Morning Comrades! Here it is, the final Riot drop is now live and available to you all. The above image takes you directly to the online store and I will preview all the individual products over in our Telegram Group due to the email size restrictions put upon this newsletter by Google and Co as well as the fact that I have a number of subjects to write about today. Yes, this is the last time I will run this. There will not be any late orders, re-stocks, extra stock or anything else. Just so we are all clear on this.
With COP26 ending this week a few last words. Fuck these conferences, fuck everyone involved and an even bigger fuck you to all the capitalists mouthpieces running their cloak and dagger bullshit aimed at placating, us. I don’t even feel the need to excuse the vulgarity as my utmost contempt at this colossal waste of resources in the face of what is at stake is nothing but pre-revolutionary Paris Vibes.
At this point I don’t even want to continue pointing out the cruel insanity of our overlords with all their masks finally off because what other proof does anyone still need that a) they care b) are doing their fucking job that we pay them to do c)anything will change d) working “the system” is nothing but a code word for “I’m a greedy as MF’er willing to lie to go get mine” and lastly - the change we need will only come from us. Not Them. They took their masks off, it’s beyond time we take our gloves off.
A few words on this murdering, racist piece of shit, “legality” and the white, patriarchal system of violence upon any “other”. I truly do not care whatever legal framework under which this case is being dealt with. Legality is nothing but a social construct from the 1% upheld through violence of the police. That’s it. This person was driven across state lines to a riot by his mother with an assault rifle intend on killing people with other opinions. We all saw the his reactions immediately after this act, the reaction of the police and so. I don’t condone state violence even in his case - and yet, as above, no one needs another example of how, and this counts for all so called democracies in the “west”, that legality exists to protect the 1% and his held up by a patriarchal construct of violence. Fuck all that. Gloves off and all that.
Feminist History
Taking a slight turn with this section today during which I wanted to highlight a person whose work I have come to admire and whose contribution to the world of Feminism and particularly Feminist Marxism is invaluable: Alexandra Kollontai.
Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952) was a revolutionary, writer and diplomat. She was an advocate of women’s liberation and free love. As People’s Commissar for Social Welfare in the first Soviet government, she played a crucial role in shaping the emancipatory gender policies of early Soviet period which included legalization of abortion and access to contraception, health insurance and paid leave for women after childbirth, equality for children born outside of marriage and secularization of orphanages, secularization of marriage, and decriminalization of sex between men. Putting that into historical context alone makes this work and her vision utterly significant.
As an unwavering Marxist, Kollontai opposed the ideology of liberal feminism, which she saw as bourgeois. She was a champion of women's liberation, but she firmly believed that it "could take place only as the result of the victory of a new social order and a different economic system", and has thus been regarded as a key figure in Marxist feminism. She criticized bourgeois feminists for prioritizing political goals, such as women's suffrage, that would provide political equality for bourgeois women but would do little to address the immediate conditions of working-class women, and was further distrustful that bourgeois champions of feminism would continue to support their working class counterparts after succeeding in their struggle for "general women's" rights, as exemplified by the following quote:
Class instinct – whatever the feminists say – always shows itself to be more powerful than the noble enthusiasms of "above-class" politics. So long as the bourgeois women and their [proletarian] "younger sisters" are equal in their inequality, the former can, with complete sincerity, make great efforts to defend the general interests of women. But once the barrier is down and the bourgeois women have received access to political activity, the recent defenders of the "rights of all women" become enthusiastic defenders of the privileges of their class, content to leave the younger sisters with no rights at all. Thus, when the feminists talk to working women about the need for a common struggle to realise some "general women’s" principle, women of the working class are naturally distrustful.
— Alexandra Kollontai (1909), The Social Basis of the Woman Question
Two visual resources to take into your weekend that are more than worth your time:
Yes, we are back with both of our columnists Ana and Tatjana respectively and we are starting with one of my favourite “dishes” that I could eat day in and day out: Baba Ganoush.
Ingredients: 2-3 eggplants, 2-3 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of roasted cumin, 3 tablespoons of tahina, lemon juice from one lemon, salt and pepper, roasted sesame
Step 1: Use a fork to punch holes into the eggplants ( many ) and bake in the oven at top heat for about 30minutes or until the eggplant skin goes black.
Step 2: Scoop out the inside of eggplants und let rest in a sieve. add that into a bowl of some sort, add all the herbs, spices and tahina, mix well and thats it. let cool, thrown some pomegranate seeds over it and enjoy!
This week we're doing another favourite and go-to of mine: GREEN POINT.
The GREEN POINT is yet another offspring on the Manhattan family tree. The Manhattan quickly became popular 1880's when it was first created and has remained that ever since. Most of the Manhattan variations have kept the tradition and are named after the different boroughs in New York City. Since they're almost countless of them, it can make differentiating them from each other somewhat confusing from time to time. A GREEN POINT is essentially a twist on the Brooklyn, which already is a variation of the Manhattan. The Brooklyn came about in the early 1900's, but the GREEN POINT didn't come about until 2006 where it was created by bartender Michael McIlroy at the legendary NYC bar Milk & Honey. It's part of what is considered the 'modern classics'. Think of this drink as more of a herbal Manhattan. The sharpness of the rye, the deep notes from the vermouth and herbal edge in this drink makes for a bold, booze forward drink that kinda combines the classic and the modern in my opinion.
I've said many times that American recipes makes for bigger drinks volume wise and this case is no different. Most bars will adjust recipes to fit their style and flavour profile to some extent, and so have I with this recipe. The original by Michael McIlroy from 2006 is easy to look up and still absolutely delicious, if you want follow that instead – or if you want to try both.
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Rye whiskey
- Sweet vermouth
- Yellow Chartreuse - Angostura
- Orange bitters - Lemon peel
- Shaker
- Barspoon
- Jigger
- Julep strainer - Ice
- Coupe glass
HOW YOU DO IT:
- Put your glass in the fridge/freezer. This is served straight up, so it needs all the help it can get to stay cool.
- Pour 4 cl rye whiskey, 1 cl sweet vermouth, 1 cl yellow chartreuse, 1 dash Angostura and 1-2 dashes of orange bitters.
- Take the glass out of the fridge/freezer.
- Put ice in your shaker and stir for 6-9 seconds.
- Put your Julep strainer in the shaker (it should lie diagonally, when put in correctly), press gently on the top where it rests on the shaker and pour into your glass.
- Take the lemon peel, hold it 5-7 cm from the glass and spray the oil onto the edge and drink. You want to hit it from an angle. Take the lemon peel, rub it on the edge of the glass and a little on the stem. Put it nicely in the drink after.
- Drink!
ON A PERSONAL SIDE-NOTE:
The Green Point is my go-to after-dinner drink. The herbal nature and rye just sets my stomach right after a heavy meal. Be careful as to not over-stir. If you dilute it too much it'll taste like angry water with some weird herbal notes. Not nice.
For the rye, go with whatever you like. For sweet vermouth use something with deep notes, some caramel and vanilla – Antica Formula or Del Professore would be my recommendation.
Chartreuse has been around since 1838, where it was made by Carthusian monks. It's made from over 130 herbs, plants and flowers. It's insanely herbal and intense in flavour, and can really add that extra punch to your drink. Drinking a shot of the green version pure would to many people feel as a direct assault on their tastebuds. The yellow one is a softer and more round version of the green, and the yellow one we want for a Green Point. Otherwise if the green is used, it's easily gonna overpower and fuck the balance of the drink.
Bitters generally is just a really, really, really concentrated and intense version of a flavour. There's countless different ones by this point and even some companies specialising in bitters only. Bitters are also super easy to make, if you wanna try yourself. Alcohol as a medium is most likely the best thing at retaining an infused flavour – hence bitters. Generally speaking bitters are kind of expensive and have a high ABV for something sold in such tiny bottles, but remember we're only using a few drops per drink. A little goes a long way – especially with bitters. For the orange bitters needed, there's a few choices, so go with whichever you like the best. Angostura is well .. Angostura. No real substitute or choices here. It was originally developed as a tonic in the 1820's, but quickly became distilled instead. It consists of gentian root, and a metric fuck ton of both herbs and spices. Angostura also became a staple ingredient of every cocktail bar through the mid to latter half of the 1800's – and it still is. Without it, bars wouldn't be able to make many of both the classics and modern drinks.
By this point it's probably no secret that I'm fan of whiskey (and mezcal) cocktails since they've featured quite heavily so far. Kick up your feet or become completely horizontal, enjoy the weekend and hopefully also this personal favourite of mine: the GREEN POINT.
That’s it for now and I remain,
yours and without compromise,
V.