With great excitement we announce that, for the first time ever, the 16th edition of Balkan Anarchist Bookfair (BAB) will be held in Prishtina, Kosova, from 5th – 7th of July 2024. BAB is not merely a platform to promote books, but also place to exchange information and ideas, create new initiatives, and strengthen organizations. As such, for more than 20 years, it stands as a testament to our collective commitment to solidarity, resistance, and collaboration across the artificial borders of Balkans.
BAB comes at a crucial time when the capital is experiencing its regular accumulation crisis, the fires of war are ravaging across the world, putting us at the brink of a world war, and fascism, in its explicit form, is spreading like wildfire. States are getting more militarized and the populations are increasingly policed, breaking apart communities and bonds of solidarity. And with any type of dissent oppressed, the capital runs freely, ever expanding to new sources of exploitation.
Balkans is no exception. We are witnessing the ever-rising militarization of Balkan countries, with ever growing stockpile of weapons and technologies with the plan of introducing mandatory military services. And under the guise of national interest and through racial nationalist discourse more oppressive methods of population control have been introduced, often to detriment of ethnic, social and political minorities. Political power has been further centralized and political repression has been conducted more openly, whereas the political organizations have been rendered impotent through NGO-isation, reflecting the logic of neoliberalism that seeped into every spore of political, social and cultural life.
At the same time the patriarchy, an integral part of capitalist exploitation, creates an ever-hostile environment for all, but especially women, and LGBTQI+ community, with growing number of femicide and physical attacks, maintaining hostile environment both in public and private spheres, as well as through attempts to control our bodies. This same patriarchal logic gives rise to both religious zealotry, whose false antagonism with national conservatism only reinforce the patriarchal system.
On an international scale, the Balkans play a crucial role in global politics. Geopolitical maneuvers by NATO and the Russian Federation maintain direct influence over the region. Simultaneously, the neo-liberal reforms have already given access to international capital, particularly the capital from the EU, China and Turkey, which gained control over all essential public infrastructure throughout Balkans. And while Balkan is interconnected with international markets of exploitation, now it becomes further interconnected in its population and movement control for benefit of centers of capital. Balkan now shifts from already established borderland of fortress Europe, to more of a direct “forward base” for migrant population control of the latter, by, among others, hosting migrant detention centers such as the one planned in Albania on behalf of Italy.
As anarchists, we have always showed our commitment to organize across borders, create structures of solidarity and find ways to resist oppression. Today, again, faced with all of the above challenges that as people of Balkans we are facing, we again must find our strength and ways to respond to the structures of oppression with utter most urgency.
Thus, again this year, as in previous BABs, we call upon anarchist publishing houses and initiatives, as well as all international anarchist and anti-authoritarian movements from the geographies of the Balkans and beyond to plan their participation in the BAB2024 in Prishtina. We welcome all the interested people and groups to join in the process of organizing the event.
For further information, inquiries, and proposals, contact us at bab2024@riseup.net or visit bab2024.espivblogs.net
The Assembly of Balkan Anarchist Bookfair 2024
