Scrutiny - An Anarch Journal of Review #1 (shipped)

Scrutiny #1 (Out Jan 2025)

(an anarch journal of review)

Scrutiny is sorely needed, everywhere. That has been our assessment. If we are to move beyond the banal and redundant self-referential mediocrity of this current reality, we need to be far more relationally critical and honest, not only of the horrifying world at large, the varied environments we are part of, and our own thoughts and actions, but most forcefully with the withering anarchist space we still dwell within (somewhat reluctantly and certainly marginally at this point, we suppose). If we are to remain vital as anarchists, we need to stop mincing words, making people feel comfortable, going through predictable motions, signaling virtues, poorly mimicking intelligence, propping up emptiness, propagandizing deadness, and providing material, actions, and ideas that derive from, feed into, and are absorbed by power. Perhaps we are still too stubborn to give up on anarchists, this may be our eventual downfall, but the beautiful idea is too potent and expansive to abandon, especially in this time of pervasive meaninglessness, and perhaps some of those still seduced by anarchy can rise to the worthwhile challenges it requires and offers.

In this light, reviews can be a useful way to explore the intersections and overlapping of relevant ideas and projects, to asses the relative health of anarchist discourse and action, and to cut out the diseased (or worse, benign) flesh, at least from our lives. Reviews can spark important discussions, point to potential problems, highlight vibrant and useful new directions, or reveal new accomplices. They can also, thankfully, draw critical and essential lines.

The unfortunate part of all this has been the almost complete vanishing of the printed journal as a means of open critique and discussion, along with the absolute hegemony of the virtual. It seems pointless and sad to critically interact with projects, pick them apart, try to understand them, and then articulate our thoughts about them, just to post our endeavors on some website for the thick-skulled thumb-driven hot-takers to respond with “tldr”, or worse, attempt to dishonestly “engage” with reviews from either ideological trenches, ignorance, or performative gesturing. Despite its own inherent limitations and potential pitfalls and its more pale form of communication than direct face-to-face dialogue, we feel that the printed page has infinitely more value than the dismal dead screen. The printed word gives time and space to contemplate and digest rather than react with superficial politicized spasms. For this reason, we have initiated the project we call Scrutiny (an anarch journal of reviews).

Submissions of reviews and responses are welcome, but not always appreciated or published.
With Open Eyes and Sharpened Pencils, Scrutiny