Fifth Estate

08/20/2025

Fifth Estate editorial group member, Peter Werbe's book, "Summer on Fire: A Detroit Novel," is being used again in an English class at a Southern university. This is a photo at the school bookstore.
We don't name it since in these days of book banning and right-wing politics, particularly in the South, might not go over so well with the uptight, all-white politicians in the state or fearful school officials.
It's a fictionalized account that follows the Fifth Estate staff through the hot summer of 1967 with the Detroit riots, anti-war and anti-fascist action, a bomb plot, drugs, rock and roll at the Grande Ballroom, anarchism, the White Panther Party, and a bomb plot.
All proceeds go to support the Fifth Estate. It can be ordered through our website as a single copy or combined for a subscription or renewal. www.FifthEstate.org
Copies of a collection of Werbe's essays, "Eat the Rich and Other Interesting Ideas" are also available at the site.

07/04/2025

Patriotism: The FIRST refuge of a scoundrel.

Here's a better declaration than the original.

Emma Goldman A New Declaration of Independence 1909 Published in Mother Earth, Vol. IV, no. 5, July 1909.

07/03/2025

Fire Ant journal for anarchist prisoners is back with letters from Michael Kimble and Anson Chi as well as June 11th statements from Michael, Marius Mason, and Ryan Roberts. There is a PDF download so you can send a paper copy to locked down comrades.

Fire Ant journal for anarchist prisoners is back! We’ve got letters from Michael Kimble and Anson Chi as well as June 11th statements from Michael, Marius Mason, and Ryan Roberts.

05/31/2025

June 11th is the International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners.
The old expression, they're in there for us; we're out here for them, holds increasingly true. There are numerous actions and online events through which to show our solidarity with our locked down comrades. https://june11.noblogs.org/
It's Going Down has a list of worldwide events and organizing resources. Got to one; host one!
https://itsgoingdown.org/june-11th-resources-actions-anarchist-prisoners/

04/30/2025

Norman Nawrocki is a Montreal-based anarchist activist artist and community organizer. His articles frequently appear in the pages of the Fifth Estate. https://www.fifthestate.org/fe_author/norman-nawrocki/

"Squat The City! How To Use The Arts For Housing Justice" is an inspiring and practical resource for anyone anywhere curious about how the arts can help navigate the current housing crisis. It's full of lessons, strategies and examples based on Nawrocki's decades of ongoing work as an activist/artist/organizer and educator across Canada using music, theatre, comedy and poetry to address the issues.
His 18th book, but first work of non-fiction, it assembles his essays, articles, and extracts from his plays, albums, stories and Creative Resistance workshops, plus material from his legendary "community cabarets” seen by thousands throughout Quebec.
Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCwn1A3LuSA Order your copy from Leftwingbooks: https://leftwingbooks.net/products/squat-the-city-how-to-use-the-arts-for-housing-justice Or from the author: https://normannawrocki.blogspot.com/2025/03/squat-city-squat-city-how-to-use-arts.html

04/25/2025

This is a May Day event taking place on the UN Plaza to set ablaze the symbols of every nation's flag. Why? It's laid out in this 1989 Fifth Estate article from the archives.
https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/332-summer-1989/action-at-the-federal-bldg/
"All flags are rags; they are symbols of the nation state which traps the human spirit within artificially established boundaries guarded by men with guns. Flags are part of the whole parcel of tricks rulers use to make us act in their interests rather than our own."
Info on the May Day action at https://autonomedia.org/burning-the-flags-of-all-nations/

04/21/2025

1978 was a bonus year for the death of Popes. Two died that year.
This text from the August 1978 Fifth Estate is a classic of sacrilege. Back then, the Fifth Estate staff was much ruder and the Popes much worse.
Here's the complete text: https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/293-294-august-21-1978/pope-perishes/

04/09/2025

A couple of glitches to report. We announced that all copies of our Spring 2025 issue had been mailed and received, but we got numerous emails reporting non-delivery. About 150 subscribers were missed in the initial mailing, so apologies, and please know we are working to get your issue to you.
What with the warm weather coming on, we were swamped with orders for T-shirts and completely ran out of that size Large. We re-ordered from our print co-op and they are scheduled for pick-up on Friday. Sorry if you are waiting on them. They will be to you shortly.
In the meantime, you can still order shirts since we will be fully stocked with sizes S-2XL. https://www.fifthestate.org/product-category/t-shirts/
It features the classic logo from FE mastheads a half century ago and the Non Serviam ball encapsulates our perspective. Here's its story.
https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/368-369-spring-summer-2005/zapping-pyramid/

04/09/2025

The MC5 were always there for community events and benefits for groups and causes in Detroit's Cass Corridor. At one point, the band practiced in the basement of the Fifth Estate office
The building was rad from top to bottom and sideways in the late 1960s. Besides the Fifth Estate, the building housed the Detroit Artists Workshop, the Detroit Committee to End the War in Vietnam, and Newsreel, a radical filmmaking group. In apartments upstairs was where the White Panthers and John and Leni Sinclair lived.
This is a page from a September 1969 Fifth Estate when the publication appeared every two weeks. Most issues from that era are available in the Fifth Estate archives https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/
For this benefit it was the MC5, Iggy andthe Stooges, and the Gold Brothers for the outrageous price of $2 at Detroit's legendary Grande Ballroom!

03/09/2025

The Spring 2025 has arrived to most subscribers, distributors, and bookstores. If yours hasn't, let us know and we will send a replacement copy or copies. If you have moved, magazine mail is not forwarded but we will still replace the one that is sent back to us. The issue contents are at www.FifthEstate.org
Those 3,000 issues in the photo are sitting in a cold, dark garage in Michigan and want to be in warm hands and seen with welcoming eyes. We print thousands more than those that go to our paid subscribers to allow for free distribution which brings in subscribers who may not have seen the Fifth Estate previously.
If you can help with the free distro, let us know a number you can pass out from 2-50 and your address and we will ship them to you. With printing costs and postal rates constantly increasing, we ask that you distribute them with some precision such as among friends and comrades, at protests, info shops, bookstores, book fairs, etc.
Also, if you're not a subscriber and want to support the anarchist press, consider becoming one. https://www.fifthestate.org/product-category/print-edition/

03/01/2025

Our Portuguese comrades write to inform us aafter 9 years of horizontal, autonomous, anti-authoritarian mischief, we're making an effort to buy Disgraça!, an anarchist social center in Lisbon.

We're calling for international solidarity. If you've visited Disgraça in the past or would like to support the space, you can help us by organising a fundraiser in your geography. We have a whole set of materials about Disgraça that you can use to spread the word / organise a benefit – you can ...

02/23/2025

The Spring 2025 Fifth Estate has just been published and is on its way to subscribers, distributors, and bookstores. There's a list of articles at the URL. Sample issues or subscriptions are available at www.FifthEstate.org
There are special offers with subscriptions that include books, CDs, book bags, LPs, and the Fifth Estate t-shirt.
The cover art from Stephen Goodfellow is entitled "Tomato" which takes more than a first look to get. His Non Serviam (I Will Not Obey) ball in the bottom left corner also adorns the t-shirts and book bags.