At a time when radical presses seem to be in the decline due to market pressure and the whole inter-web thingy, it's encouraging to see some great journals continuing and even new print projects springing up. Here are some journals I've been leafing through recently.
Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed (AJODA hereafter) has brought out a pretty strong new issue with #63. While I read one of the featured articles, Wolfi Landstreicher's "A Balanced Account of the World" a while ago when it was released in pamphlet form, I presume that the changes to the text in the new version are insignificant, and that this remains as a strong critique of the scientific worldview. Some of the other articles in the "Spawn of Anthropology" feature are informative, but I remain hesitant about the current anthropology-craze amongst anarchists (in fact, a review elsewhere in the issue seems to display similar reservations.) Wolfi's column "The Egoist Encyclopedia" has a lot of attitude this time around (e.g. "How do I say this nicely?...fuck it, I don't.") while Liana Doctrines' new column "Choosing Relations" contains a necessarily overbroad introduction to topics which I presume will be grappled with in interesting ways in future issues. AJODA is still one of the very best radical publications in North America. Support.
A Murder of Crows has brought out a second issue, with lots of interesting writing and a shiny cover this time around. I'll have to admit to still having to finish my reading of this new issue - it's packed! - but the articles on repression (centering around the eco-sabotage cases in the Pacific Northwest) are all engaging and offer up a challenge to radicals to go beyond the liberalism of many efforts opposing state campaigns. The article dissing "animal liberation" is bound to ruffle some feathers (pardon the metaphor!) while an article on technology and "progress" adopts a class perspective so often lacking in debates on this subject. There are also critical articles on anti-high speed train struggles in Italy, the Six Nations land occupations in "Canada," and insurrection in Bangladesh. The journal remains influenced by insurrectionary anarchism, but also - as is spelled out in a brief article - takes a non-ideological position open to other perspectives. I really hope that it won't be another year until the next issue!
Green Anarchy hits issue 24 with its latest, a 100-page (civilization-crushing) monster. Expect the usual about getting rid of the whole stinking mess, with some interesting diversions into critiques of the Situationist International (some absurd, some pretty cool) as well as Elisée Reclus. The article "Overcoming the Spectacle of the Usual Counter-summit Banality" (what a title!) gives an interesting German perspective on campaigns against the upcoming G8 summit there. It provides some information I didn't know beforehand, plus it is seriously cranky in tone, in the absolute best way possible. Worth the purchase for this article alone.
The first thing to say about Principia Dialectica #2 is that it looks beautiful. Probably the best design of any radical journal I've ever seen. While I still don't fully "get" this journal's contention that class struggle necessarily keeps the system alive - although of course many class struggles certainly pose only partial demands and hence operate at the level of production for surplus value - there is a lot of worthwhile material in the publication. The Moishe Postone text gives a fairly concise version of his analysis, useful for those who have not ploughed through his Time, Labor and Social Domination yet. Alice McEwan's article "The Rotting Fruits of Revolution: William Morris Meets the Constructivists in the Work of David Mabb" is suburb, and has encouraged me to look further into its subject. Also, Len Bracken's lengthy article on modern China is fascinating, and is another highlight of the issue. Other than the discussion of nuclear power, which is chilling but also exactly the sort of stuff that belongs in a radical publication, the rest of the content is kinda hit-or-miss. However, even the articles I've mentioned make picking up a copy more than worth the cover price. I look forward to seeing this one developing - the publishers certainly have high ambitions, and even with the bits I'm not so sure of, at least they're serious about pushing the envelope.
The first three of these journals are distributed by Tarantula Distribution - expect listings to go up on the website soon - while we hope to get copies of Principia Dialectica in soon as well. But don't feel shy about ordering directly from the publishers or even - gasp! - taking out subscriptions.
PS - Honorable mention to Rolling Thunder, whose latest issue is in my possession but whose covers I haven't even had a chance to open yet.
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