RED RAG Reading's Only Newspaper Special Fall Out Edition MAD DAY Next Issue Copy Date 6pm Thursday 15 May: Co-ordinator Clive 475909: Sunday 475909: Events 481081: Going Out 868488 Red Rag, Box 79,17 Chatham Street, Reading. - - - MAY 1886 If you've ever sung the full version of 'The Red Flag' you may have wondered why verse two (usually omitted) makes a specific reference to Chicago. The reason is that a hundred years ago this week, Chicago was the scene of the notorious Haymarket massacre and the eventual execution of five revolutionaries who came to he known as the Haymarket Martyrs. However, in this case it was not the Red Flag which 'shrouded oft our martyrs dead', but a black one - the Haymarket Martyrs were all Anarchists. During April 1886 the socialist trade unions were running a campaign for an eight hour day. The anarchists of the Chicago Black International - an anarchist & anarcho-syndicalist group with a membership of about 6,000 - helped organize the campaign, but their speakers were told to restrict themselves to the demand for an eight hour day and not to preach social revolution. Oh May 1st, 1886 there was a strike meeting outside the McCormick Reaper works. While the anarchist August Spies was speaking there was a disturbance followed by gunfire. With guns and clubs the police broke up the meeting, killing two strikers and wounding several others. The anarchists called a public meeting in the Haymarket for May 4th. When the meeting began at 7:30pm there was a crowd of about 3,000 including the Mayor who had come along to observe. The anarchist speakers denounced the police and went on to discuss tactics and social revolution. At about 10pm it began to rain and people started to drift away, including the Mayor. A few minutes after the Mayor left, police inspector Bonfield decided to break up the meeting. Slowly a line of police began advancing from one end of the Haymarket. Suddenly a small spark of light arced from the edge of the crowd towards the police lines - it was a dynamite bomb which exploded in the midst of the police, killing seven and wounding over sixty. The police responded by opening fire on the crowd. They fired volley after volley at the retreating workers, killing several and wounding over two hundred. Over the next few days the anarchists who organized and spoke at the meeting were arrested and charged with murder. A show trial was engineered - which even included a relative of one of the dead policeman on the jury - and although no one was charged with actually throwing the bomb, five anarchists were condemned to death. Despite appeals for clemency, Fishcher, Spies, Engel and Parsons were executed on Nov. 11th, 1887. Lingg cheated the hangman by blowing off his own head by biting on a smuggled mercury fulminate capsule the day before. A procession of 25,000 mourners followed the funeral party. In 1983 the Governor of Illinois re-opened the case and concluded that there had been a miscarriage of justice and pardoned the five. This year there will be two centennial celebrations in Chicago. One will be organized by the Mayor who will speak of these 'Labor martyrs' who fell in the struggle for the eight hour day. The other will be organized by Chicago Anarchists. It will include a rally, meetings, celebrations, and exhibitions and, on the day after, a 'Stop-the-City' type event in Chicago's business district. Zed Feecher - - - COLLECTIVE LEAK PROBE Unlike some papers, Red Rag does not have reader's meetings (although if readers want them... go ahead!), but instead, every 6 weeks or so, there are collective meetings, to which Anyone with an interest in the Rag is very welcome. If you weren't there last Sunday, ... well apart from money(??), preparations for this issue of the Rag, and deciding together on co-ordinators for the next couple of issues ... there was... * The Red Rag funk tape, which will be out in about a month's time, with Beat & the Devil, bits of pandemonium and lots of other local dance tracks: start saving those pennies now! * posters, badges and other capitalist merchandise to raise money would be very welcome! * there will be a benefit gig at the Paradise on May 6th... see elsewhere for details. Maybe also a Veggie Dining extravaganza... * participation of "new" people - don't feel shy about getting involved! We'd like to help. There are some notes for co-ordinators in the pipeline. Most importantly, everyone who was there agreed that the Rag needs new people involved, now more than ever before: to be worthwhile, the Rag must be flexible, open and responsive to change. SO why not drop in a note to Red Rag,(box 79, 17 Chatham Street, Reading) if you'd like to help other people with the Rag? (Full minutes of the collective meeting are in Box 79 at Acorn Bookshop - help yourself, or drop a note in the box and they'll be sent to you with your Rag). mark r. - - - POSTIES * You want to get Red Rag regularly but you live outside the distribution area; * You know someone somewhere who would like to keep in touch with what happens in Reading; * You want to exchange your community newspaper with us; Write to me: Veronique "Posties", Red Rag Box 79 Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Reading, Berks, sending name, address and... possibly a donation to cover postal costs. A pound will cover 5 issues. I'll send you a reminder when the money runs out. You can make your donation by cheque (to Red Rag), standing order (available at Acorn or in the Rag), cash in the collecting tins at various outlets listed in Red Rag. Hope to hear from you soon. Take care. Veronique - - - PROSPECT PARK CARVEUP BEGINS Well documented in recent issues of Red Rag is the unacceptable but now occurring ruination of Prospect Park. Recently JCBs moved in to start preparations for a new changing room complex adjacent to the tennis courts. This building is the bogus consolation in return for the Mansion House being developed into offices. It is supposed to be paid for by private sources and yet the Secretary of State for the Environment has still to grant final approval. If the scheme does not get the go-ahead, who will pay for the changing rooms? The long-awaited demise of the Tory-controlled Borough Council next week may be the only way to prevent this disastrous scheme continuing. Prospectus Mansionus - - - RED RAG BENEFIT Paradise Club Next Year's Big Thing plus The Sugarcaster Disco Tues. May 9th 9 til late £1:50 waged £1:00 unwaged - - - SCUMBAGS Out and out bastard bed & breakfast landlords are trying to cash in on the plight of profoundly mentally handicapped people whose families can no longer look after them, but don't want them to be sentenced to hospital. The nearest humane residential home with physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and staff who treat the people as people, is in Somerset, and costs over £300/week per person. Local Social Services have no provisions like this and seem reluctant to set up new projects, for fear of government spending controls - they prefer to "efficiently manage" what already exists. As a result, it would be easy for certain landlords to convert some of their many large houses - currently let to students and unemployed people - into hostels and rake in £150-£500 per person per week. All the landlords need is planning permission for a change of use, and the OK from Social Services. Local councils can be influenced when the stakes are high enough and you know the right people... Until recently there was only one landlord (a notorious thug who broke people's arms etc etc), who let rooms to mentally handicapped people, and then only if they were slightly handicapped. But things have changed now; for a year, it's been slightly harder to make a killing out of bed & breakfast / lodgings for people on Supplementary Benefit. The government caused the landlords and landladies a little tourle by bludgeoning the claimants, the real targets of their policy. And, as another landlord has said - houses let out in rooms aren't the major source of income (only £5000 a month in some cases!). Guesthouses, "specialist" accommodation and then "legitimate" business on the proceeds are far more attractive. The powerful minority who own property to let it out for profit are no longer as interested in students or unemployed people, (especially as students may have trouble getting housing benefit in the vacations). Landlords are responding by charging higher rents, (25 percent rises in some cases), offloading as many bills and charges as possible onto their "tenants" doing less and less maintenance work on their houses... and by seeking other ways of transferring the government's wealth to their own pockets, which are already well-lined. Reading at the moment is a housing disaster - even the Tories and the Labour Party have latched on to this in the runup to the Borough Elections on May 8th. If Reading becomes a collecting ground for the money paid by caring families to have their handicapped relatives treated like human beings... then the Council and landlords will have got their way - will we let them get away with it? Mark R. - - - Small ad: Three people require fourth person to share large house...Nice garden, suitable for unemployed person. Tel 663332... Shall ad: Help! Half a dozen of us are looking for a house to rent in Reading, from June onwards! Still!! Tel: 868488... Small ad: For sale: Morris Minor wheels with good cross ply tyres. Any offers to Simon on Margrave 2788 - - - A LOUSE IS NOT A HOME Bracknell social services, the county council funded body with responsibility for homeless people, has a list of accommodation for them, like all other social services departments. In Bracknell's case with a population of 80,000 and over 3,000 registered unemployed people, there is just one address on that list. There was a second but the person who owned it recently died. And homeless people who approach social services for help get nowhere to live at all if the DHSS refuse a single payment for a deposit. So if you're homeless in Bracknell you're entirely at the mercy of a DHSS officer, who may refuse such a payments. The fact that, on appeal, you could well be awarded one is no comfort; the one address you'll be sent to requires a deposit immediately. Bracknell, on the surface a hive of hightech industry and high income, is a nightmare if you have to ask the state's help in finding a roof for your head. No wonder people try to leave! Mark - - - HAVE A GO BERKS NEWSPAPER IN READING SCANDAL SHOCK! How comforting that the Evening Post does so much to improve our town. Just last week, when Labour's parliamentary housing spokesman highlighted Reading's bed & breakfast crisis, the Post informed us of its campaign to "beat the bedsit barons". This is apparently a campaign which has been going for more than three years, (probably since March 6 1983, when Red Rag did a front page story on the issue). It should not however be confused with the work done by the Evening Post classified section, who place adverts for exactly the same bed & breakfast landlords. Perhaps the Evening Post would do better in its campaign if it gave up its double standards, and took some responsibility for its own actions. Who knows - next week it may profit from a front page article exposing itself. John H. - - - OLD TECHNOLOGY AT WAPPING... An AUEW engineer who spent 18 months compiling a 102 page report on the Wapping plant machinery has had the report published by the AUEW Fleet Street branch. The presses were bought 15 years ago and stored; the strapper which wraps bundles is so old its designers PAKSEAL don't market it anymore (a newer smaller model is installed in the old Sun newspaper building). Thus there is nowt that cannot easily be handled by the print & engineering unions. The Kinning Park Glasgow machines are more than 30 years old and were originally owned by the Mirror who sold them cheap in the belief they were going to India - in reality a Murdoch swindle. Black Flag - - - WAPPING LIES The State Of Wapping The print strike has been with us for over three months now. There are still 6000 sacked print workers and no prospects of winning it the way things are going. Brenda Dean and Tony Dubbins are busy trying to negotiate a settlement, but Murdoch has all the trump cards - scabs, judges and the police. The 2 latest options are firstly the acceptance of the Greys Rd printing presses, plus a small amount of compensation (2500), secondly complete acceptance of Murdoch's "Slave Charter", ie no strikes, no elected shop stewards, etc. What The Strike Is About: The strike is not about new technology versus old. It is about who controls it, and who benefits from it. Murdoch wants to control and benefit from it. Hence his desire to smash the NGA and S0CAT82. What's more is that his stance has allowed other bosses to attack already existing agreements in the print industry. Reading's own Evening Post is again in the forefront of smashing union organisation whilst bringing in new technology. It is also about smashing union organisation to render workers unable to fight for a decent weeks wage and to lower standards of safety, to increase profitability. It affects us all, this strike. The print unions, sectional and craft-orientated as they are, are still the toughest class fighters. How else do you think that some NGA members were getting £40000 a year. If they are beaten it will be yet another blow to the already weakened TU movement. What Is To Be Done: The only sure way to win is to hit the ruling class where it hurts. Murdoch might not listen to Dean or Dubbins, but he certainly will listen to his "friends" in the ruling class if their profitable little newspapers are hit by strike action. This would also mean there could be Nearly 30000 people picketing Wapping.... Fleet Street Out Now: Also 1) Join the Saturday night pickets at Wapping; catch the X1 from Reading to arrive at Tower Hill around 8.30pm, 2) Get involved in the Reading Print Support Group...contact 854188 or 662519 for details. 3) May 3rd and May 5th Big Demonstrations at Wapping. Coaches leave the station at 8pm on Sat. 3rd. Tickets from the above numbers. Hurry!!! Unwaged £l:00, waged £2:50 - - - RED RAG IN MERCY DASH PLEA - REPORT The S.O.S. list exists to help co-ordinators. It is a comprehensive list of the collective, and the tasks those people are willing to do. At present it is being updated so... if you wish to be added to the list, by volunteering to co-ordinate, or do events occasionally or going out, or you can help paste up, fold, distribute or write articles or draw pictures etc etc then please write now to the S.O.S. list, Red Rag, Box 79, 17 Chatham Street, Reading. Also if you wish to be removed from the lists, or you've changed your phone number or address, then please write to Red Rag. - - - WENDY SAVAGE CAMPAIGN Wendy Savage worked as an obstetrician in Tower Hamlets until April last year, when she was suspended for "incompetency". This is because she treated women like human beings and showed her patients enough sympathy to enrage the traditionalist, male-dominated medical profession. For example, she did not carry out caesarians unless there was no option, and did not recommend inducement, unlike most of her colleagues. A campaign was formed as a result of her NHS tribunal case - which will be decided in July. The Wendy Savage campaign has already forced the medical legal service to pay the costs of her case. For more information about the campaign, contact the Wendy Savage Campaign, c/o Sue Hadley, 43 Norman Grove, London E3. (Thanks to the Brighton Bomber for the information) Mark - - - DIGGERS WALK Over Easter 1986, an average of 50 people walked from St George's Hill (Meybridge, Surrey), to Molesworth, where the march reached its culmination with the digging up of MOD land, and planting. St. George's Hill was a symbolic starting point; in l649, Gerrard Winstanely and the Diggers occupied the common land on the hill for "the poor people everywhere". The walk, which lasted 12 days, followed last year's Molesworth ploughshares Easter Campaign, when wheat for Eritrea was collected. This year, appropriate tools for Eritrea were carried and refurbished along the route. The march passed through Kingston, Brixton, Whitehall (where our declaration of intent was not accepted), and then on to St Albans, Dunstable, Northampton and Wellingborough - towns with strong links with the Diggers movement. At Molesworth we split into affinity groups and went to dig non-violently. No wire was cut; spades were not carried like weapons... yet of the 300+ people who took part, 55 were arrested, mainly for trespass. For more info about Eritrea, contact the Eritrean Information Service, 391 City Road, London EClV INE. - - - READING COMMUNITY ARTS FORUM RCAF is a collective of about 15-20 people who share a common interest in promoting community arts in Reading. The group meets regularly once a month, usually with a representative from Southern Arts in attendance. Members of the group so far include workshop tutors in different areas of self-expressi on (voice, writing, video, crafts, etc.), organisers of arts events, and contacts from other arts organisations in the south such as Artlink and Southern Assoc. for Community Arts. At present RCAF is drawing up its aims and objectives and using the monthly meetings to share information, contacts and ideas. In addition to the useful information sharing happening at the meetings, the group is keen to act as a support network for people involved in community arts, who at the moment are finding only limited work with bits of funding from various places. RCAF believes that everyone should have the opportunity to explore their own creativity, and intends to take positive steps to achieve this aim. Membership of RCAF is open to community arts workers and anyone with a genuine interest in furthering its aims. For further information contact RCAF c/o Reading Centre for the Unemployed, 4/6 East St., Reading, Berks, Tel 596639 or come to our next meeting at the Centre (Room 1) on Wed. May 2lst at 10:30. - - - PLAYTIME Fun at the adventure playground... On Saturdays, from 11.00am-6.00pm, there will be loads of things to do at the Adventure Playground, for people aged between 6 and 10 years old. Activities at the Palmer Park playground include: model building, spray painting, collage, paper jewellry, finger painting and printing, papier mache, paper flowers, blow painting and quilling! It only costs 15p a session, so come along :meet at the Adventure Playground Hall. Karen - - - LETTERS Dear Red Rag 30 April London Rd buslane... Good to see a nice emotive "advert" in last week's Rag, inviting all and sundry to sign up against the London Rd "Killer Bus Lane". How hypocritical can people get? They claim that bus lanes are "proven killers" (let's have some evidence) - what on earth do they think happens when customers park their cars on the footway and on double yellow lines in front of traffic signals. Lazy behaviour causes accidents. "Why not reroute buses up Silver St?" we are asked. The answer is simple: there are plenty of bus services going up Silver St. already; people want them along Kendrick Rd too. Why pander to the minority of motorists who can't walk more than 2 yards from their car, at the expense of those who go by bus? The latter are doing us an environmental favour by using the bus and many of them have no alternative means of travel. The traders' campaign is misleading and devoid of any real concern for bus users and cyclists, who need a contraflow bus lane in London Rd, not a diversion via the wholly unsuitable Silver St. How about a bit more reason and a bit less rabidly anti-public transport propaganda? Yours etc. John Rigby, for Reading Cycle Campaign. - - - "WHAT IS THIS RED RAG?" Red Rag is an open forum for news and views in Reading and the area around the town. Red Rag has been around in Reading since September 1979 and hasn't sold a copy in all that time. The Rag appears once a fortnight only because people like you get involved in its production. Everyone who helps at the moment had to start from scratch, and pick it up as they went along. The Collective is everyone who helps on the Rag... printing, pasting up, folding, writing, doing listings, or anything else. So everyone's a potential member and so can come to Rag collective meetings, (once every 6 weeks or so), where longer term decisions about the Rag are taken, and problems are (hopefully) ironed out. Extracts from the minutes of the last collective meeting are on page 2 of this issue. Articles are written by readers like you, about issues, campaigns, groups or situations you feel strongly enough about. Please sign all contributions with a name and contact address/no., so that we can talk about editing if need be. Typed copy is usually single spaced, 12cm column please but check the current issue in case the next Rag is to be laid out differently. Editorial meetings are open to anyone and take place on the Thursday evening before the Rag appears. There is no fixed editorial line, hence the Rag is an "open forum for news and views". The editorial group look at all the copy and decide what, if any needs shortening, holding over to the next, issue, or including in the issue. Typing of copy after this meeting is a real drag for just one or two people, and help with typing is always welcome. Saturday is paste-up day, the fun bit for which no experience is needed... just come along and work with the other people doing it. On Saturday night the Rag is printed by a small group of people who have made a regular commitment to printing Red Rag. At the moment the print-run is 1600 copies, although this Mayday issue has a run of 2000. This copy of the Rag is also special in that it is printed with special radioactive ink, which changes colour to red in the presence of gamma rays. In the event of a positive result, contact 0800 100 100 (freephone). Folding and distribution of the printed Rags takes place at the Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, on Sunday morning/afternoon. It's a good way to meet other people who are involved with putting out Red Rag, and getting over a hangover too... bring your favourite tape along too. Money - well, as the Rag is free it relies on personal donations (to collecting tins at Acorn, Eurofoods, Harvest Wholefoods, & elsewhere), standing orders (see form in this issue), and money from benefit gigs etc (to too great a degree, at the moment!) Paid advertising is accepted, but needs the OK of the Editorial group like all other copy. Rates are £7 for a quarter page and £12 for a half page. To offer help or otherwise get in touch with Red Rag, wee, it lives in an old fruit box, "Box 79", c/o Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham Street Reading. - - - STANDING ORDER MANDATE To (your bank's name and address). Please pay to the account of RED RAG, Co-operative Bank, Reading (08-90-16), a/c no. 50148637, the sum of.........................(words), £........(figs) on.....................(date), and on the same date every month / 3 months until further notice. Signed.......;.......................Date......... Your name......................................... Address............................. ............. Your a/c number................................... Please send this form to Red Rag, c/o Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham Street, Reading. Not to your bank. - - - UNIVERSITY CASH FROM RACISM Current action centres around a number of issues. Following a successful campaign to end the use of South African foodstuffs in University catering operations, action was taken to ban Barclay's cheques in the Student Union. Although an area of contention, this stands as Union policy at the present time. Moves are now afoot to set up a Southern African scholarship, supported by the World University Service (W.U.S), to give a black victim of apartheid the opportunity to study at Reading. The intransigence of the University authorities in refusing to waive fees means that we must raise vast sums of money to finance this project. The major work at present has been the production of a disinvestment document for presentation to the University council. This examines the University's investments and, it is hoped, will be instrumental in persuading the council to alter its investment programme. We are in regular contact with the Reading Anti-Apartheid campaign in the town, and attend pickets of Barclays, Waitrose and Tescos. Richard Perris - - - BULMERSHE MANDELA UPDATE Bulmershe College, as part of their continuing attempts to rename their Student's Union building after the jailed anti- apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela, are holding a campaign day at the College on Thursday 8th May. As well as music from live bands, there will be speakers from the African National Congress, Anti-Apartheid Movement, and Red Wedge. There will also be various stalls, and Jerry Dammers (ex Specials!) will be DJing at the evening, which runs from 9pm-lam at Bridges Hall. Donations on the door to the ANC and AAM would be very much appreciated! (Bulmershe College, Woodlands Avenue, Woodley; tel 663387) - - - LIVE MUSIC & VIDEO On Tuesday 20th May there will be an exceptional evening at the Paradise Club, London St, with live alternative dance music and a ten screen video installation (plus scaffolding). The very best independent art & pop videos will be screened... including Romford Calling (video verite, the 1st video made in Romford, a sort of Under Milk Mood road movie)... and Prisoners (Orwell's 1984, a haunting and forceful look at power and consumption)... Switch (an instant, home produced music video)... Network (an investigation of communication, media and distance viewed from a Berkshire dormitory town), plus lots of Reading-produced tapes... Admission is only £2 on the door, or £1:50 to UB40 Carriers. Clive & Mark. - - - GOING OUT GOING OUT GOING OUT Live Music Monday 5th: All Dayer inc Fire Brigade, Sometimes Sartre, Coffin Nails etc etc Majestic. Tuesday 6th: Red Rag/Conspiracy Benefit "Next Years Big Thing" and "The Sugae Casters" 9-1.30 Only £1:50/£1 Paradise. Also "Planet 9" at the Majestic. Thursday 8th: T.Model Slim (Blues band) 8-11. 75/£1?50. SHP. Also some soul band at the Majestic. Friday 9th: Reggae DJ/singer Tipper Irie also guest sound systems 8-very late. Central Club. Saturday 10th: Bob Calvert (Ex Hawkwind), Military Surplus (White Reggae / Space Rock) and The Escapists (wow) 9-2. Yet another Conspiracy gig. Paradise. Thursday 15th: Lounge Lizards 75p/£1:50 8-11. SHP. Also some soul at the Majestic. Friday 16th: Magic Mushroom Band (Spacey, acid rock, wow) & Night Shade. Paradise. "The Lawnmowers" R'n'B at SHP. Central: Antony Redrose and King Kong (reggae) 8-3ish. Pub Music Sunday 4th: Jazz at Brige House Paley St. George Hotel, jazz and blues all day. Kennet Arms Irish folk. Butler Chatham St. Jazz. Monday 5th: Cap & Gown "Cot Valley" (MM) Kennet Irish folk. Tuesday 6th: Studio Bistro: folk. Turks Head: jazz. Cap & Gown: Masters of Disaster. Thursday 8th: Rose (Maidenhead) folk. Bores Head: blues. Sportsman: country. Friday 9th: Cap & Gown: "In the Machine". Saturday 11th: Music can be heard at the George (folk), the Butler (jazz) and in the Victoria Arms. Monday 12th: Bull: Dougie McLane. Tuesday 13th: Turks Head: jazz. Studio Bistro. Monday 19th: Bull: Curates Egg. Film And Video Sunday 4th: SHP "Prizzis Honour". Monday 5th: as above. Tuesday 6th: Bulmershe "Last Tango in Paris" Wednesday 7th: RFT "Letter to Brezhnev" Friday 9th: RFT "Beckett at 80" Sunday 11th: RCU Real Time Video collective present a day about video. 11-4pm. Monday 12th: RCU Real Time Video collective present 3 films about unions. "Learning on the Line", "It's About Time", and "Hidden Energy". Tuesday 13th: Bulmershe "The Thing". Wednesday 14th: RFT "Country" (PG) Monday 19th: RCU Real Time present 3 films on housing and unemployment. Theatrical Monday 5th: Progress "One for the Road" comedy. (Runs until the 10th.) Hex "Yeoman of the Guard". Wednesday 7th: as above. Thursday 8th: SHP "A Man for all Seasons". Monday 12th: Hex "Gaslight" (thriller) runs til Saturday. Sunday 18th: Hex: "Hinge & Brackett" Other Sunday 4th: Prospect park Railway rides. Tuesday 6th: Tudor Arms Gay disco. Friday 9th: RCU 8pm Veggie Dining benefit for "KEEP". Tickets in Acorn. Saturday 10th: X1 goes to London. Forbury gardens bandstand - Brass bands from noon-4. RCU Gay and lesbian party. Sunday 11th: St Peters Church "The Five Winds" (Debussy, Britten etc) Tuesday 13th: Tudor Arms Gay disco. Thursday 15th: Red Rag editorial. Friday 16th: Red Rag is typed. Saturday 17th: Red Rag paste up. Great Hall Reading Univ. Noon-11pm "Banjo festival" Sunday 18th: Every one who is anyone goes to Acorn at 11am to fold the Rag. Key Majestic: Caversham road. Paradise: Top of London Street. Central Club: Bottom of London Street. SHP: South Hill Park Bracknell. HEX: Hexagon Queens walk. RCU: Reading Centre for the Unwaged. Mark returns next week so phone him up (868488) with lots of info. Happy whatever Paul x x x. - - - CREATIVE ACTIVITIES DAY 10 MAY Dance Drama Writing Music Fabric Crafts Drawing Voice Creativity Centre for the Unemployed 4-6 East St. Reading. 10 til 5. £1 or free to unwaged. Creche. Financially assisted by Southern Arts / RCU. - - - SO WHAT'S II ALL ABOUT? Creative Activities Day has been organized to Celebrate the steady growth of community arts activity in Reading and to give people an opportunity to explore their creativity in different areas of self-expression. The organisers of this Creative Activities Day and the workshop tutors involved in the day have recently come together to share information, ideas and experience unfer the umbrella of Reading Community Arts Forum, in the hope that collectively qwe we can stimulate further community arts activity in Reading. We feel that creativity is something that everyone has but something which people normally don't have the opportunity to explore. Most people see "art" as something which a few experts do. We are trying to get away from this image and encourage them to work together and direct their own creativity. If you would like further information on community arts in Reading please ask any of the tutors at Creative Activities Day or write to Allan and Laura, Twentieth Century Arts,Box 20, Acorn, 17 Chatham St., Reading, Berks Timetable Morning Vocal Workshop led by Liz Hodgson 10 - 12:30 Room 1 Fabric Craft led by Julie Williams 10 - 12:30 Meeting Area Creativity led by Penny Henrion 10 - 12:30 Resource Room (Bring anything you have created whether it be musical, drawing, painting, writing, poems, sculptures - the hidden, creative side of you! Maybe you think you 're not creative at all - or you can draw but not sing - dance but not write. Whatever your secret longings are - bring them along. You may surprise yourself!) Dance led by Sue Stalbow 10 - 12:30 Central Area (Wear loose clothing.) Lunch 12:30 - 1pm Afternoon Performance / Improvisation led by Tami Peirson / Alen Rigby 1 - 3:30 Central Area Drawing/Painting Workshop led by June Wylee / Larry Watson (Materials provided.) 1 - 3:30 Meeting Area Creative Writing led by Liz Stephenson 1 - 3:30 Room 1 Fabric Craft (may be continued from this morning) Meeting Area Late Afternoon Music Workshop led by Tim Hill 3:30 - 6pm Room 1 (Bring an instrument - acoustic guitar, flute, percussion instruments, etc.) A free creche will be provided for children aged from 18 months to 5 years. A light lunch will be served at a reasonable cost along with drinks or bring your own. - - - HOLIDAY FOR HANDICAPPED PEOPLE The Conspiracy presents... Robert Calvert & Krankschaft / Military Surplus / The Escapists... live! the big one! Watch out for this mega event on Saturday 10th May at the Paradise Club, (first band on at 10pm) Robert Calvert has achieved noteriety as a member of Hawkwind, and now, with his current band Krankschaft, plays the first official date of his 1986 tour at Reading. Space rock cadets won't want to miss this one! (Well this is a promotion piece...) .. Military Surplus are a Newbury / Hungerford based band, who play their own brand of roots reggae with a touch of jazzy psychedelia for good measure(!) Very accomplished collective musak. The Escapists, a local band with some brand new songs of their own, are also on the bill... doing some pretty weird things to well known cover numbers too. The addition of a keyboard player has given this zany combo a new dimension to explore. To top it all the benefit from this gig is for a group of profoundly mentally &/or physically handicapped adults who attend a day centre at Bennet Road in Reading. The proceeds will go towards a holiday in Devon, to give their parents a break and to give them a good time. So, come and join in the fun. There are reduced rates for tickets in advance, £2:50 for waged people and £2 for unwaged people who buy in advance. Otherwise it will be £3:50 on the night, due to higher rates at the Paradise, even though the bands are playing for vastly reduced rates. See you there. Paul Rush. - - - CONSPIRACY Hi yaaal missed it abain ac ye olde paradise I take some blame for poor advertising and U should know by now toned down and just as wacky this week cos we want to ramble on about the ammount of different music that U have had the chance of seeing over the last few weeks past is past and coming U're way the Conspiracy (yahoo) are proud to announce some forthcoming events/shows/gigs/ligs/bashes/extravaganzas Tues 6th May a red rag benefit at ye mouldy Paradisio club with wait for it the sugar casters and next years big thing plus sounds and U bring u're own tapes 20th May Video spectacular with Mayhem and sounds 27th May Funk Hot Tempa(ex hot steel) and Beat and the Devil 2nd June Robyn Hitchcock and friends ex Soft Boys almost forgot 10th May Robert Calvert and Krankschaft with the Escapists and Military Surplus The Conspiracy grows and we need U to make sure it carries on after June were still looking for artistes and performers that dont just play muso/ic An extended ramble aboyt the Conspiracy is not going to happen here and now so so glad u're here wally - - - SMALL AD Issue 12 of the world's premier fop music fanzine, The Mighty Utterance, available now from Acorn, Listen and Pop Records. Interviews, reviews, songwords, competitions! 30 pence worth of pure inspiration. - - - STUDENT ANTI-APARTHEID ACTION In a bid to convince the west that he represents the 'liberal' face of apartheid, Botha has introduced a series of reforms to the apartheid system. These reforms amount to very little in reality and are more accurately described as 'cosmetic dabbling'. The latest of these has been the abolition of the Pass Laws. Under the Pass Law system, every black South African outside the Bantustans, and over the age of 16, was required to carry a Pass book, this showed whether or not the holder was permitted to be in a particular area; whether or not they are employed; whether they have paid their taxes. Whilst its abolition may appear to be a move away from the apartheid system (the media coverage in Britain certainly saw it this way), it amounts to a cruel con-trick by the Pretoria Regime. Blacks are still not free to live and work in a place of their choice. They remain banished to the Bantustans; they still have to make long journeys to and from the white areas in which they work; and are still subjected to extreme harassment from both the South African Police and the South African Defence force. Nothing changes under racist rule! Richard Ferris - - - MAYDAY BENEFIT The May Day Benefit on Saturday April 26 at RCU was a tremendous success. After a slow start the gig really got into full swing about 11. Many thanks to everyone who came along (hope you enjoyed it !) and supported the event which raised £130 - ensuring that the May Day Festival 1986 on Saturday May 3rd will be just as successful. L'Affaire Discreet, Naptali and Beat and the Devil all entertained in their distinctive and original styles, as did the breakdancers... thank you all. Paul, Chris, Ted, Ray, Maureen, Jane, Jim, Tony and Dave worked very hard before, during and after the gig, merely a dress rehearsal for Saturday!!! Here's to a successful May Day Alan. - - - THE CONSPIRACY PRESENT... Proceeds for a holiday for the mentally handicapped Robert Calvert (ex Hawkwind) & Krankschaft Military Surplus The Escapists live at The Paradise Club London Street, Reading on Sat May 10th 1986 9.00pm 'til late. With bar extension & lights Tickets: £2:50 or £2:00 with UB40 in advance from Acorn Bookshop, Chatham St, or £3:50 on door - - - Most commercial bookshops will only stock books from large publishers. ACORN BOOKSHOP, Reading's alternative bookshop, stocks a vast range of publications offering both the necessary variety for course related reading and the opportunity to buy less well publicised work. This will be particularly useful to those studying:- Third World, Politics, English, Philosophy, Food Science, Media, Psychology and History. However we can order almost any British or American book in print. We are open: Tue-Sat 10am-6pm Acorn Bookshop 17 Chatham St under the multi-storey car park. Tel: 584425 - - - INTO VIDEO SCREENINGS Real Time Collective Saturday 3rd May - Reading Mayday 86 Whose Law: a campaign tape for the political victims of the pit strike. Wapping Lies: hard hitting indictment of Murdoch's attitude to the print workers. 1984 here we come. This tape is available for hire by other groups. Monday 12th May - Trade Unions Learning On The Lime: the issues of organisation and support which came out of the miners strike, and how people's outlooks changed. Hidden Energy: women from a Yorkshire pit community talk about how the strike changed their lives. Made by an all-woman crew. It's About Time: women and unions. Monday 19th May - Housing and Unemployment Workers or Shirkers: made by a group of unemployed people, looking at attitudes to work & dole. No Place Like Home: the problems of finding a home... A Place Of My Own: young people's experiences of trying to get somewhere to live. All screenings are open to anyone who is interested, and they are all free. Monday screenings ARE from 7.30pm-9.30pm, and the Mayday screenings is on Saturday afternoon. Reading Centre for the Unemployed, 4-6 East St. - - - Tues 20 May Paradise Club, London St, Reading LIVE IMPROVISED MUSIC 4 Corners Sax Group Mayhem Quartet Live improvised video performance group. Video screening. Conspiracy! Real Time Video Collective benefit - - - LATE NEWS Readers might like to hear about a new game some of us have been playing on the Wapping picket line in recent months. Well it's not really new, it saw its early days in the '81 riots when wood green looters threw £300 cameras at police and in brixton a policeman was hit on the head by a television set thrown out of a window. The idea is to throw the most ridiculous or bizarre thing at the police you can think of so they will show it on television the next day during their press conference held to display all the nasty "weapons" they picked up off the floor the previous night. Some missiles featured so far include a compac disc, a complete set of marbles, a Charles n Di medal and a Lesbians Support The Miners badge. What will be bouncing off p.c. plod's bonce next?... a ming vase? a cuddly toy? Arthur Scargill's megaphone?.... The police had obviously decided we weren't going to have any fun on 26th april when the London Anarchist Festival was supposed to happen in lewisham. First when we got to the venue (a squatted cinema) we found they had slapped an injunction on it to stop it from being used so we had to go to Greenwich park instead. When about 150 people gathered there to sell books and papers and have a pleasant picnic, police with a dog arrested two of us and threw the rest of us out of the park!.. I didn't stay long at the mass picket of the american embassy against the libya bombing; chants, slogans, banners, songs, and C.N.D approved protests - "yanks out" etc. Unfortunately I missed the oxford street blockade as I went to Trafalgar square for the picket of south africa house. While there we came across a small bunch of nazis strutting around flaunting their "skrewdriver-white power" type regalia. A group of hardcore reds and anarchists formed up to ambush them opposite the national gallery and we gave them quite a shook sending them running. Later we chased their van around charing cross but the traffic lights were in their favour so they zoomed off before we could squish the van into a bubble car.... The Thames Valley Anarchists have issued their latest pamphlet "Vote labour and still die horribly" in time for the may 8th elections asking why we should waste our time voting for the party which is "..merely the largest political representation of the careerist stratum of reformists and collaborators who in practice always side with capitalism." Free: send SAE to box 19 Aoorn.... (Erik) - - - INTO VIDEO 86 Throughout May and June the Real Time Video Collective are running various video workshops; courses and screenings of independent tapes. Screenings on various issues are being held on Monday evenings (7.30 to 9.30) at Reading Centre for the Unemployed. These screenings, the first of their kind to be held in Reading are free and open to all. (For further details of the tapes being shown and dates see elsewhere in the Rag). On Sunday 11 May Understanding Video kicks off the various practically based video workshops. There will be a chance to get your hands on the equipment and to see what video is and some ways it can be used. (Reading Centre for the Unemployed 11 - 4 pm £1:50, 75p u.w.) This is followed by free video workshops for the unwaged at R.C.U. starting Monday 12 May (11 am - 12.30 pm) for five weekly sessions. The Group will have an opportunity to plan and produce a short video tape. The Womens Video Workshops course starts off with a day of screenings of practical sessions to investigate how women are using video and its future possibilities (Sunday 25 May 11-4 pm R.C.U. £1:00, 50p u.w.). This is followed by a five session course at R.C.U. on Wednesday 10 - 1.00 pm (free to u.w.) - an opportunity for women to work together to plan shoot and edit a video. Young people get the chance to find out more about making pop promos on Saturday 14 June (10-4 pm) at Reading Activities Centre, 67 Bulmershe Road (open to 11 - 16 year olds, 50p). On Sunday 15 June there will be a girls video workshop also at Reading Activities Centre, 10-4 pm. Representations in video and TV on Saturday 7 and 8 June will aim to investigate how we are represented on the small screen with particular attention paid to the issues of racism, sexism and disability. The weekend will include practical video sessions and screenings and looking at broadcast TV (£1:50 per day, £2:50 for weekend, u.w. £l, £1:50) (venue to be arranged). If you would like more details about any of the above or would like to know more about Real Times work in the community of which the Into Video programme is only a part, please contact us on 475909 or write to 92A London Road, Reading. Clive Robertson Jackie Shaw. - - - EVENTS Calculation of health effects in irradiated populations Mon 3 may RCU Sign language l-3pm signing for beginners as well as for advanced students. Screen print 2-4pm designing and creating colour prints. University gay and lesbian youth group students union 8.30pm. Tues 6 may Storytime for the under 5's 2.30 Palmer Park library. Greenham support womens centre Abbey Street 8pm women only. RCU art and design workshops l-4pm experiment with different medias in many different forms of artwork. Key english 10-12 for help or improvement with reading and writing. Wed 7 may RCU Fabric and yarn craft 10-3 a fresh and informal course on craftwork in fabrics, carpentry 1.30-3.30 at Wilson rd. Thur 8 may Pre and post natal yoga and relaxation classes 1-2.30 Abbey room (2nd floor) Reading central library £2:50/class reductions UB40 creche available if booked in advance phone 584191/61330 RCU communication skills 1-3 improve your communication from letter writing to interviews. Black and white photography l-3pm theory and practice. Fri 9 may RCU Colour photography 1-3 theory and practice Party at the Women's Centre Abbey Street, at 8.30pm. Please bring food and drink. Women only. Sat 10 may Benefit for handicapped adults Paradise club late Sun 11 may RCU understanding video: an investigation into video and what and how it can be used and effect us 11-4. Berks conservation volunteers Ufton court Ufton Nervet pond maintenance. Mon 12 may RCU Video workshop for the unemployed 11-12.30 a chance to learn more about video by working together to plan and produce a short film. Video screenings 7.30-9.30 Sign language as last week screen printing also as last week. University gay and lesbian youth group 8.30 - students union. Tues 13 may Storytime for the under 5s Palmer Park library RCU Art and design w/shops as last week. Key english also as last week Greenham support group womens centre Abbey St. 8pm women only. Wed 14 may RCU Fabric and yarn crafts as before. Carpentry at Wilson Rd. same as last week. Thur 15 may Pre and post natal yoga same as last week. RCU Communication skills, creative writing and black and white photography all details same as last week. Fri 16 may RCU colour photography 1-3. Sat 17 may check out that mine of info Going Out. Sun l8 may Berks conservation volunteers flower rescue in Bracknell phone Peter Edge W/ham 781041 evenings Mon l9 may RCU Video w/shop for the unemployed 11-2.30 Video screenings ?? Sign language 1-3, Screen printing 2-4 University gay and lesbian youth gp, students union 8.30 Tue 20 may Story time for the under 5s Palmer park library 2.30 Reading birth centre lunch 12-2.30 very informal gathering bring food to share phone 584191 for venue Greenham support gp. womens centre 8pm women only RCU Art and design w/shops 1-4 Key english 10-12. Advance notice 31st May cooperative games at the Haymill centre run by a lecturer in art and movement! £2 waged £l unwaged, kids and pensioners phone Burnham 67401 for details. - - - LETTERS Dear Red Rag, This years Reading Council election is your chance to throw out the oppressive Tory Council, and put in one that puts people first and looks after the environment. They have a one seat majority; Labour gains in Katesgrove, Southcote, Park and Redlands will make Labour the largest party, and gains in Norcot and Minster would put Labour in control. Housing is our top priority - starting to build again, providing improvement grants, taking a humane attitude to the homeless. We will involve people more through better consultation with everyone affected by Council decisions. My own main interest is the environment, Reading will become a nuclear free zone as soon as possible, and we will look after old buildings, plant new trees and replace dying ones, and recycle rubbish as much as possible. Our planning policies will strictly control office development, set up new conservation areas and make the town centre attractive, safe and accessible to everyone day and night. We will give all possible support to Reading Transport, which the Tory government has forced Reading to turn into a company, and to encourage cycling. We will try to establish park & ride schemes to keep cars out of the town centre. We will expand leisure services and make them freely available to the unwaged. Some other parties support some of these ideas. Labour has the only real chance of putting them into practice in Reading; voting for anyone else only helps the Tories to keep control. Don't fool around - make your mark where it counts! Robert Dimmick, Labour Environment Spokesman and councillor for Redlands ward. - - - RRR BBB L '' 88 6 7777 !! R RR B B L '' 8 8 6 -- 7 !! RRR BBB L 88 66 -- 7 !! R R B B L 8 8 6 6 7 !! R R :: BBS :: LLLL :: 88 66 7 !! So, the heading doesn't work. Never mind. It's May Day (well, give or take) and the International Proletariat is throwing back its collective shoulders and bursting into song in celebration of the fact that the little leaves on the trees are all crinkly and perfect and light. As for the wonderful, not to say notorious, guide-book to our town, Reading Between the Lines 1985-86, well over 700 copies have been sold, out of a print run of 1,000, and it has already more than paid for itself. And it's time, siblings, to think about the next edition. What we want is your criticisms and ideas. Have you ever used RBL (as we like to call it) for anything? Was it any use? What would you use it for, if it was in there? Which bits really annoy you? How could it be organised better? (Alphabetical order was not, in this case, an ideological principle.) Please tell us of any mistakes or omissions you know of. Tell us your experience of (for instance) eating and drinking in Reading. (And thanks to all those who have sent in comments and corrections.) If something isn't in the current issue, it probably doesn't mean we knew about it and decided to leave it out! Offers of help in compiling the next edition would be most welcome. One thing we'd really like is access (that's quite a 1ot of access - including borrowing it for a few weeks next autumn) to a word processor - and, eventually, to a printer (a good one!) we can use with it. Reading Between the Lines, c/o Box 200, 17 Chatham Street, Reading. Or ring James on Reading 595605. How it's half-past eleven, and the typist feels it's more important to find a duplicating machine than to think of anything else to say. On the lines of: help make Reading Between the Lines 1986-7 bigger and better than ever. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1986/1986-05-04.txt#3 $