Bookfair impressions
Oct 19 2008
Steven. is becoming steadily more kaleidoscopic as he gets older
Gav looks less hardcore than he used to
Jenni was younger than I expected
dee actually does say 'hun' in conversation 
Refused can be defeated
Jack can't because of his bizarrely long arms
Ret Marut is surprisingly hairy
I am envious of notch's free travel and collection of prison-style tattoos
London and Brighton solfed people are mostly awesome
I'd like to rename Tea Break every time it's brought out, and possibly write a lengthy editorial about how amazings the POA are 
Oct 19 2008
#2
I heard they were changing the name to FAGBREAK, because that's what ordinary workers do.
Oct 19 2008
#3
The smell of the book fair never changes
Django was taller than I expected
Jef looks more like Ashton Kutcher than ever
gangster gave me a free pamphlet
Oct 19 2008
#4
I had a good rant at some mentals (SPK - Socialist Patient Collective) and was disappointed not to find a Down With Paul Values t-shirt.
Pretty much everyone from libcom that I met was cool. Especially Steven. and gav for letting me feeload at their place this weekend.
Oct 19 2008
#5
xConorx wrote:
I heard they were changing the name to FAGBREAK, because that's what ordinary workers do.
Nah, it's "Feeeg, sheeeg and a cup a teaaa"
Oct 19 2008
#6
Jack wrote:
Nah, it's "Feeeg, sheeeg and a cup a teaaa"
That would be a much better name, and more in line with ordinary workers' lives.
Oct 19 2008
#7
that was my first bookfair 'experience'. apart from the smell, the SPK and not finally meeting a primitivist, i quite enjoyed it and thought all the folks off here i met were nice.
Refused wrote:
SPK - Socialist Patient Collective
"HEALTH is against everybody, except the ruling class, the class of the jackers itself. There is no such thing as 'health'. 'Health' is but a biologistic-nazistic figment of the mind."
"The way out of torture is paved with broken doctors."
"The one who instigates against the SPK, is indeed someone who says: Yes, and Bravo, and Go on, to everyone who, under the pretext of being ill, is being murdered by medical doctors in hospitals, in homes for old people, in asylums, or even at home by the family doctor; she or he is indeed someone who says Yes to therapeutic terror, to the proto-medical Modern-euthaNAZISM; she or he is indeed their assistant and accomplice, and she or he is taking part in the murder. The one, who is against the SPK, is automatically and undeniably a Nazi, is herself or himself a proto-medical modern-euthaNAZI."
Quote:
proto-medical modern-euthaNAZI.
tagline?
Oct 19 2008
#8
Yes.
a good bookfair; the one meeting i went to was constructive and lacking in mentalness, there was no random violence, met Django and Spikeymike and Dee and probably some other other people i hadn't met before (memory fails, it's the booze don't take it personally), who were all really sound. had some good chats with solfed comrades, and generally for post-bookfair i feel strangely positive about politics. i'm sure it will pass. things i learned about myself:
- i judge books by their covers (mmm, endnotes)
- i can drink beer using only my ripped jeans and my knee
- i snore having imbibed large quantities of newky brown, thus confirming it's all the north's fault after all
i also was pleased to note that the libcom group's theoretical unity extends to buying the same pamphlets independently of each other.
Oct 19 2008
#9
agree about the smell - those wash balls really don't work
I've noticed that the pissed up crusty element has disappeared
thought the venue worked really well and i'm glad i didn't bother listening to pilger
Oct 19 2008
#10
Pissed I couldn't go this weekend, first one I've missed since 2004. Funds low and a lot of writing to do...
Glad no one got smacked this year, especially by a tranny holding a Revol pic.
Oct 19 2008
#11
to be fair i'd also point out that the AF pamphlets looked well sexy, can't comment on the content as i only glanced, but i think they were the classic anarchist-communist ones so probably fairly sound. good to see lefty stuff with a good appreciation of aesthetics, as good aesthetics (crimethinc, principia dialectica) are usually inversely proportional to good politics (aufheben say). obviously prole.info, and to a lesser extent the new endnotes book manage to score on both counts too.
Oct 19 2008
#12
I missed that, but bookfair was good, missing most of it probably helped 
Good to see everybody and meet a few new faces, Dee did leave early and may or may not be keeping herself pure for Jesus. Bought Devrim's communist left booklet otherwise sttered clear of buying anything to add to last year's unread purchases It seemed like there were fewer stalls than last year and less general book sales. This could have been because I was so late though.
Oct 20 2008
#13
It was the first year where it definitely seemed a lot less busy than before. But will probably still be declared best ever.
Oct 20 2008
#14
Had a very good time round our stall out on the street; non-stop discussions with people from all over. Glad to meet Django, David Broder, my first anti-Deutsch, a guy from the Czech split from KPK, Felix Frost, and catch up with others I knew. We sold around £150 of stuff. Demogorgon penetrated an AF meeting and was not thrown out. Pleasant drinks in the Palm Tree afterwards following excellent fish and chips at the Britannia nearby.
The Chris Knight meeting was very disappointing. I hoped he would explain his theory of human origins but the whole thing was focused around the Halloween stunt he and his friends are planning. For anyone interested there's been a discussion of his ideas on our site: http://en.internationalism.org/2008/10/Chris-Knight
Oct 20 2008
#15
Alf wrote:
, Felix Frost,
And how is everyone's favorite viking?
I have tales to tell about Felix in New York.........
Oct 20 2008
#16
Refused wrote:
I had a good rant at some mentals (SPK - Socialist Patient Collective)
oh, so that was you. i was hobnobing with the leeds surrealists at the time, who loved every second of your altercation.
i just enjoyed seeling lots of anarchos at my uni. 
Oct 20 2008
#17
I wanted someone to put the entire SPK in hospital. If only they'd slagged off a murderer on the internet this year.
I thought dee was fantastic, was happy to have a real chat with Devrim after meeting him briefly however many years ago, and was hugely disappointed by the low numbers of the Irish contingent 
And it's always great to catch up with everyone I already know and like. Spent too much on books and felt super-smug reading Aufheben on the train home.
Oct 20 2008
#18
Grace wrote:
I wanted someone to put the entire SPK in hospital.
that would win on so many levels *sigh*
i've absolutely no idea why they're allowed a stall, complete fucking wingnuts. the sooner someone medically oppresses them with a good sectioning the better.
Oct 20 2008
#19
They're a walking advert for reopening bedlam.
Oct 20 2008
#20
Most of my money went on the Leeds surrealist magazine Phosphur. I bought Aufheben as usual but was disapponited that there was nothing about the split. and do their articles really have to be so long?
There was little evidence of any pillage or rapine by Felix, but then my Danish mother in law insists that the Vikings have had a very bad press and were basically just farmers on holiday and ran their affairs through a system of councils ('Things')
Oct 20 2008
#21
Alf wrote:
I bought Aufheben as usual but was disapponited that there was nothing about the split. and do their articles really have to be so long?
believe it or not a large part of the editorial process is arguing over the bits to cut out! as to the split*, my understanding is that the group now around Endnotes thought Theorie Communiste were worthy of more detailed attention and study, whereas the remaining Aufheben group didn't, preferring to focus on the intersection of theorising and recent/ongoing struggles. Therefore it's not surprising that the current collective aren't giving the split, and therefore the arguments of TC any further attention.
The Endnotes lot have translated some TC articles and published them as a book in the form of a debate with Gilles Dauvé, which i bought at the bookfair and will try and read as i know very little about TC. The impression i get is they're hegalian marxists who are pessimistic about the revolutionary potential of the proletariat, therefore seeing class struggle as immanent to capitalism but not a source of potential rupture (hence the disagreement with the remaining Aufheben who wanted to continue to analyse struggles alongside the more theoretical articles).
* I wasn't about at the time of the split, but have subsequently been involved with aufheben (but lazy as fuck this year, much to their constenation). i've also had a couple of beers with those who left, but don't know them as well. therefore i may be missing something about the split, or unwittingly portraying it in a one-sided way.
Oct 20 2008
#22
Yeah, good day, great to speak to Steven (sharpest dressed union rep in history), Jack, Joseph K, Catch, Ret Marut, Anarcho, Spikeymike, Demogorgon and Alf (sorry if I forgot anyone). It felt productive this year, with practical discussions about Tea Break, a good meeting on how to deal with the economic crisis, and generally more non-mental conversations with comrades who I'm on the same page as. I don't know whether this is due to an increasing ability to filter out dread-mullets and green and black colour schemes as I get older though.
Joseph K wrote:
to be fair i'd also point out that the AF pamphlets looked well sexy, can't comment on the content as i only glanced, but i think they were the classic anarchist-communist ones so probably fairly sound. good to see lefty stuff with a good appreciation of aesthetics, as good aesthetics (crimethinc, principia dialectica) are usually inversely proportional to good politics (aufheben say). obviously prole.info, and to a lesser extent the new endnotes book manage to score on both counts too.
The pamphlets are part of a general redesign strategy - hopefully all the AF's material will be sexier than Steven's cardigans soon.
Alf wrote:
Demogorgon penetrated an AF meeting and was not thrown out.
He agreed with me so I extended my protection to him.
Oct 20 2008
#23
Quote:
Demogorgon penetrated an AF
did he split them?
Oct 20 2008
#24
Oh go away you nasty little pro-marketeer
Oct 20 2008
#25
I still wondering if Skrealing made it up there, and how many of you bought his book.
Oct 20 2008
#26
It was also interesting to see the Stalinised Trots of the Revolutionary Communist Group turning up to rally anarchists in defence of the workers paradise in Cuba.
My moneys went on the new Aufheben (very good), the new Black Flag (improving rapidly, and interesting for the spread of perspectives its now publishing), some hard copies of Brinton and Dauve stuff, Abolish Restaurants for a chumrade, coffee and alcohol.
I think the slightly quieter vibe might be down to load of stalls being a mile or something north in the 'Octogon room' and lots of the meetings being bigger and in different buildings.
I also managed to sell anarchist communism to a formerly apolitical mate from Rotherham who has shared quiff advice with richard hawley. Epic win.
On a similar but unrelated note, Demogorgon303 looks unbelievably like aphex twin. I had to do several double takes.
Oct 20 2008
#27
Django wrote:
On a similar but unrelated note, Demogorgon303 looks unbelievably like aphex twin. I had to do several double takes.
He grew that beard to look less like Robbie Savage.
Oct 20 2008
#28
Battlescarred wrote:
Oh go away you nasty little pro-marketeer
your going to have to explain the rationale for that comment
Oct 20 2008
#29
Alf wrote:
Demogorgon penetrated an AF meeting and was not thrown out.
He's been added to the AF's database of known ICC members, it won't happen again
Oct 20 2008
#30
Django, you are dead to me now. DEAD.
Who did you marry?