Gagged!



Gagged! is a Alternative press publication, the South Wales Anarchist Newsletter, a free anarchist periodical produced by  South Wales Anarchists. It is anti-copyright and published into the public domain.

Influenced by SchNEWS and indymedia, the editorial stance is typical of the UK anarchist movement with an anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, anti-war, anti-statist agenda, concerned with social change. The content is mainly concerned with covering news of protests, civil disobedience, strike action, direct action, destruction of the natural environment and police misconduct in Wales.

The publication's logo features a young child holding a classic anarchist black flag with a circle A. 8,000 paper copies of every issue are distributed throughout South Wales and beyond, bundles of copies are sent to subscribers. Originally a double-sided A4, it has been produced as a double-sided A3 since issue 10 (though issue 8 was also an A3). A change of design in issue 17 meant an extra fold to create an A5 front cover. Over 2,000 subscribers receive Gagged! free via email, in plain text, PDF, and, as of issue 17, audiobook format.

Gagged! is run entirely by unpaid volunteers, and exists financially by donation through the generosity of readers and subscribers. It does not receive any money through normal funding channels. South Wales anarchists sporadically put on benefit concerts featuring anarchist musicians generally anarcho-punk, folk punk or other forms of protest music to cover printing and postage costs. Acts in the past have included Citizen Fish, Tracey Curtis, and Anti-Master.

The first six issues were the Gwent Anarchist Newsletter, and were produced by Gwent Anarchist Group. As of issue 7 Gagged! was also produced Cardiff Anarchist Network so became the Anarchist Newsletter of South-East Wales, before being renamed the South Wales Anarchist newsletter in issue 13. Since then local anarchist groups in Pembrokeshire and Rhondda Cynon Taff have started up and contributed. Many of the articles are attributed to other local radical organisations, most notably the Wales section of the No Border network.

The back page of the publication currently reprints the collective statement of the South Wales Anarchists as well as extensive listings of radical events in South Wales for the next two months. In the past other listed organisations included: the (currently homeless) Cardiff social centre - People's Autonomous Destination (PAD) part of the UK Social Centre Network,radical book discussion club Cardiff Reading Anti-Capitalism, a local chapter of Food Not Bombs, the Cardiff branch of the Rising Tide UK, the Cardiff section of Queer Mutiny, a coalition of south Wales against the G8 (SWAG8), South Wales Hunt Saboteurs Association and regional animal rights groups.