Hundreds of participants in Thessaloniki for a pantheon of talks, workshops, demonstrations and cultural events
~ from infolibre~
The 17th Balkan Anarchist Bookfair was held in Thessaloniki between 15 and 18 May, with great success: both in terms of the many participations of collectives from all Balkan and European regions and the whole of Greece, and in terms of the discussions, the contacts made, and the elaboration of positions and actions.
More than 300 participations came from outside of Greece for a total of 500 registered, and many more came to the events and actions. They showed the will to find each other, to get to know each other and to realise self-organisation, overcoming differences. And even in an era of death-politics, resignation and pessimism, we showed how feasible self-organisation is.
The event began at the Free Social Space School, after the end of the march in solidarity with the Palestinian people, against the genocide being committed by Israel in Gaza, on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, in which many people who came to Thessaloniki for the festival participated at the invitation of the organising committee of BAB 2025.
The state-capitalist crimes in Tempi, Novi Sad and Kotsani were at the centre of the first event of the Bookfair, discussing the cracks they cause to the systemic narratives of domination, as well as the social-movement actions and processes that followed and continue.
The second day began early with the panel on “Anarchism and dictatorship in Belarus in 2025” by ABC Belarus, which gave us a clear picture of the situation in Belarusian society, the modernised repressive policies of the state and the violent silencing experienced by social movements in the country. Then Tierra Comida Collective presented the Autonomous Cooking Council as a new self-organised model of sharing and food production against the capitalist food industry. Along with the events, self-defence arts and first aid workshops were held by the anarchist first aid team.
After a vegan lunch, the afternoon events included discussions of “Anarchism and Decolonialism” by Ashique M. from Tirana; of the oppression experienced by the LGBTQ community in Hungary by Feminsta Akció; of gender-based violence in our spaces and the conditions of social re-integration by La Cinetika occupied social centre; of the Budapest case and repression of anti-fascists, and finally presentations of the magazine Eutopia and the “Iranian Corridors” project.
From 6pm to 10pm, two debates on the climate crisis and gender oppression took place with mass participation. The first was led by representatives of the assembly of Megali Panagia, the assembly for the defence of the mountains from Athens, and the Zadruga Urbana from Slovenia. The key-topics of the discussion were the rejection of ‘green growth’, the green development that is spreading in the Balkans and the exchange of experiences and struggles against it, and the need to link ecological struggles with self-organised food production.
The discussion on gender oppression began with a presentation of the feminist group Calvaluna. Subsequently, the feminist group “Tsupressa” criticised the wider feminist movement and transferred their approach to the phenomenon of femicide. This was followed by the anarcho-queer group vrrrrrrene from Croatia presenting the marches they are carrying out against anti-pride rallies and the digital repression they receive from the government. Finally, the WISH collective presented the situation at the refugee camps on Lesbos.
The curtain fell on the second day with the experimental musical event “Filmsy Weapons” by Cosminas M. and a concert by Niki Dimitriadis and Richard Hronsky.
Intense anti-capitalist and anti-war slogans coloured the mass afternoon march called by the BAB in the centre of Thessaloniki on May 18th and the events that framed it. “No border divides us, no nation unites us” was among the slogans, as well as ones opposing the genocide in Gaza. The march started from the ECSC School, crossed the city centre and ended up in Fabrica Yfanet where the events continued.
The capstone of the day was the discussion on “State, capitalism and wars”. What was emphasised in particular was the necessity of building a solidarity movement with the main characteristics of the anti-capitalist and anti-war struggle. Above the walls of nationalism and war, solidarity with deserters was one of the most central positions. Statements emphasised the constant slaughter of the Palestinian people by the Israeli state and the necessity of a struggle to prevent genocide.
One of the interesting morning events that took place at the Yfanet site, was the one for self-organised media and self-managed digital platforms of the movement. In this event, there were presentations of self-organised digital and media platforms for information and culture from various Balkan countries and Greece such as 1431 AM, Athens Indymedia, Cybrigade, Crna Luknja, Electric Requiem, Info Libre, KPaX Radio, and Kinimatorama.
Alongside the presentations, fertile ground was created for discussion around mainstream social networking, censorship policies, unreliable and scandalous management of personal data from corporations such as Facebook, spy capitalism and the need to build self-organised ventures and digital communities. From digital forums dominated by horizontality among users, to self-organised radio stations and music and art free-sharing platforms, this event presented interesting issues and alternative networking projects outside digital capitalism and its speculative policies against users.
Edited machine translation