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Suffled How It Gush: A North American Anarchist in the Balkans
02 An anarcho-punker with a wanderlust, Shon spent two years in the Balkans. He found himself feeling at home in the Balkan peninsula just as NATO began bombing it. Upon returning to the US, he found that many who opposed the bombing supported the same nationalist dictatorships which were brutalizing his newfound friends. Attempts to address that situation resulted in Suffled How It Gush . Fortunately for all of us, he is a keen, and witty observer, deftly combining personal travelogue with acute social and political observation. Quite superb, engaging, and revealing. An anarcho-punker with a wanderlust, Shon spent two years in the Balkans. He found himself feeling at home in the Balkan peninsula just as NATO began bombing it. Upon returning to the US, he found that many who opposed the bombing supported the same nationalist dictatorships which were brutalizing his newfound friends. Attempts to address that situation resulted in Suffled How It Gush . Fortunately for all of us, he is a keen, and witty observer, deftly combining personal travelogue with acute social and political observation. Quite superb, engaging, and revealing.
250 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 13, 2017
I don't normally scribble in my books, years of being yelled at in a school system I only recently left have scarred me too much. However, this book compelled me to underline, circle and scribble my comments in the margins. The author's an anarchist, I feel like he'd appreciate it.
Some of the comments were angry. I felt at times as if the author was an American who simply did not understand, and I felt like screaming just like the Macedonian Albanian woman "why don't you understand me?" especially on the question of nationalism. The author often seems surprised when people, especially Albanians and Bosnians he meet, talk about the violence they wish to do to Serbians and judges them slightly for expressing their hatred. While I agree that hatred is bad, he has to understand that it is difficult to feel anything but hatred and the desire for revenge, to push back the occupying army just a little further to get your whole home back instead of being stuck with half a country. I appreciate that he talked about Croatia's crimes against its Serbian minority population, but didn't mention a single time the horrific crimes committed by the Serbian army against Croats in Croatia. That could also be my semi-nationalist upbringing talking as I am Croatian myself. I guess I will never know for sure. However, what separates Meckfessel from every other Westerner I've read writing about the Balkans is that he owns his "dumb Westerner" moments. He acknowledges his mistakes. He includes the voice of the Balkan peoples themselves, and that is what makes his book compelling.
What I loved most about this book is the sheer amount of love that pervaded its pages. I didn't know that it was possible for anybody else besides me to love the confusion, joie de vivre and contrariness of the Balkans so fiercely. He captures our hedonism and openness perfectly and delivers sketches of the contradictory characters that populate the region, like the Slavic Nazi, with minimal judgement. He portrays an honest picture of the problems facing Balkan society, and unlike many Western authors recognizes how in many ways neoliberalism, capitalism and forced privatization destroyed the fabric of society. My favorite part about the book was the focus on the history of anarchism in the Balkans. I did not know about that aspect of our history but it gave me hope that there is some precedent for a better future, and the author is right in saying that many of the preconditions for an anarchist revolution do exist in the Balkans due to our millenia long history of resistance. I wanted to scream about that find from my tiny dorm window, "we were philosophers! We were thinkers too! We can be dreamers, not just fighters!"
The second I finished this book, I began contemplating a letter writing campaign to have "Balkan Ghosts" removed from libraries the world over and replaced with this book. Since that is unlikely to succeed, I've settled for recommending it to every Western friend of mine who wants to learn about the Balkans from a non-Western perspective, because in many ways the author is just like a native. I also want to recommend it to all of my Balkan friends. Us Balkan people have a complex of self-hatred left over from centuries of colonialism in which we think we have no culture or intellectual tradition and that Western Europe is so much better than us, but Meckfessel writes so lovingly that I became proud of my culture again. He has made me desperate to read more about the Balkans (and about anarchism).
I would like to close this review with one of my favorite quotations from the book: "I decide that civilization still exists here after all, even if Greece is in the EU." Us Balkan people may be "backwards" and "full of ancient ethnic hatreds," but we know how to live. Thank you, Shon Meckfessel, for recognizing that. Thank you for writing this book.
Some of the comments were angry. I felt at times as if the author was an American who simply did not understand, and I felt like screaming just like the Macedonian Albanian woman "why don't you understand me?" especially on the question of nationalism. The author often seems surprised when people, especially Albanians and Bosnians he meet, talk about the violence they wish to do to Serbians and judges them slightly for expressing their hatred. While I agree that hatred is bad, he has to understand that it is difficult to feel anything but hatred and the desire for revenge, to push back the occupying army just a little further to get your whole home back instead of being stuck with half a country. I appreciate that he talked about Croatia's crimes against its Serbian minority population, but didn't mention a single time the horrific crimes committed by the Serbian army against Croats in Croatia. That could also be my semi-nationalist upbringing talking as I am Croatian myself. I guess I will never know for sure. However, what separates Meckfessel from every other Westerner I've read writing about the Balkans is that he owns his "dumb Westerner" moments. He acknowledges his mistakes. He includes the voice of the Balkan peoples themselves, and that is what makes his book compelling.
What I loved most about this book is the sheer amount of love that pervaded its pages. I didn't know that it was possible for anybody else besides me to love the confusion, joie de vivre and contrariness of the Balkans so fiercely. He captures our hedonism and openness perfectly and delivers sketches of the contradictory characters that populate the region, like the Slavic Nazi, with minimal judgement. He portrays an honest picture of the problems facing Balkan society, and unlike many Western authors recognizes how in many ways neoliberalism, capitalism and forced privatization destroyed the fabric of society. My favorite part about the book was the focus on the history of anarchism in the Balkans. I did not know about that aspect of our history but it gave me hope that there is some precedent for a better future, and the author is right in saying that many of the preconditions for an anarchist revolution do exist in the Balkans due to our millenia long history of resistance. I wanted to scream about that find from my tiny dorm window, "we were philosophers! We were thinkers too! We can be dreamers, not just fighters!"
The second I finished this book, I began contemplating a letter writing campaign to have "Balkan Ghosts" removed from libraries the world over and replaced with this book. Since that is unlikely to succeed, I've settled for recommending it to every Western friend of mine who wants to learn about the Balkans from a non-Western perspective, because in many ways the author is just like a native. I also want to recommend it to all of my Balkan friends. Us Balkan people have a complex of self-hatred left over from centuries of colonialism in which we think we have no culture or intellectual tradition and that Western Europe is so much better than us, but Meckfessel writes so lovingly that I became proud of my culture again. He has made me desperate to read more about the Balkans (and about anarchism).
I would like to close this review with one of my favorite quotations from the book: "I decide that civilization still exists here after all, even if Greece is in the EU." Us Balkan people may be "backwards" and "full of ancient ethnic hatreds," but we know how to live. Thank you, Shon Meckfessel, for recognizing that. Thank you for writing this book.
October 25, 2017
Sprawling, interesting mix of travelogue and political history. Great personal observations from a keen-eyed observer with a sensitive heart and passion for justice. The writing is sometimes uneven, but never less than passionate. A good long read on a good long train ride. The Albania section is wild!
July 1, 2022
The author of Suffled as it Gush appears (if I am not mistaken) to have begun his journey through opposing the UN/NATO military intervention in former Yugoslavia, which was in theory directed against Četnik (Serbian ultra-nationalists) forces: though, in the case of Srebrenica, any intervention to save lives was sorely lacking. Of course, it would be pretense to claim that the intervention only targeted these Serbian military and paramilitary forces, and protected civilians of all ethnicities, particularly Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), given both the civilian casualties in the air-war as well as the total failure to act, as, again, in Srebrenica.
I appreciated learning a bit about Hoxhaism, a somewhat obscure hardline Stalinist "philosophy" which governed the Albanian regime led by Enver Hoxha, who sided with Stalin against Tito before his death, and then with Mao after Khrushchëv's "revisionist" revelations at the 20th Party Congress of the Soviet Union in 1956. Quite a dreary vision; under Hoxha, apparently all the buildings were required to be painted gray (295).
I wonder to what degree the author's punk-anarchist aesthetic connected and/or alienated him to/from the different cultures present in the Balkans.
Meckfessel is no apologist for Serbian ultra-nationalism, akin to Michael Parenti or Diana Johnstone. No! He makes clear his criticisms of that line of thinking, especially in the chapter on Macedonia, and explicitly critiques Parenti and Johnstone in his footnotes. Still, I see him emphasizing the costs of the UN/NATO intervention and criticizing the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) as organized criminals, while arguably not also focusing with equal concern on the horrible, fascist crimes of the Četniks in these wars. It may be that David Rodhe's Endgame was resonating in my mind and soul when I read Shon's book.
Perhaps Shon wishes to 'see' in ex-Yugoslavia in the post-Soviet period some potential for anarchism. But I would then like to ask: how can this be so, given the sordid recent legacy of genocidal ultra-nationalism in the region?
This also brings to mind the question of campism among Western leftists, a simplistic and dichotomous political tendency that divides the world into competing military blocs with which one must side. Shon does not adhere to this approach, either on ex-Yugoslavia, Syria, or China/Xinjiang, and it's great that he doesn't! The same can't be said, though, for much of the authoritarian "left," which subscribe to neo-Stalinist ideologies and falsely claim "socialism" while openly and actively supporting fascist dictators like Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, or Slobodan Milošević himself.
Admittedly, I haven't read all of the book's chapters: I've skipped the chapters on Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria.
I appreciated learning a bit about Hoxhaism, a somewhat obscure hardline Stalinist "philosophy" which governed the Albanian regime led by Enver Hoxha, who sided with Stalin against Tito before his death, and then with Mao after Khrushchëv's "revisionist" revelations at the 20th Party Congress of the Soviet Union in 1956. Quite a dreary vision; under Hoxha, apparently all the buildings were required to be painted gray (295).
I wonder to what degree the author's punk-anarchist aesthetic connected and/or alienated him to/from the different cultures present in the Balkans.
Meckfessel is no apologist for Serbian ultra-nationalism, akin to Michael Parenti or Diana Johnstone. No! He makes clear his criticisms of that line of thinking, especially in the chapter on Macedonia, and explicitly critiques Parenti and Johnstone in his footnotes. Still, I see him emphasizing the costs of the UN/NATO intervention and criticizing the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) as organized criminals, while arguably not also focusing with equal concern on the horrible, fascist crimes of the Četniks in these wars. It may be that David Rodhe's Endgame was resonating in my mind and soul when I read Shon's book.
Perhaps Shon wishes to 'see' in ex-Yugoslavia in the post-Soviet period some potential for anarchism. But I would then like to ask: how can this be so, given the sordid recent legacy of genocidal ultra-nationalism in the region?
This also brings to mind the question of campism among Western leftists, a simplistic and dichotomous political tendency that divides the world into competing military blocs with which one must side. Shon does not adhere to this approach, either on ex-Yugoslavia, Syria, or China/Xinjiang, and it's great that he doesn't! The same can't be said, though, for much of the authoritarian "left," which subscribe to neo-Stalinist ideologies and falsely claim "socialism" while openly and actively supporting fascist dictators like Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, or Slobodan Milošević himself.
Admittedly, I haven't read all of the book's chapters: I've skipped the chapters on Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria.
December 28, 2007
Places where nationalism is a total failure like Yugoslavia are ripe for anarchist social re-organization!
March 24, 2025
As someone who has similarly spent a lot of time in the Balkans / south-eastern Europe, I found this book relatable in many senses. I too started my first journey from Trieste (where I lived for two years), I visited many social centres, went to gigs, met many people with interesting perspectives, and also got into a bit of trouble with a group of taxi drivers. What Shon offers in this text is a collection of anecdotes, that seeks the challenge the chauvinistic understanding of the Balkans by the West, whilst not washing over the actually existing contradictions within these societies.
Having said that, I don't feel like this text offered a deeper analysis other than challenging the fact that many people in the Balkans are not nationalists/cruel/stupid/whatever other stereotype. A lot of the time this book simply fell into the realm of cringey punk travel writing - although in many ways that also made it enjoyable.
Overall would give it 3.5/5.
Having said that, I don't feel like this text offered a deeper analysis other than challenging the fact that many people in the Balkans are not nationalists/cruel/stupid/whatever other stereotype. A lot of the time this book simply fell into the realm of cringey punk travel writing - although in many ways that also made it enjoyable.
Overall would give it 3.5/5.
September 20, 2010
I traded a bunch of zines for this with Shon at some zine fair in San Francisco back when it first came out. I also believe I saw him do two readings around that time. I still remember the one about the street dog and the mistranslation of Romans as being my favorite stories.
Around that time as well, Tristan and I were talking about it at a party and we both agreed that the only thing that we had wanted to see was something tying the narratives together, more than just the knowledge that it was the same person relating all of the stories.
Around that time as well, Tristan and I were talking about it at a party and we both agreed that the only thing that we had wanted to see was something tying the narratives together, more than just the knowledge that it was the same person relating all of the stories.
February 27, 2015
Still reading...
A little stale in the action department so far. It's can be very caught up in dogmatic discourse. All in all I enjoy real travel tales where people fiercely try to understand the reality of citizens in other places and how the political unrest affects their daily lives. One might find fault with the anachist perspective which discredits the way the writer tells the tales if the reader didn't already subscribe to his anarchist philosophies.
A little stale in the action department so far. It's can be very caught up in dogmatic discourse. All in all I enjoy real travel tales where people fiercely try to understand the reality of citizens in other places and how the political unrest affects their daily lives. One might find fault with the anachist perspective which discredits the way the writer tells the tales if the reader didn't already subscribe to his anarchist philosophies.
December 7, 2010
Meckfessel piles stereotype-smashing anecdote upon anecdote about the Balkan cultural puzzle-- in eye-opening, but also sometimes confusing, bewildering ways. Maybe it's because English is my second language, but I lose track of connections that seem important for full comprehension & meanings that might bring clarity to these connections. A roller-coaster ride of a book, with some important moments of clarity.
December 25, 2007
i love this book. The BEST and most entertaining book on the Balkans that i've found. 1/2 punk travelogue and 1/2 sociological notebook. Chock full of moving stories and on-the-ground analysis of what's been happening around the Balkans. This book is more insightful than the dozen or so books i read in college on the Balkans...no joke!
Read
February 8, 2008I wrote it so I'm not sure I can be impartial. But I'd love to know what you think of it. I'm doing a re-write (due out in early 2009 on AK Press) and would love hear suggestions. Things you'd like to see addressed or left out, things you loved or that annoyed you. Thanks!
Oh, and there's a few copies still available on akpress.org.
Oh, and there's a few copies still available on akpress.org.
April 29, 2008
personal narrative may be the only way to understand the political mess that nation-states have wreaked upon poly-ethnic locales. This one is part zine, part travel memoir, part political geography and history of the Balkans. a great entry for those of us who don't show up to the academic texts.
October 13, 2008
Through the impressionistic stories of this book, and talking with the author, I gained a much better appreciation for the near history and social issues in the Balkans. It has insired an interest in me which will stay forever.
September 9, 2010
American anarchist travels around the Balkans. The book is a collection of his observations, impressions, and anecdotes from his travels. Meckfessel is a thoughtful observer and skilled writer. Worth the read.
August 30, 2011
Shon once told me I did more to promote this book than he did, which isn't true, but I certainly believe in it. I appreciate that he genuinely kept his eyes open to the complexities of living realities without losing perspective of a broader framework.
Currently reading
December 30, 2008yes shon, i'm finally reading your book. and it's good! i really, really like it. more when i'm done.
February 28, 2010
Review to come...
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews