From Atassa
Estimado Sr. Scott Campbell:
So since we have been given the spotlight in your fatwa on It’s Going Down, noting the obvious sin of our utter lack of anarchism, I felt I might as well respond on behalf of the Atassa project. Not that we aim to convince anyone of anything, far from it. Those who have accepted the Message of Bakunin (Peace Be Upon Him) and somehow don’t know that something that doesn’t claim to be anarchism isn’t anarchism will be relieved of their ignorance by your words. So we are sorry we have lost all of those confused readers and their generous donations to our Patreon… wait a second, we don’t have a Patreon, that’s someone else. Never mind.
So there’s no point in dwelling on this. Neither are we expecting fair treatment here. In this journal, in print and online, we discuss eco-extremism, and eco-extremists are proud enemies of the human race who have an insatiable animus delendi (drive to destroy). We don’t carry out eco-extremist action, and we aren’t cheerleaders for it. We have an indirect affinity for it and that is it. So we don’t expect fair treatment from IGD, or the anarcho-primitivists, or the press, or the authorities, or anyone else for that matter. You should hate the eco-extremists, and us by extension. We are worse than Hitler. We are worse than eco-fascists. Nevertheless, we aim to show your inconsistencies just in case you think we have no reply. On the other hand, we won’t spend a lot of time on this, because why bother, really?
They have appointed themselves judge, jury, and executioner; the guardians and enforcers of Truth using a romanticized past to justify their actions. As absolutist authoritarians, they have constructed a theoretical framework that, while ever-shifting and inconsistent, somehow always ends with a justification for why they get to hold a knife to the throats of all of humankind. In short, they think and act like the State.
Again, with the ever-elusive anarchist morality: the insincere application of the Golden Rule. You anarchists are always punching supposed Nazis, trying to doxx people, dreaming of killing cops and bankers, etc. To the average normal person, you’re just as bad as the eco-extremist. You’re not getting any brownie points from those you need to make your revolution for you just because you don’t go “too far”. But I forgot that you social anarchists never get tired of losing, never get tired of lamenting your casualties and your prisoners. And at the end of the day, you condemn everything you don’t like as fascism because thinking isn’t exactly your strong suit.
And of course, all violence is state violence (except whatever you deem as “emancipatory” violence, you and the five other people living in your squat).
Of course, what such condemnation means is a tacit approval of state or civilized violence. For the bourgeois liberal, “terrorist violence” is horrible because only the State can designate people who need to be killed (if you lived in Afghanistan or Yemen, for example, you would have more to fear than just cars; you would also have drones raining down death on you from the skies. But that’s okay, because U.S. democracy approved this.) The leftist and anarchist can criticize eco-extremist action with more integrity, so the reasoning goes, because they too reject the violence of capitalism and the State. Aside from that, however, they create a fantasy world where “the guilty”, rich parasites who they have tried and sentenced to death in their own minds from the comforts of their talk-shops, are killed indiscriminately and even with cruelty, not taking into account that the bourgeoisie too are also husbands, fathers, sons, daughters, etc. And of course, they expect that violence to be minimal, as Revolutions have historically been dainty tea parties where the innocent never, ever get hurt…
–Collateral damage: An eco-extremist defense of indiscriminate violence
Newsflash, Don Scott: Violence preceded the State, and even prevented the State from forming in some places. Just as everything you don’t like isn’t fascism, so every act that repulses you isn’t the State. It’s nice to forgo definitions and go right into the virtue signaling. Your brain must be a tranquil place without all of those pesky distinctions making noise over your righteous indignation.
But of course, stateless people did super-bad, really awful things. Perhaps you do need a State to protect your precious egalitarian solidarity:
Walkara was called, “the Hawk of the Mountains,” who sold Indian children from tribes such as the Paiute for guns and other goods from civilization. He would ride and trade as far away as California, and was known to steal cattle and horses, as well as raid caravans. The recently arrived Mormons both feared and dealt with Walkara and the Utes, but were often powerless to stop their barbarism. In trying to prevent the sale of Indian children, the Mormons were witness to the following gruesome scene when Walkara’s brother, Arapeen, was told that they refused to buy the Indian children he was selling:
“Several of us were present when he took one of the children by the heels and dashed his brains out on the hard ground, after which he threw the body toward us telling us that we had no hearts or we would have saved its life.”
As for the accusation of the eco-extremists being akin to the State, I dunno, bro, anarchists seem to resemble that remark more:
The eco-extremist is an opportunist. He is an individualist. There is no cookie-cutter eco-extremist like there is a cookie cutter communist or anarchist or primitivist. Each one is different, just like each crime is different. The modern activist seeks to limit chaos and contingency: the eco-extremist counts on it, even thrives off of it. The masses of hyper-civilized activists, from pacifists to the Black Bloc, seek to move like a Napoleonic column of troops, with discipline, a common goal, and a State-like force confronting the State in a “dual power” situation. These are only as strong as their weakest link. Eco-extremist action is guerilla warfare in the full sense of the term: not just in practice, but also in purpose. The eco-extremist, just like the criminal, fights only for himself, for his own benefit, and with those who fight similarly if far away; those who laud his actions and seek to emulate them in their own circumstances.
But you know, Catalonia, Rojava, etc. where supposed anarchists outright cooperated with the State never fucking happened, am I right? Moving on…
In early statements, they spoke of favorably of anarchism and revolution. Over the course of just a few years and various groupings and splittings, they adopted a firm stance of rejection and reaction. They disavowed anarchism, revolution, leftism, or anything related to the social or human. They proudly adopted the mantle of eco-terrorism and proclaimed their disgust for the likes of John Zerzan or Ted Kaczynski, who they previously praised.
Damn, dude, I know you don’t like ITS and all, but now you’re just making shit up. You don’t even have to scroll down that much on page 1 of this blog to see that you didn’t really think that sentence through. Let’s just do a quick copy and paste:
The old ITS was made up of anarchists, liberationists, and Kazcynskists who took up the insurrectionist discourse of such groups as the FAI even though they never formed part of that movement. They expressed solidarity with anarchist political prisoners and they adhered to politically correct language. They were rationalists, they employed the scientific method with technical language, and they rejected animist beliefs. They were moralists and to a certain extent pedants.
It should be pointed out that both the old and new ITS considered themselves to be indiscriminate terrorists, trolls, and extremely critical of leftism, revolutions, and related themes. They are also critical of themselves.
So was ITS ever anarchist? It had anarchists in it. Did it ever speak favorably of revolution? Hell no. From the start they criticized Kaczynski’s position on revolution… But as they like to say in your circles: I’m not here to educate you. You know where the answers are if you want to find them…
Your bull of excommunicationcontinues:
The ITS phenomenon, while beginning in Mexico, has spread throughout much of Latin America, with groups using the ITS name claiming responsibility for attacks – including attempts at the mass murder of ordinary, working-class people – in multiple countries.
There you go again with your “innocence” and “guilt” motif. It’s the Big Bad Fat Cats destroying the world, and the Big Bad Police defending Big Bad Neoliberal Imperialism from your Molotov cocktails and non-gun-having ass. *Sob* Your beloved workers and oppressed: the New Communion of Saints washed in the Blood of Joe Hill. Poor things, who will defend them from the Big, Bad Eco-extremists? God forbid someone point out that the “working class” too is contaminated with the stain of Original Sin:
If you believe in a dogma wherein human nature is inherently good and salvageable, then of course you are going to blame non-human things (i.e. machines) for corrupting it, while desperately looking past their true (man-made) nature and functionality. If, on the other hand, you appreciate that they are merely physical manifestations of social relations that are a lot more difficult to destroy, you are in a much tougher position, but at least you are being honest with yourself. The former approach is the ideological foundation of anarchism: humans would be just fine if only the State, Capital, Technology etc. would leave them alone. The latter approach, the more realistic one in my opinion, sees that technology and the modern human are intertwined with each other almost to the point of being con-substantial. If technology exists it is because modern humans will it to exist, they love it, and value it with their whole lives. You may dispute this sincere affinity all you like, but here appearances don’t lie.
So yeah, riddle me that. If all power is the People, then why don’t the People overthrow this small cabal of oppressors and go forward into the Utopia Without Domination that will reign unto the ages of ages, Amen? Maybe they like their oppression? Maybe they’re at fault for it, *Gasp!* Stop uttering blasphemies. We can’t have people get discouraged and stop uploading their credit card numbers onto our Patreon, can we?
Mexico in particular has a vibrant clandestine, direct action insurrectionary movement. Mexico is also where 99 percent of all “crimes” go unpunished, where narcos, police, military and politicians either work hand in hand or kill one another and anyone else nearby in the tens of thousands. They also team up against aboveground social movements – repression being the only language the Mexican state speaks. It is not difficult to understand, in a country being gutted by neoliberalism, where appeals to the state are met with batons and bullets, where anarchists are already blowing things up, and where everyone else with an agenda seems to be killing people and getting away with it, why a group like ITS would emerge.
Yes, poor Mexico, tan lejos de Dios… oh hell, you know the rest. How dare these people be disloyal to their poor suffering country, they should show more patriotism instead of saying stuff like this:
You know, Mexico is a steaming pile of shit. It’s conflicted, corrupt, and prostituted to the highest bidder, treacherous, run down, and even though there are people who say that there are “good things” about it, we see more bad things than good to be honest. Really we can’t even know if there person who was imprisoned in that maximum security prison and who escaped was actually Chapo Guzman, or an impostor. That’s for starters. Lies piled upon lies are daily fare here. Personally, I don’t trust anything that the media blabbers about, every one of them is blowing shit out of their ass. That there is a low intensity war going on, that’s for sure. But you can speak of this just not in terms of narcotrafficking, there are also groups, politicians, private interests, etc.
Comrade, how dare they fail in their loyalty to the Glorious Fatherland!? Death to Yanqui imperialism! The beatings will continue until morale improves…
Yet at the same time in Mexico, aside from a few websites, ITS and its actions have not been praised or embraced by anarchists or anyone else. This likely also contributes to the escalating violence on ITS’s part – no one really pays attention to them except to dismiss or condemn.
Why you gotta put me on blast like that?
It seems more likely that ITS is a genuine group that believes what it says.
❤
Whether it has actually done what it says is another matter. Some attacks have certainly occurred, but a curiously large number of ITS attacks fail or go unmentioned anywhere except in their statements. They claim this is due to the police and media conspiring to not call attention to their acts. Yet the typical insurrectionary anarchist direct action is almost always reported with precise information, photos showing the damage caused, and can be verified in corporate media reports. How ITS is so much worse than other direct action groups at carrying out direct actions is an unanswered question.
You do realize that a lot of ITS communiques come with extensive footnotes linking to the media articles describing many of their actions, right? Or that the Chilean media was gripped for weeks after a parcel-bomb was sent to the CEO of one of the largest mining companies in the world (a crime that still hasn’t been solved)? It’s ok, we know that you aren’t really paying attention and you wrote this fatwa half-distractedly in a couple of hours. Just doing your homework for you, feel free to edit your piece and issue a correction. You’re welcome.
But let’s draw this out a bit: the real reason we have no idea about the veracity of these attacks is that, unlike a lot of your compas rotting in Mexican jails, none of these horrible eco-extremists have been caught, have they? So yeah, people got killed, lacerated, threatened, etc. but no one has a clue about who did it, except the people who claim they did it. Hmmm. And did you know there are like whole channels on the Internet that document eco-extremist actions in like four countries? But I know, you’re a busy guy, just letting you know for next time. No worries.
That ITS killed any of the three people they recently claimed to have killed is unlikely. The statement shares no details of the killings and only includes a photo taken from Facebook. Especially with regards to the femicide of Lesvy Rivera at UNAM, ITS is likely seeking to get a free ride on the coattails of a tragedy that has generated considerable action and coverage amongst the anarchists and radicals they hate so much yet whose attention they so desperately seek.
Well, it’s a good thing you aren’t the one who’s trying to catch these people, because the Mexican state sort of suspects that they may have done it. But that’s cool. Keep pretending they don’t exist. I am sure that will make them stop eventually.
And, pro-tip, maybe “sharing details” of crimes, I dunno, might just help the police catch you. Tell your compas in the slammer I said, “Hi”. I wish them the best.
And now they are claiming to have killed three humans simply because they were human. Will ITS fans continue to distribute the propaganda of a group that by its own admission is not only not anarchist, but proudly terroristic, rejecting of all ethics, morals, or principles of liberation? They solely exist to kill people. It should not have to be explained why such a position does not merit support.
Shit, what if this stuff makes my clicks go down and people stop giving to my Patreon? Dammit, I keep forgetting I don’t have a Patreon, how silly of me. But muh magazine sales! Muh not getting invited to cool conferences! Wait, I never do that shit anyway. Again, never mind. It’s been a long day.
I guess it doesn’t bother me because I’ve been paying attention from the start and know what this is all about. And I kind of believe that people who read this stuff have a vague sense of what it means as well. I know most anarchists and leftists are just in it for the lulz and the feeling of moral superiority, but you shouldn’t presume that for others who have better reading comprehension.
Some defend the publications and discussions (or trolling, as it were) they engender because while perhaps they don’t agree with killing people, the analysis ITS presents is intellectually stimulating and worthy of consideration. If ITS did kill her, Lesvy Rivera can surely appreciate that her brutal murder was found intellectually stimulating for some. It is the peak of colonial, racist arrogance that those from the safety of their U.S. or European homes feel comfortable debating the finer points of an ideology that amounts to brown people killing other brown people.
Oh no, I’m cut to the quick! Anarchist confessional, here I come. Bless me, compañerxs, for I have sinned…
I am not sure I would call this action, “intellectually stimulating,” but I don’t find your virtue signaling very emotionally stimulating. But I am a cold, heartless, Inhumanist bastard, guilty as charged. In sin I was conceived…
Eco-extremism doesn’t seek to break eggs to make an omelette: it seeks to destroy the whole farm, and if eggs get damaged in the process, that’s just the nature of the beast. How many eggs get broken on a factory farm a day?
The second quote from Stalin is: “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.” And is this not the logic of civilization, of the leftist and anarchist? They can shrug off a whole world being butchered by civilization, they can wave off the deaths of savage peoples who did nothing but defend their land, and they can play video games in their heads of strangling capitalists in their beds, but when they see a bus on fire, or a lab blown up, they scream, “Won’t somebody think of the children!?” (Again from “Collateral Damage”)
And then of course, the modern equivalent of Godwin’s Law (as if one invocation of fascism wasn’t enough):
We eagerly await the publishing on these sites of ISIS or al-Qaida communiques due to their intellectually stimulating critiques of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East.
Oops, too late.
The only support ITS should be receiving from anarchists is encouragement that they practice their dedication to human extinction on themselves. Just as the fascists of ISIS are meeting a true anarchist response, the fascists of ITS should be called to task, rather than coddled.
Again with your statist anarchists in Rojava, but ok. I think I’ll start a Patreon for all of the poor anarchists who are thrown out of their squats for their supposed ITS support. Could I use your Patreon page as a template? Thanks.
So to sum up really quickly: Eco-extremism isn’t anarchism. It is the enemy of the human race because humans, let’s face it, aren’t all that good to themselves, and they certainly aren’t good to non-humans or Wild Nature. Eco-extremism is Inhumanism. Eco-extremism sees humanity as an expired project that merits extinction. Eco-extremism is the extreme defense of Wild Nature and the slaughtering of the domesticated person within. If you agree with or are intrigued by the following quote, then this is the place for you. If not, It’s Going Down is that way:
All of this is also re-wilding: to return to the primitive in a conflict inherited from our ancestors; to put into practice the tactics that the ancients used but in our own conditions. In fact, the murder that ITS carried out also represents “individualist re-wilding”. The goal of assassinating an UNAM employee was not just to take him out and create negative reactions to this act, but rather with the same act, the members of ITS also murdered the civilized person within, killing little by little with thrusts of the knife those Western values imposed on them from childhood onward.
Thanks a bunch for the publicity.
-Abe Cabrera