OAK JOURNAL No.4, Spring 2022

(New copies discounted with some cover wear)

A blistering large issue with contributions from Jessica Kraft, 4LH, Zerzan, Bob Black, Jason Rodgers, Clare Follmann & SMH

"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.

So here, in Oak, we will attempt to let those divisions fizzle in the ether of the internet. We may still draw lines and gnash teeth in these pages, but it will be in the realm of action -- the realm of articulated living -- that we will brandish our weapons, both literal and figurative.

The battles ahead are more meaningful than suffixes and prefixes added for personal identification; words will be spoken out loud that make the clattering disagreements coming through keyboards and illuminated screens seem less than petty. The world is literally dying. Some form of it will always exist; the wild, the uncontrollable will always prevail. But until that time when we are dust and bones, I hope we can tie our meshwork of personalities and ideas together, spar as needed, and realize some semblance of a world (perhaps many different worlds) without civilization."