A committee that will remain invisible

"The Coming Insurrection" is a text written by The Invisible Committee, an anonymous and perhaps imaginary French group. The French authorities claim that the real authors are the so-called Tarnac 9, a group of anarchists arrested and charged with terrorism in 2008. This edition is published in the United States by Semiotext(e) and seems to have gained a certain popularity and notoriety, even being attacked on Fox News (!).

The ideological orientation of The Invisible Committee is eclectic. Insurrectionary anarchism, Situationism and anarcho-primitivism seem to be the main influences. Sometimes, the authors do make interesting observations. What I found most interesting was their strong longing for authentic community, something they believe that modern capitalism and the centralized state has destroyed. They are obviously inspired by "Green" ideas and seem to long for some clean, country living as well.

However, the anonymous authors have no idea how to bring this happy state of affairs about. They romanticize riots and criminals, advocating "dropping out", cheating on the system, and forming illegal networks of trade and smuggling. It's not clear to me whether they actually call for drug trade. In the fashion of insurrectionist anarchists (a specific current within anarchist thought), they seem to identify the revolution with larger and larger riots, but the pamphlet contains no real strategy for this either. Somehow, The Invisible Committee seems to believe that the revolution will just happen one shiny day, spontaneously. It's also ironic that these people, who have seen through everything else, haven't seen through terrorism and riots. As if modern terrorism and riots weren't a part of the spectacle! This is especially true of anarchist riots, which sometimes are almost ritualized.

In sum, I don't think Fox News need to fear this French version of the Unabomber. I think "The coming insurrection" will remain radical chic...and invisible.