Kristian Williams

Liberating Dissent II: Against State Repression
May 23, 2009 at 7pm
Liberty Hall, 311 N Ivy, Portland Oregon

http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu58/destroyiscreate/liberatingthisentwords72psd.jpg

I’ll be speaking about the cops and political repression, alongside attorney Lauren Regan. And, a bunch of bands will play, including Resist, Adelit@s, and Coffinship.

The event is a benefit for Rose City Copwatch and prisoners incarcerated as part of the “Green Scare” crackdown on environmental activism. The suggested cost is $6 and up, though no one will be turned away for lack of money.

For more info, visit: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2009/05/391299.shtml

If you can’t make it to see me talk in person, you can now find recordings of two of my talks online.

Multnomah County Library has audio of my talk with Jules Boykoff on policing and the suppression of dissent (April 2008):
http://multcolib.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=436932

And indybay has a recording of my recent lecture at Oakland’s Continental Club, on policing and violence:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/04/01/18585333.php

As it happens, two different anarchist publications are running articles I’ve written on marriage and monogamy. I didn’t write the pieces at the same time, or try to coordinate the publishing, or anything. Sometimes things just work out like that.

The first is a long essay in Fifth Estate, examining some comments Foucault made in interviews back in 1981 and ’82. It’s called “Sexual Liberation and the Possibilities of Friendship: Foucauldian Proposals and Anarchist Elaborations.”

The second is a review of Jenny Block’s book Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage (Seal Press, 2008). It’s titled “Saving Marriage from Itself,” and appears in the Spring-Summer issue of Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed.

Those who read both will notice that I like Foucault’s position a lot better than I like Block’s.

Neither article is online.

This coming weekend I’ll be giving four talks in British Columbia — three in Victoria and one in Vancouver.

I’ll be speaking twice on the cops and twice on Oscar Wilde and anarchism:
Wilde is chiefly remembered as a wit, a dandy, and a gay icon;
but the depth of his thought and the radicalism of his politics are
often forgotten. His aestheticism was more than a flamboyant pose.
It represented an entire system of values, from which Wilde critiqued
capitalism, the state, and Victorian morality.

Here are the dates:

Victoria BC; Friday, April 17th, 6pm
“A World Without Cops”
(with Gord Hill, Olympics Resistance Network)
Camas Books, 2590 Quadra
http://camas.ca/?q=node/181
I’ll be speaking about the history of the police, and specifically
about the class-control aspects of “quality-of-life” policing.

Victoria BC; Saturday, April 18th, 6pm
“A World Without Cops”
(with Zoe Blunt of the Victoria Forest Action Network, and Gord Hill)
Camas Books, 2590 Quadra
http://camas.ca/?q=node/182
I’ll be speaking about alternatives to policing.

Victoria BC; Sunday, April 19, 1pm
“Oscar Wilde: Aestheticism and Anarchism”
(with Alan Antliff, author of Art and Anarchy)
Camas Books, 2590 Quadra

Vancouver; Monday, April 20th, 7:30pm
“Oscar Wilde: Aestheticism and Anarchism”
(with Allan Antliff)
Spartacus Bookstore; 684 E. Hastings
http://mostlywater.org/oscar_wilde_literature_anarchy

In the latest issue of Make/Shift I have a review of Darius Rejali’s book Torture and Democracy. In it, I take issue with his definition of “torture.” In particular, I argue against his dismissal of the notion of “mental torture.”

This is actually the second review I’ve written on Rejali’s book. A much longer piece appeared in the International Socialist Review back in the fall. In that essay I scrutinized Rejali’s definition of “democracy.”

Only the ISR piece is online:
“Hidden Torture, False Democracy.” International Socialist Review. September-October 2008. http://www.isreview.org/issues/61/feat-torturedem.shtml