Radical queer politics and anarchism have much in common. Queer theory argues against traditional identity politics, recognizing the social construction of “sexuality” and identity categories. Anarchism argues against any structured hierarchical arrangement of humanity that allows some members of society to systematically exploit and oppress others. Thus, both projects argue for a need to move beyond hierarchical and naturalized arrangements of socially constructed identities–though, at times, articulating those arguments in different ways. Nevertheless, despite these commonalities, little has been written about the deep connections between anarchism and radical queer politics. This edited volume is an attempt to fill that gap. [Read more →]

At the beginning of January, a court in Berlin, Germany, reaffirmed that the local federation of the Free Workers’ Union (FAU) is prohibited from calling itself a union or a grassroots union. If the FAU Berlin were to dare to do otherwise, it would face a fine of EUR 250,000 (USD 357,000) or a prison sentence.This legal attack on the freedom of unions in Germany is the result of a labor dispute, which the FAU Berlin and cinema workers have been involved in for months with the management of the Babylon Mitte cinema. In the FAU’s opinion, it’s up to the workers to decide what a union is or which union they want and not the courts.

The FAU is intent on defending itself against the de-facto ban of its Berlin federation in a variety of ways. Thus, it was announced that the ban would be taken all they way to the Court of the European Union, if need be. The strongest weapon of the worker is, however, not our trust in the judiciary but our international solidarity and direct action.
Global day of protest…

We call on all union members, friends and comrades to mobilize globally in support of FAU Berlin. For this purpose, a global day of action has been planned for January 29 and 30, 2010. Protests in front of German diplomatic missions and cultural institutes have already been scheduled in many countries for this date.
…and further mobilization

In the coming days, the FAU will post suggestions of different ways to show support at www.fau.org/verbot. Needless to say, a wide-scale dissemination of all information regarding the call to action is very important. Please be sure to refer to our special website, www.fau.org/verbot, in all publications and send messages of solidarity, reports about actions and any further questions to soli-faub@fau.org.

FAU-IWA International working group
English leaflet: http://www.fau.org/verbot/text/fau_01_29_en.pdf

Press release of FAU Berlin concerning the possible EUR 250.000 (USD 375.000) fine or alternatively 6 month of prison for the union secretaries: http://ainfos.ca/en/ainfos23540.html

Special page concerning the verdict against FAU Berlin:
http://www.fau.org/verbot

Blog of cinema Babylon Mitte workers:
http://prekba.blogsport.de <http://prekba.blogsport.de/>

Send e-protest:

http://fau.zsp.net.pl/send-a-protest-to-kino-babylon/emailpage/

Personalized e-protests to bosses:

grossman@babylonberlin.de, hackel@babylonberlin.de, timothygrossman@kinoundkonzerte.de, tgrossman@kinoundkonzerte.de.

07/10/2009 ILGA
From ZACF, Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front
Africa
Anarchism is an ideology that fights against exploitation and all forms of oppression. We fight for a world in which women will be equal to men, a world without racism and class inequality, a world in which LGBTI and queer people are treated with respect. These struggles are part of the anarchist struggle against hierarchy and inequality, for an equal and free world.

Anarchists have been at the forefront in the struggle against LGBTI discrimination

From the beginning of anarchist theory, anarchism has been the first ideology to actively support LGBTI people long before other ideologies. It is believed that one of the key anarchist thinkers, Mikhail Bakunin, was rumoured to have been homosexual and that this was one among many reasons Karl Marx threw him out of the First International, which caused the split between authoritarian communism and anarchism.

Also, Oscar Wilde, who called himself an anarchist, criticised Marx. His famous trial and conviction of sodomy in 1895 prompted anarchists to engage in an examination of the social, moral, and legal place of same-sex desire. The efforts of the famous anarchist and feminist Emma Goldman (the first advocate for homosexual rights in America) and other anarchists on Wilde’s behalf constitute the first articulation of a politics of homosexuality in the United States. After his trial, Wilde became “a totemic figure” for the anarchists, and at a time when the American productions of Wilde’s plays were closed down and forbidden and his books pulled from library shelves, anarchist journals reprinted his texts and poems.

It was thanks to American anarchist writers and propagandists that the defense of homosexuality developed in Europe crossed the Atlantic - at a time when no other political movement or notable public figure in the US dealt with the issue of same-sex eroticism and love. [Read more →]

CALL FOR PAPERS, PRESENTATIONS, AND PANELS
The 1st North American Anarchist Studies Network Conference

When: November 21-22, 2009
Where: Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Who: Anarchist Researchers, Scholars of Anarchism & Related Topics, Graduate Students, Activists, and Friends

Dear Friends, Colleagues, Compañero/as, and Compagnon/es:

It gives me considerable pleasure to announce the impending commencement of the North American Anarchist Studies Network (NAASN), which will be celebrated with an inaugural conference on 21 and 22 November 2009 at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, CT.

The NAASN is inspired by, but independent from, the UK-based Anarchist Studies Network. Like the UK-ASN, the NAASN is being founded in response to a burgeoning interest in anarchism currently expressed both inside and outside the academy. One of its key aims is to facilitate and promote the study of anarchist history, theory, and practice across scholarly disciplines by bringing together graduate students, academics, independent scholars, and activists from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. [Read more →]

Here’s a cross post from the Anarchist Academics Listserv. See end of post for the questionnaire and an abstract of the study.

Hi all!

We’re doing a research about alternative families, LGBTQ, anarchist,
squatters, single parents ….

We will present the results in October in Jjubljana in Slovina.

So please spread our Questionnaire on Mailing-Lists for people, who
could be interested. We need the answers until 30th of August 2009

Thanks a lot!
Utta, Hannes and Mate
[Read more →]

http://twincities.indymedia.org/2009/jul/military-spy-outted-olympia-wa-antiwarsdsiww-groups

Spy for the US Military Exposed: Spent Last Two Years Spying on Activists

(TC-IMC) “John Jacob” was an activist well liked by many in Tacoma and Olympia, WA. He was active in the anti-war and anarchist communities in both towns. He did extensive work with the group Port Militarization Resistance (PMR) which blocks military shipments to and from Iraq and Afghanistan through Northwest ports.

He went to numerous Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) events and actions, was interested in starting a chapter or Movement for a Democratic Society, worked closely with Iraq Veterans Against the War, but spent most of his time with anarchists. Aside from attending meetings, events and actions organized by activists, he spent much personal and leisure time with other anarchists in the area.

[Read more →]

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22115

The Coming Insurrection, authored by the anonymous “Invisible Committee,” has been the subject of much controversy lately. Originally published in 2007 under the French title, L’insurrection qui vient (La Fabrique), the book has become focus of the “anti-terrorism” trials quoted in the above paragraph. The book is being published in English but its influence has already crossed the Atlantic.

Celebrating the English translation at an “unauthorized” Barnes & Nobel event in New York City last month, activists projected themselves and the Invisible Committee into a visible spotlight complete with photos in the New York Times and special coverage on Fox TV News. The Times reports, “As a bookstore employee announced to the milling crowd that there was no reading scheduled for that night, a man jumped onto a stage and began loudly reciting the opening words of the book’s recent introduction: ‘Everyone agrees. It’s about to explode’” (”Liberating Lipsticks and Lattes,” NYT, June 15). After the police arrived they continued in a similar fashion through other shops including a cosmetic store. Following suit Fox News’ Glen Beck reviewed the book in a near 7 minute verbal tirade assaulting not only the text’s contents but the Left in general while fear mongering to promote his own right-wing agenda. Commentator Nicolas Truong suggests that the text is “poised to become a real best seller” having already sold 27,000 copies (”The New Insurrectional Thinking,” Le Monde diplomatique, July 7). And Micah M. White, a Contributing Editor at Adbusters Magazine, wrote that the text “may become a key manifesto of our generation’s uprising” (”Who are the Tarnac 9?,”Adbusters blog, January 9th). Other reviewers provide much more detail, for example Alberto Toscano’s “The War Against Preterrorism,” (Mute, May 28) but ultimately still overlook the books many blemishes.

[Read more →]

Casting Call

 for Howard Zinn’s “Emma”

–a play about the life of Emma Goldman–

Actors Needed!

What: Audition (script will be provided)

Where: Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford, CT

When: Tuesday, July 21st OR Wednesday, July 29th at 7pm

Why: To build community, have fun together, and to educate the public about the life of a brilliant feminist woman that the world should know about!

Come one, come all!

If you have questions or need special assistance during the auditions please contact Deric at 765-717-4490, Abbey at 860-249-1207 or email abbey.willis@charteroakcenter.org

If you would like to get involved in some other capacity than acting or have questions regarding the production, contact the above. Please include your name, contact information (email and phone), and how you are interested in helping (costumes, props, set design, set building, advertising, other) by July 29th. Participation in the play will require a heavy time commitment in the first two weeks of November.

All positions, acting and non-acting, are volunteer roles. Thank you!

  Charter Oak Cultural Center www.CharterOakCenter.org 860.249.1207

by José Antonio Gutiérrez’
Anarkismo.net
Saturday June 27, 2009

The following is an interview with Ashanti Alston Omowali, an African descent anarchist activist, who started his political militancy back in the ‘60s in the Black Panther Party. He was also a member of the Black Liberation Army, and because of his revolutionary activities spent more than a decade in prison. In prison he moved forward to anarchism and after his release he has participated with numerous libertarian initiatives and publications, and is one of the founders of Anarchist People of Color (APOC), a network that brings together anarchists of colour in the remarkably racist US. Ashanti also participates in a number of initiatives ranging from solidarity with political prisoners in the US to the Institute for Anarchist Studies.

This interview was done on March 9th, 2009, during the time he spent in Ireland when he came as a speaker for the 2009 Dublin Anarchist Bookfair. In the interview we talk about the APOC initiative, the links between exploitation and other forms of oppression, of the need to go beyond Eurocentrism and the place of people of colour and Third World struggles in shaping a really internationalist movement that learns from experiences everywhere. He also reflects on the roots and legacy of the Black Liberation Movement and of his own experiences in it.

1. How and why the idea of Anarchist People of Colour came about? [Read more →]

A new list was created to facilitate relations between LGBTQI people and their friends around the world interested in solidarity with Palestinians by learning, promoting and actualizing the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

About The BDS Initiative
The Nakba (1948’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine during the formation of Israel) still occurs for 61+ years to this very day. Millions of Palestinian are living as stateless refugees. Gaza is the world’s largest open prison, forcefully separated even from the West Bank. The West Bank itself is divided into separate segregated areas, sometimes even sole cities - by the apartheid wall, apartheid (Jewish only) roads, and a set of blockades and checkpoints.

[Read more →]

The Boston Anti-Authoritarian Movement’s 23rd Monthly Newsletter is now
available for PDF Download. Hard copies will soon be distributed to
community centers and newspaper boxes.

This month’s issue:
-The American Revolution Failed, pg 2
-Dyke March, pg 3
-Dissent and Repression in Iran, pg 4
-The MTA is Dead, Long live the MTA, p 6
-Protesters Voice Concern for Indigenous Massacre
in Peru, p 8
-Technological Emancipation, p 9

Download PDF HERE:
http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/207899/index.php

See also:
http://BaamBoston.org
http://NeAnarchist.net

Join Mitch M. from the Workers Solidarity Alliance (http://workersolidarity.org/), Skip from NEFAC (http://www.nefac.net/), and Roger from Wrench in the Works Collective (http://www.wrenchintheworks.org/) for a discussion on the purposes and uses of anarchist specific organizations. How can we create a fighting working class movement? What role does the organization play in maintaining that movement?

We’re meeting in the large Gallery (downstairs) at Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford (21 Charter Oak Ave) at 5pm.

See you there!!

….Just got this in this morning. From what I understand, the occupation only lasted a few hours before police dropped tear gas into the building, arrested the students, as well as supporters and demonstrators on the outside. A report from a comrade in NYC said that red and black anarchist banners flew outside the building and one participant said “We demand everything! We demand communism!”…Brave souls and let’s hope this trend spreads to other universities and workplaces. We can run our own lives without the need for bosses–whether capitalist bosses or political bosses! Smash capitalism and the state!

THE NEW SCHOOL HAS BEEN REOCCUPIED!
SUPPORT NEEDED IMMEDIATELY!
PLEASE COME TO 65 5TH AVE, BETWEEN 13TH AND 14TH STWE NEED YOU!!!
RALLY AT 9AM!!!!!

New School students have just reoccupied the entire graduate faculty building at 65 5th Ave, in NYC, fully barricading themselves inside until President Kerrey and Vice-President Murtha resign. This is the same building that was occupied from December 17-19th of last year in protest of President Bob Kerrey’s mismanagement of the university. On February 10th, students announced they would “shut down the university” if President Kerrey and Vice-President Murtha did not resign by April 1st. With their demand still unmet as of this date, students have once again reclaimed this neglected, symbolic building which housed the New School for Social Research. This time, however, the entire building has been occupied. On the 75th anniversary of the University in Exile, New School students are reclaiming the tradition of protest and political action that birthed the university and gave it meaning for generations to come.

This was fwd’d to me on the listserv What Queer. Good Read- Thanks Graham!!

http://www.anarchistnews.org/?q=node/6297

“Queer(y)ing Anarchism”

Of course an Anarchist Conference is said to be what the people attending make it; yes this is fundamental to Anarchism. And while no conference, convention, meeting, discussion, book, or bachelor and spinsters ball that the Anarchist movement produces can cover everything, it must in principle be open and respectful of all the differing complex aspects of the people dedicated and caring enough to come (despite the well-founded warnings of their friends too fed up these days to attend.) It must reflect those peoples lives and the struggles for justice, freedom, fun, and fruit loops (organic and homemade though they be!) that they bring with them to inform why it is they seek a vision of freedom that Anarchism might almost provide. BUT people are people and certain people are the same people making the same nauseating noises wherever you go, and so this Anarchist conference has finally turned this writer into an Anasarcasticist of Anarcaustic proportions and thus {having been} asked most earnestly over and over to put pen to paper I instead snuck into someone’s office and stole the following which I now reproduce in the interests of `free thought’:
OFFICE COPY
VISIONS OF FREEDOM CONFERENCE 95
REQUIREMENTS FOR ATTENDANCE
Appendix: page 307 , Category Z : QUEERS. BEFORE PROCEEDING: [Read more →]

From Molly’s blog

The Israeli anarchist Schachaf Pokplow will soon be touring the USA and Canada to raise public awareness about the Israeli/Palestinian struggle for peace and to raise funds for the continued work of the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall group. Here’s the schedule of his tour so far. More details later as they emerge. [Read more →]