Working to safeguard the eco-system
Nancy Ryan
This might come as a shock to those of you born in the digital age but Mark Hand and I became friends without the benefit of an internet connection; without an internet at all, in fact. We lived some 500 miles apart but connected via the word of zines and have remained comrades long enough to use "friend" as a verb on Facebook.
Mark Hand is a reporter/editor, as well as a political/environmental/animal rights activist. He started his first newsletter as a 10-year-old in the 1970s before getting into the zine scene in the '80s and '90s. Since 2002, he has served as editor of PressAction.com, a website of news analysis and commentary.
My conversation with Mark is below...
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My Conversation With Mark Hand
Planet Green: Your writing and editing work dates back to the time of hard copy zines. Was there anything you liked better about those pre-Web days? How did those skills prepare you for blogs, texts, and social media?
Mark Hand: In the pre-Web era, zine editors and writers, from science fiction fans to anarchist activists, wanted to fill a void, whether creative or ideological, that they believed existed in the mainstream world in which they existed. They worked individually or in collectives to produce words and art that they hoped would change the world, or at least generate at least a couple pieces of mail in their post office boxes each month. And, looking back, the pre-digital age may have been more conducive to contemplation and reflection.
PG: Where do you feel you fit in (or not)?
MH: As someone with political beliefs far outside the mainstream, I may have felt a greater sense of isolation in the pre-Web days. But there were still many sources of information upon which I could rely to find out what anti-authoritarians were doing around the world, from Fred Woodworth's The Match to Fifth Estate to Black Flag out of the U.K., so I never got discouraged. In fact, the period from the 1980s into the early 1990s was one of great anarchist and anti-authoritarian journalism, a time in which there was a sense of optimism, however naïve it may seem now, that we were on the verge of throwing a monkey wrench into the machinery of the state.
PG: And things have sure changed in ways we never could've imagined.
MH: Desktop publishing revolutionized the alternative press scene in the 1980s, cutting costs and streamlining operations. We could get our publications out to a large audience at a fraction of the cost spent by alternative and underground newspaper publishers in the sixties and seventies. The advent of the Web made the world even smaller, and most zine publishers jumped at the opportunity to move their operations online in order to reach a much wider audience.
PG: Where do you stand on the use of social media in the realm of activism?
Many people argue Facebook and other social media sites have created an even larger generation of armchair activists with no real social skills and no ability to prevent our society from killing itself. I disagree. I'm more optimistic now than I have been in years. Blogs and social media sites are simply tools to be used for education and organizing. And proponents of real change recognize that marching in circles and voting on the first Tuesday in November are not the answers, and they are now increasingly embracing new tactics to upset the status quo.
PG: When did you start Press Action and why? How has it evolved?
MH: I started Press Action in late 2002 as the U.S. war machine was making preparations for its invasion of Iraq. I had grown tired of the state and corporate propaganda of the mainstream media and wanted to create an online home for ideas and analysis that readers couldn't find elsewhere, even in the so-called alternative press. I believed I could offer a unique perspective on the United States, as someone who embraced environmentalism, animal rights and anarchist politics.
But I also view myself as quintessentially American in many ways based on my belief in individualism and my strong attachment to many aspects of American culture. Upon launching Press Action, it was filled primarily with my own writings and screeds. But gradually I connected with many like-minded writers and activists who appreciated what I was doing with Press Action and graciously allowed me to publish their writings at no charge. Press Action was one of the few sites that aggressively confronted the Nobody But Kerry crowd during the 2004 election, including many lefty icons such as Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky.
I was astonished that these anarchist thinkers and scholars, who had greatly influenced my political thinking through the years, would support a failed political strategy instead of using their influence to build an alternative movement that would seek to dismantle the two-party system. Since 2004, Press Action has focused greater attention on the most pressing issue facing the United States and the world: the very real threat of ecocide.
PG: More than a few radical writers and thinkers seem to be coming to the same conclusion but, as we approach yet another election day here in America, none of the candidates are talking about ecocide. What is your take on what many consider to be an important mid-term election cycle?
MH: Ted Rall, author of the new book, The Anti-American Manifesto, argues that the chances for a successful "revolution" that would dismantle the nation's political and economic system are greater with a Democrat in the White House and the Democrats controlling Congress. He posits that an Obama-style presidency would be more lenient with revolutionaries, providing them with a potential opening to overturn the system. A Republican president and majority in Congress, on the other hand, would be more ruthless and would crack down on revolutionaries, nipping any such movement in the bud before it gains any traction, according to Rall.
I don't know if I agree with Rall's assessment. But if he is correct, then that would be the only reason to care about the upcoming mid-term elections. Otherwise, business-as-usual will reign supreme this fall, whether the Democrats retain their majority, or the Republicans regain power. America's foreign wars will continue. The U.S. military and its monstrous war budget will remain the darling of politicians of all stripes, despite its knack for destroying other countries as well as the environment, as you aptly noted in your Project Censored-award-winning article. Environmental, animal rights and political activists will continue to be harassed, rounded up and imprisoned by the nation's secret police, whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge of government. And the nation's economic system will continue to steamroll over the natural world, whether the Democrats retain their majority or if Christine O'Donnell and Rand Paul lead a Republican takeover of Congress.
PG: What can someone reading this article do to help foment the typical of systemic change you discuss?
MH: It depends on the talents and skills of the individual and how they choose to operate as an activist. Confronting the machinery of the state, especially when it is so closely aligned with corporate power, is a daunting task. But what's the alternative? Acceptance with no resistance? I don't think so. The easiest thing people can do to get things rolling in the right direction is to simply raise their voices in opposition to all forms of injustice and violence. Speaking out can take many forms. People with strong communications skills can serve as educators. Others can work individually or with groups to confront corporations and government institutions in ways to get them to end their abusive and destructive practices. One of our primary goals should be to build positive relationships that will give us the power to dismantle the many systems—big and small—that are destroying lives and the natural world. From there, we can begin thinking about developing strategies that sustain life.
Recommended Reading and Viewing From Mark Hand
- Paul Avrich's Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America
- Interview with Murray Bookchin
- Trailer for END:CIV
- Noam Chomsky's introduction to Daniel Guerin's Anarchism: From Theory to Practice
- A Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations
You can find Mark Hand on the Web at Press Action.
