WSM.ie: Dublin Anarchist Bookfair weekender - April 5, 6 & 7th

The Dublin anarchist bookfair returns to Liberty Hall on the 6th of April for our 8th 
annual edition, and the theme 1913-2013 - Rebuilding a Movement from Below. ---- There are 
also events on the Friday the 5th night in Seomra Spraoi and a radical walking tour on 
Sunday the 7th around Dublin as well as the usual legendary afters party on the Saturday 
night. Details of these below or soon to be announced here. ---- That theme couldn?t be 
more appropriate. Following on from the general spin being flahed about the media on the 
?good? news that we?ve just accepted the debts of the casino speculating capitalist banks 
and firmly saddled them onto the Irish people for generations, we need to build a movement 
to put an end to such cosy practices where they take the profits, but we take the losses. 
---- PDF of the Programme for the 2013 bookfair 
http://www.wsm.ie/sites/default/files/DABF2013Programme.pdf

Help with promotion by signing up for the Bookfair event on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/events/118423295002829/

2013 marks the 100th anniversary of what many see as the most significant industrial 
dispute ever to have taken place in Ireland - the Dublin Lockout. The employers of 
Dublin, led by William Martin Murphy, locked out over 20,000 workers in an attempt to 
starve them into submission and to smash the increasingly popular Irish Transport and 
General Workers Union (ITGWU).

One of the Bookfair highlights will be a meeting at which a panel of speakers will explore 
the legacy of 1913 and its lessons for the trade union movement of today. Padraig Yeates 
(author of ?Lockout?), Brian Hanley (historian and author), Mary Muldowney (author of many 
books and articles on women?s labour history) and Gregor Kerr (WSM member and Irish 
National Teachers Organisation activist) will each take a unique look at the relevance of 
1913 and why it retains such importance among trade union organisers and activists one 
hundred years on.

Austerity and the PIIGS

The austerity policies of the latest phase of capitalism have wreaked havoc on the lives 
and living standards of working class people across Europe and beyond. The struggles in 
which communities find themselves as they attempt to resist these policies have a lot to 
learn from each other. As we strive for a better world and to build communities free from 
poverty, exploitation and hopelessness we need to find time and space to listen to each 
other, to find common cause and to support each other?s struggles.

A number of speakers from the EU-?peripherals?, the so-called PIIGS countries (Portugal, 
Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) will share the stories of the struggles they are 
involved in and explore a vision of what is needed to ?change the world?.

Allied to this, Kevin Doyle (a member of the WSM) and Alan Gibson, both of whom have been 
actively involved in helping to build the Campaign Against Home And Water Taxes, will talk 
about the lessons learnt from the fight thus far against the household and property taxes 
and explore what type of campaign and campaigning is needed for the fight against the 
property tax (and the forthcoming water tax) to be successful.

Free, Safe and Legal

The tragic death of Savita Halappanavar last November catapulted the issue of the lack of 
access to abortion rights for women in Ireland back onto the political agenda. For over 
20 years, Irish politicians have failed to face up to the challenge of legislating for the 
X case judgement. But with change now on the horizon, 3 speakers ? Anne Quesney (an 
abortion and women?s rights activist for the past 15 years), Aileen O?Carroll (a WSM 
member who has been involved in the pro-choice struggle since the X case) and Sin?ad 
Redmond (who set up the hugely popular facebook page ?Unlike Youth Defence, I trust women 
to decide their lives for themselves? last year) - will discuss how the struggle for 
abortion rights can be fought both in Ireland and elsewhere. Facebook event 
https://www.facebook.com/events/507764192616979/

Sex Work

Dr. Laura Agust?n (author of Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue 
Industry http://www.amazon.com/dp/ASIN/1842778609/?tag=lauragus-20) will talk at the 
Bookfair about why she believes sex work should be treated as work and why we should 
?resist the general victimising of women who sell sex?. Facebook event for this at 
https://www.facebook.com/events/507555205967342/

And Plenty More

Among the other topics and themes that will be covered in Bookfair talks and discussions 
will be

Anarchism and the City - anarchism in Barcelona in the lead-up to the 1936 Spanish 
revolution, with Chris Ealham (author of 'Anarchism and the City: Revolution and 
Counter-revolution in Barcelona, 1898?1937')
Organising The Unorganised ? some practical examples, which will look at the lessons to be 
learnt from two examples of union organising among ?the unorganised?
The Art of Resistance: Image-ing a new Middle East, which will explore the ways 'art as 
defiance' is re-imagining power across the Middle East
Facing Deportations ? a practical workshop; how we can organise to prevent deportations, 
which aims to share the direct practical actions that need to be done and to raise 
awareness, unveil truths and correct misconceptions surrounding the issue of asylum 
application and deportation
Social history and social media, a discussion with history project Come Here To Me!
Latin American Social Struggles against mining, a meeting at which two speakers - Milton 
S?nchez Cubas (President of the Celendin Interinstitutional Platform (PIC), a network of 
40 grassroots organisations from Celendin Department of Cajamarca, Peru) and Aida Julieta 
Quinones Torres (a member of the Environmental Committee for the Defense of Life which 
monitors the socio-environmental impact of the La Colosa mine, in the department of 
Tolima, Colombia) ? will look at the impact on their communities of exploitation by 
mega-extractive multinational corporation and how they organize to face this threat
Queer Anarchism: Equality or Liberation?, a talk which will discuss emergent radical queer 
politics which resist assimilation and question the foundations of gender and sexual identity
As well as the meetings, this year?s Bookfair will, as in previous years, have book and 
information stalls from a host of anarchist and radical bookshops and campaigning 
organisations.

Friday night - Music and film

The weekend will kick off on the Friday night with a film showing and music session in 
Seomra Spraoi. Following the day of talks and bookstalls in Liberty Hall, Saturday night 
will have an opportunity to continue the discussion while enjoying some fine tunes at a 
Bookfair fundraiser in ?The Pint? (beside Liberty Hall).
Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/157331487759709/


Sunday afternoon

And on Sunday afternoon, the weekend?s activities will conclude with a walking tour 
entitled ?Finance Under Foot? on which Conor McCabe and Tom Murray will take participants 
through Ireland's most important sites of financial power, past and present. The idea 
behind the tour, according to the guides, ?is to make the nature of organised money power 
accessible, understandable and even entertaining?. Given the way in which financial power 
has devastated all our lives in recent times, this tour should prove to be of great 
interest to those struggling against its daily effects.

Friday 5th, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th April ? make sure the dates are in your diary.

Help promote the Bookfair by RSVPing and asking your friends at the Facebook event

You can help us promote the bookfair by asking any friends you think may be interested and 
sharing this post to your profile. There is also a Dublin anarchist bookfair group for 
keeping the buzz going year to year athttp://www.facebook.com/groups/103538506349459/

Details of the 2012 Dublin anarchist book fair 
http://www.wsm.ie/c/2012-dublin-anarchist-bookfair

DABF 2013 Pink & Grey poster as a jpg 
http://www.wsm.ie/sites/default/files/DABF2013LiberyHall.jpg
DABF 2013 Pink & Grey poster as a pdf 
http://www.wsm.ie/sites/default/files/DABF2013LiberyHall.pdf
PDF of the Programme for the 2013 bookfair 
http://www.wsm.ie/sites/default/files/DABF2013Programme.pdf