Here's a bit of a feedback of what we discussed at the Anarchist bookfair for anyone who missed it. If I've missed anything out or got anything wrong, let us know.


1. The name.

Lots of people had problems with it, some - a few - people still like it, it was pointed out that it's not meant to be a literal circus, and that we'd already done quite a lot of publicity for the idea, with this name attached to it.

It was suggested that we amend it to "NOT The Anarchist
Travelling Circus" - an idea which nobody disagreed strongly with, and which I think there was a tentative agreement on. It was also suggested that people could call it something else in their own towns.

2.What will it consist of / look like/focus on?

There were quite a lot of ideas about this. Most people felt it important that it focus locally, and that the impetus for what happens in each place it arrives in should come from those organising the local actions/events who know what will work well in their town/village/city.

Some ideas for elements that the travelling part of the circus could include were:

*films & videos
*a series of dicussions that could happen in every place it went,creating a feeling of a mobile conference.
*sound system
*mobile kitchen
*bands that could do a gig in every place
*political theatre
*speakers
*performers - big disagreements about this one

It was felt that not all of the elements should go to every place - cos not every element would be appropriate for every place, and also that it was important to go to smaller places as well as big cities.

Actions/events that happed in each place the circus went to
would be entirely up to & organised by those living locally.

3. When & where will it start?

The G8 summit takes place from 1-3 June in Evian, France We set a start date at the bookfair of May 1st - giving us roughly 3 weeks touring the UK, and about a week to get across France.

We also agreed to start in Scotland, possibly Glasgow -
hopefully with a big action of some sort, but this is yet to be confirmed.

There was a suggestion of starting in London with a street party, but it was generally agreed that to start in London with a big spectacle was kinda contrary to the idea of the circus as an attempt to get away from one-off London-centric actions.

4. How do we organise it?

We agreed to set up local organising groups, with each local group contributing a few people to help organise the
travelling/caravan part.

People from London were particularly anxious that everyone
helped sort out vehicles, money, elements for the circus, and people to be part of the travelling, rather than just expecting London people to do all this.

We did not talk about the possibility of asking existing anarcho groups to get involved on a group basis or put their names to it, as up til now we've been working on the idea that people would get involved as individuals. But having said that, do people think it would be a good idea to ask groups to put their names to it?

5. Next National Meeting

January, hopefully in Bradford. In the meantime, we agreed to continue networking the idea and get on with planning the local actions/events.

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