Bolo'bolo

bolo'bolo is a 1983 book by P.M., a pseudonym of Hans Widmer, known for describing a utopia.

Synopsis
bolo'bolo is presented as a dictionary of invented words that describe a global social order. A "bolo" is an intentional community formed of about 500 "ibus", or individual egos. The intentional community is described through its lifestyle ("nima"), hospitality ("sila"), and agrarian self-sufficiency ("kodu"), among other traits. Multiple intentional communities together form a socioeconomic network known as "bolo'bolo". The communities trade with gifts, barter, and possibly markets.

It opens with futuristic fiction connecting the history of civilization to its dissolution. The story begins with Paleolithic nomadism that progresses to land cultivation and settlement followed by hierarchy and domination through industralization and work. He describes an expanding "Work-and-War Machine" or "Planetary Work-Machine" that destroy environments and animal populations and ameliorate war as a suitable deliverance. He describes the Machine as decentrally orchestrated by corporations, international finance, cops, soldiers, and bureaucrats, who each independently increase their control over others, making resistance impossible and utopias likely to replicate societal conditions. He concludes to create an alternative reality through subversion and construction ("substruction").

The book's loose structure and short length leaves the reader to interpret how its details fit together, rather than offering explicit answers. For example, it does not say what apparatus the intentional communities or individuals use to self-govern. bolo'bolo approach is anti-capitalist and anti-state, and is written to be practiced. One section includes steps to foment a global revolution.

Publication history
Hans Widmer wrote bolo'bolo under the pseudonym P.M. It was first published in 1983 in Switzerland. The book received multiple translations.

Legacy
bolo'bolo developed a cult following among European anarchists.