Peering through the fog behind his eyes, he saw an alcohologram a world of anguish, in which intoxication was the only escape. Hating himself even more than he hated the corporate killers who had cre- ated it, he stumbled to his feet and headed back to the liquor store.

Ensconced in their penthouses, they counted the dollars pouring in from millions like him, and chuckled to themselves at the ease with which all opposition was crushed. But they, too, often had to drink themselves to sleep at night? if ever those vanquished masses stop coming back for more, the tycoons sometimes fretted to themselves, there? s going to be hell to pay . . .

Wasted Indeed Anarchy & Alcohol
Ecstasy vs. Intoxication For a World of Enchantment, or Anarchaholism? Adapted from Guy Debord? s famous work, ? ? Insobriety and the Spectacle?

Predictable Disclaimer
As in the case of every CrimethInc. text, this one only represents the perspectives of whoever agrees with it at the time, not the ? ? entire CrimethInc. ex-Workers? Collective? or any other abstract mass. Somebody who does important work under the CrimethInc. moniker is probably getting wasted at the moment we type this? and that? s OK!

Sloshed, smashed, trashed, loaded, wrecked, wasted, blasted, plastered, tanked, fucked up, bombed. Everyone? s heard of the Arctic people who have one hundred different words for snow we have one hundred words for drunk. We perpetuate our own culture of defeat.

Sedition not Sedation
Hold it right there? I can see the sneer on your face Are these anarchists so uptight that they would even denounce the only fun aspect of anarchism? the beer after the riots, the liquor in the pub where all that pie-in-the-sky theory is bandied about? What do they do for fun, anyway? cast aspersions on the little fun we do have? Don? t we get to relax and have a good time in any part of our lives?

Do not misunderstand us we are not arguing against indulgence, but for it. Ambrose Bierce defined an ascetic as ? ? a weak person who succumbs to the temptation of denying himself pleasure,? and we concur. As Chuck Baudelaire wrote, ? ? you must always be high. Everything depends on this.? So we are not against drunkenness, but rather against drink! Those who embrace drink as a route to drunkenness thus cheat themselves of total life enchantment.

Drink, like caffeine or sugar in the body, only plays a role in life that life itself can provide for otherwise. The woman who never drinks coffee does not require it in the morning when she awakens her body produces energy and focus on its own, as thousands of generations of evolution have prepared it to do. If she drinks coffee regularly, soon her body lets the coffee take over that role, and she becomes dependent upon it. Thus does alcohol artificially provide for temporary moments of relaxation and release while impoverishing life of all that is genuinely restful and liberating.

If some sober people in this society do not seem as reckless and free as their boozer counterparts, that is a mere accident of culture, mere circumstantial evidence. Those puritans exist all the same in a world drained of all magic and genius by the alcoholism of their fellows (and the capitalism, hierarchy, misery it helps maintain)? the only difference is that they are so self-abnegating as to refuse even the false magic, the genie in the bottle. But other ? ? sober? folk, whose orientation to living might better be described as enchanted or ecstatic, are plentiful, if you look hard enough. For these individuals? for us? life is a constant celebration, one which needs no augmentation and from which we need no respite.

Alcohol, like prozac and all the other mind-control medications that are making big bucks for Big Brother these days, substitutes symptomatic treatment for cure. It takes away the pain of a dull, drab existence for a few hours at best, then returns it twofold. It not only replaces positive actions which would address the root causes of our despondency? it prevents them, as more energy becomes focused on achieving and recovering from the drunken state. Like the tourism of the worker, drink is a pressure valve that releases tension while maintaining the system that creates it.

In this push-button culture, we? ve become used to conceiving of ourselves as simple machines to be operated add the appropriate chemical to the equation to get the desired result. In our search for health, happiness, meaning in life, we run from one panacea to the next? Viagra, vitamin C, vodka? instead of approaching our lives holistically and addressing our problems at their social and economic roots. This product-oriented mindset is the foundation of our alienated consumer society without consuming products, we can? t live! We try to buy relaxation, community, self- confidence? now even ecstasy comes in a pill!

We want ecstasy as a way of life, not a liver-poisoning alcoholiday from it. ? ? Life sucks? get drunk? is the essence of the argument that enters our ears from our masters? tongues and then passes out of our own slurring mouths, perpetuating whatever incidental and unnecessary truths it may refer to? but we? re not falling for it any longer! Against inebriation? and for drunkenness!

burn every liquor store, and replace them with playgrounds!

Like any lifestyle choice, be it vagabondage or union membership, abstention from alcohol can sometimes be mistaken as an end rather than a means.

The only strategy for sharing good ideas that succeeds unfailingly (and that goes for hotheaded, alienating tracts like this one as well!) is the power of example? if you put ? ? ecstatic sobriety? into action in your life, and it works, those who sincerely want similar things will join in. Passing judgment on others for decisions that affect only themselves is noxious to any anarchist? not to mention it makes them less likely to experiment with the options you offer.

And so? the question of solidarity and community with anarchists and others who do use alcohol and drugs. We propose that these are of utmost importance. Especially in the case of those who are struggling to free themselves from unwanted addictions, such solidarity is paramount Alcoholics Anonymous, for example, is just one quasi-religious organization filling a social need that should already be provided for by anarchist community self-organizing. As in every case, we anarchists must ask ourselves do we take our positions simply to feel superior to the unwashed (er, washed) masses? or because we sincerely want to propagate accessible alternatives? Besides, most of us who are not substance-addicted can thank our privileges and good fortune for this this gives us all the more responsibility to be good allies to those who have not had such privileges or luck? on whatever terms they set. Let tolerance, humility, accessibility, and sensitivity be qualities we nurture in ourselves, not self-righteousness or pride. No separatist sobriety!

[this is not the complete text]