A call to participate in a new anarchist journal, entitled, Oak, from an anti-civilization perspective.

There is no food that means more to me than the acorn, for the acorn fulfills both a promise and a fantasy: that the forest will provide for me.

– Samuel Thayer

Issue 1: Perpetual Apocalypse – Spring 2020

Few things are as breathtaking as a forest of oak and its many expressions. The incredible symphony of falling acorns — a harbinger of bounty and community. For millennia the acorn has provided food for humanity and countless other species. The promise and resilience of the oak stands as a reminder of possibility. It’s likely that for thousands of years fires were set, not just to create areas for game, but to preferentially seed oak trees. It seems fitting that we should show homage to the ubiquitous oak by celebrating it in our title.

Since I can remember there’s been unceasing division within the anarchist and anti-civilization milieus, both at large and in my immediate experience. It seems we’re always knives first, taking aim at the comfortable targets a few degrees away from us. While I’m all for good sparring practice, I believe the connections must remain if we are to survive and thrive.

The possibility of maintaining an intimate and dynamic meshwork of communication is real. In the wake of civilized life, finding someone — anyone — who also chooses to reject the dominant paradigm of perpetual nightmare should be exhilarating. There will always be lines to draw, many of them are already drawn for us by the active overlords and domesticators. But many other lines are blurry at best and, given our context, meaningless at worst. Too many disagreements in the digital age end in snarky division articulated via electronic communication, a pathetic reality not worthy of our once-wild selves.

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