Desert
Another pamphlet from the anarchist book fair this one being a freebie and anonymous presumably as the author is still very much active in the libertarian struggle and I guess in ways that puts his or her liberty in danger. Basic premise is that we're too late to save civilisation (not necessarily a bad thing) or the ecology of the planet (as far as supporting billions of humans goes) and most involved in fighting for a better world (as defined by anarchists, ecologists, libertarians, syndicalists) know this fact and are either fighting a losing battle getting more depressed about it or have given up completely. The booklet takes us down this path in very logical arguments and is very well written and thought through even if you may not agree with either the ecological conclusions or why this is not a bad state of affairs from an anarchist viewpoint. I think much of the analysis is taken from others and one or two in particular. The author's view is that as civilisation disintegrates there will be pockets where anarchists can live together in communal living perhaps more so than is possible today. Examples of where such communities have existed and do so today are given. Counter arguments that limited resources will squeeze such libertarian communities are considered but overall the feeling is that liberty can be found as civilisation fragments.
I get the feeling that the author is sort of looking forward to carving out a libertarian way of life amongst the chaos but I feel that it'll be a lot more devastating than the author hopes for and despots and totalitarian governments and / or companies will ensure that there is no room for small communities to flourish anywhere that anyone can scrape together a living. And those in the central / equatorial regions which will become deserts (hence the title) will flood towards the warming northern parts not necessarily having living a community based way of life at the top of their agenda. An odd passage was saying that being in a shanty town gave a certain feeling of liberty and where I can see the author's point in the way that it's presented I was thinking that they presumably knew that they could leave at any time so not living with the stresses that others in that community would be.
Overall a very good read though. I had to take the photo myself as couldn't find on-line and although found a couple of reviews of this booklet can't find the publisher on-line: Stac an Armin press, St Kilda
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