How do you like the new style Organise (number 69 winter 2007-2008)?

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#1
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little_brother's picture
little_brother
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Oct 31 2007 20:05
How do you like the new style Organise (number 69 winter 2007-2008)?

If you picked up Organise! at the bookfair, and you've had a chance to look at it yet, what do you think?

Contents of Organise! 69 - Winter 2007-2008 ...
http://www.afed.org.uk/org/issue69/

EDITORIAL - a summer of dissent.
CREATING COMMON GROUND - struggle for a community garden in Reading.
DEFY-ID & NO BORDERS - identity cards and immigration control are a combined attack on our liberty.
BUILDING SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE - social control, reduced choice, and the new academy schools.
THE PRICE OF GREEN CAPITALISM - increased surveillance at home and in the street.
GRASSROOTS ENVIONMENTALISM - stories and lessons from struggles of the 1970's in Europe, and in USA.
NEW YORK CITY ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR - eye-witness report, interview and obituary.
CULTURE – the life of Margaret Michaelis, photographer of the Spanish Revolution.
PRISONER REQUEST - books needed for an anarchist prison library in USA.
PRESS FUND APPEAL - if you like Organise! please send us loads of money (or a little donation, thanks).
BOOK REVIEWS - What's Left: how the liberals lost their way (Nick Cohen), Bakunin: the creative passion (Mark Leier), Remembering Spain: Italian anarchist volunteers in the Spanish Civil War (Umberto Marzocchi).

#2
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jack white
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Nov 1 2007 01:30

haven't had a chance to read all the articles yet but fair play to whoever did the design, it looks great!

#3
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Anarcho
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Nov 1 2007 08:22

yes, the layout is much better. Now, I just have to read it!

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Tacks's picture
Tacks
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Nov 1 2007 15:27

it looks gorgeous!

I was well impressed.

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Battlescarred
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Nov 2 2007 09:44

Excellent! Well done!

#6
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knightrose
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Nov 2 2007 15:46

online ordering is now working

#7
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breakout
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Nov 2 2007 16:37

Disappointed there wasn't a specific article on Copenhagen/Ungdomshuset, despite the image on the front cover. Content was great but it seemed a bit slimmer than previous copies of Organise. Good design.

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little_brother's picture
little_brother
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Nov 2 2007 16:45

Possibly this got confused as the online ordering has only just been updated.
You are referring to last issue's cover where we did mention Copenhagen/Ungdomshuset inside:
http://www.afed.org.uk/org/issue68/signs_of_life_afed_feature.html
Also this issue is 32 pages which is more than the usual 28 - hope you decide get hold of a copy!

Online ordering of the latest issue no.69 is here ... http://af-north.org/merchandise/forsale.html

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breakout
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Nov 2 2007 17:28

Cheers!

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MalFunction
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Nov 9 2007 11:34

Um

subscribers get their copies when?

#11
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little_brother's picture
little_brother
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Nov 9 2007 13:08

Soon hopefully - will check with the person dealing with this!
Less than two weeks (and only one free weekend) since publication... customer service is so demanding these days smile Must try harder...

#12
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sum-one's picture
sum-one
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Nov 11 2007 15:08

Really good! Looks very professional. The gold lettering looks very flash.

#13
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magnifico
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Nov 14 2007 17:01

Good issue, the schools article is particularly interesting and will be useful for a local demo I'm going to tomorrow - nice one!

#14
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little_brother's picture
little_brother
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Nov 18 2007 15:28

How did the demo go?

#15
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MalFunction
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Nov 19 2007 12:36

overall looks very impressive

very minor gripe:

price information is hard to find and difficult to read. best not put in bottom left hand corner of mags i would have thought? also needs greater contrast between text and background. "Free to prisoners" isn't much use to issues sold in shops?

#16
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Tacks's picture
Tacks
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Nov 19 2007 13:51

well its there i suppose so that people in prison, somehow getting a copy, apply for more for free?

Actually i have no idea.

why IS that there?

#17
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magnifico
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Nov 19 2007 20:07
little_brother wrote:
How did the demo go?

it was alright, it was just some local meeting promoting academies, we were there with placards, leaflets etc. Called by the local NUT but we had three solfed members helping out. as good as can be expected for that sort of thing, shame it was mostly 'politicos' and only two actual teachers, maybe cos it was well cold. the NUT comrades who organised it said that they had contacted NUT members at a local academy to make it clear that it wasn't directed at them, apparently they said 'go for it, conditions here are fucking crap'

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Anarchia's picture
Anarchia
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Nov 19 2007 21:59
Tacks wrote:
why IS that there?

Don't all anarcho-mags have to have it to get their coolness and credibility points? tongue

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oisleep's picture
oisleep
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Nov 19 2007 22:12

is it free to all prisoners?

#20
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Tacks's picture
Tacks
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Nov 19 2007 23:05
oisleep wrote:
is it free to all prisoners?

no - only paedophiles and rapists.

#21
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oisleep's picture
oisleep
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Nov 19 2007 23:08

why the reluctance to answer the question?

#22
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little_brother's picture
little_brother
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Nov 20 2007 00:49

It quite simple. Tacks said he didn't know so it's not a question of reluctance. If you accept that we have certain prisoners we are supporting at any one time, then if we decide to send them a copy of Organise! it is for free and the paper makes that clear to the person receiving it. If we receive a letter from a prisoner who's seen an issue in prison and they ask to receive a copy we would send them copies for free. We also suggest (see http://www.afed.org.uk/org/ ) that if anyone wants to send Organise! to a prisoner of their choice you can take out a subscription on their behalf. That way you can support the prisoner and AF at the same time. And quite simply having the 'free to prisoners' shows we support prisoners as an organisation. Lots of people out there don't.

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oisleep's picture
oisleep
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Nov 20 2007 09:02

he said he didn't know in relation to another question though, not the one i asked

not sure what you mean by 'supporting prisoners as an organisation' though, are they one big homogenous lump?

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little_brother's picture
little_brother
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Nov 20 2007 11:26

Do you really need this spelling out? We have written about prison in our publications e.g. http://www.afed.org.uk/ace/aspects.html#Part21
which makes it plain that as anarchists we are against incarceration by the state on principle, so in that sense we support all prisoners. But as we are an anarchist organisation, in practice we make a point of supporting anarchist, class struggle and anti-fascist prisoners. There are pieces in both the latest organise and resistance which make it pretty obvious the kinds of prisoners we support (and encourage others to support). You may like to consider writing letters to these, or send books, magazines as requested. If you need more examples, you will find a prisoner support article in most issues of resistance. Does that help?

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little_brother's picture
little_brother
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Nov 20 2007 11:36
MalFunction wrote:
overall looks very impressive

very minor gripe:

price information is hard to find and difficult to read. best not put in bottom left hand corner of mags i would have thought? also needs greater contrast between text and background. "Free to prisoners" isn't much use to issues sold in shops?

Before this gets lost, thanks for the comment about the size/position of price info and we'll pass this and any other comments back to the layout editor. The 'Free to Prisoners' thing has been covered I hope smile - if you are in a shop, you pay!

It would be nice to get more feedback on content. It 's good to have heard the Academies piece was of use.

#26
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Leon Wilton
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Dec 7 2007 10:45

I have just read your editorial from out here in Cumbria where there are no social centres, and your call to get people into social centres is very lame and ghetto.

I was hoping to get a link so I could actually see the layout and comment on it but there wasn't one available. All I have had to go on is the titles of the articles and I really cannot see the daily existence of the working classes in ANY of the articles in Organise.

Did any of you see the Secret millionaire on C4 this week? At least the Millionaire got into the real lives of working peoples.

Was it Portsmouth or Plymouth hospital (I can't quite remember) but the point is that there are thousands of ordinary people suffering all the time and over 700 volunteer at one hospital alone to keep it going despite cutbacks. This is not because they do not think there should be free health service, but because of the role it plays in thousands of lives in the here and now. You cannot posture on the sidelines in cases like this, you have to deserve to be listened to and be involved.

Perhaps I expect too much of anarchists, they are obsessed with their posturing rather than real people.

#27
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nastyned
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Dec 7 2007 13:53

All of our pamphlets, issues of resistance and back issues of Organise! are online. You could try reading those and making some constructive criticism rather than just giving a slagging after reading a table of contents.

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Tacks's picture
Tacks
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Dec 11 2007 16:49
Leon Wilton wrote:
I have just read your editorial from out here in Cumbria where there are no social centres, and your call to get people into social centres is very lame and ghetto.

you what?

Quote:
I was hoping to get a link so I could actually see the layout and comment on it but there wasn't one available. All I have had to go on is the titles of the articles and I really cannot see the daily existence of the working classes in ANY of the articles in Organise.

afed.org.uk - knock yourself out

Quote:
Did any of you see the Secret millionaire on C4 this week? At least the Millionaire got into the real lives of working peoples.

I haven't seen it but maybe i'll slag it off anyway, if thats the way you like to review things i'll join in.

Quote:
Was it Portsmouth or Plymouth hospital (I can't quite remember) but the point is that there are thousands of ordinary people suffering all the time and over 700 volunteer at one hospital alone to keep it going despite cutbacks. This is not because they do not think there should be free health service, but because of the role it plays in thousands of lives in the here and now. You cannot posture on the sidelines in cases like this, you have to deserve to be listened to and be involved.

Sounds awesome, you got a link? Write something for here, write soemthing for Organise! if you want.

#29
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Steven.'s picture
Steven.
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Dec 11 2007 19:24

I have a strong suspicion that Leon Wilton is just gangster/attica/theblackhand/DaveD/lucy_parsons/nechaev character who was banned from here, so i wouldn't worry about it. if he dislikes you you're probably doing something right.

#30
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Tacks's picture
Tacks
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Dec 12 2007 10:07

as it happens gangster actually rates my local AF branch.

#31
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Mike Harman
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Dec 12 2007 10:18
John. wrote:
if he dislikes you you're probably doing something right.

Or vice versa.