Peter Gelderloos

{{Infobox person

| name = Peter Gelderloos

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| birth_name = Peter Alan Gelderloos

| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|19|2001|Nov|20}}{{r|most SOA}}

| birth_place = Morristown, New Jersey, U.S.

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| notable_works = How Nonviolence Protects the State (2005)
Anarchy Works (2010)
The Failure of Nonviolence (2013)
Worshipping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation (2017)

| movement = Anarchism

| criminal_charges =

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}}

Peter Gelderloos (born {{birth based on age as of date|19|2001|Nov|20|noage=1}}){{r|most SOA}} is an American anarchist activist and writer.

Biography

Gelderloos first became involved in political issues as a high school student, and described the Seattle WTO protests in November 1999 as helping influence his political development.{{Cite web |date=September 4, 2008 |title=Peter Gelderloos |url=http://www.lasthours.org.uk/archive/interviews/peter-gelderloos/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717135644/http://www.lasthours.org.uk/archive/interviews/peter-gelderloos/ |archive-date=July 17, 2011 |website=Last Hours}}

In November 2001,{{Cite news |last=Houston |first=Jim |title=Most SOA protesters continue disobedience |work=Ledger-Enquirer |page=1 |date=November 20, 2001 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115434261/most-soa-protesters-continue/ |location=Columbus, Georgia |df=mdy-all |access-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230063301/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115434261/most-soa-protesters-continue/ |url-status=live |quote=Peter Alan Gelderloos, 19, of Vienna, Va.}} Gelderloos was arrested with 30 others for trespass in protest of the American military training facility School of the Americas, which trains Latin American military and police.{{cite news |last=Gleason |first=Amy |date=September 9, 2002 |title=Preparing for Prison |work=WHSV-TV |url=https://www.whsv.com/content/news/preparing-for-prison-101061.html |access-date=May 9, 2017 |archive-date=August 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808202113/https://www.whsv.com/content/news/preparing-for-prison-101061.html |url-status=live}} He represented himself in court{{Cite news |last=Houston |first=Jim |title=Judge offers penalty options |work=Ledger-Enquirer |page=A1, A3 |date=July 12, 2002 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115434004/alternative-sentence-proposed/ |location=Columbus, Georgia |df=mdy-all |access-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230063226/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115434004/alternative-sentence-proposed/ |url-status=live}} and was sentenced to six months in prison.{{r|Barakat}}{{Cite news |last=Houston |first=Jim |title=Foes of institute choose prison |work=Ledger-Enquirer |page=A1, A3 |date=July 13, 2002 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115434106/protesters-reject-reverends-proposal/ |location=Columbus, Georgia |df=mdy-all |access-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230063224/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115434106/protesters-reject-reverends-proposal/ |url-status=live}} Gelderloos previously organized a student rally against the Iraq War{{Cite news |last1=Santos |first1=Carlos |title=Students rally across state to protest war |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |page=A14 |date=March 21, 2003 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115434198/students-rally-across-state-to-protest/ |location=Richmond, Virginia |df=mdy-all |access-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230063301/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115434198/students-rally-across-state-to-protest/ |url-status=live}} and was a member of a copwatch program in Harrisonburg.{{cite news |last=Lee |first=Chay |title=Harrisonburg Copwatch Holds Training |work=WHSV-TV |url=https://www.whsv.com/content/news/harrisonburg-copwatch-holds-training-1338392.html |access-date=May 9, 2017 |archive-date=August 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808202059/https://www.whsv.com/content/news/harrisonburg-copwatch-holds-training-1338392.html |url-status=live}}

In April 2007, Gelderloos was arrested in Spain and charged with disorderly conduct and illegal demonstration during a squatters' protest. He faced up to six years in prison.{{Cite news |last1=Barakat |first1=Matthew |title=North Virginia protester's arrest stirs international waters |work=Daily Press |page=B3 |date=August 20, 2007 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115433623/north-virginia-protesters-arrest-stirs/ |location=Newport News, Virginia |agency=Associated Press |access-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230061139/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115433623/north-virginia-protesters-arrest-stirs/ |url-status=live}} According to Gelderloos, he was arrested as a bystander after someone had set off a firework designed to scatter fliers through the air.{{r|lasthours}} He claimed that he was unfairly targeted for his political beliefs. He was acquitted in 2009.{{cite news |date=April 28, 2009 |title=Virginia Anarchist Fights Deportation From Spain |newspaper=Daily News-Record |page=5 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/police-clipping-apr-28-2009-3639406/ |access-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-date=December 30, 2022 |agency=Associated Press |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230060039/https://newspaperarchive.com/police-clipping-apr-28-2009-3639406/ |url-status=live}}

He is known for his 2005 book, How Nonviolence Protects the State, which has been cited in works discussing and analyzing forms of violent and nonviolent resistance.{{r|fights deportation}}{{Cite book |last=Bowser |first=Jeremiah |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Elements_of_Resistance/5HQlrgEACAAJ?hl=en |title=Elements of Resistance: Violence, Nonviolence, and the State |date=2015 |publisher=Hampton Institute Press |isbn=9780991313624}}{{Cite book |last=Erickson Nepstad |first=Sharon |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Nonviolent_Struggle/kxMWDAAAQBAJ?gbpv=1 |title=Nonviolent Struggle: Theories, Strategies and Dynamics |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199975990}} He has written for the publications In These Times and ROAR Magazine.{{Cite web |title=Peter Gelderloos |url=https://inthesetimes.com/authors/peter-gelderloos |website=In These Times}}{{Cite web |title=Peter Gelderloos |url=https://roarmag.org/author/peter-gelderloos/ |website=ROAR Magazine}} In a review of his 2017 work Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation, William Gillis described him as "an anarchist committed to making anarchist theory accessible" and "within our movement [...] probably the least controversial anarchist writer alive".{{Cite web |last=Gillis |first=William |date=August 2, 2017 |title=The Tangled Paths Of State Formation And Resistance |url=https://c4ss.org/content/49542 |website=Center for a Stateless Society}}

In 2024, he co-produced It’s Revolution or Death, a documentary series focused on the global climate crisis, in collaboration with media collective subMedia.Tv.{{Cite web |title=It’s Revolution or Death – Part 1 : Short Term Investments |url=https://itsgoingdown.org/its-revolution-or-death-part-1-short-term-investments/ |website=It's Going Down}}

Works

{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |year=2024 |title=Organization, Continuity, Community |location= |publisher=Detritus Books}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |year=2024 |title=They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us : Forcing Nonviolence on Forgetful Movements |location=London |publisher=Pluto Press}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |year=2022 |title=The Solutions Are Already Here: Strategies of Ecological Revolution From Below |location=London |publisher=Pluto Press}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |year=2017 |title=Worshipping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation |location=Oakland |publisher=AK Press}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |title=Learning From Ferguson |publisher=Left Bank Books |location=Seattle |year= 2014 |url=https://www.leftbankbooks.com/publishing/pdfs/LFF.pdf}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |title=The Failure of Nonviolence: From the Arab Spring to Occupy |publisher=Left Bank Books |location=Seattle |year=2013}}{{Cite journal |last1=Cartaya |first1=Raúl |title=El fracaso de la no violencia. De la primavera Árabe a Ocuppy |journal=Oxímora: Revista Internacional de Ética y Política |issue=4 |pages=133–137 |date=2014 |url=http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/oximora/article/view/10473 |issn=2014-7708 |access-date=June 2, 2018 |archive-date=April 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419032714/http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/oximora/article/view/10473 |url-status=live}}{{Cite journal |last1=Frazer |first1=Elizabeth J. |title=The Diversity of Tactics: Anarchism and Political Power |journal=European Journal of Political Theory |pages=553–564 |date=March 10, 2016 |volume=18 |issue=4 |doi=10.1177/1474885115627558 |s2cid=147683146 |issn=1474-8851 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:1a3085a9-eafc-493a-8443-391bed7b98d4 |access-date=September 3, 2020 |archive-date=August 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804034752/https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:1a3085a9-eafc-493a-8443-391bed7b98d4 |url-status=live}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |url=http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-works |title=Anarchy Works |publisher=Ardent Press |location=San Francisco |year=2010}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |url=http://togettotheotherside.org/table-of-contents/ |title=To Get to the Other Side: a journey through Europe and its anarchist movements |year=2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126124031/http://togettotheotherside.org/table-of-contents/ |archive-date=November 26, 2020}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |title=Sousa in the Echo Chamber |publisher=Homebound Books |year=2009}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |url=http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-how-nonviolence-protects-the-state |title=How Nonviolence Protects the State |publisher=South End Press |location=Boston |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-89608-772-9}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |title=Consensus: A New Handbook for Grassroots Social, Political, and Environmental Groups |publisher=See Sharp Press |location=Tucson |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-884365-39-3}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |title=How Nonviolence Protects the State |publisher=Signalfire Press |location=Harrisonburg |year=2005}}{{Cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Brian |title=How Nonviolence is Misrepresented |journal=Gandhi Marg |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=235–257 |date=July 2008 |url=https://documents.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/pubs/08gm2.html |access-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230032423/https://documents.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/pubs/08gm2.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite journal |last1=Borel |first1=Marcelo |last2=Freitas |first2=Fernando Vieira de |title=Monopólio revisado: a violência nos conflitos contra o Estado |journal=Revista de Ciências Humanas |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=500–505 |date=December 22, 2017 |url=https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/revistacfh/article/view/2178-4582.2017v51n2p500 |doi=10.5007/2178-4582.2017v51n2p500 |issn=2178-4582 |doi-access=free |access-date=June 2, 2018 |archive-date=May 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180524221924/https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/revistacfh/article/view/2178-4582.2017v51n2p500 |url-status=live}}
{{cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |author-mask=1 |title=What is Democracy? |publisher=See Sharp Press |location=Tucson |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-00-005219-3}}