end of winter (Patreon)

Hey mates, fucken delighted 2 report that i have just sent off all the finished art for ‘12 rules for strife’, this book i’m working on with Jeff Sparrow. There will be blood (minor edits :-P) required by the publisher, and a few further tweaks here and there but we’re so close to finished now that it makes me SICK. Thanks for sticking with me while i was preoccupied with that slog. here are some more pages from the book:

Looking forward to this event in Tarntanya / Adelaide in a few weeks time, plz come along if u live there / spread the word to others who do, if you think they might be into it:

This is also happening while im over there which fkn rules:

you can see the trailer for the documentary and find out about the melbourne and brisbane screenings here . the Better Read Than Dead dispute was the first strike in retail in australia in decades, and saw the workers win the best conditions in their industry. it also helped revive the strike tradition. their efforts are close to my heart cos this was the first campaign that i got to fully draw along with, through the arc of the whole industrial action, as each development happened i tried to help spread the message to supporters thru a handful of illustrations. you can see all the pieces i drew to support the workers here. these drawings were done with my labour donated / funded by patreon supporters. after the strike, for several months the boss wouldn't let the workers order Our Members Be Unlimited to sell in their bookstore hahaha >:-(
anyway the film is going to be great i'm really excited about it. we need to get better at documenting current worker efforts!! so much cool contemporary stuff just gets lost to time, while we are obsessed with disputes of yesteryear.

Above is my latest drawing for Overland. and the cover i made for the 250th edition:

Things are heating up in the fight for melbourne’s second overdose prevention centre.
Genocidal yuppie residents and business owners have started postering upper Bourke street opposing the new site.

look at those pieces of shit hahaha. need to get out there and do some more postering in response. If anyone wants some copies of these prints (esp if yr up for sticking some up around the place!) pls let me know and i can leave some for you to pick up from Trades Hall reception.

There’s also this candlelight vigil happening on International Overdose Awareness day this Thursday day after tomorrow. There should be some of the above prints available there.

Drew the below pic a while ago in support of the push for a permanent break room (and space to organise!!!!!) for food delivery riders:

Melbourne city council is running a four month trial of such a space which is great. You can read more about these efforts here and here.

Got to go up to Sydney to draw at this academic conference ‘All Hands on Deck’ which was really great. Haven’t done any ‘live drawing’ events like this since before covid, it was nice to listen with my pen again.

Wish i had been able to draw this banger of a quote from one of my fav thinkers Elizabeth Humphrys but ran out of time:

"As climate change deepens, exceptional circumstances are going to become the norm... The bushfires came along. We saw a large number of deaths from the smoke from the fires, rather than the fires themselves. And protocols in workplaces weren’t able to adapt. Some workers were told to just wet a handkerchief or cloth and tie it around their mouth and get on with the job. Maritime and construction workers were much more likely to be able to take strike action because of their long industrial struggles... We saw the media attacking them for being lazy and wanting to not work. But actually the evidence is here now, about hundreds of deaths related to smoke and ash from those bushfires. And that's repeated with the Pacific Northwest Fires experience in Canada and the US… Workers tell us that with high heat and things like the bushfire smoke, productivity needs almost always trump safety. The question is, how do workers build the social power needed to ensure adaptation to climate change is on just terms?"

drew the above pic this morning as a gesture of solidarity to Nia, a union leader who has been targeted following that beautiful farm strike a couple of months ago. Workers Art Collective made a bunch of banners and placards with the farm workers the night before the strike kicked off, u can see some pics of that here. Since the strike, Nia has been stood down by the company, and they are now threatening to fire her. Her employer, Hussey Farms, provide fresh salads to ALDI, so the union is leaning on the supermarket to demand their supplier stops union busting. Please consider taking 30 seconds to send ALDI Australia a message and tell them to protect Nia's job http://unitedworkers.org.au/standwithnia/

Drew the above piece for a bottom-up supermarket unionisation effort in the US, the drawing ended up being part of them getting sued by the company?!?!??!!!!!! the union doesn’t seem too worried. you can buy some merch to support the (entirely worker-run union!) effort here https://store.traderjoesunited.org/

Also made these stickers as a favour to the beloved ‘Peoples History of Australia’ podcast (my bf makes the videos for their social media 😭). The dozen or so ppl i haven’t mailed stuff out to yet will get one in the post soon.

Donated lots of art to giveaways lately, including to a fundraiser for the VISY strike, a 'No Borders Poland' fundraising effort, and APHEDA Union Aid Abroad fundraising dinner. You guys paid for making + printing all this shit so cheers very much 🥂

Above is a drawing by my mate Judy Kuo, who has just gone out into the wild as a full-time illustrator so if u have any drawing work u need done, pls consider hitting her up in the future, and chuck her a follow if u don't already.

Talk soon ty for the support! shld be back to these regular Patreon updates now that book slog is largely done for.
<3 sam