Freedom Bookshop in London was firebombed last February by, as yet, unknown assailants, although twenty years ago it was attacked by the far right nazi group Combat 18.
The famous shop is the home of the anarchist Freedom Press, Freedom Publishing and Freedom Newspaper, and is used as offices for the London Coalition Against Poverty, the Advisory Service for Squatters and Corporate Watch.
Founded in 1886, and in its current location since 1939, the Freedom Press has published works by a `who's who' of anarchist and libertarian socialist writers including Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin and William Morris. In the attack, much of the stock of books and pamphlets was either damaged or destroyed, together with some of the 127 year-old archive of publications.
Fundraisers decided to hit back creatively and invited poets, both published and new, to submit works from all over the world. Seven hundred creatives sent in poems which have been whittled down to a bulging 76 page anthology of Poems For Freedom.
Some are by well known poets and songwriters including Christopher Barnes, Gabriel Moreno, Laura Taylor and Nick Burbidge. Others are by students and unknown writers. And Salford actor Steve Evets, who starred in Looking For Eric, Spike Island and BBC Three's In The Flesh, has got his poem Two Heads Are Better Than One in there.
When Steve was asked why he donated the poem he said, poetically, "It was a good excuse to stick it to THE MAN".
POEMS FOR FREEDOM (Freedom Press) £9.99
For more details, a list of writers and to buy a copy click here or go to
www.lulu.com/shop/the-freedom-poets/poems-for-freedom/paperback/product-20987334.html
To read more about the campaign, and to see some of poems that didn't make the book plus some that did, go to the Donate A Poem For Freedom Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/DonateAPoemForFreedom
To find out more about the firebomb attack and Freedom Books see www.freedompress.org.uk
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