Sound Bite
Vermont, a land where hard-working locals intersect with vacationing Flatlanders, has been the scene of many experiments in expanding venues for democratic decision-making and socialism.
The book provides a critical (non-sectarian) analysis of the last two decades of politics and movement-building from the point of view of an AFL-CIO union officer and anarchist organizer, while sharing what it was like to be inside those movements as a participant. In these ways the work has both contemporary political value and a historical value.
Jeff Jones of the Weather Underground has contributed a Foreword, in which he relates Van Deusen's thinking and experiences to the anarchist movement since the 1960s. He talks about the role of a militant left in a time of hard right ascendancy, calling for unity around basic principles and strategic issues.
About the Author
David Van Deusen marched in his first Black Bloc against Bill Clinton and the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. He co-founded the Green Mountain Anarchist Collective in 2000.
Van Deusen is a former member of Anti-Racist Action and is a past District Vice President and Member-At-Large of the Vermont AFL-CIO. Dave served on the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs and is a past member of the United Auto Workers Local 1981, Teamsters Local 1L, United Electrical Workers Local 221.
He co-authored 'The Black Bloc Papers' and 'Neither Washington Nor Stowe.' In addition, he was elected to two terms on his local Select Board (endorsed by the VT Progressive Party, VT Liberty Union Party & the AFL-CIO), three terms as First Constable, and as Moretown Chair of the (social-democratic) Vermont Progressive Party Caucus.
Van Deusen has traveled as far west as California, as far east as Budapest, Hungary, as far north as Quebec City, and as far south as Chiapas Mexico. He has labored as a construction worker, farmhand, bartender, archaeologist, freelance journalist, and as News Editor of Catamount Tavern News. He currently is a Senior Union Rep for the Vermont State Employees’ Association (representing road crew workers), is a member of the Vermont Workers’ Center.
Van Deusen has resided in New Orleans (birthplace of jazz), Jacksonville, Florida (birthplace of Lynyrd Skynyrd), West Nyack, New York and Seville, Spain. Now he lives with his family (wife Angela, daughter Freya, and son William) in rural Vermont and rides a union-made Harley Davidson motorcycle.
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About the Book
The contemporary anarchist world, including the idea of secession as it flourishes in "Bernie Sanders;¢ Vermont," is outlined in these collected writings by an AFL-CIO union officer, laborer, journalist and anarchist organizer. With a partial...
The contemporary anarchist world, including the idea of secession as it flourishes in "Bernie Sanders;¢ Vermont," is outlined in these collected writings by an AFL-CIO union officer, laborer, journalist and anarchist organizer. With a partial focus on the Green Mountain Anarchist Collective but applicable throughout the US, he describes political goals and specific events in the last few decades; central to the theme is the aim to expand venues for democratic decision making and socialism.
Dave Van Deusen includes practical information on hands-on organizing of anarchist and black bloc actions. However, the work goes well beyond anarchist and black bloc actions and into labor organizing, community organizing, and journalistic accounts of various social movements/events.
The protest and political actions Van Deusen illustrates are undergirded by philosophical considerations which he presents in separate essays, with references to Bakunin, Marx, Guy Debord and other thinkers. He also shows how, in the aftermath of 9/11, the movement's momentum post-Seattle dissipated for a time.
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Pages 234
Year: 2017
BISAC: POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Anarchism
Soft Cover
ISBN: 978-1-62894-303-0
Price: USD 22.95
Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-1-62894-304-7
Price: USD 32.95
eBook
ISBN: 978-1-62894-305-4
Price: USD 22.95
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