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Class
Point of No Return (pdf) + point of no return (text version)
Point of No Return is a zine that explores the points at which a number of anarchists made the conscious decision to become anarchists and/or realized they were anarchists. The stories are interesting and they are worth reading as we consider how to best relate to folks who aren’t already anarchists.
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Queering Anarchism
Queering anarchism means complexifying it. Concretely, we propose that we can apply some of the ways that we (might) love to the ways that we think about political theory. Thus, we build the metaphor of ‘theoretical polyamory’ to suggest that having multiple partners (or political theories) is a way of constructing more holistic and nuanced movements than might be implied by solely relying on anarchism for the answers to the complex questions surrounding the political project of undoing all forms of structured and institutionalized domination, coercion, and control.
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We build autonomy—the process of ever growing synthesis for every living creature. We spread spontaneity and creation. We learn the joys of equality—of relationships without dominance among sisters. We destroy domination in all its forms.
Understanding Patriarchy
Patriarchy is the single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation. Yet most men do not use the word “patriarchy” in everyday life. Most men never think about patriarchy—what it means, how it is created and sustained. Many men in our nation would not be able to spell the word or pronounce it correctly. The word “patriarchy” just is not a part of their normal everyday thought or speech. Men who have heard and know the word usually associate it with women’s liberation, with feminism, and therefore dismiss it as irrelevant to their own experiences.
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Racism
Workin’ On It:Ways to tokenize/alienate a non-white person by basil, billie, qwo-li, jenn and colin
This is a zine put out by anti-authoritarian and other radically progressive people of color, and “is intended primarily as a tool for people of color to recognize, more redily, oppressive forces at play in our lives in order to begin the work of healing from them.”
I think it is also a good resource for white people to recognize their own racism, and ways that racism plays out in this fucked up world.
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Stuck in Place: Thoughts on Belonging Zine
This zine is a collection of personal essays exploring our relationships to home, seeking a sense of belonging somewhere, and how we impact place/place impacts us- while thinking about settler identity and white privilege while living in a white supremacy.
‘Stuck in place’ is 74 pages long and includes original artwork and historical photographs.
“For so many years I have been trying to figure out ways to talk about whiteness and cultural appropriation in ways that are constructive and challenging and don’t just shut people down. This zine is so great, and really helps me to think about these things and find new ways to talk with my friends about racism. Super thick zine super smart and thoughtful zine about being white, “I have been working through a lot of confusion in my own relationship to home and seeing friends with settler privilege express similar feelings of being detached from place, or lacking in cultural roots and spirituality, and seeing us appropriate cultural and spiritual practices without recognizing what kind of violence we are engaging in or why it is violent in the first place. As a way to bring other settlers to understand their own settler identities and the implications of the actions we take within a white supremacist, colonizer culture. I am sharing my experiences in my own learning process. I am hoping this will be useful to other settlers grappling with understanding their own relationship to land, home and place.” I love this zine in so many ways, and it particularly is helpful for me, because the author is not an academic (and doesn’t write in academic language) and also comes from a working class background, which I relate to more than when people write from other perspectives. She is able to write about the violence and poverty in her own family and clearly state that this fact does not dismiss the reality of white privilege. I really hope all of us white people trying to understand our own internalized racism and how to fight racism or be an active anti-racist ally, we all should read this zine! ” – Cindy Crabb
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Skinned Heart Zine Issue #3 – Nyky Gomez
Yo soy una Mexicana and I write a personal/political zine. [Skinned Heart Zine is a] Personal Political Mexicana perspective zine dealing with issues such as mental health, health, abusive relationships, race issues, sexual abuse, and generally living and learning.
Well it is my zine, so I like it because it allows me to connect with other like minded people in the world struggling with the same things that I struggling with.
“ The power of female friendships and support; fallouts and exploring the causes; sexism and wanting to learn from the collective pain and miscommunications; being a radical feminist in denial of the abusive relationship she was in; the loss of a few white friends; gardening; “I think a lot about punk and activism and the impression that each of those communities have left on me. I think about how much I have learned about people and communication.I think about how much my friends mean to me and how much they have meant to me. I can’t imagine who I would have been if I had not come into contact with these people… I started to forget what I was all about. I really lost a sense of my own culture, my sense of Browness, and I forgot how to connect with people who weren’t punks…” ” – Cindy Crabb
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Skinned Heart Quatro – Nyky Gomez
About recovering from an emotionally and physically abusive relationship – some of the details of it. I am always so proud when people have the ability to write about what exactly was the abuse, because emotional abuse is so commonly not recognized when we’re in it, and it can really help to see other people’s experiences – to be able to say “yes! That is what it was like for me too!” And it is also so good to read about her becoming herself again – learning to have confidence, taking care of herself, her current healthy relationship, still caring about the world and people.
Also about Assimilation and Resistance, living away from her family and longing for her cultural roots (living in Seattle instead of the South West), family history and that feeling of living in dual realities, and assimilation being hard to stop. – Cindy Crabb
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Skinned Heart Cinco – Nyky Gomez
A small issue dealing with dark mania and rapid cycling, trying to remember the path out of the self-destructive feelings.- Cindy Crabb
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Skinned Heart Numero Seis – Nyky Gomez
This issue is about her relationship with her dad, the similarities and difference between them, and how her life has been influenced by his drug addiction and his on again off again incarceration. It includes a critique of racism and the prison industrial complex and who is legitimized in activist circles as “political prisoners” when every imprisonment is political. Reflections on how, despite the racism, sexism and homophobia that exists in punk, punk and anarchism have provided a way in to finding connection to other radical people of color, and other people who work on developing politicized language and action around racism.- Cindy Crabb
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Whiteness is not a culture. There is Irish culture and Italian culture and American culture—the latter, as Albert Murray pointed out, a mixture of the Yankee, the Indian, and the Negro (with a pinch of ethnic salt); there is youth culture and drug culture and queer culture; but there is no such thing as white culture. Whiteness has nothing to do with culture and everything to do with social position. It is nothing but a reflection of privilege, and exists for no reason other than to defend it. Without the privileges attached to it, the white race would not exist, and the white skin would have no more social significance than big feet.
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An Anarchist Introduction to Critical Race Theory
Critical Race Theory starts by asking the same questions about race, racism and power that a myriad of academic disciplines and activists have pondered for the past century. It draws upon critical legal studies and radical feminism in the formation of its approach. While it is primarily concerned with the legal arena, it is activist in nature and has come to include political science, education, American and ethnic studies and more.
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Feminist
F.E.M.M.E.the Federation of Enthusiastic Misandrists & Miscellaneous Emasculatorsa serial zine
Memento Mori: An Archive, 2011.
In Search of Lost…, 2013.
I Shot James Franco, 2015.
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Mine: an Anthology of Women’s Choices. and Mine: an Anthology of Reproductive Rights.
These are compilation zines about abortion, RU486, herbal abortion-trying to destigmatize by sharing stories. also stories of childbirth and other issues around reproductive rights. They are really good!
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Mine: an Anthology of Reproductive Rights.
These are compilation zines about abortion, RU486, herbal abortion-trying to destigmatize by sharing stories. also stories of childbirth and other issues around reproductive rights. They are really good!
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Sea Sponge Revolution
this is an introductory zine about stigmas around menstruation, problems with commerical mensturation products (tampons, pads), a pattern for making cloth pads, and information on other alternative menstural products (like the keeper, the sea sponge, etc.)
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Brainscan Zine #22 IUD: a practical body modification
Intra Uterine Devices (IUDs) are the most widely used form of reversible birth control in the world and the second most widely used form of birth control behind sterilization. IUDs are also the most effective form of birth control. When searching for a form of birth control for my partner and I found that the IUD made the most sense for us. Since being fitted for an IUD almost a year ago people have had lots of questions.
In typical Brainscan zine fashion, I’m writing about what’s going on in my life. This zine just happens to an informative look at the history and procedure in a clinical sense, as well as a person account from exploration to procedure to afterwards and I’m very happy with my decision!
If you or anyone you know have had an interest in IUDs this zine might answer some of your questions. 32 pages, 1/4 sized, affixed color covers, gocco printed envelopes. Numbered and limited to 1000.
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Beast Grrl #1
Created by a group of teenage girls in Balitmore, this zine is strong and powerful, including a manifesto of feminism which prioratizes connecting with other girls with support, articles, stories and art about women in history, youth activism, body image and more. – Cindy Crabb
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Beast Grrl #2 / 16 pages / Half size
The Beast Grrls are a group of teenage girls living in or around Baltimore. This issue is based around the word magic and the belief that every girl is beautiful in her own way.
Inside there is a piece about the power of periods, attending the Women’s Debate Institute in Minnesota, a manifesto, a piece about corporations & women, a list of rights we have been dealing with law enforcement and other magical words and artwork.
Page after page of empowerment!
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Beast Grrl #3
In this issue, a few of the teen writers attended Slut Walk, which inspired the theme of this issue to be the Action Issue. This issue has more articles than the previous two: about self-image and the media, The Paycheck Fairness Act (that Republican’s blocked), Tips on using the media for activist purposes, as well as doing tangible, in the street protesting, Street Harassment, Hollaback, the label “feminist” and why we need feminism. – Cindy Crabb
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Beast Grrl #4
The theme of this issue is “REAL”. Articles, art and stories about being yourself, about “real” feminism, school uniforms, conformity and more. – Cindy Crabb
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“As we come into the new year, we’re thinking about all the things we’ve accomplished, and all the people we’re grateful for. Because really, it’s pretty crazy that we’ve been able to make five issues of this thing. As we’ve gone along, we have found an amazing community of people who are excited about what we’re doing, and even better, excited about getting involved. ONe of the reasons that we created Beast Grrl is that we didn’t feel like we had a community where we could talk about feminism. As we’ve grown, we’ve been able to form a community of our own. We met an awsome girl, Michelle, who formed a zine support group where we met so many new cool people. Zinester Marc Calvery gave us tons of support and awarded us ‘The AxP Cut to Bleed Award for 2014’ in the Art Exchange Program grant. A gallery that sells our zine, Terrault Contemporary, agreed to host a release party for zine five. And when we put out the word that we were looking for submissions for this very issue, we recieved a ton of responses from you all, especially on Tumblr. We’v found a space where we aren’t alone. where everyone is open, excited, enthusiastic, and passionate. In the name of the great community we’ve found, this issue of Beast Grrl is dedicated to everyone.”
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“For this issue, we were thinking about the future– What’s coming? Who’s coming? How does our past inform our future? As usual, every contributor has given her own original perspective in poetry, essay, or artwork. As Beast Grrl Zine travels into the future, we’re thinking about where we’re going. What does the future hold for us? Well, we’re interested in expanding what the Beast Grrl name means. We’ve realized this month that we don’t want to stop at publishing a zine, and we haven’t we’re planning events and project like “Code Red”, a drive to collect sanitary products for women experiencing homelessness, which launched this month at BSA, a Baltimore high school. We’re excited to explore the ways that feminism can interact with service and activity, so stay tuned for more projects in the future! But we haven’t just recognized our potential, we’d also like you to recognize yours. We love hearing from new readers almost as much as we love submissions from new contributors, so please get in touch!”
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“Four months ago, while we were discussing the theme of this issue, justice was the biggest thought on our minds. Baltimore city was erupting in protests after the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a spinal cord injury and died while in police custody. We were horrified, but not surprised. We’d long since recognized that we live in a society that doesn’t value justice.
This issue started as a reaction to those feelings, and grew into what you see here. In the months since Freddie Gray’s death we’ve seen more violence towards black people from police officers, including an attack on a teenage girl, Dajeerria Becton; a shooting at a historically black church that left nine people dead; and, in our own city, violence that has drastically increased.
We are celebrating as gay marriage was legalized across the United States and watched with excitement as Caitlyn Jenner started a conversation in the mainstream news media about what it means to be transgender. Our country is pulling closer and closer to justice in some areas, but in others, it seems like justice is only getting further away.
This issue is for the marginalized groups, for groups that have to fight for justice. It features interviews with leaders in Baltimore’s feminist community, information on using personal pronouns, poetry, and art. We hope that you enjoy the ‘Justice’ issue of Beast Grrl.”
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“We are excited to give you this zine full of work inspired by the theme ‘idol’. We’ve been thinking a lot about how we live in a time of really powerful and inspiring women and we wanted to make a zine to honor them. Women like Nicki Minaj, Tavi Gevinson, Lavernne Cox, and Amandla Stenberg all inform our feminism, and are a big part of why we wanted to make Beast Grrl.”
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Dangerous Damsels Feminist Fairy Tales by Sarah Sawyers-Lovett
6 writers rewrite traditional fairy tales or write their own. They are well written and cool and sometimes scary. I love fairy tales, and love this zine. The small font is a little hard to read, but worth it.
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Empower Yoself Before you Wreck Yoself: Native American Feminist Musings
This zine covers a bunch of different personal and political issues: Speaking the Unspoken rather than “breaking the steriotype,” Flash Fiction about Annie Mae + a short bio of Annie Mae who was part of AIM and the 1973 Wounded Knee Reoccupation; cultural approriation and mascots; “my own feminist empowerment manifesto,” and more. – Cindy Crabb
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Nizhoni Beat: Native American Feminist Musings
…this issue talks about decolonization, art and traveling, coming out and gender identity, going to a black lives matters protest and the mixed feelings about white male anarchists insigating confrontation and disapointment in the online arguing and animosity resulting from an event that was supposed to bring people together with a sense of community.- Cindy Crabb
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Janebill: Keesha and Joanie and JANE – Judith Arcana
Written by Judith Arcana, one of the members of the JANE collective that provided abortions when they were illegal, this is a short play set in the near future, when Roe v. Wade is overturned. A group of women trying to figure out what to do invites JANE members to discuss ideas, memories, and strategies. A great starting point for our own discussions about what to do about the increasing limitations on abortion access.
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Transplants: Sowing the Seed of Gender in the Garden
“A working curriculum, aimed at young people, seeking to incorporate conversations about gender oppression into a gardent/farm education context. What stories do the plants we work with tell us? What clues to human nature and human history can we fine in them? How can plants teach us to honor the inherent magic within each individual living being on earth?” Includes: Guidelines: Learning the History: Making the Connections: Generating Common Language around Gender: Using Plants to tell Stories: Activities: Resources.
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a simple introduction to feminism for those with no previous experience with feminism. Topics include slut shaming, rape and sexual assault, sexist language and misogyny.
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Against Separatism
Anarchism & Identity politics
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Arms and the Women“Jeanne Charles” was the pseudonym of Françoise Denevert. This article, under the title La critique ad mulierem, originally appeared in the journal Chronique des Secrets Publics (Paris, 1975). This new translation by Ken Knabb supersedes the 1975 version included in Public Secrets.
text from here: http://www.bopsecrets.org/PS/women.htm
puttingthesexybackinfeminazi@riseup dot net
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Breaking the MANaclesan anti-patriarchy reader
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Excuse Me, Can You Please Pass The Privilege?
A primer on privilege for the privileged by someone with privilege.
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From the Kitchen: Sexism Anarchism and Men
In what is perhaps a first for Aotearoa Pakeha anarchists (please let us know if that isn’t the case) ‘From the Kitchen’ is a zine devoted to the discussion of anarchist mens relationship/response to the feminist movement(s) and our own sexist behaviour. The zine isn’t about pointing fingers but instead is done in the style of critical self-reflection by the authors about sexism in their own lives.
Topics in the first issue include:
Me(n) and Pornography
Slugs in the Sandpit – The Gendered politics of the garden
Meat Robots Unite
Some thoughts on masculinity, authoritarianism and emotional intelligence
What is to be done- some reflections on current sexism in the anarchist movement.
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Gay Shame Opposes Marriage in Any Form
Gay Shame Opposes Marriage in Any Form
Critique of the reformist/capitalist gay marriage movement, and the patriarchal nature of marriage in general.
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Sex Race and Class by Selma James
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Sexuality as State Form
An essay bringing together anarchist and post-structuralist thought (esp Deleuze & Guattari) to question the very idea of ‘sexual orientation.’ It aims to make it clear why sexuality is an anarchist issue. Originally published as:
Heckert, Jamie (2011). “Sexuality as State Form” in D. Rousselle and S. Evren (eds.) Postanarchism: A Reader. Ann Arbor/London: Pluto Press.
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The Promises And Pitfalls Of Privilege Politics
Put together by some anti-state pro-revolutionaries for a workshop panel discussion at the 2012 NYC Anarchist Bookfair.
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This is a short essay, by a canadian sex-trade worker. It’s really, really good.
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Vancouver Rape Relief Does Not Support All Survivors
For a recap of the action where this pamphlet was distributed, see:
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/blog/flux/11077
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Spider Teeth: wherein our protaganist flies to Thailand to get a brand new cunt – Ellie June Navidson
Super thick zine with a lot of details of getting surgery, but also about way more than surgery: it’s about finding a way to tell the true story of her life without reinforcing cultural assumptions and the problematic macro-narrative that has been created about transwomen, and also telling the truth, finding ways to tell her story so it can be universally understood. – Cindy Crabb
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Ladders and Hips: An Open Letter to the Boys in My Life
A zine on self-injury, eating disorders, and sexualized violence. This zine lays open the author’s struggle with internalized sexism by looking at the ways patriarchy has manifested itself in the author’s body. Other articles connect her personal experiences with a broader, intersectional exploration of power within activist and punkrock communities she both embraces and attempts to hold accountable.
TRIGGER WARNING: this zine deals explicitly with self injury, eating disorders, and sexual assault. read with care.
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Rape, Consent and PatriarchyWe all know what it is, now it’s time to get off our asses and do something about it.
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With Allies Like These: Reflections on Privelage Reductionism
This zine explores the origins of anti-oppression politics and their current position within the both the anarchist space and the leftist space. Coming from a highly critical perspective, the authors of the zine (members of the Common Cause anarchist group) explain the origins of anti-oppression activism within the university and the failures of the movements for liberation in the 1960s. The zine critiques the theory and practice of anti-oppression politics while looking at ways in which it often serves to limit struggles by focusing on the individual, sub-cultural “safe spaces,” and limiting militancy. Far from being a simplistic dismissal, this zine is a well-researched and well-considered piece that should help foster important and challenging conversations.
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Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex
This zine presents a strong critique of the political identity of “ally” and the activists who have built an “ally industrial complex” based on their anti-oppression credentials. Written from the context of indigenous struggles, this zine criticizes and explains several different types of “allies”: those who wish to “save” oppressed people, those who wish to use oppressed people to advance their own interests, academics, self-proclaiming allies, and more. Rather than “allies,” the zine argues instead for “accomplices” who attack colonial structures and ideals and who are realized through mutual consent and trust.
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This zine is a good, basic introduction to patriarchy and sexism and the role of men in perpetuating it. It works well as a means of starting conversations about the role of men in perpetuating and fighting patriarchy. There are definitions and exploration of patriarchy, reflections on men’s anti-sexist discussion groups, reflections and discussion on the concept of masculinity, immediate step men can take to change, and a list of suggested readings.
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Said The Pot To The Kettle Feminist Theory For Anarchist Men
Said the Pot to the Kettle provides a basic introduction to feminist theory for anarchist men. This zine was written by a man and is targeted towards other men who sleep with women. It covers a wide-range of topics including patriarchy, gender identification, women-only and safe spaces, language and pronouns, sexual assault, powder dynamics, body image, and more. Obviously, the discussion to each of these points is relatively short, but it’s a very helpful zine. The author has two goals: 1) to help men deconstruct patriarchy within themselves for the sake of women’s liberation 2) to help men deconstruct patriarchy within themselves for the sake of their own liberation.
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With the sub-title “Three essays on identity, oppression, and social war,” Lines in Sand is a collection by Peter Gelderloos that looks critically at identity politics and anti-oppression politics. All of them are very thought provoking and well worth reading. These aren’t knee-jerk criticisms, but rather are thoughtful explorations of the problematic aspects of identity and anti-oppression politics and practice.
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This zine—sub-titled “An Argument Against the ‘Identity’ in Identity Politics”—presents a solid critique of “identity politics” and organizing strategies based solely on identity. It isn’t just a simple rejection, but offers a substantive critique of the limits of identity and offers an alternative perspective based on the “politics of affinity” that takes as its starting point our connections and commonalities in terms of goals for the future and types of resistance, rather than maintenance of fixed identities.
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A Compilation of Anti Oppression Resources
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Hot Pantz DIY Gynecology Herbal Remedies
Patriarchy sucks!
It’s robbed us of our autonomy and much of our history. We believe that it’s integral for women to be aware and in control of our own bodies. The recipes we present here have been known for centuries, passed down from mother to daughter, and have survived the censorship of the witch hunts. Our intent is simple and practical: to help break away from the medical establishment’s tentacular grip on our bodies and our approaches to health and healing.
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Disability
Blind Date and Cyborg Sweetie
An excellent zine written by two people – one (my friend David) who is visually impaired and Alana who has type 1 diabetes. it’s about “…moving through the world with conditions that are often invisible to others, negotiating with our bodies to get through the day…” stories about their disability and illness histories, and being in a relationship. Super good!
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deafula #5 interview with my mother
“Kerry interviews her mom on what it’s like to be a hearing parent of a deaf child, growing up in a time when there were a lot less resources for deaf people, and not getting much information or guidence about what to expect or what to do. The interview includes a really sweet story that her mom remembers about when Kerry first got her hearing aids.” – Cindy Crabb
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On March of 2013, I went on a week-long zine tour. It was one of the best experiences of my life.
Deafula #6 is TOUR STORIES. In this issue I blissfully recount my experience of my first zine tour, especially presenting on the Chicago Zine Fest 2013 panel on disability and zine writing.
Confessions of nerves, sweet moments, and funny stories, but also: struggling with requesting accommodation, what it’s like to be the lone deaf person traveling with a group of hearing people, and navigating the murky waters of good intentions versus reality.
Quarter-sized, 50ish pages, photocopied, cut and paste.
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Deafula #7 is a very special issue, as it was the result of a grant I received in late 2013: the Leeway Art and Change grant.
This issue centers on disability access in our local zine / radical communities and how we can better our approaches. A truly important issue that is very close to my heart.
Half-sized, 50ish pages, photocopied, cut and paste.
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Deafula #8: THE RELATIONSHIPS ISSUE.
The issue explores what it is like to be a deaf person married to a hearing person. I look at my past relationships with hearing persons and then trace the journey my hearing husband and I took to come to a place of mutual support and understanding when it came to my deafness.
When only one person has a disability in a relationship, it can complicate things. You both want to retain your independence, but also be able to rely on that person in the way that partners do — except your version of “relying” looks a lot different than an abled bodied person’s does. Where is the line? What is “too much”? When do you move from “this is what partners do for each other territory” and into over-reliance and being a burden?
On all of this and more: ableism, protection, expectations, feelings of burdensomeness, resentment, and the joy of mutual support. Includes a special Q&A with my partner (the light of my goddamn life!).
Quarter-legal-sized, 44 pages pages, photocopied, cut and paste. Cover art by Sara Bear.
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Danger Unheard: Deafness and the Police with support from Research and Destroy 2014
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It’s Not the End Of The World by Ocean Capewell
Building a Life with Limp Wrists a zine about carpal tunnel, tendonitis, and how to keep your job from ruining your life. General advice, info, and funny, specific advice about different jobs like dishwashing, bike pizza delivery person, cashier, zinester, etc.
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Activist Journeys 