Revolutionary Journal

Got an email today about a new activist political journal called Upping the Anti, produced by a Canadian grouping called the Autonomy and Solidarity Network. I don't know anything about the ASN, and would suggest that it always pays to engage cautiously and critically, but at first glance the project sounds really interesting and the politics sound solid. The first issue is due out soon.

Here is the first paragraph from their draft first editorial:

Our name "Upping the Anti" refers to three interwoven tendencies which have come to define much of the politics of today's radical left in Canada: anti-capitalism, anti-oppression, and anti-imperialism. These three political tendencies, while overlapping and incorporating various contradictory elements, together represent the growth of a radical politics in a space outside of the "party building" of the sectarian left and the electoral dead end of social democracy. Despite their limitations, the movements based on these "anti-" politics have been built out of a real process and practice of social contestation and mobilization, and they point towards ideas and activist practices which will have a significant role in shaping the form and content of new revolutionary movements born out of future cycles of struggle against exploitation and oppression. The contributors to "Upping the Anti" have been a part of these movements, and this journal is intended to provide a space to address and discuss unresolved questions and dynamics within these struggles in order to better learn from our collective successes and failures.

And here is one question and answer from the journal's FAQ:

What kind of audience is the journal aimed at?

The journal is aimed at people who would already define themselves as activists or oppositional to the current system. The level of writing is somewhere between a radical magazine like Canadian Dimension or Left Turn and that of a popular academic journal like Monthly Review. The publication will have the look and feel of a journal, as opposed to a magazine or newspaper, but we will make every effort to avoid using overly specialist or academic jargon. Footnotes and glossaries of words and terms will accompany those articles which need them. We are intending the publication to be primarily directed towards people that consider themselves to be active in the movements and supportive of the politics that we have outlined in our editorial. It is not our intention to make an entry-level publication for people who are only just becoming politically radical, although it is hoped that they too would find this publication useful. The primary goal of the publication is to clarify and define the politics of those of us already active on the anti-capitalist, anti-oppressive, and anti-imperialist left.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this to see what I can learn and what I can connect with.