"Post-Anarchism Anarchy"

Hakim Bey (1987)

The Association for Ontological Anarchy gathers in
conclave, black turbans & shimmering robes, sprawled
on shirazi carpets sipping bitter coffee, smoking long
chibouk & sibsi. Question: What's our position on all
these recent defections & desertions from anarchism
(esp. in California-Land): condemn or condone? Purge
them or hail them as advance-guard? Gnostic elite...or
traitors?Actually, we have a lot of sympathy for the deserters
& their various critiques of anarchISM. Like Sinbad &
the Horrible Old Man, anarchism staggers around with
the corpse of a Martyr magically stuck to its
shoulders -- haunted by the legacy of failure &
revolutionary masochism -- stagnant backwater of lost
history.

Between tragic Past & impossible Future, anarchism
seems to lack a Presen t-- as if afraid to ask itself,
here & now, WHAT ARE MY TRUE DESIRES ?- -& what can I DO
before it's too late ?...Yes, imagine yourself
confronted by a sorcerer who stares you down balefully
& demands, "What is your True Desire?" Do you hem &
haw, stammer, take refuge in ideological platitudes?
Do you possess both Imagination & Will, can you both
dream & dare -- or are you the dupe of an impotent
fantasy?

Look in the mirror & try it... (for one of your masks
is the face of a sorcerer)...

The anarchist "movement" today contains virtually no
Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans or children... even
though in theory such genuinely oppressed groups stand
to gain the most from any anti-authoritarian revolt.
Might it be that anarchISM offers no concrete program
whereby the truly deprived might fulfill (or at least
struggle realistically to fulfill) real needs &
desires?

If so, then this failure would explain not only
anarchism's lack of appeal to the poor & marginal, but
also the disaffection & desertions from within its own
ranks. Demos, picket-lines & reprints of 19th century
classics don't add up to a vital, daring conspiracy of
self-liberation. If the movement is to grow rather
than shrink, a lot of deadwood will have to be
jettisoned & some risky ideas embraced.

The potential exists. Any day now, vast numbers of
americans are going to realize they're being force-fed
a load of reactionary boring hysterical artificially
flavored crap. Vast chorus of groans, puking &
retching...angry mobs roam the malls, smashing &
looting...etc., etc. The Black Banner could provide a
focus for the outrage & channel it into an
insurrection of the Imagination. We could pick up the
struggle where it was dropped by Situationism in '68 &
Autonomia in the seventies, & carry it to the next
stage. We could have revolt in our times -- & in the
process, we could realize many of our True Desires,
even if only for a season, a brief Pirate Utopia, a
warped free-zone in the old Space/Time continuum.

If the A.O.A. retains its affiliation with the
"movement," we do so not merely out of a romantic
predilection for lost causes -- or not entirely. Of all
"political systems," anarchism (despite its flaws, &
precisely because it is neither political nor a
system) comes closest to our understanding of reality,
ontology, the nature of being. As for the
deserters...we agree with their critiques, but note
that they seem to offer no new powerful alternatives.
So for the time being we prefer to concentrate on
changing anarchism from within.

Here's our program, comrades:

1. Work on the realization that psychic racism has
replaced overt discrimination as one of the most
disgusting aspects of our society. Imaginative
participation in other cultures, esp. those we live
with.

2. Abandon all ideological purity. Embrace "Type-3"
anarchism (to use Bob Black's pro-tem slogan): neither
collectivist nor individualist. Cleanse the temple of
vain idols, get rid of the Horrible Old Men, the
relics & martyrologies.

3. Anti-work or "Zerowork" movement extremely
important, including a radical & perhaps violent
attack on Education & the serfdom of children.

4. Develop american samizdat network, replace outdated
publishing/propaganda tactics. Pornography & popular
entertainment as vehicles for radical re-education.

5. In music the hegemony of the 2/4 & 4/4 beat must be
overthrown. We need a new music, totally insane but
life- affirming, rhythmically subtle yet powerful, &
we need it NOW.

6. Anarchism must wean itself away from evangelical
materialism & banal 2-dimensional 19th century
scientism. "Higher states of consciousness" are not
mere SPOOKS invented by evil priests. The orient, the
occult, the tribal cultures possess techniques which
can be "appropriated" in true anarchist fashion.
Without "higher states of consciousness," anarchism
ends & dries itself up into a form of misery, a
whining complaint. We need a practical kind of
"mystical anarchism," devoid of all New Age
shit-&-shinola, & inexorably heretical &
anti-clerical; avid for all new technologies of
consciousness & metanoia -- a democratization of
shamanism, intoxicated & serene.

7. Sexuality is under assault, obviously from the
Right, more subtly from the avant-pseud
"post-sexuality" movement, & even more subtly by
Spectacular Recuperation in media & advertising. Time
for a major step forward in SexPol awareness, an
explosive reaffirmation of the polymorphic eros --
(even & especially in the face of plague & gloom) -- a
literal glorification of the senses, a doctrine of
delight. Abandon all world-hatred & shame.

8. Experiment with new tactics to replace the outdated
baggage of Leftism. Emphasize practical, material &
personal benefits of radical networking. The times do
not appear propitious for violence or militancy, but
surely a bit of sabotage & imaginative disruption is
never out of place. Plot & conspire, don't bitch &
moan. The Art World in particular deserves a dose of
"Poetic Terrorism."

9. The despatialization of post-Industrial society
provides some benefits (e.g. computer networking) but
can also manifest as a form of oppression
(homelessness, gentrification, architectural
depersonalization, the erasure of Nature, etc.) The
communes of the sixties tried to circumvent these
forces but failed. The question of land refuses to go
away. How can we separate the concept of space from
the mechanisms of control? The territorial gangsters,
the Nation/States, have hogged the entire map. Who can
invent for us a cartography of autonomy, who can draw
a map that includes our desires?