Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
This reportback was inspired by a Mastodon post by Franklin Lopez, who wrote:
“It’s just so fucking cool to be back at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair after so many years away. Gotta be real—back in the day, the Fair could feel like a stress factory. Lotta tension, lotta unresolved beefs, and way too many identity politickers turning the place into their personal UFC octagon.
But this time? Chill as fuck. Good vibes all around. People actually talking with each other instead of past each other. It felt like a space that remembered what solidarity actually feels like. Massive thanks to the folks at @constellation for bringing the Bookfair back and making it feel like home again.”
‘Twas the most wonderful time of the year. The Constellation Anarchist Festival wrapped up a second year in the traffic cone capital of North America, taking place from May 15-21 at various locations throughout the city.
Constellation is kinda like the old Montreal Anarchist Bookfair but without the Banhammer of Identity Politics restlessly waiting to come down and split your soul apart from your body at any given moment. While the old bookfair took to banning books, hairstyles, and art forms they deemed to be offensive, Constellation has taken a more laissez-faire approach, which is refreshing.
The main event was, of course, the bookfair, which once again went down in the always hot, always humid CEDA. Sure, we might not be able to be in there for more than 20 minutes at a time before crawling to the nearest exit for some fresh air, but honestly, we love that place. Plus, studies have shown that profuse sweating helps rid the body of harmful toxins, including microplastics.
It was rainy so the spot was even more packed than usual. The usual bevy of acronym orgs, zine peddlers, rad crafters, and publishing conglomerates were all there, eager to hawk their sweet, sweet products. There was at least one tarot deck for sale and nobody seemed to be losing their shit over it, almost as if the old bookfair’s claim of tarot being cultural appropriation was a psy-op to keep us from fighting the real enemy: the mid-ass chana masala.
Seriously, what the fuck? The bookfair usually has some tip-top vegan slop, but this year’s chana was so salty, it doubled the size of our kidney stones. We sincerely hope that the food is better next year.
But we digress. Overall, the vibes were right. Like we said, unlike the old bookfair, Constellation doesn’t seem so caught up in trying to police everyone to maintain some subjective semblance of a “safe space.” And everything turned out completely fine. The only thing we weren’t safe from that weekend were some of the smells y’all were expelling. Guys, not showering isn’t gonna hide your trust fund. Luckily, there were face masks available at the entrance that we doubled-up on to shut out the stench.
We don’t even think our White Dread-o-meter went off during the entire weekend, though we also haven’t changed the batteries in a few years. But, seemingly, it’s a non-issue. All the oogles who had dreads in 2016 have had lice by now anyway and have had to shave them off, so let’s just drop it already.
At this point, we can say it’s proven to be the case that we don’t need a central committee deciding what’s allowed or what’s not at one of the world’s largest anarchist events. The best way of making anarchy inclusive and relevant to lots of different people is not by setting down rules that are incomprehensible to anyone outside a narrow milieu of university-based activists (such as telling a Black bookstore they aren’t allowed to table tarot cards because of “cultural appropriation”). We hope we find ways to show our gratitude and respect for all that the old bookfair did to keep an important tradition alive over the years, while remaining true to our anarchist principles and to the promise of the gathering spaces we share.