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"Good-Bye to anarchistnews.org from JZ"

"Finally the stink of the anews project has become too much for me. There was the acceptance of the ITS lets-murder-passersby. Now the who-could-condemn -sex with -kids, the great applause to that from the (anonymous of course) anews posts. Meanwhile Aragorn! asks, 'when did you accept reality? (accept defeat).' Could there be more definite gifts to our enemies? No more Anarchy Radio for theses cynics of surrender, who somehow call themselves 'anarchists'(??) Don't fucking touch Anarchy Radio broadcasts."

- John Zerzan (source: https://anarchistnews.org/content/anarchy-radio-06-11-2019-word-anews-jz )

This is a message from JZ back in this June that falsely accuses Anews of associating with ITS, sex with kids, and calls out Aragorn!. At this point, it’s getting pretty old reading comments from anonymous people thinking Anews is acting "childish" (see comments a few above this one) and that Anews is seemingly the problem, and not the kind of comments directed at Anews from people like John Zerzan.

While JZ’s critique is so bad that it doesn’t even deserve a response (thecollective did respond though[1]) – let’s quickly get some facts straight here, since people still don’t seem to understand it. Anews has never been associated with ITS and to claim such is basically doing the states job of attacking other anarchist projects. This is just a smear from a very popular anarchist, yet other readers and anarchists will then go on to perpetuate this idea, until it becomes believable folklore digested by readers because some famous anarchist said it (if it hasn’t already become such).

Next up, John Zerzan calls the people behind Anews pedophiles. Again, this shouldn’t even need to be written, but they provide absolutely no further explanation. Like what are they even talking about? As a reader of Anews, I assume they are talking about the Heresy Distro text that was shared on Anews previously about Wolfi’s text from the 1980s. So, Anews has sex with kids because they shared a text that did a terrible job at trying to critique Wolfi, someone who isn’t even associated with the Anews project. At this point in John’s sentence, I feel like it’s almost as bad as trying to have a meaningful conversation with your drunk obnoxious family relative around the dinner table. Their level of critique is below zero, but again they’re a famous anarchist who is saying this, and unfortunately group think is a thing.

And finally, John Zerzan makes up a personal attack against Aragorn! who other than the podcasts, I believe has publicly stated that they’ve tried to distance themselves from the Anews project over the years. So, now John is critiquing someone who has tried to distance themselves from the project because they seem to have personal issues with Aragorn!... I listened to an old Anarchy Radio and was just plain shocked to hear John talk, well actually almost YELL about Aragorn!, like that is some real deep hostility there and as usual, they offered up nothing of an actual critique.

On a personal level, I’ve really enjoyed John Zerzan’s ideas and writings over the years. I grew up reading them, have written to John before, got a postcard and some emails, called into Anarchy Radio and chatted, and overall found the conversations to be stimulating and enjoyable. However, the kind of stuff listed above is a giant turn off and has really made me think twice about things. No we all don’t have to get along, but at least have a solid critique and not just slinging mud at other anarchists and their projects like you’re on a middle school playground because you don’t like them.

- Rocinante

[1] (here is the letter to JZ from thecollective, previously shared as comment on Anews)
Open letter to JZ from thecollective

On the butt hurt accusations over the years…

After years of accusing us over email that we weren't posting your stories because we had a problem with you, you now are broadcasting that the problem is that we're posting your episodes.

Let us clarify something for you. Your show is called Anarchy Radio. Our project re-posts and posts stories by, for, and/or about anarchists, frequently whether we agree that they're anarchist or not. We do not ask permission from the people we re-post for a number of reasons, perhaps most significantly because if it's online, then it's open to the world, by definition. We also don't ask permission because we stand by the anarchist ethic of decentralization and support having more forums for discussion, *especially* of things that are by, for, and/or about us. For example, if it had been possible to post this response on your website, then we would've put this open letter there. As it is, here we are.

If you are serious about not wanting anarchists to talk about your show, then you are certainly free to change the name of your broadcast, and perhaps stop calling yourself an anarchist as well. No one has coined "wild primalist yet," I expect.