Dear comrades and friends,

The new (#33) issue of Abolishing the Borders from Below is coming out in September and, as usually, it won't come out without your participation. We ask you then for a contribution – articles on anarchist and social resistance activities, critiques, reports and describtions of various actions/places/groups, analyses, annoucements... For sure, there is something interesting going on in your regions (even if you might concider some things as unirelevant it might be see nas very interesting or even inspiring by people in other regions!) - so let us know about that.

Every moment of state, capitalist and patriarchal opression are worth to be documented - the moments of the resistance against these opressions are even more worth of documentation! Every moment when the sort of fire was set to statist and capitalisitic daily nightmare we would love to have described on the pages of our publication - as long as it took place in "eastern europe" and is being reported from an anarchist perspective.

MAIN TOPIC

This time, after the usual long discussions during ABB-collective meetings, we have decided to introduce the so called main topic again. We understand the critics of having it, to some extent we also agree with that, but we want to gain the consensus and not to favour any option.

The main topic for the upcoming issue is very interesting and important for anarchists nowadays and it is also a very wide one – free/alternative media and all the aspects of it. Firstly, we found it interesting how wide the definition of medium/media is. Below we list a few questions/aspects that came to our minds to show you the possible sides of the issue:

1. What ways/means of communication exist in the communities/neighbourhoods you live and work in (newsletter, wall newspaper, internet, radio etc.)? Do they work? What experience have you made on this terrain? What menas of propaganda are used by the anarchist movement (graffitti, street-art, music, theatre)?

2. GNU/Open Source and the anarchist view on that concept. Dilemma of the „decentralised concept of distribution and free access and the technology trap“. Today there are thousands of developers and millions of users of Linux (free operation system) and open source software. These people are building decentralised communities based mostly on Internet – fora, mailing lists. - What does all of this mean for anarchists and activists? - Do you know any groups in your area using it? Are there groups of „geeks“, hackers, computer activists? - Does computer/net activism play any role within your own groups? - What is the relation between „free software“ and „free society“ in your opinion? - How can we employ it and are we doing it? - What do you think about the fact that commercial and state institutions are using free software?

3. Independent media internet portals (for instance the Indymedia) – to what extent are they independent? Do you observe any limitations? What role do they play in the information flux and what impact do they have on social dicussions?

4. Do you think that alternative/anarchist media are free of manipulation/propaganda? What sort of power is connected with „being media“?

5. Anarchists in the mainstream media – is it a contradiction when anarchists are active in the mainstream media? Why has it become common in some countries? What is the opinion of the rest of the movement about that fact? What do you think about the skills learnt during work for the mainstream media and what do you think about using their resources for the spreading of anarchist information? Does it mean using the power of media for anarchist goals?

6. Do you produce media in different languages? Do language barriers pose a problem in your community, political work (in terms of information acquisition/exchange from or with other language communities). If you are living in a multilingual area, does that influence your activism? Are there problems like treating some languages or/and their speakers as inferior – taking into accout our main topic especially regarding the distribution of information? What practical compromises are made to an equal treatment of language communities? Can they be remedied to achieve an equal treatment?

7. The role of internet – does it replace other means of communication/media (for exapmle zines)? Advantages and disadvantages of the „internetization“.

8. Ways of state control with the help of new techniques/media, especially internet (surveillance)– your experience with the „security“ and defence against it.

For sure there are many more aspects that we didn't list. Don't forget that your articles on other topics are of the same importance for the magazine so don't hesitate to send them. We are really looking forward to everything that comes from you.

The deadline for sending the texts is the 7th of September.

Love and anarchy, yours Abolishing BB

Berlin, August 2008