Category: Articles

By Joey

Currently a social worker for folks living with HIV, I’ve worked around sexual health for five years. In August, I interviewed my friend Tuck who lives in Eugene, OR and works in sexual assault survivor support and advocacy. Her work includes on-call crisis response advocacy, e.g., for someone who has experienced a recent sexual assault and chooses to either come in and disclose, or goes to the hospital to get a kit done, or wants to make a police report, or wants accompaniment to any of those. She also accompanies clients to court, staffs a crisis line, and trains volunteer advocates and crisis line workers.

J: What’s the current system like for responding to sexual violence?

T: The current mainstream system for responding to sexual violence, specifically for Oregon – and I will say that I think things are transitioning in law enforcement in an effort to become more trauma-informed – is that if someone is assaulted, they can go to a hospital and get something called a sexual assault forensic exam kit, which collects forensic evidence from their body, and they may get interviewed about what happened, anonymously or identified. The process for making a police report is that they’re interviewed by the responding officer (a beat cop), and that person collects initial evidence, might interview witnesses, might talk to the perpetrator, and then if they decide there’s enough of a case it gets passed on to a detective and possibly eventually to a DA.

The survivor can also file a lawsuit, but I don’t know as much about that. There are other services that folks become eligible for as well, like reimbursement from the state for lost wages, mental health care, etc. People also have civil protective options for their safety, which aren’t dependent on having a criminal case.

J: The state plays quite a large role then.

T: Yeah, I’ve started collaborating with a perpetrator intervention program, and there are some things in place around restorative justice or community accountability, but these are all community-created, not civic in any way. Most of it is the state.

J: The reason I reflected how much involvement the state seems to have is that we’re an anarchist publication and we’re – I am – interested in the groups you just mentioned, which are doing this at the community level, not at a civic level, as you put it. Two questions: what are the implications of the state having so much involvement, and could you saw more about the programs that are doing this kind of work on their own from a restorative justice lens?

T: I’ll answer the second one first. The question I’ve been thinking about is what does accountability mean? There’s a whole host of issues related to responding to sexual violence as a crime: one of the main problems is that the criminal legal system is so based around property that it doesn’t translate to these harms that are more spirit-based. How do you understand or quantify intent or impact?

I think that one of the issues that a lot of community accountability processes – and there’s a great book called the Revolution Starts at Home that has a ton of info about projects that folks have done around accountability, specifically confronting sexual violence in activist communities – is that people seem to mimic the criminal justice system in the ways they’re approaching accountability. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, so then you have to prove that crime took place, which when it comes to something like theft is demonstrable: I used to have a bicycle, now I don’t. But when it comes to something like sexual violence, especially around consent, it becomes much harder to prove, as any detective will tell you, and it doesn’t really reflect what actually happened in an act like sexual assault.

What ends up happening is that there are big town hall meetings, people present evidence, and people’s character comes under attack. If someone has more social capital, they’re more likely to believed; if someone has shaky standing in their community, that comes in as well. So there are a ton of problems that arise when we try to recreate a system that is inadequate to respond to this type of event — and, I would argue, is inadequate to respond to most things.

I’m by no means an expert on transformative justice, but I do feel that there are things that can be learned from survivor support movements, that would better inform accountability and transformative justice projects. People who have worked so closely with survivors are better equipped to understand the impact of sexual violence on people and should therefore be part of crafting the response to it.

Within anarchist/radical/whatever communities, there’s often an agreement around shared values, and one of those is that we need to develop alternatives to the state, so there’s more of a framework in place for working on this, as well as a high value on community; sometimes it doesn’t work that well, but at least folks see each other as members of a community rather than people who happen to live in the same town. Well, I don’t just work with survivors who are anarchists, I work with survivors from everywhere – how do we provide for folks who aren’t necessarily already involved with radical spaces?

J: I think there’s maybe a tension between folks who would say they’re not concerned with how well you can scale up a project like that: if you can make a project work in your community, that’s what you can do, and any attempt to scale up becomes inherently recuperative – and on the other hand, I think there’s a lot to say for the idea that, as you put it, a lot of people who experience sexual violence aren’t in those communities – and a lot of people who are swallowed up by the prison-industrial complex aren’t in those communities.

T: I think the issue is seeing community accountability as a replacement for the criminal legal system, because it’s too big. We can’t have a community accountability practice end up as a town jury.

The problem is if you imagine that you’re going to rehabilitate a perpetrator, for example, or work with them so they stop perpetrating violence or unlearn toxic patterns of violence and control, which is a task radical communities often give themselves – we’re working so far out of our skillset. And a lot of the time we don’t have healthy communication and boundaries, because we’ve never had it modeled for us. Especially in communities that are more transitory, it’s hard to imagine how personal-work-based change takes place. So how do we make community with each other that’s accountable, that takes care of each other, where each member is committed to working through their own stuff, where the social norms support that? I think it’s much more about culture-shifting than creating another non-profit or collective; there’s a lot of good to be done in having community workshops where people talk about these issues.

J: What do you think prevents communities from being accountable?

T: That’s a good question. When you see a problem this systemic, the answer is always that it’s a system issue. Sexual violence is deeply raced, deeply classed, based in colonialism; and these dynamics are recreated in our relationships. All of that affects what we do. So creating accountable community is in part about destroying patriarchy, white supremacy, heterosexism, etc, and it’s as difficult as any anti-oppression work that we have.

J: The thought in the back of my head was, it seems like part of the reason we don’t have accountable communities is because we don’t have to do the work of creating accountability; people just call the cops and imagine that the cops and the prison-industrial complex will somehow do that work for them. Does that resonate with you at all?

T: Largely, people want to keep sexual violence an invisible issue. When you look at the statistics on sexual violence and domestic violence in our country, it’s staggering — it’s epidemic. To confront that means confronting a huge part of our entire culture. Most people don’t want to think about it, and even people who understand that aren’t necessarily thinking about what survivors have to work with. So they might reflexively say, “Don’t call the cops,” but they don’t know what it’s like to be a survivor or the choices they have.

I will say that the movement to end sexual violence works really hard to ally itself with the criminal justice system; it’s been an intentional act over the past three decades to get cops to respond adequately to sexual violence. Remember that most kinds of sexual violence weren’t even crimes until recently, and if they were crimes they were property crimes – marital rape wasn’t a crime until 1994.  A lot of the initial work went to moving these issues from the realm of private business to public crimes. And we’re now left with the result of that. A lot of that trajectory coincided historically with a state that said, “You know what we’re really into? Throwing everyone in prison.” And those two movements worked really well together. While critiquing that, I also want to hold that people had real safety reasons for doing that, and continue to.

J: Yeah, it would be a misstep to blame a survivor who calls the cops. We’re in agreement there. But a little while ago I wondered what you think the implications are of the state being so involved in the response process, and I was thinking on a more systemic level about the historical process you just described – of the genocidal levels of incarceration coinciding with this new approach of collaboration with the criminal justice system.

T: I feel a strong critique of the DVSA [domestic violence, sexual assault] movement around its cooperation with the criminal justice system, and that critique has been brought forward by women of color advocates consistently, and especially black and indigenous women, who had named so much of that. The history is really reflective of the ways white voices dominated the movement – they didn’t see obvious consequences to that choice to work so closely with the criminal justice system.

In terms of what are the effects of state involvement, I think there’s been an intentional process of mystification around how the criminal legal system works: most people think that an individual presses charges against an individual, but that’s not how it works. So survivors come to the system saying, “this is what so-and-so did, and it wasn’t OK.” But what they find is that it’s taken entirely out of their hands and comes down to an issue of consent, where one person can say it was consensual and the other can say it wasn’t, and then the law says, we don’t know who to believe.  This is an important lesson for accountable community processes, to know that we don’t want to do that, too. Instead, approaching survivors from a trauma-informed perspective takes us away from this abusive criminal justice system: it’s not an issue of, “only one person can be right here,” but rather two people perceiving a situation differently, where one person has been harmed, and the harm is what we need to address – not what did or didn’t exactly happen.

J: And it seems like the state doesn’t have any way to deal with processes from that framework.

T: No, it’s not a part of the framework. I’m curious about what will happen, because the way consent conversations have advanced in the past 10-15 years is outstanding. We’ve developed these nuanced ways to talk about consent as an active process, and a lot of prevention work is based around consent education, but none of that has made it into the state. That is just not how consent is reflected in the law.

The other thing is that trauma-informed care is working its way into some parts of the state response, but not all. Things like understanding flight-fight-freeze as a normal trauma response hasn’t made its way through yet. So people are still questioned about, “Why didn’t you leave? Your car was there – why didn’t you take off?” Because people don’t understand how trauma works.

There’s a common question I hear of why haven’t people put work into community accountability? Well, a lot of people have, and do this work around the world, but in my personal experience there’s a pattern where some people do this work and many people don’t. And that’s often across gender lines – who does emotional labor, and who can choose to ignore sexual violence. Who chooses to support survivors by working on these issues, and who doesn’t.

J: I think that parallels a long-standing critique of activist communities – and this is somewhat of a caricature of the critique – looking at who’s out in a riot, for example, and who’s taking care of the kids of those folks.

T: Who will do the dishes after the revolution, type of stuff.

J: Yeah, it’s both predictable and sad to see that dynamic here as well… Anything you want to add?

T: The only thing I would want to add is to leave you with, what do we need to be accountable to one another? What are the ingredients for the recipe of accountable communities? We need to be survivor-centered, etc. I’ve learned in doing this work that those ingredients are skills that you can learn, ways of looking at the world – at power – that can be reframed. What we know is that people in positions of power sexually assault people with less power because they know the survivor won’t be believed. That’s a classic situation that’s well known, and yet in radical communities we don’t have a deep understanding of that.

So part of being accountable means learning about patterns like that, to demystify sexual violence. We know that rape culture is more than a movie with a fucked-up portrayal of non-consensual sex, but is actually present in these subtle ways.

So again, what do our communities need to be able to do this better, if we want to have an alternative space?

J: Right, and that recipe connects to so many other struggles… Thanks so much,  Tuck!

 

By Jesse D. Palmer

Leap Day — February 29, 2016 — is an extra day that gives us a chance to look at how we spend most of our days and wonder if we can’t do a little better? If the answer is “yes”, Leap Day can be an arbitrary but overdue moment to create decentralized, militant and yet creative and hilarious uprisings against the various oppressive systems that vex us.

The odds of evolving a brain like ours that can comprehend its own existence, play, create and love while spinning on a tiny rock in an infinite universe — those are very long odds. And yet people spend most of their lives just scraping by — facing constant pressure at jobs we hate, looking at computers when we would prefer to be at the beach. The world is full of instability, fear and loneliness as we constantly compete for virtual friends, overpriced housing and products that are killing the planet.

Leap Day is a gimmick. Systems of inequality, racism, police violence and environmental destruction are vulnerable, but they won’t collapse on their own. They need our help. Everyone is standing around waiting for something to happen or just focused on the latest outrage. We need to take the initiative and throw the first punch every once in a while.

In 2000, in the wake of the huge protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle, some of us in Berkeley created what we think was the first Leap Day Action Night. The size, radicalism and rebellious success of Seattle was a welcome surprise to many its participants — the energy we shared there is a great model for what we need now.

For 2000 leap day, one tiny meeting led to a night of mobil disruptive tactics with music blaring from a bike mounted sound system in front of banks and chainstores throughout downtown Berkeley — long on action and inspiration, short on tired protest rituals. We deployed finger puppets, not the huge puppets you sometimes see at tamer protests, because you can run while wearing a finger puppet. Confused businesses just shut down and the police didn’t know how to react.

Leap Day 2004 saw decentralized protests in Berkeley, Houston, New York, and Manchester, England. In Berkeley, black clad marchers carrying a “closing” sign threw glitter, foam “bricks” and popcorn at dozens of chainstores and banks while using a pretty red bow to tie doors shut. The action was festive yet determined with no arrests.

In 2012, right in the wake of the Occupy Movement, we had a funeral for capitalism in Oakland, complete with a real coffin and a brass band leading a procession through the streets to a dance party. The police had taken our camps, but they couldn’t make us love our bosses or the 1%.

The call for decentralized revolt on Leap Day 2016 is open-ended in terms of tactics, goals and strategy. The broader the critique of social institutions and the farther from single-issue-activism-as-usual, the better. It is up to you and each local community to figure out how to use this extra day for something exciting and new. Decentralization and openness are a key strength and necessary if unrest is to expand and engage the larger community.

Leap day can be a laboratory to see what actions feel relevant and engaging in view of local conditions. It’s useful to let your imagination run free and go beyond the well worn patterns of radical activity. How can we articulate our vision for the future now in dynamic, emotionally resonant, new ways? While unrest can be militant, its also important to maintain a sense of humor and avoid grim self-seriousness. How can we reach beyond the same folks we typically see in the streets? Leap day at its best can help break down the artificial separation between “activism” and living our lives full of enjoyment and freedom. Living joyful lives must ultimately be the same as building a new world.

You don’t need permission to celebrate Leap Day, and there is no organization, no structure, no email list. There is no success or failure. This is about taking matters into your own two hands and seeing what might happen.

There may be to ideas, resources, local action callouts and report-back at leapdayaction.org. Slingshot also has big posters we can mail you for free if you email us. Leap for it!

 

The 6 regrets of the dying

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

6. I wish I had used Leap Day every 4 years to get out in the street and be brilliant, creative and zany to smash capitalism, patriarchy and the state!

By x.lenc

Cell phones are effectively cops in your pocket, but as long as you’re carrying one around, you may as well use whatever resources are available to keep the cops in check. I reviewed a number of Android apps that can be used for ‘copwatching’ – i.e., recording cops on the street to have a record when shit goes down – in various capacities. Good luck!

Mobile Justice CA

Cops have been known to snatch phones away from copwatchers recording their abuses to delete the evidence; this app automatically streams your footage to the ACLU, so the video isn’t lost completely even if the cops take your phone. The app is easy to use and even includes a digital Know Your Rights pamphlet, but unfortunately it’s up to the ACLU to handle your videos once you upload them, so it’s hard to know for sure how well the program actually works. In the meantime, it’s pro-bono, so what do you have to lose?

Five-O

Five-O allows users to submit incident reports describing interactions with police in their area, generating scores for local departments and individual officers in your area. The idea is an admirable one – it provides a forum for users to discuss the worst cops in their neighborhood, and identify patterns in local policing. Unfortunately, the forums are largely devoid of actual discussion, probably in part because the poor layout makes the entire app very cumbersome to use. Hopefully there will be updates in the future, because this app shows a lot of promise.

I’m Getting Arrested

I love this app, it’s so simple! With a single tap of the screen, users can send a pre-written MMS text and your location to a list of contacts of your choosing announcing that you are being arrested and any other information you might want to send. It’s ideal for use amongst affinity groups at high-risk protests and riots, but it could be helpful for anyone carrying out a direct action, or even just for walking home.

MyCompanion

This was app was designed to allow your friends to virtually ‘walk you home at night’ by tracking your trip via GPS. They’ll be notified when you get home (or if you suddenly go off-course, get pushed, etc), and in the meantime buttons onscreen allow you to instantly call the police or mark an area as ‘suspicious’ if you feel nervous. While the app is clearly designed with, ahem, an attitude towards the police that you might not share, it can still be used to help comrades keep track of each other if you feel nervous about being nabbed by the police (i.e. when leaving a protest, or when there is a warrant out for your arrest).

Police Scanner

I don’t speak pig latin so police scanners are largely incomprehensible to me, but if you find it helpful to listen in on a department’s radio chatter, this app can give you access to a remarkable array of police bands, though not all departments seem to be covered. Personally I find twitter more useful during a riot, but to each their own.

 

By Wolverine de Cleyre

Filbanserin, marketed as Addyi, is a drug recently approved by the FDA to treat “hypoactive sexual desire disorder,” a disorder which does not currently exist in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) but is included in the International Classification of Disease. It has been referred to as the “pink pill,” likening it to Viagra for women. However, while Viagra increases blood flow to the genitals, Flibanserin purports to do something entirely different, to act on neurotransmitters in the brain to increase sexual desire. But before we get into a discussion on whether this is totally awesome or really, really creepy, let´s first look into whether or not it actually works.

Some trials of Flibanserin found no effect at all. Data averaged from the two “best” studies, which involved 5,000 women, found that Flibanserin increased the number of “sexually satisfying events” from 2.8 to 4.5 times a month. However, women receiving placebo reported also an increase of “satisfying sexual events” from 2.7 to 3.7 times a month.

Women with any sort of physical or mental health problems, or issues in their relationship, were excluded from the study group, although these restrictions will not apply to prescription of the drug.

What this boils down to is an extra .7 satisfactory bangs per month from effect of the drug. At $250 per month, that works out to $357 per bang. So, kind of a bleh aphrodisiac.

Flibanserin also has serious side effects like fatigue, dizziness, and nausea, and dangerous drug interactions with such common substances as antidepressants, hormonal contraceptives, and alcohol.

In combination with alcohol, the drug lowers blood pressure to such an extent that 1 in 5 patients lost consciousness after only two drinks. Bizarrely, these alcohol safety tests were done almost exclusively with men. It´s well documented that alcohol affects female bodies more heavily than male ones, so the actual effects are likely much stronger, but at this point unknown. Drinking a kombucha may actually make you incapable of driving. And unlike Viagra, which is taken only when you actually want a woody, Flibanserin must be taken everyday, [much more lucrative for drug companies] and effects do not show up for several weeks.

Why did the FDA decide to approve this drug? Well, they didn´t. Not the first two times at least. Flibanserin was soundly voted down by the FDA panel years ago, due to its serious side effects and lack of benefit. And yet, it passed on this third submission, despite no change to the drug or new studies demonstrating safety or efficacy.

What changed was a media campaign entitled Even the Score, funded by the drug´s owner, Sprout pharmaceuticals. It accuses the FDA of sexism, due to the fact that there are several erectile dysfunction treatments for men, and none for women. The gist is that prudish government regulators are preventing science from giving ladies the sex life we deserve. Many professionals with financial ties to the drug’s manufacturer, Sprout, have given media statements without disclosing this relationship, making the debate seem like women’s groups against the government.

This is pinkwashing at its most blatant and cynical. First off, it´s a faulty comparison, as none of the drugs for men claim to increase sexual desire, they just work on plumbing.

Its feminism is obviously shallow.

I´m really stuck by how, in both the drug company literature and physicians discussing the drug, the effect on the “relationship,” in other words, a dude, is nearly always mentioned in the same breath with the woman´s distress over her lack of sexual interest. Comments such as:

“I would point out that simply having a low sex drive should not necessarily be seen as a problem unless the woman is distressed by that or it is causing impairment in an important intimate relationship.”

So, the impatience of a woman’s spouse is what determines whether or not she has a medical condition, and this definition is being sold as feminism and equality.

The story of Flibanserin brings up a larger issue. The language of equality is easily co-opted. Equality usually means that a group of people excluded from power get integrated into the mainstream, and receive some of its benefits. What does equality mean in a system that is as fundamentally fucked up as our own? Does equality mean equal numbers of male and female police officers beating unarmed people to death? Does it mean more brown people in the military, or more queers clearcutting forests?

Do we want the “equality” to treat one’s body like a machine, to view sexual performance as a metric of manhood or womanhood or success as a human being? The “equality” to be up for fucking regardless of whether you´re exhausted from your soul-sucking job, your grey commute, or sole responsibility for your three kids?

Flibanserin is also symptomatic of the way that our society deals with its issues. A widely applied, technological solution for what is at base a social, structural problem. For example, genetically modified grains justify themselves with the promise to feed the world, but there is already enough food to feed the current population. The problem is that it´s unevenly distributed, so some people go hungry. Helicopters and drones are used to patrol the US-Mexico border and arrest immigrants, but this does not address the reasons that people want or need to migrate, or why employers choose to hire them, so people find a way through. These high-tech band-aids do not address the root of the problem, and in fact they distract us from understanding what the real problem is.

We need the time and space to know our own bodies and to cultivate our desires, and the power to choose lovers who turn us on. And sometimes, just sometimes we need freedom from sex, freedom from having to be responsible for the sexual needs of another person. What we do not need is a 250 dollar drug that makes us pass out over two beers in return for seven-tenths of a half-decent lay per month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by TRS, Deputy AgitProp Minister of Occupy the Farm

I have been around farming my entire life. I grew up in a rural state where small scale family farming is commonplace and an integral part of local communities. My college had a working farm, complete with a campus CSA program. Ironically, it wasn’t until I moved to California that I began working on community farms and came to view farming as part of my ideal lifestyle as well as my political work. I have volunteered and spent time in dozens of community gardens and farms around California and lack of community support in terms of volunteers and donated resources seem to be one of the larger issues that limits the growth of these spaces.

There are countless factors that contribute to this, including issues of class and race, but I think that for somebody who hasn’t been a part of a community farm, it can be hard to understand how becoming involved will benefit them, their community and the planet. Decentralized food production must be thought of as part of multi-generational projects, huge processes like rebuilding topsoil, replanting forests, and detoxifying the soil, air and water, comprised of billions of small actions. Although I don’t think kale is going to save the world, I think individuals and radical social movements would greatly benefit from a greater involvement with urban farming, particularly as a form of direct action.

On the individual scale, there is a real and significant material benefit from decentralized agriculture. It is relatively simple to grow high yield crops (which already compose a large portion of people’s diets, i.e. greens, squash, potatoes, etc.) even in small spaces and even where there is only concrete or a fire escape. There are even more options for growing more obscure foods like purslane, chickweed, and plantain, “weeds” with high nutritional and often medicinal value, and that could already be growing in your backyard. It is possible to grow a significant portion of your own food with a minimal amount of space and time commitment. With the added infrastructure and space of community farms, the potential bounty grows; most community farms produce enough for their volunteers and their community. A couple of hours volunteering can provide you with week worth of fresh, local produce. In addition to nutritional and personal economic considerations, there is a long list of ways farming, gardening or just hanging out with plants are good for you: health benefits from physical activity, pollution remediation, and plant medicines, mental health benefits from better nutrition and exposure to plants, connecting with the natural world, expanding one’s personal skill set and resilience, et al.

Beyond immediate personal benefit, supporting urban farms directly benefits your comrades and community. It is becoming increasingly common for urban farms to distribute their produce to surrounding communities for free or by donation at weekly farm stands. In food deserts, farms can increase access to healthy food for communities ignored by the dominant food system. Groups like Food not Bombs and events like protests, book fairs and fundraisers are other possible outlets for urban farm produce. Gardens and farms can function as community green space that can host meetings, potlucks and activist events.

The dominant food system and agro-industrial model is fundamentally broken. The food we eat is toxic and the way we grow it is destroying the planet and poisoning humanity. The racism and classism inherent in this system causes a disproportionate impact on low-income communities, communities of color, and the global south/”third world”. While I do not believe that consumer politics have the ability to create substantial systemic changes, I do see value in reducing one’s participation and complicity in oppressive and environmentally destructive systems, and consider it to be a form of resistance.

Occupy the Farm emerged in 2012 to defend the Gill Tract in Albany, CA, a piece of historic farmland owned by UC Berkeley, from development. Through a diversity of tactics, including direct action occupation the group won access to farm 1.5 acres of the 20 acre parcel and to begin to implement our vision. The Gill Tract Community Farm thrives and has become an open air laboratory and classroom as well as a functioning farm that has given away 1000s of pounds of free produce to volunteers, the local community, and activist groups. The farm also supports our continued resistance to the planned development of the rest of the Gill Tract, not just by providing food for our direct actions but also as a site of community outreach and new member recruitment. Development is imminent; check occupythefarm.org and our social media pages to keep up with the situation at the Gill Tract.

This article is not meant to be all inclusive, it only outlines my vision and my analysis. I encourage people to check out their local farms and make their own conclusion. This is a call to action. Put your praxis where your mouth is and then put food into your mouth.

by Wolverine de Cleyre

Wedged into the back of an overheated a van, I am weaving through the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, waiting to arrive in Oventik, a Zapatista town that is having their annual Festival del los Caracoles, their Snail or Spiral Festival. The Zapatistas are an indigenous resistance movement that first captured world attention January 1, 1994, when several thousand of them took control of towns and cities in Chiapas, freed prisoners from jail, and set fire to police stations and military barracks. The news was accompanied by gripping images of masked women with a baby in one arm and a gun in the other.

The van dumps me out into blissfully fresh air, in front of a gate and a sign announcing Zapatista Territory. A masked woman tells me I will have to wait to check in. Eventually, another masked person comes to inquire and write down my name, country, profession, collective, & whether we are adherents of the Sexta.

The “Sexta” refers to the EZLN’s 6th public declaration, put out in 2005. They outline what they´ve been doing, and the structures they’ve developed for autonomous self-government in their struggle. They describe their fight not just as something for themselves, or indigenous people in Chiapas, but as a union of the world´s dispossessed, exploited and rebellious against capitalism and neoliberal economic policies. They call for mutual aid between all groups struggling to preserve their difference and autonomy against corporate globalization.

Entering Oventik, I´m overwhelmed by the murals covering all of the buildings. Very few people live here, it´s rather a center of administration for Zapatista territories. I pass a two-story hospital, complete with pharmacy, on my way to the main stage, where hundreds are assembled to watch a girl’s basketball tournament. There have been different sports competitions between villages all today and yesterday. Around the corner are 15 schoolrooms arranged around a central courtyard.

It has the feel of a 4-H festival. This is partly because of the straw bales, but more because of all the kids running around, the family feel of the event. This shouldn´t be surprising, as the Zapatistas are essentially a network of indigenous families, rather than individuals who ascribe to a particular political ideology.

I have just a sleeping bag, not a tent, and there´s supposed to be political discussions at night that I want to stay for, so I find a masked person and ask where I should sleep. He checks in with some folks and takes me to an area with a roof, talks to the people there for a second, and rushes off to attend to other things.

I introduce myself to the women next to me, but they just look at each other and giggle. Do they not like me? Are they weirded out that I’m here? It takes me a minute to realize that they don’t speak Spanish, only Tzotzil, one of the many indigenous languages in Chiapas.

The EZLN is not the only indigenous organization that has come into conflict with the Mexican government over the years. But the Zapatistas are unique in that they advance the interests of more than a single ethnic group, meaning that the organization encompasses several languages. In this area, people mostly speak Tzotzil, but the Zapatista network also includes speakers of Tzeltal and Chol.

I’m getting hungry, so I make my way over to some tables where they´re dishing out tacos, chalupas, and coffee to a lively crowd. There are a lot of Spaniards here, some Europeans, and Mexicans from big cities, along with Zapatistas. All around me, people are having political discussions. I strike up a conversation with some teachers from Tuxtla, the capital of Chiapas. Mexico has a very powerful teachers union, and I knew that they were fighting a new exam, one that would cause a teacher to get fired if they failed it.

Annabel told me why she feels that their struggle is connected with the Zapatistas. She explained that it was ridiculous to have one national exam for teachers operating in different regions of Mexico. “There are teachers in Chiapas that don´t speak Spanish well. Their classes are in Tzotzil. The government wants to fire those teachers, wants to send in teachers from Mexico City that know nothing about the students or how they live. They want everyone to be the same, more central control, more standardization.”

Trekking back from the bathrooms, she asks what people think of the Zapatistas. I reply that when I was younger, 6 or 10 years ago, everyone on the left talked about the Zapatistas, but it seems to be less in fashion now. “You know, I think everybody looks at movements in other countries for how they relate to your own. When the talk was about globalization, the Zapatistas offered a vision of an alternative. In the last year, the big fight is against police violence in the cities, violence against bla–“

And I am hushed as two lines of masked men and women march past us, a solemn procession.

“Who are they?” I whisper after they pass.

“The Clandestine Committee,” they proceed through the crowd to the front of the stage.

There is a speech. Despite the big military concentration just down the road, despite the presence of and clear reverence for the masked individuals in front and walking through the crowd, the speaker doesn´t talk about the glorious resistance of fighting, martyrs, or the brutality of the evil government. It’s all about producing healthy and pure food, remembering that man and woman are equal, education of children, and resolving conflicts with each other. The translation in Tzotzil seems longer than the Spanish version.

Then the music starts and the basketball court and beyond becomes a dance floor. The Zapatistas don’t drink alcohol. This was a controversial decision that was pushed through by Zapatista women, partly because of alcohol´s associations with violence and sexual assault. In this crowd of over a thousand, I see no conflicts all night, and I’m amazed at how giddy and ridiculous I feel without alcohol, how light I feel without having to fend off drunken guys. There are still hundreds of couples dancing when the last band wraps up at 3am.

In between dancing, people eat and drink coffee. Zapatistas are used to foreigners coming through, and they´re comfortable and confident talking. The ones I spoke to had absolutely no interest in our demonstrations, our revolts, our publications. All they ask me is “And what food projects do you have? And what of the education of your children?” They are not incredibly impressed by my replies.

I think about the difference between the Zapatistas and radical folks in the US. Radical rhetoric and imagery from anti-government folks usually focus on the glory of resistance and struggle, crowds in the street and cop cars on fire, as the important thing, the exciting thing.

In contrast, Zapatistas see the real work, the important thing, as growing their own food, raising their children, living together. They are willing to engage in armed struggle to defend this autonomy from a government they feel has no legitimacy, but that´s not what they want to devote their energy toward.

The government mostly leaves them alone these days, aside from a paramilitary attack in 2014 that killed a Zapatista teacher. The state doesn´t try to enter their territories. They don´t pay any tax to the government, don´t send their children to government schools, and put EZLN markers on their cars in lieu of license plates. Their autonomy is due both to their own unbending will, and international pressure that keeps the Mexican military from slaughtering them wholesale.

The Zapatistas are alive and well.

I can’t copy them, as I am not, and can never be, tied to a piece of land in the way that they are. And I wouldn´t want to, as I’m lazy and the thought of being so enmeshed with my extended family makes me nauseous.

What we can learn is to neither shun violence, nor confuse the most conflictual action with the most radical. Conflict with the state is neither synonymous with nor alien to radicalism. Where do we start? Perhaps in building something so lovely that we too will be inspired to defend it.

 

 

By DIT Collective

In January 2015, news media began reporting on two studies published in Science magazine under the singular title “Planetary Boundaries: Guiding Human Development on a Changing Planet”, which explained that four of Earth’s nine essential life processes have been breached. Published by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, an international team based at Stockholm University, it stated the following ‘planetary boundaries’ have been crossed: human-driven climate change, loss of biospheric integrity, irreversible land system changes, and the oceans’ over-saturation with nitrogen and phosphorus. Just those words in that order sound horrific. The reality must be worse.

The problems, of course, are not reducible to a single issue. It can only be understood through the lens of many different issues coming together in a magically toxic convergence that has managed to do what nothing before it has been able to – not asteroids, not volcanoes, not any other sentient creature. Humans, it seems, have brought the planet to its knees. Yet there are common threads to these issues that are highlighted even by the team of scientists themselves. Human manipulation of the earth multiplied by the power of late capitalist economics have created an explosion of different degradations that Professor Will Steffan, one of the studies’ coauthors, described as a “death by a thousand cuts”.

One of the most environmentally destructive practices currently carried out by humans today is animal farming. A slough of facts and statistics back this up but perhaps the most striking is its contribution to air pollution. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), for example, estimates in their 2009 update to the report “Livestock’s Long Shadow” that 14.5% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) come from livestock, with 65% of that total coming from cattle farming. For comparison, the “Emissions Gap Report 2012” by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) approximates road transport to account for 13%. Other environmental problems caused by the animal industry include water pollution, water consumption, deforestation, and topsoil erosion alongside the obvious detriments to the animals themselves. The FAO’s forecasts global livestock numbers to increase by a further 70% by 2050.

The animal industry is a huge business with many different outlets, many of which are commercial but some of which are not: food, clothes, accessories, furniture, scientific research, blood sports, work, religious practice, cultural practice, and many more. Vegetarianism and veganism (both henceforth referred to as veg*nism) are practices that seek to avoid the metaphorical or literal consumption of these products through abstention. Popular veg*n logic states that people can begin to end animal exploitation via consumer boycotts that starve the producers of funds and thereby reduce the size and impact of the animal product industry. History has shown that this is not exactly true.

Veg*nism has been practiced as an ethic since the inception of industrialised farming. The UK’s Vegetarian Society, for example, was founded in 1847; the Vegan Society was founded in 1944, whilst the first modern factory farms were opened in the 1970s. Yet at no point in this 170 year history has the animal industry faltered due to people abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, or leather. Even niche corners of the animal industry such as vivisection, bullfighting, dogfighting, fox hunting, fur fashion, foie gras, and numerous others remain small but thriving subcultures despite overwhelming mainstream opposition. Veg*nism as economic boycott hasn’t eliminated these practices, nor does it seem likely to in the future. During the past 20 years, in fact, capitalism has recuperated these practices and created a hugely successful industry out of them: during 2012, in the UK alone, meat-free alternative sales amounted to £607 million (USD$945 million).

If veg*nism as a practice can’t even stamp out niche pastimes and it has in fact contributed to the growth of capitalism, how can it help the planet? Why is veg*nism still relevant, especially for radicals? How does veg*nism affect environmental destruction in a meaningful way?

There are as many different rationales for veg*nism as there are adherents. True, some of those reasons are entirely antithetical to anarchism, anti-capitalism, and other radical thought. Nothing is revolutionary about buying expensive meat-free sausages at the local supermatket chain outlet or spending the equivalent of three days wages on a pair of leather-free shoes from website Bourgeois Boheme (the clue is in the name), not when class warfare remains as core to revolutionary thought as it was 150 years ago.

In his text “Animal Liberation and Social Revolution: A Vegan Perspective on Anarchism or an Anarchist Perspective on Veganism”, Brian A Dominick writes that, “To embrace veganism and forgo the consumption and utilization of animal products is not an end, but a beginning; a new start affording the practitioner an opportunity to see everyday realities in a different light.” This extends even to the smallest details: look at ingredients lists, for example, and it becomes startlingly apparent that animal products – milk in particular – are in so much of what is consumed as food and drink. In the same way that capitalism has infected almost aspect of our social lives, the animal industry has snuck its way into everything that we eat or drink. Recognizing this ubiquity, being aware of it, builds new windows into life.

It is important to remember that these are the results of capitalism and mass industrialisation. At no previous point in history could animal industries have reached the scales reached today. The “outsourcing” of farming space to regions such as rural Latin America and Africa, for example, was impossible 500 years ago while the large scale transformation of forests or deserts into farmable land has been made possible only by the technology and carelessness of advanced capitalism.

As is often the case with large business, following the trail of names up the supply chain often leads to a single company. Tyson Foods is a producer of beef, chicken, and pork foods that supplies to many big name US fast food outlet including McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, and KFC as well as supermarkets such as Wal-Mart and IGA. In 2014 it had sales totalling $36 billion whilst operating a trans-continental business involved in killing 6 million chickens, 48,000 pigs, and 30,000 cows per day across its 123 processing plants. It has also had multiple accusations and prosecutions during the past 15 years for water contamination including a Tyson Foods plant in Missouri that was found guilty of 20 violations of the Clean Water Act. Massive sections of capitalism are built with the blood, flesh, and bones of animals. Anti-capitalism cannot dismiss this and environmentalism cannot ignore this.

Veg*nism consumerism suffers from this to an almost comically ironic degree. The popular UK dairy-free ice-cream brand Swedish Glace for example is owned by Unilever, a company condemned for its animal testing, and widespread UK dairy-free margarine brand Pure is owned by multinational dairy and meat producer Kerry Group. Both Kerry Group and Unilever are major palm oil users, with the latter having a particularly atrocious environmental record that includes massive deforestation in Indonesia for palm oil and paper. Though both utilize Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification, the Worldwatch Institute reports criticisms of this certification from many different fronts including Greenpeace and Centre for Orangutan Protection because of loopholes that allow companies to continue deforesting. In this case popular veg*n ‘alternatives’ offer only personal change and do little to affect where the money actually goes.

There is no buying a stop to pollution and destruction because capitalism is unable to function without them. Veg*nism is not an answer to environmental problems but it may help us find the solutions, though only when married with a wider anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian worldview. Similarly, environmentalism and anarchism become much more effective when they incorporate understanding of the animal industry.

To quote the anonymously-written article “Beasts of Burden – Antagonism and Practical History”: “[V]egetarianism/veganism is not just a matter of sanctimonious handwashing. […] Not eating animals brings about qualitative improvement in the well-being of animals (as well as quantitative reduction in animals killed), even if as an isolated act it can be commodified and turned into another lifestyle marketing niche.”

Veg*nism is an easy personal step to take, one that requires only personal decisions and necessitates no authority figures or educational training. For all the recuperation of the industry, a large section of veg*n culture still relies on DIY principles such as locally sourced food, homegrowing and cooking, recipe creativity, local communities and community work such as Food Not Bombs, zines, events, etc. Filtered through the lens of anarchy, veg*nism takes on an increasingly powerful dimension that helps contribute to a more compassionate and liberated life. The opposite is true as well.

Anarchy is not just redefining the society around us but redefining ourselves as well. Withdrawing from the animal industry, and withdrawing from animal products altogether, offers new opportunities to relate to the world around us.

If you are raising and killing your own animals as an individual or community then this article is probably not aimed at you. If you are interested in anti-capitalist or anti-authoritarian practices then eating animals when it is not necessary – and it is not necessary if you live in the Europeanised West – is nothing but habit. A habit contributing to the deaths of billions of animals and the destruction of the planet on an unimaginable scale.

Like feminism, decolonialisation, queer theory, and many others, veg*nism provides tools for the analysis of and resistance to the dominant culture of today. Like those veg*nism cannot simply be ignored if we are to create a truly holistic and liberated culture that respects humans, other animals, plants, trees, and the rest of nature for what it is rather than what we want it to be. Veg*nism still matters because it still contains important seeds of resistance and reaction to capitalism and the state. Veg*nism still matters because it offers one of the most potent connections to a more compassionate and liberated culture.

‘Zines: underground magazines, frequently self published, sometimes standing alone, other times periodicals that span years. Zines continue to defy the death of print. Please consider checking out some of the titles we’re excited about!

In Slingshot #118 I reviewed the Political Pre-History of Love and Rage which included a factual error. From reading the ‘zine I was under the impression that Neither East Nor West (NENW) was a response to an RCP front group, No Business As Usual. We received a reply from an ex-member of NENW that said their organization formed autonomously, and their history has been published again by the Anarchist History Nerd Brigade and is reviewed here. (A. Iwasa)

Mob Work

Anarchists in Grand Rapids, Vol. 4 www.sproutdistro.com

This ‘zine is the fourth in a series covering Anarchist activities in Grand Rapids, Michigan from the 1980s to the 1990s. Though this volume focuses on the 1980s and ’90s, it starts with major actions, organizations and periodicals from the 1970s from all over the U$ to properly contextualize the main topics of the ‘zine. This also allows new readers to start with this volume.

From Anarchist participation and Anarchistic organizational forms in the anti-nuclear and Central American solidarity movements, to the emergence of explicitly Anarcha-Feminism and its effects on Queer Liberation struggles; different groups, periodicals and events are chronicled and sources are extensively cited. The influence of Anarchism on punk and hardcore, is followed by the late ’80s continental Anarchist gatherings such as the 1,500 strong 1989 San Francisco gathering where one of the pilot issues of Love and Rage, Writing on the Wall, was distributed.

The opening of Infoshops in North America, Anarchist involvement in Earth First! and the emergence of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) are all covered before the main topic of the ‘zine.

Some of the national political movements of the 1980s and ’90s are quickly reiterated before a lengthy description of the era’s Anarcho-Punk scene in Grand Rapids. Media is covered next, first via a radical student paper, Wake Up!, then a TV program made by the Society for Economic Equality (SEE), followed by Discussion Bulletin; a libertarian socialist publication for various anti-state groups to share and debate ideas.

1990s Anarchist gatherings that occurred in Michigan are written about, then anti-Klan and anti-police brutality demonstrations.

Local Anarchist and Anarchistic initiatives directly influenced by International Movements from Anarchist Black Cross, Anti-Racist Action, Food Not Bombs and Critical Mass are all written about building up to the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization (WTO) protests. In turn, the post-Seattle prominence of radicalism, especially in the George W. Bush era, and the changes of tactics from non-violence to confrontational direct actions is recorded.

Like any history of the 1980s and ’90s probably should, this ‘zine started in the 1970s and ended in the early 2000s. The newer Grand Rapids Anarchists’ lack of connection to the previous few decades of Anarchist struggle is seen as both a good and bad thing. Hopefully this ‘zine has helped bridge that gap, and it would be nice to see more like it. (A. Iwasa)

Reckless Chants #21 Jessie McMains PO Box 85278 Racine, WI 53408 recklesschants.net

Following a brief introduction, Rust Belt Jessie takes you on a very personal journey from her youthful politicization during Operation Desert Storm, through crushes, involvement in punk and how much that can bring you down, all sorts of fandom; and thoughts on gender, gentrification, change, queerness and ‘zines.

Some topics come up again and again. These aren’t tidy, one dimensional stories, but a series of articles, a couple journal entries and one interview that wildly flow through all of these things and more, with all the fluidity of a life passionatly though sometimes painfully lived to the fullest.

I became familiar with Jessie’s writings through her blog, rustbeltjessie.tumblr.com, and have read a couple of her stand alone ‘zines: and it murders your heart and Belmont & Clark. Though all of that material has been interesting, finally reading Reckless Chants has made me a fan of her’s for sure, and I look forward to backtracking through all the old issues I can find. (A. Iwasa)

Neither East Nor West NYC: a De Facto Anarchist Black Cross History, 1980-1994 anarchisthistory.noblogs.org

In responce to my review of the Anarchist History Nerd Brigade (AHNB) ‘zine, The Political Pre-History of Love and Rage, ex-member of Neither East Nor West (NENW) Bob McGlynn submitted this text to the AHNB and Slingshot to clarify that the organization’s roots were not an anti-authoritarian responce to the Revolutionary Communist Party front group, No Business As Usual, as was stated in the Love and Rage material used to make the AHNB ‘zine.

Previous editions have been printed in Fifth Estate and The Utopian. McGlynn’s prologue seems a bit tangental, but quickly turns into a wild ride of activism in support of radical political disidents going from Poland’s Solidarnosc to the USSr’s Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists. Protests and petitions went on in both sides of the iron curtain and the importance of their newspaper, On Gogol Boulevard as a networking tool for the nearly 40 NENW groups that emerged in North America is stressed.

For those interested in late 20th century radicalism, left-wing dissent in the Eastern Bloc, and the history of political prisoner support, this is a must read. (A. Iwasa)

SCREW UPS! screwups@riseup.net

Oh yeah, here is the work of someone tracing the labor issues of a select industry—UPS, and done so with marvelous humor. Their February issue has pick up lines like, “Don’t worry I know how to handle a package” which reveal that unions don’t have to be dominated by dour lifeless people. This does a lot to make real the conditions that people face who would be easy to ignore through their corporate logo and uniform. Also the mere fact that this exists speaks to the power of printed materials. I found my copy in the free literature area of the local community center, The Omni. A good example to move our struggles to more spaces that are off the internet. (eggplant)

AB #18 Sept 2015 c/o Lisa Ahne PO Box 181 Alsea OR 97324

Here you have the on going dialog regarding how to live on very little resources and off the radar. This should appeal to back to the landers and anti authoritarians. This issue looks at people who get by in mobile homes, 5 pages on sea dwelling vessels, anecdotes about the ever present police hassles, a political tract and analysis on a healthy food book that exhausts the history of humans and food habits. The zine’s writers is full of contributors with a little bit of commentary by the editor. The whole production is pretty dense. There is no graphics to separate sections when the subject changes. I wouldn’t recommend this to impatient people or the illiterate. For people who painstakingly search out details to find the cracks to escape from the prison of this system.(eggplant)

Prisoners Air Mail #1 Ramon D. Hontiveros P-34034 B3-SHU-105 PO Box 290066 Represa, CA 95671

Reminding me of a high school publication or a punk house newsletter this prison made zine is brave. An assortment of voices rally to show strength in numbers. I liked most of the pieces of writing but what really makes the contributor’s writing vivid is the notes the editor gives to flesh out the personality. There’s also reprints of topical items like Palestine and political prisoners which normally would put me to sleep. But as far as reprints goes they are quite readable. It is also indicative of how limited the resources are for the people working on this. A little chaotic for the first issue with stray voices and styles to figure out. Also the printing is pretty lousy, having computer filtered fuzziness throughout it. As i read it I contrasted the people around me holding a phone in front of their face squinting – at least i was squinting at paper that has a lot of soul put to it.

Write the editor who is also the organizer of Solidarity Now! a international network of prisoners. He will probably not be able to send you a zine but he can direct you to his outside contact that can. (eggplant)

Node Pajomo #18 Summer 2015 Po Box 2632 Bellingham WA 98227-2632

A zine dedicated to the hands on world of media. Mail art, mix tapes and zines are given proper consideration and contact information. Change is in the air. This is the last issue as a full on zine. The editor announces the nature of the what he does will scale down and become more of a zine listing other projects. This is too bad because he actually investigates all the material people send him and relates what he finds. Also most impressive is that many of the pages is ordained in graphic deliciousness. I read this issue during a 12 hour experimental noise show – the collage of sounds reflected back onto the paper.(eggplant)

Cemetery Gates #1  $6.50 ppd (???) PO Box 251 Modesto, CA 95353

This new publication looks at how people confront death and grief. The editor sets the context of why to do this and its quite touching. The bulk of the content are some written pieces and photos of cemeteries. The atmosphere of cemeteries is pretty hard to capture using photocopiers but there’s close to a dozen images here that you can take to the copy shop and use to make art with. (eggplant)

Cameron Forsley Art PO Box 720283 San Francisco, CA 94172 cameronforsleyart@gmail.com

Three zines from the same artist who works in pen and ink made it to our mailbox since our last issue. Animal Sketches and Sketch Book Drawings give the hungry mind a chance to feast on rich images. They look like they come straight from what he’s looking at and onto his notebook. Also received was Tat Rat#6, which is structured like a comic that tells a surreal story. Its more of a psychedelic hallucination than an ordinary comic. It’s good to know that as the world turns there’s someone out there recording the motion.(eggplant)

 

 

 

Compiled by Jesse D. Palmer

Here’s some new radical spaces we found out about right after taking the 2016 Slingshot Organizer to the printing press, plus some mistakes. The contact list we publish is loosely organized, incomplete and idiosyncratic — more like a trail of break crumbs left in the forest than a coherent trail. It may or may not help you find interesting people or projects involving DIY, anarchists, bikes, cooperation, or punk shows in a particular area. These projects aren’t McFranchises — the zines won’t all be the same and a particular space can be amazing on Thursday and shitty on Saturday. Nonetheless, the messy chaos free-thinking people create when they set up public spaces dedicated to alternatives to the sick system is inspirational. Visit these spaces and lend a hand, or start your own. Let Slingshot know if you see mistakes or omissions. We put updates to the list at slingshot.tao.ca.

Bombs Away! – Athens, GA

A collectively run bookstore, music and art venue and DIY/meeting space with a free skool that opened September 1. 295 1/2 E. Broad St. Athens, GA, 30601 facebook.com/ bombsawaybooks

SP CE Commons – Lincoln, NE

A collectively operated storefront that hosts discussion groups, workshops, classes, poetry, performances, potlucks, yoga and meditation. They have a free library and 3 letterpress printing presses. Open Sun 1-4, Mon and Wed 6-9 and when the sign says open. 1239 S. 14th St, Lincoln NE 68502 spzzce@gmail,facebook.com/spZcecommons

Blackjack Bioregional Infoshop – Bend, OR

They have new and used books and host events and an an espresso cart. 735 NW Columbia St. Bend, OR 97701 541-390-0951 blackjackbioregional.com

Solidarity – Houston, TX

A nonhierarchical volunteer-run space with a radical library, computer lab and kids area that hosts meetings and events. They share the space with Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services. “We oppose (and expect those who work with us to oppose) white supremacist capitalist cis-hetero-patriarchy.” 6733 Harrisburg Blvd, Houston TX, 77011 solidarityhouston.org

Infoshop at Atlanta Vintage Books – Atlanta, GA

They have zines and radical books in a corner of this 26 year old independent community bookstore. 3660 Clairmont Road Atlanta, GA 30341 770-457-2919

Kismet Creative Center – St. Louis, MO

A privately owned record store with an art gallery and books that hosts shows and events. They asked to be listed so if someone is in St. Louis and can email us your impressions it would be great. 3409 Iowa, St. Louis, MO 63118 314-696-8177

Barricade Inn – Dublin; Ireland

A new squatted anarchist social centre. 77 Parnell St. Dublin, D1 Ireland, baricadeinn@squ.at, barricadeinn.squ.at

Errors in the 2016 Organizer

• We didn’t list Che Cafe (9500 Gilman Dr. SC B-0323C La Jolla, CA 92093) because they have been fighting eviction from the University of California San Diego and they lost their court case. It wasn’t looking good despite a 24 hour-a-day student occupation since March to keep the police from changing the locks. But after the organizer went to the printing press, they reached a settlement with the UC on some critical issues, so it seems like they’re going to survive! The court eviction is still being appealed so stay tuned.

• Just after we took the organizer to the printing press, we found out that Rock Paper Scissors in Oakland was closing. They were forced out by rising rents from gentrification of the formerly-low income neighborhood they were in — fueled in part by the amazing arts scene RPS founded.

• The Flying Brick Library at 506 S. Pine St., Richmond, VA 23220 wasn’t included in the organizer. They still exist but are open by appointment only. Email them at theflyingbrick@riseup.net.

• Pangea House in Minot, ND no longer has a physical location so the address listed the organizer is wrong.

• The spelling of Centro Autónomo at 3460 W Lawrence Ave. Chicago, IL 60625 is wrong in the organizer.

• Oops we printed an address for Le Seul Problème in Marseille, France but they don’t exist anymore.

• We published the wrong address for Libreria La Valija de Fuego It’s address is Carrera 7, #46-68, Chapinero, Bogotá, Colombia. Tel: 338 1227. librerialavalijadefuego.blogspot.com