We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mk Zariel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mk, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I’ve known I wanted to be involved in anarchist organizing since I was thirteen years old. The summer before eighth grade, I was going through a serious depressive episode, and discovering anarchist theory—first Emma Goldman (of course), then more recent stuff such as the BashBack tendency, Margaret Killjoy’s postciv anarchist works, the whole Xenofeminist movement, and more—quite literally saved my life. From there, it became my passion. I joined local affinity groups throughout the Great Lakes region. I started an anarchist group at my middle school (truly). And I also realized that the creative pursuits I’d always loved as hobbies were integral to the community. Every anarchist organizer I participated in organizing with also had a band, a zine, a blog, a collection of poetry, or at least a way of living that was art until itself—and even though I was much younger than most others in the organizing scene (or perhaps because of the youth liberationist inclusion I felt), I realized that I could do that too. That radical media made anarchy not just a movement, but a subculture and a community, and I could be a part of that. Around my freshman year, I got on Substack (https://debatemebro.substack.com/) and also started writing for the Anarchist Review of Books, and that was a revelation. I realized I could get paid for creative work without compromising my values. My whole life I’d thought that getting a job was about fixed locations and polished resumès and upholding the status quo, but once I started doing anarchist poetry and journalism, I knew that freelancing in that space meant I could be raw and vulnerable and unapologetically liberationist. From there, I started doing other freelancing—Itch.Io (https://mkzariel.itch.io/), various gigs on Fiverr, literary magazines, journalistic projects, and even hosting the podcast THE CHILD AND ITS ENEMIES (https://thechildanditsenemies.noblogs.org/)—while also scaling up my community organizing work in BashBack aligned spaces where anarchonihilism/egoism meets queer liberation. I truly love community organizing, poetry, radical journalism, and theater, and I’m so grateful that it can be such a huge part of my life, both from the standpoint of paid work and the (arguably more important) one of doing what brings you queer joy. Bigots often engage in conspiracy-minded talk about “professional anarchists,” but I kind of am one, and I think that’s pretty awesome;)

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a transmasc & neuroqueer poet, theater artist, movement journalist, and insurrectionary anarchist. My focus is on creating queer spaces in the great lakes region that are conflictual in their sense of care, spaces where desire and impulse and insurgent genders are everything, direct action groups and trans meetups, mutual aid without the nonprofit energy, choosing our queerness over anything linear. The BashBack tendency is very dear to me, as is egoism/anarchonihilism—and I view creative labor as a crucial part of queer worldmaking and anarchist negation. I write and perform poetry for the joy of dismantling structure itself, letting synaesthetic imagery morph and grow on the page, showing that language (like gender) can be a space of conflictuality and rupture. My poetry has been previously published in Querencia Press, New Words Press, JAKE, Periwinkle Pelican, Alliance For Self-Directed Education, and many others; I absolutely love working with micro-presses and other spaces that bring a punk/DIY ethos to literature. I also do journalism and cultural criticism, focusing on youth liberation, queer and trans anarchism, postcivilizational theory, and Mad/neurodivergent identity. As a columnist for Asymptote, as well as the Anarchist Review of Books, I have the opportunity to write at the intersections of culture and social movements; I’ve also collaborated with Barrelhouse, Sage Cigarettes, Oyster River Pages, Transmuted, and other independent literary magazines on journalistic projects. I can be found online at https://mkzariel.carrd.co/ and am always open to collaboration (and co-conspiracy) <3

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal and mission is always to create queer spaces—not just in the sense of social support, but in the sense of spaces that are utterly open toward the vulnerable unruliness of our genders and lives. I believe that desire, impulse, and authenticity are core to anarchy. If one individual reads one of my poems or goes to an action I organize or listens to my podcast and decides to unmask in some way—anything from trying new pronouns to opening up about their neurodivergent experiences or just following the next impulse or synaesthetic intuition they feel or questioning the very construct of linear thought—I consider that a win. The lens of postciv anarchism as a personal decision (which I’ve written about before: https://debatemebro.substack.com/p/what-is-feral-anarchy) helps me a lot; ferality can be part of social movements such as BashBack, or the general tendency toward mutual aid in the queer community, but it can also happen in a personal level through art and culture and small moments of care.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Often, non-creatives (and non-anarchists) believe that one needs to choose between one’s (anti)political convictions and one’s creative passions—because, in the majority of more statist/capitalist/hierarchical political tendencies, the expectation is that people burn themselves out through electoral or movement-building action. On the other hand, anarchists take a more social-ecological approach and almost universally view art as a part of insurrection (rather than a distraction from it). We embrace art for its own sake rather than simply as a means of political education or performative self-care. However, the public perception of anarchy tends to be the tip of the anarchist iceberg, so to speak—the general public hears about disruptive forms of direct action because that’s what garners media attention (often by design), but aren’t necessarily aware of the subculture and community that exists beyond that. I’m frequently asked whether I would “choose” anarchism or poetry or performance, and I always respond by saying that they’re inextricably tied. My journey as a creative has been entirely centered in the anarchist community, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mkzariel.carrd.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechildanditsenemies
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/channelzeronetwork
• Twitter: https://x.com/childenemies
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thechildanditsenemies
• Other: All my social media pages are listed here: https://linktr.ee/mkzariel