https://themilitant.com/2018/09/22/manila-book-fair-draws-over-100000-participants/
Manila book fair draws over 100,000 participants
By Janet Roth
and Ron Poulsen
Vol. 82/No. 36
October 1, 2018
Manila book fairgoers crowd into Pathfinder booth featuring books by
revolutionary leaders.
Militant/Baskaran Appu
Manila book fairgoers crowd into Pathfinder booth featuring books by
revolutionary leaders.
MANILA, Philippines — The Manila International Book Fair, held for 39
years, opened here Sept. 12. For the first time in nearly three decades
U.S.-based Pathfinder Press, which publishes books by Socialist Workers
Party leaders and other working-class revolutionaries, is among the
exhibitors and has been welcomed with enthusiasm by many participants.
Organizers say they expected the five-day fair to attract 150,000
participants, though the attendance may be affected by heavy rains, wind
and flooding accompanying the super typhoon hammering the northern tip
of the country.
Over 100 bookstores, distributors and publishers, mainly from the
Philippines, are here. Two book store chains, National Book Store and
Fully Booked, occupy the largest booths. You can find text and reference
books, children’s and young adults’ books, numerous Catholic and
Evangelical publishing houses, university presses and publishers of
Filipino and world literature. Pathfinder is the only stand offering a
broad range of books on working-class history and politics.
Author presentations, book signings and related activities take place daily.
Most booths have large quantities of titles in English, which children
start learning in kindergarten. Many also carry books in Filipino, the
country’s official language, which used to be known as Tagalog.
The Pathfinder Press booth is organized by Pathfinder Books, its Sydney,
Australia, distributor. Its promotional flyer encourages participants to
“view and discuss books for today’s deepening debate among working
people looking for a way out of the political crises, economic and
social devastation, national oppression and wars — inevitable products
of the world capitalist system.
“Pathfinder’s wide range includes titles drawing the lessons from the
modern working-class movement in all its forms,” the flyer states, “from
the founding Communist Manifesto to the Russian and Cuban revolutions,
battles of the US working class, movements for national liberation and
socialism worldwide, the struggle for women’s liberation, and much more.
Told by revolutionary leaders of integrity in their own words.”
Young artists Vaughn Calimag and Jevon Lumagui, came by the Pathfinder
booth the first day, They pored over the books, trying to decide what to
buy. “This booth is different. It’s intriguing. The books are about
reality. We have the same set of problems here,” Calimag said. “These
are books for working-class people to have a voice. They empower us,”
added Lumagui.
They ended up buying Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? by Jack
Barnes, national secretary of the SWP; Origins of Materialism by George
Novack; Sexism and Science by Evelyn Reed; and a subscription to the
Militant.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •Iraq protests shake up moves to form new gov’t
•‘Militant’ wins a round, fight against prison censors goes on
•‘We need to get a union into the place where I work’
•Protests in Dallas demand cop who killed Botham Jean be fired
•Are frenzied liberals afflicted with ‘Trump derangement syndrome’?
Feature Articles •Social catastrophe from storms are a product of
capitalist rule
Also In This Issue •Great Russian artists of 19th century and 1917
Bolshevik Revolution
•Pa. prison authorities curb letters, books, newspapers
•Colo. meatpackers win suit against right to pray firings
•Manila book fair draws over 100,000 participants
Editorials •Join and build the Socialist Workers Party 2018 campaign
On the Picket Line •SF hotel workers rally, say ‘One job should be enough’
•Striking hotel workers in Chicago rally for yearlong health care
•Industrial glass strikers in Montreal win solidarity
Books of the Month •Imperialism pauses only when it faces a people ready
to fight
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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