This article was originally published in Kapinatyöläinen no. 58 (1/2023).
Launched in autumn 2022, Tanssiva Emma (“Dancing Emma”) is a radical book café in Oulu. In a short time, it has developed into an epic meeting place for the city’s radicals.
From Zapatista solidarity to the TAIVO action group
Tanssiva Emma began with TAIVO, and TAIVO began with the visit of five Zapatista women to Oulu in September 2021. The Oulu stop of the Zapatistas’ Journey for Life tour was a great success. At the event, hosted by OulUtopia, local groups were invited to share their stories and reflect on the meaning of autonomy, human dignity and freedom. A few weeks later, a follow-up meeting was held, at which we decided to continue networking and cooperation between radical groups and individuals in Oulu. We began meeting regularly and adopted the name TAIVO – Toimintaryhmä Autonomia, Ihmisarvo ja Vapaus Oulu (Oulu Action Group for Autonomy, Human Dignity and Freedom).
People from the Oulu Anarchist Union played a key role in this, as they had already been working to bring together left-wing individuals and groups in Oulu around the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune. These contacts and energies among anarchists and communists in Oulu now came together within TAIVO. People from OulUtopia, Oulu’s Kurdish community and the Oulu Commune initially formed the core of the group, but we were soon joined by people from the Left Alliance and Extinction Rebellion Oulu, and the group began to grow.
From the outset, TAIVO’s activities have been strongly rooted in solidarity and learning from one another. The first year was important for shaping the group’s dynamics and activities. We held a reading group around Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Make Rojava Green Again. Through solidarity actions, we drew attention to the struggles of the Zapatistas and the Kurds. In spring 2022, we organised a series of open events under the theme “Revolutionary Voices from the Land of the Sun – Voices from the Kurdish Revolution”. By then, we were already meeting at the Tukikohta cultural centre in Oulu’s Välivainio district.
In summer 2022, we began discussing the possibility of having “a place of our own”, and the idea of a book café began to take shape. While exploring different possibilities, we heard that we might be able to use premises at the Left Alliance’s Järjestötalo as a café space. After some consideration, we became enthusiastic about the idea and began making ambitious plans. We also came up with the name Tanssiva Emma. By the end of the summer, however, it became clear that we would not be able to use the space after all.
Tanssiva Emma is about commitment and trust
The name Tanssiva Emma refers to the saying attributed to Emma Goldman: “If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution!” Choosing a name for the café was something of a difficult birth, and we were delighted when, after countless rounds of voting, we finally settled on Tanssiva Emma. The name aptly reflects the many things the place represents for us: revolutionary discussion and organising, playfulness, leisure and freedom, feminism, anarchism and libertarian socialism, literature, art and culture.
When we gathered again at Tukikohta after the summer break, we realised that we already had an ideal space for a café right there: a cosy underground atmosphere, sofas, a large hall, a kitchen, a bar counter and a radical library. We decided to open the café every Monday from 5 to 9 p.m. The opening took place on 7 November 2022, and the programme included communal singing, a badge-making workshop and simply spending time together. Live music was provided by Hazardimpi Karhukoira and The Flying Görg.
Apart from a break over Christmas, the café has been open every Monday since. During Tanssiva Emma’s first year, the programme has included a wide range of events, themes and activities. In the autumn, these included a workshop on resolving interpersonal conflicts, playing revolutionary board games and making banners for Oulu Without Nazis. In the spring, we began with a theme month on international solidarity. It culminated in an Anarkino screening where we watched Kobanê (2022), a film about the liberation of the city of Kobanê from an ISIS siege.
During the theme month, we also organised the demonstration that attracted the greatest media attention in our history, criticising Erdoğan’s government and Finland’s cooperation with Turkey. In addition to the Kurdish struggle, we discussed the anti-war movement in Russia and the uprising in Iran, and learned more about recent developments in the Zapatista movement.
This spring, we are organising a number of themed months, including one on “Socially Engaged Poetry, Art and Self-Expression” in April. We also plan to strengthen the way we work together by adopting the tekmîl method developed within democratic confederalism.
Tanssiva Emma’s activities and the way we work together have developed quite organically, but our shared principles have been refined and discussed along the way whenever needed. Based on our own “dream roles”, we have formed loosely defined working groups responsible for different tasks: one group bakes and prepares the café’s food, another takes care of serving, coffee-making and “customer service”, one group plans and prepares the programme, and another works with social media and communications. Our work is based on voluntary participation, commitment and solidarity. Everyone has the right to participate according to their own capacities, strengths and interests. The same principle applies to the café itself: the suggested voluntary contribution for the buffet is five euros.
A multicultural and diverse community
Tanssiva Emma is a place where you can be yourself: you can be playful or serious, laid-back or active. You can talk and listen, build community and bonds of mutual aid. You can work together, focus on your own projects or simply gather your strength. It is a bit like dancing. And dancing is better together.
We look forward to everything the future will bring: both challenges and moments of success and sharing. Tanssiva Emma has been running for less than four months, and during that time the number of people involved has doubled. Young and old alike have found a shared meeting place in Tanssiva Emma’s multicultural and diverse community. We warmly welcome everyone living locally, as well as visitors to Oulu who are interested in what we do.