By David Sheen
PM Press has wisely decided to build an online platform for its authors and artists to blog about their work. I’ve been blogging in a number of formats for the last eleven years, so I’m quite comfortable with the idea. And frankly, it’s something of an honor to be able to share a stage with the amazing PM Press roster of writers. But mostly, it’s an opportunity for me to share my thoughts and feelings about the sick sad world that we live in and the crazy and courageous people that just won’t leave well enough alone. Until every living creature on the planet is free at last. And even then some, just for kicks.
The FIRST EARTH DVD’s are now hot off the presses, but I actually sealed the deal with PM’s Ramsey Kanaan exactly a year ago, at the radical Bluestocking Books during the New York City Anarchist Bookfair. At that time, a number of publishing companies had expressed interest in making the film available to a wider audience, and I found myself in the enviable position of having to decide between suitors. Should I try to convince the eco-freaks to adopt a radical strategy? Or should I share earthy eco-tactics with my ideological base camp? I’m glad that I made the most natural choice to link up with my comrades at PM.
The film is finished, but the great work isn’t over, not by a long shot. I’ll continue to keep you up to date with new developments in the world of uncompromising ecological architecture. And there are future film projects, like Sharing & Caring, an exploration of radical intentional communities; or in other words, uncompromising *social* architecture.
And as I travel the world following the bigger picture, I’ll also be writing about political hotspots, giving you (English-speaking) (A)narchist eyes on the street, with news and analysis that rarely reaches the rest of the world.
Maybe you’re still reeling from the last three paragraphs, because you’re interested in building healthy houses out of mud, but all of this commie talk is kind of frightening. In the course of my travels while making the movie FIRST EARTH, I did meet a number of social conservatives who embrace ecological ideals for their own reasons, but uphold human hierarchies. So now you know: for me, at least, all the oppressions are connected, and all the liberations are linked. If you’ve had enough pinko pillow-talk for now, feel free to stop reading; maybe we’ll meet again, on opposite sides of the barricades. But if I’ve stirred up something deep inside of you, then keep coming back for more.
And let’s get free.
