Top Ten New Items in AK Distro! (June)
Welcome to the June installment of AK Distro’s top ten list! Working in the warehouse, we can be overwhelmed (in a good way!) with all the new distribution items that come our way each month. Contrary to what you may have heard, neither print media nor anarchist publishing are dead, and we’ve got the catalog to prove it. This month’s barrage of fantastic new items is no exception, and as usual, we wanted to provide you with a small sampling, for your viewing, wearing, and reading pleasure. You’re also strongly encouraged to check out the “What’s New” section of our website, and to sign up to receive updates by email to make sure you never miss a new release!
Pen & Sword Sweatshirt and T-shirt: Over the years, AK’s “anniversary” design (you know, the one that says “15 years” at the bottom) has been a big hit. The problem is, just like “over the years” implies, the 15-year anniversary this design was created for has long since come and gone. So what to do? We couldn’t just give up on such a classy, eye-catching logo. So we changed it. Now it’s the Pen & Sword design, and instead of “15 years” bears the timeless inscription “publishing & distribution.” It’s what we do. Available in both t-shirt and zip-up hoodie forms, for all your layering needs. Small classic AK Press logo on the front, big ol’ pen and sword on the back.
The Federacion Anarquista Uruguaya (FAU): Crisis, Armed Struggle and Dictatorship, 1967–1985: As highly informative as the lengthy title leads you to expect. The Federación Anarquista Uruguaya, founded in 1956, was one of the strongest anarchist movements in Latin America. In the 1960s, it faced a rising tide of repression, eventually culminating in the military dictatorship of 1973-85. As legal avenues of struggle were closed down, through the Worker-Student Resistance (ROE) and OPR-33 (People’s Revolutionary Organisation) it expanded its tactics to include armed struggle in defense of the workers movement. Banks were raided for funds, and factory bosses were kidnapped in support of workers’ demands. After Argentina became a military dictatorship in 1976, many FAU militants there were “disappeared” in joint repression by the Uruguayan and Argentine armed forces. Elements of the FAU were fundamental in the creation of the People’s Victory Party (PVP). The FAU is still active today. Newly translated by Paul Sharkey, this pamphlet collects writings on the FAU from the likes of Juan Carlos Mechoso, Jaime Prieto, Hugo Cores, and others.
Notes on Prison, Justice & Climate: A collaborative zine made up of the writings of American political prisoner Jeff “Free” Luers and Australian activist Lilia Letsch. The two struck up a friendship through letter writing, and eventually conspired together to create the pieces that comprise this zine. As the title states, subjects range from global ecological crisis to life in prison, with special attention paid to the ways we create bonds and solidarity between those behind bars and allies on the outside.
Free to Choose: A Women’s Guide to Reproductive Freedom: You know a compilation of writings about abortion and reproductive rights in which a quote from Emma Goldman appears on the first page is one of an uncommon sort. This is not just another pro-choice zine. It is an introduction to the history of abortion (and underground abortion), and a call to learn our history and to take matters in our own hands. It includes some information on menstrual extraction and a list of resources to learn more. Reproductive choice is not a “right” to be granted or withdrawn. “From tradition herbs to end or prevent our pregnancy to underground abortion services, women have always defended and exercised our ability to choose. The knowledge exists for women to exercise their reproductive freedoms in safe and empowering ways. The time has come to take it back.”—from the Introduction
Vegan Brunch; Isa has done it again. Everyone’s favorite chef and author of Vegan With a Vengeance, Veganomicon, and the endlessly useful (and ever-present at potlucks) Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, brings us a fresh take on brunch, cruelty-free-style. More than 175 recipes, with Ms. Moskowitz’ typically funny and endearing asides, make up what is probably going to go down in history as the vegan brunch cookbook. From cherry sage sausages to lemon cashew crepes, there’s no better way to impress your friends on a Sunday morning (or afternoon).
Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit, and Sound: Picking up where eighties hardcore punk innovators left off, nineties hardcore sparked profound change and debate across musical, social, spiritual, and political landscapes. Many of the ideals that were ingrained in hardcore since its beginning were taken in new and often controversial directions. Inspired by the music and the community that developed around the scene, many immersed themselves in hardcore’s ethical and social movements such as straight edge, animal rights, DIY, spirituality, and a host of other issues. They debated these beliefs and implemented them in their own lives, eventually taking what they’d learned outside the hardcore scene to influence the broader culture. At the same time, many of the ideologies that united people ended up dividing them in the long run, which eventually led to the splintering of this era of hardcore by the decade’s end. Burning Fight draws upon the memories of many who played influential roles in the scene and examines what made this era of hardcore so unique in its ability to synthesize music and ideology into a powerful counter-cultural movement. Featuring, among many others: Avail, Earth Crisis, Los Crudos, Spitboy, Swing Kids, Trial, Unbroken and Vegan Reich.
The Nothing Factory: A zine-and-cd in one, with a pull-out centerfold (not that kind of centerfold) and hand-screened cover—it’s practically irresistible. Originally put together as an epic musical / shadow puppet performance, The Nothing Factory uses striking visuals, dramatic narration, and an avant-punk soundtrack to tell a dystopian allegory—the tale of a fictional world where everybody wanted everything, and no one was happy with nothing. Now you can experience The Nothing Factory in booklet form, complete with all the art and text from the show, two fold-out sections, a unique screenprinted centerfold, and hand-printed covers. The included CD contains the full soundtrack, with songs and incidental music by the Aetherial Underpants Orchestra and narration by Anissa Weinraub. Whether or not you’ve seen the live performance, you’ll be very impressed!
All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America: With the biting wit of Super Size Me and the passion of a lifelong activist, Joel Berg has his eye on the growing number of people who are forced to wait in lines at food pantries across the nation—the modern breadline. All You Can Eat looks closely at the problem of hunger in the U.S. today—one in eight Americans is food insecure—and the reality that America is becoming a country where people not only have a hard time advancing, but often find themselves working to exhaustion and still not meeting the expenses of everyday living. Berg takes to task politicians, the media, the food industry, and more—and shows how practical solutions for hungry Americans will ultimately benefit all of us.
What We Leave Behind: The latest from Derrick Jensen, author of the two-part radical-eco manifesto Endgame, this time teamed up with small-scale organic farmer Aric McBay. Together, they’ve worked to create this impassioned guide to living a truly responsible life on earth. Human waste, once considered a gift to the soil, has become toxic material that has broken the essential cycle of decay and regeneration. In What We Leave Behind, the authors weave historical analysis and beautiful prose to remind us that life—human and nonhuman—will not go on unless we do everything we can to facilitate the most basic process on earth, the root of sustainability: one being’s waste must always become another being’s food.
Criminal: Isabelle Eberhardt was a young radical stricken with wanderlust. She survived deportation, hard labor, and an assassination attempt, all the while embracing the pleasures of endless nomadic journeys. This pamphlet is a collection of her writings—a record of all the beauty, misery, and degradation of a life fully embraced. This gender deviant, kif-smoking, sufi anarchist traverses the Saharan desert, battles African colonization, and records it all in poetic prose.
As always, if you’d like to see more of our distributed items, you can check out our website, or send an email to info@akpress.org to request a copy of our latest print catalog (and you’re in luck—one just came out!) Also, don’t miss our sale page, where you’ll find countless worthy reads, most for only $5! Never doubt AK distro’s capacity to get you thinking and keep you busy…