zines

I have been putting my old zines up on my website. Today it's the turn of “Theory Head № 1” … a short zine about the role of theory in the struggle for social change.

I put this together back in grad school to try to explain to my anarchist punks friends why I thought bothering with theory was worth it. As a zine, I still really like it! It's pretty and coherent and satisfying. And, I still think analysis and reflection are important. But, I also think I was far too kind to the world of theory. A lot of it is wordy milquetoast. Instead of offering this to my friends as a defense of theory I should have turned to fellow theory heads and challenged them to do better.

Anyway, here it is for you to enjoy.

My grandparents were in the resistance during WWII. They mostly forged and printed identity documents and ration cards. At the end of 1944 they produced a booklet containing a short story by Vikenty Veresaev called «The Star». A few years ago I translated it from their Dutch edition into English. And now you can read it too. I don't entirely understand why, in such a dark hour, they chose to use precious resources to share this particular haunting story.

• The Star — screen
• The Star — print