We publish this announcement as we received it (the end seems to have been cut off, but the message is very clear.)
A space at the bookfair.
This year an autonomous group of queer feminists are organizing an area/stall outside of the book-fair space as a resource for women, trans, and queer people and their accomplices. The space will have some zines and stickers, as well as free hot drinks and is mostly a spot where people can feel a bit safer and spend time together).
We are a loose group, or women, trans people, queers, feminists and accomplices who are coming together to organize space for ourselves, our friends and our community both at book-fair and within the wider anarchist scene.
We are not part of any particularly group or tendency within the anarchist scene, although we all align ourselves broadly with an autonomous/anti hierarchical politics.
Some of us are syndicalists, some insurectionaries, others nihilists or autonomous communists; but what we share is a distaste for and distrust of the patriarchy, sexism, cis-sexism, trans-phobia/misogyny, racism, able-ism, and homophobia we experience in our everyday lives from people who proclaim themselves our comrades.
Whilst we respect that the book-fair collective have continued to try and work in an anti oppressive way, we feel let down by the “movement” and under attack from so called radicals.
From trans-phobic organizations such as deep green resistance (who have declared war on our bodies and identities), to individuals hurling sexist and trans-phobic abuse (at the last two book fairs there have been confrontations between queer feminists and other anarchists sparked by misogynist or trans-phobic comments) our scene is littered with
people who degrade, disrespect and attack us- we’ve come together to say ‘this stops now’ and in case you thought we weren’t serious, we brought back up!
In the last years, many of us have avoided going to the book-fair, or have hidden away in small social groups out of fear of attack or harm; we are sure that there are others in the anarchist scene who feel like us’ we want this to be a space that people can share, feel empowered by, and meet new friends in. We want to be active participants in this years
book-fair and to resist those forces which oppress us.
This is an open invitation to all self identified women, trans, and queer people and accomplices to come and share this space with us- bring zines, banners, makeup, whatever.
It is also a warning, we are not pacifists and we are not peaceful, we will not behave passively or respectfully in the face of patriarchal, racist, and trans-phobic violence (be that verbal, written, or physical). We reserve the right of retaliation in the case of oppressive people or groups,