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Yesterday marked the dawn of the Steel City’s newest publication: The Martello. Joining the growing crowd of independent papers and pages which have sprung up over the past decade (H Mag, Hamiltonian, Raise the Hammer, Bay Observer, etc), and following in the footsteps of recent radical rags like Mayday and The Hammer/IMC Hamilton, it’s set to become the city’s newest voice of anti-establishment acrimony.
There’s been a lot of talk amongst Hamilton’s radicals about a new publication since the demise of Mayday Magazine a few years ago, though this is the first to reach “launch day”. The Martello (Italian for “hammer”) began as an anonymous, somewhat collective Facebook page in in March 2011, as a way of posting news and events to the social network, and it’s been growing steadily since. The jump to a full-on website, and hopefully soon a print edition, has been in the works for a couple of months, as authors, artists and other contributors assembled in living rooms and pubs to prepare for the big day.
Bearing an explicit and uncompromising anarchist perspective, the Martello plans to follow in the footsteps of pages like Anarchist News, Modesto Anarcho or the legendary Inconsiderate Audio. This low-brow and generally anti-social tone was chosen because it fits Hamilton, and to avoid the trap of overly wordy lefty/academic writing which is often totally indecipherable to anyone without a university education. The term “pissed off news” captures this well – Hamilton is dirty, poor and incredibly fucked up, and that’s something we’re all going to have to stop sugar-coating if we ever want to see things change.
Expect to see a lot more in the coming days and weeks, including some exclusive content from yours truly. Anybody looking to contribute articles, essays, interviews, photos, artwork, events or other content should contact martello[at]riseup.net
