Welcome! Newsletter number 67.
Last month‘s entry was a bit rushed, as I was in the middle of a research trip in the North Calotte (a fancy word for the far north of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, plus the adjacent area of Russia – I didn’t go to that one, though, not because of anti-Russian sentiments but because it has become near impossible to get a visa). The entry was so rushed that I forgot to list two contributions to the May issue of ak: a review of a “50 Year Punk Rock” book by Ventil Verlag, and a take on Sweden’s drug policies (the issue’s main theme).
The trip itself resulted in numerous articles, some of which have already been published: Arbetaren ran a series of football fields in the North Calotte with commentary; ak ran an article about the World War II experience along the Swedish-Finnish border; Flamman ran an article about Tornedalians, one of Sweden’s national minorities; junge Welt ran two articles about sports: the basketball miracle of Luleå, and the feisty Kirkenes IF in Norway’s far northeast corner. More to come! (Roland Aspviken, who I traveled with, provided photos to most of the articles and is credited in some as coauthor.) I also wrote a tiny little something on the PM Press blog about meeting with Sámi activist Niillas Somby, the author of In the Hour of the Wolf, and his wife Margarita in Tana bru/Deanušaldi.
I got to comment on the Men’s Soccer World Cup 2026 for junge Welt. An earlier text on the World Cup in Arbetaren was also translated into German and published by the online journal Sozial.Geschichte.
I managed to add a new review to the blog! Titled “Armed Struggle and True-Crime Thrillers”, it looks at Jason Burke’s The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s.
I also reviewed a new book by Philipp Köster, editor-in-chief of the popular German football magazine 11Freunde, for junge Welt.
DIY Solidarity has now listed all recipients of 2026. I also got to answer a few questions in an interview the TOYZ webzine did with DIY Conspiracy, the project hosting DIY Solidarity. The interview is available in English and Turkish.
Another translation of Prison Round Trip has been added the No Trace website – this time in Portuguese. (The text is by Klaus Viehmann and comes from a pamphlet I translated from German into English.)
Terrible news reach us all the time. We are forced to grow a hard skin. Still, some news sting particularly deeply. I guess it all depends on personal circumstance and experience. In any case, I found the news about the Prairieland rulings devastating. I have no idea what to do, but I hope that we can figure something out collectively. Here is much useful information to start to reflect. And here is a fundraiser for the Minnesota 15, more anti-ICE organizers under attack.
More next month. Stay safe!