Hakim Bey, Chaos: The Broadsheets of Ontological Anarchism

Hakim Bey, Chaos: The Broadsheets of Ontological Anarchism

Such is the fast-paced world and style of Hakim Bey’s writings. Sporadic and rarely rounded up for interrogation, Bey’s Ontological Anarchism pervades all his writings, on topics as varied as “Islam and Eugenics”[1], “The Information War”[2], “The Evil Eye”[3], a critique of multiculturalism[4], and Celtic-African entheogens[5]. Hakim Bey’s zine writings and early 90’s hipsterism have made him known to some as “The Marco Polo of the Subunderground”[6] and a counter-cultural guru to many more.

With information becoming more firm only in the last few years, Hakim Bey has been identified as a pseudonym for Peter Lamborn Wilson, a New York based translator and author. Drawing on his experiences wandering India, Asia, and North Africa, Hakim Bey authors (what offer to be) outrageous manifestos and leftist anarchist essays primarily for zine publication and distribution or for lectures and performance. He draws explicitly on a Moorish and sufiist intellectual heritage with occasional references to contemporary philosophers and cultural theorists. He situates himself as a post situationist anarchist informed by critical theory, and has written in both ctheory and Trip. Bey’s writing is ultimately so fascinating precisely because it does not fit neatly into a schools of thought, academic discipline, or a relation between the major figures of contemporary theory (eg loves Baudrillard, ignores Lacan, sometimes uses Foucault). As such, his writings are rather esoterically his own, and not only do not make their ties with other theorists explicit, but also cannot be immediately connected to theirs (because Bey’s assumptions are so different on account of his background’s differences from western academic philosophy). His work, as a theorist of media (and everything else), operates at a straightforward and accessible level, filled with obscure references that don’t point towards an expertise in his readership so much as an explosion of it. For some, his writings are meaningless babble on the level of Principia Discordia[7]. He does not get much mainstream citation except in regards to his concept of PT and the TAZ[8], but he does get plenty of crap. This disdain culminated in the publication of a ‘fake’ Hakim Bey book, actually written by “Luther Blissett”[9]. Hakim Bey is a persona. His behaviors and secrecy are all a part of the body of work of which he is accredited with authorship.