PROGRAMME AND TIMETABLE
25.5. 11:00 - 20:30, afterparty 21:00 - 23:30
Sat 13:00 - 14:30, Cellar stage
New issues of Contradictions: Anarchist Impulses and Anarchism in Central and Eastern Europe
Stories of anarchism in Central and Eastern Europe often drop out of the history of international anarchism. This experience is noticeably absent, as is evident not only in the current debates about the war in Ukraine, but also in discussions about how to write the history of world anarchism. However, comparisons with movements in the same region are also lacking when considering the history and presence of anarchism in individual countries. Thus, in the English issue of Contradictions, some of the stories of Bulgarian, Polish, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Slovak, Belarusian and Romanian anarchism will come alive. English translations by Luisa Landova-Schtych and Maria Orsetti will also appear, as will a current survey of anarchist reactions to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The Czech issue of Contradictions will then present anarchism as a source of impulses for various lines of reflection - whether on non-growth, the possibilities of Max Stirner's contemporary rethinking, or direct action. The issue also includes a selection of inspiring texts by Czech anarchist miners of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries as well as contemporary Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian anarchists. In presenting both issues, we want to focus in particular on the question of what an appreciation of regional perspectives can offer for further thinking about anarchism.
https://kontradikce.flu.cas.cz/
language: Czech
Sat 13:00 - 14:30, Bakunin stage
All the solutions proposed by the decision-making bodies are based on the interests of the financial elite and do not take into account the interests of people on the move and the working class. Migration in a world with so many social problems leads to further pathologies - the exploitation of migrants or the growth of xenophobic attitudes in society.
This is why the no borders movement is in fact part of the anarchist movement and why the words about open borders need to be combined with a critique of capitalism and an effort to create a more just social model.
language: Czech
Sat 15:00 - 16:30, Cellar stage
/ The rebirth of worker militancy? - The 2022-3 strike wave in the UK / Kolektivně proti kapitálu / Mouvement communiste
From the summer of 2022, the UK saw a growing wave of strikes. It was mostly confined to the state and semi-state sector and remained almost entirely constrained by the framework of trade unionism. Nevertheless, it inspired workers across the UK economy to take strike action - often for the first time in decades, or the first time ever! - and it was clear that strikes became mutually reinforcing for a few months. There was a feeling of worker rebellion in the air - from oil rigs to hospitals, from post offices to private nurseries!
This strike wave is now more or less over, despite continuing agitation on the railways and in healthcare (and even higher education). But it represented an important re-emergence of class struggle in the UK, and we need to make some effort to understand what it means for the future of workers' struggle in the UK and more widely.
http://mouvement-communiste.com/
language: English
Sat 15:00 - 16:30, Stage Bakunin
/ Publishing and distribution of radical literature
The main idea of the debate is to transfer and exchange experiences and to create an environment in which more and more people will publish and distribute. Possible topics include
- How to support the creation of new publishing houses?
- how to support the creation of original book titles?
- how to distribute radical literature in the Czech Republic?
- how to support the creation of bookstores focused on radical literature?
Neklid, Salé distribuce/Roleta39, Safe space bookstore and Utopia libri were invited to the panel.
https://neklid.org/, http://saledistro.org/, https://www.roleta39.cz/, https://www.safespacebookstore.com/, https:/utopia.cz/
language: Czech
Sat 15:00 - 16:30, Outdoor stage
/ Workshop Prague
Sat 17:00 - 18:30, Cellar stage
/ Book presentation: Socrates the Skinhead: The Life of a Russian Antifascist / RTP Books (Moscow)
Socrates the Skinhead: The Life of a Russian Antifascist is a collection of memoirs about Aleksei Sutuga, a Russian anti-fascist and anarchist. The book includes materials from his interviews and dialogues about prison and can be considered a chronicle of the most active period in the history of the anti-fascist movement in Russia.
Unfortunately, the Russian state has monopolized anti-fascism and has engaged in the murder of the inhabitants of Ukraine. However, there once was a different kind of anti-fascism that resulted in death, prison, and emigration for its participants. The editor of the Russian-language edition of the book will discuss what the contemporary anti-war and anti-fascist movements can learn from the experience of Russian anti-fascists. We also explore the importance of recording and researching recent history.
Aleksei Sutuga, aka Socrates, was an anarchist and anti-fascist. He played a key role in founding the anarchist organization Autonomous Action. He participated in the Theatre.Doc performances about torture based on documentary testimonies of the Network case defendants. He was prosecuted and recognized as a political prisoner. Socrates passed away on 1 September 2020, due to injuries sustained in a fight unrelated to politics.
language: English
Sat 17:00 - 18:30, Bakunin stage
A representative of IuRe (Iuridicum Remedium), which is the only organization in the Czech Republic that has long been involved in privacy protection and organizes events such as the Big Brother Awards, will explain in a tutorial lecture how to create the smallest possible data footprint - and avoid the tentacles of targeted advertising as much as possible.
Sat 19:00 - 20:30, Cellar stage
The book introduces the thought and practice of Czech anarchist movements from the 1870s to the present day. In five chapters devoted to the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, it depicts the split between anarchists and social democrats, the world of the North Bohemian anarchist miners, the intersection of anarchist ideas and the poetry of the "rebel generation", the meeting of anarchism and feminism, and the rebelliousness of Franta Sauer and Jaroslav Hašek. Five chapters focusing on the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries present the birth of a new anarchism out of the spirit of subcultural and anti-totalitarian revolt, various currents in Czech anarchism and the anti-fascism inspired by it, the relationship between anarchist and environmental movements, squatting and anarchist feminism.
Sat 19:00 - 20:30, Bakunin stage
Sunday 26.5. 11:00 - 17:00
Sun 12:00 - 13:30, Cellar stage
Almost 4 years since the crash of the uprising against Lukashenko's regime and more than 2 years in the war in Ukraine, people in Belarus continue to resist dictatorship despite all the dangers of repressions. And although the creation of the mass popular movement is almost impossible, some continue individual actions against the regime in different forms.
At the same time, thousands continue to stay in prisons and struggle against the continuous repressions there, while more and more people are arrested on the regular basis on made up charges.
In this talk we will look at the past and the modern Belarus, resistance of the people in hard political conditions and the lives in prisons of anarchist and antifascist comrades.
The talk by ABC-Belarus. At the event you will have the possibility to donate to the work of the collective as well as buy some merch.
language: English
Sun 12:00 - 13:30, Bakunin stage
The fact that the marches of brown shirts or skinheads in bombers have disappeared from the streets does not mean that fascism has disappeared and become merely a chapter in the history of the 20th century. It is quite the opposite. Those who would send Roma to the gas chambers during pogroms have long since put on their jackets and are sitting in parliament. Fascist tendencies stemming from capitalism permeate the political mainstream and the sick Czech society. But what does anti-fascism mean if not standing up in the streets to those who explicitly raise fascism? The discussion will focus on how to collectively resist fascism in its current forms and what strategies we as a movement should use in this struggle.
language: English
At the book fair, two of the contributors to the anthology, Lucie Alalu and Tereza Langrova, will first speak at the book launch about what has been happening in the West Bank in recent months and what all is being tried in the occupied territories.
This will be followed by Lamis Bartoushkova Khalilova and Nadia Kotaishova, who will read their personal contributions from the book about their family's story and their relationship to the territory between the river and the sea.
/ Facilitation and Collective Learning Workshop / Kruh Intersekce
The intersection circle is an independent and student-centered space where participants learn from each other. Starting in November 2022, we meet approximately once every three weeks to read and debate intersectional, leftist, feminist texts.