Bristol Radical History Festival Saturday 13th April to Sunday 21st April, 2024.

Bristol Radical History Festival

Any movement which is ignorant of its own history is a prisoner of other people’s history. We can’t possibly win the future unless we keep our hands on our own past. (Gwyn Alf Williams)

We are delighted to announce the 6th annual Bristol Radical History Festival. This year, due to popular demand, the festival has expanded to two days over the weekend of 20-21 April. The festival is hosted by two excellent Bristol venues, M Shed, the social history museum on the city’s historic harbourside and the Cube Microplex the volunteer-run Arts centre and cinema. Across two days and four themes, we can promise talks, walks, exhibitions, stalls, the never less than uplifting Red Notes choir and, on Sunday night, a special film screening. Watch this space too for details of our pre-festival aperitif, Opening the Archives, on Saturday 13 April. We warmly invite you to join us…

At M Shed – Saturday 20 April – 10.30am-4.30pm

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You can download and print a Bristol Radical History Festival poster (pdf) by clicking on the image below…

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The SWP: Some things I wish I’d known before getting involved with the Socialist Workers Party (UK)

This gives me a shudder, bitter memories from long, long ago. It seems every generation gets led so far up this blind alley. It’s a cult, it’s a racket, it serves only itself. As for the U.S.S.R. and ‘democratic centralism’  – they failed – even by their own standards, they never created socialism or even competitive state capitalism, they killed more of their own side than the enemy and they systematically shut down every autonomous Working Class initiative that threatened their turf, leaving the door open for fascism and all the 20th Century’s holocausts. Their acolytes are still doing it. More here.

– Mal C.

Tiny Anarchist

You might read these things and still think the SWP is the best fit for you, but, for me, my involvement was based on not being aware of these things. All of this is focused on the Party leadership, ideology, behaviour and history, not on the individual people who go to meetings – I’ve met many comrades at meetings who are wonderful people who I value very much.

These are things I have experienced first-hand in going to meetings for months, taking part in street stalls and demonstrations, or that have been shared by others online about the national movement. I decided to start talking openly about these things after a while of thinking I had to stay quiet about it – it is so hard to make any criticisms within SWP spaces, but that makes it all the more important to talk about it elsewhere.

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Barbie The Movie (A hobbit’s eye film review). By Peregrin.

Controversial opinion: I watched Barbie yesterday and I didn’t enjoy it. It left me feeling empty and deflated. I spent the film looking for the feminist message and didn’t feel as if it offered any hope for women and girls in the real world or any solutions for men either.

The film opens in Barbie Land. It’s bright and glamorous and pink and beautiful. It’s a great place to be Barbie; you can do whatever you want and be whoever you want. Even Weird Barbie has a place there and is allowed to be weird. Side stories: turns out it’s not great to want to be pregnant or ugly – hey! But on the whole you have your pick of all the top jobs. It’s not so great to be Ken though is it? In a world where Barbies don’t need him, Ken is an optional extra and can fuck off to the beach whenever he’s not required to make up the look… I mean that he needs the beach to be attractive to Barbie, and have that great look that complements her and supports her endeavours in living her best life. – We get that, don’t we ladies? 🙂

Meanwhile something is wrong in the real world and a little girl there reaches out to Barbie to come and fix it. So Barbie and Ken head off to the real world to make everything right again. – Great! Just what we need; another white saviour to fix us all. In the real world Barbie and Ken are immediately educated into the patriarchy and the upside down nature of the world because Mattel took that patriarchy, turned it upside down and made a Barbie world based on the same hierarchical structures as the real world, but put Barbies in the place of men and Kens in the place of women. This showed a remarkable lack of imagination back in 1959 – but I guess at that time it was the dream to be just like men – (which also requires having a lower order to use). In the same way men were given the right to the use of women’s bodies and labour, women wanted the use of men’s bodies and labour. It was a rude awakening for Barbie to meet a girl in the real world and find out exactly how irrelevant she has become because after years of fighting for a patriarchal hierarchy based on women having the top job it turns out that it’s just the same system. Well fuck me who woulda thunk it! Ken in the meantime is having a personal revolution in the real world, learning about the patriarchy and the natural order of things realising his value in the world and also realising that things can and should be different for him – put him in Incel corner, he just discovered the friend zone.

It turns out that Barbie was brought to the real world by a grown woman – probably of a generation who has spent her life with the stars of Barbie in her eyes believing she can be anything that she wants to be and has reached a point in life where she has realised that was all bollocks – only a few can follow that route, the rest have to make the world tick on. So having a mid-life crisis she calls on the toy of her youth to see the truth of things in the real world.

The film then changes tack – Ken has made his way back to Barbie world and reprogrammed it to be more like the real world in which Kens are on top – they have the perfect life in his Mojo Dojo Casa House although he still has a deep seated need for validation and admiration from his Barbie. Look, they are still dolls – they don’t actually grow brains, balls or intelligence! Barbie and her new friends from the real world then have to go back to Barbie World to save it. Mum’s all in; her teenage daughter shows a surprising amount of compassion for her mum at this point and goes along for the ride, even though she is already aware that it was a failed experiment. Obviously the company will make real money on these plastic products either way, and that is pointed out.

Anyway I’m jumping to the end because I got quite bored with the next bit. Barbie and Weird Barbie use Ken’s weakness for Barbie and his vanity, manage to reprogramme the Barbies back to how they were, carry out a coup and restore Barbie Land to how it was. Ken looks for a bit of equality and wants to live in the house with Barbie, but in a Pinocchio-like twist she decides to go back to live full time in the real world and become a real person. It becomes apparent that in order to do feminism women don’t need the top jobs and a patriarchal society based on women being in charge rather than men, they just need to accept themselves as the perfect beings that they are. Woman the goddess, the teacher, the mother, the wife, the worker in all their amazing roles throughout history. Once again men are left on top and as women we should be content with that system because we also benefit from it….

I would say the film showed incredible honesty. I think it was meant to be a comedy and you can do honesty in comedy it turns out. It wasn’t funny though. There was honesty about the false dream that we were sold as girls, there was honesty about the company that sold it to us, and also honesty that it can’t ever work and ultimately brings us right back to where we are. That we should accept the status quo and be happy for what we have gained, oh – and by the way, buy more Barbies – look out for the collectors’ items that were discontinued as not being popular enough along the way…

It left me feeling depressed. Is this all there is? If I’m honest I never really believed in Barbie in the first place. The dream was just too pink for me…

– Peregrin.

Thanks for your support!

Please donate to the bookfair if you can, you could also buy a T-shirt or a book – ed.

Anarchy in the Sticks!

Dear Comrades,

Thank you to all who supported our Boscombe mini Bookfair:

As always Elkie, Chris and Staff at Obsidian Café who understand what we are doing and go out of their way to help. To Dan Kemp, and to Tabitha Wild and John D Revelator who stepped in at the last moment to save our gig. To the volunteers and speakers. Some visitors made very generous donations and we really appreciate it.

Our events survive on the voluntary anarchist-communist principle; “from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs”. Books and T-shirts go out at cost. We are trying to deconstruct the concept of transaction because it creates hierarchy, so if you are skint and want to read a pamphlet, have it on us. If you are destitute and hungry, come and eat with us anyway. If your pockets are empty you can still come to the party.

All our artists played for travel expenses, a few people gave us a donation to this but most did not. If you are one of those and haven’t got a pot to piss in you’re welcome, most of the Collective are in the same boat. If however, you find you can afford to contribute to the cost of the food and entertainment, please consider making a donation. These events cannot continue without your goodwill.

The DRB Collective is boycotting Chaplin’s because we have been treated with disrespect and are not welcome there. We tried to explain this to our friends, with limited success.

Consumer boycotts and withdrawal of labour are the only effective weapons of our Class. Without solidarity we are powerless, none of you would consider crossing a picket line. Anyway, it’s a shit venue and not a patch on the old Riviera, which is back in business. So if we can put the Boscome Punx off the place we might get a change of regime and a more realistic attitude – over to you!

Here’s John D with a song about the Bristol Bus Boycott – it does work, you know!

The Authority of the Boot-Maker, by Mal Content.

To order the book quote quantity and delivery address. Make payment £20 each including postage, by bank transfer to: ‘Dorset Bookfair’, Account number 84669314, Sort code 51-81-18

If the above link takes you away from the page, it’s dorsetbookfair [at] riseup [dot] net

Or read it online.

Dorset Radical Bookfair: Meetings programme for 2023.

Anarchy in the Sticks

We’re now full up, and have something for everyone.

Meetings will be held on the raised area adjacent to the cafe bar so you can get food and drink but please keep noise down. Hosts please allow a couple of minutes for changeover and guests please take seats and vacate promptly. Thanks

12:00 ~ 13:00

Confessions Of a Non-violent Revolutionary: Bean Stew, Blisters, Blockades and Benders. The True Story of a Peace Activist in Thatcher’s Britain by Chris Savory. Workshop hosted by the author.

Radical movements and protests tend to come in waves, with enough time in between for people to forget about the previous ones. This workshop will explore what lessons can be learned from Non-Violent Direct Actions (NVDA) in the recent past, with particular emphasis on the 1980s and my personal experience, but hopefully including participants experience of other times. This has particular relevance given the recent re-appraisal of direct action tactics by XR.

13:00 ~14:00

Avoiding the infinite waiting list: Workshop hosted by Barley.

The bleak state of trans healthcare in the UK can make transition feel unattainable. Supporting each other must consist of more than listening as our friends and comrades complain that their lives are being put on hold. There are options beyond the GIC, with their waiting lists stretching out towards the heat death of the universe, and it is up to us to share our knowledge and build the future we want for trans folks.

Despite all the boundaries in our way, we will live our lives authentically as the people we are.

14:00 ~ 15:00

The Idea – a new book by Nick Heath. Presentation by the author:

Nick Heath’s book on anarchist communism is the first such comprehensive work on the subject. Anarchist communism often hides in the shadows in the general works on anarchism available, only clearly emerging when the ideas of Kropotkin, Reclus and Malatesta are discussed.  This book seeks to rectify all of that. He asserts that the revolutionary core of anarchism has been obscured by what are essentially bourgeois histories which pursue an eclectic approach  which encompass many ideas, philosophers and movements. In an exhaustive number of chapters on different anarchist movements in many countries, Heath reveals that that anarchist communism had a preponderant hold within those movements, as in France, Italy, Bulgaria, Russia, Latin America, China and Japan; and that indeed it is the dominant current within anarchism.

15:00 ~ 16:00

“I fear there will be blood spilt this evening”: The 1831 reform riots in Dorset. Hosted by Roger Ball (BRHG).

In October 1831, the defeat of the Second Reform Bill in the House of Lords led to a wave of pro-reform public protests and disturbances across Britain. Concurrently in Dorset, a microcosm of the national struggle over electoral reform was being fought out in a county by-election which posed Lord Ashley an anti-reformer against the pro-reform candidate William Ponsonby. In the aftermath of Ashley’s controversial victory, a series of riots began, first in Dorchester followed by Poole, Blandford, and Sherborne in Dorset and Yeovil in Somerset and led to pitched battles with the Yeomanry and Dragoon Guards.

This talk examines behavioural patterns in case studies of the latter three events with particular emphasis on the targets of the rioters, who the rioters were and their interactions with the authorities. From this evidence an attempt will be made to understand the motivations of the rioters, the majority of whom were not going to be enfranchised by the Great Reform Act of the following year.

16:00 ~ 17:00

Fighting Women – a book by Isabella Lorusso.Presentation by the author:

For 17 years Isabella Lorusso travelled through Spain talking to women who put their lives on the line to fight fascism – and, too often on a second front, confronting men whose commitment to liberation stopped at their own front door. Lorusso’s work is both a tribute and a social history for those women of the 1930s whose actions and visions of the future continue to inspire and inform today. Come and meet Isabella talking about her book and other projects she has been involved in.

Goodbye from gal-dem

Will be missed, see their recommendations for other sites to follow – ed.

gal-dem

We are incredibly sad to announce that after eight years, gal-dem is closing. As a platform dedicated to centring people of colour from marginalised genders, we have collectively created and grown as a community since 2015, however gal-dem continuing to operate as a business is unfortunately no longer feasible.

The hard decision to close the business has come from difficulties we’ve

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Women’s Threads of Bristol at Bristol Radical History Festival, Sat 22nd Apr, 2023

Bristol Radical History Festival 2023

Event Details

Date: Sat 22nd Apr, 2023
Time: 2:20pm to 2:30pm
Location: Foyer Level 2
Venue M Shed, BS1 4RN
Price: Free
With: Zoe Gibbons

‘Women’s Threads of Bristol’ aims to create a comprehensive visual illustration of places in Bristol that are named after women – roads, buildings, parks, blue plaques, murals – all are relevant. It encourages exploration of who these women were and what they did to earn recognition.

But, just as importantly, it asks people to suggest who they think should be on the map. Who were our female community champions? Which women dedicated their lives towards science, health, teaching, equalities, the arts?

Across history many women have been left off the map – it’s time to put them on!

‘Women’s Threads of Bristol’ project is supported by, and part of, Bristol Women’s Voice celebrations for International Women’s Day 2023.

The project is ongoing, nominations can be emailed to info@zoegibbons.com

Other events at this year’s festival:

Trades Union Now
“William Morris” Returns to Bristol
Doris Hatt : Art, Principles and Politics
Trade Unions Then – Tramways 1901 and Print 1985-86
The Bristol Bus Boycott : Race, Unions and Civil Rights
The life and legacy of artist, activist, eco-feminist and writer Monica Sjöö (1938-2005)
Curating Angela Carter: Bristol, Art and Writing
100 Years of Struggle
Red Notes Choir
Cholera Humbug! Epidemics and Radical Politics in the 1830s
Labour Revolt in Britain 1910-14
Painted out of History – Ellen and Rolinda Sharples Hazel Gower in conversation with Leigh Thomas
Facing up to the Fascists: Confronting the National Front in Bristol in the 1970s

Antifa Enternasyonal: Time to defend the revolution!

Nûçe Ciwan.

ROJAVA – Stating that an alternative to the capitalist system has emerged with the 21st century women’s revolution in Rojava, Firaz Dağ from the Antifa Enternasyonal organization stated that Turkey targeted this alternative with its attacks on Northern and Eastern Syria, and said, “It’s time to defend the revolution.” Against Turkey’s attacks on Northern and Eastern Syria and Southern Kurdistan, reactions from the international ground and the Kurds continue.

On behalf of the Antifa Enternasyonal (International Antifascist), Firaz Dağ from Rojava evaluated the bombing of the living quarters and cities of the Kurds fighting against ISIS to JINNEWS.

Airspace under Russian control

Stating that Turkey’s attacks on Kurdistan with the idea of ​​conquest never stopped, Firaz reminded that the airspaces are under the control of Damascus and Russia. Firaz said, “The fascist Turkish state once again attacked positions in Northern and Eastern Syria and Southern Kurdistan in order to create fear among the Kurdish people. The attacks and invasions against the Revolution never stopped, but as earlier this year, the Turkish state attacked several targets simultaneously in a coordinated operation. It is known that the airspace of Rojava and the whole of Syria is under the control of the Assad regime and the Russian state.”

‘Attacks with the support of Russia never stopped’

Noting that the air attacks on Rojava never stopped, Firaz said that the fascist states cooperated in destroying the revolution and said: “During the occupation of Afrin in 2018, the Russian state allowed dozens of warplanes to enter its airspace and bombard Afrin nonstop for 2 months. Drone attacks have never stopped in Rojava, and coordinated attacks like last night are nothing new. Cooperation between the existing nation-states in the region and their interests in overthrowing the revolution were once again clearly seen.”

‘Rojava has become a symbol of hope and strength’

Stating that Rojava has become a symbol for all the oppressed peoples of the world, Firaz said that the coalition against ISIS did not act without harming the interests of the guarantor countries, and said: “As long as they are not harmed, they are not very interested in attacks against the people of the region. While playing volleyball at a school located 2 kilometers from the coalition base in Hesekê in August, 5 girls were martyred and 10 girls were injured in the attack carried out by the Turkish state with an unmanned aerial vehicle. The answer was a statement condemning the attack, but without mentioning the perpetrator… Turkey being the second largest army and one of the founding members of NATO, It is wrong to understand and think that these constant illegal and immoral attacks are only a conflict of interest. These attacks in Rojava and the constant attacks in the mountains of Kurdistan are fully compatible with the interests of the hegemonic forces of capitalist modernity. The only reasonable and correct attitude to prevent such attacks on the revolution lies in ourselves. Rojava has long become a symbol of hope and strength for all the oppressed peoples of the world, demonstrating that it is possible to create a revolutionary alternative to the women’s revolution, the capitalist system and its inhuman practices in the 21st century. The only reasonable and correct attitude to prevent such attacks on the revolution lies in ourselves. Rojava has long become a symbol of hope and strength for all the oppressed peoples of the world, demonstrating that it is possible to create a revolutionary alternative to the women’s revolution, the capitalist system and its inhuman practices in the 21st century. The only reasonable and correct attitude to prevent such attacks on the revolution lies in ourselves. Rojava has long become a symbol of hope and strength for all the oppressed peoples of the world, demonstrating that it is possible to create a revolutionary alternative to the women’s revolution, the capitalist system and its inhuman practices in the 21st century.”

‘The attacks clearly reveal the mentality of the system’

Regarding the ongoing bombing, Firaz said, “The fact that the attacks target civilian infrastructure and civilian deaths clearly reveal the mentality of the system. Those who accuse the YPG/YPJ of being a terrorist organization are the same ones who financed the Islamic State and today finance the al-Qaeda Front Al Nusra and now former members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham State (HTS).”

‘The AKP-MHP government has been preparing for an operation for months’

Stating that preparations for an operation have been made for months to ‘protect’ his power due to the upcoming elections, Firaz continued: “The explosion in Istanbul was a pretext for attacks without any evidence of any connection with Rojava (except for what the Turkish state itself said). The fascist Turkish state has been preparing to launch a new ground operation in the region for months as it is in the election period and the AKP-MHP fascist coalition needs to gather more votes for re-election. However, the fact that they have not advanced significantly in the mountains so far makes a direct attack on Rojava impossible.”

‘Defend the Revolution!’

Finally, Firaz, who called on the whole world to defend and embrace the Rojava Revolution, said, “Therefore, it is in the hands of anyone who claims to defend democracy and socialism to rise up against the Turkish state wherever they are. Demonstrate your solidarity in a practical way by performing actions, occupations, direct actions, whatever. Time to answer! We demand that the fascists be held accountable and punished for their war crimes. Fight for Rojava. Defend the Revolution!” used the phrases.

Fascists from Misantropic Division attacked volunteer of Operation Solidarity in Lviv [Ukraine]

Enough 14

Ukraine. A message from Operation Solidarity about a fascist attack on one of their activists in Lviv. Originally published by Operation Solidarity Telegram Channel.

In Lviv, fascists from the Misanthropic Division attacked our fellow volunteer, who was helping soldiers with ammunition, equipment, and bulletproof vests. It happened near a military supply store, where he went for new purchases. He has a broken finger.

Let us not forget that Ukrainian anti-authoritarian and left-wing activists are organizing resistance to the invaders, helping the fighters, supporting hospitals and people in need of food, care and scarce medicines. Attacks on us, our comrades or acquaintances = SUPPORT TO THE OCCUPIER.

We strongly recommend all racist fighters to stop doing nonsense in the rear and start doing useful things. Want action? You know where to go.

Image above: One of the attackers.