Anarchism NOT Chaos in Derry

derry | arts and media | event notice Tuesday September 26, 2006 20:38 by James Campbell - tyrconnel St

Anarchism: talks, comedy, film & Punk Rock at the Dungloe bar Derry

Not the first type of people you would associate organisational skills, but the northern punks and anarchists have pulled off an anarchist mini-festival worth travelling the breadth of the country for. This Saturday, 30 Sept, Derry punk-rockers AntiState, together with Belfast's Just Books Collective and the Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM) have put togetrher an evening of events starting at 4pm, in the Dungloe Bar on Waterloo Street.

Entitled 'Anarchism NOT Chaos', the event, a fundraiser for the bookshop collective Just Books, can be seen as a celebration of the different strands of anarchism and libertarian socialism in Ireland. Event organiser Shane OCurry of the WSM said: " It didn't start off consciously as anything grandiose like that, but that's what it became. In the beginning I had organised it as punk rock gig to raise funds for the Just Books collective, because they had organised for French punkers Brigada Flores Magon to come over. The lads at AntiState (formerly BSquad) were very keen and threw their lot in to help. They also got their band back together for the night. Sometime later in the Workers Solidarity Movement, to which I belong, we decided to hold some public meetings in Derry. I suggested we do them on the same day. Ramor Ryan's 'Clandestines' from AK press has also just come out with a lot of critical acclaim and I knew that Ramor was touring the country doing book readings. It seemed the logical time to get him to Derry to do a reading. Then a comrade of mine in the WSM contacted me and asked if we could host Pig Brother live. The Mujeres Libres Derry people were approached and asked if they could contribute, as were the Revolutionary Anarcha-feminist Group (RAG). The whole thing just gathered more and more momentum"

Asked about why Brigada Flores Magon were not playing the gig in Derry anymore in spite of their flights being paid for by Just Books, he just said " there's no sense in recriminating at this stage. The lesson for us all is in good communication and proper coordination between all the points. We are convinced that the band are innocent in all this. Luckily for us, Belfast's Tin Pot Operation, who are younger and whose high energy pop-punk has a much wider appeal, agreed to play. We are lucky to get them for a fundraiser like this. They are in really high demand, especially after their Radio 1 feature. But it just goes to show, they are political and proud of it. "