You May Be an Anarchist -And Not Even Know It

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But if we stop responding, if we really decide not to go along, aren’t we doomed also, because the system will destroy us?

Right. It’s not so easy. If it were that simple, people would just stay home, because it’s such a drag to go through these miserable routines in an increasingly empty culture. But a question we always have to keep in mind is this: We’re doomed, but in which way are we more doomed? I recently gave a talk at the University of Oregon in which I spoke on a lot of these topics. Near the end I said, "I know that a call for this sort of overturning of the system sounds ridiculous, but the only thing I can think of that’s even more ridiculous is to just let the system keep on going."

How do we know that all the alienation we see around us will lead to breakdown and rejuvenation? Why can’t it just lead to more alienation?.

It’s a question of how reversible the damage is. Sometimes––and I don’t believe this is too much avoidance or denial––sometimes in history things are reversed in a moment when the physical world intrudes enough to knock us off balance. [Raoul] Vaneigem refers to a lovely little thing that gives me tremendous hope. The dogs in Pavlov’s laboratory had been conditioned for hundreds of hours. They were fully trained and domesticated. Then there was a flood in the basement. And you know what happened? They forgot all of their training in the blink of an eye. We should be able to do at least that well. I am staking my life on it, and it is toward this end that I devote my work.

Derrick Jensen is the author of A Language Older than Words (Context Books, 2000). From Alternative Press Review (Spring 2000). Subscriptions: $16/yr. (4 issues) from Box 4710, Arlington, VA 22204-4710. This interview originally appeared in The Sun, subscriptions: $34/yr. (12 issues) from Box 3000, Denville, NJ 07834.

Discuss anarchy at the Society conference.
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