Anarchist Summer Reading Program

Blessed Solstice my dear comrades!!

It’s been a while since I did any kind of a themed project, so let’s change that.

Today I am inspired by so many things, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the tension between radicalism and liberalism that seems to be such a deep chasm that prevents real mass consciousness from emerging.

That problem is bigger than me, and I can’t solve it on my own. But I know that a major theme of my recent work has been the balance of democratic will in the general population, the flow of knowledge-as-power as it relates to ideas like “consent of the governed”, who gets to set the boundaries around community that define in-groups and enemies, and who really benefits from the chessboard created by where those boundaries are currently drawn.

The horrific truth about these ideas is that we get the society we make together as the product of our combined choices each day, no matter how coerced and non-consensual it feels. We’re putting up with having to put up with it when we concede that authority has the upper hand and nothing will ever change. But the divine right of kings felt inescapable until it wasn’t. And the conditions we live with today will pass, too.

I want to increase the likelihood that our consensus choices, whether filtered through the structures of liberal democracy or decentralized to autonomous local collectives, are informed by the deep wisdom of anarchist thinking. This means exposing liberals and progressives to anarchist ideas in digestible chunks. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do with all of this “learning to work together” type of content.

Now I want to add to that, and I hope you’ll go along with this. Nothing too structured or formal! The last thing I need in my life right now is a rigid commitment to a discussion group, or reading a full length book, or all the wrangling that goes along with putting something like that together. Maybe you can relate.

I just want to vibe with cool ideas, and explore some of the really amazing resources that are out there together. And I think we can do it through memes and comment threads.

So that’s why today, on the first day of Summer, I’m launching my own version of an Anarchist Summer Reading Program just because I can, and it sounds fun, and my inner child is delighted by the idea of making memes for my online friends about stuff that inspires me, sipping on grape soda & eating atomic fireballs, jamming new wave & grunge, and treating myself to mini pan pizzas and pretending I won them. Maybe yours is too!!

All you have to do is watch for the posts and participate in discussion. I’ll try to pick sources you can read in one sitting, on your lunch break, at the bus stop, in the waiting room, wherever you would be scrolling anyway.

Let’s take a trip through anarchism together!!