textfiles/magazines/PAO/pao-9310.txt

P r a c t i c a l @ n a r c h y

O N L I N E

Issue 2.4, September/October  1993

A monthly electronic zine concerning anarchy from a practical point of
view, to help you put some anarchy in your everyday life. The anarchy scene
is covered through reviews and reports from people in the living anarchy.

Editors:

Chuck Munson

Internet        ctmunson@macc.wisc.edu
Bitnet  ctmunson@wiscmacc.bitnet
Postal address 
Practical Anarchy
PO Box 173
Madison, WI 53701-0173
USA


Subscription of PA Online is free in it's electronic format and each issue
is anti-copyright and may be distributed freely as long as the source is
credited. Please direct subscription matters to cardell at the above
address. 

We encourage our readers to submit articles and to send in bits of news
from everywhere. Local or worldwide doesn't matter -- we publish it. Send
mail to the editors.

******************IMPORTANT NOTE***************************
        This zine needs some new editors if it is to continue in 1994.  I
recently found out that my acting position will be filled by someone else,
so my job future as of January is up in the air.  I'll also be losing
access to the Internet for awhile, so I won't be able to put this zine out.
 I'll put out three more issues and then someone else will have to pick up
the reins.  The paper edition of Practical Anarchy will continue to be
published by me.  So if you are in general agreement with the philosophy of
this zine (an emphasis on practical anarchy, anti-statism, anti-capitalism,
and anti-vanguardism) please send me a note.  Ideally we should have at
least two people doing this publication.  I can also send you the current
mailing list.  Stay tuned as this situation develops.
-- chuck0
*********************************************************************

I'd like to welcome all new subscribers to this e-zine.  Dozens of people
have been added to the mailing list over the last two months.  If you like
what you see, please let me know.  If you have a complaint, let me hear it.
 If you have a contribution, by all means send it my way.  I hope that this
can continue to be a quality product (and no TQM teams are involved!) 
Hopefully with the new year this project will again have co-editors
(especially if I'm in the process of moving).



=@= EDITORIALS =@=

Editorial from the U.S.A.

by Chuck

More and more of the anarchists I know are talking about their frustrations
with the level of commitment of anarchists to anarchist projects.  Why is
everybody so damn busy?  Are anarchists involved with other projects or are
they busy watching the tube?  Or are they busy with work?

Over a century ago, the focus of the anarchist movement in the U.S. was the
establishment of the forty hour work week.  This was their focus because
the movement at that time was based primarily in the working class.  They
had to work long shitty hours in factories and had had enough.  Eventually
they got their way.  But where are we now?  More and more people are
working 40 hours a week and more!  Whatever happened to reducing the number
of hours we have to slave away each week?  A sign at the 1986 Haymarket
Gathering summed up the anarchist approach with a legend that read: "We
demand an 8 minute workday!"

If anarchists and social change activists want to see a better society come
about, we must also work towards eliminating all that time people spend
slaving away at wage jobs.  The solution is not to make them
unemployed--there are enough unemployed and UNDERemployed right now.  The
goal is to provide people with anarchistic communities which provide them
with meaningful activities and where everybody can work towards creating a
sustainable, ecologically-minded, participatory economics.

But until that happens we're still stuck with people who work so much they
don't have time for activist activities, or even, having the time to be
involved with their communities or their families.  So, is this really a
problem?
--Chuck

=@= NEWS AND SCENE REPORTS =@=

Summer of Gatherings
by Chuck

The Summer of 1993 will probably go down as the Summer of Many Gatherings
when the history of the 90s anarchist movement is written.  Gatherings were
held in San Diego, Vancouver, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Madison and
Denver.  The flavor of these events varied, but they all were promoted as
anarchist events.  Were they successful events?  You'll have to ask the
participants to find out.  Does a plethora of gatherings indicate that the
movement is strong?

The focus of this will be on the Madison Gathering which I attended.  I've
talked to and read accounts written by participants at the other
gatherings.  They had different themes and ranged from the formal to the
informal.  I'll also talk about some of the problems involved in hosting a
conference.

The San Diego gathering was a meeting of activists who have been involved
in the Love & Rage Network.  Not all of the events revolved around the
network, but the big news coming out of this gathering was the "end" of the
old network and the birth of some new projects.  I should also mention that
a lot of acrimony between factions has also resulted.  The breakup of the
L&R network was expected by some outside observers.  There have been two
main tendencies in the L&R network, which have been evident since the
network's inception.  The first tendency was manifested by those who were
committed to building a decentralized and informal network across the
continent.  These folks have decided to discontinue their participation in
the L&R Network, instead opting for a variety of projects.  The other
tendency could be described as the more centralized, program-oriented,
action-oriented group.  Some of these folks wanted to institute a
membership system in the L&R network and the controversy stemming from that
suggestion is somewhat responsible for the rift.

During the last weekend in July several hundred anarchists from around the
continent met in Philadelphia for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Anarchist
Gathering.  This was evidently the most organized of the summer's
gatherings.  There were lots of workshops and lots of networking was done. 
A new decentralized computer network or "web" was launched and is now in
use by several dozen activists around the globe (but mostly in North
America).  The Philly organizers apparently did an excellent job, even with
the hassles from the city they had to put up with.

During the first weekend of August, some local anarchists and I hosted the
Great Lakes Regional Anarchist Gathering and Picnic.  The main activities
were held on Saturday and Sunday at the Wilmar Center, a neighborhood
center on Madison's east side.  It sits in a neighbor renown for its
progressive residents.  The flavor of this gathering was more laid back
than the Philly event.  Workshops were held, but not lots of them. 
Workshop topics included alternative housing, creating anarchist
neighborhoods, wild foods foraging, phreaking and hacking, a Midwest
anarchist network, the Web proposal that was discussed in Philly, prison
support, freight-hopping, and several others.  We held most of the
activities outdoors as it was a beautiful weekend.

One of the positive aspects of this Gathering were the group dinners that
were cooked using the center's kitchen.  Everybody did a wonderful job of
pitching in to find food, pay for it, cook it, and clean up the mess. 
(Although I was disappointed with some of the "anarchists' who did little
to help at all).  On Saturday night, we all dropped by the local
cooperative bakery to help them celebrate their open house.

How many people attended?  On Saturday, during the height of the afternoon
when lunch was being served, I counted over a hundred attendees.  I'd
estimate total attendance for both days to be around 150.  It would have
been nice if more locals had shown up, but overall the people who attended
represented a good cross-section of the contemporary anarchist scene.  We
had folks there from Wind Chill and some chicago anarchists.  There were
the folks from the twin cities, Detroit, Columbia, Missouri; Philadelphia,
Texas, and Indiana.  We must thank the folks at Nottingham Co-op for
housing most of these people and putting up with a few hassles from our
crowd.

The folks from Dreamtime Village and some other volunteers did a "mud
people" event.

At the workshop on creating a Midwest network we decided NOT to create a
new network, but to strengthen ties between existing projects, individuals,
and new folks.

What were my thoughts on the whole affair?  Well you about how party hosts
are usually not the ones having the most fun at a party, because they have
to be responsible.  I definitely felt that way, but was really glad to see
the people who came.  It was great to talk to friends in person who I
normally write to each day on the Net.  It was also wonderful to meet in
person people who I've met on the Net AND those I know from other projects.

I should share my misgivings about the event.  I started planning for it in
November of 1992.  Gatherings are not like business conventions, but they
still require some planning.  I had attended two previous anarchist
gatherings.  In January it looked like we had about 6 to 10 people who were
interested in making this happen.  Then we didn't have meetings for several
months.  In the Spring I started gearing up for the gathering.  I arranged
for some new meetings, which nobody attended.  Bumping into other anarchist
that I knew from around town seemed to work better than meetings.  In May
we had a benefit which was well attended and gave us enough money to put a
deposit on the Wilmar Center.  In June it became clear that we didn't have
a large enough core group to be able to put on a four day, well-organized
gathering.  We toyed with the idea of canceling the affair, but it became
apparent from rumors that lots of people around the U.S. knew about it that
we had to host some sort of event.  So we scaled the event back to one day
and then I expanded it to two days.  In reality, several people arrived in
town days before the gathering officially began, so the event did "happen"
for four days.  In retrospect I would definitely do it differently.  A
gathering shouldn't be announced until you are sure you have a decent-size
core planning group to pull it off.  Don't forget to let your local
alternative media outlets know about it.  I'm generally hesitant to deal
with the mainstream media, but one of the local dailies did a decent
write-up of the gathering.

Near the end of the gathering we collected donations.  Fortunately these
funds were enough to cover the charges the Center levied because of various
violations and the theft of a large aluminum kettle, but, unfortunately,
that money couldn't be used on things like sending Practical Anarchy zine
out to more people or other such projects.

All in all, a pretty good gathering, but the next one I go to I want to be
a visitor!




=@= FOCUS SECTION =@=

ANARCHY & ECONOMICS  Part 1

   MONEY WITHOUT GOVERNMENT AND BANKS                      (21aug93) 
        by Michael E. Marotta                       mercury@well.sf.ca.us
        
        We get so used to seeing dead politicians on government money 
        that we have a hard time imagining anything else.  The truth is 
        that you have probably handled several forms of privately-issued  
        money.  Furthermore, private money has a long history which 
        actually preceded coins from kings.  Call them tokens, good-fors, 
        wooden nickels, chits, scrip, they have carried trade and 
        commerce time and again.  And they are working now. 
 
        INDIRECT TRADE
 
        Excavations of Ice Age tombs reveal amber, jade, and shells, 
        other objects of no practical use, hundreds of miles from 
        their places of origin.  They could have only been carried as 
        tokens to be used in indirect trade.  Indirect trade is an 
        abstraction from barter.  
             The stone ages ended about 8000 BC when copper was 
        discovered.  From about 3500 BC other metals (including silver 
        and gold) were also found and worked.  Cuneiform records from 
        Mesopotamia at about 2400 BC tell of silver being weighed out in 
        payment.  This was indirect trade in a material that, like amber 
        and cowerie shells, had no immediate use.  Silver and gold are 
        pretty, but not suited for agricultural or hunting tools.  By 700 
        BC, merchants were die-punching nuggets of electrum to mark them 
        so they wouldn't have to be reweighed.  It wasn't long before 
        monarchies and democracies minted coins. The "stater" coins of 
        ancient Athens were widely known and accepted for their unvarying 
        fineness and weight.  The goddess and her owl also carried a 
        universal message of good will.  But what if the Athenians had 
        placed bad luck symbols on the coins?  Would you accept a coin 
        that showed a knife sticking an eye?  America's seated goddess 
        and Britain's standing goddess were accepted in the 19th century 
        Orient because they were universal symbols. These were refinements 
        on an archaic tradition of indirect trade. 
             In the mid to late 1300s life in England had improved to the 
        point where luxury items were over-priced in terms of the 
        smallest silver coins.  So, bronze tokens ("counters") from 
        Europe filled a need for small change. Foreign coins were joined 
        by private issues.  By the 1600s, the privately issued copper 
        tokens completely dominated common trade.  It is not surprising, 
        then, that the first coins minted in America were also tokens.  
        For nearly 200 years, small purchases were carried out in a wild 
        array of private and foreign coinages. Federal government money 
        wasn't established in household shopping until the 1840s. 
             From about 1834 to about 1844, a series of economic changes 
        brought "hard times" and Hard Times Tokens.  These privately-
        minted coins stand out as being pointedly political, for or 
        against Jackson, Van Buren or Daniel Webster.  There were even 
        abolitionist tokens.  These all circulated in daily trade.  The 
        California gold rush saw a re-play of the ancient invention of 
        money.  Gold dust and raw nuggets gave way to small, privately-
        issued gold coins.  During the Civil War, with cheap paper money 
        flooding the economy and copper disappearing into cannons, the 
        people again resorted to tokens.  Cent-sized coins displayed 
        patriotic or anti-war themes or the name and address of a 
        merchant.  Congress outlawed tokens in 1864, but it had no more 
        affect than the royal proclamation of 1672. In the 20th century 
        coal mines, schools, pool halls and bars have all issued their 
        own scrip and tokens.  The video game token is part of this 
        tradition. In fact, if you look back at history, you will see a 
        curious pattern.  We can assume that government money is the norm 
        and that tokens are an interesting exception.  However, there 
        hasn't been a time when there weren't a variety of moneys 
        carrying the needs of daily commerce by providing a medium for 
        indirect trade. 
 
        THE NEW HARD TIMES
        
        It is not uncommon for stores today to pass out "good-fors," 
        aluminum or wooden coins good for some amount of money toward a 
        purchase.  I have "wooden nickels" good for 25 cents towards 
        popcorn at a theater and 25 cents towards ice cream.  Both stores 
        have been in business for years and are open today.  I hold a 
        token which is backed by $5 toward tires at a Goodyear store in 
        Los Angeles. 
             In the 1990s, the new merchant's store token is the pay phone 
        card.  Extremely common in Europe and Asia, they are only now 
        making headway in the US.  Basically, you buy pay phone service in 
        advance in the form of a debit card.  Some cards are totally 
        electronic, with a magnetic stripe like a charge card.  Most 
        phonecards are electro-mechanical, being punched by machinery in 
        the pay phone.  American cards will most likely be of the first 
        variety, all electronic.  Phone cards carry colorful pictures of 
        tourist attractions, local festivals, monuments or sports.  They 
        also carry advertising for other companies. 
             Debit cards drive the copiers at Kinko's, a national chain 
        of printshops common to college towns and business parks.  Unlike 
        phone cards which are disposable, Kinko's cards can be re-
        incremented by inserting the card and your cash into a machine at 
        the store.  
             The Aug/Sept 1993 issue of Mother Earth News featured a 
        cover story on "time dollars."  The town of Ithaca, New York, has 
        developed its own local currency.  People there trade services in 
        units of an hour.  The idea of denominating money in labor had 
        been suggested by anarchists and syndicalists in previous 
        decades.  Community money is also an idea from recent history.  
        Following the Panic of 1929, many small towns created their own 
        local scrip.  Today, during centennials or other celebrations, 
        towns sell, and merchants redeem, tokens that are good for 50 
        cents or a dollar.  
             An interesting twist on "time dollars" comes from the 
        policies of the conservative economic journal, The Freeman.  
        Authors are paid 10 cents a word, plus a subscription.  Authors 
        can assign that subscription to anyone, thus commoditizing it. 
             Banking, in the form of money-changing and money-lending, 
        must begin with the earliest days of multiple coinages.  Today, 
        we are expected to accept that banks are "regulated" by the 
        government from which they get the notes they lend.  In fact, 
        there are many avenues of unofficial banking.  The most obvious 
        of these are the money-changers of our day: coin stores.  Coin 
        stores buy and sell gold and silver bullion. It is true that 
        "hard money" is over-sold as an investment by economic 
        conservatives.  Since 1987, the price of silver has fallen from 
        $5.50 to $3.50 an ounce and is back near $5 again.  There are 
        many reasons for this and obviously, large speculations are not 
        for the average person.  However, the fact is that measured in 
        terms of gold (and less directly in silver) the price of most 
        things today is about what they were 100 or 150 years ago.  A 
        three-piece woolen suit (should you want one) still costs about 
        an ounce of gold -- $20 then, $400 now.  In 1960, a paper-back 
        book of 1000 pages cost 95 cents.  Today, the same book sells for 
        $6.95.  Meanwhile gold went from $35 to $350 an ounce and silver 
        from under $1 to under $5.
        
        VALUE ME AS YOU CHOOSE
        
        In the 1730s John Higley of Granby, Connecticut mined copper and 
        issued his own coins.  Soon, his output flooded the area.  No 
        longer worth three shillings of sterling silver, his 3rd thru 6th 
        series said: "I am good copper, value me as you choose." 
             My favorite coin store has as its motto "Aurum non olet."  
        Gold doesn't smell.  In other words, cash leave no traces.  At 
        least, it didn't use to.  Now, US paper money and other world 
        currencies have little magnetic strips built into them.  (Just 
        hold a $10 or $20 up to the light and you'll see the little bar 
        at the left.)  On the other hand, you can put a lot of cash into 
        a Kinko's card. Actually, since the company won't guarantee 
        defective cards, it is better to have several with various 
        smaller amounts encoded on them.  (Kinko's is open 24 hours a 
        day and you can easily validate the card.)  The same would be 
        true for magnetic phone cards or other debit card. 
             In the near future, you may be given a good-for from an ice 
        cream shop or a time dollar from an auto mechanic.  You might be 
        offered an ounce of gold in return for a used computer. Bus or 
        train or parking lot tokens are other common alternates that tend 
        not to circulate in change, though they could.  Before you turn 
        down a token, ask yourself how much control you want the banks 
        and their governments to have over your money.  
        


=@= LETTERS TO THE EDITORS =@=

Please send us your comments and letters and we'll print them here.

*1*   In response to Ed Stamm's comments in Practical Anarchy 2.1, January,
1992 and as a former resident of Lawrence, Kansas, 1963-1968, it was
good to see someone from there is still kicking at the wall.  The
Abington Book Shop and GRIST magazine were probably before Mr. Stamm's
time, but we did have some fun and a lot of head/heartaches trying to
do some of the things he talks about.  

One of those things was the Midwest Artist's Co-op. We took some 2nd
floor space down on Mass Ave and did art shows, jazz concerts, poetry
readings, and film showings. It was a real struggle, but did raise
some consciousness. We kept it going for about a year and finally
gave up out of sheer exhaustion of will, energy and money. Not too
many wanted to "cooperate" with the WORK of keeping it up, like
renting and setting up chairs, doing posters, cleaning up, etc.etc.
But, no blame.  When the times are right, everything will flourish, to
paraphrase the I Ching.  

Anyone interested in more history of that time, can check the KU
Library special collections which should have material on the
activities of that period, particularly the Laird Wilcox collection,
as well as Rare Books. Formation of small enclaves has always been
the way that anything in the way of social or political change got
started. They survive for whatever time the energy and will is
available to do the work they involve.  Such enclaves have taken
various forms. Does Internet represent such an enclave?  World-around
revolution may be enhanced by the expansion of networks like Internet;
but it's also possible that the net may fool us into thinking we have
something we don't have. It may actually reinforce isolation and act
as a substitute for real empowerment. One may feel "in contact" and
feel like part of a larger community as compared, for instance, to our
small and relatively isolated group in Lawrence in the 60s.  

Today one might feel a greater sense of power because of the number of
people involved in something like the net and because of the almost
global reach of those contacts. But the networked community may not
have any actual "power" in the street.  The dispersion of centers of
agitation and irritation has been a tactic used by those who want to
preserve a position of control; they want to divide and conquer. The
net, by its nature, is already dispersed. How does power arise from
or, perhaps, in spite of that dispersion? The relative power of the net
will be indicated by the attempts of the powers that be to control,
monitor, take over or shut it down. Mr. Stamm's comment that we should
avoid antagonizing the rest of society when building new communities
may be well taken today when society seems to have a higher tolerance
of alternative behaviors. However, during the 60s it didn't take much
to "antagonize" the local authorities in Lawrence, Kansas. I don't
know if that still holds true or not.  

Admittedly, we were provocative, and deliberately so; we didn't hide
our light under a bushel basket. On the other hand, we and others were
"sought out"; our aggressiveness was a response to those who attacked
us because they felt threatened by what we did and proposed doing.
Phone taps, surveillance, extorted information and other forms of
harassment don't make one docile; the urge to fight back arises from a
deep level. I, for one, would hesitate to place my confidence in
protection from fascism in a few isolated communes as Mr. Stamm seems
to suggest when he says, "If (sic) fascists come to power, at least we
will be organized."  Perhaps, he could explain how "building a
community" is a form of organization viz a viz fascist governments;
maybe I am missing his point or don't understand the nature of the
communities he is talking about.  

Certainly, the building of communities, communes, cooperatives, and
other social organizations are worthy endeavors to be pursued at all
times. But in my humble opinion and experience such communities serve
primarily as a refuge or even a retreat from the real struggle. They
also tend toward forms of organization where energy is turned inward
rather than outward, where the struggle for self-support and survival
leaves little time for outreach. Often they are a strategy that those
in power would love for every group to use because in many ways it is
self-consuming. 

Deliberate provocation may not be everyone's cup of tea, but surely
the publication of alternatives must be a major part of any program
that hopes to change peoples' minds and attitudes. If the struggle is
thought to be anything less than a struggle, then one has not yet
reached a point of effectiveness. For, once one becomes effective, the
struggle inevitably begins: the struggle to suppress the burgeoning
movement on the part of those who feel threatened by it and the
struggle for survival by the movement itself. Realization and
acceptance of the inevitability, necessity, and nature of that
struggle seems to me to be the essential beginning of anything
approaching revolutionary consciousness.  

John Fowler <fowler3838@delphi.com>



=@= ZINES =@=
The following zine reviews will appear in Practical Anarchy #8 (print
version).  All were reviewed by Chuck.

Dumpster Times  #12 (April '93) is one of the hippest anarchist zines
around right now.  Another of those that are hard to put down once you've
started reading.  The theme of this issue is the drug war and resistance to
it.  An excellent book review section.  Highly recommended.  HL-48-LP-Q
[$2/$10]

Global Mail  September 1993 (Issue 6) is THE guide to mail art shows being
held around the world in the next few years.  It also lists archive,
anarchist, email, and tape and video projects.  An indispensible resource
for mail networkers.  Also available via the Internet. Global Mail, PO Box
597996, Chicago, IL 60659.  S-8-LP-3  [$ T, Soapbox Junc.]

High On Propoganda Until I Die  #1 is an angry little anarcho-punk zine
with a witty anti-religion flavor.  Sort of a multimedia experience--my
copy came with a matchstick.  PO Box 4453, Laguna Beach, CA 92652. 
HS-31-HL/C-I  [$1]

Industrial Worker  September 1993 (vol.90,no.1563) is the monthly newspaper
of the IWW.  I bet most of you zinesters are looking forward to the day you
put out #1563.  I know that IWW members and anarcho-punks look at each
other like each is an alien from Planet X, but both tendencies need to
learn from and support each other.  The Worker always has stuff of interest
to anarchist activists.  The look and feel of it these days reminds me of
the Love & Rage newspaper.  Each issue includes the humorous supplement,
Wage Slave World News, which in this issue exposes Beavis and Butthead as
secret members of Clinton's cabinet.  T-16-T-Mo  [$1/$15]

"the man is clampin' down": notes on revolution is an interesting zine
published by some folks here in Madison.  This effort is meant to be a
dialogue on what social change and revolution mean to the members of the
Harlequin Collective.  Thoughts on the politics of sex, society vs. the
individual, and how the grind of daily living interferes with making the
revolution happen.  Also an account of the Philly @ gathering. 
Recommended!  Aaron Donsbach, c/o Harlequin, PO Box 349, Madison, WI
53701-0349.  HL-16-LP,C-I [Send money for postage]

MSRRT Newsletter  September 1993 (v.6, no.7) is the newsletter of the
Minnesota Library Association Social Responsibilities Round Table.  News of
interest to progessive librarians.  Should Junior ROTC be allowed in St.
Paul schools?  Thoughtful reviews of alternative books fill the
"Recommended Reading" section.  They also review alternative publications! 
Chris Dodge / Jan DeSirey, 4645 Columbus Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55407. 
S-16-D-10  [$/$15, MLA/MSRRT]

Noisy Concept  "The New Beginning" is the new version of a little anarchist
zine that's been around for several years.  The new editor includes
letters, zine and music reviews, and poetry in this issue.  S-12-LP-I [

Zine Key

Description codes:
A. Size of paper

S -Standard (8 1/2" x 11")
HS - Half Standard ( 5 1/2" x 8 1/2")
L - Legal (8 1/2" x 14")
HL - Half Legal (7" x 8 1/2")
T - Tabloid (11" x 17" newsprint)
M - Mini (smaller than half standard)
O - Oversize (larger than tabloid)

B.  Number of pages

C. Notes

R - Photo reduced type
D - Dot matrix printed and xeroxed
LP - Laser printed
T - Typeset or offset
C - Lots of collages
HL - Hand lettered
M - Multicolored cover
M+ - Color throughout publication
F - Full color cover

Frequency (per year)
Mo - Monthly
W - Weekly
10 - 10 times a year
Q - Quarterly
A - Annual
I - Irregular/Infrequent

Price
[price of sample / followed by subscription cost (if available) for one
year (usually third class)]
ALWAYS send money or stamps for postage if you are sending away for a sample!
A $ sign before the slash mean that a sample price was not listed--send a
couple of bucks.
Trades accepted are indicated by "T"
A name inside the brackets indicates who a check should be made out to.

=@= ANNOUNCEMENTS =@=

Call for submissions

To a Book of Essays on the Topic of
PRACTICAL ANARCHY
Forthcoming for the Summer of 1994

We are an editorial collective dedicated to elaborating the fullest range
of possibilities under anarchy, and to investigating new ways to invigorate
the anarchist presence in North America. We hope to collect essays,
bibliographies, addresses and other resources which detail an array of
practical strategies and tac- tics and sensibilities that include but are
not limited to: 

o Food production and Consumption (horticulture, community spon- sored
agriculture, communal farming, gardening collectives, &c) 

o Housing (Squatting, Urban and Rural Co-ops, &c) 

o Neighborhood and campus organizing, integrated strategies for local
political organization

o DIY art, music, and beautification (stenciling, wheatpasting, alteration,
zine production, publication, &c) 

o How-to ideas on putting together a People's Bank of Goods & Services,
Pirate Radio Stations, Anarchist hostles, reading rooms, study groups,
bicycle repair collectives, a Free University, an anti-racist action
network, &c)

o Women's Health and defense, Menstrual Extraction and other issues of
specific concern to women

Send Submissions, Ideas, Graphics, Hate Mail To: 

joseph average
c/o B A U
po box 3207 bloomington
in 47402-3207

OR

chuck munson
c/o Practical Anarchy
po box 173 madison
wi 53701-0173

*****************************************
The October 1993 edition of Practical Anarchy zine (#8) will be available
in mid-October.  This issue's focu on Anarchy and Economics.  Sample
copies are $2 and subscriptions are $7.  Send cash or checks to the mailing
address listed above.
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=@= THE ANARCHIST ELECTRONIC SCENE =@=

+@+ New electronic archive
Spunk Press is a new independent publishing project whose goal is to
collect anarchist, alternative and underground materials in electronic
format and make them available free of charge. Although our archive is
located on the Internet ( a worldwide network of five million people), we
want to reach out into the world of bulletin boards and personal computers
and to those without computer access. We want to help editors and writers
to convert or produce their works in an electronic format and use our
distribution channels (electronic archive sites, e-mail address lists,
etc.) We are seeking submissions of fanzines, pamphlets, books, articles,
interviews, reviews, posters, and other material, both in print and out of
print. Currently archived selections include Thoreau's Civil Disobedience,
a history of the IWW, Practical Anarchy magazine, H.Bey's T.A.Z., and a
Situationist bibliography. You can submit material either via the Internet
or on a PC or Mac diskette. You can receive material via the Internet (FTP
to red.css.itd.umich.edu [141.211.182.92] and access directory
/pub/Politics/Spunk), or by sending a diskette. For more information and a
copy of our current catalog, contact Spunk Press by electronic mail at
spunk-list@lysator.liu.se or write to: Spunk Press, c/o ACF Freedom
Bookshop, 84B Whitechapel High Street, London E17QX, UK. or Spunk Press,
c/o Practical Anarchy, POB 173, Madison,WI 53701-0173, USA.


=@= PRACTICAL ANARCHY =@=


Practical Anarchy Suggestions

@  Tired of Rush rooms?  Anarchists can mix lunch and politics too!  Set up
a regularly scheduled breakfast, lunch, or dinner for the anarchists at
your college, office, in your town, city, neighborhood or whereever.
@  Support your local food co-ops and farmers.
@  Just say no to corporations.  Turn their dumb ads into subvertisements
and post them around your town.
@  Take those customer surveys that you get from corporations or that you
get when you buy a product and fill in misleading information so it fucks
up their marketing schemes.
@  Tired of junk mail?  Take those handy "business reply" envelopes that
you get in the mail, stuff them full of anarchist propaganda, and send them
back so that some office grunt will have something interesting to read when
they are supposed to be doing something else.
@  Set up a Food Not Bombs group in your town
@  Bitch about all that welfare that corporations and the Pentagon gets.
@  Organize a Critical Mass group in your city.  Critical Mass is a
leaderless movement that started in San Francisco that focuses on
reclaiming the streets for bicyclists.  They get together weekly and ride
their bikes through downtown streets.  Recently, over 1000 people have
turned out for these actions.
@  Protest U.S. intervention in Somalia
@  Stop censorship!  Speak up and oppose those who would control what we
can listen to, read, view, or watch.  Censorship comes from many places. 
It doesn't just come from religious evangelists or the "traditional values"
crowd, but can also be found where African-American parents try to block
Huck Finn, Catherine MacKinnon and friends try to outlaw porn, or even
political liberals, radicals, and progressives who try to outlaw various
forms of speech.


=@= CALENDAR =@=

#  The March for Leonard Peltier scheduled for next month in D.C. has been
cancelled!  There is a possibility that Peltier might be eligible for
parole in December.  Meanwhile, supporters of Peltier ask that you continue
to circulate petitions and send letters to politicians.

=@=  NEXT MONTH =@=
@ Anarchy and economics  Part 2

THE END
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This e-zine is published on 100% recycled electrons