XXXX 1 vol 79:1 SUMMER 2019 anarchist journal by donation we need a bigger boat BUILDING A MASS MOVEMENT BEYOND EXTINCTION REBELLION Pic: Martin Hearn/Flickr CC inside this issue BEAT THE BAILIFFS MNEW OPPORTUNITIES n SEX WORK ANTI-FASCISM > BREXIT (OF COURSE) @ RADICAL MEDIA BEING SISTERS, NOT CISTERS a RADICAL BOOKS ROUNDUP 2 editorial Freedom is the oldest anarchist own efforts and partly with help from the due to our increased readership. We are publication in the English language. homeless folk of Whitechapel. also thinking about starting to commission Produced by Freedom Press, it was Seeing how both the Freedom News texts and offering a monetary donation of founded in 1886 and continues today as website and Freedom journal are growing, some sort in exchange: going either to the a bi-annual journal with an associated we have some ambitious plans for the author, or to the group of their choice. daily news site, publishing service and near future. Firstly, we will be seeking to We think that this could make it easier bookshop. Based in Whitechapel, the expand the Freedom News collective. for some folk to write a text for us, and Freedom Press collective runs on a non- Currently, the website is run by two — especially people from demographics profit and largely volunteer basis. occasionally three — volunteers. who otherwise may not be able to afford To find out more you can check out the We manage pretty well we daresay, but taking an afternoon off work to do so. This history and archives on our news site at if we are to keep growing we will need plan is only in its budding stages, and one freedomnews.org.uk, buy our books online more people on board. We need more of the issues to consider is how to avoid at freedompress.org.uk and visit our shop at people willing to commit to the running creating a hierarchical structure occurring 84b Angel Alley, London E1 7QX. of the website on a long-term, and daily, when money is at stake. Hopefully we will basis. We need more reporters delivering confirm our system for this soon. The last few months have been rather good news from actions and such. We need Anybody* who would like to for Freedom Press’s media arm. Online more reviews, more culture, and sports contribute to either the website or the our reach has been steadily growing news: you name it. journal, or wants to get involved in the with a monthly average of around 21,000 Secondly, we will be seeking to get more permanent upkeep of both, is more unique users, and a growing number of some funds. Currently we are exploring than welcome to drop us an email at the writers have been submitting excellent the idea to set up some sort of monthly below address. We would also really like texts, so the future seems exciting. contribution option going. to hear from you, whether you have an We have covered activist happenings Sadly, we still don’t live in a post- idea for a story, a suggestion for what we in Britain and worldwide, broken news revolutionary anarchist utopia and the should cover, tell us off for something, or stories before anyone else, published prospects of this happening soon are generally want to get involved. some good analyses, and have had some small. So if we are to grow, we will need The editor articles going (mildly) viral. some cash; not too much, but we could [email protected] We also managed to distribute the still do with some. entire print runs of the last couple of Some of this will be spent on the * Well, except for Leninists, fascists and bigots — eg. issues of this journal: partly from our anticipated rise in website hosting costs Terfs (see p16). WHAt’s all this ‘anARchism’ aboUT? There are many misconceptions about included), but for the last 150 years, from This paper is itself produced by an what anarchism is and what anarchists individualism to mutualism, to anarcho- organised non-hierarchical collective and want in the media. Some of the myths communism, anarcho-syndicalism and covers some of the broad range of topics are accidental, some spread deliberately libertarian municipalism, the irony is that where you will find anarchists fighting for — but the most famous is that we’re all we are often obsessed with organisation. a better future. about chaos. Which will happen when you’re trying Every member has an equal say in Little could be further from the truth, the to frame a whole other alternative society how Freedom Press runs, and no-one is famous circled A for example is historically to the one we have now. unaccountable for their actions. a symbolic acronym. Anarchy is Order. While we have our share of chaotic adherents and experiences, and sometimes comrades’ methods are very direct, we have no desire to simply break For people interested in this sort of thing, the main typefaces are the system. We also want to replace it Langdon, Alfa Slab One and Centabel Book. Dingbat symbols are with something better, known as the taken from 1910 issues of Emma Goldman’s Mother Earth magazine. beautiful idea. Kindly printed by Aldgate Press What that idea represents in its specifics differs from person to person, as with every broad creed (capitalism Housing 3 BRING DOWN THE BAILIFFS ’Tis an era of division, however if there is one place for the working class to find common ground it should be a universal hatred of bailiffs, and the ever- more-privatised enforcement industry. From squatters facing surprise evictions by thugs with sledgehammers, to the families being harassed endlessly via phone, letter, and house-visits over trivial amounts of debt, it would be hard to find many people speaking kindly of bailiffs. Bailiffs exist to enforce legislation that is geared towards protecting capitalism. And in today’s neoliberal world they are increasingly outsourced to private companies. Time and time again there are reports of bailiffs who step well outside regulations — and often the law — in pursuing profit. Squatters are attacked on the regular when bailiffs break down doors, and often pretend reforms will bring relief for some. illustrating the physical and psychological are not given a chance to remove their But it would be foolish to assume they abuse that so many have suffered, in the belongings. Debt bailiffs often make no would make changes that would threaten hope of at least maintaining the current attempt to distinguish whose possessions the stability of the system, namely a regulations, and perhaps aiming to gain they are confiscating, leaving others to go significant overhaul of the idea of debt some new protections. through a painstaking process of claiming enforcement, let alone its abolition. In But let us not simply rely on the hope of back property unlawfully taken. the words of the Ministry of Justice “the such reforms. When people end up in the Bailiffs are anti-working class, regardless collection of debt is necessary for both sights of bailiffs, may the bailiffs end up of which class they themselves belong to. the economy and the justice system, and in our sights. This is a call to fight back, to They are scabs and sell-outs. Ever the bailiffs must be able to carry out their job unite, squatters, tenants, the impoverished, source of frustration and despair, County safely and effectively.” the working class, to protect each other Enforcement, a private security company As we struggle to effect the impending and not let these dogs of the upper-class which supplies bailiffs when authorised collapse of capitalism, we must also fight push their every advantage. by the courts, are proud of their union- for small victories, while acknowledging We need to know our rights, organise busting history and participation in that reforms will always fall short. The with neighbours to protect ourselves and breaking the miner’s strike. They are Civil Procedure Rule Committee (of our friends, communicate our current renowned for their aggressiveness, and the Ministry of Justice) recently held a situations and rely on each other to resist. have been front and centre in many a consultation to look at discrepancies in We should not make it easy for those controversy, most recently the eviction County Court and High Court rules, and complicit in ruining lives. A bailiff involved of Tidemill Garden, a site of community the effect this has on both bailiffs and their in the Jerome Rogers documentary resistance against the council tearing targets. The CPRC is aiming to “strike a tells his side of the story, attempting to down a local green space in a deal with balance” — this has the potential to afford elicit sympathy — he has bills to pay, property developers. They are of course more protections to people who hold the and can’t afford to waste time being but one of so many bailiff companies short end of capitalism’s stick, but also nice. Colleagues of his have committed making life hell for people. could result in disaster, and should be on suicide over their own costs he tells us. The government did attempt to the radar of all housing activism groups. He demonstrates his knowledge of the gig introduce reforms in 2014 to curtail the To combat the security and enforcement economy, of the way he is exploited by behaviour of debt-collecting bailiffs at lobbyists’ input, the Advisory Service for his bosses. Yet in his job he remains. the behest of charities and debt advice Squatters, along with housing campaigns Maybe with the right support he could organisations, but that did not prevent Shelter and Generation Rent, among be convinced to quit.