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A Brilliant Red Thread, book review, Don Hamerquist - May 14, 2023

Never Content: On Don Hamerquist’s “A Brilliant Red Thread” [Jarrod Shanahan in the LA Review of Books]

[Mirrored from lareviewofbooks.org, where it was posted May 12, 2023.] A Brilliant Red Thread: Revolutionary Writings from Don Hamerquist (Kersplebedeb, 2023) “TODAY WE FACE a bewildering conundrum,” writes Luis Brennan. “[M]illions of people are ready to engage in active combat with the ruling capitalist order, but we have not seen the emergence of a viable social force that articulates a promising alternative to that order.” Faith in capitalist governments, whether liberal-democratic or outright authoritarian, is eroding worldwide as crises proliferate, and even the wealthiest and most plunderous nation-states are proving incapable of sustaining the quality of life that ensures their...

McAntiwar and More: Gabriel Kuhn on J. Sakai’s “The Shape of Things to Come” [LeftTwoThree.org]

[Originally posted to LeftTwoThree.org] A review of J Sakai, The Shape of Things to Come (Montreal: Kersplebedeb, 2023). Last month, we looked at the Kersplebedeb release A Brilliant Red Thread, an anthology of writings by Don Hamerquist. This month, we’re looking at a somewhat similar release by Kersplebedeb, The Shape of Things to Come, an anthology of writings by J. Sakai. The main difference is that most of Hamerquist’s book consisted of emails and online forum contributions unavailable to a broader public before, while most texts in The Shape of Things to Come were previously published, so avid Sakai fans...

Brilliant Red Thread Book Launch, at Mother Foucault's Bookshop in Portland OR, April 29

Near Portland? Come celebrate the launch of A Brilliant Red Thread: Revolutionary Writings from Don Hamerquist. The event will include discussions of experienced revolutionary organizers about the legacy of Hamerquist’s ideas and the future of our movement for human freedom. SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2023 at 7 PM Mother Foucault's Bookshop 523 SE Morrison St, Portland OR About the Book [C]apitalism will not topple “through … exhaustion.” It will not “stop running on its own.” It must be overthrown by a politically conscious, mass counter-force, and the primary issue for us concerns how such a force might...

Living with the Lower Case [Gabriel Kuhn reviews A Brilliant Red Thread]

[Originally posted to Gabriel Kuhn's blog at LeftTwoThree.org] A review of Don Hamerquist, A Brilliant Red Thread (Montreal: Kersplebedeb, 2023). There is much to like about Montreal publisher Kersplebedeb. One thing is the political positioning. Introducing a list of “Texts for leninists with an anti-authoritarian critique of leninism, and for anarchists with a pro-rev critique of anarchism” they write: “Here at Kersplebedeb, some of of our favourite radical theory occurs where anarchists (broadly speaking) who are critical of anarchism – and are therefore charged with being Leninists – intermingle with Leninists (broadly speaking) who are critical of Leninism – and...

Review of "We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti Racist Action" [ThreeWayFight]

[Originally posted to the ThreeWayFight blog.] Kdog reviews the new book, We Go Where They Go: the Story of Anti-Racist Action I spent a good part of my teens and twenties building ARA... It was my university... its rewarding to have the history treated as something significant, even crucial. More than giving props to the OG antifas tho—what's really meaningful is that this book will help a new generation, confronting new forms of the fascist threat, find inspiration and lessons in both our successes and failures. In February I read the excellent new book We Go Where They Go:...

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