Books, bikes and movies
It is Bookfair week, with an all day Friday Film Fest and free bike rentals from Velocipede ($20 refundable deposit and bring your own lock.)
October 19-21
It's Bookfair week! This Friday, Red Emma's kicks off the 2007 Mid-Atlantic
Radical Bookfair - the biggest event we organize all year long. Three days of
films, speakers, workshops, tablers, and, of course BOOKS, all focused around
questions, communities, identities, and activism that concern the radical left! And
we want to see all of you there - help us make this year's Bookfair even better
than last year's event (held in June/July 2006 at Centerstage) ... read on below
for the quick list and details, and then keep reading for some of the highlights
of the weekend's festivities - get the full schedule on the Bookfair website:
<a href="http://www.redemmas.org/bookfair">www.redemmas.org/bookfair</a>;! Friday's Film Fest has a suggested donation of $5 to
raise funds for the Bookfair - and Saturday & Sunday's events are entirely FREE!
Tell everyone you know! (And please forward this announcement far & wide!)
::::: October 19-21 | The 2007 Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair! | @ 2640 Saint
Paul Street :::::
Bringing together the best of radical publishing and writing, with tablers,
speakers, artists, activists, and other oddballs from across the country, the
Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair is a jam-packed weekend-long celebration of informed
resistance!
*** Bookfair Highlights ***
Featuring talks and workshops by Dahr Jamail, Joy James, Ashanti Alston, Sylvia
Federici, George Caffentzis, David Solnit, Muhammad Ahmad, China Martens,
Stephen Duncombe, M.K. Asante Jr., $pread Magazine, Unconventional Action, Radical
Reference, Erik Ruin, and Marshall "Eddie" Conway.
With over 50 tablers including AK Press, Africa World Press, Autonomedia,
Bluestockings Books, Brian MacKenzie Infoshop, City Lights, CodePink DC, CrimethInc,
Down There Health Collective, Haymarket Books, Institute for Experimental
Freedom, JMWW, Justseeds, Kersplebedeb, Left Turn, Microcosm Publishing, New Press,
Normals Books & Records, Off Our Backs, One Thousand Emotions, Read Street Books &
Coffee, Red Emmas Bookstore Coffeehouse, Scarlet Letter Project, Seven Stories
Press, Social Anarchism, $pread Magazine, Unconventional Action, and Wooden Shoe
Books.
Including an all-day Radical Film Festival on October 19 at 2640 Saint Paul
Street with screenings of Chris Marker's Case of the Grinning Cat, Catherine
Pancake's Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal and the Fight for Coalfield Justice, Bill
Daniel's Who is Bozo Texino?, Naomi Klein & Alfonso Cuaron's The Shock
Doctrine, Mal de Ojo TV's Impunity in Oaxaca, and Finally Got The News (a film by the
League of Revolutionary Black Workers).
For more information and a full schedule of events and descriptions, see
<a href="http://www.redemmas.org/bookfair">http://www.redemmas.org/bookfair</a>; or email bookfair@redemmas.org.
*** Bookfair Details ***
The Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair is an annual event organized by Red Emmas
Bookstore Coffeehouse in Baltimore, in collaboration with Washington D.C.s Brian
MacKenzie Infoshop and Philadephias Wooden Shoe Books. The 2006 Bookfair was held
in downtown Baltimore at Centerstage, and drew in over 3,000 visitors over the
course of the weekend, thanks to widespread community and media attention. This
year, the organizing committee is thrilled to announce that the 2007 Bookfair
will take place at 2640, the new community events space developed by Red Emmas,
located in the former sanctuary space at the historic Saint Johns Church in
Charles Village (2640 Saint Paul Street). Additional workshops will also be held at
The Village Learning Place, a community library located just down the street from
Saint Johns Church, at 2521 Saint Paul Street.
This year, we're happy to announce that we will again have a Bookfair Kidz
Corner, a safe place for kids to play and learn while their parents have a chance to
explore the Bookfair! Find out more on the website - and send us an email if
you want to get involved as a volunteer!
PLUS: Bookfair bike rental! Coming to town for the Bookfair & wondering how to
get from 2640 down to Red Emma's? "Rent" a bike from Baltimore's Velocipede Bike
Project, a collectively-operated bike shop that's fixed up bikes especially for
our Bookfair visitors - stop by their shop on Friday-Sunday to borrow a bike
for a $20 returnable deposit - but make sure to bring a lock along! See
<a href="http://www.velocipedebikeproject.org/">http://www.velocipedebikeproject.org/</a>;
Still hungry for more? Read on below for descriptions of some of the Bookfair
highlights, but be sure to check the full schedule on the web!
*** The Radical Film Fest ***
This year, kick off the Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair at Baltimore's first-ever
Radical Film Festival, all day on October 19, at 2640 Saint Paul Street!
>From uprisings in Oaxaca to homeland insecurities, from the streets of Paris to
the freight-trains of the midwest, from the mountaintops of West Virginia to
the auto factories of Detroit, Red Emma's brings you some of the most unusual
short political films we've discovered this year.
Films run from noon 10PM on Friday, October 19. $5 donation is requested, but
no one will be turned away for a lack of funds - that's just $5 for a whole day
of films (thats less than 50 cents per film)! See the full schedule and list of
films on the Film Fest website: <a href="http://www.redemmas.org/bookfair/2007/filmfest">http://www.redemmas.org/bookfair/2007/filmfest</a>;.
Dont miss our evening feature presentation:
6PM: Chris Markers The Case of the Grinning Cat (2006, 58min.)
French documentarian and cinema-essayist Chris Marker reflects on
French and international politics, art and culture at the start of the
new millennium. In November 2001, the filmmaker became intrigued, as
did many other Parisians, by the sudden appearance of alluring
portraits of grinning yellow cats on buildings, Metro walls and other
public surfaces. This engaging record of Marker's cinematic
peregrinations throughout the city, visually energized by his
free-association montage style, chronicles strikes, demonstrations,
memorials, election campaigns, celebrity scandals, international
political incidents, and a seemingly endless variety of political
protests (against the Iraq War, against China's occupation of Tibet,
against the government's ban on the wearing of Muslim headscarves).
Baltimore premiere!
7PM: Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal and the Fight for Coalfield Justice
(2006, 71 min.)
BLACK DIAMONDS charts the escalating drama in Appalachia over the
alarming increase in large mountaintop coal mines. These mammoth
operations have covered 1200 miles of headwater streams with mining
waste; demolished thousands of acres of hardwood forest; and flattened
hundred of Appalachian mountain peaks. Citizen testimony and visual
documentation interwoven with the perspectives of government
officials, activists, and scientists create a riveting portrait of an
American region fighting for its life--caught between the grinding
wheels of the national appetite for cheap energy and an enduring sense
of Appalachian culture, pride, and natural beauty. Director Catherine
Pancake will be on-hand to introduce the film and answer questions
afterwards!
9PM: Finally Got the News, a film by the League of Revolutionary Black Workers
(1970, 55 min.)
FINALLY GOT THE NEWS is a forceful, unique documentary that reveals
the activities of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers inside and
outside the auto factories of Detroit. Through interviews with the
members of the movement, footage shot in the auto plants, and footage
of leafleting and picketing actions, the film documents their efforts
to build an independent black labor organization that, unlike the UAW,
will respond to worker's problems, such as the assembly line speed-up
and inadequate wages faced by both black and white workers in the
industry.
*** Some of Our Favorite Tablers! ***
Saturday, October 20 & Sunday, October 21: Browse the best of radical and
independent publishing at the Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair! [Free entry]
>From 11AM-6PM on Saturday and Sunday, publishers, presses, authors, and
activist groups from around the country will gather at 2640 Saint Paul Street, bringing
new and old radical literature to sell and trade. From books and magazines to
zines and tshirts, visitors will find a little bit of everything for sale at the
2007 Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair. Find a full list of tablers and short
descriptions on the Bookfair website at:
<a href="http://redemmas.org/bookfair/2007/tables">http://redemmas.org/bookfair/2007/tables</a>;
Be sure to check out these great radical presses and distros:
AK Press
AK Press is a worker-run book publisher and distributor organized
around anarchist principles. All decisions, including which titles to
distribute and what to publish, are made collectively. The Press makes
available radical books and other materials published by independent
presses, providing information and non-mainstream perspectives on
topics ranging from anarchism, labor, and globalization to graffiti,
folk music, and surrealism.
Autonomedia
A radical publisher that seeks to provide an autonomous zone for arts
radicals in both old and new media, Autonomedia publishes books on
radical media, politics and the arts that transcend party lines,
bottom lines and straight lines.
Charles H. Kerr
The oldest radical publisher in the U.S, today Charles H. Kerr
operates as a worker-owned co-operative not-for-profit educational
association. Its publication list features beautifully printed,
reasonably priced books that bring back into print some of the best
radical authors of times past, as well as heretofore unpublished
writings by T-Bone Slim, Claude McKay, Slim Brundage, and Covington
Hall; new books by H. L. Mitchell, Staughton Lynd, Warren Leming, and
Carlos Cortez; and a large and steadily growing number of books on the
IWW.
Institute for Experimental Freedom (Southeast)
The Institute for Experimental Freedom is a transbioregional
university of insurrectional arts. Contributing to the insurrectional
project, the IEF creates and deconstructs radical aesthetics and
elaborates on a historical and ecological materialist discourse. The
IEF focuses primarily on insurrectional theory and naratives of
practice, critical race theory, post/transfeminisms, and
anti-civilization through a social eschatological perspective. Current
projects include a compilation of Venezuelan anarchist anti-Chavista
works and publishing and layout for a zine exploring the liberatory
and negate-ive potential of re-subjectification of Otherized bodies
through the use of the alt and feminist porn.
Justseeds
Started by Josh MacPhee in 1998 as a distribution system for a small
number of radical art projects, Justseeds now houses almost 150 items,
from shirts to posters, original print art to zines and
videos. Justseeds' mission is to make available the most exciting
independent and political culture that is being created. Justseeds
focuses on promoting a wide array of political art and printmaking
being made today, anarchist culture and publications, and street art,
stencil and graffiti culture that is both critical of and engaged with
the larger world we live in.
Microcosm
Microcosm Publishing is an independent publisher and distributor based
in Bloomington, IN and Portland, OR. We distribute & publish zines,
books, pamphlets, stickers, buttons, patches, t-shirts, posters,
films, and more! We hope to add credibility to zine writers and their
ethics, teach self-empowerment, show hidden history, and nurture
peoples creative side. We began in 1996 with one person doing part
time mail-order out of a bedroom.
Normals Books and Records
Normals is an incredible collectively run used bookstore in Waverly
(practically down the street from the Bookfair location at 31st and
Greenmount) that's made book addicts in Baltimore extremely happy for
the past 17 years.
Off Our Backs
Off Our Backs is a newsjournal by, for, and about women. It has been
published continuously since 1970, making it the longest surviving
feminist newspaper in the United States. It is run by a collective
where all decisions are made by consensus. The mission of the magazine
is to provide news and information about womens lives and feminist
activism; to educate the public about the status of women around the
world; to serve as a forum for feminist ideas and theory; to be an
information resource on feminist, womens, and lesbian culture; and to
seek social justice and equality for women worldwide.
Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse
Baltimore's only fair trade coffeeshop and collectively run bookstore,
and one of the primary organizers of the Radical Bookfair well be on
hand to provide vegan treats and caffeinated beverages all weekend
plus special in-store specials if you can get away from the fair and
visit us down in Mt. Vernon.
*** A Full Program of Workshops, Lectures, and Book Talks! ***
The Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair offers a full program of talks, workshops, and
panel discussions all day Saturday & Sunday. And best of all, they're all
FREE!
Check out the Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair's schedule of speakers and workshops
on the Bookfair website:
<a href="http://www.redemmas.org/bookfair/schedule">http://www.redemmas.org/bookfair/schedule</a>;
Saturday Highlights include:
12PM: David Solnit on counter-recruitment and Army of None
Bay-area activist and Seattle 1999 organizer David Solnit returns to
Baltimore to discuss the Army of None project, an ongoing
counter-recruitment effort based on the notion that the military
recruitment complex insinuates itself into the daily lives of children
and youth in ways most people are not aware of. Millions of dollars
are poured into advanced marketing strategies; recruiters walk freely
into classrooms with false promises of a way out of poverty. The Army
of None Project argues that childhood should be free of military
influence and the constant pressure to enlist. This is not just a way
to protect our most valuable national resourcechildrenit is an
effective way to take local action to provide equal opportunity and
youth leadership training for those who bear the burden of fighting in
Iraq and beyond.
1PM: Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) presents We Will Return in the Whirlwind:
Black Radical Organizations 1960-1975
Former Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) chairman Muhammad Ahmad
(born Max Stanford) comes to Baltimore to present his new book We Will
Return In the Whirlwind, an incredible first-hand account of the wave
of Black resistance that swept the U.S. in the wake of the Civil
Rights movement. From Malcolm X's last days to the radicalization of
SNCC to the founding of the Black Panther Party and the League of
Revolutionary Black Workers, Ahmads new work tells the story of a
consistently radical black organizing tradition whose goal was nothing
less than a revolution in the U.S.
3PM: Sylvia Federici & George Caffentzis on Rethinking War and the Struggle
Against It In the Neoliberal Era
Sylvia Federici and George Caffentzis, both members of the radical
academic Midnight Notes Collective, join together for a presentation
in three parts that examines the purpose of war in modern society and
the ways in which war affects the commons and current markets, and
deals with the question on everyones mind: "How can the anti-war
movement escape its stalemate with the Bush Administration?"
5PM: Ashanti Alston on international organizing
Ashanti Alston Omowali is an anarchist activist, speaker, and writer,
and former member of the Black Panther Party. He was also a member of
the Black Liberation Army, and spent more than a decade in prison
after government forces captured him (and the official court system
convicted him) for armed robbery. A former northeast coordinator for
Critical Resistance, Ashanti is currently co-chair of the National
Jericho Movement (to free U.S. political prisoners), a member of
pro-Zapatista people-of-color U.S.-based Estacion Libre, and is on the
board of the Institute for Anarchist Studies.
Sunday Highlights include:
12PM: Realizing the Impossible: Art Against Authority, with Erik Ruin
Red Emmas is thrilled to welcome Erik Ruin (street artist, puppeteer,
and editor of the art/politics zine Trouble in Mind) back to Baltimore
for a more in-depth presentation of his new anthology (co-edited with
Josh MacPhee of the Justseeds project), Realizing the Impossible: Art
Against Authority. The book is filled to the gills with articles and
essays on the development and significance of anarchist art and
artistic anarchism (including an article featuring Camp Baltimore's
social justice trailer project).
1PM: Joy James presents Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing and Prisons
in a Penal Democracy, with a special phone-in by former Black Panther and
political prisoner Eddie Marshall Conway
The United States has more than two million people locked away in
federal, state, and local prisons. Although most of the
U.S. population is non-Hispanic and white, the vast majority of the
incarcerated - and policed - is not. Contributors consider the interning or
policing of citizens of color, the activism of radicals, structural
racism, destruction and death in New Orleans following Hurricane
Katrina, and the FBI Counterintelligence Program designed to quash
domestic dissent. Editor Joy James is John B. and John T. McCoy
Presidential Professor of Africana Studies and College Professor in
Political Science at Williams College. She is the author of
Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics and Resisting
State Violence: Radicalism, Gender, and Race in U.S. Culture and the
editor of The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and
Contemporary Prison Writings and Imprisoned Intellectuals: Americas
Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion.
Baltimore Black Panther Marshall Eddie Conway has been wrongfully
incarcerated in the state of Maryland for more than 35 years, one of
the many victims of the FBIs infamous COINTELPRO program.
2PM: China Martens presents The Future Generation
A pioneer of the genre, especially when it comes to mamazines, China
Martens started The Future Generation in 1990. She was a young
anarchist punk rock mother who didnt feel that the mamas in her
community had enough support, so she began delivering articles on
radical parenting to her companeras in an age before the Internet made
such a thing easy. Now, for the first time, 16 years of her zine and
parenting writing life come together. This zine-book uses individual
issues as chapters, focuses on personal writing, and retains the
character of a zine that changed over the years-growing from her
daughters birth to teenagehood and beyond. Personal and political;
ideas and actions; the intimacy of a zine meets the arching reach of a
book.
3PM: The Baltimore Algebra Project reports on their October 17 March for Jobs
and Education
The Baltimore Algebra Project seeks to foster an environment where
students can possess the mathematics skills necessary to desire,
demand, and successfully complete a college preparatory curriculum in
high school, opening the gateway to opportunities and choices of
careers in mathematics and technical fields. One of the
longest-running and most highly effective activist groups in the
Baltimore area, the Algebra Project continues to inspire and intrigue
us on a daily basis. Join students as they report back on their
October 17 March for Jobs and Education.
4PM: Independent journalist Dahr Jamail on the Iraq War, with members of Iraq
Veterans Against the War
In late 2003, Weary of the overall failure of the US media to
accurately report on the realities of the war in Iraq for the Iraqi
people and US soldiers, Dahr Jamail went to Iraq to report on the war
himself. He spent a total of 8 months in occupied Iraq as one of only
a few independent US journalists in the country, and has reported from
other countries in the region, including Syria, Lebanon and
Jordan. His new book, Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an
Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq is a critical addition to our
understanding of the occupation of Iraq and the essential role of
independent journalism. Jamail will be joined by members of the Iraq
Veterans Against the War coalition, who will share their experiences
in Iraq and at home.
***
Yours for the revolution,
The Red Emma's Collective
Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse
800 Saint Paul Street
<a href="http://www.redemmas.org">http://www.redemmas.org</a>;
&
2640: a cooperative events venue
2640 Saint Paul Street
<a href="http://www.redemmas.org/2640">http://www.redemmas.org/2640</a>;