’ has a name and experience into medi- (mainly) in some kind of
origins; and like everything else, understanding how it ated experience. This storage as a mainstay of
arose gives some indication of how it could be made to fall. comes in the form of future consumption.
language, art, number, Societies where food is
etc. Pointing towards stored create a massive
Who
Who we
we have
have been
been and
and symbolic thought at the break with the immediate
base of civilization is gratification known in all
may
may be
be again:
again: important as it brings other previous societies
Humans have lived by hunting and gathering for more into question the much and for the first time
than 99.9% of our existence. It is believed that this upheld assumptions put a barrier between
adaptation was developed relatively early in the chain among us civilized folk hunger and fulfillment.
of evolution which was preceded by gathering and as to what it means to The creation of surplus
scavenging. Our most significant changes into our be human. The critique also requires a method
current form, both physically and mentally, come as of symbolic thought for distribution of stored
gatherer-hunters. This is something that civilization will has in many ways goods. As a chasm
always have to deal with; however, our instinctual being countered the ‘Artifi- grows between food
is always the hardest to conquer. cial Intelligence’ type procurement and con-
The current form of mega-technological civilization is emphasis on the role of sumption, an equal
only a continuation of the domestication process that language in humans chasm grows between
has its roots in domestication of plants and animals. It (Chomsky is the most those who have access
seems that civilization is, at base, a process of continually notorious of this crowd). to distribution and those
perfecting an absolute mediation; bring us full force into Symbolic culture who don’t. For the first
a synthetic society. From being born into hospitals and refers to an ideology of symbolic thought, meaning time in history, there is private property and egalitarianism
shot up with chemicals, to a degrading schooling process, that your entire perception is mediated through begins to erode. The kind of radical social changes that
to work and ‘retirement,’ our lives are set out as one some form of symbols. It’s beyond just giving things occur at this point give reason to believe that surplus
large civilizing project. Every aspect of our wild selves names, but having an entire relationship to the world and property play an extremely pivotal role in the
is turned upon itself until we are dulled to our senses, that comes through the lens of representation. It formation of power and the rise of civilization.
hearing, sight, perception, and instinct. may seem hard to see how any of this is relevant or Sedentism: Sedentism tends to be closely
All of this goes against the way that humans have applicable, but consider that the ‘Spectacle’ is our linked with surplus as it only makes larger and longer
lived as gatherer-hunters. Gatherer-hunter societies are current form of symbolic culture and it becomes a storehousing more possible. Sedentism refers to the
typically free-flowing, egalitarian, without property, self- bit easier to see the kind of importance all this plays. process of people settling in areas for longer periods of
sufficient, mobile, and flexible, with far less focus on Symbolic thought and symbolic culture define our time. Nomadic hunter-gatherers tend to live within one
taboo and rigid kinship systems. There are no positions reality and frame our relations, so long as we can or two regions (depending on the extremities of the
of power and leadership is only circumstantial. The most only appeal to each other through an emotionless, seasons) but move around often. Horticulturalists are
important aspect to draw from this is that gatherer-hunter detached mediation. It becomes nearly impossible to generally semi-sedentary, meaning they will live in an
societies live freely off of the ‘abundance’ of the earth. re-emerge as full beings. The critique is vital area between 7-20 years on average.
If someone is hungry, they are more than capable of because it is an indication of just how much civilization The problem with sedentism is the tendency to foster
collecting, hunting or fishing for food. Children and the has become the ‘machine in our heads’ and it is a a one-way relationship with the bioregion, generally
elderly are not seen as burdens, and are not talked down to, pivotal point for the domestication process. living in an area until it is no longer usable to them.
Socially and politically, sedentism only feeds surplus
* (Note on scientism and dates: Any attempt to positively pin-point certain events within the human time and people begin to hoard not only food but general
span are going to be reliant on rather questionable methods of dating/science. Current debates over how objects. There begins to develop an increase in materialism
long homo sapien sapiens (people physically like us) have existed go as far as 20,000 to 200,000 years and
more. Every so many years, commonly accepted dates get pushed back or forward. For these reasons, it and all the social ills that go along with it. Sedentism is
seems less important to lay out the technical findings in this realm, but focus on the content instead. Dates generally associated with horticulturalists, but the basic
regarding the existence of humans in some stage can go anywhere from 2 to 6 million years. There are problem can be seen amongst the sedentary gatherer-
currently debates over the validity of sub-species delineation. For our purposes here, what is important is hunters who lived along the northwest coast of North
not the strict number of years we have existed as this or that, but how we existed and why things started to
change. The purpose of this primer is not so much to focus on the when, but the how and why leading America who were able to create a huge surplus from a
towards the most important and open question: what can be done about this?) primarily fish derived diet.

BACK TO BASICS volume #1 The ORIGINS of CIVILIZATION

 of Civilization
of
A
A collaborative
collaborative effort
effort of
of the
the Green
Green Anarchy
Anarchy Collective and the
Collective and the Coalition
Coalition Against
Against Civilization
Civilization
Sedentism is also inextricably linked to population The form of subsistence is directly linked to the kind At this point, there is a huge increase in the role of strict
growth. While this is tied to food cultivation as well, it of socio-political form that society takes on; and, taboo and religiosity as well as centralization of religious
seems that the nomadic lifestyle was also an extremely therefore, is important to draw out here. power of the shaman. What emerges in response
efficient method of population control. When people Hunter-gatherers tend to be anti-political, as decisions to this is a rise in witchcraft, sorcery and general
began to settle, they began to find ways around the are made by consensus and there are no institutions distrust among the people. There is a turn towards
natural restrictions to overpopulation. While the societies through which legal action can be taken. Problems are urbanization and an institutionalization of certain social
where these dynamics originated are far closer to the solved by direct confrontation and reaction. Subsistence roles and a typical movement away from egalitarianism
ecology of life, they must also be recognized as having and all livelihoods come towards patriarchy.
a lot of the same problems as our society, on a smaller from immediate gratifica- The movement towards
scale. In these societies you start to have overcrowding; tion, and while there are patriarchy is strongly
fighting becomes a bigger issue, and fatal battles gatherer-hunter societies linked towards the
become far more commonplace. Essentially, when th a t h a v e s e d e n t i s m creation and social
people became totally sedentary, they began to step and surplus, they are the centering of property
away from a way of life that worked for millions of years exception. Gatherer-hunter and production. As
and took a huge leap towards our current situation. societies are marked by a hunter-gatherers had
D o m e s t i c a t i o n : The domestication of complete lack of special- no real ‘property’,
plants and animals (and ultimately ourselves) has ization and roles such as the there was very little
caused much debate. There are more theories over the shaman are more common to b e c o n c e r n e d
reasons why and when than most other issues addressed and ac cessible. Typically with, as far as inher-
here. It serves us little good to try and reiterate and nomadic and egalitarian, itance goes. However,
argue those points here; so we will focus primarily on organized at band level and the introduction of
the effects of domestication. However, some accept one sometimes tribal level. land ownership and
or two original points of independent domestication, Horticulturalists are a ‘means of production’
while others would point towards five or so. The wide range of people who creates another issue
reluctance to accept one or two points of independent get anywhere from 20% of which has generally
domestication seems to be highly linked to the refusal their subsistence from not been dealt with
of contemporaries to accept that past civilizations may cultivated crops to nearly communistically (all
have had the ability to travel long distances and the all of it. Horticulture is things belonging to
technology to cross oceans, which seems to have supplemented by hunting, the tribe). Private
been the case. The issue is politically motivated, as gathering and fishing. It property was the first
well as the fact that the notion of many independent refers more specifically to form of property, and
domestications feeds the Social Darwinist view of cultivation of crops, but it became very impor-
civilization as an inevitable end point that all societies domesticated animals figure very prominently tant to have a strongly
are trying to achieve, which is just the outpouring of for many horticultural societies, especially in the South defined lineage. This
linear rationality and justification. Pacific. They tend to live in more tropical regions and was a major factor in the origin of patriarchy. What
Domestication is widely accepted as originating in the are semi-sedentary, living in certain areas for extended starts out primarily as the passing of political status
Fertile Crescent area of the Middle East around 13,000 periods of time and then moving again. Their technology through the male line (even in some matrilineal societies),
to 10,000 years ago. The introduction of domesticated is relatively simple using hoes, slashing and burning forms into a solid system of patriarchal control
species (plants prior to animals excluding the self- areas for cultivation with fallow periods that allow land to through the inevitable growth of sedentary societies and
domesticated dog) was a slow process that was marked revive itself to some degree. complexity that arises.
by cultivation. This point is widely marked Pastoralists are people who live by and
as a significant step away from ‘the way for their domesticated animals. They usually
things were,’ as domestication is a process have a few species, but are centered in
of complete human domination. It does not every aspect around one species. There
come about by merely shitting seeds or are ranges in their dependency upon other
encouraging the growth of specific wild societies (the Nuer for example were more
plants, but the direct and intentional altering independent as they practiced horticulture
(at the genetic level) of a species for the as well), but by and large, pastoralists act
benefit of humans through breeding. Paul almost as a specialization of cultivating
Shepard wisely pointed out that this is the societies. Being centered on very specific
first step towards genetic engineering. animal patterns, they migrate seasonally
It represents stepping into a completely for grazing land. Because of this process,
alien relationship with the earth. Or as it they are in a sense the first real merchant
has also been put: a distrust of nature. The class. They would trade and carry goods
earth is no longer the source of life itself, from societies on one end of their grazing
but it becomes a field to control. The area to societies on the other, picking and
spiritualities and religions of domesticated leaving as they moved along.
societies begin to create worship of specific Their social organization tends to be far
representations (soil, rain, seed, sun, etc.), more towards the more chiefdom-oriented
instead of non-reified interaction with the horticulturalists. They also carry a lot of the
elements of life. This has a profound effect baggage of patriarchy as their societies are
on the relationship of a people to the as inheritance-based (if not more so) than
community of life. It amplifies the effects their cultivating counterparts. Like the
of surplus in a way that it is not just accumu- horticulturalists, however, many maintained
lation of something wild. It is production. some level of anti-state mechanism in their
For the first time people have ‘produced’ culture and are ‘technically anarchistic.’
something. From seed to consumable, usable product, This way of life is split between tribal organization and The level of domination inherent in domestication,
it is now theirs; coming from a piece of land that is chiefdoms. The stress on the land is much stronger than however, remains an issue of authority.
exclusively theirs, and must be protected. As having that of the gatherer-hunters and although it can sustain Intensive Agriculturalists are a further step into
placed major significance on property and production, life longer than agriculture, it is still plagued by continued the civilization from hor ticulturalists. They are
it seems that domestication is itself an authoritarian act growth and the consequences of such. Warfare is one technologically defined by the use of fertilizers,
upon the world and a major step toward hierarchy. reaction to the removal of a natural population limit ploughs, irrigation, etc. Another big step here is
inherent to nomadism, and in many horticultural societies the move from multi-crop fields into mono-cropping.
it has been accepted as ‘the way things are’. Many of This is the level of civilization where things really
What
What are
are the
the social
social these societies are still generally anarchistic as the start to solidify and many of the great ‘barbarian’
‘leadership’ position (Big Men) has no real power aside empires appear now, direct precursors to industrial
implications
implications of
of this?
this? from influence. Although many horticultural societies are agriculture.
Within the field of anthropology there are five also ‘chiefdoms’ which are ranked, hierarchical societies. Industrial agriculture is, as the name implies,
generalized categories of subsistence, which What is important here, aside from the issues of agriculture run as any other industry, using larger, more
seems relevant to all of this. They are: hunter- surplus, sedentism, and domestication, are issues complex machines, and feeding the ultra-stratified
gatherers, horticulturalists, pastoralists, intensive such as specialization which begins to arise as
society that produces them.
agriculturalists, and industrial agriculturalists. people become less involved with direct subsistence.
BACK TO BASICS volume #1 The ORIGINS of CIVILIZATION
 Conclusions? Some Suggested Readings:
What we can see when looking at this kind of ‘pattern’ of ‘development’ is the move from
Although there are not enough overly-accessible books in print on the
open, egalitarian societies to closed societies tending towards absolute hierarchy. The subject of origins, most of these texts provide a good background to
first step towards our current reality is the idea of property, which emerges at a fairly what has been discussed in this paper, as well as additional informatio
informationn
recent time and has always been met with resistance. Aside from the inherently and thoughts on the problematic social grouping known as civilization.
authoritarian nature of domestication, a few further social aspects are of interest: the Most are rather easy to get through and in print:
rise of warfare, the development of technology, the creation of cities and empires, and - E l e m e n t s o f R e f u s a l , F u t u r e P r i m i t i v e , A g a i n s t C i v i l i z a t i o n , and
the collapse of these civilizations. R u n n i n g o n E m p t i n e s s, all by John Zerzan; various publishers (contact GA)
As mentioned earlier, warfare was one possible means of keeping populations in check - A g a i n s t H i s - s t o r y , A g a i n s t L e v i a t h a n ! , by Fredy Perlman; Detroit: Black
after sedentism took a step away from the ‘natural birth control’ inherent in a nomadic and Red, 1983
- Soo c i e t i e s A g a i n s t t h e S t a t e , by Clastres, Pierre; New York: Zone, 1987.
lifestyle. It not only became ritualized among many horticultural societies, but it - G u n s , G e r m s , a n d S t e e l : T h e F a t e s o f H u m a n S o c i e t i e s , by Jared
became one of the strongholds of the state. The earliest empires were noted for the Diamond; New York: Norton, 1997.
superior armies that were the product of ultra-specialization. A state can function only as - W oman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her, by Susan Griffin; San Francisco:
long as it has its necessities taken care of. Cultivation is an ecologically taxing process Sierra Club Books, 1978.
and growing populations need more food. Armies defend and protect this expansion. - I n S e a r c h o f t h e P r i m i t i v e, by Stanley Diamond; New Brunswick:
Transaction, 1987.
When you look at the population numbers, the rise coincides directly with the level of
- My Name is Chellis and I’m in Recovery from Western Civilization,
empire present. In this respect, warfare, conquest and colonization become the health of by Chellis Glendinning, Boston: Shambhala, 1994.
the state. As the professional armies develop, so does their bloodlust until it’s no longer just - Man the Hunter, edited by Richard B. Lee &, Irven DeVore; Chicago: Aldine, 1968.
an issue of needing land, but also having sworn enemies and the need to wipe out ‘potential - M y t h o f t h e M a c h i n e : P e n t a g o n o f P o w e r , by Lewis Mumford; New York:
threats.’ This applies as much today as it did 500, 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 years ago. The more Harcourt, 1970.
complex the society becomes, the more complex its technology becomes and the more - M y t h o f t h e M a c h i n e : T e c h n i c s a n d H u m a n D e v e l o p m e n t, New York:
Harcourt, 1967.
‘efficient’ its killing capacity, until armies are so large that huge numbers can be systematically - Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of
wiped out, ultimately, by the push of a button. G r e a t C i v i l i z a t i o n s , by Clive Ponting; New York: Penguin, 1991.
This same pattern arises with the move from tools to technology. A tool is simple; and - S t o n e A g e E c o n o m i c s , by Marshall Sahlins; Chicago: Aldine, 1972.
humans, much like most animals, have nearly always used them. A tool can be made on - C o m iing
ng Home to the Pleistocene, by Paul Shepard; Washington DC: Island,1998.
site by a single person relatively easily (after the skill has been picked up at
least) and the end product is usually not a burden to remake. Technology arises Check-out:
with sedentism in particular as people can spend more time and collect more www.blackandgreen.org/biblio.html
objects to make more time-invasive things. Technology is a system, it requires for some more suggested readings.
other technology to continually be produced and it requires the technological
mentality of a society to continually produce it. Far from being neutral or
labor-saving, it has only increased the destructiveness of society and fostered
the problems inherent in property.
Anti-Civilization
As has been alluded to previously, the rise in population, with an increased
spatial focus and complexity, builds cities. Cities are a very recent occurrence
Contacts:
and completely define what civilization is. They are a concrete hierarchy and
everything in them, from structure to raw materials speaks eloquently of those Green Anarchy
who build and maintain them. Cities are the product of specialization and
cannot exist without creating an institutionalized division of labor which requires
PO Box 11331, Eugene, OR 97440
people to do certain tasks, whether they like it or not (as we all can relate). They collective@greenanarchy.org
are an imposition not only upon the earth, but upon those who live within and www.greenanarchy.org
outside of them. The delusion of ‘green cities’ is possible only so long as the
ecological and war-related costs are ignored (on top of the psychological and
physical costs of those who live within the city and its counterpart, the country).
Coalition Against
It seems appropriate to conclude a brief look into the origins of civilization Civilization
with a look at its seemingly inevitable fate: collapse. Domestication seems “We inhabit the PO Box 835 Greensburg, PA 15601
to lay the seeds for a history of perpetual collapse. It happened in Rome,
Mesopotamia (the cradle of civilization), Egypt, Mesoamerica, the South- factory and the www.coalitionagainstcivilization.org
Western United States, the Ohio Valley and so on. Every single empire factory inhabits www.speciestraitor.cjb.net
grows and grows till it becomes physically dependent upon others for its
survival. The agriculture which lays the groundwork for the growth of empire us. The clothes we Wild Roots
degrades the land until necessities can only be met through vast networks wear, the food we PO BOX 1485,
of trade, taxation, and theft, and such an empire can only last so long.
Never before has this planet seen an empire as large as the current eat, the buildings Ashville, NC 28802
American Empire, which is already in massive debt and taking a final stand in which we live, email:wildrootsnc@ziplip.com
to hold its power. Our current civilization has become truly a global civilization
and all of the tentacles of civilization are linking up as one. Civilization, in itswork and die, the
entirety, is now dependent upon global, industrial society which is books we read, the Black and Green Network
systematically destroying the land, air, water, and life on this planet. Much
media we ingest, www.blackandgreen.org
as we have ‘progressed,’ we often forget that we are still dependent upon
the earth for survival, collectively and individually, a lesson that may be the ideas we Green Anarchist
recalled as we meet with social unrest and ecological limits.
What can be learned from all of this is not only that there is another way
think—are all BCM 1715, London
of life that exists that our bodies have yearned for, but that we can find factory produced. WC1N 3XX, UK
ways to resist and ways to bring about the world that we want to live in. And yet chaos is www.greenanarchist.org/
This should not be a conclusion but a springboard for more searching in
every way possible. Nothing lasts forever and civilization has only been everywhere. Even index.html
(and will only have been) a drop on the human timeline. Civilizations rise as I walk through
and fall, but ‘Civilization’ has continued on. The point is to help erase
the barren waste Do Or Die
‘Civilization’ itself. We can look to its origins to see how it has developed,
and combine this knowledge with our dreams to destroy ‘Civilization’ once of the shopping c/o Prior House
and for all. Another world has existed, and another world is possible! 6 Tilbury Place,
centre, I look up Brighton East Sussex
Afterward: and see the sun BN2 2GY England
A Future Primitive? boiling, the clouds
Originary considerations have to do with how human life used to be, scudding by, a Terra Selvaggia
with who we have been and, in some fashion, may be again. Such flock of birds (Silvestre)
investigations give us things to look at, to reflect upon; nor as a source (anti-civ italian publication)
of an ideology to impose, not some ‘How It Must Be’ dogma. In this veering across the
via del Coure no.1
unprecedented and fearful time, the question of practice is open. In fact, sky—and I feel 56100 Pisa, Italia
maybe one thing many can agree on is that something new is needed. It
seems to us that examining the beginnings of this ongoing disaster is a
the exquisite
worthy exercise. Do we not need all the help we can get? pulses, flows and lavor d
Llavor dí anarquia
For the Destruction of Civilization and the Reconnection to Life! currents that flow C/Mestres Casals i Martorell 18,
The Green Anarchy Collective through my body.” E-08003 Barcelona, Spain
and
The Coalition Against Civilization - John Moore llavorda@anarchie.net

BACK TO BASICS volume #1 The ORIGINS of CIVILIZATION