Lawrence Jarach
Encyclopedia
Lawrence Jarach is an American
anarchist essay
ist and author of the primer Anarchy 101: Instead of a Meeting. Jarach is a contributing editor of Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed
, and has published in the Berkeley Daily Planet
, Killing King Abacus, Green Anarchy
and L'EnDehors
.
Jarach is also a musician, performing as a vocalist and trombonist
for punk
/polka
band, Polkacide
.
as a prominent Euroamerican radical
and anti-authoritarian
. Jack Bratich also situates Jarach on the anti-authoritarian left
.
Contrary to these assessments, Jarach writes from within the post-left anarchy
milieu, providing criticism of leftist politics and history. He has also written on other diverse topics, such as the Spanish Revolution
, primitivism
, as well as criticisms of "anarchist dual power
" and leftism
. He famously clashed with anarchist Chaz Bufe
over the latter's publication of Listen, Anarchist!, and came to the defense of fellow post-leftist Bob Black
in a rebuttal entitled "Hold Your Tongue Demagogue: Turning a Deaf Ear to Pure Bufe-oonery".
His views on the topic of conspiracy theory
have attracted attention in the anarchist media. Jarach holds that the term "conspiracy theory" acts as a "derisive dismissal" which serves to characterise counter-narratives as falsehoods or fantasy, and prefers the term "conspiratology" in its place. Conspiracy, according to Jarach, is the normal functioning mode of government
and other hierarchies.
Publications
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
anarchist essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
ist and author of the primer Anarchy 101: Instead of a Meeting. Jarach is a contributing editor of Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed
Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed
Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed is a North American anarchist magazine, and is one of the most popular anarchist publications in North America. It could be described as a general interest and critical, non-ideological anarchist journal...
, and has published in the Berkeley Daily Planet
Berkeley Daily Planet
The Berkeley Daily Planet was a free weekly newspaper published in Berkeley, California.The paper was politically progressive, and offered endorsements of progressive and liberal to left leaning candidates....
, Killing King Abacus, Green Anarchy
Green Anarchy
Green Anarchy was a magazine published by a collective located in Eugene, Oregon. The magazine's focus was primitivism, post-left anarchy, radical environmentalism, African American struggles, anarchist resistance, indigenous resistance, earth and animal liberation, anti-capitalism and supporting...
and L'EnDehors
EnDehors
L'EnDehors is a French individualist anarchist newspaper, created by Zo d'Axa in 1891.Numerous activists contributed to the paper, including Jean Grave, Bernard Lazare, Albert Libertad, Octave Mirbeau, Saint-Pol-Roux, Tristan Bernard, Georges Darien, Lucien Descaves, Sébastien Faure, Félix Fénéon,...
.
Jarach is also a musician, performing as a vocalist and trombonist
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
for punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
/polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
band, Polkacide
Polkacide
Polkacide is a band based in the San Francisco Bay Area that plays their own unique style of polka, which can be characterized as "punk polka". They have appeared on the Doctor Demento television show and have made several recordings.-Band history:...
.
Political positions
Jarach has been identified by Ward ChurchillWard Churchill
Ward LeRoy Churchill is an author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1990 to 2007. The primary focus of his work is on the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States government...
as a prominent Euroamerican radical
Political radicalism
The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
and anti-authoritarian
Anti-authoritarian
Anti-authoritarianism is opposition to authoritarianism, which is defined as a "political doctrine advocating the principle of absolute rule: absolutism, autocracy, despotism, dictatorship, totalitarianism." Anti-authoritarians usually believe in full equality before the law and strong civil...
. Jack Bratich also situates Jarach on the anti-authoritarian left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
.
Contrary to these assessments, Jarach writes from within the post-left anarchy
Post-left anarchy
Post-left anarchy is a recent current in anarchist thought that promotes a critique of anarchism's relationship to traditional leftism. Some post-leftists seek to escape the confines of ideology in general also presenting a critique of organizations and morality...
milieu, providing criticism of leftist politics and history. He has also written on other diverse topics, such as the Spanish Revolution
Spanish Revolution
The Spanish Revolution was a workers' social revolution that began during the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and resulted in the widespread implementation of anarchist and more broadly libertarian socialist organizational principles throughout various portions of the country for two to...
, primitivism
Anarcho-primitivism
Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of the origins and progress of civilization. According to anarcho-primitivism, the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence gave rise to social stratification, coercion, and alienation...
, as well as criticisms of "anarchist dual power
Dual power
Dual power is a concept that has taken on a broad meaning in the hands of anarchists and Libertarian socialists who use it to refer to the concept of gradual revolution through the creation of "alternative-institutions" and "counter-institutions" in place of and in opposition to state and corporate...
" and leftism
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
. He famously clashed with anarchist Chaz Bufe
Chaz Bufe
Charles Bufe, better known as Chaz Bufe, is a contemporary American Anarchist author.Bufe writes most notably on the problems faced by the modern anarchist movement...
over the latter's publication of Listen, Anarchist!, and came to the defense of fellow post-leftist Bob Black
Bob Black
Bob Black is an American anarchist. He is the author of The Abolition of Work and Other Essays, Beneath the Underground, Friendly Fire, Anarchy After Leftism, and numerous political essays.-Writing:Some of his work from the early 1980s includes...
in a rebuttal entitled "Hold Your Tongue Demagogue: Turning a Deaf Ear to Pure Bufe-oonery".
His views on the topic of conspiracy theory
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
have attracted attention in the anarchist media. Jarach holds that the term "conspiracy theory" acts as a "derisive dismissal" which serves to characterise counter-narratives as falsehoods or fantasy, and prefers the term "conspiratology" in its place. Conspiracy, according to Jarach, is the normal functioning mode of government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
and other hierarchies.
Selected publications
- Anarchy 101: Instead of a Meeting, Madison, WisconsinMadison, WisconsinMadison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
: Madison Anarchist Press, 2002.
See also
External links
- Polkacide official website.
Publications
- "White Washing the Spanish Civil War" by Lawrence Jarach at the Berkeley Daily PlanetBerkeley Daily PlanetThe Berkeley Daily Planet was a free weekly newspaper published in Berkeley, California.The paper was politically progressive, and offered endorsements of progressive and liberal to left leaning candidates....