The following article is an English translation of a text by Reacción Salvaje [Wild Reaction] from February 26, 2015 and constitutes an important contribution with regards to the development and positioning of the eco-extremist tendency. Those interested in analyzing and criticizing this tendency would be well-advised to read it.

Translated from Spanish by Palmer Amaranth
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Coahuila, February 26, 2015.

Having read the Venezuelan anarchist Rodolfo Montes de Oca interviewing “Destruye las Prisiones” [Destroy the Prisons] (DP) – the anarchist anti-prison insurrectionist tendency publication -, Wild Reaction will offer some responses, comments and contemplations. This isn’t from a desire to start a long and tedious discussion about the ways in which each develop their violent projects against the system, it’s just a quick response to what seems important for us to mention (once again), since it is obvious that, after many communiques and many contributions in regards to the terrorist tendency against the techno-industrial system and civilization, there are still some who do not fully understand or who misinterpret our individual positions.

Thus said, lets kick over the traces:

A. New stage

Ever since the first Wild Reaction (RS) communique we’ve said bluntly that the conformation of several groups into one would be a new phase. New in what?

DP assumes that the new phase would be one of actions, something we never said. The new stage in our struggle against the techno-industrial system, civilization and progress, regarding action, has been in the re-appropriation of sabotage as a form of attack, maintaining the terrorist positioning of individualists tending towards the wild (ITS).

This stage lived by RS also comes with a form of discourse (as DP rightly mentioned), wanting to leave behind the “kaczynskian” past, striving for the realization of a different tendency, unique in its kind, in Mexico and in the world, which we’ve been successful in consolidating.

It would be worth mentioning that this stage is divided into sub-phases, the first being the threat-propaganda, which worked well when issuing the first communique (YES, with the fucking machine guns and all!), calling the attention of the press and the federal government.

The second was when we returned to use the butanes, the nipples, the bomb threats, fire and the masses to generate destabilization, we returned to our old, homemade and immediate weapons for public demonstration of the multi-functionality of RS factions, it worked.

The third is this, where we fully commit to theoretically demonstrate the marked distinctions with “kaczynskians” and insurrectionist anarchists.

There are other planned sub-phases, which we won’t mention, logically as to not ruin surprises.

So let us say, sirs of DP, the new phases of a group like RS are not always as expected, or not as obvious as some other armed groups in history, those you are accustomed to.

B. Of the Wild

To be a bit clearer, RS divide what is Wild in three:

Real: In simple terms, the Wild is something that is remote, resists and stays inert to everything that is artificial, not only the wildlife, but also the surroundings, deserts, forests, jungles, coasts, plains, etc., every corner of these, caves, gorges, seas, rivers, waterfalls, hills, etc. The manifestations and processes of bio self-organization in nature. Everything that is found outside the globe also represents the Wild; planets, black holes, galaxies, stars, supernovae, satellites, meteors, etc. Instincts rooted very deeply in humans, who refuse to adopt certain hyper-civilized habits, are also the Wild.

Concept: In somewhat more theoretical terms, the Wild as a concept is what we employ in communiques, graffiti, intimidating messages to the enemy, etc., it is the understanding of what has been lost, it is what is claimed to not fall into the same game of the same old struggles. And although the Wild as a concept is already used by many people from ideologies alien to our tendency, for members of RS it’s vital to keep this term in high.

Pagan animism: The Wild is also within the beliefs of those part of RS. We believe that humans are believers by nature. Because from the beginning, in this long journey of man and woman on earth, the ancients had the essential need to create deities from nature itself. In this way, RS groupuscules maintain very strong personal beliefs and reject Christianity at all cost, as did our ancestors.

So when the groupuscules of RS position themselves on the side of the Wild, we are referring to all three points; defending Wild Nature as such, claiming the term, and widening our pagan beliefs around warrior nature spirituality. It is logical that we are not Wild on strict adherence to the term. When we self-proclaim ourselves “wild” or “uncivilized” we refer to the Wild as a concept only. Anyone capable of reasoning would know that savages would not write long communiques defending their positions in the war against this system.

DP says that our attacks have been focused in cities, but we also carried attacks on urban development in forests. Let’s do a quick review of some of our actions:

In 2010, a cell of the “Earth Liberation Front” (which is now part of RS), successfully attacked the infrastructure that would divert water from the River of Dinamos Forest to the city, in the Magdalena Contreras Delegation of Mexico City. The until then eco-anarchists, made threatening graffiti on the machinery and the material used, they destroyed wells being constructed and arsoned three machines, the damage was considerable. On one of the machines they painted “Out with civilization in wild environments“.

In 2009, the “Ludditas Contra la Domesticación de la Naturaleza Salvaje” [Luddites Against the Domestication of Wild Nature] group (now part of RS), completely arsoned four machines in the plains of the Nextlalpan municipality in the State of Mexico. At the time, the machines were used for the construction of the super highway, connecting several states with the Federal District, called Circuito Exterior Mexiquense [Mexican Outer Loop], a megaproject that this group confronted on several occasions from 2009 to 2010. More than ten attacks were carried out, most being arsons of machinery owned by the Carso company, leader of the project.

In the same year, a group of individuals who took the same name as above (now part of RS), arsoned a cellphone tower, leaving it unusable (owned by Telmex), in the darkness of the surrounding hills in the municipality of Atizapan, State of Mexico.

In the warm mountains on the outskirts of Aguascalientes, the “Circulo Informal de Antagónicos Individualistas” [Informal Circle of Antagonistic Individualists] (now part of RS) released many wild horses from an industrial farm, thus starting a campaign of attacks against touristic and urban settlements threatening the hills of Cerro del Muerto, acts which for various reasons were never claimed and which we minimally expose here.

In 2010 another cell of the Earth Liberation Front (now RS too) arsoned various machinery and carried out a series of attacks against several targets in the municipality of Coacalco in the State of Mexico. This was in response to the construction of housing units invading the hills of Cerro de Guadalupe, the last of semi-wild places in that area.

These are just some quick examples of our actions in forests, plains, mountains and hills. It is true that our attacks have been more frequent in cities, this shows the measure of our possibilities. The struggle against the techno-industrial system and the defense of nature is both in cities and in natural environments, it is not only focused on the later as DP says.

We recognize the resistance of the Purépechas in defending and dying for the forests of Michoacan. We admire the Huichol rebels who oppose the development of the mines in San Luis Potosi with all they’ve got. We support the Chichimecas who deny the Christianizing of their native beliefs in Guanajuato. We support the Mixtecos who reject at all costs the medicines of cities and prefer to continue curing themselves with plants collected in the Sierra of Oaxaca at the risk of being denounced for witchcraft. We respect the decision of the Kiliwa who prefer extinction before having their culture absorbed by the Western way of life. We hold high the resistance that distinguishes some Raramuris in staying away from civilization and maintaining a semi-nomadic life in the deserts of Chihuahua. Without doubt, the fight against progress and in defense of the land includes both native ethnic groups that resist it in their environments, as much as the civilized living in the cities, undertaking acts of sabotage and terrorism against that same progress. Because the struggle for nature is not limited to one way, strategies vary, contexts, situations, risks.

We repeat, the attacks to the system and resistance to it are as much in natural environments as in the cities, they are complement, the resistance must be everywhere.

Why then does RS not attack the dam to which the Temacapulín community in Jalisco is opposed (e.g.)? Attacking a mine or a development project that already has a history of communal resistance would intervene in a process of struggle for land and push police to charge against these people, whom are already very poor as to have to endure more beatings from the authorities. And we do not say this in a moral tone, but rather in a strategic and prudent way. This is why RS factions carefully choose their targets. Within our possibilities, we attack techno-industrial progress in natural environments and in cities.

Would we build alliances with communities if given the opportunity to defend the land?

For sure, being cautious and not claiming them in the moment. Working with the people from the highlands does not cause us any problems, we do not see this as leftist, as DP wrongly said (again).

As we defend our individuality, we know how to live in community. Over the years we have learned humility and simplicity from the people living in the hills, which is why RS is now a little more respectful than ITS was before, if anyone had noticed.

C. Romanticism a la RS

DP apparently considers our position on the Wild as romantic. Not surprising, coming from anarchists who know that their utopias are even more romantic than those they criticize, an attitude taken from the civilized feelings of this society with Western values, as always denying the relevance and importance of those who are positioned in favor of the Wild and natural, labeling what is ancient as romantic.

To recall: Who were those who categorized as romantic the beliefs and ways of living in nature of our wild and nomadic ancestors? Yes, the damn conquistadors, the Franciscan idiots! Was that not one of the ingredients to humiliate the natives?
Cataloging as pagan those who seemed “romantic with nature”?

Maybe it was our mistake to say that we are “wild” or “uncivilized” without mentioning that we refer to our indomitable instincts and the warrior heritage that we carry in our blood, something that does not bring credibility to our actions, but which certainly supposes a critique towards these terms coming from people like us, civilized.

This is why for some time now (in our communiques), we have said time and again that we are civilized humans clinging to their primitive past, people whom with a civilized learning process have glimpsed the root problem, and now, through that awareness obtained by the study, understanding, experience and practice, we declare war on the system as did our wild ancestors. To continue their war is to keep the flame of conflict against civilization from extinguishing. Seeing each other around the fire in the middle of the forest, armed, is to see once again the faces of the warrior spirits of those whom we have inherited certain physiological and intellectual aspects tying us strongly to their legacy.

D. Anthropology, a dominator

DP is right, in our learning process we have studied some theoretical anthropologists, and other sciences, to give weight to our positions. But for some time now, you cannot read any references to books of these in our communiques. Why? Because we have realized that we can learn more from the elders of certain ethnicities or by living in nature, than with books from scholars exposing repetitive and impractical theories.

And if DP sees anthropology as an evil social science “of domination”, why then make it obvious that, when answering Oca’s question on the outlook of the prison system in Mexico, it took its historical reference from an anthropology book?

“Some groups of Mayas and Aztecs, though they had no idea of the prison establishment, as penitentiary system, did use cages as means of retention for the application of immediate punishment, which in the majority of cases was corporal punishment such as flogging or mutilation, or for the retention of those they would sacrifice for religious ceremonies.”

Perhaps they made it up?

Come on.

E. An unintentional movement?

From the moment we started to spread our ideas and actions, the truth of the matter is that we didnt have in mind that someday those same words and actions would transcend and become references for other groups and individuals. It has been a pleasant surprise to learn that people across the continent are reading and analyzing our texts, are being inspired by our actions, such that a whole intermittent work of dissemination and translation has been undertaken (this thanks to groups of anarchists, or not, who sympathize with us). Without it being our intention, a stronger and more critical tendency, resisting the progress of the techno-industrial system and harmfulness of civilization, is being created. We don’t know if this will ever become a movement as such, and it should be said that we don’t count on it. We are victims of causality. But if one day it were to take form and we were living, we would want that movement to be so destructive and threatening that from its mere mention, progressives tremble with fear.

From the beginning we decided to claim our actions by individualistic duty and for the mer fact that they are ours. We did not want others to claim them or for them to be taken as a prank, or something related to gangs or the drug barons. From the moment we made our criticisms public, and up till now, there has been a breakthrough in this tendency, something that fills us with pride.

Back to the subject, DP writes that if we create a movement we’ll be playing along with the system with ideas that would “carry its same seeds”, but as we do not want to create any movement nor are we preoccupied or interested in this, then, we’ll leave these problems to those who do want to create one, as do the kaczynskians or anarchists, for example.

What falls into the pathetic is what DP writes (about convening with the system) when they ask: Where do the pages where they print their words come from? Or the computers from which they broadcast their actions, the weapons with which they attack scientists or the food with which they nourish themselves?

This is equivalent to what we might question of anarchists (some not all), with the same absurdity displayed by DP: Where do they get the beers to get drunk, if you are supposed to be anti-capitalist? Do they use American brand computers to view their “counter-information” blogs, if it is assumed that they are anti-imperialists? If they are against all prisons, does DP consume animal products? If they say they are environmentalists, DP separates its trash? Are they deep ecologists, radical, progressive, etc.? An anarchist of DP can carry their government id? Please! Can you give us some other even more overused “reasons”? It is obvious that the editors of DP have understood nor even the most minimal part of our posture, or, we haven’t been clear enough? The first is an urgent lack of analysis on their part, the second is their whim.

F. Absolute Truth

It is true, RS holds an absolute truth in Wild Nature. We’re here because of it, for it we fight and die.

We do not want to let go of it. Even though being civilized, we maintain a symbiosis with it and all that is Wild. Many anarchists (not all) of the DP type are afraid to be as cutting and defend their positions because they could be labeled as intolerant and dogmatic. We’ve lost that fear. We have chosen to defend tooth and nail our convictions and our habits distant from the “normal” ones. That’s why we claim our absolute truth, thus we have gained many enemies for being so direct, so honest.

Typical, in society (and in groups of “rebels”, like some anarchists) people are accustomed to niceties, to hear only what suits them, to “healthy coexistence”, to lies and hypocrisy. We don’t endorse these attitudes, we prefer to be as we are instead of hiding our true opinions and positions. Despite who gets upset.

G. The personal

Apparently DP wants to talk about our personal lives, since we always (in all our communiques, that is) refer only to the attack and ignore the modus vivendi… what DP doesn’t understand is that all those who oppose progress and civilization know what to do, creating lifestyles, habits and projects within their means as to reject at a maximum what is alien, and for sure, coming into contradiction with some of our positions, but assuming them firmly, these people aren’t waiting for others to tell them how to live their life, unlike some anarchists (not all) used to base themselves on zines, books, and blogs, where they take past and present lifestyles as references to begin creating their own.

It would’ve been better if DP asked us directly about our personal lives, but nonetheless we will rely on a string of their random questions in order to expose some of this. Some questions won’t be answered thoroughly, by mere practical discretion.

“For an anticivilizer“. To start off, DP asks questions to the “anticivilizers”. let’s recall that there are varying currents opposed to civilization, from the ecofascists, to the eco-anarchists, primitivists, self-natives, etc. RS is considered by many an “anti-civilization” group, and although we do not like the term, still, we answer the following questions:

To what extent and at what moment is it alright to make use of knowledge and material left by centuries of civilization?

To the extent and at the moment you’ve corroborated and experienced that knowledge in practice. From that moment you can dispense with the material left in books and studies to start auto-instill your own identity as an individual belonging to a certain determined social group. For example, the stories they tell us are often based on exaggerations and false data, but this data can be verified or disproved by natives. During the Chichimeca War back in 1550, on the only road that connected the Zacatecas mines (formerly part of Nueva Galicia) with the Federal District (formerly called Nueva España), the warring aboriginals intercepted wagons guarded by several well armed horsemen. The Chichimecas would ambush and kill all the Spaniards, their slaves, and steal the goods. This historical data had been collected from a book by a member of RS. Later, in a conversation, a resident of the roads to Zacatecas revealed that the great great grandfather of their grandfather talked of naked Indians stealing the goods from the wealthy Spaniards coming through, and burying them in the hills so they could not be found. In this case, the data previously read in a book was corroborated by the illiterate member of a community within the territories of what was known as the Gran Chichimeca. On those roads people keep finding silver, obsidian arrowheads and other objects used in that war, worth remembering and upholding as one of the biggest and most serious wars against Western civilization in these territories.

Will the anticivilizer let themself die from the first disease which their own body cannot overcome? Can they make use of Western medicine’s pharmaceuticals and antibiotics?

Members of RS would not let themselves die from a “disease” that their body cannot resist, and honestly, we believe that nobody in their right mind would. And of course we could do aside with pharmaceutical antibiotics, all members of RS cure themselves with remedies from the land and totally reject allopathic medicine, for those who have adopted the culture of modern and harmful medicine find it impossible to live without aspirin, ranitidinas, paracetamol, etc. but really, antibiotics with chemical additives are not necessary, there are very effective natural antibiotics like propolis. For those who know of medicinal herbs, to alleviate or cure oneself of city diseases with teas, poultices, vaporizing, extracts, etc. is not a problem.

If an anticivilizer takes cinnamon tea to relieve menstrual cramps or to help with a cold, do they contradict themself because it is a plant native to India?

A silly question answered with another silly question: does the anarchist of DP contradict themself by using clothes made by enslaved and exploited children in Taiwan?

RS has no problem in using plants that are not native to these territories. But if we wanted, we could live solely from native plants, since in many natural areas there’s a variety of medicinal plants and native ancestral foods.

Would a Mexican anticivilizer consider it coherent to drink milk or eat beef even if they are originally Eurasian animals?

RS does not see any problem with that, though some of us try to avoid often drinking milk or eating meat, not because we want to be “coherent”, but because of the diseases involved in eating these kinds of industrialized foods from the infect cities.

How compatible is gardening with anticivilizer savagery?

For many of us it is very viable to have an organic vegetable garden from which to take food in times of scarcity or medicine in times of sickness. We do not fall into contradictions, the important thing is to develop lifestyles which distance themselves as much as possible from the system’s artificial dependency.

Although some members of RS are more attracted to the life of hunter-gatherers, they do not reject the option of gardens.

Technology will be attacked, and to what point will technology be used to fight the technological system?

Technology is used only to spread the attack against the system. We know that we are bound to the conditions imposed on us by it and all we can do about this is to confront our contradictions. The unnecessary technology is jettisoned, a minimal use of technology is what is appropriate for members of RS.

How is a child to be educated in the way of the anticivilizer?

There isn’t a model to follow in the education of the children of the “anticivilizer” type, each opponent of the system will find it in themself to create relevant teaching methods as for their offspring to grow up happy and conscious.

As mentioned above, there is no way of life anticipatively imposed, every critic of civilization (whether from RS or not) will know how to put their words into practice in their daily lives, often falling into contradictions, but many times being satisfied by small victories which are given to us by simplicity and nature. This is not to try and maintain “purity” as DP says, but to develop uniqueness.

H. Back to some terms

In the statement entitled “Reacción Salvaje y los anarquistas” [Wild Reaction and the anarchists], in the notes, we added an ITS communique about the differences between us and the anarchists. what follows here answers some criticisms made by DP in their interview, which won’t be treated thoroughly because these topics have previously been exposed and we recommend DP to look them over.

The terms authority and power mean a whole challenge for anarchists, and although these are inherently binded to us as a species, the anarchists always search there for the problem. It is well known that a very recurrent slogan within anarchism, from its beginnings as a position, has been “against all authority“, a sentence leaving much to be desired with respect to its analytical power. From this error of synthesis, the various currents of anarchism have derived many interpretations, from the anarcho-punks to the anarcho-insurrectionists (the second being a bit more analytical than the first), and it’s been a problem, with each going on to explain this at great length, and from A to Z. DP’s explanation about its position on authority and power is a little more detailed and seems interesting, but we have a problem when they write: “(…) the observation of the development of the world and our own history of domination, gives us guidelines to reconsider the ways in which we lead our lives and to choose to deny power relations, those most brutal forms of power generated in the civilized world as much as those generated in a “primitive” way, we say this because RS has expressed themselves in favor when power relations emerge in primitive community.”

Before this comment RS answers that if DP take themselves for community connoisseurs, we hope they know that the people of the hills in Mexico, since hundreds of years ago, are used to lifestyles that are frowned upon by the city dwellers sick with Western culture, certain ways of life that are perceived as “brutal”. For example, to exchange a woman for a cow or a swine, is common among natives, it is part of their customs, their way of life, and is something normal, while for Western moralists (including some anarchists) it is something unworthy, they get all worked up and cry to the heavens when they hear about this. Generally anarchists of the feminist type are those who most make a scandal about it. RS doesn’t see it as a bad thing, RS respects the development and customs of the country people, this is why we express ourselves in favor of power relations in such communities because it is not our concern to try and change them. We emphasize, it is not that we are “machistas” but honestly we don’t set ourselves against this kind of native attitudes. This is what we think, even though it will infuriate the anarchists that we talk in this way, oh well.

Upon their arrival in Mesoamerica, the Spaniards were also greatly surprised by the way of life of the civilized Aztecs and were horrified by the sight of the rituals of the savage Chichimecas. They tried to change their ways with punishment and death because, according to them, what they were doing was not “good”. Same as with anarchists of the DP type, wherever they smell power relationships, civilized or primitive, they raise a barrier of denial. As when they’re told they cannot drink alcohol when in a place where it is not allowed, anarchists answer or think (not all): “But we are not in church”, “Don’t you impose anything on us”, “We can decide freely.”

A very rebellious response that certainly creates tension!

We agree with DP that there is no absolute society, every human group on earth has developed modes of living befitting their condition, environment and character. What we refer to is that primitive societies, by the lack of complexity in their social relationships, were much healthier than modern societies. DP was wrong (again), when it said that those part of RS consider primitive society as absolute. DP apparently has a serious issue of conflictuality with the absolute, anyways.

Recently, some factions of RS issued a communique to the nascent groups that endorse the criticism in movement against civilization and modern technology, making it clear that the statement was not accomplishing a task of solidarity but rather complicity, rightly said. RS still considers indiscriminate solidarity to be a serious problem, which, as we have said repeatedly, is the philanthropic support of whichever vulnerable sector of society, spread by mass media, so that inequalities be left behind and civilized coexistence and order can be solidified, serving the self-perpetuation of this system. We prefer solidarity between an immediate social circle, and complicity with the few groups who share positions in regards to this war against the system.

Indiscriminate solidarity also exists in certain sectors of DP type anarchists who want to create conflict upon the binding of different currents for the development of their anarchist tension, but they themselves should be smart and strategic not to bring whoever claims to be a “rebel” into their ranks, otherwise they risk the danger of infiltration and imprisonment of their “compañeros”. Too late! The infiltration work of the Mexico City investigative police, the federal government, and Cisen, being developed in anarchist milieus for several years now is well known by many. A result of poor organization in security culture, which is why we prefer real solidarity and selective complicity to avoid unfortunate drawbacks. And obviously this will not make us more “wild” as DP says, but maybe we’ll remain out of jail for the time being.

This is how we end this text, but we hope that the people part of DP won’t take it badly or personal. We respect their work and their life projects, but since they spoke of us in their interview and that we don’t miss an opportunity for our propaganda, we felt the need to issue our response.

For the armed conflict against civilization and progress.

Reacción Salvaje
Grupúsculos:
“Espíritu Uaxixil”
“Danza de Guerra”
“Matar o Morir”
“Cazador Nocturno”
“Lluvia de flechas”

[Wild Reaction
Groupuscules:
“Uaxixil Spirit”
“War Dance”
“To Kill or To Die”
“Night Hunter”
“Rain of Arrows”]