Why are we putting ourselves through all of the hassle of writing, designing, printing and distributing a physical At the Grassroots paper when we could opt for a quiet life by just having this blog? Quite simply, it’s because distributing a paper involves meeting and interacting with people face to face. We live in an age of digital communication but, from our long experience as activists, nothing beats handing out physical forms of propaganda and having real life conversations with people. For that, it’s worth going through all of the aggravation involved in producing and distributing a paper.

We’ve had a lot of experience over the years of producing and distributing papers as you can see when you visit the Papers page on this blog. These were all produced when we were living back in Thurrock and operating as Alternative Estuary across the south east of Essex. We handed out papers at a range of community and vegan fairs, plus the occasional protest. We also persuaded a number of venues such as pubs and cafes to take a bundle of papers for their patrons. All of which involved face to face engagement with people.

When we first relocated to Keynsham from Thurrock in 2022, we did bring out a paper titled Grassroots Alternatives. Given that we were new to the region and not at all familiar with the activist scene in Bath, Bristol and the surrounding settlements, it was probably pretty arrogant of us to wade in with a new paper! Anyway, we did produce one and managed to distribute it with some degree of success without ruffling any feathers. After that, for a variety of reasons, we held off producing any more papers until now.

There’s only so far having an online presence will get us as activists. Which is why we put our money where our mouths are by getting involved in practical projects. As for getting our message across, in an age of digital saturation, it’s becoming a lot harder to gain a decent audience, let alone make an impact. This is what prompted us to make the decision to bring out a printed paper and see what happens when we start to distribute it. The aim is to produce two editions a year and take it from there. The first edition which we hope will be out by the start of July will hopefully see us through to the end of the year.

The first edition of At the Grassroots is three quarters of the way through being written and laid out. All that remains to be done is the front cover which needs to be eye catching enough to make people want to pick up a copy. Given that we’ll only be producing two editions a year, needless to say, the content is generic rather than immediately topical. Having said that, we’re doing our level best to make it engaging:)

We’ll be handing out the papers on any relevant protests and pickets in Bath and Bristol. We’ll also be attending events such as vegan and community fairs to distribute them. What we also want to do is find venues who sympathise with our aims and would be happy to take a bundle of papers for their patrons. Obviously, any help we can get with distribution will be greatly appreciated. If you think you can help in any way, our contact details can be found on the About page. As we’ve mentioned before, the long term aim is to make this project a collaborative effort. Getting involved with the distribution of the paper will be an important step towards helping us to achieve this.