"Victoria" Anarchist Reading Circle

Dec 11, 2022 – Against the Logic of the Guillotine

Posted on November 29, 2022 - November 29, 2022 by Creatrix

Our discussion turned from anarchy in international relations towards wanting to learn more about the history of anarchist revolutionaries. Thanks to the anarchists at Crimethinc (who need your support right now, as they are being targeted by far-right trolls and billionaires) we decided on learning more about why anarchists burned the guillotine during the Paris Commune of 1871. We have two readings for the next meeting, the first by Crimethinc is the primary reading we will discuss. The second is optional, and provides a detailed historical chronology and background to the Paris Commune.

Part One: Against the Logic of the Guillotine

https://crimethinc.com/2019/04/08/against-the-logic-of-the-guillotine-why-the-paris-commune-burned-the-guillotine-and-we-should-too

Part Two: Supplemental History Reading on the Paris Commune (optional)

Paris Commune 1871 Chronology and The Commune in Action

1 file(s) 4.93 MB

Download

As always, we’ll be meeting at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street on unceded Lekwungen Territory. Our next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, December 11 @ 6:30 pm.

We will not be meeting again until January. See you in the New Year!

Anarchism & International Relations for Inquiring Minds – November 27, 2022

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Creatrix

$Prism Refraction$ For the next round of Anarchist Edutainment, the Anarchist Reading Circle will learn why the definition of Anarchy in classical International Relations has such negative and misleading connotations.

To satisfy our inquiring minds, we decided read two articles. The first is a chapter from the Continuum Companion to Anarchism by Alex Pritchard called “Anarchy, Anarchism and
International Relations.” The work can be obtained for free from this link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259738648_Anarchy_Anarchism_and_International_Relations

The second reading was brought to us by the epic anarchist dispatch, Endless Struggle, edited by Gord Hill in 1990. It is called “Against Imperialism: International Solidarity and Resistance.” This reading is short, and can be accessed here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/endless-struggle-against-imperialism-international-solidarity-and-resistance

As always, we’ll be meeting at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street on unceded Lekwungen Territory. Our next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, November 27 @ 6:30 pm.

Be seeing you!

Malatesta’s Anarchy: Reading for November 13th, 2022

Posted on October 24, 2022 by Creatrix

The Victoria Anarchist Reading Circle has started a new session and we decided to begin with a foundational text by Errico Malatesta, Anarchy. This classic text, written in 1891, is intended as a primer defining what Anarchy and Anarchism really mean in opposition to the presumptions and misapprehensions of statist-derived modes of organisation.

You can read the text for free on the Anarchist Library here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/errico-malatesta-anarchy

Additionally, we are also providing a link to the audiobook uploaded by Audible Anarchist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTeHv2rWFci6Y-LqqQ86bgoG__QgFPomU

Our next gathering, where we will discuss this reading, will take place at 6:30 pm on Sunday November 13th. As per usual, we will be meeting at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra St, located on unceded, occupied Lekwungen Territory.

We hope to see you there!

Announcing the 17th Annual Victoria Anarchist Bookfair

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Creatrix

Victoria Anarchist Bookfair, 2022 Welcome back to meeting in-person!

After a two year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Victoria Anarchist Reading Circle is ready to become active and grow again.

To this end, we’d like to invite everyone to the 17th Annual Victoria Anarchist Bookfair, scheduled to take place on September 24th and 25th on unceded Lekwungen territory (ie, ‘Victoria’). We will be meeting at the Fernwood Community Center on 1240 Gladstone avenue both days of the fair.

We are thrilled to be back and are looking forward to seeing old faces, and developing affinities with new people. May we share our encounters with anarchy!

John Zerzan Special Guest Presentation

Posted on August 1, 2022 - November 1, 2022 by Creatrix

Sept. 8th, 7PM: The Commodification of Activism

Posted on August 30, 2020 - August 30, 2020 by Creatrix

For our next reading circle, we will be discussing the commodification of activism; we will do so by reviewing a piece from Damani James Partridge called “Activist Capitalism and Supply-Chain Citizenship: Producing Ethical Regimes and Ready-to-Wear Clothes.”

In his paper, Partridge examines new models of citizenship that are the direct result of globalization.
In those new models, capitalistic enterprises such as global supply chains and global corporate axes become intertwined with social projects. Partridge examines new collaborative models, which are the results of “[…] links between corporate governance, negotiations between corporate and nation-state sovereignty, and the related setting and enforcement of global labor and environmental standards.
Link to the paper

The PDF is also attached for those who cannot access the link:

Activist Capitalism and Supply-Chain Citizenship

For a complementary reading, see Nike’s Kaepernick ad is what happens when capitalism and activism collide, by Marc Bain.
Link to the article

Although we are no longer physically meeting as a group, we still operate on occupied, unceded Lekwungen territory. Our next meeting will be held on our private Jitsi server on Tuesday, September 8th at 7pm PST.

Jitsi is open-source software that is fully encrypted end-to-end, and which does not track your IP address. In the time when it seems like everyone’s falling for the most insecure communications platforms motivated solely to collect, sell and trade in your data, we created our own Jitsi instance as an infrastructural countermeasure.

If you are interested in participating in this week’s reading circle, please contact varc[at]victoriaanarchistreadingcircle.ca introducing yourself to confirm your place in the shadow-cabinet list and obtain access to the meeting.

June 30: Art as Resistance

Posted on July 19, 2020 - November 14, 2020 by Creatrix

Resistance is a process that pushes to understand how to unravel social dynamics and tensions, in the hope that from such an act would emerge meaningful solutions. Art, as a mean of expression, can speak and address such tensions.

For our next reading circle, we will be reading and discussing the following two writings:

> Pedagogical Subversion: The “Un-American” Graphics of Kevin Pyle, by Allan Antliff. Allan explores the work of Kevin Pyle, an illustrator whose work highlights the many social issues in the United-States. The writing discusses how Art can be used to unravel some of the state’s ideological tools and motivations, including the prison and the legal systems.

Link to the PDF

> Accomplices Not Allies, from Indigenous Action, is an indigenous perspective on the “ally industrial complex”, which stems from the “institutionalization” of allyship and its steering away from meaningful support.

Link to the PDF

Although we are no longer physically meeting as a group, we still operate on occupied, unceded Lekwungen territory. Our next meeting will be held on our private Jitsi server on Tuesday, July 28th at 7pm PST.

Jitsi is open-source software that is fully encrypted end-to-end, and which does not track your IP address. In the time when it seems like everyone’s falling for the most insecure communications platforms motivated solely to collect, sell and trade in your data, we created our own Jitsi instance as an infrastructural countermeasure.

If you are interested in participating in this week’s reading circle, please contact varc[at]victoriaanarchistreadingcircle.ca introducing yourself to confirm your place in the shadow-cabinet list and obtain access to the meeting.

July 14th, 7 PM: The Prison System in Canada

Posted on July 6, 2020 - July 6, 2020 by Creatrix

Continuing with the theme of prisons and incarceration in relation to social issues, we decided to further explore that theme on the prison system in Canada.

* “Everything you were never taught about Canada’s prison systems” explores what the writers call an “urgent human right crisis”. Their research highlight the relationship between crime rate and incarceration, living conditions, and targeted populations.

* In “Why Indigenous Women Are Canada’s Fastest Growing Prison Population”, we learn the stories of indigenous people and their experience with the prison system.

Links to the readings:
> http://www.intersectionalanalyst.com/intersectional-analyst/2017/7/20/everything-you-were-never-taught-about-canadas-prison-systems
> https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/5gj8vb/why-indigenous-women-are-canadas-fastest-growing-prison-population

Although we are no longer physically meeting as a group, we still operate on occupied, unceded Lekwungen territory. Our next meeting will be held on our private Jitsi server on Tuesday, July 14th at 7pm PST.
Jitsi is open-source software that is fully encrypted end-to-end, and which does not track your IP address. In the time when it seems like everyone’s falling for the most insecure communications platforms motivated solely to collect, sell and trade in your data, we created our own Jitsi instance as an infrastructural countermeasure.

If you are interested in participating in this week’s reading circle, please contact varc[at]victoriaanarchistreadingcircle.ca introducing yourself to confirm your place in the shadow-cabinet list and obtain access to the meeting.

June 23, 7PM: Restorative Justice & Prison Abolition Discussion

Posted on June 16, 2020 by Creatrix

Gilmore Drawing upon our previous readings, we decided to take the topic of systemic racism and the police state further to explore issues relating to prison abolition and restorative justice.

We will be discussing two readings:

Although we are no longer physically meeting as a group, we still operate on occupied, unceded Lekwungen territory. Our next meeting will be held on our private Jitsi server on Tuesday, June 23th at 7pm PST. Jitsi is open-source software that is fully encrypted end-to-end, and which does not track your IP address. In the time when it seems like everyone’s falling for the most insecure communications platforms motivated solely to collect, sell and trade in your data, we created our own Jitsi instance as an infrastructural countermeasure.

If you are interested in participating in this week’s reading circle, please contact varc[at]victoriaanarchistreadingcircle.ca introducing yourself to confirm your place in the shadow-cabinet list and obtain access to the meeting.

Restorative justice infographic

June 9: Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect?

Posted on June 3, 2020 by Creatrix

Justice for George Floyd

Given the recent events galvanizing resistance to systemic racism and police brutality in North America, we decided to delve deeper into the issue in order to unpack what it means in terms of building communities against social oppression and State violence. Our next reading is an excerpt from the edited anthology, Who Do You Serve? Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States. It was edited by Joe Macaré, Maya Schenwar, and Alana Yu-lan Price, and recently came out on The Anarchist Library this May, 2020.

We have assembled a series of 4 chapters from the second half of the book to discuss at our next circle.

Heeding the Call: Black Women Fighting for Black Lives That Matter by Thandisizwe Chimurenga
Our History and Our Dreams: Building Black and Native Solidarity by Kelly Hayes
A New Year’s Resolution: Don’t Call the Police by Mike Ludwig
Building Community Safety: Practical Steps Toward Liberatory Transformation by Ejeris Dixon

Get it here:

Excerpt: Macare, Schenwar & Price: Who Do You Serve? Who Do You Protect?

1 file(s) 134.11 KB

Download

Although we are no longer physically meeting as a group, we still operate on occupied, unceeded Lekwungen territory. Our next meeting will be held on our private Jitsi server on Tuesday, June 9th at 8pm PST. Jitsi is open-source software that is fully encrypted end-to-end, and which does not track your IP address. In the time when it seems like everyone’s falling for the most insecure communications platforms motivated solely to collect, sell and trade in your data, we created our own Jitsi instance as an infrastructural countermeasure.

If you are interested in participating in this week’s reading circle, please contact varc[at]victoriaanarchistreadingcircle.ca introducing yourself to confirm your place in the shadow-cabinet list and obtain access to the meeting.

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