Scranton PA Radical Book Fair 2016

Last Saturday April 9 my wife Tess and I attended the Scranton Radical Book Fair at the student center of Marywood University in Scranton, PA. I noticed comrade John Dodds, Director of Philadelphia Unemployment Project, was presenting, and well as local activists. Also, I never need an excuse to book shop. There were about a dozen vendors, mostly anarchist or environmental. We attended three presentations.

The first was “Grassroots Environmental Activism on the Frontlines of Fracking” by the Shalefield Organizing Committee. Pennsylvania coal country was was the site of extractive mining for 75 years (now abandoned), and now the site of a new extractive industry--natural gas. Both industries have seriously damaged the ecosystem. Community organizers Casey Pegg and Sierra Shumer noted there are still 30 active mine fires in PA left over from the age of coal. Neither industry has uplifted local employment or produced a sustainable economy. The Shalefield Organizing Committee is opposing the proposed Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline that would connect the Marcellus Shale wells in northern PA to East Coast ports for gas export to international markets. It is all about profits for oil companies.

Second, we heard John Dodds talk about Raise the Wage PA coalition, the campaign to lift the minimum wage to $10.10/hour. His organization Philadelphia Unemployment Project was instrumental in the last successful effort to raise the minimum wage in PA ten years ago. Hard to believe- the last time the minimum wage was raised in PA was 2006! Given the weakness of labor unions in the US, the most effective way to raise the wage floor for low income workers is minimum wage legislation. One in four workers in northeast PA and 1.3 million workers statewide would get a raise with $10.10/ hour minimum wage. Of course, some cities and states have passed $15.00/hour minimums. Call Sen. Lisa Baker (R-NE PA) at 570-675-3931 and ask her to report the $10.10/hour minimum wage bill out of the Labor and Industry Committee.

Tess Gerould, John Dodds, Frank Gerould

Last, we heard Mitch Troutman's stories about the PA Anthracite Coal Region. He blogs with the byline Nixnootz at his website Coal, Corn, and Country. He has a great story about “bootleg mining” in the Depression 1930s. The coal operators closed most of the mines in the region. Most miners were out of work, so they reopened the mines themselves and set up contraband mines. They sold coal to local churches and businesses, contracted truckers, sized the coal. It was dangerous but supported the local economy, and persisted for many years. Like bootleg whiskey during Prohibition.

It was a cold day with snow showers Saturday morning. My wife and I wandered around the tidy redbrick Marywood University campus before the book fair opened. There is lots of Catholic iconography spread around the campus indoors and out. An incongruous message at the anarchist book fair.