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 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 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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