Once again we’ll be running talks over three rooms at the People’s History Museum.
Talks will run for approximately forty five minutes and start on the hour.
Any questions/ suggestions email: manchester@bookfair.org.uk
Coal Store Conference Room (First Floor)
11.00am: An introduction to Anarchism.
An invited panel featuring members of Anarchist Federation, Class War and Solidarity Federation.
Opportunities for questions and discussions.
12.00noon: Social Anarchism: an Introduction
An introduction into the history, currents and socialist dynamics of anarchism.
1.00pm: Anarchafeminist organising and multigender spaces
It’s long been a given of liberal feminist organising that feminist spaces should be women’s spaces. But do anarchafeminists share that assumption? This session will make the case for a broader range of genders, argue that trans inclusion is at the heart of anarchafeminist struggle, and discuss practical ways that we can organise multigender anarchafeminist spaces, with the aim of contributing to a “how-to” resource.
2.00pm: Heaven Knows I’m Syndicalist Now – An Introduction to the IWW
An introductory talk and presentation to the Industrial Workers of the World, a union for all workers, that seeks to overthrow the ruling class and abolish the wage system.
3.00pm: Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance
The exposure of undercover police officer Mark Kennedy shocked the country, but the slew of subsequent revelations have dwarfed the Kennedy case. Police not only had long term sexual relationships, they fathered children with women they targeted and abandoned them a short time later. In the fifty year history of Britain’s undercover political policing units, dozens of family justice campaigns were spied on and sabotaged, illegal employment blacklists were supplied with information of activists, dead children’s identites were stolen and huge numbers of wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice were orchestrated.
Merrick Badger was one of the activists who investigated and confronted Mark Kennedy. He now works with other affected groups and activists in the Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance. He’ll detail the history of this form of policing, of where the revelations and reaction are up to, and why it should encourage rather than paralyse activists. There’ll be plenty of time for questions and discussion.
Meeting Room (First Floor)
11.00am: 6 Wrong Critiques of Capital
A Plan C MCR discussion.
The workshop will explore six popular anti-capitalist myths about capitalism . By looking at these myths the workshop intends to question and analyse the tensions and contraditions between individual agency and systems of control. Some of the questions the workshop will be exploring are: Is capitalism driven by greedy people taking more than their share? Is capitalism inherently corrupt making theaves and swindlers out of politians, bussiness owners and managers? Have large corporations taken over the economy and become to big to fail? Can controling the banks and the financial system imporve our conditions and bring capitalism under control?, Is acting at a local and regional level an effective counter to international capitalism?, Is capitalism maintained by a conspiracy of the elites to maintain there power over us? Is it enough that good people standup and oppose explotation and opression? What effects are the alternatives we created having on capital?
12.00noon: A Right to Housing?
A talk about E15 Mothers and social reproduction as a site of struggle presented by Plan C MCR and London
1.00pm: It’s all just human nature, innit!?
The agonizingly frustrating train crash end to many political arguments is to be told that greed, exploitation and ruthless competition are inevitable results of our evolutionary inheritance, and that nature is unavoidably ‘red in tooth and claw.’ Is this true? Political cartoonist Polyp explores this issue and examines some popular myths and misunderstandings through an illustrated session based on Chapter 3 of his recent Graphic Novel ‘The Co-operative rEVOLUTION’ which is published by New Internationalist and copies will be available from Polyp’s stall at the bookfair.
2.00pm: Shooting the Avant-Garde.
From Dada to Video-Activism: introduction and critique of the revolutionary use of film and the revolutionary’s use of film throughout the ages.
(May contain flashing images)
3.00pm:Radical Housing
Education Room (Ground Floor)
1.00pm: Zapatistas against Dispossession: The Four Wheels of Capitalism
The Zapatistas in Chiapas have developed many ways to analyse our realities. The four wheels of capitalism’ are exploitation, dispossession, repression, disdain. We give a short update on the current situation in Zapatista territory in Chiapas, and then look at ‘dispossession’ and how it links with the other three wheels of capitalism. The workshop is interactive; we will understand examples from our realities through the ‘four wheels’. We will also look at possible actions in solidarity with the community of Atenco which is once again fighting the expansion of the airport of Mexico City on communal land. The airport is to be designed by a British company.
2.00pm: Intersectionality
The concept of ‘intersectionality’ has recently come under heavy criticism in various radical anti-capitalist circles. However, these criticisms are usually based on a complete misunderstanding of what intersectionality actually is. Contrary to what seems to be the common belief, the concept actually emerged partly as a critique of identity politics. Intersectionality attempts to provide a theoretical lens through which we can analyse the way in which different systems of oppression – capitalism, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. – influence and shape each other, and the impact this has on our lives. In this workshop, Feminist Fightback will provide an in-depth discussion of intersectionality, and it’s importance to anti-capitalism, and we will think about how we can carry these insights forward into our own activism and struggles.
3.00pm: IWW Organiser Training Taster Session
An exciting opportunity to learn about workplace tactics used by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a revolutionary union which seeks to overthrow the employing class and abolish the wage system.
Receive a basic training session on how to apply techniques to your own workplace to start the fightback against the bosses, delivered by organisers from IWW Manchester Branch.