Posted on July 24th, 2009 in Recommended Reading
I heard a news story on the radio this morning about another two soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Driving through Oakland, I had one of those moments when the horror of daily life envelops you, like a ray of anti-sunlight through the clouds of “normal” numbness. At least 20,000 corpses in Afghanistan (most of them, of course, civilians). Another 50,000 (again at least) seriously injured. An aerial drone strike in June that efficiently took out thirty-five villagers at a funeral, including ten children. And good cop Obama, the Commander-in-Chief of “hope” and “change,” ratcheting up the slaughter as he talks sweet about health care.
It all made me think of Randolph Bourne’s “War Is the Health of the State,” which I went back and read recently while preparing Barry Sander’s The Green Zone for publication. Written in 1918 as part of a larger work, The State (unfinished at the time of his death), it still strikes me as one of the best attempts to get at the root causes of militarism.
Below is an excerpt. When reading it, you should keep in mind that, in Bourne’s usage, “nation” is more or less synonymous with “the people,” “State” is a quasi-Weberian political entity claiming a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence within and beyond its borders, and “government” is the specific administrative apparatus of any given State.
If you want to read the entire text online, you can go here. For the same thing in ink-on-paper pamphlet form, go here.
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War is a function of [the] system of States, and could not occur except in such a system. Nations organized for internal administration, nations organized as a federation of free communities, nations organized in any way except that of a political centralization of a dynasty, or the reformed descendant of a dynasty, could not possibly make war upon each other. They would not only have no motive for conflict, but they would be unable to muster the concentrated force to make war effective. There might be all sorts of amateur marauding, there might be guerrilla expeditions of group against group, but there could not be that terrible war en masse of the national State, that exploitation of the nation in the interests of the State, that abuse of the national life and resource in the frenzied mutual suicide, which is modern war.
It cannot be too firmly realized that war is a function of States and not of nations, indeed that it is the chief function of States. War is a very artificial thing. It is not the naïve spontaneous outburst of herd pugnacity; it is no more primary than is formal religion. War cannot exist without a military establishment, and a military establishment cannot exist without a State organization. War has an immemorial tradition and heredity only because the State has a long tradition and heredity. But they are inseparably and functionally joined. We cannot crusade against war without crusading implicitly against the State. And we cannot expect, or take measures to ensure, that this war is a war to end war, unless at the same time we take measures to end the State in its traditional form. The State is not the nation, and the State can be modified and even abolished in its present form, without harming the nation. On the contrary, with the passing of the dominance of the State, the genuine life-enhancing forces of the nation will be liberated. If the State’s chief function is war, then the State must suck out of the nation a large part of its energy for its purely sterile purposes of defense and aggression. It devotes to waste or to actual destruction as much as it can of the vitality of the nation. No one will deny that war is a vast complex of life-destroying and life-crippling forces. If the State’s chief function is war, then it is chiefly concerned with coordinating and developing the powers and techniques which make for destruction. And this means not only the actual and potential destruction of the enemy, but of the nation at home as well. For the very existence of a State in a system of States means that the nation lies always under a risk of war and invasion, and the calling away of energy into military pursuits means a crippling of the productive and life-enhancing processes of the national life.
Posted on July 22nd, 2009 in Reviews of AK Books
We LOVE it when people review AK books! What follows is a review of Abel Paz‘s Durruti in the Spanish Revolution by our comrades and collaborators at the Kate Sharpley Library. It first appeared on the KSL website, in part to commemorate the July 19 anniversary of the Spanish Revolution of 1936.
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Buenaventura Durruti is the most famous Spanish anarchist militant. ‘Durruti had lived a good deal of his life underground and his trajectory had always been controversial. He was necessarily an enemy and a bandit to the bourgeoisie. But, for revolutionaries, Durruti was a uniquely gifted man who devoted himself body and soul to the cause.’ (p598) Durruti was active in some of the most important moments of Spanish anarchist history. He was notorious from the early 1920s as part of the action groups combating pistolerismo (the bosses’ assassination campaign against CNT militants). And probably no less notorious for his part in robbing banks to fund the movement, and in the anarchist insurrections of the 1930s. Finally, he was a key figure in building the ‘new world in our hearts’ in the Spanish Revolution.
Durruti did not leave stacks of diaries and manuscripts, which makes Paz’s reconstruction of his life such an achievement. The footnotes show the long and painstaking research that went into the book: Paz has not just looked through pamphlets and periodicals, he searched the Spanish anarchist diaspora for letters and personal recollections. As well as Durruti’s own words, there are some excellent quotes from his partner Emilienne Morin and his comrade Francisco Ascaso.
As well as a life of Durruti, this is also the story of the Spanish anarchist movement and its path to the revolution of 1936. Paz provides the essential context for Durruti’s life: what happened in 1936 is impossible to understand without talking about the 1934 Asturias revolt, for example. Chuck Morse has done a great job providing extra footnotes for even more background.
This dual focus means that this is a big book (800 pages plus). It’s not so much an expanded version as a complete reworking of Durruti: the people armed (1976), with much more primary evidence. It finishes with a wonderful biography of Paz by José Luis Gutierréz Molina, which shows how Paz exemplifies the militant historian ‘who is not given to playing with words because earlier he gambled with his life’, to quote ‘The fight for history – a manifesto’ (KSL Bulletin 20), which Paz signed. Apart from some trouble with footnote numbering and military jargon, it’s well written, well translated and well presented and produced.
Durruti in the Spanish Revolution is essential reading for anyone wanting to know more about Durruti or the history of the Spanish anarchist movement. For the Spanish revolution it ranks alongside The CNT in the Spanish Revolution by José Peirats, and the works of Burnett Bolloten. A chapter on the fate of the Durruti column (and its members) would have been good.
Durruti in the Spanish Revolution will doubtless feed the political arguments about the nature of anarchism, and its successes and failures in Spain. This committed, but still critical, study can only improve such debates. Durruti’s revolutionary thought and action went hand in hand. His speech in Barcelona (15 September 1932) sums up the challenge thrown down by the anarchists:
‘The Republican-Socialists need to understand this and so we’ll say it very clearly: either the Republic resolves the peasants and industrial workers’ problems or the people will do so on their own. But can the Republic resolve those and other pressing problems? We don’t want to deceive anyone and will reply firmly, so that the entire working class hears us: neither the Republic nor any political regime of the sort—with or without the Socialists—will ever resolve the workers’ problems. A system based on private property and the authority of power cannot live without slaves. And if the workers want to be dignified, to live freely and control their own destinies, then they shouldn’t wait for the government to give them their liberty. Economic and political freedom is not something given; it has to be taken. It depends on you, the workers listening to me, whether you’ll continue being modern slaves or free men! You must decide!’ (p285)
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Durruti in the Spanish Revolution by Abel Paz, translated by Chuck Morse, afterword by José Luis Gutierréz Molina. AK Press, ISBN 9781904859505
Posted on July 17th, 2009 in AK Allies, Anarchist Publishers
The following article about radical pamphleteering and the small presses who do it appeared in issue #228 of Black Flag. We reprint it with the kind permission of the author. For a small selection of the pamphlets AK Press distributes, you can click on any of the images below. For a complete (and, I warn you, very long) list of our pamphlets, go here.
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Radical Pamphleteering in the UK Today
By Ade Dimmick
In the world of libertarian publishing there exists what could only be described as a cottage industry of small press publishers. Publishers who are independent of any organisation, group or federation; who specialise in publishing pamphlets, mainly of a radical and historical nature, which, in their own estimation, are of relevance to present-day workers and revolutionaries.
In the main, they are self-funded and operate on a not-for-profit shoe-string budget. Their pamphlets are usually short-run and are relatively inexpensive to purchase.
The word pamphlet, as we know it today, was first used in the 14th century to distinguish a short booklet from a book. The word originates from “Pamphilus, seu de Amore,” which describes a Latin poem published in this format in the 1100’s.
The invention of the printing press saw the pamphlet develop into a medium for topical issues of a polemical and propagandist nature, both radical and agitational, which could be published on a large scale and distributed accordingly. American Professor of History Bernard Bailyn wrote in his work The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967):
“It was in this form—as pamphlets—that much of the most important and characteristic writing of the American Revolution appeared. For the revolutionary generation, as for its predecessors back to the early sixteenth century, the pamphlet had peculiar virtues as a medium of communication. Then, as now, it was seen that the pamphlet allowed one to do things that were not possible in any other form.”
However, I much prefer the description given by George Orwell in his introduction to British Pamphleteers Vol.1: From the 16th Century to the French Revolution (1948).
“What is a pamphlet? Is rather like asking ‘What is a dog?’ We all know a dog when we see one, or at least we think we do, but it is not easy to give a clear verbal definition, nor even to distinguish at sight between a dog and some kindred creature such as a wolf or a jackal.
“The pamphlet is habitually confused with other things that are quite different from it, such as leaflets, manifestoes, memorials, religious tracts, circular letters, instructional manuals and indeed almost any kind of booklet published cheaply in paper covers.
“The true pamphlet, however, is a special literary form which has persisted without radical change for hundreds of years, though it has had its good periods and its bad ones. It is worth defining it carefully, even at the risk of seeming pedantic.
“It is written because there is something that one wants to say now, and because one believes there is no other way of getting a hearing. Pamphlets may turn on points of ethics or theology, but they always have a clear political implication. A pamphlet may be written either ‘for’ or ‘against’ somebody or something, but in essence it is always a protest.”
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Posted on July 13th, 2009 in Anarchist Publishers
I recently spent a couple of days at the Kate Sharpley Library researching an anarchist organization that existed from the early 1970s through the late 1980s: The Social Revolutionary Anarchist Federation (SRAF). The “research” didn’t get very far—as I realized it would take a lot more than two days to dig through all the material in the KSL archive—but it went far enough to make me realize there’s a wealth of interesting historical material hidden in the group’s publications.
The few sources I’ve found about the SRAF say that it was formed in 1972, though some of the material at the KSL was published earlier than that. In Part 2 of his “Notes on Anarchism in North America” (Libertarian Labor Review 22, Winter 1997), Mike Hargis gives a brief snapshot of the group:
“The first attempt at anarchist organization in the post-SDS era was the Social Revolutionary Anarchist Federation (SRAF)… But SRAF was not an organization as such but a correspondence network open to anyone who called themselves an anarchist. Perhaps 20 to 30 groups over the dozen years of SRAF’s existence listed themselves on SRAF’s rolls but they were so disparate in outlook that any kind of joint activity was virtually impossible. Individualists cohabited with communists who cohabited with capitalists who cohabited with yippies—an unstable mixture if there ever was one. But, for all its faults, SRAF did provide a point of contact for the myriad of anarchist groups and individuals throughout North America, providing each with the sense of being part of a wider ‘movement.’ It certainly provided that function for this author. It was through SRAF that the Maine Federation of Anarchists, as we called our little group of troublemakers, first made contact with anarchists outside of out little bailiwick of Orono, Maine, and were able to participate in some of the debates going on in the movement in the early seventies. So, in that sense, SRAF was not a wasted effort; but as the decade of the seventies grew older anarchists and libertarian socialists became increasingly desirous of a more ideologically coherent formation.”
The SRAF was essentially a loose-knit, “synthesist” network of groups and individuals across North America. At their annual conference in 1977, a bloc of “dissident” SRAFers formed the Anarchist Communist Tendency, which split from SRAF a year later to form the Anarchist Communist Federation (members of which went on to found the Workers’ Solidarity Alliance in 1984).
While I tend to be, uh, constitutionally indisposed to the chaos-factor inherent in groups like the SRAF, it is precisely their wild diversity that makes them such an interesting group to study. The fact that there were no rules regarding who could join, not to mention no ability for anyone to be expelled, meant that they put out a kaleidoscopic selection of publications. Their pamphlets included reprints ranging from Malatesta, Kropotkin, and Spooner to Maurice Brinton (of the London Solidarity Group) and Matzpen (an antizionist Israeli socialist group), as well as some apparently original material on topics like “Anarchist Organization” and “The Anarchist Solution to the Problem of Crime.” SRAF groups also published the magazine Black Star.
But the truly fascinating material is in their SRAF Bulletin for Anarchist Agitators. The content for each issue was sent in by federation members across the continent, and then gathered/mimeographed/stapled and sent back out in the form of a ten-to-fifteen-page magazine. The magazine included news and updates from various groups about what was going on in their region, short essays and analysis, as well as back-and-forth discussions and debates that would span numerous editions. The Bulletin was a sort of 1970s/1980s equivalent of today’s online listservs and discussion boards—with many of the same weakness, though it seemed to maintain a slightly higher quality…perhaps because people felt that they had weeks, rather than minutes, in which to compose their replies. And, quality aside, the Bulletin offers an amazing glimpse of what anarchists at the time were thinking about and doing: from self-proclaimed “freeks” living on rural communes to anarcho-syndicalists in the labor movement.
I hope to spend more time looking into the SRAF (and hopefully posting some snippets on this blog), though I’m pretty sure it’d be impossible to come up with a book project on the subject: right now, the material seems too all over the place to do anything but a straight facsimile reprint…which would require several volumes.
In the meantime, though, if you click on the image at the top of this post, you’ll see the first page of an early issue of the Bulletin. And the images below are from a four-page pamphlet of the SRAF’s 1972 founding (?) declaration.
If anyone has any more information, personal or otherwise, about the SRAF, please post it in the comment section of this blog or send it to me (charles-[at]-akpress.org).
Posted on July 8th, 2009 in AK Distribution
Just the other day (yesterday to be exact) I was emptying out the kitty litter box and thinking to myself, “AK Press really is a great resource for keeping up with new indie/radical titles.” I kid you not, these are the types of things that run through my head while dealing with cat shit…not that I associate AK Press with cat shit or anything…Anyway, I really do believe that the AK Press website—and now blog!—are a great place to find out about a lot of new indie releases. For the month of July, I bring you my top-ten picks of new AK Press Distro titles in the hopes that you’ll find something in this list that you didn’t even know was missing from your life. We are constantly updating our website, as we receive new titles here at the Oakland warehouse every single week, so don’t forget to check out our new releases page with frequency.
Shoot An Iraqi: Art, Life, And Resistance Under the Gun
In 2007, Iraqi professor and artist Wafaa Bilal began his “Domestic Tension” project, which involved him living in a Chicago gallery where online viewers had the option of commanding a remote control paintball gun to shoot him from the comfort and anonymity enjoyed from behind their computer screens. By the end of the month, Wafaa had been shot more than 60,000 times by people in 130 countries. This book documents Bilal’s experience living under “Domestic Tension” and also recounts his life story from growing up in Iraq to becoming a noted professor and artist working out of the U.S. This book also serves as an excellent read for all those interested in understanding the history and current political situation in Iraq and the context of “Domestic Tension” within the art world.
Protest Graffiti Mexico: Oaxaca
In autumn 2006, as they had done every year since 1981, local teachers and allies took over the town square of Oaxaca City in protest of the undignified conditions in which Oaxaqueños were forced to teach and learn. It is this year that state and federal armed forces carried out an unprecedented attack against the encampment on orders from Governor Ulisses Ruiz, a champion of neoliberal policies in the state of Oaxaca. Working under gunfire and tear-gas, the teacher’s peaceful protest soon turned into an all out popular uprising. Within days of the attack, the city’s walls, fences, sidewalks, lampposts, etc turned into blank canvasses for artists to blast their message all over the city in support of the people’s struggle. This book collects dozens of full color photograph’s depicting the public art found in and around Oaxaca city during the height of the popular uprising, as well as a narrative analysis of the role and impact of street art in the struggle for Oaxaca. If you are interested in learning more about the popular people’s movement in Oaxaca, I highly recommend that you check out Un poquito de tanta verdad, an outstanding film documenting the take-over of local radio stations by Oaxacan rebels used to disseminate information, maintain collective morale, and denounce corruption.
Anarchism: A Beginner’s Guide
In this new introductory guide, author Ruth Kinna lays out the answers to many of the questions plaguing those who are just familiarizing themselves with the concept of anarchism. Incredibly reader-friendly, it includes discussions on the history of anarchism, the differing, oftentimes conflicting, strains of anarchism, real-life experiments in anarchist living, and much, much more. You can buy a copy and give it to your ISO friend as a gift or get it for yourself as a reminder as to why you thought anarchism made sense in the first place.
Other: An Asian & Pacific Islander Prisoner’s Anthology
An often ignored subgroup within the discourses shaping the struggles and strategies against prisons and policing, Other gives voice to Asian Pacific Islanders who find themselves in the same unfortunate, yet predictable situation as millions of others living within the confines of the U.S. prison system. This collection contains stories, artwork, poetry, interviews, and narratives of 22 API prisoners. This book is a project of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee and is already in its second printing, so go ahead and get yourself some copies before you have to wait for the third-run.
Left Turn: Notes from the Global Intifada #33
Indigenous genocide in Peru. Right-wing military coup in Honduras. The ever-steady low intensity war being waged against the people of Chiapas. Gee, I really wish somebody would publish a collection of short articles outlining these sorts of struggles which I could purchase for under $5. Oh wait, somebody already did that—Left Turn Magazine! This issue is dedicated to Indigenous struggles in Latin America, and also includes articles about the future of Sri Lankan politics, anti-police organizing in Oakland, and the always insightful book reviews, letters, and news pieces featured in every issue of Left Turn.
Atamansha: The Story of Maria Nikiforova
This is the story of Maria Nikiforova, a Ukranian woman who rose up from the industrial slums of Alexandrovsk to become a fierce and militant figure in the struggle for freedom in three different continents. If you’ve never heard of Nikiforova before, it’s because her story was blacklisted by official historians and was lost for generations—until now. Thanks to the good folks at Black Cat Press, you can finally read all about this young freedom fighter’s exploits. You can check out all of the other new Black Cat titles available from AK Press Distribution here.
So Many Ways to Sleep Badly
In their new novel, author Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore brings us the ups and downs of San Francisco living—you know, drugs, sex, health issues, cops, politics, etc—all from a radical queer perspective. For those of you who don’t know, Sycamore is also the editor of the groundbreaking anthologies Nobody Passes and That’s Revolting, which are also available from AK Press distro.
Legend Sondayo
Part of the Civil Defense Poetry series, Legend Sondayo is a collection of works from local Pinay poet Maiana Minahal. This tiny book is packed with poetry that blends traditional Filipina imagery with contemporary queer subversiveness. It’s also small enough to fit in your back pocket, so you can whip it out for a quickie escape on your bus ride to and from work (or on your way to any other place that you dread arriving to on a daily basis).
Smash the Church, Smash the State
From the first high heel thrown at Stonewall to the last performance of the drag burlesque group the Cockettes, enter the wild days of the late ’60s and early ’70s with the individuals who lived them! Celebrating 40 years since the June 1969 Stonewall Riots, the essays, manifestos, artwork and photos in this anthology represent a group of radical activists who together formed the ranks of the Gay Liberation Movement. For the first time together in one volume, these writers share unique perspectives, occasional regrets and changes of ideology, personal memories, and a celebration of the revolutionary spirit that shaped and guided the movement.
The Fart Party: Volume 2
As much as I (and all of my closest friends) have an intense disdain for any and all self-indulgent expressions of angst and irony created by white, middle class, gentrifying, hipster kids living in SF, we cannot help but giggle in delight when flipping through the pages of Julia Wertz’ The Fart Party comics. I believe you’ll find the Fart Party equally delightful. For every Volume 2, there’s also a Volume 1, conveniently available from AK Press Distribution.
Posted on July 6th, 2009 in AK Authors!, Reviews of AK Books
Barry Sanders’ new book, The Green Zone:The Environmental Costs of Militarism is sparking the sorts of discussions Barry, and we, hoped it would: discussions that, to use Barry’s words, shift the terms of debate from “antiwar” movements to “no war” movements. The following review and interview come from the June 25, 2009 edition of The Indypendent.
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Web Exclusive Review and Interview: The Green Zone: How a Greening Culture Cannot Ignore the Military
By Bryan Farrell
The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism
By Barry Sanders
AK Press, 2009
As we have become more aware of our effect on the planet and its climate, many average Americans have taken steps toward a greener lifestyle. The Nature Conservancy conducted a poll a few months ago that found 53 percent of those surveyed engage in small actions like recycling, using green household products, and bringing reusable bags to stores. Perhaps, however, what is more revealing is the poll also found that nearly three quarters of respondents believe their personal actions are significant to the health of the environment.
Enter the buzzkill that is Barry Sanders’ new book, The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism, in which he delivers a wake-up call to the green movement. Simply put, the solution is not in the hand of the people—at least not their literal pair of hands. But it is also not, as most of us might believe it to be, in the hands of the largest corporations. Sanders’ book brings into the environmental discussion a “new” player. One whose environmental influence has yet to be seriously examined: the U.S. military. As the book present it: “… ironically, that greatest single assault on the environment, on all of us around the globe, comes from one agency, that one agency in business to protect us from our enemies, the Armed Forces of the United States.”
Sanders, a retired English and History of Ideas professor at Pitzer College in California, isn’t out to condemn the efforts of ordinary people. Most of his published works—including eleven other books on subjects as seemingly disparate as racism, laughter, and literacy—defend the average person from the degrading control of hierarchical systems. The way Sanders views the current state of the environment is no different. To him, “Citizens look like patron saints of the environment compared with the rampant destruction that the military causes.”
In order to make his case, Sanders presents an overwhelmingly fact-driven argument, listing various types of military equipment, their fuel source, and how much gets used. At first, it’s hard to see many of these details being of interest to anyone other than military buffs. But when Sanders manages to provide recognizable points of comparison, the numbers become quite damning.
For instance, even though we Americans consume on average 1.3 gallons of oil a day, deployed soldiers in 2007 burned about twelve times that amount, at approximately 15 gallons a day. It’s through this relation that we can begin to understand how the military is the world’s greatest consumer of not just petroleum, but energy, in general.
As bad as it is, however, the Pentagon’s figures don’t even come close to telling the whole story. As Sanders explains, “The DoD provides no official accounting for the amount of oil the military consumes in garrisons and bases abroad.” We don’t even know the exact number of bases—although some experts place the figure at slightly more than 800. Even so, there’s no doubting, at least according to what little information the Pentagon does supply, that it is the world’s largest landlord.
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Posted on July 2nd, 2009 in Happenings
It’s that special time again! Twice a year AK Press holds a gigantic warehouse sale where we offer everything to locals at 25% off. This time around, we decided to offer the sale price to everyone! So, even if you don’t live anywhere near our warehouse, you can still get lots of great books at a great discount. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to partake of the keg of beer and inspired music selections that our in-the-flesh customers will enjoy.
So to make up for the the drawbacks of virtual shopping, we’re extending the Fuck the 4th sale for web and phone customers through Sunday. Place your order anytime Friday through Sunday and get 25% off everything (the discount won’t appear when you place you order, but we’ll deduct it before we charge your credit card).
If you’re a local, come on by the warehouse this Friday, July 3rd between 4pm – 10pm for the discount, refreshments, music, and (vegan) snacks…as well as a huge selection of sale books priced between $1 and $5.
See you soon!
AK Press
674-A 23rd St.
Oakland, Ca 94612
510.208.1700
Posted on July 1st, 2009 in About AK, AK News, Happenings
To all you Facebook users out there, we want you to know that AK Press is on Facebook too! We have a “fan” page (just search for “AK Press” on FB) and, as of this moment, we have 2,063 fans!
We love you too! We really, really do!
And if you use Facebook but haven’t yet become a “fan” of AK, please consider doing so. It’s a way to show your support for our efforts—which we really appreciate—and you can also use our FB page to keep to keep up with AK-related news and events.
Posted on July 1st, 2009 in AK Allies, Happenings
Come meet friends and comrades, celebrate traditions of resistance, and participate in exciting and challenging workshops at The SoCal Anarchist Conference & Feria Libertaria, which will occur on August 1-2, 2009 in Los Angeles. For more information, go here. (And please make sure to stop by the AK Press table and say hello! We’ll be there!)
Posted on July 1st, 2009 in About AK, Spanish
Hace 20 años, AK Press fue fundado oficialmente como un colectivo en Escocia. El colectivo pudo sobrevivir a esos primeros años gracias a la energia de sus fundadores, en especial Ramsey Kanaan y al apoyo de todos los anarquistas a través del Reino Unido, quienes estaban muy ansiosos esperando ver florecer nuestras ideas.
En 1994, Ramsey se traslado a Bay Area (USA) para empezar una nueva sucursal de AK Press. En esos años, AK Press ya tenia oficinas en Edinburgh y Londres, esta ultima actualmente cerrada, pero aún contando con el apoyo de sus fundadores en distintas tareas. Desde entonces, las sucursales de USA y del Reino Unido han funcionado con sus propias redes de distribución (las cuales no están ligadas financieramente) y colaborando en la edicion de nuevos proyectos como un gran colectivo. Cada año nos reunimos para nuestra Reunion General Anual (RGA) para discutir sobre negocios, el estado actual del movimiento y, lo más importante, sobre los próximos proyectos editoriales. La idea original de estas reuniones era que cada año fueran en un país distinto, pero desechamos esa idea al ver que el colectivo en USA crecia y en el Reino Unido cada dia se hacia más pequeño. Ahora estas reuniones solamente las hacemos en Bay Area.
Bueno, despues de muchos años tuve la oportunidad de visitar a Lex y Mike. Junto a Lorna pasamos unos dias en AKUK para ponernos al dia sobre las actividades del colectivo, y tambien para beber cerveza escocesa y visitar sus lujosas oficinas. Lex ha sido parte de AK Press desde sus inicios y Mike lleva mas de una década trabajando con nosotros. Como pueden ver en las fotos, tienen la misma dedicación a tener un entorno de trabajo ordenado tal como sus compañeros Norteamericanos.
Los ultimos proyectos de nuestras oficinas en UK fueron los libros Rebel Alliances de Benjamin Franks y el Volumen I de An Anarchist FAQ. Actualmente se encuentran trabajando en el Volumen II de An Anarchist FAQ y estan haciendo los preparativos para una nueva edicion de Proudhon con Iain McKay.
[Traducción: Bruno Battaglia]
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