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Making Punk A Threat Again!

  •  We are happy to announce our next new release

    WILT – “Self Titled” 

    WILT combine old school metal and crust in a perfect hybrid that very few others have ever achieved. Prepare for a LP thats equal parts galloping d-beat crust reminiscent of bands like HELLSHOCK, and INSTINCT OF SURVIVAL, meets old school death metal in the vein of BOLT THROWER, MEMORIAM (old) SEPULTURA.

     

    Here is a track from the upcoming LP

    https://profanexistence.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/02-sermon-for-the-bootlickers.wav

     

    “Sermon for the Bootlickers”

    Despite the inculcation of helplessness within each there remains great power. Ill at ease with such makes us ill. Learn to see the hand that feeds for what it is. You’ve been fooled if you think you’ve got no power. Refuse to be reduced to a consumer you’re a human being. Define yourself by more than wealth. Define yourself as a human. You don’t need what you’re being sold. Bend your knee to no authority but your own mind. You have the power to avoid the gilded trap. Avarice is what you’re conditioned for. Break the mold discover what’s really valuable to you. 

    WILT will be on in Europe this July / August will ELECTROZOMBIES From Chile

    Wed, July 12 Hanover / Germany / Confirmed
    Thu, July 13 Bremen  
    Fri, July 14 Mulhem / Germany / Confirmed  
    Sat, July 15 Gent, Belgium / CrustPicnic / Confirmed
    Sun, July 16 Paris / France or Amsterdam / Nederland  
    July 18 North-East France or West Germany 
    July 19 Freiburg / Germany TBC 
    July 20 Winterthur / Switzerland 
    Fri, July 21 Zurich / Switzerland
    Sat, July 22 Biel / Switzerland 
    July 23 Lausanne or Geneva / Switzerland 
    July 24 Geneva / Switzerland or Grenoble france
    July 25 Treviso (or Milano or Bologna or Verona) / Italy
    July 26 Ljubljana Slovenia Confirmed
    July 27 No Sanctuary chilling day
    Fri, July 28 NoSanctuary Confirmed
    Sat, July 29 NoSanctuary Confirmed
    July 30 Ilirska Bistrica/Slovenia or Vienna/Austria or Budapest/Hungary.
    July 31 Wiena / Austrai or Budapest or / Slovakia
    August 1 Brno / Czech Republic.
    August 2 Prague / Czech Republic
    August 3 Finsterwalde / Germany TBC
    Fri, August 4 Leipzig / Germany TBC
    Sat, August 5 Berlin / Germany / confirmed
    August 6 Dresden
    August 7 Wroclaw / Poland
    August 8 Warsaw / Poland
    August 9 Poznan / Poland
    August 10 Szczecin/Poland TBC
    Fri, August 11 Rostock / confirmed
    Sat, August 12 Hamburg TBC
     

    For this in the Seattle or surrounding area you can catch WILT this Saturday April first at Highline Bar with NOOTHGRUSH from Oakland.

    Anarchist anarchist metal blackened crust Crust D-Beat death Grind Metal Punk Rock thrash wilt
  • STORM OF SEDITION – “Decivilize” LP

    Are you prepared to brave the storm?…

    Brace yourself for one of the most uncompromising hard hitting and politically outspoken records of this era. STORM OF SEDITION are an anti-civilization anarchist crust punk band based out of Victoria BC. Sharing members with the mighty ISKRA you can definitely expect some serious blackened crust, and yes a huge metal influence is prevalent however STORM OF SEDITION are a bit more reminiscent of bands like CONTRAVENE & NAUSEA. “Decivilize” brings a heavy anarcho punk dynamic to the table combined with over the top blackened crust grind thats littered with blistering solo’s, insanely powerful drumbeats, and thought productive lyrics that challenge our current state of human civilization. All in all this is an absolute monster of a release!

    Comes with a 12 page booklet containing lyrics, notes, and song explanations. 

    -CLICK HERE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION-

     

    STORM OF SEDITION WILL TOURING THE WEST COAST THIS SUMMER!!! 

    Keep you eye’s peeled for a list of tour dates soon!

     

    Listen to the song “Disconnect” here… 

    https://profanexistence.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/storm-of-sedition-decivilize-05-disconnect.mp3

    Living a domesticated existence
    Starves people of meaning in their lives
    Everyone feels the void beneath the surface
    Of everyday activities and routines

    Miserable, exploited, mass populations
    Feeding the industrial systems endless hunger
    Treated like machines, living beings
    Enslaved and kept passive in a technological noose

    We live in these cages
    Made of concrete, glass, and steel 
    A functioning human made hell 
    Complete with natural scenery 

    Yet there is no community
    Deprived of connection with real people 
    Technology perpetuates alienation 
    But promises to connect us

    And fill the void in our lives
    In constant need of escape and distraction 
    From this fucking ugly world
    Technology creeping into our lives 

    Pop culture, pacifying shit
    Endless distractions to curb dissent 
    A society of lonely domesticated beings 
    Attempting social interaction behind a digital screen

    Clinging to the feeling of connectedness 
    Personalized profiles, mass communication tools
    Monitored and funded by pigs 
    Spying on people, on movements
    While corporations profit off government control
    Microsoft, apple, fedbook
    Endless lists of corporations
    Infiltrating our everyday lives
    The NSA, the CSE 
    Databases created from what you share
    Information for incrimination 
    Millions of people on terrorist watch lists
    Technology’s a weapon used against us 

    Its function is to propel their ability
    To efficiently exploit us and the natural world 
    While doing so capitalizing off selling us
    Gadgets to distract us from the lives we live and hate 

    Turn off that shit, enter the real world
    You are not connected
    You are alone staring into a fucking a screen

    Get outside, meet with real people!
    Even if we use these tools 
    We must never forget 

    Technology is a system created by and for those in power
    And it will only exist with 
    Division of labor, exploitation, and death

    Becoming connected through technology
    Is a sick fucking joke

    PROFANE EXISTENCE RECORDS – PO BOX 647 – HUNTINGTON WV – 25711 – UNITED STATES

    WWW.PROFANEEXISTENCE.COM

     

    Activism Anarchist anarcho-primitivism Anarchy anticiv blackened crust Crust D-Beat DIY Grind profane existance Punk Punk Rock Storm of Sedition stormofsedition
  • aus-rot-logo

    AUS-ROTTEN

    “The System Works For Them” LP

    -FINALLY RE-ISSUED AFTER 20 YEARS!-

    Originally pressed in 1996 PROFANE EXISTENCE is bringing this quintessential anarcho punk masterpiece back in circulation.

    aus-rotten-the-system-cover

    All original artwork (label logos updated) with three different vinyl color options.
    All original artwork (label logos updated) with three different vinyl color options.

    In 1996 AUS-ROTTEN released their first LP “The System Works For Them” on an unsuspecting punk scene. It spread like wildfire in a pre internet era within a genre that mostly depended on tape trading.  (at least is was pre internet for us penniless punks) “The System Works For Them” was the perfect mix of anger and intelligence that the scene needed at the time (and still does today). It was like a wake up call that opened the eyes and ears to many punks the world over. The messages where crystal clear and most us were hooked as soon as the beginning shouts of “Boycott” bellowed over the speakers. I don’t believe any of us ever expected their message to resonate so well within the scene, but even more surprising is how the songs are just as relevant today as on they the day they were written. Which is why PROFANE EXISTENCE has decided to repress this record. We feel that that messages that AUS-ROTTEN brought to the table are to powerful to ignore. We feel that this LP is important and therefore should be highly available and priced affordably.

    "The Battlefield Is Still Red" Bloodsplatter Edition.
    “The Battlefield Is Still Red” Bloodsplatter Edition.

     

    PROFANE EXISTENCE has worked out every last detail of this release with the members of AUS-ROTTEN whom have been involved from step one.  All tracks have been re-masted by Jay Matherson at the Jamroom studios. To be 100% honest we didn’t want to do a complete re-master of what we already considered a good recording. However when we opened the tracks on protools we noticed a few balance issues that required fixing. These fixes resulted in a tremendous upgrade to the overall quality of the tracks. We painstakingly scanned, puzzled, and photoshopped the original artwork to make sure that it was as close to authentic as it could possible be. We then went for broke by pressing in three different vinyl color combinations! Overall to say that we are pumped to release this would be an understatement, we are absolutely ecstatic to bring you this LP on PROFANE EXISTENCE!

     

    "What Good Is Money, When There Is No One Left To Buy" T-shirt.
    “What Good Is Money, When There Is No One Left To Buy” T-shirt.

     

    To top this all off we worked with AUS-ROTTEN vocalist Dave Trenga on redrawing the classic “What Good Is Money, When There Is No One Left To Buy” design for a T-Shirt to concede with the albums release. This is a fresh take on an old image to create a new and original design.

     

     

     

    See through "Smoke" vinyl. Available at SKULLFEST record release show.
    See through “Smoke” vinyl. Available at SKULLFEST/ PROFANE EXISTENCE 27th anniverseray party / record release show.

     

     

     

     

    Vinyl options are…

    1. Standard black vinyl

    2. “The Battlefield is Still Red” Bloodsplatter vinyl.

    3. See through “Smoke”. – Available at SKULLFEST only

    ORDER HERE- http://profaneexistence.storenvy.com

    ALL PREORDERS WILL BE SHIPPED OUT BY AUGUST 19TH

     

    Flyer for PROFANE EXISTENCE 27th year anniversary party at SKULLFEST 8!
    Flyer for PROFANE EXISTENCE 27th year anniversary party at SKULLFEST 8!

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    PROFANE EXISTENCE – PO BOX 647 – HUNTINGTON WV – 25711 – UNITED STATES

    Activism Anarchist Anarcho Punk Aus-Rotten Behind Enemy Lines Caustic Christ D-Beat DIY Hardcore pittsburgh profane existence Punk skullfest
  • SILENCE 

    The Deafening Sound of Absolutely Nothing LP

    OUT NOW!

    Click here to purchase

    Silence-LP-Jacketpromo-withborder

    Silence are a highly active post-punk/peace-punk band from Pittsburgh, PA. “The Deafening Sound of Absolutely Nothing” strives (and succeeds) to achieve the perfect balance between peace and post punk. By taking influences from The Mob, Bauhaus, Zounds, Killing Joke, Amebix, Crass, Conflict, Internal Autonomy and Joy Division SILENCE have created what can only be described a brilliant debut LP.  At one moment this record is dark, heavy, and atmospheric and then the next moment it makes you want to dance and sing along. Lyrically SILENCE are much closer to the anarcho side of the previously listed influences. Lyrics focus on a variety of topics but often have a strong focus on the way punk and activist communities deal with political struggle in our current political climate.

    image1

    “The Deafening Sound of Absolutely Nothing” comes with a 16 page magazine size zine containing lyrics, personal writings and song explanations. Designed, printed and assembled by the band themselves in true D.I.Y. fashion.

     

    Silence will be having a record release show in their hometown of Pittsburgh PA at the Rock Room Friday April 22nd  with SHADOW AGE and SKELETON HANDS. Then later this month SILENCE will embark on a full United States tour to support “The Deafening Sound of Absolutely Nothing”. Here is a list of dates. Be show to check in with the bands “bandcamp” or “Facebook” page for show updates.

     

    Select shows with DJ Erica Scary!

    April 29: Pittsburgh, PA, at Down Launder, tour kickoff and Antifa benefit, w/ Empathy Box (https://www.facebook.com/events/1181565898523083/)
    April 30 (early show): Kent, OH at the Workshoppe, IWW presentation matinee punk show w/Cuttlefish Agenda & SAP (https://www.facebook.com/events/1697295593893224/)
    April 30 (late show): Akron, OH at Anabelle’s w/Empathy Box, Rabid Reason, Weird Penis (https://www.facebook.com/events/214123672288175/)
    May 1, Cinncinatti, OH, at Mockbee w/ Abraxas & Sour Ground (https://www.facebook.com/events/173087806408132/)
    May 2nd, Chicago, IL, w/Autonomy, venue TBA
    May 3, Minneapolis, MN at Cafe Reverie w/ Scrutiny & Verminoze (https://www.facebook.com/events/935701729883330/)
    May 6, Seattle, WA at the Kraken w/Frustration & Arcane (https://www.facebook.com/events/1595913700726950/)
    May 7, Bremerton, WA at the Charleston
    May 8, Olympia, WA, venue TBA w/ Flesh Collage, Duzz, Hen’s Teeth
    May 9, Portland, OR at Blackwater, with Vivid Sekt & Decomp
    May 10, Eugene, OR at Black Forest
    May 11, Oakland, CA at the Annex w/Ortiz
    May 13, North Bay Area, CA, venue TBA
    May 14, Reno, NV, venue TBA
    May 17, Asheville, NC at the Odditorium
    May 18, Baltimore, MD at the Sidebar
    May 19, Richmond, VA venue TBA
    May 20, Philadelphia, PA at the Beaumont Warehouse w/ Hellshock, Deathwish, Dronez, Interloper (https://www.facebook.com/events/200642220290173/)
    May 21, Oil City, PA, The Annex Art Exhibition Room w/ Swampwalk & Omission (https://www.facebook.com/events/1703401133252324/)
    May 22nd, Altoona, PA at the Anvil w/T-Tops, Warmingtons, Loyd Bird (https://www.facebook.com/events/1590404134615322/)

     LISTEN TO THE TRACK “WAR DRUMS” HERE.

    https://profanexistence.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/03-track-03-war-drums.wav

    Lyrics…

    When all that remains is a world in flames. Is that when they’ll say the wars are finally won? That wars are finally done?

    They’re beating on the drums again, they’re fueling up the planes. The congressmen fall into line and sing the old refrain. In the name of peace they’ll burn the land and drop a thousand bombs.

    Meanwhile we’ll just stay at home and go back to our sitcoms. It’s the same old song, we’ve heard it before. They’re beating the drums and they’re calling for war. What it’s supposed to accomplish, no one is sure But the victims are always the hungry and the poor.

    Once the drums of war begin it’s hard to make them stop. The noise silences the dissidents once the bombs begin to drop. All those who call for peace will be mocked and pushed aside. In 10 years they’ll admit we were right after many thousands more have died.

    11216846_941427835906092_2640867628394013088_n

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    PROFANE EXISTENCE RECORDS PO BOX 647 HUNTINGTON WV 25711 UNITED STATES
    Activism Anarchism Anarchist Animal Rights Crust goth Hardcore lp new release PE Peace Punk pittsburgh post punk profane existence Punk SILENCE Tour Veganism
  • new-banner2

    Finally after many delays from the pressing plant the WARWOUND Demo’s LP “A Huge Black Cloud” is out and copies are moving fast! 

    warwound-cover-Recorded in 1983, this record contains 15 songs from 3 sessions. With a few different takes you get a total of 25 blistering tracks. For those unfamiliar with WARWOUND, they are a UK band formed in 82. WARWOUND recorded 3 demos in 83 before disbanding and members went on to join THE VARUKERS and form SACRILEGE. These demos never received an official release… until now! Highly influenced by DISCHARGE, WARWOUND is one of the first bands ever to take D-Beat Punk to a raw and intense level. Recently reformed in 2015, original guitarist Damian is now joined by Ian Glasper on bass and Rat Varuker on vocals. After a few gigs in the UK word is spreading fast of the relentless onslaught of a live show these veterans put on. WARWOUND have also recently hit the studio to record for the first time in over 30 years. Needless to say WARWOUND is back with a vengeance!

    LP – LINK

    LP+ SHIRT – LINK

    Wholesale 5 LP’s

    Wholesale 10 LP’s

    Audio “3 Minute Warning” Demo 3

    https://profanexistence.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/01-warwound-three-minute-warning-d3.wav

    Audio “Yopper Boy” Demo 2

    https://profanexistence.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/25-warwound-demo-2-yopper-boy.wav

     

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    PROFANE EXISTENCE RECORDS / PO BOX 647 / HUNTINGTON WV / 25711

    a huge black cloud Anarcho Punk Chaos UK Crust d-deat Hellkrusher Metal profane existence Punk sacrilege the varukers UK UK82 warwound
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PROFANE EXISTENCE has a web store filled with records, shirts, zines, tapes, patches, pins, CD's and more. Check it often as we are constantly adding new items to the list and selling out of old ones.

Visit the PE web store at:
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Tag: Violence

0 Surviving Memories

  • July 5, 2014
  • by Comrade Black
  • · Columns · PE Web Zine

I was 16, had just turned. It was my second time on the streets that year. Edmonton Alberta, living in a squat house just off Whyte avenue, 107 st. Now a Condo sits where the abandoned house we called home use to sit.

There was about 7 of us living in one room, the youngest was a kid named Small Fry who was 13 and on crutches. I liked him. I had only been at the squat a few days, or maybe a week; a guy I hardly knew named Justin had shown me the way there a few nights before and I stayed. I crashed hard that night, sleeping through everything that was to happen

Devon wasn’t a very popular guy, in part cause he was one of those guys who can be hard to like. In part cause he was openly bisexual in a very homophobic place. A case of wrong time, wrong tastes. I liked him though, as he was nice to me. About an hour or so after I fell asleep, Devon came ‘home’ quite drunk and ready to pass out. There was a young girl visiting us, I can’t recall her name, but she had a home yet would come to the squat to hang out with the street kids. Everyone liked her. She was drinking with the others when Devon came in. She was using the pallets he slept on as a chair. This is what lead to the argument. I slept through it all, so all I know was from what i was told after I woke up.

When I woke up, people were practically celebrating, partying and bragging about how fun it was to kick the shit out of Devon. They told me “you missed all the excitement!” Glad I did. I was told that Devon had pushed the girl to get her off his bed after she refused to move, and so Justin attacked him, and everyone else jumped in to help in the assault; everyone that is except me and Small Fry of course. They bragged about how he had “turtled like a coward”, and drank in celebration of their assault. They pretended that they beat him for “pushing a girl”, but the real reason was more a mix of homophobia and a desire for violence.

I asked where he was now, and was told quite gleefully how after beating him unconscious, they had drug him outside into the alley way. They left him there then walked to the near by Mack’s store and claimed to the worker that they had found a guy beaten badly in the alley way. They left before the cops got there.

Months later I heard rumor that Devon had been in a coma for a few months, and when he woke up he had no memory of what had happened. I never saw him again, and can;t verify if it was true or not

I feared Justin, and no one dared to stand up to him after that. None the less every so often he would find an excuse to attack someone, turn on someone.A few months after the assault on Devon, Justin beat another kid into a coma for breaking a alcohol bottle in the park and refusing to pick up the glass. He justified it by saying that people bring their dogs there and the dogs could step on the glass.

He left the squat, luckily, and I lived there until police busted it some months later when the parents of a girl named Sarah who had been kicked out decided to claim she had run away because she wouldn’t stay in the shelter where her parents had left her. So they came to find her, apparently knowing for months that we were squatting there. A while after that I was in a car accident, along with that girl, and had to return ‘home’ to Kitscoty do to my injuries. Her parents refused to take her back and told her on the phone from the hospital “It’s just like you to get yourself in trouble.” So she moved in with me and my mom and after she healed enough she went to school with me in the town I had tried so hard to run away from. The town where I had been bullied nearly to suicide.

A year later I heard Justin was convicted of attempted murder after pulling a knife and trying to stab a Sikh guy in Gazebo park.

I was 16 then. I am 33 now.
just over half my life ago.
This is how I remember it. There is not a single person from that scene I have talked to in over a decade. But I remember most of that year like it was just weeks ago.

by Comrade Black

1 Blown Away: Guns & “Random” Mass Shootings – An Interview With John Zerzan

  • June 13, 2014
  • by Comrade Black
  • · Uncategorized

In recent weeks there have been a number of mass shootings throughout North America which is becoming increasingly normalized in modern society. John Zerzan has written and spoken extensively about the phenomenon of shootings, never shying away from the difficult subjects and questions that many others actively avoid.

Interview by Comrade Black

John Zerzan (right) with PE writer Comrade Black (post-Left)
John Zerzan (right) with PE writer Comrade Black (post-Left)

PE: I remember you once saying on your radio show that when the media talks about mass shootings they use a set of buzz words and often present it as though these acts are incomprehensible. Can you explain what you meant and why this is problematic?

Zerzan: First, let me say that my focus has been on the unprecedented rise in what are commonly called “random” multiple shooting; those that, as you say, are presented as incomprehensible. Of course they are not incomprehensible and speak to the nature of modern mass society. They are deeply symptomatic of the growing isolation, a product of the disappearance of community. Society becomes rapidly more technological and – contrary to the propaganda claims of the tech agenda – people are ever more adrift and lonely. With less and less to hang on to unspeakable things happen.

 

PE: Often mass shootings get blamed on mental health, yet many of these killers had no history of known mental illness?

Zerzan: Yes, most of the shooters have no history of mental illness. More often one reads what has become a kind of cliche description: ‘he was the quietest guy, very nice, never missed work or made trouble, etc’

 
PE:  A while back there was an article about kids being bored by mass shootings. Do you think they have become part of the spectacle? Or are they the cracks?

Zerzan: It’s possible that as these multiple homicide acts become almost daily occurrences events they are tuned out or even become boring. Think what else is routinely tuned among the common horrors of civilization…

 

PE: I saw a feminist blogger recently write that all these shootings have one thing in common, that the perpetrators are all men. What’s your take?

Zerzan: Not all the shooters are male. A horrible part of of the phenomenon in recent years has been family slaughters, including mothers murdering their children.

 

PE: I have heard you say that mass shootings are a phenomenon that appears to be unique to both the modern times and certain parts of the world? What is the connection between privilege and this type of violent act?

Zerzan: Roughly speaking, these rampage killings happen in the more technological societies and are spreading from the US to other technologically advanced countries. Thus one wonders how ‘advanced’ or ‘privileged’ these places really are. In terms of individuals it is less often poorer people committing theses acts, more likely white suburbanites, with some exceptions.

 

PE: Ever since Chris Dorner opened fire killing a couple cops, more people are beginning to target the police. As an anarchist, what do you make of this?

Zerzan: Police brutality and the militarization of the cops seems to be increasing. So, not a big surprise that more folks would strike back.

 

PE: Another interesting aspect of the more recent shootings, starting with Dorner – is that the killers used facebook or other social media to post statements before committing their killings. I am certain this will justify increased profiling and surveilence. What’s your thoughts on this?

Zerzan: Social media usage is of course extremely widespread so we see more use of it by shooters e.g. the Isla Vista killer recently.

 

PE: Layla AbdelRahim writes about how politeness and manners are a form of civilized violence that helps to hide the violence of our society. We live in a horribly violent culture that pretends the violence doesn’t exist; what do you make of these outbursts of very public violence in the spectacle of polite society?

Zerzan: Layla refers to how domestication represses the violence, if less effectively these days, eh? The violence is less hidden than ever but denial reigns and the ‘solutions’ put forth are very superficial. For example, gun control laws which miss the basic reality. That is, guns have always been very prevalent in this country, since colonial times in fact. But the shooting rampages as a common phenomenon is quite recent historically. A year before Adam Lanza killed twenty-some children at a school in Connecticut he called Anarchy Radio to tell of a chimpanzee who attacked its owner. The chimp had been dressed in human clothes, fed human food, provided with TV – and snapped because of the degrading domestication it was subject to. The bitter irony was that Lanza himself snapped and killed two dozen people about a year later.

 

PE: When Ted Kazcinski was arrested as the Unabomber, you wrote him letters and visited him in jail; how do his acts of violence differ from these others? Is it simple a difference in ideology?What can we learn from “Uncle Ted’s” actions?

Zerzan: Kaczynski’s acts were in no way random. They were part of an exclusively anti-technology campaign.

 

PE: Is there a connection between how we as a society treat animals and the land with this type of violence?

Zerzan: I think it’s quite reasonable to see the mass cruelty of industrialized agriculture – to use a big example of how animals are treated – as cheapening life in general and thus contributing to these explosions of violence among humans.

 

PE:   I remember when the Columbine shooting happened which seemed to be one of the first; followed by another highschool shooting in Taber Alberta not far from where I grew up only a week or two later. As a kid in a highscool that was tormented and bullied nearly to the point of committing suicide myself; having a couple kids pick up guns and shoot back was something I paid close attention to. But things didn’t seem to get better in the aftermath, rather kids like me were treated like we were all potential psychopaths and nothing else really changed.

Zerzan: Bullying is one triggering factor in some of the mass killings. But bullying is nothing new whereas there is something unprecedented going on as mass society shows such pathologies. I went to a rough high school where, in addition to beatings by some of the priests, there was a fair degree of bullying. No-one brought a gun to school and started blowing folks away.

 

PE: Fredy Perlman described civilization as a monster that keeps growing and consuming, while telling the story of people who either resisted by running away until the monster caught up to them or by fighting back – often becoming more like the monster they resisted in order to stop it until it collapsed and they took it’s place as the new monster. How do we resist without becoming recuperated into the machine we seek to destroy?

Zerzan: Civilization must be attacked at a deep enough level to hit its target. Activism that lacks critique, lacks a qualitatively different vision or paradigm is doomed to be quite limited in my opinion. This means, among other things, that we must not shrink from embracing property destruction, which is hard to co-opt.

 

PE: You have argued that technology alienates us further. Are these shootings a symptom individualism? Capitalism? Lack of nature? Or something else?

Zerzan: It’s all these things even if technology is major – and generally overlooked. Domination is a totality and needs to be seen as such to avoid single-issue reformism.

As Adorno put it, in terms of causes: “It is idle to search for what might have been a cause within a monolithic society. Only that society itself remains the cause.”


PE: You have written about hope, where as the trend seems to be moving towards nihilism. Where do you find hope in times like these?

Zerzan: I am hopeful because I see the energy of resistance alive in many places. It has not gone away. And because I think that the system of domination is actually quite hollow and weak. It is plainly losing the allegiance of many on many levels, has no answers to the myriad problems it has created.

 

Cover of _Origins: A John Zerzan Reader_, 2010Cover of _Future Primitive Revisited_Cover of _Twilight of the Machines_, 2008Cover of _Running on Emptiness_, 2002Cover of _Future Primitive and Other Essays_, 1994Cover of _Against Civilization_, 1999Cover of _Elements of Refusal_, 1988

If you are interested in more of John Zerzan’s work check out his radio show Anarchy Radio, live every tuesday at 7pm PST. You can also read many of his writings at: http://www.johnzerzan.net/articles/

1 Concrete Pillow – A True Story

  • February 19, 2014
  • by Comrade Black
  • · Columns · PE Web Zine
 by Comrade Black
My head bounced – one -two- three times off the pavement, as the ringing in my ears silenced all other sound. I laid there motionless, unable to move as I watched the world in slow motion through open eyes; for what seemed like hours. I honestly have no clue how long I laid there.

I often think I was both quick thinking and lucky to have managed to at last second moved my hand quickly under my head before his boot came down full force. But in reality it was him who was lucky. While I ended up with a severe concussion and probably some small degree of brain damage which took years to heal, he ended up with all my money on a nice sunny day – instead of a prison sentence for murder.

I don’t often tell this story; in part cause it leads to some uncomfortable questions. But primarily I don’t tell it cause it tends to make people uncomfortable to know it happened. Even worse, to know it happened to someone they actually know. Especially people who come from a background of comfort and privilege, who never had to deal with real violence other than on TV.

Most days I love my life, I look forward to my next day, my next week. But it wasn’t always this way – and there are some days where I think about these brutal experiences from my past which most people don’t know ever happened. The part of me very few people know about, or even want to. In some ways it helps me to keep a positive outlook and to love life, to know it as a gift. In other ways it alienates me from others who don’t share any understanding of violence and this type or level of trauma. This incident I describe was far from the only time I experienced extreme violence, but it stands out in my head.

As I lay in bed, my head resting gently against a soft pillow; I can not sleep. Thoughts of concrete keep me awake. I am not sure why, but I felt like I needed to write this, to share it, before I could rest tonight. Lately my memories of these experiences have been on my mind, hovering in that skull that only never cracked because of a last second reaction to protect it and put my hand under before the boot came down. I don’t know why this is on my mind or what I will get from sharing it with you – but maybe now that the words are typed I may finally sleep.
Goodnight

Comrade PE

6 Drawing (A) Militant Resistance: Interview with Indigenous artist and author Gord Hill

  • September 15, 2012
  • by Comrade Black
  • · Featured Artist · Interviews

 Interview by Comrade Black

Gord Hill is probably one of the most sought after speakers, writers and artists in regards to anarchism, militancy and Indigenous sovereignty in our area. His style is unique, drawing on his own cultural traditions and combining them with radical militant analysis of capitalism, colonialism, civilization and the state, presented in a format we would understand as a comic book. I have for years admired and been influenced by the work of Gord Hill, and on a few occasions have been lucky enough to organize events that he has taken part in.

Gord is a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw nation on the Northwest Coast.
I am very greatful that he accepted my request for an interview about his work and his latest comic book.

PE: I remember you saying once that your first comic was meant in part to help Indigenous people teach their children about their history. Who did you intend to reach with this new book? 

It’s pretty broad, any one who is anti-capitalist, or who thinks the system is oppressive and unjust, who question the values and ways of life of capitalist society.  It’s meant for militants who may have participated in militant actions as well as those who question the validity of such tactics. 

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