Knot, Soil and Print: the Institutions of Anarchism

Cosmology of Hambi Anarchists

Since 2012, a group of environmental activists have occupied the Hambach forest in the Rhenish mining area in the west Germany to block further deforestation and mining.

From temporary, performative actions to more permanent living, the tree-sitting activists have developed tactics that not only subvert the mining plan but also invent a new anarchist space in the post-mining landscape. We’ve been spending time working with and learning from the anarchists, through multiple fieldwork throughout the year.

Initially, we were very curious about how resistance was made possible and how the Hambi anarchists managed to sustain their lives not following the capitalist logic. We used fieldwork as the method, trying to enter the world with direct observation and embodied experience. What we have observed is a network of things that entangle, and the interdependency has been actively utilised as resistance to the extractivist mindset.