The Anarchist Bookfair 2012 was held in London on the 27th Oct that year, on the same day that the far-right EDL staged their "return to Walthamstow" and simultaneous EDL demo in Parliament Square. On the day, visible EDL turnout in Walthamstow was zero, with a few dozen Nazis protesting near Parliament. Pathetic as the EDL turnout was, what's worse is that while a good turnout from the Bookfair could have helped the anti-fascist counter-protest totally dwarf the EDL, instead, of the 3,000-odd people who attended the Anarchist Bookfair, at best perhaps only 50 of these "radicals" bothered to tube it across London to oppose the EDL.

Fast forward to 2014, with the Anarchist Bookfair being held on the 18th Oct this year, on the same day the TUC organized 90,000 workers to protest against austerity in London (creating, in the process, a news item that took their message out to audiences of tens of millions). Perhaps it's not the Bookfair's fault they lucked-out on dates (?) again, but what's worse is that after Occupy Democracy organisers pleaded with people to join them in Parliament Square after the Bookfair, again only a handful of these "radicals" bothered (and, while at least Ian Bone did something rather than just whining about the TUC, still only a few dozen Bookfair attendees bothered to support Bone's Poor Doors protest JUST DOWN THE STREET*)

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/10/501916.html?c=on

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29672049

* One blog post refers to Ian Bone addressing the "multitude" - beneath a photo of Bone addressing an audience of 27 people -  http://tradeonion.wordpress.com/2014/10/19/class-war-takes-to-the-streets-against-social-cleansing-at-poor-doors-demo/

Congratulations to all the Anarchists who bothered. As for the rest, remind us why your actions are so much more effective than the TUC?

Apologies for earlier typos