review

Review: Flower – Heel of the Next / Physical God EP

From DIY Conspiracy
February 5, 2024
Reviewed by Azafell

NYC's Flower return with a new single featuring powerful bass, aggressive crustcore guitar with melancholic tones, precise drumming, and fierce anarcha-feminist vocals railing against corporate and systemic oppression.

‘Cause I See You

‘Cause I See You
Invecchiare Selvatico Reflects On
Invisible Generation: Rants, Polemics, and Critical Theory Against The Planetary Work Machine
by Jason Rodgers

It is rare in a world of posers, of fakes, of superficial trend surfers, of programed zombies, of reified rebels, of performative soldiers, of plastic identities, and such, to find someone who critically grapples with complexity and nuance and is not afraid to dip toes into the dangerous, a true free-spirit, an anarchist, or at least what that once meant before it all became so safe, so comfortable, so predictable, so non-anarchist. And when I am pleasantly surprised, usually by accident, that my paths come across one of these kindred spirits and their creative little explosions into the world, I am moved to respond. I begin to realize that I am not alone. There are others out there who are still alive, who have not been lobotomized and neutered by this displaced and dispirited post-modern techno-reality. I see you.

Black Flag: Anarchist Review Spring 2024 issue now out

The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available:

https://www.blackflag.org.uk

We cover two women who played key parts in British anarchism, albeit in different eras. Charlotte M. Wilson played a key role in the earliest days of the British anarchist movement. She was a co-founder with Kropotkin of Freedom in 1886, which she edited and wrote for.

Review: No spiritual surrender: Indigenous anarchy in defense of the sacred

Review: No spiritual surrender: Indigenous anarchy in defense of the sacred

From Journal of Political Ecology by Alexander Dunlap
Why has political ecology ignored Indigenous anarchism? While there are a few exceptions, researchers across social science are confronted with an uncomfortable issue. Academia tends towards fetishizing, even instrumentalizing, Indigenous peoples in their projects. Meanwhile university publishers crank out volumes on “decoloniality” and “the geopolitics of knowledge” that essentialize Indigenous peoples (see Dunlap, 2022). All the while, Indigenous anarchism, or anarchists for that matter, gain little-to no acknowledgement within environmental movements. Why? Indigenous anarchy means being on the “frontlines,” engaging in unmediated attack against colonial, statist, extractivist and capitalist structures: as they are often one and the same. “Indigenous anarchism,” Klee Benally writes, “presents the possibility of attack: It is the embodiment of anti-colonial struggle and being” (2022a: 24). It’s safe to say, however, that the last thing Benally (among others) wanted is more academics chattering, objectifying and commodifying of Indigenous anarchism— “it doesn’t and should not exist” to be mapped, controlled and absorbed into the grid of the state (p. 344). Then why write about Indigenous anarchism in general, let alone in academic journals behind paywalls?

Review of the persecution of anarchists and anti-fascists in 2023

 Review of the persecution of anarchists and anti-fascists in 2023

From Anarchist Black Cross Belarus

Each year we summarize repressions against anarchists and antifascists in Belarus and try to point out general trends in state violence. To continue the struggle for freedom, we should know what tools our enemies use and should understand the conditions of your comrades. To do so, we suggest reading our 2023 review.

Black Flag: Anarchist Review Autumn 2023 issue now out

Black Flag: Anarchist Review Autumn 2023 issue now out

The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available:

https://www.blackflag.org.uk

The focus of this issue is Trotsky’s limited opposition to developments in the USSR which resulted in the rise of Stalinism. This is usually dated to his 1923 “New Course” articles but most Trotskyist accounts of his opposition are inaccurate, ignoring his advocacy of party dictatorship and lack of concern over economic democracy. We rectify this by discussing his actual ideas rather than the wished for ones of his followers. Camillo Berneri’s comment remains true;

Protest Nostalgia

A review of 'Red Squared Montreal' by Norman Nawrocki

The 2012 student strike deserves its own literature, and Red Squared Montreal succeeds at least in capturing the dizzy heights of the protests. As both anarchist and poet, Nawrocki often knows just the right words to capture the elation, camaraderie, and terror of marching in the street and facing off against contemptuous police. However, the lack of curiosity about the people behind the conflict means the novel ultimately fails to communicate the stakes and experiences of the 2012 strike in human terms.

The Joy of Alex Comfort: A Review of Eric Laursen’s Polymath

The Joy of Alex Comfort:  A Review of Eric Laursen’s Polymath

by Wayne Price

Original title: The Joy of Alex Comfort: A Review of Eric Laursen’s Polymath; the Life and Professions of Dr. Alex Comfort Author of The Joy of Sex.

Alex Comfort (1920—2000) is best remembered as the author of the bestselling The Joy of Sex. Not as many recall him as an anarchist and pacifist, who was also a significant poet and novelist, a medical doctor, an authority on mollusks, a founding figure in gerontology (the study of aging) as well as sexology, and a writer on humanistic views of religion.

Lessons in Struggle from Uruguayan Anarchists

Lessons in Struggle from Uruguayan Anarchists

From Red & Black Notes

Juan Verala Luz reviews Anarchist Popular Power: Dissident Labor and Armed Struggle in Uruguay 1956-1976. This review began as opening remarks at a recent book launch for Anarchist Popular Power. You can read excerpts from the original statement in this report, and listen to it alongside a discussion with historian Troy Araiza Kokinis in a forthcoming It’s Going Down podcast episode.

Review of Tom Wetzel's Overcoming Capitalism

A Guide to Anarcho-Syndicalism and Libertarian Socialism, Review of Tom Wetzel's Overcoming Capitalism: Strategy for the Working Class in the 21st Century by Wayne Price

This is an important book. Tom Wetzel presents a vision of a free, equal, and cooperative society, without classes, states, or other forms of oppression. It would be directly managed from below in all areas, including the economy and community. He refers to this program, alternately, as “revolutionary syndicalism” or “libertarian socialism.”

Cyberpunk 2077: An Odyssey through Capitalist Hellscapes

From The Commoner
by Javier Sethness
June 30, 2023

While this review of Cyberpunk 2077 will include some spoilers about the start of the game, it will exclude much of the later plot, especially the ending(s). Still, the author will examine some parallels between the game and the real world.

The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism

"#1 bedtime story to help you sleep better book" - doctor _____

From Anarkismo by Wayne Price

Original title: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism: Review of Zoe Baker, Means & Ends: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States

This is an outstanding overview of the anarchist movement. It covers the period from 1868 (the approximate beginning of revolutionary anarchism as a movement) to 1939 (the defeat of the Spanish Revolution and the beginning of World War II). While anarchism has been a world movement, this book only covers European and U.S. anarchism, which has inherent limitations (also, the author admits to only reading English). Further, the text does not discuss all tendencies which have been regarded as anarchist. It does not deal with individualist or market-oriented anarchisms, nor with anarchist-pacifism nor some other trends.

Review: The Politics of Anarchist Print Culture

Review: The Politics of Anarchist Print Culture

From LSE Review of Books by Layla Saleh

Original title: Book Review: Letterpress Revolution: The Politics of Anarchist Print Culture by Kathy Ferguson

In Letterpress Revolution: The Politics of Anarchist Print CultureKathy Ferguson considers the ways in which printers bolstered anarchist movements across the US and UK from the late nineteenth century to the 1940s. More than just a means of spreading ideas, Ferguson posits printing, writing and reading as radical, creative acts essential to community-building within anarchist movements, writes Layla Saleh.

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