Anarchist & Radical Book Club discussion

Noticed a few extra people have joined (the beginnings of an active group I hope) and it dawned on me we have no welcome thread. This is duly amended - welcome on board.

Please be mindful of the Guidelines but make yourself at home.

I am an anarchist from London, UK and used to try and run a rather less than successful reading group in real life. I am active in my workplace and various other things but I am not a member of any formal organisation, but close to the Anarchist Federation,
Solidarity Federation and Libcom. I just started contributing to the Freedom paper.

I tend to read various marxist works and social history.

Thanks abclaret. I never know what to say in these posts. But, welcome, new people!

I'm an anarchist & a global justice activist, trying to figure out what that means in terms of action. I keep a blog (anarchapistemology.net) and read a lot, mostly on colonialism & neocolonialism, gender, and agriculture.

Happy to be reading more classic anarchist texts here, though I mostly come from a critical theory/social movements background. And like, soil and food.

Greetings All.

I live in Brooklyn, NY, and teach high school in East Harlem. Been teaching for 9 years now. Before I came to NYC, I lived in Seattle & the Bay Area.

I've been involved in Palestine Solidarity work--been to Palestine twice, and participated in the failed Gaza Freedom March last year. I've also done a fair amount of prison abolition activism.

I hope that this can be a place to get some good book recommendations and to glean insights into texts I'm already familiar with.

Greetings Coach,
The monthly callouts for books are open if you want to suggest anything for May, otherwise feel free to add books to the bookshelf which may be appropriate for the group.

The Palestinian/Israel question and Prison Industrial complex are all worthy topics we could take up if you want to suggest anything specific.

Hello.

I live in Manchester UK and am relatively new to reading about anarchism. Always been sceptical/critical about governmental practice and am looking forward to discover new ways to articulate this.

Also, a vegan, so keen to connect forms of human oppression to non-human oppression. Another topic of interest to discuss. (Good book I've read on that topic 'Making a Killing - Bob Torres')

Hi, I joined a few weeks ago and thought I'd say Hello.

I live in Stoke-on-Trent UK, not a great deal going on, as I think a lot of people here go and place themselves with Manchester/Leeds groups and with others 'up north'.

I'm fairly new(ish) to Anarchism and would appreciate any accessible (I'm not afraid of BIG books, but due to beginners knowledge, some stuff may just fly over my head at the moment) book recommendations etc.

Personally, I'm interested in civil liberties/Human Rights when arrested/imprisoned issues (throw in a lot of criticizing and reacting against police brutality in there as well), Women's reproductive rights/pro-choice (and general), Climate Change/Environment, Mass surveillance on society, general things on self-governing and collectivist anarchism.

Evelyn wrote: "Hi, I joined a few weeks ago and thought I'd say Hello.

I live in Stoke-on-Trent UK, not a great deal going on, as I think a lot of people here go and place themselves with Manchester/Leeds groups..."

hi evelyn, welcome :)) Well, Id recommend you most of chomsky's books (specifically Understanding power), If you read french then also Normand Baillargeon's, Georges Sorel and Daniel Guérin's books(they might be also available in english). Also, THE publisher, AK press ;) cheers!

@Mehdi

Thanks! I will check those out ASAP :)

Howdy everyone!

I hail from Denver Colorado. I look forward to reading radical texts and discussing anarchism and radicalism with everyone.

Hi all!! I have been quite lax in reading any anarchist texts or literature and I'm really looking forward to recommendations etc. Great to have this group.

Greetings Mrdavidpeat, Evelyn, Brandon and Roshio...nice to see a few more UK peeps. Everyone be sure to check out libcom which is an invaluable resoruce.

The last book was a bit of flop due to lack of input, maybe we can look at another read which is less demanding.

Hi!

I look forward to reading, discussing and sharing all things anarchist or anarcho related.
Currently finishing up the Anarchist FAQ 2010 edition.

-dave
Long Beach California

Hi, just joined. I like reading political theory generally and anarchist and anarcho-leaning cultural critiques in particular. I look forward to trying out online discussions which I'm new to as well.

-Kevin

Hey Everyone,

I joined a few months ago, but haven't said hi or been very active. I'd like to begin to be more active in this reading group. I'm fairly new to Anarchism and am excited to learn more. I had participated in Prison Literature Project in the Bay Area for a little bit about 5 years ago, but mostly just to hang out with good people. I live in Brooklyn now, and have begun to be a little more active locally. I recently got more interested after going to an Anarchist conference at the New School. The OWS protests have also been helpful in meeting people, networking, learning . . . and seeing anarchist theory work!!

My other interests include cooking/food, writing, post-colonialism, posthumanism, indigenous issues, ummmmmmm . . . I could go on but I think that's good for now.

Hey folks,

nice to find a place for us anarcho book nerds.

I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I work as a history and aboriginal studies teacher at a large public high school. I have 3 children.

I became an anarchist at 16 after reading Berkman's The ABC's of Anarchism. In the past I've been involved doing political prisoner support work (ABCF) and a spoken word anarchist radio program. I've also been a member of the IWW since '98 and have done some workplace organizing and stuff with Mayworks: A festival of Labour and the Arts. Not so much time for movement work now that I have kids and a job but I still try to keep active.

I have a serious book fetish.

I mostly read in the areas of history, anarchism and indigenous politics. I throw in 2 fictional books every year for kicks.

solid,
patrick

Hello, all! New to the group here. I began my own group of what we might call radicals and have had no feedback. I'd love for people to join, but perhaps it would just be better if I stayed in this group and got rid of my other one. If you're remotely interested, here it is: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/5....

In any case, perhaps I'll get rid of it. I have been what we might call an anarchist for some years now, but for a while I lived under the somewhat more innocuous titles libertarian (good to use just the first word here in America, because the citizens here have a different meaning for the word), socialist, or, of course, libertarian socialist. I discovered socialism through Orwell and anarchism through Chomsky, and I've never really given up on those two as the central figures of my own understanding of Anarchy, though I have branched out in my reading. I call myself now a social anarchist, libertarian [socialist], or, perhaps most accurately, a kind of anarcho-syndicalist.

Hey I just joined. I got interested in Anarchism after a recent trip to Athens Greece. I was surprised by how prominent both it and Communism are on display in posters and graffiti around the city.

I've been reading some general history books on it and tidbits around the web.

Welcome onboard Tyson.

I should maybe reiterate that our bookshelf is unmoderated, so if people want to add appropriate books there, or float them as suggestions on the Book Selection threads - that would be great.

Howdy Everyone!

My name is Jan-Michael but I go by the pen name "The Alpha Jan" which was given to me by my best friend and is more biblical than relative to the attitude associated with the stereotypical American frat boy.

I have discussed and debated Anarchism (Well the definition Government Studies gives) as a means of showing the true form of a nation. Remove the government from any nation and watch what happens. If they fall, they were unfit. If they adapt and change and become self-sufficient, they had worth of existence.

The novels I usually write are liked by anarchists and honestly I don't know why since I consider them more sociological than anarchistic but I find that true sociological study and anarchism seem to go hand to hand the more I learn.

Anyways, it is a pleasure to meet all of you and I hope to read some great books from this group.

Welcome Alpha Jan, but...
The Alpha Jan wrote: "I have discussed and debated Anarchism (Well the definition Government Studies gives) as a means of showing the true form of a nation. Remove the government from any nation and watch what happens. If they fall, they were unfit. If they adapt and change and become self-sufficient, they had worth of existence."
Anarchism isn't neo-darwinist. I think it would be useful to familarise yourself with Kropotkin's Mutual Aid: a factor of evolution.

Hello all you wonderful people!

I live in Michigan and have identified as an anarchist communist for several years now, since I stumbled upon a collection of Peter Kropotkin in a local bookstore. I have read many of the classic anarchist texts, as well as many other competing or complemtary political/economic/social theories and histories. Of late I have been very interested in emphasizing the underlying principles of anarchism and applying them throughout the many forms of social relationships humans have with each other, non-humans, and the ecological sphere. Because of this shift in focus, I have been very interested in psychology, cosmology and deeply ingrained cultural beliefs beyond what would be commonly refered to as ideological. I am a member of Organization for a Free Society and I am active in the student movement and the local OWS movement. I hope this group is still active!

Cheers

Hi everyone,

I'm from Los Angeles. This group is just what I'd been looking for. Is there a new reading selected for April/May? or, is the group still working with the Kropotkin reading?

- Chris

Hi Chris,
Welcome!

I'm one of the oft-remiss moderators for the group, and still working through Kropotkin as some work-related reading distracted me for awhile. I can set up a new thread for the next couple of months shortly, though, and we can move onto another book!

Millicent

Sounds good, Millicent. Thank you!

-Chris

Hi,

I'm from Manchester, UK, and I've identified as anarcho-communist for about 5 years now, I came to anarchism through simple curiosity about the various left-wing ideologies, and I've recently (in the past 12 months or so) become a lot more involved as an activist.

- Ash

I'm a misanthropic amoral egoist, to throw out some words. The greatest influences on me in terms of theory would be Max Stirner, Georges Palante and Renzo Novatorre. Nietzsche comes in there somewhere.

I am also pretty strongly convinced by Austrian school political economy, not that I give a shit.

I am an "anarchist" more by incident than design, even my laissez-faire capitalist leanings are more academic than relevant. I pretty much despise egalitarianism, socialism, statists of all sorts, whiners, social cowards, and stupid people.

Hi, LT, Welcome! You might want to read some of the Anarchist FAQ and other literature on our booksehlf to better understand the definition of anarchism that we are working with here. You may find that some of the things you despise are in fact critical elements of personal freedom.

I understand it just fine, I just think that left-anarchism is bollox. I'm not constrained to believe in nonsense just because it's the most popular religion of the largely-inane clowns who happen to be non-statist, thanks.

'Freedom' is a stupid fucking word, for starters.

Go read Max Stirner and maybe you won't be such a wanker.

Samuel wrote: "Misanthropy is usually just a case of bad digestion."

Activism is religion + an attempt to get laid.
Wash off into the sea with all the other human effluvia.

A german left-anarchist wow....talk about the suicide of a culture. Ye fucks were better off with Hitler.

Hi,

I've identified with anarchism since the late '80s, but haven't read as much as I would like about it, mostly due to the fact that I've been a student for what seems like forever, and have had to concentrate on reading in my academic field. Am now taking a break from school prior to writing my PhD dissertation, and hope to get some reading recommendations.

I noticed others on the list mentioned being in Brooklyn. I just moved to Williamsburg this year, and would love to know about groups/events in my area. I'm already familiar with the Café de Cleyre reading group (cafedecleyre.wordpress.com).

Thanks to whoever set this up!

Hello!

I'm from Bristol (UK), but am currently studying in Edinburgh. Quite involved in the student movement and campus organising. Quite a few anarchists up here.

Mike x

Great to have you new folks!

T, hope you and you friends made it through the storm OK. The Occupy relief efforts are super inspiring (I have some street medic friends helping out down there now).

Mike, we're reading The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness right now, which is excellent but focused on the US, but we also have a lot of UK & members from other countries, and often read books that are online or otherwise accessible & of broader interest or different geographic focus.

Hi everyone,

I'm guessing that it's been nearly a year now since I technically "joined" the group, though I'm only just now getting around to actually introducing myself. (In my defense, I did make a pretty admirable effort at taking the two minutes to do this a few months ago.)

Anyway, I'm from a bit outside of Seattle, which is where I'm presently studying history. I came into anarchism through my own reading not very much more than a year ago—which has left me yet to become seriously involved as an activist, but that should probably soon change.

- Aaron

Glad to have your perspective, welcome, Aaron!

Hi everyone,

I'm From Kocaeli,Turkey..

Thanks, Millicent.

And a happy welcome to you, too, Yakup. We're discussing our next group read over here if you'd like to join in.

Hooray for anarchist parents! :D

Hey all, Im justin. I look forward to reading and discussing books with y'all.

Hi there, greetings to all!
just found this group and eager to take part.
I hope to post comments and suggest discussions. Also I'm an anarcha-feminist writer, well just one book, The Free, which you can free download or read online here http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/. Probably I'll put up some discussion based on that book.
catch you later... mikeThe Free

Welcome N, Jason, Justin and M.

hello, call me Boba. i primarily came to socialist views by reading the French encyclopedists and English economists. i consider myself to be a communist, and not a Marxist or an anarchist.

I'm a panarchist, I guess. I don't really believe in morality (or I "believe" in it the same way I believe in religion, i.e. crazy people around me call their cryptic rationalizations 'morality' or 'god').

I am attracted to various stripes of non-statism, and elements within them. Communist anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism seem interesting, and I have a healthy respect for the individualist and illegalist anarchists.

I have an interest in certain esoteric branches of nationalist/fascisti culture (AntiFas can eat my ass), especially the weird crypto-Anarchist stuff you find in some interwar European fascist movements.

You hear people talk about the "hole" in their lives and you see them flimflammed by religion and spiritual pseudoscience and complicated, convoluted programs for happiness.
When all they have to do is relax and accept the fact that when they get up in the morning, they are volunteering to jump into this mess. Volunteers are by definition unpaid workers. Anyone can checkout at anytime. When we endeavor to see all our struggles in context, when we learn to accept everything and expect nothing, all the while striving for the highest heights (because believe it or not, the act of striving is the natural baseline for human consciousness. "Doing nothing" is nearly impossible on a conscious level) the hard brutal world becomes a manageable beautiful world. Few things acquired with ease yield much reward. The struggle is yer friend and wants you to be a better person. "Struggle is all."

Hi,

I've been musician for as long as i can remember although I have made my living by cooking.

My lovely wife and I met as teenagers and had kids young. It is only now, that they have grown into teenagers, that i have returned to education to study anthropology...

I am committed to the possibility that there are alternative ways of organising ourselves socially. This is where my studies are currently leading me...

I believe it is our duty to forge a new culture that is not based on the unsustainable exploitation of plants, animals and the environment.

Jules

Hello and welcome to the new folks! Sounds like an interesting set of interests. If you have some reading ideas, we're choosing our next group read in this thread. Or else feel free to add your thoughts on a book we've already discussed.

FYI everyone, I changed my Goodreads usernames from Millicent to Tinea, sorry if there's any confusion!

Hi,

I am an anarchist--currently living in LA. I am Chilean and a grad student who studies (surprise) Chilean labor history. My main interests are labor history, social history, theory, prison industrial complex, indigenous struggles and indigeneity, social movements, queer history, counter-culture, and uprising.

Some writings I would like to read-up on stuff about the Italian autonomous movement and Lotta Feminista. It would be interesting to discuss an anarchist critique of books like Sex, Race And Class. Also, I would be interested in discussing Horizontalism: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina or Everyday Revolutions: Horizontalism and Autonomy in Argentina. While a lot of people either saw the movie The Take or glanced at Sin Patron: Stories from Argentina's Worker-Run Factories, most people do not follow current political development. Marina Sitrin's work offers a follow-up of how people have maintained neighborhood organizations & assemblies, collectives, worker-run factories, hospitals, hotels, etc. The glamor of the 2001 uprising is over, but the networks of mutual aid and autogestion are not only stronger, but folks in Argentina articulate their experiences in such a powerful way. I am totally open to other readings. I have a bias because I spent time in Argentina in 2001-2002 when the economy collapsed and maintained contact with people there. There are many more books/zines/articles that are just as relevant and fruitful to discuss.

Btw, great book list!!!

Much (a) love.

Welcome onboard Romina.

Welcome Axeris.