June 11, 2022

"Peter Lamborn Wilson, a counterculture intellectual, anarchist, poet, musicologist and utopian who coined the term 'temporary autonomous zone'... died on May 23...."

"["T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism" argued] that one could create one’s own stateless society — the goal of anarchy — with simple and poetic acts like creating public art and communal exercises like dinner parties.... When, in the fall of 2011, a crowd of protesters decrying the country’s financial system built an encampment inside Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan and declared a movement they called Occupy Wall Street, 'T.A.Z.' was in many of the organizers’ backpacks.... Temporary autonomous zones have continued to flourish....

"A sample [from the book]: 'Weird dancing in all-night computer-banking lobbies. Unauthorized pyrotechnic displays. Land-art, earthworks as bizarre alien artifacts strewn in State Parks. Burglarize houses but instead of stealing, leave Poetic-Terrorist objects.' Additional bullet points include exhortations to boycott products marked as Lite; hex the Muzak company; go on strike; dance all night; start a pirate radio station; put up posters; home-school your kids or teach them a craft; don’t vote; be a hobo.... By all accounts, Mr. Wilson was erudite about the recondite, a prolific author of some 60 books on topics ranging from angels to pirate utopias and all manner of renegade religions.... But because his writing often included erotic imagery of young teenage boys, he was controversial. 'I always had a fairly conflicted position about how to handle the issue,' [his publisher Jim] Fleming said. 'Whether to downplay it or try to defend it in some way. He identified as gay, but I never knew him to have a sexual partner, or an actual sex life. His sexual practices were what I call Whitmanesque, imaginal only.'"

From "Peter Lamborn Wilson, Advocate of ‘Poetic Terrorism,’ Dies at 76/His concept of a 'temporary autonomous zone' became an inspiration for protests like Occupy Wall Street and for gatherings like Burning Man" (NYT).

13 comments:

Cribraun said...

Am I wrong to detect a bit of bias here? Would a right wing radical get such a gentle glowing remembrance? Or would his words related to relations with underage boys be interpreted so benignly?

gilbar said...

isn't it COOL? That our world is being influenced (and steered by,) complete fucked up freaks?
i mean, WHAT HARM could come, from having a significant portion of our population thinking that they should follow people; that can't even find sexual partners?
What harm could come of that?

Cribraun said...

Perhaps I am naive but I suspect a right wing radical would not receive such a glowing remembrance and certainly his or her comments related to underage boys would not be treated so benignly.

stutefish said...

Temporary autonomous zones are a cop-out. It's easy enough to run things into the ground and end the "project" when you realize you haven't thought it through and don't know the first thing about building a society. Try keeping an autonomous zone together long enough to rediscover things like police and government. Then we'll talk. Mostly we'll talk about how every "genius" breakthrough you're having about the society you're trying to build is either something we already have, or something we've already tried and found to be worse than what we have now.

JMR said...

Good riddance.

Josephbleau said...

“Mr. Wilson was erudite about the recondite, “

At least that description is entertaining. Him very big joss. Know much about nothing.

Ambrose said...

He coined a tern that pretty close to no one has ever heard or used. Tell it to St. Petter at the gate. Rest in peace.

YoungHegelian said...

How far Anarchism has fallen!

Kropotkin would be appalled!

William said...

He made it to seventy six. As temporary autonomous zones go, that's fairly durable. I don't think he was expecting much from the eternal after life, which is probably just as well.

Wilbur said...

A few things I learned reading this article - https://libcom.org/article/leaving-out-ugly-part-hakim-beypeter-lamborn-wilson - by a fellow anarchist about Lamborn (or his pseudonym, Hakim Bey):

He was an enthusiastic contributor to man-boy love publications, and wrote rather extensively on the subject, defending it under the large tent of anarchism.

Ne was glowingly profiled on NPR in 2003.

He was anti-abortion.

Tina Trent said...

Isn't it funny that the first things these Temporary Autonomous Zones demand is a free electrical hook-up, paid by the taxpayers and property owners? Then they want free sanitation pick-up, free port-o-lets, free protection from locals whose land they have stolen, and free food?

I infiltrated one. The needed electricity to power their big kitchen set-up and expensive personal computers. And a lot of them weren't Americans -- they spoke French, probably grad students down from Montreal, where all this garbage started.

MikeR said...

For those interested, these are my son's notes on his time at Occupy Wall Street. Copyright. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i18mQTPScqj5eWIIHl0WZur_wr8os6fX/view?usp=sharing
What happens in an anarchy?

Tina Trent said...

Utopian means one of two things: I get to fuck all the women and children. Or, nobody fucks at all as they wait for the end.