The sixth issue of Black Seed Journal will continue an effort to challenge and expand the meanings of both Green and Anarchy. As editors and contributors, we not only wish to reject notions of the state and capitalism, but seek perspectives that are earth-focused, unexpected or inhuman.
One of the concepts we would question is the anthropomorphism of the natural world as “Mother Earth,” and environmentalism as a paternalistic urge to protect the earth― to prevent humanity from “raping the earth.”
The vision of nature as gentle nurturer is predicated on the same conception of the earth that the Conquistadors held when they came to the New World, to rip into the Virgin Mary’s flesh and freely take from her. Seeing the earth as merely fertile and passive denies the true power of the Mother. Like a toddler who defiantly casts his blocks on the floor, we at once valorize and mourn the mess we have made, when actually we are small, fragile things amid the vastness of cosmic forces.
However, there are other visions of the Mother— visions that acknowledge that the ability to create life is inseparable from the ability to inflict pain and death. Kali, Medea, Ixchel, Tiamat, Spider Woman and countless other Mother Goddesses throughout the indigenous world show us visions far more nuanced, brutal and rich. The Mother is beauty, but also terror. She is love, as well as annihilation. She gives and takes, not as her brood requires, but as her mysteries dictate.
The binary of the Fearsome Sky God and Sweet Mother Earth is a historical fallacy. If we seek to speak of the earth, let it not be in language perverted and twisted by narrow-minded gender ideals, but in language that rejoices in the cruel glory of the natural world.
The theme for Issue 6 is the wrathful Mother, violent maternity, or the blood-drenched Queen. It will have a print run of at least 5,000 but possibly 10,000 as well as be published online (eventually). We are open to all written forms. Please email blackseed@anarchyplanet.org with inquiries or submissions. You can snail mail us c/o Little Black Cart PO Box 3920 Berkeley CA 94703.