Last Sunday I staffed the WSM stall at the first Dublin independent zine fair and while I was there made an audio recording of the Revolutionary Anarchist Feminist Group (RAG) session at the zinefair. 
Revolutionary Anarcha Feminists on their origins and the production of the RAG magazine by Andrew Flood on Mixcloud
Last Sunday I staffed the WSM stall at the first Dublin independent zine fair and while I was there made an audio recording of the Revolutionary Anarchist Feminist Group (RAG) session at the zinefair.
Revolutionary Anarcha Feminists on their origins and the production of the RAG magazine by Andrew Flood on Mixcloud
The fair itself seemed reasonably successful, I’d guess in the region of 150 people passed through the doors. Actually zines were a little thinner on the ground then I expected, apart from the RAG, WSM and Polish anarchist stall the emphasis was much more on the artistic then the political / music washed out photocopies I remember from the 1980’s. I guess a lot of that sort of writing has now moved online, if your into the circulation of ideas then a few dozen badly photocopied stabled together pages to be passed from hand to hand doesn’t make so much sense. Overall I think the internet has killed the zine except for ones where looking pretty is a central part of the production idea. What was interesting in terms of the WSM stall was that people were far more interested in picking up multiple copies of our magazine then they were in the newspaper. The RAG audio is of interest to those who want to know about the origins of RAG, their production process or the problems that are typical in the production of a magazine. It was pretty informal, more of a protracted discussion around an introduction than anything more structured. With this as with other of my more recent audios I’ve kept the actual editing to a minimum (in this case just snipping out one word that someone later regretted and txted me to ask me to remove). The interview is at http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/dec2008/ragzinefairdec08.mp3 Later that evening and in a related activity I met with other WSM members of the ‘Ideas & Action’ editorial group. A public announcement is under way but basically we’ve decided to kill off the for sale ‘Red & Black Revolution’ and replace it with a much larger print run of a free magazine. The meeting happened in the downstairs snug of the Lord Edward Fitzgerald (named after the military leader of the 1798 rebellion). The pub is opposite the 1,000 year old (well almost) Christ Church Cathedral and the choir and the bell ringers drink in there sometimes so I was wondering if the snug was originally put in so the bishop could have a quiet sherry out of sight of the mob.
WORDS Andrew Flood (Follow Andrew on Twitter )
