Bookfairs: anarchist, radical, other. (Not the LABF).

[danny la rouge]

Rather than waste a perfectly good bun fight on the London Anarchist Bookfair thread every year, let’s host discussion of the other bookfairs here.

I give you MCR, this weekend, 2023. (Discussing new verbs and gerunds we haven’t met before and hope never to meet again).

Talks – Manchester & Salford Anarchist Bookfair 2024

bookfair.org.uk

 

[emanymton]

What on earth is Deterritorialising Ability?

 

[JimW]

Is one of them just some bloke talking about himself as it appears to be?

 

[danny la rouge]

Is one of them just some bloke talking about himself as it appears to be?

Usually.

 

[cesare]

The London Radical Bookfair's on Saturday (4.11.23) at Goldsmiths:

London Radical Bookfair

Presented by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers

londonradicalbookfair.wordpress.com

Events programme:

Events Programme 2023

Clicking on the timetable image should increase its size.All rooms are wheelchair accessible.If anyone is in need to a sign language interpreter please contact radbookfair@hotmail.com and we will d…

londonradicalbookfair.wordpress.com

Some of us are going, anyone else?

 

[Dystopiary]

Rather than waste a perfectly good bun fight on the London Anarchist Bookfair thread every year, let’s host discussion of the other bookfairs here.

I give you MCR, this weekend, 2023. (Discussing new verbs and gerunds we haven’t met before and hope never to meet again).

Talks – Manchester & Salford Anarchist Bookfair 2024

bookfair.org.uk

hitmouse I think all the cutesy rodents have been eaten.

 

[The39thStep]

Is one of them just some bloke talking about himself as it appears to be?

Nothing wrong with inspirational speakers Jim

 

[danny la rouge]

Nothing wrong with inspirational speakers Jim

 

[danny la rouge]

Though if you mean DaN McKee, he seems a decent bloke. I read one of his books. It’s good.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

The London Radical Bookfair's on Saturday (4.11.23) at Goldsmiths:

London Radical Bookfair

Presented by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers

londonradicalbookfair.wordpress.com

Events programme:

Events Programme 2023

Clicking on the timetable image should increase its size.All rooms are wheelchair accessible.If anyone is in need to a sign language interpreter please contact radbookfair@hotmail.com and we will d…

londonradicalbookfair.wordpress.com

Some of us are going, anyone else?

For real. Need to add to my pile of unread books innit

 

[hitmouse]

What on earth is Deterritorialising Ability?

I think it's the superpower you get if you get bitten by an unreadable radioactive academic.

I have to ask. What?

n00b. (TV announcer voice): Previously on Urban bookfair threads...

 

[hitmouse]

hitmouse I think all the cutesy rodents have been eaten.

View attachment 398105

There is a US anarchist project that publishes prisoner writing called Mongoose Distro, probably just as well they're unlikely to make it to Manchester for this one. Imagine the carnage.

 

[hitmouse]

Oh, and Edinburgh:

Lighthouse | Radical Book Fair 2023: Revolutionary Feeling

lighthousebookshop.com

 

[kenny g]

The London Radical Bookfair's on Saturday (4.11.23) at Goldsmiths:

London Radical Bookfair

Presented by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers

londonradicalbookfair.wordpress.com

Events programme:

Events Programme 2023

Clicking on the timetable image should increase its size.All rooms are wheelchair accessible.If anyone is in need to a sign language interpreter please contact radbookfair@hotmail.com and we will d…

londonradicalbookfair.wordpress.com

Some of us are going, anyone else?

Thanks for the reminder - would have missed it otherwise. The talks look interesting.

 

[steeplejack]

Oh, and Edinburgh:

Lighthouse | Radical Book Fair 2023: Revolutionary Feeling

lighthousebookshop.com

will try to make some of this as my plans to go to London's events were torpedoed by "events"

Also heading to The Break up of Britain in Edinburgh on November 18, perhaps not as self-styledly 'radical' as some of these other events but a worthwhile thinking through / celebrating the life of Tom Nairn and what (if any) his intellectual / political legacy will be.

 

[danny la rouge]

AnarComNet (ACN) have a stall at the Manc Bookfair tomorrow. If anyone is going, stop by and say hi to our comrades.

 

[LDC]

AnarComNet (ACN) have a stall at the Manc Bookfair tomorrow. If anyone is going, stop by and say hi to our comrades.

Will do!

 

[hitmouse]

How was it? Sounds like ACN had a good day:

AnarCom Anniversary attendance at Manchester and Salford Anarchist Bookfair, November 4th, 2023.

Thanks to the organisers of the Manchester & Salford Anarchist Bookfair for enabling a successful event with around 30 stalls and 8 workshops in the great surrounds of the Peoples History Museu…

anarcomuk.uk

 

[steeplejack]

Yup so the Break Up of Britain? thing at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh was interesting and extremely well-attended; I would say about 400 delegates were there. The event was chaired by Adam Ramsay (Open Democracy / Scottish Green Party) and there were some quite high profile speakers. Headliners were probably Clive Lewis (who attended despite apparently having been put under pressure by Labour whips not to come). Caroline Lucas also spoke as did Leanne Wood.

There were one or two interesting break out sessions focusing on the economy, Starmer's Labour, the Nats after Sturgeon, etc. Not too many stalls although it was good to see that Democratic Left Scotland are still in action.

What struck me was the audience demographic- ageing, largely middle class, professional. Somehow it felt like yesterday's people focused intently on yesterday's questions. There was a strong wistfulness about campaigns fought in 2014 and 2016- most of the audience were on the losing side in both. Lots of fine words and optimistic predictions about Scottish Nationalists holding the balance of power in Westminster after 2024- particularly in a speech simultaneously bumptious and shallow from SNP backbencher Alyn Smith. "I'm a pragmatist- I don't like too much ideology in politics"- direct quote.

I left thinking it was a good tribute to Tom Nairn who was key to my early political thinking (before I signed up here in 2003). But Nairn dealt with a society that was much more coherent and had cohesive political and media narratives; functioning trade unions and a print & broadcast media that told a much more unified narrative to a much more trusting audience. I'm not sure that his thinking marries much onto the current state of play nor indeed that it matters anymore whether the UK breaks apart or stays together. It feels like fiddling obscurantism in yesterday's margins, clever analysis without consequence.

There's just no agency for even the minor political changes that Saturday's audience would welcome, anymore. As well call for the return of Chartism as for the well-fed plump hegemonic social democracy that civic nationalists yearn for. Nairn was, and his followers are, fundamentally decent people; kind and with a strong internationalist knowledge and interest. Politically however it feels as though they are as irrelevant now as any of us on here. Hence the yearning for the good old times of ten years ago, which is likely to go down in history as civic nationalism's high water mark.

 

[danny la rouge]

simultaneously bumptious and shallow from SNP backbencher Alyn Smith. "I'm a pragmatist- I don't like too much ideology in politics"- direct quote.

Doesn’t surprise me. He’s typical of that bland managerialist caste. Nothing to say, but with a supreme (and misplaced) self confidence in his ability to say it.

 

[steeplejack]

Doesn’t surprise me. He’s typical of that bland managerialist caste. Nothing to say, but with a supreme (and misplaced) self confidence in his ability to say it.

Yup, a strutting content-free peacock with feathers in 79 different shades of Marks & Spencer's grey.

Couthy homepun Scottishisms a la Salmond but no content whatever other than upbeat optimism. Borderline deluded IMO.

 

[ddraig]

Abertawe / Swansea this weekend
Gŵyl Y Gwrthsafiad

Gŵyl y Gwrthsafiad

Swansea's Radical Community Festival

swansearadicalfest.wordpress.com

 

[ddraig]

Cardiff Saturday 2nd December

 

[hitmouse]

As much as the UK anarchist scene may be a bit... difficult at times, it's nice to know that there are other places that make it look positively wholesome and functional. This week in Portland, some people organised an outdoor bookfair in a school playground (don't ask me why you'd organise an outdoor event when it's nearly December) with a mask-optional policy, and other people who felt that this was an unreasonably relaxed approach and that the organisers weren't taking health and safety seriously enough visited the site to pour literal shit over the children's playground. In the name of good hygiene practices, presumably.

Expectations vs. Reality – A personal reflection and response to a recent post – Rose City Counter-Info

rosecitycounterinfo.noblogs.org

Please Log Off – a reflection – Rose City Counter-Info

rosecitycounterinfo.noblogs.org

 

[ska invita]

wow...This Week In Portland...thats a podcast Id tune in to!

don't ask me why you'd organise an outdoor event when it's nearly December)

Seems like they did it outside to keep Covid-worrier-shit-throwers happy...sounds like a hard to please bunch.

Funny story but tragic really

 

[hitmouse]

Oh, apparently there's a Sheffield one this Saturday:

 

[danny la rouge]

Oh, apparently there's a Sheffield one this Saturday:

Yes, sorry. I forgot about this thread.

 

[charlie mowbray]

Good Bookfair at the Bristol Radical History event on Saturday April 20th. No trouble there AND ACG had a stall.

 

[Kate Sharpley]

Newcastle Ewan Brown Anarchist Bookfair 2024 (the third annual one)
10:00, Saturday 1st June 2024

Where? Star and Shadow Cinema

When does it start?
Stalls 10:00 - 17:00
Workshops 10:30 - 16:45

When does it end?
Music 19:00 - 23:00
Films 19:00 - 23:00
More details at Home | Newcastle Ewan Brown Anarchist Bookfair

 

[hitmouse]

Manchester at the start of November:

Manchester & Salford Anarchist Bookfair 2024 – Saturday 2nd November, 10am until 4pm at People's History Museum

bookfair.org.uk