January 28, 1975 – February 9, 2023
Jen Angel was an anarchist organizer who died of injuries sustained while pursuing two men who’d robbed her on the street in San Francisco, USA.
Coming to anarchy from the punk/DIY scene, Jen was a longtime zinester, helped put together a ten-day anarchist conference in Chicago set up as counterprogramming to the Democratic National Convention, edited MaximumRocknRoll and was involved in a range of “alternative” and “radical” media projects that, while not themselves anarchist, were imbued with Angel’s own values. She was also a core organizer of the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair, the longest-running anarchist book fair in the United States.
Crimethinc assembled many remembrances of Angel and her work, and characterized her approach thusly: “Jen focused on logistics nearly to the exclusion of ideology. Coming out of the motley crowds of the punk scene and the heady optimism of the Seattle WTO protests, Jen took for granted that theoretical cohesion was not as important as openness and inclusivity.”
In the wake of her death, family and friends strived to prevent her murderers from facing carceral punishment at the hands of the state. In a statement on a GoFundMe set up by her supporters, they said, “We honor Jen Angel’s life, legacy, and values by saying no to incarceration, policing, state violence, and perpetuating cycles of harm in her name. We assert a resounding yes to community responsibility, accountability, and mutual aid.”