Our Mission
Agency promotes contemporary anarchist perspectives and practices through commentary, media relations, and educational campaigns. Our mission is to:
Engage the public and the mainstream media about anarchist ideas, practice, and action.
Ground our work on two basic ideas: first, that anarchism is the most liberating political theory and practice and the least harmful way of approaching the world, and second, that all of society would benefit from a greater public understanding of what anarchists believe and how anarchy works.
Facilitate the media and public in finding and accessing a multitude of anarchist perspectives, through both pro-active and re-active efforts as well as through acts of cultural intervention. We do this by combining our shared knowledge and experience in public relations and communications work with the writing, speaking, organizing, and awareness-raising skills of contributing writers and activists. By creating original, accessible materials written for a broad audience including anarchists and non-anarchists alike, and promoting anarchist perspectives on a wide range of current events, we amplify the reach of existing anarchist voices and projects.
Distribute a diversity of anarchist positions that adhere to an anti-state, anti-capitalist, and anti-oppression framework. We acknowledge that there are many different anarchist perspectives and visions, and this project’s aim is to make the public aware of a range of anarchist beliefs, in a spirit of solidarity and non-sectarianism.
Who We Are
Agency was created by a group of anarchists with experience in communications and public relations work for anarchist projects, activist movements, non-profits, and for our waged jobs. It is organized by a cross section of US-based anarchists. Our day to day work-load is managed by a coordinator.
If you are interested in working with Agency, please contact us here.
Lilias Adie is the Project Coordinator for Agency. She works professionally in the field of communications and has been involved in direct action organizing, as well as communications and outreach work, for a variety of environmental and wildlife conservation nonprofits. Additionally, she has supported a range of grassroots projects, including ancient forest defense campaigns, political prisoner support projects, radical community centers, and DIY publications.
Rebeca C is a filmmaker and media activist based in San Antonio, TX. She has worked in video for the past decade as a director, editor, and journalist covering a range of issues from No Borders / No Nations movements and Border Patrol abuses to indigenous struggles and LGBTQ+ rights. Her work has been featured on Democracy Now, Truthout, and Teen Vogue.
scott crow lives in Austin, Texas and is an anarchist speaker, author and organizer who has spent his varied life as a musician, coop business co-owner and political organizer, focusing on issues of prisons, cooperatives, animal liberation, environmental issues, autonomy and anarchism. Since 1986 he has worked in media and communications in various capacities including appearing as subject and commentator in international media.
Kris Hermes is a Canadian-based activist, author, and media worker who for the past 20 years has engaged with movements to resist grand juries and political repression, provide mass demonstration legal support, and help to defend high-profile criminal cases.
Eric Laursen lives in Massachusetts is an anarchist organizer, writer, and scholar. He has been active in the movements against war and imperialism and for global economic justice and as an organizer of the New York City Anarchist Book Fair. He is the author of the upcoming book “The Operating System: an Anarchist Theory of the Modern State” (AK Press).
Hillary Lazar lives in Pittsburgh, PA. She has identified as an anarchist for more than 20 years and been involved in numerous anti-authoritarian, radical education, and social justice projects over the decades. Currently, she is involved in efforts to organize grad students at the university where she is in a PhD program in Sociology.
Ryan Only is from Washington, D.C. and has worked professionally in media and communications since 2002 and with many anarchist, radical, and cooperative projects since the 1990’s.
Tannie Low is a designer and organizer based in San Antonio, TX, and has been contributing to radical media projects for over a decade.
Contributors
Authors List
Authors
Submissions
Agency publishes commentary on current events from an anarchist perspective that is written for a broad audience and written by self-identified anarchists.
Pieces Should Be:
Written to speak to the general public and mainstream media
In a non-self referential fashion – do not assume readers are familiar with anarchist culture or jargon. Avoid undefined terminology or abbreviations.
Written in an outward facing and not inward facing tone. Don’t speak to the choir. Don’t assume there is a choir.
Other Criteria
Style Guide
In general, we follow AP style. View some AP style tips here.
Word Count
Content may range from 500 – 1,500 word commentaries or analyses (give or take). Word count is something our editors will discuss with you in advance of a project.
Sources
Use footnotes to include your sources.
Check Out Our Content
See our existing content on www.anarchistagency.com to get a feel for the pieces we have run to date.
Other Tips Before You Turn Something In:
- Have you spellchecked?
- Have you had a friend read it?
- Please edit your drafts before you submit anything to save time and energy.
Once submitted, all pieces will be reviewed by our team and thoroughly edited before anything is published.
Our Process
- You submit first draft
- Our team reviews – we decide who will serve as lead editor
- We will send you notes / edits asking you to approve and do a second round of work
- You submit your next draft
- We review and make final edits and comments
- You sign off on final
- We do final copy-edit, proof and publish.
- We send you a note when the piece is live.
New Contribution Requirements
If you are a new contributor, please send:
- A 1-3 sentence bio, including mention of any media outlets, blogs, orgranizations or other projects you are associated with, and the city/state you live in.
- A brief synopsis of the written content including where and why it fits with the objectives of Agency.
- The content itself in a Microsoft Word file attachment.
- A hi-res photo / head shot of you OR your organization’s logo if you the piece is authored by a collective, such as CrimethInc.
Returning contributors are only required to submit the written content itself.
- We do not pay for contributions that we publish. This is a volunteer project.
- We prefer exclusive content but are willing to consider cross-submitted content in certain situations for our Critical Voices section. If you are sending a cross-posted-submission that has been published elsewhere, please inform us where it was originally published.
We appreciate your interest and look forward to working with you.
In The Media
The following is an archive of media coverage generated by or about Agency. This list is separate from our larger archive of stories and coverage of #AnarchistsintheNews, available here.
2023
March 1, 2023 | “Anarchy4Everyone”: 50 Eye-Opening and Relatable Posts From People Who Are So Over Capitalism | Adelaide Ross and Mindaugas Balčiauskas | Bored Panda
February 23, 2023 | Food, Love, and Revolution: Jen Angel’s Legacy | Carwil Bjork-James | Yes! Magazine
February 18, 2023 | ‘Unsung hero’: the baker and activist whose death inspired calls for restorative justice | Sam Levin | The Guardian
February 10, 2023 | Jen Angel, Beloved Social Justice & Media Activist, Writer and Oakland Baker, Dies at 48 | Video | Democracy Now!
2021
February 18, 2021 | Anarchists to Disney: Cruella de Vil Can’t Sit With Us| Kelly Weill| The Daily Beast
2020
September 29, 2020 | Antifa and America’s revamped Red Scare | Patrick Strickland | Al Jazeera
September 16, 2020 | Anarchist Groups Tied to Riots in 4 US Cities | Masood Farivar |VOA
September 2, 2020 | Anarchist Activists Say Facebook Banned Them to Placate the Right | Ali Breland | Mother Jones
August 27, 2020 | Banned Media: Anarchist and antifascist media groups are being taken down by Facebook | Taylor Perse | Eugene Weekly
August 25, 2020 | Facebook Censorship: Silencing Anarchist and Anti-Fascist Groups | Sydney Criminal Lawyers | Lexology
June 4, 2020 | White House deletes bogus brick video accusing Antifa of planning for riots | Mike Moffitt | SF Gate
June 2, 2020 | Trump’s Threats to Antifa Are an Affront to Black Agency and a Risk to All Protest | Natasha Lennard | The Intercept
June 2, 2020 | Peeved anarchists accuse Trump of ‘scapegoating’ antifa, defend ‘militant unrest’ | Valerie Richardson | The Washington Times
June 1, 2020 | What is Antifa? | Al Jazeera
2018
Aug. 3, 2018 | Radical groups, other activists plan counterprotest for ‘Unite the Right 2’ rally on Aug. 12 in D.C. | Caroline Simon | USA Today
2017
Aug. 14, 2017 | What is Antifa? | Jessica Suerth | CNN
Feb. 2, 2017 | Anarchists Respond to Trump’s Inauguration, by Any Means Necessary | Farah Stockman | NY Times
2016
May 4, 2016 | Celebrating scott crow’s Little “a” Anarchism | Nick Ford | Center for a Stateless Society
Apr. 25, 2016 | Some Unimaginative Anarchists Think the May Day Smashfest Is Going to Be Awesome | Ansel Herz | the Stranger
2015
Jan. 30, 2015 | Drones For Good, Rebranding Anarchism & Immortal Technique Breaks the Set | Abby Martin | Breaking the Set | RT
Jan. 26, 2015 | Episode 70: Interview with Agency and Fireside Chats with Dead Eastern Europeans | Free Radical Radio
2014
December 11th, 2014 | Rethinking Anarchism: An Interview with ‘Agency’ | by Devon Douglas-Bowers | The Hampton Institute
December 4, 2014 | An Anarchist Response to Ebola | By Carwil Bjork-James with Chuck Munson | Featured/Reprinted: Truth Out | CrimethInc. Ex-Worker Podcast #32 |Films for Action
