“Anarchist books are a weapon against modern totalitarianism”
Brief presentation of the upcoming anarchist book fair in Patras, Greece
29–31 May 2014, “Esperos”, Georgiou Square
Organizing the first anarchist bookfair in Patras, Greece has been an idea with which comrades currently participating in the self-organized social centre “Epi ta proso”* have been flirting for quite some time. The aim of this festival is to bring out the wealth of anarchist, antiauthoritarian and libertarian concepts, and diffuse anarchist ideas into society, especially to the young people across the city. This is particularly important at a time when state propaganda prevails against those who opt for self-organization and grass-roots initiatives as a means to fight, while racism, social cannibalism and turning to fascism are presented as the sole options to overcome the unfolding crisis. At the same time, even within the resistance movement, political discussion and exchange of ideas to achieve a more in-depth analysis is treated with contempt; we thus believe that promoting self-education, political and theoretical investigation, preserving social and working-class memory against lifestyle anarchism and political hooliganism, are of prime importance in the direction of a wider reconstruction of the radical and revolutionary movement.
This year, the 3-day bookfair will consist of book presentations, discussions, events and screenings on the following topics: crisis and debt, anarchist communism, the history of the Paris Commune of 1871, fascism, the organization of the anarchist movement, teaching Greek to immigrants and refugees, etc. Our aim is to create an event freed from state intervention and commercialism, to transform a public space into a meeting place for open discussion and criticism. Any contribution in money is strictly limited to helping the initiatives that put this festival together keep going and to covering the expenses of the event. The bookfair would not be complete without a cultural session, underlining the need to reclaim public space and transform it into a meeting place full of life, a hub of resistance and creativity. So, on Friday night there will be a live concert and on Saturday there will be a play — “The ugly one” by the theatre group “Tote Pote” (i.e. “Then When”). On Thursday and Friday (29-30/5), the book fair will open at 5pm and on Saturday (31/5) at 11am. During the festival there will be a permanent poster and photo gallery featuring important moments of the anarchist and wider radical movement. There will also be a book display of selected titles in English.
We would like to thank all those that responded positively to our invitation to organize this event, whether publishing collectives, cultural groups, self-managed social centres/squats or political collectives.
Self-organised social centre “epi ta proso” | 87 Patreos St., Patras, Greece
* This was the name of an anarchist newspaper, published from 1896 to the early 20th century in the city of Patras. The group of anarchists running the newspaper had the same name; allegedly, they were the first anarchist-communist group in the country. Epi ta proso can be freely translated as “going forward”.
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