3rd Belfast Anarchist Bookfair
Sep 3 2009 21:16
#32
Maloney wrote:
I thought I might have even saw a speaker from Visteon, Traffic Attendents or Nortel workers struggle at it.
Invites were sent, to no avail.
Of course the WSM would do a 'bigger' bookfair, simply because there would be no quality control whatsoever regarding who you'd invite.
Sep 3 2009 22:00
#33
any they put more resources in, in fairness
Sep 4 2009 14:29
#34
I think building something from the ground up is the best way forward for the book fair and that is the route it has generally been taking but I also consider there is always room for improvement. I ask questions like who is the bookfair trying to reach, what is the best way to reach people etc etc. It's not about sales is it, though they do obviously help?
The reason I suggested combining the event with the fest was because hundreds of people came to it (this was the first fest in 6 years and more will come from Europe and beyond next year once it is re-established). Although this particular event was exclusively punk, as I said in my last post, it doesn't have to be. The Art College gigs in Belfast were mixed bills i.e a mixture of styles and not exclusively punk. If you set things in a wider cultural arena you will reach more people. I got into anarchism over 25 years ago by going to punk gigs.
I do have problems with certain punks but not ALL and sweeping generalisations about punks merely reveals the sectarianism of some people. I thought anarchism was about giving people a hand up, not putting them down because they ain't hip with Kropotkin.
It's not about trying to have a showcase event (spectacle) either - all that mine's bigger than yours craps is for wabs anyway - but if we seriously want to spread ideas then we need to continually look at devloping them. The central theme this year was equality and perhaps that might be a good place to start, seriously.
Sep 4 2009 20:38
#35
Sorry, I really disagree with making the bookfair part of the Warzonefest. And I like punk, Ive played in bands, worked in Giros, still go to gigs.......but I dont want anarchism to become the preserve of the punk scene, which it will be if its major yearly event becomes subsummed into Belfast punks' major yearly event. In any case, the bookfair was promoted at the two day benefit gig in the Pavillion, but very few people from the gig on Friday night showed up to the bookfair on the Saturday, probably cos they were more interested in drinking/being hungover/drinking again. Dont get me wrong, most of Organise! will likely be at the fest if it happens again, and it would be a good place to do a book/info/paper stall and promote the bookfair proper, but not to combine the two....being part of a punk fest might potentially alienate some people/groups, or put them off attending or doing a stall. I like the fact that the 3 we've done (with varying success) have been independent of any particular 'subculture'.
This is just my opinion, and may be a little biased, cos as I said, Im still into punk and that, but my politics are pretty far removed from it these days.
Sep 4 2009 21:36
#36
notch8, with respect, but if you read my post I'm talking about an event which ISN'T exclusively punk but with bands from a wide variety of genres, i.e. with a wider appeal than 4 drunk white blokes with guitars and drums screaming cliches that were best before 1984 (if you'll forgive the generalisation) principally because organised anarchism has set itself apart from wider culture and disappeared up its own back passage. Come on, tell me, are youth going to come to another rendition of the instantly recallable horizontal co-ordination committee of the proletariat, or a gig with some mates and some bands?
Or has anarchism to be oh so seriously the preserve of ancient bookshelvey traditionalists who forgot to look up from the latest critque while the revolution might have been happening?
But yes I don't want anarchism to be the preserve of punk either because the 'anarchism' that punk inspired was far removed from traditional struggle in a variety of ways that was both detrimental and alarmingly popular. Punk is a musical genre on the one hand, but what philosophy can be deciphered from its corpse is hardly useful to workers in struggle.
Punk is soundtrack, yes, but is all culture merely spectacle, haul on til I get me red and black tinted glasses out....
Sep 4 2009 21:56
#37
Indeed, what do fucking bands have to do with politics anyway?
Yeah, gigs can attract more people that bookfairs but it doesn't mean we should go "Fuck it, lets just have a festival." Getting 500 people through the doors doesn't improve the quality of an event nor does it necessarily more anarchists make.
Sep 4 2009 22:03
#38
bens wrote:
Getting 500 people through the doors doesn't improve the quality of an event
Well, it might have improved our bookfair considerably.
Sep 4 2009 22:35
#39
True we did get a tad under that... Still it seems some think it was a total washout. We lost no money and some of the debate was good. All events have both good and bad years it seems. I thought it was ok.
Sep 5 2009 04:46
#40
Don't get me wrong, I thought it was positive, the debates were among the best so far etc but I'm not talking about festivals ffs, more setting the thing within a wider cultural arena, because anarchism itself needs to be part of a wider cultural arena otherwise it will stay in its dark little corner repeating how great it is to itself.
Just a suggestion?
Sep 6 2009 18:27
#41
Yeah I think twinning the bookfair with Warzone fest is an bad idea.
And I worked at the last 4 Warzone fests and during 2000-03 was one of the most active members of the Warzone collective but I'm very wary of attemtping to get numbers to political talks by twinning it with fests, becuase in my experience, at every fest I worked at people were generally there just to party and fuck about and not actually interested in politics.
I think the Warzone gig on the Friday night significantly hit bookfair attendance - I know a few people who didn't come to the bookfair because they got trashed the night before having gone to the gig.
it's fantastic that so much money was made for Warzone, a project I support, btu I do think people get wrote-off the night before a bookfair means they won't show up.
that said I'm all for -post-bookfair events which are a great way to round off things 
Sep 6 2009 18:31
#42
And as for the cheap populist notion of bringing a 'big name speaker' I think the last talk of the day shows that you don't need to bring a big name.
What you need to is to have talks/workshops on pertinent issues of relevance - the antifascist talk was of immediate relevance given the situation with the Roma, BPP slght increase in visibility and BNP call-centre being in Belfast, anyone could have been the 'speaker' at that talk and it would still have been as packed as it was.
Sep 7 2009 07:05
#43
I know what you mean and I take your point but, looking outside the box, I see anarchism as sitting out on its own in a dark corner and if you want to bring it into the light then you need to drag it out of the corner - and possibly setting it within a wider cultural event, or series of events (not necessarily a gig) brings it in from the cold and makes it far more accessible to wider culture. I would apply this to anarchism in general and not just our bookfair.
I was in Warzone at the start back in the mid 80's and I seen a lot of people attracted to what we were doing, and through it taking an interest in anarchist ideas. Many of these were young people who were entirely disinterested in anything remotely political and they came down just to see gigs, but in time they saw what was going on behind the scenes and became directly involved or took some of those ideas with them. The phenomenon was not exclusive to Warzone either. Saying that, it's not especially useful for an annual event because the exposure I was describing takes place over time.
Actually it's something I'm not entirely sure of myself and am mulling over at the moment but thought I'd put if forward. Jon from Active in London has set up a site for anarchist book fairs. It might be interesting to look at these other events to see what way they operate?
Sep 7 2009 11:52
#44
We had an interesting chat at yesterdays Organise! meeting about this and yes there was discussion that I suppose could be described as being around making it a more 'cultural' event.
It didn't revolve around punk fests though (and I'm not knocking them, I mean I was there getting wrote off both nights) and people definately agreed that the Friday gig, while raising much needed money for a new social centre (congratulations to the organisers, bands and everyone who went along on both nights!), hit attendance on the Saturday at the bookfair.
There are shit loads of other issues though to be fair, and we seem quite clear on where we go from here. In general a more accessible venue (in terms of getting into it and in terms of a more open and flexible space) is definately needed. There was a lot more discussed but the Friday night probably knocked out around a dozen people who came down for a look in previous years when they weren't completely totalled - the presence of the WSM's own Belfast Branch also saw greatly reduced numbers from that organisation (well now they've got their Belfast franchise set up why bother shipping 20 plus comrades up from Dublin? 
)
I agree totally with choocy that talks should be grounded in actual struggles and that those giving them should be involved in those struggles, there is also room for some more theoretical stuff - I mean its only once a year.
Sep 7 2009 12:53
#45
Deezer, with all respect there is no need to personalise this, as Belfast WSM did not organise the bookfair. Is it possible for you to post a comment without referring to the 'enemy within?
There was really no point in bussing anyone up anyway. It would have been a waste of peoples time and resources and nothing that would of been recorded back to HQ in Dublin anyway...
Talking about tying it in with a culture festival- tying it in with Belfast film festival, west belfast feile or that DJ night at custom house square would of made more sense than anarchy at the Pavillion..
Sep 7 2009 14:23
#46
When was there anarchy at the Pavilion and did anyone get a photo of it?
Sep 7 2009 15:11
#47
http://anarchistbookfair.net/anarchyfest.html - this is sort of what I mean, in this case a week of events in a wider cultural context, and here's the bookfair site I mentioned:
http://anarchistbookfairs.blogspot.com/ - food for thought but in hindsight the bookfair might have been the day BEFORE the fest
Sep 7 2009 18:26
#48
I definitely have no problem with it coinciding with stuff, but having a piss-up the night before talks was the main problem
I think perhaps having the 'cultural' stuff (bands, films, exhibitions etc) under the same roof might have helped - and here's where a social centre would perform a great function.
The fact that the gigs and bookfair were a few miles from each other gives people that lame excuse to only do one or the other.
Sep 7 2009 18:29
#49
"anarchy" fest? speaks for itself doesnt it.
Sep 8 2009 11:54
#50
Maloney wrote:
Deezer, with all respect there is no need to personalise this, as Belfast WSM did not organise the bookfair. Is it possible for you to post a comment without referring to the 'enemy within?There was really no point in bussing anyone up anyway. It would have been a waste of peoples time and resources and nothing that would of been recorded back to HQ in Dublin anyway...
Talking about tying it in with a culture festival- tying it in with Belfast film festival, west belfast feile or that DJ night at custom house square would of made more sense than anarchy at the Pavillion..
eh? Is the Belfast Branch of the WSM a single personality then? Thought you claimed six members recently - I must have been mistaken. And yes, it would have been a waste of time and resources busing people up from Dublin, there is no need, you have already set up a Belfast Branch for them (or a 'Belfast' personality).
Seriously though whats this 'enemy wthin' shite? It is a fact that the WSM did not come up in large numbers from Dublin, something that they did at previous bookfairs. As a result this had a negative impact on the overall numbers attending. It was good to see a number of people come up from Dublin anyway, including members of the WSM.
Tying it in with the feile is mental Maloney and says a lot about how you see things developing. There will be future Just Books stalls at the feile launch and the only reason this didn't happen this year was due to problems with suplliers delivering anything in time for it. The DJ night in custom house square would be impossible and the Belfast Film Festival I reckon pretty much the same. Though Just Books do have regular monthly stalls at the Black Market and related events including the upcoming chilli fest so these not safe or ambitious hands are fully capable of moving outside the 'anarchist ghetto'.
Sep 8 2009 12:49
#51
Call me auld traditionalist, but I think May Day should be the focus especially the Reclaim May Day stuff done a few years back. I think the Bookfair is fine but as I understand it, the London one was always an event where anarchists could meet up once a year from all parts and wasn't really designed as a way of reaching the masses - not that that is going to happen at May Day either, but I think it is a better place to start. The book fair thing should be an occasion for anarchists north and south to meet up (sounds like the Peace Train, I know), and settle our differences like the men we are.
Sep 8 2009 23:45
#52
With fist fights like?
Sep 9 2009 08:46
#53
Deezer wrote:
Maloney wrote:
Deezer, with all respect there is no need to personalise this, as Belfast WSM did not organise the bookfair. Is it possible for you to post a comment without referring to the 'enemy within?There was really no point in bussing anyone up anyway. It would have been a waste of peoples time and resources and nothing that would of been recorded back to HQ in Dublin anyway...
Talking about tying it in with a culture festival- tying it in with Belfast film festival, west belfast feile or that DJ night at custom house square would of made more sense than anarchy at the Pavillion..
eh? Is the Belfast Branch of the WSM a single personality then? Thought you claimed six members recently - I must have been mistaken. And yes, it would have been a waste of time and resources busing people up from Dublin, there is no need, you have already set up a Belfast Branch for them (or a 'Belfast' personality).
Seriously though whats this 'enemy wthin' shite? It is a fact that the WSM did not come up in large numbers from Dublin, something that they did at previous bookfairs. As a result this had a negative impact on the overall numbers attending. It was good to see a number of people come up from Dublin anyway, including members of the WSM.
Tying it in with the feile is mental Maloney and says a lot about how you see things developing. There will be future Just Books stalls at the feile launch and the only reason this didn't happen this year was due to problems with suplliers delivering anything in time for it. The DJ night in custom house square would be impossible and the Belfast Film Festival I reckon pretty much the same. Though Just Books do have regular monthly stalls at the Black Market and related events including the upcoming chilli fest so these not safe or ambitious hands are fully capable of moving outside the 'anarchist ghetto'.
The enemy within thing was a joke comrade. Obviously, not every member will attend every single anarchist event for a variety of reasons. Likewise, not every single Organise member attended the bookfair. Next time we must buss in more wsm members just to give the impression that more people attended it.
The feile/DJ thing was also a bit of a joke and piss take. Although the feile is definitely not as inward looking these days. It is perhaps the most multi-cultural and diverse festival. Even inviting members of the UDA these days to speak at their events..
Sep 9 2009 09:47
#54
weeler wrote:
With fist fights like?
Come on now, Wheeler, what's the first rule of fight club?
Sep 9 2009 11:11
#55
no deck shoes.
Sep 9 2009 16:11
#56
Naw, it's don't cross a Chinese firing squad!
Sep 9 2009 16:41
#57
Pumpsie Green wrote:
Naw, it's don't cross a Chinese firing squad!
Actually I belive the belfast bookfair can be much better than the one in Dublin. It just requires a bit more logistics and a safer ambitious pair of hands..
Having too groups in Belfast has nothing to do with it. I may think this years was basically dire but still believe that having a bookfair in itself is productive and worthwhile. Organise! as a much bigger grouping should be more than capable of of something better.
I agree with you though on not inviting Nationalists or this punk thing. I thought I might have even saw a speaker from Visteon, Traffic Attendents or Nortel workers struggle at it.