revolutionary reading


Schnews: A weekly update of protest and politics. Mostly in england but good.

A-Infos - international anarchist news service

@Infoshop.org - anarchist news kiosk

Znet - Z magazine online.

Squall : UK focused radical media.

Reclaim the Streets: London website, European news.

Nodo50 : Spanish radical news and activist site host.

 
Here is a compilation of books that you can take with you traveling that will inspire and radicalize your organizing/life in different ways. If you want to see some books up here send me a line with the info and why you think it should be up. I'll try to read it first or talk to some other folks who've read it.
Looking Forward : Participatory Economics in the Twenty First Century
by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel
Essential reading for getting past TINA (there is no alternative). Offers an in depth vision of an economic system which is neither capitalist or communist. Much like an anarchist way of organizing in my view, and is an economic system we should be aiming for and creating while fighting the capitalist power brokers like the IMF, WTO, FTAA.

Peoples History of the United States
by Howard Zinn
A book that i plan to read again and again all my life to remind me that the battle definately did not start in Seattle and that people have struggled harder and with straight on analysis for ages. Almost every bit of history i was taught in school was attempts by oppressors to wipe out the history of repression by the capitalist system. The book is full of journal entries, official records, and news clippings that show a whole different reality of the past that is humbling and gives me so much energy, reminding me that my life is a life in a long history of lives and society. Really gives you perspective. This should be mandatory history for everyone.

The Ethical Slut
by Dossie Easton, Catherine A. Liszt
This is a wicked fun book to read and is also so important in breaking down traditional sociatal morals and roles based on sex. Talking about non-monogamy (or free love for you hippy types), it also deals a lot with jealousy, the illusion of starvation economies of love, and how to have 'ethical' multiple realtionships while dealing with all the baggage we have been brought up with around realtionships. The fight against capitalism also includes breaking down the institutions that support it. While not everyone may be 'into' multiple realtionships, the capitalist/ sexist system definately pushes for and gets power from enforcing monogamy as the only option (with accessories like ownership over love, a separtion from communities capable of loving each other, and of course a whole retail industry based around it). Reading this book in public is also a great way to introduce the concept of non-monogamy to 'new friends'.
Woman on the Edge of Time
by Marge Piercy
By now you realize all these books are wicked. This is one that is less theory and maybe easier to read as it is a science fiction novel of sorts. While fiction, the novel has an amazing description of what an alternative society could be like, while at the same time critiquing the current psychaitry practices, sexism, racism, and domestic abuse. It's about an hispanic woman who is beaten by her daughters boyfriend for trying to protect her and is then instituitionalized. While in the hospital she deals with the system she is trapped in while slipping into a futuristic world she is brought to by friends of that time. They show her a whole different way of life, of communities where children are raised by by all, people are encouraged to go crazy, the concept of property doesn't exist like it does today, and life is non-genderized, or oppressive. A very utopian novel, but what makes it stand apart is that every time you think to yourself, but wait.. that's not possible is it?... she shows you how it is and then some. Plus it's small and fits good in yer backpack.

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 The Dispossed
by Ursala Leguin
Ok, these are getting long...:-). Another wicked science fiction novel describing a futuristic anarchist civilization. About a world that once on the edge of an anarchist revolution, the ruling class struck a deal whith the social rebel and let them all move to the dry desert moon and live in isolation. Hundreds of years later, and anarchist scientist breaks the isolation rules and travels to the rich earth in pursuit of advanced science and physics. Of course he can't deal there cause of how overwhelmingly oppressive it is and he gets caught up in a resistance movement. But he also has a number of critiques about the oppressive hiearchies that have arisen on his own home planet. Cool to read and has some interesting reflections on what an anarchist society mught be like. Good for thinking it out.
Living My Life
by Emma Goldman
Well i haven't read this one yet, but some close friends of mine are reading it and find it super inspiring and radical. And of course they tell me bits about it so i've got it on my list when i can get a hold of an english copy.