Archive for October, 2007
October 30, 2007 at 10:12 pm · Filed under Internal Memos, posted by pfm
I always go through a period of intense anxiety and depression upon finishing a big book project—the bigger the book, the more intense the emotional fallout. It’s hard to work on a project for years, night-and-day for the last few months, and then, boom, it’s off to the printer and we have nothing to show for all our work. The month it’s being printed is a long, tough month. So, in an effort to make this month go by a little faster, I’ve decided to let the secret out: after seven years, the true sequel to Days of War, Nights of Love is only a month away. It’s our most ambitious book yet, and we’ve put everything we have into it. The teaser page is here, and we’ll update it with details (like, um, the title) a bit at a time over the coming month. Also, issue #5 of Rolling Thunder should be available right before the end of the year; sorry for the delay—we’ve had our hands full.
October 25, 2007 at 11:42 am · Filed under From the Trenches, posted by ret marut
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Tactical Feedback from the Streets of Georgetown, October 19, 2007
Friday, October 19, over two hundred people staged an unpermitted march in one of the expensive shopping districts of Washington, D.C. to manifest opposition to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. To our knowledge, this was probably the most—if not only—effective use of the black bloc tactic in Washington, D.C. since the Presidential Inauguration in 2005. This is promising, given the opportunities for mass action coming up in 2008. At the same time, there were some things that could have been improved, which we chalk up to inexperience and the usual internal dissension; in the interests of constructive criticism, we’ll chiefly be reviewing those here.
To disclose the limitations of this analysis at the outset, none of us were involved in the organization leading up to the march, only in the action itself. We’ll leave it to others to derive and share specific lessons from the organizing process.
For more background: www.octoberrebellion.org -:- youtube footage
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October 12, 2007 at 10:23 pm · Filed under Read All About It, posted by ret marut
conducted by CrimethInc. International Brigades volunteer Ret Marut
A Bulgarian organizer and ‘zine publisher describes current anarchist projects in his country, discussing how Really Really Free Markets work in an eastern European context and addressing the local relevance of CrimethInc. texts from the United States. Contacts are included for those hoping to connect with anarchists between Sofia and the Black Sea.
Describe your group: how many people are involved, how long have you been active, how do you make decisions together? What projects have you been involved in?
I am part of 2 groups. The one is called “Anarchosaprotiva” (AnarchoResistance). It is based in Sofia and now we are something like 6-10 people. The group has been active since 2001. I joined this in 2004. We have a meeting every week. We don’t have any particular scheme to talk and make decisions.
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October 9, 2007 at 11:22 pm · Filed under Internal Memos, posted by pfm
A few years ago we started the CrimethInc. into Libraries program, and it seemed to be going well—judging by anecdotal evidence we heard about people requesting and receiving books at their local libraries. Well, thanks to a tip from CrimethInc. Special Agent Hadley, we found a way to measure the results a little more objectively at the website WorldCat.org.
Current Availability (click on number to see list of all libraries with book):
Days of War — 159 Libraries
Recipes for Disaster — 33 Libraries (25 here & 8 here)
Evasion — 59 Libraries
Off the Map — 44 Libraries
These numbers are great, more than we expected, and you can be sure almost every single one of these books was the result of someone requesting the library to acquire it. We’re particularly surprised that even 33 libraries carry Recipes for Disaster on their shelves—it takes a brave (or oblivious) librarian to order a book subtitled “an anarchist cookbook.” Anyway, keep up the good work folks and don’t forget: each request makes the next request more likely to be filled, so keep at it!
October 4, 2007 at 10:45 pm · Filed under Internal Memos, posted by pfm
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We’ve been sending these bookmarks out in orders for many months, but I thought it’d be nice to put together a post showing all of them together. These were printed for free courtesy of Nikki McClure, who donated some extra space on some posters she was having printed. There are six different ones, all two-color, some with red and black, and some with a grey-blue and black. All have the same printing on the back, in red, that we printed on our letterpress. Several thousand were printed and we have at least a third of them left, so one will be going into every paid order for several months to come.
October 2, 2007 at 3:22 pm · Filed under Read All About It, posted by ret marut
Courtesy of the Paw-Paw Collective, Fall 2007
While snow was still on the ground in our small college town, rumor began to spread that the 2007 CrimethInc. convergence was going to take place in our Athens, Ohio. Excitement, worry, and disgust swept through our small radical circles. While many were consumed by other projects through the winter and spring, the convergence took the back burner in our lives. When May and June rolled around, we realized it was time to kick it into high gear. Nervous phone calls and emails were shared and panic set in. Two hundred radicals were to invade our town and we had nowhere to put them! Enlisting all the local support we could find, we set off to find land. Anxious folks across were trusting us to find the perfect place, it was June and we hadn’t started looking. We began researching State land, intentional communities, and finally private land. The key to finding land for the convergence was spreading the word as far and wide as we could and exploring every option we had. We came upon the perfect piece which was a nice farm plot with an owner who lived across the entire country. The care taker was happy to let us use the land for a little work trade which would also benefit the convergence and our word that it would be drug and alcohol free space.
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