#becomeselfgovernable — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #becomeselfgovernable, aggregated by home.social.
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FREE to rad reading groups & Books thru Bars projects:
I’m gifting batches of 5-6 copies of “Deciding for Ourselves” to US-based reading groups & prisoner soli efforts. FREE, save for $10 to mail!
Book descrip: https://www.akpress.org/deciding-for-ourselves-ebook.html
Email me (cbmilstein at yahoo)
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FREE to rad reading groups & Books thru Bars projects:
I’m gifting batches of 5-6 copies of “Deciding for Ourselves” to US-based reading groups & prisoner soli efforts. FREE, save for $10 to mail!
Book descrip: https://www.akpress.org/deciding-for-ourselves-ebook.html
Email me (cbmilstein at yahoo)
-
FREE to rad reading groups & Books thru Bars projects:
I’m gifting batches of 5-6 copies of “Deciding for Ourselves” to US-based reading groups & prisoner soli efforts. FREE, save for $10 to mail!
Book descrip: https://www.akpress.org/deciding-for-ourselves-ebook.html
Email me (cbmilstein at yahoo)
-
FREE to rad reading groups & Books thru Bars projects:
I’m gifting batches of 5-6 copies of “Deciding for Ourselves” to US-based reading groups & prisoner soli efforts. FREE, save for $10 to mail!
Book descrip: https://www.akpress.org/deciding-for-ourselves-ebook.html
Email me (cbmilstein at yahoo)
-
FREE to rad reading groups & Books thru Bars projects:
I’m gifting batches of 5-6 copies of “Deciding for Ourselves” to US-based reading groups & prisoner soli efforts. FREE, save for $10 to mail!
Book descrip: https://www.akpress.org/deciding-for-ourselves-ebook.html
Email me (cbmilstein at yahoo)
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What better time than during fascism to read about real-life examples of self-governance?
I’m gifting batches of 5-6 copies of “Deciding for Ourselves” to US-based reading groups (FREE, except for $10 in shipping, while supplies lasts)!
DM or email me (cbmilstein at yahoo)
-
What better time than during fascism to read about real-life examples of self-governance?
I’m gifting batches of 5-6 copies of “Deciding for Ourselves” to US-based reading groups (FREE, except for $10 in shipping, while supplies lasts)!
DM or email me (cbmilstein at yahoo)
-
What better time than during fascism to read about real-life examples of self-governance?
I’m gifting batches of 5-6 copies of “Deciding for Ourselves” to US-based reading groups (FREE, except for $10 in shipping, while supplies lasts)!
DM or email me (cbmilstein at yahoo)
-
What better time than during fascism to read about real-life examples of self-governance?
I’m gifting batches of 5-6 copies of “Deciding for Ourselves” to US-based reading groups (FREE, except for $10 in shipping, while supplies lasts)!
DM or email me (cbmilstein at yahoo)
-
What better time than during fascism to read about real-life examples of self-governance?
I’m gifting batches of 5-6 copies of “Deciding for Ourselves” to US-based reading groups (FREE, except for $10 in shipping, while supplies lasts)!
DM or email me (cbmilstein at yahoo)
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Five-year publishing anniversary of my edited anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy” (AK Press)—even more relevant these fascist days!
Order here:
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Five-year publishing anniversary of my edited anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy” (AK Press)—even more relevant these fascist days!
Order here:
-
Five-year publishing anniversary of my edited anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy” (AK Press)—even more relevant these fascist days!
Order here:
-
Five-year publishing anniversary of my edited anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy” (AK Press)—even more relevant these fascist days!
Order here:
-
Five-year publishing anniversary of my edited anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy” (AK Press)—even more relevant these fascist days!
Order here:
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A bright spot amid fascism is a rise of antistatist impulses among folks who believe(d) in electoral politics, yet they often don’t know there are existing forms of liberatory self-governance that could inspire alternatives.
Here’s a book full of them!
Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy
As the back cover notes:
“In a time of social and ecological [and fascist] crises, people everywhere are looking for solutions. States and capitalism, rather than providing them, only make matters worse. There’s a growing sense that we’ll have to fix this mess on our own. But how? Deciding for Ourselves, in the spirit of the Zapatistas, demonstrates that ‘the impossible is possible.’
“A better world through self-determination and self-governance is not only achievable. It is already happening in urban and rural communities around the world—from Mexico to Rojava, Denmark to Greece—as an implicit or explicit replacement for nations, police, and other forms of hierarchical social control.
“This anthology explores this ‘sense of freedom in the air,’ as one piece puts it, by looking at contemporary examples of autonomous, directly democratic spaces and the real-world dilemmas they experience, all the while underscoring the egalitarian ways of life that are collectively generated in them.”
-
A bright spot amid fascism is a rise of antistatist impulses among folks who believe(d) in electoral politics, yet they often don’t know there are existing forms of liberatory self-governance that could inspire alternatives.
Here’s a book full of them!
Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy
As the back cover notes:
“In a time of social and ecological [and fascist] crises, people everywhere are looking for solutions. States and capitalism, rather than providing them, only make matters worse. There’s a growing sense that we’ll have to fix this mess on our own. But how? Deciding for Ourselves, in the spirit of the Zapatistas, demonstrates that ‘the impossible is possible.’
“A better world through self-determination and self-governance is not only achievable. It is already happening in urban and rural communities around the world—from Mexico to Rojava, Denmark to Greece—as an implicit or explicit replacement for nations, police, and other forms of hierarchical social control.
“This anthology explores this ‘sense of freedom in the air,’ as one piece puts it, by looking at contemporary examples of autonomous, directly democratic spaces and the real-world dilemmas they experience, all the while underscoring the egalitarian ways of life that are collectively generated in them.”
-
A bright spot amid fascism is a rise of antistatist impulses among folks who believe(d) in electoral politics, yet they often don’t know there are existing forms of liberatory self-governance that could inspire alternatives.
Here’s a book full of them!
Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy
As the back cover notes:
“In a time of social and ecological [and fascist] crises, people everywhere are looking for solutions. States and capitalism, rather than providing them, only make matters worse. There’s a growing sense that we’ll have to fix this mess on our own. But how? Deciding for Ourselves, in the spirit of the Zapatistas, demonstrates that ‘the impossible is possible.’
“A better world through self-determination and self-governance is not only achievable. It is already happening in urban and rural communities around the world—from Mexico to Rojava, Denmark to Greece—as an implicit or explicit replacement for nations, police, and other forms of hierarchical social control.
“This anthology explores this ‘sense of freedom in the air,’ as one piece puts it, by looking at contemporary examples of autonomous, directly democratic spaces and the real-world dilemmas they experience, all the while underscoring the egalitarian ways of life that are collectively generated in them.”
-
A bright spot amid fascism is a rise of antistatist impulses among folks who believe(d) in electoral politics, yet they often don’t know there are existing forms of liberatory self-governance that could inspire alternatives.
Here’s a book full of them!
Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy
As the back cover notes:
“In a time of social and ecological [and fascist] crises, people everywhere are looking for solutions. States and capitalism, rather than providing them, only make matters worse. There’s a growing sense that we’ll have to fix this mess on our own. But how? Deciding for Ourselves, in the spirit of the Zapatistas, demonstrates that ‘the impossible is possible.’
“A better world through self-determination and self-governance is not only achievable. It is already happening in urban and rural communities around the world—from Mexico to Rojava, Denmark to Greece—as an implicit or explicit replacement for nations, police, and other forms of hierarchical social control.
“This anthology explores this ‘sense of freedom in the air,’ as one piece puts it, by looking at contemporary examples of autonomous, directly democratic spaces and the real-world dilemmas they experience, all the while underscoring the egalitarian ways of life that are collectively generated in them.”
-
A bright spot amid fascism is a rise of antistatist impulses among folks who believe(d) in electoral politics, yet they often don’t know there are existing forms of liberatory self-governance that could inspire alternatives.
Here’s a book full of them!
Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy
As the back cover notes:
“In a time of social and ecological [and fascist] crises, people everywhere are looking for solutions. States and capitalism, rather than providing them, only make matters worse. There’s a growing sense that we’ll have to fix this mess on our own. But how? Deciding for Ourselves, in the spirit of the Zapatistas, demonstrates that ‘the impossible is possible.’
“A better world through self-determination and self-governance is not only achievable. It is already happening in urban and rural communities around the world—from Mexico to Rojava, Denmark to Greece—as an implicit or explicit replacement for nations, police, and other forms of hierarchical social control.
“This anthology explores this ‘sense of freedom in the air,’ as one piece puts it, by looking at contemporary examples of autonomous, directly democratic spaces and the real-world dilemmas they experience, all the while underscoring the egalitarian ways of life that are collectively generated in them.”
-
When confronted with some impending loss, many of us engage in “anticipatory grief.” We run through various scenarios in our minds of what it might feel like and what we might do when the loss finally happens—a dress rehearsal, as it were, for dealing with the death of someone or something we love—thereby shifting how we act before that loss occurs—letting us better self-determine our responses.
These days, I’m in what feels a stronger imperative: “anticipatory rupture,” within which is bundled all of my fears, yet that I know must also include us noticing fissures in the christofascist edifice that we, communally, can generatively rupture.
Rupture involves “the tearing apart of a tissue”—sometimes of the very social fabric; it entails “the state of being broken apart.”
Which brings me to a familiar slogan in anarchist circles: “smash the state.” While it sounds good on paper—or on walls, stickers, and T-shirts—it’s a lot less pleasant when christofascists are the ones doing the smashing.
This isn’t to negate the aspirations embodied within our notions of antistatism, nor to abandon the desire for a world without states. It’s to say that such a vision is wholly incomplete without a liberatory horizon. Indeed, it can be downright scary and to be feared, with immense power to destroy.
We’re seeing this in dizzily accelerated, axe-wielding, real-time action as the Musk-Trump regime goes on a state-smashing spree. In a matter of weeks, they’ve done more to convince the world than we anarchists have in the whole of our tradition’s existence that it’s in fact possible to trash statist trappings, from laws to bureaucracy to so much more, but in the most self-interested, cruelest of ways.
I trust that as anarchists, we aren’t so crass as to celebrate their rapid rupture of the state, on their terms, into what might become “end-stage statism”—some version of “antistatist” christofascism that rapturously saves a handful of uber-wealthy at the literal loss of most of us and the planet.
I hope we turn to our do-it-ourselves’ power to create, especially past and present forms of self-governance—offering a rupture toward borderless freedom and well-being for all.
#BecomeSelfGovernable
#TryAnarchismForLife(photos, of street art seen during #FuckFascism strolls on the streets of Athens: huge DIY letters painted in white and black on the side of a building, and reading “No border, free world”; tag on a wall in purple saying “destroy everything”; and drawing on a wall in pink of a big fish, with small fishes swimming up below it, and the words “happy new fear,” with the “A” in “happy” circled)
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When confronted with some impending loss, many of us engage in “anticipatory grief.” We run through various scenarios in our minds of what it might feel like and what we might do when the loss finally happens—a dress rehearsal, as it were, for dealing with the death of someone or something we love—thereby shifting how we act before that loss occurs—letting us better self-determine our responses.
These days, I’m in what feels a stronger imperative: “anticipatory rupture,” within which is bundled all of my fears, yet that I know must also include us noticing fissures in the christofascist edifice that we, communally, can generatively rupture.
Rupture involves “the tearing apart of a tissue”—sometimes of the very social fabric; it entails “the state of being broken apart.”
Which brings me to a familiar slogan in anarchist circles: “smash the state.” While it sounds good on paper—or on walls, stickers, and T-shirts—it’s a lot less pleasant when christofascists are the ones doing the smashing.
This isn’t to negate the aspirations embodied within our notions of antistatism, nor to abandon the desire for a world without states. It’s to say that such a vision is wholly incomplete without a liberatory horizon. Indeed, it can be downright scary and to be feared, with immense power to destroy.
We’re seeing this in dizzily accelerated, axe-wielding, real-time action as the Musk-Trump regime goes on a state-smashing spree. In a matter of weeks, they’ve done more to convince the world than we anarchists have in the whole of our tradition’s existence that it’s in fact possible to trash statist trappings, from laws to bureaucracy to so much more, but in the most self-interested, cruelest of ways.
I trust that as anarchists, we aren’t so crass as to celebrate their rapid rupture of the state, on their terms, into what might become “end-stage statism”—some version of “antistatist” christofascism that rapturously saves a handful of uber-wealthy at the literal loss of most of us and the planet.
I hope we turn to our do-it-ourselves’ power to create, especially past and present forms of self-governance—offering a rupture toward borderless freedom and well-being for all.
#BecomeSelfGovernable
#TryAnarchismForLife(photos, of street art seen during #FuckFascism strolls on the streets of Athens: huge DIY letters painted in white and black on the side of a building, and reading “No border, free world”; tag on a wall in purple saying “destroy everything”; and drawing on a wall in pink of a big fish, with small fishes swimming up below it, and the words “happy new fear,” with the “A” in “happy” circled)
-
When confronted with some impending loss, many of us engage in “anticipatory grief.” We run through various scenarios in our minds of what it might feel like and what we might do when the loss finally happens—a dress rehearsal, as it were, for dealing with the death of someone or something we love—thereby shifting how we act before that loss occurs—letting us better self-determine our responses.
These days, I’m in what feels a stronger imperative: “anticipatory rupture,” within which is bundled all of my fears, yet that I know must also include us noticing fissures in the christofascist edifice that we, communally, can generatively rupture.
Rupture involves “the tearing apart of a tissue”—sometimes of the very social fabric; it entails “the state of being broken apart.”
Which brings me to a familiar slogan in anarchist circles: “smash the state.” While it sounds good on paper—or on walls, stickers, and T-shirts—it’s a lot less pleasant when christofascists are the ones doing the smashing.
This isn’t to negate the aspirations embodied within our notions of antistatism, nor to abandon the desire for a world without states. It’s to say that such a vision is wholly incomplete without a liberatory horizon. Indeed, it can be downright scary and to be feared, with immense power to destroy.
We’re seeing this in dizzily accelerated, axe-wielding, real-time action as the Musk-Trump regime goes on a state-smashing spree. In a matter of weeks, they’ve done more to convince the world than we anarchists have in the whole of our tradition’s existence that it’s in fact possible to trash statist trappings, from laws to bureaucracy to so much more, but in the most self-interested, cruelest of ways.
I trust that as anarchists, we aren’t so crass as to celebrate their rapid rupture of the state, on their terms, into what might become “end-stage statism”—some version of “antistatist” christofascism that rapturously saves a handful of uber-wealthy at the literal loss of most of us and the planet.
I hope we turn to our do-it-ourselves’ power to create, especially past and present forms of self-governance—offering a rupture toward borderless freedom and well-being for all.
#BecomeSelfGovernable
#TryAnarchismForLife(photos, of street art seen during #FuckFascism strolls on the streets of Athens: huge DIY letters painted in white and black on the side of a building, and reading “No border, free world”; tag on a wall in purple saying “destroy everything”; and drawing on a wall in pink of a big fish, with small fishes swimming up below it, and the words “happy new fear,” with the “A” in “happy” circled)
-
When confronted with some impending loss, many of us engage in “anticipatory grief.” We run through various scenarios in our minds of what it might feel like and what we might do when the loss finally happens—a dress rehearsal, as it were, for dealing with the death of someone or something we love—thereby shifting how we act before that loss occurs—letting us better self-determine our responses.
These days, I’m in what feels a stronger imperative: “anticipatory rupture,” within which is bundled all of my fears, yet that I know must also include us noticing fissures in the christofascist edifice that we, communally, can generatively rupture.
Rupture involves “the tearing apart of a tissue”—sometimes of the very social fabric; it entails “the state of being broken apart.”
Which brings me to a familiar slogan in anarchist circles: “smash the state.” While it sounds good on paper—or on walls, stickers, and T-shirts—it’s a lot less pleasant when christofascists are the ones doing the smashing.
This isn’t to negate the aspirations embodied within our notions of antistatism, nor to abandon the desire for a world without states. It’s to say that such a vision is wholly incomplete without a liberatory horizon. Indeed, it can be downright scary and to be feared, with immense power to destroy.
We’re seeing this in dizzily accelerated, axe-wielding, real-time action as the Musk-Trump regime goes on a state-smashing spree. In a matter of weeks, they’ve done more to convince the world than we anarchists have in the whole of our tradition’s existence that it’s in fact possible to trash statist trappings, from laws to bureaucracy to so much more, but in the most self-interested, cruelest of ways.
I trust that as anarchists, we aren’t so crass as to celebrate their rapid rupture of the state, on their terms, into what might become “end-stage statism”—some version of “antistatist” christofascism that rapturously saves a handful of uber-wealthy at the literal loss of most of us and the planet.
I hope we turn to our do-it-ourselves’ power to create, especially past and present forms of self-governance—offering a rupture toward borderless freedom and well-being for all.
#BecomeSelfGovernable
#TryAnarchismForLife(photos, of street art seen during #FuckFascism strolls on the streets of Athens: huge DIY letters painted in white and black on the side of a building, and reading “No border, free world”; tag on a wall in purple saying “destroy everything”; and drawing on a wall in pink of a big fish, with small fishes swimming up below it, and the words “happy new fear,” with the “A” in “happy” circled)
-
When confronted with some impending loss, many of us engage in “anticipatory grief.” We run through various scenarios in our minds of what it might feel like and what we might do when the loss finally happens—a dress rehearsal, as it were, for dealing with the death of someone or something we love—thereby shifting how we act before that loss occurs—letting us better self-determine our responses.
These days, I’m in what feels a stronger imperative: “anticipatory rupture,” within which is bundled all of my fears, yet that I know must also include us noticing fissures in the christofascist edifice that we, communally, can generatively rupture.
Rupture involves “the tearing apart of a tissue”—sometimes of the very social fabric; it entails “the state of being broken apart.”
Which brings me to a familiar slogan in anarchist circles: “smash the state.” While it sounds good on paper—or on walls, stickers, and T-shirts—it’s a lot less pleasant when christofascists are the ones doing the smashing.
This isn’t to negate the aspirations embodied within our notions of antistatism, nor to abandon the desire for a world without states. It’s to say that such a vision is wholly incomplete without a liberatory horizon. Indeed, it can be downright scary and to be feared, with immense power to destroy.
We’re seeing this in dizzily accelerated, axe-wielding, real-time action as the Musk-Trump regime goes on a state-smashing spree. In a matter of weeks, they’ve done more to convince the world than we anarchists have in the whole of our tradition’s existence that it’s in fact possible to trash statist trappings, from laws to bureaucracy to so much more, but in the most self-interested, cruelest of ways.
I trust that as anarchists, we aren’t so crass as to celebrate their rapid rupture of the state, on their terms, into what might become “end-stage statism”—some version of “antistatist” christofascism that rapturously saves a handful of uber-wealthy at the literal loss of most of us and the planet.
I hope we turn to our do-it-ourselves’ power to create, especially past and present forms of self-governance—offering a rupture toward borderless freedom and well-being for all.
#BecomeSelfGovernable
#TryAnarchismForLife(photos, of street art seen during #FuckFascism strolls on the streets of Athens: huge DIY letters painted in white and black on the side of a building, and reading “No border, free world”; tag on a wall in purple saying “destroy everything”; and drawing on a wall in pink of a big fish, with small fishes swimming up below it, and the words “happy new fear,” with the “A” in “happy” circled)
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This seems the perfect time to have my edited anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy” do double duty: as an inspiring counternarrative to the idea that the US presidential elections (aka fascism v fascism this year) and states in general are the only option, and as love and solidarity for two friends facing serious federal charges (aka state repression).
If you haven’t yet been following along (which I’d encourage you to do!), this case, as the @free.peppy.and.krystal Instagram page explains, “arose out of an April 18, 2023 demonstration against a University of Pittsburgh–sanctioned event promoting hatred toward transgender people and communities, featuring notorious transphobes Brad Polumbo and Michael Knowles on the question ‘Should transgenderism be regulated by law?’ The government alleges that in the protests outside the event, a ‘civil disorder’ occurred, when one commercially available firework and two homemade ‘smoke bombs’ were discharged. This ‘civil disorder’ forms the context in which Krystal and Peppy are charged.”
Peppy has been locked up pretrial for over a year now, while Krystal is out on pretrial conditions. Legal costs for both of them are enormous. Hence this fundraiser, both as material and emotional support. (Peppy and Krystal also both greatly appreciate letters! See their IG page or website.)
This edited anthology is filled with real-life stories of actually existing, relatively long-lived direct democracies across varied geographies—with no two alike. The contributions to this book show us that not only is self-governance possible; it is already happening. And within these beautiful yet messy experiments, people experience a “sense of freedom in the air”—of their own making, doing, and sustaining—as whole communities dispense with carceral logics, statist machinations, and virulent forms of “othering,” among other things, to make lives worth living for themselves.
Donate $15 to $25 (or more) to help Peppy and Krystal fight these charges, and I’ll gift you a copy of #DecidingForOurselves (with publisher @akpressdistro kindly paying for shipping within the US). Offer good while supplies last!
Email me at cbmilstein (at) yahoo to contribute! <3
#UntilAllAreFree
#BecomeSelfGovernablefreepeppyandkrystal.blackblogs.org
-
This seems the perfect time to have my edited anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy” do double duty: as an inspiring counternarrative to the idea that the US presidential elections (aka fascism v fascism this year) and states in general are the only option, and as love and solidarity for two friends facing serious federal charges (aka state repression).
If you haven’t yet been following along (which I’d encourage you to do!), this case, as the @free.peppy.and.krystal Instagram page explains, “arose out of an April 18, 2023 demonstration against a University of Pittsburgh–sanctioned event promoting hatred toward transgender people and communities, featuring notorious transphobes Brad Polumbo and Michael Knowles on the question ‘Should transgenderism be regulated by law?’ The government alleges that in the protests outside the event, a ‘civil disorder’ occurred, when one commercially available firework and two homemade ‘smoke bombs’ were discharged. This ‘civil disorder’ forms the context in which Krystal and Peppy are charged.”
Peppy has been locked up pretrial for over a year now, while Krystal is out on pretrial conditions. Legal costs for both of them are enormous. Hence this fundraiser, both as material and emotional support. (Peppy and Krystal also both greatly appreciate letters! See their IG page or website.)
This edited anthology is filled with real-life stories of actually existing, relatively long-lived direct democracies across varied geographies—with no two alike. The contributions to this book show us that not only is self-governance possible; it is already happening. And within these beautiful yet messy experiments, people experience a “sense of freedom in the air”—of their own making, doing, and sustaining—as whole communities dispense with carceral logics, statist machinations, and virulent forms of “othering,” among other things, to make lives worth living for themselves.
Donate $15 to $25 (or more) to help Peppy and Krystal fight these charges, and I’ll gift you a copy of #DecidingForOurselves (with publisher @akpressdistro kindly paying for shipping within the US). Offer good while supplies last!
Email me at cbmilstein (at) yahoo to contribute! <3
#UntilAllAreFree
#BecomeSelfGovernablefreepeppyandkrystal.blackblogs.org
-
This seems the perfect time to have my edited anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy” do double duty: as an inspiring counternarrative to the idea that the US presidential elections (aka fascism v fascism this year) and states in general are the only option, and as love and solidarity for two friends facing serious federal charges (aka state repression).
If you haven’t yet been following along (which I’d encourage you to do!), this case, as the @free.peppy.and.krystal Instagram page explains, “arose out of an April 18, 2023 demonstration against a University of Pittsburgh–sanctioned event promoting hatred toward transgender people and communities, featuring notorious transphobes Brad Polumbo and Michael Knowles on the question ‘Should transgenderism be regulated by law?’ The government alleges that in the protests outside the event, a ‘civil disorder’ occurred, when one commercially available firework and two homemade ‘smoke bombs’ were discharged. This ‘civil disorder’ forms the context in which Krystal and Peppy are charged.”
Peppy has been locked up pretrial for over a year now, while Krystal is out on pretrial conditions. Legal costs for both of them are enormous. Hence this fundraiser, both as material and emotional support. (Peppy and Krystal also both greatly appreciate letters! See their IG page or website.)
This edited anthology is filled with real-life stories of actually existing, relatively long-lived direct democracies across varied geographies—with no two alike. The contributions to this book show us that not only is self-governance possible; it is already happening. And within these beautiful yet messy experiments, people experience a “sense of freedom in the air”—of their own making, doing, and sustaining—as whole communities dispense with carceral logics, statist machinations, and virulent forms of “othering,” among other things, to make lives worth living for themselves.
Donate $15 to $25 (or more) to help Peppy and Krystal fight these charges, and I’ll gift you a copy of #DecidingForOurselves (with publisher @akpressdistro kindly paying for shipping within the US). Offer good while supplies last!
Email me at cbmilstein (at) yahoo to contribute! <3
#UntilAllAreFree
#BecomeSelfGovernablefreepeppyandkrystal.blackblogs.org
-
This seems the perfect time to have my edited anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy” do double duty: as an inspiring counternarrative to the idea that the US presidential elections (aka fascism v fascism this year) and states in general are the only option, and as love and solidarity for two friends facing serious federal charges (aka state repression).
If you haven’t yet been following along (which I’d encourage you to do!), this case, as the @free.peppy.and.krystal Instagram page explains, “arose out of an April 18, 2023 demonstration against a University of Pittsburgh–sanctioned event promoting hatred toward transgender people and communities, featuring notorious transphobes Brad Polumbo and Michael Knowles on the question ‘Should transgenderism be regulated by law?’ The government alleges that in the protests outside the event, a ‘civil disorder’ occurred, when one commercially available firework and two homemade ‘smoke bombs’ were discharged. This ‘civil disorder’ forms the context in which Krystal and Peppy are charged.”
Peppy has been locked up pretrial for over a year now, while Krystal is out on pretrial conditions. Legal costs for both of them are enormous. Hence this fundraiser, both as material and emotional support. (Peppy and Krystal also both greatly appreciate letters! See their IG page or website.)
This edited anthology is filled with real-life stories of actually existing, relatively long-lived direct democracies across varied geographies—with no two alike. The contributions to this book show us that not only is self-governance possible; it is already happening. And within these beautiful yet messy experiments, people experience a “sense of freedom in the air”—of their own making, doing, and sustaining—as whole communities dispense with carceral logics, statist machinations, and virulent forms of “othering,” among other things, to make lives worth living for themselves.
Donate $15 to $25 (or more) to help Peppy and Krystal fight these charges, and I’ll gift you a copy of #DecidingForOurselves (with publisher @akpressdistro kindly paying for shipping within the US). Offer good while supplies last!
Email me at cbmilstein (at) yahoo to contribute! <3
#UntilAllAreFree
#BecomeSelfGovernablefreepeppyandkrystal.blackblogs.org
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This seems the perfect time to have my edited anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy” do double duty: as an inspiring counternarrative to the idea that the US presidential elections (aka fascism v fascism this year) and states in general are the only option, and as love and solidarity for two friends facing serious federal charges (aka state repression).
If you haven’t yet been following along (which I’d encourage you to do!), this case, as the @free.peppy.and.krystal Instagram page explains, “arose out of an April 18, 2023 demonstration against a University of Pittsburgh–sanctioned event promoting hatred toward transgender people and communities, featuring notorious transphobes Brad Polumbo and Michael Knowles on the question ‘Should transgenderism be regulated by law?’ The government alleges that in the protests outside the event, a ‘civil disorder’ occurred, when one commercially available firework and two homemade ‘smoke bombs’ were discharged. This ‘civil disorder’ forms the context in which Krystal and Peppy are charged.”
Peppy has been locked up pretrial for over a year now, while Krystal is out on pretrial conditions. Legal costs for both of them are enormous. Hence this fundraiser, both as material and emotional support. (Peppy and Krystal also both greatly appreciate letters! See their IG page or website.)
This edited anthology is filled with real-life stories of actually existing, relatively long-lived direct democracies across varied geographies—with no two alike. The contributions to this book show us that not only is self-governance possible; it is already happening. And within these beautiful yet messy experiments, people experience a “sense of freedom in the air”—of their own making, doing, and sustaining—as whole communities dispense with carceral logics, statist machinations, and virulent forms of “othering,” among other things, to make lives worth living for themselves.
Donate $15 to $25 (or more) to help Peppy and Krystal fight these charges, and I’ll gift you a copy of #DecidingForOurselves (with publisher @akpressdistro kindly paying for shipping within the US). Offer good while supplies last!
Email me at cbmilstein (at) yahoo to contribute! <3
#UntilAllAreFree
#BecomeSelfGovernablefreepeppyandkrystal.blackblogs.org
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Years ago, in the run-up to the 2004 election of George W. Bush, my then-Free Society Collective helped initiate the anarchist “Don’t Just (Not) Vote” effort (alas, Crimethinc, while part of, stole credit for something that should have belonged to no one). The idea was: whether you spend a few pointless minutes in a ballot booth or not, what do you do to fight hierarchy and transform the world the other 364 days, 23 hours, and fifty-five minutes a year? It was meant to encourage and highlight self-organization, and to a limited degree, did just that, including as we headed into an era that saw the anarchic “movement of the squares” and large-scale solidarity infrastructures, among other prefigurations of possibility.
Fast-forward to the run-up to Trump’s presidential election in 2016, when the anarchistic cry was, “Become ungovernable!” The successes of authoritarianism around the globe and here began to close off promise, and instead demanded anarchic disobedience, resistance, and riots. Alas, the fascists took up our slogan, even as the state clamped down on us.
Now we find ourselves at a clear crossroads: “Vote for fascism, or face fascism,” as @vickysurge aptly titled a recent piece. We’re arguably already living under the 2024 election “choice”: fascism or fascism. Even liberals understand that just enough to write “uncommitted” on primary ballots—an opening, however small.
So what should our anarchist response(s) and role(s) be heading into November and beyond? Sure, it’s still true, that urge we have to “become ungovernable,” but fascism itself is far more ungovernable than us, and dangerously so, as glimpsed in the changing face of a repression that increasingly follows no rules or the lawless Supreme Court, to name just two.
Maybe this is our window—the only one that looks toward freedom for all—to foster and fight hard for a “become self-governable” ethos and practice, a “no state” rebellion that’s liberatory, in which our dreams can’t fit in ballot boxes or fascist alternatives because both aren’t choices anymore.
We have little other option really.
It’s either: #AnarchismOrFascism, or fascism.
I want life to win.
-
Years ago, in the run-up to the 2004 election of George W. Bush, my then-Free Society Collective helped initiate the anarchist “Don’t Just (Not) Vote” effort (alas, Crimethinc, while part of, stole credit for something that should have belonged to no one). The idea was: whether you spend a few pointless minutes in a ballot booth or not, what do you do to fight hierarchy and transform the world the other 364 days, 23 hours, and fifty-five minutes a year? It was meant to encourage and highlight self-organization, and to a limited degree, did just that, including as we headed into an era that saw the anarchic “movement of the squares” and large-scale solidarity infrastructures, among other prefigurations of possibility.
Fast-forward to the run-up to Trump’s presidential election in 2016, when the anarchistic cry was, “Become ungovernable!” The successes of authoritarianism around the globe and here began to close off promise, and instead demanded anarchic disobedience, resistance, and riots. Alas, the fascists took up our slogan, even as the state clamped down on us.
Now we find ourselves at a clear crossroads: “Vote for fascism, or face fascism,” as @vickysurge aptly titled a recent piece. We’re arguably already living under the 2024 election “choice”: fascism or fascism. Even liberals understand that just enough to write “uncommitted” on primary ballots—an opening, however small.
So what should our anarchist response(s) and role(s) be heading into November and beyond? Sure, it’s still true, that urge we have to “become ungovernable,” but fascism itself is far more ungovernable than us, and dangerously so, as glimpsed in the changing face of a repression that increasingly follows no rules or the lawless Supreme Court, to name just two.
Maybe this is our window—the only one that looks toward freedom for all—to foster and fight hard for a “become self-governable” ethos and practice, a “no state” rebellion that’s liberatory, in which our dreams can’t fit in ballot boxes or fascist alternatives because both aren’t choices anymore.
We have little other option really.
It’s either: #AnarchismOrFascism, or fascism.
I want life to win.
-
Years ago, in the run-up to the 2004 election of George W. Bush, my then-Free Society Collective helped initiate the anarchist “Don’t Just (Not) Vote” effort (alas, Crimethinc, while part of, stole credit for something that should have belonged to no one). The idea was: whether you spend a few pointless minutes in a ballot booth or not, what do you do to fight hierarchy and transform the world the other 364 days, 23 hours, and fifty-five minutes a year? It was meant to encourage and highlight self-organization, and to a limited degree, did just that, including as we headed into an era that saw the anarchic “movement of the squares” and large-scale solidarity infrastructures, among other prefigurations of possibility.
Fast-forward to the run-up to Trump’s presidential election in 2016, when the anarchistic cry was, “Become ungovernable!” The successes of authoritarianism around the globe and here began to close off promise, and instead demanded anarchic disobedience, resistance, and riots. Alas, the fascists took up our slogan, even as the state clamped down on us.
Now we find ourselves at a clear crossroads: “Vote for fascism, or face fascism,” as @vickysurge aptly titled a recent piece. We’re arguably already living under the 2024 election “choice”: fascism or fascism. Even liberals understand that just enough to write “uncommitted” on primary ballots—an opening, however small.
So what should our anarchist response(s) and role(s) be heading into November and beyond? Sure, it’s still true, that urge we have to “become ungovernable,” but fascism itself is far more ungovernable than us, and dangerously so, as glimpsed in the changing face of a repression that increasingly follows no rules or the lawless Supreme Court, to name just two.
Maybe this is our window—the only one that looks toward freedom for all—to foster and fight hard for a “become self-governable” ethos and practice, a “no state” rebellion that’s liberatory, in which our dreams can’t fit in ballot boxes or fascist alternatives because both aren’t choices anymore.
We have little other option really.
It’s either: #AnarchismOrFascism, or fascism.
I want life to win.
-
Years ago, in the run-up to the 2004 election of George W. Bush, my then-Free Society Collective helped initiate the anarchist “Don’t Just (Not) Vote” effort (alas, Crimethinc, while part of, stole credit for something that should have belonged to no one). The idea was: whether you spend a few pointless minutes in a ballot booth or not, what do you do to fight hierarchy and transform the world the other 364 days, 23 hours, and fifty-five minutes a year? It was meant to encourage and highlight self-organization, and to a limited degree, did just that, including as we headed into an era that saw the anarchic “movement of the squares” and large-scale solidarity infrastructures, among other prefigurations of possibility.
Fast-forward to the run-up to Trump’s presidential election in 2016, when the anarchistic cry was, “Become ungovernable!” The successes of authoritarianism around the globe and here began to close off promise, and instead demanded anarchic disobedience, resistance, and riots. Alas, the fascists took up our slogan, even as the state clamped down on us.
Now we find ourselves at a clear crossroads: “Vote for fascism, or face fascism,” as @vickysurge aptly titled a recent piece. We’re arguably already living under the 2024 election “choice”: fascism or fascism. Even liberals understand that just enough to write “uncommitted” on primary ballots—an opening, however small.
So what should our anarchist response(s) and role(s) be heading into November and beyond? Sure, it’s still true, that urge we have to “become ungovernable,” but fascism itself is far more ungovernable than us, and dangerously so, as glimpsed in the changing face of a repression that increasingly follows no rules or the lawless Supreme Court, to name just two.
Maybe this is our window—the only one that looks toward freedom for all—to foster and fight hard for a “become self-governable” ethos and practice, a “no state” rebellion that’s liberatory, in which our dreams can’t fit in ballot boxes or fascist alternatives because both aren’t choices anymore.
We have little other option really.
It’s either: #AnarchismOrFascism, or fascism.
I want life to win.
-
Years ago, in the run-up to the 2004 election of George W. Bush, my then-Free Society Collective helped initiate the anarchist “Don’t Just (Not) Vote” effort (alas, Crimethinc, while part of, stole credit for something that should have belonged to no one). The idea was: whether you spend a few pointless minutes in a ballot booth or not, what do you do to fight hierarchy and transform the world the other 364 days, 23 hours, and fifty-five minutes a year? It was meant to encourage and highlight self-organization, and to a limited degree, did just that, including as we headed into an era that saw the anarchic “movement of the squares” and large-scale solidarity infrastructures, among other prefigurations of possibility.
Fast-forward to the run-up to Trump’s presidential election in 2016, when the anarchistic cry was, “Become ungovernable!” The successes of authoritarianism around the globe and here began to close off promise, and instead demanded anarchic disobedience, resistance, and riots. Alas, the fascists took up our slogan, even as the state clamped down on us.
Now we find ourselves at a clear crossroads: “Vote for fascism, or face fascism,” as @vickysurge aptly titled a recent piece. We’re arguably already living under the 2024 election “choice”: fascism or fascism. Even liberals understand that just enough to write “uncommitted” on primary ballots—an opening, however small.
So what should our anarchist response(s) and role(s) be heading into November and beyond? Sure, it’s still true, that urge we have to “become ungovernable,” but fascism itself is far more ungovernable than us, and dangerously so, as glimpsed in the changing face of a repression that increasingly follows no rules or the lawless Supreme Court, to name just two.
Maybe this is our window—the only one that looks toward freedom for all—to foster and fight hard for a “become self-governable” ethos and practice, a “no state” rebellion that’s liberatory, in which our dreams can’t fit in ballot boxes or fascist alternatives because both aren’t choices anymore.
We have little other option really.
It’s either: #AnarchismOrFascism, or fascism.
I want life to win.