We can fume at our screens all we want, but the world isn’t going to change unless we actually take direct action—no matter how many snarky “gotcha” comments we post. “The thing I love most about the Howard Zinn Book Fair is that it helps folks who are feeling helpless and angry, yet who may have no sense of how they might better inform themselves, get involved and take action,” says Andy Gillis, longtime SF activist and one of the organizers of the fair (Sun/7,10am-6pm on the Mission campus of CCSF).
“The book fair provides something of an antidote by getting together many authors and activists who are engaged in hundreds of ways and which most folks can become engaged with as well—either on their own, with existing groups, or by starting something with friends or co-workers,” Gillis added. This is the 11th year of the fair, honoring Zinn’s incredible legacy of highlighting The People’s History, and bringing together thousands of liberation-minded book-lovers for presentations, panels, and readings to “debate, discuss, and discover strategies for a better world.”
I asked Gillis a few questions in anticipation of the event.
48 HILLS What’s new and exciting to you about the fair this year?
ANDY GILLIS Well one thing that’s new is our website! Our friend Giorgia Sage created a beautiful, far more functional website so it’s far easier to use and a lot prettier. You can look up the various panel discussions and find out who the cool small radical presses and artists and community groups are.
As for the Howard Zinn Book Fair itself, it’s basically new every year because we have so many different authors and activists speaking on such a wide variety of subjects. We have more than 50 panel discussions with close to 100 authors and activists speaking on topics as varied as Immigration, ICE activity, racism, climate change, the role of the arts in social change, tech involvement in fascism, LGBTQI+ repression… But besides describing some very disturbing and important issues, much of the discussion will be on how people and groups are successfully resisting and addressing oppression.
We also have a lot of fiction writers, artists, and actors talking about the incredibly important role art has played in political movements throughout history and how we can use these lessons in our current struggles.
48 HILLS Obviously we really need Howard’s voice and legacy right now. How are you hoping the fair makes an impact on the community, especially this year?
ANDY GILLIS One of Howard Zinn’s great contributions was the way he used original source materials to show how, throughout the history of the US, ordinary people stood up to tyranny and oppression—sometimes individually, and often forming groups or movements to fight for their liberty and a just society. He saw this history as a very vibrant and active thing and showed how it can often inform and direct our struggles today. Many of this year’s panels will look at this aspects of Zinn’s philosopy. For example one is on oral histories and how we can look at abolitionists, the LGBT rights movement of the ’70s, or Occupy Wall Street and utilize their stories and actions to help clarify our strategies to fight against authoritarianism and corporate domination today.
Local historian Chris Carlssen will talk about his new book and how the COVID pandemic is one in a long history of health crises which have shaped SF’s nature such as the AIDS crisis. Local hospital workers will speak about organizing to demand divestment from weapons manufacturers or developing a strategy for protecting their fellow workers from ICE. Trans activists will discuss how they are organizing to enable Trans folks to defend and protect themselves from emboldened right-wing extremists who want to exterminate them. And one panel will discuss how we can help one another with mutual aid in the face of climate change.
We also will feature various musicians, writers, poets, artists and actors who will speak on the many ways the arts have been used as tools to resist tyranny and how they can continue to help with our resistance to extremism. Others will discuss the attacks on our education systems and how we can fight back against book bans, budget cuts, attacks on teachers and on immigrant students. Another talk will be on how tech capital, paired with mega real estate corporations, are actively supporting the authoritarian takeover of our country.
48 HILLS What impact are you hoping the fair will have this year?
ANDY GILLIS All of these panels combined will hopefully make an impact on our community by demonstrating how powerful we are when we act together. I think one of the most important qualities of the Zinn Book Fair is how it reminds us that there are many thousands of people n the Bay Area alone who are working every day through their activism, their work in non-profits, or simply by informing themselves. But all of them are fighting against injustice and to solve our social ills. They’ll demonstrate that, despite the current situation where it’s easy to despair, there is much to celebrate and many groups and movements to become engaged with.
And of course connecting people with other folks who share their concerns and values and engaging with them, either in conversation or by joining groups or partaking in actions that help resolve pressing issues and help create a better world. These are key elements of the Howard Zinn Book Fair.
HOWARD ZINN BOOK FAIR Sun/7,10am-6pm, on the Mission campus of CCSF. More info here.
