So, here is the latest on the Alliance of the Libertarian Left at the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair.

First — I’d like to give a big shout-out to the three very generous donors who chipped in to cover all of the costs for the table registration fee and the shoestring-budget travel expenses from Las Vegas to San Francisco. Thank you! You’re awesome. Seriously.

Second. Along with the selection of booklets and buttons that we had at last year’s Bay Area bookfair, and last month’s bookfair in L.A., James Tuttle from Tulsa ALL will be bringing along some new literature from ALL and from Corvus. And Southern Nevada ALL will be bringing along a passle of new literature, including four new Market Anarchy Series zines and several new button designs. If you’re curious, or interested, we’ve added the new items to our distro page. If you need some literature and merchandise for your ALL local, or just want to pick some up for yourself, check it out — everything’s available either as an individual item or for discounted bulk orders. It’s a great way to get the word out; also a way that you can pick up some solid left-libertarian materials while helping us defray the costs of supplies and printing for the Bookfair.

Here’s a sampler of the new booklets and buttons we’ve got in at the Distro.

Market Anarchy #13: Libertarianism Through Thick and Thin Charles Johnson (2008) (Specially commissioned by James Tuttle of Tulsa ALL.)	Government is Violence / think Anarchy for consensual alternatives [ALL] (1.5!!!@@e2;20ac;b3;)	Market Anarchy #14: Libertarian Feminism: Can This Marriage Be Saved Roderick Long and Charles Johnson (2005) (Specially commissioned by James Tuttle of Tulsa ALL.)
Deporten a La Migra! [ALL] (1.5!!!@@e2;20ac;b3;)	The Best of BAD Press: Tracts in Individualist Anarchism 1986–1999 BAD Press (2001)	i don’t pay war taxes [ALL] (1.5!!!@@e2;20ac;b3;)
MA15: Property to the People! Expropriate the Expropriators! Where Are The Specifics? Karl Hess (1969)	NO BORDERS / NO STATE [ALL] (1.5!!!@@e2;20ac;b3;)	MA16: Liberty, Equality, Solidarity Charles Johnson (2008) (Specially commissioned by James Tuttle of Tulsa ALL. Ships on or after March 1, 2010.)
The General Strike Ralph Chaplin 1933) (Produced and distributed by Southern Nevada ALL for an ad hoc organizing committee of the IWW in Las Vegas.)	Crypto Anarchy and Virtual Communities Timothy C. May (1994)	Market Anarchy Zine Series: full print run 16 Market Anarchy zines for $1500

I’d like to take special note of a couple new items in the Market Anarchy series . There is, first, the most recent issue (#15), which is a reprinting of Karl Hess’s Where Are The Specifics?. For those of you familiar with Rothbard’s (in)famous Confiscation and the Homestead Principle (already part of the Market Anarchy series, as Market Anarchy #1: All Power to the Soviets!), this is the article by Hess that Rothbard was riffing on when he wrote that essay. (The two were first published together in a single issue of Libertarian Forum, along with a polemic against the government assault on People’s Park.) Since the two are of a set, to go along with All Power to the Soviets! I gave the Hess booklet the title Property to the People! Expropriate the Expropriators! Hess’s article is shorter than Rothbard’s, and raises a lot more questions where Rothbard aims for a specific answer (Hess asks what would become of General Motors in a free society; Rothbard tries to answer the question). But it’s notable, among other things, for Hess’s shout-out to militant reclaim-the-land movements in the Southwest U.S. / northeast Aztlan, and for the really excellent programmatic statements at the beginning, on the difference between the defense of individual property and freed-markets, on the one hand, and apologetics for actually-existing property claims and the typical business practices of state capitalists, on the other.

And, second, there is the upcoming issue (#16), which is — at long last — a reprint of my essay Liberty, Equality, Solidarity: Toward a Dialectical Anarchism, which will be freely available for reprinting with attribution at the end of February 2010. (As a result, the booklet ships on March 1 at the earliest.) It used to cost somewhere between $60 and $80 to get a printed copy of the essay; come March, it can be yours in an attractive booklet edition for only $1^.75. The essay ranges pretty widely, from the anarchist case against limited government to radical equality to the interconnection of struggles and thick conceptions of libertarianism to individualist anarchist engagements with radical feminism, the labor movement, and the great capitalist conflation controversy. Thus: The purpose of this essay is political revolution. And I don't mean a “revolution” in libertarian political theory, or a revolutionary new political strategy, or the kind of “revolution” that consists in electing a cadre of new and better politicians to the existing seats of power. When I say a “revolution,” I mean the real thing: I hope that this essay will contribute to the overthrow of the United States government, and indeed all governments everywhere in the world. You might think that the argument of an academic essay is a pretty slender reed to lean on; but then, every revolution has to start somewhere, and in any case what I have in mind may be somewhat different from what you imagine. For now, it will be enough to say that I intend to give you some reasons to become an individualist anarchist, and undermine some of the arguments for preferring minimalist government to anarchy. In the process, I will argue that the form of anarchism I defend is best understood from what Chris Sciabarra has described as a dialectical orientation in social theory, as part of a larger effort to understand and to challenge interlocking, mutually reinforcing systems of oppression, of which statism is an integral part—but only one part among others. Not only is libertarianism part of a radical politics of human liberation, it is in fact the natural companion of revolutionary Leftism and radical feminism.

(This booklet edition of Liberty, Equality, Solidarity was, incidentally, made possible by a generous commission from James Tuttle of Tulsa ALL.)

Anyway. If you’re there at the Bookfair, these items and some others will be out on the table for you to check out. If circumstances force you to be square rather than there, they are all available now through the Southern Nevada ALL Agitprop & Artwork Distro.

Enjoy!

Happy Anna Howard Shaw Day! (And happy birthday to my sister, Ms. L.E.J.!)

What better day than February 14th for Shamelessness? This week has been a week for catching up on old commitments and making new connections. You probably know by now about my letter to the Secretary of State of South Carolina; you may not know that I was briefly interviewed about the letter by Ernie Hancock on Declare Your Independence. Anyway, to turn back to local affairs, a crew of us from Food Not Bombs Las Vegas rolled out on Tuesday to help feed 200 FWs on the picket line at NV Energy corporate headquarters. I made it out for a somewhat productive FNB business meeting Saturday, and I’m heading out to Baker Park this morning for our weekly free picnic. On Thursday at Anarchist Cafe and then yesterday, we made our first steps towards organizing a local CopWatch network in Las Vegas. We’re beginning weekly meetings this Saturday; if you’re curious, contact me or follow us on Twitter for updates as they come out. Meanwhile, I’m still in the midst of preparations for the trip out to the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair.

Et tu? What have you been up to this week? Write anything? Leave a link and a short description for your post in the comments. Or fire away about anything else you might want to talk about.

The Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair is going to be held the weekend of March 13-14 in San Francisco at Golden Gate Park. It’s a great time; it’s also one of the largest annual Anarchist community events in North America. And I’m in the process of organizing a table for A.L.L. at the bookfair.

In addition to a great lineup of speakers, panels and workshops, the main event (this is a bookfair, after all) will be the space in main hall with dozens of vendors with tables to show off their Anarchist books and materials from 10:00am–6:00pm on Saturday, March 13 and 11:00am–5:00pm on Sunday, March 14. Among them will be us — members of the Alliance of the Libertarian Left from Vegas, California, and around the Western U.S. I’ll be there, along with fellow Anarchists from Southern Nevada ALL. We’ll have books, journals, buttons, and more from the Southern Nevada ALL Distro available for sale as fundraisers, along with a lot of free pamphlets, smaller pieces to give away, and information about ALL as an organization and what we do back in our hometowns.

This will be Southern Nevada A.L.L.’s third appearance at an Anarchist bookfair (after appearances at last year’s Bay Area bookfair, and this year’s Los Angeles bookfair). These bookfairs are a real blast to work: partly because the bookfair a great opportunity to make connections with fellow Anarchists and to get the good word out about individualist anarchism, market anarchism, mutualism, counter-economics, to an audience of engaged radicals and movement anarchists. And also because, for a dispersed, Internet-coordinated network like the A.L.L., working the bookfair table is great opportunity to posse up with ALLies from many different towns, meet folks you’ve only known online, have some great conversations, and work together on some practical counter-economic outreach. (It’s also a good opportunity for local organizing on the ground — since we can put out a sign-up sheet and get contacts for people who are interested in ALLiance in the Bay Area.)

Anyway. If all this sounds like something you’re down with, interested in, excited by, here’s three things you can do:

1. If you’re in the Bay Area, or will be around March 13-14, drop on by the table and say hi and see what we’re doing.

2. If you’ll be there and you’re interested in selling books or merchandise for your hometown Alliance of the Libertarian Left local — or if you’re interested in hanging out with ALLies from other towns and helping with the table — then get in touch with me to coordinate. We’ll definitely have space for you, and it’d be great to posse up.

3. If you want to help support the A.L.L. presence at the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair (and other bookfairs in the future), you can help us out by covering the costs of the table and the transport. Bound Together Books just recently boosted the cost of reserving a table (last year it was $100 for both days; now it’s $150). We’re doing this on as thin a shoestring as possible. With support from y’ALL, we can make the most of these opportunities to do local organizing, make connections between our locals, and put the word out and about among our fellow Anarchists.

   Here’s the shoestring, for reference.

   ALL @ Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair 2010 shoestring budget

   Cost	Description
   $150	Table reservation (Saturday and Sunday)
   $87	Car rental for transport from Vegas (driving up Friday; returning car Monday).
   $86	Cheap hotel in Bay Area (Friday and Saturday night)
   ~$0~	Gas costs will be covered by carpooling ALLies and our allies from Vegas up to the Bookfair and to the Empowering Women of Color conference, which is being held at UC Berkeley the same weekend. Food costs will be covered through Food Not Bombs.
   $333	Total costs

Hope to see y’ALL there!

We’ll be here. Will you?

Happy Tyrannicide Day (observed) Beware the State; celebrate the Ides of March!

Today is also the 42^nd weekly Shameless Self-promotion Sunday. Personally, I’m on the road, in San Francisco. I forgot the flowers to wear in my hair, but I do have a 32-gallon tub full of anarchist literature, and a seat next to Portland ALLies Shawn Wilbur (who’s selling LeftLiberty and a brand-new translation of Proudhon) and William Gillis, and L.A. ALLy Nick Forbes.

And you? What have you been up to this week? Did you discover the question to the answer of life, the universe, and everything? Write anything? Leave a link and a short description for your post in the comments. Or fire away about anything else you might want to talk about.

The Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair is this weekend, March 14–15 in San Francisco at Golden Gate Park. And A.L.L. is going to be there. Here’s a partial schedule:

Schedule for speakers in the auditorium

Auditorium, SATURDAY 3/14

11:30 – 11:50 Bruce Anderson
12:00 – 12:20 James Tracy – Anti-Authoritarian Approaches to Housing
12:30 – 1:20 Diane Di Prima
1:30 – 1:50 Summer Brenner – I-5
2:00 – 2:50 Judith Levine – Kids, Sex & the State
3:00 – 3:20 Diana Block – Arm the Spirit
3:30 – 4:20 Native American Perspectives On the State
4:30 – 4:50 Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz

Auditorium, SUNDAY 3/15

12:00 – 12:50 Sex Workers Panel
1:00 – 1:20 Barry Pateman
1:30 – 1:50 Chris Carlsson
2:00 – 2:20 Cheb –i- Sabbha
2:30 – 2:50 Andrej Grubacic – Wobblies & Zapatistas
3:00 – 3:20 Victoria Law – Resistance Behind Bars
3:30 – 4:30 Osha Neumann – Up A**inst the W*ll Motherfucker

Schedule of speakers/events in the cafe area:

Cafe SATURDAY:

10:00 – 10:50 Resist War Taxes
11:00 – 11:20 Matt Callahan
11:30 – 12:20 Surviving The Economic Meltdown Panel (Robert Ovetz & others)
12:30 – 12:50 Yiddish Anarchism – Audrey Goodfriend & Joel Schechter
1:00 – 1:20 RNC8 Defense Committee
1:30 – 1:50 Doug – Modesto Anarcho – Importance of Intentions in Anarchist Actions
2:00 – 2:50 Eastern European Anarchism panel w/ Andrej Grubajic and Marta Kolarova
3:00 – 3:50 Women In Prison Panel w/Bo Brown & Vikki Law
4:00 – 4:50 Becoming the Media Panel – Jen Angel, Pranjal Tiwari, Joe Biel
5:00 – 5:50 Intro to Lefty/Anarchist Sci-Fi with Sara Brodzinsky

Cafe SUNDAY:

11:00 – 11:50 Resist War Taxes
12:00 – 12:50 Shutdown filmscreening and discussion
1:00 – 1:50 Venezuela: Revolution From Inside Out screening & disc with filmmaker Clif Ross
2:00 – 2:50 Provo Panel/Discussion, Stevphen Shukaitis & Richard Kempton
3:00 – 3:50 Art & Activism Panel/Discussion with Josh Macphee and Fly
4:00 – 4:50 Retort Panel: Iain Boal, David Kubrin and more

And, the main event — this is a bookfair, remember? — will be the space in the main hall, where about 60 vendors will have tables to show off their anarchist books and materials from 10:00am–6:00pm on Saturday and 11:00am–5:00pm on Sunday. Among them will be us — members of the Alliance of the Libertarian Left from around the Western U.S. I’ll be there (especially in the morning); and, if no-one encounters any unforeseen disasters, we should have Southern Nevada ALL, Northwest ALL, and ALLies from California and Tulsa, Oklahoma. We’ll have books, journals, and buttons for sale, and a lot of information about ALL and what we do back in our hometowns. If you’re in the area, come on by, say hi, and see what we’re doing.

We’ll be here. Will you?

Hope to see you there!