Kristian Williams

I gave an interview on KBOO radio, discussing the anarchist roots of the concept of mutual aid, why it is important in the midst of the pandemic, and how today’s mutual aid network can be tomorrow’s revolutionary militia.

The program also includes an interview with Popmob‘s Effie Baum, discussing current mutual aid efforts in Portland.  Popmob, along with Rosehip medics and others, are producing hand sanitizer and giving it away, especially to under-served and vulnerable populations.  They need donations.

The broadcast ends with a long discussion of the CIA-funded animated film made from George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm.

I have a short reflection on the Three-Way Fight blog about Albert Camus’ novel The Plague.  I relate the novel to Camus’ philosophy, to strikes and other direct action against the coronavirus, and to antifascist organizing.

Apparently I’m not the only person thinking about Camus.  In the last few days, both the New York Times and the L.A. Times have run pieces about The Plague, though we seem to approach the book from very different angles.

Existential Comics seems to have not gone the obvious Camus route.  Instead has a pretty good bit about Marx, and openly calls for tenants to organize rent strikes:

“if you lost your income from the pandemic, you should not be paying rent. Think about organizing with your follow tenants to go on a rent strike. Workers can’t be the only ones to have their savings wiped out from a public health crisis. When all is said and done we have to reflect on what caused us to be so unprepared to organize society to act on everyone’s behalf (hint: it might have something to do with having all of our institutions based solely around enriching the property owning elite, but hey, who knows).”

I have a new essay on Three Way Fight, considering Foucault’s support for the Iranian revolution, and what that uncomfortable pairing might say about the attractions of fascism.

The piece was largely inspired by my reading of Janet Afary and Kenneth B. Anderson’s Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism.  I also draw from Daniel Guerin’s work on fascism in Germany and Orwell’s review of Mein Kampf.

A couple months ago, I was on a panel at Portland State University, titled “Imagining a World Without Policing.”  Also speaking were Julius McGee and Alyssa Pariah.  Aaron Roussell moderated.  And Alex Vitale headlined, so to speak.

Video of the event is now available in two parts from Flying Focus.