Apologies for the late post this week. Was unsure which Italian insurrectionary anarchist texts would best suit the request for writings representative of that tendency which was made last week. I know we discussed selections from Canenero but in trying to select some, none really seemed to fit the bill for introductory material, which hopefully the following pieces will. I think Alfredo Bonanno’s “Why Insurrection?”does a decent job of distilling some of the primarily theoretical and practical moves that are salient here — at least as well as a few other texts of his might do, while being shorter than the other options. As a brief addendum on the organizational question, let’s also read “Informal Organization”. I think together these two do a decent job introducing much that is central to the Italian insurrectionary tendency.

Let’s make those two texts the “official” reading (meaning everything from here on is strictly optional) but for anyone who wants a general historical overview to situate the period of Italian struggles which insurrectionary anarchism and autonomist marxism developed out of, you might also give “A few notes on the revolutionary movement in Italy” and “Armed Struggle in Italy 1976-78”a look. And for our new participants who requested this topic, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include two pivotal texts associated with this flavor of anarchism: “Armed Joy” and “At Daggers Drawn”. We’ve read both in this group many times, but they’re both worth regularly returning to and reconsidering.

See you all Tuesday!

Next time we’ll look at two pieces written by way of introduction: Lawrence Jarach’s “Leftism 101” and “Anarchism” by Voltairine de Cleyre. A return to foundational questions, then.

Next time we’ll look at Hakim Bey’s pamphlet Aimless Wandering as well as some of the original Chuang Tzu — Fit for Emperors and Kings (pg. 89 in this edition). See you all Tuesday!

Next week we’ll take a look at the Theses on the Philosophy of History by enigmatic Marxist critic Walter Benjamin. Very excited to discuss this one with you all. The call for submissions for the upcoming BASTARD Conference will be formulated over the next week. If you have an interest in helping to write it, get in touch at birdsoffire[at]riseup[dot]net. See you next time!

Building upon our last conversation around the importance of a strategic orientation to anarchist activity, two pieces by Aragorn! (RIP) on the topic of strategy.

Nihilism as Strategy (from Boom!)

Attentat – Nihilism as Strategy II (from Attentat)

As an optional addendum for any masochists/punishment gluttons, another piece by A! that fits in with the thematic of strategy: Anarchy & Strategy

We have decided on a date and theme for this year’s BASTARD Conference. The event will take place on Saturday, November 13th 2021 at The Long Haul in Berkeley, CA. This year’s theme will be “Excess”. A call for submissions detailing the conference and this year’s theme is forthcoming, but in the meantime please send any proposals for presentations, discussions, performances, etc. to birdsoffire[at]riseup[dot]net. The deadline for proposals will be October 3rd. We look forward to sharing the 20th incarnation of the BASTARD Conference with you all in a few months!

IMPORTANT: we are no longer using Jitsi to allow for online participation in our Tuesday night study group. These conversations will henceforth revert to taking place solely in person, at the usual time and place: every Tuesday from 7:30-9:30pm at The Long Haul Infoshop [3124 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley, CA]. We originally incorporated Jitsi into the group as a means of allowing us to continue convening during the height of social distancing, but with things beginning to return to normal and the downsides of this technological mediation being felt more and more prominently as time has gone on, we have decided to return to a face-to-face format. There will be another group continuing to meet digitally on Thursdays from 6:30-8:30pm at http://meet.jit.si in room name ‘bastardanarchy’. However, to avoid confusion, this site will only be updated with readings for the in-person, Tuesday night Berkeley anarchist study group. Once a new page for posting the weekly readings for the online group is created, a link will be posted here.

This week we’ll look at two pieces which aren’t extensively correlated, but perhaps will work well in conversation with each other:

Paul Z. Simons: Pure Black – An Emerging Consensus Among Some Comrades?

Tom Nomad & Gallus Stanig Mag: An Enduring Passion for Criminality [from Hostis 1]

Hope to see you Tuesday to discuss!

IMPORTANT: starting this week, August 10th, we will no longer be using Jitsi to allow for online participation in our Tuesday night study group. These conversations will henceforth revert to taking place in person, at the usual time and place: every Tuesday from 7:30-9:30pm at The Long Haul Infoshop [3124 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley, CA]. We originally incorporated Jitsi into the group as a means of allowing us to continue convening during the height of social distancing, but with things beginning to return to normal and the downsides of this technological mediation being felt more and more prominently as time has gone on, we have decided to return to a face-to-face format. There will be another group continuing to meet digitally on Thursdays from 6:30-8:30pm at http://meet.jit.si in room name ‘bastardanarchy’. However, to avoid confusion, this site will only be updated with readings for the in-person, Tuesday night Berkeley anarchist study group. Once a new page for posting the weekly readings for the online group is created, a link will be posted here.

Next Tuesday we’re going to look at a few readings from Shawn Wilbur’s ongoing project “Constructing Anarchisms”. We’ll discuss:

Constructing an Anarchism: Approaching An-archy

Constructing an Anarchism: An-Archy

Anarchy and Anarchism – Insides and Outsides

All together it’s a bit longer than our new self-imposed limit of approximately 15 pages, but not by too much, and worth the read I think. See you Tuesday to discuss!

For a general overview of Shawn’s extensive project, you can click HERE.

We will read and discuss John Zerzan’s The Catastrophe of Postmodernism.

This essay can also be found in the book “Future Primitive Revisited”, available as PDF or mobi format. (See: Part 1, section 4.)