London Anarchist Bookfair 2022

[Carl Steele]

Everyone has an agenda

Not so, as in an agenda separate from the truth. We all get things wrong but my record on the Healyites and the Sparts could not be clearer, so why are you and Mowbray trying to muddy the waters?

 

[TopCat]

..

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Carl Steele - Man Of Truth

It was a time… for heroes. Could one man traverse the swamp of anarchism, evading its teeth-snapping agendas?

 

[TopCat]

..

It was better not said.

 

[Red Sky]

I have never been to an anarchist book fair but I'm led to believe they sometimes end in fist fights. Is this true and if so why do you think it happens?

Because fighting is exciting.

 

[Red Sky]

I hear the LARC will be hosting a talk by Lisa Mackenzie regarding the new book she is involved in on the same afternoon.

They shit their pants when plod showed up to arrest a few hippies. Lisa will fit right in.

 

[Pickman's model]

I'm just trying to get a feel for the culture. On the Trot left physical violence is officially frowned upon (not to say it never happens but when it does it's a big deal).

Which is doubtless why so many trot groups just shout at fascists instead of doing the business. Why so many trot groups opposed the violence at eg the poll tax riot and many similar events in the last 30 years.

 

[The39thStep]

Never mind Winnie-the-Pooh, surely a Marxist critique of Eeyore would be more helpful here?

Well, that's a good deal more helpful than they've been previously. And a fairly reasonably-written email. Line breaks are a bit fucked but that might not be their fault. I see they did go for the old "Kind regards" at the end there though.

Glad to know they're still going, I wasn't totally sure if they were.

Comrade. Eeyore is in Winnie the Pooh

 

[Carl Steele]

Which is doubtless why so many trot groups just shout at fascists instead of doing the business. Why so many trot groups opposed the violence at eg the poll tax riot.

Picky old chap, I'm not a Trotskyist, haven't been for more than 3 decades.

 

[hitmouse]

..

I think we can all join the dots and see what's going on here.

Comrade. Eeyore is in Winnie the Pooh

Yes, I was relying on the misunderstanding that the Marxist critique was of the eponymous bear himself rather than of the broader fictional work which shares his name? Fairly shaky joke now I come to type it out but it was funny in my head?

 

[Pickman's model]

Picky old chap, I'm not a Trotskyist, haven't been for more than 3 decades.

I never said you were, carly. You brought up trot groups and their attitude to violence, I responded to the point you made. Thought you'd have recognised that, being as I never said you in my post.

 

[Carl Steele]

I never said you were, carly. You brought up trot groups and their attitude to violence, I responded to the point you made. Thought you'd have recognised that, being as I never said you in my post.

You are getting a bit flaky Picky. You made your points about the trots as a direct response to my post. Try to concentrate.

 

[Pickman's model]

You made your points about the trots as a direct response to my post.

Yes, I just said that. As you're reduced to repeating what I've just said, you should go to Bedfordshire

 

[Carl Steele]

Would you agree Picky, that I've spent some time here calling out the abuse of the Sparts and the violence of the WRP/SLL (and also their sexual abuse)?

 

[A380]

Everyone has an agenda

Some of the meetings I’ve wasted years of my life in could have done with one…

 

[TopCat]

They shit their pants when plod showed up to arrest a few hippies. Lisa will fit right in.

Ooh. That's a bit warm.

 

[ska invita]

View attachment 331862

Essential background reading for an anarchist perspective

 

[JimW]

Well, having carped at them, I think that's a fair enough statement from the Bookfair lot and a reasonable reason for denying a stall - I don't think her cosying up with Spiked is comparable to Pickman's model taking a Saturday job at one of the many nefarious bad capitalist employers, different dynamic with Lisa finding an outlet for her writing IMO.
I also think Carl Steele made some fairly reasonable points about the Stalinists ending capitalism but only after a fashion, so we could go round that one again if everyone's not lost the will to live.

 

[Pickman's model]

Some of the meetings I’ve wasted years of my life in could have done with one…

The difficulty with that sort of meeting is everyone thinks they have the right agenda

 

[Pickman's model]

Would you agree Picky, that I've spent some time here calling out the abuse of the Sparts and the violence of the WRP/SLL (and also their sexual abuse)?

Yes, carly

 

[LDC]

I think LDC has had a word with The Customer Support Collective at The Bookfair

View attachment 331866

Well, exactly. Not sure I could argue for that, but kinda what I meant when I said there might be a fair reason. Nothing like her suggestions that she and the book were banned for being too working class, or that the Bookfair were terrified of working class people, or that they don't like genuine collectives or other similar rubbish.

Sure she's great, and she definitely has some interesting stuff to say, but she is also a reactionary cliche with some of this stuff.

 

[chilango]

Well, exactly. Not sure I could argue for that, but kinda what I meant when I said there might be a fair reason. Nothing like her suggestions that she and the book were banned for being too working class, or that the Bookfair were terrified of working class people, or that they don't like genuine collectives or other similar rubbish.

Sure she's great, and she definitely has some interesting stuff to say, but she is also a reactionary cliche with some of this stuff.

At least they've clarified their reasons. People can now agree or disagree rather than try and guess what's going on.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Shades of middle-management fudge with notes of of course the crazy lady isn't banned, so long as someone more respectable can co-sign her application

 

[The39thStep]

At least they've clarified their reasons. People can now agree or disagree rather than try and guess what's going on.

I would like to think that this thread played its role in their comms strategy being reviewed.No small achievement in the eyes of many.

 

[LDC]

I would like to think that this thread played its role in their comms strategy being reviewed.No small achievement in the eyes of many.

Small steps towards a glorious future comrade, small steps.

 

[JimW]

Perhaps our next move would be to submit a series of spurious applications under ever more fiendishly designed edge cases just to piss everybody off.

 

[The39thStep]

The early bird

 

[The39thStep]

 

[The39thStep]

SBATW(Ukraine) is an autonomous activist collective that takes inspiration from the original Skateboarders against the War (Iraq) and their musical skate-athon about the imprisonment and subsequent release of Terry Waite ‘Has anyone here seen Terry’

Using freestyle skateboarding we have been engaging with marginalised youth communities to explore themes of NWBTCW and Imperialism by Proxy. The current production is based on an imaginary meeting between the fictitious characters Violet Elisabeth , Ginger, and Cockers with Roman G. Kovalenko III, branch secretary of the Ukrainian Diaspora community (West Texas) & freestyle skateboard champion of Fort Worth.

The group has also organised a rolling skating blockade of the Spar Shop in Cheadlehighstreet ( Tuesdays and Fridays nights) for selling Smirnoff whilst at the same protesting about the licensing laws for teenagers which are better in Europe.

A collaborative application btw with other posters from The Urban Left faction

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Bedroom gamers against tobacco duty