Wherever workers are in struggle, fly the red and black

Wherever workers are in struggle, fly the red and black

From Derry Anarchist Collective

Belfast Radical Bookfair: Wherever workers are in struggle, fly the red and black


A special thanks to the Belfast Radical Bookfair collective for a fantastic event held in Artcetera studios earlier this month.

The Derry Anarchist Collective hosted a workshop discussion during the first Belfast Radical Bookfair in which participants dealt with the question of "What should anarchists do in times of crisis?"

The event, just like the Bookfair itself was well attended, with a number of representatives from different anarchist groupings from Bristol, Newcastle and Belfast as well as a number of non aligned activists who participated throughout. Some shedding light on anarchist activities since the outbreak of Covid-19 until today.

One member who chaired the event gave a breakdown on anarchist activities which took place in and around Derry from smaller mutual aid projects to solidarity with workers taking strike action.

Speakers from other locations spoke on work that anarchists from their own areas took part in. Like participating in demonstrations to prisoner solidarity as part of their general anarchist activities. A major part of anarchist activities centred around propaganda from creating publications to other visible actions such as creating posters and stickers.

A local participant said of the discussion that "The talk was good and worthwhile doing as the speaker tried to get those in attendance to engage with each other through discussion. For myself it was good that we heard from anarchists involved in workplace struggles, whether that was in business unions or through the IWW who are now pretty active here.

"The end of the discussion was summed up well when they looked at what we as anarchists should be doing. That was being active in your local anarchist groups, either here in Belfast or up in Derry or Dublin. The message was clear, we need to be more vocal and more visible as anarchists. Like creating visible black and red blocs wherever possible. Wherever workers are in struggle, the red and black should be visible and flying high. Even creating our own propaganda such as leaflets for attending pickets, protests or other events in which workers are organising or are in struggle.

"Anarchists should be active in their workplace, in the union or preferably in a radical horizontal one, such as the Industrial Workers of the World. Anarchists equally should be challenging their own isolation by reaching out to other anarchist groups and networking more. There is just not enough or this happening anymore. Everything seems to be on social media.

"Also other work that the anarchists in Derry are involved in over the years has been supporting prisoners through the creation of the Anarchist Black Cross. They have been supporting anarchist prisoners around Europe, Russia and Latin America over the years and well as other being really proactive in engagements with many different social justice issues and campaigns.

"One important point that was touched on briefly was the lack of a national anarchist organisation at this time. This needs to change. We have anarchists in most cities around the island and we need to network more together as well as help reach anarchists in other isolated areas.

"When we ask the question 'what should anarchists being doing' in days such as these, then this discussion assisted and answered many questions for me and other anarchists. We should be doing more events like this."



















There are 2 Comments

Add new comment