Peter Gelderloos

Who is Peter Gelderloos?

Peter Gelderloos is an anarchist and author from Virginia.

Gelderloos was arrested in 2001 while attending a protest at the Georgia-based Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, a controversial school that trains Central and South American soldiers and police. He was convicted and served the maximum sentence of 6 months in prison.

In How Nonviolence Protects the State Gelderloos sets out to "[debunk] the notion that non-violent activism is the only acceptable and effective method of struggle" and to "defenestrate the stranglehold that [pacifism has on movements]"

In April 2007, Gelderloos was arrested in Spain and charged with public disorder and illegal demonstration during a squatters' protest. He faced between three and six years of imprisonment. Eventually he was acquitted.

In 2010 Gelderloos published Anarchy Works, a comprehensive book explaining basic principles of anarchism and their historic usage. He also published To Get to the Other Side, a narrative of his travels through Europe's anarchist milieus.