Back Issues

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Established 1979
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These are the back issues of Red Rag. They'll be posted here every (usually) two weeks on or around the anniversary of their original publication. We're currently reissuing 1983; the latest issue is dated December 11th (scan / txt); the next one is due out on January 8th.

Red Rag, or Reading's only newspaper, had a noble tradition of misspelling, mixed metaphors, wrong facts, confused political judgements and a print run by now of 1300. It printed pretty well everything it got sent ("unless the Collective judged it racist, sexist, right wing, or supportive of oppressive religions"). It aimed to provide a decent alternative coverage of local news and issues from a radical non-aligned position; to promote subversive and creative initiatives; to provide a forum for unorthodox views; to allow some sort of co-existence between a huge variety of interests. And in four years it had never sold a single copy.

In this issue (scan / txt): peace campers at Greenham break into the base and stay there for over three hours: they paint the runway red, wander around, sit on the silos, and when finally they get cold and tired they ask the RAF to left them out again. Minister of War Heseltine pays us a visit; it's the first time in a decade that students at Reading have been arrested for this sort of thing. Sand dancing comes to Reading; feet have politics; and Red Rag should get more personal. But if you're worried about 1984 the new Red Rag calendar will brighten up your year. Remarkable! Magnificent! Amazing! And with George Orwell on the cover it's a bargain at 80p.