Tag: journal

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Go Outside! Light Fires! Keep a Good Social Distance (from the state)!

Issue II of our ongoing Journal ‘Its the end of the world as we know it….: (Go Outside, Light fires etc) is released today. In this volume of the journal we decided to focus on the varied attacks, rebellions, riots and battles across the world between the state and free wild individuals. We have actively made the choice to not include updates on repression or violence, since we have the impression, these reports are everywhere and all around us and at times become a very stagnating force. We want this second issue to be a provocation to everyone, get out from behind the screen, go out of your home (even if for no reason other than personal satisfaction), and LIGHT. IT. THE. FUCK. UP. This time around, we have been inundated with submissions and nods of things to include and we are happy to say we have many new and original texts, and the first translation into English of a text from the Greek anarchist formation ‘anarchist groups of Night Visits’ who in the last weeks committed a series of arson’s against the personal  properties/homes of a number cops, politicians, and journalists. This issue is comprised of 3 main parts: first Scattered Chronology of attacks and Rebellion which is a day by day rough calendar of different things that have happened between 11th march and 1st of April especially where the writers specifically mention making a connection to Covid 19 or the specific necessity/newness of breaking quarantine. Drawn from counter info sites in four different langues and 3 different continents we hope to put forward the broadest and  widest range of rebellions with which to warm our hearts, 2nd In depth Communiques- which is a section dedicated to longer texts which mix up action and analysis, and finally analysis- In this section we take texts from before and during the outbreak of corona which critique the notion of safety, offer an alternative to the version of the ‘We Are At War’ narrative perpetrated by countless states, and argue the need for an increase in  insurrectional activity in the coming days/weeks/months.

As well as these main parts, the journal also has a brief introduction from the D&O  collective- a correspondence between ourselves and Flower Bomb From the warzone distro, and poetry from our good friend auntie social 🙂

As always we are calling for submissions to this ongoing project; get in touch downandoutdistro(dot)riseup(dot)net PGP available in the ‘contact’ section of the site.

Quotes from the Text:

“We detest the turn-coating, so called anarchists all around us, who are suddenly unquestioningly abiding the states advice, laws, and lock downs. We refuse the prison logic (like all prison logics) and will never trust the state to keep us safe.  The worst Virus is the State”

“Each and every one of us has been turned into a ticking time bomb, a disgusting, diseased, infectious, monstrous, creature who should hate itself and others like it- and keep away from them as much as possible. For those of us already deemed disgusting by society (queers, trans, sexworkers, junkies, HIV positive people etc) this feeling maynot be so new; but now the stigma of the ‘diseased’ is engulfing us all.”

“Police were attacked with stones and bottles and two Iceland supermarket vans were torched outside their depo. Several cars were also smashed and set on fire across the city. Young people are already always under ‘special measures’ by the police -abuse, beatings, harassment, dispersal, special conditions – and rioting and fighting back is the only real solution, not staying in your house and being afraid. Death to the politicians, the police and those who have poisoned this world.”

“The existence of the state is the political component that originates war as we know it.  War is a tool necessary for civilization’s spreading. The need of capitalism for exponential growth is the trigger in wars for resources. The state doesn’t exist to save us from war, it’s the forefather of war instead.”

PDF HERE: Issue II

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Callout for Submissions ‘Identity is Crisis’

We find ourselves stuck inside a suffocating false dichotomy in the realm of (anti) politics as it relates to concerns around the topic of identity. On the one hand, we find that the desire to destroy civilization/society in its totality and to attack in the here and now, is occupied, claimed and recuperated by those only concerned in destroying the existent as long as such an existent does not include themselves. The denials of materialism and materialist reality ever present in the current insurrectionist and nihilist milieus, and the accompanying machismo, racism, rape culture and outright refusal to consider any identity based concerns. The branding of all identity based concerns and the accompanying trajectories as always and only liberal demands for recognition in the face of domination and the associated scathing critiques of all forms of organizing which draw any power from or relation to identity categories as ultimately worthless. On the other hand, the generalized rejection of insurrectional tactics, analysis, and praxis by many trans-feminist, queer, and identity based trajectories has lead to a transition from the simple desire to self actualize/articulate trans-feminism/queerness and its necessary demands ending in constructionist logics which hyper valorize, celebrate, and execptionalise the very identities in which our experience of oppression(s) is rooted. We experience a great degree of disappointment in this impasse- what we are searching is an (anti) politics, which both embraces and reckons with the every day realities and lived experiences of those who experience identity based oppression, whilst also squarely aiming our hostility at the totality of the world which creates them; we wish to present a critique which both acknowledges the very real consequences of identity in the here and now, and attempts to undo the entirety of its constructions. We agree, identity is entirely social constructed, it is the product of thousands of years of domestication, brutality, violence, domination, and one central building block of civilization; where we stray from the traditional insurrectional perspective is in rejecting the naivety of believing that by simply refusing to recognize identity or identity based concerns as important is enough to de-nature them as powerfully violent. Further we hold firm to the belief that fighting anti sexist/racist/colonial struggles is in fact a central field in war against ‘the existent’. The fact that identities are social constructs doesn’t mean they don’t need to be recognized and then destroyed- one cannot hope to destroy an enemy which one refuses to except even exists. When one declares war on society, one accepts the existence of society; our war on identity is inseparable from our war on society, from the war on civilization; but this takes understanding, recognition, and sometimes organization based around those very identities.’

We are hoping to bring together a series of texts, whose focus lies in the realm of identity abolition, but whose praxis is rooted in materialist understandings of and engagements with identity. We are searching for new and existing pieces which challenge readers to engage with the every day lived experiences of those who contend with identity based oppression(s), whilst also aiming hostility squarely at the identities themselves and the worlds which they create. Submissions can come in the form of texts, poems, artworks or any other medium you see fit and are not limited to a specific word count. Submissions should be in by the end of February 2020- and sent to downandoutdistro(at)riseup(dot)net; if selected, texts will be included in their entirety and not edited by us, though we reserve the right not to include any texts we feel do not fit the line of engagement we wish to highlight. The collection will include an editorial from D&O addressing our own understanding and critique of identity  as well as engagements with what we see as the failings in both insurrectional and identity based trajectories to deal with the topic. Other texts so far proposed  for the journal cover topics including migration, sex work, experience of racialised identities, and nihilist feminism.

Text can be Submitted in English, French, or Greek, though texts not in English will be translated by us and the Journal will only be available in English.

SEND US YOUR TEXTS 🙂