Category: Organizer Essays

 

 

 

NonFiction

 

Midnight at the Palace: My Life As A Fabulous Cockette by Pam Tent

Add Toner by Aaron Cometbus

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism by Angela Davis

Half Breed by Maria Campbell

Dinning in the Raw by Rita Romano

The Free Speech Movement by Robert Cohen and David

Rotten by Johnny Lydon

Female Ejaculation by Deborah Sundahl

The Naked Civil Servant by Quentin Crisp

Graffiti Women Street Art from Five Continents by Nicholas Ganz

The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald

Complicated Women by Mick Lasalle

Girl Zines Making Media, Doing Feminism by Alison Piepmeier

Infinite Variety by Scot D. Ryersson, Michael Orlando Yaccarino and Quentin Crisp

The Purity Myth by Jessica Valenti

Screened Out by Richard Barrios

Occupy Everything edited by Aragorn!

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi

The Many-Headed Hydra by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker

Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici

A Cavalier History of Surrealism by Raoul Vaneigem

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

An Essay on Liberation by Herbert Marcuse

Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault

Walking with the Comrades by Arundhati Roy

America Beyond Capitalism by Gar Alperovitz

 

Fiction

Who Are You? by Anna Kavan

Kindred by Octavia Butler

Deathless by Catherynne Valente

City of Night by John Rechy

Wonder Tales edited by Marina Warner

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Forbidden Journeys edited by Nina Auerbach & U.C. Knoepflmacher

The Lost Ones by Samuel Beckett

The Resistible Rise of Artuto Ui by Bertolt Brecht

The Unseen by Nanni Balestrini

Amulet by Roberto Bolano

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

 

Art & Poetry

The School Among the Ruins: Poems, 2000-2004 by Adrienne Rich

Illuminated Poems by Allen Ginsberg & Eric Drooker

Idols by Gilles Larrain

The Brinkley Girls edited by Trina Robbins

 

 

 

Zines

Baitline, No Gods No Mattress, Padjo Nome, Muchacha, Dreams of Donuts, The Match, Dwelling Portablly, Anything by Rob Noxious, Maximum Rock’n’Roll, Pipe Bomb, Rad Dad, Hack This Zine, Mission Mini Comix Doris, Absolutely Zippo, Cometbus, Communicating Vessels, Morgenmuffel, Full Metal Faggot

 

Young Adult/Children

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Memoirs of a Bookbat by Kathryn Lasky

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Valente

Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger

Freak Show by James St. James

 

 

Baitline!

 

 

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (auto-bio in comics/graphic

novel form)

 

 

 

Loving Garbo: The Story of Greta Garbo, Cecil Beaton, & Mercedes de Acosta by Hugo Vickers (interesting bio of this sexuality twisting love traingle. The radical Mercedes would at least be of interest to readers)———

I hope you can use some of these! If you do, you don’t have go give me credit (not sure how this works). The list is mostly women & queer type things. Women revolting, maybe not in the traditional sense, but by writing fairy tales, becoming living works of art such as the Marchesa Casati who wore live snakes & malfunctioning lights, genius physicist Emilie du Chatelet, artist of vibrant girl in motion Nell Brinkley…and Zelda Fitzgerald. She’s too often thought of as a crazy woman, harpy who brought Scott down, bah on that. She was a talented writer,

very lush sentences thick with atmosphere. Scott sometimes stold parts from her letters & diaries & put them in his books. The best parts of This Side of Paradise & The Beautiful & the Damaned are from what he took of her.

The Idols book by Gilles Larrainis pictures of beautiful gender bending people in the 70s. Some of the Cockettes make appearances!

Hard Love I read almost two years ago and made me nostalgic for zines, seeking them out again. Written over ten years ago so there’s references to Factsheet Five & zines at Tower Records in there.

 

Freak Show needs to be given to all Middle Schoolers & High Schoolers upon entering the building. I hope James St. James writes more fiction.

————

 

 

Hi Slingshot creators!

 

I saw your call for submissions on We Make Zines blog and want to

submit the attached booklist for the 2013 Slingshot Organizer.

 

This book list was compiled by a radical librarian coworker of mine

from Hennepin County Library (Hennepin County, Minnesota).

 

Thank you for considering,

 

Sarah M. Sosa

 

 

Nonfiction

The great transformation: the political and economic origins of our

time / Karl Polanyi

The many-headed hydra: sailors, slaves, commoners, and the hidden

history of the revolutionary Atlantic / Peter Linebaugh and Marcus

Rediker

Caliban and the witch: women, the body and primitive accumulation /

Silvia Federici

The society of spectacle / Guy Debord

The coming insurrection / The Invisible Committee

A cavalier history of surrealism / Raoul Veneigem

The wretched of the earth / Frantz Fanon

The communist hypothesis / Alain Badiou

Trial / Tom Hayden

Pedagogy of the oppressed / Paulo Freire

An essay on liberation / Herbert Marcuse

Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison / Michel Foucault

Eaarth / Bill McKibben

Walking with the comrades / Arundhati Roy

America beyond Capitalism / Gar Alperovitz

 

Poetry

The Penguin book of Socialist verse / Alan Norman Bold, editor

First hymn to Lenin, and other poems / Hugh MacDiarmid

The school among the ruins: poems, 2000-2004 / Adrienne Rich

 

Herbs are a beautiful way out of a medical system dominated by an elite class of white men. Start with trying to heal yourself or a loved one by using plants. Most people are familiar with the uses of kitchen herbs such as mint and ginger. However, most don’t know there is an alternative to the uninformative advice most doctors give to people who experience problems with the reproductive/ fun organs, especially in the case of those who have ovaries and/or a uterus. Instead of birth control or pain-pills for menstrual cramps, try building your system with a foundation of nutritious food and a roof of medicinal plants. Eliminating caffeine and alcohol stops the constriction of blood vessels and the masking of exhaustion that fuels menstrual pain. Replace sugar, white flour, high-glycemic dried fruits, trans fat, and omega-6 rich vegetable oils with olive oil, flaxseeds, a prudent amount of saturated fat, seaweed, dark leafy greens, fresh fruits, organic protein, and broths. Exhaustion and anemia are common ailments that, once reversed, will allow the ovaries and uterus to heal themselves. Iron syrups typically contain: nettle, dandelion leaf and root, raspberry leaf, watercress, alfalfa leaf, hawthorn berries, yellow dock root, and dulse. Iron syrups can be bought at herb shops or made using a recipe. Taking iron in liquid form is important: iron tablets are ineffective and can be dangerous. To ease cramps (even debilitating, nauseous menstrual pain) try cramp bark. Cramp bark is not toxic to the liver as pain-pills are. Enlargement of the prostate can often be corrected by anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting foods such as flax, echinacea, tomatoes, soy, and pomegranate.

Basic botanical healing can also be about incorporating a few plants into the diet for general wellness. The following common weeds can be eaten like kitchen greens, proving that weeds are awesome. However, please don’t gather these plants from industrial sites, as the leaves absorb heavy metals. Dandelion helps the digestive system and liver. The result is increased nutrient absorption and an overall cleansing action: helping clear the skin, decrease inflammation, and increase energy. Eat chickweed to gain a wealth of vitamins and minerals and to kick-start the lymphatic system. Nettle tea is great for allergies and asthma if taken on a daily basis. The plant’s nutritional and cleansing abilities will invigorate the thyroid, kidneys, and adrenal glands. The work of nettle on your insides will show up on your outside, improving the health of teeth, nails, skin, and hair. Burdock is a weed that produces tiny round burrs from which the idea for velcro sprang. The roots are eaten in soups in parts of Asia and Europe. Burdock is a blood purifier, helping the kidneys and liver. It puts out the excess flames of inflammation, soothing arthritis, bursitis, acne, eczema, and herpes outbreaks.

Self-education about both alternative and allopathic paths to healing is the best weapon against the dangers of many state/ corporate health care systems. Keep in mind however, that western medicine might be the only way to save your life or cure a disease in some cases. Nevertheless, there persists a disturbing loyalty of doctors to western medicine. This article is too short to address the alternative medical systems of various traditions. Please go to a local herb shop or library to learn more.

DIY medicine necessitates caution. Learn everything you can about the treatments you are thinking of using, get to know an herbal teacher (they come in all ages and titles), and take great pause before collecting plants in the wild. MISidentification is extremely easy. Arm yourself with the knowledge to thrive.

 

A VERY INCOMPLETE RESOURCE LIST:

–Plants Gone Wild: Redefining Ethical Wildcrafting (Decolonize perspective)

–Spectacular Specula: An Activist Dyke Discusses Self Care, Queer Reproductive Rights and Her Os: The Mimi Reproductive and Sexual Health Zine Distro

–Trans Care: What to Eat, Supplements and Herbs to Prepare and Heal Around Surgery: The Mimi Reproductive and Sexual Health Zine Distro

–Hot Pantz: Do it Yourself Gynecology

–Gladstar, Rosemary. Herbal Healing for Women: Simple Home Remedies for Women of all Ages. Fireside: 1993

–Gladstar, Rosemary. Herbal Remedies for Men’s Health. Fireside: 1999

 

There is still at this time an active and free radical press. The purpose of this page is to compel and excite you to write for the revolution. Perhaps the first step is to establish the determination to write. Many publications can be intimidating when you first approach their ideology and tastes. It’s a good idea to read some of what they published and get a feel for them. The better publishers will give feedback on submitted material and communicate their needs for accepting your work. If their response is negative, don’t take it personally. Instead focus on how to make improvements. You may want to ask your friends to review your work and note their reactions to it. Consider their suggested edits, but have in mind that you don’t really have to change everything.

The approach you take to your writing may be the essence of what makes it radical, so take a look at what’s considered standard. The mainstream media divides journalism into three forms: front page news, feature and editorial. There’s nothing wrong with this but it has done a lot to create robots and perpetuate life under constant war and slavery. The front page news article usually comes in the form of an upside down pyramid, with the most important information the title and first paragraph. The style has the veneer of being objective, but there are many ways publishers disseminate bias in the way they frame the stories. Then there is the feature story. This is writing that builds up atmosphere or story and is common to magazines as well as newspapers. And then there is the editorial, which is basically an opinion piece. Radicals tend to write heavily in this style, with it usually resembling a rant. On the other side of this are the academic radicals that write as if arguing in a debate. They tend to use $5 words meant to stun the reader with their intelligence. This could be considered another form of soap box rambling.

The Counter-Culture press is at its best when it goes beyond just talking about problems and instead points to solutions—areas available for struggle, the development of new and creative tactics, hopeful stories about people who are changing things. An ideal radical article contains four parts. First, it ought to contain an analysis of a particular aspect of social reality that looks at the problem or phenomenon from a new angle or in a way that goes beyond “common wisdom” about the issue. Second, the article should suggest solutions, not just point out how fucked up things are. Third, the article should inspire folks to actually do something. Just understanding an issue and knowing a theoretical solution is not enough. Finally, the best articles have heart and are personal. We need media that goes beyond an academic, cold discourse and touches what is really human, precious and unique about each of our lives.

In addition to contributing to radical publications consider writing for mainstream publications, but injecting a radical perspective into them. Letters to the editor or op-eds are the most accessible. And of course we always recommend people start their own radical publication. Here are some radical publications that accept submissions:

The Earth First! Journal: collective@earthfirstjournal.org,

Fifth Estate: fe@fifthestate.org or Po Box 201016 Ferndale, MI 48220

Left Curve : Po Box 472 Oakland, CA 94604 editor@leftcurve.org

Graceless: graceless@graceless.info

MR&R: PO Box 460760 San Francisco, CA 94146-0760 mrr@maximumrocknroll.com

ANARCHY!: anarchymag.org/

RAD DAD: Tomas.moniz@gmail.com or 1636 Fairview St. Berkeley, CA 94703

Bitch Magazine: bitchmagazine.org/

Playing music, signing, storytelling — these are the raw creative acts that make us human. Where “the music industry” seeks to control music venues to make a buck, a thriving do-it-yourself, underground network of decentralized house shows seeks to keep music accessible to everyone. Here are some tips on hosting shows.

After you’ve decided you want to host shows you’ll want to answer these questions:

• Is your space sufficient, i.e. big enough, soundproofed, and/or isolated enough?

• Neighbors going to complain / cops going to get called / know how to diffuse that situation if it comes?

• Have you set basic ground rules for events at your space?

• What are/aren’t you going to allow in your space (Drinking / smoking / etc.)?

• Is there an age restriction? / Are you going to ID/card people?

• Are there sections of the venue / house that are off limits?

• Do you know how to handle it if someone is being harmful?

• Can you swing buying a few extra rolls of toilet paper?

After you have that all figured out, ask:

• What sort of genres do you want to host?

• What cheeky name will you give your space?

• Will you charge a “suggested donation” at the door for shows? How much?

• What portion of the donations will be given to bands? (Preferably, 100%!) Are you going to let the musicians crash after a show? Feed them? (Not necessity- but certainly is a nicety.)

• Do you have sound equipment (PA / mics / cables / etc.)? (If you don’t and can’t borrow from someone or afford to rent equipment, make sure you let bands know BEFORE you book them that you do not have a PA. The band will then either decide to bring one, go acoustic, or to not play.)
How many bands would you like (ideally) per show? (You won’t like the outcome of cramming too many bands into one show)

In this digital age, you can start a “page” of some sort for your space & build up anticipation for your first show / followers / fans / common-minds / band connections.

There are several ways to book bands:

GO GET ‘EM:

• You can actively seek out musicians you dig, and invite them (in person or via Internet) to come play a date at your space that you have pre-determined to be show-day.

• You can scope out a band’s show schedule to find dates they are available to come play.

• You can ask a band to give you some dates that would work for them, pick one, and then build around it.

If you’re going to go seeking out bands to play, you probably want to, until your space builds a crowd, stick to local bands. It would be a bummer to have a band travel to play your space & end up not having a crowd for them to play to & an empty donation jar.

• Most bands have a facebook, bandcamp, or website that has their booking contact information. You could also go to a show, and ask them in person either to play, or for their booking contact info. Once a band agrees to play a show, keep them up to date with new information as it unfolds, such as other bands playing the show, any press, fliers, event pages, schedules, so on.

OR, LET THEM COME TO YOU:

• You can post info about your show space on websites like dodiy.org or indieonthemove.com.

• Find other DIY spaces & communities & collectives & organizations in your area. Let them know that you are an available space, how to contact you, to send bands your way cause you wanna make some shows happen!

• Once a band seeks you out, you decide whether you want to host them. It is polite to respond even if you don’t want the band to play at your venue.

ONCE THE SHOW IS HAPPENING:

Consider if you want your address on fliers / social networking sites. Some spaces can advertise their whereabouts without a hitch, and some do & end up fucked over by police or random assholes that show up.

Sometimes the band(s) will take care of most of the promotion, and sometimes it will be up to you. You can:

• Make a flyer: Be sure to include: Date / time / name of your space / band names / cover / acceptable ages / either the address or your email address. Friends can help with graphics if you are not artsy. Hang your flyer about town, places with good traffic. Leave handbills (smaller versions of your flyer) at other area venues.

• Have the information about the show accessible on the Internet. The more sites the more people that will see it. Facebook event pages are a good move. Send the info to music blogs and local publications.

• Call your local radio stations (college stations are the most receptive) and tell them about your event.

• Tell your friends, tell them to tell their friends. Word of mouth goes a long way. In time your space will develop a reputation, a following, and it will become much easier to book & promote shows. Tough it out until that happens. It’s totally worth it.

 

New technologies are popping up at a rapid pace. Sometimes they actually fulfill a need and demonstrate humans utilizing inventive solutions to problems. But a bigger factor in their arrival is how capitalism compels new markets to blanket the landscape so that people keep working for garbage. And a lot of the newest gadgets are garbage with a short life span built into them—also known as planned obsolescence. Actually many new technologies are worse than garbage for they precipitate wasteful practices of our resources. The wool is pulled over a lot of peoples’ eyes—many of who just want to keep up with the times. Not seeing the big picture, many of us have wandered the aisles of shopping centers only to find ourselves lost at the dump. There are plenty of people who get by on older technologies, especially once you get spitting distance from the centers of wealth. The commodities of twenty plus years ago are still useable today, with as much satisfaction in their performance. Even though older technologies may be considered cumbersome and difficult to operate, they are often built to last a generation—when was the last time you saw something new built to last a generation?

 

The advances of this age are not only in technology and science but in communication as well. A problem with the latest networking fads is that the portals are controlled by corporations and the state. Cells phones, Tweets, Facebook, Tumblr….are simple, fun, and fast. They are so simple most people don’t even consider what they say to whom and when—when that’s exactly what’s being cataloged for purposes beyond our comprehension. They can also be taken away instantly. Radicals don’t need another reason to be paranoid but, then again, they often acquiesce to the mainstream fads so to not to seem freakish. When it comes down to it, cyber networking is the most fulfilling when it leads to human contact. Why not go straight to the source? Technology is not so far removed from the techniques of networking practiced and developed over the years. Taking the time with people and not things has merit. In fact, where we place our attention and how we do things is of prime importance. This approach also helps define reality for those coming up trying to understand this all. The internet and its gadgets have only been in widespread use for a couple decades—yet their perfection is often cited why we should throw away all that got us here. Consider then some suggestions of other forms of keeping the fabric of life connected.

 

SOME OLDER WAYS OF NETWORKING:

-WORD OF MOUTH

-VISITS!

-NEWSLETTERS

-FLIERS/HANDBILLS/POSTERS

-LETTERS

-LETTER BOXES (leaving letters in a box in public)

-GRAFFITI

-STREET ART

-SECRET MESSAGES IN PUBLICATIONS (like this one)

-DANCING

-PARTYING

-SEX

-SINGING

-MATCHING TATTOOS

-ZINES

-DISTROS/CATALOGS

-EVENTS PHONE HOTLINE

-PIRATE RADIO

-STARTING A BAND

-GATHERINGS/POTLUCK/RETREATS

 

Good sex, in our opinion, is an act of mutual aid. Every person, regardless of gender, is responsible for contributing to the well-being and pleasure of their partners and themselves. We must explore and know our own desires and learn to speak them. We must hear and respond to the desires of our partners (even if that means accepting refusal gracefully). This means finding the words to express how we like to be touched, spoken to, tied up, and cuddled. Fucking is any raunchy act, and all of it requires consent. Getting explicit permission, however vulnerable and scary it may seem, is a great turn-on. What better than knowing your partner really likes it when you touch them that way, talk in that voice, or use that prop? What is better than knowing you can ask for anything, and it will at least be considered respectfully? There is no way that we or our relationships can grow if we don’t find safe spaces in which to explore.

If you have never spoken during sex, or asked permission, or blurted out your desires, feel free to start small. Most people hear compliments well, and appreciate encouraging suggestions. However, it’s equally important to discover the boundaries of your comfort (often situational) and speak them as well. Starting off with a “this feels so good” or “I love it when you…” or “I’d like you to spend the night if you’re interested” is fantastically brave. Steady yourself for disappointment, and enjoy the benefits of good communication. You may find out a lover has fantasies they didn’t share or they may entrust you with a story of trauma that is a gift to know and share the burden of. Reading your partners’ nonverbal cues is equally important, as is verbally checking for consent about each different act in which you may engage. There is no implicit consent to touch someone’s genitals because you have kissed them, or to have intercourse because you’ve had oral sex. I once met a couple who’d been together for three years and had never said a word in bed. He didn’t know that she’d never come and she didn’t know how to ask for what she wanted! If your partner tenses up or cries or is unresponsive, it’s really important to stop, check in, and support what they need. Remember, all of us have triggers, and not everyone is capable of communicating when they are reliving trauma. Don’t restrain your partner unless it’s part of consensual play, and check in before you lock the door (this can be a subtle act of power). Be honest about any risk factors you bring, such as Sexually Transmitted Infections, whether you have unprotected sex with other people, and if you have allergies to glycerin (in lube) or latex. Details make all the difference.

It’s also important that we take care of our community and help out our friends. Sometimes people are too hurt, distracted or intoxicated to be concerned with their well-being. At the very least, we should directly check in with them about what they want and expect, and possibly help get them to a place of lower risk. It’s also important to confront people (in a supportive way) who act aggressively, because they may not understand that what they are doing is possibly assault. Rapists in prison admit to an average of 11 acts of assault before they are caught.  They are either okay with what they are doing, or don’t believe there’s anything wrong with it. The reality is, it’s a habitual behavior. Better to find out and help before it’s a problem situation. (Putting people in prison or exiling them from scenes will not stop sexual assault. We need to find ways to address the behavior without destroying the person.)

While being so direct about sex is outside of most norms, it transforms sexual experiences. When we are sure that we agree with our partners over expectation and desire, there is no fear to distract us—only pleasure and humor. The most important part of speaking our desires is realizing they are ours to fulfill—not our partners’. It’s much less pressure to offer someone a choice (“Would you like to come home with me or would you rather hang out here?”) than a request (“Would you come home with me tonight?”). Too often it’s easier to say yes than to explain “Yes, I want to come home with you but I’m nervous because I haven’t been with anyone since I was raped”. If we allow for slow and comfortable intimacy, we are likely to experience it more fully and joyfully.

So, if you are often the initiator of your sexual experiences, experiment with patience and let someone else take the lead. Even if it means being alone more often, you may find you enjoy yourself more when you have partners. If you are less likely to initiate sex, think of ways you could safely ask for intimacy.

It’s our responsibility to create new sexual expectations based on good communication that not only reduce the likelihood of sexual assault, but affirm that sex is normal and necessary. This begins with teaching children healthy ideas about their bodies and believing people when they share stories of sexual assault. There are endless ways for us to end our internal oppression and explore healthy, better sex.

If you’re worrying about the strange weather, polar bears drowning and cities choked with cement and exhaust, biking is a great alternative.  Biking is clean, healthy, makes you more independent from the corporate machine and it is fun and ultra sexy! Biking shouldn’t hurt your body, but it can if you ride a bike that doesn’t fit you. To be safe and comfy and to treat your body right when you are biking, here are some tips:

1- Before riding, make sure your wheels are in the forks and that the quick release on the front wheel is closed. Check your brakes, make sure they are tight and make sure the tires have enough air and are in good shape. Tires that are low on air make riding slower and you have to pedal harder to move.

2- Use the correct gears when riding, i.e. a low gear when you’re starting from a stop or going up hills, and a high gear when you’re going fast. Using the wrong gears can damage your knees and requires you to pedal harder to get around.

3- Make sure your seat is set at the proper height. Your knee shouldn’t be bent when your foot is going around the bottom part of the pedal. You may not be able to touch the ground while sitting on a properly adjusted seat, but you will be able to touch the ground when standing over the top tube of the bike frame. When you come to a stop sign, you can stay on the seat by putting your foot on the raised sidewalk curb rather than the street.

4 – Pedalling the right way is good for your body. Set the ball of your foot over the axis of the pedal spindle — it helps prevent knee pain as well.

5 – Unless you’re racing and need to be aerodynamically streamlined, you can adjust your handle bars to make them higher so you sit more upright. It reduces weight and strain on your wrists, keeps your back straighter, and gives your lungs more room to expand since you’re not all bent over.

6 – Don’t carry heavy stuff on your back in a backpack — get a bike rack or bike basket (or trailer) and let the bike, not your back, carry the load.

7 – Wear a helmet, ride on the right side of the street, follow the street signs, make eye contact with drivers and pedestrians, be aware of your surroundings, use hand signals when turning and use lights if biking at night.

8 – Get a bell for your bike — you can use it to alert cars to your presence, to express your spontaneous joy at moving about without burning fossil fuels, and even to get the attention of attractive cyclists you may meet. Ride slow and talk fast. But don’t take your eyes off the road . . .

Here are some tips about how to minimize our entanglement in the industrial capitalist machine that is destroying the environment and enslaving people across the globe. It is true that lifestylism — spending most of one’s energy changing your own individual behavior rather than working to smash the system — is not the solution for complex social problems like capitalism and industrialism. However, it is equally true that it isn’t good enough to say “I’ll change my individual behavior after the revolution.” If we’re all waiting for everyone else to change first, or for some great movement to tell us its time to change, we’re missing the point. Change happens on all kinds of levels in complex ways. Revolution means change on a structural, mass level — in ways far outside of our isolated, individual hands — and it also means millions of individual people simultaneously changing their own lives and behaviors in private, invisible ways. Participating in movements for change is crucial to change the structural, mass level, but our daily life choices are important too and are solely up to us.

That’s why a lot of us are switching teams — devoting our life energy to non-hierarchical alternatives to the system and avoiding participation in the heavy resource consumption mainstream economy every chance we get. In figuring out how to live more simply, it is often useful to ask “how did people live 100 years ago” and/or “how do people live in places that haven’t yet been industrialized?” Living simply focuses on quality of life, not standard of living. We’ve found that by learning how to live simply and farther outside the system, our lives are full of richness, excitement, creativity and fun.

 

Tips to Dropping Out of the Economy & Using Less Energy and Water

• Work as little as you can. Pretty obvious. This may mean creating collective business projects focused on meeting the members needs rather than working for the system.

• Live with less money. This may mean sharing more with others to cut costs, for example by sharing housing and tools. It also may mean consuming less stuff.

• Eat locally and/or grow your own food. Industrial food production uses a huge percentage of the fossil fuels consumed in the world. Transporting food from far away uses lots of fuel.

• Eat low on the food chain. A vegetarian or vegan diet massively cuts fuel and water consumption. It takes 5,400 gallons of water to produce 2.2 lbs of hamburger! If you eat meat, grow or hunt it yourself. Less processed food uses less energy too – oatmeal instead of granola or cooking from scratch instead of eating out. If you live and cook communally, each meal takes less energy and water.

• Drive less or not at all. Transportation accounts for 40% of US fossil fuel use. It takes 44 gallons of water to refine one gallon of oil. You can bike, walk, take transit or hitchhike.

• Get rid of your clothes dryer. The sun and a piece of rope is a “solar dryer” that has worked great for centuries. In the winter, clothes hung inside dry, too.

• Get rid of your refrigerator or at least downsize and share one fridge with lots of people. It uses more energy than any other home appliance. You can store stuff for a day or two without a fridge and/or build a root cellar in the ground (which in most areas stays a constant 55 degrees.) Fresher food is better anyway.

• If you live in a cold or hot climate, use passive solar heating / cooling. During the heating season, keep the draperies and shades on your south-facing windows open during the day to allow sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows. During the cooling season, keep the windows and drapes closed during the day to prevent solar gain and open the house up to cool off at night.

• Get rid of lights and appliance or at least turn them off when not in use. The electricity generated by fossil fuels for a single home generates more carbon dioxide than two cars!

• Get rid of your lawn if you have one. This is the #1 user of water in most of the country. Lawns are silly – you can replace it with a garden to grow your own food. Lawns symbolize property – gardens actualize the earth’s abundance.

• Shower less often, with friends and for less time to save lots of energy and water.

• Re-use graywater – water used for washing – for watering gardens – filter it first.

FICTION

Jean Genet—Our Lady of the Flowers

William S Burroughs—Naked Lunch

Sophia Nachalo and Yarotan Vochek—Letters of Insurgents

Alduous Huxley—Brave New World

Patrick Suskind—Perfume: the Story of a Murderer

Kelpie Wilson—Primal Tears

Voltaire—Candide

Tom Robbins—anything

Albert Camus—The Stranger, and The Plague

Steve Perry—The Man Who Never Missed

John Nichols—The Milagro Beansfield

Haruki Murakami—Norwegian Wood

Leonard Cohen—Beautiful Losers

Nick Cave—And The Ass Saw The Angel

Cristy C Road—Indestructible

Ramor Ryan—Clandestines: The Pirate Journals Of An Irish Exile

Pino Cacucci—Without a Glimmer of Remorse

George Orwell—Down and Out in Paris and London

Jorge Luis Borges—Labyrinths

 

NONFICTION

Theodor Adorno—Dialectic of Enlightenment, Minima Moralia

Shon Meckfessel—Suffled How It Gush: A North American Anarchist In The Balkans

Steven Best & Anthony Nocella (eds)—Igniting A Revolution: Voices In Defense Of The Earth

Paul Avrich—Anarchist Voices: An Oral History Of Anarchism In America

Chris Long (ed)—No Comply: Skateboarding Speaks On Authority

Edgey Wildchild—Fighting For Freedom…Because A Better World Is Possible

Peter Gelderloos—How Nonviolence Protects The State

Ron Sakolsky—Creating Anarchy

Max Stirner—Ego and its Own

For Ourselves—The Right to be Greedy: Theses on the Practical Necessity of Demanding Everything

Raoul Vanegem—Revolution of Everyday Life

Wilhelm Reich—The Mass Psychology of Fascism

Greg Der Ananian—Bazaar Bizarre: Not Your Granny’s Crafts

Da Chen—China’s Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution

Michelle Habell-Pallan—Loca Motion: Travels of the Chicana and Latina Pop Culture

Arthur M Fournier—The Zombie Curse: A Doctor’s 25 Year Journey in the AIDS Epidemic in Haiti

Bo Lozoff-We’re All Doing Time

Thoreau—Walden

Sogyal Rinpoche—Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

George Lakoff—Don’t Think of an Elephant

M Scott Peck—The Road Less Travelled

Brendan Mullen et al—Lexicon Devil

Critical Mass: Bicycling’s Defiant Celebration

 

POETRY

Kenneth Rexroth—Collected Poem Anthology

Leaves of Grass—Walt Whitman

Kenneth Patchen—The Journal of Albion Moonlight

 

CHILDREN”S

Suess—Fox in Socks

Shel Silverstein—The Giving Tree

 

ZINES, PERIODICALS AND PAMPHLETS

Gruppe Krisis (Robert Kurz)—Manifesto Against Labor

Clandestine Abortion Service 1968-1973 by Jane

Deviant Recipes

Squadset

Cometbus

Doris

Olive Drab Rebel

Abolishing the Border from Below

Urban Guerrilla Zine

Earth First Journal

Fifth Estate

 

In a free, non-hierarchical society, there wouldn’t be a police force — a group of people paid by those in power to use violence to enforce laws. Laws are typically made by elites to protect their power and social position, and therefore a primary function of police is to protect inequality. Historically, the most oppressed communities have suffered the worst abuse and violence at the hands of police. In response to this brutality, people have organized to protect our communities by watching the cops. These efforts try to deter the worst police abuses by exposing them to public attention. While the police are always watching you, usually no one watches the police. The Black Panther party originally existed to follow police patrols and stop their abuse of the black community. In more recent years, activists around the world have started Copwatch projects to keep an eye on the police.

The following are exerpts of the Berkeley Copwatch Manual on how Copwatch groups monitor police activity. If your town doesn’t have a Copwatch project, you can start one by gathering friends and forming your own citizen patrols. Good luck!

 

Our main tactic in Copwatch is to discourage police brutality and harassment by letting the cops know that their actions are being recorded and that they will be held accountable for their acts of harassment and abuse. To this end we will:

• Record incidents of abuse and harassment

• Follow through on complaints

• Publicize incidents of abuse and harassment

• Work with the [City of Berkeley] Police Review Commission

• Educate those who don’t believe that police harassment exists.

Defuse Situations

People don’t want to be arrested. As Copwatchers, we don’t want to escalate a situation to where police arrest someone as a way of getting back at us. We want cops to treat people with respect and to observe their rights. Often, cops forget that homeless people and others actually have rights. We may need to remind them from time to time. We must learn how to assert our rights and to encourage others to assert their rights without endangering someone who is already in some amount of trouble.

We do not attempt to interfere with officers as they make routine arrests. We document and try to inform the cops when we feel that they are violating policy or the law.

Shift Procedures

• Be sure your warrant status, bike or car is up to date. Don’t give the cops any opportunity to bust you. Assume that this could happen.

• Identification can be very helpful if the police detain you.

• Have a partner for safety as well as good Copwatching. It is very important not to confront the police alone. You must have a witness and someone who can verify your story in case of a problem

• Make sure that you are not carrying anything illegal! No knives, drugs, etc.

• Wear a Copwatch identification badge.

• Be sure that you or your partner brings things you will need to Copwatch: Incident forms, the Copwatch Handbook, Police Dept. complaint forms, Copwatch literature to distribute, tape recorder, police scanner, video recorder, cameras, copy of Penal Code

During Shift

As you observe a situation, one partner records what officers are saying or doing, while the other quietly gets information from witnesses. Consult and share information. Get a firm grasp of the situation first. Record as much information as possible. Witness names and numbers and badge numbers are important. It also helps to write down when, where and what time the incident happened. If there has been an injury, encourage the person to see a doctor and take pictures of the injuries as soon as possible. Distribute Copwatch literature while you are observing a stop so that people understand that you are not just there to be entertained but are actually trying to help.

Remember that you have the right to watch the cops. You don’t have the right to interfere.

When you observe police remember that you don’t want to make the cops more nervous than they already are. Keep your hands visible at all times. Don’t approach an officer from behind or stand behind them. Don’t make any sudden movements or raise your voice to the cop. Try to keep the situation calm. You don’t want to get the person in more trouble. If an officer tells you to step back, tell the officer that you do not want to interfere, you simply wish to observe.

More Assertive Style:

• Ask victims if they know why they are being arrested or detained.

• If the stop is vague, ask the cop to name the Penal Code Section that they are enforcing.

• Have educational conversations with people standing around.

• Don’t piss the cop off if you can help it. Don’t let it get personal. No name calling!

• Identify yourself as “Copwatch.”

• Try to stay until the stop is concluded. Remember that Rodney King was just a traffic stop originally.

• If a person wants to take action, give them complaint forms.

• Don’t assume who is right and who is wrong. Observe and document before taking action.

Be Careful:

• Don’t inadvertently collaborate in a crime (don’t become a look-out, warning if police are coming, etc.)

• Taking pictures or videotaping can be a problem if the detainee doesn’t want you to. Respect them. Tell them that you are working to stop police misconduct. If this doesn’t satisfy them, turn off the camera.

• Don’t make promises that you can’t keep. Don’t tell people you will get them a lawyer or take the cops to court, etc.

• Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” if you are asked legal questions. Better than giving out wrong information.

To see the full manual or for other information, check out www.berkeleycopwatch.org.