Tartu, Estonia: The A-raamatukogu (A-library) opens 1 June 2009

from email, 25 May 2009:

On 1 June 2009 the anarchist/alternative infoshop-library „A-raamatukogu“ (the A-library) will open its doors in Tartu Kultuuritehas (Culture Factory of Tartu, Pikk street 58/60) in Estonia.

Estonia is a small (ex-Soviet) country in north-east Europe, near Finland, Russia and Latvia. The A-raamatukogu is situated near the downtown area of Tartu, the second biggest city in Estonia which is known as the „University city“ of the region.

In the summer of 2008 a group of people who are active in local „alternative culture“ scene started to build „Culture Factory of Tartu“ in a old factory building near downtown area of Tartu.

There are different collectives and individuals (mainly artists, musicians and university students) involved and many different activities (concerts, free shop, recycle workshop, fleamarkets, community kitchen, exhibitions etc) going on. We were inspired by the DIY atmosphere of the place and decided to rent rooms in the building to build alternative/anarchist library-infoshop.

We, the A-raamatukogu, are about ten young people (mostly university students) and most of us are connected with PunaMust (a small Estonian anarchist network that is gathered around webpage www.punamust.org) and Estonian animal rights group Loomade Nimel („In the name of animals“: www.loomadenimel.org).

We are also closely linked with the people who run squatted social centre Volk in the Tallinn (capital of Estonia).

We don’t have any formal or bureaucratic structure, in the formal stuff (e.g. rent contract, book-keeping and bank account) we are helped by the friendly NGO called Independent Active (www.indyactive.org) but we find it important to point out that Independent Active is not the „owner“ of the A-raamatukogu, the decisions are made directly by the people who are involved in running the place and everybody can take part of it.

The main goal of the A-raamatukogu is to promote antiauthoritarian ideas and to introduce different alternative social, cultural and political movements and to create a space where activists and groups can gather, communicate, share information, prepare for actions or just hang out.

Since A-raamatukogu is an alternative, independent project, wich has no support from any larger organization, foundation or institution, our budget is rather small. Mostly we have gathered money for rent and repairs from the donations from our friends and selling selfmade T-shirts and patches.

We would be very grateful if you could support A-raamatukogu with your donation which you could transfer to the bank account of the non-profit organization Independent Active:

Account: 17001364482
Iban: EE32 1700 0170 0136 4482
SWIFT Code: NDEAEE2X
Currency: EUR
Account owner: INDEPENDENT ACTIVE MTÜ
Explanation: „Donation for A-raamatukogu“

Every donation goes fully to the use of the A-raamatukogu. Every donation goes through book-keeping and the proper use of the money is later on checkable.

All the work done around the A-raamatukogu is voluntary and nobody gets paid for it.

We would also be very happy if you could send us books, magazines, DVDs, pamphlets, zines, posters, stickers etc concerning the following topics:

anarchism, libertarian socialism, anti-capitalism, alternative cultures, radical democracy, anti-fascism, anti-authoritarian left-wing politics, feminism, streetart, environmental issues, DIY, squatting, autonomous spaces, animal rights, veganism, gender issues, anti-GMO etc.

Most of the young people in Estonia can read English, but we would also happily accept materials in Russian, Finnish and in German langue.

We would also most happily cooperate with similar groups, infoshops, collectives etc around the world. You can contact us via e-mail: info@araamat.org

If you happen to visit Estonia you are very welcome to drop by. See you soon!

The A-raamatukogu collective

Webpage: www.araamat.org
E-mail: info@araamat.org

Post address:

A-raamatukogu
Tartu Kultuuritehas
Pikk tn 58/60
Tartu 50603
Estonia

Bank account:

Account: 17001364482
Iban: EE32 1700 0170 0136 4482
SWIFT Code: NDEAEE2X
Currency: EUR
Account owner: INDEPENDENT ACTIVE MTÜ
Explanation: „Donation for A-raamatukogu“

More information about Tartu Kultuuritehas (Culture Factory of Tartu):
http://tartu.kultuuritehas.ee/

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