Kersplebedeb

A radical distro under the name Kersplebedeb, produces agit prop materials as well as important (if underappreciated!) political books and pamphlets. Kersplebedeb is a non-sectarian project, but attempts to explore anti-patriarchal and anti-imperialist politics within an anti-capitalist framework.
1. Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners — Edited By Matt Meyer
2. The Red Army Faction: A Documented History Volume 1: Projectiles for the People — J. Smith and Andre Monocourt
3. The Red Army Faction, A Documentary History Volume 2: Dancing with Imperialism — J. Smith and Andre Monocourt
4. Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat from Mayflower to Modern — J. Sakai
5. Prison Round Trip — Klaus Viehmann; Preface by Bill Dunne
6. Daring To Struggle, Failing To Win: The Red Army Faction's 1977 Campaign Of Desperation — J. Smith and André Moncourt
7. The Struggle Within: Prisons, Political Prisoners, and Mass Movements in the United States — Dan Berger
8. Turning Money into Rebellion: The Unlikely Story of Denmark’s Revolutionary Bank Robbers — Gabriel Kuhn
Prison Round Trip
Author: Klaus Viehmann Preface by Bill Dunne and Introduction by Gabriel Kuhn
Publisher: PM Press/Kersplebedeb
Published: April 2009
ISBN: 978-1-60486-082-5
Format: Pamphlet
Page Count: 28
Dimensions: 8.5 by 5.5
Subjects: Prison Abolition, Activism
$4.95
Bang. The door to your cell is shut. You have survived the arrest, you are mad that you weren’t more careful, you worry that they will get others too, you wonder what will happen to your group and whether a lawyer has been called yet—of course you show none of this. The weapon, the fake papers, your own clothes, all gone. The prison garb and the shoes they’ve thrown at you are too big—maybe because they want to play silly games with you, maybe because they really blow “terrorists” out of proportion in their minds—and the control over your own appearance taken out of your hands. You look around, trying to get an understanding of where you’ll spend the next few years of your life.
Prison Round Trip was first published in German in 2003 as “Einmal Knast und zurück.” The essay’s author, Klaus Viehmann, had been released from prison ten years earlier, after completing a fifteen-year sentence for his involvement in urban guerilla activities in Germany in the 1970s. The essay was subsequently reprinted in various forums. It is a reflection on prison life and on how to keep one’s sanity and political integrity within the hostile and oppressive prison environment; “survival strategies” are its central theme.
“Einmal Knast und zurück” soon found an audience extending beyond Germany’s borders. Thanks to translations by comrades and radical distribution networks, it has since been eagerly discussed amongst political prisoners from Spain to Greece. This is the first time the text is available to a wider English-speaking audience.
“Klaus’s take on survival strategy tells us we can not only survive thusly but can as well continue to serve the cause of liberation—which are really the same thing. We can be captured without giving in or giving up.” —From the Preface by North American political prisoner Bill Dunne
About the Author:
Klaus Viehmann spent fifteen years in West German prisons after his arrest in 1978 for various activities carried out by the anarchist 2nd of June Movement. While in prison he wrote an essay that became the centerpiece of the book Drei zu Eins (“Three to One”), published in 1991. The book introduced the concept of “triple oppression”—the interrelations between class, gender and race in oppressive social structures—to a radical German-speaking audience, and proved highly influential, especially in autonomist circles. Since his release Viehmann has been active in various left-wing projects, including solidarity campaigns for World War II forced laborers and Colombian trade unionists. He remains involved in numerous publishing activities, as an author, translator, and a graphic designer. He is also co-editor of two extensive volumes documenting the history of autonomist political poster art in Germany: Hoch die Kampf Dem (1999) and Vorwärts bis zum Nieder Mit (2001). His home is once again Berlin—today officially undivided, but, as he puts it, “a place where a lot needs to be done."
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Daring To Struggle, Failing To Win: The Red Army Faction's 1977 Campaign Of Desperation
Written by J. Smith and André Moncourt
Publisher: PM Press/Kersplebedeb
ISBN: 978-1-60486-028-3
Pub Date: July 2008
Format: PDF, ePUB, Mobi
Page Count: 44 Pages
Size: 8.5 by 5.5
Subjects: Politics, Armed Struggle
$5.95
In 1970 a small group of West German revolutionaries decided to go underground, to set up safe houses, and learn the skills of the urban guerilla. They were the Red Army Faction.
Seven years later, almost all of the original combatants were in prison or dead, yet, through their example, they had inspired a militant and illegal support movement, comrades willing to take up arms in defense of the prisoners.
1977 was to be a year of reckoning. Through daring attacks and devastating errors, the West German guerilla brought their society to the brink, mounting one of the most desperate and incredible campaigns of asymmetrical warfare ever waged in postwar Europe. That they failed is no excuse to not learn their story, to see who they were and what they fought for—and, most tragically, to bear witness to the lengths the state would go to silence them. This pamphlet is our very modest introduction to this story.
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The Struggle Within: Prisons, Political Prisoners, and Mass Movements in the United States
Author: Dan Berger • Foreword by Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Afterword by dream hampton
Publisher: PM Press/Kersplebedeb
ISBN: 978-1-60486-955-2
Published: 04/14
Format: PDF, ePUB, Mobi
Size: 8.5 x 5.5
Page Count: 128
Subjects: Politics-Activism/History-US/Prison Abolition
$12.95
The Struggle Within is an accessible yet wide-ranging historical primer about how mass imprisonment has been a tool of repression deployed against diverse left-wing social movements over the last fifty years. Berger examines some of the most dynamic social movements across half a century: black liberation, Puerto Rican independence, Native American sovereignty, Chicano radicalism, white antiracist and working-class mobilizations, pacifist and antinuclear campaigns, and earth liberation and animal rights.
Berger’s encyclopedic knowledge of American social movements provides a rich comparative history of numerous social movements that continue to shape contemporary politics. The book also offers a little-heard voice in contemporary critiques of mass incarceration. Rather than seeing the issue of America’s prison growth as stemming solely from the war on drugs, Berger locates mass incarceration within a slew of social movements that have provided steep challenges to state power.
Praise:
“The Struggle Within powerfully demonstrates that the issue of political prisoners is not about individuals but about the deep and enduring bonds of community resistance. Berger’s beautiful synthesis of more than fifty years of people’s history places the prison at the center of contemporary freedom struggles. This book is necessary reading for all who wish to revive a radical tradition in the face of the prison’s coercive attempt at erasure. The Struggle Within is a vital and moving contribution, rooted in the power of collective history.“
—Angela Y. Davis, author and former political prisoner
“Before the U.S. had today’s mass incarceration, it had political prisoners. Dan Berger’s excellent book shows how political repression produced the human rights nightmare that exists today in America’s prisons. More, the book tells the history of the hundreds of activists who have been incarcerated here—and most important of all, the stories of those who remain inside. This historical account tells the truth not only about political incarceration but also about how movements can act to dismantle the U.S. prison nation. Wherever you find your place in social justice activism, this much-needed book will help enrich your work and make it more effective.“
—Laura Whitehorn, former political prisoner and editor of The War Before
“Dan Berger has provided scholars and activists alike an untold and unfortunately too easily forgotten history of political incarceration and the struggle to free political prisoners in the U.S. Berger deftly grapples not only with the resilience of the incarcerated and the movements seeking their freedom, but more importantly with the roots of political incarceration in modern colonialism and its primary justification—racism. More than stirring our hearts and minds, this timely book should move us to action!“
—José López, executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center
“When the radical New Left crashed and burned, most participants resumed more or less conventional life trajectories. We too often forget that many of our brothers and sisters are still behind bars with no assurance of release. In The Struggle Within we are told about not only Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier but dozens of other political prisoners whose names we may not know. These men and women ’raised the stakes’ in confrontation with the Powers That Be and are behind bars not just for their ideas but because they were ’active participants in resistance movements.’ The author describes this book as an ’introductory and incomplete sketch,’ but it is, in fact, the most comprehensive survey of imprisoned Movement activists known to me. I deeply admire the author’s efforts to tell it like it is without excessive adjectives. While these souls are imprisoned, we are not free.“
—Staughton Lynd, author, educator, prison activist
“This vital piece connects not only an insightful academic reflection with lessons which radical movements would do well to learn, it connects past history with current realities in the service of a more just future. All intellectual pursuits should be so rooted in the service of building campaigns and organizations for the people’s liberation; Berger’s must-read book is a gift to social change activists everywhere.“
—Matt Meyer, coeditor of We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America
About Dan Berger:
Dan Berger is an assistant professor of comparative ethnic studies at the University of Washington Bothell. His work on race, prisons, media, and American social movements has appeared widely in popular and scholarly journals. He is the author of Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era, forthcoming from the University of North Carolina Press (2014). Berger is also the author or editor of three previous books: Letters From Young Activists, Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity, and The Hidden 1970s: Histories of Radicalism. A longtime activist, Berger is a cofounder of Decarcerate PA.
About Ruth Wilson Gilmore:
Ruth Wilson Gilmore is a professor of geography at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is a member of the founding collective of Critical Resistance, one of the most important national anti-prison organizations in the United States. She examined how political and economic forces produced California’s prison boom in Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California, which was recognized by ASA with its Lora Romero First Book Award.
About dream hampton:
dream hampton has written about music, culture, and politics for twenty years. Her articles and essays have appeared in The Village Voice, The Detroit News, Harper’s Bazaar, Essence, and a dozen anthologies, most recently Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic, edited by Michael Eric Dyson. A longtime member of the human rights organization Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, hampton helped to organize the Black August Hip Hop Concert Benefit to raise awareness about U.S. political prisoner for ten years. hampton directed The Black August Hip Hop Project, a film about the concert series, political prisoners, and MXGM.
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Turning Money into Rebellion: The Unlikely Story of Denmark’s Revolutionary Bank Robbers
Editor: Gabriel Kuhn
Publisher: PM Press/Kersplebedeb
ISBN: 978-1-60486-316-1
Published: 08/14
Format: Paperback
Size: 9 x 6
Page Count: 240
Subjects: History-Europe/Politics-Activism
$19.95
Blekingegade is a quiet Copenhagen street. It is also where, in May 1989, the police discovered an apartment that had served Denmark’s most notorious twentieth-century bank robbers as a hideaway for years. The Blekingegade Group members belonged to a communist organization and lived modest lives in the Danish capital. Over a period of almost two decades, they sent millions of dollars acquired in spectacular heists to Third World liberation movements, in particular the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In May 1991, seven of them were convicted and went to prison.
The story of the Blekingegade Group is one of the most puzzling and captivating chapters from the European anti-imperialist milieu of the 1970s and ’80s. Turning Money into Rebellion: The Unlikely Story of Denmark’s Revolutionary Bank Robbers is the first-ever account of the story in English, covering a fascinating journey from anti-war demonstrations in the late 1960s via travels to Middle Eastern capitals and African refugee camps to the group’s fateful last robbery that earned them a record haul and left a police officer dead.
The book includes historical documents, illustrations, and an exclusive interview with Torkil Lauesen and Jan Weimann, two of the group’s longest-standing members. It is a compelling tale of turning radical theory into action and concerns analysis and strategy as much as morality and political practice. Perhaps most importantly, it revolves around the cardinal question of revolutionary politics: What to do, and how to do it?
Praise:
“This book is a fascinating and bracing account of how a group of communists in Denmark sought to aid the peoples of the Third World in their struggles against imperialism and the dire poverty that comes with it. The book contains many valuable lessons as to the practicalities of effective international solidarity, but just as importantly, it is a testament to the intellectual courage of the Blekingegade Group.“
—Zak Cope, author of Dimensions of Prejudice: Towards a Political Economy of Bigotry
“The story of how some pro-Palestinian activists become Denmark’s most successful bank robbers is more exciting than any thriller.“
—Åsa Linderborg, Aftonbladet
“I am convinced that they never even took a nickel for themselves.“
—Jørn Moos, chief investigator in the Blekingegade Case
About Gabriel Kuhn:
Gabriel Kuhn is a Swedish-based author and translator. Among his publications with PM Press are Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics (2010) and All Power to the Councils! A Documentary History of the German Revolution of 1918-1919 (2012).
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