An exciting, new project recently came to my attention: The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, 1500 – Present. Edited by Immanuel Ness, this eight-volume, 5,000-page, peer-reviewed work will be published by Blackwell next year and is sure to become the definitive reference work for students of social radicalism.
The publication will be unique not only because of its length but also because of its extensive coverage of the global anarchist movement: it is scheduled to contain a total of 200,000 words (i.e., hundreds and hundreds of pages!) on the topic. It will include entries on the movement in specific countries, biographies of individual anarchists, discussions of key events and themes in the movement’s history, as well as explorations of various tendencies, tactics, institutions, and organizations. Jesse Cohn, author of Anarchism and the Crisis of Representation, is the Associate Editor in charge of anarchist content.
Encyclopedia editors are still looking for writers to pen entries on many of the anarchist-related topics that they intend to treat in the book. I recently agreed to write entries on anarchism in Argentina, Mexico, and Puerto Rico (respectively), but many topics remain unassigned. Below is a list of unclaimed entries as of December 18, 2007. Please contact Jesse Cohn if you are interested in taking on one of them. Continue reading →
It can be hard for someone interested in anarchist theory to find a good forum for their writing these days. Anarchist publications are often very anti-intellectual and theoretical publications tend to be highly anti-anarchist. Sometimes it seems like there is no middle ground.
I haven’t figured out how to resolve this problem, but I was encouraged by two journals that I read about recently. They are:
The Journal for the Study of Radicalism
The Journal for the Study of Radicalism engages in serious, scholarly exploration of the forms, representations, meanings, and historical influences of radical social movements. With sensitivity and openness to historical and cultural contexts of the term, we loosely define “radical,” as distinguished from “reformers,” to mean groups who seek revolutionary alternatives to hegemonic social and political institutions, and who use violent or non-violent means to resist authority and to bring about change. The journal is eclectic, without dogma or strict political agenda, and ranges broadly across social and political groups worldwide, whether typically defined as “left” or “right.” We expect contributors to come from a wide range of fields and disciplines, including ethnography, sociology, political science, literature, history, philosophy, critical media studies, literary studies, religious studies, psychology, women’s studies, and critical race studies. We especially welcome articles that reconceptualize definitions and theories of radicalism, feature underrepresented radical groups, and introduce new topics and methods of study.
Future issues will include themes like the re-conceptualization of “left” and “right,” radical groups typically ignored in academic scholarship, such as deep ecologists, primitivists, and anarchists, the role of science and technology in radical visions, transnational and regional understandings of radicalism, and the relationships of radical movements to land and environment.
City: Analysis of Urban trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action
City is a journal of provocative, cutting-edge and committed insights into, analysis of, and commentary on the contemporary urban world. We record and analyse cities and their futures, and urbanization from multiple perspectives including: the information and digital revolutions, war and imperialism, neoliberalism and gentrification, environment and sustainability, resistance and social movements, regeneration, resurgence and revanchism, race, class and gender, multi-culturalism and post-colonialism. City combines an analysis of trends, culture, policy and action, and features both historical and theoretical work alongside detailed case studies, policy commentary and open debate.
Besides regular papers and special features, City sections include: ‘Alternatives’ showcasing radical, ‘Grassroots’ approaches; ‘Voices’ featuring literary and ethnographic interpretations; ‘Forum’ presenting commentary on contemporary policy; ‘Prospects and Retrospects’ as well as reviews and Debates.
City is multi-, trans-disciplinary and holistic, drawing on work from academics in geography, the social sciences, political economy, philosophy, cultural studies, and the humanities, as well as from policy makers, the multitude of actors–including practitioners, activists, organizers, writers, artists, ecologists, planners, and architects–who play key roles in sustaining and constructing cities and urban futures.
Among the approximately two dozen individuals involved in the magazine, I note that Paul Chatterton is a “Senior Deputy Editor” and in charge of the “Alternatives” section. He does valuable work on contemporary, direct action movements and is rumored to be seeking anarchist contributors to the publication. I also see that Manuel Castells is an Associate Editor.
In the mid-1960s, a loose band of artists, hippies, and anarchists burst onto the political stage in the Netherlands. Known as the Provos (as in to provoke), they led a mini-rebellion against the established order that rattled elites and left behind an inspired legacy of anti-authoritarian activism.
Richard Kempton documents this legacy in his recently released, Provo: Amsterdam’s Anarchist Revolt, the first book-length history of the group in English. He traces the emergence, highpoints, and decline of the Provos, in addition to providing tangential but interesting appendices on topics such as the relationship between the Provos and the Situationists, the history of anarchism in Amsterdam, and others. He does a good job at placing the group in the context of the radical currents from which it emerged and at relating the Provos’ trajectory to some of the political peculiarities of the Netherlands. While a deeper examination of the group’s ideas and internal organization would have enriched the book, I found it to be thoughtful, informative, and fun to read. (For a quick introduction to the Provos, you may wish to check out this article as well as this one.)
Kempton illustrates the Provos’ extraordinary ability to expose the contradictions of the liberal democratic society in which they lived while making authorities look absurd in the process. Of their many feats that he records, their “White Bicycle Plan” is surely the most famous. It began as a response to the traffic jams and air pollution plaguing Amsterdam: instead of passively accepting the automobile’s toxic domination of urban life, the Provos pressed the municipal government to give out vast numbers of unlockable, white bikes throughout the city. These cycles–easily identifiable due to their color–would be available to any passerby who felt like riding one. He or she could take it to his or her destination but, once there, would be obliged to leave it for other citizens. This ingenious plan was clearly a sensible, low-cost, and environmentally friendly way to meet at least some of Amsterdam’s transportation needs.
My White Bicycle: Tom Woodgate’s mini-documentary about the Provos’ “White Bicycle Plan” (featuring Luud Schimmelpennink, a former Provo).
The Provos distributed fifty bikes at their own expense to jump start the program but immediately ran into problems with the police, who objected to their attempt to socialize the means of transportation. In fact, the cops impounded the bikes furnished by the Provos on the pretext that doling out unlocked bicycles “encouraged theft.” In other words, they took bicycles to prevent them from being taken!
The Provos were naturally delighted to find the police offering Amsterdamers such a concrete lesson in the bankruptcy of the criminal justice system: thanks to their unintentional complicity in the Provos’ scheme, the city became a classroom in which attentive residents could learn a lesson normally buried in obscure anarchist pamphlets and disquisitions: the cops’ primary objective is not to serve the people but rather to protect the status quo, no matter how noxious and irrational it might be.
The “White Bicycle Plan” was one among multiple Provo “plans,” all designed to push people toward cooperative, ecological solutions while undermining the legitimacy of the established order. They outlined many of these in a brochure entitled What the Provos Want , which they released in 1966, shortly before successfully competing for a seat on Amsterdam’s City Council (“Vote Provo for a Laugh!” was one of their campaign slogans). Kempton summarizes key points:
The White Bicycle Plan: In an effort to address traffic congestion in the center of the city, white bicycles would become the common property of all the people of Amsterdam. Automobiles would be excluded from the center of the city.
The White Chimney Plan: A mandate that chimneys have special built-in incinerators to combat air pollution; with fines for infractions.
The White Chicken Plan: Amsterdam’s police force should be recast as unarmed friendly social workers with candy and band-aids in their pockets.
The White Dwelling Plan: In an effort to ease the city’s housing shortage the city government would publish a weekly list of empty buildings so people without homes could squat them.
The White Wives Plan: Developed by Irene Donner-Van der Wetering, this plan called for sex education for young people. Among other things it mandated information on contraception, medical clinics for young girls, and teaching family planning.
The White Schools Plan: Students would have a say in expanding opportunities for democratically organized study and discussion.
The White City Plan: Amsterdam would become the first urban area committed to implementing Constant Nieuwenhuis’s New Babylon.(1)
After reading these “plans,” I found myself surprised to realize that today, approximately forty years later, many of their demands (“plans”) have become non-controversial elements of mainstream social policy. For example, numerous cities have experimented with free bicycle programs (such as Portland, Madison, and Barcelona), and bike paths and restrictions on vehicular traffic are common in American cities. Likewise, controls on air pollution are pervasive; young people often receive some degree of sex education; and students frequently play a role in setting academic policy at the college and sometimes high school level. Obviously, aspects of their program remain unrealized–I know of no city that publishes lists of squatable buildings, for instance–but, nonetheless, much of the Provo platform has lost its controversial, provocative quality.
This raises a difficult question about the meaning of the Provos’ legacy. What if the Provos (and corresponding groups like the Yippies in the United States) ultimately need to be understood less as anarchist instigators than as the avant-garde of a more lenient, culturally flexible, and ecologically friendly capitalism? While it’s true that they set stodgy authorities into a frenzy four decades ago, it may be that those authorities were simply anachronistic obstacles and that the Provos actually helped modernize capitalism by undermining their legitimacy.
Issues such as these are beyond the scope of Kempton’s book and, for that matter, most works on the history of anarchism. However, I believe that they are worth pursuing and I hope that the publication of this long overdue book on the Provos indicates that a more serious, complicated engagement with our past is on the horizon.
1. Richard Kempton, Provo: Amsterdam’s Anarchist Revolt (Brooklyn: Autonomedia, 2007), 81.
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Today, white bicycles are used to designate the site of a fatal collision between an automobile and a cyclist. For example, the one in the photo to the right identified the place where a hit-and-run driver mowed down Jen Shao, a 65 year-old grandmother, in New York City’s financial district in 2005. Memorials such as these are sadly a common sight in American cities, if not elsewhere. Their colorlessness suggests the grief one feels when the world is drained of a loved one’s flesh and blood and, by disrupting the conventional iconography of the city, they register a protest against the irrationality of our transportation practices. They express outrage, sadness, and loss.
However, the white bike had a very different meaning in the 1960s and 1970s, thanks specifically to the Provos and their anarchist adventurism. At that time, it was a counter-cultural icon that conveyed adventure, defiance, and fun. One can see this in the following three music videos, which also document a curious example of anarchist influence on popular culture.
The psychedelic rock group Tomorrow recorded the following song in 1968 under the inspiration of the Provos:
Nazareth plays their cover of the Tomorrow song:
A snippet of Caterina Caselli’s “Le biciclette bianche” (1967):
An international mailing list has been setup recently for Asian anarchists and those interested in the practice of anarchism in Asia. People have been sending in introductions and members hail from all over: Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, etc. Follow this link to subscribe: https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/a_a_n
And now we can add a new film to the catalogue: Lucio, directed by Aitor Arregi and José Mari Goenaga. This Spanish language documentary tells the dramatic story of Lucio Urtubia, a sort of anarchist Robin Hood whose militancy brought him into contact with some of the most significant events of our era. Although the film does not have subtitles, English readers can check out its synopsis (which I have translated and copied below) and watch its trailer (which has subtitles and is also below).
SYNOPSIS: LUCIO
There have been–and are–many anarchists. Quite a few of them have had to commit robberies or manufacture contraband for the cause. A much smaller number have talked strategy with Che or helped Eldridge Cleaver (the leader of the Black Panthers). But there is only one who, in addition to all of the above, put the world’s most powerful bank on the ropes by producing massive amounts of counterfeit Traveler’s Cheques while also not missing a single day at his bricklayer’s job. His name is Lucio Urtubia.
Lucio presently lives in retirement in Paris. During his life, he witnessed–and often participated actively in–some of the most important events of the second half of the 20th century. He experienced the tumult of May ’68 from within, actively supported the Castro regime during its initial stages, and engaged in a whole range of anti-Franco endeavors. However, his biggest “job” took place in the latter part of the 1970s, a time when he was known in the press as “the good bandit” or “the Basque Zorro.” He defrauded the First National Bank (now Citibank) of 3,000 million pesetas in order to finance causes that he supported. Amazingly, his “career” only cost him a few months in prison.
The film’s official site, which contains photographs and other information, is here.
This article will appear in the spring, 2008 issue of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, which is likely to be published in March. For more information, visit the Institute for Anarchist Study’s website.
When Murray Bookchin died on July 30 last year, one of the most ambitious and compelling figures of the anti-authoritarian left passed.
He was an author, educator, and activist, although above all he was a revolutionary who gave his life to a single, colossal task: devising a revolutionary project that could heal the wounds within humanity and the split between it and the natural world. He tried to outline the theoretical principles of this endeavor; to build organizations capable of transforming the world around those principles; and to forge a cadre with the wisdom necessary to fight for them while enduring the inevitable ups and downs of political life. He had much in common with other sect builders of the socialist left—such as Max Shachtman, Josef Weber, and Raya Dunayevskaya, for example—who, in their respective times and latitudes, also attempted to salvage the revolutionary enterprise from the disaster that was Russian Communism and the many calamities of the twentieth century.(1)
I sing a song of meetings,
Of meetings held to plan future meetings,
And meetings to discuss the failure of earlier meetings,
Of meetings to counter the dark consequences of enemy meetings,
And meetings to commemorate the uncounted meetings we have
been strong enough to attend.
I sing a song of meetings,
Of explanations that start with creation,
And interruptions fueled by indignation,
Of agendas stretched and padded,
Confusions enjoyed and added,
And climactic declarations denouncing those so weak
as not stick it out to the end.
I sing a song of meetings,
Of the need for further clarification
If we are to avoid the world’s termination,
Of passionate denunciation
And all but outrageous accusation
–by people unimpeachable in goodness.
I sing a song of meetings,
Declaring factions to end the blight of faction
And endless speeches on the need for action,
Abrupt insistence on calling the question,
Speakers begging for a two-minute extension,
And mortals made of common clay, fading flesh,
who marvel at their own endurance.
We stare suspiciously, sniffing old odors. We
know where we have met, we
Who are survivors. A wince, a tremor, see
the marks of finger, foot, and knee
That speak of meetings gone and failed. As for me
I cannot look them in the eye, these aging children
of meetings.
- – -
From: Irving Howe, A Margin of Hope: An Intellectual Autobiography (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1982), 343-344.
Professor Norman Cohn, who died on Tuesday aged 92, was a historian, philosopher, linguist, author and expert on persecution, genocide and extermination; his seminal book, The Pursuit of the Millennium: revolutionary millenarians and mystical anarchists of the middle ages (1957), earned cult status.
Translated into 11 languages since its initial publication, The Pursuit of the Millennium became Cohn’s best-known work and was acclaimed as one of the most important studies of apocalyptic ideas.
In the book Cohn revealed for the first time the history of revolutionary millenarians, people who believe that the old world is about to be transformed into a new order in which the chosen few reap their reward of an earthly paradise and everyone else perishes.
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Having witnessed at first hand the apocalyptic atrocities of war, Cohn wondered whether the fanatical ideas of the Nazis and Communists were exclusively a 20th-century phenomenon or whether they had more ancient roots. Both tyrannies contained the myth of a final titanic struggle against a demonised enemy – the Jews in the case of Hitler’s Germany, the bourgeoisie in that of Stalin’s Soviet Union.
Although working as a linguist when he returned to academic life after the Second World War, Cohn – with no training as an historian but never hidebound – embarked on a quest for the historical origins of these ideas which took him back to the Middle Ages.
Armed with Latin and medieval German and French, he embarked on an 10-year investigation of sources for his book, with the aim of shedding light on the ancient collective fantasies that still exerted an influence on European culture.
In a clear, classical style, Cohn brought obscure medieval documents to life, creating scenes that portrayed, for instance, the starving, blood-spattered flagellants who in 1349 stormed the gates of Frankfurt to slaughter the Jews in a religious-ecstatic orgy of killing; or describing how, in 1251, a raggle-taggle army of paupers, led by a renegade monk, captured the villages of Picardy on the orders of the Virgin Mary.
In 1995, when the Times Literary Supplement listed the 100 non-fiction works that had had the greatest influence on the way in which post-war Europeans perceive themselves, Cohn’s book ranked alongside works by Camus, Sartre, Friedman and Foucault.
At the turn of the century seven years ago, Cohn’s apocalyptic themes again caught the zeitgeist and his book enjoyed a revival, thanks to those people who mistakenly believed that the advent of the new millennium portended the dawn of doomsday. As one critic noted, The Pursuit of the Millennium’s cult status was confirmed by the fact that it was frequently quoted by people who had never even read it. Continue reading →
The volume of anarchist literature will likely grow significantly in the next several years as authors who came of age during the anti-globalization movement (1999 – 2001) publish their works.
For instance, there is David Graeber’s forthcoming Possibilities: Essays on Hierarchy, Rebellion, and Desire, which is sure to challenge and captivate (AK Press, September, 400 Pages). AK Press describes the book in the following terms:
In this new collection, David Graeber revisits questions raised in his popular book, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology. Written in an unpretentious style that uses accessible and entertaining language to convey complex theoretical ideas, these twelve essays cover a lot of ground, including the origins of capitalism, the history of European table manners, love potions in rural Madagascar, and the phenomenology of giant puppets at street protests. But they’re linked by a clear purpose: to explore the nature of social power and the forms that resistance to it have taken, or might take in the future.
Anarchism is currently undergoing a worldwide revival, in many ways replacing Marxism as the theoretical and moral center of new revolutionary social movements. It has, however, left little mark on the academy. While anarchists and other visionaries have turned to anthropology for ideas and inspiration, anthropologists are reluctant to enter into serious dialogue. David Graeber is not. These essays, spanning almost twenty years, show how scholarly concerns can be of use to radical social movements, and how the perspectives of such movements shed new light on debates within the academy.
Another instance is Uri Gordon’s Anarchy Alive! Anti-authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory (Pluto Press, November, 2007). The publisher offers this description:
Anarchy Alive! is a fascinating, in-depth look at the practice and theory of contemporary anarchism. Uri Gordon draws on his activist experience and on interviews, discussions and a vast selection of recent literature to explore the activities, cultures and agendas shaping today’s explosive anti-authoritarian revival. Anarchy Alive! also addresses some of the most tense debates in the contemporary movement, using a theory based on practice to provocatively reshape anarchist discussions of leadership, violence, technology and nationalism.
This is the ideal book for anyone looking for a fresh, informed and critical engagement with anarchism, as a mature and dynamic political force in the age of globalization.
Of course, anarchism has a long history. One particularly troubled and troubling chapter in this history is the state-sponsored murder of Sacco and Vanzetti. A new book has just been appeared on the topic, whose publication coincides with the eightieth anniversary of their executions: Bruce Watson’s Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind. The publisher states:
In the first full-length narrative of the case in thirty years, Bruce Watson unwinds a gripping tale that opens with anarchist bombs going off in a posh Washington, D.C., neighborhood and concludes with worldwide outrage over the execution of the “good shoemaker” and the “poor fish peddler.” Sacco and Vanzetti mines deep archives and new sources, unveiling fresh details about these naïve dreamers and militant revolutionaries. This case still haunts the American imagination. Authoritative and engrossing, Sacco and Vanzetti will capture fans of true crime books and everyone who enjoys riveting American history.
Finally, Spanish readers will want to check out: Sergio Grez Toso’s Los anarquistas y el movimiento obrero. La alborada de “la Idea” en Chile, 1893-1915 (in English: The Anarchists and the Workers Movement: The Dawn of “the Idea” in Chile, 1893-1915). As the title implies, this book explores the origins of the anarchist movement in Chile. Its release is noteworthy because Chile has largely been neglected in the literature on anarchism in the Americas. Hopefully this publication will prompt the emergence of a fuller depiction of the movement’s legacy.
An exciting, new project recently came to my attention: The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, 1500 – Present. Edited by Immanuel Ness, this eight-volume, 5,000-page, peer-reviewed work will be published by Blackwell next year and is sure to become the definitive reference work for students of social radicalism.
Today, white bicycles are used to designate the site of a fatal collision between an automobile and a cyclist. For example, the one in the photo to the right identified the place where a 
An international mailing list has been setup recently for Asian anarchists and those interested in the practice of anarchism in Asia. People have been sending in introductions and members hail from all over: Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, etc. Follow this link to subscribe: 
When Murray Bookchin died on July 30 last year, one of the most ambitious and compelling figures of the anti-authoritarian left passed.
Translated into 11 languages since its initial publication, The Pursuit of the Millennium became Cohn’s best-known work and was acclaimed as one of the most important studies of apocalyptic ideas.
Another instance is Uri Gordon’s Anarchy Alive! Anti-authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory (Pluto Press, November, 2007). The publisher offers this description:
Of course, anarchism has a long history. One particularly troubled and troubling chapter in this history is the state-sponsored murder of Sacco and Vanzetti. A new book has just been appeared on the topic, whose publication coincides with the eightieth anniversary of their executions: Bruce Watson’s Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind. The publisher states:
Finally, Spanish readers will want to check out: Sergio Grez Toso’s Los anarquistas y el movimiento obrero. La alborada de “la Idea” en Chile, 1893-1915 (in English: The Anarchists and the Workers Movement: The Dawn of “the Idea” in Chile, 1893-1915). As the title implies, this book explores the origins of the anarchist movement in Chile. Its release is noteworthy because Chile has largely been neglected in the literature on anarchism in the Americas. Hopefully this publication will prompt the emergence of a fuller depiction of the movement’s legacy.