View source for From SFU to Commercial Drive, this is Spartacus Books

{{header
 | title      = From SFU to Commercial Drive, this is Spartacus Books
 | author     = 
 | override_author = Meera Eragoda
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 | notes      = ''{{w|The Peak|The Peak (newspaper)}}'', 20 January 2020, p. 11.
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<font size="4">''GLAD READS''</font>

<font size="5"><div style="text-align:center">{{p|10}}'''From SFU to Com&shy;mer&shy;cial Drive, this is Spar&shy;tacus Books'''<br>VENEWS</div></font>

<font size="4">Find out how one tiny table sel&shy;ling books at {{w|SFU|Simon Fraser University}} turned into the volun&shy;teer-run store it is today</font>


'''Meera Eragoda'''<br>Staff Writer

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Tucked into a corner on Findlay Street off {{w|Com&shy;mer&shy;cial Drive|Commercial Drive, Vancouver}} lies an un&shy;ob&shy;tru&shy;sive book&shy;store that has its roots in SFU. Spar&shy;tacus Books is a breath of fresh, rad&shy;ical air in a suf&shy;fo&shy;ca&shy;tingly cap&shy;it&shy;al&shy;ist world. It{{s}} a non-<wbr>profit, en&shy;tirely volun&shy;teer-<wbr>run book&shy;store and re&shy;source center that strives to be as in&shy;clu&shy;sive and ac&shy;ces&shy;sible as pos&shy;sible.

{{tab}}Spar&shy;tacus Books got its start in 1972 as a book&shy;table at SFU, mov&shy;ing to a store&shy;front on the {{w|Down&shy;town East&shy;side|Downtown Eastside}} in 1973. It has faced more than its fair share of ad&shy;vers&shy;ity since, from a fire that de&shy;stroyed every&shy;thing to a {{l|reno&shy;vic&shy;tion|https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/renoviction}} as a result of in&shy;creas&shy;ing gent&shy;ri&shy;fi&shy;ca&shy;tion. For over 45 years, it has pre&shy;served<!-- as printed --> and re&shy;built, show&shy;cas&shy;ing the power of work&shy;ing as a col&shy;lec&shy;tive.

{{tab}}Spar&shy;tacus oper&shy;ates under an {{w|anti-<wbr>op&shy;pres&shy;sive|Anti-oppressive practice}}, {{w|anti-<wbr>colon&shy;ial|Anti-imperialism}}, and {{w|anti-<wbr>cap&shy;it&shy;al&shy;ist|Anti-capitalism}} frame&shy;work to re&shy;ject hier&shy;ar&shy;chies and bin&shy;aries. This unites people through the spirit of strug&shy;gle, as they be&shy;lieve all op&shy;pres&shy;sions are linked.

{{tab}}The store itself is fairly small, but can hold gath&shy;er&shy;ings of up to 30 people. Dur&shy;ing my last visit, an {{w|ac&shy;cor&shy;dion|Accordion}} group of about 12 people were using the space to prac&shy;tice. It is packed with adult and chil&shy;dren{{s}} books, maga&shy;zines, pins, patches, comics, and other merch featur&shy;ing {{w|anarch&shy;ist|Anarchism}}, {{w|In&shy;dig&shy;en&shy;ous|Indigenous peoples}}, {{w|queer|Queer studies}}, {{w|fem&shy;in&shy;ist|Feminism}}, {{w|Black|Africana studies}}, and {{w|im&shy;mig&shy;rant|Migration studies}} con&shy;tent&mdash;and more.

{{tab}}Every&shy;where you turn, post&shy;ers such as {{qq|{{w|Sex Work is Real Work|Sex workers' rights}},}} {{qq|{{l|A Riot is the Language of the Unheard|https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.#The_Other_America_(1968)}},}} and {{qq|{{w|Smash Fas&shy;ism|Anti-fascism}}}} greet you. There is a cozy corner of the store where any&shy;one is wel&shy;come to free coffee, tea, and what&shy;ever other good&shy;ies await. A couch featur&shy;ing a co&shy;lour&shy;ful throw, along with other seat&shy;ing, gives the space a homey feel where any&shy;one can play board games, read, peruse {{w|zines|Zine}}, play an in&shy;strum&shy;ent, or just hang out.

{{tab}}Alexander Daughtry, the longest-<wbr>stand&shy;ing mem&shy;ber of the col&shy;lec&shy;tive, joined in 1976. He first dis&shy;covered Spar&shy;tacus while it was a book&shy;table at SFU. When ''The Peak'' asked what in&shy;spired him to join, he said, {{qq|I loved that it was doing an im&shy;port&shy;ant func&shy;tion of get&shy;ting all this in&shy;forma&shy;tion to people who it would not other&shy;wise be avail&shy;able, but I also loved that it was non-<wbr>sectar&shy;ian, and was a work&shy;ing group of anarch&shy;ists, {{w|Mao&shy;ists|Maoism}}, and {{so&shy;cial demo&shy;crats|Democratic socialism}} who could all work to&shy;gether which was un&shy;usual in the 1970s.}}

{{tab}}As to why he{{s}} stayed so long, he says, {{qq|I think we still have a very im&shy;port&shy;ant func&shy;tion worth con&shy;tinu&shy;ing espe&shy;cially as book&shy;stores are all dis&shy;ap&shy;pear&shy;ing.}}

{{tab}}Spar&shy;tacus is more than just a book&shy;store. It is a safe space for com&shy;mun&shy;ity gather&shy;ing and or&shy;gan&shy;iza&shy;tion. They hold free events such as movie screen&shy;ings, craft nights, jam ses&shy;sions, and book clubs. I{{m}} told by col&shy;lec&shy;tive mem&shy;ber Alexander Kirby that the Spar&shy;tacus Book Club will be re&shy;start&shy;ing on Janu&shy;ary 30 at 6:30 p.m. with ''{{w|Capit&shy;al&shy;ism<!-- as printed --> Real&shy;ism|Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?}} by {{w|Mark Fisher|Mark Fisher (theorist)}} (a short 90-pager), and that more de&shy;tails will be pub&shy;lished on their Face&shy;book page shortly.

{{tab}}Stay&shy;ing true to SFU{{s}} roots in&shy;volves help&shy;ing rad&shy;ical, in&shy;clus&shy;ive spaces both on and off cam&shy;pus flour&shy;ish. As Spar&shy;tacu{{s|r}} in&shy;cep&shy;tion can be traced back to SFU, I would en&shy;cour&shy;age any&shy;one curi&shy;ous about in&shy;clus&shy;ive so&shy;cial change, al&shy;tern&shy;at&shy;ive worlds based on unity, or chal&shy;len&shy;ging the status quo, to pop by this oasis.

{{tab}}''Spar&shy;tacus Books can be found at 3378 Findlay St, Van&shy;couver, BC and is open from 10 a.m.&ndash;8:30 p.m. on week&shy;days, and 11 a.m.&ndash;7 p.m. on week&shy;ends.

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