Nostr notes by Cindy Milstein (they)

“Call for contributions” to the next zine in my curated ...

2026-06-25T12:52:26Z

“Call for contributions” to the next zine in my curated series, “Side by Side” — sparked by my rage, horror, and grief at Tuesday’s cruel and sadistic sentencing of 30 years for my beloved friend @free.des.revol and 50-100 years for other Prairieland defendants.

What the fuck / fuck the state / fuck the prisons and police!

I was so utterly heartbroken when the sentences came down, I felt powerless that day. Then I realized that so many of us were instantly springing into motion—and already had been. Rather than powerless, first and foremost, we checked in on each other, sending messages of love and solidarity, especially to the defendants’ families and friends. Then we tirelessly leaped into all the many tasks of doing anti-repression “work,” as voluntary labors of love, that we anarchists do particularly well.

Yesterday, when the sentences hit me even harder, having sunk in, I realized that we anarchists, especially those with deep experience doing anti-repression and prisoner solidarity, have a responsibility. It’s our duty to share the many hard-won lessons, our best anti-repression tools and tactics, especially for those new to state repression, so as to better aid them in making good decisions and keep more of us out of harm’s way, or at a minimum, not let anyone feel alone when repression hits.

Collective defense doesn’t start when the indictments come down; it is a daily practice, particularly under fascism. It’s what keeps people from cooperating with the state and cops, and it’s what teaches people, as second nature, to have each others’ sides and backs. It’s what helps ward off despair and sustain our resolve. And so much more.

SO, in honor of the noncooperating Prairieland defendants, being used as fodder for a death machine intent on making “antifascism” seem wrong and quelling all resistance, send me stories of the good/caring/effective tools and tactics you’ve used when doing anti-repression work.

Length: 80 to 250 words, prose!
Due: by July 4 (on the one-year anniversary of “fuck the government that fucked over our comrades on July 4, 2025”)
Email to: cbmilstein [at] yahoo {dot} com

#FreeThemAll

(photo: tag seen in Exarcheia)

Also at:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DaAh3ETRRYz/

Over the past 3 days, I’ve gone to three different gatherings ...

2025-06-22T23:53:02Z

Over the past 3 days, I’ve gone to three different gatherings that all share 1 common theme: brutally unnecessary loss, which in turn is inseparable from brutal forms of theft.

On Friday, I walked up a steep hill in the middle of urban Montreal to a secluded grassy area surrounded by trees and filled with birdsong. It felt instantly sacred. And instantly ugly. The bodies of Indigenous children, victims of nonconsensual psychiatric experiments in the 1950s-60s, are likely buried in unmarked graves on these grounds—a former psychiatric hospital owned by McGill University. At a weekly vigil, people and orange ribbons cry out for the “TRUTH” of colonialism.

Yesterday, I listened to panelists talk about the 20th anniversary of a 7-day “Solidarity across Borders” walk from Montreal to Ottawa, with ethics like “status for all.” It took 6 months to organize, and brought together people compelled to move from all corners of the globe. Rad banners from demos over the years had been put up around the room, and someone noted an addition to the oft-used “No One Is Illegal” slogan: “Canada Is Illegal.” Yet various folks on the walk were later deported. And as the contrast between collective possibility 20 years and how much worse things are now filled the air, the banners started falling to the ground.

Today I went on a funeral march for DIY cultural and political spaces. A marching band accompanied us through the streets. We stopped outside now-bland, hipster-upscale businesses that had once housed lively evenings, or as one person put it, “places to fall in love with art, friends, communities, the city,” to speak to the ravages of capitalism. There were relatively few of us. Passersby seemed confused, for they had no idea what gentrification had erased.

Last night, at midnight, a friend in Vienna had just woken up and texted: “My body is in a state of shock. I hug you, because I don’t know what else to do at this moment.” I knew they meant because the US had begun bombing Iran. Minutes before, I’d read the news, wondering how I could go to sleep. How can any of us sleep at night—we, who are intertwined by brutally unnecessary losses and our broken, rebellious hearts?

🖤💔

Photos (continued in comments): “Destroy Power Not People” sticker seen in Stockholm, June 2018; “Land Back,” “ACAB,” and “Neither Quebec nor Canada” stickers seen in Montreal, August 2024; “No Human Is Illegal” sticker seen in mid-Michigan, December 2022; the word “TRUTH” spelled out in orange-fabric ribbons on a fence as seen in Montreal, June 2025; “No Borders, No Nations” spray painted on a wall, as spotted in Athens, March 2025; “Nationalists Not Welcome” sticker seen in Portland, OR, April 2018; “Capitalism Ruined My Life” sticker spotted in Montreal, June 2025; orange-fabric ribbons tied to a tree with glimpse of unmarked burial ground for stolen Indigenous children in the background.

#DestroyPowerNotPeople
#NoBordersNoNations
#AllStatesAreIllegal
#SolidarityIsOurBestWeapon

1 new zine, 13 Jewish anarchists, 20 accessible ideas. It all ...

2024-11-20T23:25:56Z

1 new zine, 13 Jewish anarchists, 20 accessible ideas. It all adds up to “things you can do to counter fascism—yes, you! yes, now!” (whether you’re Jewish and/or an anarchist, or not).

As an added plus, there’s nothing quite like focusing on collaboratively creating a zine filled with prefigurative ideas to boost one’s spirit! Or at least somewhat balance all the despair in the liminal space between fascist election and fascist inauguration. As smart friends keep repeating of late, agency and community are what counter trauma—and as this zine highlights, also fascism.

The idea for this zine came from another one I was part of collectively writing back in the days of Trump, part 1, titled “12 things you can do instead of calling the police.” It has been widely circulated ever since, and I personally witnessed how much it opened up liberal minds in particular, nudging them to think and act in more anarchistic and solidaristic ways. (Thanks to incredible designer and friend @eff_charm, who created the look for that earlier zine, for letting me borrow his graphic vision and try my own hand at laying out this one!)

Flash-forward, and we need to encourage even more people to defy fascism and embrace anarchism—at least in their practices! That is, we need more folks to not “just do nothing” and instead realize that the only winning strategies toward a world without fascism are liberatory forms of self-determination, self-organization, and self-governance, and in the here and now (“doykeit” as we diasporic Jews put it), while offering each other communal self-defense (hence the garlic pictured here, long a form of protection among various peoples, including us Jews).

So read, print, and/or freely and widely distro this zine, made up of advice gleaned from 13 of us Jewish anarchists, and turned into a PDF with the kind help of a few others!

If you’d like both the readable and imposed PDFs, email me and I’ll joyously send them to you.

The zine will soon be hosted on anarchistic websites; DM me if you’d like to do that.

I’ll end by sharing 1 of the ideas:

“Make people soup and do not stop inviting them over for soup! Be a reason for living.”