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Freedom Anarchist Newspaper

kenny g

kenny g

Sheeple Awake!
July edition just arrived. Seems they are in financial straits and last edition might be in October. Anyone read or reads it? Any thoughts on its continued existence ? I can remember getting my first copy as a school kid and subscribed as I was getting pissed off with getting all my politics from a computer screen. Apparently it has 300 subbers and needs 200 more to break even. Seems tantalisingly close.
 
I'm surprised they haven't got more subscriptions than that just from academic institutions/libraries.
 
kenny g said:
Fair enough. I would have thought so to. Is anyone an anarchist anymore anyway? I thought it was so 20th.
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yes there are plenty of us about still thank you! the freedom paper has a long history and its a shame to let it go but print media? people access most things - news, comedy, music, politics - via the internet so a good qual and regularly updated online version is the best way to get folk reading it. problem is making money from it. adverts are the only way websites generate cash.
 
I'm almost tempted to get a subscription now. I mean, it's rarely worth reading but it would be like letting the Socialist Standard disappear.
 
Nigel Irritable said:
I'm almost tempted to get a subscription now. I mean, it's rarely worth reading but it would be like letting the Socialist Standard disappear.
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Come on, Nige. Somebody who has to sell any CWI publications shouldn't really be cheeky about any other lefty journal/paper. It's not about the CWI's politics, per se. Just that your house style screams sawdust prose. :D
 
On a more positive note, I suppose the SPGB (Official) could always just change the dates on a few back issues if they ever stop producing new copies of the Socialist Standard. It's not as if anyone would notice.
 
Nigel Irritable said:
On a more positive note, I suppose the SPGB (Official) could always just change the dates on a few back issues if they ever stop producing new copies of the Socialist Standard. It's not as if anyone would notice.
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You're a spotty. You'd notice. Don't pretend otherwise.

And please do something about that sawdust prose. I'm not buying another copy of Justice just to be nice. It'd make a nice change to actually want to read the damn thing before I chuck it in the back of the closet.
 
imposs1904 said:
I'm not buying another copy of Justice just to be nice.
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I haven't actually laid eyes on a copy of Justice in a couple of years. My vague memory of it was that it often had pretty strong graphic design, but I can't claim that the contents left too much of an impression on me.
 
there is a lot to come out about the financial situation at freedom - none of it good - haven't read article so won't comment until see what they are saying.
 
malatesta32 said:
yes there are plenty of us about still thank you! the freedom paper has a long history and its a shame to let it go but print media? people access most things - news, comedy, music, politics - via the internet so a good qual and regularly updated online version is the best way to get folk reading it. problem is making money from it. adverts are the only way websites generate cash.
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Paywall?
 
I used to love reading Freedom on the bus a with all the news a week late because it took so long to get to my house in Bradford. I'd still subscribe to it if I was living over there though.
 
This is all very sad to hear, been a regular subscriber for sometime, but without tighter management it seems to have become a victim of problems faced by all printed media. I think it would get a very good online audience massively exceeding it's current figures if it went down that route.
 
october_lost said:
This is all very sad to hear, been a regular subscriber for sometime, but without tighter management it seems to have become a victim of problems faced by all printed media. I think it would get a very good online audience massively exceeding it's current figures if it went down that route.
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in terms of online audience, when i did the website it got a total of 8.5 million hits in 2011, on average 12,000 unique visitors a month. Last issue i was in charge of the paper (april) 700 copies were distributed out of a 1000 copy print run. I can't tell you the sale figures because nobody kept records of sales.

I also proposed an action plan to have the paper financially self-sufficent within the year - which was/is certainly doable. This though would have involved a lot of hard work by all members of the freedom collective.
 
Nice one said:
I also proposed an action plan to have the paper financially self-sufficent within the year - which was/is certainly doable. This though would have involved a lot of hard work by all members of the freedom collective.
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I am massively stretched but would happily contribute either to the collective or the occasional article, but I am not sure the will is there within the scene/movement because some in the Feds have already had the discussion about printed media and that's why DA was wound up and free sheets are the norm. In terms of spreading ideas, the internet takes precedence, that said 200 additional subscribers isn't a stretch.
 
Is Freedom like the New Statesman, always on the verge of extinction, but somehow always managing to stagger on?
 
malatesta32 said:
am happy to submit material.
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They don't want your words. They need your dosh.


If Geldof were an Anarcho-Wotsit...
geldof.jpg

"Give us your fucking money!"
 
A
Nice one said:
there is a lot to come out about the financial situation at freedom - none of it good - haven't read article so won't comment until see what they are saying.
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Article mentions having to unexpectedly pay out 4 grand to a photographer for material included in beating the fascists.

I don't agree with becoming internet only BTW. The printing is done free of charge anyway.
 
KG, it to do with problems of accessibility rather than printing etc. maybe a journal and weekly website rather than the paper? just a suggestion. shame to let it go.
 
Current issue of Freedom referring to Beating the fascists:-

"When we published this book in 2009 it was illustrated with photographs supplied by the authors. Unbeknown to us, these included pictures taken by David Hoffman and were still under copyright. We have ended up paying him £4000 for the use of these pictures rather than face legal action. While this was a stupid mistake by us, it's very disappointing that someone who claims to support anti-fascists politics and made money from their photographs, while enjoying protection from the far right on demonstrations, should chose to extract money from a radical publisher for a genuine mistake. The result is that we have had to reconsider the future far sooner than we thought".
 
Button was telling me about this last night. I know the photographer has to earn a living, but it's so surprising and disappointing that he chose to pursue it :(
 
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