Revolution Everywhere

I met Sunfrog and Viva, two members of the editorial collective for the Fifth Estate, which is the longest-running radical publication in the country. They were in New Orleans as part of their “Revolution Everywhere” tour, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the magazine.

I read the last four issues of the Fifth Estate after participating in the anarchist study-group last year. Fascinating and inspiring stuff: anarchist, anti-authoritarian, and refreshingly free of the dogmatic attitude that often dogs radical writing. It bills itself as an “unincorporated, antiprofit, cooperative magazine,” an “expression of resistance to an unjust and destructive society,” with “no copyright” and “no paid staff,” which I think is pretty interesting in its own right.

There was a small party at John Clark’s house Friday night, and a multimedia presentation about the history of the Fifth Estate at the Iron Rail Saturday night. Sunfrog’s reading of his essay, “On Having Something to Do,” was particularly moving and disarmingly passionate.

Given the age of the magazine, I expected someone older, but I was surprised to learn that Sunfrog is a year or two younger than me.

The Fifth Estate website is just a place holder — not much to see — but poking around a little on the web, I found Sunfrog’s blog, and some of his writing on subjects such as communes, polyamory, some poetry and an interview with Hakim Bey.

I gave him a DVD of ROX #90.