ECOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE
88
Most important, in these critiques and reconstructions of modem desire,
we see a utopian impulse that recognizes within the human spirit a potentiality
for cooperation and ecological harmony: From the joyous mutualism depicted
by Rich and Lorde to the ‘ecological sensuality 5 depicted by Walker in the
character of Shug, we see an antidote to the anti-humanism that marks much
contemporary ecological discourse. Here we see an expression of the desire to
be deeply related both socially and ecologically; a desire obstructed not by
‘modernity 5 or ‘humanity5, but by social hierarchy itself.
Notes
1. See Jeffrey B. Russell, "The Brethren of the Free Spirit," in Religious Dissent in the Middle
Agesed. J.B. Russell (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1971), p. 87-90.
2. Quoted in Murray Bookchin, The Ecology of Freedom (Palo Alto: Cheshire Books, 1982).
3. Ibid., p. 211.
4. Concerning questions of desire, the social tradition departs from, the romantic and liberal
traditions dramatically. If die romantic idealizes the exceptional qualities of a particular
individual, the social anarchist recognizes the potential for exceptional qualities within the
many. For those in the social tradition, the best in human nature is to be expected and
encouraged by and for everyone, rather than being located within one ideal individual.
5. Errico Malatesta, Anarchy (Great Britain: Freedom Press, 1974), p. 26.
6 .
Emma Goldman, "Anarchism: What it Really Stands For," in Anarchism and Othej' Essays
(New York: Dover Publications, 19^9), p. 6l.
7. In contrast to Freud, most social anarchists regard desire as a vital catalyst toward releasing
the human potential for cooperation and dynamic self-governance within society. Social
anarchism carries an implicit philosophy of desire, proposing that individuals can potentially
express a wide variety of social desires when organized within desirable non-hierarchical
structures. For instance, Emma Goldman in her essay, "Sex, The Great Element for Creative
Work," challenges the Freudian notion that creativity is made possible by the repression of
sexual desire. She writes, "the creative spirit is not an antidote to the sex instinct,, but a part of
its forceful express ion... Sex is the source of life... Since love is an art, sex love is likewise an
art." In this way, Goldman maintained that sexual desire is not only compatible with, but
actually complementary to, a full social life. See Candace Falk, Love, Anarchy, and Emma
Goldman (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1984), p. 99.
8 .
James Baldwin, "The Fire Next Time," In The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction
1943 - 1985 (New York: St. Martin's, 1985), p. 375.
9. Ibid., p. 315.
10. In Bookchin's Post-Scarcity, we see the emergence of an appreciation of the subjective
dimensions of revolution that could not be accounted for by Marxist based theories. See
Murray Bookchin, Post-Scarcity Anarchism (Montreal: Black Rose Books, Reprinted 1986).
11. Ibid., p. 307.
12. Ibid., p. 66.
13. Vaneigem's text, with the writings of Guy Debord, constituted a small but influential
literary canon most associated with Situationism and the events of 1968. See Raoul Vaneigem,
The Revolution of Eveiyday Life, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (London: Aldgate Press 1983).
14. for an exciting and well written discussion of Situationist history and implications for
contemporary
postmodern
discourse,
see
Sadie
Plant,
The Most Radical Gesture:
The
Situationist International in a Postmodern Age (London: Routledge, 1992).
15. Quoted in Situationist International Anthology, trans., ed. Ken Knabb (Berkeley: The
Bureau of Public Secrets, 1989), p. 344.
16. Ibid., p. 344.
17. Ibid., p. 43.