Ireland, UPDATE - 10th Dublin Anarchist Bookfair - April 25th

The 10th DABF will take place on 25th April in the new locations of the Generator the 
Cobboestone and Block T around Smithfield square. Saturday will see us host a day of talks 
and workshops emerging out of a range of struggles and new movements with book and 
organisation stalls in the Generator. ---- After the bookfair on Saturday the always 
amazing Afters Party will be in the Voodoo Lounge ---- Please do help us with promotion by 
inviting any friends you think should be interested & tweet with #DABF ---- Stalls at this 
years bookfair will include AK press, Irish Labour History Society, Atheist Ireland, 
Seomra Spraoi, Rebel County Books, Anti Fascist Action, Ireland Palestine Solidarity 
Campaign, PM Press, Abortion Rights Campaign, Stoneybatter & Smithfield peoples history 
project, Rabble, Alliance for Animal Rights, STRIKE! magazine, National Animal Rights 
Association, Basic Income Ireland, International Bolshevik Tendency, Sex Workers Alliance 
Ireland, Anti-Internment Ireland, An Spreach, Glasgow Anarchist Collective, Workers 
Solidarity Movement

Large high res JPG of the
2015 Dublin Anarchist Bookfair
poster to print out & display

Draft Meeting Timetable

10.00 to 11.30
Winning Environmental struggles in Ireland
How can we build an active and confident movement to defend the natural environment? Alan 
MacSimoin and Polly Wolf will discuss past and present environmental struggles in Ireland 
in order to see what the challenges and possibilities are.

Voting for Marriage Equality while being critical of Marriage
We find ourselves facing a imminent referendum on marriage equality, which the hardline 
religious right are opposing as part of their program of maintaining multiple oppressions. 
A no vote in that context would be disastrous, serving only to entrench homophobia. 
Therefore we are campaigning for a Yes to Marriage Equality vote but beyond the need to 
ensure the referendum is not defeated what else needs to be said?

Community Debt and Development Workshop
The aim of the participatory The Irish Debt Crisis - What Happened? workshop is to raise 
awareness on events that took place in Ireland from 2008 until now, relating to the 
banking crisis. Much of the emphasis is on the Anglo-Irish Bank story and it is framed 
within an understanding of social justice – we think what happened was unjust and we want 
to reverse it.

11.45 to 13.15
The fight against water charges - where next
In this panel, Rachael O’Sullivan and Gregor Kerr will discuss the challenges facing the 
popular, community-based movement against Irish Water, and what we should do next.

Revolution in Rojava - from lessons to solidarity
This panel will discuss the popular struggles and direct democratic experiments ongoing in 
the autonomous region of Rojava, the three largely Kurdish province of northern Syria. 
There are reports that popular assemblies, women’s and youth councils as well as popular 
militias have been formed, while regime property has been turned over to worker-managed 
co-operatives. What exactly is happening in Rojava, what can we learn and what can we do?

What we have learnt from the Irish Banking Inquiry with Conor McCabe
"The events of September 2008 continue to exert an influence on Ireland today. A key part 
of the Banking Inquiry is to look into the causal and relational dynamics which led to the 
crisis and to the blanket guarantee as solution. This talk will look at what we've learnt 
so far from the evidence presented to the inquiry committee, and the key lines of inquiry 
which have emerged from it."

13.30-15.00
Defending the Amazon, Defending Life
Andrés Sacanambuy will discuss the extractive economy in Putumayo, the ramifications of 
recent Free Trade agreements and the ongoing defence of the Amazon rainforest as a vital 
pillar for the whole planet and as a source of hope and life for future generations. 
Andrés Sacanambuy is a representative of the Regional Front of Social Organisations of 
Putumayo, Baja Bota Caucana and Cofanía Jardines de Sucumbíos de Ipiales Nariño, a 
regional network of over 50 peasant, indigenous, workers, women and youth associations.

Migration, State Racism and Anti-Racism Organising
This panel will discuss migration, state racism and anti-racist, migrant self organising. 
It will discuss issues faced by migrant activists involved in left-wing politics including 
the NGOization and electoralization of the migrant justice movement; confronting 
nationalism and white privilege within campaigns and the particular types of exploitation 
and oppression faced by different communities of working class migrants. We will also 
discuss migrant self-organising, as in the Kinsale Road occupation, and strategies for 
making single-issue campaigns more inclusive of anti-racism organising.

Free, Safe, and Legal: Challenging Pro-Choice Values Workshop
What we talk about when we talk about abortion. While debates about abortion continue in 
the public sphere, millions of people are forced to hear their own lived experiences 
discussed and analysed by those who have little direct experience with abortion 
themselves. In this workshop we seek to challenge people's understanding of abortion 
beyond those extreme and publicised cases.


15.15- 16.45
Self-Organising and the City: stories from Athens and Dublin
This panel will look at the challenges and possibilities of popular self-organisation to 
reclaim our lives, our homes and our cities. Katerina Nasioka will discuss the social 
consequences of the crisis in Greece, critique the hope promised by SYRIZA and, finally, 
look at the contradictions that social movements and self-organized experiments face in 
the present moment. Jenny and Zoe will look at recent occupations in Dublin, including the 
Grangegorman Squat in Smithfield where resistance to eviction is ongoing

Parents in activism
The Parents in Activism workshop will be a child-friendly event, at which children of all 
ages are welcome, and will look at the challenges faced by parents in activist circles, 
particularly those parents faced with a number of other oppressions already.

Celebrate People’s History!
The Stoneybatter & Smithfield People’s History Project and the East Wall History Group are 
not just local history societies. They both recognise the political importance of putting 
working class history firmly on the record and challenging the capitalist and nationalist 
interpretation of how Irish society evolved. Members of both groups will talk about their 
work to date and will discuss with the audience the necessity for similar initiatives in 
other parts of Dublin and the rest of the country. At a time when many Irish working class 
people are defying the government on the water charges, it is vital to remember and learn 
from the lessons of the past, including the stories of so-called ‘ordinary people’.

For queries email bookfair@wsm.ie

Check below for links to videos, audio and images from previous bookfairs.

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