Bookfair.

            Just a wee reminder, just one week to the 5th. November, remember, remember the 5th. of November, the Manchester and Salford Anarchist Bookfair. Let's make every anarchist bookfair a success by doing what we can to support the effort of those who take the time and effort to organise these events. They are an essential part of the anarchist movement, it's how we build our numbers, spread our ideas, keep our connections alive and have a bit of social interaction.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Bookfair.

 

         Remember remember the 5th. of November, it's not that far off. That's the date of the not to be missed Manchester & Salford Anarchist Bookfair. Bookfairs are an essential part of the anarchist movement, an opportunity to meet up with old comrades and friends, meet new ones, find out what others are doing, and to have a good old chin-wag, swapping ideas, a bit of socialising, and a bit of fun. If you can make it, then get along and give your support to this Bookfair.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Bookfair.

        Anarchist Bookfairs, those wonderful gatherings that pop up in towns and cities across the planet, though not enough of them. Some come round faithfully  year after year, others pop up then fade, perhaps to rise again at some time in the future. They are important events, they bring together anarchists and like minded people in debate, exploring ideas, renewing old contacts and making new contacts and friends. They are events for swapping ideas and experiences and helping to bring the family of anarchists closer together helping us be aware of how other anarchists are involved in the struggle for freedom and justice. In my over active imagination I see a world with anarchist bookfairs in every village, town and city across the globe. We are allowed to dream, sometimes that's where we see that better world for all, anarchist try to make it a reality.

The following from Anarchist News:

 

        XIX Anarchist Book Gathering in Madrid, December 3, 4, and 5, 2021
WHERE?
Escuela Popular de Prosperidad (La Prospe) C/ Luis Cabrera 19
Metros: Prosperidad y Avenida de América

Buses: 1, 9, 29, 52, 73
Telephone: 91 562 70 19
Email: prospe [AT] nodo50 [DOT] org

      SCHEDULE OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE XIX ANARCHIST BOOK GATHERING IN MADRID
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 6
       18H PRESENTATION OF THE NEXT EDITION OF THE ANARCHIST BOOK GATHERING IN MADRID. Doubts, proposals and everything you may think of asking.
      19H DEBATE: «THE PURPOSE OF ANARCHIST EVENTS». How do we use these tools? Do we make the best of them so that they truly contribute to our struggles?
       21H DINNER FOR THE SELF-MANAGEMENT OF THE GATHERING. Tasty menu, R.S.V.P. (write to confirm info@encuentrodellibroanarquista.org)

WHERE?
LA BRECHA SOCIAL CENTER
Calle picos de Europa 11i (local) , Vallekas, Madrid, Nueva Numancia 

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Anarchist Bookfaiirs, Where?

     Anarchist Bookfairs, great events for meeting like minded people, new people, swapping ideas, getting your nose into other people's literature and pushing your own. However, surely the whole idea is to bring new people to anarchism, not to fly around in the same circle. So where should they be held. In some back street squat, a small autonomous centre, a hired room in a local pub? I have always felt that we should be more ambitious and go as much in the mainstream as possible and meet the unconverted, the apolitical, the apathetic, the one searching for something different. We live in a capitalist society, so cost of course plays a part in where they can be held, perhaps we could all take a leaf out of the recent Manchester and Salford Anarchist Bookfair. 

     

One person's opinion from Anarchist News:

 

       The 9th Manchester & Salford Anarchist Bookfair was dedicated to Donald Rooum (1928-2019), illustrator and long term anarcho. His image of anarchism's three personas (the punk, the bomber and the academic) was used on the bookfair's flier, and a very nice flier it was too. While it’s true that Rooum's work is often associated with the red and black Freedom, it's less well-known that Rooum himself identified as ‘a Stirnerite anarchist, provided "Stirnerite" means one who agrees with Stirner's general drift, not one who agrees with Stirner's every word.’ I’ll come back to that later.
      After following my friend’s directions from the tram stop, I was surprised to find the venue this year was not the backroom of a pub or the basement of a ‘social centre’, but was a museum in the centre of town. Maybe this says something about anarchists' desire to move from the fringes; maybe it's about the public opinion of anarchists in 2019. Either way, the People’s History Museum couldn’t be further from the underground Euro squat aesthetic of last year’s venue. I'd heard rumours that it was going to be hosted at the university this year, so it sounds to me like the organisers were trying their best to move from the Partisan into a more accessible, more mainstream location, and were somehow able to come up with the large deposit needed to book a space like the PHM. As I met my friend in the museum's hall, they admitted they missed the dinge of previous venues, but I for one was glad to be able to see the books and faces in the sunlight, and to be able to breathe as I moved from stall to stall.
      There were around thirty stalls in total, including Freedom up from London, Active Distro from Bristol, AK Press from Edinburgh, and PM Press from the North East. The other stallholders ranged from definitely anarchist (Elephant Editions), through questionable (Anarchist-Communist Group), to definitely not anarchist (New Internationalist). Also present were MARC and Footprint, two local printers who have long provided anarchists with affordable zine and booklet printing; Advisory Service for Squatters keeping it real in the back corner; Hunt Sabs with their latest Saboteur magazine plus fox teddies(!), and many more. Looking at the lineup, one can't help but wonder whether it is really a ‘book’ fair or is, in fact, an ‘organisation’ fair under a different name. One curious friend who came along for the morning noted that ‘lots of people here are determined to make more anarchists’ - I told them to be glad they’ve never been to the London ‘book’ fair, where the organisations wanting to sign you up outnumber the book publishers/distributors two to one. Next year I’d like to see fewer membership forms and more zines, magazines, booklets and books.
      Alongside the stalls were a series of talks and workshops that I didn’t attend. The ‘Education Space’ included book launches by PM Press (‘Journey Through Utopia’) and Ruth Kinna (‘Government of No One’ on Pelican), and a Q&A from The Anarchist Party (sadly not a rave but an actual political party). I heard The Anarchist Party were given hell by the audience for ‘working with the enemy’, which seems kind of hypocritical considering how many of the organisations present directly engage with the state and capital as their modus operandi. Speaking of which, a talk by the IWW’s local branch was apparently planned but didn’t go ahead. The final talk of the day, and the busiest, was by D. Hunter about Lumpen Magazine. I regret missing this one - Hunter's work articulates the horror of the daily grind like no other I’ve read this year.
       Bookfairs in the UK are mostly the same rotation of stallholders travelling from city to city with mostly the same stock and having mostly the same conversations. I’m always on the lookout for people who are doing something different. If, like the late great Donald Rooum, they are more into Stirner than they are into Bakunin and Bookchin, all the better. This year I found three: Elephant Editions, Gay Plants, and Forged Books. Elephant Editions you know. The other two I’ll let you discover yourself. Enjoy, you rebels, and let’s hope the organisers can tempt out Return Fire next year.
        As the day came to an end, I sat in the PHM’s cafe and wondered why so few bookfairs have a space like this, where you can retreat from the fray and read your new books. Am I meant to wait until I’m home? I spent the last hour sat sulking over a coffee, a slice of toast and At Daggers Drawn. There was no official afterparty, but Radical Routes had an evening film showing nearby, someone called ‘MCR Punks 4 West Papua’ had a gig in town, and Partisan had a queer karaoke a bus ride away. Tempting as all three were, come closing time I said my goodbyes and, with a pile of books under my arm, disappeared into the frozen northern night.

Till next year.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk