Just to explain this meme to ppl not familiar. Ted Kaczynski [left] (aka the Unabomber) wasn’t a leftist or an anarchist. The person on the right is Murray Bookchin, a pioneer in the environmental movement.
[Kaczynski] was extremely critical of anarchism and the left, and would certainly reject that label. He was a primitivist, which is more in line with radical conservative concepts than leftism. Primitivism bases its rhetoric on a romanticized past, much like moderate conservatism, but just goes much much farther back. Thus, his writing is more in line with “eco-fascism”, the new right, etc than with anarchism. - source
Primitivism argues that civilization is at the root of societal and environmental problems, and that the best/only solution is to eschew technology and contemporary social relations, and to return to a more primitive existence, i.e., blow it all up and go back to the past.
Tldr: be like The Chad Bookchin, not like The Virgin Kaczynski
Is there good reading on how primitivism rectifies the problems created by civilization before blowing it up? Haven’t done any reading on primitivism so I may be asking about a well tread subject.
I actually haven’t read all that much about primitivism myself. It’s more popular in the environmental movement than in other leftist circles afaik. And while I support environmentalist causes, and agree that unfettered exploitation of both people and natural resources causes huge harm and that massive structural change is needed, I still don’t think retreating from modernity is the only (or even preferable) answer to environmental or social issues.
Just to explain this meme to ppl not familiar. Ted Kaczynski [left] (aka the Unabomber) wasn’t a leftist or an anarchist. The person on the right is Murray Bookchin, a pioneer in the environmental movement.
Primitivism argues that civilization is at the root of societal and environmental problems, and that the best/only solution is to eschew technology and contemporary social relations, and to return to a more primitive existence, i.e., blow it all up and go back to the past.
Tldr: be like The Chad Bookchin, not like The Virgin Kaczynski
Is there good reading on how primitivism rectifies the problems created by civilization before blowing it up? Haven’t done any reading on primitivism so I may be asking about a well tread subject.
This one is a good read: https://ecology.iww.org/node/3595. There’s also an argument in favor of anarcho-primitivism here, for some balance, I guess: https://medium.com/@cookieman6943/why-anarcho-primitivism-is-the-only-way-forwards-for-environmentalism-d39e75c8f0b6, but it does little to refute the points made in the first article.
I actually haven’t read all that much about primitivism myself. It’s more popular in the environmental movement than in other leftist circles afaik. And while I support environmentalist causes, and agree that unfettered exploitation of both people and natural resources causes huge harm and that massive structural change is needed, I still don’t think retreating from modernity is the only (or even preferable) answer to environmental or social issues.