With no further adieu here are some reviews for November…

Anarchist Magic Deck, PDF
The idea of an anarchist card game is a great one and detourning a popular one that many people are already familiar with makes the possibility of having someone to play with that much more likely. This is a detourned Magic: The Gathering deck that someone with a duplexing color laser printer would be able to convert into a usable deck in minutes. That said, and I say this with no prior experience with Magic, this looks like a fairly weak transformation. It is clear that Magic artwork is used and only the power and text is changed and the cards are mostly silly (with lots of green anarchist & celebrity references) rather than balanced (thematically or game play wise).
Download, Game

Capitalism for Dummies, PDF
This piece consists mostly of a set of definitions of capitalism, and the struggle against it. It outlines the libertarian communist definition, which reads like it’s from a Marxism that died on the vine around the time of WWII (“the middle class” and “unwaged labor” are the only non-Das Kapital terms used). The text is very clear and the introduction sets the bar higher than the text itself when it states “By resisting the imposition of work, we say that our lives are more important than our boss’s profits.” Mostly this will be useful for future commissars who are heading to their first meeting of the libcom politburo.
Webpage, 101

Desert, Pamphlet
When I was handed this small book I believed that it was old but, in fact, it is brand new (Summer 2011). It just has an old aesthetic (especially in its original form). This is a Green Anarchist manifesto that has learned the lessons of the past 5, 10 and 20 years of green anarchist rhetoric and hope. As a result it is, in John Zerzan’s words, a document of surrender. A surrender of the naive thinking and practice of “saving the environment” or “building a new world in the shell of the old” as neither of these things are possible — we can’t get there from here. Instead, argues this book, our future looks like survival in a desert, both existential and material.
Download, Order, Green Anarchist

Illegal Anarchism, Essay
This is a great accompaniment to the Sovereign Self and Enemies of Society. It is the text of a talk by Gustavo Rodríguez given in the Squatted Social Centre ¨La Casa Naranja¨ Tlalnepantla, Mexico State. “Not accepting the reformism, the evolutionary processes nor the contemplative attitudes of ‘legalist Anarchism’” this essay attempts to speak to a unitary critique that develops into a general insurrection. It develops the context of specifically illegal activities happening today around the globe that contribute to this goal including expropriators, propaganda by the deed, and the history of this tendency in Anarchism.
Download, Illegalist

Denver Ignite #2, PDF
This is the second issue of Ignite, the anarchist paper from Denver. It would be great if every major city in the country had an agitational paper like this one and Tides of Flame from Seattle. This is the first step to having a consistent way for people outside the milieu to have access to what we are doing in a way that reflects our local biases and interests. This issue is interesting nationally because it has more information than I’ve seen anywhere else about the dropped charges against Amelia Nicole (accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at a cop car, and who was an inspiration in standing strong against the bullies). This issue also has some agitation about anti-police activities, anti-Whole Foods information, Occupy Denver, and other news.
Issue URL, Agitational

Sovereign Self #1, Paper
If we had 100 publications (or even 10) like this one… we would win. The publication succeeds on an aesthetic level that is unrivaled in the milieu today (expect for The Match, of course, but that has other issues). This is a self printed, self-published, do-it-yourself anarchist (anti)political paper. The position it espouses is individualist but will be difficult for the haters to pigeonhole as the content tends towards asking questions rather than answering them and includes articles that will be interesting to the “identity set” including a discussion on child rearing that hasn’t been seen in a similar paper in 100 years. If this crew maintains the aggressive publishing schedule they intend this will be the paper of west coast anarchy.
Email address, Order, Individualist

Tides of Flame #7/#8, PDF
Tides just keeps on cranking along, a testament to dedication and energy in the PNW. Since I’ve been so comradely (aka too nice) up til now in my reviews I’ll share a concern that I have with the lead article in issue #7, which stakes an anarchist claim in the Occupy Movement (which is fine and appropriate for anarchist engagement) but then falls back on a crass class perspective that is embarrassing, strategically unsound, and the conclusion of which relies on slogans and not analysis.

Why embarrassing? For starters because of the ad hominems against so-called “bo-bo’s” (aka the upper middle-class or the upper 25%) for not being “honest” about their backgrounds and assuming “leadership” positions in the Occupy Movement. As if participants in the GAs and Occupy can’t deal with these sorts of political actors within the context of the environment itself and instead have to snipe from afar (to people who probably don’t care). At best this is a shallow kind of Marxist analysis.

Why bad strategy? Because if you accept the argument of the 99% vs the 1% then why in the hell would you divide the 99% by 24% because… what? They own more than their fair share? This is exactly the kind of lowest common denominator thinking that will destroy the meager unity of the Occupy movement or (since I don’t actually agree with the Occupy strategy) create a kind of self-policing mechanism for what exactly?

Finally the conclusion, which IMO is the worst kind of anarchist blah blah blah… I’ll quote:
“Experiment, create, and if you feel like it, destroy what destroys you. Hold nothing back and let go. USE YOUR IMAGINATION. Perhaps we could turn Westlake into a riotous orgy of joy, freedom, and rebellion rather than a sterile shopping trough. Before this moment passes, let’s go knock the Bo-Bo’s out with their fancy wine, uncork the bottle, and drink til we’re drunk on total freedom.”
Web site, Seattle/Insurrectionary

ADCS 2011.1, Journal
This is a journal that has a couple points of departure: Post-anarchism, Internationalism, and Academia. This issue has a peculiar emphasis. It is subtitled “Ten Years After 9/11: An Anarchist Evaluation” and two`thirds of the issue focuses on just this. Frankly this would be enough of a content storm (and the discussion between the editor Michael Truscello & Jack Bratich is nuanced and interesting) but additional essays include two bombshells. One on Zerzan (“Notes on an Anarchist Theory of Language”) and another on Insurrectionary Anarchism (“The Allure of Insurrection”).

This is a journal that gives lie to the argument that anarchists are incapable of thinking theoretically. I am somewhat infuriated as to what that means (especially in regards to the Allure article and the general air of respectability in this publication) but it is what it is. This is a sign of anarchism growing up and I don’t like it very much. Caveat: I am involved in publishing this in a hardcopy edition.
Website, Publisher, Academic/History

The Crisis, PDF
Subtitled “For Class War without Apologies” it could be argued that this is a broadsheet aimed at those who believe that the Democrat’s aren’t fighting hard enough for the working class but as a project of the PCWC we will give it the benefit of the doubt. This is a local publication from Phoenix AZ with an emphasis on Austerity but it barely hits its stride before it is over (it’s only 2 pages). The most interesting essay here is one that is a couple hundred words, provocatively titled “Not enough work? Then let’s do less of it!” that pretty much wimps out with a conclusion that states “(W)e can organize work democratically, so that our workplaces are owned by us, the workers, and all important decisions are made with the agreement of all the workers.”
Website, Agitational

Denver Ignite #1, PDF
Perhaps this is a contentious point but I believe that anarchists will only become stronger (by which I mean more capable of accomplishing goals and existing in (a)political space) when we make more of an effort to do the things we do as anarchists. This is why I am so tickled by the surprising emergence of papers like Ignite which brings the inspiration of Tides of Flame to the context of Denver. Attacks against parking meters (!!!), Nazi… graffiti, and unbannered freeways are covered along with an ABC section, a historical section, EF!, and some reporting on the drug task force. My only fear is that every new anarchist paper will use fire/flame in their title.
Website, Denver/Agitational

Fifth Estate, Magazine
As someone who did a bi-annual magazine for awhile I have nothing but respect for FE and the fact that they (by a generous definition of they) have been doing it for decades. It is truly a joy to behold and the fact that they continue to crank out this publication is a testament to stubbornness. I talk a lot about the role of magazines in the time of the Internet and the question tugs at me as I flip through this issue. While the content is fresh to this issue at least half of its themes have been thoroughly explored in the past few years (Magpie on Fiction, Vancouver riots, Greece during austerity, Gaza). This leads me to a conclusion that I don’t enjoy. The magazine (as form) primarily exists for those readers who don’t read on the Internet. This means that magazines are for the older-than-forty set. Frightening.

Additional content in this issue are a number of stories, poems, and the like that only Fifth Estate seems to still have the chops to be able to share in a meaningful way. It is too bad the only (and of course I don’t mean only but some largely self-selecting group that is trending towards one) readers of this material are the elderly.
Website, Fiction/Magazine

London Calling, PDF
The provocative subtitle says it all “a cellphone and internet security primer for the criminally-minded anarchist.” Right off the bat it starts with a good premise. There is no “safe technology use” but there is harm reduction. Most of the zine covers just how fucked you are if any part of your digital fingerprint includes an anarchist swirl which is more-or-less true but horribly premised. If you are fighting for your life in court you are screwed, your digital fingerprint just informs the direction of the screw. The most important part of this zine is the brain dead simple 10 item checklist at the end. It boils down to 1) Nothing on the phone is private and 2) Anything you do with your computer is very difficult to make private.
Download, Technology/Security

Ninth-Century Muslim Anarchists, PDF
I want to take a moment to sing the praises of zine library. I don’t love the online pdf format, as a rule; I feel it lends itself to skimming and ends up making content something that lives on your hard drive rather than in your heart… but I don’t want to blame zine library for the form. It serves a purpose and for our world it does the best job of it out there. You can always go to the zlib and find something worth skimming (and as an added bonus it holds a a ton of pirated shit). In this case ”something worth skimming” is a JTOR article from Oxford University Press. It is an interesting take on something anarchistic in Islam. It isn’t convincing but this quote is tantalizing.

“All others were infidels who could in principle be enslaved, dispossessed and exterminated by the Najdiyya, should the latter choose to rebel”
Website, History

Play!Fight!, PDF
This is a really strong publication on the intersection between kink/perv and anarchism/activism. The publication is not pretty but the content, arguments, and thinking is strong. If you have any interest in this bag of complicated but fascinating practices check this out. I really liked the article “Becoming Water: Notes of Revolutionary Anarchomasochism” as the pinnacle of this conceptual space. If I grew up on the coasts I’d probably be totally into this shit.
Website, Kink

Revolution and Other Writings – A Political Reader, book, Gustav Landauer
Gustav Landauer is a historical figure from an important time in European history. He was excluded from the Second International, was a pacifist opponent of the First World War, and a participant in the Soviet Republic of Bavaria during 1919 (leaving after a takeover by the KPD).

This volume is a selection of translations by Gabriel Kuhn, and is handsomely “blurbed” by Jesse Cohn, Cindy Milstein, James Horrox, Mark Huba, and Chris Dunlap. Also of kneeslapping mention is this howler from the preface by Richard J.F. Day “In his answer to this question Landauer was one of the first post-anarchists, inasmuch as he read Nietzsche anarchistically, and through his development of a discursive understanding of the state and capitalism as states of relations, rather than ‘things’.”
Publisher, History/Anthology

This is not a program, Tiqqun, book
Initially published inTiqqun #2 in 2001 this essay has now been put out by Semiotext(e) and is their third attempt to cash in on a certain zeitgeist that is swirling around our accused friends from a small village in France. This particular essay is important for a couple constructions and deconstructions. What is constructed is their idea of the war machine and the warrior as a figure of anxiety and devastation. What is deconstructed is class struggle as a woefully incomplete formulation of bad faith and paralysis.

Bloomification, forms-of-life, circulation, molecular, hostis, society, identity are all defined in this essay.

Also included is “…science of apparatuses…”
Publisher, Theory

Tides of Flame #5/#6, PDF
Irrepressible. When I write my mythology about the PNW it will include a section on the unstoppable propaganda machine that has produced 6 issues of an 8 page paper (along with printing the damn thing) in the past three months. An incredible success even if they were to stop today. (But don’t!)

Strong articles include an introduction to the affinity group, more history of the George Jackson Brigade, a journalistic article on the Marion Building, history of the 1916 Everett Massacre, and a loving sendoff to the short lived Autonomia space.
Web, Seattle/Insurrectionary

When They Knock Down Your Front Door, PDF
This is the zine form of a text seen online about the new GAMMA squad in Montreal Quebec. The GAMMA squad is a police agency specifically targeting anarchists, and developed in response to the success of anarchist activities in Montreal over the past few years. The conclusion of this article, which isn’t developed in a meaningful way, is one of the most important points for all anarchists under threat of repression (meaning all of us) to consider. “Now is also a time to work out our differences, and build a critical solidarity with each other, not letting the state tear us apart over petty conflicts. This doesn’t mean that we should erase our differences, or that we all have to work together…”
Download, Insurrectionary

Even though publishing in the anarchist space was down a little this month (it being the end of the summer and all) we (LBC) attended the Seattle bookfair, which means this Hammer will be heavy on PNW (Pacific North West) publications. This is exciting, of course, because these publications reflect the high level of anarchist activity in the area over the past year. This next month includes a trip to Victoria BC and Minneapolis. I hope this means that the next Hammer will reflect recent Canadian & Midwest publications and activities that haven’t made it to the interwebz.

If you have a publication you want the Hammer to review send it to us
c/o The Anvil
PO Box 3549
Berkeley CA 94703

If your publication is more of the pdf/web variety send notice of it to me directly. There are already a couple dozen subscribers to the Hammer newsletter but feel free to add your name to their ranks. You can do that here.

On to the reviews.

Affinities Vol 5 No 1, PDF, August 2011

This is a journal that combines activist ethics with academic aesthetics. It uses this alloy to “construct sustainable alternatives to the racist, hetero-sexist system of liberal-capitalist nation-states”. Clearly the forged weapon isn’t particularly lethal but could probably spread a mean schmear or something. This issue is particularly strange for me as I am cited in several of the essays to such an extent that I feel like the missing contributor. Perhaps the editors didn’t know that I have an email address. The topic of the issue is called Anarch@Indigenism which is fine (albeit a little silly) but the subtitle basically makes me gag: “Working Across Difference for Post-Imperial Futures: Intersections Between Anarchism, Indigenism and Feminism.” I really wish that an attempt at a deep understanding of a topic, of any number of topics, wasn’t by those who are chasing, or have caught, careers in knowledge production. As long as I’m wishing I’ll add that I couldn’t easily understand these essays, which made it hard to access whatever interesting information was conveyed by the authors.
Web, Identity/Academic

Burning the Bridges They Are Building, half sized, winter 2011

This is an extensive report back on the context and events of the anarchist intervention in the anti-police struggles of early 2011 in Seattle, WA. If I were to criticize it, I would point out that its comprehensive and dry style is a nice counter-point to the flowery and semi-mythical style of other reports from the area, but isn’t half as compelling. It is, on the other hand, far more useful. This should be the template by which other towns strategize anarchist activity over the next few years. Plus, the fact-inistas will enjoy it greatly.
Strategy/Insurrectionary

Diaspora, half sized

This is a list of the prison-industrial-complex profiteers who are located in the PNW. This is an interesting project because it asks, without asking, for action against a list of targets without being explicit. It also evokes a kind of journalistic reporting that used to be done by the leftist press but has been long since abandoned. It is activist without prescription, informative without preaching, dangerous without the restraint of responsibility. My concern is that it will sit in a pile of paper, or in a directory of a hard drive, without ever finding the audience who could properly consider the fact that those who constrain us have names, addresses, and commutes.
Download

In Defense of Conan the Barbarian, PDF, 2011

This is a fantastic and spirited anarcho-primitivist reclaiming of Conan the Barbarian. Not the Schwarzenegger version, although that would have been more awesome, but the original Howard version. It takes the original seriously and spends a great deal of time examining the definition of nature, violence, & social roles in Howard’s universe. It does err toward primitivist parody (for instance this quote is representative “Conan clearly has no love of or fear for the violent brutes who enforce civilized laws and oppress the poor and downtrodden”) but as we were informed of the author’s bias in the introduction it is forgivable.
Download, Anarcho-primitivist/Literary

Koukoulofori, half sized

This is an older (2010) publication on the “hooded ones” of Greece, but this is the first time I have actually sat down and read this unassuming publication. Its stated intention is to move North Americans’ understanding of the Greek experience away from the mythological. For that purpose, this project is a total failure as the selection demonstrates fascinating and exciting aspects of the Greek experience which are in no way transmittable to the US. If the difference between Greece and the US is as simple as self-confidence, then hearing another set of stories about successful organizing, free spaces, and life long trusting radical relationships doesn’t exactly demonstrate this simple difference or point a way for us. On the other hand this zine is a best of the We are an image from the Future book and worth checking out in lieu of it..
Web, Greece

Not Afraid of Ruins #3, PDF

Given the fact that I just returned from Europe, reading this personal zine/travel journal (visiting of many of the same places, including some of the same beds slept in) is very nice. The author lives a very different experience than I do, punkier, cut-and-pastier, and probably 15 years younger than I am. This journey spans Berlin, Milan, Spain, and much of the UK.
Download

Rivista Anarchica #364, HTML

This is a web instance of an Italian anarchist publication with a 40 year history and an open approach to anarchism. In their terms we want to discuss everything from God to the worm. This sounds great and this issue is indeed broad, albeit classical, in scope. It includes Proudhon, several articles remembering Colin Ward, an interesting article on anarcho-humanism, and much, much more. The closest publication in the US we have to this is Social Anarchism and similar to SA this is a publication of words and history rather than of the present and of the actions of anarchists today. To be specific, I asked an Italian comrade about this periodical and they nearly choked on the idea that one would take it seriously as the publication has been silent on the decades of anarchist struggle in their own country.
Web, Anarchist-without-adjectives

Tides of Flame #3/#4, PDF

Tides of Flame is the bi-weekly paper of anarchists-with-a-threatening-posture who have made themselves known in Seattle, WA. Reported on were the twenty-odd anarchists who were arrested in July, including several around the intrusion of police-with-shovel into a party at their group house and then a mass arrest at their solidarity demo the next day. Also an attack on a DOC office in West Seattle. Each issue has a well done piece on local anarchist history including an article on the George Jackson Brigade and the Seattle General Strike of 1919. Additionally there is new analysis/theory in the form of a rich article counterposing species being with the creative nothing and another on the Crisis. Other local articles, including one on a local cop and another on a local infrastructure project, round out these two issues. Awesome project that I have no idea how they accomplish every two weeks.
Web, Seattle/Insurrectionary

What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower, book, Margaret Killjoy

This is the first book of a new anarchist fiction imprint and the first book (that I know of) written by Magpie (not counting his collection of interviews). It is a choose-your-own-adventure story which is a cute idea but isn’t nearly as compelling as I had hoped it would be. This is no fault of MK but a fault of the form, one that makes it difficult to hang together anything thicker than a children’s story. MK’s idea here is to put the reader into the role of protagonist and then push them along an adventure with a standard set of D&D/steampunk characters. The problem is that the conclusions are more or less arbitrary. There is no projectuality in this story and this means that it is an adventure for tweens and nothing more. But, anarchists need more of these too so… fair enough.
Publisher, Fiction

For some time I have been lamenting the loss of the review, a format that is a great way to learn about projects, periodicals, and books that might interest a person. But it has largely died. The closest thing we had to an “anarchist review” was the brilliant column done by John Petrovato, but this was done infrequently at best and only ever reviewed books. There was also a great project from the UK called the Hobnail Review but it only lasted about a year and barely left the island. During my tenure at Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed I loved the task of saying a couple words about the new magazines and periodicals that came out between issues. Even when I was critical of the specifics of the product I always loved the process of talking about new projects.

I love print (& to a much lesser extent the pdf seed of print) and always want to encourage us (by whom I mean anarchists: lovers of freedom, passion, and the future) to do more of it. To get it into the hands of more, and different, people and to nurture an attitude about print as one of the weapons we use to war against society.

Therefore the Hammer is to be a counter-point to another project, The Anvil. While The Anvil uses the review essay to interrogate popular culture The Hammer will have a simpler task. It will provide mostly short reviews of current anarchist periodicals. It will focus less on critical engagement than on being informative (obviously I reserve the option though) and will focus on English (with only a cursory examination of other languages as I encounter them) publications. Each issue will reflect what is new in print, pdf, and other formats as time is available.

If you would like to send me your new anarchist material please do so at PO Box 3549, Berkeley CA 94703. If you want to make sure I make a note of your publication drop me a line here. Along with this monthly newsletter there will be a print version of these reviews either along with The Anvil or in another form yet to be decided. Publication during this month’s edition of The Hammer doesn’t mean that the publication date was July, just that I received the publication this month (or earlier in this case).

This will be sent out as an email from an automated email list. If you would like to subscribe to The Hammer visit this page http://www.angrylists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hammer. If you want to be unsubscribed (and were mailed this, probably due to a publication of yours being reviewed) the instructions should be on the bottom of this email.

Act/React #2, PDF, June 2011

I am pleased as punch to see an anarchist periodical come from my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI, a reactionary midwest town that those who can, run from as fast as humanly possible. This is an author-less publication and tends towards rants and first person accounts of the trauma associated with living in this society. There is an interesting glimpse into the GR anarchist scene (which is a phrase I never thought I would utter) with the article Reflections on a Worker-run business and revolutionary potential.
Download, Grand Rapids MI, General/Personal

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed #70/71, magazine, CAL Press, Spring/Summer 2011

AJODA is back after a year’s hiatus and this issue is another double issue. It is strikingly attractive with lovely cover art by Christian Edler and spot color throughout the issue courtesy of Eberhardt Press. The highlights include a few reviews of projects I am involved in: Nihilist Communism (the review is by Bob Black) and The Anvil. It also includes two lengthy engagements with The Coming Insurrection on by Wolfi Landstreicher (con) and the other by Lawrence Jarach (mixed positive). Perhaps the strangest thing in this issue is the column from John Zerzan titled Love. An excerpt from the first sentence “The vertigo of techno-modernity is an invasive sense of nothingness.”
Web, Berkeley CA, Post-left anarchist

ASR #56, magazine, Summer 2011

This bi-annual publication does a good job of collecting the writings of an international group of Anarcho-syndicalists. This issue has a special section on the Mid-East revolts of the spring of 2011 and an article on the simultaneous events of Wisconsin. Articles by van der Walt, Barclay, McKay, Hargis, and the indefatigable Bekken.
Web, Philadelphia PA, Anarcho-syndicalist

Black Cat Sabotage Book, magazine

This manual on sabotage is a new twist on an old idea. Mostly it feels like a rather thick reprint zine of old LWOD (Live Wild or Die) or pre-Judy Bari era Earth First! It is a fanzine in the traditional sense of having an obsession and then sharing every scrap of information (from the aforementioned publications) a fan could find about it. Poems about how great the earth is, striking graphics and cartoons, etc. Starting around page 100 are reprints of a few ALF recipes (wink, wink). This is followed by boilerplate security culture reprints and there you go.
Download, Green

Black Flag #233, Black Flag Group, magazine, mid 2011

This revitalized UK magazine has considerable overlap with Freedom Press (layout and authors). Whereas Freedom is topical, Black Flag attempts analysis, interviews, and deeper reporting on the issues Freedom covers. This issue focuses on the student movement (there were a series of eventful student protests in London that were dominated by periods of uncontrollability and kettling) of the Spring. Interviews include Active Distribution and Atari Teenage Riot. Reviews include the Socialist Party, Mutual Aid (via an introduction), Derek Wall, and Dave Douglass’ biography. If you love the writing of Iain McKay you will love Black Flag.
Web, London UK, Anarcho-Communist

Enemies of Society, book (392), Ardent Press, Spring 2011

This is the new book by Ardent Press (standard disclaimer: I published this book). It is an anthology of egoist and individualist anarchism. The story it tells is of different groups who were inspired by the work of Max Stirner: dissident readers of US based Liberty , Italians who went to war with the existing order and French folks who took the lessons into a short lived illegalist practice of daily life. In addition there is a (too) short chapter on egoist readings of Nietzsche and short articles on egoist practice beyond robbing banks and attacking politicians.
Web, Berkeley CA, Egoist

Fire to the Prisons #11, magazine, Spring 2011

FTTP is an irrepressible publication from the New York area that bills itself as an insurrectionary magazine focused on reporting on struggles of the disaffected. It does this reporting to inspire its readers to do something about their own feelings of frustration and resentment. This issue continues the FTTP pattern of placing strong graphics with poignant text in the style of Adbusters or any number of post-Situationist magazines. The effect continues to be striking. This issue includes articles on the Arab Spring of revolt, Appalachian struggles against coal mining, repression, and a chronology of prisoner resistance.
Web, Download, Insurrectionary

Freedom Vol 72 #14, tabloid, Freedom Press, June 2011

Freedom is looking healthier than I’ve seen it in a while. Good reporting, a silly cover image of a Crass crop circle (sighted near Stonehenge…), and a full color Wildcat comic, frame the issue. Contents include a criticism of News of the World and the latest Murdoch scandal, an obituary of Bob Miller, an analysis of recent prosecutions of UK anti-fascists due to a dustup in the London Underground. The highlight of this issue is the first part of a two part series on the role of Kropotkin on the modern ecological movement. This part focuses on Kropotkin’s theories around evolution and politics.
Web, London UK, Anarchist-Communist

Property is Theft, book (670), AK Press, April 2011

This is an Iain McKay joint. A large, but by no means comprehensive, collection of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s work. The editor has also been writing quite a bit of supporting material, mostly on his blog at the ‘Anarchist Writers’. If you have any interest in PJ Proudhon, especially how his writings can be interpreted as being pre-Anarcho-Communist, you will get a fair reading of it with this collection.
Web, History

Psychic Swamp #1, PDF, Spring 2011

This is a brand new project from Max Cafard (who doesn’t do enough visible anarchist writing). At the heart of this new periodical, a surre(gion)al review, is an excellent review essay about the movie Avatar. It might be easy to dismiss this–as, on some level, everything that needs to be said about the monsterous movie has been said–but Cafard brings in great new information. Specifically he spends a great deal of time talking about the fairly recent advances in drone technology and how this relates to the future of warfare. The lesson of Avatar isn’t just about the incredible volume of money it generated but the ways in which it will and will not prefigure future warfare.
Web, Lousiana, Anarcho-Surrealist

Revolt & Crisis in Greece, book (378), AK Press, April 2011

This third book on the Greek Uprising (the non-AK book was called Everyone to the Streets) comes out of the Occupied London group who are Greek expats living in the UK. This book is a collection of essays by several dozens writers who provide a less activist, more learned context to the environment around Athens prior to the 2008 uprising and since the uprising into the current economic crisis. Some of the highlights include the analysis by TPTG, Christos Boukalas, and Antonis and Dimitri (who are part of the editing group and who toured the US in the spring of 2011).
Web, Greece/London, Greece

Tides of Flame, PDF, July 2011

This is new biweekly periodical from Seattle is incredibly ambitious. Along with the real stories of the activities of the comrades in the PNW are original analysis and histories. Just in the first two issues, which both appeared before 26 people were arrested in late July, are writing about the George Jackson Brigade, recent actions in the area, terrorism, rebellion in walla walla, an artist named Zeb, and much more. If you are in the area you should help this project out.
Web, Seattle WA, anarchist insurrectionary

Total Destroy #5, PDF, Spring 2011

This is an issue of the Milwaukee zine that has appeared sporadically over the past few years. From a rough start this issue stands tall as an object lesson in how theory is related to, and improved by, practice. This issue reflects the participation of the authors in the events that surrounded the Wisconsin occupation of the Capital building in response to Governor Walker’s attack on the rights of the Unions in negotiations with the state. Included are accounts of the occupation, of actions (not non-violent) taken in the state, interviews with the authors, and communiques issued at the time.
Download, Milwaukee WI, Anarchist Insurrectionary

Wolves at the Door, A5, Autumn 2011

This is a modern zine with well thought out positions on a variety of topics. One, a lengthy article critical of anarchist spaces, makes arguments against localism, for pre-figuration, and touches on both Holloway and Delueze (“our appropriated spaces can become nodes in a web of power”) without sounding too high falutin’. Other articles include one on Libya, an interview with Mutiny, a review of the local anarchist summer school (!), Athens, and liberalism (anti). This is a strong first showing for this project of not-ideological anarchism.
Download, Australia, General