helvede.net is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
Velkommen til Helvede, fediversets hotteste instance! Vi er en queerfeministisk server, der shitposter i den 9. cirkel.
Welcome to Hell, We’re a DK-based queerfeminist server.
Read our server rules!
Many of us have been practicing mutual aid, from Hurricane Helene in Appalachia to Hurricane Sandy in NYC, from food to book shares, but can mutual aid be a political force in a moment when government has all but collapsed?
Next Wednesday, Firestorm is excited to host Lux editor-in-chief Sarah Leonard in person for a conversation with local friends from Mergoat Magazine and Pansy Collective! They'll be launching the newest issue of Lux, a feminist magazine of politics and culture, and talking about how to take mutual aid practices beyond mere survival.
Tomorrow dozens of national organizations are teaming up to host protests in cities across the United States. With hundreds of thousands of people hitting the streets for the first time since the effective collapse of the constitutional republic, there’s a growing need to widely disseminate information on keeping ourselves and others safe. To that end, we’re sharing a new zine based on text from @privacyguides, which includes best practices and helpful tips for smartphone security, protests, and mass surveillance. You can read and download the free guide at https://archive.org/details/protesters-guide-to-smartphone-security.
In Asheville, protesters will be rallying in Pack Square from 11am to 1pm. Members of our collective will be there distributing copies of “The Protesters’ Guide to Smartphone Security” along with practical zines for folks interested in taking effective action against fascism.
Looking for more opportunities to pick up introductory materials? We maintain a table of free resources at Firestorm that we think everyone should read! We’d also encourage you to check out the zines available at https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/direct-action.
Next Saturday at Firestorm Books we'll be discussing the Eurochristian origins of mass criminalization and racial capitalism. Join us in-person at 3pm with Andrew Krinks, author of the recently published book "White Property, Black Trespass." In dialog with local organizers Hill Brown and Rev. Allyn Maxfield-Steele, Andrew will share their work on the historical continuity and religiosity of whiteness and property, concluding with a vision for a faith-based abolition of prisons and policing.
On the last day of March we're hosting a conversation with two authors we adore: Dean Spade and Kai Cheng Thom! Join online to discuss how we can be the change we want to see—both out in the world, and in our closest connections. Dean's new book "Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together" is a resounding call to action and a practical manifesto for how to combat cultural scripts and take our relationships into our own hands.
This event is also a fundraiser for families in Gaza and attendees are asked to make a donation in lieu of ticket cost. Live ASL interpretation will be provided.
On Sunday, March 23rd our co-op will be hosting author Sophie Lewis, whose razor sharp thinking—ever provocative and visionary—has made them one of our favorite feminist writers. Speaking on "enemy feminisms" (the topic of their most recent book), @reproutopia catalogs our movement's bad kin while making the case for the bold, liberatory politics we need to overcome fascism, nationalism, femmephobia, and cisness.
"This book is mandatory reading for anyone interested in a rough and compelling vision of the feminist past, present, and future. Honest, brutal, historically comprehensive, and brilliant." —Judith Butler
Next Saturday, March 22nd, Firestorm will be hosting Rattling the Cages co-creator Eric King in conversation with two veterans of the George Jackson Brigade—Janine Bertram and Mark Cook. Together they'll reflect on their experiences as political prisoners and the legacy of one of the most prolific US revolutionary groups in the 1970s, which synthesized movements for women's liberation, queer liberation, and Black power.
This Sunday, March 9th, our co-op has the honor of welcoming historian Kenyon Zimmer for a virtual event on the neglected history of Jewish anarchism in the United States. Last year during the anarchist bookfair, Kenyon presented in-person on the work of Joseph Cohen, who in 1945 published "The Jewish Anarchist Movement in America," an essential Yiddish-language study. Now he returns to continue the conversation with writers Shane Burley ("Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism") and Anna Elena Torres ("With Freedom in Our Ears: Histories of Jewish Anarchism").
Register for this free online event and find a copy of Kenyon's editted and annotated edition of "The Jewish Anarchist Movement in America" at https://firestorm.coop/events/3338-rediscovering-a-history-of-jewish-anarchism.html. Can't make the event but still want to listen in? Sign up and we'll send you the recording to stream at your convenience!
We're just two days away from the next event in the Rattling the Cages series! Join former political prisoner Eric King who will be speaking with family members of political prisoners about how the repression and violence of incarceration impacts more than just those imprisoned. Sharon Shoatz (daughter of former political prisoner Russell “Maroon” Shoatz), susie day (partner of former political prisoner Laura Whitehorn), and Rochelle Bricker (Eric's partner) speak to the familial harm of prison repression and the unswerving love and solidarity that keeps hope alive.
In the early-20th century, strikes and union battles were common in industrial centers throughout the US. But nothing compared to the class warfare of the West Virginia Mine Wars.
To celebrate the release of "Black Coal and Red Bandanas," an illustrated history from PM Press, we're exciting to host a virtual evening with author Raymond Tyler and illustrator Summer McClinton. They'll be joined by Shaun Slifer and Kenzie New-Walker of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum!
Register for this free online event and find a copy of "Black Coal and Red Bandanas" at https://firestorm.coop/events/3342-the-west-virginia-mine-wars.html. Can't make the event but still want to listen in? Sign up and we'll send you the recording to stream at your convenience!
Mark you calendars because when we get back from winter break we're hosting original horror from the margins!
On Sunday, February 16th at 7pm ET, contributors to "Death In The Mouth Vol 2," a new horror anthology showcasing BIPOC and other ethnically marginalized writers and artists, will be discussing their work and the genre. "Death in the Mouth" features 20 stand-alone prose stories spanning from the mythic past to the far future, crossing between real and fictive worlds, and exploring unique and unsettling manifestations of horror.
Our bookstore is no stranger to unwanted government attention; we’ve been threatened by city officials, visited by the FBI, and surveilled by police. Historically, the investigation and prosecution of activists has aimed to disrupt our movements for change, sow fear and isolation among participants, break intergenerational bonds, and criminalize struggles for freedom. But we can overcome these attacks through principled action and uncompromising solidarity.
Firestorm has made the following commitments: • We will minimize non-required collection and storage of information about customers, authors, event participants, and others who engage with our co-op. • We will resist, and publicly disclose, any attempt to obtain such information when it exists. • We will decline to answer questions from police and government agents. • We will fight any court or government subpoena, process, or demand for records, testimony, or evidence. • We will support those in our community who face state repression, regardless of “guilt” or “innocence.” • We will retain legal counsel to defend our freedom to not cooperate with the State.
We know that these actions cannot guarantee safety for our members or community, but to cooperate in the face of our own repression, or the repression of others, would be a profoundly unsafe betrayal. Noncooperation is both the ethical and strategic position for those who want to build a new world, but must contend with the old one.
Next weekend Firestorm is delighted to be hosting former political prisoner Henri Feola for a short reading and discussion of their recently published zine, "The Veil Between Worlds is Plexiglass."
Henri's work focuses on his experience as an incarcerated forest defender, intertwining the personal and the political. This conversation will explore abolition, jail support and solidarity, and the role of art and personal narrative in revolution.
County sheriffs will be key to Donald Trump's promise of "mass deportations." Alongside community activists from CIMA, Jessica Pishko, author of The Highest Law in the Land, explains the roles of these elected officials, how they work with white supremacist and anti-immigrant groups, and how communities can resist.
This event will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel (no registration required). Simultaneous interpretation will be provided for in-person participants.
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Alguaciles y policías de el condado van a ser la clave para la promesa de “deportaciones masivas” que hizo Donald Trump. Junto a activistas comunitarios de CIMA, Jessica Pishko, autora The Highest Law in the Land (“La ley más alta del país”) explicará las funciones de estos funcionarios electos, como trabajan con grupos de supremacistas blancos y antiinmigrantes, y como pueden resistir las comunidades.
Este evento sera transmitido en vivo en nuestro canal de YouTube (no es necesario registrarse). Se proporcionará interpretación simultánea para los participantes en persona.
Last chance to get cozy at the bookstore this weekend before we close for a mini winter break next week!
Asheville is experiencing a cold front AKA ideal book browsing weather. Hang out, have a cup of tea, and disappear into the pages of your first 2025 read. We're open today and tomorrow from 3-7pm. We'll be closed January 6 - 9 to do our own hibernating. Never fear, we will be back with extended hours next weekend!
In 2024 our co-op collaborated on nine incredible events with Eric King and Josh Davidson, co-editors of "Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners!" Next Saturday, Eric and Josh will be joined by Rattling the Cages co-creator Sara Falconer to share how they started this oral history project, the importance of inside-outside collaboration, and how replicating these oral histories is something you can do, too. Sarah and Josh will additionally talk about a quarter century of creating the Certain Days calendar, building relationships with political prisoners, and why our support matters!
Tomorrow evening, we're hosting an important conversation in the Rattling the Cages series, with a focus on politicized prisoners! Series creators Eric King and Josh Davidson talk with Hector “Bori” Rodriguez and Farhan Ahmed, both of whom spent decades imprisoned in New York where they became politicized as they fought for their freedom.
Next Saturday, we're excited to host an intergeneration panel with former political prisoners who served time at women's facilities. In this eighth event with the creators of "Rattling the Cages," we'll hear from Linda Evans, Laura Whitehorn, and Nicole Kissane about the repression, the resistance, and the resilience of women fighting back in US prisons.
Looking for a space to turn off anxiety brain and connect with others over a fun, supportive, and COVID safe(r) activity? Firestorm's game night is back this week, after a month long hiatus!
Our co-op hosts casual tabletop gameplay twice a month with a focus on short games that are newbie friendly. Make friends and have fun without spending a dime! You can bring a game to share, or play one of dozens provided by our facilitator, Kit. See you there!
Whether or not you made it to last week's reading group kick off, we hope you'll join us tomorrow to discuss the first section of Rebecca Solnit's "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster." We'll be talking about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 (pages 13-72) in the context of our own experiences with Hurricane Helene. This is also a cool section because it includes the origin story of the Catholic Worker Movement, a radical faith movement that inspired BeLoved Asheville!
Copies of "A Paradise Built in Hell" are available at Firestorm with a discount, or at no cost for participants in financial distress. We'll also be continuing to provide childcare for kids five and up, so please let us know the names and ages of the young folks you're bringing!
In the initial weeks after the storm, I didn't find myself with much appetite for reading, but one book came up over and over in conversation—a 2009 title by Rebecca Solnit dealing with the surprising turn toward joyful solidarity many experience in the aftermath of disasters.
It's been years since I encountered "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster" as part of a local anarchist reading group. I'd never experienced a disaster, but Hurricane Katrina was still fresh for many who had been in NOLA to participate in mutual aid efforts, and the book left a deep, lasting impression. Read in tandem with "The Shock Doctrine," a contemporaneous title on how elites exploit disasters to consolidate power, we developed an understanding of disasters as profoundly political events—contested space in which communities, politicians, and corporations all struggle to renegotiate the terms of everyday life for better... or for worse.
In the aftermath of a historic Appalachian disaster, a return to "A Paradise Built in Hell" feels necessary. Not only to understand what we've experienced, but to envision an Appalachian future worth fighting for. We'll be starting our reading group next Monday. It's ok if you don't yet have a copy of the book; we'll read the preface together and set the stage for five sessions. Books will be made available at no cost to participants who don't have the money available to buy one!
