Commonweal

Join us for our final Fragments for Fiction workshop of the academic year. We’ve collaborated with Commonweal to bring you a FREE Lab Day Get creative with zine-making, explore ideas, and collaborate in a relaxed, welcoming space — perfect for beginners or anyone who loves making. 📅 Wednesday 3rd Of June 2026 ⏰ 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM 📍 Room 0.17, JB Priestley Library, University of Bradford More details & free tickets in bio #Commonweal #FragmentsForFiction #LabDay #ZineMaking #CreativeCommunity #FreeEvent #StudentCreatives #DIYCulture #ArtWorkshop #MakeSomething #ZineCulture

We are excited to share our upcoming workshop in collaboration with @commonwealuk Commonweal Collection is an outreach programme which aims to inspire, inform and connect those involved in movements for social change through workshops, events, talks and discussion groups. Join us for "Exploring Plays, Poetry and Fiction in the Commonweal Collection", a workshop to have insightful conversations about how creativity and art connects with social change. Date: Thursday, 21st May Time: 1-3pm Venue: J.P Priestley Library, Room 0.17 Ground Floor, University of Bradford. We are admitting only 20 people, register here https://forms.gle/hF9mzg2DwJ5T32ro6. Refreshment will be served🎉😘.

This was a big month in 1968 in Paris! The famous protests took place in a post-war context of revolutionary ideas butting up against more conservative social norms, and with economic growth coupled with rising inequalities and wage stagnation. A number of different issues led to students at Nanterre University in Paris beginning protests in March 1968. As protests escalated the university shut the campus in early May. The students moved their protests to the Sorbonne University in Paris’ Latin Quarter, and on 3rd May 300 students occupied the university’s courtyard. Mass arrests and violence followed. On 7th May a 50,000 strong march against police brutality turned into a day-long battle, with police firing tear gas, and protestors hurling molotov cocktails and cobblestones. When they were told to disperse, the protestors answered with chants of “Long Live the Paris Commune!” On 10th May another huge protest was called, which was blocked by police, stopping the crowd from crossing the River Gauche. Protesters built barricades and a night of violence - the “night of the barricades” - occurred. Police were accused of using agent provocateurs to burn cars and throw molotov cocktails. Student protesters were joined by workers from across Paris. Despite hundreds of arrests and both protesters and police being hospitalised, occupations and protests continued. Protests that had initially focused on specific issues experienced by students had taken on a revolutionary feel. French unions called for a general strike on 13th May. A protest in Paris was joined by over a million people. In the following week, workers occupied factories and by 18th May 2 million people were on strike. Charles De Gaul - the President - fled to Germany on 29th May, but refused to resign. On 30th May a mass protest occurred and the President of France and Prime Minister Pompidou convinced De Gaul to call an election for 23rd June. The election was announced alongside a treat to impose a state of emergency if workers refused to return to work. We have several books and pamphlets on May 1968 - and they’re all very retro!

Our book of the month is The Nutmeg's Curse, by Amitav Ghosh. First published in 2021, this book traces global climate injustice to the geopolitical order instilled by Western colonialism. The story of the nutmeg becomes a parable revealing the ways human history has always been entangled with earthly materials - spices, tea, sugarcane, opium, and fossil fuels. Our crisis, Ghosh shows, is ultimately the result of a mechanistic view of the earth, where nature exists only as a resource for humans to use for our own ends, rather than a force of its own, full of agency and meaning. You can find it on the bookshelves now!

Such a fantastic afternoon at the @1in12club May Day Market Zine & Makers Fair. Lovely to meet the other stall holders and visitors. Get in touch if you're hosting an event and you'd like Commonweal to bring along some resources from the Collection.

Hip hip hooray, it must be May Day! 1st of May is International Workers Day, a global day of action in support of workers rights including fair wages, safe conditions, union representation, and work-life balance. In October 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions unanimously set May 1, 1886 as the date when the eight-hour work day would become standard. Mass protests and strikes were held across the USA - on Monday 3rd May, police officers in Chicago fired on strikers who had tried to confront strikebreakers, killing two people. Local anarchists called for a demonstration the following day at Haymarket Square. The demonstration was peaceful until 10:30pm when police arrived in large numbers and ordered the crowd to disperse. A homemade bomb was thrown, which killed a police officer and wounded several others. An exchange of gunfire between police and protesters led to the deaths of seven police officers and four protesters; some reports claim that most of the police casualties were a result of "friendly fire". Eight anarchists were arrested, accused of being accessories to the murder of the police officer killed by the bomb - only two had been present when the bomb exploded, and had been following police orders to disperse. They were found guilty - initially, seven were sentenced to death and one to 15 years in prison. After appeals, the Illinois Governor Richard Oglesby decided he would only commute the sentences of those who asked for clemency. Four - George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Albert Parsons, and August Spies - refused on the grounds they hadn't committed a crime. They were executed by hanging the following day. In 1889, the Second International - meeting in Paris - agreed to call for "a great international demonstration" in support of the eight hour working day on 1st May 1890. Since then, International Workers Day has been a key date in the calendar for activists from across the spectrum of left-wing organising and activism. We hold several publications in the Commonweal specifically about the origins of May Day, and a wide variety of books pamphlets and periodicals about workers rights, organising at work, and trade unions.

On 30th April, the Mothers of Disappeared held their first vigil at Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires, demanding the return of their loved ones, who had been "dissappeared" by the military dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla. From 1976 to 1983, it is believed around 30,000 people that death squads had associated with communist, socialist, or other left-wing dissident movements. Fourteen women took part in the first vigil, which continued on a weekly basis. The women themselves faced violence and oppression. In the Commonweal we hold Mothers of the Disappeared, by Jo Fisher - explores the actions of the Mothers and the context they were taking action in. It includes long testemonials from the women themselves.

WILPF - the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - was founded at a conference of suffragists held in the Hague, from 28th to 31st April 1915. The women - who had travelled from across Europe - had originally planned to meet in 1914, but the outbreak of the war meant the meeting was delayed by a year. WILPF grew into an international network, with member organisations all over the world. Their collective vision is for “a world of permanent peace built on feminist foundations of freedom, justice, nonviolence, human rights and equality for all, where people, the planet and all its other inhabitants coexist and flourish in harmony.” We have several books on the early history of WILPF, and the lives of several of its prominent founders and later members - including Jane Addams, Emily Greene Balch, Helena Swanwick, and Dorothy Hutchinson. @wilpf_international

⏰6-9pm Wednesday 20th May 🗓️(And every 3rd Wednesday of the month) NO HOMEWORK NECESSARY! BOOK CLUB 💫 RAISE YOUR VOICE! 📚1 in 12 Club Library 21-23 Albion St, BD1 2LY or message to join online (the 1in12 Club is working towards becoming wheelchair accessible, but is not currently) 🖤Comedy as Activism! The Comedy Cafe will bless us with some fantastically funny, politically sharp sets over dinner. Later, you can join them as they guide us in speaking truth to power through jokes, and using humour in anti-racist conversations. Opportunity to share what you’ve learnt and make us all giggle at the end… ❤️ Whose streets? Our Streets! International Paste-up festival prep special! Commonweal Peace Library and 1in12 Club Library Collective will help you bring the books to life and take your art to the streets! Art made can be pasted up all over the city during the International Paste-up festival on Saturday, 23rd May 🖤 Digital communication and safety for activists! G will teach us about what the government, police, and others can actually access, how to organise and communicate safely, and when to leave your phone at home… He will be on hand to help us sort out our lock screen, secure our passwords, download the apps that help, and delete the ones that don’t! ❤️Kids Corner (kids don’t have to stay in the corner!) making (and possibly launching) anti-fascist, choose-your-own-adventure mega-zine featuring rabbit and badger… good art takes time, so watch this space, and bring your kids to help us out! 🖤Free meal! Who’s cooking? Any volunteers message the page! Ingredients covered and access to the kitchen and some helping hands readily provided… ✨Enjoy a meal, spend time together, and build belonging. This is a family-friendly gathering and an opportunity to connect around mutual aid, community defence, and a range of tactics to resist the rise of the far right and racism.✨ You can also scan the QR code to access free books and resources... Brought together by the 1in12 Library Collective, Commonweal Peace Library, and People’s Care Movement.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster/ On 29th April 1986, reactor no. 4 at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine exploded during a simulation designed to test cooling the reactor in blackout conditions. A power surge led to a build up of steam and the meltdown destroyed the reactor building. The fire spread radioactive contaminants across the USSR and Europe. The city of Pripyat was abandoned and an exclusion zone extending 30km from the plant remains in place. Between 2016 and 2018 the Chornobyl New Safe Confinement was built, which allows for the removal of the reactor debris, with clean-up scheduled for completion by 2065. Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has increased the threat posed by the site, which is believed to still contain 4 tonnes of highly radioactive material. A Russian drone hit the protective containment shell in February 2015 - last month it was revealed that repairs to the building would cost over £400 million. We hold several books and other materials on the Chornobyl disaster, and more widely on nuclear power and nuclear accidents. Quite a lot of them were on loan when we were making this post, but here's one!

On 25th April 2000, the UN announced that the Russian Federation had ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. At the time this was considered a key milestone in the history of the treaty, which sets out to ban nuclear test explosions - for military and civilian purposes - in any environment. Though the treaty still hasn't come into force because a number of required countries haven't ratified it - the US has never signed it, and Russia withdrew their ratification in 2023 - the treaty has still set a global standard against nuclear testing. The legacy of nuclear weapons testing is still being felt around the world - by the communities who live close to where tests occurred, and by military personnel who were exposed to nuclear tests. We have a wide range of material on the impact of nuclear weapons testing at the Commonweal, and the history of the CTBT.

Introducing The Book Club in collaboration with @commonwealuk 🙌🏽 We are excited to share the first book club session, we will cover The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin! About The Fire Next Time: Told in the form of two intensely personal ‘letters’, The Fire Next Time is an excoriating condemnation of the terrible legacy of racial injustice, drawn from Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and his experience as a prominent cultural figure of the civil rights movement. Date: Wednesday 13th May Time: 6pm - 8pm Location: Bradford Mechanics Institute Link in bio to sign up for the book club!