A GOOD LAUGH
We Anarchists, concerned as we are with very heavy matters, tend toward considerable gravitas.
We need a good laugh too sometimes, and this web page certainly provides a few (the part about Big Bill Haywood slays me) : http://tinyurl.com/yrqgz2
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Monday, July 16, 2007
EINSTEIN'S INSIGHT INTO THE DESIRE FOR SELF-EXTINCITON ON THE PART OF SOME ANARCHO-PRIMITIVISTS
We were discussing the Anarcho-Primitivists on a group for Anarchists. Some of the Anarcho-Primitivists are neo-Malthusians and a very few of them have resorted to murderous measures. As a result, there are Anarchists who call for disavowing them from the Movement, for expunging the Anarcho- prefix from their chosen self-description.
While most certainly not justifying them in any way, the quote below from Einstein's famous essay "Why Socialism?", which was first published in 1949 in the premier edition of the Marxist journal MONTHLY REVIEW as is republished in the book ALBERT EINSTEIN from the Rebel Lives series published by Ocean Books, lends some insight into their thinking:
"Innumerable voices have been asserting for some time now that human society is passing through a crisis, that its stability has been gravely shattered. It is characteristic of such a situation that individuals feel indifferent or even hostile toward the group, small or large, to which they belong. In order to illustrate my meaning, let me record here a personal experience. I recently discussed with an intelligent and well-disposed man the threat of another war, which in my opinion would seriously endanger the existence of mankind, and I remarked that only a supranational organization would offer protection from that danger. Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly said to me: "Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?"
I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly made a statement of this kind. It is the statement of a man who has striven in vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or less lost hope of succeeding. It is the expression of a painful solitude and isolation from which so many people are suffering these days. "
While I am wholly against violent methods unless attacked, I do understand the neo-Maluthusian sentiments of some Anarcho-Primitivists and think that a compassionate hand should be extended to them instead of them being pushed away from the fold. It is only being shown compassion that hold out the hope that their will to live will be restored to them.
Solidarity,
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
We were discussing the Anarcho-Primitivists on a group for Anarchists. Some of the Anarcho-Primitivists are neo-Malthusians and a very few of them have resorted to murderous measures. As a result, there are Anarchists who call for disavowing them from the Movement, for expunging the Anarcho- prefix from their chosen self-description.
While most certainly not justifying them in any way, the quote below from Einstein's famous essay "Why Socialism?", which was first published in 1949 in the premier edition of the Marxist journal MONTHLY REVIEW as is republished in the book ALBERT EINSTEIN from the Rebel Lives series published by Ocean Books, lends some insight into their thinking:
"Innumerable voices have been asserting for some time now that human society is passing through a crisis, that its stability has been gravely shattered. It is characteristic of such a situation that individuals feel indifferent or even hostile toward the group, small or large, to which they belong. In order to illustrate my meaning, let me record here a personal experience. I recently discussed with an intelligent and well-disposed man the threat of another war, which in my opinion would seriously endanger the existence of mankind, and I remarked that only a supranational organization would offer protection from that danger. Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly said to me: "Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?"
I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly made a statement of this kind. It is the statement of a man who has striven in vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or less lost hope of succeeding. It is the expression of a painful solitude and isolation from which so many people are suffering these days. "
While I am wholly against violent methods unless attacked, I do understand the neo-Maluthusian sentiments of some Anarcho-Primitivists and think that a compassionate hand should be extended to them instead of them being pushed away from the fold. It is only being shown compassion that hold out the hope that their will to live will be restored to them.
Solidarity,
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)