negations

I am happy to report AK Press has recently launched a new blog, Revolution by the Book. Its purpose is to inform people about AK Press in particular and anarchist publishing in general. For now, it will publish new material three times each week, although that frequency may increase in the near future.

It so happens that another comrade and I bear primary responsibility for administering and maintaining the blog (which we do under the guidance and supervision of the larger AK Press collective). It is a pleasure for me to play a role in the project.

Given my involvement with Revolution by the Book, I think it is likely that some things that I would have posted on Negations will end up on the AK blog (particularly things like conference announcements, news about publications, etc). I will continue to publish here, but perhaps slightly less regularly and the posts will probably be a little more personal in nature.

As a long-time practitioner of Muay Thai (kick boxing), I was very excited to learn about the formation of the Parinya Muay Thai Camp in Thailand.

The camp’s goal, as explained on its website, is “allow children to live, train, and eventually be schooled year-round without being under contract to fight or having to carry the burden of financially supporting their families; provide women equal opportunities as men do in the sport and all other aspects of their lives; give the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community a safe haven; thereby, setting a new standard for the way in which such camps are currently being run in Thailand.”

This is a collaborative effort between Nong Thoom (whose life was portrayed in the award-winning film, Beautiful Boxer) and Steven Khan, an American actor, writer, and also a friend of mine and former training partner.

To learn more, check out the following video (the first half is about the Beautiful Boxer and the second about the camp):

Please consider helping make this important initiative a reality. Those in the New York City area can do so by attending a benefit—a sure-to-be exciting, Muay Thai Smoker—on Friday, September 5th. People elsewhere are encouraged to make an online donation.

For more information, check out the Parinya Muay Thai Training Camp website, which you’ll find here.

UPDATE: I have removed this article at the request of the author, who sent me five, angry emails today imploring me to take it down. He was outraged that I posted his essay on this blog without having first asked his permission to do so. His emails, like his article, were boorish and full of invective.

I would have asked permission to repost the piece if it had been marked with a copyright—which, of course, is how authors indicate that they want to restrict the circulation of their writings. Since it was not, I assumed that Eiglad would not object to its publication here, although I now see that he does. I am removing it out of consideration for Eiglad (who will hopefully learn to designate his articles more carefully in the future if, in fact, he does not want them to be reposted).

But why would Eiglad care if I published his piece on this blog when it is identical to the article on his website? What difference does it make to him? Only he can really answer that question, although I suspect this is a control issue: on this blog he would be unable to curtail a critical discussion of his essay or Bookchin generally, whereas he can exclude critics at a whim on his (temporarily unavailable) Communalism forums.

Whatever his motives, Eiglad is mistaken if he thinks that he can promote Bookchin’s ideas and silence Bookchin’s critics at the same time. That is simply not possible. Whatever lessons Bookchin has to offer–and I think there are many–will emerge only in the context of a critical analysis of his life and work. Indeed, Bookchin’s contributions will either be criticized or they will be forgotten.

[Editor's note: the following article is the first of Eiglad's projected four part
response to my "Being a Bookchinite" essay. It recently appeared
in the online journal, Communalism.]

* * *

Measures of Failure and Success: Part 1 – Reflections on Chuck Morse’s “Being a Bookchinite”

By Eirik Eiglad

… this article has been removed at the author’s behest. You can read it here.