Rampart Newsletter 30th April 2008
Posted by therampart on April 30, 2008
Hi there,
We now have two social centres on the go!
As you can imagine our new one is getting all the attention but we still have the older one to be used and tended to.
We had two huge parties last Friday, a launch party at the new Shoreditch space with the Dissident Island, and the Speakers Corner gig in Whitechapel, and both went really well. Thanks to the organisers and everyone who came.
If you can help out with fixing up the new space or would like to propose an event or project for either of the spaces please get in contact with us. rampart@mutualaid.org
We are alternating our Rampart meetings between the two spaces, next week (Monday 5th May) is at 15-17 Rampart Street, then the week after at the Shoreditch space 6 Bowl Court, and so on. Meetings start 7pm.
Our new space has progressed fantastically thanks to all the hard work from the crew involved. There are stairs to the different floors, running water, and working toilets! We want to build a bigger kitchen on the first floor to create something of a cafe space with nice bay doors.. that would be good! So.. if you have plumbing skills or want to be part of what could be a cafe collective let us know.
Enough for now as there is loads going on this week :
++ RAMPART EVENTS ++
__ FRIDAY 2ND MAY
{{= One dance-step for us, one giant leap for revolution? =}}
There we go: another fantastic rampart/noborders joint adventure
BENEFIT PARTY
featuring:
Radio Revolucion
Critical Soundsystem
xtrats
DJ Rootsteady
Menopause
52 Commercial Road
DJ Slippahz
ras negus i
more acts tba …
Friday May 2nd 2008
from 8.30 till very late (or early)
Music on two floors, music and video.
Donation at door
{{= Welcome to Dissident Island, a small republic off the coast of London =}}
Broadcasting from our new home in shoreditch, the next show will be broadcast on Friday May 2nd, starting about 9pm for a few hours. We’ve got some cool stuff lined up, so mark it in your diary. We’ve got two of the organisers from Ladyfest in to talk about the 2008 festival, and some people in to tell us a bit about what’s currently happening in Palestine. We have a surprise DJ in for the show.
Tune in at http://www.dissidentisland.org/
Our last show aired live on Friday, April 18th, and was a Zine Edition, focusing on several of London’s new and long-standing zines. We had a member from Voices of Resistance from Occupied London in to talk about the latest third installment. The show also featured interviews with Nick, the guy behind Rupture, the creators of Shift Magazine and Edd, who talked about his role in the zine Last Hours and what we can expect from this year’s London Zine Symposium. The show will be ready for download soon so check back regularly…
++ EVENTS ELSEWHERE ++
{{= Mayday Mayfayre =}}
Come and celebrate Mayday in Mayfayre, rejoice and dance and play in the streets - for International Worker’s Day, for the Traditional Festivities of May the 1st and the coming of the summer, for the Lord of Misrule, and to celebrate and insist on our right to free assembly and a good old fashioned street party….
MAYDAY MEETING POINTS
1) Space Hijackers, Peasants, Aristocracy, Performers, Merchants, Peddlers, Strumpets and Virgins
Meet in Green Park by Green Park tube, we will then head off to the May Fayre at 2:03pm promptly
2) Metropolitan Police, Fools, Soldiers and Vagabonds
Meet outside Bond Street tube station, we will then head off to the May Fayre at 2:34 promptly
Please note it is very important you do not join the wrong meeting point, otherwise you will look like a total fool!
Call 07513 335 777 to catch up
You are cordially invited to Mayfayre 2008, a very special Mayday celebration and re-enactment! Check the attached files and www.spacehijackers.org.uk for flyers, costume ideas and more details…
Come and celebrate Mayday in Mayfayre, rejoice in the streets with our fellows - for International Worker’s Day, for the Ancient Rites of May the 1st and the coming of the summer, to celebrate and insist on our right to free assembly
http://www.spacehijackers.org.uk/
Mayday 2008 is the 300th anniversary of the last free Mayday before the Grand Jury suppression of the traditional May Fayre in central London; a riotous, raucous celebration of fertility and freedom.
From the 1st of May each year, and for up to two weeks afterwards, the people stopped working, rejected their normal routines then danced, drank, laughed and made love in the streets, jeering at the controlling figures of the Church and State, and turning everything they could upside down.
It was known as such “a nursery of vice and debauchery”, that after 1708 the authorities, having had enough of this dangerous freedom and subversion, shut it down. Although there were some attempts at reviving it, the creeping spectre of gentrification made sure it couldn’t continue, as the area of the fayre was gradually built over with palaces and playgrounds for the rich.
To commemorate this significant anniversary, and the still thriving tradition of over the top state control, the Space Hijackers and the Metropolitan Police proudly present a collaborative re-enactment of the end of this traditional May Fayre. Our modern-day interpretation of the cycle of uprising and suppression is in keeping with the attempted repression of parties, protests and gatherings enacted by the state throughout the ages.
In act one, the Space Hijackers will be inviting people to join a mayday street party in it’s traditional home, with music, bands, food and revelry. This will be later followed by the Metropolitan Police Players, who will be re-enacting a classic clamping down on civil liberties and freedom of the people.
All are welcome to this celebration, bring food, bands, mead, rum, codpieces, bales of hay, 18th century prostitutes, music, laughter, wonky teeth, corsets, bustles, spit roasts and virgins dancing around poles.
The exact location of the fayre is still a closely guarded secret, however it will be revealed closer to the date here on our website.
STUFF YOU SHOULD TO KNOW
COSTUME IDEAS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700-1750_in_fashion
http://www.marquise.de/en/1700/pics/1700a.shtml
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/round/18th_century_men/formal_wool/index.html
http://www.freewebs.com/fashionmuseum/1700.htm
MAYDAY HISTORY:
http://libcom.org/library/a-history-of-mayday
http://www.urban75.org/mayday02/history.html
http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/grub/mayfair.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/news/may/mayday/mayday_history.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robin_Goodfellow
{{= Join the Latin American Contingent on May 1st =}}
12 noon at Clerkenwell Green (near Farringdon Station).
March to Rally at Trafalgar Square.
Unity between all immigrant workers! We are not CRIMINALS. We are PEOPLE who want to work.
Unity with the workers of Bolivia on May 4th! No to the illegitimate, racist campaign of the Santa Cruz elite & United States to break up the country! We support the New Constitution & the real sovereignty of Bolivia!
Unity with the workers of Colombia! No more paramilitary violence against trade unionists and social movements in Colombia!
Unity with the Bolivarian Revolution! Solidarity with the conquests of Venezuelan workers on the road to socialism in the 21st Century.
AFTER-DEMONSTRATION MEETING: hear the latest developments in Latin America. Speakers from Bolivian Solidarity Campaign, Movement of Ecuadorians in the UK, Hands off Venezuela, and Colombia Solidarity Campaign.
3 - 5pm, Pitcher & Piano Pub, 40-42 William IV St, WC2N
Map: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=530128&y=180634&z=0&ar=Y
Upcoming Events We are ALL Latin Americans!!
• Saturday, May 3rd: Football for Unity: Football match for the Bolivian community and friends in London, a celebration of solidarity before the illegal referendum. All welcome!! 3pm at Burgess Park, Albany Road SE5 (nearest station Elephant & Castle)
• Monday, May 12th: Public meeting with delegation of Colombian social movements. Representatives of the Women’s Popular Organisation, National Indigenous Peoples’ Organisation, “African Footprints” (African Descendent Organisation), and the Movement of Christians for Peace with Justice and Dignity. 7pm, Amnesty International UK’s Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard (near Old Street or Moorgate tube stations).
• Saturday, June 7th: Second General Assembly of Ecuadorians in the UK. Includes discussions with an MP on the new immigration laws, representatives of Justice for Cleaners on the minimum salary, and the current project of the national government of Ecuador. 1pm at SOAS, 10 Thornaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1 (Russell Square tube).
http://www.movimientoecuador.co.uk/
http://www.boliviasc.org.uk/
http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org
{{= Revolting London: We’re getting closer =}}
Friday 2nd May 2008 6pm
City Hall London
The election for the Mayor of London and for members of the Greater London Assembly takes place on Thursday May 1st. The results will be announced on the evening of May 2nd.
On Friday May 2nd people will gather at City Hall in London to vent their anger at the ‘democratic’ process of electing representatives. This country is not democratic, representation every four years is rubbing stamping within confined limits the political institutions of capitalism.
Lets get down to City Hall on May 2nd - and bring friends!
We’re not saying people shouldn’t vote, thats their choice. We’re saying if we want to change and improve our situations and create a free society, we need to build a counter-power in London that challenges and not reinforces these institutions.
By developing our presence and supporting social struggles where we live and work and play we can change the power balance.
Text of leaflet:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2008/04/396079.html
Meet up 6pm
City Hall
The Queen’s Walk
Tower Bridge
South side of the river
(stations: London Bridge and Tower Hill)
{{= STREET BLITZ - London =}}
1 – 15 May 2008
2 weeks of creative urban modification
http://www.streetblitz.org/
THE CONCEPT
Two weeks to use London as an open gallery. Install your art, modify something currently spoiling your view or do something which changes the perspective on our city. You then mark it onto the map on the Street Blitz website along with text and pictures.
THE MOTIVATION
The corporate image factory spends a huge amount of money on billboards, posters, flyers or ‘guerrilla’ marketing campaigns masquerading as street art. They fill your lives with an unrelenting barrage of preposterous ideals, numb values and false icons. No one asks for your permission before they push these images in your face so neither should we seek consent in order to leave our own mark on the city.
DEEDS NOT WORDS
We propose a 2 week blitz of street art in London between 1-15 May 2008. Whether you make murals, stencils, stickers, posters, sculptures, street projections, sign modification/removal/additions, billboard subverting/defacing/destruction etc; whether creative or destructive; whether to convey a message, brighten up a dull spot, rewire some corporate brainwashing tactics; whether to leave your mark, remove a stain, express yourself or simply to show your disgust – it’s all valid and all adds to The Blitz!
THE PROCEDURE
During the proposed two weeks we want you to use London as an open gallery. There is a map of the city primed and ready for Blitzers to post their activities, no matter how big or small, onto a map overlay. Install your art or anything which changes the perspective on our city then get online and post it onto the empty map on the Street Blitz website at www.streetblitz.org. You can add a description and any photos of your work. There will also be room for comments on each placemark which can also be used to tell us if the artwork is still there or if the miserly bureaucrats got there first.
THE FUTURE
Is ours. We wish to encourage Street Blitzes in other cities around the world. We can set up sub-domains, email accounts and maps for these events - you just need to set the dates and promote it locally. The idea is that most people work best to deadlines and it also creates an intense burst of activity which is more readily perceivable and which turns the city into a temporary gallery space.
THIS IS YOUR CITY
Leave your mark!
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