Mott Haven fair showcases new politics
By Sarah Trefethen
sarah.trefethen@motthavenherald.com
Anti-authoritarian radicals occupied Brook Park for the first-ever Bronx Anarchist Fair on April 4. The park’s regulars didn’t seem to mind.
The fair featured workshops, bookstalls, movie screenings, food vendors and something called a “really, really free market,” all focused on the theme of far-left-wing politics.
Aazam Otero, 24, lives in the neighborhood and helped plan the fair. He said that anarchism is about people working together outside the mainstream.
“We wanted to create a space where we can connect with other people who organize in the area,” he said.
Workshops covered a range of themes, including the relationship between the police and the public, consensus decision-making, and hip-hop dance. A panel discussion on the history of squatting –as in, living in a building without permission from its owner–featured historians and activists, including Fordham University professor Mark Naison, a student leader in the 60s, and neighborhood activist Hetty Fox.
Almost a dozen kids joined in a hip-hop dance workshop led by Billy Martin, a 30-year-old South Bronx native who now lives Brooklyn and works as an M.C. under the name Spiritchild.
He said he doesn’t have a political definition for himself, but he likes the idea of community leaders coming from within communities.
“You look at how we’re living today, and electoral politics in general hasn’t really benefited black and brown people,” Martin said.
The day of the fair was windy, overcast and cold, but Angie Spitzer, 25, was happy with the turnout.
“We’ve had a fair number of community folks come through,” she said.
She said the food vendors from the women’s health center Casa Atabex Ache and the squatting discussion were both particularly successful. The “really, really free market”—a kind of garage sale with no prices –attracted participants as well.
Otero explained that the “free market” wasn’t a swap meet, but an opportunity to share.
“It’s a free exchange that has kind of an anti-capitalist bent to it,” he said.
Elliot Liu, 27, said the economic downturn is making anarchism more relevant.
“People just aren’t going to have the resources they once had,” said Liu, another resident who helped organize the day’s festivities. “People are going to have to work together to solve their problems, and I’ve always just looked to anarchism as a great way to do that.”
Spitzer said planning the fair started with an idea for a “satellite site” to the annual Anarchist Book Fair in Manhattan.
“We decided we wanted to have our own event focused on the Bronx, instead of having a bunch of Brooklyn and Manhattan anarchists come up here,” she said.
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