Boston Second Anarchist Bookfair November 9th-11th

With the ongoing economic war being waged on the poor and working people of the world, one has to wonder why we aren’t trying something different. Well in fact we are! The sudden attention towards anarchists in Boston and across the country comes at a convenient time: Over the weekend of November 9th-11th, Simmons College will host Boston’s second Anarchist Bookfair. The fair will showcase literature from dozens of American and Canadian radical publishers, and will include strategy sessions, speaker panels, a radical film festival and, of course, books galore.

Boston Second Anarchist Bookfair November 9th-11th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: bostonanarchistbookfair@gmail.com

November 9th
7:30pm – 11:30pm
SMFA (show only)

November 10th - 11th, 2012
10am-7pm
Simmons College Paresky Center, 3rd floor
300 the Fenway, Boston

Boston Anarchist Bookfair,

To Bring Together Activists, Organizers, Community Members, and Academics For a Weekend of Learning, Strategy, and More.

Boston, Massachusetts

Why anarchy?

With the ongoing economic war being waged on the poor and working people of the world, one has to wonder why we aren’t trying something different. Well in fact we are! The sudden attention towards anarchists in Boston and across the country comes at a convenient time: Over the weekend of November 9th-11th, Simmons College will host Boston’s second Anarchist Bookfair. The fair will showcase literature from dozens of American and Canadian radical publishers, and will include strategy sessions, speaker panels, a radical film festival and, of course, books galore. Among other things, the bookfair will explore topics surrounding the worldwide struggles to destroy racism, sexism, classism, transphobia, capitalism, homophobia, ageism, ableism, wage slavery, and all other forms of oppression.

The goal of the weekend is to connect activists, anarchists, academics, and the curious in a show of organization, direct democracy, anti-authoritarianism, autonomy and solidarity.

The Boston Anarchist Bookfair anticipates that hundreds of activists, organizers, students and professors from Boston, the Northeast, and Canada will come together this weekend to discuss and learn from each other in a time in which the ideas, methods, and tactics of anarchism are more important than ever.

The full schedule of events, films and speakers and a list of attending publishers and organizations can be found at http://www.bostonanarchistbookfair.org/.

The Bookfair is being graciously hosted and sponsored by the Progressive Librarians' Guild at Simmons College.

(Source)

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2012 London Anarchist Bookfair

It will be on Saturday, 27th October  - From 10am to 7pm

We are bringing Lindela Figlan from Abahlali baseMjondolo (Shack Dwellers Movement) over from South Africa to speak at this years’ London Anarchist Bookfair. In fact, we are bringing him over for 21 days and he will be speaking at a number of places in London as well as around the country. We will put up his speaking tour dates shortly, but if you want know where else he is speaking email us and we can let you know.

The bookfair will again be held at Queen Mary’s, University of London on the Mile End Road.

The bookfair is one of a number of spaces for anarchists around the UK and the world to come together. But, as the Anarchist Bookfair is one of the bigger public events we put on as a movement, we want it to also be a place where those interested in anarchism can find out what we are about. So, we need help publicising the event (and anarchism generally) outside our normal scenes & movements. 

It can also be a space where we counter the rubbish talked about anarchism by sections of the media and our opponents. We want to continue to make anarchism a threat again.

If you are new to anarchism check out the pages “websites” and “bookfairs”. Here there are links to anarchist and campaigning groups around the country and anarchist bookfairs throughout the world.

So, if you can help by taking leaflets or posters to distribute (especially in London) please email us at mail@anarchistbookfair.org.uk letting us know how many you want and we will get them to you.

With the space we have at Queen Mary’s now, it’s much better for parents and kids as the crèche and older kids space are much more part of the event, and we intend to build on this. It also means all the meeting rooms are now wheelchair accessable. If you have any other access requirements, please let us know in advance so we can try and meet your needs. If you are Deaf and require BSL interpreting and/or speech-to-text provision, please give us as much notice as possible and we will do our best to organise these. 

To discuss any specific access needs, please contact us at access@anarchistbookfair.org.uk

We will add meetings, lectures and workshops to the website as we get nearer to the day, so come back and check out what’s going on.

This is all organised by a small collective – so any help before or on the day is very much appreciated. As are donations as all our costs are increasing - making it harder for us to break even. But, as ever, the bookfair will always be free to get into.

To make the bookfair a safe environment for children and adults alike, we ask people do not bring dogs to the event - except guide dogs. Thanks.

Getting to the venue

The venue is Queen Mary, University of London,
Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS.

If you are coming by public transport the following buses stop near the college on Mile End Road: 25; 205; 339.

If you are coming by tube the two nearest stations are Mile End (central line / Hammersmith & City line or District line) or Stepney Green (Hammersmith & City line or District line). From Mile End tube come out of station and turn left. Walk along Mile End Road until you get to Harford Street and entrance to venue is opposite Harford Road. From Stepney Green tube come out of station and turn left. Walk along Mile End Road and venue entrance is on your left opposite Harford Road.

See map of the venue and surrounding area.  

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A callout to Bristol anarchists. Do we want a Bookfair in 2012?

9 November: An anarchist assembly – do we want a bookfair in 2012?

Wouldn’t you like to play a part in a successful anarchist collective that for the last 4 years has been organising an annual event that is both highly public and explicitly anarchist…and just keeps getting bigger?

From 350 people in 2008 to around 1500 attendees in 2011, the Bristol Bookfair has rapidly become the UK’s second largest, and reflects the exciting anarchist movements in this city.

We have always strongly believed the bookfair fulfills two key purposes:

Firstly to be an easily accessible, highly public event that provides an introduction to anarchist ideas, practices and local groups/projects via literature and meetings.

Secondly to provide a space for anarchists in the region to gather, chat, plot & plan, exchange info, socialise, and get the latest anarchist books etc.

So far we have made a huge effort to publicise the Bookfair very widely around Bristol and beyond, whilst chasing groups etc to get them to attend. We think overall the bookfairs have been successful in meeting the two aims.

The Bristol anarchist bookfair collective is reforming, and holding an open meeting to discuss the viability of another bookfair in 2012. Nothing has been agreed or decided, and that includes who is going to be in the collective. What happens in 2012 will depend largely on what ideas, input and committment you can bring to the meeting. What is certain however is that the 4 to 6 people who have organised the bookfair each year so far, do not collectively have the available time nor energy to make it happen in 2012. This meeting therefore is for those who self-define as anarchists, whilst other radical comrades who have adopted a non-hierarchical, anti-capitalist and extra-parliamentary political position are welcome to attend.

What do you think should happen in 2012? What format would you like to see? And where? Come along to the anarchist assembly!

Meet Wednesday 9 November from 6.30 to 9pm, downstairs at Cafe Kino, 108 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3RU

At 6.30pm for drinks & informal chat. Main assembly kicks off 7pm sharp!

More info: there are a number of ideas doing the rounds, from doing ‘Nothing‘, to holding a month long ‘Festival of Anarchy‘ in May 2012. We have produced a more detailed document covering these ideas, along with the necessary tasks to make a bookfair happen, and the approximate costs of putting it on. Read it here (pdf) Bookfair info

One last point is that the bookfair does not exist outside of the day to day reality. We are living through historic times. The political, economic and social upheaval around us is immense and fundamental change is on the agenda. Whatever we do we should be seeking to push any change in the direction of social revolution. Can, or does, the bookfair have a role to play in that? We obviously think it does!

(Read further: Source)

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Anarchy on the streets! 2012 Winnipeg Anarchist BookFair and DIY Fest promises radical ideas, interesting workshop — and giant Scrabble

Get radical this weekend at the 2012 Winnipeg Anarchist BookFair and DIY Fest.
  
Now in its fifth year, the annual event takes place Friday, Sept. 21 to Sunday, Sept. 23, in and around the Old Market Autonomous Zone (aka the A-Zone) at 91 Albert Street, a building that’s currently the shared home of a number of activist groups, worker-owned businesses and other alternative enterprises.
  
Offering the opportunity to purchase books, magazines and crafts from more than 20 local and out-of-town publishers and organizations, as well as an assortment of presentations, workshops and musical performances, the book fair/fest is open to all and free to attend — save for a Sunday vegan brunch which will set you back $15.
 
"It’s a real chance to share ideas and be exposed to new radical ideas and writing," says Tim Brandt, 56, a volunteer with Junto Local 91, a collectively run anarchist lending library on the A-Zone’s second floor.
  
"Probably 75 to 80% of the people who come, come because they are already thinking about alternative concepts and radical ideas, and just want more info or to be re-inspired," he adds.
  
Things kick off Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. with a panel discussion on "Books that Rocked My World" featuring Chris Hannah, frontman of punk band Propagandhi, feminist and Copwatch member Shelagh Pizey-Allen, Anishinabe poet Marie Annharte Baker and Winnipeg poet Colin Smith.
  
The book fair begins Saturday at 11 a.m. and continues through Sunday; weather permitting, tables will be set up outside in the lot at Albert Street and Bannatyne Avenue. Meanwhile, a host of activities will be happening as part of DIY Fest and in celebration of World Car-Free Day. (Brandt says organizers are trying to make the local event as car-free as possible by recruiting volunteers to help move merchandise via bike; he’s transporting a canoe to the site to showcase another alternative to car travel. Yes, a canoe. By bike.)
  
Workshops will tackle such topics as community gardening, activist burnout and "hungover yoga." Brandt is particularly excited about the Anarchy and Education workshop facilitated by Pat McGuire and Heather Hall.
 
"Pat is a high-school social-studies teacher and his partner (Heather) is a homeschooling mother, so it’s going to be really interesting, talking about both homeschooling and institutional education and how that fits with anarchist principles," he says.
  
Another likely highlight is Steve Langston’s presentation. The 28-year-old spends his winters in Winnipeg and his summers in Riding Mountain National Park, and is an author, filmmaker and avid cyclist. Earlier this month, Langston and a small film crew embarked on a 17-day, 1,200-kilometre bike trip around Manitoba, during which they ate only provincially sourced foods. The team posted daily video updates at www.tailwindtv.com/ and will release a documentary in November.
  
Langston will be talking about the tour Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Other presenters are Montreal student organizer Jerome Raza (Saturday, 5 p.m.), speaking about the recent protests in Quebec, and author Nik Barry-Shaw (Sunday, 2 p.m.), whose new book, Paved with Good Intentions, critiques the role of NGOs.
  
Saturday afternoon will also feature music (singer/songwriter John K. Samson is one of several performers) and, for those who missed them at this year’s Winnipeg Folk Festival, a chance to play some of the over-sized classic board games handmade by Winnipegger Sean Strachan and friends.
  
While the politics on display at this year’s event will be radical, there’s no need for first-timers to feel nervous about attending: despite what’s typically depicted on TV news reports, not all anarchists are black-clad, rock-throwing trouble-makers.
 
"Absolutely everyone’s welcome," Brandt says. "We’re all gentle — and just interested in sharing the knowledge that there’s probably a better way to co-exist on Earth."

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Anarchist book fair gaining momentum, organizers say

Thanks to the mindcorroding influence of the Sex Pistols, the word "anarchy" always conjures up (at least for me) images of wild-eyed punks smashing up stuff.

That's silly, of course. In essence, anarchism, with its long history as a social movement, favours abolishment of government. And, given the B.C. Liberals' recent hijinks, perhaps the notion is not so offbase.

On Sept. 8 and 9, the Fernwood Community Centre hosts the seventh annual Victoria Anarchist Book Fair ("located on unceded Songhees territory in Victoria," the press release declares).

Timid types need not be put off - organizers say the book fair is for "anarchists and non-anarchists" alike. I suspect one of the most interesting speakers will be Victoria's Tom Swanky, who's written a provocative new book, Canada's "War" of Extermination on the Pacific. It suggests white colonialists deliberately introduced smallpox to First Nations' populations in the mid-19th century. (Read further: Source)

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Anarchist bookfairs home and away

The next organising meeting for the Bristol anarchist bookfair 2010 takes place onTuesday 6 April, 7.30pm, at Kebele social centre, 14 Robertson Rd, Bristol BS5 6JY. All anarchists interested in helping to spread anarchist ideas and practices are welcome.

Meanwhile there is an apparent growth of anarchist & alternative bookfairs happening in the UK and abroad. This is a positive move for 2 reasons. Firstly it indicates increased co-operation between different anarchist trends to put them on. Secondly it indicates a growing interest in anarchism and alternatives to the failings of capital and the state – not surprising perhaps given the state of the economy, and planet. This doesn’t mean a revolution is around the corner, but its a move in the right direction. 

Here’s a list of few upcoming events we’ve heard of:

Bradford on 10 April
Toronto on 9 to 11 April
New York on 17 April
Gent on 17 April
Paris on 8 May
Sunderland on 8 May
Biel on 15 & 16 May
Sheffield on 22 May
Montreal on 29 & 30 May
and there are more here

(Source)

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