London Anarchist Bookfair 2022

[Magnus McGinty]

My advice to the collective was to say yes to Lisa. Because then she'd have had to do it

Can I have a stall?
- no.
Oh but give it because they’ll have to.

How to unpick that?

 

[Red Sky]

Can I have a stall?
- no.
Oh but give it because they’ll have to.

How to unpick that?

Anyway you like as long you abide by the relevant health and safety protocol.

 

[chilango]

Anyway you like as long you abide by the relevant health and safety protocol.

In hi-viz of course.

 

[Red Sky]

In hi-viz of course.

How else? Compulsory on all sites. Even this one.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Spaces still available! Get on it combabes!

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Anarchists not welcome. lol

 

[Red Sky]

Anarchists not welcome. lol

No books either.

 

[A380]

Spaces still available! Get on it combabes!

"That's what I like about anarchists. So well organised."

 

[DaveCinzano]

No books either.

But is it fair?

 

[TopCat]

cranky gus ?

Wanky pus

 

[Pickman's model]

My advice to the collective was to say yes to Lisa. Because then she'd have had to do it

There are always people who book but don't turn up

 

[Red Sky]

There are always people who book but don't turn up

Then she'd have had no story at all.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I've seen her there loads with talks etc. That she is now perhaps persona non grata says all I need to know about the new organisers. I've no idea who they are but have a general idea of what kind of politics they have.

 

[LDC]

Well, we still don't know why, and tbf there could be a fair explanation as I have said on here already. (I doubt there is personally, but am trying to suspend judgement until hear more.)

rich! still hasn't come back with any justification for calling her a fascist, so the Bookfair aren't the only ones acting like unaccountable toddlers.

 

[chilango]

Well, we still don't know why, and tbf there could be a fair explanation as I have said on here already. (I doubt there is personally, but am trying to suspend judgement until hear more.)

Although those "fair explanations" are running out.

There's clearly still space.for her stall.

 

[JimW]

Political grounds seem more clear cut in this case though.

 

[LDC]

Yeah it definitely seems that way. There seems to be this huge disconnect between the organisers and any accountability or responsibility to a wider movement to explain these choices. It's a pretty individualist and clearly politically destructive attitude.

 

[chilango]

It's a "Bookfair of our mates and people we agree with".

Which is perfectly valid, I'm sure it's a lot of effort to organise, and effort that I'm not willing to make.

...but don't try and kid anyone that it stands in the tradition of the old Anarchist Bookfair.

 

[Red Sky]

There's a valid argument to be had about how broad the tent ought to be. Whether or not people with gender critical views should be there and all that.

But talking about Lisa McKenzie is muddying the waters. She's a pain in the neck whose USP is the IdProle bollocks of being the only working class person on the Left.

She writes for Spiked and appears on GB News. She's picked her side, so there it is.

 

[chilango]

There's a valid argument to be had about how broad the tent ought to be. Whether or not people with gender critical views should be there and all that.

But talking about Lisa McKenzie is muddying the waters. She's a pain in the neck whose USP is the IdProle bollocks of being the only working class person on the Left.

She writes for Spiked and appears on GB News. She's picked her side, so there it is.

Which bit of that (fair) criticism rules her out of having a stall at the Bookfair though?

 

[hitmouse]

Which bit of that (fair) criticism rules her out of having a stall at the Bookfair though?

I think that "She's picked her side, so there it is" is fair enough grounds really - I reckon it'd be perfectly legitimate for a bookfair to decide on a rule of, say, "no Spiked contributors" or "no GB News/RT commentators" or whatever, on the grounds that you can't be part of an anti-working class project (however we choose to define that) and part of the bookfair at the same time. But again, at the risk of sounding like a stopped clock, if the bookfair had decided to start refusing stalls on those grounds, you'd think that it should be possible enough for them to just explain their reasoning?

 

[chilango]

I think that "She's picked her side, so there it is" is fair enough grounds really - I reckon it'd be perfectly legitimate for a bookfair to decide on a rule of, say, "no Spiked contributors" or "no GB News/RT commentators" or whatever, on the grounds that you can't be part of an anti-working class project (however we choose to define that) and part of the bookfair at the same time. But again, at the risk of sounding like a stopped clock, if the bookfair had decided to start refusing stalls on those grounds, you'd think that it should be possible enough for them to just explain their reasoning?

I mean, on the one hand, yeah. But, really? No one who has ever appeared on GB News or written for Spiked can be considered part of the UK Anarchist movement?

I think Lisa would rightly challenge your "anti-working class project" claim with the very fucking book she's trying to flog. Which is an explicitly pro-working class project.

It just opens up a Pandora's box of endless whataboutery, and toxic squabbling.

For me, if someone is clearly an anarchist, and has relevant books to sell then they should be able to have a stall (if there's space). Plenty of non-anarchist projects get stalls.

It's not about "is this person a bit of a dick?" or do we agree with their politics and/or interpretation of anarchism? Otherwise there'd be nobody there. It's full of dicks and people with iffy politics. Always has been.

It's a broad church. That's the fun of it (the Bookfair, not the anarchist movement).

Look, most of the criticism of Lisa is valid. I don't like her trajectory. I think she's getting a lot of stuff wrong. But, I repeat, so what?

 

[chilango]

...and I'm not especially chuffed at finding myself defending her either!

 

[Pickman's model]

There's a valid argument to be had about how broad the tent ought to be. Whether or not people with gender critical views should be there and all that.

But talking about Lisa McKenzie is muddying the waters. She's a pain in the neck whose USP is the IdProle bollocks of being the only working class person on the Left.

She writes for Spiked and appears on GB News. She's picked her side, so there it is.

if like paul out of class war she had moved to the right and joined ukip i could understand this 'she's picked her side' bit. but as i understand it she's continuing to push her politics using those as vehicles rather than adopting their politics. for me she's not put herself beyond the pale.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I can’t fathom how you travel from class war to ukip in one seamless manoeuvre.

 

[Pickman's model]

I can’t fathom how you travel from class war to ukip in one seamless manoeuvre.

it was several years after he actually left cw that he joined ukip: but no, nor do i

 

[Magnus McGinty]

it was several years after he actually left cw that he joined ukip: but no, nor do i

They’re not even remotely similar. Maybe his interests changed.

 

[chilango]

Tbh it's not that shocking a trajectory.

CW always had a populist streak. It also had a fondness for crude caricaturing regarding class. That was, in part, its appeal.

UKIP and the current wave of socially conservative populism also do this. Ditching the the position elements of class but keeping the cultural identity bits in a bid to pit "the people" against "the elite" (again often culturally defined).

It's a well trodden path of late. The likes of Paul Emberry (sp.?) and, yes, Lisa M are heading down it. How far along they are is important though.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I think you could follow Paul's thinking and interests fairly easily if you followed his blog. He has deleted some posts on there now though. His previous and current positions both include a hostility to identity politics and liberals, for one. And in particular I think he was especially concerned about how these two failed to tackle Islamic extremism adequately.

I think if you add a pro-working class take on Brexit to the mix (with further disdain for the liberal left) and, I assume, the annoyances of trying to work in academia for a while, then I don't think it's that hard to understand.

I might be wrong, and I've only met the guy a couple of times in the noughties personally. As with Paul Embery there is a more cynical take which is that the money and clicks led them both in a particular direction, but Paul (ex-CW) was quite a talented guy imo and could have turned his hand to a bunch of different things.

 

[Pickman's model]

Tbh it's not that shocking a trajectory.

CW always had a populist streak. It also had a fondness for crude caricaturing regarding class. That was, in part, its appeal.

UKIP and the current wave of socially conservative populism also do this. Ditching the the position elements of class but keeping the cultural identity bits in a bid to pit "the people" against "the elite" (again often culturally defined).

It's a well trodden path of late. The likes of Paul Emberry (sp.?) and, yes, Lisa M are heading down it. How far along they are is important though.

i see you have no trouble with crude caricatures of people of whom you know nothing