Reading for Revolution
We were so inspired by reading Andrew Cornell’s history of the Movement for a New Society that we decided to explore the conversations associated with the movement. Please read the following reflective sections regarding MNS theory and praxis for the next gathering. You can find the reading here:
As always, we are meeting at Camas books located on unceded Lekwungen territory at 2620 Quadra Street. We start at 6:30pm this Sunday evening on December 10th.
Be seeing you!
The next reading we will be considering is a section from Andrew Cornell’s 2011 book Oppose and Propose! Lessons from Movement for a New Society (MNS). MNS spanned across the United States between 1971 and into the 1990s, but was concentrated largely in Philadelphia. As the name of the book implies, MNS was involved in both protest actions (to oppose) as well as in building alternative institutional frameworks (to propose). The section we chose to read outlines the early history of the movement, as well as an analysis of why it dissipated at its end.
As always, we are meeting at 6:30pm at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street, Victoria, BC on unceded Lekwungen Territory. The next date is on Sunday, November 26th.
To paraphrase what our friend Suraia said during last week’s media literacy presentation with Wil, “Seeing the hammer and sickle makes me immediately mistrust the source.” We will be further exploring “red nationalism” with the zine Always Against the Tanks, which explores the resurgence of Tankism and authoritarian Marxism.
The reading is available for free on the Anarchist Library: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/various-authors-always-against-the-tanks
Or you can download the pdf here
As always, we meet at Camas Books and Infoshop, 2620 Quadra Street, on unceded Lekwungen Territory at 6:30pm on Sunday November 12th.
Due to outstanding media events regarding Palestine & Israel, we will be reading Fredy Perlman’s The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism (1984) as a primer for a workshop, as well as a discussion, on understanding conflict, navigating media, and practicing solidarity in a time of war and crisis overseas.
Spilling over from our discussion on how “Reconciliation is Dead” we turned to Tawinikay’s evocation of the Two-Row Wampum representing the original intent of cooperation and equality that was part of the earliest relations between Indigenous and Settler peoples (specifically the Haudenosaunee and the Dutch). We then talked about what, in a similar spirit, could be most relevant for our movements today and decided to read a few classics to get our bearings on the matter.
For October 15th, we will be reading two texts contesting the term “Ally.” The first text is the classic, “Accomplices not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex,” from Indigenousaction.org, which you can get from this link. A Print-friendly .pdf is available here. The second text is from Crimethinc. and is called “Ain’t No PC Gonna Fix It Baby: A Critique of Ally Politics”, which you can get from the Anarchist Library here.
As always, we meet at Camas Books and Infoshop, 2620 Quadra Street, on unceded Lekwungen Territory at 6:30pm on Sunday October 15th.
In lieu of the Canadian State’s declaration of the national ‘holiday’ “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” observed September 30th, we have decided to read Reconciliation is Dead: A Strategic Proposal (2020) by Métis water defender Tawinikay. In the piece, Tawinikay asserts that “the concept [of reconciliation] is a state-led smoke screen used to advance a more sophisticated policy of assimilation” that perpetuates and ensures the survival of the settler-colonial state.
Reconciliation is Dead is free to read on the Anarchist Library, and is also available as an imposed PDF.
Optionally, Autonomously and with Conviction: A Métis Refusal of State-Led Reconciliation is a recommended sister-text, which is also available as an imposed PDF.
As always, we are meeting at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street, on Lekwungen Territory. The next meeting is Sunday October 1st @ 6:30PM.
There’s nothing like actually getting to read something that is local and close to our hearts like we are this week with the first installment of the Creeker Zine. Yes, it is time for us to consider all the trials and tribulations our comrades over on the blockades have been experiencing as we take a few moments to ponder over their words in Creeker Volume One. Join us for an undoubtedly intense journey by clicking on the link to their zine here.
As always, we meet at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street on Lekwungen Territory. This meeting will take place on Sunday, Sept 17th at 6:30 pm. Be seeing you!
This time we are shaking things up! Join us at 7:00PM at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street, on Lekwungen Territory on Sunday, September 3rd for an in-depth discussion about how art can infuse unionization drives, Indigenous solidarity campaigns, and the struggle for Palestinian justice with militancy.
This interactive workshop, facilitated by long-time community organizer and artist Stefan Christoff, will highlight three examples of creative activist campaigns and community organizing work that explores the intersections of art and activism.
First Stefan will speak about current efforts in Québec to mobilize artists to join the struggle against Bill 31, newly proposed legislation in Québec that aims to cut into the capacity of renters to express solidarity through lease transfers. Stefan is working on a campaign called Artists United Against Bill 31.
Stefan will speak about the campaign to support Dollarama warehouse workers in Montreal during the peak of the pandemic crisis who faced unjust and unsafe working conditions. Many workers were facing the realities of precarious status and pending deportations from Canada. Stefan helped coordinate artist support for this campaign as part of the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC), which included an open letter and street art posters.
Also, Stefan will speak about an ongoing collaboration with Wet’suwet’en activist Marlene Hale to support the Indigenous land rights of the Wet’suwet’en people who are struggling against the imposition of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline on their traditional Indigenous territories. Stefan coordinated a series of events and an open letter signed by many local artists to support the Wet’suwet’en resistance to contemporary colonialism.
Finally, Stefan will speak about helping to coordinate the global #MusiciansForPalestine campaign, which has brought over 1500 artists together to support the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the apartheid policies of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people.
There will be a presentation aspect and also a street art aspect to this workshop. Participants will cut out street art lettering to express an important campaign and / or political demand that arises from the conversation in this workshop.
For the next reading circle, we decided to put the texts down and watch a video together! So we headed over to our anarchist educational co-conspirators at sub.Media for inspiration and of course, they came up with the goods! We are going to be viewing (together at the circle) Quiet Storm: Technology and Social Control, which is part of their Trouble Series of documentary films. After the movie we will discuss what we learned.
As always, we are meeting at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street, on Lekwungen Territory. The next meeting is Sunday August 20th @ 6:30PM.
We were split down the middle between delving more into insurrectionary anarchist theory, and social, organizational anarchist theory. Therefore, we have decided to read both How to Start a Fire:
An Invitation by Anonymous, (2017) and Libertarian Municipalism: An Overview by Murray Bookchin (1991) congruently.
Both of these texts are available for free through the Anarchist Library:
How to Start a Fire: An Invitation by Anonymous (2017)
Libertarian Municipalism: An Overview by Murray Bookchin (1991)
As always, we are meeting at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street, on Lekwungen Territory. The next meeting is Sunday August 6th @ 6:30PM.
