The Story of Civilization

Since at least the urban revolution of 3,000 BCE, human civilization has been constructed upon violence and other forms of coercion. At some point in 2005, I believe, I decided, finally, to opt out. By that I mean I began to publicly advocate NON-VIOLENT resistance to and, ultimately, a NON-VIOLENT overthrow of the United States government.

The U. S. government ought not to take this personally, however; I advocate the same approach to every government. I am, by political conviction, a Chomskian Left Libertarian. Which is to say, an Anarchist.

I won't go into all of the twists and turns of thought and practice that led me to this political position, but I will offer a few milestones:

1. In Middle School I read a book (recommended by a friend) on the trial and execution of Sacco and Vanzetti; I read the New Testament for the first time then and also Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience and John Hersey's Hiroshima.

2. I went to law school and practiced law for ten years. There are few educations better suited to exposing the difference between the rhetoric of law and government and the reality of law and government than that--if, I hasten to add, you refuse to surrender your intellect and conscience. During this period I also read and wrestled with Leo Tolstoy's interpretation of the Gospel.

3. In late 2001 or early 2002, I emailed Noam Chomsky and asked him what he would suggest someone interested in Anarchism as a political philosophy should read. He quickly replied with his "short list." I got started...

These are but a few of the ingredients that led to my "conversion" to Left Libertarianism. The bottom line for me, I suppose, is that Anarchism and a commitment to non-violent non-cooperation with agencies of coercion are not at all unrelated ideas. In my view, you cannot have one without the other. The story of civilization as it has evolved over the last 5,000 years is one of violence. Consequently, any revolution that resorts to violence is not a revolution at all: it is, in fact, more of the same.

I will not participate in any violent revolution: it is a contradiction in terms.

I will, however, continue to call for the NON-VIOLENT overthrow of existing regimes, the summoning of popular assemblies to construct new constitutions, and a way of life that runs counter to civilization as it presently manifests itself all over the world.