Editing Infoshop

{{Short description|Space for distributing political and subcultural information}}
[[File:L'Insoumise Montreal.jpg|thumb|Exterior of L'Insoumise infoshop and bookstore in Montreal, Canada.]]
'''Infoshops''' are places in which people can access [[Anarchism|anarchist]] or [[Autonomism|autonomist]] ideas. They are often stand-alone projects, or can form part of a larger radical bookshop, [[anarchist archives|archive]], [[self-managed social centre]] or [[community centre]]. Typically, infoshops offer flyers, posters, [[zines]], pamphlets and books for sale or donation. Other items such as badges, locally produced artworks and T-shirts are also often available. Infoshops can also provide printing and copying facilities for people to produce their own literature or have a meeting space.

Infoshops can be found in many cities in North America and Western Europe, and also in other locations around the world such as Australia, Israel and New Zealand. They are oftentimes self-managed spaces run by volunteers which vary in size and function, depending on local context.

==Radical spaces==
[[Image:Left Bank Books Seattle.jpg|thumb|Interior of Left Bank Books in [[Seattle, Washington]], 2006.]]
An infoshop (the word being a [[portmanteau]] of information and shop) is a physical space where people can access radical ideas through flyers, posters, [[zines]], pamphlets and books. It also provides a space to meet other people and in some cases to organise events such as meetings or fundraisers.<ref name="AA40">{{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=Joel |editor1-last=Amster |editor1-first=Randall |editor2-last=DeLeon |editor2-first=Abraham |editor3-last=Fernandez |editor3-first=Luis A. |editor4-last=Nocella III |editor4-first=Anthony J. |editor5-last=Shannon |editor5-first=Deric |chapter=The Problem with Infoshops and Insurrection: U.S. Anarchism, Movement-Building, and the Racial Order |title=Routledge |location=Contemporary Anarchist Studies: An Introductory Anthology of Anarchy in the Academy |isbn=9780415474023 |page=40|year=2009 }}</ref> Some infoshops have computers, copy machines and printers so that pamphlets, position papers, articles, magazines, and newspapers can be created and then circulated between the network of spaces.<ref name="Katsiaficas">{{cite book |last1=Katsiaficas |first1=George |title=The Subversion of Politics: European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday life |date=1997 |isbn=9781904859-536 |page=190|publisher=AK Press }}</ref>

Academic [[Chris Atton]] describes the infoshop as a "forum for alternative cultural, economic, political and social activities."<ref name="AltMedia48">{{cite book |last1=Atton |first1=Chris |title=Alternative Media |url=https://archive.org/details/alternativemedia00atto |url-access=limited |date=2010 |publisher=Sage |isbn=9780761967705 |page=[https://archive.org/details/alternativemedia00atto/page/n56 48]}}</ref> For example, in a flyer announcing its planned activities, the [[Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh]] (ACE) stated it would make available locally produced arts and crafts, records, T-shirts, badges, books, zines and information.<ref name="AltMedia48" /> When it opened the following year, ACE provided flyers, leaflets, newsletters, magazines and journals about causes such as [[antivivisectionism]], [[anti-monarchism]], [[hunt sabotage]] and [[jobseeker's allowance]] advice.<ref name="Lacey">{{Cite journal | doi=10.1177/1206331205277350 | title=Networked Communities| journal=Space and Culture| volume=8| issue=3| pages=286–301| year=2005| last1=Lacey| first1=Anita| bibcode=2005SpCul...8..286L| s2cid=145336405}}</ref>

Like social centres, infoshops vary in size and function depending on local context.<ref name="Lacey" /> Many contemporary anarchists first come into contact with radical politics through an infoshop.<ref name="AA183">{{cite book |last1=Shannon |first1=Deric |editor1-last=Amster |editor1-first=Randall |editor2-last=DeLeon |editor2-first=Abraham |editor3-last=Fernandez |editor3-first=Luis A. |editor4-last=Nocella III |editor4-first=Anthony J. |editor5-last=Shannon |editor5-first=Deric |chapter=As beautiful as a brick through a bank window: Anarchism, the academy, and resisting domestication |title=Routledge |location=Contemporary Anarchist Studies: An Introductory Anthology of Anarchy in the Academy |isbn=9780415474023 |page=183|year=2009 }}</ref>

Infoshops tend to be run on a voluntary basis by a non-hierarchical collective. The spaces are non-profit and self-managed.<ref name="AltInfo">{{Cite journal | doi=10.1108/03074809910248564 |title = The infoshop: The alternative information centre of the 1990s|journal = New Library World|volume = 100|pages = 24–29|year = 1999|last1 = Atton|first1 = Chris}}</ref>

==Antecedents==
In the United Kingdom, early antecedents of infoshops were the radical presses such as [[Giles Calvert]]'s printshop (1600s) and [[John Doherty (trade unionist)|John Doherty]]'s coffee house (1830s).<ref name="AltMedia53">{{cite book |last1=Atton |first1=Chris |title=Alternative Media |url=https://archive.org/details/alternativemedia00atto |url-access=limited |date=2010 |publisher=Sage |isbn=9780761967705 |page=[https://archive.org/details/alternativemedia00atto/page/n61 53]}}</ref> More recently, infoshops were associated with squatted anarchist social centres such as the [[121 Centre]] in Brixton, London<ref name="AltMedia47">{{cite book |last1=Atton |first1=Chris |title=Alternative Media |url=https://archive.org/details/alternativemedia00atto |url-access=limited |date=2010 |publisher=Sage |isbn=9780761967705 |page=[https://archive.org/details/alternativemedia00atto/page/n55 47]}}</ref> and the Free Information Network (FIN).<ref name="AltInfo" />

Writing in [[Maximumrocknroll]] in the 1990s, Chuck Munson placed North American infoshops in the lineage of peace and justice [[community centres]] and acknowledged the influence of European social centres.<ref name="Munson">{{cite news |last1=Munson |first1=Chuck |title=Your Friendly Neighborhood Infoshop |url=http://practicalanarchy.org/infoshops.html |access-date=25 July 2019 |work=Maximum RocknRoll |date=January 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010204062900/http://practicalanarchy.org/infoshops.html |archive-date=4 February 2001}}</ref> Munson also stated there were over 60 infoshops (infoladen) in Germany which were connected to the [[Anarchism|anarchist]], [[Autonomism|autonomist]], [[squatting]] and [[Punk subculture|punk]] movements.<ref name="Munson" />

==Around the world==
[[File:The 1 in 12 Club.jpg|thumb|The [[1 in 12 Club]].]]
[[Self-managed social centres in Italy]], such as [[Forte Prenestino]] in Rome, often contain infoshops.<ref name="AltMedia53" />

[[Social centres in the United Kingdom]] often contain infoshops, such as for example the [[Cowley Club]] in Brighton and the [[1 in 12 Club]] in Bradford. There is also the 56a Infoshop in London.<ref name="Firth56">{{cite journal |last1=Firth |first1=Rhiannon |title=Critical cartography as anarchist pedagogy? Ideas for praxis inspired by the 56a infoshop map archive |journal=Interface: A Journal for and About Social Movements |date=2014 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=156–184}}</ref> In the mid-2000s, as well as these spaces, there were infoshops in Leeds, Manchester, Norwich and Nottingham.<ref name="Lacey" />

In the 1990s, there were the following infoshops in North America: 223 Center (Portland, Oregon); 404 Willis (Detroit); A-Space (Philadelphia); Arise! Bookstore & Resource Center (Minneapolis); Autonomous Zone (Chicago); Beehive Infoshop (Washington DC); Blackout Books (New York City); Crescent Wrench Infoshop (New Orleans);  Croatan (Baltimore); Emma Center (Minneapolis); Epicenter (San Francisco); Long Haul (Berkeley); [[Lucy Parsons Center]] (Cambridge); [[Mayday Books]] (Minneapolis); Who's Emma (Toronto); [[Wooden Shoe Books and Records|Wooden Shoe Books]] (Philadelphia).<ref name="Munson" /><ref name="Dodge">{{cite news |last1=Dodge |first1=Chris |title=Street Libraries: Infoshops and Alternative Reading Rooms |url=http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/7423/infoshop.html |access-date=25 July 2019 |work=Utne Reader |date=1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027155038/http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/7423/infoshop.html |archive-date=2009-10-27}}</ref>

Elsewhere in the world, projects include [[Jura Books]] in Australia, [[Salon Mazal]] in Israel and [[Freedom Shop]] in New Zealand.

Related projects include [[anarchist archives]], bunkos in Japan and community libraries.<ref name="Dodge" />

==Notable infoshops==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name !! Location !! Established !! Status
|-
| [[1 in 12 Club]] || Bradford, UK || 1988 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[121 Centre]] || London, UK || 1989 || style="background:#FEE7E6; border:1px solid #BFA3B1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Former
|-
| [[56a Infoshop]]|| London, UK|| 1991 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[ABC No Rio]] || New York, US|| 1980 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh]] || Edinburgh, UK|| 1997 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
|[[BIT (alternative information centre)|BIT]]|| London, UK || 1968 || style="background:#FEE7E6; border:1px solid #BFA3B1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Former
|-
|[[Boxcar Books]]|| Bloomington, US || 2001 || style="background:#FEE7E6; border:1px solid #BFA3B1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Former
|-
|[[Brian MacKenzie Infoshop]]|| Washington DC, US || 2003 || style="background:#FEE7E6; border:1px solid #BFA3B1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Former
|-
| [[Camas Bookstore and Infoshop]] || Victoria, Canada|| 2007 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
|[[Catalyst Infoshop]]|| Prescott, US || 2004 || style="background:#FEE7E6; border:1px solid #BFA3B1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Former
|-
| [[Civic Media Center]] || Gainesville, FL|| 1993 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Cowley Club]] || Brighton, UK|| 2002 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Firestorm Cafe & Books]] || Asheville, US || 2008|| style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Forte Prenestino]] || Rome, Italy || 1986 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Freedom Shop]] || New Zealand || 1995 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Grote Broek]] || Nijmegen, Netherlands || 1984 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| Insoumise || Montreal, Canada|| 2004 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Internationalist Books]] || Chapel Hill, US || 1981 || style="background:#FEE7E6; border:1px solid #BFA3B1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Former
|-
| [[Jura Books]] || Sydney, Australia || 1977 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse]] || Baltimore, US|| 2004 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Salon Mazal]] || Tel Aviv, Israel || 1968 || style="background:#FEE7E6; border:1px solid #BFA3B1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Former
|-
| [[Spartacus Books]]|| Vancouver, Canada || 1973|| style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Sumac Centre]]|| Nottingham, UK || 1984|| style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|-
| [[Vrijplaats Koppenhinksteeg]] || Leiden, Netherlands || 1968 || style="background:#FEE7E6; border:1px solid #BFA3B1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Former
|-
| [[Warzone Collective#Warzone Centre|Warzone Centre]] || Belfast, UK || 1986–2003, 2011–2018  || style="background:#FEE7E6; border:1px solid #BFA3B1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Former
|-
|[[Lucy Parsons Center]] || Boston, US || 1969 || style="background:#CEF2E0; border:1px solid #A3BFB1; padding:1em; margin:auto;"| Ongoing
|}

[[File:Lucy Parsons Center panoramic.jpg|thumb|896px|center|A panoramic view of the interior of the [[Lucy Parsons Center]] in Boston, United States.]]

==See also==
{{Portal|Anarchism|Libertarianism|Communism|Socialism|Organized Labor|Society}}
{{Commons category|Infoshops}}
*[[Arts centre]]
*[[Anarchist bookfair]]
*[[Cultural centre]]
*[[CrimethInc.]]
*[[:Category:Infoshops]], notable infoshops
*[[Zine library]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://slingshotcollective.org/radical-contact-list/ Slingshot contact list] (updated 2019).
* [https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/category/book-shop-info-shop-library Radar directory of infoshops] (updated 2019).
* [http://www.spunk.org/texts/contacts/sp001700/direct.html Directory of infoshops] (last updated 1997).
* [http://www.tangledwilderness.org/infoshops/ Infoshops in North America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326121237/http://www.tangledwilderness.org/infoshops/ |date=2015-03-26 }} (last updated 2015).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150815054656/http://infoshopnetwork.org/infoshops/regional/index.html Infoshops by region] (archived 2015).
* [http://www.livingroomdocumentary.org/ Living Room Documentary] – A documentary film about infoshop culture (2006).
* [http://anarchisthistory.noblogs.org/post/2015/03/18/new-zine-the-a-zone-a-decade-of-anarchy-in-chicago/ The A-Zone & A Decade Of Anarchy In Chicago] – A zine about the Autonomous Zone in Chicago (re-released 2015).

{{Infoshops|state=expanded}}
{{Anarchism}}

[[Category:Anarchist movements]]
[[Category:DIY culture]]
[[Category:Infoshops| ]]
[[Category:Squatting]]
[[Category:Anarchist terminology]]