Anarchy: a journal of desire armed. #37, Summer 1993 ALTERNATIVE MEDIA REVIEW part two -includes "Heidegger's Nazism", a review by John Zerzan; Alternative Press Books, short reviews by T. Otter, Joseph Average, & J.McQuinn; and "Cointelpro revisited", a review by Toni Otter.=20 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Heidegger's nazism Review by John Zerzan On Heidegger's Nazism and Philosophy by Tom Rockmore (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA., 1992) 382pp. $35.00 hardcover. Shortly after the death of leading deconstruction theorist Paul de Man in 1983, it was discovered that as a young man in occupied Belgium he wrote several anti-Semitic and pro-nazi newspaper commentaries. This shocking news not only tended to call decon- struction itself into question but its wider post-structural- ist/postmodern orientation as well. De Man, deconstruction, and post-structuralism in general have all been decisively influenced by Heidegger, and this in turn has helped resurrect controversy concerning the latter's affiliation with German National Socialism. Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is thought of by many as this cen- tury's most original and profound philosopher. In 1933 as a university Rector he declared his adherence to the Nazi Party. Though this formal allegiance was short-lived, Heidegger never denounced Nazism as an ideal; in fact, more than once he defended its present and future potential, in slight distinction to the actual record of Hitlerism. There is today a mini-industry of books and articles on the Heidegger (and de Man) question, which is, at base, what is the nature of the connection between a thinker's ideas and his/her life choices? Rockmore argues that Heidegger's political decisions were the di- rect outcome of his existential thought, grounded as it was in a nationalist perspective. He provides, albeit in a rather over- written, repetitive style, a very adequate general treatment of Heidegger's philosophy and convincingly demonstrates, I believe, that Heidegger's nazism was no mere contingency or accident. Rockmore also reviews all the literature generated by this issue, which reveals, among other things, how resistant the largely French post-structuralist school has been to admitting a link between Heidegger's ideas and his horrendous political positions. It is worth repeating that post-structuralism, philosophical foundation of postmodern culture, is nothing if not Heideggerian. Perhaps even more importantly, Rockmore raises the question of the validity or relevance of philosophy itself, given its embeddedness in advanced specialization. His question prompted me to note how little independent philosophers seem to be from the political cli- mate they inhabit. Consider a few top `stars' of philosophy: besides Heidegger reflecting the prevalent Nazi politics, more recently we have Habermas, whose sterile technical rationalism is very congruent with German techno-capitalist-liberalism; Derrida, whose rhetorical flourishes and lack of content mesh with a French political scene long on verbiage but devoid of movement; and, in the U.S., Richard Rorty, whose conservative pragmatism found prominence along with Reaganist retrenchment. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Alternative Press Books Short reviews by T. Otter, Joseph Average, & J. McQuinn GOOD SEX Good Sex by Julia Hutton (Cleis Press, POB 8933, Pittsburgh, PA. 15221 & POB 14684, San Francisco, CA. 94114, 1992) 222pp. $13.00 paper. Is it needless to say I got off on reading this book? And it even has a "Safer Sex Guidelines" appendix. "Haven't you always wanted to have dozens of people - thoughtful people of varied and distilled experience - get down to basics and just tell you how they perceive their own sexual histories? Gratefully, here they are." (back cover comment by Eve Kosofsky) Julia Hutton conducted over 80 in-depth, explicit interviews with people, ages 17-73, who view sex as a powerful, positive factor in their lives. Chapters include "Desire," "Fe/Male Trouble," "Sexual Healing," and "Ecstatic Outlaws." Good Sex is a "fistful of polaroids" of sex in the '90s. -T.O. ANARCHY AND HISTORY? Anarchy and the End of History edited by M. Gunderloy & M. Ziesing (Factsheet Five/Lysander Spooner Society, POB 433, Willimantic, CT. 06226, 1991) 144pp. $9.00 paper. ``Anarchy may not, as we are all fond of insisting, be chaos, but the anarchist movement and anarchist theory in this country are certainly in a chaotic disarray right now.'' =FEMike Gunderloy, Introduction Because modern anarchism can trace its awakening to the Enlighten- ment, that period when issues of liberty, freedom, equality, and community became central to vigorous, self=FEconscious political discussion and action, it seems inevitable that it would have blos- somed into a complex array of perspectives and practices. Editors Gunderloy (formerly of Factsheet Five) and Ziesing (Instead of A Magazine) address this multiplicity through a collection of essays by various voices within and around the anarchist presence today, all responding to initial challenges posed by Gunderloy such as "What is an anarchist?" "What is a government?" "How does an anarchist society work?" "Is anarchy the end of history?" - and so on. Ranging in insight and quality from lame to inspired, all essays in the collection grapple with questions most basic to anarchism today; at times certain writers bog down in dogmatic definitions and positions, while others search for meaningful connections between anarchist ideas and the realities of social transformation. Still others pose entirely new and relevant questions, such as "Why are anarchists so often elitist know=FEit=FEalls?" "How to reconcile the gaps between personal life and political ideals?" "How to work for practical solutions without becoming Libertarian lobbyists or democratic socialists?" Generally the conclusions to which the various authors arrive are relative and vague. This is by no means a work with patented solutions or recommendations for the reader, who is left groping for firm ground in lieu of once=FEfast convictions. If you seek definitive answers to the puzzling conundrums of anarchism, this book will disappoint. But I read this collection as a touchstone for further thinking, reshaping, and action. Confusion about principles need not paralyze us in practice; in fact, as the essays suggest, we should begin to worry when we feel like we have all the answers. Skeptical at the outset, I ended up appreciating this collection because it stimulated thoughts and strategies of my own that will prove useful. Moreover, there is a kind of solidarity in the search for a viable anarchist presence, and Anarchy and the End of History can be a helpful signpost warning us that others are searching too. - J.A. ANARCHY 101 Anarchy 101: An Introductory Anthology #1 (A-non, POB 664, Station C, Toronto, Ontario, M6J 3S1, Canada, 1992) unpaginated $1.00 pamphlet. This pamphlet is an anthology of reprints meant as "a sort of political primer" on anarchism. It includes "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Anarchism," an excerpt consisting of chapters 1, 3 & 4 from Alexander Berkman's The ABC of Anarchism, Peggy Kornegger's "Anarchism: The Feminist Connection," and an excerpt from Franz Borkenau's book on the Spanish Civil War, The Spanish Cockpit. While these may not be the perfect introductory articles (everyone will have her or his own list), they are probably as good a start as you're likely to find for people wanting to learn some- thing about `traditional', ideological anarchism. (There is no hint of any contemporary or historical anti-work, anti-ideological or anti-civilizational perspectives here, but then we wouldn't be talking about anarchism, would we?) The publisher promises future anthologies and is asking for contributions and criticism. -J.M. IMAGINAL RAVE The Imaginal Rave by Cinnamon Twist (Tribal Donut, 41 Sutter St., Box 1348, San Francisco, CA. 94104, 1992) 40pp. $2.00 (cash) mini- pamphlet. Raves are, according to Cinnamon Twist, "the space-age tribal youth ritual, the return of the dionysian energy that first emerged in '50s rock'n'roll and erupted in full force in the late '60s with the intertwining of music and psychedelic drugs." If raves need a theory to realize their radical potential, The Imaginal Rave attempts to provide it. For those who see hope for social breakthroughs in the mass spread of drug-induced, techno- beat-intensified, communal dance parties, this is a must read. For those skeptical that ecstatic partying holds any potential for shedding layers of stifling character armoring and social condi- tioning, this won't help. You'll just need to be there when it hap- pens. The crux is Cinnamon Twist's succinct question: "And what if dance could be a modality of social change?" At least it sounds like more fun than most demos. -J.M. VAMPIRES Virgintooth by Mark Ivanhoe (III Publishing, POB 170363, San Fran- cisco, CA. 94117, 1991) 192pp. $7.00 paper. Virgintooth is the tale of Elizabeth and her life as a vampire. Her evolution and growth propel the plot, though I must admit I'm not a fan of vampire stories. The novel can be read enjoyably as a vampire adventure, or, for `deeper' readers, as an examination of life's paradoxes, illusions, and difficult choices. If you're attracted to the Transylvanian genre, here is a new twist. -T.O. TELEGRAPH AVE. CALENDAR Telegraph Avenue Street Calendar 1993 by Ace Backwords (Twisted Image, 1630 University Ave. #26, Berkeley, CA. 94703) $7.00. Ace Backwords' "Twisted Image" comic strip should be familiar to Anarchy readers by now (if not see his strip in the letters section of this issue). His annual street calendar is just as creative as his strip. Featuring photos of Berkeley street people - homeless persons, agitators, artists and musicians - along with a bit of relevant commentary, the calendar opens a window to a unique slice of local life. If you really need a calendar, this one is worth considering. What it lacks in its B&W photo quality, it makes up for in its down-to-earth subjects. -J.M. UPDATING THE IWW? What's New with the IWW? compiled by Rob Los Ricos (Self- published, Rob Los Ricos, 504 W. 24th #81, Austin, TX. 78705, 1993) unpaginated, loose-leaf pamphlet. No price listed. Through reproduction of excerpts from the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Preamble, Larry Law's Bigger Cages, Longer Chains, Murray Bookchin's Remaking Society, Semiotext[e] and Anarchy, along with his own thread of cogent commentary, Rob Los Ricos has compiled a compelling critique of aspects of IWW union practice in What's New with the IWW? Although there are certainly several other important grounds for criticizing the IWW's historical and present activities and strategies, Los Ricos makes a long needed start at constructing a self-critique from within the union-building milieu. For anyone still adhering to fundamental anarcho-syndicalist ideological assumptions, this pamphlet should be a welcome breath of fresh air in the stale atmosphere of 19th century workerism that still prevails in most unionist circles. -J.M. CONFRONTING COLUMBUS Confronting Columbus edited by J. Yewel, C. Dodge, J. DeSirey (McFarland & Co., Box 611, Jefferson, NC. 28640, 1992) 217pp. $24.95 hardcover. This excellent collection of essays on the Columbian legacy deserves to be widely distributed, especially to schools and libraries where it is desperately needed. Beginning with Howard Zinn's "1492-1992: A Historian's Perspective," the editors have selected a set of succinct, cogent essays that, when read, will certainly help turn around the perspectives of even the most knee- jerk supporters of Columbus' worldshaking invasion of Turtle Island. Included are contributions from John Mohawk on "Discovering Columbus: The Way Here," Jos=82 Barreiro with his "A Note on the Tainos," Verena Stolcke on "Conquered Women," Eduardo Galeano on "King Sugar," James Loewen on the impoverished level of the teaching of "Columbus in High School," William Bigelow's "Once Upon a Genocide: Columbus in Children's Literature," and Ward Churchill's "Deconstructing the Columbus Myth," among others. Although the Quincentennial, for which this volume was specially prepared, has come and gone, the issues these essays address remain of the highest importance. For as long as our children are all routinely taught a mutilated history which glorifies slavers, torturers and mass murderers, how will we North American descendants of conquerors and conquered ever understand our actual place amidst all the other cultures of this world? -J.M. THE REALITY MANIFESTO The Reality Manifesto by Mickey Z. (Apathy Press Poets, 2924 E. Coldspring Lane, Baltimore, MD. 21214, 1993) 8pp. $1.00 pamphlet. This little 8-page rant is subtitled "A Look at Pseudo-Life in the Post-Modern Age." It points out that "We've become spectators. The typical American no longer lives life, he experiences and watches an image of life." But it doesn't do enough with this realization. One of the sub-headings points out that we are "United in Isolation," but instead of advocating that we break through this isolation, author Mickey Z. takes a cynical stance and argues that "image-making has reached the point where `fighting City Hall' is tantamount to suicide." He instead urges that we "cultivate an individualized lifestyle that enables us to avoid joining the main- stream, 9-t0-5 pseudo-world, we can seek our own inner peace." This is true enough on one level, but it can also be a rather pathetic goal to refuse to challenge what disgusts us with this world. -J.M. COMPUTERS & FREEDOM Speaking for the Unspeakable performed by Bruce Sterling (Sweet Pea Productions, POB 912, 1673 Happy Trail, Topanga, CA. 90290, 1992) 54 minute videocassette. No price listed. Bruce Sterling is the cyberpunk star of this videotaped session from the 2nd Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy which took place in March, 1992, in Washington, D.C. Sterling successfully portrays three archetypal characters inhabiting the fringes of the hacker milieu - at least in people's imagination, allowing them to speak their minds and develop their vastly different perspectives at length. As "The Truly Malicious Hacker," as "Sr. de Policia `X', and as the Digital Black Marketeer, Sterling uses a minimum of props and stage devices to maintain an entertaining one-man show with some genuine content and bite at times, making this video one of the more worthwhile I've seen of late. -J.M. ALTERNATIVE PRESS TITLES FOR LIBRARIES APT for Libraries 1993 edited by Charles Willett (CRISES Press, Inc., 1716 SW Williston Rd., Gainesville, FL. 32608, 1993) 102pp. $12.00 paper. Alternative press books and periodicals are poorly represented in almost all library collections. It isn't just coincidental that critical, radical and experimental publications remain unwelcome in many libraries while bigoted, religious, or otherwise reactionary publications are often plentiful. Librarians can be as biased as any other institutional bureaucrats when it comes to the materials obtained for their collections. However, in some cases alternative materials remain underrepresented even despite the presence of more open-minded librarians. In these cases librarians can often find it hard to redress the balance due to several other factors: the political climate, "public relations" and censorship pressures, or administrative opposition. In addition, most alternative materials are harder to locate and obtain if only because most are unavailable from the mainstream trade suppliers for the library industry (who generally have little interest in stocking alterna- tive titles that won't make them as much profit as corporate-pub- lished titles). At the same time periodicals collections have been hit with massive increases in subscription prices by academic and institutional titles that bank on the inertia of automatic library renewals to fatten their pockets. Despite the fact that this greatly reduces the amount of money available to purchase alternative titles, most librarians have quietly played along with this scam. In this generally miserable situation the nonprofit CRISES Press has attempted to promote alternative titles by organizing alterna- tive press exhibits at each conference of the American Library Association and by publishing APT for Libraries each year. APT for Libraries serves as an alternative press bibliography and selection tool oriented towards titles appropriate for "the general reader," according to editor Charles Willett. The entries consist of titles chosen by the Gainesville Alternative Press Group from among all those exhibited at ALA conferences by CRISES Press. A copy of APT for Libraries should be in every library. If your local library hasn't yet purchased a copy, it should be encouraged to do so. The existence of APT for Libraries means one less excuse for the absence of the alternative press in library collections. It's up to all of us to work on eliminating the other excuses as well. -J.M. NAMEBASE NameBase database constructed by Daniel Brandt and Steve Badrich (Public Information Research, POB 5199, Arlington, VA. 22205, 1993) IBM or MacIntosh diskettes $79.00. This has got to be one of the most important tools available for assisting investigative reporting research concerning international intelligence, political elites, U.S. foreign policy, conspiracy theories, counterinsurgency operations and corporate manipulations. With this easily mastered computer database it is a snap to check on over 67,000 names of groups or individuals compiled from over 400 books and thousands of periodicals (143,000 citations). This prodigious work of cataloguing enables users to ask for references to all names associated with a particular country during a specified year (or number of years) and then read the entire list within three minutes. Checking on Indonesia for 1975, France for 1968 or Israel for 1989 can be more revealing than a whole day spent in most libraries. And among other features, the program can graph the distribution of entries per year over the last sixty years for every country for which there are citations. Searches can be read on screen, sent to files or directly printed. Leading letter and phonetic searches can be done, and there is even provision for crosschecking for common nicknames. The program currently takes up 2.2 megabytes of hard disk space (though it can also be run on floppy disk-only systems). Update notices are provided after purchase of the database, and updated versions of the database are available to users for half- price. There is no question that NameBase ought to be available in every public library, and copies should be frequently used by every author and every periodical doing serious investigative research. Conspiracy theorists will love this database, but you don't have to be conspiracy-theory-prone to appreciate its incredible value. I was actually shocked to see that it's offered for only $79.00, which means that the publishers, Public Information Research, truly are providing a non-profit service. NameBase can't be too highly recommended. -J.M. OTHER TITLES RECEIVED A Goose-Step from Chains by Keith A. Dodson (One Tree Press, 3472 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA. 90808, undated) 30pp. poetry pam- phlet, no price listed. The Poor Man's James Bond, Vol.1 by Kurt Saxon (Atlan Formularies, POB 327, Harrison, AR. 72601, 1988) 477pp. $18.00 large format (8=ABx11) paper. (See related review by Toni Otter under the title of "Survival for what?" in Anarchy #29/Summer 1991, p.7.) Educational AIDS unattributed (Plagiarist Press, 221 West Benton St., Iowa City, IA. 52246, 1992) 12pp. mini-pamphlet (available from publisher for two 29=9B stamps) Pr=82cis de L'Alliance Universelle (L'Alliance Universelle, 73 Avenue de la R=82sistance, B.P. 923, 83000 Toulon, France, 1992) 48pp. pamphlet, no price listed. Personal Recollections of the Anarchist Past by Georges Cores (Kate Sharpley Library, BM Hurricane, London WC1 3XX, England, 1992) 18pp. pamphlet, no price listed. Clipped Coins by Constantine Caffentzis (Autonomedia, POB 568, Williamsburgh Station, Brooklyn, NY. 11211-0568, 1989) 246pp. $9.00 paper. Counterfeit Currency (Loompanics Unlimited, POB 1197, Port Townsend, WA. 98368, ) pp Price? paper. War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military, 4th Edition by Ed Hedemann, edited by Ruth Benn (New Society Publishers, 4527 Springfield Ave., Philadelphia, PA. 19143; War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY. 10012, 1992) 131pp. paper. No price listed. When Workers Decide: Workplace Democracy Takes Root in North America edited by Len Krimerman and Frank Lindenfeld (New Society Publishers, 4527 Springfield Ave., Philadelphia, PA. 19143, 1992) 308pp. $16.95 paper. Fear At Work: Job Blackmail, Labor and the Environment by Richard Kazis and Richard L. Grossman (New Society Publishers, 4527 Spring- field Ave., Philadelphia, PA. 19143, 1991) 306pp. $14.95 paper. Putting Power in its Place: Create Community Control by Judith Plant and Christopher Plant (New Society Publishers, 4527 Spring- field Ave., Philadelphia, PA. 19143, 1992) 137pp. 9.95 paper. We Gave Away a Fortune: Stories of People Who Have Devoted Themselves and their Wealth to Peace, Justice and a Healthy Environment by Christopher Mogil and Anne Slepian with Peter Woodrow (New Society Publishers, 4527 Springfield Ave., Philadelphia, PA. 19143, 1992) 182pp. $14.95 paper. The Political Poems by Michael Sheridan (Self-Published, MCS) unpaginated, 8=ABx11 paper, no price listed. The Real State of the Union 1993 by Michael Sheridan (Self- Published, MCS) unpaginated, 8=ABx11 paper, no price listed. Nu Wirdz by Michael Sheridan (Self-Published, MCS) unpaginated, 8=ABx11 paper, no price listed. Boomer: Railroad Memoirs by Linda Niemann (Cleis Press, POB 8933, Pittsburgh, PA. 15221, 1990) 252pp. $12.95 paper. Duel in Peru: A 3-Act on the Shining Path by S. Colman (Dawn Press, POB 02936, Detroit, MI. 48202, 1993) 125pp. $12.95 8=ABx11 photocopied in binder. Tekscourge by Derek Chisholm (Self-published, Derek Chisholm, POB 281, Chattanooga, TN. 37401, 2nd Ed. 1993) 40pp. pamphlet, no price listed. Petersbourg by Michel Donnegan (c/o Actualit=82s, 38 rue Dauphine, 75006 Paris, France, 1993) 18pp. pamphlet, no price listed. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ COINTELPRO revisited A review by Toni Otter The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall, (South End Press, 116 Saint Botolph St., Boston, MA. 02115, 1990) 460pp. $16.00 paper. As Brian Glick writes in the preface, "The full story of COINTELPRO [counterintelligence programs] has not yet been told." But much information is available and Glick in War at Home and Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall in Agents of Repression have recently presented some of it. "What sets The COINTELPRO Papers apart," writes Glick, "is the number and scope of FBI documents it reproduces." As Glick points out, COINTELPRO never ended. The concealment of "post-COINTELPRO domestic counterintelligence action is part of a broader effort to rehabilitate the U.S. political police. Central to that effort has been a sophisticated campaign to refurbish the public image of the FBI [...] The new directors have cultivated a low-visibility managerial style and discreetly avoided attack on prominent liberals. Anti-communism...has been augmented by `coun- ter-terrorism' and `the war on drugs,' pretexts that better resonate with current popular fears. The old myth of the FBI as crime-busting protector of democratic rights has been revived in modern garb by films like `Mississippi Burning' and the television series, `Mancuso, FBI.'" This repackaging of the FBI has fooled some people, but for those with eyes to see, Churchill and Vander Wall have painstakingly presented a record which clearly indicts the FBI with the FBI's own self-incriminating documents. Their book covers the history of FBI attacks on the Black, Puerto Rican Independence, and American Indian Movements, The New Left and assorted other radicals, and the Socialist Workers' and Communist Parties. Their account is meticulously footnoted and replete with instructive detail. In the "Conclusion: COINTELPRO Lives On" the authors update the latest FBI counterinsurgency activity directed against certain groups and individuals. They also discuss the increasing incarceration of the U.S. population, and such gulags as Marion and Lexington prisons. Churchill and Vander Wall suggest, in part, as antidotes to police/FBI repression "community control over local police forces, the dismantling of localized police SWAT capabilities, the...elimination of national computer net participation by state and local police forces, the abolition of police `intelligence' units, and deep cuts in the resources...already allocated to the police establishment.[...] Every judicial ruling...which serves to [increase] police intervention...must be met with massive...outrage and rejection [...] Energy must be devoted to heading off the planned expansion of `control units' within every existing prison in the country." (p.327) The authors include the following in their concluding remarks: "The development of viable options to avert consummation of a full-fledged police state in North America will require a deep rethinking, among many who purport to oppose it, of priorities and philosophical positions, including the near hegemony of pacifism and non-violence on the left. The emphasis accorded confrontation with the police and penal systems will have to increase rapidly... within virtually all groups pursuing progressive social agendas, from environmentalism to abortion rights. The fates of prisoners, particularly those...engaging in armed struggle against the state, must thus be made a central concern [...] understandings must be achieved that what is currently being done to political prisoners and prisoners of war, in `exemplary' fashion, is ultimately designed for application to far wider groups [...]; that the facilities in which such things are done to them are intended to eventually house us all; that the enforcement apparatus which has been created to combat their `terrorism' simultaneously holds the capacity to crush all that we hold dear or seek to achieve, soon and perhaps irrevocably. In sum, if we do not move=FEand quickly=FEto overcome our tactical differences to...confront `law enforcement' in this country, all the rest of our... social preoccupations will shortly be rendered meaningless by the very forces we have all too frequently elected to ignore." (p.326)