The Bookfair has been and gone - and the Freedom Shop gained a lot of new people to add to our list of contacts. We also sold quite a few books and zines plus had some interesting conversations about anarchy and the state - questions and discussions by browsers at the Bookfair were as diverse as prison abolition, how to safely destroy CCTV cameras, what is imperialism and what is colonisation, the pros and cons of electoral politics, and why some people feel they need to get their relationship recognised by the state and marry. It was an interesting and long day!
But especially good news for the Freedom Shop is that we not only gained interesting contacts and sold a lot of books, but we also bought some. We ended up buying books from both
PM Press and
Jura Books so in the Shop now is new exciting stock, including '
How to Make Trouble and Influence People' - the second edition. The book covers a lot of Australia’s radical past with more than 500 tales of Indigenous resistance, convict revolts and escapes, picket line hijinks, student occupations, creative direct action, street art, media pranks, squatting, blockades, banner drops, guerilla theatre, and billboard liberation.
"Covering a wide gamut of seditious political acts, from Indigenous guerrilla resistance to anti-uranium blockades and Critical Mass bike rides, [How to Make Trouble and Influence People] is informed by the commonly held belief on the Left that social progress does not emanate from the pronouncements of 'enlightened' politicians, but instead derives from grassroots resistance to inequality and discrimination… In learning about the deeds of rebels past, we are provided with a memory bank of ideas and tactics from which to draw. These tales and images also serve to remind us that political activity need not be a predictable and grim slog. As well-resourced as our opponents may be, they are vulnerable to the use of creativity, solidarity and humour. Indeed, these are often the only tools we have." - From the Introduction to How to Make Trouble and Influence People, by Iain McIntyre.
And here's a sample of other new books:
Michael Schmidt, author of '
Black Flame' and '
The Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism' was also at the Bookfair and on the Sunday outlined the story behind his upcoming book '
Global Fire'. An interesting interview with Michael about the new book can be read at
Anarchist Affinity.
We do have a few more copies of '
Black Flame' in the Shop but have sold out of '
The Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism'.
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