To wet the appetite before the big day we have an extra event the day before the bookfair (Friday 6th May). Gabriel Kuhn will be giving a talk on his new book Soccer Vrs. The State at Easton Community Centre from 19:30. Also, don’t forget that there is a KIPTIK film showing on Wednesday 4th May 7.30pm at Hamilton House.

“Viva Mexico!”

Award-winning documentary plus Q&A with film-maker Nicolas Defosse. Part of UK Zapatista Network tour. www.vivamexicofilm.com Wednesday 4th May 7.30pm Hamilton House, Stokes Croft (http://coexist.hamiltonhouse.org/).  Suggested donation £3/£2 but no-one turned away due to lack of funds, www.kiptik.org www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org/

In 1994, a guerrilla group called Zapatista Army for National Liberation occupied several towns in the state of Chiapas. They expressed their exasperation with a political class that did not listen to citizens, whose representatives filled their own pockets at the expense of the people and who, through their commitment to international free trade, sold off public assets and undermined the social fabric of the country. Since then, Zapatista communities in the mountains of Chiapas have declared autonomy and have implemented their own system of governance, administration, health service, and education system.

Since their first appearance, the Zapatistas have reached out to other groups, both nationally in Mexico and internationally. In 2006, they started *the other campaign* as an alternative to the electioneering of the political parties. Representatives of the Zapatistas travelled through Mexico, met up with grassroots organizations, and listened to peoples grievances and their suggestions for change. *¡Viva México!* follows the Zapatista representatives from historic Chiapas to the tourist resorts of Cancún, from picturesque Oaxaca to the beaches of Nayarit, from the centre of Mexico City to the streets of Los Angeles. The documentary captures fishermen, squatters, illegal immigrants, transsexual and transgendered people, hotel employees, members of indigenous communities, urban artisans, and peasants who struggle against the encroachment of the tourism industry on their land, as they tell their stories and enter into dialogue with the Zapatista representatives.

*¡Viva México!* gives a unique image of a proud, resistant and committed Mexico. It affords a rare insight into the political and social reality lived by those whose voices rarely find their ways into the media. It is also, and beyond the dimension of Mexico, a powerful documentation of an alternative way of doing politics. Nicolas Défossé is a French filmmaker who lives in Chiapas. Among his films are La Hierbabuena and Breaking the Siege (co-directed with Mario Viveros). ¡Viva

México! has received numerous awards, among them the Salvador Allende Award for best documentary from the Latin American Film Festival of Brussels, Belgium; the Audience Award for best independent documentary at the Latin American Film Festival in Bordeaux, France; the Audience Award for Best Documentary from the International Human Rights Film Festival in Sucre, Bolivia; and the Audience Award for best documentary at the Film Festival of Tepoztlan, Mexico.

It will happen at the end of a week that includes an outrageously expensive royal wedding, local elections and a referendum on the latest parliamentary elections voting scam. It will happen shortly after the budget cuts of the national LibDemCon government, and local councils, will be known; whilst the job losses and cuts inherent in the austerity drive to bail out capitalism will be kicking in. The anarchist bookfair will be the perfect antidote to all this misery and displays of wealth inequality.

As in the Autumn we will have about 7 speakers and 10 history related stalls in the RHZ.

Find out more at the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair website.

Bristol Anarchist Bookfair is on Saturday 11th September 2010 at Hamilton House on 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3QY.

Click here for the full Radical History Zone line-up.

Bristol Radical History Group will be hosting the ‘Radical History Zone’ at the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair on Saturday 11th September 2010 at Hamilton House, Stokes Croft. Over the last two years the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair has grown to be one of the largest radical gatherings in the city. This year it is expected that around 1000 people will attend the event.

As part of the recent interest in radical, social and working class history, Bristol Radical History Group and Bristol Anarchist Bookfair Collective have created the ‘Radical History Zone’, a dedicated space for independent history publishers, radical and local history groups from the South West and beyond. Meetings and workshops in the RHZ will cover DIY publishing, websites and research along with ‘Meet the Author’ sessions a chance to hear about some of the new radical history works on offer.

The very reasonable rates for bookstalls are on the attached booking form, and the suggestions are as follows:

1. Double table

2. Single table

3. Half a table (share with another publisher/group)

4. Generic table (share it with a few others)

If you would like to be part of the Radical History Zone the deadline for applications for stalls etc. is the 9th August 2010 (at the latest). Please e-mail the completed form to:

brh@brh.org.uk

or mail it to BRHG, c/o Booty, 82 Colston St., Bristol BS1 5BB.

If you would like to offer to be on a panel or present a ‘meet the author’ session (or have any other ideas) then let us know.

Download the booking form here.

Hope to see you in Bristol on the 11th….

18/01/2010 Bristol Feminist Network Present: Women And The Media – Representation, Misrepresentation, No Representation.

01/02/2010 Bristol Anarchist Bookfair Presents: J18 & Seattle 10 Years On – Histories and reflections on these movements and the strategies for today’s acrivists.

22/02/2010 Cop 15 – What Now? – Short films and discussions on what the outcome of Copenhagen Climate Summit means for the World and activists.

01/03/2010 Bristol Radical History Group Present: The 43 Group – Talk from a member of the anti-fascist group that helped keep fascism at bay after WWII. Find out more >>

05/04/2010 Bristol Radical History Group Presents: Democracy? – With an election upon us we ask what is the nature of democracy and are there any better alternatives.

03/05/2010 Constantine’s Sword -  Why are intolerance, violence & war so deeply ingrained in religion? Can war ever be holy? See this film to find out.

07/06/2010 The Gleaners And I – Agnes Vardas classic film looks at The Gleaners, those who live on the margins and waste of our capitalist society.

• Steve Mills and Ian Bone at the Working Class Bookfair
• Dan Bennett and Steve Mills at Bristol Anarchist Bookfair
• Roger, Kev Davis and Steve Mills at Bridport
• Steve Tilzey – No Retreat
• BCFM interview from 2008

Members of BRHG will be doing three talks/discussions:

From Peterloo to Captain Swing: Victims or Insurgents? – Roger

Room 1 Ground Floor: 11.00am-12.00pm: A BRHG talk on the hidden history of struggle in the 19th century. It focuses on how and why major struggles have been ignored or distorted by the left as well as the right.

A Brief History of Corporations – Dan Bennett

The Films and Media Workshops room First Floor: 2.00pm – 3.00pm: A talk/discussion by Bristol Radical History Group member and expert on the Corporation, Dan Bennett. Dan will answer the questions ‘What are Corporations?’, ‘Where do they come from? and ‘How do they derive their power?’

Social crime – who makes the law, and who is it for? Steve Mills

Room 2 First Floor: 3.00pm – 4.00pm:  A talk followed by discussion, about the history of crime and the formation of the British legal system. Taking in social crime, the moral economy, smuggling, poaching, shoplifting and riots!

An event by Bristol Anarchist Book Fair on Thursday 23rd April 2009 at the Cube from 7:30pm. £2/3.

19 years ago when the Tories tried to introduce the community charge, or Poll Tax, in England & Wales, they were met with a campaign of mass grassroots community resistance, in the form of anti-poll tax unions. About 17 million people refused to pay, and used a diverse range of tactics to confront the state and tax collectors. What can we learn from that campaign that could help us in the current crisis?

Speakers include Danny Burns, local anti-poll tax activist & author of The Poll Tax Rebellion and East Bristol Debtors Alliance.

More details of this event can be found on Bristol Anarchist Book Fair’s website.

From 10am to 5pm

For more details visit the Book Fair website.