Welcome! Newsletter number 51.
I realize that I have not posted a new review since July 2024. So, it is hard to pretend that this still is a routine with the occasional break. The break is the new routine. I blame it on the union and all the work it entails. But old routines can be reestablished. Should I ever be able to do so, y’all be the first to know.
Instead of writing reviews, I traveled a fair bit in February. We had a good national union meeting in Västerås in early February, then a central committee meeting in Umeå (the European Capital of Hardcore 1989-2000!) in late February. In-between, I traveled to Vienna for the Peoples’ Platform Europe. 800 people from over 100 groups and organizations coming together is always inspiring and always chaotic. Socially, it was great; politically, a bit more cohesion would help with the organizational goals. But kudos to the Academy of Democratic Modernity for arranging the event. While there, I got my hands on a copy of 500 Jahre: Aufstieg und Niedergang der Kapitalistischen Moderne (500 Years: The Rise and Fall of Capitalist Modernity), a book edited by Initiative Demokratischer Konföderalismus for the 500th anniversary of the 1525 Peasant Uprising in Germany. I wrote a preface.
In ak, I contributed to a new series, “Best Practice”, writing about bank robberies. In Arbetaren, I commented on the sacking of Erik Helgeson, vice chairman of Sweden’s Dock Workers’ Union. Helgeson was sacked because he acted as a spokesperson for the union after its members had decided on refusing to load military equipment destined for Israel. Whatever you may think of the decision, it’s outrageous for a union representative to lose their job over doing what their duty is, namely, to stand for a decision made by the majority of the membership.
An interview I gave to Helsinki’s Aurora group last September is now available on their website in Finnish. It’s mostly – but not only – about the SAC.
I was on two podcasts. On the Final Straw I talked about the 2nd of June Movement and the book From Hash Rebels to Urban Guerrillas, and on the Éirígí podcast For a New Republic, we chatted about sports and politics. It was a delight to have this conversation on a Republican podcast, I have visited Ireland many times over the past 25 years. Meanwhile, a podcast on football and politics I was on a couple of years ago has got much wider reach, as Minor Compositions has now launched their podcast series on many new platforms.
Two books of mine (well, one a booklet) were discussed by Dan and Jack on the Auxiliary Statements podcast. Antifascism, Sports, Sobriety (no. 128) fits right in with the Éirígí discussion, while Antiindividualistic Individuality (no. 129) was a bit of a surprise. It’s an old text resurrected by a Laniakea Books reprint from 2024. Nice to see it arouse unexpected interest!
Unexpected was also the Russian translation of a 2013 interview I did with the German “postanarchist” Jürgen Mümken.
For DIY Conspiracy, I interviewed the Etniko Bandido collective from the Philippines. This was in connection with our 2025 DIY Solidarity application window opening on March 1. If you know of projects that you think must apply, please let them know!
There’s a few websites and campaigns I’d like to bring to your attention this month. Riseup, a jewel in radical online infrastructure, is doing a fundraiser. So is the German publisher Immergrün. Positive Force World is getting off the ground (somewhat similar to DIY Solidarity but more ambitious), while the Alpen-Rhizom website, the No Trace archive, and the 1312 Press zine distro are well worth checking out.
In March, I’ll do a bit of public speaking should anyone care. I will present Frihetens fönster, together with Dharana (co-editor), in Norrköping (March 11) and Södertälje (March 12); From Hash Rebels to Urban Guerrillas in Gothenburg (March 15) and Stockholm (March 22); and Indigener Widerstand in Zeiten des Klimwandels (this is about Sápmi) in Leipzig (March 29) and Dresden (March 30). In Chemnitz, I will speak about the left and sports (March 27), and there’ll be something on anarchism and publishing in Leipzig on March 28, since I’ll be there during the bookfair (Germany’s second biggest).
Finally (I know I’m testing your patience this month!), two comments on the great world of sports: First, I was indeed happy to see Mikaela Shiffrin score her 100th World Cup win after a nasty injury earlier this season. Given the circumstances, the win was surprising but well deserved. I am a huge fan of any successful athlete remaining down-to-earth, and Shiffrin is a stellar example. So is Jannik Sinner, although, in his case, the latest news are much less uplifting. After a deal with WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency), Sinner was banned from competition for three months. This although everyone, including WADA, concedes that there was no intention to take performance-enhancing drugs and that the amount of steroids that had entered Sinner’s system through medication used by his physio couldn’t have possibly had any performance-enhancing effects. That an athlete is banned under such circumstances is ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is how unable many commentators are to distinguish a fair critique of WADA from ad hominem attacks on Sinner. The media, of course, is sucking it up. It’s a disgrace. Oh, and any hacker able to shut down Nick Kyrgios’s social media will be my all-time hero.
More next month. Stay safe!