Workshops Announced for Montreal Anarchist Bookfair, May 27-28

The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
May 27 and 28, 2023 | 10 am to 5 pm
https://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/

The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair – takes place in two buildings which are across from each other: the Georges-Vanier Cultural Centre (CCGV) (2450, rue Workman), and the CÉDA (2515, rue Delisle), an adult education and community centre. Both are just a few minutes from Lionel-Groulx métro in Little Burgundy.

In the two bookfair auditoriums, at both CCGV & CÉDA, there are over 100 booksellers, zinesters, distributors, and groups from all over Montreal, Quebec, North America and beyond, sharing their publications and materials, most of which are hard or impossible to find at mainstream book stores. Many materials are available for free, and much is published specifically to be available at the Bookfair.

Free childcare and kids’ activities are available at the bookfair in the Kidzone. Children and their caregivers are welcome and encouraged to attend the bookfair!

The chill space was created out of the recognition that the bookfair can be really overwhelming and intense for a variety of reasons, and that folx might need a place to be apart from the main bookfair without feeling like they have to leave altogether.

Workshops and presentations are held throughout the weekend, in English, French, and Spanish. Some are intended as introductions to anarchism for those who are new to anarchy, while others explore an anarchist-themed subject in some depth.

The Bookfair collective actively strives to create an accessible and safe(r) event.

The bookfair site is adjacent to a large park and sports field, and when the weather is nice (May in Montreal is usually quite beautiful), a large part of the bookfair can be about kicking around a soccer ball or hanging out with friends, and soon-to-be friends.

The entire bookfair is free, and open to all; however, your donations are appreciated so that we can meet our expenses.

Essentially, the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair is for people curious about anarchism and wanting to learn more.

Workshops 2023

SATURDAY, MAY 27 | 11 am to 12:45 pm

Inside Illinois Civil Commitment: Learn and Explore the Archive (CÉDA, room 123, Eng.)

Attendees will learn about the shadowy carceral practice called “civil commitment,” a unique form of detention that confines people who have been convicted of sex offenses in 20 US states to secretive “treatment” facilities, often for life. Attendees will engage in a hands-on exploration of the Inside Illinois Civil Commitment Archive, featuring handwritten materials from people detained at Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility, describing their experiences in their own words.

The Inside Illinois Civil Commitment Project is led by a handful of researcher-activists based in so-called Chicago, Illinois. We are feminists, abolitionists, and survivors who believe that the state cannot adequately address harm and fight for a world where transformative justice flourishes.

Anarchism 101 with Q&A (CÉDA, room 125, Eng.)

If you’re new to anarchism or simply curious as to what it’s all about, join us for this basic informal introduction. After a brief overview, we’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about anarchism, and offer book recommendations and other useful resources. We will make time for conversation, so bring your questions!

Christine Renaud is an anarchist living on Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat land in Prince Edward County, Ontario. When she’s not hiking, she’s reading, making art, and writing. A longtime community organizer, especially involved in mutual aid projects, she runs Diggers info shop and is a passionate believer that a better world is possible.

Life, the Universe, and Anarchy (outside, Eng.)

We have installed across the width of the park around the bookfair a physical timeline marking the approximate origin times of the universe, galaxy, solar system, and life as we know it. This event will consist of a presentation and discussion along this timeline, oriented this year around questions of the origins of life on and off our planet, the plausibility of a broader cosmic ecology beyond our biosphere, and the political implications for anarchists of contact with extraterrestrial life.

Cleeyv is an anti-colonial anarchist settler from Montreal who works on free software for money, and reads science fiction for fun.

J’ACCUZE (CCGV, room 1.100, Fr.)

For 12 years, the Dreyfus affair tore France apart. In this immense 19th century scandal, state conspiracy, miscarriages of justice and anti-Semitism collided. This great media and political circus was a total farce… The KRIZO THEATER offers a humorous (and masked!) version of this sensitive affair. A respectful yet quirky approach to an important story, with a touch of lightness and humour. With Aimée Leballeur and Christophe Thebault.

3rd PRIZE in the Arts and Letters of France 2021 competition. Supported by the DILCRAH (inter-ministerial delegation for the fight against racism and anti-Semitism) “Who would dare to present the Dreyfus affair with humor? Krizo Théatre did it!” – Philippe Oriol, director of the Dreyfus museum “A great success for the defense of human rights” – Georges Joumas, historian “Your show is funny and it feels good” – Martine Leblond Zola, great-granddaughter of Emile Zola

SATURDAY, MAY 27 | 1 to 2:45 pm

Hand-to-Hand Combat for Collective Anarchist Struggle: Contextual Discussion and Practical Workshop (CÉDA, room 123, Eng.)

Join anarchists spanning all over so-called North America (Canada, U.S., Mexico) for a discussion about martial arts training. We will dicuss our martial arts backgrounds, our motivations for training, how we view martial arts training as part of an anarchist projectuality, and how our respective trainings/training spaces are structured. After the discussion, we will hold an all levels Muay Thai training session for those interested.The secret is to really begin (training)!

The panel is comprised of anarchists from so-called Montreal, Philadelphia, and Mexico City who all participate in organizing spaces that are focused on developing hand-to-hand combat skills within their communities with an eye towards collective and individual self-defense.

Mastodon and Federated Social Media for Anarchists (CÉDA, room 125, Fr. and Eng.)

We all love to hate corporate social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, but many of us see them as a necessary evil for organizing events, spreading ideas, and socializing. But well-functioning, open-source alternatives already exist and are part of a flourishing online infrastructure that is much more in line with many anarchists’ ideas and interests, including privacy, decentralization, and autonomy. If you’re curious or confused about the fediverse (or not yet convinced) join us

Kolektiva is an effort to develop digital communication infrastructure for anarchist and anti-colonial movements. More at kolektiva.infoThe authors of the Fedizine are some Montreal anarchists who are interested in helping other anarchists learn about and navigate the fediverse.

Mutual Aid as a Defense against Ecofascism (outside, Fr.)

We will discuss the anarchist tradition of mutual aid, and its usefulness in the context of the climate crisis where many states are turning to authoritarian and individualizing measures. Mutual aid is useful to us insofar as it offers an autonomous and collective alternative to state measures, while building the infrastructure necessary for our collective survival in a post-capitalist world in the here and now.

We are two white anarchist and queer activists organizing mainly in Tio’tia:ke.

The Crypto-Utopian Occult Revival and Anti/Fascism (CCGV, room 1.100, Eng.)

“Occult Features of Anarchism” (2019) explored how New Age spirituality may be articulated with fascism if not anti-capitalism. Because of the rise of right populism and conspiracy theory during the pandemic, I was invited to launch the book around Europe and have returned with an update on just how fucked we really are. In the current technophiliac occult revival, social justice will be optimized by hacking the world with blockchain and psychedelics, and technofascism grows.

Erica Lagalisse is an anthropologist, heteronymic writer, and author of “Occult Features of Anarchism – With Attention to the Conspiracy of Kings and the Conspiracy of the Peoples” (2019).

SATURDAY, MAY 27 | 3 to 4:45 pm

Feminist Self-Defense Workshop (CÉDA, room 123, Fr.)

This workshop will introduce physical, verbal and emotional techniques to deal with patriarchal violence of all kinds. We will talk about knowing our limits, the most effective strategies for defending ourselves and others, and ways to stay connected to our communities when we experience violence of this kind. This space will allow us to share survival strategies and to learn from each other’s experience.

The Feminist Self-Defense Network (RAF in French) is an autonomous collective in Montreal that disseminates knowledge and shares experiences related to defending against patriarchal violence. RAF regularly offers 12-hour trainings and organizes various workshops without cis-men.

Black Flag, Black Life (CÉDA, room 125, Fr. and Eng.)

What is Black anarchism? Why “Black,” instead of just anarchism? Is this about identity–as in, being an anarchist who happens to be Black? And / or is there something more to consider about Black life, Black radical thought, and anarchist politics and ways of being? This participatory session responds to these questions with a brief presentation about Black anarchism, and an invitation for conversation among folx interested in strengthening our collective capacities for radical coalition building.

r. is an activist and educator for whom montréal will always be home. Emmanuel est un artiste-éducateur qui vit à Toronto. Il est né au Rwanda et élevé un peu partout.

Grief Ceremony (outside at the Grief and Remembrance Space, Fr. and Eng.)

Parneet Chohan will guide a two-hour grief ceremony to support folx in exploring their own authentic expression of grief and mourning. This space will invite authentic movement, sounds, song, facial and emotional expression as well as a place to release and surrender that which is no longer needed. All emotions and somatic experiences are welcome. All practices are optional and invitational. Please note incense, essential oils and drumming may be used in this ceremony for grounding and anchoring purposes. Please arrive on time.

Parneet Chohan: counsellor, Somatic Experiencing® practitioner and naturotherapist. Storyteller, poet, existentialist, and liminal space walker. Emma: white, Franco, and queer anarchist active in Tio’tia:ke.

Ritual as Resistance (CCGV, room 1.100, Eng.)

Jewish anarchism is being remade in feminist/queer/trans practices, building bridges from grief to rebellion and joy, and drawing from millennia of diasporic rituals and communities (without states). Scott Branson and Cindy Barukh Milstein will look at Jewish anarchism as a weapon against colonialism, capitalism, fascism, and ecocide, and how to use it to form communal solidarities that sustain and mend us in cultivating forms of liberation that help us live “the world to come” here and now.

Scott Branson is a writer, organizer, artist, author of Practical Anarchism: A Daily Guide, editor of Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies, and Final Straw Radio cohost. Cindy Barukh Milstein, long an engaged anarchist, is author/editor of books like Try Anarchism for Life, Rebellious Mourning, and Nothing So Whole as a Broken Heart.

SUNDAY, MAY 28 | 11 am to 12:45 pm

How to Not Snitch at the Border! Best Practices for Traveling Internationally (CÉDA, room 123, Eng.)

Security culture in anarchist circles is clear on the point of not cooperating with the police to give them information about our friends. By entering border checkpoints, we are volunteering ourselves to be searched and questioned. What can we do and say so that we don’t accidentally snitch at the border? We will outline what to expect at the border, what risks we face there, and offer practical tips for ways that we can change our behaviours to give them as little information as possible.

Authentic Relating Games (CÉDA, room 125, Eng.)

Come practice and play authentic connection games with fellow anarchist comrades – these practices support us in being more embodied, present, and regulated with and for one another – we will practice relationship building skills including emotional expression, curiosity, non-judgement, active listening, and mirroring. These relational qualities are vital in building sustainable relationships and communities.

Parneet is a counsellor, somatic experiencing® practitioner and naturotherapist inspired by the resilience and healing abilities of the human heart and body. Their work is focused on the inherent liberation and wholeness of all beings including themself. Parneet is mindfulness and meditation coach as well as an authentic relating facilitator.
A Talk with the Veterans from It Did Happen Here: An Antifascist People’s History (CCGV, room 1.100, live virtual, Eng.)

Mic Crenshaw, Jonathan Mozzochi, and Jon Bair will discuss their histories in grassroots efforts to drive racist skinheads and white nationalists out of Minneapolis and the Pacific Northwest during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and connect their experiences to antifascist organizing today.

Crenshaw, Bair, and Mozzochi are antiracist grassroots activists working across cultural mediums. All three are featured in the 2020 oral history podcast and now book It Did Happen Here: an Antifascist People’s History, sharing their experiences as young people fighting racism on the streets and behind enemy lines.

SUNDAY, MAY 28 | 1 to 2 pm

KidzKlez: A Klezmer Music, Dance, and Puppet Show (Kidzone, (CÉDA, room 115)

Kids! Come join us for some easy, musician-led dancing set to klezmer tunes. Puppets will be dancing amongst you!

Yenne Velt Yiddish String Ensemble and Burial Society plays the klezmer music of Jewish Eastern Europe, featuring violins and tsimbl (hammered dulcimer). Our music comes from another world that no longer exists, but continues to haunt us, echoing through our bones, through the streets of Montreal, and through worlds we’ve only begun to imagine.

SUNDAY, MAY 28 | 1 to 2:45 pm

Radicalizing Environmental Discourse and Practice: The COP15 Experience and Future Implications (CÉDA, room 123, Fr.)

Our presentation aims to share the work of mobilization, and popular education done during the COP15 in Montreal, and then expected results. We will then discuss what happened in this struggle.

The presentation is made by members of the Anti-Capitalist and Environmentalist Coalition. The coalition organized 4 demonstrations in the framework of COP15 as well as a student strike for which student associations representing 23,000 members voted in favor.

Judaism, Anarchy, and Liberation (CÉDA, room 125, Eng.)

Anarchy is about liberation from the dynamics of power. Judaism is about liberation from Egypt, which the Jews escaped in the night of “pesach”, that in Hebrew means “the mouth (pe) discusses (sach)”, as the time of the oppression was also a time of silenced mouths and hardened hearts, of monologues and not of dialogues. In this workshop we will encounter ancient Hebrew texts on freedom and will struggle with them. Can they teach us something? Can the way to liberation be in the way we talk?

Haim Ben-Abraham has been teaching midrash, the art of Jewish interpretation, in various contexts for many years. He is the author of the forthcoming book “The way of the bees. Reading, writing, midrash” in Italian.

Calling All Anarchist Writers of Fiction: Meet the Anarchist Writers Bloc (AWB) (outside)

An open meeting for all anarchist fiction writers, or those interested in the genre. Meet the Montreal-based Anarchist Writers Bloc / Le Bloc des Auteur-e-s Anarchistes, learn about their work, and talk about your own. An opportunity to meet other like-minded writers and maybe get involved in a publishing project.

The AWB is a group of anarchist fiction writers based in Montreal with contributing members from around the world. Since 2010 we have published three anthologies of anarchist fiction: SUBVERSIONS Vol 1, 2 and 3.

Grief Circle (outside at the Grief and Remembrance Space, Fr. and Eng.)

Due to deadly structures like colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy, among others, communal traditions of “mourning our dead” have largely been killed off. Yet as human cultures have wisely understood for millennia, when we share the fullness of our lives, our sorrows and joys, we lessen the power of the forces that destroy us, while cultivating forms of collective care and social solidarity that alleviate unnecessary suffering and accentuate the inherent worth of life. Cindy Barukh Milstein and Marie will offer a brief ritual and framing thoughts, but mostly hold space for sharing, hearing, and honoring your stories of loss with care and compassion, in all of their messy-vulnerable beauty. You are not alone.

Cindy Barukh Milstein: diasporic, genderqueer, Jewish anarchist organizer, writer, and do-it-ourselves space maker who’s always honored to do grief care. Marie: queer, open-minded, believes in building our vision of the worlds outside capitalism.

Black Metal Rainbows (CCGV, room 1.100, Eng.)

Black Metal Rainbows is a panel discussion featuring presentations from the people behind the book Black Metal Rainbows (PM Press, 2023): a 400-page, full-color anthology of radical, queer, and leftist writings and artworks that explore black metal as a genre of openness and inclusivity—and the Black Metal Rainbows benefit compilation album on Bandcamp, raising money for organizations that help LGBTQ youth.

Wes Cunningham Closs is a Montreal-based multi-media artist Daniel Lukes is a Montreal-based writer and editor Stanimir Panayotov teaches philosophy at the University of Tyumen, Russia Jaci Raia is a Vermont-based creative director interested in design, typography, metal Frederic-Vivianne is a Quebec-based artist involved in DIY and zine scenes.

SUNDAY, MAY 28 | 3 to 4:45 pm

Radical History and Movement Strategy (CÉDA, room 123, Eng.)

Radical history nerds, let’s talk. How can we make our history projects more useful for building strong movements? This will be a facilitated conversation amongst those engaged in archival, oral history and other radical history projects. The goal is to learn more about each others work and to strategize about the ways this work can fertilize movements.

Lesley Wood is involved in a number of radical and anarchist history efforts, including the Peoples Global Action Oral History project. She is an activist/scholar based in Toronto/Tkaronto.

Apartment and Street Organizing 101 (CÉDA, room 125, Eng.)

A discussion on how to start up a tenant council in your building or on your street. We’ll go through the kind of direct actions that tenants have available to them to make wins (such as marches on their landlords’ offices, banner drops, and rent strikes). We go through the history of rent strikes and the place of tenant syndicalism in revolution.

Presented by members of the Montreal Autonomous Tenants’ Union (SLAM). We’ve been tenant organizing since the union was founded in November 2021. Union efforts have led to tenants getting thousands of dollars back from their landlords, and halts to encampments and tenant evictions.

Anarchism and Queer Revolutionary Perspectives (outside)))

We want to facilitate a discussion about the connections between queer and anarchist movements, how they feed and inform each other, what brings them together and what differentiate them. What can we learn from anarchism as queer people and what should anarchism learn from queer perspectives.

We are four francophone anarchist and queer activists organizing mainly in Tio’tia:ke.

Presentation of the Book The Mohawk Warrior Society CCGV, room 1.100, Fr. and Eng.)

Published last October, The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival, tells the origin of the Kanien’kehà:ka warrior society and its infamous exploits, focusing on the central figure of Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall, designer of the flag of unity and experienced writer.

Kanien’kehà:ka Karakwine activist and anthropologist Philippe Blouin, principal coordinator of the book, will be present to share their experience of collaborative work on this book, and share recent developments in the litigation between Mohawk mothers and McGill University. Other guests are to be confirmed. Présentation du livre La Mohawk Warrior Society

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY | 10 am to 5 pm

DIRA Archives Poster Exhibition

A selection of anarchist posters from the DIRA archives will be on display throughout the bookfair.

Grief Space (outside)

Held by Cindy Barukh Milstein, Parneet Chohan, Emma, and Marie The grief space offers facilitated and unfacilitated time to mourn and honor our dead and all other losses. All emotions are welcome, as is everyone’s presence and participation. There will be altars and remembrance areas that you can add to, along with herbal tea, zines, and other comforts. Please bring photos, memorabilia, and any objects you wish to share during the bookfair in the grief space, which will be held outside CÉDA between two trees by the playground both days.

The World of Painting (outside in Vinet Park)

We invite everyone to use their creativity to help make a collective mural throughout the weekend!

A single parent family of artists: Marie, the mom, and her young artists Chloe (9) and Margot (7).

Tables 2023

OUTSIDE

Beehive Design Collective
Dick’s Lending Library
Great Worm Express Distro
La Sociale
Le syndicat de locataires autonomes de Montréal (SLAM)
Liberté Ouvrière
L’Insoumise
Make Total Distro
Norman Nawrocki
Seed & Spark Book Co-op
Viscera Print Goods & Ephemera

CCGV

Akira Auger Art
Between the Lines
Contagion Press
ck nosun
DIRA, La bibliothèque
éditions du remue-ménage
Éditions Hannenorak
F-91w Club
J’ACCUZE !
Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative
L’Euguélionne, librairie féministe
Les Pages Noires
Librairie Racines
Mayakov+sky Platform / Marusya Press
Montréal Antifasciste
The New Press
Noeuds Éditions
Patimooon
PenDraco Comics
PM Press
Prisoner Correspondence Project
Rights Not Rescue
Solidarité sans frontières
subMedia
The Lucy Parsons Center
The New Press
Québec Antifasciste / La Brasse-Ville
Pluto Books
PM Press
Prisoner Correspondence Project
Upping the Anti: a journal of theory and action
zola

CÉDA

1CULTE
Ad AstraComix
AK Press
Austin Anarchist Black Cross
BeadsAgainstFascism
Bloodfruit Library
Blue Heron Books & Zines
Bread and Puppet Press
Briarpatch Magazine
Bum Lung
Claptrap
Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policière (COBP)
Colibri Communications
Collectif Anarchiste Emma Goldman
Comité Autonome du travail du sexe (CATS)
Common Notions Press
Convergence des Luttes Anticapitalistes (CLAC)
Dizziness of Freedom
Éditions Écosociété
Fêlure
Haymarket Books
Kersplebedeb
La Guillotiné
Les Éditions Femlu
Les Insoumises
Linograbuge
‘Look Mum!’ Zine distro
The Lucy Parsons Center
Lux éditeur
Metonymy Press
Moult Éditions
NADA éditions
Pluto Books
Pumpkin Patch
Québec Antifasciste / La Brasse-Ville
rue dorion
Sabordage
Science for the People
sidetracks collective
Spartacus Books
Stella, l’amie de Maimie
Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness
Su J Sokol
Ungrateful Hyenas Editions

There are 70 Comments

That's about the best, well-condensed conclave of liberals, petty bourgie academics from top universities and other anarfakes doing their annual public appearance since last year's conclave of liberals, petty bourgie academics from top universities and other anarfakes doing their annual public appearance. But I think it's on-par with every other yearly edition of this bookfair that always happened at the same hyperlegalist communitarian setting for like 25 years (sheesh... the years are passing so fast!)... saved these two infamous years of the Covid God when these anachronists really bowed down a lot to our biopower masters!

In other words, History is over and let's repeat early-20th centuty LARPing like fucking Xmas every year 'til shots are being fired, maybe.

I think this year the spicy detail would actually arise from the question of are they gonna Chomsky or not Chomsky, and wait for the feelgood FIRE CIDER REVOLUTION liberals with permanent Alabama grin to just evade the whole issue as if Epstein never happened. Anyways don't worry I won't be burning money on absurdly expensive gas to see this pointless shitshow.

anarchists should avoid this event. not only does it look boring as fuck, take a look at their website and all of the bullshit there, for instance, their statement about dreadlocks and mohawks: "We’re not interested in policing people’s bodies, nor is it logistically feasible—or desirable—for us to monitor every person who attends the bookfair. As the collective is responsible for choosing the bookfair’s content, however, this year we’re trying to be more thoughtful in terms of who presents and tables. To the best of our capacity, we will not be accepting applications from people wanting to present or table if we know them to be making culturally appropriative choices in how they dress or behave."

fuck them and the woke wave they rode in on....

You know who else has gone full anti-woke?
The RCP. Just sayin'.

Based RCP!

Based and Mao-pilled!

Really? This doesn't give you pause? Damn, son, y'all clinging to the great white way with both hands.

Everybody knows that Maoists were the OG wokies. For all I know, the anon behind the "RCP is anti-woke dontcha know?!" is literally Chairman Bob just trying to sell his red cult.

No, for real, there were flyers all over about an "anti-woke" lollapalooza at the rcp bookstore here in town. Believe it or not.

But more to the point, why has anti-woke become a rallying cry for anarchists? I'm not talking about how @ should be woke, but anti-woke is a right-wing dog whistle for being anti-black. Why do a lot of anarchists suddenly want to be anti-black?

People are just sick of the lefts pathological obsession with race. Everything is "muh white supremacy" to them. It's become totally unhinged from reality. If @s are talking about it, it's because of how deeply left progressivism has penetrated into anarchist culture, such that there isn't very much meaningful distinction to be made anymore between liberals and "anarchists". I won't belabor the point, as the Contemptuous has already gone into this in much better detail than I. But I'll leave you with this: Take this recent incident with Jordan Neely, for example. Jordan Neely was a fucking maniac, but some people are trying to make him into the next George Floyd. If you were to raceswap the characters and say that that story was about a crazy and threatening white homeless dude on the NY train who got choked out by a black dude, nobody would even be talking about it. Same deal with the "city bike karen" story.

It's all so tiresome, anon.

Don't know what to say to this. If it isn't obvious that this whole world is constructed from anti-blackness I just don't know what to say.

Pro tip: You're in conversation with one of the (many) reactionary anews trolls. Don't take what they say as having anything to do with what anarchists think.

literally the WHOLE WORLD? My guy... "blackness" is not the center of the universe around which the whole world revolves. Life is so much bigger and more complicated than this grand narrative you play out in your head.

Step outside your narrow little lefty echo-chamber.

Throw your phone in a lake.

Go outside and touch some grass, anon. I'm worried about you...

the whole world, yes.

son, the whole world does not mean the planet.

but other anon is correct, you are a reactionary troll who doesn't understand history.

I'm assuming your entire spiel on how the *whole world* revolves around alleged anti blackness is rooted in the history of the trans-atlantic slave trade?

You understand that slavery was practiced by people all around the world for thousands of years, right? By Asians, Africans, Arabs, various indigenous tribes, etc? You understand that slavery was not unique to Europeans, right? That not even all Europeans practiced slavery, that some did it to each other, etc? Are you aware that the world "slave" can be traced etymologically to the word, "Slav"... because historically, so many Slavs were sold into slavery? You understand that the Europeans who purchased African slaves bought those slaves from... other Africans, who practiced slavery themselves? You are aware that slavery persisted around the world, long after the end of the African slave trade in America, up to and including the construction of the stadium in which the FIFA world cup was hosted last year out in Qatar?

I think the one who doesn't understand history is you. Again... go throw your phone in a lake, anon. Log off Twitter for like 10 minutes and take a deep breath.

You seem to have access to some knowledge but lack the knowing of the implications of that knowledge. Which is to say you can lead a person to data but you can't make them think. Which is to say not everything that can be called slavery is slavery in the same way. By which I mean I am not talking about all of what has ever taken place, I am talking about what pertains now. The aftermath and ongoingness of the infinite brutality of the mode of thinking that makes this world possible, and how do we destroy that mode of thinking without destroying each other. iykyk

This comment was brought to you by... Supervague! The great bringer of all shallow wordings and evasive phrasings!

(also maybe a bot, I dunno)

I dunno what you're ranting about... The flashpoint issue in ID pols these days is Trans. This is all over social media.

White supremacy is still being talked about because IT IS STILL A FUCKING REAL ISSUE, that is affecting people in real life, and this is true especially to several areas of the US (Florida, AHEM) and Europe, which is a much bigger White supremacy than the US.

That's a totally out of date narrative at this point. Get your head out of the 1960s. Typing in all caps and screaming at your computer monitor isn't going to make it any more true. Listen: if this were still truly a white supremacist country, amazon.ca would be full of books criticizing jews. Instead, it's full of books, written by jews, criticizing whites. And as far as colonization is concerned; while it's true that natives got the shaft, the fruits of colonization are being reaped by literally everyone who comes here; profits from industrial infrastructure, and lives a comfortable life. That includes people from China, India and Brazil who work in tech, who are extremely well paid, who often come up here on work visas to contribute to the technological system and eventually get residency, profiting off colonization no less than the average Leafcuck.

It's just not that black and white anymore (...the pun was unintentional, I swear)

steven pinker!? wtf are you doing here? aren't you late to apologize for genocide to some boomers somewhere?

None.

We are living in a post-racist society, deal with it and move on real problems. There has not been any concrete society wide white supremacy in operation since the late 60s. None of the panethnic power differentials that do exist is proof of any continuing WS or systemic racism. There are in fact much more logical explanations that are not racist at all(hint the catabolic decline of Fordist wealth and the disproportionate affect of that decline on non-euro panethnicities).

what you're calling white supremacy is probably not what other people are calling white supremacy, and there are multiple things going on, and different ways that it goes on, in different areas. not defining your terms more is just about wanting to rile people up (or at least not caring if most people reading your comment know what you're talking about).

otoh, saying society is post-racist is straight up bullshit. the fact that some people politick around being people of color doesn't mean that racism doesn't exist, it just means that people have always found ways to try to survive, which is entirely reasonable even if the ways are fucked up.

if you have to say something that goes against most people's understanding, using jargon that many people don't recognize as jargon, cna you a least take the time to flesh out your ideas. otherwise, why waste your own time?

It is the counter-cultural language of our day after all and I don't want it to be entirely taken up by authoritarians. I don't think I'm the one that's being jargonical or particular with the concept of WS. If anything I'm using a more intuitive definition that many fly over human becumbents can understand. Most see societal racism as something that came to and end in the mid-late 60s. I agree with this reading of history but this does not mean that there hasn't been fallout problems that represent new problems to take on(lost fordist wealth for example that perhaps warrants some type of back pay).

Europe is literally a White supremacy. The fact that they're taking migrants doesn't mean they aren't. It is bluntly just White people being jn charge of society in most Euro countries, except maybe for Britain and Sweden.

The current regime in Florida is also blatantly racist and retrograde, so are several areas of the Midwest and Deep South.

It is not even remotely WS not withstanding certain Eastern European and adjacent areas as well as a certain type of armpit asshole football hooligan/ultra.

At the level of state and policy that is simply not the case. As for Florida, do you have any idea how popular PisSantis is with Afro folk?

"It is bluntly just White people being jn charge of society in most Euro countries".

That's absurd. Why wouldn't they be in charge when those are their own native countries? Would you keep that same energy for other, non-white countries as well?

Following your logic, would Lebanon be "Arab supremacy" ...because Arabs are the majority culture and are in charge of society over there?

The absolute state of woke anarchism rn...

"their own native countries"

Hello Thecollective! I heard some racist filth just showed up here again, could be related.

(European countries were also the "native countries" of non-White people for many centuries, like Roma, Arabic, Turkic and even Black Afros. There's literally late Medieval paintings and writings testifying this, and half of Western Europe was Arabic-leaning for quite a while. And as far as these countries have invaded non-White regions of the world, they also count as "part of them")

Tell me more about the alleged indigenous afro-scandinavians...

"we wuz vikangs!"

give me a fucking break.

Romani and Arabs, at least, are *native* to Europe. And I think you forgot there's a major country in eastern Europe that's called directly after the former ethnic group.

Racist bigots having a field day on this site? Must be summer vacations for the mods.

Of course, Romanis and Turks live there... Okay, so you got Turkey and Romania... What about the other 42 countries in Europe you fucking moron?

Where do you think white Europeans come from? Did they arrive from another planet? Did they materialize from the ether? Or, maybe you think they were spawned by the devil or something!

The fact you accuse me of "racism" for stating that white people come from Europe/Eurasia broadly speaking, is ridiculous and points to the absolute intellectual poverty of woke liberal anarchy.

Touch grass.

also have had non-White people living there for centuries, since as far back as Medieval times if not more. That is about as old as most Great White Euro famuhlies that, btw, weren't very fair-skinned several generations back, as early photography, proto-sociology writings and paintings suggest.

2- Piss-poor violent language consisting of high-school level of cheap insults doesn't make you sound any more right... but like a Far Right bigot? Yes, that's very effective.

3- Let's not forget to add "Fuck off back to 8kun", but beforehand make sure to get your daily dose of meth from your local Neonazi handler, dickwad.

"get your daily dose of meth from your local Neonazi handler"
Why the hell have you singled out meth as the drug of choice for neonazis. The Israelis have one of the highest per capita use of meth in the whole world!?

Hey brah, his Majesty King Charles has Anglo-Saxon/GermanAryan roots. You can tell just looking at his face!

The term Aryan and its association with Germans is the product of Gobineau and that whiny idiot Hitler. It literally is the more archaic term for "Iranian", and the only actual Indo-Aryans in Europe these days are the Roma as they are still speaking a language closer to their Indo-Aryan roots. OooooooOooooh the insult to your Master Race!

Want a Doritos now?

I WAS A GERMAN SUICIDE PILOT OF THE SONDERKOMMANDO ELBE SPECIAL UNIT WHO DITCHED HIS PLANE AFTER HEARING A SONG BY HANK WILLIAMS AND FELL IN LOVE WITH MUHRICAN COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC!!

Back in the days when they were still a thing, they had "their" agents tabling at the bookfair. I use quotation marks due to the fact that RCP = RCMP, but also the past tense is uncertain as they still might exist and have "their" agents preying upon impressionable anarcho-noobs at the bookfair.

In a sense, it’s really just a reflection of the inability of the rest of us to get our act together. I mean, the workshop submissions were open and theoretically anyone with any interesting proposal could have gotten a slot. I don’t think it’s so much gatekeeping as it is a poverty ideas/currents in the anarchist world these days. And maybe a lack of confidence in ourselves? At least there is still some diversity in the tablers.

First off, table proposals are approved by a committee, run by our well-known local activist(s) with Left-leaning '90s approach to anarchism.

Then the event was always held within the strict confines of legalism, set in the same communitarian nonprofit building it's been held for at least two decades. This means it's wide open for whoever police, fascist, anti-anarchist surveillance and profiling and recording in every sort of way imaginable.

Which makes the even limiting by itself, as per the effect of "'container shapes the contents".

Of course since the non-affiliate anarchists in/outta town can do their own public outreach events as alternative, but that there's been no such thing happening lately this means that yes, likely there's a lack of motivation and confidence, at least on the side of above-ground outreach.

But then again, the nonprofit legalist institutions got the advantage of being this legally-neutral and non-liable entities that serve as both a means of above-ground funding and as a way to separate participants from the infrastructure and organizing. At least that's my understanding of it.

Imo, the best way to go is like Aragorn! once said, that it's much, much better to have a steady, regular presence in people's lives through recursive projects and events instead of just one yearly big shopping event with "experts" telling us about what anarchism should be, but folding back to disappear totally or at best do some liberal/reformist-leaning activism that the NDP would totally get behind (and they often do)...

But like, sure, let's call for something else if you got the means and network for it?

You don't gain if you don't do anything new.

the evenT limiting by itself

I'm not going to sell my book -- Archery Hunting for the Chef's Table -- because the recurve bow and arrow was originally Chinese who were appropriated by the Mongols and was appropriated by the Persians who were appropriated by the Greeks who were appropriated by the Romans who were appropriated by the Goths who were appropriated by the Celts who were appropriated by Anglo-Saxons who were appropriated by Normans who were appropriated by the Muhrican who were appropriated by China, thus completing the cycle.

But you may wanna try the RCP's social center to sell your book as they'll see much worth in anything promoting Chinese history and culture, as per the CCP's limitless foreign financing programs... but wooops!

All I said was that this event seems boring, and that I wish anarchists were more fun. What about this statement warrants my comment being removed? Should I explain myself more? It seems like all the “workshops” at this event are actually more like lectures, where you sit and listen to one person talk at you. It seems like school-style. I wish there was more interactive events, or learning hands-on skills. It’s a bit sad to me that a city that has a reputation for being an anarchist haven is so lacking in imagination.

Montreal and San Francisco are good examples of this in that while you good stuff within all that quantitivity you also get the bad stuff like backed Maoism and retarded milieu morality. What anarchists and anarchs who are bored need are new regions and cities that don't have these legacy problems. Some of these regions might even be otherwise conservative parts.

I see here you wanna express your conservative boner, SE.

As this is faintly nearing your occasional broken clock moment, I can concede you're partly right in here, but the prevailing cause of toxic libleft milieus dominating over an event like this (both in SF, Mtl and any other hipstertown) has more to do with the underlying socio-economists than with Maos and ID pols moralism... as these are also the frequent shapes taken by neolib middle-class college Leftists... who'll the end up taking part in gentrifying cultures and socio-economic gatekeeping.

So to say... as some of the readers might know... the organizers and regular lecturers of this bookfair got pretty nice apartments on Mtl's Plateau neighborhood, and definitely not in its slightly poorest (eastern) area, and have been enjoying pretty decent managerial jobs in the nonprofit or academic sectors of the state's nomenklature. But I haven't yet started speaking of the "artist" upper caste! ;)

*sigh* soft keyboard typo: "socio-economists" => "socio-economics"

Maybe its both…. maybe college towns where the scenes are mostly college-educated people tend to have more activities/events that feel like academic settings. Lectures, etc. Because college-educated folks are comfortable in those settings. And maybe also these scenes liberal cities tend to have some maoist and postmodern influences. And maybe these two factors are related… who knows

As a HARDCORE MARXIAN DETERMINIST (and anarcho-stalinist sociogeographer, but shht!)... I'd say that they're not only "both" but that one is affluent to the other, and that's what I meant, brow.

So a bit more seriously there ain't a direct economically-deterministic causality between socio-economics and shit elitist libleft milieus, just that, you know, one always seems to be coming with the other. Anyways I got a roleplay character sheet to fill-in and some gardening tasks to do, so no time to further develop on this for now... but haven't I already in that text I put on the library?

Since this has devolved into whatever it has devolved into… I’m going to talk about what I was trying to get at with my comment. Do anarchists today find the world of anarchy exciting? Does it challenge us to think critically and find creative ways to fight and/or evade domination? I fear this is something that we’ve lost. Maybe we never had it. I don’t know, I’m fairly young. But I am sensing this sort of lack of inspiration and creativity in the anarchist world right now. It could just be a reflection of social life in general since the pandemic. Maybe it’s that the people doing things I might see as inspired and creative aren’t talking about them online or at bookfairs. I don’t know. I find my own life decently compelling these days, but I find the world of anarchy pretty gray, lackluster, and rigid. And I mourn it. Someone do something fun and interesting please so I can feel better about this.

Then leave it. Honestly, go do something else with your life. I think a lot of people cling to the legacy leftist-anarchist scene simply because it's all they know. And yet, all growth and adventure... all of genuine anarchy in life can only occur when we gain the courage to step outside of our comfort zone. There's no saving "the scene", and it's most likely hindering you more than it's helping you. I know you probably think that if you play the long game and build up trust with people that you'll be able to... something something... "live anarchy" or whatever, but that's not the case. Let me give you an analogy: the legacy lefty-anarcho milieu reminds me of the typical bad guy at the end of a samurai movie that just got sliced in half but doesn't know it yet until it takes 9 or 10 steps forward with it's top half sliding off it's bottom half. In other words, the scene is dead already, it just doesn't really know it yet. As you've observed, it's spirit got killed in 2021 and now it's just waiting for the mental and physical to catch up. The sad truth is that the vast majority of people in the scene are simply liberal-posers doing their time (like 4-5 years max. i.e: the time it takes to acquire an undergrad degree) as they wait to eventually inherit their own keys to the upper-middle class. There's no future in that crowd.

I don't know you, or your life, but my general advice to you would be:

Travel for a bit. And when you come back, try and settle down somewhere outside the major cities. Get back in touch with nature. Go hiking. Learn about trees, mountains, plants and animals. Talk to people IRL, and try to meet them where they're at with an open mind. Cultivate positive habits right now while you're still young, i.e: lifting weights, grappling, hiking, etc. Stay the fuck away from drugs/alcohol, petty crime and sketchy people who don't have your best interest or well-being at heart. Read books (not just non-stop "anarchist" propaganda. I mean like actual books that nourish your mind and make your life better. I recommend "the obstacle is the way" by Ryan Holiday). Start meditating and journaling everyday.

And finally, find your reason to live, find your purpose and get to work on it right now.

I really appreciate you engaging so thoughtfully with me. I think about this on my own from time to time, and talk with close friends about it here and there. But I think you’re right, it’s time to just let it go. That’s what I keep arriving at, and it’s helpful to have outside confirmation. There’s still a part of me that wants to see more imagination, creativity, and deep relationships that nurture our autonomy in the world, and I think that’s why I have a hard time letting go. It’s strange to mourn a scene that I don’t even want to be in. Like, I’m just mourning what I see as the potential for lived anarchy in individuals and groups.

Your advice is mostly stuff I already do. I think what’s missing for me is fully letting go. But yeah, I’m not in a scene and I like my life. I live in my car, I hike, forage herbs, have deep relationships. Nothing is missing. (Okay maybe lifting weights is missing.) Thank you for the reminder. I’ll also check out your book recommendation.

I diasgree with you about crime though, crime is good.

I love your samurai movie analogy. Thank you for that.

I would only add that the spirit killing slice that you speak of happened during the tale end of Occupy 10 years earlier in 2011. The decolonizing identitarian rhetoric that killed its promise is the zombie that corpses around the milieu today.

On the whole though stick a fork in the milieu. It’s over. Part of the problem with 2012 and after @ is that it was just never relevant in the digital countercultural spaces(the chans, gamerspace ect) It blew its load during the last 20 years of the 20th century with some after shots leading up to occupy. The millennial @s never truly did qualitatively replace the genXers who drove @ during the early 80s zine scene through to the early low speed internet of the late 90s and early 00s.

Sad.

The problem with contemporary anarchism is that it isnt relevant to gamers and people on the chans? I dont understand what being relevant in these spaces would do for it. Those feels like sites of alienation and a sort of empty edginess to me.

But I agree that Occupy was the beginning of the end.

I’m wary of engaging you further because I’m aware of your trollish nature. I’m gonna kill my computer, bye everyone.

Is that like 'em or not they represent the ground of becoming for anything countercultural and fascist and hierarchical discourse essentially got to much of this(mostly male) demo-psychographic first. The fact that edge lordism does not have a strong anti-authoritarian presence on places like 4chan is an indictment of @s ability to adjust for the first quarter century of century 21.

Juxtapose this to genX where @ was affecting youth and non-institutional discourse. What started with the zine scene ended up pipelining into other media ecologies such as comics and alternative rock. There is a clear and obvious asymmetry of relevance between Xers and Yers. It may simply come down to the fact that high speed internet and video game culture just were not a good fit for @ ideas as they were at that point. Part of this is obviously down to @ being recuperated and captured by the current leftist dominated institutions. These things will obviously have to change going forward.

Also, I'm way to autistic and sincere with my ideas to be a troll.

That's very open and honest of you SirE, and pay no heed to the real trolls who hide behind a veneer of rigjteousness, like politicians, who have no credibility to the real anarchs who frequent this site. I personally believe that autism adds variety and spice to the otherwise bland parade of the obedient horde ;)

'No the real anarch subjects are the hordes of untapped brahs on the chans and in games (the pkers, the resource campers, the botters). We anarchs should have Pizzagated their attention and awaken their counter-cultural egregores. But it's too late we ego anarchs missed the opportunity. Pay attention!' ~SirEinzige basically

Your even worse the a broken clock you tard stricked troll. Having a presence on the chans or other countercultural spaces does not mean you replicate right wing ideas you fucking retard:) Hypothetical @s on the chans would have a completely different set of values then the brown shirts and the tankies.

It's funny you mention Pizzagate, if you know ANYTHING about my views then you would know that I am on the complete other end of that whole conspiratarded nonsense. If you saw some of my recent tweets you would know that I consider what happened to Jeffery Epstein, for instance, to be histrionic folk demonization. One of the counterpoint messages could easily be 'Epstein did nothing wrong'(as opposed to Hitler) and that's more or less what some people(like Richard Stallman and myself) argue. All he did was give super rich males Jerry Seinfeld late 90s sexual arrangements with otherwise young adult females. You know I'm the guy who defends Hakim Bey and(more recently) Wolfie Landstreicher right?

Keep being the broken clock that's also wrong twice a day:)

Yup, every era (generation) has it's woke/puritan wave of self-righteous authoritarians, seems to happen every 30-40 yrs, like an oscillation dichotomous freedom/censure societal reflex. But yeah, totally agree with your analysis concerning Bey, Epstein etc.

We're unfortunately strapped in and have been for at least the last 10-12 years and it comes from both the right and the left in different ways. With the left it is puritanism towards a cartoonish conception of equality and justice(and these are already problematic concepts from an personalist egoist perspective) With the right it's terror management driven ole time religion combined with Western loyalism.

This is not a fun time to be a radical person. Worst period since the 30s easily and the type of things that anarchists should be doing to mitigate against these times they are not doing.

Yeah the left's angle isn't maliciously generated, more concerned with a Utopianist equity policy which attempts to homogenize the stratospheric highs and lows of human desire and values,,,very oppressive, I'd even say more so than the right's draconian approach.

No your

We get it, brah. You got no game so you gotta target tweens on the chans and in games to send you lewds. OooOooo how radical!

"Don't be an identitytard. BTW I am autistic BTW. And mixed BTW" ~SirEinzige basically

Ok so honest answer to honest question: I find anarchy as the only life there is, and yes, very exciting as it's always full of surprises and challenges. Systems of controls and co-option are the things that thwart interesting possibilities, as the usual party breakers.

If that wouldn't be an exciting approach to the world I wouldn't be into it! But there's also other values I'm into that don't contradict, like seeking balance, self-possession, autonomy, even a level of respect.

So then it's all up to what is your notion of "anarchy". If it's just about rioiting, then yea, it can be pretty exciting but that's just an happening like another. Lived anarchy in daily life is a somewhat different thing.

I cannot believe that thecollective deleted the will the bookfair check my circumcision because I'm not Jewish thread. It was quite possibly the funniest thing to have appeared on this website in YEARS. What has happened to you people?

No mazel.

there's a circumcision jokeposted on another thread. perhaps you got lost?

Fine!

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