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
After many false starts, setbacks and let-downs, we finally managed to pull off another one. It looks like we’ve covered our costs so we can do it again.
We thank: Rachel at Bad Hand Coffee Roasters, Dan for organising the gig, Tom for the sound, staff at the Four Horsemen, the Sporadics, Uncivilized, Grant Sharkey, Surfin’ Dave and our own M.C. Sukie; Speakers Mal Content, Barley, Nick Heath, Dr Roger Ball, Neil Birrell and Isabella Lorruso.
Thanks to all our stall holders, those who have supported us since the beginning and a few new faces, collective members who worked so hard before, during and after, the folks at Obsidian cafe, for putting up with our planning meetings, and of course, you the public, without whom there would be no bookfair.
Bollocks to all those who tried to stop it, and the anonymous babylon who felt the need to poke their nose in.
We still haven’t really got enough people to make it the breeze it ought to be, ideally we’d have one crew for the daytime event and another for the gig. So if you feel like getting involved, don’t be shy, we’re meeting again at Obsidian Cafe in Boscombe on 11th November at 14:30 to discuss future events including next year’s Bookfair.
It’s a marvellous opportunity to practice non-hierarchical organising, problem solving and personal responsibility, it builds confidence and initiative – and will cost you no more than a bit of time and effort!
Love and solidarity,
D.R.B.
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.
Residents would be better off making a fuss about this. You could donate to the legal fund or bring pitchforks, dynamite etc.
Campaigners against oil extraction at Horse Hill outside the Supreme Court, 21 June 2022. Photo: DrillOrDrop
Opponents of oil production at the Horse Hill oil site in Surrey gathered outside the Supreme Court this morning for the start of a legal challenge that will have major implications for new fossil fuel projects.
The case, brought by campaigner, Sarah Finch, seeks to overturn a ruling at the Court of Appeal that Surrey County Council acted lawfully when it granted planning permission for oil production at Horse Hill.
Ms Finch argues that the council should have taken account of the climate impact of burning the oil. The council has argued that it needed to consider only the greenhouse gas emissions from the production process.
If the case succeeds, it could challenge whether the government was right to approve the new Cumbrian coal mine, which did not assess the emissions from burning coal.
Three of us spent a pleasant day in the West country at the second Weston Super Mare Radical Bookfair, hosted by the North Somerset LGBT+ Forum and the Sanctuary Cafe. Unfortunately this friendly progressive venue is closing shortly due to rising costs. Our comrades have another location lined up for next year so keep an eye on the facebook page and if you’re in the area perhaps visit the Sanctuary Closing Night Bash on Saturday, 18th February From 18:00-23:00.
We made many new friends and met up with some old ones, a good start to the season and we hope to do it again.
Pictures by Green.
Throughout October and November Corporate Watch will be taking a critical look at the top six UK energy suppliers, in solidarity with the millions of people who are struggling to keep warm now that energy bills have risen once again.
We ask: who is profiting from supplying our energy? How much are the bosses getting paid? and how have these companies been cosying up to government?
We hope that our research can be a useful resource for those organising towards a mass non-payment of energy bills.
We will be releasing our alternative company profiles of the Big Six energy suppliers in reverse order over the coming weeks. You can see our profiles on Scottish Power and EDF here. Next up?
No.4 Octopus Energy
Octopus Energy Ltd is the fourth biggest energy supplier in the UK currently controlling around 11% of the energy supply market. It is the newest supplier in the big six, trendy enough to be reviewed by Vogue and posed as a ‘solution’ to “a broken, inefficient market”.
Originally launched in the UK in 2016, Octopus Energy Group Ltd now operates in 13 other countries with 23 million customer accounts. Its model is supposedly a “cheap green energy system” funded by “high sums of investment”.
But the Octopus name is not limited to the energy market. In 2018, it was listed as managing over £7 billion in assets with over 50,000 investors, Since then, it’s continued to grow, Octopus now operates eight distinct businesses: Octopus Energy, Octopus Investments, Octopus Healthcare, Octopus Ventures, Octopus Real Estate, Octopus Moneycoach, Octopus Renewables, Seccl and Octopus Wealth.
The business secretary has rejected local referendums as a measure of public consent for fracking.
Jacob Rees-Mogg (right) at Conservative Party Conference Fringe event with Chris Hope Photo: Telegraph
Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested that shale gas companies could instead canvass door-to-door for support. Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative conference, he said: “I don’t think local referendums are necessarily the
The Workers Solidarity Federation, Pakistan section of the anarcho-syndicalist International Workers’ Association (IWA), are currently engaged in relief efforts to communities affected by the extraordinary floods caused by climate change.
Throughout 2022, Pakistan experienced an unusually intense heat-wave, with temperatures exceeding 50 degree celsius by May. With over 7,000 glaciers, Pakistan’s glacier count is only outnumbered by the polar regions1 , and the high temperatures, that affected much of South Asia, caused glacial melt, which in turn triggered the failure of ice dams and outburst floods. Water from these outburst flood travelled along tributaries and flowed into the main rivers, including the Indus River, Pakistan’s largest, causing their banks to break. The end result are the flash floods in Pakistan, exacerbated by the record monsoon rains that began in June. The events in Pakistan can be added to the list of spectacular instances of capitalism-induced climate breakdown.
The floods in Pakistan have so far affected two-thirds of Pakistan’s districts, destroyed two million acres of farmland, caused over 1500 deaths, and led to the displacement of 33 million people,2 with Unicef suggesting 16 million children affected so far. 3 All reasonable estimates indicate that millions in Pakistan now face the prospect of malnutrition and infections, particularly those caused by water-borne diseases.
In response to this, on 23rd August, members of the Workers Solidarity Federation, founded in May 2020 as the Pakistan section of the anarcho-syndicalist International Workers’ Association (IWA) established an emergency fund for disaster relief and began distributing food in flood-affected areas.4 In the course of the floods, some of their members involved in distributing aid in Balochistan became homeless5 , despite this they continued to distribute over 200 meals to families in the region.6 Since then, their relief efforts, supported by anarchists from around the world, have provided direct disaster relief to thousands of people affected by the ongoing floods in Balochistan and Sindh, in an extraordinary tale of mutual aid and transnational solidarity. On 4th September, WSF established a Flood Relief camp in Karachi.7 , distributing goods and cash to those in need.8 On 10th September, in Balochistan, WSF provided tents to people displaced by the floods. On 13th September, WSF members distributed food to people in the Dadu district of Sindh, travelling by boat across the flooded area9 , providing food supplies to 105 families10 . On 18th September, in Balochistan, WSF distributed food rations tents, mosquito nets, and infant care to the effected people in coming days.11 . On 25th September, WSF installed water tanks to provide clean water and distributed food.12 As at the time of writing, their relief efforts continue.
In the wake of any major disaster, where state and capital are absent, and a community is left to fend for itself, people self-organise on the basis of a need to survive. The self-organisation of disaster communities, to an extent, embodies anarchist principles of decentralised organisation, socialisation of resources, mutual aid, and co-operation. These principles come to the fore amidst disasters because they are taken as the most expedient option for maximising people’s chances of survival, but they are also measures that contradict the logic of capital and the state, which sooner or later will reclaim the lost territory, unless it is prevented from doing so by a large, armed, anarchist body.
The activities of the WSF-IWA are some of the most significant and heroic examples of anarchist praxis to date, and are particularly extraordinary considering that the WSF is only two years’ old.
To support the relief effort of the WSF, donate here: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8NfSnN0RXl 13
https://libcom.org/article/pakistan-floods-anarchist-global-relief-effort-wsf-iwa
Weald-based UK Oil & Gas plc (UKOG) announced this morning it has raised £3m to spend in Turkey.
The funds were raised in a placing of more than 3 billion new shares. UKOG said in a statement the money would funds further seismic testing and a new appraisal well in the Resan licence in Turkey.
The funds were raised in a placing of more than 3 billion new shares. UKOG said in a statement the money would funds further seismic testing and a new appraisal well in the Resan licence in Turkey. The well was expected to produce oil in the first half of next year, UKOG said. This is the most recent of a series of placings to raise money for operations in Turkey. UKOG raised £1.5m in July 2022 and a further £5m in July 2021. The company said today:
“The placing has been undertaken to provide the Company with a source of general working capital and to help deliver the Company’s previously stated near term goals of completing the Phase 2 Turkey seismic programme and the subsequent drilling of a new appraisal well in the Basur oil discovery, anticipated to be able to add near-term oil production to the Company in H1 2023.”
The shares were issued at 0.0875p, a 20% discount on the previous closing price. UKOG’s share price at the time of writing was down more than 18% at 0.09p. Following the placing, total voting rights in UKOG now stand at more than 21 billion (21,096,376,104).
New finance officer
UKOG also announced it appointed a new chief finance officer. Guzyal Mukhametzhanova replaces Matt Gormley, who is leaving the company. Ms Mukhametzhanova has worked for KPMG’s energy and natural resources practice and JKX Oil and Gas Limited, where she was group financial controller and finance director. Her role at UKOG is a non-board position, the company said.
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Wessex Solidarity 