“The anarchists were reflex to an evil history which penetrated their own remarkable and macabre achievements.”– Cedric Robinson The history of classical anarchism is filled with radical foresight, mistakes, and persecution. Its past helps explain how the word “socialism” became conflated with state-building. Important awareness of anti-state or stateless socialism(s) and the broader historical socialist […]

Some histories reside in people, in bodies and landscapes. When Natalie Diaz speaks of water, I often feel like she is speaking of time.  She writes,   I carry a river. It is who I am: ‘Aha Makav. This is not a metaphor. A few stanzas later, she translates:  … ’Aha Makav means the river […]

Martin Sostre was supported by a variety of different organizations, defense committees, and individuals during his nearly nine years in prison from 1967-1976. Few were as important and consistent as journalist William Worthy. Over the course of three years, Worthy wrote almost a dozen articles about Sostre, two of which—“Sostre in Solitary” (Boston Sunday Globe, […]

To be free, to walk in dignity—for these precious privileges some men will go anywhere, sacrifice anything. — Homer Smith Black America is not guaranteed much, if anything, under the category of citizenship. It has never prevented us descendants of enslaved Africans from falling victim to repression, exclusion and constant infractions. Our supposed rights are […]

In January 1976, Martin Sostre was released from prison after serving nearly eight of a 31-41-year sentence. In response to a growing international defense movement, a documentary film, and a book detailing his frame-up by Buffalo police and his ongoing struggles against state violence, Governor of New York Hugh Carey finally granted his clemency on […]

“You didn’t see me on television, you didn’t see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come.”– Ella Baker  One of the most important things that the Black Panther Party left us was […]

From his solitary cell at Auburn prison in 1972, political prisoner Martin Sostre warned that “if Attica fell to us in a matter of hours. . . so shall fall all your fortresses, inside and out. Revolutionary spirit conquers all obstacles.”  A year after the uprising at Attica, where Sostre himself had been tortured in […]

“The burden of a long sentence would be lightened by the satisfaction of knowing that the mission set out for me, that of helping my people free themselves from the oppressor, is being accomplished.” — Martin Sostre Malcolm X once said, “We’ve only suffered from America’s hypocrisy … If you go to jail, so what? […]

The state cannot fail those who it was never meant to protect. To call the U.S. a “failed state” implies that it had the intention of serving the people it was designed to oppress. Yet, the proliferation of this form of criticism among liberals, leftists, and otherwise became more prevalent in the wake of compounding […]

Friend, And so, a long goodbye. It is 2019. My brain still thinks the nineties were ten years ago, and my body tells me that we are hundreds of shorelines earlier than that. The hours are slow. I didn’t set out to write a farewell, but it strangely seems like a gentler framework than what […]

I have been thinking about the word ‘catastrophe’ for the greater part of the last eight years, and dedicated my 2019 dissertation to the question, which has now become my manuscript by the same title, “The Interminable Catastrophe.” I started this specific project on catastrophe several years ago after a workshop I attended in Johannesburg […]

“We can and must always make ‘Asia’ and ‘Asian American’ signify more than American exceptionalism.”  —Yen Le Espiritu, Lisa Lowe, and Lisa Yoneyama, “Transpacific Entanglements” I begin with this quote in order to center transnational activism and to introduce the conversation that I’ll be having with activist Jungmin Choi, which is a continuation of a […]

Translators: Juwon Jun, Ein Lee, Sangho Lee, Hoyoung Moon, Dohyun Gracia Shin, Jiyoun Yoo Abolition—the absolute dissolution of the prison industrial complex and reorganization of how we live together in this world, as expanded by abolitionist scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Angela Davis, and many others—resounds deeply through our bodies many times over, from the uprisings […]

Last month, I had a chance to interview Sylvia Wynter about the pandemic, Black studies, and radicalism in our current moment. What began as a series of catch-ups over the course of the pandemic, turned into this short interview—a glimpse into the conversations we've had over the last several months. This interview revisits some major themes in her work(s), with the added context of our current/ongoing context of the pandemic/rebellion/authoritarian politics. Most importantly, this conversation spotlights her commitment to realizing the Third Event, a break defined by language and storytelling, as the way out of our current and persistent predicaments.

An evolving love letter to ourselves and anyone involved in this project: we constructed this in order to dream and so this is not a real space and everything is possible. and with that being said: we do not deny that the stuff from the outside will seep into this space. when this happens, we […]

In the U.S., when Black people suffer and die, it’s considered progress. How we produce and digest historical narratives has everything to do with it. Selective remembrances are the tools politicians, institutions, and the state use to shape how people feel about themselves. This happens to such an extent that it's been possible to convince far too many people that they’re supposed to die for the U.S. nation. This logic isn’t exclusive to the U.S., because nationalisms employ this strategy around the world. However, the narrative of selective sacrifice deployed against Black Americans is a barrier imposed on the struggles for liberation, and must be directly challenged.

We have noticed an influx of emails/drafts of emails from institutions & corporations regarding “racial equity” “diversity” “racial justice” that stress how said institutions stand with Black Lives Matter. We believe these letters, internal correspondences, and public and private declarations to be empty at best and an insult to our intelligence.

Author and independent writer William C. Anderson interviews veteran organizer and former Black Panther and political prisoner Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin on the current political crisis, fascism, and rising relevance of Black anarchism.

From well-studied psychologists to fitness influencers we hear repeated iterations of: language is power, so be careful how you speak. Thus, relationship coaches advise creating google docs full of goals and reading it to yourself every morning while your unconscious is most impressionable. This way you can train your unconscious to believe that you can […]