Overview

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 198081. 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 anticapitalist protests worldwide. 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.

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9781604860979

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""The target audience is not the academic middle-class with passive sympathies for rioting, nor the all-knowing critical critics, but the activists of a young generation."" --Edition I.D. Archiv ""Some years ago, an experienced autonomous activist from Berlin sat down, talked to friends and comrades about the development of the scene, and, with Fire and Flames, wrote the best book about the movement that we have."" --Düsseldorfer Stadtzeitung für Politik und Kultur

Before 'the cancer of Occupy, ' there were Germany's Autonomen; a new translation of Fire and Flames , a history of the struggle, shines a light on this proto-Black Bloc. --www.TheNewInquiry.com

"""The target audience is not the academic middle-class with passive sympathies for rioting, nor the all-knowing critical critics, but the activists of a young generation."" --Edition I.D. Archiv ""Some years ago, an experienced autonomous activist from Berlin sat down, talked to friends and comrades about the development of the scene, and, with Fire and Flames, wrote the best book about the movement that we have."" --Düsseldorfer Stadtzeitung für Politik und Kultur"

I highly recommend that all radicals acquire this book and study it. --www.vancouver.MediaCoop.ca Before 'the cancer of Occupy, ' there were Germany's Autonomen; a new translation of Fire and Flames, a history of the struggle, shines a light on this proto-Black Bloc. --www.TheNewInquiry.com From the squats to protests against nuclear power; from struggles against prison terror to rallies against abortion laws and more. This quick catalog of the West German street movements of 1968-1989 suffers from only one thing: its brevity. --Ron Jacobs, CounterPunch Some years ago, an experienced autonomous activist from Berlin sat down, talked to friends and comrades about the development of the scene, and, with Fire and Flames, wrote the best book about the movement that we have. --Dusseldorfer Stadtzeitung fur Politik und Kultur

Author Information

Geronimo is the pen name of an activist for the German autonomous movement. George Katsiaficas is a visiting professor of sociology at Chonnam National University and a Fullbright Fellow. He is the author of The Imagination of the New Left and The Subversion of Politics. Gabriel Kuhn is a translator and the author of Life Under the Jolly Roger.

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