Anarchism, the philosophy of love, irrespective of what the babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media would have you believe, without love in your heart you can never be an anarchist. Of course that doesn't mean you are not a fighter, it is just that your battles are to spread love, peace and justice throughout the world. Anarchists have expressed their hopes and dreams in many ways, poetry, theatre, novels, paintings, etc., but also in direct action when and where they feel it is needed. Anarchism can claim among its ranks many poets one of them Frederico Arcos, Spanish anarchist and poet.
Federico Arcos (July 18, 1920-May 23, 2015), a lifelong anarchist,
participated in the Spanish Revolution and Civil War in the 1930s, and
later took part in the antifascist underground there. He immigrated to
Canada in 1952, where he continued his commitment to anarchist goals. He
eventually compiled an extensive archive of anarchist writings and
other material.
Fifth Estaters met Federico in the early 1970s. In time he became a
beloved elder to people working on the paper, and in the larger
Detroit/Windsor anarchist, radical, and labor communities. The 50th
anniversary retrospective exhibit of the FE at Detroit's Museum of
Contemporary Art is dedicated to Federico. It runs from September 2015
to January 2016.
The following remembrance is presented with the understanding that each
generation of rebels confronts the leviathan of oppression and
exploitation in its own way, using the ideas and resources passed on to
it by those who came before. Today's anarchists and anti-authoritarians
fight for a future free from hierarchy and exploitation, developing
means and strategies as they go. For some, living memory of the struggle
goes back to the Occupy movement, for others, Seattle in 1999. Those of
us who became active in the 1960s and '70s were personally acquainted
with veterans of the revolts earlier in the century, from whom we drew
deep inspiration and courage. Because the fight for freedom is still
ongoing, awareness of the lives and legacies of yesterday's fighters and
battles remains relevant, in fact essential.
—Robby Barnes
Continue reading:
Now thanks to
The Fifth Estate we are able to read
Momentos a book of poetry by Federico Arcos in Spanish and in English on a free download
HERE:
Two of his poems from the collection:
WHITE DOVES
White doves. White doves
that pass by … return…
white doves flying in circles
as if protecting the neighborhood.
White doves. White doves
that perch on the roof of my house.
Peace… Peace and tranquility
the domain of those white doves.
But … what? But … what?
If there is no tranquility that lasts,
but there are vivid memories
of black doves in flight over
Barcelona!… Madrid!…
Guernica!… London!…
Hiroshima!!!… Nagasaki!!!
White doves. White doves
Lasting symbol. Endless beginning.
Oh, white doves; white doves!
—August 1960, Hiroshima 15 years on
And:
Since 1939, young anarchists in Spain have paid the price for resisting
Francoism. Raul Carballeira, a prominent figure in the anarchist
underground, was one who paid the ultimate price when surrounded by
police on Montjuïc Mountain in Barcelona.
RAUL CARBALLEIRA
(February 28, 1918-June 26, 1948)
Bursts of shrapnel
mowed down your young body.
But you still had a gasp of breath,
a gasp of breath and a bullet;
and your mind, like a rapid steed,
galloping in the air,
on a hot June afternoon,
exploded under your own impact.
I cry out and I cry out with vehemence;
I cry out with vehemence, oh brother;
for never did they succeed
in chaining The Idea
or silencing The Word.
The word that expresses
In ideas, the soul.
We are a hammer of steel.
We shall continue hammering.
Each word, a blow;
each blow, a spark;
each phrase, a flame;
and in fires of words,
torches of The Idea
illuminating the darkness,
we shall proceed on the path
with dawns of truth.
Read the full collection HERE:
Visit ann arky's home at
www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
