| Lawrence Jarach | |
|---|---|
Lawrence Jarach attending the 2010 Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair. |
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| Born | August 3, 1961 Tacoma, Washington |
| Residence | Berkeley, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Jewish |
| Organization | Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed editorial committee |
| Known for | Author of social and political essays and books. |
| Political movement | Anarchism (Post-left anarchy) |
Lawrence Jarach is an American anarchist essayist and author of the primer Anarchy 101: Instead of a Meeting. Jarach is a contributing editor of Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed, and has published in the Berkeley Daily Planet, Killing King Abacus, Green Anarchy and L'EnDehors.
Jarach is also a musician, performing as a vocalist and trombonist for punk/polka band, Polkacide.
Jarach has been identified by Ward Churchill as a prominent Euroamerican radical and anti-authoritarian.[1] Jack Bratich also situates Jarach on the anti-authoritarian left.[2]
Contrary to these assessments, Jarach writes from within the post-left anarchy milieu, providing criticism of leftist politics and history. He has also written on other diverse topics, such as the Spanish Revolution, primitivism, as well as criticisms of "anarchist dual power" and leftism. He famously clashed with anarchist Chaz Bufe over the latter's publication of Listen, Anarchist!, and came to the defense of fellow post-leftist Bob Black in a rebuttal entitled "Hold Your Tongue Demagogue: Turning a Deaf Ear to Pure Bufe-oonery".
His views on the topic of conspiracy theory have attracted attention in the anarchist media. Jarach holds that the term "conspiracy theory" acts as a "derisive dismissal" which serves to characterise counter-narratives as falsehoods or fantasy, and prefers the term "conspiratology" in its place. Conspiracy, according to Jarach, is the normal functioning mode of government and other hierarchies.[2]