ANARCHO-PRIMITIVISM IS NOT JUST ANOTHER IDEOLOGY: AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN ZERZAN

“Are people happy with domestication, with leading domesticated lives? I think the answer is, resoundingly, 'no'.” - John Zerzan

This interview was conducted by Martin Pavelka and took place in December 2015, during the Ekofilm festival in the city of Brno, the Czech Republic. (The interview was transcribed and edited by R. Capes.)

A PDF of the interview is available to download from here.

A Czech translation of the interview is available here.

John Zerzan's website address is johnzerzan.net.

John Zerzan's latest book is 'Why Hope?: The Stand Against Civilization' (Feral House: 2015). A review of the book is available here.

A large selection of John Zerzan's essays can be found at anarchistlibrary.org.

What do you think is the importance of environmental festivals like Ekofilm, especially when visitors to such festival are mostly already environmentally conscious?

Well, I think that's always a problem because, first of all: What is the most important or valid strain of environmentalism? Among some of us there's a very strong critique of environmentalism in general. It's failed utterly. It doesn't begin to contend with what is driving the crisis, for example. There are tons of films, fine films, but everybody knows about extinction, everybody knows how awful it is. What we need is some analysis and critique and vision, and almost never do you see that. For me, that's the real stuff. You can turn on

Wild Children - Domesticated Dreams: An Interview with Layla AbdelRahim

“Schools teach children the principles of death and of suffering. They do not teach them the principles of life, which is diversity, which is being out there in the world. They teach them within closed systems, within closed buildings and walls, separated from the rest of the world. They teach them that violence is legitimate when it is applied from the top to the bottom and that it is illegitimate when it is practised in resistance or defence of diversity and life. They teach children that humanity is alien to this world, that success means pleasing those in authority who will own the products of our flesh, of our effort, of our work, of our love.” - Layla AbdelRahim 

Here's my interview with anthropologist, author, and researcher Layla AbdelRahim.

   

In the interview, Layla discusses some of the main ideas in her wonderful book Wild Children - Domesticated Dreams: Civilization and the Birth of Education (Fernwood Publishing, 2013).

An MP3 of the interview can be downloaded from here.

A transcript of the interview can be downloaded from here.

The address of Layla's website is layla.miltsov.org.

Layla's talk at the Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia on crime and reward from an anarcho-primitivist
perspective is available to watch here.

Layla's latest book is Children's Literature, Domestication, and Social Foundation: Narratives of Civilization and Wilderness (Routledge, 2015).
 
 
The interview was recorded November 2015.

 

The Paradox of Democratic Capitalism: An Interview with Rebecca Fisher

“It is impossible to separate political power from economic and social power. [The] false division [of both forms of power] has lead to the current distortion of democracy to mean only limited political freedoms existing within a deeply and inherently unequal society.” - Rebecca Fisher

In this interview, Rebecca Fisher discusses some of the main ideas in her wonderful essay 'The Paradox of Democratic Capitalism: An Historical View'.

The essay was printed in the must-read Corporate Watch book 'Managing Democracy, Managing Dissent: Capitalism, Democracy and the Organisation of Consent' (2013, edited by Rebecca Fisher), which can be downloaded for free from here, or bought for the bargain price of £10 here. 

A free PDF of this interview is available to download from here. 

(1) What kind of a democracy exists in most advanced capitalist countries today? Is this kind of democracy genuinely democratic?

The kind of democracy that exists in the most advanced capitalist countries doesn't really constitute a democracy, in the original sense of the word. It certainly doesn't allow for public participation in decision-making, since this might threaten corporate, capitalist interests. Instead, it allows a very limited degree of public participation, since most people are permitted to vote. Various structures and processes are in place to ensure that this is extremely ineffectual in terms of influencing what actually happens.

The Curiosity of School: An Interview with Zander Sherman

“The point of institutionalized education has never been to benefit the student for his or her own sake.” - Zander Sherman

Here's my interview with Zander Sherman about his book The Curiosity of School: Education and the Dark Side of Enlightenment (Viking, 2012).

The book tells the story of institutionalised education, from the early-mid 19th century all the way up to the present. It covers topics such as standardized testing, the role of corporations in higher education, and the growing student debt crisis. Throughout, Sherman recounts the ways in which school has been used to manufacture outcomes—to turn students into soldiers, citizens, and human capital. The Canadian writer and novelist Will Ferguson described the book as “provocative in the purest sense of the word – meaning, it makes you think; provokes discussion – while never overstepping the bounds of reason”.

Sherman was homeschooled until the age of 13, has worked as a freelance writer, and currently lives north of Toronto.

A PDF of the interview can be downloaded from here for free.

(1) What motivated you to write a book about the story of school? And why did you decide to call it 'The Curiosity of School'?

At the high school I attended there was a student population of about a thousand, but the cafeteria could only hold five hundred. At lunchtime, half the school would take its meal sitting in the halls. If the administration caught us sitting they would tell us to stand, saying it was against "fire-code regulation." That made no sense to me. In the event of a fire, who was going to stay sitting? Looking at that policy began a long process of investigation and research. School is strange because we spend so much time there, and accept its value as a thoroughfare to work, while having little awareness of what it actually is, where it came from, and why we use it the way we do. 

Dreams: An Interview with Derrick Jensen

“I’ve been saying for a long time that science is an even better method of social control than religion because if I don’t believe in Christianity, then I’m just going to be consigned to a hell I don’t believe in anyway. But if I don’t believe in science, then I must be either crazy or just plain stupid.” – Derrick Jensen

Here's my interview with philosopher, teacher, and radical activist Derrick Jensen about his book Dreams (Seven Stories Press, 2011)

The interview was recorded on the 13th December 2011.


An MP3 of the interview can be downloaded from here.

A transcript of the interview can be downloaded from here.

The address of Derrick Jensen's website is: http://www.derrickjensen.org/

A video interview with Derrick Jensen on 'Democracy Now!' can be viewed here.


"Derrick Jensen is a rare and original voice of sanity in a chaotic world. He has wisdom and wit, grace and style, and is a wonderful guide to a good life beautifully lived." - Howard Zinn

Non-Stop Inertia: An Interview with Ivor Southwood

"There is a sense of overwhelming precariousness, in work, in matters of money, and in culture generally; a feeling of being kept in suspense which appears like a law of nature, rather than something human-made." - Ivor Southwood

Here’s my interview with Ivor Southwood about his book Non-Stop Inertia (Zero Books, 2011).

A PDF document of this interview can be downloaded from here for free.

Non-Stop Inertia argues that the appearance of restless activity in our society conceals and maintains a deep paralysis of thought and action.

Ivor Southwood has worked as a mental health nurse and studied literature and media. He has also done various temporary jobs and is interested in the culture of precarious work.

The address of Ivor Southwood’s blog, 'Screened Out', is: http://screened-out.blogspot.com/

A good review of Non-Stop Inertia can be read here.

(1) What does the title of your book, ‘Non-Stop Inertia’, refer to?

It represents a perpetual sort of crisis that people seem to be in, in everyday life. There’s this sense of always having to look for the next thing, having to sort everything out – this sort of endless circulating, networking, competing, and always passing through somewhere on the way to somewhere else. It’s sort of a vicious circle. But this is presented as ‘how it is’ or a self-imposed situation – that’s quite important, I think.

The title draws attention to the contradiction in that – in that we’re in a loop of anxiety and we’re not really getting anywhere. There’s a sort of frenetic activity and we’re not really achieving

Anarchy Alive!: An Interview with Uri Gordon

“People don’t know what anarchism stands for, don’t know its history, because nobody ever mentions it in the information channels that most people have access to.” – Uri Gordon

Here's my interview with Israeli anarchist theorist and activist Uri Gordon about his book ‘Anarchy Alive! Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory’.

The interview was recorded on the 7th November 2011.

An MP3 of the interview can be downloaded from here.

A transcript of the interview can be downloaded from here.

Uri Gordon's wonderful essay 'Anarchism - The A Word' can be read here.

Uri Gordon's website address is: anarchyalive.com

‘Anarchy Alive! Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory’ is published by Pluto Press.