The next generation of the Friends of AK Press
By kate | February 10, 2012
| If this isn’t the world’s best advertising photo, I don’t know what is: |
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| Thanks Milo (and Milo’s parents) for sending us this pic to brighten our day!
Here’s to the next generation of AK Press readers, rabble-rousers, anarchists, black bloc’ers and beyond! |
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Concerning the Violent Peace-Police: An Open Letter to Chris Hedges
By Suzanne | February 9, 2012
Another one of our authors, David Graeber, has written a response to Chris Hedges’ controversial article “The Cancer in Occupy.” This piece was published this morning over at n+1 and is excerpted here; please head over to n+1 to read it in its entirety. Thanks to David for this thoughtful contribution to the important conversation around the tactics and dynamics of the Occupy movement. Keep ‘em coming, folks!
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Concerning the Violent Peace-Police: An Open Letter to Chris Hedges
David Graeber
I am writing this on the premise that you are a well-meaning person who wishes Occupy Wall Street to succeed. I am also writing as someone who was deeply involved in the early stages of planning Occupy in New York.
I am also an anarchist who has participated in many Black Blocs. While I have never personally engaged in acts of property destruction, I have on more than one occasion taken part in Blocs where property damage has occurred. (I have taken part in even more Blocs that did not engage in such tactics. It is a common fallacy that this is what Black Blocs are all about. It isn’t.)
I was hardly the only Black Bloc veteran who took part in planning the initial strategy for Occupy Wall Street. In fact, anarchists like myself were the real core of the group that came up with the idea of occupying Zuccotti Park, the “99%” slogan, the General Assembly process, and, in fact, who collectively decided that we would adopt a strategy of Gandhian non-violence and eschew acts of property damage. Many of us had taken part in Black Blocs. We just didn’t feel that was an appropriate tactic for the situation we were in.
This is why I feel compelled to respond to your statement “The Cancer in Occupy.” This statement is not only factually inaccurate, it is quite literally dangerous. This is the sort of misinformation that really can get people killed. In fact, it is far more likely to do so, in my estimation, than anything done by any black-clad teenager throwing rocks.
Let me just lay out a few initial facts:
1. Black Bloc is a tactic, not a group. It is a tactic where activists don masks and black clothing (originally leather jackets in Germany, later, hoodies in America), as a gesture of anonymity, solidarity, and to indicate to others that they are prepared, if the situation calls for it, for militant action. The very nature of the tactic belies the accusation that they are trying to hijack a movement and endanger others. One of the ideas of having a Black Bloc is that everyone who comes to a protest should know where the people likely to engage in militant action are, and thus easily be able to avoid it if that’s what they wish to do.
2. Black Blocs do not represent any specific ideological, or for that matter anti-ideological position. Black Blocs have tended in the past to be made up primarily of anarchists but most contain participants whose politics vary from Maoism to Social Democracy. They are not united by ideology, or lack of ideology, but merely a common feeling that creating a bloc of people with explicitly revolutionary politics and ready to confront the forces of the order through more militant tactics if required, is, on the particular occasion when they assemble, a useful thing to do. It follows one can no more speak of “Black Bloc Anarchists,” as a group with an identifiable ideology, than one can speak of “Sign-Carrying Anarchists” or “Mic-Checking Anarchists.”
3. Even if you must select a tiny, ultra-radical minority within the Black Bloc and pretend their views are representative of anyone who ever put on a hoodie, you could at least be up-to-date about it. It was back in 1999 that people used to pretend “the Black Bloc” was made up of nihilistic primitivist followers of John Zerzan opposed to all forms of organization. Nowadays, the preferred approach is to pretend “the Black Bloc” is made up of nihilistic insurrectionary followers of The Invisible Committee, opposed to all forms of organization. Both are absurd slurs. Yours is also 12 years out of date.
4. Your comment about Black Bloc’ers hating the Zapatistas is one of the weirdest I’ve ever seen. Sure, if you dig around, you can find someone saying almost anything. But I’m guessing that, despite the ideological diversity, if you took a poll of participants in the average Black Bloc and asked what political movement in the world inspired them the most, the EZLN would get about 80% of the vote. In fact I’d be willing to wager that at least a third of participants in the average Black Bloc are wearing or carrying at least one item of Zapatista paraphernalia. (Have you ever actually talked to someone who has taken part in a Black Bloc? Or just to people who dislike them?)
5. “Diversity of tactics” is not a “Black Bloc” idea. The original GA in Tompkins Square Park that planned the original occupation, if I remember, adopted the principle of diversity of tactics (at least it was discussed in a very approving fashion), at the same time as we all also concurred that a Gandhian approach would be the best way to go. This is not a contradiction: “diversity of tactics” means leaving such matters up to individual conscience, rather than imposing a code on anyone. Partly,this is because imposing such a code invariably backfires. In practice, it means some groups break off in indignation and do even more militant things than they would have otherwise, without coordinating with anyone else—as happened, for instance, in Seattle. The results are usually disastrous. After the fiasco of Seattle, of watching some activists actively turning others over to the police—we quickly decided we needed to ensure this never happened again. What we found that if we declared “we shall all be in solidarity with one another. We will not turn in fellow protesters to the police. We will treat you as brothers and sisters. But we expect you to do the same to us”—then, those who might be disposed to more militant tactics will act in solidarity as well, either by not engaging in militant actions at all for fear they will endanger others (as in many later Global Justice Actions, where Black Blocs merely helped protect the lockdowns, or in Zuccotti Park, where mostly people didn’t bloc up at all) or doing so in ways that run the least risk of endangering fellow activists.
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To Be Fair, He Is a Journalist: A Short Response to Chris Hedges on the Black Bloc
By charles | February 7, 2012
One of our lovely authors, wrote the following response to Chris Hedges’ recent, sadly misinformed attack on anarchists…
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To Be Fair, He Is a Journalist: A Short Response to Chris Hedges on the Black Bloc
By Don Gato
It was a little weird to wake up today to an article by Chris Hedges on a website called “Truth-Out” when “truth” is in such short supply in the piece. Hedges was trained as a journalist and worked for years at such luminaries of lies like the New York Times, so it shouldn’t be a secret where he’s gotten his sensationalism, his tendency to lie, his hyperbole, and, most of all, his seeming inability to do rudimentary research. Nonetheless, when activist celebrities like Hedges (and his friend here, Derrick Jensen) write even complete nonsense like this, it tends to have a certain conceptual currency with people. And though I’d much rather be visiting with friends today (who promised me peanut butter cookies, no less!), I figured I’d take a few minutes to point out some of the more egregious distortions in Hedges’ terrible piece.
Definitions
First, we need to clear up some definitional problems. Now, as a journalist, I really don’t expect Hedges to be able to “research,”—it does seem to go against the prime directives of the profession, but let’s be clear: There’s no such thing as “The Black Bloc movement.” The black bloc is a tactic. It’s also not just a tactic used by anarchists, so “black bloc anarchists” is a bit of a misnomer—particularly because Hedges doesn’t know the identities of the people under those sexy, black masks. In fact, it was autonomists in the 80s who came up with the (often quite brilliant) idea in Germany. Protecting themselves against the repression of what Hedges calls “the security and surveillance state,” squatters, protesters, and other rabble rousers would dress in all black, covering up tattoos, their faces, and any other identifying features so they could act against this miserable world and, with some smarts and a sharp style, not get pinched by the pigs. This was true of resisters who were protecting marches (because the state never needs an excuse to incite violence and police are wont to riot and attack people), destroying property, or sometimes just marching en masse. That is, the black bloc has all kinds of uses. And in Oakland, where Hedges seems particularly upset by people actually having the gall to defend themselves against insane violent police thugs instead of just sit there idly by getting beaten, on Move-In Day the bloc looked mostly defensive—shielding themselves and other protesters from flash grenades and police mob violence with make-shift shields (and even one armchair). So, to be clear: The black bloc is a tactic used by lots of people, not just anarchists, and it has all kinds of uses. It’s not a “movement.”
Who Is This Straw Frankenstein?
And, importantly, people in black blocs don’t have “unity” with one another about politics. This is another bizarre part of Hedges’ hatchet job. He goes on this long diatribe about what “The Black Bloc Movement” (this weird straw Frankenstein he’s created) believes. We learn in his piece that this Frankenstein is “against organization” when members of the black bloc, anarchists included, have all kinds of ideas about organization (none of which are “against organization”). If Chris did a little research, he’d find that “The Black Bloc Papers,” for example, were edited and compiled by two members of a formal political organization. And while many anarchists do reject formal political organizations, no anarchists oppose “organization” as such. Rather, we have disagreements over organizational form, duration, formality, purpose, and so on. Not to state the obvious, but considering our collective failure to smash capitalism, the state, and all other manifestations of coercive power over others, uh, shouldn’t we be building those kinds of critiques? If Hedges were interested in honesty, he might know that’s also why many anarchists are critical of the Left (I imagine dishonest and divisive hatchet jobs by Leftist celebrities like this one is another reason why more and more anarchists reject the Left—among its many other shortcomings and failures).
He goes on to state that this Frankenstein he’s created is universally under the influence of John Zerzan, then attacks Zerzan. Again, this just shows how out of touch Hedges is and how he’s fooled himself into believing he knows what he’s talking about when he doesn’t (a very common trait for celebrity journalists). Apparently it needs repeating, the black bloc is not a unified “movement”—it’s a bunch of folks dressed similarly so they can’t be identified by the popo. There are all kinds of thoughts on Zerzan in such a grouping, some supportive, some not, some who, no doubt, have no idea who he is. But Zerzan doesn’t speak for the bloc—no one does. And so there’s this weird “guilt-by-association” in this piece which ends in blaming criticisms of the Zapatistas on this “Black Bloc Movement” that he’s created.
Gender Essentialism! It’s Not Just For the 70s Anymore!
Hedges also critiques the black bloc for its supposed “hypermasculinity,” engaging in a gender essentialism that belies his inability to keep up with contemporary radicalism. In Oakland, part of the militant march on Move-In Day was the “Feminist and Queer Bloc.” I’m sure they would be quite surprised to learn that self-defense against violent police thugs and petty vandalism is actually a man’s activity! Why, those poor, beleaguered women and queers are probably alienated from such militancy, along with the befuddled masses that Hedges seems to be writing for! Rather than a lengthy critique of this already-disposed-of pseudo objection, I’ll let Harsha Walia enlighten Hedges on the problems of wealthy white, men like himself attempting to speak for the alienated and frightened “victims” of such “masculine” activities as building a confrontational and militant movement against capitalism and the state. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oesjegD1-Vg
The Personal Is Antipolitical
Some of this is personal to me, in the interest of full disclosure. I have friends in Oakland. They’re brave and awesome. Seeing them stand up to police repression and attempt to take an empty building while people sleep in the streets was exciting and invigorating for me. It was a welcome sight in today’s age of non-violent fundamentalism, where so many are beset with the crippling belief that if we just get beat up badly enough we’ll attract “the masses” with our moral superiority and somehow the wealthy and powerful will recognize the error of their ways and give us the world back that they’ve so successfully turned into their nightmarish, authoritarian, and wasted playground. My friends were gassed, beaten, given broken faces, broken dreams, and locked in cages for their bravery. And now they’re being denounced by a comfortable journalist who wasn’t there who refers to them as a “cancer”.
I don’t want to suggest that they shouldn’t be critiqued. Self-critique is important for any improvement of practice—if it’s honest.
But here I feel betrayed. When Hedges wrote about the Greeks, notorious for their black blocs, he praised them for “getting it.” Indeed, according to Hedges, they knew what to do. In Hedges own words:
“They know what to do when they are told their pensions, benefits and jobs have to be cut to pay corporate banks, which screwed them in the first place. Call a general strike. Riot. Shut down the city centers. Toss the bastards out. Do not be afraid of the language of class warfare—the rich versus the poor, the oligarchs versus the citizens, the capitalists versus the proletariat. The Greeks, unlike most of us, get it.”
Apparently for Hedges, that’s good enough for the Greeks. But, by God, don’t you dare bring this filthy resistance to his home! You might accidentally (horror of horrors!) break a window! Perhaps it might belong to Hedges! Well, I passed around his piece on Greece thinking that perhaps there was, in fact, a journalist that “gets it.” I was wrong and I feel betrayed.
So I am angry at Hedges. I know it shows and it will look ugly to some people, but at one point, I trusted his work. And now, I have broken and brave friends that he is denouncing in a movement that he is dividing and presuming to speak for.
After the Move-In Day, the Mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, asked the Occupy movement to “disown” Oakland because they were militant, uncompromising, and because they were willing to engage in the kinds of “class warfare” that Hedges once praised in Greece. Occupy groups quickly dismissed this as a divisive tactic, but Hedges and Derrick Jensen seem all too eager to help Mayor Quan out. We live in interesting times, but we need to see these kinds of attacks for what they are—forms of recuperating needed and justified rage. When rigid ideologues who think they have some kind of special access to “Truth” come in swinging like this, particularly right after being politely asked to by liberal Mayors like Quan to do so, it’s time to do some quick disowning. We should reject the attempts to divide us by the likes of Quan, Jensen, and Hedges and, more importantly, reject the lies and distortions embedded in these facile “critiques.” Shame on you, Chris. If you want to denounce “violence,” you might use your time to target the police and Mayor Quan instead of doing the work they’ve asked Occupy “leaders” to do for them.
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February’s Political Prisoner birthdays – write a letter!
By kate | January 31, 2012
I assume that most of you have seen the great monthly posters put out by the folks at Chapel Hill’s Prison Books Collective — every month, they release a new one that you can print out and hang up around your school, infoshop, workplace, and local coffeehouse with the names and addresses of incarcerated comrades celebrating their birthdays that month.
This year, I encourage all of you to send letters, books, zines, AK catalogues, images, postcards, and anything you can into the prisons. Check out the Prison Books Collective calendars for suggestions of who to write to, find your local prisoner support organization, join or start a letter-writing night, ask for advice at your local infoshop (that’s why they exist!) or whatever it takes. Don’t forget our friends on the inside. They’re a vital part of our struggle, and in many ways, we are fighting for them, just as they are fighting for us.
Click here to download February’s calendar of Political Prisoner Birthdays.
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Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots on TOUR!!
By kate | January 25, 2012
It’s true: the book tour for Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots is about to begin! Please spread the word, and tell your local booksellers to order the book!
Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots?:
Flaming Challenges to Masculinity, Objectification, and the Desire to Conform
Edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
(AK Press, February 2012)
“These essays, alternately moving and sprightly, contemplative and outraged‚ display the power of presenting an alternative to the mainstream: a world of greater tolerance, acceptance, support, and creativity.”–Publishers Weekly
“You may have thought you understood human nature before you read this book; after reading it you will be humbled by all you failed to grasp until now. America invented identity politics but here those identities have been multiplied and articulated as never before.”–Edmund White, author of A Boy’s Own Story
“These essays come like a plunge into a forest pool of revitalizing joy, honesty, and common sense. Read them. Now. No‚ not tomorrow. Now!”–Samuel R. Delany, author of Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
Upcoming Events:
Stories Books and Cafe, Echo Park
Sunday, January 22, 6:30 pm
1716 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026-3225
www.storiesla.com
(213) 413-3733
http://www.facebook.com/events/348593838486877/
University of Southern California
Monday, January 23, 5 pm
Los Angeles, CA
Claremont Colleges
Scripps College, Balch Auditorium
Thursday, January 26
7 pm doors, 7:30 pm talk
Reception and book signing to follow in the Hampton Room above Scripps Dining Hall
Claremont, CA
Friday, January 27 publishing conversation
Pomona College, Queer Resource Center, 3 pm
Snacks provided
Pomona, CA
University of San Francisco
Wednesday, February 8, 5 pm
University Center (UC) 4th Floor Lounge
San Francisco, CA
THE BIG BOOK LAUNCH
Valentine’s Day 2012, Tuesday, February 14, 6 pm
(come early for heart-shaped refreshments)
San Francisco Main Library
1100 Larkin St
San Francisco, CA
A delicious discussion with contributors Jaime Cortez, Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Debanuj DasGupta, Booh Edouardo, Eric Stanley, Harris Kornstein, Gina de Vries, Horehound Stillpoint, Matthew D. Blanchard, and your lovely host Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
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An update from Eddie Conway, author of Marshall Law
By kate | January 5, 2012
We just received this letter from our author and comrade, Marshall “Eddie” Conway, currently serving a life sentence in a Maryland prison for a crime he didn’t commit. As ever, his spirits remain high, and his work is an inspiration to activists and organizers both beyond and inside the prison walls. And, there’s hope on the horizon – Eddie is in the midst of a parole appeal. Read on for an update on his case, and on how you can lend support. And, if you haven’t read Eddie’s autobiography, Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther, we highly recommend it – it’s one of our top sellers for 2011!
Revolutionary Greetings, to all my family, friends, and supporters. The last few months have been a very busy time for me. I am very happy to report that some progress has been made in several areas. The best news to date is the progress with my parole situation. Since my last update letter, my lawyer filed a request for a parole hearing for me. I had the hearing on November 30, 2011. I met with two commissioners and they decided to advance my case to the next level of the parole process for persons with life sentences. That level requires a psychological evaluation, which means that sometime in the near future I will be transferred to another institution for a three month evaluation. This whole process is called a Risk Assessment, and once this level is completed the case goes before the full body of the parole commission. There are ten commissioners and a majority vote is required before the case can be sent to the governor who has the final right to approve or deny.
Thanks to all of you who wrote support letters or sent cards. One of the key reasons for moving my case forward was the enormous amount of community support reflected by those letters and cards. You all really helped, thank you once again. For those who did not know that this process was underway, it happened fast, but there is still time for you to write. The case will go before the full commission and the members will once again read the letters of support. So please continue to send letters requesting parole to:
Mr. David Bloomberg
6776 Reisterstown Rd.
Baltimore, MD. 21215
My lawyer, Phillip Dantes and his legal team has committed to filing my case in court by the end of this year 2011. As of this writing, that schedule is still being honored. We are looking forward to being in court sometime in 2012. Once we have a date, I will make you all aware via facebook and an update letter. We will be organizing a fundraiser in the spring to help with legal and court costs.
Since my last letter I have had the opportunity to speak at a number of events. I spoke with students and activist at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of California at Riverside, and Students Against Mass Incarceration at Howard University. I also spoke at several community events and book readings of Marshall Law The Life and Times of a Baltimore Panther: the Urban Network in Detroit, MI., Internationalist Books in Chapel Hill, N.C., and readings in Chicago, Ill., and in Baltimore, MD. Some of these events also included large groups form Occupy Riverside, CA. and Occupy Chicago, plus students from University of North Carolina. In October I participated in a conference of community leaders and activists like Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle organized by Dylan Rodriguez with the American Studies Association; their annual meeting was held in Baltimore. I also had the opportunity to meet and speak with National Black United Front members who visited me and offered some encouragement for the survival of our community.
The work we are doing with the Friend of a Friend (FOF) mentoring organization is going very well. The organization has developed so many positive community leaders and mentors that I can no longer keep up with all the new people around the system and out in the community; that is a good thing and I am happy with both the group’s growth and direction. The (FOF) prison project is expanding into another prison- with one more wanting the program; it is currently in five Maryland prisons.
I will never be able to thank the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) for taking on this task and helping us save hundreds of lives and put many positive activists back into the community. We are now organizing our families outside with the support of a local church, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church and Pastor Heber Brown. Members of a Friend of a Friend are working with a local school to help provide guidance to youth; they are starting a Freedom School in 2012, and are also speaking at colleges in the region.
Our Neutral Grounds project has opened up a snack and beverage stand to demonstrate our concept of “Do for Self”. Since unemployment is highest among people of African descent and even higher among former prisoners we have to think of ways to employ ourselves, and create our own economic opportunity. My family is okay in general. However, I recently lost a brother-in-law; he was married to my sister for thirty-nine years. Many of the family are planning a large holiday dinner and I plan to call in to the gathering. I am still struggling with high blood pressure, but I am exercising and trying to eat right, but prison food only allows so much right eating.
One thing I wish I could do better is write everyone as soon as the mail comes in, it’s just not possible, but I greatly appreciate every letter – thank you all. I am looking forward to the coming year, and hope to see positive changes in the world. 2012 is an important year for our community and as the economic picture continues to change and capitalism collapses, food and basic needs will be in greater demand for the most vulnerable people in our communities. We need to learn and teach everyone how to grow our own food in local city gardens, and meet our needs collectively. Block by block – help rebuild the community- grew something to eat!
In Struggle,
Eddie Conway
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Top 10 of 2011: AK Press Distribution
By Suzanne | December 28, 2011
Last week we gave you this year’s Top 10 bestselling new titles from AK Press publishing; this week we’re back with our Distro Top 10: our bestselling new titles this year from our distributed indie publishers. It’s been a great year and, as you can see below, there have been some excellent new releases. If you have missed any, now’s the perfect time to take another look!
The Top 10 AK Press Distribution Titles of 2011 are:
1. 2012 Slingshot Organizers [Slingshot Collective]
The Slingshot Organizer pretty much always tops our distro bestsellers list, and for good reason: they’re practical, they’re cheap, and they’re fun. They have more personality than your iCal could ever dream of. Available in a rainbow of colors, and two sizes: the pocket organizer and the spiral-bound desk planner. Don’t have your new calendar or organizer yet? Get yours now, and get organized!
2. What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower: Being An Adventure Of Your Own Choosing [Margaret Killjoy / Combustion Books]
Remember those “choose-your-own-adventure” books you read when you were a kid? Well, here’s the politically-charged grown-up version, full of goblins and gnomes and vice, from the author of our own Mythmakers and Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction. It’s awesome—and if you don’t believe us, maybe you’ll believe Cory Doctorow’s BoingBoing review!
3. Work: Capitalism. Economics. Resistance. [CrimethInc.]
This latest arrival from CrimethInc. takes on not just work itself but also the larger forces of capitalist economy that make it possible (and seemingly necessary) for most people to work our whole lives with nothing to show for it. If you’re familiar with CrimethInc.’s other popular books—Days of War, Nights of Love; Recipes for Disaster; and Expect Resistance—some of this will seem like familiar territory, but with its particularly timely focus on dismantling capitalism (and thus work as we know it), it goes in some interesting directions.
4. The Listener: Memory, Lies, Art, Power [David Lester / Arbeiter Ring Publishing]
From the author of The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism (which is also great!) comes this compelling graphic novel that tells a startling story of Germany in 1933, interwoven with scenes from the life of a modern-day artist. Paul Buhle says, “Speaking as a reviewer of comic art since 1970 and historian of comic art, in some way, for the last thirty years, I can say that no one has captured better this dilemma of the politically-inspired artist.” That’s pretty high praise, eh? See what others have said, and then check it out for yourself.
5. Fair Game: A Strategy Guide for Racial Justice Communications in the Obama Era [Praxis Media Productions / Praxis Project]
A new workbook-style guide from some of the same folks who were involved with our own Talking the Walk: A Communications Guide for Racial Justice! Introduced at the US Social Forum, and now updated and available to the general public. This guide is designed to help its readers navigate new political waters, explore proven strategies, and consider long-term strategy. There’s lots to chew on here, for anyone committed to racial justice.
6. SteamPunk Magazine: The First Years, Issues #1–7 [Ed. Margaret Killjoy & C. Allegra Hawksmoor / Combustion Books]
A recent arrival, but this one was such a big hit at the holidays that it’s already a bestseller! This anthology collects all published issues (so far!) of SteamPunk Magazine, including plenty of fiction and artwork as well as pieces on music, fashion, politics, history, and mad science. Over 400 large-format pages of awesome steampunkery at a very reasonable price!
7. Grammar Matters: The Social Significance of How We Use Language [Jila Ghomeshi / Arbeiter Ring Publishing]
We’ve all heard self-appointed “language police” bemoan today’s sloppiness, imprecision, and a general disregard for the rules of grammar and speech. For sure, we at AK are sometimes guilty of being sticklers for proper grammar (it kind of comes with the territory). But this book is a valuable counterpoint, demonstrating what the insistence on “proper” use of language reveals about power, authority, and social prejudices. Listen to this radio appearance by the author to hear more about the book… and then get a copy for yourself or your favorite grammar nerd.
8. Cambodian Grrrl: Self-Publishing in Phnom Penh [Anne Elizabeth Moore / Microcosm Publishing]
A USA Today reviewer called this “the best travel book I read all year.” Anne Elizabeth Moore (also author of the excellent Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity) brings her experience in the American cultural underground to Cambodia, where she teaches young women to make zines and in the process learns more than she’d bargained for about women’s rights, globalization, the failures of democracy, and justice.
9. Revolutions in Reverse: Essays on Politics, Violence, Art, and Imagination [David Graeber / Minor Compositions]
From the author of our own excellent collection, Possibilities: Essays on Hierarchy, Rebellion, and Desire (and one of the most articulate voices coming out of the Occupy movement—check out this recent piece!) comes a timely new book of essays explores the political imagination. Capitalism as we know it is over. In our current political landscape, where can we find signs of hope and possibility? How can we come together to create a new language, a new strategy, a new set of expectations?
10. Art Gangs: Protest & Counterculture in New York City [Alan W. Moore / Autonomedia]
An important new contribution to the study of art history, from an art historian who knows what he’s talking about. From the Art Workers Coalition through Art & Language, Colab and Group Material in the 1980s, in Soho and the Lower East Side, the collectives described in this book built the postmodern art world, and in many ways laid the foundation for today’s radical art collectives. This is the essential background story of the politicized international art world.
Honorable Mention: Debt: The First 5,000 Years [David Graeber / Melville House]
Even though this one isn’t exclusively distributed to the book trade by AK Press (as all of the above titles are), and even though it’s a giant $32 hardcover, it still made our bestseller list. Why? Because it’s just that good. Do yourself a favor and read it. It’s exactly what it sounds like, and it could not have come out at a better moment in history. Check out the New York Times review!
It’s also worth noting here that there were a whole bunch of great new titles released near the end of the year that didn’t make it onto this list just because they didn’t have time to become bestsellers YET—but they’re still worth checking out! Among the year-end bestsellers: Practicing Feminist Mothering (Fiona Joy Green / Arbeiter Ring Publishing); Against Equality: Don’t Ask to Fight Their Wars (Ed. Ryan Conrad / Against Equality Press); Communization and its Discontents (Ed. Benjamin Noys / Minor Compostions); and many more! New titles arrive every week… Why not sign up for our e-mail list to make sure you hear about them?
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Surrealism in 2012!
By kate | December 27, 2011
If you should happen to find yourself in the mid-Atlantic or the Northeast in January or February, I strongly recommend you make time for a detour to Reading, Pennsylvania for the improbably located Surrealism in 2012 exhibition: a never-before-exhibited-together collection of surrealist material created since 1960. NO, surrealism didn’t die out in the 50s with the death of Andre Breton. A quick survey of the surrealist titles we carry in the AK Press distribution catalogue–most of them published by Charles H. Kerr/Black Swan Editions–drives this point home where writing is concerned, but surrealists around the globe have continued to produce art objects at a frenetic pace over the past fifty years, and poet and photographer Joseph Jablonski has culled together the largest, most diverse surrealist exhibition since the 80s. In Reading, PA. Of all places.
Surrealism in 2012: Toward the World of the Fifth Sun
January 6 – February 19, 2012
GoggleWorks Center for the Arts
201 Washington Street
Reading, Pennsylvania
The opening reception is January 6, 2012 from 5:30 – 7:30PM. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this lovely piece by my friend and mentor Franklin Rosemont, the great surrealist poet and historian, who helped to organize the World Surrealist Exhibition of 1976, from whose catalogue this essay is drawn.
Freedom of the Marvelous
Caught upon an emotional precipice between the irretrievable and the unhoped for, men and women today rarely recognize each other, or even themselves. Ask them who they are, what they are doing, where they are going; they stare blankly, stammer, look the other way. No one dares to be happy: too many wars, too many suicides, too many unemployed, too many priests, too many cops; too many “troubles” of every sort conceivable and too many that are scarcely conceivable at all. The exceptions prove the rule. The traffic is always heavy, the weather is always bad. No doubt about it: life today is only five percent of life, and day by day the percentage goes down. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: AK Allies, Happenings, Recommended Reading, Uncategorized | No Comments »
AK Press is hiring!
By kate | December 20, 2011
AK Press has an immediate opening for a new collective member. More specifically, we’re looking to expand our publishing department by hiring someone who has a passion for books and ideas, requires little sleep, and knows the difference between Lucy Parsons and Lady Gaga. Read on for more explanation.
The publishing department at AK Press oversees the acquisition, development, production, and promotion of roughly twenty new titles every year, in addition to managing our extensive backlist catalog and seeking new sales avenues for our titles. Ideally, our newest hire will work out of our Baltimore office (but if we can’t live without you then we’ll consider making space in the Oakland warehouse). Our new collective member will be unreasonably organized and efficient, have a sense of humor but take the work of AK Press as seriously as it deserves, and they will spend their time:
- Working with authors to think through and develop promotional campaigns for their books
- Creating promotional materials for AK & AK Press books
- Building relationships with reviewers, media producers, bloggers, and other public outlets
- Developing and expanding the AK Press social media world
- Responding to review copy requests when they come in, and following up when they go out
- Partnering with other publishers, bookstores, and organizations to expand the boundaries of AK Press’s core readership
- Traveling for tabling gigs and conferences
- Being a communicative public face for AK Press
- Playing an organizational role in our publishing department (Keeping track of annual deadlines, staying on top of our production schedule and marketing & publicity schedule, working with project coordinators through various steps of the publishing process)
- Acquiring new titles and authors
The day to day tasks revolve around the functions of the publishing department but as a member of the collective you’ll be self-managing the largest and most productive anarchist publishing house and distribution center in the world. Our jobs are tremendously fun, but remember, this is hard work.
Required skills include some combination of:
- Working knowledge of anarchist politics, past and present
- Communication skills (writing, public speaking)
- Fluency with design/design software (Adobe preferred)
- Experience in the book trade
- Experience with Macs and Excel, Word, Photoshop, Constant Contact, and WordPress
- Experience with social media/website development
- Impeccable organizational skills
Recommended skills include:
- Relevant job experience managing multiple projects at once
- Experience working collectively
- Connections to current political activities
- A history of full-time employment, preferably work that is self-directed
- Contacts with relevant writers, reviewers, media contacts, etc.
- Foreign language skills
The position is full-time (40hrs per week plus additional nights and weekends, as necessary). We offer comprehensive health care, twenty-four paid vacation days a year (in addition to May Day, our only official holiday), and a salary of $27,500.
Still interested? Please send a resume and cover letter to jobs@akpress.org with the subject line: ATTN Publishing Position | YOUR NAME. All queries must be received by January 15. Your cover letter should address why you want to work with AK Press, and highlight your ideas about reaching people with the books and ideas we publish – send us your manifesto for making AK Press books dinner table conversation around the country and beyond. Let us know what you have to offer, and where you’ll take us as a member of our collective.
Thanks in advance for your interest and we look forward to hearing from you!
Topics: About AK, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Interview with the Comité Organizador de la 3ra Conferencia Anual de la NAASN, Puerto Rico
By charles | December 20, 2011
This year, the conference of the North American Anarchist Studies Network will be happening in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on January 7-8. I’m deeply bummed that I can’t make it, but there will be a table full of AK books there, with a lovely person standing behind it. In the meantime, here’s an interview with the conference organizers (from the Rekolektiv blog). |
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On Organizing the Conference
Q: Interest in having Puerto Rico host this conference began a long time ago – I know that in Toronto last year the idea was certainly floated around, and people on the listserv began suggesting it immediately afterwards. What was the initial reaction to the idea among Puerto Rican anarchists? Who picked up and ran with the idea in the early stages?
A: We cannot speak of a concerted reaction among Puerto Rican anarchists because although there’s an always evolving non-written history of organizing, there isn’t that much of an anarchist milieu going on from where to draw any explicit opinion. Nevertheless, there are certainly some moderately small groups with different agendas, in addition to anarchists in other socialist organizations as well as individualists, who have nodded their heads in agreement, recognizing the importance of opening spaces for the discussion of such thinking on a bigger scale. At first, members of the ad hoc NAASNPR committee presented the project of housing the third NAASN conference to other groups akin to anarchist thought, but since they were mostly focused on other projects it was put on hold. The first formation of the organizational committee structured the foundations of what would be the conference itself (booking the first venue, the call for papers, the announcing of the event, etc.) and eventually other comrades got in touch to help volunteer with issues such as food, artwork, planning, logistics, writing, and transportation, among others.
Q: The website and organizing you’ve done so far is very impressive. You definitely have a talented group of artists, scholars, activists, and organizers in Puerto Rico. How did you all find each other and what has it been like to bring your efforts together?
A: It has been great. Even though we have known each other for a while, the process has been an excellent opportunity to bond as individuals. The actual organizational committee is made by two teachers, a farmer, an artist, a student, and a poet. We’ve also had help from people from different backgrounds. Even though our main goal is the conference and we get together at least twice a week to work with it, it also gave us a space to discuss our ideas and create future plans that go beyond the conference.
Q: Obviously this conference benefits from a history of organizing in Puerto Rico. What previous anarchist organizations or affinity groups have come together to help put this conference together? Do many of the organizing collective’s members have previous experience with anarchist groups?
A: Even though Puerto Rico has a rich history of organizing and resistance, we have done this without the direct support of any organization. There are members of other collectives or socialist groups that promote the event and spread out the word and will be participating but the organizing aspect has been done by a small group of people. Radio Huelga, a collective that was born as a pirate radio during the strike at the University of Puerto Rico will be working with us to transmit the event live through their webpage.
Nonetheless we cannot deny the impact all this history of struggle has had in ourselves as individuals. Even though all of us have been part of past struggles in an individual aspect and only two of us had been part of an anarchist organization, but not for long, we are learning from our interactions with the struggles in Puerto Rico and with the contact with other socialist and progressive organizations.
Q: In September the original venue cancelled after the Rector of the institution discovered the political leanings of the gathering. How did this affect the organizing? Was it easy to find a new space?
Is the AteneoPuertorriqueño more receptive to your politics?
A: When we first started looking for a venue the options available were quite limited. For practical reasons, the conference had to be hosted within the metropolitan area (San Juan specifically), due to serious problems and deficiencies in public transportation on the remainder of the island, and a lack of spaces with the minimum requirements for the purpose intended. In addition to this, we wanted a space that would be open for the discussion of any political idea so we were looking for spaces outside the academia.
Paradoxically, we settled for the Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe because of its convenient location and accessibility for everyone. After a few weeks of phone calls, emails and personal visits we were given the heads up; there was only some bureaucratic paperwork left to do, but we were told anyhow not to worry, and decided to start promoting the conference. When the Rector of the institution found out about the activity they cancelled it on the basis of miscommunication and conflicts with the dates. They said they were having an Art Symposium that was going to last two weeks; out of which we still haven’t seen anything announced, and certainly just a made up excuse for censorship. This put us in a precarious situation and left us back at the beginning of our organizing efforts. After an intense week of searching for a new space we thought the Ateneo Puertorriqueño would be the most appropriate venue for the event.
Two things must be said about the Ateneo Puertorriqueño. Even though it springs from liberal ideas, it welcomed us without ever questioning our purposes and was excited to have us there. Even though the Ateneo closes down for the holidays and resume their labors after the dates of the conference, they agreed on opening the space for us within the time span of their holiday vacations, not only for the event, but for the venue’s preparation days earlier; something which was highly appreciated since the probability of getting those same dates on other public or private spaces were null for different practical or cultural circumstances. Furthermore, the Ateneo has been an open forum for all the ideologies that have taken part in the political debates in Puerto Rico, from far right conservatives to the radical left. Being a cultural, educational and historical institution founded in 1876, it receives funds directly from the government but their open politics has won them the hate of the current administration which wants to transfer its yearly pay of $500,000 to a children hospital in the grotesque fashion of putting people who could oppose between the sword and the wall, as if one had to choose between cultural endeavor or agonizing children; using among many of the excuses, the hosting of an anarchist conference; this of course from the distorted cartoonist perspective of being wreck advocates. Even after this attack on the Ateneo (they got already paid) they have decided to keep on going anyway they can, even without the economic support of the government if those funds happen to be withdrawn or transferred.
Topics: AK Allies, Happenings, Spanish | No Comments »
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