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About | life in the liberated zone

About LLZ

Activists are a wildly diverse bunch of people belonging to many cultures and many struggles, but we share a unique culture as activists.

Like most people, we oppose injustice and desire a healthier, kinder and more equitable world. What makes us unique is that we deliberately plan, organize and ACT in the world collectively to help bring about this transformation.

This makes our life experience distinct in a number of ways:

  • We clash with the existing power structure, exposing us to a variety of tensions, risks and sometimes dangers

  • Daily we grapple with the effects that the injustices and absurdities of the system have on us and our loved ones, choosing and sometimes loosing our battles as individuals, even as collectively we challenge the old and work to bring forth the new

  • In the course of our movements we carve out liberated zones to survive within the belly of the beast, struggle against it, and forge alternatives to it. These embattled spaces, within ourselves; in our families and neighborhoods; in our movements, organizations, co-ops and communes; at Zucotti Park and Oventic; or even in whole regions and countries, are where we take refuge, resist, and practice what we propose.

    [Links to “liberated zones” are for initial info or to jog memories. LLZ is not necessarily endorsing their full accuracy or fairness.]

Life in the Liberated Zone explores, in fact and in fiction, the experience of being an activist in our society–our culture as activists. Greater awareness of our culture can bring us together despite differences, help us identify and resist the specific oppressions activists are subject to, better appreciate ourselves as a people, and enhance the liberated zones we’re constantly opening up to begin creating the new world now as we confront the the beast of greed and oppression we’re struggling to transform.

Who is this site for?

  • Activists and folks who love us, depend on us, or who are just curious to know more about what makes us tick.
  • People who are drawn to reading and, especially, writing fiction featuring activists.
  • People who want to understand more about the process and the experience of creating communities of struggle in the midst of movements for change.

What can you get from this site?

  • Some new ways of looking at the activist experience.
  • Insights to help us take better care of our indispensable people.
  • Books. Those written by and with Juliana Barnet. Eventually, other books LLZ publishes or co-publishes, fiction featuring activists and nonfiction about activist culture.
  • Articles and posts about the activist experience. Opportunities to contribute guest posts.
  • Critiques and recommendations about fiction featuring activists.
  • Events, workshops, talks, training.
  • LLZ Tours! Virtual and actual tours of liberated zones.
  • Other cool and random writing about activists.

What does this site want from you?

Help! Play a part in launching LLZ!

  • Test and review the Life in the Liberated Zone website
  • Read and comment on writing in progress.
  • Brainstorm and problem-solve.
  • Share your thinking about outreach and promotion.
  • Share your experiences and reflections on life as an activist in the belly of the beast.
  • Share suggestions for our project “LLZ Tours,” exploring liberated zones virtually and in real life.

Also seeking part time paid assistant(s) or intern(s) to help with:

  • Research for books and articles
  • Event scheduling, organizing, promotion
  • Social media, especially Goodreads, Patreon, Twitter and Facebook
  • Email promotion
  • Website launch and maintenance
  • Administration