Julian Langer

Julian Langer
Born	London
Nationality	British
Occupation	Author · Philosopher · Activist - Poet
Known for	writings on eco-absurdism, eco-egoism, feral praxis, guerrilla ontology, anti-cull philosophy, individualism, environmentalism, ontological anarchism, anti-colonialism, anti-civilisation and pessimism
Notable works	Revolting, Feral Trilogy, Meodma, Betannike Rebellion

Julian Langer is a British philosopher, author and activist. He has authored several books, booklets, zines, and is known for smashing badger traps to fight Britain's badger cull. Langer's most known for coining the term "eco-absurdism," as well as for his critique of species-being.^[1]

Bio

Born in London, Langer's father was addicted to drugs like heroin and crack cocaine, but got clean after Langer's mother died, when he was 7 years old. In his later teens Langer was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which he had been born with and finished treatment in his early twenties. Langer has shared that experiences such as these, as well as abuses suffered from other family members and during school, are at the core of his pessimist philosophy.

Philosophy

Feral

In The Feral Trilogy Langer draws from various philosophers and practices to attempt a praxis that meets the experience of being between the Reality of civilisation and the Real of wildness. Freud, Nietzsche, Zerzan, Derrida, Deleuze, Sartre, Heidegger, Abram and Quinn, are among the writers and philosophers Langer draws from. Individual creativity is suggested as a means of becoming-animal and meeting the split between social Reality and the ecological Real.

Anti-Cull

Langer's anti-cull philosophy draws from his experiences as an individualist hunt saboteur during the badger cull, as well as individuals such as Muir, Thoreau and Quinn. Langer considers opposition to culling to be an aspect of opposing the violence of totalitarianism and critiques conservationism for being an aspect of totalitarian agriculture. As an anti-cull ecological praxis, preservationism as defending wild living beings from cull practices of selective slaughtering, drawing from an egoist ethic, is Langer's suggested approach for ecological care.

Eco-Absurdism/Revolt

The idea of eco-absurdist philosophy is one that Langer first suggested in the introduction of his short story Mesodma, in which the experience of a mammal amidst the K-T extinction event are described. In this story, Langer affirms a pessimistic will-to-life. The theme and concept of eco-absurdism is present in other short stories written by Langer, such as Bretannike Rebellion and On The Nameless.

Langer first spoke publicly in a talk he presented for the 2020 Anarchist Studies Network Conference, titled Okay Humans, What's The Fucking Point?!, which was later published as an essay. During this talk, Langer suggests that, despite the bleakness of the ecological situation that is the ultimately suicidal result of industrial productivity, there is no reason to commit suicide, either as an individual or on mass through industrial practices. In this talk, Langer emphasises freedom and rebellion as ways of engaging with the suicidal productivity of industrial productivity, drawing from Camus, Kierkegaard and Shestov.

Where Langer presents in most detail his philosophy of eco-absurdism is his book Revolting. In this book, Langer draws from writers and philosophers including Camus, Nietzsche, Shestov, Arendt, Kafka, Thoreau, Wilde, Wilson, Moore, Aragorn! and Serafinski, to describe a philosophy of revolt that is responsive to the subject of nihilism, while not seeking to negate or transcend pessimism. Drawing from the aestheticism of "doing art for the sake of art", Langer suggests a philosophy of revolt that is done for the sake of revolt, rather than being justified under reasons such as Cause, collective, revolution or insurrection. Reason is critiqued in Revolting from a rejection of the idea of uncaused first causes. Tribalist folk anarchy, poetic actions and activity, love and story telling, are all suggested ways of surviving and co-existing in the context of mass-extinction, diaspora and uncertainty, described by Langer.

Works

Langer, Julian. Feral Consciousness, Little Black Cart, 2016.
Langer, Julian. Becoming Animal, Warzone Distro, 2017.
Langer, Julian. Feral Iconoclasm, Little Black Cart, 2018.
Langer, Julian. Mesodma, 2019.
Langer, Julian. An Eco-Pessimist Revolt Against Fascism, Warzone Distro, 2019.
Langer, Julian. Feral Life, 2020.
Langer, Julian. Affirming the Open, Forged Books, 2022.
Langer, Julian. My Anti-Cull Philosophy, Forged Books, 2022.
Langer, Julian, Bretannike Rebellion, Forged Books, 2022.
Kharza, Kazimir et al. Anti-Technology Is Not Dead, Civ Fucks Distro, 2022.
Langer, Julian. "Anti-Cull Rebel Poetry", Eco-Revolt 2023
Langer, Julian. "Ontological Anarchist Guerrilla Gardening and Other Poems, Eco-Revolt, 2023
Langer, Julian "On The Nameless", Forged Books, 2023
Langer, Julian. "Writings From My Travels Through South Africa, Eco-Revolt, 2023
Langer, Julian. "Revolting", Eco-Revolt, 2023