Political Media Review

In the relatively rare moments when I happen to think about the state of sociology and what it could mean for ongoing social movements, I find it generally depressing.

Visually delectable and politically pointed, Signal: 01 bills itself as “an ongoing book series to documenting and sharing political graphics, creative projects and the cultural production of international resistance and liberation struggles.”

An old saying goes that, until lions are the storytellers, hunters will always write history to favor themselves. Countering such understandings is a fundamental aspiration to ideas like popular education as advocated by Paulo Freire.

Ostensibly about the recent political strife in the Mexican state, Diario de Oaxaca will likely be far better known for its gorgeous visuals and packaging as a diary, complete with ribbon bookmark. The book, with bilingual versions of the story under the same cover, tells the story of artist Peter Kuper’s life in the community there. However, this book is much more than that.

Marking the centenary of Solidaridad Obrera, this extensive graphic history of the Spanish libertarian tradition is one of the most recent books published by the Confederación Sindical Solidaridad Obrera.

This richly illustrated and designed volume, featuring indigenous art and photographs on nearly every page and unprecedented interviews with members of the early villages, is a result of the seven years Mexican journalist Gloria Muñoz Ramírez’ spent with the Zapatistas in Southern Chiapas.

This is a full colour collection of subverts, stencils, graffiti, defaced billboards and other graphical hi-jinks photographed around the Bristol area.