ANARCHIST JOURNALS:

THE INSUBORDINATE

Another new anarchist journal/agitational has recently come to birth. This English language one is 'The Insubordinate', the publication of the Washington D.C. Dancing Cat Collective. Mollymew salutes her fellow cats, even though she is calico, and they affect the traditional black garb. The above link leads to a downloadable pdf version of their "street sheet". The DCAC are working class revolutionaries who identify with the communist tradition within anarchism, seeking abolition of both capitalism and the state. They are a 'supporting collective" of the NorthEastern Federation of Anarchist Communists (NEFAC). They subtitle their zine "A Working Class Publication". It is a four page handout designed for quick distribution at events. It begins with 'Welcome to America: Immigratiojn in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor', an article about the situation of immigrants, illegal and otherwise, in their area. Page two has 'Lethal Labor: Meet the Tunnel Rats' about working conditions in the endless mazes of tunnels in the D.C. area. Alos 'Boycott the City Sheraton' about workers; struggles at the City Center Sheridan in Baltimore. Page four has an anti-election screed titled 'Consider This on Election Day'. The Insubordinate (any relation to 'L'Insoumise' of the province of Quebec ?) is part of the fine and growing tradition of local publishing amongst what Molly calls "social anarchists" across the Anglosphere. They have a very good layout and creative and useful use of graphic elements. The subject matter is excellent. If Molly has any complaint at all it would be about the tiny print size, and, once more, about the lack of a non-web based contact address. Even a postal box number would be useful. The tiny print's function is obvious. They want to squeeze as much info into as small a space as possible. That's fine. Even Molly's ancient eyes can read pretty well all of it, and surely most anarchists are younger and (hopefully, maybe ?) have better eyesight than I do. Where it becomes problematic is where they try and reproduce an ad for the 'NorthEastern Anarchist', NEFAC's regular glossy. There are parts of this ad that are virtually unreadable to anyone without 20/20 vision. Back and forth goes the head and paper. NOT a good way to present an ad all told.