The Need for an Autonomous Zone and a Call for Submission
Monday, March 22nd, 2010The first time I set foot in the Autonomous Zone (A-Zone) was for a forum on Anarchist economics, held in opposition to the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) meeting which had just happened in town, in November 2002.
The forum was originally supposed to be held at DePaul University, but the school had retracted its permission without explanation, and it just may have been something pretty sinister since later we found out the Chicago Police Department had indeed re-activated its so-called Red Squad (read White Squad) to monitor and infiltrate the A-Zone and four other groups organizing against the TABD.
Immediately it occurred to me the importance of having an alternative space outside of the regular control of the state, church, and schools, to host the forum which represented a direct challenge to the corporations and their governments whose interests were being presented in the TABD meeting.
About three months later I moved to Chicago and became very involved with the A-Zone. I helped organize monthly public forums hosted by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) which I was also a member of, though most of my time there was spent just keeping the door open for whom ever may drop in.
This was the Bucktown space, at 2129 N. Milwaukee Ave. Some of the other groups involved at the time were Anarchist Black Cross Network (ABCN), a juggling Free School, the Anarchist Skins and Punx Unity Crew (ASAP) and people from the South Side Punk House/South Side Crew and the Vegan House.
The Landlord’s Goon Squad
Quite possibly the only time I actually showed up on time for a volunteer shift in the fall of 2003, I was followed in by three rather large men. One told me he wanted the rent. We had already been evicted, and the letter of eviction clearly stated that we would get our last three months in the space rent free if our landlord broke our lease.
The facts of the matter didn’t change things with the goon squad, and they told me they wanted the rent any way before they left.
Upon reflection, it was no surprise since our landlord had already tried to raise our rent higher than allowed by our lease, and when we refused, he evicted us. Then he tried to shake us down for money we didn’t owe him, even according to his own words! I think it showed how even the term itself, landlord, is just a throw back to feudalism. The capitalist pig never did get that money.
The A-Zone in Exile
About two months after we left that space, I started volunteering at the New World Resource Center (NWRC), which was a non-partisan, collectively run, Leftist bookstore located at that time at 1300 N. Western Ave., in Humboldt Park.
We started having A-Zone Collective events and meetings there, reaching a peak in June 2004 when dozens of people showed up to watch “Underground,” a film about the Weather Underground Organization, and participate in a discussion about race and class privilege with ex-member of the Weatherman cadre, Bill Ayers.
Call for submissions
As an ex-A-Zoner, I’m looking for others interested in writing essays about their experiences with the space, to be published with images and excerpts from Wind Chill Factor and A-Zone materials.
I am looking for copies of (Dis) Connection, Sandpaper, Wind Chill Factor, the “Existentialist Blues” pamphlet and anything else of relevance.
All materials can be returned, though I’d archive them at La Biblioteca Popular or donate them to the Chicago Underground Library when finished if that’s okay.
Please write me at alexiwasa at gmail dot com or until about Mayday at 4652 N. Kenmore Ave., Chicago, IL 60640.
- Alex Iwasa
The Chicago Underground Library has just received a donation of A-Zone-related materials, including Wind Chill Factor, The Paper, Arsenal and all the old A-Zone calendars. If interested, contact us ahead of time and we will be able to pull them for viewing when you visit.
