#author Anonymous

#source Retrieved on January 11th, 2020 from https://stalkingtheearth.net/

#lang en

#notes Texts included Anarchist News editorials for podcast, The Anvil Review essays, Stalking the Earth originals, and some miscellaneous stuff

Welcome to the new site. Over the years, we here at Stalking the Earth have amassed a plethora of material scattered around various notebooks, hard-drives, and Internet websites. Some no longer are with us, lost to the ages of misplaced papers, corrupted computers, forgotten passwords, and natural disasters. This website is an attempt to collect and detail all the previous and future research in one accessible location.

Please bear with us as our website is still being decanted into whatever it may become. Soon though, the databases will be filled with our old and new discourses on society. Looking forward.

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May they not bury me in darkness

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José Martí, the famous Cuban revolutionary and prolific writer whose published works fill 28 whole volumes, including - children stories, letters, poems, journalism, theater, translations, notes, and essays on a variety of subjects ranging from anarchists to white roses. Martí is often credited as the "father of modernism", especially in regards to Spanish-American literature. He was born in Old Habana, Cuba in 1853 and died in 1895 fighting against the Spanish there. Martí was and continues to be the haunting spectacle of Cuba. What follows, are some thoughts and minor research about Martí, specifically - his ten years spent living in New York City, his views on capitalism and work, and his thoughts about anarchists.

At the age of 16, Martí was sent to prison for treason against the Spanish government, then in control of Cuba. He was soon exiled to Spain where he studied law and philosophy, but in the coming years he returned to Cuba, where he was again exiled to Spain. Eventually, in 1880 Martí found himself in New York City (NYC) writing journalism, translating articles, and working as joint consul for Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina. His time in NYC proved to be critical- as he helped launch Cuba's third war of independence while there, by fund raising and organizing against the Spanish. Soon afterwards, as history has come to tell - Martí was killed near Palma Soriano, Cuba in the very first battle of independence. The legend goes that he charged into battle on a white horse, while wearing a black overcoat, making him a prime target, and soon after dying. In comparison to the sword, the pen was the mightiest for Martí, as the 30+ volumes of his collected works attest to.

For me, this exploration of Martí began when I visited Habana, Cuba and ventured into some of the many used book shops there. Book shops are interesting in Cuba, because there is often a somewhat limited selection amongst public sellers due to state censorship, but at the same time there is a plethora of old inexpensive books floating around, both above and underground - the most unusual, often dust covered little bookshops one can imagine with discounts on already inexpensive books. Of course, it is mostly all Spanish, but there is also old Russian language books and some English language books.

A lot of time was spent browsing these shelves, and most all of them had one thing in common - José Martí; the man continues to be a controversial character even in death. The Castro's use Martí in their five hour speeches and dialogues, even including him in their Constitution. While, at the same time their enemies, have also claimed him as one of their own; setting up media broadcasts from Miami, Florida and elsewhere to beam into the island. It's a cat and mouse game on the radio, as one group radio broadcasts messages and the other side eventually jams the frequency. New and different technologies, plus less restriction on the availability of cell phones and other computer technology on the island has increased the chances of these types of messages not only getting in, but out as well. In the USA there has been some focus on well-known Cuban bloggers.

The million dollar question, is that if Martí were alive today - what would he do? In reality, Martí would have more than likely disagreed with the current situation in Cuba – that being the 1959 revolution of Fidel Castro and it's continuation. In the most basic sense, Martí spent his time struggling towards a free and independent Cuba. Martí is one of the most flowery and ubiquitous writers of the modern century, and while it is never certain as the dead remain silent, one may be able to distinguish ideas by looking at his writings on the anarchists of New York City

For fourteen years (1880-1894) Martí lived in the "gran manzana" (big apple) of New York City (NYC). During this time, Martí experienced first hand the desolation of American capitalism, in regards to race, poverty, and the workering class. The worker - who, according to Martí, each day struggled for eight hours, fair wages, and an overall better world. We will examine two of his articles more closely: <em>Grandes motines de obreros, alzamiento unanime a favor de ocho horas de trabajo…</em>, published in NYC on the 16th of May, 1886 and <em>Un drama terrible: Anarquia y represion…</em> published on the 1st of January, 1888. These articles by Martí about the NYC anarchists appeared in the newspaper and should be thought of as paid propaganda, as his view is often unfavorable and can be seen as a product of the times.

In these two articles and some others he explores the events leading up to and of the Haymarket Massacre. With these articles Martí helped inform and radicalize readers, not only in the USA, but throughout Latin America, and the world. In the texts, he presents us with a look inside the events that helped spawn Mayday and the International Day of Anarchy, while also helping to understand why these were inspiring events at the time. Part of his appeal to anarchists can also be found in his his homage to Albert Parsons written in NY on the 17th of October, 1886.

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When the trapdoors of the gallows were released on November 12, 1887, Albert Parsons had begun to say “Shall I be allowed to speak? O, men of America…” before his voice was cut short by the noose. Deeply moved by the injustice of Haymarket, José Martí continued to speak, in the name of the executed anarchists, for the poor and the hopeless, and for the Latin American republics threatened by U.S. foreign policy. Thus, the Haymarket affair underlines how Martí’s familiarity with, and critique of North American current events during the Gilded Age did in fact play a substantive role in maturing his views on labor and enabling his later critiques of colonialism.[1]

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In the first article “Grandes Motines de obreros…” He thought that since the American Civil War there had not been a more crucial moment in USA history. He wrote flowery that, the blood stained flowers of May signaled that there was not a more serious problem in the USA, than the problem of heartless capitalists and work. In response to the Haymarket massacre, Martí observed that the situation seemed to suddenly appear; as an uprising, spontaneously, even though the problems were already deeply ingrained within society and revolutionaries had been struggling against them since even before. Everything, just kind of took off.

The workers in the USA were uprising – demanding better working rights, and undermining the capitalists oppression. In the glorified eyes of Martí, the streets seemed to always be filled with workers, fighting against the police and capital. In the first article, he wrote that, the anarchists were reading books about insurrection and then target practicing with guns in the streets of NYC almost every Sunday, while everyone else was at church. With this, he compares and contrasts anarchists and workers into differences he presumes - such as "peaceful" vs. "violent". The naiveté is curious and is more likely the result of a profound dislike of anarchist idea, although in another text he is intrigued by Lucy Parsons.

Martí states that he believes non-violence and actions within the law were most just. Interestingly enough, soon afterwards Martí picked up a gun to help fight against the Spanish in Cuba. While I'm not exactly certain what changed his mind, it is clear his opinions had changed or he is the ultimate hypocritic. On this note, I think Martí was in line with the demonstrations - but stopped at the point of NYC's gun slinging anarchists and others around the USA. More so, he was part of the press and the time was ripe for yellow journalism.

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In his initial reactions to Haymarket, Martí had celebrated the heroism of the police and demonized the European anarchists in terms similar to those found in the mainstream U.S. press. In “Un drama terrible,” however, he retells the story of what happened on May fourth in a way that was much more sympathetic to workers and anarchists. He indicts the police, the national media and the justice system for their lies and corruption. If before he had referred to the anarchists as beasts, now it was the Republic as a whole that has become savage like a wolf (795). Martí’s newfound solidarity with the working class, and his sympathetic representation of the anarchists he had previously rejected, results in a powerful identification with the working class, where a new community emerges out of the ruins of the Haymarket Affair.[1]

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José Martí and his on-again, off-again relationship with the anarchists never made it to see the “new community” emerge from the ruins of the old, but then again neither has any revolutionary of the past or present. His writings, full of illusion and splendor, are a somewhat enjoyable introspective into one aspect of the late 19th century revolutionary thinkers. For many, Martí has withstood the test of time and his influence on contemporary thought is evident today in Cuba, but outside as well – even if with different interpretations.

<em>La ciudad, el viaje y el circo</em> - <em>La vida neoyorkina</em> - <em>Los indios de Norteamerica</em> - <em>La diversion norteamericana</em> - <em>El problema industrial en los Estados Unidos</em> - <em>La escuela en Nueva York</em> - <em>El puente de Brooklyn</em> - <em>The Dedication of the Statue of Liberty</em>

[1] The Limits of Analogy: José Martí and the Haymarket Martyrs by Christopher Conway - University of Texas—Arlington

*Author's note: Originally, some years ago, there was another article about José Martí, Cuba, and the Anarchists; that was, looking back - pretty bad. This version is an attempt to fix that and never look back again.

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<strong>There are perhaps four large categories of American thought which provide definitions of the fifty years of Castro rule: 1) the right-wing which views the island as a totalitarian, communist police state where starving people live under daily repressive rule, and the government is involved in drug trafficking and terrorism; 2) the center through to the liberal left which agrees, perhaps in the mode of Michael Moore’s movie, Sicko, that the Revolution has provided good social services for the poor and resisted U.S. hegemony in the hemisphere, but needs to install more democracy and private investment; 3) the organized left which sees very little wrong with the island and views all criticism of it as aid to the U.S. empire, and 4) the anarchist view which, indeed, sees the island as a police state needing a second revolution to install workers democracy, but has no use for calls for returning to private forms of ownership or foreign investment.</strong>

The Anarchist Library Cuba category

<strong>Capitalist Crisis and Anarchist Economics, a talk by Wayne Price on August 20th, 2013 in Rochester, New York at the Flying Squirrel Community Space</strong>

Last Tuesday I attended a talk by Wayne Price on the <em>Capitalist Crisis and Anarchist Economics</em> which also served as a entry point for his newly published book <em>The Value of Radical Theory: An Anarchist Introduction to Marx's Critique of Political Economy</em> hosted by “your friendly neighborhood” anarchist organization, Rochester Red and Black. I must say, they were friendly and the Flying Squirrel is a pretty nice place for Rochester to have. I also picked up a copy of the his new book, but haven't read past the first fifty pages yet, although the introduction has so far, been the most interesting. What follows is more of a look into his talk and some questions I had before and afterwards.

As anarchists, we are against state and capital, yet we are also not immune to the society we live in. We have to work for a living in order to survive and pay for food and shelter; some of us may even want some luxuries like books, bikes, the occasional keyboard to play, and maybe even more. The point being is that just because we are in opposition to civilization, we still live under it and more often than not have to play by their rules, while attempting not to comprise our ideas. Anarchists and economics are often like oil and water, they don't mix well and as Price wrote - outside of perhaps Proudhon there is barely any sense of “anarchist economics.” This is were the ideas, formulations, and systems of Marx and Engels come into play with their importance in Price's opinion. And onwards: Just as the Russian revolutionaries in 1917 asked, how is it to be done, this anarchist economics?

Price began his talk by stating that he is retired (from what he didn't say) and that his family is in the same boat as all of us, experiencing the economic crisis with layoffs and difficulty finding meaningful jobs. He stated that he was an anarchist, of which kind or type he also didn't say, although I have always thought of him in the class-struggle anarchist vain. He also went on to say that he is not a Marxist, yet he is open to some of their ideas as being valid. His basic speech was that society is historical and built upon commodities that are often useless, cycles are necessary for the health of the capitalist system, and that the panic has turned into the crisis. Profit is the goal of the capitalists, rather than use, as he described the analogy of the hammer - the capitalists make them, but will never use them. Price also talked of how capitalism fails to plan ahead, which brought to mind the old story of the grasshopper and ant. Although is this not planning ahead necessarily true?

According to Price, capitalism has been in decline since after World War II. This can be seen in the creation of the Bretton Woods system, which lead to the International Monetary Fund and what was called the World Bank, both of which aim to stabilize business as usual. Overall, I was more than a bit disappointed in his talk because I felt like everything he mentioned could have also been discussed in a Political Science college somewhere. It was almost as if he completely left out the anarchist economics half, and instead choose to talk to the large group in a general history leading up to the crisis. And on to the question and answer we went...

Why would anyone want a new society? For the most part, the answer is that they don't. So what should we do as anarchists? Organize! But, around what? Price mentioned strikes and supporting them, supporting workers, taking over factories, and having worker run co-ops “from the bottom up, run by the workers.” He also mentioned that many of these <em>alternative</em> ideas are still within the system, like for example co-ops still being under the capitalist market.

One of the more heated questioning and answering of topics came when Price used the term “terrorism” to describe anarchist sabotage. It almost started to look like the Crimethinc. / Chris Hedges debate up in there. Perhaps instead, Price should have used the often anarchist term of propaganda of the deed (POD) to describe his distaste for it instead of the catch all often government term of terrorism. It turns out, Price is not in favour of small group POD, and instead believes that we need to win the “battle of ideas” (again this sounds like a military term from Iraq and Afghanistan). In the end, Price's answer was that you can't stop capitalism without a “mass movement” to end it.

And what about anarchist economics? Well, someone asked if he could define anarchist economics and talk about it in the context of his book, however he stated that there were “major issues” but - he wasn't going to touch upon them. In Price's defense, the question and answer had already gone on for quite sometime (with no one else asking this!) and it was a super hot night outside in the city. Although, he did offer some keywords as the next question also touched upon the title of his talk. He stated that the basic principal is that “no one exploits anyone else” and that exactly how no one really knows because we're anarchists, and have many different ideas. He went on to mention that certainly PARECON was possible, but it has “issues” and that we need to experiment to see what works.

On a last note, Price often used the term “democracy” in discussing these anarchist alternatives and it would have been great to hear more of a critique of democracy from him or his specific ideas on the subject. Inside of me, I couldn't help but cringe while thinking of the JM Barrie from <em>Peter Pan</em> (1928) quote: "<em>Every time an anarchist says</em>, "I believe in democracy," there is a little fairy somewhere that falls down dead."

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“it’s not like it used to be… nobody cares about change… it don’t matter…” – <em>My First Soul</em>, by Auld Lang Syne

Quijote and Panza are two very different characters, yet at the same time they are similar in the fact that they both can create some pretty wild dreams and become one another. They each have a great effect on one another, like any friend may have on your daily experience, and while at first Quijote seems to be the only one struggling against everything modern – soon his friend joins him, although it is already too late for Quijote. He has already returned to the miserable grind of reality and material goods and will soon die.

Among the many movies made about the book, Orson Welles’s Don Quixote is one of the more intriguing ones to take a look at, one that truly deserves an entirely separate review in order to touch upon everything. For the purpose of this review though, I will only focus on one aspect of the film. In <em>Rolling Thunder: An Anarchist Journal of Dangerous Living</em> #6 (fall-2008), the following page appears:

Moving back to the actual context of the quote, the lovely titled “Six Most Beautiful Minutes in the History of Cinema” regards a clip of the unfinished Orson Welles’s movie that was left out of early versions, but was included eventually later on in some versions. Overall, this cinema experience of Don Quijote is quite intriguing, especially when considered with the movie as a whole. In many ways, it is understand to be like the post-modern movie version of Quijote, instead of attacking ancient 16th century technology and society, he is battling 1940ish motorized scooters and movie screens. One interesting thing from the movie is some footage of a religious procession, framed along and sliced with footage of the Klu Klux Klan, which Don Quijote goes to attack. Overall, it is definitely worth checking, especially if you’ve enjoyed the book.

Who knows, maybe this book may be of little importance to you. At times throughout it, I find it to be rather “fluffy” sprinkled with blossoming flowers that never end. Like, ever try reading some old Shakespeare alongside José Martí with some bananas thrown in. However, I do find some gems that are really good within the book for me. Perhaps, most intriguing – to playfully read the adventures against everything that life as we know it has become, to see through our imaginations, rather than with our misleading desires for the most trivial things in life. As someone wrote recently, the greatest thing of all is <em>saving the world</em>! A lot of the time, I find myself taking in and fully enjoying those moments of non-thought and thinking, where it has been shown that our brain is actually most active and full of energy. Don Quijote in a lot of ways, is the definition of tragic hero – even though I may disagree with what he actually fought against for the most part, (the Moors) and alongside (Christianity). Blame can be placed on Cervantes here, maybe not so much Quijote, after all he is just a character. Cervantes wasn’t exactly the most upstanding character, but still a tragic-hero in himself. It can be all be too confusing, seeing Quijote for nothing other than love, and against everything that might actually make sense – then applying some sort of reasoning to it. Quijote was certainly a radical in his time, just what kind of radical is up in the air…

<em>Note: Originally published over at</em> The Anvil Review<em></em> http://theanvilreview.org/print/quijote_against_the_world/ . <em>This text has been edited slightly from that, in order to better reflect and fix some grammar & wording.</em>

May 5th, 2017

The world of politics has certainly been a wild ride for the books this year. This week alone, with elections coming up in France and the ever ongoing process of governments across the world making drastic headlines with the love-hate relationship of mainstream media, we look towards how this pertains to the world of anarchism.

It could be said that many anarchists pay extremely close attention to this world of politics, even while having a strong distaste of such a close reading. In turn, with some basing their anarchistic actions and responses to such governments call-to-action. Writing letters the old fashioned way to the news and elected officials, calling up and leaving a message to their government “representative”, and as can be seen over the past week, making signs and marching down a street somewhere near you.

Then as the next day unfolds, we return to our daily lives, our work and the wash, rinse cycle of world politics repeats itself with slightly different beginnings, middles, and ends. The stories, the comments, and the reactions keep coming, as our levels of loss and victory wax and wane throughout this first week after May Day, 2017.

(July 1, 2017)

This past week Doctor Bones wrote a text entitled “Anarchists Failed Philando Castile and They Have Failed Black Americans” that covers the expanses that anarchists in the USA are failing at. The text takes some strong words towards “woke anarchists” saying that:

Just this past week, I listened to the “Intelligence Unclassified” podcast from New Jersey Homeland Security about anarchist extremists. Accordingly, from their intelligence reports the anarchist space across the USA lacks a central leadership (duh!), is largely disorganized, split into regions, and when we do attack they are low level unsophisticated attacks. These critiques from our enemies in blue is certainly not new, but quite interesting to actually hear, as one an imagine very similar good faith arguments coming from other anarchists like El Doctor about the current predicament. They went on to break down anarchist extremists into two distinct groups, the heroes of the day, the antifa and the traditional anticapitalists. Not surprisingly, the east coast was portrayed as “peaceful” while the west coast not so much. With the exception of Montreal and the fact that it’s a city in Canada and not the USA, the east coast does seem like the sleep of old father time has dazed them off into a long slumber. Writing this editorial from the East Coast of things, I can agree that naps and nothing doing, seem like the status update of the day for our unwoke anarchist friends. Yes, we’ve all failed and will continue to fail. This isn’t grade school anymore though and the grit and grime of failure can hopefully (long pause) only help us pass onto something that looks like winning. And that as anarchists, we can get back to the most beautiful idea of all, anarchy.

(July 29th, 2017)

Heroes and heroines. The important people and loved ones in your life, inside and outside of the anarchist space. This has been a monumental week of solidarity for the anarchist heroes and heroines we have come to love. July 20th thru 27th was a week of solidarity to support defendants arrested while protesting the inauguration of Donald Trump, six months prior on January 20th (#disruptJ20). July 25th also marks the International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners that originated in 2014 in support of an Australian friend. Our lived philosophies and endeavors, whether successful to some degree or not, will often steer us toward trouble and into the roughest spots of the sea. After the storm has passed, we’re often faced with the brutal results, friends and loved ones hurt in need of long-term care and others facing long stays behind bars.

On such a note, this past week a recent text on <em>It’s Going Down</em> regarding prison solidarity work called-out readers for doing-nothing, nothing-doing. “Dear reader, I do not mean to insult you but chances are the most active you’ve been in the last year-and-a-half is critiquing our president at your favorite bar.” Ouch! This random shelling of dear readers must totally be spurred to action now, leaping from their bar stools to help <em>the revolution</em> throw newspaper boxes in the streetz. As every wise anarchist critic knows, as the old saying goes, if you don’t riot you can’t complain. End text.

(September 2nd, 2017)

It’s that time of year again when students, teachers, professors, and the related faculty of workers are returning to school again at the elementary, secondary, and collegiate levels. The day after this labor day holiday here in the States, many young and old wild glowing eyes will awaken with excitement, dread, uncertainty, and a thousand other emotions about what this coming year means to them. A few weeks back, CrimethInc. published a topical text about the anarchist relationship to school. It covered the efforts of a small group of anarchists to use collegiate level student funding to maintain an anarchist group at their university. These kind of creative projects that spring out of the depths of institutions and environments often at odds with the anarchist idea, inspire us to take a closer look at those involved. Those coming back from vacation, “the place where only dreams can be realized”, are witness to the energizing and turbulent situations of Charlottsville and Hurricane Harvey, to name just a few world-changers currently unfolding in the American landscape.

Back to school, work, play, whatever it is you’re doing. One can find inspiration in encountering anarchist ideas and practice in the unknown places of everyday life outside of the weeknight / weekend / vacation. Outside of that and everything else, to a time of everything - “maybe what's happening is that we're all becoming children again. Our rigid roles and characters are dropping off like dried skin. We're fascinating to each other because each one of our acts might be a total surprise, at any instant our personalities might change completely. Like children, we're not exhausted by what we've been and are; life is ahead of us; we're no longer dead.”

(September 29th, 2017)

This past week well known ANEWS commentator Emile wrote a new forum post on the “‘Realist’ bias (intolerance) in Anarchist News Editorial policy”. They’re seemingly upset because thecollective has been “deep sixing” their 500+ word responses to articles posted on the website. Not only have we been doing this continually for some time now, but we’ve also communicated with Emile multiple times about why their comments are being moderated to the dust bins of time. Unfortunately, the message doesn’t seem to have gotten through as they keep writing exceedingly long responses and complaining when they are unpublished.

Time often doesn’t allow for reading all of the things, but when it does the comments leading down a winding forking path of lulz, hilarity, seriousness, anger, and a 1,000 other emotions. Here is a cheers to having good conversations and intriguing anarchist thoughts. For more information, please have a look at the ABOUT US section linked in the sidebar. #smashthelikebutton

A lot has been said over this past week in regard to publishing all the bad things, which is just the latest hubbub to strike the infamously drama-ripe North American anarchist space, at least according to the comments from everywhere else. You’re probably as sick of it as I am, but maybe not – and if so, in that case here you go. In the text “On No Platform and ITS” by William Gillis they not only call out Anarchist News and Little Black Cart, but The Anarchist Library as well for publishing texts related to eco-extremism. A simple DuckDuckGo search reveals that these are far from the only three websites to have published so-called eco-extremist material. Oh well, let’s grind the axe on the most hateable of all. As the old fishing saying goes, the only certain things in life are death, taxes, and leaky waders – one could probably add bad things on ANEWS.

Probably because of ANEWS honestly…

(November 24th, 2017)

The exact same words we use to tell a story, also tell a story of their own. The idea that each war or conflict generates its own lexicon – some of it military, some of it political, some of it cultural, and from that vocabulary we define our own views and those of others about such conflicts is easily transposed into anarchist discourse; so ripe and full of its own wars, conflicts, and struggles. As Nietzche wrote, “words dilute and brutalize; words depersonalize; words make the uncommon common.”

What is the solution to language as war, if any at all? Some have gone as far as creating an artificial language, like that of Esperanto. While I don’t think this is the answer or even a practical solution, it’s definitely worth considering all of the complexities of language when in dialogue, especially within the terrible community. As a parting thought, here is a note taken from the darkest of places - “In prison camps and torture blocks, the achievement of communication and recognition through an undetected note or an answered whisper is the first step in rebuilding the world.”

(December 29th, 2017)

It’s that holiday time of the year again where things seem to slow down a bit for a moment and we try and look back on the year in review. This has without a doubt been the year of the antifa and all the social media posts, podcasts, book reviews, and interviews are full of the pundits pontificating making and selling their latest books of concisely curated content.

I guess that’s 2017 for me. Welcome to the hate factory, where people on the same team treat their co-conspirators like the enemy. Of course, this is not everyone, but I must say it feels more and more prevalent nowadays, at least online, than the previous occasional snide comment in a meeting somewhere. Happy New Year everyone!

(January 26th, 2018)

One of my favorite books from 2017 was “No Wall They Can Build: a guide to borders and migration across North America”. It intertwines insightful commentary on borders with explicit personal narrative wrapped up in that seemingly always beautiful graphic design that has come to be expected, from the CrimethInc. ex-Workers’ Collective. It’s a 200+ page turner that felt like one of those rare occasions where you almost read it all in one sitting.

And a parting thought, for such people who dream: “People who are motivated by guilt and shame rather than by love and rage will eventually disengage; people who are not fighting for their own lives will eventually give up. Always.”

(February 23rd, 2018)

In an unfortunate sign of the times, across the USA, schools and other workplaces are stocking up on trauma bags designed to help stop people from bleeding out after a mass shooting event. Gun companies on the stock market see their shares skyrocket as capitalists await the next big consumer gun rush as panic turns into fear that soon all the guns may disappear. In a widely reported, somewhat misleading factoid - since the new year, 2018 has been witness to 18 different events where a firearm was discharged in a school related environment. The disturbing trend of random mass acts of indiscriminate violence continues on year after year and with that the conversation about guns and violence cycles on via social media, dinner table debates, and the endless hum of the newsroom reels.

Among the multitude of overwhelming things going on in the world, locally / internationally, with friends, family, loved ones, work, and enemies here is another potent subject rearing it’s head towards the top for anarchists and their friends to think on, plan, discuss and move.

Last week, on April 19th, Cuba made the headlines as a transition to power was passed from Rául Castro to Presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel. Rául Castro, handpicked their successor, and remains at the helm of the Communist Party; his son runs the intelligence services; and his ex-son-in-law runs the military’s vast business interests. The Castro name is still on a great many things and the new Presidente Diaz-Canel has vowed that there will be no “capitalist restoration”. It seems the government plan is increased Internet access, land reform, increased private economic activity, and getting rid of the dual-currency. Basically, as it is now this transition to power seems to just be the same old Cuba with some new names in charge. Government as usual.

Cuba, only 90 miles away from the USA, yet it seems like a completely different world. We would love to hear from more anarchists and their experiences surrounding Cuba. No’ vemo asere.

(May 25th, 2018)

In episode #61 of this podcast, the editorial covered some of the current happenings in Cuba, like the change of power and the informal economy. In this editorial we aim to take another look at Cuba, like some brief anarchist history, and what freedom of expression looks like there through the music and bits of culture.

Cuba is in a unique situation right now, hopefully these past two editorials have shone a little bit of light on a place often mysterious to anarchists in North America. Much more waits to be said, until then – cya later asere.

(June 29th, 2018)

This week we are taking a closer look into the world of sports and anarchism. Across the newspaper headlines for the past few weeks has been coverage of the World Cup of soccer taking place in Russia. Outside of the USA and around the world, the World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world and it’s game of soccer, the most popular sport.

Back to the news, the television channel flickers and the reporter reads the World Cup scores aloud. Colin Kaepernick still isn’t on an NFL team yet, mostly for kneeling during the national anthem, which with backing from Trump, the NFL will now penalize teams for such actions. Meanwhile Kaepernick has been seen out supporting the IWOC, or the IWW effort behind incarcerated workers and prison abolition. NBA stars like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul rally around social issues like Black Lives Matter and gun violence. The NFL “cares” and frequently puts in players and teams doing community service ops and has teams wear special military pride uniforms some weekends. The spectacle of popular culture and sports grinds on as your favorite player signs a multi-million dollar contract and even larger Nike shoe endorsement. CYA in the streets!

(July 27th, 2018)

It’s been a pretty hot summer and with that has come a lot more time for catching up on some reading, away from the glaring sun. “Bullshit Jobs: A Theory” by David Graeber, is a 368 page book published this past May. It’s a book filled with personal narrative, critique, and other tales of shitty jobs from people around the world, spliced together with Graeber’s excellent story telling ability.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-david-wengrow-how-…

(August 24th, 2018)

Recently, I finished reading “Last Act of the Circus Animals” by two long-term political prisoners Travis Washington and Sean Swain. It is a work of fiction that is a portrayal of prison life as told from the perspective of the jailed, the zoo animals. There are talking tigers, panthers, elephants, and chimpanzees; and the jailers are the ringmaster, their workers, and the society of capitalism that surrounds them.

That is why they are locked up in prison.” - Alfredo M. Bonanno, Rebibbia prison, March 20, 1997

(October 5th, 2018)

Lately, I’ve been pretty feed up with people being terrible towards each other. In real life, over the Internet, and sold back to us as media to an ever more drama hungry society. If you let it, or pay close attention, this toxicity can permeate everything to it’s core and become almost inescapable, like a black hole set on repeat, sucking you in over and over again, it’s everywhere. This toxic culture is in part defined by Western society – especially in anarchist spaces, as anarchists the world over lament about the drama ridden, get nothing done, North American anarchist movement. Let’s take a closer look by starting with a definition - what is the virulent anarchist space of North America?

<br>

What about us? The anarchists. HUGS.

(October 26th, 2018)

Maps, a few hanging on the walls. Some homemade and some much more official. A few years back, at the local neighborhood bookstore in a sleepy college town, I found a book of maps and old archaeological digs. It was the tale of the intricate trinkets found of a previously unearthed society, older than the more well-known post-inhabitants of the region. I was a bit shocked to find such things about a place I had grown up in, a place that I considered to know quite well. This past brought me closer to the location and helped me see and understand it in a new way. You could take a walk and still see the archaeological dig pits from the study, slowing filling back in after all these years.

It’s alright. We’re on a road to nowhere.

(November 23rd, 2018)

[or one of the 1,000+ reasons I’m an anarchist]

Further south in California, The Caravan has reached the border in Tijuana, with some smaller groups forking off as reported by the MSM. Thousands of miles away, I wish them luck and await the anarchist report-backs of the border struggle. There are so many things to be angry at in this world. These are only but a few, the news on a much larger scale, outside of the quiet neighborhood on a walk through the woods.

(December 28th, 2018)

The new year is only a few days off and with it we are wishing our bests to the year of 2018 as we wave so-long in the review view mirror. I’m not sure about you, but I for one welcome the new year, however picayune it may actually be. Party this January (pizza that is)!

On giving up so easily: Did it ever really matter to Dr. Bones? It doesn’t seem so, although from who they appeared to be, it seems like they’re simply acting out the social norms of their peers, and as unfortunate as it may be, this is what the majority of people do in these types of situations. Perhaps, this says more about the people who were Dr. Bones aficionados, rather than actual anarchists in it for the long run, but it is still intriguing, and hopefully a note taken. The way in which we build and destroy relationships, deal with drama and tragedy, is exactly who we are as anarchists. For some, it’s all they’ve ever known.

<strong>Jorge Luís Borges, an Argentinean writer who is well known for his many short stories, some of which discuss such fantastic themes like dreams, libraries, labyrinths, god, and the less fantastic –<em>see also</em>, more real – like los gauchos (imagine Argentinean cowboys) and tigers.</strong>

Borges’s works of fiction, intertwined with the metaphysical have made him one of the most well known writers to come out of the western hemisphere during the 20st century. For the sake of this review, we will look at the relation between Borges, infinity, and the Internet. Five different short stories by Borges which relate to these ideas will all be briefly mentioned; the stories include The Aleph, The Library of Babel, The Garden of Forking Paths, Funes, the Memorious, and the Theme of the Traitor and Hero [all available for free reading on the Internet at the above links].

First some background on why Borges may be of some interest to anarchist thinkers. When Borges was younger his family moved to Europe (1915-1921), where he was introduced to the avant-garde Ultraist movement in Spain. Ultraism can be described as being in opposition to everything that is thought of as Modernismo. Some have even compared it to Italian and Russian futurism, Dadaism, and French surrealism. In 1921 Borges moved back to Buenos Aires, where he started writing for and distributing <em>avant-garde</em> Ultraist leaning publications/texts. Often this would include him wheat pasting the texts (broadsheets) all over the walls of the city. Sadly, as Borges grew older, he drifted away and came to regret these ideas – even going as far as trying to buy all of the old texts in order to make sure they would be destroyed so no one could ever read them again. Like the maximum ultraists of today, who are ‘waging a life-and-death war against consensus reality’, I like to think of these younger days of Borges as some of my favourite. Honestly, we all grow old – it’s just to bad some of us become grumpy as well.

Borges wrote a lot of different texts – the majority of which are short stories. Some have even criticized him for only writing short stories, believing that it takes more from an author to compose longer novels. However, the profound themes and different subject matters in his stories seem wonderfully woven together. And honestly – after all, who doesn’t like being able to read a story in 20 minutes or so, and have it leave thoughtful ideas churning, that never seem to be at rest. Also, I have chosen certain stories over others, more fantastic ones, and as a writer it can be easy to manipulate these ideas. With that, I hope it is possible to see that I’m not trying to say Borges invented the Internet, however it is possible to see the inventors of the Internet reading Borges.

<em>*author's note</em>: this text was originally written in Spanish, and then translated back into English (the author's first language) with a lot of tinkering, as well as a much need revision of grammar/vocabulary, thus making this text – pretty much, brand new. It was originally published on May 23rd, 2010 at <em>The Anvil Review</em> http://theanvilreview.org/print/jorge_luis_borges__infinity__and_the_int... This version has also been edited to fix errors and the problems only time can show.

<strong><em>The Strait: Book of Obenabi. His Songs</em>

<br>

He told the Invaders that human beings weren’t made to languish in prisons of their own making. He told them no animals crippled and stunted its own kind, and no animals embarked on a war against any and all creatures that were unlike itself. He warned them that any who embarked on such a war would turn the very elements against them and would gag on the air, be poisoned by the water and be swallowed up by earth. (p. 303)

</quote>

Fredy Perlman at the Anarchist Library

The Strait in <em>Having Little, Being Much</em>

<em>Originally published at The Anvil Review</em> http://theanvilreview.org/print/keepers-of-the-fire/ and posted here with some major fixes & editing.

<em>This text was originally an attempt at an online book reading & discussion over at http://insurgentsummer.org/ . The site is unfortunately currently down as of December 2013 (and before), but one can still process the gems of wisdom from the wonderful Internet Archive page lookup. It was a series of blog entries that have since been edited with many revisions and changes made, but still keeping the overall flavour. Times have changed, my writing was really bad - it hopefully is a little better here; it's still really bad, but the pictures are nice.</em>

So, things are heating up over at "Insurgent Summer", a participatory reading of <em>Letters of Insurgents</em>. Tomorrow is the deadline for the first letters to be completed, and I've just finished them, so I'll try and write down some thoughts to get the ball slowly rolling. I'm going to try and do this for every set of letters, so we shall see how that goes. It is really exciting for me to be reading this book again (I first read it last summer), since I consider it to be within my current top all-time favorite books. <em>Finnegans Wake</em> by James Joyce and <em>One Hundred Years of Solitude</em> by Gabriel García Márquez are my other two favorite books currently, so it has good company. This will be my second time reading the book, but I'll only be commenting on the weeks reading section (or the previous sections, when related) - so I'll try not to bring up any <em>spoilers</em> before their time.

The book takes the form of a series of incredibly touching letters between two long lost friends, Yarostan and Sophia. Do you write letters to your friends? Prisoners? How has letter writing has changed with the advent of computers, e-mail, cell phones, and text msg? It would seem there is much less of this actual long-form letter writing, and much more of the short instant msg shared by technology. It is a lost art. As much as I enjoy the fact of being able to quickly communicate with friends; at the same time, I really miss the personal touch of the post. Reading <em>Letters of Insurgents</em> kind of makes me envious of friends who can write such eloquent long-form letters, and express themselves so-well in this manner.

There is so much to comment on in the first letters alone, if one is to really delve in (a bit of a cop out on my part, no?). But, that's tough, and it's only Thursday - so we can leave it for the easy going... for the moment at least.

<quote>

- an excerpt from Yarostan's first letter

</quote>

Hello there world. It has been a busy week, with the official start of summer, and one more set of letters.

I recall the time some years ago, when I was living in La Habana, Cuba seeing a distinctive orange cargo truck with the words "viva la ilusión" spray painted on it, toting the circled A for anarchy meandering through the city streets.

The following are headlines from the media: (of course only jokes, but actual quotes, just with titles that define them from the get-go!)

ps. sophia = much sweeter? love struck? and regretting leaving paradise?

If you haven't been paying attention, the folks over at Insurgent Summer have made some great posts about the book so far and I've really enjoyed reading their thoughts, as an addition to the book. Some things we have in common, and other things I probably would have never realized if I hadn't read their thoughts.

I feel in love with the Daft Punk album <em>Homework</em> when it first came out, and I was in my very early teens then and it made me want to dance. Music, plays such an important part of so many peoples lifes.

<quote>

"impossibility is a term of logic and reality doesn't observe the limits of logic"

<br>

A rather funny comment, yet touching - that was said the other week was something like this: "gosh, I think it was worth visiting just to see [insert name here] going wild on the dance floor." I don't know about that, but I can appreciate the sentiment, obviously dancing around with your friends is wonderful. And, how could it not be?

Broken Social Scene - "Meet me in the basement" (video inspired by G8/G20 in Toronto, check out all the dancing!)

<quote>

Maybe what's happening is that we're all becoming children again. Our rigid roles and characters are dropping off like dried skin. We're fascinating to each other because each one of our acts might be a total surprise, at any instant our personalities might change completely. Like children, we're not exhausted by what we've been and are; life is ahead of us; we're no longer dead.

Sure. On a totally different note, although when put through Kevin Bacon's nine degrees, things seem alright.

<quote>

What's a book? Is it a self-realization of an individual's life in the context of living others? Or is it self-realization as a closed compartment, for example an "insurgent," a category that remains separate from all the other separate categories?

<quote>

- Sophie

</quote>

In typical fashion, almost a month late - over the last weekend I triumphantly finished reading <em>Letters of Insurgents</em>. This was my second reading of it, as I had read it the summer before as well. I don't think, I will read it next summer, but perhaps sometime years from now, again - certainly. It is a really tremendous book (what is a book though?). Fredy Perlman is one of the greatest story tellers and writers to have graced the professions. Example:) When was the last time you started crying after reading a book? Never?

A note about the writing part: I'm kind of amazed at how much some people managed to write [others participating in the discussion] - and even though I haven't really looked over everyone else's thoughts or some of the discussion of the forum, I did manage to read a few + plan to read the in the future. Often times I avoided the discussion, because I was behind in the reading (surprise, surprise) and didn't want to read that far into the <em>letters</em> yet (even, if again). I guess an eight-hundred and thirty-one page book deserves a good lengthy discussion - or at least a major blockbuster movie to be made about it? So, who is going to make the <em>Letters of Insurgents</em> movie?

In no specific order:

When I first read the book, it simply amazed me how someone could write such long beautiful letters to one another. It kind of made me jealous that this stuff happens no matter, and I wondered what it would take for me to write a letter to one would sign <em>with love</em>? In the age of e-mail and instant messages, these kind of letters seem less and less common.

On that note, my <em>vacation</em> into this book isn't over - I don't think it ever will be - but, I'm going to spend some time in other places. Perhaps, I will add some more thoughts in the near future and as I read more of the other posts that have come from this reading of the book create a list of my personal favorites and edit all of this mess here.

Until then, besitos and a very strong hug,

october is here

let us rage all night and day

till november rain

fall saturday night

sunny outside with leafs delight

coffee at the ____

doing dirty dishes downstairs

i would like to make dinner but

all the dishes are dirty

some people are really friendly

some other people are not so much

they hide their feelings

living your free life

spending your money on bad things

are you always right?

dogs fucking rule hard

_____, _____ and ________

_______, new york fall

yesterday things felt

different, i was not sick

today i slept long

dear friends, i love you

please don't break too many hearts

isn't that a Lawrence Arms song?

newspapers arrive here

almost daily reading them

war, death, destruction

beautiful fall day

warm breeze and leafs changing tone

salmon run upstream

holiday today

yes and no depends on view

monday means no school

birthdays and best wishes

apple picking and cider drinking

snow falling very soon

sun rise waking up

look out the window to see

the town and cityscape

skype chatting with friends

video, text, and dance party

then walking to class

raining all day long

something about it feels great

inside, outside, hey!

making hard cider

all that sugar looks like coke

we are fucking rich!

some funny drawings

guitar strings and empty rooms

beautiful sunday

up, early morning

walked outside, lovely cool breeze

street lights shed the night

writing all day long

stuck inside my room upstairs

wishing i was free

days spent doing nothing

guitar, computer, Internet

leafs really change quick

society grabs you unaware

people give you the blank dead stare

it makes me wonder

philadelphia

never ending roads to nowhere

waiting to meet friends

dreaming of Tiqqun

my brother wearing the bloom

light bleau shirt with print

driving back home

valleys, bring colors and trees

gas stations fill up

hiding in the back

day dreaming beautiful things

time, love, anarchy

theory of making

some family traditions of

vegetable chili

beautiful sunshine

ever lasting days of your youth

feelings so very strong

staying up all night

riding around ______

working all the time

writing all day long

getting tired of explaining

it all over and over

saturday night party

dressing up like skeletons

with misfits playing

first snow of the year

only brief but still brings the cheer

winter is so near

<strong><em>Authors intro: Please don't read this review if you are concerned with spoilers, as this review is more of a recounting of the story and contains plently of information about the book that could ruin it for you. Having said that, please do read the review if you are curious about reading the book or have already read it. At risk of defeating myself from the very beginning, I will also add that this is not my best writing. The review in its idea and original state is over ten years old and it's painfully obvious to me that my writing was pretty poor back then, not that it's any better now - but I'd like to think so. What I did do is go through the text and edit many parts of the original, to come down to what we have here. I haven't read the book in a few years and I always wanted to come back to this review and make it something wonderful after re-reading the book again, however I don't imagine that happening anytime soon. It's one of my all time favorite books and deserves the justice of a proper review, although it is also so popular and read around the world that there have been thousands before. I wanted to put down something meaningful about the book that perhaps hasn't been said (much) before and for the moment, this is it. Perhaps some day I will turn into one of those authors who deletes and burns all their old work, until then cheers.</em></strong>

<em>One Hundred Years of Solitude</em> is a novel in regards to love and the desire to constantly seek knowledge through many different outlets. It recounts the story of civilization and it represents the struggle of humankind within the area of love and solitude and the clashes that one family experiences in living as we know it.

<strong>Unfortunately (for some, not all) <em>Wall Street</em> is not the dystopian image of a far off future created by rich white men, but actually a rather exaggerated depiction of the capitalism during the 1980s. When I say “rather exaggerated”, I mean that the movie does portray the world of Wall Street in a some-what informative, yet overly romanticized way. Ultimately, it's just a movie and not a documentary of 1980s stock trading, although reality is never too far away. On the other hand, the movie <em>Blade Runner</em> is a dystopian movie released in the early 80’s about the not so far off future of 2019. While these two films are very different they both have similar aspects to them that suggest or lead the way for one to speculate that the influence of technology over human life is growing and that this relationship can be very unhealthy for them and the environment, which leads to the exploitation of technology by the powerful in order to maintain the status quo. Both of these narratives are heavily rooted in the techno-cyber transformation experienced during the 80s and afterward – the ideas of alienation, disease, isolation, and capitalism are all expressed.</strong>

<br>

[6] What the fuck?! Sorry for making you read this footnote, footenote champion. Also sorry about all the commas, period. also srry for note actually having footenotes.

<strong>Emma Goldman was born in 1869 in Kaunas, Lithuania and later died in 1940 in Toronto, Canada. During her life, Emma was a constant target of state repression and was notorious as “a sponsor of anarchy, of violence, free love, and revolution, she was vilified in the press as “Red Emma”, “Queen of the Anarchists”, “The most dangerous women in America,” yet her name would also appear on the list of the some of the world’s most influential women like Jane Adams, Annie Besant, Hellen Keller, Harriet Tubman, and Madame Curie to name only a few. In <em>Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America</em> by Paul Avrich, (p. 45) Emma Goldman is described as a propagandist and organizer for:</strong>

<br>

Emma Goldman texts on The Anarchist Library

*** Your friendly neighbourhood anarchists

The Genesee River Rebellion(GRR) is a new quarterly publication from the Rochester Black Rose Anarchist Federation. It's a large 4-page newspaper with 6 articles of varying length that we picked up for free from the distribution bin inside a local Rochester restaurant. There was a stack full of copies placed in the distro and it appears that there are stacks of this paper around a handful of local establishments for the curious reader to find. There also appears to be a subscription based model along with some other perks for those that signed up via the GoFundMe page, which accordingly raised around $1,500 of a $2,000 goal for printing costs, etc. Aesthetically, the local publication looks nice and it was exciting to find an anarchist newspaper circulating around in hand on our way to get some food. On the other hand, there are also some gripes about the publication and the ideas behind it. Below is a brief review of the new publication, along with some shared experiences from the Black Rose Anarchist Federation.

The front page main article is titled "The Shit List: Dregs of Our City" which is a recap of the the top nine worst people in the Rochester area. Certainly a clever idea and one that holds a lot of potential (especially for making powerful enemies), but after reading the article what stuck with me the most was amount of poor language used to convey their otherwise critical message. The audience is getting these (almost) beautiful ideas and papers into peoples hands, unfortunately it also seems that the language used is quite poor and specifically poignant as a group. The school-yard insults, remarks about peoples appearances all seem distasteful and out of touch with the possible audience (building a mass movement?). Perhaps in the next issue, we can hear less name-calling and more from GRR about what it means to be an anarchist (especially in Black Rose) in Upstate, New York, their projects, and thoughts on the Federation. How is it to be done? One answer from GRR appears to be that "the world is bad, and here is how to fix it" possibly by subscribing to our quarterly newspaper and donating money to the organization.

Some of the noteworthy "radical" lexicon used from the article follows:

To begin lightly, by describing Danny Wegman, CEO of Wegmans, a popular grocery store, as a "poverty pimp" and calling him "our own coked-up, Ferrari-driving, billionaire savior of Rochester's poor!". Then following up with Joel Seligman, President of The University of Rochester (U of R) who is described as an "over-sized fetus" and "1st among people who look like a Q-tip in human form." It goes on to say that "Though it may be difficult to discern exactly where Seligman's neck ends and his head begins" and finally finishes up by stating "It should come as no surprise that in order to pay for the vast quantities of warm milk he drinks before bed each night". Bob Lonsberry, who is a radio talk-show host on WHAM 1180 AM is called out for his penis size, "Sources close to Lonsberry confirm that he is indeed compensating for something" and later described as "a man who looks like a human butt plug." Howie Nielsen, who is the owner of Sticky Lips BBQ is told "fuck your boats! Oh, and the ribs at Sticky Lips suck." Sande Macaluso, City of Rochester Marshal is described as having a "Hitler-esque mustache and sporting a big cigar" who is also a "living Garbage Pail Kid". Maggie Brooks, the Monroe County Executive is called "a turtle-faced charlatan". It goes on with Lyjha Wilton, a developer in Rochester by saying "If you still don't want to hold him down and take a giant shit in his mouth". And lastly, Bob Duffy, former Police Chief and Mayor of Rochester, etc is described as having a "jerk-off muppet face".

To others, this may seem funny and not an important aspect to focus on, but it makes their overall idea appear <em>un</em>sexy, immature, and a sad reflection of GRR. On a larger scale, this seems to be the trend of not only the local GRR group, but of the federation as well. While the bad-faith arguments, poor critiques, and lack of ability to have and build relationships among the terrible community has been a point of contention forever, it seems to be amplified by certain hanger-ons. It's no wonder platformists in North America have such a bad reputation internationally as being some of the most reactionary, sectarian, and partisan "anarchists". The common phrase from them sounds something like "they have absolutely nothing in common with us, they're not real anarchists, so fuck 'em." Too bad, so sad - as the pot signals the kettle, time for a coffee break.

Here is a quick rundown of the other articles: The <em>Editorial: Tragedy in Orlando: An Anarchist Queer's Response</em> is a welcoming quick read about the the state, police, society, guns, violence, justice and LGBTQ. <em>What if Pride Were Run by Anarchists?</em> concludes that "an anarchist-run Pride event would be an anti-capitalist celebration of the struggles of all LGBTQ people. It would be designed to challenge the status quo of mainstream LGBTQ "rights" while calling forth the true history of Pride." In <em>First Edition: Storming the Bastille</em> it sums up why they decided to release the newspaper on July 14th (national holiday in France much?). <em>The Old World is Dying</em> is a text about the prefigurative politics of building "a new world from the shell of the old." It goes on to touch upon the strikes in France surrounding the new laws about the 35-hour work week, the Rojava Revolution, and the 2012 student strikes in Quebec. They also share some ideas regarding the overall practice of GRR - work call ins, tenant unions, rent strikes, and the Fight for $15. It was also mentioned that "we're not just planning to relentlessly mock those power - as fun as that is - we're going to share a vision for the world with all of you", which does somewhat respond to our earlier question regarding the audience and future direction. And the last article <em>Pigs in Shit</em> is a very brief report-back from a recent Black Lives Matter demonstration in the City of Rochester that saw 70+ people arrested and a lot of attention from the community.

One last area to look at is the <em>Online Anarchist Resources</em> sidebar provided in the newspaper. Overall, it lists 13 websites and here are a few of the more polemical: AK Press who seem to be the mainstay "anarchist" publisher; while AK doesn't have the best track record working alongside other anarchists over the years, they seemingly have improved a bit. Recently, they found themselves under fire during Schmidt-gate. Another link, Zabalaza Books whose mothership, Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF) of South Africa have also found themselves caught up in the same controversy re: Michael Schmidt and the two AK Press authors who wrote the exposé. Thought Crime Ink is an anarchist non-profit that provides ephemera. Libertarian Communism A website that continues to have controversy surrounding it for being run / supported by cop-collaborators (see On Why Dr John Drury Is A Collaborationist Asshole & cop-out – the significance of Aufhebengate (2013)). Anarkismo of course. Anarchist Platform A WordPress site that hasn't been updated since 2012. And finally, Common Cause, an organization that dissolved itself this past Spring (2016). A rather eye-opening list of links for the curious audience - especially those with little or no prior reference to anarchist ideas.

<br>

- GRR

</quote>

*** Real Anarchists Have Day Jobs

A brief visit with the Black Rose Anarchist Federation

Rochester Black Rose on The Anarchist Library

[the end]

<strong>A [draft] response to: An Anarchist Survey</strong>

<strong>A response to a survey posted on Encounters with Anarchism, exploring our beautiful ideal</strong>

<em>1. — How would you most succinctly define anarchism? Is there a shared “anarchist project” — and, if so, how would you characterize it?</em>

At the heart anarchism is anti-state / anti-capitalist, or as the old saying goes “no gods, no masters.” The explanations from this can go on for a bit, but overall the shared “anarchist project” is a life project that is characterized by anarchy.

<em>2. — What is the relationship between anarchism and the concept of anarchy?</em>

Anarchy is the idea, while anarchism is the ideal. Ideas change and develop over time, whereas the ideals of anarchism are defined concepts at a specific time and framework; the -ism also implies a prior movement towards something.

<em>3. — What is the value of tradition within the anarchist milieus and what might be its uses?</em>

Of course!, tradition and non-tradition are valued within the milieus, spaces, and movements of anarchy. Anarchist history (against Leviathan), it’s human resistance, insurrections the world over and revolution, and other important anarchist pursuits.

<em>4. — What, specifically, is the role to be played in the present by the anarchist literature — whether theoretical or artistic — of the past?</em>

Anarchist literature knows it’s roll, and that is to… Attack! But, also remember; a remembrance of anarchist things past. The documenting of the usual and unique past, as well as the more famous historical events from an encompassing perspective. It's everything.

<em>5. — What are the most significant challenges facing anarchists — and anarchism, as you understand it — in the present?</em>

Building a mass movement of anarchists and friends… like a federation. Just kidding, but maybe. If that’s where you’re at, nothing wrong. Do it. Neighborhood anarchist friends are the best.

Most of all, building that life project.

<em>6. — How would you characterize the present state of anarchist activity (outside the realm of theory and propaganda)?</em>

Depends on where you look and how far recently back into time you go. In North America, the current state of anarchist activity seems largely centered around antifa, although the high water mark for that may have been a year ago. Before that, it was Occupy everything(!) in 2011 and the summit hopping years of anti-globalization from 1999 on into the 2000s. What is today? The anarchist gathering as camping adventure over book fair over meetings over riot!? It looks different across the world, but seems especially defined by region and anarchist tent affiliation. Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Harvey, the Ferguson insurrection, Standing Rock, and other events, to name only a few, have painted an alternative picture of possibilities.

<em>7. — How would you characterize the present state of anarchist theory and propaganda?</em>

With the Internet, social media, and communication as it is today, brings with it a characterization of speed an ability to share ideas over large distances instantaneously. Quality conversation and dialogue seems to have deteriorated a bit over letter correspondence; but it also may just be more difficult to find, as there are so many things out there. The act of writing letters, the time involved in the previous literary boom of magazines and correspondence does seem to have unfortunately largely faded away, for a different more modern approach of communication and typing. The technology of communication and learning, sharing, critiquing, and comments.

<em>8. — What are the most urgent changes to be made in anarchist practice moving forward?</em>

Perhaps , a step away from the infighting and attacking of other anarchists and ideas in an uncritical and non-productive manner. Critique is healthy, but having good faith conversations over the all-to-common sectarian squabbles becomes too much over time, especially for new people. The poor critique is a turn off. Next, after we’ve solved all the relationship problems ;), the commune, the collapse, and the forest garden.

<em>9. — What is the role of some kind of “anarchist unity” moving forward? What form could or should that unity take?</em>

We don’t all have to get along, but perhaps some shouldn’t relate other anarchist thinkers as a demigod to their only god of whatever. The platform federation or the union of egoists, down to the neighborhood affinity groups and friends / individuals, let’s do it all.

<em>10. — What are the greatest needs with regard to new anarchist theory, propaganda, literature and art?</em>

Anarchist spaces offline and online to share these things IRL with other anarchists and friends.

<em>11. — Do you currently identify with any particular anarchist current or tendency — and, if so, how do you characterize your position?</em>

Anti-civ much younger growing up, post-left, green anarchy, but today just an anarchist. The tent is big, come on in and hang out for a bit, say hi. Perhaps, the oft said quote by Fredy Perlman, that they’re just a “violinist” or something like that, although violins are perhaps a bit too bluegrass and unplayable here.

<em>12. — What additional questions would it be useful to pose to a broad anarchist audience?</em>

Offline: How is it to be done? (this is the age old question, rephrased, so many ways, again)

Online: How do we organize the international anarchist __________ work flow? Helping ________ and____________ anarchist _____ around the world?

<em>13. — Would you be interested in participating in future surveys, perhaps addressing more specific elements of anarchist theory, practice and culture?</em>