The Seeds of All Evil

I turned fifteen, that’s when it began, the age when all the changes kick in, isn’t it? All that crap they tried to teach you up until then about your metabolism and everything, the changes in your body, the changes in your mind, and your soul – it began for me. It begins slowly; first kid’s cartoons entertain you less, then the violent video games seem more real, you start to realise things about your parents, your friends, and the entire world. I began wondering about a lot of things, asking questions. Lots of questions.
What is the world? What is the meaning of life? Or death? What is humanity and all those things that come with it? What is civilisation; society and how do I – how does any one – fit into it all? What am I doing here? Why am I here? Who made these ideas up, who created these values, and expect a list of things from me? What is creation?
Forget it, I said, there aren’t any answers. I’m just going to live like a normal teenager, just go to school, work hard, hang out with my friends and somehow fit in and build an image that I’m just normal. I’ll just blend in the crowd, do my homework and occasionally get into trouble, and lead a stupid life. That’s how it was going to be. No, no way, I was going to do something, be a part of something – screw peace and harmony.

Then one day, suddenly an answer came to me, and from school of all places. Mr. McMillan, he was my history teacher. He teaches us all about the Marxist theory, the French Revolution, The Third Reich, Great Depression – all that crap about civilised history. And just look what civilisation brought us: an age of imperialism, to an age of commercialism, to an age of consumerism.
Money
Somehow, in history and in the present, the world had come to the belief that it is the most important thing in the world. If money is the root of all evil, then Armageddon happened long ago, and we’re all subjects of Satan. You don’t have to look far for proof, try the news – every bad thing that has ever happened and what caused it. Try thinking about the concept of news: a source of information brought to us via a corporate giant run on money, which makes sure to run ads every ten minutes. This is the world as it is.
I live in Perth. Where the hell is that? Don’t have a much of an idea myself. I could tell you its rough geographical location is:
 Southern Hemisphere, the Western coast of the continent, Australia,
 Capital city of Western Australia, Australia,
 32 degrees South latitude, 116 degrees East longitude
There’s no difference, is there, where it is. The only reason one place is different to another is because we are made to think so. It’s not what this land is, but the occupants of it. What we make of where we are.
When I began to realise the world does run on money, the more disillusioned I became. This was how they implied authority over us. So, like any one, I was looking for an escape route, and here it was:
Anarchism
Let me explain it a bit better, God created the Earth and man from the shape of himself. It was humans that created civilisation, then took over the Earth. Today, civilisation has taken over man. Civilisation is destroying us. This is our Frankenstein’s monster.
Here’s how it works: Earth, is heaven, layered by civilisation, and we – our form of destruction – is hell. And if Hell destroys Civilisation, if the fire destroys it all, it will burn itself out, and only Heaven will remain. That is where we aim; that is where we’ll prosper. I call it, destructive-creationism. I’m not anti-religious in any way. I just think the Bible got it completely wrong. I have my own religion that I believe in. I don’t pursue, or worship a god – I am my own God. I am God – and with al the souls of humans collected together, combined: we become God. And we can do anything. We can create or destroy Earth, Heaven and Hell. This is Anarchism.
I saw a future, a beautiful one, and a road that could lead me there. A path, that was going to be tough to get through, but it was better then where I was standing; because I was in prison, and there’s nothing worse than being alive, and living inside a cage.

Mr. McMillan was always teaching us new and amazing things. The details he knew about the Holocaust or the slave trade shocked everyone. One day he started telling us about anarchism.
‘This is the belief that humans naturally conform into communities; that it is but nature we co-operate – that society poisons the mind of the individuals, causing conflict.’
He was teaching us about this theory very briefly when we were learning about the bombings across America and in Wall Street during the so called “red scare,” of the early twenties
‘It was driven by paranoia,’ he said. ‘There was nothing really to fear. It is society that is the greatest threat to itself.’ I was captivated. ‘And so we’ll learn this when we learn about Fascism…’
My friend Jesse and I were intrigued. We began asking more and more questions during class, and then after class as well. He became – I am not ashamed to say – my hero, as he told us little by little the concepts of anarchism. At first he was somewhat secretive about it, but we sensed in him that there was more he knew, and he sensed in us a growing enthusiasm. He began to tell us about humanism, and the consequences of determinism, the flaws and loopholes in the judiciary, capitalist and legislative systems. Then one day, he told us:
‘There is actually an anarchist group in Perth.’
‘How do you know?’ we asked him. We were sure anything like that would’ve been top secret. Mr. McMillan gave us a smirk as we followed him in during recess.
‘Well,’ he said, reaching the door to his office. ‘I am one.’

Jesse and I went to an anarchy party some time later. Mr. McMillan didn’t exactly invite us, but he wasn’t shocked or even surprised when we turned up. They were mostly older people, drinking, chatting – it looked innocent enough. But then there was one particularly loud man that everyone was being attracted to. His name was Mr. Simmons: an old guy, called himself a professor, and I noted that his vocabulary met up to this level. He was tipsy, red in the face but he knew what he was talking about. He went on about the glory of humanity in its most basic form, “the noble savage” he called it. He fed us more knowledge satisfying the appetite Mr. McMillan whetted for us months before. And he continued all night, criticising; mocking the conditions of modern society.
‘At birth, humankind inherits the world from our fathers and forefathers. Us – people, and not the banks! Why then, I inquire, are we paying mortgage after mortgage for something we already own?’
Few hours passed and Jesse and I had a few drinks (they reckoned the legal age was an overrated and imposed ideology). We sat and listened to Professor Simmons lectures, others idly came and went. He then talked to us personally,
‘You boys are sure keen on this, aren’t you?’ We nodded, too nervous to speak.
‘Well, if you want to know more’ – we held our breaths – ‘here’s a copy of a book I wrote…’
He handed us a white, hard-cover copy of his self-published book: The Real Human Evolution. We thanked him, and read through it, and it covered everything, every angle, about the anarchist theory, and the failures of our current society. It was a debate hand-guide against the most devout pro-capitalists.
Now we had a book, we had some thing to believe in – not just an idea, but a thing, and object, a symbol. And so the revolution began:
Viva la Revolution!
Word slowly spread around the school. Our friend Edmund, an English literature student, listened to me and Jesse for the next three lunchtimes. We talked about the book.
‘Is that some neo-Nazist movement?’ he asked.
‘No!’ we both said. Eventually me, Jesse, and Rob – who also joined us – talked him into reading the Book. ‘Come on Ed,’ we said. ‘You read this stuff all the time!’
Ed did read it. He was still weary, but I watched him as the chains in his spirit slowly crumbled down, and realisation seeped in the cracks – he was liberated, and without knowing, he became part of our conversations. He was a part of our clan.

The book became to us almost like a bible. We asked for more copies of it. We even paid for it, just so we can lend it to our friends. In English, I wrote an Essay on it: the question was ‘Discuss how a book you read has taught you about society.’ The answer was easy: everything.
The only reason we all like democracy is because in history, it has been compared to communism; fascism or imperial rule. There was a time when anarchism and communism were placed in the same category as dual political movements. They summarised the two into a coloured faction: “red.”
They had it completely wrong – Marxism and anarchism could not be further an opposite. Here are the facts: Communism, despite being atheist, is really a religious movement. A post-industrial occult, institutionalising the people with oppression, militarism, and got them believing in one immortal figure, and forced them to work for the State. It opposed the beautiful nature of life. We believe in freedom, not of a vengeful god, nor Lenin, nor Stalin, but a divine figure that floated among us, like a breeze running between our fingers. Anarchism is not based on institution, but humanity. Communism is based on greed and hypnosis, capitalism is the same, just with divisions in power. Think about it, cooperation’s basically run the governments anyway, they exceed entire countries in their Gross Domestic Product, they exploit developing nation, they profit through war. The Fist World doesn’t indulge in their prosperity, rather we ourselves are slaves of their products that we are told to want.
In the post-capitalist future, commercials would be looked back as materials of propaganda, inflicting on us the desires of colourful furniture, $300 shoes and widescreen TVs – the belief that the system works. Think about it, who runs the media, owns newspapers, prints magazines – how is it that we are encouraged to favour one colour over another, we find what is popular, what is the trend.
Nazi Germany had their Hitler Youths. We have Dolly magazine that tells the new generation of tweens what to wear, how to act, and groom their hair. And anybody sorry enough not to conform, are left strung up by their necks. This is Nazist-psychological peer pressure – and despite the Holocaust, we’re still repeating the mistakes of the past. And so here’s another option: more freedom…
Jesse and Rob, who were in the same class, made a speech on it. My teacher gave me a “C” for my efforts, their English teacher, Mr. Brown, was impressed. The term itself, Anarchism, was a formality, we just called our group, Tribe. Mr. McMillan forwarded studying anthropology, pre-history human existence to learn more about anarchism, and these untouched human worlds, noble savages, became our inspiration. The anarchist world will become a tribe, and so will the world.
Our group of four went on the next anarchist party with Mr. McMillan.

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