Springtime of Revolt, Death to the State!
Two days of subversive memory and celebration on the anniversary of the Paris Commune at the Touchpaper Anarchist library
7PM SUNDAY 17th MARCH (part 1)
Black Threads #6 – Louise Michel and Irreperable Action
Following on from the Black Threads discussion series, we are again drawing on the heritage of anarchism to illuminate elements of the struggle for freedom today. On this occasion we would like to discuss, not a specific text, but rather, around the anniversary, an insurrectional moment: those spring days in 1871.
Remembered as much by comrades in the past because of the massacres with which the state and its servants punished the rebellion, as for its acts and perspectives of freedom, today we think it is important to consider the Commune as an insurgent utopia, propulsive for comrades who shared its historical epoch, but very distant from us in both qualitative and quantitive terms.
Nevertheless, embedded in the writings of some comrades like Louise Michel, there are the holes and tunnels they bored in the world of power to the radical outside; the commune’s promise, anarchy, which once breached successfully cut all ties with the old world. It meant no going back. The necessity of thinking and discussing these perspectives today, so as to chart our own routes out of here, in ideas and in fact, are obvious to us. On what used to be an often-commemorated anniversary, we would like to do away with myth and discuss instead, in the past as in the present, the armed dream of freedom.
7PM TUESDAY 19th MARCH (part 2)
Music and Poetry Benefit Soirée
“In this somber life, cradling sad days, some refrains come back again and again. They catch at your emotions and rip you apart at the same time. […] The dream emerges from the scents of spring.” (The Red Virgin: Memoirs of Louise Michel)
To complete our commemoration of the Commune, marking its first days, let’s gather in celebration. A short recital of anarchist songs and poetry (including by Pietro Gori), canapes, cocktails and mocktails. Benefit for the struggle.
Touchpaper Anarchist Library
385 Queens Road
New Cross
SE14 5HD London