Dear friends, comrades, armchair anarchists, committed revolutionaries and book lovers,
In the last twenty years or so, anarchist bookfairs have appeared all around the world, bringing together diverse groups of anarchists, activists, artists and other humans who desire a free and just world.
At the same time, we're at an exciting moment in history: not only have long-term dictatorships been overthrown by grassroots movements in North Africa (many of which organised along anarchist lines) but we're also seeing a new decentralised occupation movement that started in Wall Street, New York and is now spreading across the world. People are taking to the streets and, if not directly calling for anarchism, are organising with anarchist principles such as horizontalism, decentralisation, and consensus-based decision-making.
It is in this spirit that we announce the first ever South African Anarchist Bookfair, happening on the 5th of November* at Café Ganesh (Trill Road at Lower Main) in Observatory, Cape Town.
Come join us to learn more about this exciting philosophy and its proud history of resistance! You can swing by any time between 10am and 6pm to check out a wide range of radical literature, music, movies, talks and more. You'll also have the chance to meet like-minded people, engage in discussions (and, inevitably, all sorts of debates), have a drink or two, and help to foment dissent.
You might even spot some real live anarchists!
Come by bike, boat, bus, blimp, car, train or hot-air balloon (if you're a Leninist), on foot, rollerskates, horseback, dog-back, airplane, parachute or magic-carpet - we don't care how, but you better get there!
No land! No house! No vote!
The Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers
In 2007, in South Africa, hundreds of families living in shacks in the township of Delft in Cape Town were moved into houses they had been promised at the end of apartheid. But soon they were told that the move had been illegal and they were kicked out of their new homes. They built shacks next to the road opposite the housing project and organized themselves into the Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign, refusing to move into a crime-ridden ‘Temporary Relocation Area’ called Blikkiesdorp and vowing to stay on the road until the government gave them permanent housing.
Anarchism...WTF?
An introduction to anarchism by Steffi and Aragorn
If you're wondering what on earth this anarchy thing is all about, this talk is for you. Steffi and Aragorn, the producers of the upcoming film 'Anarchism: a documentary', will explain the ins and outs of this radical political and philosophical tradition, reflecting on its ideas, history and hopes for the future.
Jake
Queering anarchism
Murdering the Queer dream: a incomplete personal critique on the liberal gay agenda in politics, in relationships, in death.
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front
Anarchism and the Road Towards a Revolutionary Working Class Counter-Power
What are the important things in your life?
Who makes the decisions about these things, and how are those decisions made?
Generations of South Africans have lived and died trying to answer these questions.
Today we are told to leave such things to the experts - those with the right "skills".
There are some who believe freedom means more than this. If you are one of those,
You may be an anarchist.
Anarchists think YOU should choose when it comes to decisions that affect you.
You are not alone. Yippee! Come join the Party!