Here’s a book fair the IWW would have loved

Books serve many purposes, as do book fairs. Most book fairs I have attended over the years are general-purpose events that offer stalls in which various publishers can advertise their latest product, panel discussions in which authors address a number of issues and readings in which individual authors share their respective works.

A book fair that will take place in Seattle over the weekend of Aug. 24-25 is something different. The fifth-annual Seattle Anarchist Book Fair describes itself as an event that aims “to continue the tradition of creating a space in which anarchists can come together, make new connections, deepen existing relationships, and expand our understanding of our role as antagonists against the social order.”

Interesting, eh? The Pacific Northwest has a l ong tradition of radical politics . And this book fair clearly wants that tradition to endure. As the fair’s web site states, “Over the past several years, the Pacific Northwest has been the focus of intense and uncompromising oppositional conflict, and has also seen intense repression levelled against its radicals. It is our desire to provide a space in which to renew our feelings of hatred towards society, foment new arenas of confrontation and strengthen our affinities with each other.”

In case you go, let me leave you with some useful quotes to use in whatever political arguments you’re bound to get into. Jose Martí once wrote, “The first duty of a man is to think for himself.” Winston Churchill once said, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” And then there’s Jon Stewart, who once said, “You have to remember one thing about the will of the people: It wasn’t that long ago that we were swept away by the Macarena.” (Thank you, goodreads.com. )