‘The Free’, original 1986 edition. now a free download

Recently  a few people have asked for  the original version of The Free in digital form so I took in the old book and the German version and had them scanned. This is the result. the scan wasn’t too good and I had to go through it all, fiercely resisting the temptation to improve the text, hopefully I haven’t missed too many typos.

https://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/testing-downloads/

The Free (original short 1986 and 1990 edition)  PDF 151 pages 

The Free (original short 1986 and 1990 edition)  Epub 1.6mb

‘This short, original version is the same tale but darker and more violent, focusing less on  revolution and more on guerilla struggle’.

.Dr Daniel P. Jaeckle, author of ‘Embodied Anarchy in Ursula K. Le Guin’s ‘The Dispossessed’ said this of the first version of The Free

I should add that the 1986 version has its own interest. It does not often engage in ideological statements, it ends with the more realistic deaths of some characters as opposed to the more romantic ending of the 2007 version, and the speed of the narrative is compelling. I encourage those who can find the 1986 version to read it as well.

from   Imagining an Anarchist Revolution: M. Gilliland’s The Free

REVIEWS of original version

Continue reading “‘The Free’, original 1986 edition. now a free download”

Dreaming Beyond Capitalism: A Culture Without Fear

utopia-is-possible

 

George Monbiot lists 13 world catastrophes in his Guardian column this week, starting with the granting of absolute power to a man who appears to possess no capacity for restraint, balance or empathy, but a bottomless capacity for revenge and vindictiveness.

High on his list is runaway climate change which has a trajectory way beyond that envisaged by the Paris agreement.

Equally alarming are the red lights flashing for Economic Collapse, possibly kicked off next week with the fall of Italian banks and the Brexit mess.

revolution

Then there is the falling apart of the European Union, takeovers by far right governments in the pay of capitalist corporations, legitimation of sexism and racism, not to mention spreading permanent war as well as longer term emergencies such as the UN declaring that at current rates of soil loss we have 60 years of harvests left, and of course the extinction crisis which  appears, if anything, to be accelerating.

With the world in such a mess it’s a good moment to remind each other that it NEED NOT BE SO… Reaffirming long term goals can inspire us to stronger daily resistance.

 Dreaming Beyond Capitalism: A Culture Without Fear

By Martin Winiecki, .. shared with thanks

In the 1990s an unusual encounter took place in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In plant rituals, shamans of the Achuar, a tribe living in pristine forest that had never been in touch with Western civilization, received the warning that the “white man” would try to invade their lands, cut down the forest and exploit the resources. Deeply shaken, they called out to the Spirits for help. Continue reading “Dreaming Beyond Capitalism: A Culture Without Fear”