Black Flags and Windmills: Hope, Anarchy, and the Common Ground Collective

Engaging story of hope and radical change in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In a few hundred pages, activist scott crow takes the reader through the origins and growth of the Common Ground Collective, an anarchist direct service group that arose in the West Bank of New Orleans. Along the way, we see the horrors of the hurricane's aftermath, we see scott in over his head as he searches for his friend and faces down white racist militias with his friends, we see the failure of huge, better-funded organizations like the Red Cross and FEMA, the aggression of police and soldiers, and the creation of a radical answer to crisis situations.

This book is extremely accessible, even if you aren't very familiar with language used by many US show more anarchists - crow includes definitions of some radical terms he uses, and does a good job of providing some analysis while he relates his experiences. A fair portion of the last part of the book is used as an overview of what Common Ground was able to accomplish and some of the challenges it faced. At the same time, the heart of this book isn't analysis, but a personal narrative for a public audience. The book is light on critique of Common Ground, so if you're looking for that, look elsewhere. I walk away from this book with some inspiration for what radical projects could look like and some of the lessons learned by crow and his friends, but moreso, I was moved by the capacity an individual has for creating change in the face of extreme difficulty. show less