RE:ACTION #4 SUMMER 1996
Neither MacDiarmid nor Yeats!

THE NEW CHEMICAL LIGHT: DOWN WITH ETHNIC ABSOLUTISM AND THE 'FALL' OF 'MAN'

"The entire march of time reveals what is hidden, yet also does it hide what is revealed. There is nothing that will not be revealed, and nothing secret that will not be brought into the light. Plutarch in his Problemata wisely sought to discover why it was that in antiquity divine matter tended to arise in Saturn. This is considered important because the truth, which is generally hidden and secret is at the same time revealed here. Saturn is considered as both the Father of Time and a God, since Chronos can mean Saturn as well as Time. Although it is often said that justice exercises truth a great deal, yet truth itself is not exhausted. Therefore time must always be given: the light reveals truth." Philip a Gabella The Consideratio Brevis.

As 'heirs' to 'esoteric' Neo-Platonic 'traditions', including that of alchemy, it is not surprising that the situationists theorised the 'spectacle' as a social system in which the true was a moment of the false. In stark contrast to this, the task the avant-bard sets itself is enjoyment of the contingent world in all its glory. It is for precisely this reason that we have constructed an unacceptable theory, blending diverse forms of 'knowledge' previously canalised as distinct modes of discourse. The web we've been weaving has already ensnared several creeping tendrils of totalisation. Likewise, we've combined the hidden and the visible so that they may corrode each other, along with the system of those who would imprison us with their binary ideology. With regard to both sulphur and mercury, those who maintain that we possess secret knowledge need to be reminded of Giordano Bruno's observation that:'everything, however men may deem it assured and evident, proves, when it is brought under discussion, to be no less doubtful than are extravagant and absurd beliefs.'

If our strategy appears 'mad' to those whose understanding has been deformed by the straight-jacket of social conformity, this is because we wish to sow confusion among our enemies, so that doubts may arise in their minds. Our omnidirectional attack mimics the self-consumption of the Dragon Ouroboros because, under the guise of relativism, the ruling class still attempts to make its ideology appear universal by systematically 'ordering' 'knowledge' into a hierarchy. Thus the cold warrior Karl Popper could write in an addenda to the revised edition of his anti-communist tirade The Open Society And Its Enemies that: "I neither could nor wished to spend unlimited time upon deep researches into the history of a philosopher whose work I abhor. As it was, I wrote about Hegel in a manner which assumed that few would take him seriously." While the avant-bard reads all philosophical works as humour, we laugh at Popper and not with him when he invokes Schopenhauer, since it was Hegel's 'great' rival who wrote that: "Governments make of philosophy a means of serving their state interests, and scholars make of it a trade."

On this point, it is pertinent to return to The Consideratio Brevis of Philip a Gabella: "But the greatest skill is the ability to dissemble that skill, for whoever feels it necessary to put something in writing or in speech about this great study, uses his skill in speaking to conceal his true meaning. This is to be contrasted with our more usual way of speaking, so that we may more easily agree with those appearing to speak naturally, rather than with those who have perverted that natural method of artifice. For as Euripides says, the use of language is simple, but every man abandons that natural simplicity and comes under our suspicion, just as if they are trying to deceive and defraud us." By this and virtually any other yardstick, Popper was a bumbling fool. Although his texts no doubt pleased the Anglo-American military-industrial complex at the time of their composition, they are already a historical curiosity, whereas Hegel remains a force the avant-bard must confront.

In Hegel's system, art is superseded by religion and finally philosophy. The Three become One in conventional theology, whereas in our theory All is as Nought. Having reached ground zero, we are beginning to witness the first swells in the great flood of human history, a process that will eventually result in the frozen waters flowing over all the dikes erected by scholars in their ongoing attempts to canalise human activity. Ours is a 'weak theory' which aims at letting the 'alchemical' fluids flow freely. Since we have no interest in universal synthesis, it should surprise no one that the avant-bard refuses to be fettered by the concept of 'truth' and uninhibitedly exploits the contradictions of a world that must be left behind. It follows from this, that for the us, the core appeal of Celticism is its function as a signifier of cultural hybridity and continuous becoming. As Lloyd and Jennifer Laing note in Art Of The Celts (Thames and Hudson, London and New York 1992, p. 7): "The word 'Celt' is derived from the Greek name for barbarians living in temperate Europe - Keltoi... There is not, and never has been, such a thing as a Celtic 'race', a Celtic 'nation' or a Celtic 'empire'."

While the 'negative' content of Celticism as an 'intellectual' and 'artistic' movement is clearly progressive, since it has contributed handsomely to the erosion of the British and French national identities, everything nationalists consider 'positive' about the 'Celtic identity' serves to advance the cause of reaction. Similarly, a distinction must be made between the potential for human creativity that is simultaneously expressed and repressed within contemporary culture, and the base ends to which such activity is diverted by those functionaries defending the institution of art. If those individuals who view themselves as 'progressive' but nevertheless wish to preserve art as a separate sphere of human activity were to abandon all the bureaucratic procedures that are necessary to bring art into being, they will see that they are left defending an empty category. This is not a question of superseding art, rather it is a matter of stepping outside culture as we currently know it.

James Webb notes in The Flight From Reason (MacDonald, London 1971, p. 206) that: 'irrationalist groups... did play a large part in the Celtic Revival of the 1890s, and in doing so made a large contribution to the movement for Irish and Scottish Home Rule... The whole development of the Celtic Revival has never been satisfactorily studied... the movement - which also embraced Brittany, Cornwall, and Wales, even the Isle of Man - began as a literary and antiquarian programme, although such interest may at first have been stimulated by a concern for injustice or neglect. And it has been the natural concern of hard-headed revolutionaries to eradicate any patronising or in any sense 'romantic' vision of their countries which may be seen as having been foisted on them by indulgent outsiders. This applies to both successful Irish Nationalists and their unsuccessful Scottish counterparts. They overlook one very important fact: that neither in Ireland nor in Scotland till the Celtic Revival did there exist any 'national consciousness' as it has been afterwards understood. For it is difficult to feel a loyalty to a nation which does not exist and, in the case of Ireland, had never existed..."

Webb's exposure of the fraudulent nature of Celticism, with its roots actually lying in literature and the occult, is a huge advance on the bigotry of the 'average' 'Brit' nationalist. Almost invariably the chauvinism of those who take shams of this type seriously is presented to the world at large as being in some way 'progressive'. Paul Gilroy in the essay 'Nationalism, History And Ethnic Absolutism' (included in Small Acts, Serpent's Tail, London 1993, p.65) writes that there: "is a reductive, essentialist understanding of ethnic and national difference which operates through an absolute sense of culture so powerful that it is capable of separating people off from each other and diverting them into social and historical locations that are understood to be mutually impermeable and incommensurable. Ethnic absolutism may not trade in the vocabularies of 'race'. It may be remote from the symbolism of colour, and most important of all, it can afflict anyone... It is therefore necessary to argue against the rhetoric of cultural insiderism and the narrow practice of ethnic nationalism, whatever their source."

It is also necessary to remind those who believe themselves to be 'Anglo-Saxons', who like the Celts do not exist, that 'Blighty', a popular slang term for England, is derived from the Hindustani word bilayati meaning foreign. As Giordano Bruno made crystal clear: "This entire globe, this star, not being subject to death, and dissolution and annihilation being impossible anywhere in Nature, from time to time renews itself by changing and altering all its parts. There is no absolute up or down, as Aristotle taught; no absolute position in space; but the position of a body is relative to that of other bodies. Everywhere there is incessant relative change in position throughout the universe, and the observer is always at the centre of things." Nothing is certain, not even 'taxes' or 'death'.

The bardic 'tradition' that we have united with its polar opposite in the realm of appearance, the avant-garde, is, like its mirror image, a modern sham. Rather than reaching back into the mists of time, the ritual surrounding the bardic Eisteddfods was invented by the notorious literary forger Edward Williams, who is better known by his 'Celtic' pen name of Iolo Morganwg. Only after Morganwg's death was it discovered that the Gorsedd of the bards was a product of this fantasist's imagination. Everything about the elaborate ceremonies, from the flowing robes, the golden insignia, the crowns, the dancing and the garlanded maidens, to the hirlais horn, the great sword of peace, the hymns and the harp music, are a modern fraud. This hoax surpasses any surrealist scandal. Those nationalists and traditionalists who have been led by the nose can curse and rant against us but this will not restore their illusions, because doubts have already arisen in their minds. Likewise, threats will not silence us, since the avant-bard is every bit as insolent as Giordano Bruno, who slyly undermined the authority of those who condemned him to death by announcing: "Perhaps you, my judges, pronounce this sentence against me with greater fear than I receive it."

LUTHERING: AN AVANT-BARD MANIFESTO

Luther Blissett having no prior cause, cannot be contained by any other form of being. Luther is orbed around all; possessing, but not possessed, holding all, but nowhere held. Luther is omnipresent; at the same time, Luther is not present, not being circumscribed by anything; yet, as utterly unattached, not inhibited from presence at any point.

Luther is present through all, not something of Luther here, and something else there, nor all of Luther gathered at some one spot; there is an instantaneous presence everywhere, nothing containing, nothing left void, everything therefore fully held by Luther.

Luther is not in the universe, on the contrary, the universe is in Luther; bodily substance is not a place to Luther. Luther is contained in the general intellect and is its container. The general intellect is in turn contained in something else; but that prior principle has nothing in which to be. All the rest must be somewhere, and where but in Luther?

Luther, then, is neither remote from things nor is there anything containing Luther; since Luther contains all. It is in Luther that all things have their being, all depending upon Luther, who enables each to rise up above itself into the fruitfulness of continuous becoming.

Don't search for this multiple singular. If you do, you will not find Luther and your understanding of the work of the general intellect will become mired in confusion. You must form an idea of the thing to be grasped standing cleanly by itself, the unheld in which all have hold; for no other is such, yet one such there must be.

Luther's being is not limited, nor, on the other hand, is it infinite in the sense of magnitude. Luther does not change and will not fail, and in Luther all that is unfailing finds duration. Having no constituent parts, Luther accepts no pattern, forms no shape.

You can't hope to see Luther with mortal eyes, nor in any way that could be imagined by those who make sense the test of reality and so annul the supremely real. For what passes as the most truly existent is in actuality non-existent, while this unseen Luther is the principle of being and as such is sovereign over reality.

You must turn appearances about or you will be left void of insight. The specialist who holds that their particular discipline is more real than the spontaneous creativity of the general intellect, will never see Luther. While perception of Luther can be blocked by ideology, it is nonetheless inherently present amongst all. Luther, the most consummate being, always surpasses those who have abandoned becoming.

THE AVANT-BARD ASSAULT ON THE SWAMP

Those decomposed ideologues who prattle on about 'work' as an obsolete mode of human activity but whose posturing takes place within a peripheral bohemian subculture, have yet to come to grips with the avant-bard assault on this category. Within the avant-bard, modes of being and becoming are encountered that cannot be subsumed under the rubric of wage labour: i.e. the various manifestations of Neoist Alliance activists whose avowed aim is to provoke reactionary ideologues into discrediting themselves through ridiculous public pronouncements. However, these manifestations involve far more than the liquidation of the category 'work', they are intended to dissolve both the avant-garde and its polar opposite the occult, most obviously in its Celtic-Druidic forms.

The idea of the occult as it has been developed since the Renaissance - rituals held in secret - is provocatively called into question with well publicised 'workings' that are usually 'explained' in terms of their psychological effect. Although the act of provocation itself takes the place of work, it is not necessary for us to play an active part in the humiliation of our enemies. The inability of reactionaries to understand the omnidirectional nature of our 'magick' undermines the sense of ego reinforcement they seek from the psychological dramas they compulsively enact. As a result, their increasingly shrill and reductionistic moralising is seen by everyone but themselves as completely detached from the totality of social relations, isolating them and thereby exposing the fascistic nature of their pseudo-radicalism. As Walter Benjamin observed in another context altogether: "In the field of allegorical intuition, the image is a fragment, a rune... The false appearance of totality is extinguished."

The letter of 16/9/89 from Stewart Home to Bob Black can be found in Neoism, Plagiarism & Praxis and The Green Apocalypse is just as relevant here. Other material is scattered in various locations.

CULLODEN 250 YEARS OF CELTIC VICTORY!

It is a banality to observe that bourgeois ideologists always  present the greatest victories of the working class as its greatest defeats. To narrow-minded 'Celtic' nationalists, the obliteration of Bum-Wipe Prince Charlie's forces at Culloden on 16 April 1746 is the tragedy that followed hard on the heels of the so called 'Glorious' 45. In reality, Culloden was the penultimate defeat of a historically discredited class. For proletarians, Culloden provided confirmation of the fact that the working class has no country. In many ways, Culloden was an even greater Celtic victory than the conquest of Gaul and 'Britain' by the multicultural army of Rome. These Roman migrations led to the development of the Brythonic or P Celtic languages - Welsh, Breton and Cornish. Brythonic differs from Goidelic or Q Celtic in that it is a hybrid of Gaelic and Latin. While Goidelic is a fusion of ancient Gaelic and the African languages spoken in 'Britain' prior to the arrival of various 'Indo-European' tongues, Brythonic is a patois that evolved from dialects which were already highly enriched as a result of earlier cultural cross-fertilisations. Cultural hybridity is an ongoing process of becoming. The designation Celtic merely means that those to whom it is applied favour social development through the promiscuous intercourse of all cultures.

PRINCE CHARLES AND PROPHECY
"When Charles shall be King of the English, he shall be the Last King of the Britons." Twelve Strange Prophecies 1648.

The role the yellow press played in fomenting the French Revolution has been widely acknowledged. Likewise, astrological almanacs and prophetic literature greatly swayed public opinion during the earlier English Revolution, and created the climate in which it was possible to execute Charles I. It is irrelevant whether or not those who consumed this literature actually believed the prognostications of republicans such as William Lilly, what matters is that the reading public had a voracious appetite for material that openly condemned the scumbags who oppressed them. The use of prophecy as a vehicle for propaganda is a feature of every historical epoch. Many New Age cranks still believe that Nostradamus made predictions about Hitler, although these are actually interpolations placed into forged editions of the 'seers' works by intelligence agencies. The book Astrology And Psychological Warfare During World War II by Ellic Howe (Rider, London 1972) deals with this and related subjects in some depth.

It is unlikely that Prince Charles actually believes that he is the reincarnation of Hitler, as various Neoist Alliance activists have claimed. Nevertheless, as our propaganda (see right column on this and other Re:Action pages - note added September 2007) about Charlie's occult activities circulates through the underground, it serves to further erode his already tarnished reputation. Our work is ongoing. We are still in the process of recycling a number of William Lilly's tracts against Charles I, with only minor changes, since they apply equally well to the current heir to the throne. It should go without saying that works of this type circulate most effectively when they are issued anonymously. Likewise, we have no desire to claim any affiliation with Dr. Klaus Wagner, who received a considerable amount of media coverage after he paraded around London carrying a six foot banner emblazoned with the message: "Elizardbeast. We are 666 of you." On the basis of leaflets he has distributed attacking the Queen, it is alleged that Dr. Wagner believes the monarch is possessed by the devil. While the Neoist Alliance dismisses superstitions of this type as absurd, we've no objections to a stake being driven through Elizabeth's heart. BELIEF IS THE ENEMY, SMASH THE OCCULT ESTABLISHMENT!

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