Local Artists Create Dystopian Times Magazine to Channel Eco-Socialist Activism

The Psychedelic Science conference held last week in downtown Denver was an international affair, with attendees and presenters attending from across the globe. Alongside the science loomed the ever-increasing behemoth of psychedelic business. Sure, there were naked-except-body-paint sparkling beauties and beskirted men with beards carrying crystal-topped staffs and some gifting of natural medicine on the expo floor, but the free-spirited wook-ness was matched if not overcome by the capitalist vibe of the emerging aboveground psychedelic marketplace.

Hence, it was a relief to stop in the IndigeLounge mid-morning on Friday and encounter the Dystopian Times collective, a local group of activists and artists who publish an eponymously named magazine.

"Our framework is that we try to fuse a mixture of our new politics and indigenous and ecological perspectives in order to create a new narrative and hopefully a new vision that centers our people and our narratives for the future we're trying to build," collective member and magazine contributor Mario Reyes told the crowd. "Oftentimes we're left out of the conversation of how to build our own futures — no, fuck all that."
Fellow contributor Honey Buendía started the session by reading a land acknowledgment from Volume 3 of the magazine, the latest edition. Written by a contributor named Iktomi, of the Sicangu Lakota tribe, it's not your typical rote remembrance:

"The thing is, too many people nowadays are doing land acknowledgments, then patting themselves on the back for it. A land acknowledgment is the bare minimum. Unless acknowledgments are paired with meaningful and ongoing solidarity, it is just more performative colonial crap. Unless you are truly committed to ongoing solidarity (advocating in solidarity, doing business in solidarity, living in solidarity, showing up in solidarity, etc.) with us Indigenous Peoples, it doesn't matter if you give a great land acknowledgment or not."

Dystopian Times, the magazine, is put together by a core group of eight to ten people, Reyes told Westword after the presentation, but as a collective, he says the group encompasses close to two dozen comrades. Reyes and Buendía told those gathered that it's an eco-socialist group, based on Marxist thought and inspired by groups like the Zapatistas.

"We have some pieces that are actually criticisms of Marxism and how we can add on to Marxism," Reyes said. "Even though we pull from those perspectives, we are also very conscious that they need to be expanded and they need to be critiqued and they need to be embedded in the specific context and conditions that are current."

The collective is preparing to publish Volume 4 of the magazine in July. Glossy and full-color with articles, poetry, photography and visual art by locals, the magazine carries no ads except satirical ones, like a "We're hiring" message from United Healthcare, whose CEO was assassinated in Manhattan last December, along with a scope's crosshairs and the words "Hit the next Growth Target." Articles inside Volume 3 include a pro-reintroduction article on wolves and coexistence; calls to organize in the face of fascism; a letter from "Planet Earth" ("Either you break up with capitalism and find someone who respects what we have ... and stops fucking raping me, OR I'll kill you both. In fact, I will kill all of you."); and a deep dive into methods for social change.
The collective gathers to regularly hold "kickbacks," events open to the public, often held outside at parks; this is one of its outreach methods beyond the magazine (which has a suggested retail price of $25 but is also pay-what-you-can). An upcoming kickback this Friday, June 27, at City Park from 6:30-8:30 p.m. is titled "Reform or Revolution?" and promises "free food, kid friendly, deep convos, vibes, socialist shit."

At the Psychedelic Science conference, a couple from a Marxist collective in Colombia connected with Reyes and Buendía to cross-pollinate ideas afterward, and a food security activist queried them about their collective — which is part of a larger collective that's attempting to form a network of cooperatives.

But why establish a presence at Psychedelic Science? "One thing that psychedelic medicines or different types of substances have done for me is they've opened my eyes up to very clear things," Reyes said at the presentation. "It pierces through the illusions and gets to the central meaning of life, and what we hope to do with the magazine is pierce through the illusion."

Buendía elaborated after the session. "We're here because our center of framework is eco-socialism, where we put our planet first and it is our planet for our people," she told Westword. "And we understand this industry has become an industry, and it's become very extractive to the people who are the original stewards of this medicine. "We want to bring forward the awareness that the planet comes first, and this is a medicine that should be sacred and still be taken care of in such a way. It's been taken from our people, especially from the great stewards of the land who use this as medicine and use this with intention."

The collective's next kickback, "Reform or Revolution?" is 6:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, June 27 at City Park. Learn more at @dystopiantimesmedia on Instagram.