Straight Out of the Left Field

What sets Glastonbury apart from other music festivals? Apart from the size it has a variety of political and social messages to listen to, with this in mind I ventured to the Left Field and the Socialist Bookshop…

Sometimes it easy to be overwhelmed by the right-on nature of Glastonbury. Everything is so green, you’d think Kermit was in charge. Messages about clean water, the evils of big business and Greenpeace promotional videos play inbetween each act either side of the Pyramid Stage. The Guardian’s branding is more ubiquitous than Hay. Oxfam are there in force, even the workers in the bars donate their money to charity.

Visiting The Left Field is almost refreshing in this respect. Not far from the Pyramid Stage, the Left Field is a vast tent with a big stage that flies in the face of convention and starts its music line-up on a Wednesday night. Bands like the Levellers may headline, but a lot of unknown and up-coming acts also perform. Our own Dockers MC for example. However when I visit the stage on Saturday it is mainly empty. This apparently is an on-going problem for the venue. The Guardian festival guide, received by everyone entering the Festival (and subsequently worn around the neck for easy-reading), does not list their vast number of performances, simply because they can’t buy-in to the space required by the Guardian. So much for solidarity. Consequently, the Left Field remains a great surprise for many festival goers, but does still not attract the numbers it deserves.

Tucked into the corner of the tent I found Bookmarks, the Socialist Bookshop. Founded in 1971 as an independent bookshop dedicated to political and left-wing thinking, the Shop is now affiliated to the TUC as their official book-selling partner. I met Becky Reese, who’s been with the Shop for six years and she explained to me the Shop is a special kind of independent. “It doesn’t just travel to Glastonbury, though this is our fifth year here, we also visit other events like Tolpuddle or the Durham Miners Gala. Otherwise we’re permanently based in Bloomsbury, round the corner from the TUC head office.”

I ask Becky what sort of thing sells well at the Socialist Bookshop while at the festival. She thinks that people are looking for answers. “We always do well on books about the environment or different ways of thinking, authors such as George Monbiot and Noam Chomsky get bought. I think Glastonbury is inspirational in helping people think about changing the world.”

Thinking about changing the world, in an increasingly combative marketplace where does she think independents will stand? “It’s very difficult. We’ve just set up the Friends of Bookmarks as a means of ensuring support for the business, and also helping to update and overhaul our website, which we do increasing amounts of trade off. Publishers can help I think by showing more support for independents, but also by helping link to our sites. We realise most online purchasing will be done via Amazon and that’s a shame… They don’t have a good record with trade unions, in fact an attempt to set up a union presence within the business was met with heavy resistance from management.”

As I leave the bookshop I’m delighted to see two of our own titles Six Degrees by Mark Lynas and The Yacoubian Building by Alaa al Aswany prominently displayed. Two titles that will certainly challenge the way you think, if the Left Field tent doesn’t already.