RIP Black Flag?
Sep 4 2006 08:14
When I first came across it, Black Flag was a fortnightly newspaper -- and a good one, too, if a little *cough* over-concerned with the Spanish Civil War & resistance to Franco. Understandable, I suppose, considering it was the bulletin of the Anarchist Black Cross.
Then it was a monthly magazine, that got more & more occasional.
Then it became an annual "put it out for the bookfair" event.
And now there won't be one for the bookfair this year.
Can't help feeling a bit downcast at this. But perhaps now that Freedom is more firmly anchored in class struggle anarchism, Black Flag is now surplus to requirements. And in any case, ex-members of the Black Flag collective are now regular contributors to Freedom.
Maybe the saddest thing about this is that BF appears to have just died of exhaustion rather than a conscious decision being made to wind it up. Quite dispiriting for those involved, I'd say -- especially the poor sod who called a meeting to discuss the next issue, that no-one else turned up to.
PS I couldn't think which forum to put this in, so I put it in Culture because it's about a newspaper/magazine. Feel free to move it, anyone.
Sep 4 2006 09:48
#2
I remember reading Black Flag in the 70s when I was still unsure about my politics and finding it very interesting, it helped steer me towards anarcho-syndicalism. It used print a quarterly as well as a fortnightly paper that was pretty good. I also remember there was some tension within the DAM about the exact relationship of the Black Flag collective and the rest of the DAM.
I think it lost its relevance in the 90s and I’m not surprised it hasn’t come out. I actually thought it had stopped a few years ago. I think the last issue I read was about four years ago.
Sep 4 2006 09:51
#3
I don't know, I mean it's a shame in a way, but I think it was flogging a dead horse really. There wasn't really much political difference between it and say Organise, DA or Freedom, it just seemed to be another of those anarchist projects which duplicates others but keeps going because of tradition or something. I think its failure to adopt new technology (mainly the net) would be a big cause for its demise, if you want to build a big profile or have your content widely read you need an online presence...
[moved to organise cos it's an issue about anarchist movement organisation]
Sep 4 2006 10:37
#4
Steve wrote:
I think it lost its relevance in the 90s and I’m not surprised it hasn’t come out. I actually thought it had stopped a few years ago. I think the last issue I read was about four years ago.
Which is where i picked it up from (the 90's), it helped me understand what i termed anarchism at the time, now i think back it had a lot to do with activism, although there were good international/class struggle elements to it.
It's death is a shame though, although thats more out of nostalgia! SALUT!
Steve irwins death rings slightly more of a chord at the moment.
Sep 4 2006 11:35
#5
Got an email about this the other day actually. The guy who has done the vast majority of the work is pretty tied up at the moment, not least with an interesting project around the anarchist FAQ, which is why it hasn't happened.
Because of the lack of interest in supporting Flag's current format, it's being put on the backburner atm, but there are plans for it in the future which may involve Freedom, we'll have to see.
Sep 4 2006 11:42
#6
Black Flag could be like a quarterly review to complement Freedom. A bit like The Raven.
Oh no, wait.....
Sep 4 2006 11:48
#7
the button wrote:
Black Flag could be like a quarterly review to complement Freedom. A bit like The Raven.
Nah, they had to stop that because they didn't have the capacity to produce enough copies to meet demand.
Sep 4 2006 11:58
#8
Jack wrote:
the button wrote:
Black Flag could be like a quarterly review to complement Freedom. A bit like The Raven.Nah, they had to stop that because they didn't have the capacity to produce enough copies to meet demand.
Ah right. I assumed it was because they couldn't physically fit any more copies of it into the building.
Sep 4 2006 12:06
#9
As of August 2006 only one wall of the store room is now covered in ravens thankyou 
Sep 4 2006 12:11
#10
Surely that must have had an adverse effect on the heating bills? 
Sep 4 2006 12:33
#11
Saii wrote:
As of August 2006 only one wall of the store room is now covered in ravens thankyou
It must have been nerve wracking, what with not knowing whether they acted as a supporting wall and all. 
Sep 4 2006 12:37
#12
This is a shame. Surely it would be possible to get a decent anarchist theory magazine going for these islands. I haven't been on libcom much over the summer. But now that I've come back I have to say the quality of debate can often be extremely high. I really think that if redtwister, revol, the button and a few other people actually wrote say 6,000 - 10,000 word analyses of whatever you could have a pretty interesting magazine.
We could do with a magazine somewhere in between Aufeheben and the old black flag. Something like New Left Review in the 60's, only anarchist.
Maybe it would be possible to turn black flag into something like that.
Just a thought.
Sep 4 2006 12:41
#13
Why thank you.
If only I could bring myself to write stuff other than in a skiving-off-work context. 
Sep 4 2006 12:46
#14
init.
Sep 4 2006 14:08
#15
Black Flag has been spluttering for a few years now.
needs a new collective of committed people to put it out on a regular basis. Not just writers but it needs reliable people to do the boring paperwork / financial stuff (like banking subscription cheques.)
I'd suggest something that stands somewhere between anarchist studies and organise in intellectual level, with elements from KSL or the old Solidarity ? Possibly incorporating quality items from local groups newsletters if such there be and equally important translations from some European anarchist publications.
wouldn't want it to be tied to any particular faction / group / personality.
Would be engaged in the "war of ideas" with dominant and other alternative political positions. (We have plenty of newspapers etc, this would be for more long term political debate etc)
Sep 4 2006 14:42
#16
Ooooh oooh YES! A quarterly made up of the wise words of the Libcom heavy weights; what shall we call it? Hmmmmmm, now, let's not be hasty.... hold on, something's coming, oh yes: Marxism Today!
I am so sorry folks, I just coudn't keep that one in. Look, silliness aside, having good debates amongst the clever folks on Libcom is one thing but making a readable and interesting quarterly is something else entirely. Quantity of content is only the first hurdle; the publication has to excite people. Gawd, most representatives of the anarchist press are drier than an old packet of crackers; it's hardly zeitgeist stuff unfortunately.
Also, it's got to be very difficult not to end up leaning towards one current more than others; the editorial board would have to be well chosen.
Sep 4 2006 16:52
#17
Anarchist theory today in Ireland and Britain is more developed than it was circa the London Maydays. And I think it'd be good to have something that records that and possibly pulls people around it. I said who I did cos they can write but never get anything publised. But if they did it would be intereting.
Libcom debates in a magazine/journal format I think would be really interesting. I mean a magazine where say Jack and raw actually have to submit readible, legible and sensible articles on why the other is wrong I think would make for interesting reading and I think would be useful for the anarchist movment on our islands cos it'd serve as a central point where peole can debate and it'd pull people around it and it could difuse sectarianism and bad feelings. Too much debate in british anarchism occurs through the weird world of cyber space where no body bothers to articulate themselves properly and a lot of people end up calling each other cock or something for no good reason.
And fuck it if it went down the drain after a few years then who cares if it serves to further the cause of anarchism then so be it.
As for who would edit it. I mean it's not all that much work, you need to do layout, distribution, and finance. If you have 3 committed people thats not all that much work. The other big job is proof reading. I'd say if you had a members only forum on libcom for that and people would be happy to do proof reading.
By the way I'm not volunteering but I think it's definitely doable. A libertarian communist Do or Die. You know you want it.
Sep 4 2006 18:07
#18
The news about BF going tits up is sad news. On a personal level it was the first anarchist paper which I encountered in the mid-70's.It provided me with a firm grounding in the revolutionary anarchist tradition at a time when parties like the SWP and to a greater extent Militant were soaking up the discontent which existed amongst working class youth.It introduced me to the Spanish revoltion, and the resistance under Franco,as well as providing coverage of the re-emergence of the CNT.The fact that Freedom, which still reeks of allotments and fuzzy liberalism survives it, is depressing.Surely, with AK pumping out excellent material, and KSL still producing a regular bulletin, there is room for a decent quarterly?
Sep 4 2006 19:18
#19
awaits saii!!!
Sep 4 2006 21:56
#20
Anyone who wants to help delay our demise in the same fashion please see here
gwry wrote:
The fact that Freedom, which still reeks of allotments and fuzzy liberalism survives it, is depressing.Surely, with AK pumping out excellent material, and KSL still producing a regular bulletin, there is room for a decent quarterly?
Er, have you read Freedom the past year or two? I've not seen the past couple of issues, but it's changed quite a lot. You can see quite a few of the recent articles here: http://libcom.org/user/freedom/track
Sep 5 2006 06:48
#21
Quote:
The fact that Freedom, which still reeks of allotments and fuzzy liberalism survives it, is depressing.
Gawd bless pillocks who mouth off without a clue of what they're on about, where would we be without their insightful comments.
gwry, Freedom shifted towards class struggle in 2001, much to the detriment of reader numbers I might add, and is now no only consistently class struggle oriented but running content seen nowhere else, much like the old black flag. If we could find an extra editor for the bloody thing it'd run more investigative pieces as well.
Sep 5 2006 07:27
#22
Saii wrote:
Freedom shifted towards class struggle in 2001, much to the detriment of reader numbers I might add, and is now not only consistently class struggle oriented but running content seen nowhere else, much like the old black flag. If we could find an extra editor for the bloody thing it'd run more investigative pieces as well.
This to me is an important point.
As sad as I am to see Black Flag disappear (if, indeed, it has done), to an extent its role has been filled by Freedom. A fair few people on this thread have said how nice it would be to have something like a quarterly review. And it would be nice. However, what would be nicer still (as an immediate and more achievable aim) is Freedom coming out once a fortnight, with a wider range of contributors.
They've printed stuff by me, so how hard can it be?
Sep 5 2006 08:37
#23
Would Freedom like a series of articles about allotments ?
Sep 5 2006 09:08
#24
Are they class struggle oriented allotments? Is there a dastardly government scheme to train paramilitary groups to keep order in the event of a market crash on one of them?
In a little bit more serious way, might be a good little piece to say something about the relentless sell-off of allotment green spaces for redevelopment into yuppie flats though, but that’s a piece I’ll leave to someone else if they want to do it .
Sep 5 2006 09:25
#25
... or indeed that as part of the development of E London for the Olympics, a load of allotments are being bulldozed.
I saw that in a gardening magazine.
Sep 5 2006 09:34
#26
Or indeed link the destruciton of allotments to the ever increasing dominance of a few key retailers over our lives,
Regards,
Martin
Sep 5 2006 09:48
#27
If there is any non-class struggle stuff in freedom it'd be almost certainly because not enough class content gets submitted.
Sep 5 2006 12:03
#28
In the space of three or four posts we've demonstrated that allotment stories can have a class struggle side! I would be very happy to read an anarchist paper that reeked a little of allotments; you could throw in sheds & parks; cottages; squats & self-builds too; a little bit of Permaculture & I'd be ecstatic. I honestly don't see why a so-called class struggle emphasis should lose Freedom readers or allow for some eclectic anarchic stuff alongside.
Tbh, I got Freedom until very recently, but it's a bit dry these days. Well done to those keeping it going, but I just didn't enjoy the last copy I read.
Sep 5 2006 12:18
#29
If it's dry it's because, for example, I wrote three of the four front pages myself this week (page prisons is mostly written by MB) because the only news that was sent in was bleedin' Drax! Even with that, which we have got something on, it ain't the press release because we can't do breaking news very well.
Having only evenings in which to do so does mean that the content is not as polished as I would like, and as I say, having another editor would be helpful cos I could actually do some of the investigative story ideas I have piled up at home.
Perhaps, rather than a) whinging about Freedom b) insisting on pushing yet another attempt to start yet another flash in the pan mag with zero expertise behind it, you or the rest of the so-called movement could acquire some tactical nous and help the comrades already producing this stuff not to burn out.
NB// That's not really aimed at you Ned, you're just a handy target.
Sep 5 2006 12:36
#30
Cor' Saii, I love being a handy target! Thanks.
If you read back through the thread I was arguing against another journal. For myself, not the most class-struggly of anarchists, I hope that Freedom endures forever. All power to your elbow.
I currently live in Oxfordshire and very soon will be moving to North Norfolk, is there anything that I can do to help? Reading through? Story suggestions? Distribution? I may not be quite the right kind of anarchist but I do labour under the burden of a reasonably good education. I daresay you'd have limited use for a provincial but there you go the offer's made.... not bad for a convenient target eh?
They got Steve 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin too.
Story here, apparently his death overloaded several australian news sites.
A young boy's tribute to a fallen hero.