Audio - History of the Anarchist Bookfair
rampART radio | 24.10.2007 11:01 | Analysis | Culture | Free Spaces | London
Here is an audio segment that was made to promote the 2005 anarchist bookfair on rampART radio and other online radical radio streams. Obviously ignore the date and venue given out as this years bookfair is this Saturday 27th Oct, 10am till 7pm at Queen Mary University on Mile End Road, close to Mile End and Stepney Green Tubes.
Below is the programme for this years bookfair wookshops, talks and films...
ROOM 304
12 noon – 2pm
Were the first humans anarchists?
Radical Anthropology Group
When humans first evolved, life was not, contrary to popular belief, “nasty, brutish and short”. In fact, modern science is confirming the view of many early anarchists and communist thinkers. When humans first evolved, we lived an anarchist-communists. Aim of meeting: To communicate findings from modern science and anthropology relevant to an anarchist audience. To convince people of the relevance and importance of anthropology to political activism. Who meeting is aimed at: Political activists interested in what science can teach us about what it means to be human.
2pm – 3pm
Anarchist Quiz
Martin Howard - Freedom
Fancy pitting your wits against Freedom's regular anarcho-quizmaster? Need to prove you know your Bakunin from your Bookchin and
your auto-didacts from your Dadaists? Keen to show just how little you know (and how much less it matters)? Come to the Anarchist Quiz
Teams up to 5, top prizes, 50p per person - entry donated to Anarchist Bookfair.
3pm – 4pm
Resisting the Olympics - Tenant Resistance to Global Property Speculation Techniques in London's East End
Gascoyne Estate (Hackney) Tenants' Association
The 2012 Olympics is turning rundown London council estates into lucrative targets for property development. Disguised as 'housing associations' developers are attempting the mass theft of public land; tenants whose homes are under attack explain how they have exposed a sham regeneration scheme - "Estates Plus" - as a front for the developers' plans to destroy and privatise their homes, play areas and green spaces.
4pm – 5pm
Casualisation: What is it and how to fight it.
South London Solidarity Federation
We spend one third of our waking hours at work. Our bosses are planning new ways of making it tougher: through casualisation, including attacks on our conditions and pay. Learn about this process and ways other workers have fought against it.
5pm – 6pm
Setting Up & Maintaining a Local Anarchist Newsletter
The Gagged Collective ( South Wales )
Realise no-one reads your blog? Only politicos look at indymedia? Free newsletters are a great way to make your own media, by-pass the internet and reach people. It's an ideal (& surprisingly easy!) way for local anarchist groups to produce regular propaganda.
ROOM 305
12 noon – 1pm
'An Anarchist FAQ'
Ian McKay
AK Press is about to publish the first volume of 'An Anarchist FAQ'. An online sensation and constant source of conflict on Wikipedia, this is your chance to hear its author explain why it was started, how it has changed and what you can expect from it.
1pm – 2pm
The Myth of the Nation- Nationalism and Fascism
London Anarchist Federation
Based on a forthcoming pamphlet from London AF, this meeting looks at the myth of nationalism and the artificial concept of the Nation, going on to look at conditions in East London that have led to the growth of the BNP there.
2pm – 3pm
Housing Co-ops, worker co-ops, social centres and Radical Routes - a quick guide
Organised by Radical Routes Housing Co-ops
Housing without landlords, work without bosses, socialising without, er... money going to big breweries. Radical Routes is a mutual aid network of co-operatives whose members are actively engaged in social change. Depending what people want to know, this workshop can cover: how to set up a housing co-op, worker co-op or social centre, living on the land, what's the purpose of Radical Routes, what Radical Routes can do for you and/or why we could do with another half million pounds (well, who couldn't?). Radical Routes - putting autonomy, mutual aid and non-hierarchy into practice.
3pm – 4pm
The NHS is 60 – a subversive history
Organised by Radical History Network of North East London
Celebrating the 60 th birthday we are planning a booklet on the alternative/subversive history. We will cover : 1948 establishment and the path not taken [non central state] ; workers, unions and strikes ; opposition around closures ; occupations of the 1980s; hospital disease ; anti cuts and privatisation struggles today. Come and add suggestions
4pm – 5pm
Anarchist world revolution...
Anarchy is Order (Belguim)
It is (always) time for the anarchist movement to 'get real or get lost' to the world. We must try to meet the challenges for the future of the world, there is little way around this. Anarchism must offer a coherent alternative again on different levels: social / political / cultural ; individual; ecological / material / geographical ; and economical (production -> distribution and trading -> consumption). We will introduce you to an instrument of analysis and decision-making. Starting from drawing up a mission statement and basic values we try to analyse the world and ourselves as individuals and as a collective movement. This could just be a way to learn about yourself and each other or lead to practical conclusions for the future. That will be up to you. This workshop is open to everyone who wants to be part of a positive and constructive anarchist movement."
5pm – 6pm
Organising as healthworkers
IWW (UK) IU 610
Aimed at: Healthworkers. Should achieve: Networking, start of a workable strategy
Aim of meeting: To discuss strategy + tactical ideas for activists. organising in the health sector. To include/cover: * Past + current struggles * Boosting healthworkers' morale * Benefits of industrial unionism? * Please bring examples of newsletters/staff bulletins from your workplace.
ROOM 306
12 noon – 1pm
What is the relationship between Art and Anarchism
Barry O'Dea
London Anarchist Forum
This talk and debate explores: the breaking free of art from the control of religion
at first (evidence from Mesopotamia and Egypt onwards); the control of art by the ruling class; the shift of control to the art gallery cliques who dictate the current "fashionable" styles. Talk and OPEN DISCUSSION
1pm – 2pm
PRESERVING OUR CULTURAL HISTORY
The Feminist Library has been locked out by Southwark Council, and is still fighting to get back in. Together with other radical archives and libraries, we have started a network to campaign about our current situations, and look forward to establishing a building where we can explore our collective past.
2pm – 3pm
Workers Councils – Fortresses of freedom ?
Workers Council Socialism
We believe that councils – comprising elected and recallable delegates – are defenders of freedom. Assembles, by definition, cannot be permanent, only the monitors of, say, the workplace or neighbourhood. Industrially, mass meeting assemblies control shop steward delegate committees. Workers councils - and their socialism - are the primary defenders of freedom. Come along and debate the issue.
3pm – 4pm
Overcoming Alienation: From commodity fetishism to freely associated labour
Hobgoblin
This meeting is aimed at theoreticians and activists, workers and intellectuals. We will be posing the question: what sort of work should people do?
4pm – 5pm
Why anarchists should organise locally
Haringey Solidarity Group
We don't think organising in local communities is the ONLY way forward. But it needs to be an essential element if we are to transform society from its present form to a more anarchist one. A brief intro by Haringey Solidarity Group and others, followed by discussion and contributions about the ways groups have successfully organised, and why local organising is important.
5pm – 6pm
Building A Revolutionary Union for Education Workers.
Education Workers' Network
The meeting is aimed at all who work in education (ancillary staff, technicians, teachers, lecturers, etc). We will discuss strategies of resistance in the workplace and the creation of a fighting alternative to the reformist TUC unions
ROOM 324
12 noon – 1pm
Activist Trauma Support
The workshop will be an introduction to our work (literature,
info, individual support, safe spaces at large mobilisations) and a discussion on the political significance of tackling activist trauma and burnout with information and mutual support
1pm -2pm
community activism: co-operation without compromise?
Haringey Solidarity Group & Workers Solidarity Movement
In HSG and WSM we like to practice our politics locally. But how can we and other local activists stay true to our politics without descending in to an anarchist ghetto? How do we integrate ourselves in to community
level activism and avoid watering down our politics in compromise after compromise, whether in broad-based campaigns, talking to our neighbours and even the council or police?
2pm – 3pm
Men and feminism Workshop (everyone welcome!)
Social Ecology London .
Anarchists claim to be against all forms of social hierarchy, but how often do we really think beyond economic and political hierarchies? Of 100 workshops at the climate camp only two were related to women or gender and one of them was cancelled. What should our response to patriarchy be as anarchists/left libertarians? What about those of us brought up to become men? What can men do about male privilege and domination in their own lives? What can they do as part of a broader movement to challenge these things? Come along to think about these questions with people of all genders who are interested in discussing and taking action to end male dominance forever!
3pm – 4pm
Organising for Anarchy
Anarchist Federation
Why anarchists should join an organisation. Why it's necessary to go beyond local groups and create organisations that can effectively spread anarchist ideas and propaganda, and develop a movement that can have an effect on struggles.
4pm – 5pm
The Other Campaign - Mexico and beyond .
In July 2005 the Zapatistas released the 6th Declaration of the Lacandon rainforest. The declaration calls for the Mexican left and all those struggling 'from below' to unite and formulate a national programme of struggle against capitalism - the Other Campaign - and to network and unite internationally. This workshop will be a talk and discussion on the Other Campaign in Mexico and beyond, hosted by the UK network of Zapatista solidarity groups. Aim: Provide information on the Other Campaign and open discussion on the Other Campaign between radical groups in the UK . What will it achieve? Greater awareness/understanding of the Other Campaign and what we could learn from it? Encouraging and facilitating meaningful solidarity with international struggles? The first step in a process of uniting radical groups 'below and to the left' and others in the UK , then internationally? Who is it aimed at? Everyone who is interested in building an international network of struggle against capitalism?
5pm – 6pm
An introduction to Direct Action Casework
London Coalition Against Poverty
Are you sick of institutions and corporations denying us access to benefits, housing or decent working conditions? London Coalition Against Poverty uses Direct Action Casework traditional advice work combined with direct action to target those who deny us what we're entitled to. Come along if you are interested in hearing more and getting involved.
ROOM 325
12 noon – 1pm
Red Black and Green - An Introduction to Social Ecology
Social Ecology London
Sick of being told that the way to deal with climate change is change your lightbulbs and trust in treaties and free market solutions? Social Ecology offers a radical libertarian ecological perspective, rooting environmental issues in the social context that created them. This session gives an overview of the basic ideas of social ecology, how it differs from other radical green currents, and the reconstructive vision it proposes.
1pm – 2pm
The Summit Against Everything
Voices of Resistance from Occupied London
A presentation of London 's newest anarchist journal, Voices of Resistance from Occupied London, now in its second issue. Members of the collective will also talk about the plans for "the Summit Against Everything": A pan-european gathering of anarchists and anti-authoritarians, to take place in summer 2008 in London .
2pm – 3pm
Bash the Rich
Ian Bone
Meeting to discuss the action in Notting Hill on 3 rd November, the need to fight gentrification and actions against the political elite in London , Oxford and beyond. The aim of the meetings “old etonian heads on spikes!
3pm – 4pm
Militant Research & Radical Theory
London Anarchist Forum
What would a genuinely non-hierarchal and participatory approach to knowledge production and political theorization look like? Militant research, as a series of practices and understandings, rejects the division of people into active and passive roles. Come join Stevphen Shukaitis, David Graeber, and members of the London Anarchist Forum for a discussion of the politics of radical education and theorizing within movements.
4pm – 5pm
MAYDAY
Launch and Talk by new autonomous class struggle magazine
MAYDAY magazine was formed out of the need to develop political and practical ideas around the movements we are involved in. From anti-fascism, social centres, migrant and no border struggles to the legacies and histories of class struggle in the UK . The intention is to bring together all our experiences and bring radical anti-capitalist and anarchist ideas to a wider audience.
5pm – 6pm
Anarchism and The State of Terror
London Anarchist Forum
An open facilitated discussion focused on the phoney 'War Against Terror' and its use both in overseas imperialism / economic colonialism, as well as by the domestic security state and neo-conservative social agendas. What is the nature of the problem? Can it be addressed in a rational middle ground beyond crank conspiracy theories / State disinformation and naive denial / complacency? What can be done?
LECTURE ROOM
12 noon – 1pm
Camden Parasites by Daniel Lux
A talk on the new edition of Camden Parasites by Daniel Lux, the legendary true story of the London underclass meeting the Hampstead bourgeoisie in a maze of sex, drugs, criminality and mental illness. Alternately very funny and very nasty, Camden Parasites is a unique account of class antagonisms.
1pm – 2pm
empty
2pm – 3pm
Rossport Solidarity Camp: Anarchists and community struggle in the west of Ireland .
Rossport Solidarity Camp was set up in June 2005 with the aim of supporting a community struggle against Shell plans for an inland refinery and high-pressure gas pipeline in the west of Ireland . As the camp enters its third year we'll look at why it was initially formed, what it's done and the opportunities and challenges faced by anarchists working with community campaigns such as Shell to Sea. We'll also provide a campaign update and information on how people can get involved. The aim of the meeting is to generate discussion on opportunities and challenges faced by anarchists working with community campaigns such as Shell to Sea; provide a campaign update and information on how people can support the campaign. The meeting is aimed at people who would like to find out more about the Solidarity Camp project; people working with community campaigns who would like to share experience; people who would like an update on the campaign and more information on how they can get involved.
3pm – 4pm
No Borders
After the success of the first UK No Border Camp near Gatwick, the No Borders Network is expanding, and developing strategies against the system and companies that maintain the border regime; as well as acting in solidarity with migrants in struggle. The current network is now composed of groups from over 8 cities in the UK with more in the process of forming. Our recent activities include: detainee support work, free english classes, anti-deportation campaigns, supporting self-organised struggles of migrants both inside and outside of detention, supporting undocumented migrant labour struggles, squatting houses for accommodation with destitute asylum seekers, targeting corporations that profit from the detention and deportation industry, and campaigning against new detention centres. Come to this workshop to discuss our current campaigns and find out how to get involved.
4pm – 5pm
Doing it ourselves – Workshops for changing the world
Trapese
Trapese popular education collective recently published Do It Yourself: A Handbook For Changing The World (see handbookforchange.org). Examining nine different areas from sustainable living, autonomous spaces, health, popular education, food cultural activism, direct action and doing it without leaders the book combines theoretical analysis with practical information on things people can do to make changes in their lives in the here and now. This workshop examines the reasons and motivations for producing the book and open a discussion on ways that autonomous movements can expand, amplify and make more accessible the themes covered in the book.
Skeel Lecture Room
12 noon – 1pm
No Sweat and IWW Fight Back Against Starbucks
Joint meeting with No Sweat and IWW on the campaign to fight against Starbucks anti-union activity with excerpt from the film 'Coffee Sirens - baristas fight back against Starbucks! ' about the campaign in the US . Meeting aimed at activists, unionists and baristas, and anyone up for joining the struggle
1pm – 2.30pm
Armed resistance to Francoism
Stuart Christie
Stuart will talk about and show footage from his most recent short film “armed resistance to Francoism from the end of the Civil War in 1939 until his death in 1975”. It covers the rural and urban guerrilla periods as well as Defensa Interior, Directorio Revolucionario Iberico de
Liberacion (Dril), First of May Group, MIL, and Angry Brigade...
3pm – 4pm
How the Working Class Went Global
Paul Mason, author of Live Working or Die Fighting
How the Working Class Went Global draws the parallels between the creation of a new global workforce and the classic moments in labour history when hope broke through the boundaries of the possible, from the Paris Commune to the Warsaw Ghetto.
4pm – 5.30pm
My Dearest Enemy, My Dangerous Friend
Dorothy Rowe
Psychologist Dorothy Rowe is one of the few in her field who draw explicit links between politics and psychology. She has written extensively on depression, the psychiatric system, authority, society, government and the family, and how these institutions affect us as children and adults. She returns to the Bookfair this year to discuss her new book on siblings, relationships, brotherhood and sisterhood.
FILM
Lecture Room 2
11am - 12 noon
The Battle For Broadway Market. 2006
Emily James, 58 mins.
The Battle for Broadway Market is a comprehensive record of resistance, occupation and campaign. Essential viewing for those who want to see what people can achieve when confronted by gentrification and corrupt local authorities.
12noon - 12.30pm
Underground Londoners - cleaning the London Underground
Dagmar Diesner and Klara Jaya Brekke, 29 mins
A documentary about the living conditions of the cleaners working for the Underground and living 'underground'. It aims to understand the relation between their work/life conditions and their structural placement as both working for the London Underground, managed under the Public Private Partnership deal, and living underground as precarious or illegal migrants. The film is divided in three parts. The first, gives a picture of the living conditions of a worker having to work two jobs and the effect that has on their health, aspirations and family life. The second explains the Public Private Partnership deal of the London Underground, mapping out some of the many companies involved and showing how the cleaners, being hired by subcontractors, don't have any direct relation to their employers. The final part of the film shows the struggle for better conditions for the cleaners in the 'Justice for Cleaners' campaign by the Transport and General workers Union . Further information and to order copies of the film:
artemislondon@googlemail.com or 
http://v2v.cc/v2v/Underground_Londoners or visit the No Borders stall.
12.50pm - 2pm
"Our Oil and Other Tales"
Elisabetta Andreoli, Gabriele Muzio, Sara Muzio, Max Pugh
The Venezuelan Government had liked previous Gattacicova Collective productions (for example, ‘Another way is possible ...in Venezuela ') so much that they offered financial support for their next project. But the documentary they then made examined the issues of oil production in the country: from the impact on the environment and indigenous populations to the way the industry is run. The bureaucrats of the Ministry of Culture realised they didn´t like such a close look at their involvement with multinational and northamerican corporations, so they tried to suppress the movie. Only with the help of local activists a few copies escaped censorship. Now you can watch the documentary that Hugo Chavez tried to keep secret..."
2pm - 2.30pm
Raise the Rates
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Following the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's (OCAP) campaign to raise social assistance rates in Ontario in 2005-2006, this documentary features first-hand accounts of 5 women involved in the campaign as well as footage from special diet clinics, demonstrations, and occupations. From powerful voices of people directly affected by the welfare system comes a demand to raise the rates, and a determination to fight back. OCAP are the inspiration for campaigns such as London Coalition Against Poverty (LCAP). Definitely worth seeing before going to the LCAP workshop at 5pm .
2.45pm - 4pm
Occupying Nothingness
Amazing documentary about the Laboratorio squatted centre in Madrid . A place of real community, this film shows the warmth, imagination and rebellion of the occupiers and local people. Inspiring is not the word!
4pm - 6pm
Las Libertarias
Vicente Aranda 2004
A story of women in the Spanish civil war - fighting fascism and patriarchy. Controversial- as any commercial film would be - but moving, thought provoking and inspiring.
ROOM 304
12 noon – 2pm
Were the first humans anarchists?
Radical Anthropology Group
When humans first evolved, life was not, contrary to popular belief, “nasty, brutish and short”. In fact, modern science is confirming the view of many early anarchists and communist thinkers. When humans first evolved, we lived an anarchist-communists. Aim of meeting: To communicate findings from modern science and anthropology relevant to an anarchist audience. To convince people of the relevance and importance of anthropology to political activism. Who meeting is aimed at: Political activists interested in what science can teach us about what it means to be human.
2pm – 3pm
Anarchist Quiz
Martin Howard - Freedom
Fancy pitting your wits against Freedom's regular anarcho-quizmaster? Need to prove you know your Bakunin from your Bookchin and
your auto-didacts from your Dadaists? Keen to show just how little you know (and how much less it matters)? Come to the Anarchist Quiz
Teams up to 5, top prizes, 50p per person - entry donated to Anarchist Bookfair.
3pm – 4pm
Resisting the Olympics - Tenant Resistance to Global Property Speculation Techniques in London's East End
Gascoyne Estate (Hackney) Tenants' Association
The 2012 Olympics is turning rundown London council estates into lucrative targets for property development. Disguised as 'housing associations' developers are attempting the mass theft of public land; tenants whose homes are under attack explain how they have exposed a sham regeneration scheme - "Estates Plus" - as a front for the developers' plans to destroy and privatise their homes, play areas and green spaces.
4pm – 5pm
Casualisation: What is it and how to fight it.
South London Solidarity Federation
We spend one third of our waking hours at work. Our bosses are planning new ways of making it tougher: through casualisation, including attacks on our conditions and pay. Learn about this process and ways other workers have fought against it.
5pm – 6pm
Setting Up & Maintaining a Local Anarchist Newsletter
The Gagged Collective ( South Wales )
Realise no-one reads your blog? Only politicos look at indymedia? Free newsletters are a great way to make your own media, by-pass the internet and reach people. It's an ideal (& surprisingly easy!) way for local anarchist groups to produce regular propaganda.
ROOM 305
12 noon – 1pm
'An Anarchist FAQ'
Ian McKay
AK Press is about to publish the first volume of 'An Anarchist FAQ'. An online sensation and constant source of conflict on Wikipedia, this is your chance to hear its author explain why it was started, how it has changed and what you can expect from it.
1pm – 2pm
The Myth of the Nation- Nationalism and Fascism
London Anarchist Federation
Based on a forthcoming pamphlet from London AF, this meeting looks at the myth of nationalism and the artificial concept of the Nation, going on to look at conditions in East London that have led to the growth of the BNP there.
2pm – 3pm
Housing Co-ops, worker co-ops, social centres and Radical Routes - a quick guide
Organised by Radical Routes Housing Co-ops
Housing without landlords, work without bosses, socialising without, er... money going to big breweries. Radical Routes is a mutual aid network of co-operatives whose members are actively engaged in social change. Depending what people want to know, this workshop can cover: how to set up a housing co-op, worker co-op or social centre, living on the land, what's the purpose of Radical Routes, what Radical Routes can do for you and/or why we could do with another half million pounds (well, who couldn't?). Radical Routes - putting autonomy, mutual aid and non-hierarchy into practice.
3pm – 4pm
The NHS is 60 – a subversive history
Organised by Radical History Network of North East London
Celebrating the 60 th birthday we are planning a booklet on the alternative/subversive history. We will cover : 1948 establishment and the path not taken [non central state] ; workers, unions and strikes ; opposition around closures ; occupations of the 1980s; hospital disease ; anti cuts and privatisation struggles today. Come and add suggestions
4pm – 5pm
Anarchist world revolution...
Anarchy is Order (Belguim)
It is (always) time for the anarchist movement to 'get real or get lost' to the world. We must try to meet the challenges for the future of the world, there is little way around this. Anarchism must offer a coherent alternative again on different levels: social / political / cultural ; individual; ecological / material / geographical ; and economical (production -> distribution and trading -> consumption). We will introduce you to an instrument of analysis and decision-making. Starting from drawing up a mission statement and basic values we try to analyse the world and ourselves as individuals and as a collective movement. This could just be a way to learn about yourself and each other or lead to practical conclusions for the future. That will be up to you. This workshop is open to everyone who wants to be part of a positive and constructive anarchist movement."
5pm – 6pm
Organising as healthworkers
IWW (UK) IU 610
Aimed at: Healthworkers. Should achieve: Networking, start of a workable strategy
Aim of meeting: To discuss strategy + tactical ideas for activists. organising in the health sector. To include/cover: * Past + current struggles * Boosting healthworkers' morale * Benefits of industrial unionism? * Please bring examples of newsletters/staff bulletins from your workplace.
ROOM 306
12 noon – 1pm
What is the relationship between Art and Anarchism
Barry O'Dea
London Anarchist Forum
This talk and debate explores: the breaking free of art from the control of religion
at first (evidence from Mesopotamia and Egypt onwards); the control of art by the ruling class; the shift of control to the art gallery cliques who dictate the current "fashionable" styles. Talk and OPEN DISCUSSION
1pm – 2pm
PRESERVING OUR CULTURAL HISTORY
The Feminist Library has been locked out by Southwark Council, and is still fighting to get back in. Together with other radical archives and libraries, we have started a network to campaign about our current situations, and look forward to establishing a building where we can explore our collective past.
2pm – 3pm
Workers Councils – Fortresses of freedom ?
Workers Council Socialism
We believe that councils – comprising elected and recallable delegates – are defenders of freedom. Assembles, by definition, cannot be permanent, only the monitors of, say, the workplace or neighbourhood. Industrially, mass meeting assemblies control shop steward delegate committees. Workers councils - and their socialism - are the primary defenders of freedom. Come along and debate the issue.
3pm – 4pm
Overcoming Alienation: From commodity fetishism to freely associated labour
Hobgoblin
This meeting is aimed at theoreticians and activists, workers and intellectuals. We will be posing the question: what sort of work should people do?
4pm – 5pm
Why anarchists should organise locally
Haringey Solidarity Group
We don't think organising in local communities is the ONLY way forward. But it needs to be an essential element if we are to transform society from its present form to a more anarchist one. A brief intro by Haringey Solidarity Group and others, followed by discussion and contributions about the ways groups have successfully organised, and why local organising is important.
5pm – 6pm
Building A Revolutionary Union for Education Workers.
Education Workers' Network
The meeting is aimed at all who work in education (ancillary staff, technicians, teachers, lecturers, etc). We will discuss strategies of resistance in the workplace and the creation of a fighting alternative to the reformist TUC unions
ROOM 324
12 noon – 1pm
Activist Trauma Support
The workshop will be an introduction to our work (literature,
info, individual support, safe spaces at large mobilisations) and a discussion on the political significance of tackling activist trauma and burnout with information and mutual support
1pm -2pm
community activism: co-operation without compromise?
Haringey Solidarity Group & Workers Solidarity Movement
In HSG and WSM we like to practice our politics locally. But how can we and other local activists stay true to our politics without descending in to an anarchist ghetto? How do we integrate ourselves in to community
level activism and avoid watering down our politics in compromise after compromise, whether in broad-based campaigns, talking to our neighbours and even the council or police?
2pm – 3pm
Men and feminism Workshop (everyone welcome!)
Social Ecology London .
Anarchists claim to be against all forms of social hierarchy, but how often do we really think beyond economic and political hierarchies? Of 100 workshops at the climate camp only two were related to women or gender and one of them was cancelled. What should our response to patriarchy be as anarchists/left libertarians? What about those of us brought up to become men? What can men do about male privilege and domination in their own lives? What can they do as part of a broader movement to challenge these things? Come along to think about these questions with people of all genders who are interested in discussing and taking action to end male dominance forever!
3pm – 4pm
Organising for Anarchy
Anarchist Federation
Why anarchists should join an organisation. Why it's necessary to go beyond local groups and create organisations that can effectively spread anarchist ideas and propaganda, and develop a movement that can have an effect on struggles.
4pm – 5pm
The Other Campaign - Mexico and beyond .
In July 2005 the Zapatistas released the 6th Declaration of the Lacandon rainforest. The declaration calls for the Mexican left and all those struggling 'from below' to unite and formulate a national programme of struggle against capitalism - the Other Campaign - and to network and unite internationally. This workshop will be a talk and discussion on the Other Campaign in Mexico and beyond, hosted by the UK network of Zapatista solidarity groups. Aim: Provide information on the Other Campaign and open discussion on the Other Campaign between radical groups in the UK . What will it achieve? Greater awareness/understanding of the Other Campaign and what we could learn from it? Encouraging and facilitating meaningful solidarity with international struggles? The first step in a process of uniting radical groups 'below and to the left' and others in the UK , then internationally? Who is it aimed at? Everyone who is interested in building an international network of struggle against capitalism?
5pm – 6pm
An introduction to Direct Action Casework
London Coalition Against Poverty
Are you sick of institutions and corporations denying us access to benefits, housing or decent working conditions? London Coalition Against Poverty uses Direct Action Casework traditional advice work combined with direct action to target those who deny us what we're entitled to. Come along if you are interested in hearing more and getting involved.
ROOM 325
12 noon – 1pm
Red Black and Green - An Introduction to Social Ecology
Social Ecology London
Sick of being told that the way to deal with climate change is change your lightbulbs and trust in treaties and free market solutions? Social Ecology offers a radical libertarian ecological perspective, rooting environmental issues in the social context that created them. This session gives an overview of the basic ideas of social ecology, how it differs from other radical green currents, and the reconstructive vision it proposes.
1pm – 2pm
The Summit Against Everything
Voices of Resistance from Occupied London
A presentation of London 's newest anarchist journal, Voices of Resistance from Occupied London, now in its second issue. Members of the collective will also talk about the plans for "the Summit Against Everything": A pan-european gathering of anarchists and anti-authoritarians, to take place in summer 2008 in London .
2pm – 3pm
Bash the Rich
Ian Bone
Meeting to discuss the action in Notting Hill on 3 rd November, the need to fight gentrification and actions against the political elite in London , Oxford and beyond. The aim of the meetings “old etonian heads on spikes!
3pm – 4pm
Militant Research & Radical Theory
London Anarchist Forum
What would a genuinely non-hierarchal and participatory approach to knowledge production and political theorization look like? Militant research, as a series of practices and understandings, rejects the division of people into active and passive roles. Come join Stevphen Shukaitis, David Graeber, and members of the London Anarchist Forum for a discussion of the politics of radical education and theorizing within movements.
4pm – 5pm
MAYDAY
Launch and Talk by new autonomous class struggle magazine
MAYDAY magazine was formed out of the need to develop political and practical ideas around the movements we are involved in. From anti-fascism, social centres, migrant and no border struggles to the legacies and histories of class struggle in the UK . The intention is to bring together all our experiences and bring radical anti-capitalist and anarchist ideas to a wider audience.
5pm – 6pm
Anarchism and The State of Terror
London Anarchist Forum
An open facilitated discussion focused on the phoney 'War Against Terror' and its use both in overseas imperialism / economic colonialism, as well as by the domestic security state and neo-conservative social agendas. What is the nature of the problem? Can it be addressed in a rational middle ground beyond crank conspiracy theories / State disinformation and naive denial / complacency? What can be done?
LECTURE ROOM
12 noon – 1pm
Camden Parasites by Daniel Lux
A talk on the new edition of Camden Parasites by Daniel Lux, the legendary true story of the London underclass meeting the Hampstead bourgeoisie in a maze of sex, drugs, criminality and mental illness. Alternately very funny and very nasty, Camden Parasites is a unique account of class antagonisms.
1pm – 2pm
empty
2pm – 3pm
Rossport Solidarity Camp: Anarchists and community struggle in the west of Ireland .
Rossport Solidarity Camp was set up in June 2005 with the aim of supporting a community struggle against Shell plans for an inland refinery and high-pressure gas pipeline in the west of Ireland . As the camp enters its third year we'll look at why it was initially formed, what it's done and the opportunities and challenges faced by anarchists working with community campaigns such as Shell to Sea. We'll also provide a campaign update and information on how people can get involved. The aim of the meeting is to generate discussion on opportunities and challenges faced by anarchists working with community campaigns such as Shell to Sea; provide a campaign update and information on how people can support the campaign. The meeting is aimed at people who would like to find out more about the Solidarity Camp project; people working with community campaigns who would like to share experience; people who would like an update on the campaign and more information on how they can get involved.
3pm – 4pm
No Borders
After the success of the first UK No Border Camp near Gatwick, the No Borders Network is expanding, and developing strategies against the system and companies that maintain the border regime; as well as acting in solidarity with migrants in struggle. The current network is now composed of groups from over 8 cities in the UK with more in the process of forming. Our recent activities include: detainee support work, free english classes, anti-deportation campaigns, supporting self-organised struggles of migrants both inside and outside of detention, supporting undocumented migrant labour struggles, squatting houses for accommodation with destitute asylum seekers, targeting corporations that profit from the detention and deportation industry, and campaigning against new detention centres. Come to this workshop to discuss our current campaigns and find out how to get involved.
4pm – 5pm
Doing it ourselves – Workshops for changing the world
Trapese
Trapese popular education collective recently published Do It Yourself: A Handbook For Changing The World (see handbookforchange.org). Examining nine different areas from sustainable living, autonomous spaces, health, popular education, food cultural activism, direct action and doing it without leaders the book combines theoretical analysis with practical information on things people can do to make changes in their lives in the here and now. This workshop examines the reasons and motivations for producing the book and open a discussion on ways that autonomous movements can expand, amplify and make more accessible the themes covered in the book.
Skeel Lecture Room
12 noon – 1pm
No Sweat and IWW Fight Back Against Starbucks
Joint meeting with No Sweat and IWW on the campaign to fight against Starbucks anti-union activity with excerpt from the film 'Coffee Sirens - baristas fight back against Starbucks! ' about the campaign in the US . Meeting aimed at activists, unionists and baristas, and anyone up for joining the struggle
1pm – 2.30pm
Armed resistance to Francoism
Stuart Christie
Stuart will talk about and show footage from his most recent short film “armed resistance to Francoism from the end of the Civil War in 1939 until his death in 1975”. It covers the rural and urban guerrilla periods as well as Defensa Interior, Directorio Revolucionario Iberico de
Liberacion (Dril), First of May Group, MIL, and Angry Brigade...
3pm – 4pm
How the Working Class Went Global
Paul Mason, author of Live Working or Die Fighting
How the Working Class Went Global draws the parallels between the creation of a new global workforce and the classic moments in labour history when hope broke through the boundaries of the possible, from the Paris Commune to the Warsaw Ghetto.
4pm – 5.30pm
My Dearest Enemy, My Dangerous Friend
Dorothy Rowe
Psychologist Dorothy Rowe is one of the few in her field who draw explicit links between politics and psychology. She has written extensively on depression, the psychiatric system, authority, society, government and the family, and how these institutions affect us as children and adults. She returns to the Bookfair this year to discuss her new book on siblings, relationships, brotherhood and sisterhood.
FILM
Lecture Room 2
11am - 12 noon
The Battle For Broadway Market. 2006
Emily James, 58 mins.
The Battle for Broadway Market is a comprehensive record of resistance, occupation and campaign. Essential viewing for those who want to see what people can achieve when confronted by gentrification and corrupt local authorities.
12noon - 12.30pm
Underground Londoners - cleaning the London Underground
Dagmar Diesner and Klara Jaya Brekke, 29 mins
A documentary about the living conditions of the cleaners working for the Underground and living 'underground'. It aims to understand the relation between their work/life conditions and their structural placement as both working for the London Underground, managed under the Public Private Partnership deal, and living underground as precarious or illegal migrants. The film is divided in three parts. The first, gives a picture of the living conditions of a worker having to work two jobs and the effect that has on their health, aspirations and family life. The second explains the Public Private Partnership deal of the London Underground, mapping out some of the many companies involved and showing how the cleaners, being hired by subcontractors, don't have any direct relation to their employers. The final part of the film shows the struggle for better conditions for the cleaners in the 'Justice for Cleaners' campaign by the Transport and General workers Union . Further information and to order copies of the film:
artemislondon@googlemail.com or http://v2v.cc/v2v/Underground_Londoners or visit the No Borders stall. 12.50pm - 2pm
"Our Oil and Other Tales"
Elisabetta Andreoli, Gabriele Muzio, Sara Muzio, Max Pugh
The Venezuelan Government had liked previous Gattacicova Collective productions (for example, ‘Another way is possible ...in Venezuela ') so much that they offered financial support for their next project. But the documentary they then made examined the issues of oil production in the country: from the impact on the environment and indigenous populations to the way the industry is run. The bureaucrats of the Ministry of Culture realised they didn´t like such a close look at their involvement with multinational and northamerican corporations, so they tried to suppress the movie. Only with the help of local activists a few copies escaped censorship. Now you can watch the documentary that Hugo Chavez tried to keep secret..."
2pm - 2.30pm
Raise the Rates
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Following the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's (OCAP) campaign to raise social assistance rates in Ontario in 2005-2006, this documentary features first-hand accounts of 5 women involved in the campaign as well as footage from special diet clinics, demonstrations, and occupations. From powerful voices of people directly affected by the welfare system comes a demand to raise the rates, and a determination to fight back. OCAP are the inspiration for campaigns such as London Coalition Against Poverty (LCAP). Definitely worth seeing before going to the LCAP workshop at 5pm .
2.45pm - 4pm
Occupying Nothingness
Amazing documentary about the Laboratorio squatted centre in Madrid . A place of real community, this film shows the warmth, imagination and rebellion of the occupiers and local people. Inspiring is not the word!
4pm - 6pm
Las Libertarias
Vicente Aranda 2004
A story of women in the Spanish civil war - fighting fascism and patriarchy. Controversial- as any commercial film would be - but moving, thought provoking and inspiring.
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