More from the same NZ source (on a recent Salon article) to get you going...
Russell
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Judging from other reports from Seattle by left-wingers, some sympathetic and some highly critical, the salon piece is probably quite a fair representation of the anarchist strands represented at Seattle. It would also be fair to say that these kinds of ideas have some degree of influence in the Greens in NZ.
There are several things which come across to me in this - the deeply anti-humanist and anti-working class outlook of these people and their committed irrationalism. Take the comment by one of the Brick Throwers about the non-violent wing of the protesters: "A lot of these people are going to be buying burgers at McDonald's and shopping at the Gap next week" (para 5).
Well, what's the problem with people doing that? I'm not a MacDonald's fan myself, but I see absolutely no reason why one capitalist hamburger chain should be singled out as the devil incarnate. Far from promoting anti-capitalist politics, the campaign against MacDonalds by various anarchist and other 'leftists' totally obscures the real problem with capitalism - ie capitalist social relations across the board - and instead demonises one particular capitalist for being especially wicked for using meat products and so on (hell, if MacDonald's really did use real meat I might start to eat there myself).
At a time when capital is forced to drive down workers' wages and consumption levels (and thus living standards), the anarchist campaign against consumption *strengthens* rather than weakens capital. It alibis the failure of the system to be able to deliver the *increased consumption* levels most of the world's population need in order to have a better life.
The deeply reactionary and anti-humanist content of these ideas is made even more stark later (para 18): "Trees and animals are way more important than the human race. The human race is a greedy, destructive organism," explains one teenage boy who identifies himself as a member of the Eugene Brick Throwers Union.
Well, maybe humanity should just darn well committ suicide and leave the planet to the trees and animals. Let the greens and anarchists set the example on this one.
These kinds of ideas reflect the fact that we are living in a period which is profoundly pessimistic about humanity and the human potential. This is certainly the first time in human history that, far from wanting a better life, there is a widespread feeling that we should all aspire to less.
That these views are held by a few embittered aging hippies in the backblocks of the USA is not troubling. The fact that these views find a wide hearing among young people, however, is. The struggle for a better world largely depends on each young generation taking up the baton for progress and reason, without which material benefits for humanity are not possible.
Today, we need more and better science, more and better technology, more gains in productivity. In the hands of workers' power, these things can deliver a world of freedom and plenty. Clearly, in order to advance towards this, we not only have to fight the capitalist owners of the world, but those whose ideas and activities render them more secure in that ownership. This means not only parties like Labour (and the Alliance), but also Greens and anarchists who, in the absence of real class conflict, have filled the vacuum.
Philip Ferguson