POLITICAL PAMPHLETS VOL. II
2020-2021
Political Pamphlets is an ongoing publishing series with a focus on highlighting the organizers, artists, activists, writers, and ideas that are working towards making the world better through creativity and collaboration.
All MA profits from Vol. II are given to mutual aid funds, organizations, and communities chosen by our Pamphlet authors.
You can subscribe to Vol. II or purchase Pamphlets on an individual basis (below or in our shop). Pamphlets are also available from each individual author via the links included below.
Personal Style is Political Style by Janelle Abbott
Janelle dives deep into her research, history, and vision for the fashion industry as well as her projects Wardrobe Therapy and JRAT Zero Waste, making this pamphlet a resource, a research paper, a personal narrative, and an art object. Each one is hand-sewn by Janelle from scraps in her studio!
Janelle Abbott (JRAT) grew up in and amongst the bolts of fabric at her parents clothing manufacturing company in 1990s Seattle. Early exposure to the industry led her to Parsons School of Design, graduating in 2012 with a BFA in Sustainable Fashion. Her professor, Timo Rissanen, then employed Janelle to sew white t-shirts in Helsinki’s Amos Anderson Museum as the subject of “15%” (the amount of material wasted in traditional clothing production), an installation conceived with Salla Salin—the performance was reprised at NYC’s Kellen Gallery with Janelle once again playing seamstress/slave. Janelle has always been anti-slavery/human trafficking, anti-fast fashion, and fiercely committed to sustainable design methodologies such as zero waste pattern drafting, upcycling, and beyond. The materials she utilizes and her commitment to accountability exemplifies this. Today, Janelle creates clothing, tapestry, sculpture, wearable furniture and rugs, and more: exclusively from reclaimed materials. She offers Wardrobe Therapy as a service for private clients looking to transform old beloved garments into new, wearable pieces. Teen Vogue named Janelle and her collaborative venture, FEMAIL, one of 2019’s Emerging Designers. FEMAIL has been featured in Interview Magazine, Nylon, and in a solo exhibition at the Bellevue Arts Museum (2018).
We Animate The Dream: A Poet’s Run for Office by Joey De Jesus
Joey De Jesus is the author of HOAX (forthcoming Operating System, 2020), NOCT- The Threshold of Madness (The Atlas Review, 2019), and co-author, alongside Sade LaNay, of Writing Voice into the Archive vol. 1, edited by Jennifer Tamayo with support from UC Berkeley’s Center for Race and Gender. Joey received the 2019-20 BRIC ArtFP Project Room Commission and 2017 NYFA/NYSCA Fellowship in Poetry. Poems have appeared in Poem-A-Day, Artists Space, Bettering American Poetry, The Brooklyn Rail, The New Museum, and elsewhere. Joey is a co-editor at Apogee Journal and sits on the advisory board of No, Dear Magazine. Joey lives in Ridgewood. @dejesussaves
This pamphlet is a thorough and personal document and narrative about De Jesus’ experience running an openly queer abolitionist campaign for New York State Assembly District 38 in 2020. It also includes the campaign art and original poetry by De Jesus.
De Jesus worked closely with Vol. II guest co-editor Patty Gone to turn this pamphlet into a really unique reading experience. We hope it inspires everyone who wants to ~ but never thought they could ~ run for office and get involved in their communities.
Patient Creatures, archival research by Celine Carey
Celine is a visual artist based in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is an amateur archivist with a focus in the underground press/social dissent counterculture of the 1960s and 70s. @patientcreatures / @goth_slob
Formatted like a newspaper, the way so many of the source images were originally printed, Patient Creatures reminds us that a struggle for equality is multi-generational. It’s important to understand and witness the messaging of the past to move forward.
The images and excerpts in this pamphlet come from publications printed in the 1960s and 70s Pacific Northwest. For an exact resource list, please feel free to contact Celine, the archivist, directly! The cover image is by Celine as well.
Profits from the publication of this pamphlet will be donated to the Cincinnati Homeless Coalition.
Meme Zine, edited by Aiden Arata
Aiden Arata is an LA-based writer, director, and digital creator. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Fanzine, BOMB, Hobart, The Rumpus and others, and in galleries in New York, Los Angeles, and Baltimore. @aidenarata / aidenarata.com
Meme Zine celebrates the most relevant, radical, and democratic political cartoons of our time: the internet meme. Aiden selected her favorite meme artists to contribute to this zine, including:
@not.yr.boyfriend Odie is a non-binary multidisciplinary artist from Minneapolis, MN. Their work is rooted in their experience with addiction, mental health, poverty, gender, sexuality, politics, and relationships. Their work has been featured on the Intermediate Meme Museum (2018), and they have curated art events for Patrick's Cabaret, Madame of the Arts, and more.
@th0t_catalog, like her IRl counterpart, Ashley Khirea Wahba, is extremely loud, annoying, and will not shut up. While she generally uses these traits for good, she is at her core the embodiment of the purple demon emoji.
@cowboygoku/@downhomecountrylivin Jackie Winn is a writer, producer, and jewelry artist from Tulsa, OK. The only true Dale Earnhardt fan in Los Angeles. Glizzy gulper. Pepsi aficionado. Sponsored by Wolf Brand Chili Hot Dog Sauce.
Omnia Elbasheer, better known as @saqmemes, is a Sudanese-American memer, artist, feminist, and aspiring author currently residing in Dallas, TX. Her creations aim to harness the humor, artistry, and relatability of memes to build new narratives around difficult topics such as privilege, gender violence, and mental illness.
@fronty.python is one of 854.5 million instagram.com users
@todaywasmybirthday ~ Kiwi is a self-taught artist and event organizer from the San Fernando Valley in Northern Los Angeles. She has no notable achievements to date, but has a good head on her shoulders.
Trista made memes @interrobangbang.
Helena aka Lil Perc The Thot God aka @lilperc666: “i enjoy long walks through the autonomous zone and light conversations about police abolition. black trans lives matter.”
From Aiden’s introduction:
Memes can be the same sort of trick mirror, subverting the tools of late capitalism – pop culture, branding, irony – into art that’s accessible to anyone usurping the local McDonald’s wifi, art that can be disseminated and discussed in real time to privilege education over gatekeeping and break down the barrier between creator and audience. While there’s much to be said on clickbait, trolls, and information overload, at the end of the day, I’m a URL optimist. This zine features some of the people who make me believe in the internet. They’re artists who entertain, inform, and resist; who depedestal, destigmatize, and demystify, without being assholes about it.
Sales from Meme Zine will be donated to The Bail Project.
Grace Mausser of the DSA
Grace Mausser is a policy analyst and organizer in New York City. Most recently, she served as Jabari Brisport’s campaign manager, helping him win the Democratic State Senate primary. Jabari will be the second socialist in the New York State Senate and the first openly queer legislator of color in the State Legislature. She is also an organizer with the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA), where she helps identify and recruit potential socialist candidates for office, helps to coordinate the chapter’s fundraising efforts, and serves on the chapter’s leadership body.
How to Elect A Socialist is an interview, conducted and transcribed by Patty Gone, detailing Mausser’s experience organizing for the DSA as well as her advice to anyone else who hopes to do the same. It is full of pragmatic hope and down-to-earth, accessible political vision.
From Gone’s introduction:
Though Mausser has a Masters in Public Policy, and at this time last year was working for the NYC Charter Revision Commission as a Policy Analyst, she insists that “anyone who’s into organizing” can run a campaign. But that downplays her intuitive and cheerful knack for bringing people together and making them feel valued. She really enjoys it. Maybe it has something to do with seeing the tangible results of what can feel like intangible work. Brisport is one of a wave of new DSA candidates actually winning primaries, a feat that seemed unfathomable just five years ago. The down ballot local candidates Mausser helps elect are the seeds for a new Democratic Party. She and I spoke over Zoom in the afterglow of Brisport’s primary victory, and with November looming ahead. - Patty Gone, MA Guest Editor
Sales from How to Elect A Socialist will be donated to the Democratic Socialists of New York City.
Le Matriarx
Le Matriarx (aka Casey Malone) is an LA-based multi-disciplinary artist and activist.
DA ONEZ is a sci-fi vision of her ideal Afro-femme future as well as collection of song lyrics written during the 2020 quarantine (and beyond). It includes a sticker version of Le Matriarx’s new “American flag” and you can hear her actually sing the songs included in the pamphlet below.
It’s a truly collaborative work of radical imagination and hope :)
