Nations, religions, workplaces, classes, families or couples – our world is dominated by social groupings that have one thing in common: if we don’t belong to them automatically, we are pushed into them. Nation-states, capitalism and other power structures lock us into unbearable social bubbles beyond the boundaries of which maintaining contacts – let alone ties – is extremely difficult. And even if we manage to get out of any of them, we often encounter a relationship-desert. There are very few alternatives to the mainstream coercive communities, and those that do exist are just another bubble – and often not much better from the rest. All of this imbues us with a toxic attachment to (self-)destructive forms of human togetherness – we simply have no other options. Staying in those bubbles makes any radical reimagining of our relations completely impossible.

We want to turn this bookfair into an impulse to get a taste of being with others in a radically different way; to try to defy what we’ve been assigned to and pushed into. Instead of creating another bubble, let’s collectively get out, at least for a moment, of all the social vicious circles. Move beyond who we are on a daily basis in this gendered, class- and age-divided society, and together step out into a radically open space, rich in potential relationships and bonds. Feel that it’s possible to be together differently. This is where action against the existing reality often begins, and this is what we need to deal with the devastating effects of hegemonic communities: ongoing ecocide, wars, states and so much more