Slingshot is a quarterly, independent, radical newspaper published in the East Bay since 1988.
We can sometimes sense whether the activist scene is expanding or contracting by how many articles get turned in each issue. This issue we were flooded with articles, and after cutting a bunch, we just barely squeezed them into these 20 pages. So maybe 2004 will be a good year for the resistance — it’s about time!
Spring in Berkeley makes us think of new projects and new possibilities. We don’t have to put up with the way things are — a world based on violence, consumerism, fear and power — we can build a new world based on cooperation, simplicity, sustainability and love.
We are constantly reminded of how fragile our lives, our health and our minds are. We all need to take time to care for ourselves even while we redouble our struggle against the system. And we need to live in the present. Living our lives must combine resistance, expression and joy each day.
As the issue comes out, tens of thousands of Southern California grocery workers are still on strike. We express solidarity with them in their struggle to maintain decent benefits and pay.
Thanks to everyone who ordered a 2004 Slingshot Organizer, which helps pay for this paper and everything else we do. We got so many decorated letters and insane gifts with the orders: earrings, shirts, buttons, stickers, even a feather decorated mock missile. All the creativity really made the huge volunteer effort of shipping 15,000 books fun. We’re using some of the proceeds to help support Prisoner Literature and Books to Prisoners projects around the country by offering matching grants. If you work on such a project, contact us for details. Also, if you work with any activist group in the Bay Area that is looking for a way to raise funds, we will match dollar for dollar up to $50 money you raise at a cafe night dinner at our headquarters at Long Haul. Contact us for details.
Slingshot is always on the lookout for writers, artists, editors, photographers, distributors and independent thinkers to help us make this paper. If you send something written, please be open to editorial discussion.
Editorial decisions are made by the Slingshot collective, but not all the articles reflect the opinions of the collective members. We welcome debate, constructive criticism and discussion.