If May Day, among other things, is about sharing the “wealth” (aka abolishing capitalism), there’s nothing quite like going to a small but sweet Really Really Free Market on this May 1 and being gifted a sheet of freshly printed stickers that feel just right for these suddenly rebellious times. (After all, #AllComradesAreBeautiful!)

Then, soon after, redistributing that “wealth” to others at a nearby May Day rally, made merry because of the danceable tunes of @brassyourheart (which may now have some tiny water jugs on a drum or two because this marching band can #AlwaysCarryABeat!).

There are so many others reasons, of course, to wear one’s #ACAB on their sleeve (or water bottle) this May Day, when so many universities and colleges are liberating spaces of solidarity for Gaza, and in the process, powerfully demonstrating that #AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful.

And likewise, so many police are painfully demonstrating that #AllCopsAreBrutal—underscoring that cop cities (aka policing) everywhere must be abolished, from every river to every sea, just as the Haymarket martyrs also fought and alas died for, in part.

Next May Day, in liberation!

#CareNotCops
#CommonsNotCapitalism
#SolidarityNotStates
#TryAnarchismForLife
#UntilAllAreFree

(Ongoing love+solidarity to the brave+bold folks at @occupycalpolyhumboldt for gifting the world the joy of a humble water jug vs. cop during their occupation)

There is so much I want to say—ranging from the refreshed inspiration I feel, to the joyous bonds of connection and solidarity that collective encampments make possible, to all the ways that “radical” reformers limit the horizons of social transformation within such moments of palpable potentiality.

But all the hours over the past few days have been overfull with being fully present in the face-to-face real life of the UPitt encampment.

So for now, a quick note of friendly anarchist encouragement:

If you’re “liberated zone” includes a rule saying “don’t talk to the police” and messages like #FTP on tents (pictured here) …

actually, truly DO NOT talk to the police (including behind the scenes chats by self-appointed “leaders” to negotiate with the cops) and don’t create your own “peace police” force within your camp. Neither point toward liberation, much less abolition. And both do not keep us safe.

Only we keep us safe(r).

Be like water (bottles). Think and act for yourselves, together, in collective self-defense and collective prefiguration of the liberatory self-governed and autonomous spaces we all deserve.

#AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful
#ACAB
#CareNotCops (including yellow-vested ones)
#UntilAllAreFree

Ce qui fait du bien : cet extrait d'Harriet de G. dans son chapitre "Les crips à l’assaut de la ville : l’espace repensé dans les luttes antivalidistes" de l'ouvrage collectif "Tenir la ville".

#AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful

Serendipitous promotion for the Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair, August 11-13, as stumbled on during a riverside #FuckThePolice ramble on the stolen lands called Asheville, NC.

Walk, run, bike, or otherwise get yourself to the @ACABookfaire! For one, I’ll be there, enthused to see lots of friendly anarchist faces (masked up indoors), because it almost goes without saying that #AllComradesAreBeautiful. But also because the bookfair will create a lovely and lively temporary autonomous zone, and #AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful! And the bookfair schedule looks amazing, bringing together lots of savvy and bighearted anarchists, including many who are (as befits a bookfair) anarchist publishers and authors, and anarchists love to #AlwaysCarryABook. No doubt, too, there will be lots of anarchist pups along for the ride (if my time in Asheville so far is any indication), and for the most part (even though I’m more of an #AllCatsAreBeautiful person), #AllCaninesAreBeautiful.

And somehow, I suspect there might be a whole lot more #ACAB scribbled around town following next weekend’s anarchist influx (not that I’m encouraging it or anything)—as early promo for next year’s bookfair.

https://acabookfair.noblogs.org/

p.s. Just in case anyone mistakes my playfulness for something factual, I’m adding this disclaimer from the bookfair collective: “The phrase ACAB is not a copy-written product of the organizers of this bookfair and we cannot take credit for every appearance of it.”

Clearly someone has many big feelings about and against cops, which is as it should be. Or else they simply wanted to drive the point home to each and every passerby on these stolen, surveilled, policed lands of Tio’tia:ke/Montreal. Or maybe they want to extra annoy any cop who drives by. Or perhaps they believe that “three’s the charm” to cast the spell of abolition.

No matter the reasoning, including that maybe they were using up the last bits of various cans of different-colored spray paint or were practicing different lettering styles, it’s always a good day to publicly declare #AllCopsAreBad. That is, until this acronym only means, plainly and daily, #AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful because policing is obsolete.

For now, don’t be on the fence about police (unless you’re tagging it with #ACAB).

#WhichSideAreYouOn
#CareNotCops
#TowardAWorldWithoutPolice

I’m delighted to announce the dates for the next Salon du livre anarchiste de Montréal | Montreal Anarchist Bookfair (@anarchybookfair), started almost 25 years ago and still going strong: May 27–28, 2023.

Its longevity speaks to many decades of often-imaginative anarchist(ic) resistance and many generations of anarchists here in Tio’tia:ke, not to mention far more continuity between people, projects, spaces, uprisings, strikes, and so on than in most North American cities. Plus the bookfair is always like an enormous anarchist family reunion, filled with all sorts of events as part of the “Month of Anarchy” here, including the Festival International de Théâtre Anarchiste de Montréal | International Anarchist Theater Festival. And Montreal in May is rebelliously romantic!

So here’s my encouragement, as a collective member who has a longtime diasporic and loving relationship with Montreal, to apply to table at this large, beautiful two-day bookfair and/or propose an event (talks, panels, debates, skill share, care or kidz zone offerings, music, art, performance…). Or *simply* plan to come to the bookfair that weekend! I don’t know about you, but after three pandemic years of too much isolation and fragmentation, the more that a whole bunch of us can gather, socialize, grieve, process, gossip, laugh, play, learn, and so much else together in joyous spaces of our own making, the better!

For tabling and event applications, see www.salonanarchiste.ca (French-language version) or www.anarchistbookfair.ca (English-language version). Deadline for applications is March 15, 2023.

You’ll find other info at our bilingual website too, including that we’re asking everyone to mask up when indoors at the bookfair—because #AllCOVIDsAreBad and #AllCaretakersAreBeautiful.

I’d also greatly appreciate it if you’d circulate these infographics, via my post or by making your own, on your Instagram, other social media, email lists, Signal chats, and other places.

Hope to see many, many, many of your faces (and masks) there!

#AlwaysCarryABook
#AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful
#ReadWriteRebel
#MontrealAnarchistBookfair

(Part 3 of 6): By way of celebrating my new book “Try Anarchism for Life” being in print and out in the world, and because I have a backlog of photos of circle As in the wild, plus to honor and thank the folks who took the time and care to write blurbs for this book, here’s a trifecta of what I hope are some beautiful expressions of anarchism: street art + the book’s cover + a blurb.

“Freedom struggles produce care, love, art. These things in turn demand courage, transformation, consciousness, ideals, dreams. Above all, struggle. Struggle gives birth to autonomy. And autonomy enables life. This book affectionately defends these things, and all the other things that state, capitalism, and patriarchy systematically steal from individuals, communities, and society. It invites people to see the world of anarchism as an ethical, beautiful way of living. Anarchism not as rigid, static identity or form. Rather, ‘anarchisting’ as a quest for creativity against dogma, solidarity against hierarchy, justice against power. A beautiful piece of work, a companion for the many collective journeys for meaning and liberation beyond borders.”

—Dilar Dirik, author of “The Kurdish Women’s Movement: History, Theory, Practice”

(p.s. Read @Dilar’s book and other writings!)

Copies of the book are available from the publisher, @tangledwilderness, at www.tangledwilderness.org (for folks in and outside of the US too), @akpressdistro at www.akpress.org, or your favorite anarchist(ic) bookstore, and libraries.

(photos: beautiful sentiment about the heart of anarchism, roughly translated as “we can do it together,” as seen on a print in an anarchistic feminist, queer-friendly cafe in Rethymno, Crete, November 2019; strikingly beautiful book cover, designed by @eff_charm with circle A by @landonsheely)

#TheBeautyOfOurCircle
#TryAnarchismForLife
#NewWorldInOurHeart
#PodemosHacerloJuntxs
#WomenLifeFreedom
#AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful
#WeAreAllWeNeed
🖤💖🌿

(Part 2 of 6): By way of celebrating my new book “Try Anarchism for Life” being in print and out in the world, and because I have a backlog of photos of circle As in the wild, plus to honor and thank the folks who took the time and care to write blurbs for this book, here’s a trifecta of what I hope are some beautiful expressions of anarchism: street art + the book’s cover + a blurb.

“Cindy Milstein teams up with some of the best and most active current anarchist artists to give us this collection of artful circle As, each accompanied by a textual meditation on anarchism and struggle that ranges from the beautiful to cute to didactic to inspiring, and always with a core of wisdom. Milstein has a special touch.”

—Peter Gelderloos, author of “The Solutions Are Already Here”

Or as the back cover describes it:

“‘Try Anarchism for Life’ revolves around a thought experiment: What are some of the many beautiful dimensions of anarchism? In reply, it blends gorgeous circle A drawings by twenty-six artists with Milstein’s words, forming picture-prose that are at once inviting and playful, poignant and dreamy. The pieces encourage us to notice and expand on liberatory practices, especially in a time when so much feels impossible. In depicting how anarchism gifts us lives worth living, this book warms ailing hearts and offers tender succor.”

Copies of the book are available from the publisher, @tangled_wilderness, at www.tangledwilderness.org (for folks in and outside of the US too), @akpressdistro at www.akpress.org, or your favorite anarchist(ic) bookstore, and with luck soon, libraries.

(photos: postscarcity circle A sticker made by @municipaladhesives, as seen in mid-October at the entrance to @defendATLforest; abundantly beautiful book cover, designed by @eff_charm, with circle A by @landonsheely, as texted to me by my beautiful friend Libertie with @firestorm)

#TryAnarchismForLife
#TheBeautyOfOurCircle
#FlowersNotFascism
#AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful
#TheSolutionsAreAlreadyHere
#WeAreAllWeNeed
🖤💖🌿