TAZ: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism

“Chaos never died,” declares this collection of post-postmodern “broadsheets of ontological anarchism.” “They lied to you, sold you ideas of good and evil, gave you distrust of your body and shame for your prophethood of chaos, invented words of disgust for your molecular love, mesmerized you with inattention, bored you with civilization and all its usurious emotions.” Hakim Bey’s calls for a response rooted in “poetic terrorism” are definitely not for the philosophically staid or squeamish, advocating “black magic as revolutionary action” and “a congress of weird religions.” But his elaboration of the idea of the Temporary Autonomous Zone, intentional communities that live outside the law, offers a captivating notion of hedonist radicalism for the eve of the 21st century. T.A.Z. is provocative, at times obscene, but it also proves that the avant-garde can entertain as well as challenge. –Ron Hogan