Flying Brick Presents: Suffled How it Gush: A North American Anarchist in the Balkans
From Facebook event page: War and revolution in the Middle East have recently shadowed their neighbors to the west, but the denizens of the Balkans are in the midst of a new wave of their own struggles. As its people continue to suffocate between the brutalities of global capitalism and murderous power-plays of regional demagogues, […]
From Facebook event page:
War and revolution in the Middle East have recently shadowed their neighbors to the west, but the denizens of the Balkans are in the midst of a new wave of their own struggles. As its people continue to suffocate between the brutalities of global capitalism and murderous power-plays of regional demagogues, anarchists and others struggle to build a new world on top of the old. Join author Shon Meckfessel, just back from the Balkans’ own Arab Spring, in a reading and spirited discussion Tuesday September 20 at 7pm at The Flying Brick Library.
About the Author:
Shon Meckfessel grew up in Sacramento, and has resided extensively in eastern and western Europe and the Middle East. Since 1999, he has cumulatively spent three years in the Balkans, over 13 trips. He currently resides in Seattle, pursuing a PhD at the University of Washington in Language and Rhetoric, with current research focusing on Class Composition in the Egyptian revolution. Shon is actively involved in the Seattle Solidarity Network and also enjoys hiking.
Reviews for Suffled How it Gush:
“Shon Meckfessel bathes in undercurrent discourses and points us to Balkan dynamics contradicting the nationalist loyalties that distort people’s lives. Rather than making ethnic claims or endorsing any hierarchy, he clarifies existing struggles against states and points toward a region free of domination.” —George Katsiaficas, activist and author of Subversion of Politics: European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday Life
“Shon Meckfessel takes on the impossible task of unraveling the cultural and political mysteries and incongruities of the post-war Balkans, a world where dictionaries are constantly rewritten and Vegeta on every shelf represents ‘globalization as hope.’ In a landscape torn by racism and violence, he finds truth and beauty emerging from old men without socks, bottles of rakija, clouds of pigeons over Sufi booksales, and punk rock love amidst crushed mint.” —Kari Lydersen, author of Revolt on Goose Island and co-author of Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun
“[Shon] is a perfect collector of the ruminatings of the denizens of the Balkans as they wrestle with the difficulties—imposed and organic—of polyethnicity. Meckfessel’s patient portraits, which delve deeply into the illogic of the nation-state itself, deserve wide readership.” —Daniel Burton-Rose, co-editor of Confronting Capitalism
“This work reads like a novel, but it’s real journalism; Shon went hunting for truths and brought them back for us.” —Michael Muhammad Knight, author of The Taqwacores and The Five Percenters: Islam, Hip Hop, and the Gods of New York.
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