Posted on April 6th, 2012 in Events
Gender and the Prison Industrial Complex :
Towards a Queer, Trans and Feminist Abolition Politic
with…
Eric A. Stanley.
… Eric is the co-editor of Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex and is the co-director of the films Homotopia and Criminal Queers.
Ralowe T. Ampu.
Ralower currently lives and organizes in an SRO in San Francisco, CA. Along with Gay Shame, she has worked with ACT UP and in solidarity to free the NJ 4.
Dean Spade.
Dean is an Assistant Professor at Seattle University School of Law. Among other things, he teaches Law and Social Movements and Critical Perspectives on Transgender Law. He is the founder of the Silvia Rivera Law Project and is a contributor to Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex.
Vikki Law.
Vikke is the author of Women’s Prison Resistance and a long time prison support acitivst; in 1996 she helped start Books Through Bars – New York City; in 2000 she began focusing on focusing specifically on women in prison.
Posted on April 5th, 2012 in AK News, Events
Help us welcome Christa*, the newest addition to AK Press, at our spring installment of the Radical Publishing Happy Hour!
Join us for rousing rounds of drinks, fine conversation and book browsing. Learn about two of Baltimore’s most exciting collectively operated media projects and drink to help sustain our efforts!
We will also be celebrating the release of Indyreader’s new issue “Occupy the Economy”.
The AK Press/Indyreader warehouse is located a short walk from the Woodberry light rail stop.
*If you don’t come Christa will be very sad.
Posted on April 5th, 2012 in AK Allies, AK Authors!, Current Events
We are very saddened 
to hear about the sudden passing of our dear friend and comrade, Joel Olson. A part of the Love and Rage Federation, and a founding member of Bring the Ruckus, Joel was a source of strength and inspiration for so many in the anarchist and radical movement. He was the co-author of the well-loved Soy, Not Oi! vegan cookbook, and the author of The Abolition of White Democracy. Just weeks before his death, Joel sent us his article on left colorblindness and the racial dynamics of the Occupy movement, “Whiteness and the 99%,” for inclusion in our forthcoming Occupy anthology.
Indeed, there are no words to express how truly influential his work was to the struggle for justice, equality and the freedom of all. He will live on in our memories as a fond friend and cherished comrade.
Our collective condolences go out to his family and friends. Rest in Power Joel.
For those not familiar with Joel’s work, or even for those who are, we encourage you to read Charles’s 2010 interview with Joel for this blog: Radically Democratic Extremism: An Interview with Joel Olson
For those in the Flagstaff area, The Repeal Coalition is hosting a march in his honor:
April 8th 2pm
Flagstaff City Hall Lawn
There will be a Memorial at Northern Arizona University:
Monday April 8th 1pm
Cline Auditorium
Flagstaff, AZ
Friends are encouraged to share their memories of Joel on Facebook:
Remembering Joel Olson
Posted on April 4th, 2012 in Events
Contributors to AK’s new collection, Hopeless, discuss the situation in Iran:
Targeting Iran: Sanctions and War, panel discussion including Ray McGovern, outspoken retired CIA officer who served under seven U.S. presidents over 27 years.
Panel Discussion
Raymond L. McGovern: “U.S. Intelligence and Iran: The Bad & The Good”
Dr. Sasan Fayazmanesh: “US-Iran Relations: A Historical Perspective”
Dr. Trita Parsi: “A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran.”
The event is hosted by the Middle East Lecture Series at CSUF and is open to the community. Free
California State University Fresno Recreation Center, Leon Peters Auditorium (The Recreation Center is adjacent to the Save Mart Center at N. Woodrow Ave. and Shaw Ave. Entrance on Woodrow.)
Posted on April 4th, 2012 in AK Authors!, Events, Recommended Reading
Jeffrey St. Clair, Alexander Cockburn and Mike Whitney of “Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion” will be hosting a Q&A and book signing in Olympia, WA April 17th.
Olympia Community Center
222 Columbia St. NW
Olympia, WA 98501
“Those who feel that like lemmings they are being led over a cliff would be well-advised not to read this book. They may discover that they are right.”—Noam Chomsky
The election of Barack Obama sparked long-dormant tingles of optimism in even the most entrenched political cynics. But the promise of an Obama revolution fizzled out even before his inauguration, as the president-in-waiting stocked his cabinet with corporate hacks, cut secret deals with Wall Street titans and plotted a bloody escalation of the senseless war in Afghanistan. Here is a scathing indictment of the Obama presidency from the best writers on the American Left. Hopeless is a view of Obama’s policies from the trenches: the compromises, the backstabbing, the same old imperial ambitions. From Obama’s sell-outs to big oil and the nuclear industry to his continuation of savage Bush-era policies in the CIA’s global network of secret prisons, this fast-paced chronicle will outrage the politically naive, delight the critical and inspire those looking for an alternative to the dismal politics of lesser evilism. As Emma Goldman famously quipped, “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.” Let this book stand as a painful reminder to those who think anything less than social struggle will net tangible gain.
Posted on March 29th, 2012 in About AK, AK News, Uncategorized
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Decked out in true Baltimore fashion. You know you want one. (Beer not included with purchase.)
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Posted on March 23rd, 2012 in AK Authors!, Reviews, Reviews of AK Books, Uncategorized
We just found out that Ron Jacobs reviewed Arab Spring, Libyan Winter for CounterPunch! It’s always exciting to see reviews of our books, and we’re especially fond of CounterPunch. Arab Spring, Libyan Winter by Vijay Prashad will be available in April 2012. Stay posted for upcoming author events!
Rebellious Spring, Murderous Winter
by Ron Jacobs
The last twenty or so months have certainly been months of insurrection. This is perhaps no truer anywhere on earth than in the Middle East and northern Africa. Indeed, there is even a phrase describing this fact. That phrase is “the Arab Spring.” Exactly what the phrase “Arab Spring” means is still open for discussion. Indeed, it can be argued that the real meaning of the phrase and the events it names has yet to be determined. After the protests, the sit-ins and encampments, the armed assaults and the killings, the only thing certain is that three dictatorial autocrats are no longer in power in the countries they formerly ruled. Ben Ali, Mubarak, and Qaddafi. The unholy trinity of the ancient regimes. What will stand in their stead is still being debated, although the interim regimes that replaced them are doing their best to become permanent.
When the Egyptian people began to gather in Tahrir Square in February 2011, the embers of the immolation that consumed Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi had already sparked the prairie fire that overthrew the dictatorial ruler Ben Ali. The protest in Tahrir Square was the first manifestation of that fire in Egypt but certainly not the last. As everyone must know by now, the fires of protest in Egypt tossed out their dictator less than two months after Mr. Ben Ali was deposed. The feat of that overthrow was not only momentous within the borders of Egypt itself; its repercussions were felt in the halls of Arabia, Asia, Africa and the Americas. In Washington, Tel Aviv, London, Berlin, Paris, and Rome and on Wall Street, there was plenty of catching up to do. Neither the eavesdroppers at the National Security Agency or the black ops mangers of the Central Intelligence Agency predicted the end of the Mubarak regime. Indeed, it wasn’t until the bitter end that the political powers in the aforementioned capitals began to side with (and subvert) the popular uprising in the streets of Egypt.
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Posted on March 23rd, 2012 in AK Allies, Anarchist Publishers
The Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS) has launched it’s Lexicon Pamphlet Series! It’s a new project that aims to convert words into politically useful tools—for those already engaged in a politics from below as well as the newly approaching—by offering definitional understandings of commonly used keywords. Each Lexicon is a two-color pamphlet featuring one keyword or phrase, defined in about 2,000 words of text, and all pamphlets are available for free from the IAS, or can be downloaded here for printing and sharing. The first five pamphlets, designed by Josh MacPhee of Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and printed by P&L Printing in Denver, are: “Power” by Todd May, “Colonialism” by Maia Ramnath, “Gender” by Jamie Heckert. “Anarchism” by Cindy Milstein, and “White Supremacy” by Joel Olson. Stay tuned for more titles in this growing series.
AK Press is proud to host this growing collection on our blog. Help spread the word (literally)! Print out the pamphlets (which are conveniently laid out for zine-style printing) and start distributing!
To get started, go here.
Posted on March 22nd, 2012 in AK Authors!, Reviews, Reviews of AK Books, Uncategorized
We just found out about a recent review of Iain McKay’s An Anarchist FAQ by Effluvia Magazine. We are always so happy to see reviews of our books out there and hear how they are affecting readers. Thanks to everyone at Effluvia Magazine and we look forward to reading more reviews from all of you!
An Anarchist FAQ
By Kevin Casey
A couple of years ago An Anarchist Frequently Asked Questions (AFAQ) migrated from the internet to a 555 page tome, put out by Effluvia favorites AK Press. Iain McKay’s excellent introduction elucidates the general goals and motivations of the project: to stand as a resource for those interested in anarchism and to convince people why they should become anarchists.
The book was compiled by working anarchists labouring in their spare time to produce a collective text, and as such, it embodies anarchism in action. Its very pages are the result of a living breathing anarchism. It is the first of two volumes and is organized around questions such as: What is Anarchism? Why do anarchists oppose the current system?; What are the myths of capitalist economics?; How does statism and capitalism affect society? Each of these chapters (and more) as well as the subsections that they are broken down into make for a format that is easy to read either linearly or to dip in and out of as the reader finds connections between topics of personal interest and particular concern.
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Posted on March 20th, 2012 in AK Allies, Happenings
I took the always trustworthy advice of our pal Corey Reidy at the Baltimore Indypendent Reader and listened to audio of Left Forum’s closing plenary, especially John Holloway’s brief talk. She was right: It was pretty amazing. Below is a transcribed portion of what John had to say (some transcribed by me, some by the Independent Reader). Below that is a recording of John’s talk. Check out Corey’s article for audio of the whole closing plenary.
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Enough, enough of saying it is the capitalists who are to blame, that it is the bankers’ fault. The very notion is not only absurd, but dangerous because it constitutes us as victims. Capital is a relation of domination. The crisis of capital is the crisis of domination: The dominators are not able to dominate effectively. And then we go into the streets and tell them that it is their fault. What are we saying? That they should dominate us more efficiently? It’s better to take the simpler explanation and say that, if the relation of domination is in crisis, it is because the dominated are not docile enough; they are not prostrating themselves sufficiently. The inadequacy of our subordination is the cause of the crisis.
Capitalism is not just a system of injustice. It is a system of accelerating exploitation, a system of intensifying destruction. This can be theorized in many ways…. But what it means is that capitalism is a dynamic of attack. There is an unending drive to go faster, an unending transformation of what capitalist labor means. And this means not only an intensification of labor in the factories, but the ever increasing subordination of all aspects of life to the logic of capital. The very existence of capitalism is a constant turning of the screw–and crisis is quite simply the manifestation of the fact that the screw is not being tightened fast enough.
Somewhere, it is meeting resistance. Resistance on the streets and in the squares, perhaps. Organized resistance, certainly. But also, it may just be the resistance of parents who want to play with their children, lovers who want to spend an extra hour in bed, students who think that they can take time to criticize, humans who still dream of being human.
We are the crisis of capital. We who do not bow low enough. We who do not run fast enough.
[…]
The other option is saying “No, no,” to capitalism. “We will try to build a different sociality.” … If capitalism cannot provide the basis of life, then we must do it in other ways; by forming networks of mutual support… This is a lot more complicated and a far more experimental way forward, in which there is no correct line, there is no revolutionary purity. Quite possibly, our prefigurative forms of sociality are not yet strong enough to ensure our survival and there have to be compromises. But that is clearly the direction in which we must push—clearly the direction in which we are pushing and are being pushed. This world we are trying to create. This world without answers. A world of “asking, we walk.” A world of experiment. But we are guided by our “No!” to the inhuman, obscene, destructive system of capitalism. And guided by a utopian star distilled from the hopes and dreams of centuries of struggle.
Crisis, then, confronts us with these two options: Either we take the highway of subordination to the logic of capital, in the clear knowledge that this leads directly to the self-annihilation of humanity, or else we take the hazardous paths—many paths—of inventing different worlds, here and now, through the cracks we create in capitalist domination. And as we invent new worlds, we sing loud and clear that we are the crisis of capital. We are the crisis of the rush toward human destruction…and proud of it. We are the new world that is pushing through. Get out of the way capital!
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Audio:
John Holloway at Left Forum 2012
