Pavement Dwellers to speak at first ever Anarchist Book Fair

Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign
Event Notice

The Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers would like to invite all its supporters and the media to the first ever Cape Town Anarchist Book Fair to be held at Cafe Ganesh in Observatory from 10am to 6pm on the 5^th of November.

This is your opportunity to meet some of the authors of No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way and hear about our struggles from the horse’s mouth. Copies of our book along with copies of a sister anthology, My Dream Is To Be Bold: Our Work To End Patriarchy, will be available for purchase.

At 16h00 in the upstairs section of Ganesh, authors will do a presentation about their occupation of Symphony Way and their struggle for dignity, land and housing.

Please join us, we would love to meet you.

Contact Sarita @ 0764699843 and Jerome @ 0731438886

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For more information, see the book fair’s press release below…

Cape Town Anarchist Book Fair

*** Saturday 5 November 2011 *** Café Ganesh, Observatory (corner Trill Road & Lower Main Road). *** From 10am to 6pm *** Free entry

 

Remember, remember, the fifth of November, as this is the date when South Africa will play host to its first ever Anarchist Book Fair, taking place in Observatory, Cape Town, at Café Ganesh (corner Trill Road and Lower Main Road).

Comrades, armchair anarchists, committed revolutionaries and book lovers are invited to come and learn about this exciting philosophy and its proud history of resistance. You can swing by any time between 10am and 6pm to check out a wide range of radical literature, music, movies, talks and more. You’ll also have the chance to meet like-minded people, engage in discussions and workshops, and help to foment dissent (the ideal antidote to South Africa’s one party state).

Come and tune into an exciting moment in history. Not only have long-term dictatorships been overthrown by grassroots movements in North Africa (many of which organised along anarchist lines) but we’re also seeing a new decentralised occupation movement that started in Wall Street, New York and is now spreading across the world. People are taking to the streets and, if not directly calling for anarchism, are organising with anarchist principles such as horizontalism, decentralisation, and consensus-based decision-making.

Says one of the organisers Neil Goodwin, ‘Whenever societies descend into destruction and violence, commentators like to reach for the ‘anarchy’ label, in much the same way that colonialists once used ‘black’ to describe anything negative. This ideological hatchet job’s being going on for so long that people just accept it now. A flick through any one of hundreds of books at this bookfair will show you a completely different picture of Anarchy, a rich and vibrant set of values and social history built on co-operation, equality and ingenuity.’

There will be over 12 stalls and collectives taking part including –

The Missing Shelf, Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front, CrimethInc South Africa, Intsangu Clothes, Amandla! Magazine, Soundz of the South, Feminist Alternatives and Botsotso. The Sympony Way Pavement Dwellers, who will also be there showcasing their extraordinary book “No Land! No House! No Vote!”

Other talks will touch on such themes as “Anarchism, wtf? An introduction to anarchist ideas and history”…“Murdering the Queer dream: an incomplete personal critique on the liberal gay agenda in politics, in relationships, in death”…“Art & (revolutionary) Activism”

The programme will also include a feast of thought provoking films, including the South African premiere of ‘Reclaim the Streets – The Movie’, the staggering ‘Fourth World War’, a sneak preview of ‘Dear Mandela’, and that anarchist classic “Living Utopia”.
For further details, Contact Aragorn Eloef Tel: +27 (0) 82 557 3912

Email: us@anarchistbookfair.co.za or visit our website at www.anarchistbookfair.co.za and our events page on Facebook – ‘The Cape Town Anarchist Bookfair.

10 days left for a US/UK book tour to fix the publishing industry

To all supporters of the Symphony Way and Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign,

We cannot humanise our world through a vanguard media. The right to a voice cannot be held only by elite academics, authors and politicians. To fix the publishing industry, we must turn freedom of speech on its head. This is why the first ever pavement dweller book tour of Europe and North America is so necessary. On behalf of the Symphony Way community, we ask you to help us bring our new anthology, No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way, to the world!

If we can raise the $6,830 (usd) needed for the plane tickets, we plan to visit universities, bookstores, organisations and movements the following cities:

London / Oxford
New York / Boston
Philadelphia / Washington DC
Chicago / Milwaukee
San Francisco / Los Angeles
Ottawa / Toronto
Vancouver

In order to make this happen, however, we need to raise an additional $5,666 within the next 10 days before our campaign ends.

If you believe in the importance of providing a platform for authentic voices from below, this is your chance to make sure these voices get heard. Please contribute to our campaign and you will receive free copies of the book, DVDs, signed copies by Raj Patel, and even a specially arranged visit to the city of your choice by the authors.

But please contribute here now before we run out of time!

Thanks for your support. Aluta continua!

The Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers
Contact: symphony@antieviction.org.za or 0845930255

To bring the book tour to your city, contact jaredsacks@gmail.com

Launch at Book Lounge of “No Land! No House! No Vote!” and picket by Blikkiesdorp in front of Parliament

For more information on our struggle, please contact Aunty Tilla @ 0764772508 and Michelle @ 0748063523

Interview with Symphony Way about their new book

** Special interview by 3CR Community Radio in Melbourne, Australia.  They interviewed the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers on their new book: No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way

** Click link to download the interview which is in .m4a format *

Book synopsis:

Many outside South Africa imagine that after Mandela was freed and the ANC won free elections all was well. But the last two decades have led to increased poverty and inequality. Although a few black South Africans have become wealthy, for many the struggle against apartheid never ended because the ethos of apartheid continues to live.

Early in 2007 hundreds of families living in shacks in Cape Town were moved into houses they had been waiting for since the end of apartheid. But soon they were told that the move had been illegal and they were kicked out of their new homes. They built shacks next to the road opposite the housing project and hundreds organised themselves into the Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign, vowing to stay on the road until the government gave them permanent housing.

Symphony Way Mediations Postponed – Will Resume Tomorrow at 9h00

Mediations were postponed today, but will resume tomorrow at 9h00 with the same focus:

On Tuesday, Symphony Way pavement dwellers of the Delft Anti-Eviction Campaign met with the city to begin the mediation process regarding the pending evictions of the community from Symphony Way. The community appeared in the Cape Town High Court on Wednesday, October 7^th, 2009. The judge ordered that there must be a mediation process to end with a solution.

The Symphony Way pavement dwellers engaged with the city and asked for alternatives to the “Blikkiesdorp” Temporary Relocation Area where they are refusing to move based on its inhumane conditions. But the only option the city is offering is Blikkiesdorp.

The Mediations were to resume today, but were postponed and will continue tomorrow at 9am at the Council Depot in Delft. The Symphony Way community is going back to meet with the city to see what can be done and to discuss further alternatives to Blikkiesdorp.

Any mediators are invited to attend and assist with the process. All media is invited to attend.

For more information please contact: Ashraf Cassiem 0761861408 and Evelyn 072-748-6864

Symphony Way Mediations Continue Tomorrow – 9h00

Mediation process continues tomorrow – 9h00 at the Council Depot in Delft

This afternoon, Symphony Way pavement dwellers of the Delft Anti-Eviction Campaign met with the city to begin the mediation process regarding the pending evictions of the community from Symphony Way. The community appeared in the Cape Town High Court on Wednesday, October 7^th, 2009. The judge ordered that there must be a mediation process to end with a solution.

Today the Symphony Way pavement dwellers engaged with the city and asked for alternatives to the “Blikkiesdorp” Temporary Relocation Area where they are refusing to move based on its inhumane conditions. But the only option the city is offering is Blikkiesdorp.

Tomorrow at 9am at the Council Depot in Delft, the Symphony Way community is going back to meet with the city to see what can be done and to discuss further alternatives to Blikkiesdorp.

Any mediators are invited to attend and assist with the process.

For more information please contact: Ashraf Cassiem 0761861408 and Evelyn 072-748-6864

Symphony Way Mediation Process Begins Today 13h00 – Mediators Invited to Assist

The Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign is attending a meeting today at 13h00 at the Council Depot in Delft to start the process of mediation with the city per the court order.

Symphony Way pavement dwellers appeared in the Cape Town High Court on Wednesday, October 7^th, 2009. The order by the judge was that there must be a mediation process that needs to end with a solution. This week the Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign will engage with the city as the community is standing strong on opposing to be moved to the “Blikkiesdorp” Temporary Relocation Area.

All mediators who will be helpful to the process are invited to attend today and assist with the forthcoming solution.

For more information please contact: Ashraf Cassiem 0761861408 or Evelyn 072-748-6864

Media: Pavement dwellers square up for eviction battle

Regan Thaw | 8 October, 2009 | Eyewitness News

Symphony Way pavement dwellers in Delft have vowed to fight their impending eviction to the bitter end.

The squatters have been living along Symphony Way for over a year.