Kristian Williams

I’ve recently joined the editorial collective of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, the journal of the Institute for Anarchist Studies. Our new issue, on anarchafeminism, is ready to go to the printer but we need to raise some money to cover the costs.

Therefore, we’re running an internet fundraiser.

“Our new issue focuses on anarcha-feminisms, and includes a wide variety of voices on the subject. It will offer histories of anarcha-feminism, while also looking at ways anarchist feminism can move forward, what the relationship between anarchism and feminism is and the ways the anarchist movement falls short from a feminist perspective. We are turning to you to help fund the design, layout, printing and mailing costs for this issue. With your help, we’ll be able to publish 1,000 copies and mail it to bookstores, distributors and people like you around the world.”

Please donate generously! And look for the issue in a month or so.

My latest at Toward Freedom is a review of Robert Graham’s history of the First International, We Do Not Fear Anarchy, We Invoke It. I consider what that history tells us about anarchism, marxism, and the left more broadly.

For instance: “More than a century after the rift, this awkward origin story continues to reverberate, as increasing numbers of anarchists conceive of themselves as being “post-left.” There is a sense in which anarchism was always post-left — the result of a break with Marxism, the party form, and state socialism, at precisely the moment that those ideas achieved dominance within the radical movement. That made anarchism a kind of heretical cult, in the shadow of the established Marxist church. In another sense, however, anarchism represented a continuation of the left by other means, and a loyal (sometimes purist) adherence to the original, half-forgotten ideals of liberty, equality, and solidarity.”

Three items:

1- I have a review essay at Toward Freedom, looking at the new collection of George Orwell’s poetry and considering what his poetics reveal about his prose.

2- I was interviewed by WFHB in Bloomington, Indiana about community policing, militarization, and the criminalization of poverty. My bit is followed by an interview with the police chief.

3- Will Potter quoted me in a short, interesting article about FBI documents showing that their agents decided not to interview a spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front because he had never answered their questions before and had publicized their investigations in the media. The lessons here are pretty clear: If you don’t want to talk to the FBI, you should start by not talking to the FBI. Do, however, talk to other people about what the FBI is doing.

I have a short interview in the new film by Scott Noble, Plutocracy: Divide et Impera (Divide and Rule). The movie offers a look at the role of class conflict in U.S. history, especially in the nineteenth century. I (predictably) talk about the role of the police.

Meanwhile —

I was interested to see a blog post about Our Enemies in Blue by Greg Saville, a former cop turned public safety consultant. He begins: “This week I heard from two old friends, an ex-police chief and a current chief. … [O]ne offered, “there needs to be a new narrative”. The other, surprisingly, referred me to the controversial anti-police book by Kristian Williams, Our Enemies in Blue: Police Power in America.” He clearly disagrees with a lot of my conclusions, but the review is pretty fair, and he even defends me against a troll in the comment section: “Even unpopular anti-police critiques are worth a read!”

It’s strange to think of a police chief reading my book, and stranger to think of him recommending it to a friend. I wonder what they get out of it.