RAMPART 2.2

rampART 1 is still going (of course still under acute threat of eviction) yet our backup space Ramp Part2 which was occupied since new year’s eve was less fortunate and has been .

Undaunted by the loss of our baby Ram Part 2 (they got the IPO on the
third try), we’ve already moved into a new space and have started to fix
it up to have it ready for the April 11/12 days of action (more details
on this in the next newsletter)!

It’s bigger, better location, with a room that has already been sound
proofed! The owners have taken out all the stairs so we need help
rebuilding them, and the upper floors need the boards relaying. If you
are a roofer please get in contact as the roof has a hole in it -
typical, building owners that want to force council planning to accept
demolishion (and build yuppie flats) by allowing the building to
deteriorate. Well now we’re around to put the place to better use!

– We urgently need help with the occupation and work rota! –

Please contact us at rampart@mutualaid.org or come along to the next
Monday meeting at 7pm at old Rampart, but we need help sooner than Monday!

JOBS TO BE DONE OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS:
- Fix the first flight of stairs (need 13 planks 104cm long)
- Put curtains up on the first floor
- Replace the floor boards (using screws rather than nails to keep the
noise down at this stage)
- Patch up broken windows to reduce draft and keep cold out
- Fix roof
- Plumbing

ROTA: email us at rampart@mutualaid.org !!

WISHLIST:
- Door bell
- Scaffold planks, any length over 3.5ft and lots of them
- Perspex, glass or windows
- A big piece of lino or water proof advertisinf banners etc for roof
- Hose, taps, sink and somebody up for doing plumbing

******************************

*******

APRIL 11/12 DAYS OF ACTION FOR SQUATS AND AUTONOMOUS SPACES

We will be hosting some workshops and a café for the April 11/12 Days of
Action.

Some of the workshop ideas that were discussed were:
working with electricity, water and plumbing, gaining access and lock
picking, window glazing,
fitting locks, legal issues, basic DIY, repair and fixing consumer
appliances, sound proofing, growing food in squats saving energy -
insulation and draught proofing on zero budget, saving / harvesting
water, permaculture, etc.

If you have any workshop ideas or would like to get involved, come to
our regular Monday meetings at 7pm.

We’re doing a Squatters Estate Agents so if you know of any empties,
take a picture, note down condition and details and email us at
rampart@mutualaid.org

For more info on the April 11/12 Days of Action, visit:
http://april2008.squat.net/

*****************************************
// UPCOMING EVENTS AT RAMPART //
*****************************************

RADICAL THEORY READING GROUP MARCH 28TH, 6:30PM

**PLEASE NOTE LOCATION CHANGE**

The group will be meeting at 170-172 Acre Lane, Brixton

Readings:

‘On Neoliberalism: An interview with David Harvey’
(http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/lilley190606.html)

‘The Art of Rent: Globalization, Monopoly and the Commodification of
Culture’
(http://socialistregister.com/recent/2002/harvey2002). As usual, any
problems ring Debbie at 07904759830

“When they kick out your front door, How you gonna come? With your hands
on your head, Or on the trigger of your gun… etc. etc. etc.”

********************************************

MAGAZINE LAUNCH FOR NAKED PUNCH REVIEW

Saturday, March 29th, probably 8PM start

Naked Punch review will be holding a launch of Issue# 10 on Saturday night.

with:
Short performances and theatre followed by bands and dj.
Video and Cinema showcase
Art exhibition
Poetry room

Entrance £3 donation (funds towards for future publications)

Naked Punch Review is a quarterly interdisciplinary review and magazine
of philosophy, art, politics and poetry run voluntarily by young,
unestablished figures in those fields. Contributors have included
Antonio Negri, Tariq Ali, Wim Wenders, Arthur Danto, Richard Shusterman,
Simon Critchley, Walden Bello, Michael Taussig, Adonis, Mahmoud Darvish
among others.The magazine was founded in 2002 by a group of young
London-based thinkers.

http://www.nakedpunch.com

**********************************************

// OTHER SOCIAL CENTRE EVENTS //

EVENTS AT WOMYNSPACE:

Monday:
Welding workshop 7pm - 9pm
Music Jam 8pm

Tuesday:
Welding workshop 10am - 12am
Cafe and Kids space 3pm - 9pm
Practical Herbal Skillshare 4pm - 6pm
Womyns Space Collective Meeting 7pm

Wednesday:
Stencil making 4pm - 8pm
(please bring own scalpel and acetate/cardboard if you can)
Womens Direct Action group 7.30pm

Thursday:
Cafe and Kids space 3pm - 9pm
Photoshop and software share workshop 4pm - 6.30pm
(bring own laptop if possible! But come anyways
mail: jayapapaya@gmail.com
Women’s Discussion Group 6.30pm - 8.30 pm
SEE NOTICEBOARD FOR DETAILS

Friday:
Bar from 7pm

Saturday:
Cafe and Kids space 3pm - 9pm

Sunday:
Womens Health Collective

For more info, contact womenorganise@yahoo.co.uk

*****************************************
-*- BEHIND BARS VIII -*-

Queer DIY benefit supporting: International Union of Sexworkers

29th March 08
10pm - 8am

at the Hackney Social Centre
231 Lower Clapton Road, Hackney, E5 8EG
(please note: entrance is at the back door of the building)
Door donation

Live bands & acts: Juha, Spiritwo, Skitzopolis, Prolapse, Villain, Roc
Roc It, Husbands, Rouge Et Noir
VJs: Oskur, Monogaze, Filippo
DJs: Fake Face, Foll@nes, PJ, Sturamsey, Cheeky Half, Lakuti, Amila, Stay B

www.myspace.com/behindbarsbroadcast
www.iusw.org
www.hackneysocialcentre.blogspot.com

*****************************************
// OTHER EVENTS IN LONDON //
*****************************************

TRADE UNION AND COMMUNITY CONFERENCE AGAINST IMMIGRATION CONTROLS

SATURDAY 29th MARCH 2008 10.30am - 5pm

SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H,
Tube: Russell Square, buses: 7, 68, 169

Speakers include John McDonnell MP, trade union activists, and people
who successfully fought back against the immigration system

Called by Finsbury Park RMT

Supported by Piccadilly & West RMT, Camden RMT, Central London GMB,
UNITE-T&G 1647 Branch (Catering & Domestic Workers), Ilford & Romford
UNITE-AMICUS, Clerkenwell & St. Pancras UNITE-AMICUS, Liverpool
University UCU, Liverpool Trades Council, Brent Trades Council, Brighton
& Hove Trades Council, Bolivian Solidarity Campaign, Ecuadorian Movement
in the UK, No One is Illegal, Papers for All, London No Borders, Global
Afrikan Congress UK, LTRC Black & Ethnic Members, Latin Front, Latin
Community Association, Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP, No Sweat, Leicester
Civil Rights Movement, Leicester Social Forum and more

Info/contacts:
www.29thmarch.org.uk

e-mail: davidlandau9@aol.com
tel: 07956 133450 (English) or 07818 6 7192 (Spanish)

Post: Immigration Conference, Dean O’Hanlon, RMT, Unity House, 39
Chalton Street, Euston, London NW1 1JD.

Every day people are being detained and deported.
Every day people are being denied education, health care, the right to
work and thrown into destitution because of their immigration status.
Every day people are paid peanuts and made to work in life threatening
conditions by unscrupulous employers because of their immigration status.
Every day people die trying to cross borders.
Every day Immigration Officers raid people’s homes at dawn and raid
migrants at work.

And it is getting worse with new legislation requiring employers to
regularly check papers of ‘foreigners’.

BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS! If we get together in our
workplaces and our communities we can stop this.

To make this happen trade unionists and community activists need to get
together to share experiences, develop tactics and networks, find ways
of winning trade unions and other organisations to fight these
pernicious controls and say No One is Illegal!

So come along to the conference and make this happen.

There will be plenary sessions and workshops and with plenty of time for
discussion, including:

- Resisting immigration controls in the workplace
- Access to education, social services, housing & health
- Resisting deportation
- Resisting low pay and poor conditions
- Domestic work
- Transport industry and immigration controls

There will be a creche. Please let us know if you will be bringing children.

** BENEFIT GIG AFTERWARDS **

No Borders London presents:

LONDON CALLING!

An evening of acoustic political sounds following the Second Trade Union
and Community Conference against Immigration Controls

Sat 29th March, 6pm - midnight

@ The Ivy House pub, 8-10 Southampton Row, WC1B 4AE (next to Holborn tube)

Featuring sets from:
* PJ and Gaby
* Neil Sutherland
* Kelly Kemp
plus more tbc.

Free entry/donations welcome.

http://noborderslondon.blogspot.com

****************************************************
RECLAIM YOUR FOOD, SUNDAYS IN FRONT OF THE RITZY IN BRIXTON, STARTING AT 3PM
Come for free food and a bike maintenance workshop, in front of the
Ritzy in Brixton, every Sunday at 3pm
***************************************************

FOSSIL FUELS DAY OF ACTION

Tuesday April 1st

http://www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org

*Funeral for coal in Parliament square, London*

Meet at 11 AM in Parliament Square

The People & Planet network invites you to join us at an action and mass
lobby. We will be building a coal power station complete with 12ft
cooling towers in Westminster, while people dressed in Jesters hats and
Gordon Brown masks will ‘burn’ a mock Climate Change Bill.

Contact james.lloyd@peopleandplanet.org for more information.
www.peopleandplanet.org/nonewcoal

*Protest circus for a coal Fossil Fool, London*

Meet 8 AM at 1 Victoria Street (nearest tube: St. James’s Park)

The London World Development Movement groups are co-ordinating a
hilarious protest outside the Department for Enterprise Business and
Regulatory Reform (or BERR) to laugh at the minister for business, John
Hutton. John Hutton is currently set to make a right fool of the
government’s climate policy if he signs off on EON’s new Kingsnorth
power station. Everyone’s welcome to join in the collective hilarity and
to demand Hutton takes the Kingsnorth decision very seriously. There
will be a real circus feel, with jugglers, clowns and acrobats, so don’t
hesitate to bring juggling balls or wear your squeaky nose or silly hat.

Protest starts at 8am and will be over in time for you to be at work.

Contact Rachel on 0207 8204900 for more information.
www.stopkingsnorth.org

***************************************************

WOULD YOU LIKE FREE SMS ALERTS ABOUT LONDON SOCIAL CENTRE ANNOUNCEMENTS
AND EVENTS?
Text ‘follow londonscn’ to 07624801423 then reply with a name as instructed.

–
This is a message to those subscribed to the rampART mailing list.
To sign-off of subscribe see http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/rampart
See http://rampart.co.nr for more info about the project and events.
http://www.myspace.com/rampartlondon
map http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=534641&y=181230&z=0&sv=E1+2LA&st=2&pc=E1+2LA&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf
15 Rampart Street, London E1 2LA (near Whitechapel, off Commercial Rd)
07050 618445 rampart@mutualaid.org

WOULD YOU LIKE FREE SMS ALERTS ABOUT LONDON SOCIAL CENTER GIGS AND EVENTS?
Text ‘follow londonscn’ to 07624801423 then reply with a name as instructed.

Rampart newsletter 29th January 2008

Rampart newsletter 29th January 2008

Hi again,

No further news from the court appeal, which is good news in the short
term certainly.

Strangely, as part of our appeal process we have been asked to provide
official transcripts from the court case last year. They want these for
the 20^th of Feb. Unfortunately these are a bit costly (you have to pay
the court for them!) so if anyone knows a way of wrangling out of paying
so the fees…

Aside from the cost, we’re optimistic as since they’re asking for
transcripts for consideration that could well mean that the appeal will
go ahead. This could go on and on.. and definitely in the case of other
squat spaces, like St George’s theatre, where they lost their court case
and were still around a year later.

We’re a bit concerned that the idea has gotten round that the Rampart is
already gone, and that isn’t true at all. The social centre is still
running and available to groups for events, meetings and workshops for
as long as we have the space.. which could be for some time still yet.

Which leads us nicely to the upcoming activities at the Rampart this week:

++ WEDNESDAY 30TH ++

== Popular Uprising in Oaxaca ==

When Mexican paramilitary forces shot Brad Will in the chest, killing
him, his camera fell from his hands. But it didn’t stop recording. It
continued moving from hand to hand, telling Brad’s story, as well as the
story of the movement of movements that he was a part of. From the
squats of New York to the forests of Oregon, from the anti-globalization
protests in Seattle, Prague, Quebec to the popular uprising in Oaxaca,
Brad’s camera paints us a picture of what his life was about, and what
so many of his friends continue to struggle for.

Film screening and debate. Starting 8PM

++ THURSDAY 31ST ++

== Rampart free cinema ==

8PM start

While The International Monetary Fund (IMF) “Sees World Growth Slowing,
With U.S. Marked Down” and the turbolent time of the political “complex
italian situation “ of January 2008 …

Secret Warfare: Operation Gladio And NATO’s Stay-Behind Armies:

http://tinyurl.com/584ol

Operation Gladio:

http://tinyurl.com/9av5v

Operation Gladio: Template For The War On Terror:

‘Operation Gladio’ is a most revealing documentary which exposes the
network of American, French, Italian and Belgian agents who committed
terrorist attacks on the European public, placing the blame on leftwing
activists and communists. Hundreds of people were murdered in cold-blood
so that fear could spread and political influence gained in European
countries.

These clandestine NATO-sponsored terrorist cells operated between
1948-1990, and were part of what former CIA director William Colby
described as a “a major program.”

They were internationally coordinated by the Pentagon and NATO and had
their last known meeting in the NATO-linked Allied Clandestine Committee
(ACC) in Brussels in October 1990. Operating in all Western European
countries under different codenames and coordinated by the Allied
Clandestine Committee and the Clandestine Planning Committee under the
umbrella supervision of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
(SHAPE) within the NATO and with the active supporting role of the
Pentagon, CIA and the British MI6. The secret army was clandestine and
illegal in many countries and staffed by loyal anti-communist soldiers
and rightwing activists recruited from various sectors, surprisingly
many with a past with the nazis or fascist armies during WWII. These
armies have been employed also against the national communist (and in
some case socialist) parties under the complacence of domestic
intelligence services with several suspect cases of assassinations and
some documented cases of terrorist attacks against civilian targets, or
in overturning democratically elected governments (Greece and Turkey)
too dangerously left-leaning.

Nato’s Secret Armies is an essential guide to understanding post-war
European politics and the powerful realpolitik of EU-US relations as it
provides a complete documentation of the general patterns of this army
across Europe that if taken in isolation would seem improbable.

Today analogies with “new” terrorists again secretly trained by these
same secret services ?

http://www.declarepeace.org.uk/captain/murder_inc/site/gnngladio.html

++ FRIDAY 1ST FEBRUARY ++

== Reclaim Your Health ==

What?
An Alternative Homeopathic Clinic focussed on empowering & enabling
you to health.

How?
One-to-one consultations on a monthly basis. Remedies, Essences, Herbs &
advice to take during the month.

Where?
Rampart Social Centre, 15-17 Rampart Street, Whitechapel, E1 2LA

When?
Every Friday: 2pm – 6pm

How Much?
£0. It’s an exchange or barter clinic. Bring whatever you want. Eg.
Skipped food, poetry, art, socks, a good book or an IOU!
reclaim@homeopathy4health.co.uk

* Please email before to find out where this will be happening. *

++ SATURDAY 2ND ++

== Violence and the State ==

Part 1) At Goldsmiths College -

Projections and discussion of films and documentaries

12:00pm – 6:00pm

Small Hall Cinema - Goldsmiths College
New Cross, SE14 NW

Schedule:

- 12pm: Z (1969, Costa-Gavras, 127min)
The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events
surrounding the CIA assassination of democratic Greek politician
Gregoris Lambrakis in 1963. With its satirical view of Greek politics,
its dark sense of humor, and its chilling ending, the film captures the
sense of outrage about the military dictatorship that ruled Greece at
the time of its making.

2:45pm: Documentaries and short films
A documentary about borders in Europe and how it affects nomadic
communities and various short films.

- 4:15pm: Punishment Park (1971, Peter Watkins, 88min)
Set in a detention camp in an America of the near-future, Punishment
Park’s pseudo-documentary style places a British film crew amongst a
group of young students and minor dissidents who have opted to spend
three days in ‘Bear Mountain Punishment Park’ in lieu of length
prisonsentences.

Part 2) At Rampart -

“How non-violence protects the state” UK tour with author Peter Gelderoos

Starting 7pm

Peter Gelderloos, author of How Non-Violence Protects the State is
giving a discussion tour:
http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388773.html

Violence never solves anything. Violence begets violence. The government
is strong when it comes to violence, we need to attack them where they
are weak! Everyone working for social change is familiar with the
cliches of pacifism. And to many people it seems that using more
radical, illegal, or violent tactics is naturally isolating. But what if
it’s actually our supposed allies, or our own revolutionary practices,
that are isolating us? What if violence is something diverse,
undefinable, a hopelessly broad category that encompasses institutions
that perpetuate oppression and actions that can empower and liberate us?
What if we are all cogs in a violent system, and what if pacifists are
tools of a violent system?

People working for social change face plenty of difficult questions, but
sometimes matters of strategy and tactics receive low priority. Among
many activists, the role of nonviolence as the default mode of struggle
bears little scrutiny. Even as it pretends to contain moral strength,
nonviolence is a major obstacle in global movements for social change.
Nonviolence is based on a number of historical falsifications that
enforce an inaccurate understanding of revolution, it protects white
privilege and the privilege of the Global North, it can reinforce
patriarchal dynamics, and it makes anti-authoritarians complicit with
the authorities, preserving the State monopoly of force.

Ultimately, nonviolence is created and encouraged by the State, and
antithetical to anarchist revolution.

== London Social Centres Network meeting ==

2PM at the new Hackney squat

As I’m writing this I haven’t been able find details about this meeting
but I know it’s on.
A support network for the various London autonomous spaces and a chance
to discuss plans for the April 2008 days of action for squatting and
autonomous spaces (http://april2008.squat.net/en/)
Best check Indymedia nearer the time if you’re interested.

++ Radical Reading Symposium has been re-scheduled for the summer ++

But the Radical Reading group are still meeting every month so come
along to the next one if you wanted to take part.

++ We need a Permaculture ‘facilitator’ ++

Our work in readying the new building has reached a point where we feel
we need advice in how to proceed with it in a permacultural way. Things
are getting thrown away that don’t need to be thrown away in the
confusion that is the ‘collaborative work site’.

We have plans in mind but need some permacultural guidance in order to
reduce the amount of waste being created and to ensure we are managing
the construction work in the correct way. Kinda specialist request I know..
If you know anyone who might be able to help with this please pass this
on to them. We are pretty limited with the work we can do with the space
without re-evaluating the overall process.

++ Spare mobile phone? ++

We need a mobile phone to use as a reliable means of contacting whoever
is in the new building, so if anyone has a spare one going they don’t
mind donating then let us know.
Pipe dreaming, but a walkie talkie set would be cool too..

Thanks a bunch.

We’d like to take this opportunity to also thank everyone who has helped
out so far with the new building. Your help has really been a
life-saver. Keep it coming!

–
This is a message to those subscribed to the rampART mailing list.
To sign-off of subscribe see http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/rampart
See http://rampart.co.nr for more info about the project and events.
http://www.myspace.com/rampartlondon
map http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=534641&y=181230&z=0&sv=E1+2LA&st=2&pc=E1+2LA&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf
15 Rampart Street, London E1 2LA (near Whitechapel, off Commercial Rd)
07050 618445 rampart@mutualaid.org

WOULD YOU LIKE FREE SMS ALERTS ABOUT LONDON SOCIAL CENTER GIGS AND EVENTS?
Text ‘follow londonscn’ to 07624801423 then reply with a name as instructed.