Birds of a Feather: Flights of the Anarcho-Surrealist Imagination by Ron Sakolsky. Eberhardt Press, 2017 eberhardtpress.org
Anarchists of many tendencies have long fought for freedom of the individual and the realization of solidarity within communities. Surrealists, in and out of formal groupings, have had their own take on modern un-freedom and the potential for subverting it. In parallel, and sometimes together, anarchists and surrealists have fruitfully explored new avenues of revolt.
Yes, the afflictions of industrial civilization go far beyond the oppression and domination of politics and economics. Stunted imaginations, intimidated desires and repressed sensualities also block the roads to freedom.
Now comes Ron Sakolsky’s new attempt to discern and describe the anarcho-surrealist intersections, Birds of a Feather: Flights of the Anarcho-Surrealist Imagination, published by Eberhardt Press, 2017. Like all of Eberhardt’s work, this 52-page pamphlet is handsomely executed, featuring several engaging graphics.
Using the avian metaphor, Sakolsky introduces the anarchist and surrealist understandings thus: “The anarchist wing is the one that yearns to fly so high that it demands the impossible of the world, while the surrealist wing breaks the binary chains that imprison our minds in a sedentary dichotomy between dream and reality.”
This thought-provoking work deserves to be read by anarchists, surrealists, and all those planning to take flight in the direction of liberty.