Slingshot is an independent radical newspaper published in Berkeley since 1988.
You can’t make a paper like this if you succumb to gloom and panic or obsess about fascism and environmental collapse all the time. We’re not looking away from the repression and suffering. We’re focused on what we’re going to do and how we’re going to live, not what the system wants to do to us. We couldn’t care less about what we’re supposed to be doing. The mainstream media usually paints radicals and anarchists as angry, and there are ample reasons to be pissed — but most of us tend towards being sensitive, cuddly, reflective and kind. In rejecting the police state, we’re rooted in awe and delight — gathering with others for music, pleasure and nature appreciation — not justICE watches or editing meetings (but those, too.)
The real question is, what’s wrong with the people in charge of corporations and governments? What kind of crazy person spends their time trying to split up families — more interested in tactical gear, prisons and high-rise towers than trees, dinner parties, soft skin and the other things that make life worth living?
In a system organized around inequality, careless destruction of the Earth, boredom, scarcity, loneliness, cruelty and cold impersonal interactions with faceless corporate profit systems, it’s only natural to rebel. Will you join the underground with us? It’s more fun being freaks and non-conformists — but oddly the so-called normal people always turn out to be weird and dark in private. We prefer being open and transparent with our weirdness — which means we don’t have to spend our mental energy pretending and hiding.
There were LOTS of new volunteers and energy to make this issue! Over 20 people turned out at the kick-off meeting, which was a world record. Let’s hope the energy carries on through the weeks of mailing parties… If the tyrants were hoping to make us scared and depressed, they’ve failed. The psychological pressures of repression appear to be causing a lot of people to reach out for more community and seek out more life-affirming experiences. This is what happens when we stop doom scrolling.
The Long Haul building where we make Slingshot has been so crowded with events the last few months that there are often 3 or 4 things per day. What a great problem to have as a radical space! The meeting to decide what to publish was serenaded by a rowdy mob of musicians during Folk Punk Church, including an awesome saw player. Then there was a punk show during the art party. There’s energy coursing through — not just meetings and study groups, but layers of community centered on pleasure, art and music. We wish we could export all around the world the East Bay mood rooted in a freshness about life, tolerance for others and reverence for the Earth.
It’s so inspiring to witness abundant courageous generosity and solidarity over the last dark year. Mutual aid isn’t just sharing stuff with others. When you trust that others will share with you when you need it, that’s when our individual fears give way to collective freedom. We’re in this together, which is powerful and makes all this a little less scary. Doing stuff with others isn’t always easy — disagreements can arise — but it’s real and human. It’s not like staring at a screen or paying for corporate bullshit. It’s a little embarrassing to admit that in the midst of so much suffering and danger, we’re thriving anyway.
These articles are written, edited, and published by a very loose collaborative of people, with open meetings and little structure. No two Slingshots are published by the same group. Many of us disagree with aspects of articles we publish. Each issue is an invitation, if not to work on our paper, then to engage with the problems of our day.
Slingshot is always looking for volunteer distributors. If you can hand out papers to your friends or put a few copies into your local cafe, library, truck stop, laundromat, school or whatever, we can send you copies for free. We’re trying to reach people who’ve never stumbled across the underground press before, rather than just preaching to the choir. We’re also always seeking new writers, artists, and editors. If you send an article, please be open to its editing.
Thanks to the people who made this: Amari, Bennett, Bri, Decay, Emily, Henry, Jake, Jesse, Kristoff, Lara, Lily, Maddie, Matteo, Niko, Paula, Rain, Robert, Robin, Seaera, Sirkka, Soren, Tiffany, Toby, Violet & all the authors and artists!
Slingshot Article Submission Info
We’re not going to set a deadline for the next issue. We encourage you to submit articles for the next Slingshot anytime you want. We’ll make another issue when we feel like it. Check the Slingshotwebsite, IndyBay, instagram and facebook for deadline info. We also have an internal email list that announces the next deadline so email if you want to be added to the list.
Volume 1, Number 144, Circulation 48,000
Printed February 27, 2026
Slingshot Newspaper
Office: 3124 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley CA 94705
Mailing: PO Box 3051, Berkeley, CA 94703
510-540-0751 slingshotcollective@protonmail.com
slingshotcollective.org
instagram/ facebook @slingshotcollective
Circulation information
Subscriptions to Slingshot are free to prisoners, low income folks, or anyone in the USA with a Slingshot Organizer, or are $1 per issue donation. International $4 per issue. Outside the Bay Area we’ll mail you a free stack of copies if you give them out for free. Say how many copies and how long you’ll be at your address. In the Bay Area pick up copies at Long Haul and Bound Together books, SF.
Slingshot free stuff
We’ll send you a random assortment of back issues for the cost of postage. Send $6 for 2 lbs. Free if you’re an infoshop or library. slingshotcollective.org