* FAQ *
What are the components of Insurgent Summer?
Do I have to “register” for Insurgent Summer?
How do I get a Copy of Letters of Insurgents?
I already have my own Website. Can I blog Letters of Insurgents there?
Who is running Insurgent Summer?
Is there a political project involved?
Can I start a Letters discussion group in my area?
I’m reading for the first time. Will my reading be “spoiled”?
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Insurgent Summer is an online book reading and cooperative blog discussion of Fredy Perlman’s 1976 book Letters of Insurgents. This is a 800+ page book of fictional letters between two Eastern European workers, Yarostan Vochek and Sophia Nachalo, separated by twenty-plus years and two continents. As they reconnect through an exchange of letters, we learn about the battles they have fought – physical, political, emotional, and moral – and eventually the ones they have left to fight.
Modeled after the very successful 2009 Infinite Summer, an online reading of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest which brought together thousands of readers and dozens of new and established online writers, Insurgent Summer is an opportunity to read one of the most important books of anarchist fiction and morality of all time.
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What are the components of Insurgent Summer?
Insurgent Summer has four components: a Website, a Reading Schedule, the Guides and, of course, the Readers.
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The Website has two parts: (1) a Front Page, where appointed Guides and Guests will post their entries. There will typically be a new Post every day or every other day; and (2) a Forum where you can find threaded Discussion Boards, with sections for “spoiler-free” discussion as well as more general discussion.
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Guides are three volunteers – Aragorn!, artnoose and DeAnna – who will offer weekly Posts on the Front Page, recounting their journey through Letters. Guests will be occasional contributors, made up mostly of people with a unique angle on Letters or a special relationship to the book and its author. Bios of Guides are available, and Guests will be added as each is confirmed. If you have any recommendations, you can forward them to the Administrator, Infinite Tasks, jparis_7 at yahoo.com.
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Our reading of Letters of Insurgents will begin on June 11, 2010, with posts on Yarostan’s and Sophia’s First Letters. Each week we will move on to the next pair of Letters, concluding on August 20 (which happens to be Fredy Perlman’s birthday!). Each week will be include about 70 pages of reading. The Schedule is available on the Front Page and also Here.
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Do I have to “register” for Insurgent Summer?
Comments on the Front Page are freely available to anyone, and require only a name and an email address. Please, no “Anonymous” Comments, though of course pseudonyms are welcome. Front Page Comments should be directed to the content of the Posts, and all additional Discussion can be held in the Forum, which does require a registration and a login. Once you register there, you can begin new Discussion Topics or follow along with the existing ones. Because the Front Page Comments are freely available, they can be removed without warning for inappropriate content, whereas in the Forum, comments may be “flagged” by other users/participants. Everyone should just remember the common framework for good discussion on the interweb: Don’t Feed the Trolls!
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How do I get a Copy of Letters of Insurgents?
Copies of Letters of Insurgents have become quite dificult to obtain, and it is currently out-of-print (though we hope that the work done throughout Insurgent Summer may spur a new edition). However, everyone can still participate because electronic, searchable Full-Text Versions are available directly on this site and at The Anarchist Library, and there is also an Audio Version recorded by artnoose and a co-conspirator. Many thanks to the members of The Anarchist Library Collective for posting the version available on this site! They also have html and “imposed” versions, the latter of which can be printed out in a “booklet” form for each pair of Letters.
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I already have my own website. Can I blog Letters of Insurgents there?
Yes! Infinite Summer had a “ring” of over a dozen co-bloggers, and some of the best discussion happened on these sites. If you wish to blog Letters of Insurgents on your own blog, just drop us a note to let us know, so that we add you to the list of Other Insurgent Bloggers on the Front Page. There is also a section in the Forum called Insurgence Elsewhere, where you can notify everyone that a new post is up.
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Who is running Insurgent Summer?
We are fans of Fredy Perlman, and think that Letters of Insurgents is without question one of the greatest books of all time. We share backgrounds in anarchist politics, local community organizing, teaching, publishing, and more.
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Is there a political project involved?
Not really. We believe that Letters of Insurgents is a wonderful platform for discussion of anarchist theory and morality, but that it also has a wider appeal to readers of literature and reflections on morality. The Guides and Guests will be addressing issues that emerge from the book – its history, its plot and execution, its powerful critique of bourgeois politics and morality – but not any internecine conflict among contemporary anarchist tendencies.
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Can I start a Letters reading group in my own community?
We hope that this online group stimulates lots of face-to-face meetings and discussion. As with the Elsewhere Insurgents, there is also a section in the Forum called Reading Groups & Meet-ups, where you can put out a call for local gatherings, and find other Insurgent readers in your area!
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I’m reading Letters of Insurgents for the first time. Will my reading be “spoiled” by the Posts and Discussion Board?
No. Guides and Guests promise to keep their Posts “spoiler-free,” and to discuss elements of Letters of Insurgents only up to the scheduled Weekly reading. The Forum will have sections for a “spoiler-free” Daily Discussion, as well as an “Anything Goes” section for those who’ve read the book before and can’t wait to discuss later portions. There will also be a “Politics” section. Any posts in the Daily Discussion section that contain spoilers will be removed or relocated, and any that address anarchist tendencies will be redirected to the “Politics” section.
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