Belfast Anarchist Bookfair

national | anti-capitalism | press release Tuesday August 14, 2007 19:47 by Sean - Organise!

The Just Books Collective and Organise! will host the first Belfast anarchist bookfair from the 31st to 1st September in Belfast Unemployment Resource Centre 45/47 Donegall Street, Belfast.

The bookfair has something for everyone interested in working class struggles and finding out about anarchism. From books on labour and Irish history, struggles across the globe, radical thinkers, anarchist, socialist and feminist books and pamphlets, t-shirts, badges and much more. There will also be meetings on the history of anarchism in Belfast, workplace organising, international workers struggles, resisting the water charges, Justice for Dockers, and the struggle for women's right to choose both north and south.

Sean Matthews states: "Despite the public spin of a 'new era' in the north our communities are being torn apart by property developers and ongoing sectarianism, meanwhile we are expected to bend over backwards for the bosses who are getting rich off everyone else's backs.
The bookfair seeks to highlight that working class people can and are The Just Books Collective and Organise! will host the first Belfast anarchist bookfair from the 31st to 1st September in Belfast Unemployment Resource Centre 45/47 Donegall Street, Belfast.fighting back against capitalist exploitation independent of politicians. The bookfair also seeks to promote a vision of a new society based on working class people running their own communities and workplaces for our benefit."

STATEMENT ENDS

Friday 31st August
7.00 pm Welcome and Introduction followed by a film showing’

Saturday 1st September
11.00 am About Just Books. A speaker from the Just Books Collective will give a brief history of the collective, what its been up to in recent years and months and where it would like to go in the future.
12.00 pm Belfast Anarchism. A talk by Mairtin O'Caithain, Organise! member and author of the Wee Black Booke of Belfast Anarchism.
1.00 pm Ireland - Still Fighting for the Right to Choose. A speaker from the Revolutionary Anarcha-Feminist Group talks about recent campaigning for the right to choose in the Irish Republic. Speaker tbc on right to chose campaigning and the legal situation facing women with unwanted pregnancies in Northern Ireland.
2.00 pm Northern Ireland—New Era? Another Future is Possible. Al from the Armagh Local of Organise! explores recent political changes in the north and sets out the case for a future based on working class peoples control of their own lives, communities and workplaces.
3.00 pm Justice for Dockers. A group of Belfast dockers was set up in July 2006 to fight for justice for Dockers suffering from asbestosis or asbestos related diseases they got while working unloading asbestos at Belfast Docks from 1960 to 1980. Up against the government, their employers and their union SIPTU a member of the group will be speaking about the Dockers struggle for justice and compensation.
4.00 pm Workplace Organising, Workplace Resistance. Speakers from the Independent Workers Union, Solidarity Federation (the British section of the Anarcho-Syndicalist international the International Workers Association), Organise! will lead off discussion on successful workplace organising. Drawing on a range of perspectives and experience we hope we can all learn from this debate, come along and contribute in the vein of ‘bad luck t’ the boss!’.
5.00 pm International Anarcho-Syndicalism. An overview of struggles that sections of the anarcho-syndicalist international - the International Workers Association - are involved in. A talk by the AIT-IWA secretariat.
6.00 pm Resisting Water Charges. A speaker who was active in defeating water charges in the Republic will draw lessons from that struggle—many of which can be applied to the struggle against water charges in the north in the here and now. The second speaker, active in the We Won’t Pay Campaign, will address the issues facing working class people in relation to fighting water charges in the north. Speakers from Organise! and the Workers Solidarity Movement.
Social: Saturday 1st September, The Pool Room, Lavery’s Bar.
Bands to be confirmed
More info: http://belfastanarchistbookfair.blogspot.com/
Phone 07928479308