'Zine Reviews

 

As one comrade from Station 40 Food Not Bombs pointed out in San Francisco, at the same time many ‘zines are becoming something you look at on your phone, one of the ‘zines we reviewed this issue has recently reversed the trend and become a print project that started with something you did on your phone.

Even in the middle of the information technology beast’s belly, we continue with our commitment to print and celebrating others that do so also. Hopefully you dig these ‘zines as much as we did! (A. Iwasa)

 

The Abolitionist #26, Summer 2016

C/O Critical Resistance

1904 Franklin St., Suite 504

Oakland, CA 94612

As a testament to this prison abolition group’s writing and editing, and the depth of the problem that is the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC), the newspaper was still well worth reading months after publication.

Sharply laid out with great photographs and art, completely translated into Spanish and connecting the struggle against the PIC in the United States to other places such as Palestine and Argentina, this is a must read.  Perhaps best of all, it’s free to people in prisons, jails and detention centers! (A. Iwasa)

 

Turning The Tide: A Journal of Inter Communal Resistance.

Volume 29, Number 1, January-March 2017

Anti-Racist Action

PO Box 1055

Culver City, CA 90232

Tired of knowing what we’re against but never seeing the materialization of what we’re for? The need for proactive action is perpetual. Turning The Tide: A Journal of Inter-communal Solidarity (TTT) focuses on the necessity of radical organizing, education, and analysis in the face of white supremacy, colonialism, ecological devastation, fascism and the perils of empire. This journal has been published for 29 years and is produced by Anti Racist Action- LA (ARA-LA) and People Against Racist Terror (PART).

Starting as A Journal of Anti Racist Action, its name was later changed to highlight the recognition that in order to effectively organize for the liberation of all, we need to be clear about what we stand for as opposed to what we stand against. This is true for coalition building and networking across ideological lines. It’s for this reason that at times, TTT may publish articles that are contradictory along ideological lines, but remain consistent that POC and Indigenous liberation is the goal, and that capitalism and white supremacy are intertwined and work to undermine that goal.

Over the last 29 years of printing, TTT has published a 24-page tabloid. Often on a bi-monthly basis, with 6 journals being published

per year. They are distributed both in the streets and to prisons.

At the moment, economic hardship has become an understandable limit to the scope of the journal’s distribution. Postage alone costs around $1,000 for every issue. That’s why they’ve cut down to an 8 page journal published 4 times a year. They’re kicking off a campaign to get 100 people of means to donate $100 dollars a year, or $10 a month, to help spread their work further.

Check them out, and if you like their work and want to see more of it in your community, you can donate to their gofundme page by going to http://gofundme.com/eugzgg. Or, if you like to keep it old school, you can send cash, a check, or a money order to Anti-Racist Action. (Forest)

 

Slaughterhouse and Prisons for People and Animals by A. Rayson

South Chicago ABC

PO Box 721

Homewood, IL 60430

Slaughterhouse is a very biting, intricate, and widely-scoped criticism of capitalism in our society, artfully discussed in a frame of comparison between modern societal issues and industrialized animal brutality. Rayson describes and details their views by drawing connections between the corporate farming and meat industry and the natural damage done to human society by capitalist institutions’ deterioration of basic rights — the connections made are, in my opinion, understandably passionate and well-written, though a bit dense for it to be considered light reading by most. Rayson details the intensity of effects on economic, sociological, and political justice with ambition, bringing both the violent shift from indigenous anarchical societies to colonialist domination and that shift’s modern-day echoes to their discussion. I found this piece to be very well-done and dense in a way that makes sense for the huge net of topics Rayson discusses. Recommended for anyone who likes re-reading paragraphs a few times over. (dog food)

 

510 BAD SMUT

C/O Absolutely Zippo

PO Box 4985

Berkeley, CA 94704

The San Francisco Bay Area’s premier events hotline, BAD SMUT (1-510-223-7688 for those with phones too fancy to stick numbers 2-9 with three or four letters each) is now a print ‘zine!

For those of us stuck in the ’90s or worse, this is quite a positive development.  Not just shows like the old Cleveland Mosh Team’s Mosh Line, BAD SMUT includes political events and the print edition has scene reports not just for Bay Area punx, but also Humboldt County and the non-show or political Leona Canyon. (A. Iwasa)

 

Self Liberation: Join the Resistance

by Scott Zirus

dist. by South Chicago ABC Zine Distro

PO Box 721

Homewood, IL 60430

This zine is a short, informative publication about how to assert your autonomy in the various governments of the world. The zine includes an introduction to self-liberation as well as a list of the Universal Laws of Self Liberation, and is extremely accessible. Plus, it’s anti-copyright, so buy one and spread it around! (GoGo)

 

Health and Safety at Militant Actions

by On The Ground

dist. by Sprout Distro

PO Box 68271

Grand Rapids, MI 49516

sproutdistro.com

Health and Safety at Militant Actions is a must-have for any protester in this day and age. With the increased use of “less-lethal” weapons by the police, more protesters are being hurt and are unprepared. The zine gives info on how to protect yourself while protesting — including what clothing to wear, techniques to lower the risk of injury from tear gas and pepper spray, and basic protest first aid procedures. Available for order or in pdf form. (GoGo)

 

Thoughts on Squatting in the Francisco Bay Area: from 1970 to 2015

compiled by A. Iwasa, $2.00

Little Black Cart books

PO Box 3920

Berkeley, CA 94703

Here is the great idea: this zine is a call for submissions to compile a book on Squatting! (Interested people please write to a.iwasa@riseup.net)

Thoughts on Squatting… is an inspiring first step for this project. A. Iwasa not only compiled a lot of thoughts but even more questions on squatting.

In his introduction he lets us participate in his Travels and introduces us to a lot of different squats, collective and co-op houses mainly in the San Francisco Bay Area and some other places. He also draws our attention to two books: An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz and Nine-Tenths of the Law: Property and Resistance by Hannah Dobbz.

He shares a lot of connecting thoughts, experiences and observations.

The following two articles in this zine are a starting point for the book project.

Heather Wreckage’s article called ‘Questions of Race and Resistance…’ is inviting us to re-visit an unusual event in the swatting movement. I was disturbed to read how this incident played out with mixed up roles. It led to a lot of questions about privilege, and questions of property definition when not banks or investors are involved but a family home. Heather calls for deeper questioning and exploring those kind of contradictions. She ends with “It’s very easy for a community to become divided, but I think through sensitivity and honest communication we can keep a community strong.”

The other article gives us a quick tour through history, focussing on capitalism, landownership, and the owning classes. Samara Hayley Steele points out that to really let capitalism collapse there should (or must?) be other different “new social spaces in which post-capitalist identities and practices can evolve.” She describes the roots of the squatting movement in the European Autonomous Movement that quickly spread to the United States.

Samara has the curious question in mind if and how far the living reality in squats might be a practice of those post-capitalist social spaces. The question carries on when she ends with “everyone seems to have a different idea about what squatting is, what it could be, and how it should be represented.” (eoh)