illegalism

Recent prosecutions associated with Prairieland and similar cases did not rest upon the discovery of hidden command structures, secret directives, or an underground organization issuing orders from behind the scenes. Prosecutors assembled communications, publications, transportation records, political affiliations, support networks, organizational practices, and ongoing associations between individuals. Signal chats appeared in the record. Vetting procedures appeared in the record. Public events, articles, zines, fundraising efforts, support infrastructure, and statements concerning political activity appeared in the record. Material familiar to nearly anyone active within contemporary anarchist circles entered the courtroom and acquired an entirely different meaning.

From Nudism As An Illegalism

The following text is my reportback from Bash Back! 2023, simultaneously published here and submitted to Bash Back News, where I hope it will be published soon. There are more than a few references that might be obscure to folks who weren't there, who don't know some of the pertinent lore. I hope that that does not diminish the value of the piece to the wider readership.

From Athens Indymedia, Translated by Act for freedom now!

On Thursday 22 December we carried out an expropriation at the Market supermarket in the neighbourhood of Iisia and the products were shared among the people at the adjacent street market. [...] Expropriation is the principle against conformity and submission. We call for the immediate multiplication of similar actions in all cities.

From Freedom News UK

Reviews, Jun 9th

from nudism as an illegalism

Anarchists don't talk about topfreedom much. My experience is that, when women and enbies take their shirts off in our spaces, no one usually remarks upon it (although people do sometimes cheer, depending on the context). [...] It's the police, the neighbours, or the owners of the bar who will typically take issue, and for anarchists, the only question is how the rest of us will act to stand up for the members of our party who have magnetized some antagonistic attention to themselves.

Two additional Paul Z. Simons texts have been made available on Immediatism.com. "An Anarchist Affection for Democracy" identifies the tension between anarchists who believe direct forms of democracy have utility and those, more nihilist-oriented, who believe it has no place. The latter group, as described by Simons, are more concerned with destroying all structures of power regardless whether they are horizontal, as direct democracy is described in this essay to be. "In a Moral Universe There Are No Anarchists" is Simon's expression of support for a fellow writer suffering under accusations from within the anarchist milieu.

from Narratively Story by Ella Fassler, Photos by Yehyun Kim, Edited by Julia Métraux

In a sleepy corner of Connecticut, a radical band of leftists are sneaking out after dark to tackle the homelessness crisis that has spread to every corner of America.

from nudism as an illegalism

In recent years, I have been disappointed to see many anarchists take a categorically anti-nudity position with respect to a very broad variety of situations and settings. This has often been as an extension of their “sexual politics” – an imperfect term, to be sure, but which I mean the sum of their ideas about sexuality, which are often (not always) received ideas, i.e. dogma or ideology.

From Just Seeds by Roger Peet - Art & Politics, Today's Extinct Animal

David Graeber died last week, and in mourning his loss and considering his contributions, I read, at a friend’s suggestion, his 2011 summary of Occupy on the Al Jazeera website. He begins by talking about the questions that people often asked him, at that time, about aspects of the communications and decision making structure within Occupy that they found confusing, and which they thought unlikely to find purchase among the general public. The example he gives is the general wry contempt that most journalists had for the twinkly fingers of agreement, and the sprawling consensus process. His response to those journalists was to observe that Occupy’s explosive spread into cities and towns across the country showed that the thing it was doing was something that inspired people across America, regardless of the minutiae of process. The idea that a new form of relating to other people could be created ad hoc wherever you were was the force at the heart of the idea, and what propelled it.

From Blind Field by Jose Rosales and Andreas Petrossiants

On Jean-Patrick Manchette’s Nada