Program 2018
Time schedule of lectures and projections
Lectures:11:00 Solis! – talk about solidarity networks from all around the world
12:00 Postanarchism. On the renewal of anarchist theory
13:00 A parallel world in color
14:00 Collectively against capital – Wages, workplaces and (political) power at the time of the economic boom
15:00 Antifascist movement in the US
16:00 Klimakemp 2018
17:00 THE NETWORK: repressions against anarchists and antifascists in Russia and fabricated terrorist cases
18:00 Peter Gelderloos – Worshiping Power: An Anarchist Vision of Early State Formation
19:00 Robin Yassin-Kassab: Burning country – Syrians in Revolution and War
Screening room:
11:45 screening of a documentary about the network of solidarity housing MHS (64 min)
13:00 discussion – Postanarchism
13:30 screening Bullfight (121 minut) + discussion with the authors
16:00 screening Antifa USA + discussion
17:00 Klimakemp discussion + screening Behind the fossil courtain
18:00 discussion – repressions in Russia
18:30 Zádruha – short history of czech anarchist movement (from 1880)
19:00 discussion with Peter Gelderloos
20:00 discussion with Robin Kassab
Last minute program in the attic:
20:00 Searching for Streets of Sugar: Why and how do we publish an internationalist antinational magazine?
21:00 Bini Adamczak: Communism for kids
LECTURES
/ Robin Yassin-KassabBurning country – Syrians in Revolution and War
Robin Yassin-Kassab is writer and journalist commenting events in Syria and Middle East. He writes for example for Guardian, Pusle Media, or his blog Qunfuz. Robin is co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in revolution and War (Pluto Press, 2016, 2018), author of novel The Road from Damascus (Penguin, 2009) and co-author of Syria Speaks (Saqi, 2014).
On the Prague Anarchist bookfair is Robin going to introduce new edition of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War.
In 2011, many Syrians took to the streets of Damascus to demand the overthrow of the government of Bashar al-Assad. Today, much of Syria has become a war zone where foreign journalists find it almost impossible to report on life in this devastated land.
Burning Country explores the horrific and complicated reality of life in present-day Syria with unprecedented detail and sophistication, drawing on new first hand testimonies from opposition fighters, exiles lost in an archipelago of refugee camps, and courageous human rights activists among many others. These stories are expertly interwoven with a trenchant analysis of the brutalisation of the conflict and the militarisation of the uprising, of the rise of the Islamists and sectarian warfare, and the role of governments in Syria and elsewhere in exacerbating those violent processes.
With chapters focusing on ISIS and Islamism, regional geopolitics, the new grassroots revolutionary organisations, and the worst refugee crisis since World War Two, Burning Country is a vivid and groundbreaking look at a modern-day political and humanitarian nightmare.
/ Peter Gelderloos
Worshiping Power: An Anarchist Vision of Early State Formation
Worshiping Power: An Anarchist Viev of Early State Formation. Where do states come from, what causes them to arise, and how do they develop? The old dogmas that the State protects and uplifts humanity, or even that it is a necessary evil, have been thoroughly discredited. But many newer theories, that explain state formation within a single optic, or that suggest a single cause, or a linear, progressive evolution, also fall short.
This new book traces multiple pathways of state formation, describing patterns that arise within many different societies with different models of the family, religion, warfare, commerce, and economic production. Rather than being ancient history, state formation is a continuous process, given that perhaps the only feature universal to state formation is the resistance it provokes. As a result, states are continually falling apart, being overthrown, or struggling to maintain their power.
People who fight today against the problems of capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy, anyone who seeks to regain control over their lives, becomes wrapped up in this process as they run up against state authority. Articulating the ongoing history of state formation—from divine states centered around new sites of spiritual production to democratic states arising from corrupted revolutions—allows us to better understand the ways states today attempt to govern, limit, or repress our movements today.
Peter Gelderloos is an anarchist from Virginia who currently lives in Catalunya. He is the author of How Nonviolence Protects the State, Anarchy Works, The Failure of Nonviolence, “An Anarchist Solution to Climate Change,” “A World Without Police,” and other works.
/ Mikola Dziadok
A parallel world in color
The book of the Belarusian anarchist, who was a prisoner of the Lukashenko’s regime for five years. Mikola Dziadok (born in 1988) was arrested in September 2010 and with a number of other anarchists (for example, Igor Oliněvič, whose prison diary „I’m going to Magadan“ was published in the Czech language by the Anarchist Federation in 2014) he was accused of an arson attack on the Russian embassy, the Belarusian Army Headquarters, the Bank, and the Casino in Minsk. He refused to ask for the presidential mercy, sat out the entire sentence plus six months for defiance against the prison administration. He is currently studying and living in Lithuania and continues to participate in protest actions in Belarus.
/ THE NETWORK: repressions against anarchists and antifascists in Russia and fabricated terrorist cases
Since October 2017 numerous anti-authoritarian activists in Russia experienced arrests on terrorist charges. Many of them were kidnapped by Russian state security service called FSB and tortured with electricity and other methods. After days of tortures, nearly all of them were forced to plead guilty to being part of so-called „Network” – mythical organization established to carry out terrorist attacks during upcoming president elections and FIFA World Cup, and to ovethrow Putin’s regime. FSB never stopped: people are still being tortured and kidnapped on multiple occasions in different cities.
An activist from Russia will talk about unprecedented situation, brutal tortures, possibly the heaviest criminal case against anarchists that were ever faced in nowadays Russia and possible developments. Come to listen, think and discuss the ways to support imprisoned comrades. How do we deal with bitter repressions? How do we strike back?
During the event there will be a direct opportunity to financially support ongoing solidarity campaign.
/ Postanarchism. On the renewal of anarchist theory.
„Anarchist theory“ – is that term not an contradiction in itself? No, is the clear answer of this referat. In fact for the anarchist movement it’s really valuable to build up own anarchistic theories and to reflect on the own world-views.
One approach to try this is the so called „Postanarchism“. Postanarchism it not another tiny current in the pluralistic anarchist spectrum. Rather, it is one chance and attempt to look at anarchistic basic assumptions and positions – and to dicuss them in a self-critical way. There was a debate on Postanarchism, mainly in the english-speeking countries, culminating in some works for example like Saul Newmans „The politics of postanarchism“ (2010). Even it’s academic, it’s a quite good book to discuss and develop anarchistic politics.
For that, Postanarchism is inspiriered by poststructuralist theories. The prefix „Post“ does not mean to loose connection to anarchy as aim and the anarchist movement as the crucial reference point. It’s about questioning thoughts of „modernity“ without becoming „anti-modern“. For example this includes critiques on the essentialistic view on „nature“ of human, the „teleological“ understanding of history and the state primarly as an institution that could be smashed oder seized. Significant for Postanarchism is a way to think in paradoxa and tensions to search for ways to act in a contradictory society.
The referat explains some basic thoughts of Postanarchism to ask questions howfar this can be useful for us. The postanarchist perspective is particularly to discuss on the political-theoretical terms of „subject“, „hegemony“, „anti-politics“ and „emancipation“.
As this text shows, the referat will be done in bad english with a simultaneous translation. Even though it could be interesting and fun.
/ American antifascism
In the last couple of years, the United States has seen an increase of organized right wing, white supremacist and neo-fascist activity. In response, anti-fascism as both a practice and political orientation has increased as well. Many anarchists and leftists in the United States embraced anti-fascism as a tool and political identity of resistance. While the rise of these mutually antagonistic phenomena is often framed as a direct result of Donald Trump’s presidency, the story is slightly more complex. Anti-fascism and militant anti-racism, as well as the white nationalism and neo-fascism that it hopes to destroy, have a particular national and cultural context. American anti-fascism is an outgrowth of anti-racist activism, third world liberation struggles of the 1960s and the rebirth of anarchism in the United States in the 1990s. American white nationalism and homegrown fascism too is rooted in the particular history of American structural racism and reactionary movements to protect America’s racialized hierarchical order. In 2016 and 2017 anarchists, anti-fascists and others in the Northern California Bay Area fought and struggled against white nationalists and neo-fascists openly organizing themselves. A series of militant confrontations and battles took place throughout Northern California, with a particular focus on the city of Berkeley. While the images of the struggles were as spectacular as they were violent, the activity in the Bay Area was happening in the foreground of a larger movement against white nationalism happening throughout the United States. As an anarchist and participant in the struggles mentioned above, I will contextualize the rise of anti-fascist activity and how the recent struggles especially in the Bay Area unfolded. I will also explain the particularities of American society and History that shape American anti-fascism and anti-racist politics
/ Limits are us - Klimakemp 2018
Movement Limits are us organize the biggest event fighting for climate justice (27. 6. - 1. 7.). Klimakemp is a camp without leaders where you meet lots of interesting people and get to know everything about changes of climate and problems of mining and burning of fossil fuels. You will get a space for creative, courageous and non-violent actions against fossil industry. Come to hear experiences from past events. You will also get to know what climate justice is and importance of direct actions. Climate can not make it without you. It is time to overcome our own limits and contribute to the end of coal and fossil fuels.
/ Collectively against capital – Wages, workplaces and (political) power at the time of the economic boom
Increasing of wages and self-organization of struggle, of course, do not have to go against each other. On the other hand, they certainly do not have to go hand in hand. The accompanying phenomenon of the current labor shortage is that its price – the wage increases. Does it mean that the control and power of companies and the state over the workplaces, is getting weaker? Does it mean that self-organization and social class awareness in particular services is actually growing? We will offer a few general comments on the current situation, based on specific experiences from the workplaces.
/ Zádruha
Short history of czech anarchist movement
/ Solis! - The lecture about solidarity networks from all around the world
An overview of foreign solidarity networks and summary of different approaches and tactics.
How does the global labor market work? How can the workers defend themselves against dishonest practices of companies and large corporations?
h2. Lecture on work conditions at the time of the global economy functioning, solidarity networks in the world, their disadvantages and advantages. We will also introduce in brief some basic possibilities for establishing a solidarity network.
/ Searching for Streets of Sugar: Why and how do we publish an internationalist antinational magazine?
„Straßen aus Zucker“ (Streets of Sugar) is an inter-/antinational leftist (youth-)magazine that is being distributed for free, mainly in German-speaking, but also in other countries. It focuses on providing undogmatic food for thought for a liberated society – one free of capitalism, sexism, homophobia, the state, racism and other forms of domination. The magazine has a circulation of 180,000 copies and has been in existence for nearly 10 years. Besides influencing the German discussion about left issues, we wish to further an international debate on how to bring about emancipation. Unlike a lot of leftist magazines we try to break information down into a form that’s easy to understand yet doesn’t oversimplify. Subjects of past issues were daily life and political activism, critique of nation, state and capital, criticism of religion, love, sex and friendship, racism and refugee protests and liberated society, utopia and how we want to live.
Our project has provided an important platform for left debates in the German-speaking world. We hope to continue this with our comrades, friends and allies from abroad!
In this discussion we will present our ideas about our approach of „international antinationalism“. In the second part we talk about the practical questions about publishing a political magazine.
The lecture will be held on the occasion of the first issue of the Czech version of the Streets of Sugar.
SCREENING
/ BullfightScreening of new documentary Bullfight with discussion with filmmakers.
/ Projection of film about German network of solidarity housing MHS.
/ Behind the fossil courtain
In the dismal post-apocalyptic landscape of the coal basin in the northern part of the Czech Republic, through an artistically conceived film, we learn about an environmental movement whose motto is "change the system, not the climate". Why these ecological activists are being labeled extremists is, for the film director, one of the examples of how the state is creating the enemy, thereby strengthening its own power.
OTHER
/ Workshop with Punx23Punx23 is an organic collective that unites around the graphic – screen printing workshop in Prague and Cirkus Alien’s farmhouse. Sometimes they are two, other times ten. They are also linked by a concern about the fate of late capitalism and anarchist ghetto. That’s why this incoherent group has the need to respond to this development. Because they are graphics (whether plebeian or disabled by an educational dictatorship) therefore they respond in the graphic form.
For 15 years of functioning, the Punx23 has created several zines, stacks of stickers, dozens of t-shirts, kicks of posters, has made „A-kontra“ graphics and participated in urban interventions. At the anarchist bookfair, you can look forward to live zine-printing and you can see how such a magazine arises.
/ Mobile Zine Workshop SEM-TAM
It’s a very nice feeling to hold in hands a newly finished zine. Unfortunately, it often remains only in the realm of fantasies. One of the biggest problems in the process of making a new zine is to finish the zine itself. Free and experimental SEM-TAM publishing house will bring a portable zine lab to A-bookfair, in which you start the zine and complete it during the day, so before the evening comes, you will take the finished masterpiece home with you. The basic material will be available on the spot, you better bring with you any things beyond the standard art equipment.
/ Book repairing workshop
Bring your favorite old broken book and fix it!
/ Autonomy is life, submission is death - Mexican political graphics
Escuela de cultura Popular de los Martires del 68 (M68) – cultural collectiv working since 1988 in Mexico city is using art like a engine for civil change. They are making workshops on different themes, exibitions and other events. The School has maintained strong relationships with social and popular movements, as well as giving support to street demonstrations, the squatting of physical spaces, and the defense of human rights. The ECPM68 joined the call of the EZLN in 1994. In 2001 it housed the international brigades that came in support of the Zapatista March of the Color of the Earth. It later accompanied La Otra Campaňa (the Other Campaign) of the Zapatistas and joined the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle (“La Sexta,” a maniafesto issued by the Zapatistas in 2005) and is supporting other movements, like Atenco or Cherán.
Grafica de Lucha is a studio/print shop that produces graphics about social movement struggles and resistance. The studio is based on principles of popular education and work is made in collaboration with those who need a graphic to broadcast the struggles and resistances far and wide.
Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca (ASARO) - collective's mission is to provide alternative commentary to the state-driven narrative which permeates Oaxacan society and silences dissent, often violently. The group emerged during the 2006 popular protest, when striking teachers - demanding better education in the impoverished state - were met with state violence, resulting in the deaths of at least 17 people. Oaxaca's residents erected barricades and took over luxury hotels, government buildings, and even television and radio stations. Million inhabitans city were for five months completely autonomous.
Beatriz Aurora calls her drawings “painted stories”, and her subjects definitely have a lot to tell. The Chilean artist had to exile to Spain during the 70s. She knew she couldn’t go back to Chile, but there were other places in Latin America that could use her art, so from Spain she travelled to Nicaragua, then to El Salvador and finally settled in Mexico.In the 90s, and when some stated we had reached the ‘end of history’ and the ‘end of ideologies’, others decided that a different kind of society was possible. From 1994 the Zapatistas had been building a self-sufficient community based on equality, respect for nature and love. Beatriz quickly joined them, and soon she became the brush and color of the EZLN.
Her stories tell about the men and women of Chiapas (the birth place of the movement), mostly of mayan descent. They are simple, cheerful and positive, like the Zapatistas.
/ Book bazaar
Bring old books and zines or buy it as donation to Bookfair.
/ Kids place
10am - 7pm
3pm interactive performance for children
/ Vegan kitchen
All lectures will be translated
CONCERT
Via radar.squat.net
