Welcome! Newsletter 19.
No new review. I had one planned, but then dropped that particular idea. I think I took a break from the reviews last summer as well, so that’s my excuse. It would make September the month for the next one, so let’s aim for that.
Some sports writing for junge Welt: French Open summary, e-sports, Wimbledon preview. Also for junge Welt: an interview with Povel Johansson, chairman of the Communist Party of Sweden about Sweden’s application for NATO membership.
Other than that, I took it fairly easy, although there’s been some traveling, fundraising at a flea market, tabling at a bookfair – I wasn’t just being idle!
Certainly not idle were the folks preparing the Greek edition of my pirate book, which has now been released. Very sweet. Thanks to whoever it was who presented it at the anarchist bookfair in Thessaloniki! Meanwhile, the Spanish edition of the book was presented at the Maig di Gras festival in Borriana, where publisher Katakrak teamed up with L’Aurora, a group operating rescue missions of refugees in the Mediterranean. Love and respect.
I got permission to upload my interview for the book Futopia: Ideen für eine bessere Fußballwelt. The interview is but a footnote in a 450-page firework of ideas for how to bring the best out of soccer while containing the worst. All credit due to author Alina Schwermer.
On a final note, I learned about the death of Peter Lamborn Wilson, a.k.a. Hakim Bey. Peter was a controversial figure, but his book TAZ (for “Temporary Autonomous Zone”) made a big impression on me when it came out in the early 1990s. Peter and I corresponded by regular mail for many years, at a time when everyone else had moved on to digital means of communication, which Peter didn’t seem interested in. Phoenix X Eeyore, author of the brilliant Total Revolution? An Outsider History of Hardline, has written a well-balanced text on Peter and TAZ.
More next month. Have a great summer, and stay safe!