How can our dreams fit in a world that wants us scattered to the wind? Without using so many words, this is the question asked time and again by working people over the past several years. Ours is a world of perpetual war, ecological catastrophe and economic degradation, where our lives are work and work is only an amplifier of the chaos that surrounds us. In times like these, we are told that not only is it futile to imagine an alternative, but our imaginations themselves are superfluous. In times like these, to rekindle this imaginative power -- to conceive of new modes of expression, of art, music, literature, performance -- is a small but revolutionary act.
Red Wedge has, over the past three years, sought to play a role in reigniting this spark. We were and remain inspired by the creativity that manifested in Occupy, the poetry and music that rose from the Arab revolts and the movements of the squares in Europe, the artistic experiments of a new global generation of radicals. We have aimed to take this torch and run, even sprint with it. This has meant applying a passionate and at times unflinching critique of popular art and culture, acknowledging the moments when it has been “popular” the best sense, and posing a radical, humanistic alternative when it hasn’t.
We have published hundreds of articles that seek to explore the intersections of art and politics through an unabashedly socialist lens. We have sought out radical artists, writers, filmmakers, poets, musicians and cultural workers so that we might draw attention to their work. We have revisited the history -- much of it criminally overlooked in textbooks -- of past radical and avant-garde movements so that we might learn their same lessons. We have launched a website, published a pamphlet, and published our first full print edition.
Now it’s time for the next steps. And for that, we turn to you, the reader. Simply put, we need your money. Be the sum large or small, whatever you can spare.
We have always intended to be a publication that is highly accessible and professional at the same time. We want to publish our next issue and greatly expand our profile, to spread our reach and base of support so that we might better impact the debate around art and aesthetics in the newly forming radical left. We would like to pay our writers (and ourselves!) at least a modest sum so that we might show our appreciation for their work and talent. This, on top of the already significant amount of resources that it takes to keep Red Wedge running in its current state.
Naturally, we acknowledge that nobody’s spare change is easily parted with. But we also believe, sincerely, that Red Wedge is your publication, a publication of, by and for the radical left to suss out ideas around art and make a new creative voice for itself. And to show our gratitude, are providing rewards to those who donate to the project.
We believe, more urgently than ever, that we can and must win a radically different world. But that takes support; it takes guts and camaraderie. It also takes the willingness to take a leap and imagine that such a world is possible. We are eternally grateful to anyone who might help us in this endeavor.
Find out more (including about the rewards) at gofundme.com/fundredwedge