OMG! Redirect!!

Go here now: cvilleanarchism.org 

K, thanks

Thank You! Now Looking Forward…

Credit goes to Rachel Atcheson for all the pics!

Thanks everyone who made the bookfair possible through help, workshops, or just showing up!

Throughout this week, we’ll be changing the website to a hub for news, texts, and organizing for anarchists in Charlottesville and beyond.  Stay in touch!  Our new e-mail is now cvilleanarchism@gmail.com.

Here’s some events that will be coming up in the future (add any other ones in the comment section!):

- March 31st – Day of Action in Solidarity with the Wisconsin struggle

- April 15-17th – Weekend of Resistance Against the IMF and the World Bank http://imfresistance.org/

- May 1st – May Day: International Day of Workers’ Struggles http://maydayrva.org/

In love and solidarity,

The C’Ville Bookfair Crew

Read on! There are so many great texts out there!

Announcing: Childcare and T-shirts!

First:

The Charlottesville Community Childcare Collective will be making its grand debut during the bookfair!  E-mail them at cvillecommunitychildcare@gmail.com for inquiries.  Here’s a post from their blog:

Charlottesville Community Childcare will be providing child care at an event for the first time this Saturday.  We will be hanging out with kids at the Anarchist Book Fair from 1 – 7 pm, and we cannot wait!  The fair is being held at Random Row Books and the Garage, and we are excited to be able to welcome children to the event.  We also cannot wait to meet lots of other people who may be interested and willing to share ideas.  Perhaps we’ll see you there!  We’ll be the ones covered in paint/chalk and playing with legos.

Second:

Shirts everywhere!  Different colors!  Get ‘em at the bookfair!  Pre-order some through e-mail?

Bonus anarchy points if you can guess where the picture's from

The funds will go towards bookfair expenditures (printing and merch), gas money for long-distance travelers, and the remainder will go towards local projects like the blooming Charlottesville Prison Books Collective.

We’re also getting buttons, courtesy of the Dream City Collective in DC!

Getting Here, Getting Around

Here’s a few things we thought would be useful to help you get here:

Most of the events will be happening at Random Row Books (315 West Main Street, Charlottesville, VA) and the film screenings will be hosted at the Garage (across 1st street NW from Lee Park)

Getting into Town
-We have an Amtrak Station, Greyhound Station (across the street from Random Row!) and a small airport
-if you’re driving, we’re an hour west of Richmond and 2.5 hours southwest of DC

While you’re in Town:
-the two places that the bookfair is held are very close to one another
-most of the places that are offering housing are pretty close by
-there is a free trolley that runs on a loop between the University and Downtown
-there are quite a few buses: the University ones are free, most of the town ones aren’t
-feel free to ask us for help if you’re confused!

Help Us Out!

Hi Everyone!

The Charlottesville Anarchist Bookfair is less than a week away! I hope you’re all as excited as we are.

Some of you have asked if there’s anything you can do to help us. We definitely have a few things that we need done, and would love your help.

If you’re local:
-help us flyer (anywhere, anytime, but especially other Festival of the Book events and radical events/spaces in town)
-host out of town people! We’ve got a lot of people coming into town who need a place to stay for a night or two- bed, floor and couch space would be appreciated
-tell your friends, professors, peers, clients, roommates, coworkers, partners and people you run into on the street and facebook friends

If you’re from out of town:
-invite folks from your town!
-offer up rides to other people

Please contact us: cvilleanarchistbookfair@gmail.com to help us out with these things!

Also, if you need anything (housing, childcare, etc) please let us know and we will work to accommodate you.)

Thanks so much + see you soon!

Supply Drive for the Monroe Park Occupation!

Hi y’all!

So in case you haven’t heard, anarchists, homeless folks, students, and others are now going into their 8th day of occupation at the Monroe Park in Richmond, VA.  They set up a small camp site on their first day and have made it through and expanded out with semi-permanent structures to establish a free, safe, and truly public space for everyone in downtown Richmond.

Well, Obama said "Yes We Can", so...

Recently RVA cops busted up some other homeless camps in town and those folks are now staying at the Monroe Park occupation, so the occupiers need camping supplies like: tents, tarps, blankets, and sleeping bags plus anything else that would make their time easier.  In the spirit of solidarity, we’ll be holding a supply drive throughout the bookfair for Monroe Park.  Lots of Richmond folks are coming, so they can just take it along.  Visit http://monroeparkoccupation.wordpress.com/ for more info and many videos and pictures!

Please bring what you can, if not, then save it up for actions in our town

Things to do and things not to do at the Charlottesville Anarchist Bookfair

Note from organizer:  We made this short list for the welcome packet of the Bookfair, however, one individual thought it was relevant enough as generic framework/principles for future anarchist events, so they posted it up on the internet.

Things to do while at the bookfair space:

1. Get to know the organizers, publishers, and strangers present. Make new friends, we’ve been intentional about making this a priority.

2. Say hello and thanks to all those who helped put this together: those from Random Row, the Charlottesville Community Childcare Collective, the bookfair organizers, Joyful Dissent folks, everyone who offered housing, and countless other folks.

3. Be respectful, y’all. This includes respecting genders; don’t be afraid to ask what pronouns someone prefers to be referred to by or to state your own preferences.

4. To those anarchists present with some sort of personal tension between them: use the chance to talk out differences, let out frustrations, or otherwise do anything constructive to keep things from hurting the actual flow of the event. It is all too often personal drama gets in the way of mutual organization.

o That said, there’s a big difference between “personal drama” and “personal violence”.  Serious issues like sexual assault, racist bigotry, queer/trans-phobia, etc. are the opposite of personal drama in that they not only get in the way of organizing when their effects are kept silent, but also are what we are committed to working against. When we say “drama” we mean fussing over tactical differences, gossip, snobbery, etc.

5. Walk around, enjoy yourself.

6. Scheme and organize!

Things NOT to do while at the bookfair space:

1. Be an uniformed cop, undercover cop, informant, or a snitch. Anarchists have a long history with these folks and it isn’t pretty.

2. Make assumptions about knowledge levels, gender, comfort levels, abilities, etc.

3. Hang out only with those who look like you and talk like you.

4. Keep all of your ideas and dreams bottled up in your head and/or blog

Also:

Please respect the spaces you walk around, whether as privileged folks strolling around isolated working class neighborhoods, guests sleeping over at someone’s house,or just human beings coming into a town you know little of. Use the bookfair as a chance to ask locals about Charlottesville and its history.

PS.  Check out this Crimethinc article on the Wisconsin situation (click image):

Let's work to have one that says "Virginia". There's way too many reasons to do so.

Cops come visit Random Row a week before the bookfair

(Written by an organizer who heard this from the folks at Random Row.  This is the individual organizer’s view only and it is not attached to any organization or establishment)

Don’t worry, nothing horrible… the bookfair’s still on

Thank you, people who stay calm with interrogatory cops

On Wednesday, March 9th, 2011  Random Row Books received a visit from the Charlottesville Police Department inquiring about the nature of the folks who’d be here and if we we’re gonna have security.  Now, as an anarchist who’s had a share of experiences and run-ins with “curious” cops, your fellow organizer  figured right away that they’re fishing for excuses to get in the way of the bookfair’s success, which is a way-too-common story for US anarchists.

But it turns out they asked that because they thought “anarchist” meant there were gonna be “militant christians” and “white supremacists” present and they were sent by higher-ups to investigate.  So either they genuinely think anarchist is equated with that, or they’re looking for an excuse to stick their fingers on our business, or they’ve done their homework and have caught up on the history of fascists and racists crashing on events and marches held by anarchists (usually with the aid of cops)… I’ll let you guess which one you think is likelier because I honestly can’t guess.  We still expect them to be hovering around the event space regardless.

Whatever the case, we’re not in trouble.  The bookfair is still happening, and it will be awesome.  Your fellow organizer will use this story as a chance to remind everyone that cops are not an anarchist’s friend, nor the friend of anyone who’s lived a life of struggle.  Yes, the human behind the badge might be a friend theoretically, but as long as there is someone like the police who’s job it is to stand between those who struggle for dignity and those in power who live off of them, we will have conflict whether we ask for it or not.  The bookfair is a chance to learn about the history of such conflicts and to discuss how those conflicts play out today in our communities.

Please click on the picture above, anarchists from the Iron Rail infoshop in New Orleans have met a much more dire fate, and need support.

Here’s some resources on cops, please read them:

- Anarchist Survival Guide for Understanding Gestapo Swine Interrogation Mind Games

- If a Cop Tries to Talk to You

- The Police – a poster from Crimethinc.

Bookfair Schedule!

After much deliberation and coordination, we are pleased to put out the schedule for the bookfair. It got filled up surprisingly quick, but we hope it provides for the smoothest flow. Please note this is subject to change. As you might notice, the tabling will be outside and so we are at some mercy of Mid-Atlantic weather. However, were rain to hit us, we have a contingency plan to move inside and have all the workshops at the Garage space by Lee park.

Love,
The CVille Bookfair crew

–

Get to Know Some Anarchists! – Bookfair tabling @ Random Row Books (RRB) parking lot 1:00pm-7:00pm

Join us and over 17 other publishers and organizations to check out zines and books and get to know writers and organizers from the region. Some folks include Crimethinc Ex-Workers’ Collective, Red Emma’s Bookstore from Baltimore (along with AK Press), the Dream City Collective from DC, and many other local and regional projects (look on the link column for links to all participants!).

We’re also being very intentional about having spaces for people to hang out (including children through childcare), and so we encourage folks to use the wonderful space that is Random Row to sit down and discuss theory together or scheme some beautiful schemes.

Prisoner Support workshop @ RRB 2:30pm-4:00pm

A conversation about supporting political prisoners and all prisoners in their struggles for liberation inside and beyond prison walls. We’ll talk about strategies for prison abolition organizing on the outside, how to create networks of mutual aid with friends and comrades on the inside, and how to draw lessons from our movement elders who have been kidnapped by the state. Presented by prison abolitionists from the Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective. Visit their website http://prisonbooks.info/ .

“The South is Still Rising” with Mo Karn @ RRB 4:00pm-5:00pm

Join Mo Karn from the Wingnut House in Richmond as she presents on her new book called “The South is Still Rising” on the contemporary history of radical organizing in Richmond. It’s a history that’s not very well-known but very useful for all in Virginia and the South to know that there’s always been a different type of liberatory and radical “Southern Pride” waiting to be tapped. Visit Mo Karn’s blog anarchymo.wordpress.com for more on her and her efforts.

Virginia Radicals, Please Stand Up – A Roundtable Discussion @ RRB 5:00pm-6:00pm

This discussion is an open invitation to all radicals involved in different projects in Virginia. It will be a chance for those who don’t know each other to meet and for those who do know each other to catch up in their efforts and discuss how to further coordinate the seemingly unconnected struggles going on all over the state. It will be facilitated by the Bookfair crew. Some sort of RSVP will be appreciated but not necessary. Please contact us through the bookfair email cvilleanarchistbookfair@gmail.com.

“El Rostro de la Dignidad” (“The Face of Dignity”) Film Screening @ The Garage 6:00pm-7:30pm

“El Rostro de la Dignidad” is a movie made by the Grupo Alavio of Argentina in 2001, right before the December 2001 collapse would hit the whole country. It follows the struggle of the Unemployed Workers’ Movement (MTD) in the Buenos Aires suburb called Solano and shows their tactics of road blockades as well as their strong “piquetero” spirit. It was filmed by a local radical who runs Roadkill Books here in town. A potential discussion on worker self-organizing will happen.

“Shelter: A Squatumentary” Film Screening @ The Garage 7:45pm-9:00pm

In economically turbulent times, rent and home-ownership have become unaffordable at best and impossible at worst. Thus, people all over the world continue a long tradition of reclaiming this basic human right by squatting. “Shelter: A Squatumentary” is a documentary film that explores the squatting movement in the East Bay from 2004 to 2007. We follow three examples of the struggle for housing in an unaffordable marketplace such as the San Francisco Bay Area. Hellarity House, Banana House, and Power Machine are stories of squatters who have found one tentative solution to the ongoing housing crisis. The screening will be followed by a Q+A with the filmmaker on squatting and property rights. Visit the website: www.killnormal.com/shelter/ for more info.

The night will close with a show with local acts at Random Row as a fundraiser for The Wayside Center for Popular Education.

Speaker confirmed: Mo Karn on “The South is still Rising”

A good friend, Mo Karnage from the Wingnut House in Richmond, will be coming down to speak on her new book “The South is still Rising”! Check out her announcement below from her blog, anarchymo:

Mo Karn’s book, “The South Is Still Rising: Contemporary Radical and Anarchist Movements in Richmond, Virginia from 1994-2004″, is finally printed! P and L Printing, an anarchist and IWW collective in Denver, Colorado printed the book for her.

From the back cover:
The South is Still Rising explores the little known story of radical organizing in Richmond, Virginia in terms that Mo’s mom can understand. This story is contextualized in both within the history of Richmond and within the history of radical activism on a national and global scale.

“The South is Still Rising” reveals the things going on in the old capital of the Confederacy that are not played up in the media, and that many folks don’t get a chance to find out about. This is your window into a better understanding of what is actually going on in the South.

A new type of Southern Pride. A history that includes the resistance to racism, sexism, capitalism, and more.

–

Una buena amiga, Mo Karnage de la Wingnut House en Richmond, vendra a la feria para charlar sobre su nuevo libro “The South is still Rising”! Chequee su anuncio de su blog, anarchymo:

El libro de Mo Karn, “The South Is Still Rising: Contemporary Radical and Anarchist Movements in Richmond, Virginia from 1994-2004″ (El Sur Todavia Esta Rebelandose: Movimientos Contemporaneos Radicales y Anarquistas en Richmond, Virginia del 1994-2004), finalmente ha sido impreso! P and L Printing, un colectivo anarquista de la IWW en Denver, Colorado imprimio el libro.

De la cubierta trasera:
“The South is Still Rising” explora la historia poca conocida de los esfuerzos radicales en Richmond, Virginia en terminos que hasta la mama de Mo puede entender. Esta historia esta contextualizada dentro de la historia de Richmond junta con la historia del activismo radical al nivel nacional y global.

“The South is Still Rising” revela las cosas que ocurren en la vieja capital de la Confederacion que no se demuestran en los medios, y que mucha gente no tienen oportunidad para conocer. Esta es su ventana a un mejor entendimiento de lo que realmente esta ocurriendo en el area Sur de los Estados Unidos.

Un nuevo tipo de “Orgullo Sureño”. Una historia que incluye la resistencia al racismo, sexismo, capitalismo, y mas.