The Victoria Anarchist Bookfair Collective affirms and promotes values of mutual aid, direct democracy, direct action, anti-authoritarianism, autonomy and solidarity. We reiterate our opposition to capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy, heterosexism, racism, colonialism, statism and all other forms of oppression; we will not accept participants in the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair who perpetuate or promote these attitudes.

We respect the autonomy of the individuals and groups participating in the bookfair and related activities.

The Victoria Anarchist Bookfair is a space to network, highlight and aid struggles, both local and international. We strive to promote anarchist ideas through workshops, cultural activities and the bookfair itself. We have a spirit of openness towards different anarchist traditions, visions, and practices. Our aims are threefold: We seek to introduce anarchism to the public, to further elaborate upon current and historical anarchist ideals and to foster dialogue between various anarchist tendencies.

The Victoria Anarchist Bookfair's priorities concentrate upon the written word (books, pamphlets, zines, audio-visual materials) by individuals and groups including publishers, distributors, and action-oriented associations. We also accept, on a case-by-case basis, information and participation from community/activist groups, self-publishers, artists and vendors of materials such as buttons, T-shirts or patches who fit within these principles.

We do not accept the participation of political parties in the bookfair.

Decisions are made by consensus at Victoria Anarchist Bookfair Collective meetings. Projects planned for The Festival of Anarchy need only to be discussed and agreed to at a meeting, at which point they are autonomous.

Accessibility:

The Victoria Anarchist Bookfair collective actively strives to create an accessible event. We aim to avoid replicating the barriers in society that exclude and marginalize people. In line with our principles, we organize the Bookfair to challenge exclusions deriving from the main forms of social oppression. We are also attentive to less acknowledged, but no less real, barriers to participation, such as:

* The Victoria Anarchist Bookfair has a policy of no alcohol or other drugs and we ask all participants respect this and help us ensure our relationship with the venue remains solid.

* making the event safe for and welcoming to children and their parents

* free admittance (donations accepted)

* requiring journalists to be escorted and ask permission before they take pictures.

* insuring wheelchair access to events: The hall is fully wheelchair accessible.

* making the event free of smoke as well as nuts, and perfumes/scents, in order to enable the attendance of a kid-friendly and accessible event to people who might have allergies, including allergies that are life-threatening.

* a policy of zero tolerance for racist, sexist, homophobic and other oppressive behaviours.

* requiring all dogs to remain outside of the building and on leash while in the vicinity outside.

* attempting to accommodate specific requests relating to access communicated in advance. Where access depends on the behaviour of other participants, we will take steps to communicate and enforce access guidelines and ask that Bookfair participants concerned about accessibility do the same.

All of our attempts to equalize access are made within the limits of current resources and therefore may not be perfect. However, we welcome suggestions for improvement and will do our best to implement these.