@PublishrsWeakly (sic) takes on the establishment

[fjtorres]

The revolution is just around the corner. Really.

https://electricliterature.com/the-p...shing-to-task/

PW: There’s an elitism to publishing that stems from the product it produces. Books are “art,” books can “change the world,” and therefore publishing is necessarily good and just, that we’re all doing noble work, when that’s not exactly the case. Publishing is a business like any other, and so that comes with the trappings of many other industries, i.e. wealth inequality, mistreatment of workers, and racially segregated workforce, often determined by the disparity in wages. Publishing is an industry that very much believes in paying one’s dues, and then once those dues have been paid, they expect you to turn around and uphold that same system. You’ve been underpaid, or made to do the work of multiple people, or just otherwise stepped on, but at the end of the day your offices are on 5th Avenue. Becoming a part of the upper levels of the system is seen as compensation for what you are subjected to in order to get there. Publishing celebrates its own existence. This elitism is pervasive throughout the entire industry, even in the bookstores. The term “bookseller” seems aimed to elevate people above the average retail worker.

Much more at the source, an interview with the activists behind the Twitter stream.

Take it as seriously as you will. There's an element of parody which may or not be intentional.
I'll just point out the game of tradpub is strictly voluntary. Nobody is obligated to submit in any sense of the word.