Posted on November 24th, 2008 in AK Allies, Happenings
THE CITY FROM BELOW
March 27th-29th, 2009
Baltimore
The city has emerged in recent years as an indispensable concept for many of the struggles for social justice we are all engaged in – it’s a place where theory meets practice, where the neighborhood organizes against global capitalism, where unequal divisions based on race and class can be mapped out block by block and contested, where the micropolitics of gender and sexual orientation are subject to metropolitan rearticulation, where every corner is a potential site of resistance and every vacant lot a commons to be reclaimed, and, most importantly, a place where all our diverse struggles and strategies have a chance of coming together into something greater. In cities everywhere, new social movements are coming into being, hidden histories are being uncovered, and unanticipated futures are being imagined and built – but so much of this knowledge remains, so to speak, at street-level. We need a space to gather and share our stories, our ideas and analysis, a space to come together and rethink the city from below.
To that end, a group of activists and organizers, including Red Emma’s, the Indypendent Reader, campbaltimore, and the Campaign for a Better Baltimore are calling for a conference called The City From Below, to take place in Baltimore during the weekend of March 27,28,29, 2009 at 2640, a grassroots community center and events venue.
Our intention to focus on the city first and foremost stems from our own organizing experience, and a recognition that the city is very often the terrain on which we fight, and which we should be fighting for. To take a particularly salient example from Baltimore, it is increasingly the case that labor struggles, especially in the service sector, need to confront not just unfair employers, but structurally disastrous municipal development policies. While the financial crisis plays out in the national news and in the spectacle of legislative action, it is at the level of the urban community where foreclosures can be directly challenged and the right to a non-capitalist relation to housing can be fought for. Our right to an autonomous culture, to our freedom to dissent, to public spaces and to public education all hinge increasingly on our relation to the cities in which we live and to the people and forces in control of them. And our cities offer some truly inspiring and creative examples of resistance – from the community garden to the neighborhood assembly.
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Posted on November 21st, 2008 in Happenings
The Puerto Rico–based artist Beatriz Santiago Muñoz will present the world premiere of her new film Flowers of Antimony on Tuesday, November 25, at 7 p.m. at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. There will be a reception from 6–7 p.m. Both the reception and the screening are free and open to the public.
This is Santiago’s first-ever solo project on the West Coast. Her film explores the complex issue of anarchism and how it has evolved from its original incarnation—a group-centered, utopian practice—to encompass a variety of strategies, from tree-dwelling protests to veganism to open-source computing, enacted by individuals with diverse motivations who come together for specific activities and moments. Santiago mirrors this within her film, as she investigates alternative forms of protest and different possibilities for the creation of social change.
Santiago is the fall 2008 Capp Street Project artist in residence at the CCA Wattis Institute; her project is organized by Wattis Institute Deputy Director Claire Fitzsimmons. Santiago produced the film over the course of her residency, working with a number of Bay Area anarchist and radical-leftist individuals and groups, including the Long Haul (based in South Berkeley) and Free Radio Berkeley ( a now-silenced alternative radio station). As is typical of her practice, she did not work with professional actors. The participants act out unscripted, improvised narratives that exist in the collective memory or as official histories.
Santiago’s films and videos have the appearance of straightforward documentaries. The seams of their narrative construction, however, whether manifest as artifice, play, discomfort, or humor, are consciously evident. Santiago’s collaborators may be haphazard associations—people who happen to cross her path—or people with whom she has deeper relationships, formed over the course of months. Her subjects become removed from the accepted, codified structure of their lives and the society in which they live in order to effect social and political change.
About the Artist
Beatriz Santiago Muñoz was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1972, where she continues to live and work. In 1997, she received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She will be a guest curator of the 2da Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan: América Latina y el Caribe (April 18-June 28, 2009). Her work has been featured in the group exhibitions Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York (2007); Slash Fiction, Gasworks, London (2007); and 24/7 Wilno-Nueva York Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania (2003 ).
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Posted on November 19th, 2008 in AK News
The year that saw an African-American become President for the first time in U.S. history also witnessed a 
truly remarkable silence—one that was scarcely coincidental. In all the millions of words written about a political ascent of one black man, there was virtually nothing about the descent of black leadership into well-nigh total ineffectiveness. Barack Obama’s personal itinerary was mapped in minutest detail. The larger itinerary of African Americans was mostly ignored.
In Waiting for Lightning to Strike, Kevin Gray’s take is radical…so his focus is always ample and humane. In these passionate pages, he takes his readers into areas of darkness—South Carolina’s heritage of slavery, for example—and into the vibrancy and heat of James Brown and Richard Pryor. In essays like “Why Does Barack Obama Hate My Family?” and “”Dixie 101,” Gray’s intellectual footwork is as sure as Muhammad Ali’s in his prime, and the knockout is as deadly.
No one should venture a mile into the rough terrain of black politics and culture in America today without reading Gray’s Waiting for Lightning to Strike. There’s no keener mind, no sharper eye focused on the condition of black politics.
Kevin Alexander Gray & his younger sister Valerie were among the first blacks to attend the local all-white elementary school in rural, upstate South Carolina in 1968. Since then he has been involved in community organizing working on a variety of issues ranging from racial politics, police violence, third-world politics & relations, union organizing & workers’ rights, grassroots political campaigns, marches, actions, and political events. He is currently organizing the Harriet Tubman Freedom House Project in Columbia, South Carolina which focuses on community-based political and cultural education. Kevin was a founding member of the National Rainbow Coalition in 1986, former co-chair of the Southern Rainbow Education Project—a coalition of southern activists—and former contributing editor of Independent Political Action Bulletin. He was also the 2002 SC United Citizens’ Party & Green Party Gubernatorial candidate. He was managing editor of The Palmetto Post and Black News in Columbia, South Carolina, served as a national board member of the American Civil Liberties Union for 4 years, is a past eight-term president of the South Carolina affiliate of the ACLU and an advisory board member of DRC Net (Drug Policy Reform Coalition).
Table of Contents:
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- The Fundamentals of Black Politics
- Dixie 101: South Carolina’s Heritage of Slavery
- Intensification of Racial Solidarity in the 1990s in the Guise of Black Nationalism
- The Million Man March: Identity and Race Politics
- A Call for a New Anti-War Movement
- Big Daddy and the Plantation
- Soul Brother? Bill Clinton and Black America
- The Legacy of Strom Thurmond
- The Sun Never Sets: How did We Become an Outlaw Nation?
- The Packaging of Obama
- The Black Primary
- Race, Class, and Art: Hustle and Flow
- Richard Pryor’s Mirror on America
- The Soul Will Find a Way
- Why Does Barack Obama Hate My Family?
Posted on November 18th, 2008 in AK Allies, Happenings
We received the following report from a comrade in Los Angeles . . .
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Last night the at the Revolutionary Autonomous Communities fundraiser for the Anarchist Bookfair at the food not bombs warehouse on 6th and Santa Fe was raided by the LAPD. They kicked open the door and unlawfully entered in to the private space. Joaquin Cienfuegos, a member of RAC and Copwatch LA Guerrilla chapter, was targeted by the police and pulled out from the space. When folks inside the space heard what was going on in front they went over to observe and document what was going on. Joaquin asked why he was being detained and they told him to “Shut up” and “Do as he’s told.” He was handcuffed and searched without his permission. While he was being searched Joaquin stated loud and clear that he did not consent to their search and once again asked to please be told why he was being detained.
While I was at the door way observing what they were doing to the comrade outside I could see the street was blocked off and there were about twelve police cars on 6th street and about thirty or more Deputies/Depupigs. As we tried to get cameras to document what was going on the police rushed the door again and I was pulled outside by
4 police officers. They pushed me against the wall and made me place my hands on top of my head and searched me. I asked the Officer why I was being detained and he said, “A crime had been committed a few blocks away and they were going to bring the victim to identify the person.” As I was pulled out, the folks inside closed the door to prevent the rush of pigs into the property. They began to kick the door and yell at the folks inside to get out. Not once did they announce themselves as the Police Department or why they were there or wanted folks to exit the show. Police officers were outside making joke;” Do you smell that? I think its weed, we should go inside and find out”, and “This is some kind of illegal rave or show or what do we call it?”. Clearly unable to choose a reason why they were trying to raid the space they made up whatever we want.
After I had been searched, a female officer came over and I asked once again why I was being detained. She stated that this was an illegal gathering and they wanted to figure it all out. Officers were walking all over the front in very confused manner having to be told by other
officers to move out of the way. I could see the shadows on the officers behind me and Joaquin who continued to hold their hands on their weapons while we were handcuffed with our hands behind our backs.
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Posted on November 17th, 2008 in AK Allies, Happenings
For more information, see: http://klinamen.org/article5299.html
Posted on November 14th, 2008 in AK News
The long-awaited print version of An Anarchist FAQ is back from the printer! Well, at least Volume One is. In
an over-sized format, and clocking in at 557 pages, this exhaustive compendium seeks to provide answers for the curious and critical about anarchist theory, history, and practice. More a reference volume than a primer, An Anarchist FAQ eschews curt answers and engages readers with questions in a thorough, matter-of-fact style.
The FAQ began in 1995 when a group of anarchists decided to write a criticism of the idea that “anarcho-capitalism” (an oxymoron if ever there was one) was a form of anarchism. Over the next decade or so, the project evolved—in an ever expanding online format—into an informative history and analysis of the entirety of anarchism itself.
According to editor Iain McKay, An Anarchist FAQ has two main aims: “1) To present the case for anarchism, to convince people they should become anarchists; and 2) To be a resource for existing anarchists, to use to bolster their activism and activities by presenting facts and arguments to allow them to defend anarchism against those opposed to it (Marxists, capitalists, etc.).” It’s nearly exhaustive coverage will also make it valuable to researchers and those simply interested in learning more about anarchism.
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Posted on November 12th, 2008 in AK Allies, Happenings
Don’t miss the First Annual Los Angeles Anarchist Bookfair! There will be zines, pamphlets, DVD, CDs, radical bumper stickers, protest shirts, records, tapes, speakers, workshops, panels, open discussions, games, DIY distros, and much more.
Los Angeles Anarchist Bookfair
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Southern California Library for Social Studies & Research
6120 South Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif. 90044
$5 (includes free vegan dinner – we want to add free vegan lunch as well but it’s not confirmed. If you’re part of Food Not Bombs chapter and would like to get involved please get in touch.
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For more information, please visit the The 1st Annual Los Angeles Anarchist Bookfair website!
Also, anyone who wants to learn more about LA’s amazing radical community and history may wish to check out some of the following resources:
* Laura Pulido’s awesome “A People’s Guide to Los Angeles”
* Joaquin Cienfuegos‘s blog
* El Chavo’s somewhat dated but still very cool guides to LA and especially his blog.
* The always compelling discussions on the LA East Side blog.
* Or, for some books, Mike Davis’s works are essential, as is Laura Pulido’s Black, Brown, Yellow, and Left: Radical Activism in Los Angeles
Posted on November 10th, 2008 in AK Allies, Store Profiles
I should probably introduce myself first: my name is Kate and I’m a new member of the AK Press project. You’ll find out more about me in my upcoming AK People profile, but the most important thing you should know for now is that, like a lot of folks at AK and in the broader anarchist movement, I am a die-hard infoshop devotee. I’ve worked on infoshop projects around the globe for years now, and I am a firm believer in the centrality of the infoshop as a public institution within the anarchist movement.
I first met the folks who started Asheville’s Firestorm Cafe earlier this year just after NCOR (National Conference on Organized Resistance), when they came to Baltimore for a day to talk with me and other members of the Red Emma’s collective about our project. At that point, Firestorm was just a dream, but I was incredibly impressed by the determination and focus of the folks we met and vowed to keep an eye on their project and do whatever I could to help. For most infoshoppers, starting a new project is an incredibly long road: finding a space, forming a collective, raising funds, writing bylaws, gathering community support, and the million-and-one other things it takes to open and sustain a public space. Imagine my surprise when the fine folks I had met in February managed to do all of that, and open their doors as Firestorm Cafe just four months later. Incredible!
So, when the idea arose of my writing a monthly column about different radical bookstores and infoshops that work with AK Press, Firestorm was at the top of the list. Below you’ll find my interview with Firestorm members Kila and Scott. Be sure to check out the Firestorm website, and visit their store if you’re ever in the Ashville area … I know I will.
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AK: If memory serves, Firestorm Cafe & Books came together pretty quickly, amazingly quickly, in fact! Tell me a little bit about the process: what motivated you to decide to open the space, and what was the process of pulling it together like?
Kila: The Firestorm Collective is comprised of people who have worked on many different community spaces, radical lending libraries and bookstores both inside and outside of Asheville. Our motivation was to create a sustainable radical community event space in downtown Asheville, utilize and promote worker-owned cooperative structures, and support the building of alternative infrastructure to obtain our basic necessities. For maximum impact, we wanted to create an atmosphere that was comfortable for the widest range of people without compromising our other goals. We want to be a community crossroads, a place for dialog and inspiration, and so we welcome diverse backgrounds and views into the space.
Within the last few years Asheville lost the ACRC (Asheville Community Resource Center), the Asheville Global Report and Outspoken Books, all at a time when residents were being hit in a major way by rabid development and gentrification. We all felt Asheville was at an entirely critical point and having a community space like this to support and inspire new groups could change the tide. We have already seen this at work since we opened, and there seems to be a new momentum building here in Asheville.
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Posted on November 7th, 2008 in Reviews of AK Books
Review of: Anton Pannekoek. Workers’ Councils. Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2002. Pp. 217. Paper, $15.00. ISBN: 1902593561
by Nic Veroli
The ghost of communism has been haunting philosophical thought since its origins. From Plato’s caste of guardians who owned all property in common in the Republic to the regulative ideal of Kantian morality (treating others as ends in themselves, which Marx rightly saw is incompatible with wage labor) by way of the Lockean state of nature—which prescribes an originally collective ownership of the natural world by humanity—philosophers have always known that, as Margaret Thatcher used to say, There Is No Alternative. Communism is the only truly universal moral principle, and all attempts to deviate from it, from Plato’s caste hierarchy on down, can only result in the most insuperable contradictions. So it is quite right for Hannah Arendt to have declared in The Human Condition that Marx stood at the summit of the Western philosophical tradition. Of course, Arendt famously went on to damn Marx for enshrining the laboring subject of political economy into his philosophy of history and thereby forecasting a society of biopolitical slaves. But what is interesting is that she reserved the only note of political optimism in her otherwise darkly brooding and melancholy book for the 1956 workers’ councils revolution of Hungary.(1)
Today, with the courageous republication by AK Press of Anton Pannekoek’s Workers’ Councils, the ultimate albeit hard to read classic of councilist theory, we can better see the strange disparity between Arendt’s furious critique of Marx and her embrace of the only political program that logically follows from his philosophical analysis of the structure of labor in capitalist society: a direct take-over of the economic infrastructure and the legal and political reconstitution of society by councils of workers democratically organized.
What is most striking about Pannekoek’s text, in retrospect, is how well it conforms to Arendt’s critique of the biopolitical sovereignty implicit in any notion of politics based on the agency of labor. Writing about the necessity for administrative control over production by the councils, Pannekoek announces: “As a plain and intelligible numerical image the process of production is laid open to everybody’s views. Here mankind views and controls its own life” (27). In general, the overwhelming impression one gets from Pannekoek’s description of the future councilist society is that of a gigantic mechanism spinning its wheels in endless production with neither rhyme nor reason—society as a Kafkian castle. The society of workers’ councils is a society that works for no one and therefore for nothing. It is a society caught in the vicious circle of production and consumption, but without the exuberance which Bataille argued gives consumption its meaning. It is the cycle of animal or vegetal life rationalized and perfected.
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Posted on November 6th, 2008 in AK Authors!, AK News
Please take a moment to enjoy AK’s awesome Fall/Winter 2008-2009 catalog. It’s full of amazing new, recent, and forthcoming books as well as some audio and video. We think that you’ll like it!
Just click This Link to download the PDF. |
