From A Radical Guide
January 24, 2024
Disabled Radicals
This project seeks volunteers to write a single-paragraph biography about a disabled radical. The aim is to raise awareness of disability history and disabled people’s involvement in radical social movements. The project output will be circulated as a zine. Volunteers may choose to write about any disabled person who was involved in challenging oppression and may write more than one.
Submission format
100-200 words about a disabled radical:
(Name)
(Date)
(Summary in a single sentence, perhaps mentioning their movement, goal perspective, or other personal detail)
(Describe their activities)
(Include a quote by or about them that expresses their philosophy, perspective, or character)
(Reference your sources if possible)
(Include a related image if possible, ideally a headshot of the radical)
Email your submission to richardamm[AT]gmail.com
Examples:
Rosa May Billinghurst (1875-1953), was a suffragette, activist and social worker from Lewisham who campaigned for women to get the right to vote. She chained herself to the railings at Buckingham Palace, damaged post-boxes and hid rocks in her wheelchair for people to smash windows with. She would distract horses and charge police lines, using her chair as a battering ram. The police would often tip her from the chair or let the air out of her wheels. When she was arrested, she persisted in her hunger strike even after they broke her teeth to force-feed her. She once said: “In these situations I am invaluable, a wheelchair is highly useful, the hard metal of this clumsy thing is no match against policemen’s shins!” (Wikipedia contributors, 2023)
Evgenia Iaroslavskaia-Markon (1902-1931), was an anti-Soviet revolutionary who had prosthetic legs. She worked as an anti-religious academic lecturer, and later as a fortune teller and thief. She was an active anti-government and anti-authoritarian activist who also helped storm a prison to release political prisoners. While at a gulag in Siberia, she threw a stone at the head of the officer who had executed her husband, and paid for that with her own life. She believed that “Everyone is innocent, sinless and not responsible for their acts, character is created by a chain of causation, that depends on everything in the world, not on the single person” (Iaroslavskaia-Markon, 2020).
Benjamin Lay (1682-1759), was an anti-slavery activist, feminist, quaker, vegan who had restricted growth. For a time he lived in a cave with his wife, and likely owned the largest book collection in the USA. He was uncompromising and was cast out of many communities for his dramatic protests. Some of these included smashing expensive tea sets, walking barefoot in the snow and splattering slave-owners with fake blood. He believed that “We must truly and sincerely desire the present and eternal welfare and happiness of all mankind, all the world over, of all colours and nations” (Rediker, 2017).
Albert Libertad (1875-1908), was an individualist anarchist who advocated for the dissolution of all hierarchies. He was described as magnetically attractive, a one-man demonstration, and the heart and soul of the liberation movement. He did not have full use of his legs but he skilfully wielded his walking sticks in fights against the authorities. He thought that one had to embody revolution oneself by living free, instead of waiting for a better future. He was against conformity, work, marriage, military service, and voting. He believed that “All laws are wicked, all judgments are unfair, all judges are wrong, all prisoners are innocent.” (Libertad,2019).
References
Iaroslavskaia-Markon, E. (2020), With Blood and Words. Compass Editions.
https://compasseditions.noblogs.org/post/2020/09/05/with-blood-and-word…
Libertad, A. (2019) Libertad: Selected Writings of Individualist Anarchy. Untorelli Press.
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/albert-libertad-selected-writin…
Rediker, M. (2017). The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. Beacon Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (2023). Rosa May Billinghurst. Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_May_Billinghurst
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