This quiet has been much longer than intended.
Here are some quick updates.
Many have responded to our call for support last December, with monthly Patreon contributions about doubled and more friends helping to cover the remainder, all of which gave a much more assured position to plan with.
In April we committed to extending the lease for another two years, which as expected, came with rent increasing to $1200. While we’re still working to reach our initial $600 goal (about 1/3 to go), we thank you for all your help so far letting us go on! If you like what we do, consider chipping in (from $6 a month) or tell your friends about us. More in the original post.
January’s Labour Block was hectic, but also invigorating and fulfilling with the many pathways for encounters it opened up. We had friends’ (Minimal Waste, Diana, No Name Distro) works at the table, and were able to send a portion of proceeds to a few direct aid calls.
If you’ve followed us since then, hello! Come visit some time!
Pressure Points debuted some printworks at the event (now available at the infoshop) and in February had the chance to bring some of these and other materials to share with new friends north of the peninsula, returning later with many gifts for our library and distro.
Other travelling friends also made generous additions of new zines, prints, and books gathered from across Asia and beyond.
April then saw us hosting a small teach-in and workshop, which let us test out an event format, though with rough edges, we are motivated to try more.
Repairs were done around the space in May as we continued to host visits at a reduced tempo.
Heeding the global call from The Peoples Want and its nascent Mujawara network of spaces, this June we’re looking to host activities in support of new initiatives by Syrian and Sudanese organisers.
How do we think and practice an “internationalism from below”?
We’re planning to convene a critical reading group around the internationalist manifesto, maybe create some prints, and share about spaces, histories, and connections through the meeting of pages and persons.
Nothing’s quite set in stone, come share your ideas.
We are soon making changes to how we handle appointments, the intent being to stop using certain tools, so bear with us as that transition happens. At the same time this effort lets us work out a more proper system for inviting folks to help out, which we will share more on when ready.
Finally, some other things are still in motion among our loose assembly of affinities: a visuals refresh, distro restocks, an open call for printworks, a DIY radio show project, a skill-swap project, foraging used books for sale, wandering library with outdoor readings, and conversations on experiences with mutual aid and how to move forward.
This last one is something that has been gnawing as many of us had burnt out coordinating direct aid at the height of the pandemic, with much of that remaining unprocessed when enveloped by deep isolation in a coercive society that keeps running on. It might be just the time to tend to this at the convergence of thinking transnational material solidarities, the recent release of The Elements of Mutual Aid anarchist docuseries, and the conditions for life getting squeezed ever more in this long crisis normal.
Maybe a few questions for now: “What does it mean to practice mutual aid as everyday interdependence, not merely for emergencies, nor just for money? How could we grow the ability to not just pay for our space but also to continually care for communal needs, projects, and relations near and far? How do such practices inform and nourish, feeding the antagonistic potential necessary for our destituent liberatory struggles?”