Fifth Estate

01/31/2025

Here's an invitation from our comrades at Slingshot, one of the few remaining anarchist print publications, to think about how we organize for future resistance and rebellion.

Consider writing a short 100-word first-person response to one of these 3 questions -- we want to print a collection of short responses to reinforce that none of us are alone. Please include a pen name and which city you're in.
"what are you doing to organize with those in your community to promote liberation"
"what visions of a new world can you articulate that can move the conversation beyond reacting to our oppressors"
"what keeps you present, engaged and able to keep struggling for a better world?"
* This platform is not secure so send emails to "slingshotcollective [at] protonmail dot com."
Slingshot wants to publish an extra visionary / inspiring issue existing at the same time as and parallel to recent events without getting caught up in all of the details of each new yuck and rather speaking to the mood - which for some people feels negative, overwhelming and hostile. Possible theme - "a beacon of light / message in a bottle". Slingshot usually prints 24,000 copies and mails them to all 50 states. If the zine turns out good, we may print 30,000 responding to increased demand.
We're also looking for focused / heart-filled / articles addressing:
-- practical tips for grassroots immigrant defense and first hand accounts of community organizing and resilience.
-- first person expressions of trans defiance and existence
-- tales of how folks are responding to attacks on reproductive rights / abortion
-- practical guides to the psychology of resistance / how to avoid overwhelm, exhaustion, fear and paralysis
-- general analytical critiques of the billionaire bro oligarchy white supremacy
-- eco-direct action and how communities are defending the earth and the climate
-- and related topics -- emphasis on analysis promoting unique and deeper understanding not just repeating news or the typical progressive line -- expressed in a personal, funny, passionate way if you can.

Slingshot Collective publishes an independent radical newspaper and the annual Slingshot Organizer

01/12/2025

Reaching out to all anti-authoritarian prisoners for articles, artwork, letters for new Fire Ant zine. My email is [email protected].
Also looking for submissions from support groups or friends of anti-authoritarian prisoners.

Announcing Fire Ant #18, a publication featuring the writings of anarchist prisoners. [PDF for printing] Fire Ant is a quarterly publication focused on spreading the words of anarchist prisoners and generating material solidarity for our imprisoned friends. Begun as a collaboration between anarchist...

01/03/2025

Jimmy Carter had solar panels on the White House roof, but other than that he functioned as a usual American imperial chieftain. Liberals loved him, but it meant they had to ignore a lot of reality. The link is to a 1980 Fifth Estate article.

Here's a recent article looking back on his presidency.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/12/30/jimmy-carter-the-false-savoir/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1xMgGiCcMSu9_uTruoWOagURMSgCwF7_Xa1n667ePzNEe56brUSYgWtXU_aem_tA31Xfm_Q8K2aOkgWQ7RWQ

Fifth Estate Magazine, radical publishing since 1965

12/21/2024

https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1813

12/09/2024

In this special episode of the Rock is Lit podcast, host Christy Alexander Hallberg hands the mic to former Fifth Estate staff member, Andrew Smith, who interviews Peter Werbe, long-time FE staffer about his book, ‘Summer On Fire: A Detroit Novel.' Peter also reads an excerpt from the book.
The plot involves the barely fictionalized staff of the time as it navigates through the hot summer of 1967 in the Motor City with urban riots, anti-war demonstrations, fighting fascists, rock and roll, drugs, anarchism, the White Panther Party, Wilhelm Reich, and a bomb plot.
Andrew Smith, known by Sunfrog, was the main person responsible for keeping the Fifth Estate magazine publishing during the first years of the 21st century.
The novel and a selection of essays Peter has written over the years, "Eat the Rich & Other Interesting Ideas," are available from his website. www.PeterWerbe.com All proceeds go to either supporting the Fifth Estate or the books' publisher, Black and Red-Detroit. www.BlackandRed.org
They are also available through the FE as special offers when you subscribe or renew. https://www.fifthestate.org/product-category/special-offers/
Christy Alexander Hallberg is the author of the award-winning novel "Searching For Jimmy Page" from Livingston Press. She is also the host of Rock is Lit, the first and only podcast devoted to rock novels. Much in this interview is devoted to the role music plays in "Summer on Fire."

In this special episode of Rock is Lit, host Christy Alexander Hallberg hands the mic to teacher, podcaster, and DJ Andrew Smith, who interviews his friend Peter Werbe about Peter’s debut novel, ‘Summer On Fire’. Peter also reads an excerpt from the book.

11/23/2024

New issue; Stay Out of the Malls! -

We are close to an important holiday, the Winter Solstice, plus a couple of others. If you give gifts, consider ordering some of our merch. The recipient receives a unique item plus it supports the Fifth Estate. Click on the images and go to our Special Offers page for new subscribers and renewals.....

11/14/2024

Activist, author, and friend of the Fifth Estate, Peter Gelderloos will be at the Boggs Center in Detroit on Thursday, Nov. 21, 7-9. No adm. His latest books will be available for purchase.
Several of you have wondered about where to put your energies to resist the right-wing tsunami that's about to hit the U.S. The Boggs Center is a good place to start. It's less of an organization and more of a community-based movement.

11/10/2024

All articles in our latest issue are now available online. We remain committed to our print edition and are preparing our next as we approach our 60th year of continuous publishing.
Things you can do to support one of the few remaining North American anarchist publications:
1. Subscribe or renew. Subscribers are our only support. Info at the link including special offers of books, T-shirts, CDs and LPs, bookbags.
2. Contribute your creativity. We look for writers and reviewers, poets and short story authors, artists, and photographers to fill our pages. Contact us at [email protected] if you have something you would like us to consider with a proposal.
3. Distribute free copies of the Fifth Estate to family, friends, and comrades at community centers, info shops, demos, etc. We have way too many left of the current issue sitting in our garage. If you can distro 5-50 copies, send us a number and your address and we'll send them out.
4. Ask your local indy bookstore to carry the Fifth Estate.
5. Purchase our merch from the FE Store.
6. Use any of our titles for a book club or study group. For bulk orders we offer a 50% discount on any of the books we stock.

Thanks to all who make each issue possible!

Home%Fifth Estate Magazine % Radical publishing since 1965

10/13/2024

Europeans (many of our white ancestors) burst beyond their geography since they had wrecked the continent. It was financial broke, had endless wars, rigid and authoritarian rule, was environmentally devastated, plagues decimated the population, and a cruel class system dominated throughout.
Columbus "discovering" a land already inhabited let to massive looting, slavery, land dispossession, and genocide with the importation of Europe's toxic culture. The European invasion of this hemisphere allowed only a fix for the continent's financial problems leaving the rest of the social structure intact to exact the same toll here as it had on Europe.
Columbus was a particularly vile character in his wresting of the land from people who lived on it. Critics of the current federal holiday point out that Columbus committed several crimes against humanity when he reached the Western Hemisphere. Here are some examples of those atrocities, as compiled by Philadelphia Magazine:
Columbus cut off the hands of approximately 10,000 natives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic because they failed to provide gold every three months.
Columbus cut off the legs of native children who tried to run from them.
He aided in s*x trafficking nine and ten-year-old girls.
So, Columbus Day has got to go.

Here's an article I wrote on the subject from the Fifth Estate. https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/377-march-2008/escaping-europe/ It is the first essay in my collection of essays, "Eat the Rich and Other Interesting Ideas." www.PeterWerbe.com

Monday is Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples' Day. The explorer had a violent history among Native Americans, and many say we should honor them.

09/25/2024

You goin'?

09/18/2024

Certain Days: The 2025 Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar - PRE-ORDER
Pre-order from Buffalo's Burning Books https://burningbooks.com/products/certain-days-the-2025-freedom-for-political-prisoners-calendar?se_activity_id=184020992283&syclid=crlgntvdiaus73am9u6g&utm_campaign=emailmarketing_184020992283&utm_medium=email&utm_source=shopify_email
Now in its 24th year of publication, the "Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar" is for all who support political prisoners and advocate the end of mass incarceration.

All proceeds support prisoners and grassroots organizations like Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP), Mutulu Shakur legal support, Sundiata Acoli release fund, Palestinian Youth Movement, Puget Sound Prisoner Support, Coalition to Decarcerate Illinois, Appalachians Against Pipelines, Community Resource Initiative- CA, P4W Memorial Collective Prisoners’ Justice Day healing circle, Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Fund, Cascadia Forest Defenders and NorCal Resist.

Each calendar has 11 thought-provoking essays and 12 pieces of beautiful art. You'll feel inspired every day of the year, with radical historical dates and lots of space for your own plans.

09/11/2024

Punks For Rojava is a network of people from the punk community. In our view the ideology of Rojava, democratic confederalism, is based on the same principles as the international punk community. We invite punks worldwide to join our network and gain support for the one society in the world which is based on an ideology very much like ours.

Punks For Rojava is a network of people from the punk community. In our view the ideology of Rojava, democratic confederalism, is based on the same principles as the international punk community. We invite punks worldwide to join our network and gain support for the one society in the world which is...

09/06/2024

Here’s a QUICK flyer to remind everyone to sign up SOON if you wanna table, host a workshop, or volunteer at this year’s Boston Anarchist Bookfair!
🐈‍⬛ 📚
More details will come soon, and the easiest way to find out is to go to our website (http://bostonanarchistbookfair.com) or shoot us an email at [email protected] (yes, very old fashioned, we know)

09/02/2024

Tuesday, September 17, 2024, 6:00 pm PST
GLOBALIZE LIBERATION, NOT CORPORATE POWER! 25 Years Since The Shutdown of the WTO
with Stephanie Guilloud, Anuradha Mittal, Merle Payne, and David Solnit – Join some of the organizers and activists who participated in the WTO protests in an evening recollecting the events and exploring the impact of the anti-globalization movement.
https://citylights.com/events/the-wto-shutdown-25-years-on/ for free registration.
Here's the Fifth Estate issue covering the WTO shutdown.
https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/354-spring-2000/

08/25/2024

Attention FE subscribes: Renewal notices are in the mail. Remember that you can combine your renewal with special offers, the new classic Fifth Estate cover poster, books, CDs, LPs, T-shirts.
We're in our 59th year of publication and only exist with your support.

DOMESTIC U.S. ORDERS ONLY Price increases, February 2024 We regret that production cost and postal rate increases have made it necessary for us to increase the prices of many items in our store. All prices include postage and handling.

08/25/2024

Jason Rodgers, author of "War of Dreams: A Field Guide to DIY Psy-Ops and frequent Fifth Estate writer, will discuss his book, Saturday, August 31, 6pm, at Big Idea Books, 4812 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh.

In "War of Dreams," Jason writes “I am interested in ideas that don’t fit…The limitations of an alien reality must be smashed. It isn’t important to reach the masses, instead we want a growing lunatic fringe, schizoid anarchs who are uncontrollable and irresistible.”
Look for a review of the book in the next Fifth Estate.
Order here from PM Press
https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1740