When the Anarchist Federation (AF) was approached, if it wanted to take part in
the 29-31. July, sending someone with your publications to this year's Fluff Festin Rokycan was nothing to think about. When asked later whether we would alsojoin the lecture block, we decided to contribute with the topic of the war inUkraine. This bloody event does not leave many people indifferent, so it would bestrange if this question did not appear in this year's program. ---- Fluff Festis amazing in that it fulfills the slogan "Hard core is more than music". Almosteveryone who is involved in his organization on the ground is in some waysubculturally or ideologically related. There is an ethos of mutual respect andat the same time intolerance to all kinds of discrimination. And these facts arethe main reason why the festival is especially sought after by foreign visitorswho can enjoy a non-commercial environment, so far removed from ordinary musicfestivals.But Fluff is therefore also dependent on its visitors. One could not fail tonotice that this year's attendance was relatively low. It didn't detract from theatmosphere, maybe on the contrary it was calmer, and therefore more pleasant, ifyou don't really like crowds of people around you. But it must have hit theorganizers hard. That is why there is a need to strengthen and support anyactivities aimed at ensuring that the festival can be held in future years as well.The music program took place on four stages, and dozens of bands took turns onthem from Thursday to Sunday. The lecture tent, or Info Tent if you prefer,provided the accompanying program and was taken care of by the Cocina Perdida andBlack Seeds collectives. The former runs an activist kitchen and the latterdistributes Zapatista coffee. Thanks to them, visitors could already come in themorning for breakfast or a snack and have a cup of coffee.The AF group from Pilsen came up with the idea more than a month before thefestival to supply the Cocina Perdida collective with fruit and vegetables fromtheir surplus. But the festival hit precisely that deaf spot in time, when theearlier things have already been harvested and the later things are not yet ripein sufficient quantity. Maybe next time.During the day, the tent had a book fair atmosphere. There were stands of theAnarchist Federation, SaléDistra, which also offered a number of English titlesand books from the publishing houses Neklid, Utopia Libri and Nevim, for sometime friends from the group Kolektivne proti kapital offered their materialshere, an anarchist from Germany set up his distro here, with whom he had a verypleasant discussion, and on Saturday added things from the No Borders Team. Wewere horrified to discover that there is also a table where materials fromideological positions condemning Ukraine's defense against Putin's invasion areavailable. However, during debates with people, we did not come across anyoneelse who shared a similar attitude. Of course, that doesn't mean there couldn'thave been someone like that.The lecture tent program started on Friday and always consisted of a lecture andmusic block, with anarcho-folk singers and songwriters providing the music. Andbelieve me, there was a real interest in their production, they were able tocreate a great atmosphere and part of the audience often did not hesitate toactively participate.On Friday, a representative of SaléDistro took over the spoken word in the infotent to present the booklet We told you, which has received a new edition andpresents the view of the participants of the Syrian revolution on Russia'sinvasion of Ukraine. It was nice that he didn't talk so much about the contentsof the brochure (everyone can read it here - it won't take much time), but ratherabout the Syrian revolution of 2011 itself, which didn't get as much attention inEurope as, for example, the events in Rojava. It was an engaging talk, duringwhich one realized how little information about this event appeared in ourcountry and how it remained completely in the background of interest, despite itsundeniable interest. It's a pity that only a few people attended the lecture.Unfortunately for foreign participants, it took place only in Czech.On Saturday at half past three in the afternoon, we started with the lecture"Anarchists and the war in Ukraine". It was actually a kind of loose follow-up tothe aforementioned brochure, which, among other things, deals with the"anti-imperialism of idiots". We took it pretty much by the points that form thebasis of the "argument" of those who, on the left and within the anarchistmovement, especially in the West, rail against the support of Ukraine in thefight against the imperial invasion, which bears obvious genocidal signs. Eachpoint has been translated into English. It was evident that this is a hot topicthat interests the visitors of the festival. So it's no wonder that the tent waspacked and many who couldn't fit in listened outside despite a brief rain shower.We managed to fit into the time frame and our words were finally rewarded withapplause. Some even threw something into the coffers to support SolidarityCollectives, where in the end less than two thousand gathered.Later, we were thanked for the lecture by anti-fascists from Poland andanarchists from Romania, who, like us, feel that the area of Central and EasternEurope is considered by some Western activists to be illegitimate.After five in the afternoon, a member of the Polish collective No Borders Team,who are dedicated to helping refugees on the Polish-Belarusian border, took upthe floor. They spoke in English about the very difficult situation of the peoplewho found themselves there and about their poor condition, which threatens theirhealth and lives. But they also talked about the ecological impact of the newiron curtain, especially for the animals that were used to moving freely in theforests there. Activists from various European countries work with thecollective, but no one from the Czech Republic or Slovakia. At the same time,help from the Czech Republic would be useful for them, for example, in securinganonymous SIM cards. If anyone wants to get involved, check outhttps://nobordersteam.noblogs.org.On Sunday, from three o'clock, we also listened to a lecture by the Limity jsmewe initiative. Its representative briefly introduced it in English and then spokenot only about the need to do away with fossil fuels, but also about a fairtransformation. In that context, he reflected on the actions of the Czechauthorities, who traditionally imagine such justice as the transfer of billionsfrom the European Union to the largest industrial players. He introduced theaudience to the successful Dirty Money campaign, which targeted banks andinsurance companies to stop supporting the fossil fuel industry. And finally, heinvited everyone to this year's climate camp from October 3rd to 9th near Ostrava.On the fifth, there was supposed to be a lecture on the topic of prisons, but wehad already packed and left with the hope that Fluff will survive this year andwe will meet again in the same place in a year.https://www.afed.cz/text/7711/infotent-na-fluffu_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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