Commentary

An Inhuman Possibility: Nietzsche once wrote that every first nature was once a second nature. In a world where creatures are technologically manufactured, we must wonder what second nature, what animal instinct or inhuman drive, has become our primary nature. [more]

The Mere Life of Consumption: And what form of humanity best exemplifies our collective transformation into standing reserve? It is the consumer immersed in the virtual world of the television – that human-animal whose sole meaning is the consumption of beings and the corresponding production of a consumer identity awaiting exploitation by marketing researchers tasked with expanding consumption. [more]

Mindful Militancy: A wise philosopher once wrote that before we can act ethically we must first learn to think. He claimed the dichotomy between theory and action is a false one and that in our age thought is the action needed most. His is a conclusion most activists resist. [more]

Cultivating Revolutionary Events: The activist with dreams of the revolutionary should turn to Nietzsche, Foucault and Deleuze for a philosophy that strengthens their ability to act in a way that will have the most damage on the State and the conceptual systems that form a symbiotic relationship with the State. [more]

Using Information for Life: A reading of Nietzsche's "On the uses and disadvantages of history for life" aids the movement in formulating a critique of the consumption of information. This essay challenges several core assumptions concerning the utility of relying on historical knowledge to formulate the movement's objectives. [more]

Kant, Hegel and Deleuze on War: In my own view, war is the result of philosophies that attempt to impose a rational, uniform order on the world. I agree with Hegel’s assessment that the state will always create an enemy. However, I think that Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari draw attention to a way to exist outside of the state. I think that this "nomadic thought" exists in opposition to colonization and that what is remarkable about nomadic thought is that it is able to devise new tactics of resisting the State. [more]

Arriving: Writing an Ethnography of Resistance: The role of the ethnographer should be to document how difference can be bridged through solidarity. An ethnography of resistance would convey how solidarity is cultivated in various situations. Having described their arrival and evaluated their success in integrating into the community the ethnographer will have conveyed what is most important: how to join a struggle in progress. [more]

Towards a Practice of Theory as Epitomized by the ISM: In experiencing the height of institutionalized military oppression, the ISMer is given access to the raw experiences necessary to pierce practical and theoretical blockages. The ISM is inherently revolutionary because the experiences that are gained strengthen what Nietzsche called “the plastic power” of an individual. [more]

Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam?: If the dense and moralist cigar-smoking reactionary bourgeois can transform him- or herself into a free-floating agnostic bohemian, moving opinions, capital, and networks from one end of the planet to the other without attachment, why would he or she not be able to absorb the most sophisticated tools of deconstruction, social construction, discourse analysis, postmodernism, postology? [more]

'Outside Thought' in Willy Wonka's Chocalate Factory: 'Because the less people take thought seriously, the more they think in conformity with the what the State wants' we must think in a model based in the antithesis of the state's controlled flows – one of pure nomadic, deterritorialization. [more]

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Features

John Zerzan on Radio Not Bombs: John Zerzan gives a concise description of anti-civilization and green anarchist thought. He is interviewed by Radio Not Bombs! a student radio show at Binghamton University.

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John Zerzan Speaks at Binghamton University: John Zerzan, the leading theorist of the anti-civilization movement, spoke recently at Binghamton University. The talk was organized by Why War? members and a video of the talk is now available online. [more]

Al-Qa’ida on al-Qa’ida: Al-Qa’ida is neither irrational nor unable to intelligently articulate their objectives. The American government is able to disseminate propaganda globally while suppressing al-Qa’ida’s response. Thus, the English speaking world is forced to trust the analysis of al-Qa’ida provided by those who have shown themselves willing to lie in their pursuit of an unjust war. If the American public had been able to read al-Qa'ida documents they would have known that al-Qa’ida was explicit about their joy in America’s overthrow of Saddam Husayn. [more]