The North American anarchist community has lost one of its great artists. On 28 July, Richard Mock died in Brooklyn. Mock was artistically active into 2005, when his health took a sudden turn for the worst. He was only 61 years old when he died due to health complications arising from a chronic diabetic condition. More to the point, he was done in by the American health system: or, rather, by the lack of a health system for those without sufficient resources to pay their way.

Most activists first encountered his linocut illustrations in anarchist publications such as the Fifth Estate, Anarchy, Alternative Press Review, and the Canadian journal YDS. However before he began contributing to these publications in 1996, he had already made an impact thanks to his remarkably prolific output. In the US, Mock's socially critical illustrations regularly appeared in the OP-Ed page of the New York Times between 1980 and 1996. He also contributed to UN publications and his illustrations were distributed world wide through the Cartoonists &...