TOTW: Virtual Anarchy Live!

The past few months have seen Anarchist Book-fairs follow the rest of the world’s embrace of virtuality. It would seem that with the necessity of physical presence removed, more Anarchists could be attending these events than ever, but then where are the report-backs?

Because it was just this past weekend, and thus (one hopes) fresh in your minds, we want your stories from the New York City Virtual Anarchist Book-fair (although we will also begrudgingly accept report backs from other virtual book-fairs). What workshops did you attend? What did you get from them? What were some of the pros to virtual attendance? The cons? And, if you happened to attend more than one virtual book-fair (lucky you!) how do they compare? Is there a pandemic friendly meat-space alternative?

There are 8 Comments

this is fucking horrible that anarchists now start to enter virtuality and leave reality for all kind of idiots, and all because of a hoax called "pandemic" - haha. Fuck that shit! You anyway just waited for it, so that you finally can adapt to the VR

I don't think that this "virtual" format is good for "book fairs", since people can already go online and buy books anytime anywhere. I do, however, think that this format is great for international anarchist gatherings, since geography is not an issue when it's all online.

Perhaps it is now time for another "International Anarchist Congress", this time taking place entirely on the internet?

Well at least now it's clear that you can be recorded for anything you say/write. Of course the irl bookfairs were good honeypots, but this is the best honeypot ever.

If I'm reading the announcement of the upcoming Anarchist Bookfair in Madrid correctly, then there won't be anything virtual about it. This is what fairs and festivals are all about: actual, face-to-face human interaction, and the sharing of a common experience. While I certainly don't believe that the coronavirus is a "hoax", I do think the risk to most people has been vastly over-stated, and that lockdowns and other authoritarian measures are doing far more damage to people's lives than the virus itself. If so many Americans are willing to come out into the streets for Black Lives Matter protests, then why should anarchists forego the opportunity to meet their comrades and forge a real (not virtual) community of resistance?

Anything I got from the last Montreal "bookfair" was a day of podcasting and a screening. Not saying either are lame or pointless; they just aren't what a bookfair is and is about. Plus, did that make for a special experience compared to Twitch? Not sure. :-/

The crowd of Lefties and communitarians who're hardcore into the Covid measures are the biggest problem behind this. I suggested them for very viable and realistic alternative, to no avail. They wanna play safe in the face of authorities, avoiding alternatives in favor of the hyper-legalist and mainstream solutions.

So "anarchistic".

i don't mind anarchist book gatherings taking a year out, as long as they come back bigger and better than ever in 2021. this isn't the end of public gatherings. like you say, BLM and others haven't stopped just because the state said so.

but of course, if you are in one of those "vulnerable groups" ("the old", "the poor", "the unhealthy") and some "doctor" is yelling at the top of their lungs through a TV screen about how you could die, or how your friends could die, yeah that's super hyperbolic. We are all going to die, we are all vulnerable.

and of course, that goddamn bullshit about civic duty and morality...URRRGGHH. Makes me want to smash!

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