[D66] [JD: 17] “The Future in the Past”: Anarcho-primitivism and the Critique of Civilization Today

[R.O.]

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08935696.2020.1727256

“The Future in the Past”: Anarcho-primitivism and the Critique of 
Civilization Today
Chamsy el-Ojeili & Dylan Taylor
Pages 168-186 | Published online: 29 Apr 2020

     Download citation https://doi.org/10.1080/08935696.2020.1727256


Abstract

This essay examines the core ideas and contemporary relevance of 
anarcho-primitivism, a current of ultra-leftist thought that flourished 
between the mid 1980s and mid 1990s. The influences of 
anarcho-primitivism can be traced to periods from the late nineteenth 
century to the Great War and from 1945 to the mid 1960s, with challenges 
to conventional leftism issued by thinkers such as Jacques Camatte. In 
place of a narrow criticism of capitalism and the modern state, 
anarcho-primitivism offers a wide-ranging critique of civilization. The 
utopian complement to this critique is to advocate a “future primitive” 
mode of being, reconciling with nature and reestablishing community. 
After considering critical issues with anarcho-primitivism, this essay 
examines how its themes have reappeared in more recent critical 
thought—as seen in the work of Derrick Jensen and Timothy Morton—and how 
these themes continue to raise important challenges against a hegemonic 
liberalism that emphasizes growth, competition, and individualism.

Key Words: Critical TheoryEnvironmentIdeologyLeft PoliticsRadical Social 
Theory