Welcome! Newsletter number 6.
This month’s review, “Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right”, looks at the new edition of E. Tani and Kaé Sera’s False Nationalism False Internationalism, an underground (and highly controversial) classic about armed struggle and revolutionary strategy from 1985.
Not much sports writing this month, but a take on the European Super League fiasco (we are talking soccer here) was published by the German monthly analyse & kritik. (A similar article in English was published last month by Forum.) The same issue of analyse & kritik carried a review of mine of the book Die modernen Wanderarbeiter*innen by Kathrin Birner und Stefan Dietl.
I wrote two articles in Swedish. “Carlo Giuliani – en av oss” commemorates Carlo’s death at the hands of the police in Genoa 20 years ago. The (short) text is included in an issue of the long-standing anarchist journal Brand; the issue is dedicated to 50 years of autonomous left organizing. The article “Även små fack kan göra skillnad” argues for the potential power of militant minorities in the union movement. It was written in the context of a debate about syndicalist strategy that, to me, all too often focuses on the interests of a particular organization (membership numbers etc.) rather than those of the class.
In the month of May, I partook in two Zoom events, which, for a technophobe like myself, is a huge thing. The event I did together with Niillas Somby about Liberating Sápmi: Indigenous Resistance in Europe’s Far North has been made available online by the great folks of Firestorm Books, who hosted it. The other event, a talk and discussion about sports and radical organizing, hosted by the Louise Michel Sports Club of London, was not recorded but very pleasant!
A great review of Liberating Sápmi by Kimberly Croswell was published in the latest issue of Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies (ADCS), guest edited by J. Kēhaulani Kauanui under the header “The Politics of Indigeneity, Anarchist Praxis, and Decolonization”. I was also able to watch Suvi West‘s new film about the colonization of Sápmi on the Finnish side. Suvi talked about the film in her interview for Liberating Sápmi. It is called Eatnameamet, and you must see if it you can!
Also reviewed in the latest issue of ADCS was Bas Umali’s Pangayaw and Decolonizing Resistance: Anarchism in the Philippines, which I edited. An excerpt of the book was published by South Africa’s New Frame. Bas now has a Buy Me a Coffee page. Meanwhile, his comrades at the Etniko Bandido infoshop continue with their impressive activities, among them a zine fair and mutual aid initiatives.
Speaking of zines: I received a copy of Clevo Style: How Decades of Cleveland Punk and Hardcore Shaped the World in the mail. I was in touch with the author A. Iwasa prior to its release. Always nice to be listed under “Special Thanks”. If you have any interest in hardcore history, get a copy. It’s a great DIY study in a format that has become all too rare.
Finally, Mandelbaum Verlag in Vienna has announced my book (in German) about the Swedish left. Will keep me occupied once the AngryWorkers translation is done – I’m getting there.
Other than that, it’s getting warmer. Even in Sweden.
Back next month. Stay safe!