News & Reviews

Both this newspaper in our last issue and Bad Attitude, No. 3 (POB 11589, Detroit Ml 48211) failed to give credit for the poem/ritual, “The Appeal of Anarchy.” It was taken from the compelling pamphlet by John Moore, Anarchy & Ecstasy: Visions of Halcyon Day.

The author states that the text “has been adapted from renderings of ‘The Charge of the Goddess’ by Starhawk and Charles G. Leland...Some maintain that it contains sentiments which have been uninterruptedly passed down the ages from prehistoric times, whilst others aver that it derives wholly from the fertile imagination of Leland, who first published it in 1899.”

The full pamphlet is available through the Fifth Estate Bookstore. See this page.

Sabotage, an anarchist bookstore, opened in New York City on September 22 at 96 St. Marks, a half block from Tompkins Square Park.

It’s easy to find since the building is pictured on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti” rock album. Besides distributing anti-authoritarian publications, they plan to provide space for organizing local radical and cultural activities.

They need people to visit and want to carry copies of ‘zines on consignment or trade for copies of The Shadow, NYC’s anarchist newspaper. Their zip is 10009.

Over four years ago a small group of mostly British intellectuals founded the Anarchist Research Group. This group gathers several times a year to listen to papers given by members and publishes a newsletter which shares information related to anarchist research.

The Bulletin of Anarchist Research has published for four years with issue 19 due by the end of the year. Typical issues contain articles, reviews (John Moore, author of Anarchy & Ecstasy is the review editor), and essays. The Bulletin presently only goes out to about 125 members and 50, periodicals throughout the world, but would like more readers.

Subscriptions are 6.00 pounds for overseas airmail and checks must be in sterling. Subs, articles, etc. to T.V. Cahill, BAR, Dept. of Politics, University of Lancaster LA 1 4YL ENGLAND.

Green Fire (the title comes from Aldo Leopold’s description of the glow in a wolf’s eyes) is the publication of New Mexico Earth First! It proves further the contention that EF! is a movement and each group speaks for itself. One gets an entirely different view reading this 12-page tabloid than from its big brother in Tucson. NMEF! declares itself, “The Wild Bunch, part pranksters, part eco-guerrilla” and states that the “enemy...is corporate industrialism whether it is in the U.S., Soviet Union, China or Mexico.” They also talk about “the goals of wilderness and anarchy, the free expression of primal desire” and look for ways to put it into practice. $2.50 sample copy or $8 per year to NM EF!, 2405 Meadow SW, Albuquerque NM 87830.

Pressure Drop Press, whose excellent Threat By Example, we carry in our bookshop (see last issue), is soliciting contributions to its soon to be published Sabotage in the American Workplace. It will contain anecdotes about on-the-job sabotage used as a weapon against boredom, harassment, poor working conditions, or for political action. Essays, artwork, quotes and interviews will be included.

The purpose of the book is to document that sabotage is as common as work itself. All contributions will be considered from stories of theft of paper clips to the destruction of computer systems and covering as many different jobs as possible. Write Pressure Drop Press, POB 460754, San Francisco, CA 94146.

Left Bank distribution in Seattle has done something in which we have always been remiss: publish a complete list of its books in stock. They have an attractive, fully annotated 28-page booklet which lists 450 titles, over 75 publishers. They sell books retail but also will service bookstores, literature tables and classes at a discount for quantity orders. Send $1 to Left Bank, 5241 University Way NE, Seattle WA 98105.

A letter writer in the November-December 1989 edition of Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed asks its editor, Lev Chernyi why he keeps referring to our paper as the “premier anarchist journal” when his is one of the best these days.

Certainly, neither paper wants to be in an “excellence” derby, but I would agree with the writer that Lev’s effort is one of the best.

Anarchy has an every-other-month publishing schedule which is ambitious for a publication coming out of a small Missouri college town with a limited staff. Lev sees his publication as part of the growing “rebirth and resurgence of the anarchist movement” and has a goal of several thousand subscribers in the next year to both sustain the project financially and to make it worth his effort.

Anarchy’s content shares much in common with the FE, although we have our disagreements over such issues as spirituality (see Summer 1989 FE). Anarchy often invokes a concern with personal themes such as monogamy, sexuality and boy/man love. Its layout and design are always attractive and it often features provocative reprints such as the excerpt from Raoul Vaneigem’s The Revolution of Everyday Life in the current issue. This edition also contains anarchist news from around the world, numerous reviews of books and ‘zines and the inclusion of Lev’s long planned project, the North American Anarchist Review, “created to bring together anarchist readers and publishers.”

Subscription rates are $6 for six issues or two dollars for a sample copy from Anarchy, c/o CAL, POB 1446, Columbia MO 65202.

Boston’s Black Rose Collective has scheduled a lecture series for the Fall including relevant topics and the opportunity for anti-authoritarians in that area to meet one another. It commenced October 27 with “An Introduction to Anarchism” presented by members of the collective, proceeded through November with talks by people such as Barbara Ehrenreich on “Feminism and the Sexual Revolution” and continues with a full schedule in December and January. For a list of topics and dates, write Black Rose, PO Box 2684, Jamaica Plain MA 02130 or call 524–0781.