> Modern anarchism probably isn't a coherent entity, so it's
> hard to say whether Hakim Bey or John Zerzan are relevant or
> not. (I'm assuming here that the term _relevant_ carries
> with it a notion of significance.) In any case, even if
> they are lunatics, they may interest people who are not
> lunatics who may later accomplish something suitably sober
> and reasonable, just as the apparently praxis-challenged
> Bookchin may, although the latter seems less likely to me
> since Bookchin is much grumpier than the other two. But let
> a hundred flowers piss in the wind.
I would measure relevance by asking anarchists who they consider to be influential anarchist thinkers. Zerzan and Chomsky would top the list, with Bey falling in the middle, and Bookchin in the lower middle.
The problem with most political writers, be they Chomsky, Zerzan or Bookchin, is that they always are praxis-deficient. It seems to me that you have to be an activist to understand how ideas can be applied. It also seems that political theorists are rarely activists. I have no problem with that, because I've always valued Chomsky's books and research, for example.
> In some worlds, it may be important, but in the world of
> anarchism (as I see it, of course) Bookchin is just one more
> person who describes himself as an anarchist and has an opinion
> about what anarchism means. I'd be a lot more worried if the
> idea of what anarchism means _wasn't_ contested.
That's certainly true.
<< Chuck0 >>
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INTERNATIONALISM IN PRACTICE
An American soldier in a hospital explained how he was wounded: He said, "I was told that the way to tell a hostile Vietnamese from a friendly Vietnamese was to shout ‘To hell with Ho Chi Minh!’ If he shoots, he’s unfriendly. So I saw this dude and yelled ‘To hell with Ho Chi Minh!’ and he yelled back, ‘To hell with President Johnson!’ We were shaking hands when a truck hit us."
(from 1,001 Ways to Beat the Draft, by Tuli Kupferburg).