Anarchist Panther: The Selected Writings of Ashanti O. Alston

One of the enduring legacies of the Black Power Era is the turn by some revolutionaries toward a politics that questioned hierarchical leadership, patriarchy, and the role of the state in social transformation. This practice came to define a distinct form of anarchism rooted in the Black experience. Ashanti Omawali Alston helped nurture and define this turn through his experiences with the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, and through social movement activity from the late 1960s to today. Anarchist Panther collects, for the first time, his thoughts that have influenced generations of radicals the world over.

These essays, interviews, and speeches trace Alston's ideas and influences, including those on psychology, political prisoner support, feminism, the legacy of the Black Panther Party, the Zapatista rebellion, and Black anarchism. Edited alongside William C. Anderson and introduced by kai lumumba barrow, Anarchist Panther brings to life the beautiful movement expression "All power to the people!"

Ashanti Omowali Alston is a writer, speaker, father, and activist originally from New Jersey. He is a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. Alston is an inspiration and mentor to younger activists, helping to develop Black anarchist politics and support for political prisoners.

William C. Anderson is a writer and activist originally from Birmingham, Alabama. His work has appeared in the Guardian, MTV, Truthout, British Journal of Photography, and Pitchfork, among others. He is the author of The Nation on No Map and co-author of As Black as Resistance. His writings have been included in the anthologies Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? and No Selves to Defend.

For over forty years kai lumumba barrow has worked with numerous organizations on campaigns and projects to stop jail expansion; confront police violence; free political prisoners, and experiment with abolitionist models for shrinking carceral logics. Barrow is interested in the praxis of radical imagination, experimenting with abolition as an aesthetic vernacular. Her sprawling paintings, multimedia collages, environmental installations, and found object sculptures incorporate images, materials, sites and ideas that perform queer, Black feminist theory.