The new anarchists

ROBERT PRINCE

Eugene's anarchists: spawned by a cross of street youth and woods warriors.

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More About

• Eugene (Oregon)
• John Zerzan
• Cindy Noblitt
• Urban Renewal
• Economic Issues

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While the Eugene movement has spawned community institutions like the free school and a new cable access TV show, it is primarily oppositional. For Zerzan, the issue of what should replace our techno-civilization is almost irrelevant: "What do you replace cancer with?" he asks. "The bottom line is, how bad do you think it is?"

The presence of a tolerant university community and a radical environmental movement helped spawn primitivism, but the questions it raises and its appeal to young idealists are just as relevant in a larger city like Seattle. In an alienating society, what do we have to offer youth that's more constructive than breaking windows? Answers to that question aren't easy, but we had better learn to articulate them soon.