It is our conviction and our practice that to reveal and fight, neither bosses nor political leaders, nor messiahs, nor savours are necessary; to fight you only need a little humility, a bit of dignity, and a lot of organization, the rest serves the collective or it does not serve.” – Subcomandante Marcos
At the next Victoria Anarchist Reading Circle, we are going to explore the Indigenous Perspective on Neoliberalism, beginning with Subcomandante Marcos’ 1997 speech, “The Fourth World War Has Begun” and supplemented with a text on the global Indigenization Resurgence excerpted from S.P. Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996).
Please download the reading from the lower right-hand side of our website.
As per usual, we will be meeting at Camas Books (2620 Quadra Street) on unceded Lekwungen Territory. The meeting is on Tuesday January 7th. Doors at 6:50; Discussion at 7:00pm.
This week, the circle decided to read a chapter from the acclaimed anarcha-femininst and witch, Starhawk. Starhawk is founder of the Reclaiming Tradition of witchcraft, which combines magickal practices with social and ecological activism, communialism, as well as sustainable land-based reclaiming techniques, such as permaculture gardening, and so on.
On Tuesday August 27th, we will be reading Starhawk’s first chapter from the 1990 edition of Dreaming the Dark. This is where she explains the difference between ‘power-over’ and ‘power-from-within.’ The reading has been scanned (and you will be able to read all my notations!) and is available below.
As per usual, we are meeting at Camas Books and Infoshop, on unceded Lekwungen Territory, 2620 Quadra Street. The doors will be open at 6:50pm, with the discussion beginning at 7pm.
For our next ‘reading’ we are watching a video! Please follow the link to this website and watch Vikki Reynold’s keynote presentation on “Resisting Calling Out Culture.” If you are a keener (and this is by no means obligatory) you can also read the supporting article “Leaning In as Imperfect Allies.”
As always, we are meeting at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street on unceded Lekwungen Territory. That’s on Tuesday, July 16 @ 7pm (doors at 6:50). See you there!
Civilians returning home to Raqqa following the expulsion of Islamic State forces by Rojava militias, November 2017
In Spring 2011, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) of Northern Syria (Rojava) established a People’s Council of West Kurdistan around the concept of “democratic confederalism” wherein diverse peoples and political actors united under an autonomous anti-state structure of self-governance. Three regional “Cantons” formed a federated structure encompassing most of northern Syria. Rojava’s revolution was defended by two militias — the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ). The emergence of a secular, feminist, anti-authoritarian system of self-governance in the midst of Syria’s civil war was an extraordinary event and military victories against the Islamic State (notably the heroic rescue of minority Yezidi peoples besieged by Islamic State forces in the Sinjar Mountains) brought the Rojava revolution to world attention.
Join Professor Ozlem Goner to learn about the roots of the Rojava revolution, its ecological, feminist, and anarchic democratic vision, as well as current threats to Rojava poised by Turkish armed forces in alliance with Russia.
Two events are planned:
Monday, January 13th, 7:00pm, Room 129 MacPherson Library, University of Victoria (unceded WSÁNEC & Lekwungen (Songhees & Esquimalt) Territories).
Tuesday, January 14th, 7:00pm at Camas Books & Infoshop (unceded Lekwungen Territory)
Ozlem Goner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, College of Staten Island, City University of New York. Goner has written on a range of issues, including memory and historicity; political economy and the environment; and outsider identities. In 2017 her book, Turkish National Identity and its Outsiders: Memories of State Violence in Dersim, was published by Routledge. She is a steering committee member of the US-based Emergency Committee for Rojava.
This week, the circle decided to read a chapter from the acclaimed anarcha-femininst and witch, Starhawk. Starhawk is founder of the Reclaiming Tradition of witchcraft, which combines magickal practices with social and ecological activism, communialism, as well as sustainable land-based reclaiming techniques, such as permaculture gardening, and so on.
