Publishing a work of cultural translation and cautionary tale about “conspiracy theory” in 2019 led to some interesting invitations. What begins as a book tour reveals itself as an ethnographic field of crypto-utopian occult revival when our protagonist, author of “Occult Features of Anarchism” Spartacus Tonans du Loge Subutex, finds herself as popular educator working among psychonauts and chaos magicians while playing with brand new heteronym David Dyke, Leader of the Pilluminati.
“When states intervene, it is to consolidate their power, so it is no coincidence that governments around the world have treated the pandemic as an opportunity to amplify police power, outlaw protest, and remind you to fear your neighbour. But what if some of the “conspiracy theories” that work to explain what’s going on are as misleading as mainstream media? The truth is out there, but so is a whole bunch of bullshit. And of course authorities realise that us being divided into “believers” vs. “non-believers”, “woke” vs. “backward”, proper “lefties” vs. crazy “conspiracists” is one of the best ways to stop us from actually ganging up on their blue-blooded capitalist asses. If we are going to win, we have to look at what we have in common. The problem isn’t conspiracy theorists, or Jews, or Marxists, or “anti-vaxxers”, or feminists, or refugees fleeing wars, or Antifa, or university student anarchists. The problem is that misinformation is helping to steal away our knowledge of the collective history of struggle and cooperation. Let’s stop it.”
Lagalisse AKA Spartacus Tonans, Supreme Magus of the Kitchen Garden 007 isn’t recorded for digital content very often, but I wanted there to be at least one of these 2022 festival gigs up in the archive. I think the second part is better but people say to present them in order – fine.
Erica Lagalisse 