A lot of hearts are aching today. Legendary revolutionary Ben Morea has passed away after a long life of brilliant art and fierce resistance (he was the main instigator of the infamous Black Mask group and Up Against The Wall Motherfucker). Much can be said of Ben, but throughout his life, he sought to unite art and resistance as a single action, a way of being.
The first time I met Ben, we had a little art show at the shop to help cover some of his traveling expenses, which a lot of people showed up for, and things went pretty well (thanks to everyone who showed up). Ben’s art is extraordinary. The thick textures, sweeping abstract compositions, and deep colors of his recent paintings tell turbulent and beautiful stories, his soul in the paint. He posted pics of all his paintings at @ben_morea that you should definitely check out.
A few months ago at @motherfoucaultsbooks , a packed house had the honor and good fortune to hear Ben speak about his resistance in the past and our resistance today. I wish I could remember every word, but he stressed that this was a critical time in history, and that resistance was absolutely crucial. That we were engaged in effective resistance, but the struggle wouldn’t be easy, and we have no choice but to prevail over fascism. Ben, it was truly an honor to spend a tiny little bit of time with you on this brutal Earth. We’ll carry the black flag onward. We won't give up the fight.
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@detritus.books recently published a book of conversations that is highly recommended (see detritusbooks.com). @pmpress also published a book on Black Mask and Up Against the Wall MF (pmpress.org) with some of Ben’s work included.
#benmorea #anarchy #anarchist #revolutionary
Happy May Day everyone! A very important development: Lakota youth have locked down to industrial drilling equipment at the sacred site Pe'Sla in the heart of the Black Hills. They're asking people to support the action by signing the petition demanding the USFS do a legally-required full environmental review. Also, the ndncollective is requesting: "If you are nearby, we encourage you to visit the Mystic Ranger station and tell them to Rescind the permit and stop the drilling at Pe' Sla."
They must stop harming ancestral lands that belong to Indigenous nations.
(Photo by Angel White Eyes)
I’ll have these two bad boys with me at May Day today. You can have both for $10! DIY publishing (Thanks to Eberhardt Press for printing & AK Press for distro!)
James Comey re-opened the investigation of Hilary Clinton's emails 11 days before she was defeated by Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Fuck Clinton, fuck Trump, fuck all of them. Comey is not a hero. He handed Trump that election on a silver platter, and this is the reward he received for it. So fuck him too. Fuck all elections. Fuck all politicians. Fuck this entire death march into climate catastrophe. Don't let them blur the lines.
This fascist piece of shit has built a network of concentration camps in the US, so he’s waging war on what passes as “civilization” against us domestically. When we resist, even after being shot dead in the street, we are labeled terrorists. And now this sociopathic monster is threatening a nuclear attack against Iran. We have no allegiance to this madness. No matter where things go from here, anarchists have done more work to build communities of resistance, so we actually have a head start. Let this falsehood of civilization fall, destroy itself, melt into oblivion. Only the People will remain. Let’s make the best of it. Fight like you have rabies, love like your heart is made of flowers, live like this is your last moment to fight back. Because maybe it is.
No highfalutin b.s. here — just doing the work to help defend ourselves from chemical weapons used by police to suppress protests. (Ironically a judge just barred ICE from using tear gas in Portland.) This is an old O&M folder from the 1970s (with new feed rollers, it can still reliably blaze through 10,000 folds per hour). Broken teeth bared, beaten-down equipment grinding on, Eberhardt Press enters its 20th year.
Portland Action Medics @portlandactionmedics is holding a “Safe and Healthy in the Streets” training tomorrow, Jan 30 at 6-8pm at the Forum Building, 525 NE Oregon Street. Definitely check it out if you’re spending time at protests. With ICE and DHS running amok filling our streets with toxic gas, and armed fascists prowling around, it’s good to be prepared for sketchy situations these days. And it’s just good to know anyway. These trainers really know their stuff, you’ll be glad you went.
Judith Arcana
1943-2025
In December, beloved poet Judith Arcana crossed the horizon of life. She was, as she often said of others, “one of the good ones.”
Most people who knew Judith also know she was a JANE. Prior to Roe v. Wade in 1973, JANE was an underground abortion service in Chicago that coordinated an estimated 11,000 safe abortions for women who contacted them.
Nikki Martin took these photos of Judith and I when we were working on the second edition of her biography Grace Paley, titled “Grace Paley’s Life Stories”. The black & white photo is Judith’s mug shot from the police raid of the abortion service in 1972. There’s also a pic of Judith wearing her “Shameless Hussy” shirt (Shameless Hussy was the first feminist press in the US).
A number of presses published her over the years, including Eberhardt Press. I had the enormous privilege of working with Judith on several titles, including “Keesha and Joanie and JANE,” which (in 2017) was set in a fictional future in which Roe v. Wade had been overturned. Because of the “playbill” cover satire, it’s better known as the JANEBILL.
We’d get together every once in a while to have long conversations about everything from publishing to politics to health. She’d bring all these little scraps of paper where she’d written down notes to mention or ask about. I always felt that to be in her presence was to be in her circle of light. Some folks probably know what I mean by that.
We spoke quite often about death during our conversations — we seemed to share an ability to speak of dark subjects lightly. She wasn’t afraid of death. Friends said she passed peacefully, easing into the deep, long sleep in which one day we shall all join her.
Judith will always be an inspiration. I’ll remember her sharp wit and her bright, lively eyes. Even in her last years, she was brilliant, and she never stopped writing.
The words of Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records come to mind from a lecture he gave a number of years ago: “Take your stories seriously.” Don’t act as if they don’t matter. Take your story seriously. It’s the only one you’re ever going to write. Make it a good one. Like Judith did.
As part of the inaugural weekend at Woodbine's new Manhattan location, please join us for Lessons from Teenage Surrealists: On the 1960s Anarchist Affinity Group Resurgence Youth Movement, a presentation by Abigail Susik, Sean Lovitt, and the Interference Archive. Saturday the 17th at 6pm.
This event is presented in connection with an exhibition at Interference which runs from January 15 - May 15: /exhibition/resurgence-youth-movement-1964-67-teenrevolt-surrealism-anarchism/ as well as the book Resurgence!, published by Eberhard Press in 2023: /product/resurgence-pre-orders
We will host an illustrated presentation and conversation about the Resurgence Youth Movement (RYM) (1964-67), a teenage anarchist affinity group based on the Lower East Side, with close ties to Black Mask and the Libertarian League, who demanded nothing short of a “World Revolution of Youth.” The RYM called for the disintegration of the State, the complete destruction of bourgeois society, and a total surrealist-psychedelic revolution of the mind and body.
Abigail Susik, an art historian based in Portland, Oregon, is the author of Surrealist Sabotage and the War on Work (Manchester University Press, 2021) and several edited volumes on surrealism and leftist radicalism. Her current projects devoted to art and social movements are forthcoming from Common Notions and Verso Books.
Sean Lovitt teaches at Rutgers University-Camden and researches the literary history of social movements. His book-in-progress, Mimeo Insurrection, explores literary responses to the 1960s “Long, Hot Summers” riots in the underground press and other independent publications.
This is Renee Nicole Good. She was murdered in cold blood by ICE this morning while attempting to follow an order to "leave now" at the location of a protest. She tried to do so, and an ICE agent gunned her down. Both of her hands were on the steering wheel. They accused her of trying to hit an agent who was off to the side of the vehicle in no immediate danger. He fired 3 or 4 times and shot her in the face. This is ICE. This is the Trump regime. And this is an atrocity we saw, unlike the endless atrocities being committed against immigrants, out of sight, in hellholes like "Alligator Alcatraz". We remember what happened to Heather Heyer, early in Trump's first term, run down by a fascist. Now, federal agents are the ones doing the killing. Renee's mother described her as "one of the kindest people I've ever known. Renee was extremely compassionate. She's taken care of people all of her life." And her life ended today. Don't doubt for a second that we're fighting for what's right.
