The end of modernity had flooded us with the vanity and over- simplification of post-modern and the future seemed like a rerun of the past. Everything was post. But since society is not timeless, an attack from the future gave us a new hope.

It was born in December and when it reached the age of one it didn’t follow, as some would expect, the terms of ideology and it became neither an anniversary, nor a beggar of any political or social authority. The collective individual, as opposed to both the faceless mass and the individualistic isolated person, acted in a free, public, social time and realised the event of the insurrection as multiple cracks of freedom. Freedom strikes back with all its faces in the metropolis and around it. With the face of collectivity in public spaces and neighbourhoods, with the face of the thousands in the Polytechneio march, with thousands of faces met in movements of imagination, creativity and action.

Last year’s BFEST was a moment of freedom in the public time, a political and cultural proposition towards the broadening of the cracks that the event had created. Cracks of thought and action that smash traditional structures and deconstruct the present. This is the general spirit upon which the antiauthoritarian newspaper Babylonia organized the first, international, antiauthoritarian Festival in the School of Fine Arts, Athens, May 27th-31st, 2009. Babylonia is being published since 2003, based on non-hierarchy, direct democracy procedures, and fulfils the need of greek society for non-mediated counter information. It became international on July 2008, cooperating with the radical thought of U.S., as it is expressed by ZNET network (without, of course, coinciding fully with the viewpoints of the network, but instead creating a strong dialogue basis). As a result of our cooperation, radical intellectuals and activists of the network, like Michael Albert and Howard Zinn, have shared a flood of ideas and suggestions inside crowded amphitheatres and experienced meaningful and vivid, radical conversations. The response and the massive participation overcame our personal estimations, since enthusiastic audiences traveled in the world of significations for five days until the early morning hours. The 30.000-40.000 people who participated in the conversations, the concerts, the theatrical plays, the plastic arts happenings and the political workshops proved the success of our festival. To be exact, Michael Albert talked about the crisis and the social inequalities of capitalism, as well as his own proposition for a participatory society. Howard Zinn referred to the value of civil disobedience, Andrej Grubacic spoke about the modern forms of action, Biffo connected workplaces with the financial crisis and resistance, while we had Pr. Chomsky talking by internet for 45 minutes about these matters, since he couldn’t come due to personal issues.

In the same time, workshops took place successfully, referring to matters, such as minorities, immigrants, Europe-Fortress, energy and the agricultural issue, education, public space, prison movements, gender identities, and many others of cultural nature. You can be informed also by visiting www.bfest.gr. Society had blinked at us and we ascertained that being open is not an organizing surface, but a living procedure in the core of praxis. So, it is understandable that the legacy of the previous festival inspires and pushes us in the upcoming event with greater responsibilities and higher expectations.

Considering some of our movement peaks especially significant, we have planned our next festival agenda accordingly: energy, ecology and food issues, free public spaces, new revolts as emancipation events, and the major issue (not only for modern greek reality) of immigration.