Newsletter number two.
First off, many thanks to everyone who sent feedback after the blog was launched last month! As it appears, there are people other than myself who find it useful, which gladdens me. It’s a fun project to maintain. And no, so far, I don’t feel daunted by the prospect of writing a monthly newsletter (one reader mentioned that I shouldn’t have promised this, as I will now have to deliver). In early January, I also published the first original text on the blog, “Ecological Leninism: Friend or Foe?”, a review of two new books by Andreas Malm on radical environmentalism.
Work-wise, I’ve started on the German translation of the Angry Workers book Class Power on Zero-Hours, which I really can’t recommend enough. I’ve also continued my winter sports coverage for junge Welt, writing about ski jumping (one and two), biathlon, Alpine skiing, and Nordic combined.
I wrote a short piece about “The Politics of Straight Edge” for the Straight Edge issue (#13) of the Punks Around fanzine. Fantastic cover art by Ane V.!
Berlin’s A-Radio has rereleased an interview about the book Liberating Sápmi: Indigenous Resistance in Europe’s Far North that I did together with Maxida Märak for The Final Straw podcast last summer. They added a German version, where I did my own voice-over. I also lent my voice to the German version of the Knacka på app, based on a wonderful, and hugely popular, Swedish children’s book (Knock! Knock! Knock! in English).
There are several recent releases by friends that are worth checking out. RAD DOX have produced their second “minidocumentary”, Father Frost vs. Putin. Kingdom Scum have uploaded some tremendous new songs. And Jong Pairez has written an excellent review of Bas Umali’s book Pangayaw and Decolonizing Resistance: Anarchism in the Philippines.
If you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to draw your favorite anarchist circle, you might want to submit to Cindy Milstein‘s latest book project. Architects and builders among you can join the efforts of the world’s biggest anarchist archive, the CIRA in Lausanne, to make more space for its ever growing collection (see the call for the “Anarchitecture Challenge” in French, Italian, and German).
Last but not least, a reminder of the importance to support activists behind bars. Consider, for example, writing to the defendants of the “Network case” in Russia. For information on political prisoners in the US visit the Jericho Movement website. German readers have a great resource in Rote Hilfe.
Next post in a month. Stay safe!
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Update, February 5: There is a new review up on the blog, “The Difficult Road to Peace in Northern Ireland”, looking at the books Peace of Pacification? Northern Ireland After the Defeat of the IRA by Liam Ó Ruairc, and Where Grieving Begins by Patrick Magee.