SEQLD IWW ZINE STALL – 13 July
The Paperbark Zine Fair was held last Saturday 13 July at Jagerra Hall, South Brisbane. It was a great day, lots of fun, and well attended. We didn’t count all the tables, but there was a lot. Andy from Paradigm Shift on 4ZZZfm talked up the event and interviewed some of us. This can be listened to at 4zzfm OnDemand 12 July 2024.
SEQLD IWW had a table and distributed a lot of radical working class orientated zines, as well various classic IWW pamphlets. We did run out of copies of “Buffy the Anarcho-Syndicalist” before the end of the day. And lots of copies of “How to Fire Your Boss” also left the table.
On a side note, it is with disappointment we didn’t get around to reprinting “You Can’t Blow-Up a Social Relationship”. It is a zine/pamphlet published in 1978 by the Brisbane based Libertarian Socialist Organisation, in response to the Hilton Bombing around CHOGM. The core argument being that Capitalism exists as a series of social relationships, which are exploitative and hierarchical. That people have learnt to accept these relationships as normal, and will just recreate them if The State somehow simply disappeared. The revolution is Social (the social revolution vs political revolution), in that people need to organise deliberately and collectively, from the grassroots up, on mass, to create a revolutionary society. That just attacking the symbols of the State gives it ammunition for more State violence.
While on topic of historic Brisbane organising, read up on the Self-Management Group, who’s influence was significant and perhaps understated on local Brisbane radical culture. Know your history.
However, SEQLD IWW have good relationship with one of the original members of the Libertarian Socialist Organisation of late 1970’s. She used the Paperbark Zine Fair to network and discuss organising the next Anarchist Bookfair in Brisbane. A number of people have agreed to help organise this event, and will potentially be held on the third week-end of January 2025 at a venue in Spring Hill. Watch this space.
During the Paperbark Zine Fair, about 5 anarchist stalls were set-up, including two from Sydney. We had a chance to chat with Jura Books crew. They are a solid mob and will be back for the 2025 Brisbane Bookfair.
Some of the Jura Books members used to be in the IWW Sydney Branch, before it collapsed in 2021. So it was interesting sharing a few stories there. There are perhaps some parallels to the Brisbane IWW collapse in 2020, and perhaps even Perth Branch about a decade ago. These are events that could use constructive discussion to prevent any future repeats, learn from past errors and then grow and improve. All three branches were solidly dual unionists, at the time Perth was the biggest branch, then Brisbane, we don’t know the numbers for Sydney. And (misusing) Identity Politics was a common factor used in creating internal conflict.