March 31, 2011
Fight Back!
Posted in Advertising Campaigns, Books, Media, Other blogs, Politics at 12:06 am by Paul Sagar
Last December and January a group of extremely dedicated bloggers and activists assembled an e-reader – Fight Back! - collecting some of the best writings related to the student protests.
Dan Hancox did huge amounts of spadework, but Laurie Penny, Guy Aitchison, Siraj Datoo, Cailean Gallagher, Aaron Peters, Anthony Barnett and Niki Seth-Smith all made huge contributions too.
I – on the other hand – was mostly useless, dealing rather badly with a relationship breakdown whilst engaging in some hardcore academic navel gazing. Nonetheless, the others were kind enough to put my name on the cover, which I didn’t really deserve at all.
The original e-reader ran to 350 pages with contributions from 43 authors (one of them being myself, where I did actually contribute something semi-useful in the form of a chapter). It picked up a staggering 13,000 downloads in its first four weeks. Thanks to this enormous demand, Fight Back! is now being launched as a proper book.
Here’s the press release, for your information.
–
Fight Back! A Reader on the Winter of Protest
“An unofficial politics is developing, largely hostile to the Westminster version, and Fight Back! is its first manifestation.”
- Andreas Whittam Smith, The Independent
*
7 kettled editors, 43 authors, 350 pages
Published in print 6 April 2011
From a 15-year-old UK Uncut activist to a 73-year-old rebel Lib Dem peer,
Fight Back!’s contributors capture the spirit and arguments of Britain’s winter revolt, bringing together the best reportage and analysis of an extraordinary political moment.
*
Response to the Fight Back! e-book phenomenon, published 15 February 2011
13,000+ downloads in just 4 weeks
Already documented in The Guardian, The Independent, New Statesman,
Boing Boing, Dazed & Confused, Liberal Conspiracy, Oxford Left Review,
Continental Philosophy, Critical Legal Thinking, Counterfire and countless blogs.
*
Excerpts:
Tasha Bell, 16, describes her experience in a kettle: “The police have pushed us from the top of the road to the bottom, using their thick lines, their horses and their batons. The crowd has thickened, and now I’m not on the front line anymore I’m deep in the middle. I have no control. I can feel my phone vibrating and I’m trying to move my arm to get it but I can’t.”
Joanna Biggs (LRB) describes the UCL occupation: “I hear words like ‘alert’, ‘critique’, ‘offensive’ and even ‘Marxism’. At the edges of the room students sit around circular tables hunched over their laptops, as if they knew how much they look like the photogenic Harvard students of The Social Network.”
Laurie Penny in “You Say You Want a Revolution”: “There can be no question that the conditions are right for a youth movement. The young people of Britain are suffering brutal, insulting socio-economic oppression. There are over a million young people of working age not in education, employment or training, which is a polite way of saying “up shit creek without a giro”.
For review copies, interviews, or for details of the London launch event on 6 April, contact the publishing team on fightback@opendemocracy.net // 07824 807 142 // 07552 569 196
Fight Back! A Reader on the Winter of Protest
“An unofficial politics is developing, largely hostile to the Westminster version, and Fight Back! is its first manifestation.”
- Andreas Whittam Smith, The Independent
*
7 kettled editors, 43 authors, 350 pages
Published in print 6 April 2011
From a 15-year-old UK Uncut activist to a 73-year-old rebel Lib Dem peer,
Fight Back!’s contributors capture the spirit and arguments of Britain’s winter revolt, bringing together the best reportage and analysis of an extraordinary political moment.
*
Response to the Fight Back! e-book phenomenon, published 15 February 2011
13,000+ downloads in just 4 weeks
Already documented in The Guardian, The Independent, New Statesman,
Boing Boing, Dazed & Confused, Liberal Conspiracy, Oxford Left Review,
Continental Philosophy, Critical Legal Thinking, Counterfire and countless blogs.
*
Excerpts:
Tasha Bell, 16, describes her experience in a kettle: “The police have pushed us from the top of the road to the bottom, using their thick lines, their horses and their batons. The crowd has thickened, and now I’m not on the front line anymore I’m deep in the middle. I have no control. I can feel my phone vibrating and I’m trying to move my arm to get it but I can’t.”
Joanna Biggs (LRB) describes the UCL occupation: “I hear words like ‘alert’, ‘critique’, ‘offensive’ and even ‘Marxism’. At the edges of the room students sit around circular tables hunched over their laptops, as if they knew how much they look like the photogenic Harvard students of The Social Network.”
Laurie Penny in “You Say You Want a Revolution”: “There can be no question that the conditions are right for a youth movement. The young people of Britain are suffering brutal, insulting socio-economic oppression. There are over a million young people of working age not in education, employment or training, which is a polite way of saying “up shit creek without a giro”.
For review copies, interviews, or for details of the London launch event on 6 April, contact the publishing team on fightback@opendemocracy.net // 07824 807 142 // 07552 569 196
Fight Back! A Reader on the Winter of Protest
“An unofficial politics is developing, largely hostile to the Westminster version, and Fight Back! is its first manifestation.”
- Andreas Whittam Smith, The Independent
*
7 kettled editors, 43 authors, 350 pages
Published in print 6 April 2011
From a 15-year-old UK Uncut activist to a 73-year-old rebel Lib Dem peer,
Fight Back!’s contributors capture the spirit and arguments of Britain’s winter revolt, bringing together the best reportage and analysis of an extraordinary political moment.
*
Response to the Fight Back! e-book phenomenon, published 15 February 2011
13,000+ downloads in just 4 weeks
Already documented in The Guardian, The Independent, New Statesman,
Boing Boing, Dazed & Confused, Liberal Conspiracy, Oxford Left Review,
Continental Philosophy, Critical Legal Thinking, Counterfire and countless blogs.
*
Excerpts:
Tasha Bell, 16, describes her experience in a kettle: “The police have pushed us from the top of the road to the bottom, using their thick lines, their horses and their batons. The crowd has thickened, and now I’m not on the front line anymore I’m deep in the middle. I have no control. I can feel my phone vibrating and I’m trying to move my arm to get it but I can’t.”
Joanna Biggs (LRB) describes the UCL occupation: “I hear words like ‘alert’, ‘critique’, ‘offensive’ and even ‘Marxism’. At the edges of the room students sit around circular tables hunched over their laptops, as if they knew how much they look like the photogenic Harvard students of The Social Network.”
Laurie Penny in “You Say You Want a Revolution”: “There can be no question that the conditions are right for a youth movement. The young people of Britain are suffering brutal, insulting socio-economic oppression. There are over a million young people of working age not in education, employment or training, which is a polite way of saying “up shit creek without a giro”.
For review copies, interviews, or for details of the London launch event on 6 April, contact the publishing team on fightback@opendemocracy.net // 07824 807 142 // 07552 569 196
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Permalink
Tim Worstall said,
March 31, 2011 at 6:02 am
“There are over a million young people of working age not in education, employment or training, which is a polite way of saying “up shit creek without a giro”.”
Umm, if you’re a NEET, isn’t that when you do get a Giro?
Torquil Macneil said,
March 31, 2011 at 9:25 am
Shhh, Tim! Don’t mention the welfare state! We live under the cold, dark shadow of Market Fundamentalism, now get with the programme!
Ms. Laurie Penny and reality said,
March 31, 2011 at 9:34 am
[...] are there none: Laurie Penny in “You Say You Want a Revolution”: “There can be no question that the [...]
Alex said,
March 31, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Hilarious. You couldn’t make this stuff up. Tasha Bell couldn’t reach her mobile phone. And that’s “brutal, insulting socio-economic oppression” is it?
Bless.
Duncan said,
March 31, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Could you not of thought of a better name?
Your chapter’s not bad though.
NemesisTheWarlock said,
April 1, 2011 at 1:38 am
I’ll probably buy a copy when this comes out – I love a good laugh!
Mind you, ‘Fight Back’ is a fairly rubbish title. Just imagine it:
‘The first rule of Fight Back is that no one but a bunch of hard leftists cares about Fight Back’ … lol!
Banking and Finance in the UK Made Easy: Time to get Angrier « Left Outside said,
April 4, 2011 at 10:01 am
[...] Banking will report its interim findings. Although much attention, ink, and blood, has spilled on student loans, spending cuts, and NHS reforms, much less been attention has been directed towards banking and [...]