When Adam Dolve: Pandemics and Social Revolution

by Tom Martin

The Black Death or bubonic plague of 1348-1350 was perhaps the worst pandemic in history, killing up to a third of Europe’s population … It was not the first pandemic, and Covid-19 will not be the last. Psychologically, this one may be the worst yet – we are better at denying our mortality than our medieval ancestors were. The omnipresence of unpredictable death forces us to remember that we’re all mortal. But can pandemics lead to social progress, even revolution? It’s happened before.

IAS Newsletter, Spring 2020

Perspectives on Anarchist Theory No. 31: Imaginations is Hot off the Press!;
Call for Submissions: Perspectives on Anarchist Theory Special Issue – Pandemics from the Bottom Up;
IAS T-shirts and Hoodies In Stock!;
Deeper Dive: “If You Don’t They Will:”
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Call for Submissions: Perspectives on Anarchist Theory / Special Issue: “Pandemics from the Bottom Up”

Just as rapidly as COVID-19 spread around the world, top-down responses that have allowed national governments to consolidate their power have proliferated in the opening months of 2020. At the same time, there has been an outbreak of antiauthoritarian responses to the disease and its impacts that look beyond the state and build power beyond this crisis.

Beyond Medicare for All: An Anarchist Alternative to Government Health Care

by Sarah Miller

We first need the resources to build systems that work. As natural disasters inevitably increase, there will be an ongoing need for relief workers at the ready to provide care. We require an increase in trained and licensed leftist physicians, nurses, pharmacists, paramedics, mental health professionals, and alternative medicine practitioners so this direct work can continue beyond disaster relief and gain credibility.

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We are all we really have

The Cooperative Commonwealth: An Anarchism for the 21st Century?

by Robert Christl with art by Roger Peet

Mutual aid associations have historically emerged from disenfranchised populations’ struggle to survive inequality. During the late nineteenth century, when European and American states offered little social welfare, the destitute pragmatically combined their resources out of necessity. Meanwhile, anarchists recognized that workers’ mutual aid associations such … Read more

Toys for Utopia

by Alexander Riccio

(art by Elliott – justseeds.org) Utopia 101: Beginner’s Calisthenics According to historian Betsy Hartmann, apocalyptic sensibilities are disproportionately popular in the United States as compared to the rest of the world. Such has constituted what Hartmann describes as the “America syndrome,” where puritanical culture and … Read more

Tactics of Resistance and Strategies for Organizing

A Review by Shane McDonnell Guerrillas of Desire Throughout Guerrillas of Desire, Kevin Van Meter tells the reader that as “guerrillas” we need three things to build a counter-movement/society to the prevailing one: solidarity, communication and mutual aid. Though on paper these three recommendations may … Read more

Signs of the Revolution: Deaf Justice and Anarchist Praxis

by Tristan Wright The Deaf community is a sociolinguistic minority in the United States. While most people are familiar with terms like “racism,” “sexism,” “white supremacy,” or “patriarchy,” they are unlikely to have heard the word used to describe oppression of d/Deaf people: “audism.”  The oppression … Read more