#title Biocentric Anarchy
#date 2017
#source [[http://web.archive.org/web/20201114144828/https://actforfree.nostate.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BiocentricAnarchy.pdf][actforfree.nostate.net]].
#lang en
#pubdate 2023-07-20T21:28:34
#topics veganism, anarchism, anticiv, anti-civilization
#cover b-a-biocentric-anarchy-1.jpg
This zine was written in London in 2016 by a person who's considered herself an anarchist and vegan for around 12 years. It is not pretending to present some fully-fledged theory nor is it meant to be prescriptive, but is a personal text designed to spark thought and discussion.
** Sick Societies
This is a text emanating from love for life on this planet and despair at its continued degradation. By life I mean the totality of plants, animals, fungi and bacteria that populates the biosphere. This text is a call to broaden and deepen dominant, human- centered conceptions of anarchy, and to attack anthropocentrism both within anarchist circles and wider society.
Anthropocentrism is the arrogant belief or assumption that humans are at the centre of the universe, and that our desires take precedence over those of all other living beings combined. Combined, because we cannot harm some species (such as saltwater fish), without also harming the ecosystems which they form part of (such as sea birds, marine mammals, bacteria, humans, and so on). Actions deriving from an anthropocentric worldview are determined by what is perceived to provide the most benefit to us as people, including supposedly benign interventions made under the guise of 'conservation'. Anthropocentric conservationism is also often found among ecologists and some green anarchists, who fail to recognise that the dominant urge to control/steward what is wild (e.g. through 'woodland management', culling animals in the name of "indigenous" species who they deem more deserving of life) is at heart of the problem.
A logical conclusion of anthropocentrism is speciesism - relations of domination over other living beings based on the inferior value we give them. This translates to the treatment of all non-human lives as lesser than those of our own species, with some lives (eg. those of "pets") deemed more worthy of compassion than others. The differential treatment among non- human animals is likewise based on their perceived value to our own species, common factors being financial worth, cuteness, beauty and utility.
Speciesism justifies relations of ownership and domestication of other animals, which allows us to keep them in cages, control their reproduction, destroy kinship bonds, inject them with chemicals/hormones, microchip, mutilate, and experiment on them, and intensively breed them for our pleasure (food, fashion, sports, pets) on a garganutuan scale.
Speciesism enables Homo Sapiens to profess a wisdom unique among beasts, yet Homo Carceralis would be a more appropriate moniker, as our species is arguably the only one known to imprison itself within myriad institutions of domination. Most species cannot be domesticated, and every life form will struggle against anything that stands in its way. Yet we create ever more complex societies, imprisoned like Russian dolls within the borders of states, wage slavery, patriarchy, in metropoles of hostile architecture and sterility, boxed up in our coffin-like apartments and resorting to the cold comfort of the internet for some sense of connection to our fellow humans. Of course there is resistance and attempts to forge an independent and free existence, but for the most part we are content to build our own prisons and work as each others' screws. Wildlife is a reminder of another part of us, a part that has been largely suppressed over the course of millenia, a part our rulers work every day to keep down, and which we frequently keep in check in ourselves and each other.
This domestication infects us to varying degrees by a sickness sometimes called alienation. This sickness affects us on the level of our relationships with ourselves, with other people, and with the rest of the planet. Many of us are lonely, unhappy and dissatisfied, which contributes to unhealthy attitudes to everything from foreigners, to sex, to celebrities, to other species.
Modern urban life allows us to compartmentalise our experiences, which aggravates our alienated condition. So, we can fly to Canada for a holiday and 'be in nature', admire the spectacular landscape and take lots of photos, then go back to our jobs, eat animals that have been specially bred for our dinner plates, buy loads of plastic crap, never need to think about how we live, where our food comes from, where our waste goes and so on. For all we criticise capitalism, we need to recognise that it has given many of us (especially city-dwellers in "developed" countries) the luxury of not having to think about essentials like how our food is produced, how to treat illnesses from the plants around us, or how to respect the land that sustains us. Another common example of this compartmentalisation is the phenomenon of pets, whereby we select an individual animal who we decide to care about. We may even fetishize particular species (eg. cats), and yet for many people the idea of extending their concern to other animals - particularly those designated the status of livestock - never even enters their consciousness.
** Because we're all beasts of burden
As an anarchist, I try to live my life in ways that undermine systems of domination and work towards the liberation of all. These systems include capitalism, states, racism, patriarchy, and anthropocentrism. Anthropocentrism, like all systems of domination, does not exist in isolation from other relations of oppression, rather these systems tend to reinforce one another.
With specific reference to patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism and racism, I'll now look at a select few examples of how anthropocentrism reinforces and is bolstered by different systems of oppression, and how their existence is maintained by the same fundamental mechanisms.
*** Female bodies as machines of reproduction
Like women under patriarchy, the bodies and reproductive systems of non-human females are considered the dominion of the powerful. For example:
- Female cows are repeatedly raped (forcibly made pregnant by artificial insemination), made to give birth each year, and have their newborn calves taken from them so as to ensure a constant supply of milk to satisfy human desires. The bodies of female cows are used as machines of mass production, udders swollen with injected hormones and intensive breeding, strapped to devices so that the milk normally destined for their young can be appropriated by humans.
- Farmed female prawns around the world have their eyestalks severed as a matter of routine in order to speed up the maturation of their ovaries (which, due to their stressful and unnatural conditions, do not otherwise mature in domestic environments).
- Pregnant sows (female pigs) are confined to farrowing crates - cages the size of their bodies which render them immobile. They remain there for weeks while they feed their piglets through the metal bars, beyond which they are denied any contact with them.
- Modern hens are intensively bred so that their bodies can lay an average of 314 eggs per year, in contrast with their wild hens who only lay around 20.
- Finally, sexist and speciesist language ("bitch" ,"dog", "cow", "bird") is often invoked to keep women down, degrading both these animals and female humans in the process.
*** Capitalist accumulation
Anthropocentrism and capitalism historically forced the mass dispossession of people from British land, through a process of enclosure aimed primarily at increasing the expanse of pastures for animals bred to meet the demands of the the 17th & 18th century meat and wool industries. The process involved the devastation of the country's woodland and the draining of many of its marshes, resulting in a massive loss of habitat and biodiversity for non-domesticated beings. Landless migrant humans headed towards a life of factory slavery in the sprawling cities, the only viable alternative beyond a life of banditry, while their ungulate cousins were to remain prisoners of the pastures. This laid the basis for today's unsustainably large urban populations and total dependency on the bosses for survival, intially in the form of closely-supervised factory labour. The factory model was refined and exported across the globe. This process of enclosure had been going on for centuries, but rapidly took up pace during this period, resulting in whole swathes of the country being depeopled, deforested, and replaced by specially-bred grazing animals. In time, changes in agricultural methods would mean that these creatures too would be moved into factories, and lives spent in cages would become the norm for animals bred to be eaten by humans.
*** Anthropocentrism in colonialism
In a similar manner, anthropocentrism was integral to the rise of mercantile capitalism and colonialism; large tracts of what remained of Britain's forests were sacrificed to build vessels of imperial expansion, which in turn were used to appropriate land and 'resources' overseas. The history of colonialism is of course, also a story of ecological devastation, a well-known example being the decimation of the American bison at the hands of European pioneers with the intention of precipitating a genocide of the indigenous people who depended on these creatures. A wholescale assault on Animistic belief systems in the Americas, sought among other things to sever indigenous peoples' relations with their lands, and break them down into pliable and dependent servants of Christ and capital.
Anthropocentrism remains fundamental to the capitalist accumulation of all the so- called commodities needed to keep the global economy afloat (oil & gas extraction, mining, deforestation, fisheries, agriculture, etc. etc.), which in turn continues to displace black and brown subsistence farmers in the majority world.
*** Of beasts and barbarians
Western imperialism was frequently justified through the rhetoric of the savage Other. A whole host of bestial expressions, racist animal cartoons or human zoos were employed in an attempt to demean and control non-European peoples, or subjugated European populations such as Jews and the Irish, as well as subversive elements and the poor.
Unfortunately, instead of recognising that this rhetoric was, and continues to be, used by oppressors to keep us down, we unthinkingly perpetuate the civilized vs. savage opposition in the language we use to criticise the actions of the powerful. Examples include "humane" (good), "dehumanising" (bad) , "treated like animals" (bad) , "pigs/bacon" for cops, "sheep/sheeple", "lemmings", "cattle", and in many cultures, "dog", "donkey" etc. as terms of offence.
Othering on the basis of appearance and our inability to communicate was a process as fundamental to imperial conquest, slavery and genocide, as it is to our ability to oppress other species. We eat, experiment on, and imprison non-human animals because they look different to us and because we can't understand them. If we fail to recognise the basic mechanisms behind these systems of oppression, we are are left with an impoverished analysis of power and are destined to repeat these injustices.
Anthropocentrism and capitalism are then the foundations of our cancerous and suicidal relationship with the planet and ourselves, while the same dynamics of supremacy based on othering play out in every oppressive relationship, our relationships with non-human lifeforms being no exception.
** Biocentric Anarchy
As opposed to anthropocentrism, I would like to see more comrades living and fighting for an ethic of anarchy and liberation for all lifeforms, not just the smartphone-wielding bipedal variety. To frame the concept in more positive terms, it could be called biocentric anarchy, or bioanarchy. Unlike many primitivists, who advocate hunting, a key practice of bioanarchy might be veganism; a philosophy refusal to participate in animal exploitation by, among other things, not commodifying and consuming them. But while veganism is a vital element in the fight against speciesism, it is not enough in itself. For a start, anyone can claim to be vegan, including fascists. And while looking at our own habits is a fundamental starting point, it's not going to have a major impact on the ecocidal juggernaut unless we also attack the corporations and governments most responsible.
To go a little further then, biocentric anarchy is a way of challenging ourselves to deepen our understanding of ourselves as animals and reconnect with our non-human cousins. It propels us to reorient our ideas and practices as anarchists so as to place equal importance on the liberation non-human life from the clutches of anthropocentrism and capitalism, as we do people from the forces of domination.
This echoes a recent trend among anarchist projects of a more ecological and anti- speciesist bent who identify as 'Total Liberation' groups, differentiating themselves from mainstream currents within animal rights, and challenging other anarchists to make the links between all systems of oppression rather than limiting our concerns to issues that immediately affect our own kind.
It may seem odd, perhaps unnecessary, to come up with another word for what anarchy should already encapsulate. But aside from animal liberationists, and some green or anticivilization anarchists, there are serious blind spots in the analyses and practices of many anarchists when it comes to the other creatures on this planet.
For most green/anti-civilization/primitivist anarchists, rewilding and reconnecting with the earth is a life project. It is not limited to intellectual comprehension or the practice of primitive skills, but instead, it is a deep understanding of the pervasive ways in which we are domesticated, fractured, and dislocated from our selves, each other, and the world, and the enormous and daily undertaking to be whole again. Rewilding has a physical component which involves reclaiming skills and developing methods for a sustainable co- existence, including how to feed, shelter, and heal ourselves with the plants, animals, and materials occurring naturally in our bioregion. It also includes the dismantling of the physical manifestations, apparatus, and infrastructure of civilization. Rewilding has an emotional component, which involves healing ourselves and each other from the 10,000 year-old wounds which run deep, learning how to live together in non-hierarchical and non-oppressive communities, and deconstructing the domesticating mindset in our social patterns. Rewilding involves prioritizing direct experience and passion over mediation and alienation, re-thinking every dynamic and aspect of our reality, connecting with our feral fury to defend our lives and to fight for a liberated existence, developing more trust in our intuition and being more connected to our instincts, and regaining the balance that has been virtually destroyed after thousands of years of patriarchal control and domestication. Rewilding is the process of becoming uncivilized. For the Destruction of Civilization! For the Reconnection to Life!
"...biocentric anarchy is a way of challenging ourselves to deepen our understanding of ourselves as animals and reconnect with our non-human cousins, it propels us to reorient our ideas and practices as anarchists so as to place equal importance on the liberation of non-human life from the dutches of anthropocentrism and capitalism, as we do people from the forces of domination. This echoes a recent trend among anarchist projects of a more ecological and anti-speciesist bent who identify as 'Total Liberation' groups, differentiating themselves from mainstream currents within animal rights, and challenging other anarchists to make the links between all systems of oppression rather than limiting our concerns to issues that immediately affect our own kind."