An Anti-civilization journal of theory and action.
Introduction by John Zerzan
Green Anarchy was begun in Eugene, Oregon in 2000 by Saxon Wood. After the first four issues, Wood handed the publication over to a group of rowdier, less traditional anarchists. In its time, from issue #5 through #25, 2001–2008, it matured into an explicitly anti-civilization zine. The subtitle, “An Anti-Civilization Journal of Theory and Action,” was added as of GA #13, but that orientation was actually on offer from the new editors’ very first numbers.
I came on board after about a year. Writing, editing, fundraising, and mailing the zine were my main emphases. GA had at one time, briefly, seven editors; the usual number, as I recall, was four.
A couple of things stand out for me. The hostility from the Left, and from leftist anarchists in particular, was pronounced. GA became a substantial anarchist periodical, easily one of the most important in English, world-wide. And yet AK Press, noted “anarchist” publisher/distributor, refused to ever carry it. This was shocking, given the number of liberal, authoritarian, and other non-anarchist titles AK has always stocked. This outfit, like others on the left, was clearly threatened by our effort––especially our critiques of mass society/mass production, Progress, industrial life and the like, as well as of domestication/civilization.
The other thing, the other side of the coin, one could say, was GA’s popularity, its levels of support from seemingly growing numbers of folks who saw the importance of the radical questioning that GA represented. It wasn’t very long before each issue cost about $6,000; $3,000 for printing, and $3,000 for our quite extensive domestic and overseas mailing list, including a free copy to every prisoner who requested a subscription. What seemed an enormous sum to us was somehow always covered, as if by magic. There was a desire for GA, and widespread backup from quite a number of folks.
As the decade moved along past the anarchy heyday in Eugene, 1998–2001, GA grew to almost 100 pages per issue. But it appeared less often, moving from quarterly publication to two issues a year. In 2008 the last four of us editors called it quits.
But green anarchy/anti-civ/anarcho-primitivism certainly hasn’t gone away. On the West Coast new zines like Blackout and Eco-Anarchies are in the works or have already made their appearance. Not identical to GA, fortunately, but certainly anti-civilization in outlook. And Species Traitor has resumed, with a most impressive issue #5.
Green Anarchy is dead, long live green anarchy!
–Green Anarchy #25
–Green Anarchy #23
–Green Anarchy #22
–Green Anarchy #21
–Green Anarchy #20
–Green Anarchy #19
–Green Anarchy #18
–Green Anarchy #17
–Green Anarchy #16
–Green Anarchy #15
–Green Anarchy #14
–Green Anarchy #13
–Green Anarchy #12
–Green Anarchy #11
–Green Anarchy #10
- No Membership Required by Jack Wylde
- Repression of the November 17th Movement Begins
- What Ails Us by John Zerzan
- Garden of Peculiarities, Part 5: Colonization
- Interview with Ann Hansen of Direct Action
- Towards A Paleolithic Existence
- Taking Children Seriously (TCS) and Anarchy
- Reviews
- Direct Action News
- Letters
- Prisoners
But of course it is only “chemical imbalances” that are said to account for this massive immiseration. This reactionary an d desperate claim responds to phenomena such as the fact that 2.8 million kids had what is euphemistically called a “run away experience” in 1999, by diagnosing most of them with a pseudo-medical condition called “conduct disorder.”
-What Ails Us
Download Green Anarchy #10 pdf
–Green Anarchy #9
- Hit Where It Hurts but in the meantime
- Thinking Through The Fall
- Anarchism: The New Identity Politics
- Sex Among the Zombies
- Go Wild!
- Industrialism Must Go! by Derrick Jensen
- What is Green Anarchy?
- The Revolt of Adam and Eve: A Green Anarcha-Feminist Perspective
- Interview with Julieta Paredes of Mujeres Creando,
- Zine Reviews
- Direct Action News
- Letters
- Prisoners
It seems apparent to us that the whole of civilization is accountable for our current state, and that true autonomy will be possible only from the destruction of that condition. The role of technology in this development (and the continuing of this) is undeniable. We agree that the technological system is a more viable of many targets in the fight for autonomy. In this we respect Teds’ comments as to how to potentially disable that beast. However, isolating this aspect can be very problematic.
-Hit Where it Hurts but in the meantime
–Green Anarchy #8
- Hit Where it Hurts
- Towards a Completely “Wireless” Society by Daisy Chung
- It’s All Coming Down! By John Zerzan
- A Zapatista Response to: “The EZLN Is NOT Anarchist”
- “Some People Push Back” On the Justice of Roosting Chickens by Ward Churchill
- Our Heroes? By Ali Khalid Abdullah
- A Revolution of Space
- The Social Implications of Myco-Consciousness
- Spotlight on the Greek Anarchist Movement
- The Dialectics Of Sabotage: A Look At Direct Action In 2001
- Zine Reviews
- Direct Action News
- Letters
- Prisoners
It is open to argument whether I am right in thinking that biotechnology is the best issue on which to attack the system politically. But it is beyond argument that radicals today are wasting much of their energy on issues that have little or no relevance to the survival of the technological system. And even when they do address the right issues, radicals do not hit where it hurts. So instead of trotting off to the next world trade summit to have temper tantrums over globalization, radicals ought to put in some time thinking how to hit the system where it really hurts. By legal means, of course.
-Hit Where it Hurts
–Green Anarchy #7
- Transforming Columbus Day
- Destroying Civilization in the new world order
- Social War by Other Means
- Vulcanology
- Interview with Maori Elder
- The Madness of the Astronaut
- The Garden of Pecularities By Jesus Sepulveda
- Remedial Revolutionary Consciousness
- Anarquia en Espana by Salvaje Caos (Wild Chaos)
- Characteristics of the Anarcho-Indian Alliance
- Zine Reviews
- Direct Action News
- Letters
- Prisoners
Ideology crystallizes itself like a map in memory. It legitimizes itself by propagating the false idea that the world in which we live is the best possible world, or that the system is the best system, regardless of its shortc omings. For this reason, it’s common to hear that socialism is better than capitalism, the free market is better that the proletarian state, democracy better than fascism, military dictatorship better than communism, republic better than monarchy, feudal bondage better than slavery, city better than country, etc. However many of these arguments are launched, they all are ultimately absurd because they tend to justify repression at the altar of a supposed necessary order.
-Garden of Peculiarities
–Green Anarchy #6
- Free
- Against Mass Society
- GA & Classical Anarchism
- Feminism (Male perspective)
- Women and the Spectacle
- The Cost of Affluence
- Resisting Western Penetration by Jesus Sepulveda
- A Conversation Between Two Yippies
- It’s Time to Disorganize by Kevin Tucker
- Earth’s Lament
- Decolonization of Colonial Descent by Chris Kortright
- Direct Action News
- Resistance News
- Zine Reviews
- Letters
- Prisoners
Many people desire an existence free of coercive authority, where all are at liberty to shape their own lives as they choose for the sake of their own personal needs, values, and desires. For such freedom to be possible, no individual person can extend his or her sphere of control upon the lives of others without their choosing. Many who challenge oppression in the modern world strive toward their conception of a “free society” by attempting to merely reform the most powerful and coercive institutions of today, or to replace them with “directly democratic” governments, community-controlled municipalities, worker-owned industrial federations, etc. Those who prioritize the values of personal autonomy or uncontrolled and wild existence have reason to oppose and reject all large-scale organizations and societies on the grounds that they necessitate imperialism, slavery and hierarchy, regardless of the purposes they may be designed for.
-From Against Mass Society
Download the Green Anarchy #6 PDF
Green Anarchy #6
- Free
- Against Mass Society
- GA & Classical Anarchism
- Feminism (Male perspective)
- Women and the Spectacle
- The Cost of Affluence
- Resisting Western Penetration by Jesus Sepulveda
- A Conversation Between Two Yippies
- It’s Time to Disorganize by Kevin Tucker
- Earth’s Lament
- Decolonization of Colonial Descent by Chris Kortright
- Direct Action News
- Resistance News
- Zine Reviews
- Letters
- Prisoners
Many people desire an existence free of coercive authority, where all are at liberty to shape their own lives as they choose for the sake of their own personal needs, values, and desires. For such freedom to be possible, no individual person can extend his or her sphere of control upon the lives of others without their choosing. Many who challenge oppression in the modern world strive toward their conception of a “free society” by attempting to merely reform the most powerful and coercive institutions of today, or to replace them with “directly democratic” governments, community-controlled municipalities, worker-owned industrial federations, etc. Those who prioritize the values of personal autonomy or uncontrolled and wild existence have reason to oppose and reject all large-scale organizations and societies on the grounds that they necessitate imperialism, slavery and hierarchy, regardless of the purposes they may be designed for.
-From Against Mass Society
Download the Green Anarchy #6 PDF
greenanarchy.anarchyplanet.org