Former US Cop Talks Like Anarchist
Mike Ruppert of FromTheWilderness.com made a radical statement in a recent speech on oil depletion. What does it mean for the anarchist movement when 'right-wing conspiracy theorists' are singing their tune?
Today I began reading a transcript of a talk Mike Ruppert gave at the New York Petrocollapse Conference on October 5 2005. The comment that leaped out at me was this:
"In fact, by understanding clearly that political, economic and business elites have been aware of Peak Oil and its deadly implications, we can see that remedial actions designed to save lives and minimize the effects of collapse can and will only be initiated by individuals working through and as part of local communities."
Ruppert is no lefty. A former New York police officer he left the force as a result of his investigation into the role of US secret services in drug running. He has been heavily criticised by many on the far left for everything from participating in an oil company led propoganda campaign to raise oil prices (and thereby profits) to over-exaggerating the imminence or impact of Peak Oil. Yet according to the Listener (hardly an oil industry mouthpiece) OPEC claim to have enough oil for only 40 years at current levels of usage. Of course usage is climbing exponentially due to the industrialisation of 'developing' countries like China and India. Meanwhile a former OPEC analyst claims that their current figures overestimate the amount of recoverable oil.
Ruppert's statement about individuals and communities being the nexus of real change is in conflict with both the corporatist ideology of traditional conservatives and free marketeers and the statist ideology of the liberal and socialist left. He is one example of a fascinating trend that has come out of the networked movements against corporate globalisation, independent commentators who cannot be easily placed on the traditional left-right political spectrum nor even on the two axis (market-state, liberal-conservative) spectrum promoted by the Libertarians.
These investigative writers, speakers and media makers are either being influenced by the anarchist input into the anti-summit mobilisations or coming to the same conclusions by their own path. While there are certainly neo-conservative conspiracy media like Investigate magazine there are also conspiracy publications like UnCensored which are much more liberal in their social outlook and anti-corporate if not anticapitalist in their political and economic outlook.
Rupport's comments point to the need for an ongoing discussion amongst everyone who identifies themselves as anti-state, anti-corporate or anti-capitalist about the nature of power, the mechanisms by which it is used and alternative ways of organising as individuals, local communities and wider social networks to actively distribute power and make decisions that effectively integrate everyone's input.
I'll leave the last word to Ruppert himself:
"All real solutions will be place-based, local and originate at the grass roots, independent of government. What saves you and your family will be determined by what and who is in your own neighborhood and what kind of cooperation has been achieved there."
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Re: Former US Cop Talks Like Anarchist
Also, enough oil for 40 years at current levels of usage doesn't address the rate of extraction. We won't keep pumping oil at the same rate until it comes to a sudden total stop; once peak oil is reached, extraction will become steadily slower and more expensive, causing us massive problems closer to the start of the 40 years than the end. And that's assuming "40 years" isn't a wild exaggeration itself.
Re: Former US Cop Talks Like Anarchist
I get the point about oil depletion, but is it true that:
'remedial actions designed to save lives and minimize the effects of collapse can and will only be initiated by individuals working through and as part of local communities'
Surely there needs to be action on a national and international scale?
The trouble is that the rule of the market and the absence of planned economies means that this sort of action is almost impossible. Take oil prices - they are so high now that there is going to be massive investment in exploration and refineries, but this is only going to a) lead to a crisis of overproduction, which would bring the price of oil back down, and create further disincentives to the development of alternatives and b) an increase long-term dependency on oil. I don't see anything local communities can do on their own about this. To change it you have to take over the whole economy.
Re: Former US Cop Talks Like Anarchist
In a normal state of a peaceful world, the military has to occupy itself in some useful social purpose in order to sustain it from being victimized by the white elephant syndrome. Certainly with a nation which asserts itself a super power, Peace is the Number 1 enemy. What is the US should do with its accumulation of advanced weaponry and technology? From this portrait alone, a psycho socialist can draw the elements in the engineering of a colossal conflict, and to spin it with the aspects of energy, economy, religion, culture, and immigration. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, it is a monster! And we shall call him; “Terrorist”. In the name of Terrorism, imperial crime shall be justified’.
A deja-vu? Just before a Terrorist attack strikes, either Mr. Bush, Blair, or Mr. Howard would have made a public statement usually about oil or terrorism. All of the terrorist attacks which take place in a public area have live and traumatic images. The Media then run with the story every minute of the day for about six months. Their social rhetoric accompanies the Media images to produce maximum effects. And the public is supposed to be captivated by fear, turn against those of other cultures and immigrants.
Fortunately for the public, the grand plan had faults in it right from the outset. The flaws revealed the plan was put in place before 9/11, and there were no WMD. Now the voice of the same triplet is rising once again. It is Iran on target. Accordingly, Terrorism is expected to strike in the middle of US with the intended outcome of producing maximum effect, to pump up support for another war.
But the American folks are far too good for this, have made up their minds that the war of Iraq is a mistake, and are calling for the withdrawal of troops. Mr. Bush’s support has descended in all time low.
And I join the American folks with their struggle against the imperial dictators. It is a good cause for solidarity among the poor, the innocents, and the workers of the world. If the consumers and workers can achieve a united global body, then the governments become either useless or reinforced with true democracy. And this is the power of opposition.
Is there a protest march on December 1st 2005, apart from all the talk festivities around the country…
Re: Former US Cop Talks Like Anarchist
Scott, I think the key word is "initiated". I think you know better than to think national or global action cannot be taken by networks of communities and individuals independent of the state or other centralised structures.
Re: Former US Cop Talks Like Anarchist
National and global protest action, yes, but not the implementation of changes on a national and global scale. How do you imagine this being done without revolution?
Re: Former US Cop Talks Like Anarchist
Scott, again I think your question misses the point. Just what do you imagine revolution to be? "...the implementation of changes on a national and global scale..." "...by networks of communities and individuals independent of the state or other centralised structures..." sounds like a good definition to me. What's yours?
Re: Former US Cop Talks Like Anarchist
Hi Strypey,
I guess I was thinking about the Zapatistas thread up at the moment as well as this one when I made my query. I can't see how avoiding confronting the state and capital, and instead trying to create spaces that are autonomous from them, a la say the Zapatistas, could create the fundamental change that would be required to end oil dependency, or any other major problem. I don't think it would be possible to end oil dependency by withdrawing communities one by one from the global market.
I think that you can only create an alternative to capitalism, and thus to oil dependency, on a large scale, by tying together a number of economic sectors with an alternative economic plan that uses resources sensibly on the basis of human need, not the whims of the market. Without controlling a whole economy, and preferably a wealthy one, you just don't have the resources.
But to create such a plan means taking over a whole economy, and thus confronting a capitalist class and its state head on. You can't do this without organising on at least a national scale and establishing your own set of institutions which enable you to coordinate your forces - which means creating, let's face it, your own state. You can call it something else if you like, but it's a state.
For all the nobiliy of their aims, the Zapatistas have not succeeded in lifting their people out of poverty. How could they, when their refusal to try to take power leaves them isolated in a poor corner of Mexico? They don't have the resources to give their people the services they need.
Contrast the situation in Chiapas with that in Venezuela, where in the space of only a few years infant mortality has been slashed and illiteracy almost eliminated. Like the people of Chiapas, Venezuelans have organised extensively in their communities; unlike the people of Chiapas, they have had access to the resources of a national economy, and have been able to create their own 'shadow state' of Misions (new Ministries) to administer desperately needed services and, let's face it, to repress the people who want to take power away from them.
So what's wrong with saying that the solution to problems like oil dependency is taking power over whole economies and radically restructuring them so that they benefit the people who work in them.
I just think the Zapatista-style strategy is a dead end.