Desert

A text that plays significantly on the invisible committee's concept of desert and also desertion (word play echoed by the fading cover text), this is a gloves-off assault on optimism and the hope of saving the world. It asks the question "what does it mean to be an anarchist, or an environmentalist, when the goal is no longer working toward a global revolution and social/ecological sustainability?"

In some ways, this is the equivalent of Nihilist Communism for a green anarchist audience.

Here is part of what John Zerzan had to say about this new title on his radio show on 9.13.11:

"A document of surrender...
Among other points he makes, one is that we just set ourselves up for huge disillusionment if we maintain the illusion that it will change or that we can make the change. It's kind of a religious myth in his way of looking at it. He says it corresponds to the general myths of progress, be they marxian or whatever. Which I find a little strange, since some of us, and I include the writer, as being situated in the very explicitly anti-progress point of view, which makes it a bit of a stretch to say that it partakes of that whole myth of progress. Maybe on one level, but I think that's an unfortunate way to put it. And there are other... in parts of this he falls back on odd... I thought, some of these things are... well like... Nature bats last. God I hate that. That's a typical copout. What does that mean, that there will only be cockroaches left? Sometimes that's an excuse for not jumping in there. "Well, after all nature bats last", while nature is being systematically destroyed, as the author very well knows. It's just really a call for... he makes it clear that he has a comforable anarchist subculture scene, a nice hip neighborhood scene. And that's fine for anyone, that's good. But how he could substitute that for going after it... And you can read this different ways. He's not saying don't do anything, he's just saying "it doesn't matter", so why would you do it? And it ends with a lyric from blackbird raum. I won't read the whole thing but the last two lines are "so ride alone or ride with many others, just ride away as fast as you can."