And those possibilities are already here, as seeds within the common sense of our daily practices, whether we’re self-determining and self-governing in an autonomous community such as in Chiapas, Mexico, or prefiguring liberatory forms of social relations and social organization in smaller ways.

So this book of picture-essays - with Erik Ruin’s art and my words themselves engaging in mutual aid to create a wholeness - asserts that despite the structural violence swirling around us, “the impossible is indeed possible,” to quote from the Zapatistas on their twenty-fifth anniversary in January 2019. “Many of us are already nurturing a climate of communal care.” Poignantly, the necessity of cooperation and solidarity is more apparent by the day. Or as I wrote in the prologue to the book, it’s a reminder that we’re “balanced on the tightrope between the tension that marks any inching toward utopia, and that especially today, is stretched taut by the push-pull of utter despair and utter hopefulness.” Yet as social anarchist Peter Kropotkin wrote long ago in his book Mutual Aid, species not only survive but also thrive best when they mutually support each other. And rather than helping readers understand this crossroads, which to my mind is a choice between fascism and/or extinction, or instead “everyday anarchism,” Paths toward Utopia feels more like a needed reminder of our collective ethical responsibility as a species: to better care for and love each other, and the nonhuman world, in the here and now of whatever time we have left. Roberto Sirvent: How can your book help BAR readers understand the current political and social climate?Ĭindy Milstein: It might seem paradoxical to focus on “paths toward utopia” in what is clearly a dystopian moment in history. Her book is Paths toward Utopia: Graphic Explorations of Everyday Anarchism. Milstein is the author of Anarchism and Its Aspirations (AK Press, 2010), and has contributed essays to anthologies such as Realizing the Impossible (AK Press, 2007) and Globalize Liberation (City Lights, 2003).

This week’s featured author is Cindy Milstein. In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. “ The necessity of cooperation and solidarity is more apparent by the day.” The author believes we are at a crossroads between fascism and/or extinction, and a path of communal care.

Anarchism and its aspirations