I must admit to being perplexed where to start as both John Connor and Bob Black make so many points and claims. I will start with Black. Rest assured, Mr. Connor, I'll be back for you!
Black states that "an event which is 'postponed' and not rescheduled is cancelled." As I said, the only people who thought it was cancelled was GA and so the point became moot. It is hard to organise a tour when one half thinks it has been cancelled and the other is horrified by the first's celebration of terrorism. The wave of insults and smears from GA made communication pointless. Black argues that "The Irrationalists" article "didn't celebrate the terrorism of despair." It stated that the Aum cult and the Oklahoma bombers had "the right idea" -- in other words, it explicitly agreed with that terrorism. Perhaps the "intellectual infirmity" Black insults "anarcho-leftists" with is actually a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
Black calls me a "censorist leftist" and that I cannot "understand a text may be significant to anarchists" even if it is not written by an anarchist. "That's where critique comes in" he enlightens us. Obviously Black has a different dictionary than myself, otherwise he would be aware that I presented a critique of the claim that the Unabomber is an anarchist plus a critique of his politics and theory of "revolution." And how, exactly, am I "censorist leftist"? I am not a "leftist" but an anarchist. Moreover, did I state that the text should be banned? Or that anarchists should not read it? No, I did not. Indeed, I read it myself, found its politics somewhat authoritarian and saw their relevance to the politics of GA (which are not anarchist, if you ask me). Indeed, I quoted relevant parts of the text to justify my claims! Hardly a case of "censorship." Black passion for insults gets the better of his intellect.
He asserts that stating someone had the "right idea" is actually a "dramatic metaphor." Bollocks. It is nothing of the kind. Here is the quote in question:
"The Oklahoma bombers had the right idea. The pity was that they did not blast any more government offices. Even so, they did all they could and now there are at least 200 government automatons that are no longer capable of oppression.
"The Tokyo sarin cult had the right idea. The pity was that in testing the gas a year prior to the attack, they gave themselves away. They were not secretive enough. They had the technology to produce the gas but the method of delivery was ineffective. One day the groups will be totally secretive and their methods of fumigation will be completely effective."
It is clearly stating that the Oklahoma bombing and the attempted massacre of Japanese commuters were correct. This is not "metaphor," it is agreement. To argue otherwise is complete and utter nonsense.
Black seems to state that he thinks that the article is "idiotic." Why? If it is simply a "dramatic metaphor" then why is it "idiotic"? Perhaps because it was clearly nothing of the kind? What is idiotic is to print such an honest account of your politics and expect no one to comment on them and express the obvious conclusion that they are not anarchist. In that sense Black is correct. Hence the difference between Fifth Estate's printing of a silly article and GA's printing of the "Irrationalists." One was idiotic, the other stated that it was the "right idea" to try and gas commuters and actually blow up people. If Black cannot see the difference, he is truly lost to humanity. If he truly thinks my (and others) repulsion towards "The Irrationalists" article is simply because it "offends" people then I feel sorry for him.
Ironically, he (correctly) lambastes Chomsky and Bookchin for affirming "political power" and yet states that the Unabomber is "inconsistent" as regards anarchism. This is in spite of his manifesto clearly stating that "the revolutionaries" will "acquire political power" That is not "inconsistent," it is a clear support for political power and for "revolutionaries" to take hold of it. Black's hypocrisy is clear. He seems to have a problem understanding English (when it suits him). Support for terrorism becomes a "metaphor," support for acquiring "political power" becomes "inconsistent" anarchism. He states that GA are "obviously" anarchist. When it comes to certain tendencies we can see that Black's justly famous critical faculties are switched off and so there is cause to question what Black considers "obvious."
Black states that my "parting shot" hits me right in the foot. Actually, it was serious question that I wanted answered. Black obviously judges me by his own standards. Of his replies, I would agree with number three --there is no guarantee that any form of anarchism will not degenerate into statism. We cannot predict the future and while I think anarchism will work I may be disappointed. Point One, however, begs the question. Why did the original primitive societies not see and counteract the degeneration into statism? They were surely as intelligent as the "future primitivists" will be. If they did not see the rise of statism, why should we expect the future primitivists to see it? Could not the very nature of primitive society contain the seeds of its own destruction?
Black ends by comparing me to a cloned sheep. How amusing. Do I wish to keep anarchism "respectable"? No, I wish to keep it revolutionary and anarchist in nature. Hence my critique of the Unabomber and GA. Shame that Black prefers to slander than to think. I do wish to "learn of" and "think through the anarchist implications of primitivism." Hence my reading of the Unabomber's manifesto, Watson's Beyond Bookchin, and other works. It also informed my question which Black so clearly fails to answer. Why am I a sheep in Black's eyes? Perhaps because I do not agree with him or GA and instead ask some questions about their ideas and politics? Surely not!
Now I turn to John Connor's letter. As pseudonyms go, I cannot help thinking that Tom O'Connor would be better as O'Connor's jokes were as bad as Connor's politics. I will ignore the usual silly claims that anarchists in Scotland are sheep, following our (GA appointed) shepherd. It seems clear that if you unquestioningly agree with GA then you are a freethinking, non-ideological bound revolutionary. If you question their politics or activities you are a sheep. Instead, I will concentrate on the new silly claims Connor voices.
He starts by stating I think GA are "Leninists." Nope, read the original letter. I stated there were "parallels" between GA's politics and Leninism. He states I think GA are FC's "active, determined minority." Nope, read the original letter. I made no such claim. I stated that FC's ideas explains GA's support for terrorist acts and that anarchists (a grouping I would exclude GA from) should be an "active, determined minority" but, obviously, not FC's one. Unfortunately, the rest of Connor's letter gets no better than its beginning. Nothing like starting a letter with obvious falsehoods to set the tone.
GA claim that "leafleting claimants about welfare reform" is "ritualistic political practice" and "is far more patronising, manipulative and futile" than GA's work. Yes, informing people of what the state plans to inflict on them and urging them to resist and act for themselves must be "patronising, manipulative and futile" as GA disagrees with it. Fortunately, everyone else will see that it is, in fact, the opposite. It is treating people as intelligent individuals who can be convinced of certain things by presenting them with facts and arguments.
Connor states that I am "terrified, saying the resistance has to be approved by the 'majority'" and adds the slander that by "the majority" it is meant myself and "other SAN types." How false, banal and stupid. Firstly, where in my letter do I state that? Perhaps the little fact I made no such claim indicates why no supporting quotes are forthcoming? But, then again, Connor obviously knows I am an "anarcho-leftist" and so no evidence is required. Secondly, the twisted politics of GA are exposed by Connor's lies. I was arguing against the mass terrorism of the kind celebrated in "The Irrationalists" article (such as associated with the Oklahoma bombers and the Aum cult, both of which, let us not forget, had "the right idea" according to GA). Connor considers such actions as examples of "unmediated resistance" conducted "under conditions of extreme repression." He states that "The Irrationalists" article was a "discussion about dismantling" "Leviathanic structures." Two points. Firstly, it is clear that for GA you can only take part in this "discussion" if you agree with GA and think the Aum cult and Oklahoma Bombers had the "right idea." Otherwise you are slandered as a "leftist", "workerist" or whatever. Secondly, it is perfectly clear that Connor considers that these examples of "unmediated resistance" as relevant to the process of creating a new society. He states that I "libel" these acts as "terrorism against the general public" rather than seeing them, as Connor does, as the "activity" of "particular oppressed people in their own immediate situations." Let us not forget what the "activity" in question was, namely the blowing up of a government office and the attempted gassing of commuters. The insanity of Connor's comments (and politics) is clear. It is obvious from his comments that nothing has changed in the last two years. GA is still celebrating such acts. I await GA's defence of pogroms against Jews and an "un-terrified" account of the importance of the fascist nail-bomb attacks in London last year.
Apparently I have a "concern" for "legitimacy and representation" and that, therefore, I support "concentrating/transferring power rather than destroying it" and so I "fall" into the "typically Leftist role as 'revolutionary policeman' and retardant"! Where in my letter are such concerns voiced? Indeed, I explicitly called for the destruction of political power ("Anarchism, by definition, is against the acquiring of political power -- it is for its destruction") and indicate that it is the Unabomber who aims to acquire political power. Conner obviously has total contempt for the intelligence of Anarchy's readership to misrepresent my letter so.
Apparently I repeat Black Flag's "libel that GA 'prefer "mass starvation" to "mass society"' (what I actually wrote was "they would prefer 'mass starvation' to 'mass government' (i.e. existing society)"). Indeed, they present a lovely paranoid tale of how this "libel" came about. To set the matter straight, I did not "repeat" the Black Flag claim. I, in fact, stated what I heard, with my own ears, at the meeting in question. I can only offer as "proof" the room full of people who also heard this statement. Just to aid the memory of the GA member, I was the one with the Scottish accent. Perhaps a few more details will jog the memory? He will recall, I am sure, his mobile phone going off halfway through the meeting. And remember, perhaps, Donald Rooum's question concerning the dangers of epidemics in a primitivist society? Or the wonderful answer in which the GA member informed us we need not worry about such occurrences as the groups would be so small and so widespread that disease would just wipe-out one group and not spread wide enough to be classed as an epidemic? Needless to say, our GA member did not bother to indicate how we go from our current population of six billion to these Hunter and Gatherer levels. Perhaps the excess population just "disappears" in a puff of (suitably enhanced) smoke? Or, perhaps, this is where the mass starvation comes in? I hope Connor answers these questions clearly, as it is his chance to set the record straight. Can six billion people survive in a primitivist world? If not, how is the appropriate population level reached?
So we discover GA yet again rewriting history. And they have the cheek to state I"play fast and loose with the truth"! Incredible!
As far as Connor's assertion that "mass society" causes "mass starvation," well, what can I say? Research suggests otherwise. The work of economist Amartya Sen indicates that class society and its property distributions and entitlements that create mass starvation. According to his work, famine occurs in spite of food being available. Indeed, food is usually exported out of the famine zone in order to make profits. Rather than "mass society" causing it, it is rather specific forms of society, class societies, with specific property relations, distributions and entitlements. If, for example, workers owned and controlled the land and the means of production they used, then famines would not occur. Without private property, people would be able to produce to meet their needs. Which, by the way, indicates well how GA's ever-so-radical "primitivist" politics obscures the real causes of starvation in modern society. It has nothing to do with "mass society" and a lot more to do with capitalists, the distribution of land and power and the economic system we live under. But such an analysis of the real causes of starvation is obscured by vague comments about "mass societies" having to be hierarchical. The capitalist class can rest easy -- famines are not their fault, they are simply the inevitable result of "mass society."
Connor fails to answer any of my points and questions. Indeed, in answer to my question on the inherent anarchist nature of primitive society he mutters that its is a "boring" question, and "answered many times." He could at least point me to the relevant articles or books or, indeed, provide me with a summary of the answer, and so on. No, that would get in the way of the main purpose of his article, to insult and slander those who dare to disagree with his politics and point out their authoritarian core. So much for wanting to "clarify issues."
Connor ends his letter with some truly amazing paranoid speculation. He wonders if I am "really" Ian Heavens (indeed, he seems convinced of it). This has caused my friends and comrades no end of amusement. Well, I am myself and none other. How can I prove it? As well as comrades in Scotland, you could ask Freddie Baer, Chuck Munson (who should be familiar to Anarchy readers) and the numerous comrades on the anarchy and organise e-mail lists. Or, then again, ask Jason McQuinn who met me in Glasgow about 5 years ago when he was staying with a member of the Here and Now and Counter Information collectives. He will hopefully remember me (I remember asking about the "anarcho"-capitalists who I had recently come across on-line). If he does remember, he will confirm that I am from Glasgow and not, in fact, from England as Ian Heavens is. I hope he states so in Anarchy as it would be nice to stamp this particular paranoid delusion out before it fully joins the others in Connor's mind. Or, then again, ask the GA member who attended the London Anarchist Forum meeting on Murray Bookchin (but, given how hazy his memory is of that event, he may not remember who was there any more than what he said).
It is interesting that GA use the Sunday Times article about Ian Heavens. This article was slander, pure and simple. A piece of hack-work by a journalist Larry O'Hara stated had links with MI5 in his book Turning up the Heat: MI5 after that cold war. From this article they state Spunk Press "happily advertised bomb manuals." In reality, that claim was a clever piece of misinformation presented by the journalists. The article in fact pointed to a specific Spunk Press file. This file contained links anarchists would find of interest. These links included news-groups such as alt.society.anarchy and so on. These groups are totally open and anyone can post to them. The "bomb manuals" and other information the journalists were referring to appeared on these mailing groups, not Spunk Press. The way the journalists had written their smear article was extremely clever. It did not, in fact, tell a lie but it was so "economical with the truth" that anyone without a basic understanding of the internet would be led to believe that Spunk Press stored "bomb manuals." As intended. A half-truth became a total lie and one Connor swallowed.
This hack-work, intended to present an anarchist terror at the heart of the Internet, almost cost Ian Heavens his job (yes, like most of us, he is a wage slave). As it was, he had to drop out of Spunk Press and anarchist activism on the Internet to keep it (which was a great loss). If Connor knew anything about what actually happened with Ian Heavens rather than repeating the smears of the Sunday Times article, then they would know that Spunk Press does not "urge" terrorism of any form. I'm quite glad Connor has brought up the Sunday Times article. It shows how firm his grasp of the facts really is and how low he will swoop to slander those "sheep" who dare to question GA's politics and activities. It also shows that he quite happily repeats the smears of spook-friendly journalists when it suits him. I thank him.
So, as requested by Connor, I have indicated why ACE and SAN "don't disassociate themselves" from Spunk Press and those Connor thinks are its members. The answer is clear from my comments above -- there is nothing to "disassociate" from. We, unlike Connor, do not take Sunday Times hack (and spook friendly) journalism at face value. We do not have to disassociate ourselves because the Sunday Times article (and Connar's sheep-like repeating of it) is not true.
Perhaps Connor will come back and argue he knew all along the truth of that article and decided to lie in his letter to present an analogy with the treatment of GA. This is possible, if highly unlikely and highly dishonest. Sadly, the analogy falls as GA did publish "The Irrationalists" article while Ian Heavens and Spunk Press were set-up and smeared by the Sunday Times.
Apparently I "presumably" mean that by "Leninist" "an elitist ideologue 'gang' in the Camattian sense." Strangely enough, I meant by "Leninism" (I do not even use the word "Leninist" in my letter) the ideas of Lenin and Bolshevism. Funny that, but then again Connor consistently asserts I mean something totally different from what I actually wrote. I also have no idea what "Camattian" means and so cannot mean it in that sense, assuming I did use the word, which I did not. However, this is all irrelevant as I did not say that GA were "Leninist." I stated that the Unabombers politics had parallels with Leninism ("The parallels to Leninism are clear, with the "instability in industrial society" replacing the inevitable collapse of capitalism as the catalyst to the new society"). It is this parallel, looking to an objective rather than a subjective catalyst for revolution, that helps explain GA's support for terrorist acts. As is clear from my letter, which Connor clearly misrepresents.
According to Connor I am a "hysterical" "Neoist-tainted workerist." Also nice to know. It is also nice to see that Connor (and Black) dashed the hopes I expressed in my first letter. I had hoped that my letter would "not be answered by the usual Green Anarchist tirade of insults they direct against people who disagree with them. Indeed, like Lenin they take a positive delight in insulting those who dare to question their politics. Perhaps by so doing they ensure that their politics are not looked into critically?" My hopes proved to be utopian. The level of Connor's response is no improvement. Indeed, he has included Black Flag into the diatribes and insults -- perhaps the better to hide the politics of the debate beneath another layer of smears. Given that the Black Flag collective is claimed to be "Neoist-tainted workerists," I have to assume that GA think everyone who disagrees with them are "Neoist" or "tainted" with it. Nice to know. Useful, though, to group all criticism under one banner, regardless of the facts. It muddies the water even more, as intended I am sure.
At least Connor's letter proves that GA's basic politics have remained unchanged since "The Irrationalists" article. Black's comment that GA are not "celebrat[ing] the terrorism of despair" is refuted by Connor. They obviously do. Indeed, they consider such acts as praise-worthy, "the right idea," part of the revolutionary process like strikes, occupations, and so on, indeed they are part of the same revolution in Connor's eyes. He states they are to be included with other acts of "liberation" which will "give the rest of us the opportunity to live autonomous, authentic lives too" ("the rest", presumably, still alive after such "unmediated" actions). How can dead commuters, office workers and children "live autonomous, authentic lives"? Indeed, to call these acts what they actually are (acts of mass murder and terrorism) is to "libel" them. In Connor's eyes they are part of the "resistance." He confirms the critique in my last letter. I thank him again.
He states that SAN acted to "anathematise and stifle the free speech of anti-fascists and anti-Statists." How did we "stifle" and "anathematise" their free speech? Did at any stage we ban or censor their words? No, GA, then and now, still publish their paper, write their letters and so on. So how could SAN "stifle" them? Only by not organising the speaking tour. In that case SAN also "anathematise and stifle," the IWW, the IWA, Anarchy, Freedom, Black Flag, and so on as we have not organised speaking tours for them either. Connor's definition of stifle seems strange. You apparently "stifle" free speech if you do not actively help someone spread their message! And do not forget that is why SAN postponed the speaking tour. We were not "manipulated by fascists and spooks." We rather read an article they published which celebrated mass murder as "the right idea." Connor's paranoid rants try to hide this fact under a deep layer of smears and insults but that remains the truth. Read that article, read how mass murder is "the right idea" (opps, being "hysterical" again!) and then wonder if our reaction was, rather, a human and libertarian response to it.
I have to say, in ending, that I am glad I wrote my letter. Connor's reply just exposes the nature of GA's politics as well as their abusive and lying "debating" techniques. Rather than distancing himself from "The Irrationalists" article, Connor embraces it and still claims the terrorist acts of the likes of the Japanese Cultists and US fascists are examples of "unmediated resistance." Looks like they still have the "right idea." Nice to know. Rather than an "idiotic" article, as Black implies, it in fact represents the core of their politics. And that core is not anarchist, as I argued in my original letter.
I wish Anarchy all the best for the future!
yours in solidarity,
Iain