It's good to write for money, It's the only way to go, Forget starving in the attic. Who can afford attic anyhow? Let me prostitute my talents -be a martyr for the arts - 'Cause without the lovely greenbacks I'll just be another tart … Hawking rhythm up at King's Cross, Flogging poems and rhymes... Continue Reading →
Writing for liberation exercise: understanding creativity
What is creativity? Let's do this exercise, then talk about it. Write a list of ten uses for a toothpick. Then, if you are working on a poem, article, story or even a drawing, write a list of ten alternate ways you could have done it, or ten alternate endings, or beginnings - whatever alternative... Continue Reading →
Taking writers and journalists for granted
These days, people generally expect to go online and get news and analysis for free. Hell, a lot of us even expect to get movies, music, and books for free. Perhaps it's a materialistic mindset that sees people paying for beer or expensive lunches or new shoes without an argument, while refusing to do so... Continue Reading →
Calling the bullshit brigade on “people who drink coffee are smart” articles
You've all seen them and most of you have shared them, because social media virility is based on people sharing stuff that boosts their identity. And these articles, the "messy people are more creative" and "people who wake up late are nicer" are aimed at boosting ego for doing very elementary and extremely common things.... Continue Reading →
Mining scars: occupation continues (art)
Jacky Green wants people to know what the big mining companies are getting away with on his land - land that's far away from the eyes of the mainstream media and the dominant methods of communication. And that's how his art becomes resistance and gives voice to an unvoiced people and to a cause. Mining in... Continue Reading →
A hand’s lines – Julio Cortazar
The following story is a wonderful example of a resistance vignette. I've translated it from Spanish. From a letter thrown on the table, a line extracts itself and runs along the pinewood then goes down a leg. If you look closely, you can see the line continue along the hardwood floor, climb the wall, enter... Continue Reading →
Writing for liberation exercise: story interaction
Novels always contain stories within their stories, and life works similarly. I believe that each person is a story, and that we interact and come together and collectively we create bigger, all encompassing stories. Understanding interconnectedness and understanding that no one's suffering or victories exist in a vacuum can be liberating. Choose one of the... Continue Reading →
Non academic and more creative forms of analysis should be taken more seriously
In the world of struggle, as with the rest of the world, academic texts and nonfiction books and texts are often seen as the main tools to understand the world and the issues and power dynamics we deal with. In struggle world, writers of such texts are taken seriously, are interviewed in our alternative media,... Continue Reading →
Peter Rugh: We’ve Charted the Flaming Arch
we've charted the flaming arch of nitroglycerine stars dreams that explode against reality seen dragons emerge from clouds of tear gas and men in shades of midnight run away the Street muscle down skyscrapers in cities perspiring chaos heard the Square speak clear as dawn etching the scaffolds of what may come come what may... Continue Reading →
Writing for liberation exercise: brevity
Having limited space or words can help us focus only on the most important things. When we say what we need to say in the most concise way possible, that writing often has more force. Its brevity leaves space for thought, in a way that long rants often don't do (at least as well). Brainstorm... Continue Reading →
Poem: When the climate comes for you – Kamala Emanuel
Past sick sadistic tyrants made each victim dig their grave, Mowed them down without mercy, in wave after wave. But now heat is the trigger set for the many by the few Will you be ready when the climate comes for you? In Karachi they’ll be ready when the tide of death rolls in When... Continue Reading →
Shake the dust: Anis Mojgani
This is for the fat girls This is for the little brothers This is for the schoolyard wimps and the childhood bullies that tormented them For the former prom queen and for the milk crate ball players For the nighttime cereal eaters And for the retired elderly Walmart store front door greeters Shake the dust... Continue Reading →
Struggle, and your state of mind
Changing the world, revolution, struggle, organisation: they are among the hardest things we will ever do or try. Not just because we do this stuff on top of work and other commitments, not just because sometimes we are attacked by police, arrested, or bullied by rightwing people, but because of the emotional stamina it takes... Continue Reading →
Writing for liberation exercise: Failure
Fear of failure is one of the biggest obstacles to creativity, and to many worthy things such as standing up for oneself or for a cause. Yet making mistakes is part of the creative process: we usually need to get through about five bad ideas before our mind is open enough to a good, more... Continue Reading →
Writerly magic
There is a magical relationship between writers that have never met. It has something to do with shared experience and solidarity and a common cause, and what happens when poetic minds join. Toni Morrison captured one such relationship so perfectly, in this tiny story: Two-Minute Seduction I took my heart out and gave it to... Continue Reading →
where refugees had to go
little singing birds are diving into the fire the smell of burning bird of suicided song is mistaken for a dark day in Australia overcast skies, the weather reader reports (Hodan Yasin and Omid Masoumali, young refugees from Somalia and Iran and detained by Australia, set themselves on fire within a week of each other)... Continue Reading →
mothering and revolution as love by any means necessary
The title of this post comes from the dedication in newly released book Revolutionary Mothering: a book which "places marginalized mothers of color at the center of a world of necessary transformation...Revolutionary Mothering is a movement-shifting anthology committed to birthing new worlds, full of faith and hope for what we can raise up together." Here... Continue Reading →
Remember when they burnt down the buses
Marcus' photos of destruction wrought by right wing violence in Venezuela 2014, of the rain-soaked and bright-eyed supporters at Chavez's last election rally in 2013, of the kids of the alternative school, are beautiful because they defy the media stereotypes of what these moments, events, and experiences are like. The kids are empowered, rather than receivers... Continue Reading →
Does every woman need a room of her own?
What if Shakespeare had been a woman, or it was his sister who wrote, Virginia Woolf asked. What conditions would have had to have been different for her to even think she had a right to have ideas back then, then a right to write and to be read? Would her plays be known today?... Continue Reading →
Charity for the homeless, or not?
What do you think? By Meek Art or not? By Michael Aaron Williams Some people would probably notice this artwork portraying homeless people before they would notice real homeless people. Maybe that's because the art has a message, but aren't homeless people themselves a pretty serious comment on society?
resistance words 