A Look Back at My 2021
2021 felt like an extension of 2020 (I’m sure I’m not the only one), and it was also where I continued, or finally finished, a lot of projects I started back when the lock-down was first in full swing.
The biggest thing of the year was the release of my newest book Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse from AK Press. The book collects a number of essays of me that all hinge on the question of Armageddon, how we fight it or, more pressing, how we just survive. About half of the book is brand new, with really deep dives into the “intoxicating masculinity” of the Wolves of Vinland, a look at why antisemitism is continuing to motivate so much carnage, and how antifascists are fighting back with music, art, and spirituality. Right now the book is half off when you buy it directly from AK Press.
- Click Here to Buy Why We Fight Directly from AK Press
- Click Here to Use that Amazon Giftcard You Got for Christmas to Buy It
I also wrote a tribute to fascist researcher Chip Berlet called “Why I’m a Chipite” about how Chip’s passion, dedication, and unflinching antifascist attitude paved the way for my own work. It is featured in the Routledge anthology Exposing the Right and Fighting for Democracy edited by Pam Chamberlain, Abby Scher, and my friends and collaborators Matthew N. Lyons and Spencer Sunshine.
Below I collected some of my favorite work from the year, including articles I wrote, a whole section of book reviews (something I especially jumped into this year), podcasts and videos I appeared in, and some articles I was interviewed in.
I also want to thank everyone who supported me this year. I have a career literally built on favors and the direct support of kind people, and that was especially evident in 2021. Mutual aid is the only way to survive what’s ahead of us, and I appreciate everyone who has shown me kindness that last couple of years.
If you want to support my work you can join my Patreon, where I actually do publish quite a bit of work, and you can pick up my books Why We Fight and Fascism Today.
Also make sure to check out my website A Blaze Ansuz where we profile antifascist neofolk bands (and similar genre) and are helping to build a space for antiracist music to thrive. Add the Antifascist Neofolk Playlist on Spotify as well!
Articles
- Deaths at the Capitol, a pro-Trump, far-right mob — and months of red flags (NBC News)
- Far Right Rallies at Capitols Across US Show DC Mob Was Not an Isolated Incident (Truthout)
- The Capitol Was Stormed Long Ago (Protean)
- As an Eviction Crisis Looms, Tenant Organizing Explodes Across the Country (Truthout)
- On Inauguration Day, Police Nationwide Went After Left-Wing Protesters (Truthout)
- Conspiracy Theories Are Killing Us — and Trump’s Departure Hasn’t Ended Them (Truthout)
- Past Year of White Nationalism Has Shown Ongoing Need for Anti-Fascist Movements (Truthout)
- The Great 2020 Antifa Scare (Political Research Associates)
- Alt-Right Gangs: A Q&A with Shannon Reid, co-author of Alt-Right Gangs: A Hazy Shade of White (Political Research Associates)
- The Israeli Far Right: A Q&A with Scholar Cas Mudde (Political Research Associates)
- Trump losing the 2020 election has only increased the chance of right-wing violence (NBC News)
- Philadelphia bystanders ran the Patriot Front out of town. It won’t be the last time. (NBC News)
- The Left Feels Palestinian Pain. It Must Also Recognize Jewish Fears (Haaretz)
- Soros, ‘Cultural Marxism’ and QAnon: How the GOP Is Energizing and Entrenching Antisemitism in America (Haaretz)
- Britain’s Labour Antisemitism Controversy, Revisited (Jewish Currents)
- No Free Speech for Fascists: A Conversation with David Renton (Full Stop)
- DO MAKE TROUBLE: THE COMPLEX WORLD OF RADICAL JEWISH ‘REVENGE THEOLOGIAN,’ MEIR KAHANE (Religion Dispatches)
- The Fight Against Antisemitism is the Fight for Total Liberation (New Politics)
- How the left is reclaiming the fight against antisemitism (Waging Nonviolence)
- 5 ways to push antisemites out of the Palestinian solidarity movement (Waging Nonviolence)
- Palestine solidarity sweeps the US as Israel continues assault on Gaza (Waging Nonviolence)
- What the overlooked history of post-1960s organizing can teach activists today (Waging Nonviolence)
- A Field Guide to White Supremacy: Author Q&A with Kathleen Belew (Political Research Associates)
- Leaked Video Helped Lead to the Conviction of a Far Right “Proud Boy” (Truthout)
- Anti-Fascists Stopped Proud Boys From Entering Portland’s City Center on Sunday (Truthout)
- Google Podcasts Is Hosting a Cache of White Nationalist Content (Truthout)
- Liberation Itself Is Sacred (Protean)
- Hate in the Homeland: an interview with Cynthia Miller-Idriss (Patterns of Prejudice)
Book Reviews
- Global White Nationalism (Political Research Associates)
- The Other History of the DC Universe (Full Stop)
- Populism (Full Stop)
- Antifa Academics (Full Stop)
- A Specter Haunting Europe: The Myth of Judeo Bolshevism (Full Stop)
- Andy Ngo’s Unmasked: The Next Phase of the Grift (Protean)
Music Interviews at A Blaze Ansuz
- Folk from Armageddon: An Interview With DEAES
- Cursing Your Enemies: An Interview With Feminazgul
- Ulvesang is Creating a Prophetic Neofolk from Nova Scotia’s Arctic Edge
- Fighting the Virus: Interview With Rost und Knochen
- Folk Romantique: An Interview With I Sing to Barbelo
- Baptismal Auras: Interview with Joonatan Aaltonen of Aura Shining Green and Kiiltomatolyhty
Videos
- Rebuilding Jewish Anarchisms: Conversation w/ Cindy Miilstein and Shane Burley
- Why We Fight: Paths To Power & Antifascist Resistance In The Apocalypse w/ Shane Burley VIDEO PORTION (Last Born in the Wilderness)
- Why We Fight: Author Shane Burley with Kim Kelly & George Ciccariello-Maher
- How We Survive: Fascism, Climate Change, Capitalism — Shane Burley w/ Tal Lavin and Natasha Lennard
Podcast
- The extremists behind the Capitol riot (MSNBC)
- Shane Burley on Confronting Fascism during the Apocalypse (Live Like the World is Dying)
- To Fight the GOP’s Radicalized Base, We Have to Push Left (Movement Memos)
- Bent on Revenge, the Far Right Will Rage Against Reality in the Biden Era (Movement Memos)
- Shane Burley on ‘Why We Fight’ (The Final Straw Radio) You can also click here to read the transcript.
- Episode 1: Fascism in 2021 with Shane Burley (Colacast)
- Magnolia (Rewatchability)
- Why We Fight: Paths To Power & Antifascist Resistance In The Apocalypse w/ Shane Burley (Last Born in the Wilderness)
- 45 — Anti-fascism and Apocalypse w/ Shane Burley (12 Rules for What)
- Episode 69: An Interview with Shane Burley (Fifteen Minutes of Fascism)
- The Open Mind, Hosted by Alexander Heffner (The Open Mind, PBS)
- Episode 131: “Living Your Life in a State of War” ft. Shane Burley (Coffee With Comrades)
Interviews
- Why We Fight: An Interview With Shane Burley (Protean)
- Shane Burley Talks About Antiracism, Antifascism, Antisemitism, and Reasons for Hope (Agency)
- Why We Fight: An Interview with Shane Burley (AK Press)
- Why we fight: combating the fascist insurgency (Roar Magazine)
Select Articles Featuring Interviews w/ Shane Burley
- Kaiser Permanente nurses, health care workers begin vote to authorize possible strike in Oregon (OPB)
- Portland’s Bizarre Experiment With Not Policing Proud Boys Rampage Ends in Gunfire (The Intercept)
- Far-Right Violence Is Going to Be a Threat With or Without Trump’s Calls to Action (The Intercept)
- Bend hospital leaders promise normalcy during worker strike, but nurses raise red flags (OPB)
- Deona Marie and the epidemic of car attacks against racial justice activists (The Independent)
- Revealed: how California police chased a nonexistent ‘antifa bus’ (The Guardian)
- These ‘Dirtbag Left’ Stars Are Flirting With the Far Right (The Daily Beast)
- How can we distinguish between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism? (TRT World)
- The far right is weaponizing climate change to argue against immigration (Vox)
- Washington state lawmakers look for ways to limit armed militias (Crosscut)
- 24,000 Kaiser Permanente health workers authorize strike over pay, working conditions (Washington Post)
