Ben Morea, 1960s Anarchist Provocateur, Dies at 84
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 26
Ben Morea, 1960s Anarchist Provocateur, Dies at 84
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 26
Ben Morea died on May 2 at his home in Gardner, Colorado, after collapsing while walking on his property, his former wife Joan Eagle said.
Morea was the chief provocateur behind the Lower East Side anarchist group Up Against the Wall Motherfucker, which jolted 1960s New York with confrontational actions including dumping garbage on Lincoln Center steps.
An abstract painter who published the militant magazine Black Mask, he sought to erase the line between art and revolution and led a loose circle of runaways, dropouts, petty criminals and artists.
After moving West in 1969, Morea lived near Native American communities and worked as a lumberjack for nearly 40 years before later resurfacing in Manhattan as a flea-market picker.
Why did a notorious 1960s anarchist leader suddenly vanish from New York for nearly four decades?
Can a 1960s anarchist's late-life philosophy of 'revolutionary animism' offer lessons for today's crises?