Logo

Making Punk A Threat Again!

  • Finally, the third LP from AGNOSY has arrived! 

    AGNOSY-cover

    Dark, heavy, galloping crust from the streets of London. AGNOSY is back to present us with a ferocious beast of an album that can only be forged by the anger and frustration of living in today’s world. “When Daylight Reveals The Torture” aggressively attacks evils such the current rise of fascism and animal abuse. It intelligently and passionately touches on the Afrin invasion and the revolution in Rojava and shows nothing but utter disgust toward the arrogance of humankind’s lust for greed and power that will inevitably lead us down paths of war and environmental devastation.

    AGNOSY – Live at SCUMFEST in London. 2011

    While lyrically AGNOSY are much more politicly straight forward this time around than on previous releases, musically they have expanded on their sound to create a dark and moody atmosphere while at the same time staying crust as fuck. To say they know what they are doing would be an understatement from this band of vets whose members have played in HIATUS, HEALTH HAZARD, and BEGINNING OF THE END.

    Long galloping intros are followed up by traditional d-beat, fierce solo’s are then meet with vicious vocals and pulverizing bass in a brilliant recording captured by Lewis Johns at The Ranch Production House and was mastered by Brad Boatright at Portland’s legendary Audiosiege. We then pressed on deluxe heavyweight 150-gram vinyl,  printed on reverse board jackets, and included an 11in x 22in gatefold insert to bring you a high quality and truly epic record.  

    Click this link to buy AGNOSY “When Daylight Reveals the Torture” Vinyl

    Click this link Stream or Download from our BANDCAMP page

    PROFANE EXISTENCE – PO BOX 647 – HUNTINGTON WV – 25711 – UNITED STATES
  • The legendary crust classic is now available once again!

    Authorized and released in cooperation with MISERY, S.D.S., & MCR Japan & Remastered by Jack Butcher at Enormous Door Studio we are beyond proud to make one one the most rare and sought after crust records available  once again.

    Fuck the scavengers charging punks exuberant amounts of cash on ebay and discogs. We worked meticulously with both bands and with Jack at Enormous door to bring you an updated version that kicks major audio ass while maintaining the original authenticity. 

    Released on deluxe 150 gram vinyl. With an 11×11 inner sleeve. Black Paper Jacket. Reverse Board Jacket.

    Feel free to Stream or Download at our Bandcamp page – HERE

    Buy a physical copy of the Vinyl from our webstore – HERE

    Check out Terminal Sound Nuisance for an outstanding review of the original LP. The review gives insight on not only the music but the records long lasting impact on crust music and why it remains so important to this day. – http://terminalsoundnuisance.blogspot.com/2013/06/misery-sds-pain-in-suffering-future.html
    S.D.S.
    MISERY

    Earlier this year we re-issued this legendary LP and sold over 950 copies in just 4 short months. For this second pressing we pressed 490 copies on Krystal Clear & 485 on Grey Vinyl with Black Mist.

    Crystal Clear (Bullet belt no included)
    Grey With Black Mist (Bullet belt no included)
    PROFANE EXISTENCE – PO BOX 647 – HUNTINGTON WV – 25711
    UNITED STATES
  • Stench crust the way it was meant to be played!

    The UK crust scene of the 1980’s inspired band after band but no other band has ever reincarnated the sound of that time as well as SWORDWIELDER. Quite simply if you like crust, then this the album you have waited decades for.

    Package includes- 
    LP pressed on deluxe 150-gram vinyl. 
    Reverse board jacket 
    Printed inner sleeve 
    11×17 poster

    Stream album for free or download for a small fee here – https://profaneexistence.bandcamp.com/album/swordwielder-system-overlord-lp

    Buy Vinyl here – https://profaneexistence.bandcamp.com/album/swordwielder-system-overlord-lp

    Review by Craig Hayes from “Your Last Rites”… 
    Swordwielder – System Overlord 
    Heavyweight punk fanatics take note: System Overlord is a fucking triumph. The long-awaited sophomore album from Gothenburg stenchcore band Swordwielder is a brooding behemoth, constructed from the filthiest and heftiest strains of punk and metal. System Overlord shimmers with apocalyptic visions, and it’s overflowing with all the grim atmospherics and intimidating intensity that defines consummate crushing crust.

    Too much hype? No way… And no apologies, either. Swordwielder deal in definitive stenchcore on System Overlord, and much like their full-length debut, 2013’s Grim Visions of Battle, the band’s latest release is a knockout. Swordwielder’s harsh, gruff and dark sound owes a significant debt to old school icons like Amebix, Axegrinder, Deviated Instinct, and Antisect, and they mix and mangle their influences and leave ’em to rot on the battlefield.

    Plenty of hammering rage drives System Overlord tracks like “Violent Revolution,” “Savage Execution” and “Cyborgs,” and thundering epics like “Corrupt Future” and “Northern Lights” exhibit subtler strengths, mixing guttural growls and clean vocals with crashing percussion and dirge-laden riffs. Connoisseurs of corpse-dragging crust will love the brute-force belligerence of “Absolute Fear,” “Nuclear Winter,” and “Second Attack,” which rain down like merciless mortar barrages. As a rule, all of System Overlord‘s mammoth tracks chug and churn with grinding muscle, while reeking of squalor and decay.

    Swordwielder exudes tightly coiled aggression from start to finish here—songs rise from the ashes of desolation, and resounding calls for action and resistance ring loud. If you’re a fan of heavy-hitters like Fatum, War//Plague, Carnage, Zygome, Cancer Spreading or (insert your favorite hefty crust crew here), System Overlord‘s trampling tempo and strapping sound are bound to appeal.

    Crust profane existence swordwielder
  •  We are happy to announce our next new release

    WILT – “Self Titled” 

    WILT combine old school metal and crust in a perfect hybrid that very few others have ever achieved. Prepare for a LP thats equal parts galloping d-beat crust reminiscent of bands like HELLSHOCK, and INSTINCT OF SURVIVAL, meets old school death metal in the vein of BOLT THROWER, MEMORIAM (old) SEPULTURA.

     

    Here is a track from the upcoming LP

    https://profanexistence.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/02-sermon-for-the-bootlickers.wav

     

    “Sermon for the Bootlickers”

    Despite the inculcation of helplessness within each there remains great power. Ill at ease with such makes us ill. Learn to see the hand that feeds for what it is. You’ve been fooled if you think you’ve got no power. Refuse to be reduced to a consumer you’re a human being. Define yourself by more than wealth. Define yourself as a human. You don’t need what you’re being sold. Bend your knee to no authority but your own mind. You have the power to avoid the gilded trap. Avarice is what you’re conditioned for. Break the mold discover what’s really valuable to you. 

    WILT will be on in Europe this July / August will ELECTROZOMBIES From Chile

    Wed, July 12 Hanover / Germany / Confirmed
    Thu, July 13 Bremen  
    Fri, July 14 Mulhem / Germany / Confirmed  
    Sat, July 15 Gent, Belgium / CrustPicnic / Confirmed
    Sun, July 16 Paris / France or Amsterdam / Nederland  
    July 18 North-East France or West Germany 
    July 19 Freiburg / Germany TBC 
    July 20 Winterthur / Switzerland 
    Fri, July 21 Zurich / Switzerland
    Sat, July 22 Biel / Switzerland 
    July 23 Lausanne or Geneva / Switzerland 
    July 24 Geneva / Switzerland or Grenoble france
    July 25 Treviso (or Milano or Bologna or Verona) / Italy
    July 26 Ljubljana Slovenia Confirmed
    July 27 No Sanctuary chilling day
    Fri, July 28 NoSanctuary Confirmed
    Sat, July 29 NoSanctuary Confirmed
    July 30 Ilirska Bistrica/Slovenia or Vienna/Austria or Budapest/Hungary.
    July 31 Wiena / Austrai or Budapest or / Slovakia
    August 1 Brno / Czech Republic.
    August 2 Prague / Czech Republic
    August 3 Finsterwalde / Germany TBC
    Fri, August 4 Leipzig / Germany TBC
    Sat, August 5 Berlin / Germany / confirmed
    August 6 Dresden
    August 7 Wroclaw / Poland
    August 8 Warsaw / Poland
    August 9 Poznan / Poland
    August 10 Szczecin/Poland TBC
    Fri, August 11 Rostock / confirmed
    Sat, August 12 Hamburg TBC
     

    For this in the Seattle or surrounding area you can catch WILT this Saturday April first at Highline Bar with NOOTHGRUSH from Oakland.

    Anarchist anarchist metal blackened crust Crust D-Beat death Grind Metal Punk Rock thrash wilt
  • STORM OF SEDITION – “Decivilize” LP

    Are you prepared to brave the storm?…

    Brace yourself for one of the most uncompromising hard hitting and politically outspoken records of this era. STORM OF SEDITION are an anti-civilization anarchist crust punk band based out of Victoria BC. Sharing members with the mighty ISKRA you can definitely expect some serious blackened crust, and yes a huge metal influence is prevalent however STORM OF SEDITION are a bit more reminiscent of bands like CONTRAVENE & NAUSEA. “Decivilize” brings a heavy anarcho punk dynamic to the table combined with over the top blackened crust grind thats littered with blistering solo’s, insanely powerful drumbeats, and thought productive lyrics that challenge our current state of human civilization. All in all this is an absolute monster of a release!

    Comes with a 12 page booklet containing lyrics, notes, and song explanations. 

    -CLICK HERE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION-

     

    STORM OF SEDITION WILL TOURING THE WEST COAST THIS SUMMER!!! 

    Keep you eye’s peeled for a list of tour dates soon!

     

    Listen to the song “Disconnect” here… 

    https://profanexistence.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/storm-of-sedition-decivilize-05-disconnect.mp3

    Living a domesticated existence
    Starves people of meaning in their lives
    Everyone feels the void beneath the surface
    Of everyday activities and routines

    Miserable, exploited, mass populations
    Feeding the industrial systems endless hunger
    Treated like machines, living beings
    Enslaved and kept passive in a technological noose

    We live in these cages
    Made of concrete, glass, and steel 
    A functioning human made hell 
    Complete with natural scenery 

    Yet there is no community
    Deprived of connection with real people 
    Technology perpetuates alienation 
    But promises to connect us

    And fill the void in our lives
    In constant need of escape and distraction 
    From this fucking ugly world
    Technology creeping into our lives 

    Pop culture, pacifying shit
    Endless distractions to curb dissent 
    A society of lonely domesticated beings 
    Attempting social interaction behind a digital screen

    Clinging to the feeling of connectedness 
    Personalized profiles, mass communication tools
    Monitored and funded by pigs 
    Spying on people, on movements
    While corporations profit off government control
    Microsoft, apple, fedbook
    Endless lists of corporations
    Infiltrating our everyday lives
    The NSA, the CSE 
    Databases created from what you share
    Information for incrimination 
    Millions of people on terrorist watch lists
    Technology’s a weapon used against us 

    Its function is to propel their ability
    To efficiently exploit us and the natural world 
    While doing so capitalizing off selling us
    Gadgets to distract us from the lives we live and hate 

    Turn off that shit, enter the real world
    You are not connected
    You are alone staring into a fucking a screen

    Get outside, meet with real people!
    Even if we use these tools 
    We must never forget 

    Technology is a system created by and for those in power
    And it will only exist with 
    Division of labor, exploitation, and death

    Becoming connected through technology
    Is a sick fucking joke

    PROFANE EXISTENCE RECORDS – PO BOX 647 – HUNTINGTON WV – 25711 – UNITED STATES

    WWW.PROFANEEXISTENCE.COM

     

    Activism Anarchist anarcho-primitivism Anarchy anticiv blackened crust Crust D-Beat DIY Grind profane existance Punk Punk Rock Storm of Sedition stormofsedition
  • Web Store
    • PROFANE EXISTENCE WEB STORE – Shop all (most recent items listed first)
    • PROFANE EXISTENCE 12in LP’s
    • PROFANE EXISTENCE 7in EP’s
    • PROFANE EXISTENCE CD’s
    • 12in LPs – (Other labels)
    • 7in EP’s – (Other labels)
    • 10 in Records (Other Labels)
    • CDs – (Other labels)
    • Cassette Tapes
    • Shirts
    • Patches / Pins / Koozies
    • Books and Zines
    • Store Specials (History)
  • PROFANE EXISTENCE Records
    • About PE Records
    • PE Records News
    • Disco IIII: 2013 – Present
    • Disco III: 2011-2013
    • Disco II: 2001-2010
    • Disco: 1989-2000
  • PROFANE EXISTENCE BANDCAMP
  • Profane Existence Artists
  • Features
    • Interviews
      • Chris Parry
      • Daniel Weiken
      • Sean Fitzgerald
      • Gord Hill
      • ANTISECT
      • Nesha
      • Walter Bond
      • Jake Conroy (SHAC 7)
      • DEADLY REIGN
      • Adam DeGross
      • DESPISE
      • Luk Haas
      • Gord Hill
      • KRUM BUMS
      • MISERY
      • NEUROSIS
      • PUTREFACTION
      • THE SHAME
      • SUFFERING LUNA
      • Vaudie Va-Boom
      • VARIX
      • WARTORN
      • Mike XvX
    • PDF Archives
    • Vegan Recipes!
    • Photos
    • Video
    • Reviews
  • Events
    • On Tour
    • Punk / Activist Events
  • Mailing List
  • About Us / Contact
    • General Contact Info
    • Store Contact Info

Visit the PE web store!


PROFANE EXISTENCE has a web store filled with records, shirts, zines, tapes, patches, pins, CD's and more. Check it often as we are constantly adding new items to the list and selling out of old ones.

Visit the PE web store at:
http://profaneexistence.storenvy.com

Category: Features

0 CONFLICT – RESISTANT CULTURE – MISERY – WAR//PLAGUE – KONTRASEKT

  • August 18, 2013
  • by leffer
  • · Events · Features · On Tour · Organize and Arise · Radness

One of the most prominent and important anarcho-punk bands play Minneapolis for the first time in 32 years!

Conflict_web

 

1 Freedom Bookshop (UK) Firebombed

  • February 2, 2013
  • by damieninbred
  • · Features · News

Image

From The Guardian:

A long-standing anarchist bookshop has been badly damaged in a suspected firebomb attack.

Police investigating the blaze at the Freedom Press bookshop in Whitechapel High Street, east London, are treating it as suspicious. Firefighters were called to the premises at around 5am on Friday and spent two hours extinguishing the blaze. No one was injured.

Around 15% of the ground floor suffered fire damage but the flats above the shop were unaffected.

Freedom Press, which owns the bookshop and publishes a monthly anarchist newspaper, is asking for donations to repair the damage as the premises was uninsured. “We’re all absolutely shell-shocked,” said Jayne, a member of Freedom Press who did not want to give her surname. “What’s particularly annoying is that we couldn’t afford to renew our insurance and it ran out last week.

“There’s a lot of fire and water damage, which doesn’t go too well with books. This wasn’t an accident. Somebody had to lift up a mental shutter to break the window to start the fire. We do get this kind of trouble sometimes.”

A post was uploaded on the Freedom Press Twitter page which said it was not yet clear whether its newspaper archives had been damaged in the blaze.

“Not sure yet whether archives survived – we had one of only a few sets covering almost the entire printed history of the paper boxed in shop,” it read.

Further tweets stated a clean-up had been arranged to take place at the shop from 1pm on Saturday and a donations page was being set up.

Freedom Press was founded in 1886 by a group of friends, including Charlotte Wilson and Peter Kropotkin, and describes itself as the “largest anarchist publishing house” in the country.

It claims to stock thousands of books, newspapers, pamphlets along with magazines, periodicals and newsletters from major anarchist and radical groups.

A Metropolitan police spokesman said: “Inquiries into the circumstances of the fire are under way but at this early stage it is being treated as suspicious.”

No arrests have been made.

For more information and fundraising efforts, please go here.

1 Pay Attention: an interview with Adam DeGross

  • January 2, 2013
  • by abcabcxyaxfd
  • · Features · Interviews · News

degross1

“Ignorance is why I started taking photos.”  Though such statements are not what kept him shooting.  Adam DeGross is releasing his book, Pay Attention, and hosting his first public gallery on January 5th from 4:00 PM until 1:55 AM.  The event will be hosted at Brickmania, aka the Profane Existence Warehouse, and is free to all ages.  Paddy of Dillinger 4 infamy will DJ the gallery, while Ponx Attax, Agitate, Arms Aloft, Frozen Teens, and False perform alongside.

I met with Adam on a typical December Twin Cities evening over at the Triple Rock Social Club.  During our conversation, a man in a long coat and shades – despite the night like some Jack Nicholson homage –

“Hey, did I miss your…”

Adam cut in, “No, no – January 5th.”

“Good, I’m actually looking forward to it.  For once…”

“Yeah it’ll be different.”

With a heh heh, “I’m a fan of different.”

It’s 2013 and punk rock is not dead, and it sure as hell is still different.  Thanks to Adam DeGross, the Greater Twin Cities Metro has pictures to prove it.  For the last five years, DeGross has been a catalyst of the Minnesota punk scene, photographing just about every show one could think of.  Just as some Cold War era espionage agent, his success largely results from his life’s embrace of the culture – the DIY attitude that these numerous subcultures indulge.  Every punk will tell you, there’s a reason they were first attracted to the scene, and Adam is no different.

DeGross, a Burnsville native, got started on nu metal (i.e. Slipknot).  The summer before ninth grade, he wanted to listen to his tunes en route to the Wisconsin Dells.  Checked by a friend, a Rancid cassette was popped in, and the next thing you know DegGross was on to GBH.  At a show at Burnsville’s Garage (a popular venue / youth center), a kid approached Adam, attired with a Virus shirt, with a flyer for a show at the Babylon Arts and Cultural Center (which went ablaze in a 2004 fire).   The show got rowdy, a fight broke out – DeGross recalls, “[it was] something I’ve never seen, I’m into it.”

Shortly thereafter, he started heading down to local punk co-op Extreme Noise whenever he got a chance.  He kept grabbing flyers to shows, and fell into Saint Paul’s street punk scene.  It was only a matter of time before his attendance took a more, management-esque position – and DeGross was on to booking events.  His ex-girlfriend talked him into buying a “shitty point and shoot,” and he fell in love (with the camera).  Adam’s addiction timed well with the advent of social networking, and he began skipping school to add people for his photo page – 21,000 people.  Bands began to take note, and Adam rose as one of the Twin Cities’ most well-known show photographers.  With the rise of Facebook, MySpace’s popularity plummeted.  “You don’t even know… when I started realizing MySpace was dead… I really thought I was done.  I thought game over.”

Adam made the switch, and praised it for giving him more notoriety.  “If it wasn’t for social media, I don’t know if I would have kept on doing it – I don’t know what the world would be like if we didn’t have social media.”  DeGross refined his technique, and soon his photography began appearing in Alternative Press, and all over the Internet.  He moved beyond typical band shots, and “realized [he] could take pictures of shows or people sitting and tying their boots up.”  His interest moved beyond the music, and his work took a very inside perspective of the culture.  “I feel like punk as a whole is both inside the shows and what people are doing when they’re not [inside the shows]… I could take a photo of right behind us and it would be punk…”

.

The University of Minnesota’s Andersen Archives had been moving towards a section reserved for the Minnesota subculture scenes, and DeGross was approached by Lisa Lee to help serve that purpose.   Adam realized that outside our community, these photos could be relevant to people “who might just listen to The Current, or never go to a show.”  So, alongside the first Minnesota flags, early war posters, and notes from the Minneapolis Orchestra, his photography now rests.  Looking at the archives, DeGross contemplated, “The person who made that is probably dead… that could happen to my photos.  That’s all I’ve ever really wanted… if I died, even just one photo.”

With this accomplishment, Adam started his big project, now to be released as Pay Attention.  He told people before he knew what he was doing, he set the date to January fifth on impulse, “I talked big, and had to fill the shoes, you know.”  So he began combing through his tens of thousands of photos, though he knew going in what photos he liked most, “because I see them so fucking much.”  As do-it-yourself as one can be, DeGross looked into a self-publishing program, where he made the book himself and sent it in to get printed.  All on his own, DeGross funded the project, and printed a limited run of three hundred books, “I’m losing $500 if they all sell.  I just want people to know, I’m not trying to make money off of them… I’m doing it to immortalize the things I love, the people I love… but if people buy my prints for $25, alright.”

After our meeting, I posed Adam with a few quick questions for a little more insight, here’s what followed:

Morgan: Can you tell me a little bit about what you shoot with and why?

Adam: I shoot with a Sony A850.  I use it because a guy at the camera store talked me into buying it.

M: What has been harder for you, booking shows on your own or learning to photograph on your own?

A: Booking shows on your own, definitely.  Photography is done by yourself; you just rely on you.  Booking shows can sometimes involve upwards of 30-50 different people, and then promoting it, making sure people come, feeling like shit if people don’t come.  It’s stressful.

M: Which one of your photos from the book is the most memorable and why?

A: I think they all hold a special place in my heart, if they didn’t, then I wouldn’t have chosen them for the book.  If you ever see me smiling like a crazy person at a show, then you’ll know I had just taken a photo I really like.

M: Out of all the touring bands you have met, who was the most outrageous? Did anyone in particular get upset about your shooting?

A: Some of the really out there black metal bands have been weird to talk to, I won’t name names, but they can give off a strange vibe.  No bands have ever gotten upset when I take photos of them, except once, Ross The Boss from Man O War got pissed.  He sucked anyway, and I never posted the pictures.

M: Have you ever considered learning film photography?

A: Maybe one day, it’s costly, but I feel like it would be a fun thing to try out.

M: What are you most excited about with the release of your book?

A: I’m excited to give something back to the community that I’ve based my art around. I’m still a fan of having physical copies of things, so I’m excited to actually have something I can hold in my hands, and share with people.  I’m also really excited to show people the prints for the gallery; they blew me away when I saw how they turned out.

M: Do you think this will be your only release? Do you hope to put out future books?

A: Of course I want to do more, I’d be upset with myself if I only put out one book, or did one gallery.  I want to do this for as long as I can, I can’t see myself stopping.  It’s a part of me, and I think it will be for the rest of my life.

Protip: Adam’s first photo taken is in the book, can you spot it?

The Pay Attention Release Party is supported in part by Extreme Noise Records, Into The Void Records, KFAI’s Root Of All Evil, Profane Existence Records, and Radio K’s Clashed Attitudes

It takes place on January 5, from 4:00 PM – 1:55 AM and the event is free.  Paddy of D4 will be DJing the gallery.  Starting at 6:30 PM, the following bands will play: Ponx Attax, Agitate, Arms Aloft, Frozen Teens, False.

The event is located in a repurposed industrial complex, known as the Thorp Building and CBC.  The address is:

Brickmania LLC

1620 Central Avenue NE

Suite 170

Minneapolis, MN 55413

195789_156932427784891_1866580425_n

0 Countdown to Armageddon – Stimulator

  • October 19, 2012
  • by stinkbot
  • · Features · News · Radness

Fair and balanced.

VIdeo by Stimulator and Submedia TV

0 Remember Sacco and Vanzetti

  • August 26, 2012
  • by stinkbot
  • · Features · PE Web Zine

Originally posted at Because We Must:

By Erik Loomis
On August 23, 1927, the state of Massachusetts executed two Italian immigrant anarchists by the names of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for the murder of two men in a 1920 armed robbery in South Braintree. Although the two men may or may not have been involved in the crime, as Italian anarchists, they were on trial for their beliefs as much as the murder. Despite the lack of concrete evidence and international outrage over the miscarriage of justice, the state of Massachusetts railroaded them into the electric chair.

… Continue Reading

0 This is Athens by Stimulator

  • July 10, 2012
  • by stinkbot
  • · Features · News

A personal account of my short visit to Athens, Greece. My initial intent was to do a report on the anarchist neighbourhood assemblies. Truth be told this task was more challenging than I expected. Few within the neighbourhood assembly scene agreed to be video taped or photographed for fear of retaliation by the police, their employers and fascists. I was also made aware of the troubling hardships undocumented immigrants and their supporters face, the rise of the neo-nazi party Golden Dawn, and the role of the police in suppressing social struggles. This piece is only a snapshot of the complex situation of a country in a state of “civil war.” and how anarchists are reacting to it.

http://submedia.tv/stimulator/2012/07/09/this-is-athens/

4 How to Kick Anaemia’s Ass, Vegan Style!

  • June 30, 2012
  • by stinkbot
  • · Features · PE Web Zine

Anaemia, otherwise known as iron deficiency, is a common blood disorder affecting millions of people worldwide, most of whom are female-bodied. Living with chronic stress and fatigue is unfortunately very normalized in our society, and many people ignore the symptoms of anaemia until they become severe.

Signs that you may be anaemic include tiredness, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, shortness of breath, low tolerance for exercise, heart palpitations, and skin that bruises easily. Many people with anaemia don’t even know they have it, so heading to the clinic for a blood test is usually a good idea. If you don’t eat animal products, many conventional doctors will be quick to blame your diet if you have low iron. However, anaemia is a common problem for women who do eat meat as well, and there are plenty of ways to prevent and cure this illness without supporting animal industries.

… Continue Reading

1 Working Class Vegan Zine seeks submissions. Comrade Black

  • June 26, 2012
  • by stinkbot
  • · Columns · Features · PE Web Zine · Radness

We are seeking submissions for a zine on being both working class and vegan, to decenter veganism away from the politics of privilege and consumerism.

For many of us, buying whatever we want, flying around to animal rights conferences, or going this or that vegan band’s reunion in another country or state is simply not an option. For many of us who struggle with poverty as a lived experience the middle class liberal politics of voting with your dollars and buying overpriced fancy over-packaged goods is alienating and unrealistic. For many of us the food bank is our grocery store and dumpster diving after a house show isn’t something you do to be cool, it is something you do simply cause you can’t afford to buy good food. Our hope is it will help to be a resource of lived experiences for those who can’t relate to the mainstream vegan middle class clique, and that it would be full of useful strategies for coping with poverty while maintaining a vegan way of living.

The term ‘working class’ is ambiguous and many people use it to mean different things. For the context of this zine the term working class will refer to people who work dead end jobs at near minimum wage, or live on welfare or disability, or who struggle to pay rent each month, or are living on the streets or in homeless shelters. We are not referring to people who work high paid union jobs or work as roughnecks in the oil patch or logging industries. The point is to share the experiences of those who have struggled economically just to meet their basic needs yet feel maintaining a plant based diet is important to them.

Submissions should be between 1/2 a page to 5 pages in length (single spaced). We are open to many formats, from personal stories, to personal essays, to critiques, poetry, recipes, cartoons, jokes, or rants and tips. You can write about your struggles with food, or with mainstream liberal vegans, working with animals, why a plant based diet is important to you, nutrition, activism, wild harvesting, dumpster diving, or about how you have navigated the various barriers to eating healthy on a low budget and useful skills or information you have learned along the way.

Deadline for submission September 30
send submissions to: workingclassvegan@hotmail.com

0 TREASURE CITY THRIFT

  • June 19, 2012
  • by stinkbot
  • · Features · PE Web Zine

I first heard about Treasure City Thrift from my homey Chris, who lives in Austin, TX. He told me about this anarcho-thrift store and by gum my interest was piqued! Wanna know more? I sure as shit did, so I (stinkbot) sent an email that had some questions attached. Cory, a coordinator at Treasure City was kind enough to wrangle two founding members of the collective and answer these questions. Read on brave and interested punk rocker!

What is Treasure City Thrift?

Simon: Friend, neighbor, thrift store, bazaar of the weird, junk/curio shop, reuse and waste stream diversion project, event and meeting space, infoshop, collectively-run business, non-profit, co-op incubator, really really free market sponsor, 25c sales, radical economic engine, mutual aid, solidarity not charity.

Cory: A collectively run radical non-profit thrift store in Austin TX.

Our mission: Treasure City Thrift supports local groups working for grassroots change using a sustainable and democratic economic model.

What does that mean exactly? We’re trying to build solid support systems for the organizations in our community that are working towards systematic, root level change. These groups need funding, space materials, We provide one time grants, ongoing financial support, materials, meeting and event space, free copies, and promotion to groups which have little or no funding, and are aligned with our principles.

How did the idea of starting a thrift store come about, as opposed to an info shop or a cafe?

Simon: We had a dozen co-founders – many of whom are still active in some capacity – so of course there are varying reasons why a thrift store was appealing.

At the core, I think we all wanted to create something that could financially sustain itself and other radical projects, and was simple and inexpensive to start. Of course, it never happened exactly as we envisioned it (except the inexpensive part!), but we kept at it and now we are closer to the original goal.

On a personal level, I like the idea of re-selling goods that already exist at very affordable prices (or free). This makes TCT relevant to a range of people beyond just radicals. Also, I’ve always loved and shopped at thrift stores – as do most of my friends – so creating an anarchist thrift store made a lot of sense economically. Why pay money to organizations or business you disagree with if you can start your own alternative?

James: Treasure City’s goal from the beginning was to be an economic engine for the Austin radical community. Many of us had been involved in projects where we spent more time fundraising than we spent actually doing the work that the project was intended to do. We wanted to start a project that would fund other projects, provide jobs with dignity, and otherwise be part of a larger infrastructure of resistance and liberation.
A thrift store had both political and pragmatic advantages over other types of businesses. Politically, it was a project that would relevant to a wide range of communities. By selling necessary things like clothing and household goods at affordable prices, it could meet the needs of radicals and non-radicals alike, much more than an infoshop. A lot of radical spaces seem to only serve a narrow demographic, and we envisioned a project that would transcend that limit.
Also, a thrift store appealed to our interest in anti-consumerism. It walks a tight line, because in one sense, it is entirely consumerist; a lot of the stuff treasure city sells is completely unnecessary and excessive. But it also runs on waste diversion. Much of what the store sells would have otherwise gone to the landfill―or one of those clothing donation boxes and then on to wreck the local economy in some third world country. Treasure City tries to keep it local.
On the pragmatic side, a thrift store requires far fewer resources to start (what an MBA would refer to as “start-up capital”) than most other types of businesses. There is no comprehensive regulatory framework for thrift stores (yet) the way there is for cafes. We didn’t need a commercial kitchen, health inspection, etc. Also, since the whole premise of the store is that we are selling donated goods, we didn’t need money or credit to pay for our initial inventory; just the good will of the folks in the neighborhood.

… Continue Reading

5 Opening The Cages interview with with Mike XVX by Comrade Black

  • June 6, 2012
  • by stinkbot
  • · Features · Interviews · PE Web Zine

Mike XvX is a long time animal liberation activist, and singer songwriter who tours in the punk, folk punk and hardcore circuits bringing the message of resistance through music and action wherever he goes. Mike has toured extensively, and has taken part in animal liberation campaigns on four continents. Mike is currently organizing a multimedia tour incorporating different genres of music, poetry, film, and demos bringing the message of militant animal liberation and community activism across the west coast.

PE: Tell us a bit about some of the stuff you have been involved in over the years?

Mike XvX: Well other than this tour, I’ve been pretty busy the past few years. As a musician I’ve traveled to about 20 countries in the last three years which has been an amazing experience all on it’s own. Touring as a solo musician gives me the flexibility to tour as frequent as I’d like, wherever I’d like. I feel very fortunate to travel as much as I do to talk about animal rights in front of so many different people the world over, and in that period of time I’ve been lucky enough to build lasting relationships with a lot of folks I normally would have never had the opportunity to meet.

Other than music, I’ve been involved in the animal rights and other movements for almost a decade now. I’ve worked alongside several different groups in that time, and I try to make myself available to anyone that needs help in their campaigns. I work regularly with Portland and Seattle Animal Defense Leagues, volunteer as often as I can with Portland Anarchist Black Cross, as well as have done work for groups like Sea Shepherd in the past. In March of 2011 I traveled to Japan with Sea Shepherd to document the world largest cetacean slaughter, which is the Dall’s Porpoise slaughter in Otsuchi, Iwate. Incidentally, this was also the location of the epicenter of the tsunami that destroyed all of Japan’s northeastern coast, and myself and five other activists narrowly escaped with our lives.

… Continue Reading

Page 2 of 4
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel