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View Full Version : fire and flames: history of the german autonomen (full text on libcom)



Sasha
17th August 2013, 20:36
Fire and flames: A history of the German autonomist movement


http://libcom.org/files/imagecache/article/images/library/autonomen.jpg (http://libcom.org/files/images/library/autonomen.jpg)


Fire and Flames is no detached academic study, but a passionate, hands-on, and engaging account of the beginnings of one of Europe's most intriguing protest movements of the last thirty years. An introduction by George Katsiaficas, author of The Subversion of Politics and an afterword by Gabriel Kuhn, a long-time autonomous activist and author, add historical context and an update on the current state of the Autonomen.



Fire and Flames was the first comprehensive study of the German autonomous movement ever published. Released in 1990, it reached its fifth edition by 1997, with the legendary German Konkret journal concluding that "the movement had produced its own classic." The author, writing under the pseudonym of Geronimo, has been an autonomous activist since the movement burst onto the scene in 1980-81. In this book, he traces its origins in the Italian Autonomia project and the German social movements of the 1970s, before describing the battles for squats, "free spaces," and alternative forms of living that defined the first decade of the autonomous movement. Tactics of the "Autonome" were militant, including the construction of barricades or throwing molotov cocktails at the police. Because of their outfit (heavy black clothing, ski masks, helmets), the Autonome were dubbed the Black Bloc by the German media, and their tactics have been successfully adopted and employed at anti-capitalist protests worldwide.


AttachmentSize Fire_and_Flames.pdf (http://libcom.org/files/Fire_and_Flames.pdf)


http://libcom.org/library/fire-flames-history-german-autonomist-movement

The Feral Underclass
17th August 2013, 20:53
It's a really interesting, informative book. I recently finished reading it.

The Garbage Disposal Unit
17th August 2013, 22:27
I found it particularly useful reading alongside of The Subversion of Politics - a more academic/historical perspective (though, also, a somewhat more irritating narrative voice in Katsiaficas) - The Red Army Faction: A Documentary History Vol. 2: Dancing with Imperialism. The latter text is in many ways the best (in terms of source documents and rigor), and useful for situating the autonomists.

But, Fire and Flames is great not only in terms of the subject matter and information, but as "a read". It's really lively and engaging - a real joy. I definitely plowed through it in a couple sittings on account of how enjoyable and easy going it was.

Sasha
17th August 2013, 23:35
I read this straight after "how it all began" of bommi baumann, they lined up rather nicely that way...