Self-described “anarchist bookstore cafe autonomous space” Blackbird Infoshop & Cafe (587 Abeel Street) announced in an Instagram post on Sunday, Dec. 8 that they would be offering $5/mo. and $13.12/mo. “monthly sustaining memberships” in the face of challenging circumstances.
“Relying on the market alone to mediate our material relationships is undesirable,” read the post, signed by owner Andrew McCarthy.
He also cited the challenges of refusing to compromise on “unconventional” policies such as requiring well-fitting, high quality masks or respirators at all times, which they admitted in another post was “bad for business”. As such, food and drink must be consumed outside or taken to go.
Blackbird offers, among other things, a sliding scale cafe and bookstore, community space, radical library, free fridge and food distribution, and “autonomous anti-colonial organizing”. They host events such as book readings, long Covid support groups, a queer liberation study group and an anarchism-informed parent-child group.
Detailing their desire to “design a community-accountable, materially sustainable, prefigurative and visionary space and mission”, the post noted, “we need to fight back against State Enclosure and Domination, build the Common, and radically care for each other and the earth while we do so.”
McCarthy emphasized Blackbird is not a non-profit, though he left the option open of using what he called “the corporate tool that is 501(c)3 status” on future projects.
Open three days a week and located near the junkyards and shipyards of the Rondout near the corner of Abeel Street and Wilbur Avenue, the post noted “Small business is hard. Even when you have a perfect location and sufficient startup capital, many businesses fail within a few years.”
McCarthy added, “being generally overtly political (and anti-electoral) makes it extra hard.”
Join the family! 
