Month: November 2011

Here’s a few radical spaces we’ve heard about since we published the 2013 Slingshot Organizer, as well as news about a bunch of spaces that have closed. Many radical collectives create spaces to host meetings, events and resources like tools, seed libraries and free stores. Like the occupations a couple of years ago that allowed isolated individuals to meet each other, these spaces provide a public place to create and expand community. This is important because without public places to connect with new people, a lot of radical scenes get very clique-like. Drop in and visit the space near you, or start your own. Check on-line for the latest updates: slingshot.tao.ca

The Artichoke – Springfield MO

An infoshop with a lending library, free store and skillshare space. 800 W Locust, Springfield, MO 65803, the-artichoke.weebly.com

SoapBox Books & Zines – Cincinnati, OH

A new infoshop with a library, book and zine shop, and space for meetings and events. Shares space with a bike coop and a gardening project. 1415 Knowlton St. Cincinnati, OH 45223 513-541-0252 soapboxbooks.org

Third Space – Toledo, OH

A radical community center with free coffee, a library and a record store that hosts shows and events. 137 N. Michigan St Toledo, OH 43604

Survival Center – Eugene, OR

An infoshop and community space located on the U of O campus but available to non-students and students alike. Suite 1, Erb Memorial Union, Eugene, OR 97403, 541-346-4356, survival@uoregon.edu

Rad-ish Collective – Boulder, CO

A housing collective with a community space/ zine library that hosts Food Not Bombs radical movie nights, meetings, and dance parties. They also have a slide out the 2nd story window. 710 31st St. Boulder, CO 80303. theradishcollective@googlegroups.com

Black Rabbit Hole – Helsinki, Finland

Infoshop and anarchist space – the name is Mustan Kanin Kolo in Finnish. They have a used bookshop as well as magazines, music and video, plus a meeting space. Hämeentie 28, Helsinki, FIN 00530. Ph 040-300-1909 www.mustankaninkolo.info, mustankaninkolo@gmail.com

Infocaf̩ Sal̩ РPrague, Czech Republic

An infoshop with a radical library that hosts workshops, films, meetings and meals. They are named after the Salé pirate colony in Morocco that served as a independent base for subversive activities. All food is vegan. Open Mon-Thurs 4-10. Address: Orebitská 194/14 PRAHA 3, sale.s.cz

Squat Cibulka – Prague, Czech Republic

An autonomous zone in Prague. Their website is in Czech (which I don’t read) but it seems like they host lots of radicals events. Address: U Cibulki, Praha Košíre, cibulka.squat.net

Black Rose Collective – Newtown, Australia

This 25 year-old collective had closed, but now they’ve re-opened. They are an infoshop with books, coffee, internet and they host events and shows. 22 Enmore Rd, Newtown NSW Australia 0452-481-696 blackrosebooks.org

Changes to the 2013 Organizer

• Left Hand Books in Boulder, CO closed its doors after 33 years.

• Toronto Women’s Books in Canada closed.

• The Earth House in Indianapolis, IN closed.

• Libertalia Autonomous Space in Providence, RI has closed.

• Unitea House in Durango, CO closed.

• Firehouse 51 in Modesto, CA closed.

• The 3rd Avenue Collective in Prince George, BC, Canada lost their space.

• Revolver Infoshop in Prague, Czech Republic doesn’t exist anymore.

• DisCentrum in Prague, Czech Republic got evicted.

• The Bicycle Kitchen in Los Angeles moved to a larger location: 4429 Fountain Ave. LA, CA 90029.

• The Sibley Bike Depot in St. Paul, MN has changed their name to Cycles for Change. The address is the same.

• The Bloom Collective in Grand Rapids, MI has moved. Their new address is 8 Jefferson SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503.

• The mailing address for the Durham Bike Coop is PO Box 1225 Durham, NC 27702

• We got envelopes back from the following places. We don’t know if they move or ceased to exist, so let us know if you know:

– Cream City, Milwaukee, WI

– Candlelight Collective, West Bend, WI

– EarthDiver Book Collective, Oshkosh, WI

– Casa Taller Aziz, Brownsville, TX

– Durham Bike Coop, Durham, NC

– Earth House Collective, Indianapolis, IN

– Rag and Bones Bike Coop, Richmond, VA

• Camas Infoshop in Victoria, BC Canada has moved. Their new address is 2620 Quadra St., Victoria, BC, V8T 4E4.

• An anonymous person emailed us to object to Centro Social CCC in San Juan, Puerto Rico being in the radical contact list and claiming that they are not radical. Our collective is in Berkeley so normally we can’t visit spaces on our list. When someone nominates a space, we do our best to look at materials they publish and if they look stimulating, we put them on the list. We know not everyone will agree with each listing. Generally, we think a bigger looser tent is better than a smaller stricter one, but who knows? We welcome your comments either way.

We Must Bleed: A Germs Pocket Reader

mcshamrock@gmail.com

$.50 – $1

All hail the mini zine and all hail Darby Crash!

This pocket reader is a tribute to the Germs’ front singer and tells the story of his final performance and his final moments before he overdosed and left this world forever. Although this zine is small, it is very well researched and very well written. A must have for any Germs fan! Carry this zine in your pocket and have a piece of Darby wherever you go. (vanessa)

Purple Haus Erotica Vol. 1

la.pequena.mort@gmail.com

Erotic but not smutty, Purple Haus Erotica is a collaborative zine that has short stories, poetry, and drawings about sex and sexuality. The introduction states that “this zine is an experiment in what sexuality is and can be.” I found the pieces to be tasteful and non offensive, but that doesn’t mean they are tame. The poems and short stories are very descriptive and imaginative and managed to turn me on, which is usually the goal of any erotic tale. The layout is very clean with cut and paste pictures of the human body and other clip art that fits with the text on each page. The cover and back cover are beautifully silk-screened and make it worth having in your zine library. (vanessa)

The Anvil Review #4

The Anvil Review

PO Box 3549

Berkeley, CA 94703

theanvilreview.org

The Situationists are at it again. The latest issue of the Anvil Review, the free twice yearly print edition of theanvilreview.org, features anarchist writing by old-school situationist Isaac Cronin, Wolfi Landstreicher, and newer anarchist theorists like Alejandro de Acosta and Critila. We should note that peeps mostly consider themselves “Post-Situationists” now, with good reason: the tactics of the early Situationists have become so thoroughly co-opted by the bourgeoisie that you practically have to be a Situationist to sell your abstracted labor these days. Fuck that shit. But yeah, the Anvil Review is worth checking out if you like critical essays tied to culture and informed by an anarchist sensibility. Issue #4 is focused on the idea of “the city” and includes 9 critical essays that attempt to expand the ways we think about the psychical, social, and mythical space of the city. (rye)

The Authoritarians

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

Recently, I read Bob Altemeyer’s book and it made a lot of things make a lot more sense. Previously I had looked at certain segments of the voting population and went, “They can’t be serious, can they?” Sadly, they can. Many authoritarian people are raised in environments where they are told that something is true “because I said so,” and are surrounded by social groups who reinforce that view. The end result is adults who have heavily compartmentalized minds because they were never encouraged to reconcile all their ideas together into one unified mental model. Thus they tend to lack self-reflection, uncritically accept things told to them by authorities without examining them, believe contradictory things and hold double standards because those ideas are never brought into mental contact, and have a desperate need for continual validation of their beliefs both in official authority and by surrounding themselves only with other people who share those beliefs. This also allows prejudice to flourish because they avoid people who would call them out on it or force them to reexamine their generalization. (colin)

Les Carnets de Rastapopoulos #9

2-7 Larch St

Ottawa, Ontario

Canada K1R6W4

Les Carnets is French for The Notebooks. I’m not clear about the Rastapopoulos part. In this issue the author reflects on his pen pals from 20 years ago. On a whim he made an effort to find those from long ago and far away and documents those who wrote him back. The results are interesting if not a little heart breaking. It’s not very political, yet nor is it worthless. You can see ordinary people address an extraordinary facet of their lfe. It’s a fast read with each scenario written in eyeblinking vignettes. The whole thing reads like a Jr. College school assignment. The simplistic perspective cataloging many stories makes for an impressionistic 20 minute read. That leaves time to write a letter to an old friend afterwards. (aubergine)

Detained

eryon.franklin@gmail.com / eryonfranklin.org

What is it like to be in jail and not know if you will ever be released? This beautiful zine describes the indefinite detention faced by undocumented immigrants who have become immersed in the American legal system, and, the design of the zine itself attempts to physically demonstrate it. It is a 26-foot-long accordion book printed on a single sheet of paper — a long, continuous image of the

Shards of Glass in Your Eye #7,8,9

$2 +postage

PO box 7831

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

The L.A. Zine Fest this year boiled over with people not phased by the so-called “death of print.” I unearthed Kari Tervo’s publication there, and it’s evident that she seems to be in a state of Zine Fever. She started this title in the mid 90’s but has recently given it a kick in the ass with a renewed focus on humor. The main content seems to be observations of the life around Beverly Hills, which often includes the most recent celebrity sightings. It’s not very counter culture. In fact, it even has an icy hostility to current P.C. trends such as veganism or fix gear bikes. But it’s wicked intelligent. There seems to be an awareness of an actual audience reading it — and that there exists with them a reachable tickle spot. Kari touches that spot with reckless abandon. (eggplaid)

Moira Scar in the Parallel Universe Comic #3

http://moirascar.blogspot.com

A sci-fi comic recounting the adventures in dystopia with this hard to pigeon band. Oh wait the comic’s mutant clones does it for us “they always played lap tops in easy listening style”. A police state populated by robots and clones work to destroy the fun being sought by Moira Scar. Humor and a dedication to creating art boldly challenge the ugly world we inherited. (eggman)

Node Pajomo #13 $2+postage

PO Box 2632

Bellingham, WA 98227

Underground directory to trade anything from letters, zines, Cd’s, tapes, mail art, post cards, photos, collages. Running strong for 5 years now. This issue highlights include a guy in Pensacola calling himself The Masked Claw who wants photo copies of people’s feet so he can “see into your sole.” Also someone in the Netherlands is collecting To-Do lists and a vending machine in Iowa looking for zines. Each issue has attached mail art throughout it all. We got a stamp from Japan and some alternative currency with our copy. As headboggling and randomly fruitful as reading graffiti in a bathroom stall. (eggfad)

Hawai’i 510 (aka No Gods No Mattress 18)

PO Box 3936

Berkeley, CA 94703

$2+2 stamps

When I first read the “Haole Go Home” article by enola d in Slingshot #111, it brought up many memories for me. I had people in my life who had the means and time to spend time traveling around Hawai’i. These people were punx who I had loved and yet, after hearing that they were traveling/moving there, I always wished I could tell them to check their privilege and reconsider. I didn’t feel like it was my place (an excuse perhaps) and they went anyway and often came back with what I felt was disappointment and sorrow and possibly some positive experiences. enola helped me to remember the sobering reality vs. idealistic images of “paradise” in places that were once perhaps “paradise” before imperialism/capitalism swept through, salting the land. Resistance is fertile though, as many of enola’s encounters with native Hawai’ians seem to suggest. I remain more committed to staying the hell out of Hawai’i after this ish of NGNM. To paraphrase/borrow from enola, maybe I’m just getting older and being more of a jerk too. Whatevs. (j-tronn)

Stowaways#13 $2+postage

52 Windover Rd.

Yorba Linda, CA 92886

romancandlemusic@gmail.com

This large size zine is packed with a shit ton of info on the underground music scene around L.A. One person seems to be doing all the work. The editor Chris is tirelessly here logging dozens of shows, reviewing new releases and interviewing a couple bands. The writing quality is akin to radio news in that it gives just the barest details of an event then its off relating accounts of the next event. For someone not familiar with the region or the music scene it might hurt your head to read. This particular issue aids in that endeavor by displaying several obvious typos–but perhaps it was a rush job to have it in people’s hands by the recent L.A. zine fest. There’s not much in the way of graphics with just a few photos and lots of open space. But when I read Stowaway a little more closely I did appreciate the writer’s passion for his subject. Through his perspective one can start to see a community existing in a place where most radicals throw away as being populated by materialistic plastic people that is dominated by car culture.

The Invisible War is a new film worth your attention. The premise is simple: The US Military has been opened up to include women soldiers and a serious epidemic of rape can be found there. Any complaints to officials in charge prove that the patriarchy doesn’t appreciate feedback.

This documentary by Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick plays well, and even has a narrative feature device in the opening twenty minutes. Slick television ads segue into glorious images of flags and military weaponry, that come across the screen as in a procession before top brass. In likewise pace the viewer is introduced to a half dozen women subjects (one male) and rough sketches of their biographies. Women Soldiers like Kori Cioca believed in the integrity of the military and sought to find there a life of duty and a future. Then suddenly their stories recount the transgression they received while in the hands of the various branches of the service. This is the first of a series of shocks to come for the 97 minute running time. There was even a couple sitting behind me that would occasionally go into vocal shock as the content gave the brutal truth in dismal details. I would guess we all knew what we were paying for. I for one follow activist news a lot and also study horror movies — deadening my vocal chords to atrocities reflected on a screen. Most mainstream people though will be like my friends in the theatre, and have a response that will resemble being slapped with cold water.

I had the occasion to absorb this new work at a benefit for Bay Area Women Against Rape at the Elmwood Theatre in a well to do part of Berkeley. Sadly the attendance was less than a dozen people — but the door price and the cost of resources to get us there was worth it. Seeing these ex-soldiers who were enticed, abused and thrown away on a screen twenty feet tall made for a brave show. It’s vital for the community to come together and give space to witness what is being hidden. The movie also briefly goes into the issue of man-on-man rape.

There are several scenes when the government takes the stage as it sings and dances around any accountability. Instead of punishing offenders with any kind of substance, such glib displays of reform can be seen with the info commercials the military has produced to silence complaints. The commercials are directed at potential victims (not potential perpetrators) to do shit like not walk alone at night, don’t get drunk and other such magic tricks.

I wish the film did more to indict the military, war culture, and the indoctrination that happens here in America into a competitive frame of life. Let’s face it — the American military encourages soldiers to kill, torture, abuse and rape. It actually does not matter if the target is a frail person with a foreign tongue and different tint of skin, or even a fellow soldier. In fact what is imperative to the Military mind is that the soldier follow instructions — to kill on command. This film’s distribution in places like NetFlix substantiates the feeling I get that it will play with less currency in radical spaces working to destroy the present system. Its greatest impact can be counted on in the quiet and clean living rooms of Middle America. Radicals can visit their parents and view it after a well-meaning (but heated) discussion on topics around the military during dinner. Then perhaps Americans can be persuaded to question the machine that we’ve been suckered into maintaining — to our own visible detriment.

Ex-Soldier Kori Cioca gets lots of screen time in physical pain left over from her assault. To add insult to injury she spends countless hours to get the coveted government assistance — only to be denied. The film did inspire some policy changes once it was screened to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. May be films like this is what’s needed to get more people angry to challenge the current practice of military affairs since real change happens in people’s hearts first. But I’m a little afraid of the blowback to this kind of public disclosure. The war pigs seem to like to employ intimidation and faceless harassment of dissidents. The film never names the names of offenders but the victims are open for scrutiny — or in our case hope.

Director Kirby Dick already did a great Doc exposing the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) with his This Film Is Not Yet Rated. This agency was created shortly after John F. Kennedy’s murder (headed by a man who’s in the photo with Johnson as he was being sworn in on the plane) with practices that make it resemble a cabal. That Doc goes into the make up of the MPAA and how they are a self-appointed unaccountable people with a Republican, Christian bent. It also catalogs their harsh ratings over sex in films (as opposed to violence) and a tendency to be favorable to major studios productions over independents. All of this ultimately affects where films are exhibited. Anyways my point is that one could make an argument that the MPAA acts as an arm of propaganda and censorship in this country. Squashing voices of dissent often gets credited to exist rampantly in dictatorships — except it’s being done here in a way that’s invisible to the people star gazing at the flag. But there is also a behavior being subtly promoted that is confusing sex for violence.

The news emerging as we go to print is of similar rape epidemics and cover-ups happening in the Peace Corps as well as at Occidental College in Southern California. Even the head of the Air Force’s sexual assault prevention unit, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, was arrested for sexual assault of a civilian. For anyone really watching what’s going on they know that patriarchical organizations like the US military operate with as much as a put-on as a Hollywood movie. (robber eggplant)

June 8

Zine Festival – Scranton, Pennsylvania

June 14

They Owe Us – a week of action against the G8 – London, England www.theyoweus.org.uk/

June 14th to 18th

Redwood Coast Earth First! Rendezvous – Humboldt County, Calif. – info; contactefhum@gmail.com or 707-234-5257

June 15 • 2 pm

Occupy march & occupation – Union Sq. San Francisco

June 15 – 23

Wild Roots, Feral Futures direct action camp – Southwest Colorado feralfutures.blogspot.com

June 27

Trans March – Dolores Park, SF transmarch.org

July 1-8

Earth First Round River rendezvous – North Carolina earthfirstnews.wordpress.com

July 4

Rainbow Gathering – somewhere in Montana

July 7-14

Creative Maladjustment Week – events world-wide www.cmweek.org

July 21-28

Utah Tar Sands Action Camp – stop the first tar sands mine in the US from breaking ground beforeitstarts.org

July 21-28

Eastern Conference on Workplace Democracy – Philadelphia east.usworker.coop

July 23 – 29

Trans and Women’s Action Camp for folks who identify as women, transgender, transsexual, genderqueer and gender variant – Eugene, OR twac.wordpress.com twac@riseup.net

July 27

Deadline to finish calendar pages, turn in radical contact info, submit cover art, or give Slingshot suggestions for the 2014 Slingshot organizer

July 27/28 and August 3 and 4

Join Slingshot to make the 2014 Slingshot organizer – 3124 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley.

August 7 – 11

Earth First! Summer – Hastings area near the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road, UK summergathering@earthfirst.org.uk

August 7 – 9

Protest the American Legislative Exchange Council annual meeting – Chicago alecwc.org

August 10 – 11

Portland Zine Fest portlandzinesymposium.org

August 11 – 17

Free Cascadia Witch Camp freewitchcamp.org

August 17-20

Reclaim the Power protest & camp – West Burton power station, East Midlands, UK www.nodashforgas.org.uk

August 18 • 4 pm

Slingshot New Volunteer Meeting – 3124 Shattuck Berkeley

August 24-25

5th Annual Seattle Anarchist Bookfair at the Vera Project – seattlebookfair@riseup.net

August 24

Grand Rapids Zine Fest – Grand Rapids, MI

August 26-September 7

Trident Ploughshares Summer International Disarmament Camp – Burghfield, UK

August 30 – September 2

Twin Oaks Communities Conference – Louisa, VA communitiesconference.org

September 14 • 3 pm

Slingshot article deadline for issue #114