Over the past number of years there has been an emergent cannon of anti-capitalist literature providing polemic and analysis aimed at undermining the comfort zones of late capitalism with ripostes from its rebellious borderlands. This literature verges between two forms. There is the sometimes arid academic style shaping tomes on anti-capitalism as a new social movement. Then there are other compendiums that collate smaller pieces from the movement themselves in collections that inevitably end up sitting on undergrad reading lists or bookshop shelves in easy reach of a broader audience.

This is a very Irish book in one way, written by an exiled anarchist faced with immigration who opted for global political hot spots over the building sites of London or the dole queues of Dublin. The Temple Bar Gallery in Dublin played host last night to a book launch marking the latest addition to this world of anti-capitalist imagination. Ryan's Clandestines: the Pirate journals of an Irish Exile seems to be a book that infuses a stringent lived passion for revolutionary change with his own broad theoretical sweeps and political musings. In this way it clearly echoes the whimsical mental and physical travels of Naomi Klien's Fences and Windows, but takes a far more personal and biographical tone. From quickly glancing over it, Cladestines is composed of a series of easily digestable vignettes taking the reader from the squat scene of East Berlin, to armed struggle in Kurdistan and an eyewitness account of Michael Stone's murderous rampage at a republican funeral in '88. These primary tales represent the formative years in Ryan's growth, but are quickly eclipsed by his journeys in the new world of South American radicalism. The blurb on the back describes the novel as a Che like travelogue dripped in the sped up flair of Hunter S. Thompon's gonzo adventures and as such is one definitely worth adding to the reading list.

Unlikely to recieve much of a popular release, Ramor Ryan's Clandestines: the Pirate journals of an Irish Exile will be on sale in Anthology Books in Temple Bar and directly from AK. There will also be a reading from the book by Ramor courtesy of the Trinity Anarchist Society entitled From the Berlin Blacbloc to Zapatista Zones, it starts at 7:30pm on Wednesday, October 19th in room 4050b.

Links to some more of Ramor's Writings: We Are Everywhere | Confronting Capitalism | Days of Horror Nights Of War | More online pieces | Longer online review by a WSM comrade

Labels: Indymedia, Literature, Ramor Ryan, Social Movements, South America