Monday, October 31, 2016

Expozine 2016: Montreal Small Press Fair

expozineNov 12 at 11 AM to Nov 13 at 6 PM
Église Saint-Denis, 454 Laurier E.
( entrée principale / main entry 5075 Rivard, accessible entry/ en fauteuil roulant 5050 Berri )

With more than 200 participating publishers, Expozine 2016 is an exceptional opportunity to dive into the wild universe of today’s small presses and self-publishing authors and artists, local and international, and to meet the creators in person, from both English and French linguistic communities.

Avec plus de 200 éditeurs à Expozine 2016, c’est l’occasion exceptionnelle de plonger dans l’univers de?calé des e?diteurs, e?crivains et artistes inde?pendants locaux et internationaux, et de rencontrer en personne le milieu des petits éditeurs montréalais, francophone et anglophone.

Pour plus d’informations / for more information : www.expozine.ca
Groupe FACEBOOK group : http://ift.tt/2eg5TY5

Toilettes mixtes disponible / Non-gendered bathrooms available.

 



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/2eNPWZQ



Translating and Publishing Torkil Lauesen’s The Global Perspective

det-global-perspektiv_sKersplebedeb Publishing is seeking to raise funds to translate and publish the book Det Globale Perspektiv (The Global Perspective), by former Danish political prisoner Torkil Lauesen.

In the 1970s and 80s, Torkil was a member of an underground communist cell which carried out a series of robberies in Denmark, netting very large sums which were then sent on to various national liberation movements in the Third World. Following their capture in 1989, Torkil would spend six years in prison. In 2016, Torkil’s book Det Globale Perspektiv was released in Denmark. In it, he explains how he sees the world political situation today, and his thoughts of the future.

Torkil’s books bridges the gap between Third Worldist theory, and the question of “What Is To Be Done?” in a First World context. It is an important contribution towards developing an effective political practice based on the realities of the global situation, avoiding the pitfalls of sugarcoating the situation with the First World populations, or of falling into pessimistic quietism. As Torkil says, “It is a book written by an activist, for activists. Global capitalism is heading into a deep structural crisis in the coming decades, so the objective conditions for radical change will be present, for better or for worse. The outcome will depend on us, the subjective forces.”

To make this book available in English, we will need funds to hire a translator and to help defray the printing costs. This is where your help can make a major difference — please consider donating via our Indiegogo fundraiser page here.

 

What We Need

We need $4,500 to publish this book. This money will pay for:

  • The full translation costs ($3,000)
  • Roughly one third of the printing costs ($1,500)

We are looking for $6,000, as the various costs associated with Indiegogo, and with providing gifts to donors, are expected to account for one quarter of the total donations we receive (i.e. if one gives $100, Indiegogo will take $5, and the cost of mailing you the thank-you gift you will receive will be at least $20).

So long as $3,000 is raised, we will proceed with translation. The amount raised in excess will help keep the sale price of this book as low as possible.

 

The Global Perspective: Ethics, Politics, and Action in an Unequal World

Never before has the world been so starkly divided between the “haves” and the “have nots”. Never before has the global situation been accelerating so quickly. The Third World national liberation movements of the 20th century very much triggered the liberatory movements that did manage to emerge in the First World, and seemed for an all-too-brief moment to point to an escape hatch from history’s downward spiral … but for many today that all seems like ancient history.

Torkil Lauesen was a participant in the communist and internationalist struggles during the tail end of the national liberation period, and today remains committed to the ideals that motivated him then.  The Global Perspective is an important contribution, bridging not only generations, but also the gap between theory and practice.

Kersplebedeb has published numerous books outlining the need for a global view, one that centers the struggles of the most oppressed, on a world scale. With your help, we will be able to add The Global Perspective to this list.

 

Other Ways You Can Help

Not everyone has money to donate to a project, even though they may want to. We understand that completely. But even if you can’t make a donation at this point, there’s lots you can do to help us in this campaign:

  1. Please share our Indiegogo campaign and our related video on social media, i.e. facebook, twitter, and all those places. Consider reposting it on your website, in your newsletter, or anywhere else.
  2.  As we share news stories about The Global Perspective over the next month, please consider reposting these in your own networks.
  3. If you run a distro, work in a bookstore, or otherwise help disseminate literature, get in touch (info@kersplebedeb.com) and let’s see what we can do together to get our books out there.

The relevant website URLs are:

http://ift.tt/2dWb94O

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF88VYo-ZhQ

http://ift.tt/2esIyQD

 

Thanks for all your support!

 



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/2eNNP8H



Opinion: Realities faced by black Canadians are a national shame (repost)

People gather in Montreal, Thursday, July 28, 2016, to denounce the death of Abdirahman Abdi in Ottawa. Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Read the rest of this post on the original site at Opinion: Realities faced by black Canadians are a national shame



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/2f304ww



Opinion: Realities faced by black Canadians are a national shame



People gather in Montreal, Thursday, July 28, 2016, to denounce the death of Abdirahman Abdi in Ottawa. Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Read the rest of this post on the original site at Opinion: Realities faced by black Canadians are a national shame



Thursday, October 27, 2016

There is no neutral there: Appalachia as a mythic “Trump Country” (repost)

Of the 2016 presidential election, New York Times international affairs correspondent Roger Cohen wrote, “The race is tightening once again because Trump’s perceived character – a strong leader with a simple message, never flinching from a fight, cutting through political correctness with a b

Read the rest of this post on the original site at There is no neutral there: Appalachia as a mythic “Trump Country”



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/2f9l3B7



The white flight of Derek Black (repost)

Their public conference had been interrupted by a demonstration march and a bomb threat, so the white nationalists decided to meet secretly instead. They slipped past police officers and protesters into a hotel in downtown Memphis.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at The white flight of Derek Black



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/2eSZBwy



Taking Trump voters’ concerns seriously means listening to what they’re actually saying (repost)

Donald Trump’s supporters deserve to have their concerns taken seriously. If the media and commentators in 2016 can agree on nothing else, it’s this. It’s a bit of an odd meme.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at Taking Trump voters’ concerns seriously means listening to what they’re actually saying



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/2f9ivmo



The white flight of Derek Black



Their public conference had been interrupted by a demonstration march and a bomb threat, so the white nationalists decided to meet secretly instead. They slipped past police officers and protesters into a hotel in downtown Memphis.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at The white flight of Derek Black



There is no neutral there: Appalachia as a mythic “Trump Country”



Of the 2016 presidential election, New York Times international affairs correspondent Roger Cohen wrote, “The race is tightening once again because Trump’s perceived character – a strong leader with a simple message, never flinching from a fight, cutting through political correctness with a b

Read the rest of this post on the original site at There is no neutral there: Appalachia as a mythic “Trump Country”



Taking Trump voters’ concerns seriously means listening to what they’re actually saying



Donald Trump’s supporters deserve to have their concerns taken seriously. If the media and commentators in 2016 can agree on nothing else, it’s this. It’s a bit of an odd meme.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at Taking Trump voters’ concerns seriously means listening to what they’re actually saying



Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Certain Days, Clandestine Occupations: DOUBLE LAUNCH Evening Against Prison (and for resistance!)

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 5:30pm
at the Center for Gender Advocacy
1500 de Maisonneuve West, #404
(métro Guy-Concordia)

Join us as we launch the 2017 Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar alongside Clandestine Occupations: An Imaginary History, a novel by Diana Block. Diana spent thirteen years living underground with a political collective committed to supporting the Puerto Rican independence and Black liberation movements, during which time she had two children, worked in the AIDS movement, and published poetry under a pseudonym – she will be present at this event, speaking about life underground, the ongoing reality of political prisoners in the United States, and reading from her book.

This event is FREE; the Certain Days calendar, copies of Clandestine Occupations, and various books from Kersplebedeb Publications will be sold.

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* There will be snacks, coffee, and juice
* Space is wheelchair accessible
* Childcare available on site
* Traduction chuchoté disponible de l’anglais vers le français

[Please share widely]

[fb: http://ift.tt/2eDQH5m

 

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Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar 2017

The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal, Toronto, and New York, in partnership with three political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State: David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell. The initial project was suggested by Herman in 2001, and has been shaped throughout the years by all of our ideas, discussions, and analysis. All of the current members of the outside collective are grounded in day- to-day organizing work other than the calendar, on issues ranging from migrant justice to community media to prisoner solidarity. We work from an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, queer- and trans- liberationist position.

Clandestine Occupations: An Imaginary History

When San Francisco activist Luba Gold goes underground in 1984 to support the Puerto Rican Independence movement, a far-flung network of women is confronted with the risks of prison, the terrible costs of betrayal, and the exhilarating possibilities of love through struggle.

Based on lived experience, Diana Block’s bold new novel spans two generations of radical women, their lovers, children and friends. This is revolutionary feminism in epic form, from the passions of Solidarity to the awakenings of Occupy and even beyond — to a beautifully imagined insurgency of the Future.

“A story of female and intergenerational solidarity bringing us voices we cannot ignore. Read this book!” – Silvia Federici

Diana Block was a founding member of San Francisco Women Against Rape and the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee in the 1970’s. She spent thirteen years living underground with a political collective committed to supporting the Puerto Rican independence and Black liberation movements. While underground, she had two children, worked in the AIDS movement, and published poetry under a pseudonym. Since returning voluntarily from clandestinity in 1994, Diana has committed herself to anti-prison work, becoming a founding member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (http://ift.tt/2dGiCoo) and the Jericho Movement for Political prisoners. Besides her novel Clandestine Occupations, she is also the author of the book memoir Arm the Spirit-A Woman’s Journey Underground and Back, which will also be available at this event.

Organized by the Certain Days Calendar Collective, Kersplebedeb, with support from QPIRG-Concordia and the Center for Gender Advocacy.



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/2eDMoak



Friday, October 21, 2016

Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar 2017

june imageThe Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal, Toronto, and New York, in partnership with three political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State: David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell.

The Certain Days Calendar can be purchased from Kersplebedeb Leftwingbooks.NET by clicking here

The Calendar was a project first suggested by Herman in 2001, and has been shaped throughout the years by all of our ideas, discussions, and analysis. All of the current members of the outside collective are grounded in day- to-day organizing work other than the calendar, on issues ranging from migrant justice to community media to prisoner solidarity. We work from an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, queer- and trans- liberationist position.

Today’s struggles for liberation, and against capitalism’s permanent war, ecological destruction and colonialism, are rooted in the history of earlier struggles for justice, including the mass movements of the 1960s and 70s. Many political prisoners and prisoners of war featured in this calendar were organizers during that period: members of the Black Panther Party or the American Indian Movement,PuertoRicans fighting for their homeland,or white anti-racist allies working in solidarity with oppressed peoples. Many of them have been in prison for 40 years or more. Even more organizers have been locked up in the decades since. Yet these prisoners are not relics of past movements. They are still active in their political work, and despite the hardships of organizing in prison, they continue to organize for justice in the present day, behind bars and on the streets. The dates from movement history noted/commemorated in the pages of this calendar serve to educate/remind us of that rich and ongoing tradition of resistance. Given that prison robs people of the ability to mark time—having access to calendars was one of the demands of the 2011 California prisoner hunger strike—creating a calendar that talks about prisons is an act of resistance in and of itself. We hope our work together on this calendar can act as a bridge between our various contexts: inside and outside the prison walls, the differing realities of the U.S. and Canadian states, and between the movement generations.

Here is the annual statement from the Certain Days collective, explaining the theme of 2017’s calendar:

Certain Days 2017: SUSTAINING MOVEMENTS

As we prepare to print this calendar in July 2016 (many months before it may reach your wall), it seems as though a societal shift may be on the horizon. The Black Lives Matter movement and anti-austerity demonstrations are mobilizing people against oppression worldwide. At the same time, the spectre of fascism looms large, both with the impending U.S. presidential elections and elsewhere.

Yet history has shown that if we want to make fundamental change we need to be prepared for a protracted struggle — a lifetime (or several) of work. But what sustains a movement? What visions and strategic orientations position us to win? What lessons can be drawn from past victories and defeats? What keeps us from burning out, giving up, or being crushed by repressive forces? These are some of the questions that informed this year’s edition of Certain Days.

Although the day-to-day tasks of any organizing campaign are certainly enough to take up all our time and energy, it’s vital that we pause to reflect on these questions if our movements are to survive, and to succeed. A critical analysis of the way we work allows us to become more effective over time, and to respond to changing conditions in the world — be they upsurges in popular mobilization, policy changes, or new forms of repression. Beyond looking at our own work, we need to learn from those who have come before us. The rewriting or erasing of our histories keeps us from incorporating lessons that have already been learned time and again. Looking to movements in other eras and places also gives us a window onto conditions of struggle that we haven’t had a chance to experience in our own lives.

Our movements are strongest when they can involve people wherever they may be — across prison walls and borders, and across divides like gender, race, and class — with leadership and meaningful participation from those most affected by a particular issue. For true unity, we need a genuine willingness to resolve internal conflicts and to grow as people and as organizations. A willingness, but also concrete tools, as we are bound to reproduce the divisive relations of the dominant society, and it will not teach us to undo them. This growth work needs to be coupled with a sense of connection with those who share our vision, a commitment to each other and our common goal, even in times of disagreement. Easier said than done, of course. Over the years, our own small collective has struggled with sustainability, and has at times failed to enact these growth practices.

If we are truly in this for the long haul, we need to think in terms of time frames longer than any one person’s involvement. We need ways to make movement spaces accessible to children and parents, and to involve multiple generations in our organizing. Just as studying history can teach us valuable lessons, movement elders like those paid tribute to in the art and writings of this calendar — Kuwasi Balagoon, Marsha P. Johnson, Marilyn Buck — provide inspiration and a sense of continuity. With each passing year, more of our elders join the ancestors. We remember their contributions, and honour their legacies.

Given the role that prisons play in keeping people down, it’s especially important that any work for social transformation include prisoners — not just organizations that work with prisoners, but grassroots involvement from prisoners themselves. Some of the most militant organizing on this continent at present is happening in prisons, such as the prisoner work stoppages in the U.S., and the hunger strikes underway at two Canadian migrant detention centres in Ontario.

But none of these ideas can provide a complete roadmap. To fully understand what sustains a movement, we need reflection and analysis, but we also need to dream, toimagine what has yet to be built. In the following pages you’ll find art, poetry and essays that invite that kind of dreaming. We offer you this year’s Certain Days calendar, and look forward to seeing what it helps to build.

The Certain Days Collective: Sara Falconer, Helen Hudson, Daniel McGowan

 

Some Artwork from the 2017 Certain Days Calendar

 

by Farha Najah


by Oscar Lopez Rivera


by Sophia Dawson


by Emory Douglas


by Xinachtli


by Micah Bazant


by Mazatl


by Marius Mason


by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson


by Leonard Peltier


by Amanda Priebe


by Ali Cat Leeds


 

The Certain Days Calendar can be purchased from Kersplebedeb Leftwingbooks.NET by clicking here



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2017 Slingshot Organizers at Kersplebedeb Leftwingbooks.NET

By far the most popular way for anarchists to stay organized, the Slingshot 2017 organizers are here, complete with mini-calendar, daybook planner, address book section, international radical contact list, and nifty what happened on this day notes scattered throughout. The artwork, as ever, is wonderful in a chaotic punk rock way.

Now in its 23rd year of publication, Slingshot is a 176 page planner/agenda with radical dates for every day of the year, space to write your phone numbers, a contact list of radical groups around the globe, menstrual calendar, info on police repression, extra note pages, plus much more. Slingshot has a tough layflat binding and a laminated cover, and comes in 16 cover colors printed with either black or silver ink (depending on how dark the paper stock is)—you can see most of these on the order pages (below) — if you have a preference indicate it when ordering, we’ll do our best to accommodate.

The Slingshot planner comes in two sizes, pocket size (4.25 inches X 5.5 inches) perfect bound, and a spiral bound larger size.

TO ORDER THE POCKET SIZE FROM LEFTWINGBOOKS.NET CLICK HERE

TO ORDER THE SPIRAL BOUND LARGER SIZE FROM LEFTWINGBOOKS.NET CLICK HERE

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Kersplebedeb Leftwingbooks.net is happy to be the official distributor of Slingshot in Canada.



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/2ePlL6t