Welcome to the Radish Blog

The Radish Infoshop
417 N Boonville (just north of the square)
Springfield, MO 65806
(417) 496-3782
radishbooks@hotmail.com
www.radishinfoshop.org (coming soon)

Mission Statement

The Radish is a nonprofit radical bookstore, community center and infoshop, operated cooperatively on a volunteer basis. As a distributor of written materials and a convergence center for the activist community, we seek to educate and agitate for a world free from all forms of oppression and exploitation.

The Radish provides books, magazines, and zines that are otherwise unavailable in Springfield. As a community center and infoshop, The Radish provides free information (in the form of infosheets, a reading room, and a lending library)and functions as a movement hub, providing free meeting space and educational opportunities for groups and individuals working for social and environmental justice and true democracy.

The Long Version*

We are aware that a new radicalism has risen up across the globe. It offers the hope of building a better world by actively confronting, and uprooting the system that is the cause of our social and ecological problems. (Radical, like radish, comes from the Latin rad and means “to get to the root of”.) It transcends simplistic generalizations about form or method: It has no international headquarters, no political party, no traditional leaders or politicians running for office, and no uniform ideology or ten-point platform. Rather, it takes many forms and expresses itself differently in different places and communities across the globe.

At The Radish, our intention is to connect Southwest Missouri with this growing world-wide effort to end all forms of social and ecological injustice in an anti-authoritarian fashion by providing the education, the tools and the space for raising the consciousness of our local community. We intend to connect, inspire and support a wide range of creative new ways to struggle for change.

More and more, movements in different sectors of socity and in different parts of the world are seeing the fight in their community as part of a bigger battle. We do not wish to be the voice of our community but merely an outlet for voices to be heard, a hub where various organizations and individuals concerned about creating a better world can meet, cooperate and create.

Who are we?

We are a collective of long-time friends, artists, and activists who have connected with, learned from, and struggled with communities and groups locally and across the nation. In addition to participating in mass-mobilizations like the presidential “debates” in St. Louis (2000 and 2004) and the Republican National Convention in New York City (2004), we have some experience with smaller-scale actions like EarthFirst! in northern California. After networking with infoshops all across the nation, we are ready to bring the fire home to Springfield.

Books

The following topics represent some of the categories of books available at The Radish for sale and/or in the lending library.

African American Studies
CrimethInc.
Eco/Green
How-to/DIY
Globalization
Indigenous
Middle East
Organizing
Queer
Radical Politics
Sexuality
Spirituality
Terrorism, War, & Militarism
Women’s Studies

Educational Opportunities

The Radish will host a wide variety of educational opportunities. We will offer skillshares, show movies, bring in speakers, hold workshops, and help organize community events throughout the year.

Consignment

The Radish has a goal to promote local art and music. To that end, some space will be available for local art, crafts and music sold on consignment.

Free Stuff

A major part of The Radish’s mission is free dissemination of important information. Infosheets, DIY (do-it-yourself) guides, brochures, zines, and magazines like Slingshot (Berkeley) and Confluence (St. Louis) are available for free.

Lending Library

Books like George Orwell’s 1984 and CrimethInc.’s Days of War, Nights of Love are simply too important to go unread. The Radish has a small lending library comprised of donated books and “administered” on the honor system. (We are currently accepting book donations.)

Meeting Space

Small groups can meet to discuss pressing issues or just to hang out in a welcoming atmosphere.

What Can You Do To Help?

There are various ways to contribute:

supplies (books, magazines and magazine subscriptions, furniture, bookshelves), expertise (if you have a skill to teach of information to share), artistry (artwork to decorate the shop, in-store music performances, benefit concert performances, crafts or clothing to sell, etc.), time (volunteering behind the counter, organizing events, running errands), and, of course, money, the unfortunate sine qua non of this endeavor.

Each individual can bring his or her own interests, ideas, and creativity to The Radish, making it a more vibrant, interesting place to be. We encourage - even require! - participation; your presentations, music, zines, and energy will enhance the vitality of this project and help build a coherent radical community in Springfield.

Yours for the revolution,

The Gardenhead

*Thanks to David Solnit (Globalize Liberation) for being able to say it more eloquently than we ever could!

P.S.

If you would like to join our mailing list so we can keep you updated about The Radish and upcoming events, please email us at radishbooks@hotmail.com