Anarchist Zines & Pamphlets Published in January

From Sprout Distro

First off, sorry for not publishing one of these round-ups for the past two months.

Second, we’d like to encourage people to get into the habit of producing zines. While the trend towards using the Internet as a primary means of communication (particularly as “outreach”) for the anarchist space has been happening consistently over the past decades, it seems that noticeably fewer zines and publications are being produced. There could be any number of different reasons for it, but we find it to be disappointing. We would hope that the lack of publishing is due to anarchists living in face-to-face communities on their own terms, experimenting in autonomy or perhaps in active conflict with the state. Unfortunately, our hunch is that anarchy is ever more absorbing the both the patterns of communication informed by social media and its underlying logic (performance, a quest for likes, an accelerated pace of tweet/retweets/etc).

If you do decide to create a new zine or start a publication, let us know so we can include it in our next round-up. Thanks to all the folks who took time to publish the zines featured below and thanks to everyone who uses these posts to send zines to prisoners.

January Zines

Montreal Counter-Information #7

montreal counter-information #7This is the latest issue (fall of 2018) of the Montreal Counter-Information publication which collects articles, communiques, and reports originally posted on MTLCounterInfo.org. As such, the publication is a reflection of a range of anarchist activity in the city that includes anti-gentrification efforts, anti-fascism, acts targeting prison and immigration detention, etc. It’s always an interesting read.

Download the PDF

Fire Ant #2

fire ant #2

“Fire Ant is a collaboration between anarchist prisoners and free roaming anarchists. Fire Ant seeks to raise material aid for anarchist prisoners while fostering communication between anarchists on both sides of the walls.”

This issue features writings from anarchist prisoners including Michael Kimble, Jennifer Gann, Sean Swain, and Marius Mason, alongside a list of anarchist prisoner contact information and updates on prisoners outside of the United States.

Download the PDF

Build the Revolution: Anarcho-syndicalism in the 21st Century

build the revolution

Back in November of last year, some anarchists produced a zine called “Nothing Left to Syndicate: Against the Democracy of Work and the Work of Democracy”. Despite decades of strong critiques of the failings of anarcho-syndicalism coming from within the anarchist space, the zine somehow proved to be controversial and set off a series of back-and-forth pieces in which anarchists argued (yet again) about anarcho-syndicalism and the fabled Spanish Revolution (apparently not everyone has read Workers against Work: Labor in Paris and Barcelona during the Popular Fronts). “Build the Revolution: Anarcho-Syndicalism in the 21st Century” is a zine that attempts to focus on what anarcho-syndicalism offers “the radical left” in terms of building a movement. Kudos to the authors for taking the discussion off the Internet.

Download the PDF

Our Grief is a Starting Point in the Fight against Fascism

our grief coverThis short zine, designed by Eff Charm, features an op-ed piece written by Cindy Milstein for Truthout.org in response to the Tree of Life Synagogue murders in Pittsburgh in late October 2018. It looks at, to quote from the zine, “reclaim[ing] our capacity to be fully human in all our messy beauty and specifically, as counter to this messy, ugly time period. We can self-determine to mourn and organize together.”

Download the Imposed or Screen Reading PDF

Trespass Journal #3

trespass journal #3 coverTresspass Journal is an international zine featuring news and analysis about the squatting movement. From the introduction:

As interventions in five languages, we have an analysis of the lack of support to the ZAD in Brittany, plus short pieces about the opening of a new anarchist social centre in the Paris suburbs, community resistance to preserve a park in London, the demolition of a community gym in Athens, an (unsuccessful) eviction threat in Catania, and an eviction in Catalonia. And a report on the resquat of the watertower in Utrecht! There’s plenty more news and analysis on our website, trespass.network.

The language diversity contained in this issue mirrors the commitment we have been putting in towards overcoming the dominance of the English language and creating a journal that goes beyond borders.

Download the PDF

Standing on the Land to Stand Up Against Pipelines

standing on the land coverThis zine – sub-titled “A Report from the Unist’ot’en Camp, 2013” – offers a detailed account of the Unist’ot’ten Camp from 2012-2013. From the intro:

This article tells the story from the perspective of the Unist’ot’en and their allies at the Unist’ot’en Camp through the winter of 2012-3; it has been collectively produced by both indigenous and settler voices. It recounts the development of a common front including the Unist’ot’en and anarchists and other proponents of grassroots resistance, describes the pipeline projects they are intent on thwarting, and explores the complex relationships that have arisen in the course of this struggle.

Download the Color or Black & White PDF

Anathema: January 2019

anathema january coverThis is the latest issue of Anathema, a regularly publication out of Philadelphia. This issue feature the usual chronology of actions and reporting on local news (including holiday robberies and the shady dealings of a local Councilmember). The core of the issue is a 2018 “year in review” piece that offers a detailed analysis of what anarchists have done in Philadelphia over the past year. It focuses on both strengths and shortcomings. Hopefully folks in other places can match both the level of analysis and activity.

Download a Printable or Screen Reading PDF

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There are 5 Comments

“Our Grief is a Starting Point in the Fight Against Fascism” is written in the somber tone that sounds a lot like resignation, but it's actually intended to be about "mourning the dead and fighting like hell for the living". And by "fighting like hell" what is meant is, of course, organizing. The essay mourns the loss of traditions around grief. In other words, it's mourning about mourning.

We must organize everything for everyone, as
mutual aid against the disasters that are battering us
from all sides.We must organize forms of care and
dignity that defy commodification, containment, or
social control. That is, all that we can prefigure,
empathetically and materially, to remain steadfastly
side by side with each other
, even or especially if the
worst should occur. We must organize all that we love.
Mourning and organizing—not as separate
moments, but as an intimate and tender dance. The
voluntary conjoining of the two as a renewed promise
of social love in how we go about experimenting, in
the here and now, with forms of freedom against
forms of fascism.” [emphasis added]

Listen to the drone...we must organize, we must organize, we must organize...
mourning and organizing, mourning and organizing, mourning and organizing...
All in the name of a promise of delayed aggregated affect, "social love". Bolted steadfastly to a predestination delineated by "prefiguration", bodily movement encumbered by each other, like conjoined twins.

i would read your poetry

it’s been a while since i write poetry, but i’m currently working on a critique of the book “Militant Joy”. these snarky bits are part of the current first draft, but so far it’s been cut away because it indulges too much on a different essay, even if it’s much to the point. i’ll be submitting the critique to the tentatively titled “no tiqqun, no communes” compilation.

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