Welcome! Newsletter number 59.
Life is ironic. On the day I probably have the least time ever to write a newsletter (we have a union congress coming up), my list is pretty long. So, I reckon this will be more of a staccato type list than a characteristically beautiful essay. (Yes, you are welcome to make jokes, I presented the opportunity on a silver platter.)
New review! That makes seven in a row. We travel back to antiquity to meet rebels of old.
Junge Welt comeback! I wrote about the start of the Alpine skiing season (boy, it was so much fun to write!) and the “fishing village” myth of far-right darling Mjällby AIF (Sweden’s 2005 men’s soccer champion, for those not in the know).
Sápmi for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. I did recommend several Sámi authors, nothing came of it, and this time – unlike in similar situations before – I decided that an article by me was better than none. So did the Sámi I asked for advice. Right decision? I hope so.
Parts of the Swedish translation of “Oppressor and Oppressed Nations” were published in a Brand issue on “Imperialism.” The gruesome war in Gaza certainly brought the topic back to the table. It was also the theme of the Marx25 conference in Stockholm, organized by the “Center for Marxist Social Studies”. I was invited to partake in two talks: a panel with John Hörnquist and Keti Chukhrov about “What to Do with the Imperialist Left?” (it was good for a panel, I think), and a discussion with the Swedish Dockworker Union’s vice chairman Erik Helgeson under the grand title “Workers Against Imperialism”. That talk was fantastic thanks to Eric (I only asked questions), who was laid off in connection with his union’s refusal to load war material bound for Israel.
Somewhat related, I wrote a book list on “Internationalism” for the “Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus” in Berlin.
At the “Autonomous Factory” in Sofia, Bulgaria, Antifascism, Sports, Sobriety was discussed – me attending online fell through, but I hope it was a fruitful meeting.
Rojo y negro in Spain published an interview with me about everyone’s favorite topic with relation to Sweden these days: gang violence!
I did an audio interview with the folks from the Übertage podcast – the topic: Sweden!
Happy to see KPFA offering my Final Straw interview on the Movement 2nd of June book, From Hash Rebels to Urban Guerrillas. There was also a review in the Twentieth Century Communism journal.
From radio to television: I was featured in an ARTE program on piracy. (The kids were most impressed by my bicycle now “being famous.”)
Russian friends discovered a new unlicensed translation of one of my books, namely Turning Money Into Rebellion. I’ve never been one much for copyright, so it’s all good – in fact, it might be advantageous in this case; apparently, the publisher is shady, but I can’t be blamed because I didn’t know.
In Canada, Kersplebedeb did its own version of our Radical Union Organizing in the Nordic Countries pamphlet, and it also published an updated version of Torkil Lauesen’s The Palestinian Left: Past, Present, and Future – I played a minor role with regard to the latter, pulling a few strings together after a Swedish designer friend suggested a remake of the original. It turned out pretty!
I traveled last month. The main destination was Vienna, where I attended the Communist Party congress. A reportage in German will appear next month, but I already wrote a little something in Swedish.
On the way to and from Vienna, I caught two shows that propelled me back to the 1990s: I saw Point of No Return in Berlin, and Catharsis in Munich. Members of both bands were featured in Sober Living for the Revolution. At the Catharsis show, I was handed a fantastic book titled Antipode – everyone should check out the project!
Friends from the US continue to suffer under the current political climate. Sang Hea Kil is still job-suspended from San José State University for pro-Palestine activism, and Mark Bray, a researcher of antifascist movements, had to leave the country altogether. How much worse will it get?
Things don’t look much better in Indonesia, where publishers who’ve translated some of my work have been affected by the book seizures of recent weeks.
Speaking of South East Asia: if you can, have a look at the Carving Dissensus exhibition!
If you rather read about the enemy in German, you can consult the new, highly insightful Über Rechts blog by stellar journalists Sebastian Friedrich and Nils Schniederjann.
Is the fall a time for fundraising? It seems like it. There are numerous options this month to share some cash if you can: Rise Up is doing one of its regular fundraising campaigns; Labournet TV needs money to survive; radical ecological movements in Brazil prepare for the COP30 in their won way; Tomas Rothaus has a new book coming out, Argentina, a Tale of Two Utopias: Anarchism, Soccer, Neoliberalism (incidentally, with a preface of mine – I know little about Argentina, but some about soccer and politics); and Drowning Dog and Malatesta still appreciate any dollar spent on their Bandcamp page to make ends meet during difficult times.
Stay safe! More next month.