By Mike Ma, Sept. 4, 2020
David Graeber has passed away.
Most would know him from his Occupy! Wall Street work and his book on Debt and Bullshit Jobs but I had no idea that he also helped write books for kids. He worked on a book about crime and punishment for kids!
https://a4kids.org/book/crime-and-punishment/
It is written for kids!!! My brother-in-law gave me the tip.
It is sad he passed away at such a young age:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/books/david-graeber-dead.html
He actually had a pretty strong Canadian connection too. His Direct Action book, from 2008, begins with his recollections of preparing for his trek to Quebec city for the anti-FTAA summit. Lots of people went in 2001 to Quebec, including myself, in a bus full of union members from CUPE 3903. Here is how his book begins:
" So," Jaggi says. "I have an idea for what Ya Basta! might contribute to the actions in Quebec City. The Canadian press keeps framing this as some kind of alien invasion. Thousands of American anarchists are going to be invading Canada to disrupt the Summit. The Quebecois press is doing the same thing: it's the English invasion all over again. So my idea is we play with that. We reenact the battle of Quebec." Puzzled stares from the Americans at the table. "That was the battle in 1759 in which the British conquered the dty in the first place. They surprised the French garrison by climbing up these cliffs just to the west of the Plains of Abraham, near the old fort. So here's my idea. You guys can suit up in your Ya Basta! outfits, and climb the exact same cliff, except-no, wait, listen! This part is important-over all the padding and the chemical jumpsuits, you'll all be wearing Quebec Nordiques hockey jerseys." "You want us to climb a cliff?" asked Moose. "Uh huh." "And how high exactly is this cliff?" "Oh, 1 don't know, 60 meters. What's that, about 180 feet?" "So you want us to climb a 180-foot cliff geared up in gloves and helmets and gas masks and foam rubber padding?"-Moose acting as if Jaggi might actually be serious about this. "Think of it this way: the helmets and padding would be very helpful if you fall down at all. Which is likely because you have to figure the cliffs will be defended." Moose: "Oh, great. So now we're climbing a 180-foot cliff with riot cops all over the top."
I was on the bus with Moose. He only sat 2 rows in front of me. It does bring back memories. I do remember the nutty costumes and siege tactics that people were trying to adopt. What a strange time, and I had forgotten about it until now… re-looking at Graeber’s book. His ethnography of the feeling and moment of those “direct actions” was amazing and incredibly accurate. He really could write and capture that moment. What incredible ethnography.
What an incredible loss.
