May 25: The Formation of Local Councils

Posted on April 27, 2025 - April 27, 2025 by Orange

GET THE READING HERE: ZINE OR SCREEN, AUDIO, CAMAS BOOKS’ FREE BOX, or EMMA’S FREE LIBRARIES AROUND TOWN.

Facilitators should note the Facilitation Guide.

“We are not less than the workers of the Paris Commune… They lasted 70 days and we are still here since a year and a half.” – Omar Aziz

Next time, we will be reading The Formation of Local Councils: To Live in Revolutionary Time (2012) by the martyred Syrian anarchist Omar Aziz. This foundational, strategic proposal inspired Local Councils in large swathes of Syria during the Syrian revolution against the Assad regime. Local Councils provides insights relevant to all anarchists and anti-authoritarians organizing for a more just society.

“Our hope is that by translating and distributing this text to make more visible the Syrian revolution, which has so often been denied or conflated with the armed groups that share its territories. Often leftists who support the Assad regime or anarchists who support the YPG/PYD will ask things like, “Are there really liberatory groups in these areas? What are their names? What are their ideas?” as if the organization of daily life needed a name, a website, and an English-language spokesperson to exist.” – Translator’s Introduction

You can learn more about Omar Aziz and his legacy here.

As always, we meet at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street, on Lekwungen Territory. Our meeting is Sunday May 25th @ 6:30PM.

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PS: Our friends at the Anarchist Network of “Vancouver Island” have put together a list of anarchist and adjacent projects on the territory. If you are looking to involve yourself in anarchist activism, look at their trifold! Particularly, Food not Bombs serves free vegan food for revolution every Sunday 4-6PM at Spirit “Centennial” Square and have been facing increasing harassment tied to the gentrification of the Square. Come show up to eat! They also need help from volunteers.

April 13: Care Pod Mapping Workshop

Posted on April 1, 2025 - April 1, 2025 by Orange

OPTIONAL READING HERE: ZINE OR SCREEN, CAMAS BOOKS‘ FREE BOX, or EMMA’S FREE LIBRARIES AROUND TOWN.

Next time, we will be hosting a Pod Mapping Workshop led by community activists and abolitionists Audrey and Corina.

Care Pod Mapping is a concept developed by disability activist Mia Mingus as a part of creating stronger and more interdependent liberatory community. A care pod is a network of people who you can seek support from to if violence, harm, or abuse has happened to you, if you caused harm, if you have witnessed harm, or if you are just seeking more support in your life.

We will also discuss related concepts of Relationship Anarchy, with two small optional primer readings: The short instructional manifesto for relationship anarchy (2006) by Andie Nordgren and Ideal Care Menus conceptualized by Ndeye Oumou Sylla.

As always, we meet at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street, on Lekwungen Territory. Our meeting is Sunday April 13th @ 6:30PM.

PS: Our friends at the Anarchist Network of Vancouver Island have put together a list of anarchist and adjacent projects on the territory. If you are looking to involve yourself in anarchist activism, look at their trifold! Particularly, Food not Bombs serves free vegan food for revolution every Sunday 4-6PM at Spirit “Centennial” Square and have been facing increasing harassment tied to the gentrification of the Square. Come show up to eat! They also need help from volunteers.

December 15: Disability Justice

Posted on November 27, 2024 - December 5, 2024 by Orange

Note: In line with our solidarity statement with the Gitxsan, we are postponing our next circle to December 15th and encourage VARC goers to instead attend the anti-pipeline benefit show in town where Kolin Sutherland-Wilson will also be speaking. Kolin a Gitxsan land defender, artist, and troublemaker from the House known as the Git’luuhl’um’hetxwit, of the Fireweed Clan, hailing from the Village of Anspayaxw, where he is currently serving as Chief Councillor.

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Our last reading discussion revealed how the (“Liberal Democratic”) military industrial complex preys on working class inequalities to seduce people into selling their bodies in labour to the state. Which lead us to a question: what about disabled bodies the State deems “unworthy?”

Our next reading will be a selection from Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice (2018) by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and our conversation will be prefaced with the short 10 Principles of Disability Justice. Leah writes passionately and personally about creating spaces by and for sick and disabled queer people of colour, and creative “collective access” — access not as a chore but as a collective responsibility and pleasure — in our communities and political movements.

Our Chapter 1 selection is available via Screen or as a custom imposed zine (short-edge).

We ask you to please read the pieces ahead of time. We also encourage everyone to bring suggestions for our next readings.

As always, we meet at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street, on Lekwungen Territory. The next meeting is Sunday December 15th @ 6:30PM.

PS: Our friends at the Anarchist Network of Vancouver Island have put together a list of anarchist and adjacent projects on the territory. If you are looking to involve yourself in anarchist activism, look at their trifold! Particularly, Food not Bombs serves free vegan food for revolution every Sunday 4-6PM at Spirit “Centennial” Square. They need help from volunteers.

PPS: A global majority-prioritized Liberation Reading Circle, unaffiliated with VARC, has also started at Camas. Their first meeting was Wednesday, December 4th from 6:30PM-8:00PM. This was their reading.

October 27: Rejecting Statism During Crisis

Posted on October 16, 2024 - October 16, 2024 by Orange

Next time, we will be discussing Sobre la violencia en una época de catástrofes AKA About violence in a time of catastrophes (2023). We will also be pairing it with an excerpt, Chapter 7: Trusting, from Worth Fighting For: Bringing the Rojava Revolution Home. (2023)

About violence in a time of catastrophes is a short essay (machine-translated from Spanish) exploring the principles of anti-colonial violence and pleas for its audience to take a principled, intersectional stance against right-wing Islamic Jihadism, taking into account the experiences of Iranian and Afghan comrades. It is available for free on the Anarchist Library or as a custom imposed zine short-edge PDF.

Worth Fighting For: Bringing the Rojava Revolution Home is the story of two internationalist volunteers who became part of the Rojavan revolution, such as martyrs like Anna Campbell, who left her home in England and travelled to northeast Syria – the Rojava region of Kurdistan – to join the women fighters of the YPJ in the battle against the Islamic State. One year later, she was killed in the Turkish invasion of Afrin. The text is a critical reflection from these volunteer activists on what we can “bring back” to our movements at home on Turtle Island. Our reading, Chapter 7: Trusting, explores dismantling individuals’ state mentality in a time of War to create bonds of trust. It is available as a custom imposed zine short-edge PDF.

A screen reader with scans of both texts is available here:

Oct 27, 2024 Reader_About Violence + Trusting

1 file(s) 45.67 MB

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We ask you to please read the pieces ahead of time.

As always, we meet at Camas Books and Infoshop, 2620 Quadra Street, on unceded Lekwungen Territory at 6:30pm on Sunday October 27th. Bring a tea and a notebook!

September 29: Nonviolence and Ally Mythology

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Orange

Spilling over from our last conversation on Turning Away from The State, we decided to revisit the classic Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex (2014) by Indigenous Action (now Indigenous Abolition), and to pair it with Peter Gelderloos’ Debunking the myths around nonviolent resistance (2020).

This provocation is intended to intervene in some of the current tensions around solidarity/support work as the current trajectories are counter-liberatory from my perspective. Don’t construe this as being for “white young middle class allies”, just for paid activists, non-profits, or as a friend said, “downwardly-mobile anarchists or students.” There are many so-called “allies” in the migrant rights struggle who support “comprehensive immigration reform” which furthers militarization of Indigenous lands. – Accomplices Not Allies

The Floyd rebellion follows a long tradition of movements using a diversity of tactics to achieve their goals, discrediting champions of nonviolence. – Debunking nonviolent resistance

Accomplices Not Allies is available as to read here online or as a printable imposed zine.

Debunking the myths around nonviolent resistance is available online for free through Roar Magazine or as a custom printable imposed zine.

As always, we meet at Camas Books and Infoshop, 2620 Quadra Street, on unceded Lekwungen Territory at 6:30pm on Sunday September 29th.

September 15: Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en Solidarity

Posted on September 2, 2024 - September 2, 2024 by Orange

Recently, the Hereditary Chiefs of the Gitanyow village on Gitxsan territory burned a copy of a Mutual Benefits Agreement they’d signed with the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) Pipeline 10 years ago. They also set up a blockade at one of the access points on Gitanyow territory to not allow any PRGT construction crews in.

Simogyet Watakhayetsxw of the Lax Ganeda, or the Raven Frog clan, said: “The BC government, the federal government, defending PRGT. I am putting you on alert. There will be no trucks on my territory. And I will defend the territory as best I can.” She further notes: “For those people that are defending the Gitanyow, the Gitxsan and the Wet’suwet’en, I invite you to stand on the lines with the Gitanyow. Come and stand with my Wilp [house groups of the clans].”

The “Victoria” Anarchist Reading Circle stands in full solidarity with the Gitxsan people and their defense of their land.

The Gitxsan people have stood with their Wet’suwet’en siblings in joint struggle against a similar oil project — the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline. To sharpen our anarchist understandings of what being a̶l̶l̶i̶e̶s accomplices to Indigenous sovereignty looks like, we have decided to read Jeff Corntassel’s Life Beyond the State: Regenerating Indigenous International Relations and Everyday Challenges to Settler Colonialism (2021), a publication out of the local University of “Victoria’s” Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies (ADCS) journal.

Corntassel, going back to 2005, has been part of articulating a theory of decolonization called Indigenous Resurgence, whose resonance with anarchism lies in turning away from the state as a site to conquer or to emulate. Rather, Corntassel, in this piece and others, has argued for an understanding of decolonization that begins from place-based land oriented relationships, where, one warrior at a time, the values, practices and ways of relating are generated that renew Indigenous ways of making decisions, honouring relationships and enacting self-determination. Life Beyond the State in particular also emphasizes Indigenous understandings of internationalism as a critical aspect of decolonization.

“We’ve seen this relationship between Indigenous warriors and anarchists that has been developing over the years, and I think that combining those two groups particularly is a really powerful move against the State, it’s a real threat when we act together, and so I just want to encourage people to act on that, because we’re on the right track, we’re winning this fight, and we just have to push harder and keep going, and push the envelope even further than we already have.” – Molly Wickham

The reading Life Beyond the State is available on the ADCS website, the Anarchist Library, or as an imposed zine.

As always, we meet at Camas Books and Infoshop, 2620 Quadra Street, on unceded Lekwungen Territory at 6:30pm on Sunday September 15th.

August 4: Fascism & Anti-Fascism

Posted on July 26, 2024 - July 27, 2024 by Daisy

For August 4th, our reading group will be focusing on two pieces about fascism and authoritarianism.

With eyes turned to the US and an election upcoming in BC as well, it seems important that we familiarize ourselves with how fascism manifests, and how it can be combatted.

The zine Forming an Antifa Group focuses on the latter subject. Self-explanatory and to-the-point, it provides a guide to creating a squad for antifacist action. Some considerations touched upon are security, Antifa principles, and some of the work assumed of groups operating under the name.

The other reading is New Democracy: The New Face of State Violence in Greece from Crimethinc, which consists of an interview with a Grecian anarchist from the anarchist neighbourhood Exarcheia. In 2019, when the interview took place, the party ‘New Democracy’ had just taken power in Greece and consequently begun targeting anarchists and immigrants. The unnamed interviewee describes some of these attacks, as well as other pressures facing the community, such as Air BnB encroaching on Exarcheia, and infighting.

‘Forming an Antifa Group’ can be downloaded as a PDF below. It is also available off the Anarchist Library ready to print as a zine.

Forming an Antifa Group

1 file(s) 3.38 MB

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‘New Democracy’ is similarly available in imposed zine format on the Anarchist Library. A plain PDF version is attainable here:

New Democracy: State Violence in Greece -- Crimethinc

1 file(s) 68.28 KB

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In total, the readings are a relatively modest 18 pages. Those who find themselves finishing early are encouraged to look further into an aspect of the topics that catches their interest. This will hopefully lead to a richer conversation on Sunday. Anyone who wishes to is invited to come to the Atrium at 800 Yates St. on Aug. 4, from 2:50 to 5 pm, to join Scholecule for a session of self-guided research.

As always, we meet at Camas Books and Infoshop, 2620 Quadra Street, on unceded Lekwungen Territory at 6:30pm on Sunday August 4th.

June 23: ‘Emergent Strategy’ & ‘Stories of the Bear People’

Posted on June 19, 2024 - June 19, 2024 by Daisy

Join us on June 23rd to again discuss two readings, another fiction and another nonfiction.

Stories of the Bear People is a collection of short stories written by Aragorn!, expanding on the anarchist mythology begun in Stories of the Raccoon People. True to the title, this anthology focuses on another archetype encountered in the world of activism, here taking the metaphorical shape of bears. The succinct and playful tales explore the role such people play in movements for change.

Adrienne Maree Brown’s Emergent Strategy is a guidebook on just, effective organizing inspired by natural phenomena. The three sections we have agreed to read are Fractals, Interdependence & Decentralization, and Intentional Adaptation. They each elaborate on the concept that is their namesake, framed by anecdotes of where Brown has found the concept relevant in her own life. This writing style makes for a very personal piece that seeks to resonate emotionally with the reader.

Emergent Strategy can be downloaded as a PDF here:

(Adrienne Maree Brown) Emergent Strategy

1 file(s) 717.33 KB

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Stories of the Bear People can be downloaded from The Anarchist Library in screen or in comic imposed zine PDF format. Stories of the Raccoon People is also a part of this file, but rest assured that Stories of the Bear People starts around the halfway point.

As always, we meet at Camas Books and Infoshop, 2620 Quadra Street, on unceded Lekwungen Territory at 6:30pm on Sunday June 23rd.

June 9: ‘Towards Freedom: Points of Departure’ & ‘Stories of the Raccoon People’

Posted on May 31, 2024 by Daisy

On June 9th, we will be discussing two short readings, one fiction and one nonfiction.

Towards Freedom: Points of Departure is a section from Crimethinc’s anthology From Democracy to Freedom. In line with the book’s aim to explore the meaning and limitations of democracy, this essay presents ways in which the concept can be expanded so as to create true equality in decision-making. Its various sections succinctly cover approaches to creating institutions, conflict resolution, and navigating political differences, aiming to foster both autonomy and responsibility with its proposals for each topic.

The 10 short tales in Stories of the Raccoon People, authored by Aragorn!, seek to spark the creation of an anarchist mythology. Through lighthearted allegory, the stories describe the joys, struggles, and hidden truths that underlie the anarchist experience. As Aragorn! lays out in the preface to the book, the hope is that these myths “pass into the hands of the Raccoon people themselves and are shared through song and transform through the memory of the people into the truths I can only peek at.”

Towards Freedom: Points of Departure can be attained as a PDF here:

(Crimethinc) Towards Freedom: Points of Departure

1 file(s) 377.87 KB

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Stories of the Raccoon People is available for download The Anarchist Library as in screen or impose zine format. Note that we are only reading Stories of the Raccoon People, it is not necessary to read Stories of the Bear People as well.

As always, we meet at Camas Books and Infoshop, 2620 Quadra Street, on unceded Lekwungen Territory at 6:30pm on Sunday June 9th.

May 12: On the Poverty of Student Life

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Light

In solidarity with international student encampments and reclamations of their respective, Zionist-supporting Universities, we have decided to read the Situationist pamphlet On the Poverty of Student Life: A Consideration of Its Economic, Political, Sexual, Psychological and Notably Intellectual Aspects and of a Few Ways to Cure it (1966).

Taking advantage of the apathy of their colleagues, five “Pro-situs”, Situationist-influenced students had been elected to the University of Strasbourg’s students’ union in November 1966 and began scandalising the authorities. The students promptly proceeded to print 10,000 copies of the pamphlet using university funds and distributed them during a ceremony marking the beginning of the academic year. This provoked an immediate outcry in the local, national and international media. The students responsible were expelled and the student union closed under court order. The scandal significantly raised the profile of the Situationist Internationale and led them to reappraise the revolutionary potential of academia, reversing their previous disillusionment to take seats on the Occupation Committee of the Sorbonne during May 1968. On the Poverty of Student Life was a key text for the French and German students who rebelled in 1968.

On The Poverty of Student Life is available in plain text on the Anarchist Library or in an imposed PDF zine print format.

As always, we will be meeting at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra street, unceded Lekwungen territory. The next session will take place on Sunday, May 12 at 6:30pm.

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