From the Editors: Partizine Volume 1, Refuge

Hello again Comrades,

This Spring, in lieu of a print issue we have decided to put out our first digital collection, which we have lovingly dubbed, The Partizine.

Let us start by acknowledging that this issue of The Partisan comes to you on the land traditionally known as Lenapahoking. We are on the traditional territory of the Lenape, sometimes referred to as the Delaware Nation. These spaces from which we write, edit, and publish, are occupied spaces. We acknowledge too that the many frontline communities of Philadelphia which suffer daily under the violence of the Philadelphia Police Department, relentless gentrification, immigration raids, heteropatriarchy, and environmental racism, are also occupied spaces. It is from this knowledge that we continue to assert our dedication to decolonization and the liberation of all people.

So much of our time and energy under colonial-capitalism is expended in the resistance to spaces and institutions of oppression. It can at times feel as if life and all of history is one long assault upon the right of people to just exist. This exhaustion and the rage it evokes, leaves whole communities and nations in perpetual trauma that never seems to heal.

This mini issue of The Partisan is less about what’s horrible about our current society and more about the spaces and institutions dedicated to healing, dedicated to sanctuary and refuge. In these spaces we catch a glimpse at possibilities. We catch a glimpse of a new world in the making. This issue is about resistance, but it is also a prophecy. It is the story of what is to come: a world where everyone feels safe, cared for, accepted, whole.

Send us letters to the editors at partisan@phillysocialists.org or Philly Socialists, PO Box 3731, Philadelphia, PA 19125. Find us online at PhiladelphiaPartisan.com, Facebook and Twitter.

Design and layout: Alex Zahradnik

Arts Editor: Gina Lerman

Editorial Collective: Matteo MacDermant, Kristyn Johnson, Michelle Laggan

Contributors: Adam Gulick, Kitty Heite, Nick Millman, Matteo MacDermant