Yu Koyo Peya
How much longer can industrial civilization last before it undermines the basis of its existence, imploding due to growth and complexity spiraling out of control? Why is this collapse scenario nearly inevitable? These are the questions Yu Koyo Peya attempts to answer. The opening sequence presents a frightening taste of how a desperate world racked by hunger and the breakdown of “orderly society” might react to the cascading effects of Peak Oil on the economy in the near future. The narrator’s fate is not predetermined, however; those of us who are bright and courageous and most of all willing will be able to survive the collapse of global civiliation, perhaps even bringing about the florescence of a new age of human culture: the Afterculture. Those of us intrepid enough to follow this path will do so with one eye on our primitive past and the other on finding creative solutions to building a thriving, organic human community in a post-civilizational world.
The main impetus for putting this video together was my observation that although the IshCon forum-folk and to some extent the concerned citizens of Madison were aware of the problem and the implications of Peak Oil, my classmates at the university (even environmental studies students) were woefully ignorant of this looming event. After reading Jared Diamond’s new book Collapse, I resolved to reach out, at the very least, to my Environmental Studies 126, section 303 class, as part of a final project dealing with collapse. A number of things fell into place while I was planning the video, including campus visits by Peak Oil expert James Kunstler and Anarcho-Primitivist John Zerzan. Mr. Zerzan was kind enough to agree to an interview, and I can honestly say that he is one of the most considerate and unselfish people I have ever met; a true friend. The response from my class was very positive, which was a bit of a pleasant surprise considering my misgivings about the dark nature of the film.
My main role in this project was that of an assembler. I compiled Yu Koyo Peya from many sources which deserve more credit than I can rightfully give myself. Most of the footage came from the marvelous social and physical landscapes captured by the filmmakers of Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Baraka. The music used in the film comes from the wonderfully poetic Godspeed You Black Emperor! and the enchanting Deep Forest. Thanks to everyone involved with IshCon - both on the forums and at the conference - for their ideas, solid arguments, and inspiration. I can’t thank Jason Godesky, in particular, enough for his brilliant insight into the mechanics of collapse. Finally, thanks again to John Zerzan for his expertise, vision, and eagerness to help a poor college kid with a low budget documentary film!
That we may find hope in the coming collapse…
To rediscover the balance and fullness of life we enjoyed for millenia.
– Tyler Kimble, 16 August 2005
Am having trouble playing the individual chapters from Yu Koyo Peya. Am receiving a notice that I may need a plugin to Quicktime in order to play the chapter movies. Am then taking to Apple’s Quicktime plugin’s page, but have no info on which plugin that I need. I think I’m running the latest version of Quicktime v. 7.0.3 on a Mac Powerbook running system 10.3.9 - Could you please advise?
Gregory Warren gcwarren@earthlink.net
Comment by Gregory Warren — 26 October 2005 @ 1:46 PM
Developers, developers, developers, developers, develops, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers.
That’s funny.
Sobering video indeed.
Beautiful montage of primitive people at the end.
Comment by planetwarming — 24 January 2006 @ 4:26 PM
Great job. I added you as a permanent link to http://globalwarmingcrisis.blogspot.com/
Thanks for doing a great job!
Comment by Michael Trout — 1 September 2006 @ 11:24 AM
Any chance to put it somewhere other than youtube? Like even google would do, just youtube sucks and makes it almost impossible to download, you can only watch, like a total zombie. Thanks
Comment by andy — 28 September 2006 @ 3:25 AM
Actually, the video above is on Google. On YouTube, it had to be broken up into three parts. Though I’m not sure what you mean—YouTube has ratings, comments, even groups. Google only recently started to catch up with regards to allowing more than just watching.
Comment by Jason Godesky — 28 September 2006 @ 7:57 AM
Hi, I am Janos Biro from a Brazillian group about civilization critique. Do you have a script so we can make portuguse subtitles for this?
Comment by Janos — 4 October 2006 @ 10:05 PM
I was also fortunate to encounter Zerzan in Vancouver several years ago, and was impressed by how he seemed to embody a non-violent, truly gentle way of being in the face of what i percieved to be somewhat of an ‘ambush’. He allowed others to dismiss his ideas and didn’t defend.
He has had a subtle effect on me that goes beyond his ideas.I enjoyed reading of your esteem for him, and your film contains a spirit that resonates with a similar energy.
Comment by pekoe — 27 November 2006 @ 2:36 AM
Actually, we’re not very big Zerzan fans around here, though I certainly respect the amount of work he’s done to raise the issue of primitivism. I do think he’s a fairly sloppy thinker in a lot of ways, though. I do find it odd that you characterize him as “non-violent” and “truly gentle,” given that one of our larger disagreements with him is his advocacy of violent revolution.
Comment by Jason Godesky — 30 November 2006 @ 5:14 PM
google/youtube version is very low-res - is there a torrent to high-res version, please?
Comment by banana — 13 January 2007 @ 9:17 PM
Please! Lo-res doesn’t do it justice - can we geta hi-res link going?
peace…..
Comment by Tom — 19 January 2007 @ 4:33 AM
If somebody wants english subtitles for Yu Koyo Peya, write me to: wafpress@wildmail.com
I will send them to you:)
Comment by free — 24 November 2007 @ 11:14 AM