THIS ARTICLE COULD KILL PEOPLE! (COVIDIANS GONE WILD!)
Behind the Scenes in the Legacy "Anarchist" Media
“WHY, WHY, WHY, does Slingshot feel the need to publish dangerous crap like “Don’t Believe the Hype,” by Crow? Most of the “filler” articles that I read in Slingshot are just plain stupid, incomprehensible, or possibly written by people on drugs, but they are usually harmless and mildly amusing. This articIe, on the other hand, could kill people.”
-Letter to the Editor, March 2021
Welcome to VOLUME 3 of BLAST FROM THE PAST, in which I’ll be leading you on a stroll down memory lane… back to the good ‘ol days when I used to write for Slingshot, who gave me my big break break back in 2013, when you bratty-ass whippersnappers were knee-high to a grasshopper…
Okay, so I’m about to treat you to some Grade-A Covidian Cringe-Fest, so if you’re into that kinda thing, be sure to stick along.
First though, if you’re just joining us, this is the part of the show where I pass the hat and you either give me money or fuck off.
You guys know how busking works, right? If you watch the show, you’re a fucking prick if you walk away when the busker breaks out the hat. You know how that works, right? So, are you a prick or what? You gonna give me some money or not? You think I’m here to amuse you for free?
Why do you think I should please you for free?
WHAT PART OF THIS DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?
So, dear reader, please forgive me for being so blunt, but you don’t seem to be getting it. I want your fucking money. So cough up or fuck off please.
I don’t see what the point of you guys is if you’re not going to help me when I’m asking for help. Do you not understand that we’re trying to start a revolutionary movement here? Suck my dick if you don’t think I deserve five fucking bucks a month. You know how rich I could be if I was doing something else? Neither do I. But that’s neither here nor there, unlike your money, which is over there when it should be over here. Do you need an interpreter?
Gimme the Loot.
I don’t why you keep reading my shit if you don’t think it’s worth less than what you paid for parking this week, but knock it off already, okay? I want your cash. What part of this do you not understand?
Anyway, lest you think that I lured you here for no other reason than to give you a tongue-lashing, let me assure you that I have something for you today that you will no doubt find highly entertaining.
I’ll be honest, though. I don’t really see why I should give it to you. What the fuck have you done for me?
But I’m going to give it to you anyway, okay? You’re important to my long-term strategy, and I want to keep you around. So you’re in luck. Thank me later.
The following is a letter to the editor sent to my former publisher at Slingshot, who forwarded it to me. I have altered the name of the person who sent it, but it bears mentioning that they are a published Bay Area author of some repute.
Enjoy!
THIS ARTICLE COULD KILL PEOPLE
Dear friends and comrades at Slingshot,
First and foremost, I want to thank you and applaud you for continuing the vital and revolutionary work of making anarchist propaganda, despite the pandemic and all the other challenges of this past year. And, as always, each issue of Slingshot is an incendiary and sometimes exasperating mix of brilliant, articulate articles that should win Pulitzer Prizes, and hideous swill that should never have escaped the Slingshot Collective’s discerning “delete” key.
In the former category, articles which I can only wish would “go viral” and reach millions with their clear and explosive anarchist message, is Karma Bennett’s “Understanding Fascism.” All leftists of any persuasion could benefit from reading and studying this article, as I believe it could go a long way to helping us all understand the appeal of Trump and other moronic and evil demagogues to so many of the people who could be our allies: poor and working class people who have been totally screwed over by the capitalist system.
“Tons of Moss: Forest Defense Reportback,” is another incredible Slingshot “exclusive” which I hope will somehow reach a wider audience. A companion article by Robin called “Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline” is also an exemplary example of “immersion journalism.” This article is written by an unnamed author who has currently been sitting in a tree for 915 days (but who’s counting?), to stop the destruction of the forest and prevent a dangerous oil pipeline from being built. This is another fantastic example of what I call “the Slingshot phenomenon.” What I mean by “the Slingshot phenomenon” is that in every issue, without fail, I learn about something incredibly important happening, of which I was completely unaware. I had no idea that these particular tree sits were even happening, nor did I know that so many heroic tree sitters were actively and, apparently quite successfully, preventing destruction of our planet through logging and pipelines.
Thanks Slingshot for slapping me in the face with these very important news flashes, that of course do not make it into any other media outlets, but which I DESPERATELY need to know about! Where else would we hear this shit, if not from Slingshot?
Which brings me to ask WHY, WHY, WHY, does Slingshot feel the need to publish dangerous crap like “Don’t Believe the Hype,” by Crow? Most of the “filler” articles that I read in Slingshot are just plain stupid, incomprehensible, or possibly written by people on drugs, but they are usually harmless and mildly amusing. This articIe, on the other hand, could kill people.
I am as concerned as the next anarchist about the steady creep of our government intruding in our lives, barking orders at us, and surveilling us in new and ever more ways. However, Crow has taken simple and common sense health behaviors like wearing a mask, practice social distancing, or limiting group events to small numbers to prevent the spread of a deadly virus, and mistakenly conflated them with brutal authoritarian control of our every move and chilling repression of our freedom of assembly and freedom of association.
For Christ’s sake, any anarchist should know enough to wear a fucking mask, and not gather in large groups! For once, our government is actually suggesting something useful that can save lives, instead of telling us to just say no to drugs, or to enlist in the military to kill people in the Third World, or to buy crap we don’t need. And if our government HAD strongly suggested these measures several months earlier, a few hundred thousands of Americans would still be alive, rather then dead from COVID.
We should all have the common sense to utilize these simple and easy behaviors, in order prevent getting COVID ourselves, because a dead anarchist is not a very useful anarchist. Even more importantly, use these scientifically-proven methods to avoid potentially giving it to poor people, BIPOC, the disabled, and the frail elderly, who are at the most risk and most likely to die from COVID. It is poor people and working-class people who are being exposed to COVID every day through their jobs, and dying of it, because they work at grocery stores, in the Post Office, or are driving for Uber because they have lost their jobs because of the pandemic, or driving a bus for Muni, or they are delivering food for DoorDash because they are so poor that they have no other means to make money.
I was shocked at Crow’s statement that “the conversation about COVID needs to go beyond its current obsession with saving lives and focus on the question of how to live and die well in a world where death is an inevitability.” What the fuck? I’m speechless to even respond to the idea that there is something wrong with our “current obsession with saving lives.” Enough said. Being a nurse and having been involved in numerous radical health projects for nearly 50 years, I was stunned to see this article in Slingshot and would hope to see some kind of corrective article in the next issue.
In solidarity,
Slingshot’s biggest fan for 30 years, Karen Nickerstwiztd
I wrote a response back right away:
This is Crow. You may not remember me, but we corresponded some years ago.
Thank you for taking the time to voice your displeasure with the article that I wrote. I've been writing for Slingshot, as well as other anarchist publishers such as the Earth First! Journal, It's Going Down, and Montreal Counter Info for the better part of a decade, and I've never received such a vitriolically negative response to anything I've ever written.I would like to point out that I am far from the first anarchist to be critical of authoritarian measures taken in the name of Public Health. There have been very insightful critiques published by the Architects for Social Housing in the U.K., for instance, who have done a far better job than I could of analyzing the statistics presented to justify lock-downs. I would also encourage you to check out the latest issue of the anarchist journal 325, the South Essex Heckler, Estuary Stirring, and the latest edition of 325. There are also quite a few critiques published on Montreal Counter Info, North Shore Counter Info, and It's Going Down. One piece in particular that I would particularly recommend is "On the Anarchist Response to the Global Pandemic".
It is true that I have been particularly vocal about lock-downs, and my opinion that they are not justified in the name of Public Health, and that the social measures constitute gross violations of our basic human rights, so please allow me to clarify my position.
First of all, my perspective is informed not only by my political analysis, but also my direct experience and the experience of people close to me. My mom is a nurse, and worked at a COVID assessment centre as well as working in a remote Northern community as part of a COVID relief program. Simply put, her firsthand experience differs greatly from the portrayal of the pandemic in the media. That is to say, the media portrayal of the crisis has been grossly distorted for propaganda purposes, as it has in different ways in different countries around the world.
In addition to that, my sister works in a senior's residence which is currently in lock-down, despite the fact that all of the residents have been vaccinated. The elders who live there are not allowed to leave their homes. Essentially, they are on house arrest. We are told that these restrictive measures are being put in place for the benefit of the elderly, but in reality they are also being oppressed in the name of security.
Furthermore, there are many current crises ravaging the Earth and its inhabitants, and the singular focus on the pandemic over the past year has been at the cost of many other important issues which also demand our attention. I have been involved in the movement against pipelines since 2012, when I spent five months living at the Unist'ot'en, which is directly on the right-of-way for a proposed pipeline corridor on the way to the Northwest coast of Canada. In the early months of 2020, the movement was at a high point. Major rail lines across the country were blocked as part of the movement known as #SHUTDOWNCANADA, and an epic victory seemed within grasp. When lock-downs were implemented, the momentum ground to a halt. At the time, it seemed like there was little that we could do. In the name of "saving lives", we were forbidden from all in-person forms of political organizing. Meanwhile, the destruction of Wet'suwet'en territory continued. Apparently building pipelines is considered "an essential service". The fact is that meaningful political organizing depends upon our ability to gather together, and for that reason we are very deliberately working to shift the discourse around these repressive measures justified in the name of Public Health. The piece that triggered such a visceral reaction in me was written at the Sovereign Likhts'amisyu Village, a land reclamation 3 kilometres from the pipeline route, very close to where industry workers are preparing the way for the pipe-laying to begin. My writing is born out of a necessity to address a crucial impediment that people have in taking up the work of defending the land, and that is the greatest enemy of humanity – fear.
However, I am very willing to engage in good faith with you. I know who you are, I have read some of your writing, and I respect your perspective. I am really curious as to where you are getting your information. You make allusion to "scientifically-proven" measures, and I am curious: which measures are you referring to, and which scientific proof? The science regarding the efficacy of lock-downs is far from conclusive, and my interpretation of the best available data (peer-reviewed studies published in medical journals) suggests to me that lock-downs are in fact, not effective in reducing mortality. Many people seem to regard it as an article of faith (or, as you say, "common sense"), but often, they have assumed that the science supports their position without actually having examined the evidence. A year ago, not much was known about COVID-19, but now there is a voluminous body of data published on the subject, and it is clear that the mortality rate is far less than was originally believed. So in response to your letter, I offer three justifications for my position.
First, on the question of lock-downs: we maintain that it is an untenable position for an anarchist to support either lock-downs or curfews. Both of these interventions require the use of coercive force; that is to say, policing. We are not at all opposed to any public health recommendations, so long as they are voluntary. We are not at all opposed to people changing their behaviour out of concern for others. We are opposed to state control, because we are opposed to the state.
We would do well to remember that the term lock-down comes from the prison system, and lock-downs are usually put into place in that context when authorities perceive there to be an increased risk of revolt.
All this to say that we believe that anarchism and any ideology promoting the implementation of draconian measures such as lock-downs and curfews are mutually exclusive, and that this should be self-evident. How can one both be against the state and in favour of state control? Ideology aside, studies have shown that lock-downs are not effective in reducing mortality. According to a recently published study in the journal Nature, "using this methodology and current data, in ~ 98% of the comparisons using 87 different regions of the world we found no evidence that the number of deaths/million is reduced by staying at home".[1]
Third, there is the very important question of the lethality of COVID-19, which has proven to be far less deadly than was originally believed. On this, the scientific consensus is overwhelming. The disease was originally believed to have a fatality rate of 1% or more. A year later, we know that this is not even close to being true. There are many studies done on this subject, and we encourage people to do their own research, but we will quote one study authored by Stanford's John P. Ioannidis.[2]
"Infection fatality rate in different locations can be inferred from seroprevalence studies. While these studies have caveats, they show IFR ranging from 0.00% to 1.54% across 82 study estimates. Median IFR across 51 locations is 0.23% for the overall population and 0.05% for people <70 years old. IFR is larger in locations with higher overall fatalities. Given that these 82 studies are predominantly from hard‐hit epicenters, IFR on a global level may be modestly lower. Average values of 0.15%‐0.20% for the whole global population and 0.03%‐0.04% for people <70 years old as of October 2020 are plausible. These values agree also with the WHO estimate of 10% global infection rate (hence, IFR ~ 0.15%) as of early October 2020."
Some of the confusion regarding the lethality of COVID-19 results from people confusing IFR with CFR (Case Fatality Rate). Dr Richard Schabas, Ontario's former Chief Medical Officer, has critiqued the Ontario government's emphasis on using the CFR statistic, saying "Every knowledgeable observer of COVID understands that CFR is in itself an irrelevant number... CFR's only 'virtue' is its ability to frighten by overstating the real risk of dying from a COVID infection."[3]
Despite this, many people are under the impression that COVID-19 is much more lethal than it really is. This is clearly because of media fear-mongering, and yes, there are clearly financial interests at play, not those of Big Pharma, but also companies such as Amazon, Walmart, and many others who benefited from rampant stimulus spending. For some reason, Leftists have been shy to criticize the blatant greed of major corporations who are making a killing in the context of the current crisis. The billionaires of the world have seen their wealth rise by at least 1.9 trillion dollars since the implementation of lock-downs began. The Left readily decries the profiteering of both the military-industrial complex and the prison-industrial complex, however, criticism of the medical-industrial complex has become increasingly rare in anti-capitalist circles. Before trusting that pharmaceutical companies have the best interests of the public at heart, one would do well to remember the particularly blatant example of how drug manufacturers fuelled the opiate crisis by heavily promoting drugs such as OxyContin.
Anyway, if you think that my article opposing the dominant narrative is dangerously irresponsible and "could kill people", you may be happy to learn that the ruling party in Canada is expected to table legislation soon intended to restrict our freedom of speech. I would not at all be surprised if the voicing of dissent could become a criminal offence in Canada, under the guise of "protecting people" from dangerous misinformation. As of the current writing, it is still safe for me to voice my opinion, and I intend to make use of this privilege while it lasts.
In any case, my intention was to kickstart discussion and debate regarding this matter, because in my opinion, ideas are not nearly so dangerous as oppressive governments.
I do really appreciate that you have taken the time to write me, and I think that you should really. I think that the corrective that would be most helpful is not neither censorship nor retraction, but free and open debate, and I would encourage you to submit a piece to Slingshot (or to websites such as It's Going Down, Anarchist News, Montreal counter Info, etc) which refutes my claims, and offers thoughtful analysis.
If I am wrong, please correct me. I have been wrong before and I am not married to my beliefs. If you disprove what I have said, I will adjust my views and apologize for misrepresenting the facts. I would ask only that you make reference to the best available data, that is, peer-reviewed studies from respected medical and scientific journals.
Thank you again for contributing to the conversation!
crow
Footnotes:
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84092-1
[2] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eci.13423
[3] https://www.blogto.com/city/2021/01/ontario-top-doctor-supports-toronto-politician-anti-lockdown/Also, you may be interested to learn that there is in fact a vast amount of anarchist analysis which is critical of the dominant narrative. I would suggest starting with the Architects for Social Housing.
The Anarchist Library allows its massive repository of texts to be searched by keywords. If you search the tag "COVID-19", you will come upon a large number of texts, which I would say reflect the diversity of anarchist thought on COVID. Some classics are to be found here, such as "Our Dignity in Quarantine", which deserves to go down in history as a perfect expression of the zeitgeist of early 2020.
Fight Social Distancing – For a Solidarity-Based and Militant Approach to the Virus(Switzerland)
Social Contagion (China)
Ecstasy in the Time of Cholera (Italy)
(This succinct Italian text analyzes COVID through the lens of Foucault's biopolitics. Anyone wishing to understand the current moment would do well to study the paradigm of biosecurity.
From the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a strong current of skepticism within the U.K. anarchist milieu. The writing of Architects for Social Housing stands out for its sober, clear-minded analysis. If you are highly skeptical regarding COVID skepticism, I would suggest that you start here. The author, Simon Elmer, has done the world a great service by critically analyzing government statistics, revealing some of the fallacies committed by mainstream reporting.
Brave New World: Expanding the UK Biosecurity State through the Winter of 2020-2021
Cui Bono? The COVID-19 'Conspiracy'
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics: Manufacturing the Crisis
Our Default State: Compulsory Vaccination for COVID-19 and Human Rights Law
Bowling for Pfizer: Who's Behind the BioNTech Vaccine?
Bread and Circuses: Who's Behind the Oxford Vaccine for COVID-19?
The Betrayal of the Clerks: UK Intellectuals in the Service of the Biosecurity State
When the House Burns: Giorgio Agamben on the Coronavirus Crisis
The Infection of Science by Politics: A Nobel Laureate and Biophysicist on the Coronavirus Crisis
The New Normal: What is the UK Biosecurity State? (Part 2. Normalising Fear)
COVID-19: Implementing the UK Biosecurity State
The New Normal: What is the UK Biosecurity State? (Part 2. Normalising Fear)
The New Normal: What is the UK Biosecurity State? (Part 1. Programmes and Regulations)
The Science and Law of Refusing to Wear Masks: Texts and Arguments in Support of Civil Disobedience
Lockdown: Collateral Damage in the War on COVID-19
Manufacturing Consensus: The Registering of COVID-19 Deaths in the UK
Giorgio Agamben and the Biopolitics of COVID-1
Good Morning, Coronazombies! Diary of a Bio-Political Crisis Event
Coronavirus, Government Lockdown and its effects on UK Housing
Coronazombies! Infection and Denial in the United Kingdom
Language is a Virus: SARs-CoV-2 and the Science of Political Control
Sociology of a Disease: Age, Class and Mortality in the Coronavirus Pandemic
Everything they put out is well worth reading! Anyone who likes logic will approve.
This now-defunct blog was probably the most outspoken anarchist voice criticizing lockdowns in the early days of the pandemic. Much like ASH, the author is sober, clear-minded, and thoughtful. I would suggest beginning with this piece:
An Explainer on Our Changing Position on the COVID-19 Crisis
Estuary Stirrings (U.K.)
This anarchist blog picks up where the South Essex Heckler leaves off. See:
Getting the Message out While Staying Under the Radar
Is it over? Is it time to throw in the towel? Is further resistance pointless? – March 3, 2021
Lockdown situation report – February 6, 2021
Think of the kids then think of the future of education – January 5, 2021
2020, a lot has happened – 2021, a lot more will happen – December 9, 2020
It's too late to go back, we have to move forwards – November 24, 2020
Resisting the 'reset' – a call to arms – November 11, 2020
Will the 'rule of six' be a licence to snitch? – September 14, 2020
How the f**k did we sleepwalk to this point? – September 9, 2020
Told you so... – September 4, 2020
Lobbing a spanner into the workings of the new (ab)normal – August 23, 2020
Are we sleepwalking towards a 21st century form of totalitarianism? – August 12, 2020
The World Economic Forum widening the digital divide – July 31, 2020
Gaslighting – July 29, 2020
Welcome to your 'new normal' – July 5, 2020
Trying to move 'forward' from this point – June 23, 2020
As predicted... – June 14, 2020
Language is important... – June 6, 2020
The emerging political divide – May 29, 2020
Welcome to your future of controlled misery – May 9, 2020
A sort of a warning... – April 27, 2020
Some thoughts on the COVID-19 future we're facing – April 17, 2020
The consequences of the COVID-19 crisis for freedom and solidarity – April 13, 2020
Isolation and social control – March 17, 2020
Montreal Counter Info
This website has not been shy in publishing anarchist critiques of public health measures. This website deserves special attention because it is very much a reflection of the beating heart of the Montreal anarchist scene. The pieces that it publishes are not by armchair revolutionaries, but by active participants engaged in revolutionary struggle. This means that what is published here influences what happens on the ground For instance, in early 2021, Montreal Counter Info began publishing critiques of lock-down. Soon thereafter, there were hundreds of people in the streets protesting Quebec's draconian curfew.
On the Anarchist Response to the Global Pandemic
In Defence of Religious Freedom
No Police-Based Solution to the Health Crisis
How can we defend the freedom of assembly in 2021?
Thou Shalt Not Question Public Health! - Censorship in the age of COVID-19
Protesting is now illegal in Toronto
North Shore Counter Info
Similarly to Montreal Counter-Info, this website is maintained by active movement makers, the Hamilton anarchists. Judging by the amount of the repression that they have been targeted, these are the anarchists that the Canadian state considers most dangerous. The North Shore Counter Info collective was the first to offera critique of COVID-era technocracy in the early days of the pandemic, and that seems to have been become a classic, as it can be found reposted on anarchist websites from around the world. They have also published more recent COVID-skeptical pieces such as this, this, and this.
It's Going Down
IGD, the biggest American anarchist news site, has mostly focused on anti-fascism, street mobilizations during the George Floyd uprising, and prisoner support of late and has not been highly critical of the media narrative around COVID. That said, it has published COVID-skeptical analysis, as well as thoughtful critiques of Universal Basic Income.
Check out:
Extending Their Claws: An Anarchist Analysis of the Pandemic as an Opportunity for State & Capital
The Growing Anti-Curfew Movement in Quebec
Montreal, QC: Against Police COVID-19 Curfew & Far-Right Conspiracies
Quebec: Call for Submissions to Anarchist Publication on COVID-19
Winter Oak / The Acorn
The best anarchist writing that I have been able to find on the subject of COVID-19 is on the site on the anarchist publisher Winter Oak, which publishes an excellent bulletin called The Acorn. I would highly encourage anyone interested in understanding what is going on in the world right now to look no further than this site.
Klaus Schwab and his Great Fascist Reset
https://winteroak.org.uk/2021/02/16/the-acorn-63/
https://winteroak.org.uk/2020/12/17/the-acorn-62/
Decentralized anarchist blogging platform. Lots of stuff on here. I would recommend:
Unleashing a Whirlwind of Revolt
Fascism, Newnormalism and the Left
This European Blog has a bunch of good content but it's hard to search! Well worth checking out though.
This insurrectionist blog contains writing in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek. It posts communiques from anarchists claiming attacks on property, among other things. This is where I learned that insurrectionary anarchists in the U.K., Netherlands, Sweden, France, Italy, and the U.S.A. have been sabotaging cell phone / internet infrastructure as part of a campaign protesting the growth of the surveillance state.
Zines/Bulletins/Ready-to-Print Literature!
CONTRA LA CONTRA (Spain)
This Spanish anarchist journal has made urgent anti-lockdown writing a major focus over the past year. I would suggest checking out "Pandemic is Domestication" and "Against the Pandemic of Capital, Social Revolution!"
Oveja Negra (Argentina)
This Argentinian anarchist journal, which is entitled "Black Sheep", is well worth checking out. I am inclined to believe that this piece was translated into English to serve as a contribution to the international discussion around COVID-19. From what I have seen of anarchist media from South America, they seem far more critical of the state's expansion of powers during the pandemic than North Americans have been. Case in point, the excellent Brazilian short firm COVID-1984.
D.I.Y. CULTURE (U.K.)
This U.K. anarchist zine dedicated an issue to the theme of COVID-1984.
To Reach Out and Touch One Another (U.S.)
A zine from a group called Salish Sea Black Autonomists. From the intro: "From discourses willing to sacrifice more vulnerable people for "our" collective health (that of the nation and the economy), to neighborhood snitches calling the police on those violating the imposed rules of 'social distancing'. How long before those neighborhood snitches become neighborhood shooters enforcing a hardened border of social distance? Everyone knows behind the walls of our healthy neighborhood are the hoards of sick others... The good (white) citizens are snitches and law followers, the rest of us are disease ridden threats because we are irresponsible and must go to work, must go out to buy groceries, because we long to feel the sun on our skin or the embrace of our friends and loved ones."
Rumoer (Netherlands)
This Dutch anarchist zine that shows the spirit of anarchy is alive in the Netherlands. From the intro: "About this pandemic we could say many things... but all the people pretending to be able to make the right analysis and have the truth on their side can go fuck their selves. All these little stories and media-hypes just exist to take away the attention from the real problems around the world: the power-hungry, war making, money obsessed, and nature destroying humanity. It's only because of ourselves it could get this far... The rhetoric of the state about the pandemic is about the war against a virus, but the real war is the one against nature and the earth, against freedom and the not-knowing. We mean consuming everything till exhaustion, everything one can put their hands on, and then throw away what already wasn't necessary. We mean the pollution of the air, the water, the soil. We mean the limitless flying around the globe, like fools looking for something- not realizing that their actually running away from boredom and numbing from the world we live in... But, as said, around the world it has shown that the measurements of control didn't stop people from taking the streets or doing naughty things at night to the representatives of power and the ones that profit from it. In many prisons around the world revolts broke out, starting in Italy in more than thirty prisons. Let us find the courage to have joy in sabotage, to find the power in a coincidental meeting on the street in which you can protect each other from controllers. A lockdown also provides opportunities: fewer people or cops on the street, more free time...Throughout this issue you will find pictures of the graffiti-game, that is something to be enjoyed."
(to be continued...)
I didn’t have long to wait before I received a reply:
Hi Crow!
I do remember that we had some previous emails, and appreciate your writing this very articulate and friendly email to me. I especially appreciate your friendliness, because my letter was pretty harsh and I would not have expected you to be so civil in your response. I was just getting off the computer when your email came in, and don't have time to respond to your many points right now, will try to do so in the morning.Thanks so much for engaging in this discussion.
Karen
On Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 8:59:21 PM PDT, crow <thecrowisamessenger@riseup.net> wrote:
Haha, no worries. I think that people on the internet often forget that there's real people who could be affected by their words on the other side of the screen somewhere, but I'm basically working at building up my self-esteem & confidence as a writer by not allowing criticism to upset me too much, and not being afraid of conflict.
In any case, I wish you well and look forward to hearing from you soon!
crow
I guess it’s true that you catch more flies with money than you do with vinegar, because my rapport-building trick worked like a charm, and she was singing a different tune right quick fast:
Hi Crow,
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