As part of an ongoing series of short Question and Answer sessions with fellow Anarchists who are organising in their local community, today we’re talking to a member of the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair.
Q: Please introduce yourself and your bookfair, how long has it been going and how long have you been an organising member?
I’m [Redacted] from Bristol. There have been bookfairs here most years since 2008. Mostly run by an ad-hoc collective, but while the core group took a break Active Distro stepped in with a series of smaller events from 2019 to 2023. Now we’re back at full scale since last year. I’ve been involved in four or five bookfairs over the years, but have no idea which ones.
Q: Lovely, thank you all for taking the time out to answer some questions! Let’s crack on with a biggy, it’s been 40 odd years since the first Anarchist Bookfair of the modern era (In London of course) and over the years we’ve seen massive changes to what Bookfairs look like and who attends them, so I’m curious what you see as the main role of an Anarchist bookfair today?
On the role of the bookfair, there are several main ones and which is more important varies by time space and person.
For me, as someone who had their first entry into organised anarchism at a Bookfair, the most important lart is to be that entry point. Somewhere someone can show up, get the zines and books, attend an entry level workshop, and talk to the various groups active locally about how they can join in.
On top of that it is a good place for groups, friends, comrades, and rivals to show up. It is a place that no online forum has come close to matching in its ability to build solidarity and share knowledge and resources between groups.
Resources is another big one, whilst mitigated somewhat by online sales and crowd finders, it can still be a big influx of money for the group taking part. Well big by the standards of radical groups where a few hundred quid is two years operating budget.
Q: There are many Anarchisms as they say and yet somehow, especially online, our spaces can feel like a sub-cultural bubble. What political and cultural gaps do you think bookfairs help fill that online spaces and other events cannot? To what degree to you try and involve anarchists from across the spectrum, where does this become a struggle and are there any hardlines?
To me the only red lines for what a Bookfair should include are groups and individuals that claim the mantle of anarchism but support oppression. For example transphobic organisations, misogynists, supporters of capitalism, nationalism, or other systems of impression.
Whether you’re an individualist or a platformist it is dishonest to pretend you are all of anarchism. It is also a weakness to exclude those we disagree with. Anarchism is full of constant internal debates and discussions, streams of thought that split off, recombine mix and make new. It’s a strength we should appreciate not avoid.
Finally I’m a big supporter of inviting fellow travellers. Non-anarchists fighting for a better world, that don’t cross the red lines, aren’t political parties, and are willing to work with us as equals. In practice this has usually been single issue groups, many of which have anarchists as a part of there membership, but can go beyond that. No one has ever complained to me for having stalls or workshops from unions, LGBTQ groups, Palestine solidarity or anti-arms these groups, even if those groups are explicitly a far broader church than just anarchists.
Q: How does your collective organise itself, are you all in the same organisation or from various groups? How are decisions made, do you practice a broad horizontal approach with everyone chipping in or are individuals/work groups (self) assigned tasks?
Our collective essentially reforms each year with a call to any anarchists that want to get involved. Some years we’ll be mostly people who have done at least one Bookfair before, some years mostly new people. We’re entirely independent, but there has been consistent involvement from some groups such as BASE social centre and The Anarchist Federation. Decision wise we always aim for consensus. Consensus can be tricky but it has worked well so far, likely due to generally being around ten people at most, and having a long ‘lead in time’ for general discussions before the real heavy organising is under way.
Q: What responsibilities, sure as child care, security and wellbeing support do you take on? why and how do you go about it? Where do you feel your event is taking positive strides here and where is there still work to be done?
It is really important, both practically and politically, that as many people as possible are able to come to events like this. Last year we had a new collective, and a new (and disappointing) venue, and we struggled in a lot of ways. We did manage excellent child care prevision though!
This year we are in a far better venue, have a lot more experience working as a group, a bit more capacity, and many more contacts with more knowledge, experience, and pointers for self-education. We hope this will mean more people can attend, and more people can get the most out of it when they do.
Security has been something we plan for, usually with a couple of dedicated groups that form for the day, but luckily not something that has been needed much.
Q: What brought you towards organising an Anarchist/Radical bookfair and what keeps you committed? Has organising these events changed your perspective?
To quote one of the most inspirational anarchists to have ever lived ‘Anarchists know that a long period of education must precede any great fundamental change in society, hence they do not believe in vote begging, nor political campaigns, but rather in the development of self-thinking individuals’ – Lucy Parsons.
Bookfairs are difficult, messy, and often feel relatively thankless. But they are also the best way to learn and grow I’ve experienced both as an absolute new comer, and as a veteran anarchist. My hope is that the hundreds of hours of effort that gets put into a bookfair results in thousands of hours of organising and actions made possible by the connections forged on the day.
Q: There are lots of constraints put on anyone organising events these days, from finding a location suitable, souring a few dozen tables just for a single day, and just covering all the costs. How do you tackle these issues and just how much does it cost to run an event, how did you go about the first one?
Every year it gets much more expensive, mostly due to the venue hire costs. There are literally no venues remotely within our price range that offer both large halls for stalls, plenty of rooms for workshops, and the potential for a relatively accessible event. We’ve had to stitch together five near-by venues to manage that this year, which obviously comes with its own set of challenges. We’re still looking at close to £2000 just for venue hire costs.
Most of our income comes from the day itself, with donations on the door, or for food and merch. This means that paying up front costs relies on a combination of us having made a surplus the year before and getting loans from individuals and groups. Various benefits, fund raising pushes, and parties help, but they all need a lot of organising as well.
Q: What do you and your collective feel is still lacking, where can you improve and what challenges are you taking on ahead of your next event?
Our main focus compared to last year is making a more accessible and approachable event. We’re also increasing in scale, allowing for more workshops and talks than last year.
Q: On a personal level, what has been your favourite moment(s) of organising these events?
Whenever someone talks to me at their first bookfair, and then I see them months or years later involved with a great project or campaign.
Q: Is it Bookfair or Book Fair?
One year we nearly printed hundreds of flyers inviting people to a Bokfair, in comparison either of those is fine.
A massive thanks to the crew member from Bristol Anarchist Bookfair for taking the time out to answer our questions. Their next event is on the 24th October at The Trinity Centre. You can learn more about them here: https://bristolanarchistbookfair.uk/.
Are you an organiser and would like to talk to us about your project or organisation?
Get in contact here: organisemag@rise[deleteme]up.net
