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Clandestines: The Pirate Journals of an Irish Exile
“What separates Ramor's work from the other outstanding young writers is the content of what he is doing. I've never seen anything close to his work…”—Eddie Yuen, co-editor of Confronting Capitalism “From Belfast to the Bronx and Chiapas to Kurdistan, Ramor Ryan has shown a lifelong commitment to social justice, a questioning mind and an ability to incorporate historical currents into his work.”—Mick McCaughan, Latin American Correspondent to the Irish Times An epic debut, Ramor Ryan’s nonfiction tales read like Che Guevara’s The Motorcycle Diaries crossed with Hunter S. Thompson’s wit and flair for the impossible. A shrewd political thinker and philosopher with a knack for ingratiating himself into the thick of any social situation, Ryan has been there and lived to tell about it. As much an adventure story as an unofficial chronicle of modern global resistance movements, Clandestines spirits the reader across the globe, carefully weaving the narrative through illicit encounters and public bacchanals. From the teeming squats of mid-90’s East Berlin, to intrigue in the Zapatista Autonomous Zone, a Croatian Rainbow Gathering on the heels of the G8 protests in Genoa, mutiny on the high seas, the quixotic ambitions of a Kurdish guerilla camp, the contradictions of Cuba, and the neo-liberal nightmare of post-war(s) Central America we see everywhere a world in flux, struggling to be reborn. Ramor Ryan is a rebellious rover and Irish exile who makes his home between New York City and Chiapas.
160 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 1, 2008
i picked this up from the LPC kind of against my better judgment. i mean, the pirate journals? really? why don't you try a little harder, ramor ryan? if that is even possible. it just looked a little crimethinc-y, you know what i mean? but ryan had done a reading at the lucy parsons center that was pretty well-received by various people who appreciate thoughtful anarchist commentary & don't really have the stomach for dumbass crimthinc-ian bullshit, so i gave the book a chance & i'm pretty glad i did. lots of excellent stories about protests, squats, riots, & such forth, all across the world, & ryan seemed to be at all of them, firing off communiques from the front lines. it does, of course, occasionally slip into the kind of bogus macho anarcho-radical war stories discourse that i would prefer to avoid, but i think the author mostly keeps a healthy distance from the bullshit & reports on what the various protests were all about, how they were carried out, what worked, what didn't, etc, while never really losing the abaility to turn it all into a good story. & there is also some actual sailing stuff in the book. now, being a merchant sailor isn't the same as being a pirate, no matter what the various sailing types in my life might wish to believe, but...whatever. i'll give it a pass because it really is a good book.
August 21, 2012
I came to this book expecting your usual radical-duder-goes-traveling-and-writes-about-it book. Hopped trains, romance in late coffee-fueled nights, a few protests, narcissism, etc. I was so excited to find this book wasn't, was more. While the book is about Ramor's travels, he doesn't feel like to focal point, rather the places he visits (and their politcal history) and the revolutionary movements he experiences while there. It's very informative, but much more palatable than a straight-up history book.
November 10, 2007
This book is fantastic and every home should have one.
April 25, 2026
This is a globetrotting adventure anthology of visitations to the Kurds, a Rainbow Gathering, a Berlin Wall crossing and more, including crossing the Atlantic to check in on the rise of Chavez, the Zapatista land takeover communities...
One interesting chapter is on the Mairéad Farrell IRA activist and the funeral of the 'Gibraltar Three'. Three mourners were killed in a gun and grenade attack by loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone at the Milltown Cemetery.
Still, at times it seems a potpourri of radical tourism without much depth, The author confronts that presentation.
One interesting chapter is on the Mairéad Farrell IRA activist and the funeral of the 'Gibraltar Three'. Three mourners were killed in a gun and grenade attack by loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone at the Milltown Cemetery.
Still, at times it seems a potpourri of radical tourism without much depth, The author confronts that presentation.
Why write rebel stories instead of political theory or analysis? First of all-obviously-it's easier, and writing becomes a joy, not a chore. Secondly, I realized my impulse to write came not from the urge to pontificate, but to communicate. Here Eduardo Galeano's observations in his essay "In Defense of the Word" are useful: "Our writing is informed by a desire to make contact, so that readers may become involved with words that come to us from them, and that return to them as hope and prophecy."
I think the history of this era-basically the 90's-will be written with a grudging nod to the anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist movements that emerged after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the communist influence on global struggle.
May 19, 2025
My introduction to AK Press' catalog. I was initially interested in the title and an Irish "protagonist." I picked it up when I was working at Comix Revolution in Evanston. The intellectual appeal of anarchist thought must have been a factor as well. The first-person experience of shifting scenarios and political climes let me see that the personal is political. It was helpful to have a unique, almost philosophical, perspective on events that continue to evolve the world over. I always remember the author's description of May Day on the Alexanderplatz in Berlin in particular as well as personalities within and without his circle there. The historical context provided reminds me that knowledge of political and world affairs, and their relative value, must depend upon local participation in events and their ability to mobilize a community. A good snapshot of important places in the time line of revolutionary thought and praxis!
October 10, 2018
a very fun read, great descriptions of the people he met and the places he had gone. The book is an adventure into the dark spots of the planet.
April 19, 2020
One of the most inspirational books I've read in a while.
December 10, 2025
Gonna sound gushy - but so loved this book - it inspired me to write my own short tales. Winner! A truly great read, Ramor - Hanx.
June 5, 2007
I never thought I would enjoy a travel journal, but Ramor Ryan changed my mind. At first I thought it was going to be an over-romantic story of this guy travelling around the world in order to avoid himself, in the way that a lot of Crimethinc type of stuff reads. I'm really not into that kind of stuff. However, he really surprised me, and I'm ashamed I thought that of him in the first place in association with Crimethinc, because this guy is a real character, a great writer, and no one can call him fake for leaving out the messy details. In fact, read about his review of the two different "Days of War and Nights of Love" (one by Crimethinc, and one by Eduardo Galeano) online.
In the great tradition of Irish story-tellers, Ryan recalls experiences from the squats of West Berlin, the war zone of Kurdistan, the revolution and post-revolution repression in Nicauragua, his youth in Ireland watching the British army attack a Republican demonstration, and much more. He is an exile from his native land, moving from situations of struggle across the planet with a keen analysis of each. Ryan left Ireland in the 1980s for Nicaragua to help defend the Revolution there, and ended up seeing the Sandinistas crumble under the might of the US-funded Contras, alienating Indigenous peoples struggling for autonomy in the process. He remarks that a generation of international solidarity activists in the 1980s got their start in Nicaragua; much like many saw the same in Chiapas in the 1990s.
If you've never heard of Ramor Ryan, look him up. I would love to meet him, because this guy has such a wealth of information and has seen so much without thinking he is better than anyone else for having done so. He brings a personal touch to bloody places stormed by revolution, repression, and fights for a better world. By the end of it, I thought to myself that he had really lived his life thus far to the fullest, and brought a whole new meaning to what I thought of as an "international solidarity" activist. Much of what he writes is exciting in that revolutionary situations are very much within reach, but at the same time depressing when he discusses the aftermath in the case of defeat (like in Kurdistan or in Nicaragua).
If you want to find an inspirational person, you have to meet Ramor Ryan by reading his Clandestines.
In the great tradition of Irish story-tellers, Ryan recalls experiences from the squats of West Berlin, the war zone of Kurdistan, the revolution and post-revolution repression in Nicauragua, his youth in Ireland watching the British army attack a Republican demonstration, and much more. He is an exile from his native land, moving from situations of struggle across the planet with a keen analysis of each. Ryan left Ireland in the 1980s for Nicaragua to help defend the Revolution there, and ended up seeing the Sandinistas crumble under the might of the US-funded Contras, alienating Indigenous peoples struggling for autonomy in the process. He remarks that a generation of international solidarity activists in the 1980s got their start in Nicaragua; much like many saw the same in Chiapas in the 1990s.
If you've never heard of Ramor Ryan, look him up. I would love to meet him, because this guy has such a wealth of information and has seen so much without thinking he is better than anyone else for having done so. He brings a personal touch to bloody places stormed by revolution, repression, and fights for a better world. By the end of it, I thought to myself that he had really lived his life thus far to the fullest, and brought a whole new meaning to what I thought of as an "international solidarity" activist. Much of what he writes is exciting in that revolutionary situations are very much within reach, but at the same time depressing when he discusses the aftermath in the case of defeat (like in Kurdistan or in Nicaragua).
If you want to find an inspirational person, you have to meet Ramor Ryan by reading his Clandestines.
February 7, 2012
I’ll have to use Ramor Ryan’s own words to describe just what he’s done with Clandestines:
“… I have written a book of rebel tales, about travelling politically and engaging enthusiastically with people of changing circumstance and cultures of resistance. This book is about searching for the revolutionary in everyday lives, and a map for delving into more shadowy and uncharted moments and movements of recent history” (277).
While Ryan may have set out to write a history of “resistance movements from anti-imperialism to anti-capitalism”, what he’s really done is told a story: a refreshingly subjective story that is both political and personal, as he steps into history as it unfolds before him. From Berlin to Turkey to Chiapas and Nicaragua, Ryan uses his commitment to international solidarity and his undeniable attraction to adventure to guide him on a vibrant, and at times volatile, journey.
As Ryan introduces us to all the lively characters he meets in his travels, he shares an informative history of that region’s political and social struggles. While he’s a dedicated anarchist activist, who finds himself in some more than dangerous situations all over the globe, he doesn’t take himself too seriously. In fact, he’s even able to put off some researching and networking when he runs into a Honduran street festival that is “so fucking brilliant that [he gets] caught up in the revelries instead” (253).
Ryan doesn’t shy from presenting the dark and the light of several revolutionary struggles and it’s his zest for resistance and enthusiasm for people that make these movements and their perpetual motion so intriguing to read about.
“… I have written a book of rebel tales, about travelling politically and engaging enthusiastically with people of changing circumstance and cultures of resistance. This book is about searching for the revolutionary in everyday lives, and a map for delving into more shadowy and uncharted moments and movements of recent history” (277).
While Ryan may have set out to write a history of “resistance movements from anti-imperialism to anti-capitalism”, what he’s really done is told a story: a refreshingly subjective story that is both political and personal, as he steps into history as it unfolds before him. From Berlin to Turkey to Chiapas and Nicaragua, Ryan uses his commitment to international solidarity and his undeniable attraction to adventure to guide him on a vibrant, and at times volatile, journey.
As Ryan introduces us to all the lively characters he meets in his travels, he shares an informative history of that region’s political and social struggles. While he’s a dedicated anarchist activist, who finds himself in some more than dangerous situations all over the globe, he doesn’t take himself too seriously. In fact, he’s even able to put off some researching and networking when he runs into a Honduran street festival that is “so fucking brilliant that [he gets] caught up in the revelries instead” (253).
Ryan doesn’t shy from presenting the dark and the light of several revolutionary struggles and it’s his zest for resistance and enthusiasm for people that make these movements and their perpetual motion so intriguing to read about.
December 2, 2023
A bottom-up social history of some of the most important radical struggles in the last two decades; a critical, first-person account of revolutionary movements, their successes as well as failures, their potential as well as their flaws. Ryan's radical anthropology of a dozen different movements reads like an ethnography of activism, from Ireland to Kurdistan to Guatemala and Chiapas.
Never one to blithely proceed as a militant tourist, Ryan consistently critiques his own role in the narratives he recounts, exploring tensions of race, class and nationality in the brave new world of global neoliberalism. Nor is he simply a lifestyle radical, playing mount-the-barricades in a dozen different cities. "Unconditional solidarity for any political party or movement is a foolish stance," he writes after discovering the new neoliberalized version of Sandinistas in Nicaragua, "especially when one has no participation in the process of decision-making or ideological direction. But one's loyalty remains to the idea and the revolutionary actions of a movement in a particular time." (264)
Who are the "clandestines"? As Ryan describes it, "clandestinity is about protecting ourselves, our rebel spaces and allowing the seed to germinate underground." (273) His description of developing, maintaining and deploying these spaces will be interesting to anyone pursuing radical social change.
Never one to blithely proceed as a militant tourist, Ryan consistently critiques his own role in the narratives he recounts, exploring tensions of race, class and nationality in the brave new world of global neoliberalism. Nor is he simply a lifestyle radical, playing mount-the-barricades in a dozen different cities. "Unconditional solidarity for any political party or movement is a foolish stance," he writes after discovering the new neoliberalized version of Sandinistas in Nicaragua, "especially when one has no participation in the process of decision-making or ideological direction. But one's loyalty remains to the idea and the revolutionary actions of a movement in a particular time." (264)
Who are the "clandestines"? As Ryan describes it, "clandestinity is about protecting ourselves, our rebel spaces and allowing the seed to germinate underground." (273) His description of developing, maintaining and deploying these spaces will be interesting to anyone pursuing radical social change.
March 21, 2022
CN für die Review: Sexismus, sexuelle Belästigung, Rassismus
Selten ist mir ein Mensch durch sein Schreiben so unsymphatisch gewesen wie der Autor dieses Buchs. Er glorifiziert Straßenschlachten in Berlin und Gewalt in Partnerschaften, kritisiert dann aber, dass die Kurd*innen ihre Probleme nicht diplomatisch lösen. Frauen kommen vor allem als Sexobjekte vor, er scheint sie nicht ganz ernst zu nehmen. (Einer der schlimmsten Sätze in der Hinsicht: "Jennifer, die über den Durst getrunken hat und noch immer sauer über den Krach mit Danchi ist, beschließt, sich beim Schwimmen von einer Gruppe Typen belästigt zu fühlen und sich gegen sie zu wehren.") Mich nervt auch seine Arroganz, mit der er andere Lebensstile und Aktionsformen verurteilt, als wüsste er die absolute Wahrheit darüber, wie sich die Welt verbessern lässt. Insgesamt gibt er mir einfach unangenehme Macker-Vibes.
Hinzu kommt dann auch noch die Verwendung rassistischer Begrifflichkeiten wie "M" (Wort für Menschen mit einem Schwarzen und einem weißen Elternteil). (Der Fairness halber sei erwähnt, dass das auch an der Übersetzung liegen könnte.)
Oh und weil viele englischsprache Reviews mit CrimeThinc vergleichen: Obwohl ich auch CrimeThinc manchmal zu sehr auf die Reinheit des Anarchismus und bestimmte Aktionsformen fokussiert finde, ist deren Kram definitiv lesenswerter als der eklige Rotz hier.
Selten ist mir ein Mensch durch sein Schreiben so unsymphatisch gewesen wie der Autor dieses Buchs. Er glorifiziert Straßenschlachten in Berlin und Gewalt in Partnerschaften, kritisiert dann aber, dass die Kurd*innen ihre Probleme nicht diplomatisch lösen. Frauen kommen vor allem als Sexobjekte vor, er scheint sie nicht ganz ernst zu nehmen. (Einer der schlimmsten Sätze in der Hinsicht: "Jennifer, die über den Durst getrunken hat und noch immer sauer über den Krach mit Danchi ist, beschließt, sich beim Schwimmen von einer Gruppe Typen belästigt zu fühlen und sich gegen sie zu wehren.") Mich nervt auch seine Arroganz, mit der er andere Lebensstile und Aktionsformen verurteilt, als wüsste er die absolute Wahrheit darüber, wie sich die Welt verbessern lässt. Insgesamt gibt er mir einfach unangenehme Macker-Vibes.
Hinzu kommt dann auch noch die Verwendung rassistischer Begrifflichkeiten wie "M" (Wort für Menschen mit einem Schwarzen und einem weißen Elternteil). (Der Fairness halber sei erwähnt, dass das auch an der Übersetzung liegen könnte.)
Oh und weil viele englischsprache Reviews mit CrimeThinc vergleichen: Obwohl ich auch CrimeThinc manchmal zu sehr auf die Reinheit des Anarchismus und bestimmte Aktionsformen fokussiert finde, ist deren Kram definitiv lesenswerter als der eklige Rotz hier.
October 21, 2007
I always find it hard to travel and not feel like a resented tourist...out in the world where Americans are perceived poorly for international foreign policy of our current (so-called) representative administration. Ramor actually has a parallel analysis as I do and has done similar political, human-rights or investigative travel as I have. He chose to write a book of his travels and reflections as an Irish radical. I valued his perspective and found it refreshing that someone else has thought and acted upon his principles in the ways he has.
September 9, 2007
Picked up this book on a whim at Quimby's. As a traveler myself, I enjoyed living vicariously through Ramor Ryan, the book's author. He's thrown himself into nearly every major revolutionary battle ground of the last 15 or so years. He tells some great stories, though the book meanders and has o real point. Social dissidents have always tugged at my heart strings, and this guy is more eloquent and well read than most books in this vein. A fun read!
September 15, 2007
interesting story of an irish anarchist's travels. written in brief episodes so it would be a good book to pick up and read a section every now and then. he's traveled to some interesting places by interesting methods, including a story about traveling in latin america via a merchant banana vessel. also a very interesting chapter about going to kurdish areas in turkey, which is the highlight of the book for me.
November 11, 2008
Basically the travel log you wish you could write. Ryan is an Irish anarchist with a nose for volatile situations. He travels through Eastern Europe, South America and even the good ole' U.S. of A. all the while raising hell swilling booze and basically being a menace to what ever authorities happen to preside. Plus, Chris Wright designed the cover.
August 31, 2011
When we included a piece by Ramor in the Confronting Capitalism anthology, my co-editor Eddie Yuen opined "Ramor is our best writer." I couldn't agree more. His chronicling of the global scope of resistance against inequality will continue to be read as literature as other ephemera settles down into purely antiquarian interest.
Want to Read
November 5, 2007i met ramor in san cristobal de las casas. he is an amazing storyteller, can't wait to read this book (someday! after i read everything else on my bomb goodreads list. man, goodreads is the best procrastination tool ever!)
April 15, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. A tale of fantastic adventure... not to mention that i know a bunch of people mentioned, some by name, some with pseudonyms. Really a wonderful light read through the world of anarchist resistance to globalization.
February 9, 2015
Beautifully written accounts of fighting for a cause and the depressing realization when the people don't know things really could be better
January 22, 2008
I loved this book, read it straight through. Great, very engrossing stories.
July 12, 2008
i read it, and i am reading it again...brilliant!
August 29, 2008
He brought me back to the days of fleeing teargas in Berlin. great writer.
October 26, 2008
Maybe I'm a sucker for male political adventure stories but this has analysis too, I promise.
October 29, 2008
one of the few books in the world i think everyone should read.
June 8, 2012
Brilliant short pieces from an "embedded" reporter -- embedded where no other reporter would ever think to go: with rebels, anarchists, the IRA, et al.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews