Burkina Faso: Revolution, authoritarianism & the crisis of African emancipation politics

From Mail & Guardian

Today, a new face of revolution is emerging in Burkina Faso under the youthful and charismatic Captain Ibrahim Traoré. His image is cast in the mould of Thomas Sankara, evoking the anti-imperialist spirit of the 1980s... What are we to make of yet another seizure of power by men in uniform, claiming to act on behalf of the people? If history is to be our teacher, then we must ask... Are we merely witnessing the replay of a tragic cycle in which the people are always betrayed?... In answering this, anarchist theory offers a sobering and necessary critique, particularly the principle of “prefiguration”. Loosely this means what we want our society to become in the future is literally shaped by what we do today

Estate of Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary Nestor Makhno destroyed

From Pravda.com

Original title: Russians destroy family house museum and estate of Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary Nestor Makhno in Huliaipole – photos

Russian troops have destroyed the memorial house-museum and estate of the family of Nestor Makhno, a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War of Independence, in Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The building caught fire and burned to the ground as a result of a missile strike.

New Issue of Anarchist Studies journal out now

Anarchist Studies Volume 31 (2023) Issue 1
https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/anarchiststudies/vol-31-issue-1/

Contents

Editorial: What Happened to the Anarchist Century?, pages 6‑11
Matthew Wilson

Radical Politics, Left Convergence and the War of Position, pages 11‑24
Owen Worth

Against Prefiguration: An Anarchist Iconoclasm, pages 25‑45
Frankie Hines

Review- ‘Makhno: Ukrainian Freedom Fighter’

From Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement by Urcuchillay

Ukraine has become a focus of attention lately due to the war there. For many this will be a temporary and superficial interest, related to the duration of that conflict and media interest in it. Clashes between nation-states and their elites is a deeply saddening feature of today’s world. Such a war brings up the question whether some better alternative is available? There are contemporary alternatives, but its also possible to look at the past for inspiration. In the case of Ukraine, there is a set of interesting historical events that do provide bits and pieces that suggest another way of being.

‘Putin’s terror affects everyone’: anarchists join Ukraine’s war effort

from The Guardian

Activists from Kyiv and around world join state forces in fight against totalitarianism

In an unnamed basement bar in central Kyiv, Ukrainian anarchists have created a headquarters where they gather supplies to send to their peers on the frontlines and welcome anarchists from abroad who have come to fight.

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