“It is still happening here.”

There’s a special joy, a special sweetness, in the first real spring day, when you can throw off your coat and throw on your sneakers, and set off for a blissful walk past now-green grass, blossoms opening up their faces to the sun, and the tiniest of buds-leaves emerging from every tree branch. And you can carry along a book that just reached your mailbox—a book you wrote a blurb for long ago and are so thrilled that it has now finally sprung into the world—to find the perfect spot for a photo to later share here.

Of course you pick places overflowing with flowers, laying this book down among the purples and yellows—feeling the joy and sweetness of those colors.

For a brief time, fascism seems far away.

Spring holds promise. A river follows your footsteps and geese chatter happily nearby. This book holds possibilities—a time of wins. You flip through the pages, filled with not just an inspiring history made by everyday people but also so many rad images.

Then you glance up to a long wall covered in murals, including one to George Floyd, and are stopped in your tracks, noticing first the swastika x’d out—the remnants of antifascists here before you on these stolen Anishinaabeg lands—and then fascists who, for now, are getting the last word with “fuck antifa.”

It did happen here; it does happen here; it is happening now in what’s become everyday fascism.

You have nothing but a book and camera on you. They become the latest layer of antifascism, even if too little.

And suddenly you think back to when you listened to the It Did Happen Here podcast and couldn’t stop recommending it, knowing its lessons resonate for the present. But that was before the pandemic began, and along with the COVID virus, fascism has virulently spread into its own increasingly deadly pandemic.

You look down at the book version, It Did Happen Here: An Antiracist People’s History (published by @pmpress) and see a weapon for #CommunitySelfDefense that’s both sharper than ever and, absurdly, tragically, more necessary than when the editors asked you to pen a blurb about its relevance. There’s no joy or sweetness in that.

Still, if you want a world of #FlowersNotFascism, this book is essential reading.

https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1467

What burning question(s) would you want to wrestle with these days in dialogue with other anarchists?

I’m all ears!

In mid-January, I’m going to facilitate an in-person, masked-up Anarchist Salon at @TheRhizomeHouse, a newish social/community center (details to come). Yay! And if it goes well, there will be a couple more.

The idea is simple: collective conversation!

The hope is that folks can think through one question per salon together—a question that likely has no answer, or many answers, and/or raises further questions, but in any case, makes for a provocative discussion that just might generatively influence our anarchist practices. And as a related aim, to get to know each other better and maybe weave a thread or two into the anarchistic social fabric.

For now, I’m looking for ideas for THE question for the January salon! I’m looking for YOUR ideas—here. Post them in the comments.

It’s fine to suggest several questions. (Can those of us who continually “question authority” ever have too many questions?!) Indeed, feel free to borrow a question or two and host your own Anarchist Salon in your own city or rural abode.

And thanks in advance for the anarchist aid!

(photo: It’s almost as if someone wanted to gift this black spray-painted circle A a bunch of red flowers because anarchism is so beautiful, always unfolding sweet possibilities! As seen on a #FlowersNotFascism stroll in Tio’tia:ke/Montreal this past summer.)

#AnarchistSalon
#EverydayAnarch

(Part 2 of 6): By way of celebrating my new book “Try Anarchism for Life” being in print and out in the world, and because I have a backlog of photos of circle As in the wild, plus to honor and thank the folks who took the time and care to write blurbs for this book, here’s a trifecta of what I hope are some beautiful expressions of anarchism: street art + the book’s cover + a blurb.

“Cindy Milstein teams up with some of the best and most active current anarchist artists to give us this collection of artful circle As, each accompanied by a textual meditation on anarchism and struggle that ranges from the beautiful to cute to didactic to inspiring, and always with a core of wisdom. Milstein has a special touch.”
—Peter Gelderloos, author of “The Solutions Are Already Here”

Or as the back cover describes it:

“‘Try Anarchism for Life’ revolves around a thought experiment: What are some of the many beautiful dimensions of anarchism? In reply, it blends gorgeous circle A drawings by twenty-six artists with Milstein’s words, forming picture-prose that are at once inviting and playful, poignant and dreamy. The pieces encourage us to notice and expand on liberatory practices, especially in a time when so much feels impossible. In depicting how anarchism gifts us lives worth living, this book warms ailing hearts and offers tender succor.”

Copies of the book are available from the publisher, @tangled_wilderness, at www.tangledwilderness.org (for folks in and outside of the US too), @akpressdistro at www.akpress.org, or your favorite anarchist(ic) bookstore, and with luck soon, libraries.

(photos: postscarcity circle A sticker made by @municipaladhesives, as seen in mid-October at the entrance to @defendATLforest; abundantly beautiful book cover, designed by @eff_charm, with circle A by @landonsheely, as texted to me by my beautiful friend Libertie with @firestorm)

#TheBeautyOfOurCircle
#FlowersNotFascism
#AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful
#TheSolutionsAreAlreadyHere
#WeAreAllWeNeed
🖤💖🌿

By way of celebrating my new book “Try Anarchism for Life” being in print and out in the world, and because I have a backlog of photos of circle As in the wild, plus to honor and thank the folks who took the time and care to write blurbs for this book, here’s a trifecta of what I hope are some beautiful expressions of anarchism: street art + the book’s cover + a blurb.

“‘Try Anarchism for Life’ is part manifesto, part prayer, part devotional—a rousing collection of vignettes and micro essays that inspire and incite. Read it to be warmed, guided, and changed. Accompanied by a wildly diverse set of illustrations of the anarchist logo, each essay offers a thoughtful meditation on how to do and think about anarchism in our world today. Full of love for the possibilities of the world to come. ‘Try Anarchism for Life’ is a refreshing and necessary addition to the repertoire of anarchist literature.” (—Rivers Solomon, author of “An Unkindness of Ghosts”)

Or as the back cover describes it:

“‘Try Anarchism for Life’ revolves around a thought experiment: What are some of the many beautiful dimensions of anarchism? In reply, it blends gorgeous circle A drawings by twenty-six artists with Milstein’s words, forming picture-prose that are at once inviting and playful, poignant and dreamy. The pieces encourage us to notice and expand on liberatory practices, especially in a time when so much feels impossible. In depicting how anarchism gifts us lives worth living, this book warms ailing hearts and offers tender succor.”

Copies of the book are available from the publisher, Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness, at www.tangledwilderness.org (for folks in and outside of the US too), AK Press at www.akpress.org, or your favorite anarchist(ic) bookstore, and with luck soon, libraries.

(photos: beautiful circle by my beautiful friend @nobonzo as seen in mid-October at the anarcho-beautiful entrance to @defendatlantaforest; strikingly beautiful book cover, designed by @eff_charm with circle A by @landonsheely, with gorgeous photo courtesy of the good folks at @bookspace_columbus)

#TheBeautyOfOurCircle
#FlowersNotFascism
#AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful
#WeAreAllWeNeed