John Zerzan, anti-civ anarchist writer and theorist will be giving 3 talks in Montreal on May 15, 16 and 18. In Montreal, there has been for several years a number of green anarchists of various persuasions, and a number of anarcho-communists or situationist and marxist inspired leftists that would rather that the green anarchists disappear.

With the appearance of the north eastern federation of anarcho-communists, an organisationalist, platformist group, the gulf between the non anarcho-communists and them tended to widen. Montreal's green-anarchists were found in groups such as Liberterre, and in the Mauvaise Herbe, which is still active as a green-anarchist group.

A situ inspired, hyper-organisationalist, pro-tech group called Hors-d'Oeuvre came into being 2 years ago. Their flashy page layouts, website (hors-doeuvre.org/) and strident, shock tactic rhetoric is largely the work of one person, "badacid".

Hors-d'Oeuvre is opposed to Zerzan's coming to Montreal. The group leafleted during the very red-black (and maoist) Mayday march calling for the formation of a Coalition for progress in the anarchist milieu...

This wasn't the only thing they did. The group sent a threatening email to Zerzan. It was written in English, unlike nearly all of their texts, written in French. Here it is:

02.05.2008 - Warning (to John Zerzan)
Montreal’s a dangerous place. Stop. Especially for you. Stop. It’s primitivist season. Stop. Stay where you are. Stop. A message from Hors-d’Øeuvre.

This short cryptic threat was then posted on their website, where it still remains.

The flyer they gave out on Mayday was translated into English. It can be seen in it's original on their website, as a laid-out pdf or text. Here it is in English:

Forward.
Forward.
We don't back down!

The time for the plenary is over. Before starting a war, we should consult our potential allies. The goal of this tract is to gather those people who, like us, think that the notions of progress and revolution are inseparable. Indeed, we wish to go from words to deeds: it is time to organise a broad contestation of individualist, primitivist and post-leftist ideas.

All these ideologies are the product of the latest big international crisis of capitalism. Rich in lessons for the bourgeoisie, the brief revolutionary period which followed 1968 ended in a liberal reform and a co-optation without precedent of subversive ideas. The ruling class saw the importance of neutralising the diverse marxist political ideas in vogue at the time. The task consisted in inventing bastard fields of study by employing the fallen idols of the revolt. These cynical intellectual celebrities repressed their earlier desires as they gained more and more power in the universities and elsewhere. The failure of their policies lead to the politics of failure: post-modernism.

To the fabrications of postmodern ideologues, we oppose a political praxis that values more than ever rationality and progress. By progress, we understand a positive evolution of civilisation working towards a collective goal: happiness. Placing under common control the means of production via direct democracy is a project at once exciting and essential. The revolution is a change of state which consists in the passage to a superior degree of society. A return backwards is impossible. Idealist political conceptions of our adversaries offer no solutions to the problems of humanity. This is why on a daily basis our work is done with proven modern methods, such as documentary research, investigative journalism, critical reflection, training and organisation in political groups.

Zerzan the individual will be in town soon. We will wage war on him, since he's the impostor par excellence of contemporary anarchism. To advocate regression is literally reactionary. To be opposed to language, to mathematics and to music is to be opposed to the beauty of the world. We are faced with a genocidal, nihilist policy. (We're) sick of these insufferable contradictions. The confusion has gone on long enough. Enough of progressive conservatives, parliamentary maoists, bohemian bourgeois, anarchist primitivists, libertarian professors and other political schizophrenics.

We invite you to a meeting with the view to forming a Coalition for progress in the anarchist milieu based on individuals. It will take the form of a deliberative meeting; we value your contributions. Meeting on Sunday May 4 at 2 p.m. sharp, in UQAM's agora. Hors-d'oeuvre will submit a plan of action including a polemical text.

Hors-d'Oeuvre

We will force them to admit that everything continues.

*****

A number of individuals (many outside of the Mauvaise Herbe, which is hosting Zerzan's trip to Montreal) and groups such as the bookfair collective have expressed concern about the possibility of disruption. Hors-d'Oeuvre (HO) has mostly just put out vitriolic texts. When the Mauvaise Herbe (MH) had Jason McQuinn speak here, they also picketed, and a few opportunistic Nefacers also joined in and asked questions after the talk. There is one known incident where HO beat up someone in the anarchist milieu.

HO is trying to whip people up against green anarchism in Montreal. Badacid, ever the post-university (older) patriarchal type, seems to use HO as a vehicle to appeal to younger, pre-university students who are perhaps less experienced, but are trying to make their way in what they believe is anarchism and radicalism. HO is a spectacle unto itself; one can't be sure they are completely serious or trying to parody a certain ultra-left approach.

Also of note: For many years now the MH has distributed many pamphlets and books in French and English of Zerzan's writings, as well as those of other (notorious) post-leftists, anti-org or anti-civ writers such as Bob Black and Fredy Perlman. HO has never tried to have these publications removed from the anarchist bookstore, l'Insoumise. All of a sudden, the arrival of one of the authors we carry is considered too outrageous for them. For groups like the Nefac and HO, their favorite authors can't come to Montreal. Bakunin and Malatesta are dead, Guy Debord is also dead. For green anarchists, some of our thinkers, like Perlman, are dead, but others are alive. Jensen, Glendinning, Zerzan, Black and others are alive and will speak where they wish and where they are invited. This is not negotiable, and anarchists in Montreal won't accept that one group, HO, becomes the police-buffoons of the milieu.