Tom Phillips: State Violence and Autonomy

From The Polar Blast - Anarchist Class War News & Views for Aotearoa

In early September 2025, the long and tangled saga of Tom Phillips came to a violent conclusion on a quiet road in rural Waikato. After nearly four years of living as a fugitive in the bush with his three children, Phillips was shot dead by police following an attempted burglary that spiralled into armed confrontation. One of his children was recovered at the scene and placed into state care. Two remain missing, their fate uncertain. What began in 2021 as a custody dispute that saw a father disappear with his children has ended with gunfire, death, and three young lives marked by trauma.

Building Family in the Struggle

From Anarchist Agency

Original title: "Building Family in the Struggle: An Interview with The Elements of Mutual Aid"

The Elements of Mutual Aid is an exciting new docuseries project that received a Jen Angel Anarchist Media Grant from Agency and the Institute for Anarchist Studies in 2023. With the project recently having wrapped up the production stage, we were excited to connect with co-directors, Payton and Leah, to learn more about their inspiration, process, and plans for the upcoming release in 2026. Make sure to follow their work for updates on online availability and screenings in your area – website, instagram, kolektiva, kolektiva.media, youtube.

TOTW: Resiliency and growing stronger

As I’m sitting down to write this Topic of the Week, I’m confronted with an array of ideas and thoughts of where to go with the topic after years of writing them. I’m writing from the season of winter or four months of cold, snow, wind, and grey overcast skies which can certainly present challenges of finding the bright spots.

A Critique of Filial Piety and the Traditional East Asian Family Model

From The Commoner by Liao

This piece is a continuation of a series of articles that seek to articulate Asian anarchism. To briefly reiterate, Asian anarchism aims to unite Asian and Asian-diasporic thought under a lens of anti-hierarchical analysis as we look toward a liberatory future. Given that Asia is extremely diverse, there will be a plurality of viewpoints, and as a Chinese-Taiwanese writer, I am best suited to examine and critique the cultures that I know best. Additionally, this piece was written in tandem with a conversation between myself and another Chinese comrade, whose words are paraphrased in various places within the text.

On the misery of repression towards my family circle

Via Dark Nights by Thanos Chatziangelou

On June 4, a team of bailiffs went to my parents’ home in Volos to announce that due to my personal debts to the tax authorities, my father’s motorbike, which is in my name, is being auctioned. The debts concern accrued administrative fines from cases of economic repression such as refusal to enlist, fines from the curfew during the pandemic period, court costs of my previous court cases, etc., debts that I have consciously chosen not to pay, refusing the individualized administrative face of repression that has been generalized over the last 10 years.

Man tortured because brother is anarchist

Original title: A monologue of a man from Moscow oblast, who was tortured because his brother is an anarchist

OVD-Info published a story a Moscow region man told about his treatment in the Butyrka police station of Moscow.

Anarchist Ivan Ivko left Russia in July due to the risk of criminal prosecution. Later in August his brother Pyotr was sentenced for 3 days of arrest by the court in Moscow. After the court session Pyotr was brought to the police station, where he was tortured with electricity. He was demanded to tell everything he knew about his brother’s whereabouts.

Constructing an Anarchism: Guarantism (Application)

from Libertarian Labyrinth

I had anticipated the need for one last serious theoretical intervention at this point, in order to set up the comparatively programmatic elements in the remaining posts. The emergence of some new details in the “social system” section of Proudhon’s Justice—as discussed in the last post—offers a different and more direct path forward. But let’s start by quickly examining the road we won’t be traveling.

Subscribe to family