SF Anarchist? Bookfair: A Cautionary Tale

Members of Redwood Curtain Copwatch and Richardson Grove Action Now!, a direct action coalition which has been taking direct action to stop the CalTrans plan to widen the highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park, traveled 6 hours south to the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair this past weekend. They arrived with the intent to make connections with Bay Area activists and find common ground in struggle, but instead what they experienced was name calling, personal attacks and a stifling of their political message.

Two members of this Humboldt county anarchist crew arrived in the morning, and the rest showed up mid-day Saturday. When they attempted to set up a table that afternoon outside the bookfair, the trouble started. The “designated” outdoor area was full of others who had come to participate in the event, so they found an open spot about 15 feet away. Within minutes bookfair organizer Joey Cain swooped in with his first attack. He told them they had to move to the other side of what could be called the “foyer” of the faire. RGAN and RCCW were advised to “follow the rules” of the bookfair and were offered a spot way back in the corner of the front area, where nobody could or would be walking by. In an attempt to compromise, they moved the table to a spot where a band had set-up earlier in the day. This position was still not acceptable for the organizers of the event. Cain came back out and called them all “ASSHOLES” then, with his finger pointed directly at one of the comrades and his body in a definite violation of her personal space, he called her a “BITCH”.

A young female organizer from Bound Together Books came to Cain’s aid, and repeatedly told the anarchists to “OBEY” the rules of the bookfair. Then she picked up a stack of fliers from the table (about resisting police interrogation) and threw them towards the front gate. After this, the Humboldt anarchists attempted to compromise by folding up the table and putting the literature on the ground which was apparently the correct protocol for participation.

However, the position of their plot was still an issue. Kindly, some of the other participants moved their zines and allowed RGAN and RCCW to squeeze into the “designated” anarchy area. However RGAN still had a posterboard near the spot from which they had just moved. Cain came back AGAIN, picked up the three part posterboard, and ripped a third of it off (He later claimed that Richardson Grove Action Now! ripped their own sign in order to “cause a scene”).

Humboldt group members were also criticized for supposedly thinking that their issue was more important than anyone else’s’ and also that they thought they were “privileged.” When the participants tried to explain to the organizers that there was simply no room in the “designated” area, but that they still really wanted to participate, the organizers’ response was simply that they should have come earlier.

The problem RGAN and RCCW find with this reaction is that if they had come earlier, and set up in the correct area, someone else would have been in their position. Also, the sexist “BITCH” comment is a sign that organizer Cain needs to check his white male privilege and patriarchal tendencies. Additionally, it should be noted that if the HumCo crew had paid the exorbitant $200 tabling fee, they would have been inside and none of this would have happened. They did not pay this fee due to a lack of funds. The oppressive comments and actions they received because of this is probably why one of the Humboldt anarchists called Kane a “FASCIST.”

After these events, police presence at the faire was heightened. In my opinion, the heat brought to the faire was a result of the actions of the event’s organizers. They will surely blame the participants, who left at noon on Sunday because the event had turned out to be policed by more than just the park rangers and SFPD. What do you think?

Anarchist get-togethers should not be spaces that breed competition. Rather, they should encourage compromise and cooperation. Apparently the organizers in SF have a different vision.

Let these events be known. Let Anarchy live on. In solidarity.....