Bristol AFed Lives on (but this site doesn’t)

A recent up tick in visits to this site has reminded us of the existence of this site!

Our online recording of our events, demos, thoughts and actions has always been a bit sporadic. Increasingly it has happened in the world of twitter or facebook (before we got kicked off facebook), rather than our own website.

We’re hoping to change that, but not here. Instead we’ll be using the main Anarchist Federation website. This has a few advantages, mostly that you won’t have to see adverts.

It does mean those of you who subscribed to the wordpress based email list over the years will no longer get updates, but you should receive a single GDRP compliant email asking if you’d like to move to a new email list, or never here from us again.

See you on the the web, see you on the streets!




American Speaking Tour, Vegan Burgers & Environmental Action!

Events coming up soon that you might want to get yourself to!

This Friday, the 21st of June, we’ll be hosting a speaker from the Black Rose Anarchist Federation. They’ll be telling us about life in Trump’s America, and the growing anarchist resistance to it!
Get down to BASE (14 Robertson Rd, Bristol BS5 6JZ) from 6.30pm for Vegan Burgers, with the talk starting around 7.30!

On Sunday 30th June, we’re calling on all environmental anti-capitalists (and anti-capitalist environmentalists) to start a Bristol/West Country Green Anti-Capitalist Front.  The plan is to bring together the various anti-capitalist campaigns already running, in order to better support each other, and to make interventions in the wider ecological movement so it doesn’t get stuck in the usual dead ends of broken government promises, individualised responses or ‘green capitalism’.
We’ll be meeting at BASE (14 Robertson Rd, Bristol BS5 6JZ) from 5pm, and sticking around for the regular vegan cafe that kicks off at 6.30pm.
Facebook Event

On the subject of supporting existing ecological campaigns, there is plenty to get involved in:
Swindon XR Demo – and the Solidarity Network Block on it  (Saturday 29th June)
The first weekly ‘rolling picket’ organised by Bristol Earth Strike (Monday 1st July)
The Power Beyond Borders action camp, with transport from Bristol (26th – 31st July)
The Earth First Summer Gathering (14th – 20th August)
The Earth Strike! General strike (27th September, with build up actions in the preceding week).

…and that’s just for starters. Keep your eyes open for more Critical Mass Bike Rides, Pickets, Protests against airport expansion, public workshops and clandestine actions!

Update on DPRTE Demo & More


If you would like to join us and travel to fight the DPRTE Arms fair in Farnborough, you can book a ticket online (if you can’t come but would like to financially contribute to help cover the cost of someone who can make it on the day, but can’t afford it, there is a donateoption here as well). More information on the DPRTE arms fair, including location and a summary of the campaign against it so far is on the AFed website.

If you would like to join us making banners and placards, we will be at BASE (14 Robertson Road, BS5 6JZ) from 5pm – 7pm this Thursday, the 14th.

We are planning for some actions those of you who can’t join us on the day can take – updates on that will be posted the week before the arms fair.

Our friends in Birmingham, who’s city was due to host the arms fair until it did a runner, have created a facebook event for the demo against it. Please share and invite any folks who may be able to travel there on the day (from Bristol, Brum, the South East, or wherever else).

We’ll also be flyering for the anti DPRTE arms fair protest at various events over the coming weeks. Please get in touch with us if you would like to help flyer at an event, and make sure to spread the word.

Non DPRTE related events coming up for the rest of March include:
Friday the 15th sees the second youth strike for climate, skip school/college/work and save the planet instead!
A memorial & Demonstration is taking place on Saturday the 16th, in honour of our friend and comrade Anna who was killed last year.
Extinction Rebellion are hosting a weekend event, we’ll be there arguing that environmentalism must be anti-capitalist and anti-state. Come and say hi if you are planning to attending (note XR are charging £10-£15 a day, so bare that in mind).
Mellow Mondays – Boardgames, and some vegan soup at BASE social centre every week. Often there is bonus food brought to share, or left over from the BASE sunday cafe.
Our friends at Bristol Antifascists are having a fundraiser on Saturday the 30th, should be a great night out!
A group of folks campaigning for more public control of Bristol’s buses are hosting an event on the 19th (more details tbc apparently!)

…Did we miss anything? If there is an event that you want us to attend or help publicise, drop us an email and let us know. Also make sure you make use of Alternative Bristol !

Stop the Arms Fair – Info & Planning

The DPRTE arms fair has the dubious honour of having been chased out of three cities; Bristol, Cardiff and Birmingham. We don’t plan to let up on the vibrant protests that have confronted it around England and Wales, so will following it to Farnborough, where the event takes place on Thursday March 28th.

If you are interested in attending on the 28th, or want to learn more about the Arms Trade and resistance to it, join us at Hydra Books, 34 Old Market on Saturday the 3rd of March at 2pm. Facebook Event More information on the DPRTE arms fair, including location and a summary of the campaign against it so far is on the AFed website.

Talk on Ecology (and some Vegan Lasagne)

We are entering uncharted territory as capitalism exerts ever-increasing pressure on the earth’s ecosystems. left unchecked, the current fossil fuel economy will continue to wreck the climate and the burden of the resulting problems will fall disproportionately on the working class and those living in less economically developed countries.

Can capitalism reform its way into environmental sustainability? Can aware consumers buy their way out of global warming? Will the governments of the world save us from Climate Change? Learn out surprising answers (spoiler warning: no) and discuss the reasons why, and what we can do instead!

We’ll have copies of the pamphlet that we’re basing the talk on available. If you can’t wait to get hold of it, you can download it in PDF form here.

The location is; BASE Community Co-operative, 14 Robertson Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 6JY (website)
The date is: Sunday 24th of February
The talk will start at 7.30, but arrive from 6.30 to get your hands on a delicious vegan meal we’ll be cooking up in the BASE kitchen Menu this week: Armenian soup, veg lasagna, Chocolate ginger cake cake. Also selling Ginger beer to raise money for IAF (international of anarchist federations).

During the meal there will be a chance to browse the BASE info shop and radical library.

We no longer have a facebook (our page was permanently erased) but there is still an event set up, please share it around folks in Bristol as we no longer can. https://www.facebook.com/events/271616323737211/

November Events in Bristol

A selection of events involving us or our friends, and a couple we just think everyone should be at! From protests to pizza, come say hi and get involved.

Solidarity With Brazilian People
Bolsonaro has swept to power in Brazil and ushered in attacks on LGBTQ people, students, teachers and women. Stand with those confronting his fascist policies.
Friday Nov 9th 1.15pm – 3.15pm
Outside Senate House, Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TH

Resist Surveillance!
Know your rights, resist state repression, fight back against control.
Friday Nov 9th
BASE, 14 Robertson Road, Easton BS5 6JY

Opening Bristol’s Borders
Fighting state control and standing in solidarity with Migrants!
Various Dates all November
Various Locations
a3
(click for big)

Free Shop!
Bristol Housing Action Movement host a free shop, browse, chat, listen to music and take away some free stuff. Leave donations of clothes, toys, household stuff,  or anything else someone might enjoy!
Saturday Nov 10th 1pm – 4pm
The Bear Pit

How Did World War 1 End?
Bristol Radical History & Remembering the Real WW1, looks at the truth behind often unanswered (and unasked) questions.
Saturday Nov 10th
1:30 pm to 4:30 pm
M Shed, BS1 4RN

Pizza and Anarchy!
BASE’s Sunday meal, with a chance to browse the radical library and info shop.
Sunday Nov 11th 6.30pm – 9pm
BASE 14 Robertson Road, Easton, BS5 6JY

Bristol Housing Action Fundraising Meal & Film Showing
BHAM are are a collective of squatters and homeless people fighting for housing and support in Bristol. Come get a vegan Lasagna & Dessert for £4.50, and watch ‘Dispossession, the great social housing swindle’.
Wednesday Nov 14th 6.30pm – 9.30pm
BASE 14 Robertson Road, Easton BS4 5JY

March For Mental Health
Student organised event to protest the lack of mental health support at Bristol university, and the uni’s refusal to deal with issues that contribute such as high rents.
Wednesday Nov 21st 1.15pm – 3.15pm
Senate House, Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TH

Trans Pride South West
Now in it’s third year, Trans Pride’s aim is ‘celebrating diversity of Transgender, Non-Binary, Intersex & Gender Variant individuals. Actively encouraging awareness, openness & interaction.’
Wednesday Nov 21st – Sunday Nov 25tg
Various locations

Bristol Bus Protest
Bristol’s busses are a mess, and First are still laughing all the way to the bank. Let’s demand some change.
Saturday Nov 24th 12Midday
College Green

Reclaim the Night
Annual feminist march and rally reclaiming the night for those of us who are told the night belongs only to men. (all genders welcome)
Friday Nov 30th 6.30pm
Queen Square

 

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A previous year’s Reclaim the Night

No Pride in the Arms Trade

The following is a repost of an open letter we have signed, the original is hosted here.

If you would like to add your name to this open letter – please fill in this google form.

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn Bristol Pride’s acceptance of sponsorship money from Airbus for this year’s Pride, and demand that they ditch Airbus as a sponsor.

We want an apology from Bristol Pride, a commitment to never again accept money from those who profit from war crimes, and for them to understand that our community does not exist to be used to pink-wash the arming of oppressive regimes.

Police, dispersing Pride Parade in Istanbul

Solidarity is an action not empty words. For Bristol Pride to claim “we are with” LGBTQ+ activists in Istanbul, who bravely marched despite the ban on Pride, while accepting blood money from a company who supply Turkey’s military is gross hypocrisy. Last week LGBTQ+ activists marching at the banned Istanbul Pride were met with tear gas, rubber bullets, arrests and brutalisation; and the AKP government, led by Erdoğan, is deeply homophobic. [1]

Aircraft that Airbus supply to the Turkish military include the CN235 Maritime Patrol Craft, and the A400M multi-role transport aircraft. [2] The latter has its wings assembled in Filton, Bristol. [3]

Turkey has been invading Afrin, a predominantly Kurdish region in North Syria/Rojava, since January this year. There is strong evidence that Turkey has been employing former ISIS and al-Qaeda fighters for the invasion and occupation. In an interview with The Independent, a former ISIS fighter revealed that “most of those who are fighting in Afrin against the YPG [People’s Protection Units] are Isis, though Turkey has trained them to change their assault tactics.” [4]

Made in Bristol! Turkish Military Transport

In a recent statement, the Rojava Democratic Autonomous Administration Women’s Coordination condemned the abuses of the invading Turkish armed forces and their mercenary allies, saying:
“Erdogan and his mercenaries have occupied Afrin and forced people to leave their homes while at the same time changing the demography of the region. Turkey is also settling mercenaries and their families into the homes of the residents of Afrin”.
“The atrocities against the people of Afrin carried out by the Turkish army and their mercenaries are happening every day under the silence of the international community: women abduction, rape, forcing Ezîdîs to become Muslim, plunder.” [5]

The acceptance of sponsorship money from Airbus is also a specific attack on the Bristol queer community. Anna Campbell, a Bristol-based lesbian, was killed in Afrin, north Syria/Rojava, by a Turkish air strike in March. After going to Rojava to learn from, and support, the women’s revolution; and to fight against ISIS with the YPJ (Women’s Protection Units), she went to Afrin to help defend it against the invasion by Turkey. She was killed with two YPJ comrades, Sara Mêrdîn and Serhildan, while protecting civilians who were evacuating Afrin.

Hêlîn Qereçox (Anna Campbell)

Airbus, along with BAE and Leonardo, also build the Eurofighter jet which they supply to Saudi Arabia, [6] who have used it extensively in their bombing campaign against Yemen. [7] Currently one child dies every ten minutes in Yemen. [8] Saudi Arabia has one of the worst LGBT rights records in the world, with homosexuality criminalised. Being gay or trans in Saudi Arabia means risking fines, imprisonment, torture and even the death penalty. [9]

We call on Bristol Pride to have some integrity and ditch Airbus now!

See More (including signatories)

 

More about our views on Pride:
pride stickers
Battle for the Soul of Pride

Ps.
Don’t think we haven’t noticed you, Babcock, just because you’re a smaller arms company with a smaller sponsorship deal. So small you kind of have to squint to read your name on the promotional material.

Bristol Anarchist Bookfair This Saturday!

This Saturday, May 12th, is the Tenth Bristol Anarchist Bookfair! This year it’s taking place over two neighbouring venues, The Black Swan and BASE (formerly Kebele).

There’ll be a kids space, Vegan BBQ, three rooms of talks and workshops, evening meal, massive after party, and of course dozens of stalls featuring a variety of political campaigns, collectives, authors, papers and distributors.

We hope you can join us there, bring your friends, bring your family, invite that person from work that you are 90% sure wants to overthrow capitalism. Pick up some merch, attend a workshop, chat to your friends, read a leaflet, and plot that overthrowing of capitalism thing with your colleague.

For more in depth information, see the website or facebook event.

Bristol Set for a VERY active couple of weeks

We were just about to bang away on the keyboard listing all of the demonstrations, festivities and events coming up in the fortnight. However, we spotted that our friends over at Bristol IWW had just done the same, and we hope they won’t mind us coping their homework. Cheers comrades!

Make it to as many of these as you can – we’ll certainly be there!

This Saturday, the 9th of September, there is an IWW contingent joining the anti-austerity march and rally called by Bristol People’s Assembly and Bristol Labour Party on College Green. Facebook event here. Look for the IWW banner [and the AFed one, probably next to it]

Sadly on the 10th of September, fascists will be descending upon our city from outside Bristol attempting to whip up Islamophobia and hatred. This time we’re dealing with Tommy Robinson front group ‘Gays Against Sharia’ who will be attempting to use the LGBT community to peddle known fascist speakers such as former BNP youth activist Jack Buckby, Paul Weston of Pegida UK/Liberty GB, figurehead of the EDL’s deluded LGBT grouping Tommy Cook aka Tommy English and wingnut fash-favourite, UKIP leadership candidate Anne Marie Waters. Bristol Queercaf have already called a counter demonstration and Bristol IWW encourages all members and supporters to go along. Fascist groups have never had much success at organising in our brilliant city but we need to keep opposing until they finally get the message. Again look for our banner or check Loomio for on the day plans.

On the 14th of September the IWW have their branch meeting, which will include a workshop with our FWs from the Incarcerated Workers’ Organising Committee (IWOC). Come and find out how IWOC supports prisoners to organise & fight back against prison slavery and the prison system itself. After the meeting we generally go for a drink in a local pub. [For more on the prison abolition movement see the latest issue of Organise! – which you can download for free or pick up from Hydra Books or Kebele Info Shop]

On the 16th of September we’ll be running our usual stall at the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair with pamphlets, badges and other merchandise. This year’s event has moved to St Werburghs Community Centre BS2 9TJ

Finally on the 17th of September Bristol Radical History Group will be holding a Radical History Festival at the M-Shed, which looks to be a really interesting event with some contributions from local Wobblies.

Whatever you’re doing have a lovely September and we hope to see you sometime.

 

Worshipping Power?

On Tuesday Bristol Anarchist Federation hosted a talk by Peter Gelderloos on the theories in his latest book Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation.  We packed out Kebele with people eager to hear about it, we certainly weren’t disappointed. Our friends over in Bath also hosted a talk the following day after we got in touch with them, spreading a bit more anarchy to our gentile neighbour.

It is always refreshing to hear history unchained from the often stagnant ideas of mainstream society. However not only did the talk (and book) go into how states first arose, but how they continue to adapt to sustain the power they hold over us. The lessons contained are essential for all of us fighting for a better world – not just the anarchists. One that stuck out most is one of only two characteristics that all states shared upon forming, Patriarchy.  Male domination of both the family and the people that a state would subjugate was universal. It was also actively forced upon societies that were more gender-balanced by imperial powers such as Britain, Spain and France, all seeing it as essential to their control. This is one more nail in the coffin of those who would argue that feminism is any less essential to anarchism than the fight against the state and capitalism.

If you missed it, or if you want a recap, the event hosted by London Anarchist Federation at the Anti-University was recorded here. Continue reading →