Regarding ACG at the Bookfair

While we had rejected ACG's stall application in previous years, this year it was accepted after consideration based on the organisation's current public position on trans issues, some recent articles published on trans politics on their website and the fact that many new people are now part of the organisation who in some cases may be unaware of the history of how they formed.

The organisation now has a significantly larger membership than the handful which originally broke away from the Anarchist Federation. We felt it did not seem fair to exclude these new people based on events which happened before they were members and previous positions which ACG no longer appear to support. This growth in membership and change of position has been reflected by their attendance at several other anarchist bookfairs.

The bookfair collective condemns transphobia whether this comes from the conservative and far right or the so-called gender critical movement and stands firmly in solidarity with trans and non binary people at this fraught time. All attendees at the event will be expected to adhere to our anti-oppression policies which can be found on our website.

The collective's general feeling at the time was that ACG had come a long way from their earlier position on trans issues and that it is important to allow groups and individuals to have the space to change. We hoped that by inviting them back into the fold this would solidify their solidarity with trans people and broaden the struggle against transphobia. We have, however, recently been made aware of new information which suggests there may still be dis-unity within ACG when it comes to trans solidarity which has excacerbated existing concerns within the bookfair collective. 

We do not wish anyone to feel excluded from the event and are sorry that people were hurt by the decision we made. We apologise that we got this wrong. We welcome the feedback and discussion and have made the decision to inform ACG we are now unwilling  to give them a stall at this year's bookfair.

Regards

ABLC