Peter Gelderloos

Peter Gelderloos is an anarchist and author from Virginia (United States).

Gelderloos was arrested in 2001 while attending a protest at the Georgia-based Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as School of the Americas), a controversial school that trains Central and South American soldiers and police. He was convicted and served the maximum sentence of 6 months in prison.

In How Nonviolence Protects the State Gelderloos sets out to "[debunk] the notion that non-violent activism is the only acceptable and effective method of struggle" and to "defenestrate the stranglehold that [pacifism has on movements]"

In April 2007, Gelderloos was arrested in Spain and charged with public disorder and illegal demonstration during a squatters' protest. He faced between three and six years of imprisonment. Eventually he was acquitted.

In 2010 Gelderloos published Anarchy Works, a comprehensive book explaining basic principles of anarchism and their historic usage. He also published To Get to the Other Side, a narrative of his travels through Europe's anarchist milieus.

See also

• Anarchism and violence
• Issues in anarchism: Ends and means

Further reading

• Gelderloos, Peter. Insurrection v.s. Organization: Reflections from Greece on a Pointless Schism. Infoshop.org (April 2007)
• Gelderloos, Peter. My Arrest in Spain: The Easy Road from Tourism to Terrorism. CounterPunch (May 2007).
• Gelderloos, Peter. Arms and the Movement. Utne Reader (June 2007).
• Gelderloos, Peter. A Critical History of Harrisonburg Food Not Bombs
• Gelderloos, Peter. More Wood for the Fire: Capitalist Solutions for Global Warming
• Gelderloos, Peter. Learning From Ferguson

External links

• Interview with Last Hours Zine
• To Get to the Other Side
• Review of The Failure of Nonviolence