No Quarter publications

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:26:17 +0000

	No Quarter #4 Issue number 4 of No Quarter, the publication sometimes described as "a zine about radical history", has been released. This issue contains The "Illegalists" by Doug Imrie, reprinted from Anarchy: a Journal of Desire Armed. Illegalism is the anarchist philosophy which embraces criminality as a method of reappropriation of wealth. This article is primarily concerned with the actions of French illegalist Marius Jacob and his band of illegalists who were active between the late 1800s and early 1900s. Following on from this is Why I Was A Burglar by Alexandre Jacob, (reprinted from Fifth Estate, #370), where we can read a personal account of an illegalist. Also in this issue is an interview with a founding member of Past Tense and the South London Radical History group on his motivations and experiences. This is followed by two pieces on Anna Trapnel, seventeenth century Fifth Monarchist prophetess and Roger Crab, seventeenth century hermit, ethical vegetarian, and political writer, (besides other epithets). The life of Franklin Rosemont, poet, artist, historian, street speaker and surrealist activist, who died shortly before this issue went to print, is heralded. No Quarter #4 finishes up with a review of Anja Kirschner's 2008 film, Trail of the Spider and several book reviews.
	No Quarter #4.5 The Politics of Carnival This half-issue of No Quarter was produced in a limited edition as a fundraiser for the 2009 Calgary Anarchist Bookfair. It contains an audio CD which has an eclectic mix of music which relates to No Quarter's areas of interest. It seeks to promote carnival as subversion, as a coming together of the people under their own rules and their own organisation, as opposed to carnival as social control. From a British perspective you might illustrate that by saying that it is juxtaposing the free festival scene of the late 20th century with Glastonbury festival as it is now. Its packaging is such a good solution and shows the innovation needed by small scale fanzine producers.
	No Quarter Pamphlet Series #2 : Trevor Bark – Crime Becomes Custom, Custom Becomes Crime Author's abstract: The British Marxist Historians (BMH) were involved in the study not only of protest and social movements, but of what was and was becoming crime. The enclosures, the change from wages in kind (perquisites) to the wage form itself (Linebaugh 1991), wood gathering, nutting and so on that were previously peoples custom were criminalized and fought politically by the disposessed. Thompsons 'moral economy' theses was based upon the study of bread riots, and this in turn became part of what is known as the social crime debate (Douglas Hay et al, 1975) Rather than economic crime and protest being central to the poors' lives, crime became marginalized and left to the professionals or a marginalized lumpen element in the Fordist era. Into the late modern era we have seen the growth of crime often linked to high unemployment and 'flexibility', and the growth of social movement protest. The themes of the BMH about a militant participation in the present, a political Marxism, and reconstructing theory are important ones. To that end we involve ourselves in the social movements, whether that is a rediscovery of the mass tobacco and alcohol smuggler, other informal economic activity in the city, or the emerging anti-capitalist movement. I am presenting a case for the development of the social crime concept by testing whether the key characteristics can be found today, and also politically reassessing the nature of crime itself. Originally (Hay et al, 1975) said it wasn't possible to distinguish between 'good' criminals here and 'bad' criminals there, and this all blurred into the labouring poor; Linebaugh (1991) notes payment of wages was often years behind. The distinction between the respectable/unrespectable, non-deserving and deserving poor manifested itself in the political development of the Labour movement and Marxism, and can be found within the anti-capitalist movement. Following "No Logo" and its emphasis on the trademark brand names in the shops I will present analysis about shoplifting and whether the politics of part of the anti-capitalist movement has had any effect on shoplifters choices. I will ask the question about how you go about destroying the brand most effectively, and outline the liberalism found within "No Logo". 'Crime' is now a central feature of the social movements large manifestations and also for a significant section of the general public.
	No Quarter Pamphlet Series #3 : Omasius Gorgut – Poor Man's Heaven, The Land of Cokaygne: A 14th Century Utopian Vision "In most if not all the corners of Europe, in their mythologies, folk tales, popular songs and festivals, the poor of the Middle Ages dreamed up a land where their sufferings were reversed, where people lived in harmony and plenty without having to work. The lives of the poor in medieval times were viciously hard – oppressed and exploited by the rich and the church, terrorised by their hired soldiers, forced to work all their lives without hope of any change in their situation. On the one hand they were told constantly by the Church that they could not expect and should not dream of a better existence in this life; on the other that a paradise existed for them somewhere in another. People were also “much more directly aware than they are today of the tyranny of necessity, the essential hardness in the nature of things. Man was so far from being the master of his environment that he was always prone to feel that it was his master. He depended on the weather not only because bad weather is unpleasant, but because a bad season might mean absolute famine. And, under the very best conditions, long hours and a bare living were still a necessity from which he could see no possible way of escape.” (A.L. Morton) Not surprising then that their frustrated dreams should create a place where everything was free, where life was easy, where the weather was always fine, where all desires came true – and where the rich could never hope to come. Their dream of a Utopia of the poor appears as the English Cokaygne and the French Coquaigne, as Pomona or the pagan Island of Apples, where “all is plenty and the golden age ever lasts. Cows give their milk in such abundance that they fill large ponds in milking. There, too, is a palace all of glass, floating in the air and receiving within its transparent walls the souls of the blessed." (Baring-Gould) It is the Irish Hy Brasil, where "milk flows from some of the rivulets, others gush with wine". In medieval German legend it is Scharaffenland, or Venusberg, the mountain of delight and love, where Lady Venus held her court, leading a fantastical life of pleasure in the company of carefree spirits of the air, together with fair nymphs of woodland and water, and heroes seduced there from the world above. In Holland they imagined Cokaygne as Luikkerland, where “All you loafers always lying about, Farmer, soldier, and clerk, you live without work, Here the fences are sausages, the houses are cake, And the fowl fly roasted, ready to eat.” The dream is expressed as the Country of the Young, as Lubberland; as the Poor Man's Heaven and the Rock Candy Mountains. These fantastic lands shared the same characteristics: an earthly and earthy paradise, an island of magical abundance, of eternal youth and eternal summer, of joy, fellowship and peace. “Brueghel painted it in a picture that has many of the most characteristic features: the roof of cakes, the roast pig running round with a knife in its side, the mountain of dumpling and the citizens who lie at their case waiting for all good things to drop into their mouths… It is the Utopia of the hard-driven serf… for whom the getting of a bare living is a constant struggle.” In 14th Century England, this image of a free earthly paradise emerged in a popular song, The Land of Cokaygne. Many versions existed, varying from area to area; and it was anonymous, a product of many minds, an expression of the subversive desires of a class." This text is an updated version of that originally issued by Past Tense.
Further information on No Quarter publications can be found on the No Quarter website: anarchistpirates.blogspot.com

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No Quarter publications