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Posts from the ‘IAS Blog’ Category

What Happened in Portland on May Day?

This May Day in Portland, Oregon about 1,500 people rallied and marched against capitalism, racism, and colonialism, including immigrant families, undocumented folks, people with disabilities, and working families with kids.  It was International Workers Day, which commemorates the Haymarket affair, which took place in Chicago, in 1886, and is also known as May Day. May Day commemorates anarchist organizers murdered by the State for agitating for an eight-hour work day on the way to a truly free society, and is an avowal to continue their work.

Portland organizers had a permit for the march. There was a sizable black bloc at the back, also a large contingent of people turned out by the Black Rose Anarchist Federation with red and black flags, members and supporters of the Burgerville Workers’ Union, and a contingent of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). (Mental Health Care Providers Unite! have a nice description of the day available here. )

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Newsletter: Apply for an IAS Grant

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See our fall, 2016 Newsletter here!

The Institute for Anarchist Studies at Twenty, by Paul Messersmith-Glavin

Perspectives offers this reflection on the IAS’ first twenty years from the current anarcha-feminisms issue, available here, by an IAS member who has been involved since the beginning. In order to assemble a growing history of the IAS that’s as rich and multi-vocal as possible, we are inviting additional reflections from those who have been involved as board members, authors, grantees, and readers, which we can post throughout the year.

 

The Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS) has received applications for writing grants throughout various waves of organizing over the last two decades. From Zapatista solidarity organizers in the nineties, to anti-capitalist globalization activists in the early ‘00s, Occupy folks over the last several years, and most recently from those working under the banner of Black Lives Matter. In 1996, the IAS was established to do just that.  We have offered material support in the form of funds that allow people to take time off work or hire childcare, so they can devote time to reflection and writing.

Some time in 1995 my friend and comrade Chuck Morse asked me to join a new organization he was forming to support the development of anarchist theory.  He was inspired by right-wing think tanks that funded the development and dissemination of their ideas, and thought the antiauthoritarian Left would benefit from something similar.  What he envisioned, he explained, was a group that would raise money and award grants to people to devote time to thinking and writing, thereby assisting anarchism to live up to its full potential.  He felt that contemporary anarchists needed financial help in the task of elaborating an anarchism that adequately responded to current conditions.

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IAS Meeting, June, 2000 in NYC. (Left to right, back to front: Rebecca DeWitt, Michelle Renee Matisons, Maura Dillon, Paula Emery, Cindy Milstein, John Petrovato, Paul Glavin, Chuck Morse, Dan Chodorkoff, Shaka Shakur Jr.)

I immediately said “Yes” to Chuck, and became part of the group that founded the Institute for Anarchist Studies.  The idea of developing structured, directly democratic organizations was important to us, and founding an institute made sense. Chuck incorporated the IAS as a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization and away we went. We raised money through contributions of anything from twenty dollars from movement organizers, to several thousands from well-off radicals, and began soliciting applications for writing grants.  The next year we also began publishing our newsletter, Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, the name for which came from a brochure Chuck had seen at his bank, Perspectives on Banking.

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Spring, 2016 IAS Newsletter

Here’s our latest newsletter with lots of updates! Right Here!

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2016 IAS Writing Grants

We would like to congratulate four recipients of IAS writing grants for 2016. We chose these four out of sixty-two applications. They are: Henna Rasanen, writing Weltuntergang: A Queer Post-Apocalyptic Graphic Novel; Jeremey Louzao, writing “The Friendly Neighborhood Anarchist: Embracing the Groundwork that Makes Revolutions Possible;” Mona Luxion, writing “#Printemps2015: Lessons from Québec’s Stunted Anarchist Anti-Austerity Mobilization;” and Toshio Meronek, writing “They Won’t Quit: LAGAI Queer Insurrection.” Congrats! Our next deadline to apply for a writing grant is January 15th, 2017. Go here to apply for a grant.

@ Writers

 

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Lexicon Recordings!

In an effort to make our Lexicon series more accessible, we have posted recordings of the essays on each pamphlet’s page.  From the Lexicon page, click on a cover to hear the recording of that pamphlet or to download a printable booklet pdf.gender

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New IAS Newsletter!

The Fall 2015 IAS Newsletter is out, with news about new Anarchist Interventions books, current and forthcoming issues of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, IAS’ speakers and member awards, and three new collective members, and so much more.

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Institute for Anarchist Studies Winter 2015 Newsletter

IAS_WEBlogo4A New IAS Grants The IAS is proud to congratulate our latest round of grantees.

Laura Hall Laura Hall’s background is Mohawk and English-Canadian. Her work explores decolonizing and Indigenist approaches to environmentally sustainable community planning, while gendering the work in order to focus on the issues of Indigenous women as well as two-spirited peoples. She is a PhD candidate in Environmental Studies at York University.

Her project is called “Eco-Queer Indigenous Feminism” I name my approach according to my own experiential, embodied and intersectional lived experience, but also as a way of representing the depth of Indigenist and decolonizing theory. In grounded, embodied, intersectional movements and story, Indigenous Eco-Queer feminist analysis is forming against a number of pressing issues— opposing oil and natural gas development for example and also ongoing housing/poverty needs, the likes of which are being addressed in our Indigenous communities in creatively culturally rooted ways. I would like to draw connections between our movements and anarchist-socialist discourses, while also lending a (Haudenosaunee) Indigenist analysis of the state’s relationship to hegemonic theory and treaty understandings (at two extremes) in order to better understand ways that we might unthink the state, rethink the state, or dream new/old governance in the spirit of treaty based responsibility (as both Indigenous and ally/accomplice groups).

E Ornelas E Ornelas is a queer and genderqueer identified anarcha-feminist of mixed ethnic background who is an English-as-first-language, US citizen living in a colonized land. E’s research interests include the intersections of anarchist and feminist theory, particularly in educational contexts. When E is not facilitating both formal and informal discussions on these topics, E enjoys biking and baking.

E’s project is called “Purple & Black: An Anthology of Anarcha-Feminist Theory & Action” This is meant to provide a review and synthesis of anarcha-feminism while moving conversations about anarcha-feminism beyond past authors’ attempts at defining and defending it within anarchism, to a compiled recognition and celebration of its achievements and contributions. My approach is to examine and annotate pertinent anarcha-feminist cultural artifacts, whether textual, artistic, oratory, etc. Though I am influenced by previous anarcha-feminist publications, I also wish to expand their reach beyond a predominantly white, western, and/or predominantly English-speaking sampling of theory and action.

Jack McGinn Jack McGinn has long been involved in activism and international solidarity related to the Palestinian cause, having worked with Students for Justice in Palestine for six years, translating and distributing dispatches from activists based in Palestine, and writing for an online audience on related matters. He lives in Northern Ireland.

His project is called “Anarchist Trends in the Organizational Methods Underpinning the First Palestinian Intifada” Palestine remains a well-examined and critical point of focus for the international anti-hierarchical Left, situated as it is at the intersection of imperialist, capitalist, and neocolonical power. However, research into how specifically anti-hierarchical thought and practices play a role in the (multi-faceted) Palestinian resistance is lacking and in many cases is nonexistent. A pertinent example is the first intifada; a remarkable example of a decentralized and subaltern-led campaign of sustained resistance. Work has been done on the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall, and a sparse amount of research on the dynamics of queer resistance against patriarchy and occupation exists, but there is as yet no study (in Arabic or English) like that of Sam Dolgoff’s edited collection of essays on the anarchist collectives in revolutionary Spain, for example. This piece looks to fill that void. Read more

IAS Newsletter, Winter 2014

CONTENTS

* Announcing Our 2014 Grantees

* The Next Grant Application Deadline

* Forthcoming issue of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory

* Newest Title in Our Anarchist Interventions Book Series

* Reminder about Our New, Improved IAS Web Site

* Recent IAS Events

* Help Sustain Independent Radical Scholarship

*  *  *

ANNOUNCING OUR 2014 GRANTEES

As always, we had a difficult time deciding on our grantees, given that we received many worthy applications for writing and translation projects during each round. But this round was particularly hard: we received a record high of 110 proposals, from across the world and in many languages, compared to the typical 30 to 40 applications. That’s good news in terms of what appears to be a growing commitment to autonomous, politically engaged writing and translating on antiauthoritarian themes as well as from anarchist(ic) perspectives. Sadly, the IAS could only fund four proposals based on our available funds—all the more reason we hope that you’ll consider becoming a monthly sustainer in order for the IAS to grant more awards the next time around (see below).

That said, we’re honored to congratulate the following people on their IAS grant awards! Here’s a glimpse of their upcoming projects: Read more

Lexicon Pamphlet: Gender (in Romanian)

Gender

by Jamie Heckert

Genul este un sistem de repartizare în categorii a sinelui și a celorlalți (incluzând corpuri, dorințe, comportamente) care se găsește în fiecare aspect al culturii și al societății, interconectat cu alte categorii și ierarhii (rasă, clasă, sexualitate, vârstă, abilități și multe altele). Numeroase aspecte biologice (de exemplu organele genitale, cromozomii, constituția corpului) sunt interpretate în așa fel încât oamenii sunt incluși în mod natural în una din două categorii: bărbat și femeie. Dar dacă ne uităm mai îndeaproape, s-ar putea să chestionăm natura genului. Biologia, umană sau alta, este minunat de diversă.

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