Posted on November 28th, 2011 in AK Authors!, Events, Happenings
Gay culture has become a nightmare of consumerism, whether it’s an endless quest for Absolut vodka, Diesel jeans, rainbow Hummers, pec implants, or Pottery Barn. Whatever happened to sexual flamboyance and gender liberation, an end to marriage, the military, and the nuclear family? As backrooms are shut down to make way for wedding vows, and gay sexual culture morphs into “straight-acting dudes hangin’ out,” what are the possibilities for a defiant faggotry that challenges the assimilationist norms of a corporate-cozy lifestyle?
Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots? challenges not just the violence of straight homophobia but the hypocrisy of mainstream gay norms that say the only way to stay safe is to act straight: get married, join the military, adopt kids! Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore reinvokes the anger, flamboyance, and subversion once thriving in gay subcultures in order to create something dangerous and lovely: an exploration of the perils of assimilation; a call for accountability; a vision for change. A sassy and splintering emergency intervention!
For more on the book: http://www.akpress.org/2011/items/whyarefaggotssoafraidoffaggots
At this event, Mattilda will be joined by several of the book’s contributors: Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Horehound Stillpoint, Matthew D. Blanchard, and Jaime Cortez!
Posted on November 28th, 2011 in AK Authors!, Events, Happenings
Gay culture has become a nightmare of consumerism, whether it’s an endless quest for Absolut vodka, Diesel jeans, rainbow Hummers, pec implants, or Pottery Barn. Whatever happened to sexual flamboyance and gender liberation, an end to marriage, the military, and the nuclear family? As backrooms are shut down to make way for wedding vows, and gay sexual culture morphs into “straight-acting dudes hangin’ out,” what are the possibilities for a defiant faggotry that challenges the assimilationist norms of a corporate-cozy lifestyle?
Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots? challenges not just the violence of straight homophobia but the hypocrisy of mainstream gay norms that say the only way to stay safe is to act straight: get married, join the military, adopt kids! Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore reinvokes the anger, flamboyance, and subversion once thriving in gay subcultures in order to create something dangerous and lovely: an exploration of the perils of assimilation; a call for accountability; a vision for change. A sassy and splintering emergency intervention!
For more on the book: http://www.akpress.org/2011/items/whyarefaggotssoafraidoffaggots
Posted on November 28th, 2011 in AK Authors!, Anarchist Publishers, Events
The latest issue of Anarchist Studies (‘Anarchist Studies, Vol,19, No 2, 2011) is being launched on 7th December 2011 at Housmans, to celebrate the life and work of Colin Ward. Ward was one of the best known anarchist writers of his generation and his work on children and play, urban architecture and plotlands, squatting and criminology, water resources and public transportation – to name a few pursuits – broadened his appeal to a wide range of architects, historians social scientists and activists – as well as anarchists. Ward was the editor of ‘Anarchy’ (1961-1970) , perhaps the best English language anarchist revue.
Come along to the launch to celebrate Ward’s achievements. Carl Levy and Ruth Kinna will discuss Ward’s legacy in our era, when anarchist modes of organisation and themes are growing in popularity.
Contributors to the issue:
Edited and introduction by Carl Levy
> Pietro Di Paola
> David Goodway
> Robert Graham
> Carissa Honeywell
> Peter Marshall
> Brian Morris
> Stuart White
For access to the table contents and some sample chapters, please click
below.
http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/journals/anarchiststudies/current.html
We also hope to have available the new Colin Ward Reader from AK Press, if it comes back from the printer on time! (AK’s note: Copies are en route to the UK right now!)
Posted on November 28th, 2011 in AK Authors!, Events, Happenings, Recommended Reading
BLACK FLAME: The revolutionary class politics of anarchism and syndicalism
DATE: 2pm, Saturday 10th of December
PLACE: Freedom Bookshop
BLACK FLAME: The revolutionary class politics of anarchism and syndicalism
Lucien van der Walt & Michael Schmidt
‘Black Flame’ examines the anti-authoritarian class politics of the anarchist/syndicalist movement, and its 150 years of popular struggle on five continents.
An indispensable conceptual and historical roadmap, with close attention to Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America, looking at its:
· Opposition to hierarchy, capitalism and the state
· Strategy: building revolutionary counter-power
· History: labour, community, anti-imperialism
· Agenda: participatory, cooperative economics
· Revolutions: Mexico, Spain, Ukraine, Korea
· Revival: today’s struggles
MORE @ http://black-flame-anarchism.blogspot.com
This groundbreaking volume has been praised by reviewers as “deeply impressive”, “fascinating, revealing and often startling”, “a grand work of synthesis”, “remarkable” “outstanding”, “inspired” and “a welcome antidote to Eurocentric accounts”.
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REVIEWERS SAY
· “one of its distinctive contributions is its global scope… their book is brilliant and thought-provoking … a valuable study for activists, students and academics alike…” (Mandisi Majavu, Africa Project for Participatory Society, ‘ZNET’)
· “deserves to be read by all those on the Left seeking to understand anarchism’s diverse contributions to democratic socialist thinking and practice …” (Devan Pillay, ‘Amandla’)
· “illustrates the universality of anarchism, which until now, other literature has not done … countless examples of large movements globally from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba and the United States, to South Africa, Egypt, Korea and Japan … Spain, Italy, Russia, the UK and Ireland …” (Mandy Moussouris, ‘South African Labour Bulletin’)
” extraordinary … succeeds in bringing anarchist ideas into vivid relief in their historical contexts … shows the increasing relevance of an anarchist critique for our own time” (Martin Miller, Duke University, author of ‘The Russian Revolution’, ‘Kropotkin’)
· “a fascinating account of the often obscured history of anarchists, their organisations and history. There is much to commend in the book …” (Leo Zeilig, ‘International Socialism’)
· “the depth and breadth of the research are impressive, the arguments sophisticated, and the call to organize timely …” (Mark Leier, ‘Labour/Le Travail’)
· “If you have a passing interest in radical politics, get this book. If you have an interest in anarchism, get this book …” (Deric Shannon, ‘Interface: a journal for and about social movements’)
· “fascinating, revealing and often startling …” (Alan Lipman, anti-apartheid exile, author of ‘On the Outside Looking In: colliding with apartheid and other authorities’)
· “useful and insightful … a grand work of synthesis … an excellent starting point…” (Greg Hall, ‘WorkingUSA’)
· “Brilliant … outstanding … Do yourself a favour and buy it now!” (Iain McKay, author of ‘The Anarchist FAQ’, volume 1)
· “considerable scholarship and deep reflection … remarkable … powerful and lucidly written …” (Jon Hyslop, University of Witwatersrand, author of ‘The Notorious Syndicalist: JT Bain, a Scottish rebel in colonial South Africa’)
· “an outstanding contribution … unique in examining anarchism from a worldwide perspective instead of only a west European angle …” (Wayne Price, author of ‘The Abolition of the State: anarchist and Marxist perspectives’)
· “a must for everybody interested in nonauthoritarian social movements … ” (Bert Altena, Rotterdam University, author of ‘Piet Honig, Herinneringen van een Rotterdamse revolutionair’)
—————–
Michael Schmidt is a Johannesburg-based investigative journalist/ journalism trainer and activist, with experience in Chiapas, civil war Guatemala, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Darfur, and Lebanon.
Lucien van der Walt teaches at Wits. Winner of the 2008 international ‘Labor History’ dissertation and the 2008/2009 CODESRIA Africa thesis awards, his extensive publications include (with Steve Hirsch) ‘Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1880-1940’ (Brill 2010).
Posted on November 25th, 2011 in AK Authors!
A.G. Schwarz, co-editor of We Are an Image from the Future, has sent us this fascinating update on events in Greece and the response to the book by anarchist comrades here and abroad. It’s certainly an understatement to say “the book represents an extremely complicated project undertaken over a difficult, dangerous, and highly charged year of struggle.” Not that things have gotten less complicated, dangerous, or highly charged in the last couple years, but this useful account of events adds much needed clarity.
Two Notes from Athens
A.G. Schwarz
November 17th and the ongoing struggle in Greece
Before Greece joined the eurozone, the country exported a considerable sum of manufactured goods to the Middle East and Eastern Europe. With the transition from the drachma to the euro, the export market collapsed, as it is known to do when the domestic currency increases in value. With the collapse of the exports, consumption began to exceed production, creating the inevitable accumulation of debt that in the last couple years has been signaled as a crisis and blamed on Greek administrative incompetence or political corruption. As the crisis on its political level comes to a head, Papandreou, the populist prime minister from the Socialist Party (PASOK) is forced to step down, PASOK forms a unity government with Nea Demokratia (ND, conservatives, other largest party of Greece), and appoints an interim prime minister, Papademos, the former president of the Greek Central Bank and vice president of the European Central Bank.
The doctors of the social body will always be entrusted to remedy the ills they have caused.
Greece is now ruled by an unelected government. People talk of the return of the “junta.” The politicians, meanwhile, talk of the timely arrival of a technocratic government. And the truth is, Greece may have been the last of the modern democracies in the world, governed by charismatic politicians who lead through the formulation of distinct ruling strategies. The two party unity government symbolizes a transition that has already occurred elsewhere, in which politics, if it exists, exists only as spectacle and ruse, and government becomes nothing more than the technical administration of the unified strategy based on a high-level consensus of Capital.
What role the KKE, possibly the last truly Stalinist party in Europe, and PAME, their trade union, will play in all this is uncertain, though for now they are sticking to the script they have enacted since the Treaty of Varkiza at the end of WWII—that of loyal opposition who reserve their greatest violence for the uncompromising enemies of social order. Whether they subsequently disappear, as technocratic states have no great need for powerful labor unions or loyal oppositional parties, or whether Greece proves to be a unique situation, is a question they don’t seem to be asking, content for the moment with attacking demonstrators, protecting parliament, and, on November 17, leading the demonstration to the traditional destination at the American Embassy, which constitutes a trap both in the ideological dead-end of anti-imperialism as substitute for anticapitalism, and on the urban terrain, with the neighborhood geography distinctly favoring the inevitable police attack, which every year quickly succeeds in clearing the demonstration away.
While the plaza occupation movement, when it arrived at Syntagma in Athens, constituted an opportunity for nationalists and the ideologues of democracy to gain visibility, it also provided an opportunity to challenge these tendencies, which was taken up by the relatively few anarchists who participated. Perhaps more importantly, the Syntagma occupation that lasted for several months througout the spring and summer of this year shifted the locale of street-fighting to the square in front of the parliament, involved many older people who were not participating in other spaces of protest and struggle, and constituted a chaotic space in which the hegemony of the leftist parties and unions was absent.
Whereas the December 2008 uprising predated the austerity measures and the more acute symptoms of the crisis, and was infused with a distinctly anarchist character, the subsequent social movements in response to the bank bailouts and the economic situation, growing largely in 2010, allowed the leftists and the unions to regain much of their lost relevance, while leaving the anarchists relatively flatfooted.
When the popular response to the economic crisis began to get out of control, the KKE and PAME took a more aggressive role in imposing order, from recuperators to repressors, taking on paramilitary functions alongside the police to protect the parliament building from attack during the October general strike, on one occasion closing off Syntagma square, and on another occasion attacking anarchists and other demonstrators with sticks. When some anarchists responded not with sticks and rocks but with molotov cocktails and an old Communist died, even though his death was caused by a heart attack from police tear gas, the Communists and the media collaborated to blame the “hooded ones.” Subsequently, the anarchist space and Greek society have been divided, some arguing that the role of the Communists as protectors of order is more clear than in the past, others believing that the anarchists have come off looking like fascists.
In any case, the conflict has had a clear result. KKE’s practical absence from the events of November 15–17, although perhaps not a surprise, comes as a shock, as in past years they often dominated the annual commemoration of the 1973 Polytechnic occupation and, on the last day, its brutal suppression by the military. The Polytechnic through much of the year is the haunt of the anarchists and the (extraparliamentary) Left. But starting on November 15, it is usually the KKE more than any other group that fills the campus with their tables and propaganda, and that controls the gates, often locking out rioters during the protests. This year, however, they had no tables and the most minimal presence, and on the 17th, the day of the yearly march to the parliament and the American Embassy, they held a separate demonstration. As a political party, they naturally wanted to avoid confrontations with the anarchists and the Left, because they have their sights set on institutional power and ultimately disdain the power that exists in the streets. This is why, wherever there is a critical anarchist intervention, recuperation is alwas self-defeating and must always start anew, often with new organizations leading the process.
Despite the vacuum opened by the KKE’s absence, the anarchists only had a small presence in the Polytechnic, with most of them choosing to set up their tables outside. Most anarchists voice the idea that the 17th is a day that belongs to the Left, with the anarchist role being that of critical minority, as they were during the occupation in 1973.
The major protest of the 17th was no different, with most organized anarchists choosing not to go, or to go with a “wait and see” attitude. Crowd estimates range from 20,000 to 50,000 or higher, though I am more convinced by the lower numbers. More importantly, everyone I spoke with agreed that it was a smaller demonstration than in past years. The anarchists in attendance were poorly organized, and early on dissolved as a specific block in order to mingle with the leftists, which given their vulnerability and the police preparedness that day was probably the wiser decision.
Some people, possibly anarchists, possibly hooligans, attacked police outside of Parliament, though they chose a poor moment to do so, when the march was stretched thin, and the police counterattack sent everyone running. More extended rioting took place outside the American Embassy and then later on Leoforos Alexandras, though in the latter case it was a very sparse crowd involved in the burning and rock throwing, and a charge by the Delta motorcycle police quickly cleared them away. The traditional night time rioting in Exarchia was also lighter than in past years, with a small crowd of only about fifty people finally gathering up the courage and craziness to attack the riot police detachment on Stournari, just above the Polytechnic. One could tell they were inexperienced– half of the molotovs went out before impact, and the rest were poorly aimed, whereas the one comrade with a crowbar for prying up paving stones was erratic in his production of ammunition, and when he finally set to work, he did so in the front of the crowd, rather than the back, so a simple police advance was all it took to lose the entire pile of stones. For an hour or less, trash fires burned and the occasional missile streaked towards the police, before finally the cops advanced, surrounded the square, and put an end to the trouble-making. It was a mediocre day: the minimum for a dignified presence in the streets, and a little bit of practice for newcomers, but no more.
Beyond the events of one specific day, the anarchist space of Athens continues to develop. The occupied park of Exarchia is now filled with flowers and olive trees, and has become ever more real than the mayor’s threats against it. Exarchia square is now free of junkies and drug dealers, and a more diverse and multigenerational crowd makes it their home. After the police were again kicked out, having temporarily occupied the square at the end of 2009, people saw how while police agents were reasserting state control over the neighborhood, neighbors were getting fined for trivialities and shopkeepers had to pay taxes and follow regulations again, but the number of drug dealers only increased, right under the cops noses. So after they kicked the police out, the neighborhood assembly pushed the dealers and junkies out, not with fists and sticks as anarchists have done in the past but with consistent persuasion.
As for the fascists, while they continue to be stronger, and more encouraged by the political system, than before December 2008, the phenomenon does not seem to be getting out of control. Some travellers reported that fascists now had a space in Exarchia, which would have constituted a major shift to the balance of power in Athens, but in fact they were mistakenly referring to Aghios Panteleimos, a neighborhood about twenty minutes walk from the center where fascists have been harassing immigrants with police protection since 2009.
On November 12, to share one anecdote, fascists held a public meeting in a square in Nikea, a neighborhood quite far from the center. The 700 anarchists, autonomists, trotskyists, and leftists who tried to occupy the square beforehand were foiled by a large police presence, but two fascists were sent to the hospital and the antifascists gave battle to the police, mounting a respectable challenge given that this was to be a calm riot—no smashings, no throwing of rocks, out of respect for the neighbors, with whom local antifascists were trying to strengthen their relationships. Of course, when the police charged, a number of rocks were thrown, although never in a hail, always from close range and on target, so that neighbors and their cars were not endangered. However, the one person to throw an ekinesos (plastic bottle of benzine ignited by a firework equivalent to a quarter or half stick of dynamite) overshot his mark and almost immolated a shopkeeper and parked motor bike, though evidently there were no hard feelings, as he subsequently came out and cursed the police while pouring water on the closest of the many tear gas grenades they had thrown.
The biggest change in the last couple years seems to be the absence of the strategic clarity that so many people in the Greek anarchist space seemed to have in the months after December, 2008. Now a great pall seems to hang over everything. On the one hand, this should be expected, if one acts on such clarity and moves into a new situation. On the other hand, many of the people I talked to seemed to refer to a common shortcoming when they mentioned—their language differing in accordance with their different political perspectives—a lack of revolutionary perspective, of vision, of imagination, of a plan to offer society now that everyone knows capitalism is fucked. This sentiment mirrors the analysis offered by several different veterans of the social war I talked with two years ago, who each in their own way said that December illustrated the strategic limits of the Greek anarchists, and the lack of a proposal for what to do once all the banks and police stations were burned. Two years later, the same weaknesses remain, unresolved despite the clarity with which they were illuminated. Generally, tradition is stronger than good intentions.
I was also surprised to hear that some of the most gung-ho or aggressive comrades were talking disparagingly of the focus on rioting, and arguing the need for greater organization, or other changes in the anarchist practice. One group of ardent street fighters I had interviewed in 2009, who then were rightfully celebrating the spread of anarchist tactics throughout all the youth, were now bemoaning the fact that anarchist ideas had not also spread.
“23.10” (who gave an interview for the book) told me he thought it was a mistake, after December, to not create more anarchist infrastructure that would have allowed more new people to participate. He also said the increased reperssion has not been successful in weakening the anarchists but it has succeeded in spreading fear, as now everyone has friends who have been sent to prison for rioting, sabotage, arsons, bankrobberies, and other crimes. Without a doubt, there have been fewer attacks in 2011 than in past years.
“Vaggelis” was not alone in arguing for greater unity and greater organization in the Greek anarchist space. We discussed how in other contexts, the call for greater organization serves to mask a fundamental weakness and disconnection. This is the farce of the federation composed of various isolated groups and individuals with no connections other than to the federation itself. But in Greece, there are a large number of anarchist and antiauthoritarian nuclei with their own identities, their own self-sustaining practice, and in some cases, connections with larger communities. Perhaps in this context, and keeping present the lessons from past mistakes, an anarchist federation would rise above the politicking and conservatism that have wrecked most such organizations, and create new possibilities for struggle. To find out, the comrades would have to break with deeply entrenched habits.
It will be interesting to see if Greek anarchists break out of a mode that has served them well in the past, now that they are facing a radically changed situation. For anarchists in the rest of the world, though, the next sources of inspiration may come (and already is coming) from other places, far away and perhaps closer to home.
A response to the denunciations
In the last year, two denunciations of We Are an Image from the Future have come from people who gave interviews for the book. Because these concern the credibility of the work, I wanted to respond.
One denunciation comes from “Alkis,” who was upset because he did not know Void Network were also editors of the book, and his group and Void Network have a strong difference of political perspective. I was introduced to Alkis by a friend who is close to several people in Void and also friends with people in Alkis’ group. I assumed this mutual friend had informed Alkis that people from Void Network were coeditors of the book. This turned out not to be the case. I also tried to talk with Alkis about Void Network, but he declined that conversation, as he also makes clear in the letter he published. Unfortunately, the mutual friend who made the introduction is now in prison, making it all the more difficult to clear up the misunderstanding. At no point did I hide my friendship or association with members of Void Network. (more…)
Posted on November 18th, 2011 in AK News
An unsolicited poem was sent to us by Benjamin B. I haven’t a clue what our friend is referring to here. But it’s just too good not to share:
PUT A FORK IN OCCUPY OAKLAND
occupy oakland you broke my heart
i tried to love you from the start
this is not egypt or arab spring
in california we need our own thing
parents, teachers and working types
not those anarcho-libertarians on bikes
thank you black block
for spoiling the fun
narcissistic time and again
yes you’re the ones
food not bombs and ak press
destroyed occupy oakland and created this mess
The bizarre verse was accompanied by this even stranger cartoon. It’s horrifying with all the literature produced and distributed by AK Press that Benjamin and Andy Singer can still be this ignorant.
Posted on November 17th, 2011 in AK Authors!, Current Events, Recommended Reading, Uncategorized
I first met Max Rameau, lead organizer of the Take Back the Land occupation of a vacant lot in Miami which would become known as the Umoja Village Shantytown, in 2009 at the City from Below conference in Baltimore, which I helped to organize. I remain as impressed with Max now as I was then — he is an incredible strategist, nuanced, balanced, and thoroughly radical. AK Press will publish his second book (which lays out the movement-building strategy of Take Back the Land) in 2012, and what it book it will be! In between writing chapters of the book, though, over the last few months, he has been engaged in strategic thinking, dialogue and planning with Occupy movements in Miami, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Wall Street. This article is part of a series in which Max explores the potential for movement building within the Occupy movements. A preview of a book to come … Originally published on the Organizing Upgrade site (READ THIS FULL PIECE ON ORGANIZINGUPGRADE.ORG).
Occupy to Liberate: Connecting #occupy to land liberation and eviction defense
By Max Rameau
The last few years have been hard for us: record foreclosures, high unemployment, drastic cuts in social services, and government actively doing the bidding of big business at the expense of regular people.
With a combination of bewilderment and frustration, concerned global citizens had asked one question over and again: when and where are people in the US going to rise up and take to the streets?
Turns out, the answer was September 17, 2011 on Wall Street.
Of course, for all it’s simplicity and elegance, that answer is not entirely accurate. Communities of color, albeit in smaller numbers and with less media, have taken to the streets for years around issues of police brutality and the impacts of the economic crisis, particularly gentrification, foreclosures and evictions.
Since 2007, The Take Back the Land movement has identified vacant government owned and foreclosed homes and “liberated” them by breaking in and transforming vacant houses into homes for families. Our objective is to transform land relationships to secure community control over land and elevate housing to the level of a human right. With the crisis deepening, many more organizations are liberating land or waging eviction defenses with increased success.
This one grand crisis, then, has elicited two very different responses, each strong and each relevant to its core constituency. With the combination of low-income communities of color and working and middle class whites taking to the streets, this society is on the cusp of a major social movement, the likes of which have not been experienced in the U.S. in more than a generation.
Far from homogeneous, this budding movement is evolving towards parallel, but interrelated campaign tracks: #Occupy and Liberate. The two look similar in many regards, but are distinguished by three important characteristics: composition, primary frame, and target/base.
1. Composition. #Occupy has mobilized mainly, though not exclusively, disaffected young and impacted working and middle class whites. Liberate is mainly low and middle income people of color.
2. Primary Frame. #Occupy’s primary frame is the economic system and the injustice it produces. Liberate frames issues in terms of land control and use (such as housing, farming and public space);
3. Target/Base. #Occupy targets those symbols, institutions and persons responsible for perpetrating the economic crisis–the 1%–through the “occupation” of public and private spaces, most notably New York’s financial district, the Oakland seaport and individual bank branches. Liberate’s base are the victims of the crisis, who are protected via land liberation and eviction defense.
Social movements are not single celled creatures on a linear path, but dynamic complex organisms with multiple moving parts, each responsible for a different series of tasks. Such a division of labor must be understood, appreciated and fully embraced. This movement is a complex organism with two tracks, and each track performs unique and critical functions.
Two intractable images of the housing crisis include the banks responsible for this financial mess and the homes from which families are evicted. This movement must take the fight to the banks, protesting and occupying them on their turf. Those same banks are occupying our communities, neighborhoods and homes. We must end that occupation through Liberation and eviction defense. The crisis simply cannot be resolved by choosing to fight on either one front or the other.
Not only must we both #Occupy and Liberate, but the chances of success for one-track increases exponentially with the actual success of the other. Therefore, the Occupy-Liberate dichotomy is not an antagonistic one; it is complementary.
We must occupy the 1% and liberate the 99%.
That is not the job of one organization, but the mission of everyone’s movement.
There is growing awareness of the two tracks, their characteristics, strengths and limitations. As we struggle to properly understand and define this relationship, we must resist the tendency towards two competing orientations:
The first tendency is to examine both tracks, note their size, frames and composition and conclude that each track actually represents its own separate and unique movement essentially unrelated to the other. The second, and polar opposite, tendency is to remark the similarities in approach and tactics and conclude the tracks are effectively identical and must be merged into a singular monolithic track. Both tendencies are wrong.
We must take care not to expect large numbers of Blacks, Latinos, indigenous, and other oppressed nationalities or immigrants, each with particular historic relationships to the police, to “occupy” banks and financial institutions. In fact, it is not clear that #Occupy could have succeeded if first executed by people of color. We must also resist the temptation to allow 1,000 young white kids to “occupy” historically people of color communities, still reeling from the more onerous occupation of gentrification. At the same time, we must find creative, effective and empowering ways to work together through parallel, supportive and even joint actions and campaigns.
While engaging the dual tracks in parallel actions is a prerequisite to building a holistic and powerful movement, it is not sufficient to guarantee trust and success. Two sets of actions, even during the same time frame and in the same city, will not result in an instant movement.
Forging these dual tracks into a cohesive movement with mutually supportive actions, requires at least three basic understandings:
1. Basis of unity. Why are we fighting and what are we fighting for? Do we want the same things or are we just doing the same thing in order to get to different places. What is the basis of our unity.
2. Framework of unity. How are we working together? How are decisions made? What do we do when one track disagrees with the other?
3. Next steps. What are we doing next? We propose a 2012 Spring Offensive.
We must Occupy to Liberate.
Max Rameau is a Haitian born Pan-African theorist, campaign strategist, organizer and author. He is one of the founding members of the Take Back the Land movement and is currently with Movement Catalyst, a movement support organization, providing campaign development and other support to social justice organizations. You can find his first book, Take Back the Land, at AK Press Distro.
Posted on November 16th, 2011 in AK Authors!, Events
Prisoner Correspondence Project, Certain Days, Kersplebedeb Publishing & QPIRG Concordia invite you to the Montreal book launch of:
Captive Genders: trans embodiment and the prison industrial complex
Thursday November 24th, 6:30pm
QPIRG Concordia
1500 de Maisonneuve O. suite 204
metro Guy Concordia
Featuring:
– presentation by a trans guy incarcerated in Joliette (a Montreal area women’s prison) speaking about his experiences in a gender-segregated prison environment
– selected readings from the Captive Genders anthology just published by AK Press
– excerpts from the Prisoner Correspondence Project’s article Imprisoned Pride, featuring the voices of currently incarcerated queer prisoners, speaking to their experiences behind bars
– words from Amazon Contreraz, a jailhouse lawyer, trans activist and prisoner at Corcoran, California
The book will be available for sale at the launch at the discounted price of $15 (usual price is $23.05)
– Whisper translation available (English-French & French-English)
– Venue is wheelchair accessible
– Childcare available on site
– Snacks will be served
Posted on November 8th, 2011 in AK Allies, Current Events, Uncategorized
A new call to action from our surrealist comrades in Chicago and elsewhere. Please circulate widely!
Friends of the Imagination, Unite!
The Chicago Surrealist Group and friends of the imagination everywhere stand in solidarity with the Teamster Local 814 art handlers locked out by Sotheby’s. In Sotheby’s last auction, the obscenely high prices paid for the work of surrealist artists—among others—were celebrated by the fawning press to show that all was well in the land of dollars.
Surrealism has always been an insurgent movement identified with freedom and with the emancipation of labor everywhere. The anti-worker campaigns of Sotheby’s, an auction house enjoying record sales, are of a piece with the contempt for freedom, dreams, and poetry that drives the commoditized art world. Making beauty an object of speculation, herding the ostentatious rich across picket lines to produce record sales in the hardest of times, Sotheby’s uses the terror of unemployment and the forces of law and order to bully workers.
We are not surprised by such thuggery. The relentless illogic of miserabilism makes Sotheby’s care not at all for the imagination, the labor, or even the paintings on which its profits rest. Nor are we impressed. The shows of force by the employer, and the laughable complacency of art/business reporting, represent nothing like the wave of the future.
In applauding the courageous actions of the Sotheby workers, and the ties of their struggles to Occupy Wall Street, we surrealists recognize that the triumphalist crowing of Sotheby’s and its patrons hollows out on second listen, and sounds much more like a last gasp.
And why shouldn’t it? Hanging out with millionaires and billionaires can’t be good for you. Each day a little piece of imagination withers away, acts of kindness get “lost in the shuffle,” acts of tyranny and cruelty come to the fore, until finally the equation is complete: Other people’s suffering = a larger bank account. The choice between Sotheby’s and the citizenry can be made a thousand times a day in every human action undertaken.
We fervently hope that the day is coming soon when Sotheby’s, Goldman Sachs (and all of their ilk) are recognized as the major sources of our distress. The compass wielded by the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators is pointing the way.
The Surrealist Movement in the United States
www.surrealistmovement-usa.org
November 2011
Posted on November 7th, 2011 in About AK, AK Authors!, AK News, Recommended Reading
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It’s here! At 582 pages, and weighing almost 2lbs (yes, I weighed it), David Porter’s comprehensive treatment of six decades of Algerian resistance, and its tumultuous relationship with the French radical left is by far one of the most timely works of history AK has published in recent months.
More on Eyes to the South: French Anarchists & Algeria
(By David Porter, with a Foreword by Sylvain Boulouque)
“Porter’s sensitive, learned, and accessible account is highly recommended for anyone wishing to acquire a deeper knowledge of the history of modern Algeria, as well as of the range of anarchist approaches, in both France and Algeria, to the pathways of Algerian politics before and since independence.” —Mohammed Bamyeh, author of Anarchy as Order: The History and Future of Civic Humanity
“This alternate history of Algeria’s struggle to eliminate French rule and transform itself from the inside makes it clear that the grassroots urge to mobilize for social justice in North Africa didn’t begin and won’t end with 2011’s Arab Spring.” —Maia Ramnath, author of Decolonizing Anarchism
“Eyes to the South makes a significant and valuable contribution to a small but growing literature analyzing the complex and problematic engagement of anarchists with decolonization in general, and Algeria in particular.” —David Berry, author of A History of the French Anarchist Movement, 1917 to 1945
Eyes to the South explores important issues from the last six tumultuous decades of Algerian history, including French colonial rule, nationalist revolution, experiments in workers’ self-management, the rise of radical Islamist politics, an insurgent revival of traditional decentralist resistance and political structures, conflicts over cultural identity, women’s emancipation, and major “blowback” on the ex-colonial power itself. David Porter’s nuanced examination of these issues helps to clarify Algeria’s current political, economic, and social conditions, and resonates with continuing conflicts and change in Africa and the Middle East more generally. At the same time, Eyes to the South describes and analyzes the observers themselves—the various components of the French anarchist movement?and helps to clarify and enrich the discussion of issues such as national liberation, violence, revolution, the role of religion, liberal democracy, worker self-management, and collaboration with statists in the broader anarchist and anti-authoritarian movements.
Order your copy today!
David Porter is professor emeritus at SUNY/Empire State College, where he taught politics and history, including courses on modern Algeria. He is the editor of Vision on Fire: Emma Goldman on the Spanish Revolution and an analyst of the recent “leaderless revolutions” of the Middle East and North Africa.
Sylvain Boulouque is a historian and author of Les anarchistes franais face aux guerres coloniales (1945–1962).
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