RED RAG newstrips to lesley 68972 mike 89275 sue 861841 or send to 31a milman rd delivery queries clive 666681 copy deadline for next issue 5th nov - - - CaNneD heat This Saturday, a hundred thousand or so concerned people will be marching in London to demand an end to the nuclear arms race and to the deployment of nuclear missiles in this country. Why? Of course, they're worried about their children's future and that the nuclear threshold has been lowered by American plans to have a limited nuclear war in Europe, which is fair enough; but where are the cries for the abolition of bacteriological and chemical warfare, the effects of which are just as devastating, and even of conventional weapons (did you know that more people died in the Dresden fire storm in the second world war than in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?). What's the point of bleating about out government's defence(/attack?) policy when warfare is a sine qua non of the institution of government? All governments have weaponry of some sort and make threatening postures about their readiness to use them (or of their friends to use them) - even Labour governments circa 1964. It's a useful tactic to keep people's minds off their alienation at home - if the spectre of communism is made terrifying enough, people will think that at least Britain's not as badly off as the Russians - and the same goes vice versa for the Russians. It's all a game, but a highly dangerous one, and at our expense. We should be working to change this ridiculous system which fosters the crazy power/wargames of governments and denies people's ability to make decisions about their own lives. The speakers at the CND rally may make references to the need to resort to civil disobedience and direct action if all else fails... How much more convincing does CND need that governments don't/won't listen? OK, go on the march and express your anger at your powerlessness but don't let it rest there - it would be a nice peaceful safety valve to distract you from seizing control over your own life. If you think this article is hard on CND write to REDRAG and explain why (the above view is not necessarily that of the collective). - - - NEWS DIGEST / READING DAIRY BEATING THE POLICE - PART ONE Great News! Reading is going to get 'Community Policing'. Now, for those of you who don't understand I'll explain..... 'Community Policing' was invented by super-trendy John Alderson. To fill you in, 'Red' John, as he is known to his friends in the force, is the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall. Anyroad, he decided that all this dashing to-and-fro, Sweeny style in cars was giving the police a bad name. How could the force present the public with the acceptable face of brutality? Liberal-minded John had the answer..... Take officer out of car and teach him/her to walk round area (know as 'beat' in cop-talk) snooping on inhabitants etc. Imperative that officer learns to smile and say, "Ello, Ello, what's goin' on ere then, eh?" Public like this. So there you have it. Reading has been divided into 28 sectors, each of which will have their very own policeperson. Here is a sample: for you lucky people in the University area this is your cop. Ron Marston, age 42, 13 years service in Police. Big Ronny, an ex-navy mane, was given the 'Varsity Beat' because he likes kids! For full details on your lovable, friendly, neighbourhood scuffer see THE EVENING POST 20/10/1981 or contact REDRAG....... BEATING THE POLICE - PART TWO Meanwhile, back at the nick, 2 of Thames Valley's finest were escorting 10 prisoners along a corridor leading to court. Suddenly, however, five of the prisoners (all of whom suffer from chronic claustrophobia) made a run for the wide open space of Reading. Finding themselves in the dock of court number 2, our heroes leapt that hurdle and dashed to freedom. A woman usher tried to stop them, but she was pushed aside. Alas, a happy ending with the lads partying in Rio with Ronnie was not to be. All 5 were caught within 45 minutes. BEATING THE POLICE - PART THREE Despite their efforts to court the goodwill of the public, our major nationalised industry, Rentariot (Toxteth and Brixton) Ltd, a.k.a the Police, continue to be cold-shouldered. Despite their new approachability no-one will tell them where Alan Reeve and Pat Ford have gone. Remember Alan and Pat? He is the man who went awol from Broadmoor and she is the woman who the cops think went with him. In their absence a campaign led by Jenny Turner is lobbying mental health pressure groups for support in asking the Home Office to review Alan's case. Alan Reeve escaped after his request for release, which was backed by Broadmoor staff, was refused. Jenny Turner told the Post, "We hope that his case might lead to a general review of policies regarding the treatment of mental patients in this country." The authorities, however, say that no progress can be made until Reeve surrenders or is recaptured. It is reckoned that he and Pat have gone to ground somewhere on mainland Europe. Perhaps they'd like to write a travel column? - - - EVENTS DIARY Details of meetings, marches etc. from compost to communism, tenants to terrorism. Give details to Mike on Reading 83275 by Nov. 5th. PEACEWEEK ON CAMPUS FRIDAY 23rd OCTOBER Joint CND/BANC meeting at Palmer Building Whiteknights campus. 3 speakers from the American Committee for East-West accord: Arthur Macy Cox, believed to be an ex-CIA operative, Marta Daniels, expert on Trident missiles, and Admiral John Marshall Lee of the Military Coalition to defeat the MX missile. Don't forget Peaceweek continues all next week. CND DEMO SATURDAY 24th OCTOBER BANC are hiring four double deckers, pick-ups as follows: Fords Farm, Calcot - 10.30 Roundabout, Tilehurst - l0.45 Reading Bus Station - 11.00 Cemetary Junction - 11.15 Tickets £2.25 or £1.25 for the unemployed from 27 Salisbury Road or Acorn Bookshop. DISARMAMENT PETITION EVERY SATURDAY MORNING Petition in town for the European Disarmament Campaign, by the AUEW Hall 10 a.m-12 or by the paper selling pitch. BRACKNELL CND TUESDAY 27th OCTOBER Film 'The Bomb', Bracknell College 7.30 p.m. S.W.P. WEDNESDAY 28th OCTOBER SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY meeting at RED LION, Southampton Street, 6 p.m. All supporters welcome. BRECKNELL CND FRIDAY 30th OCTOBER Film 'The War Game' and speaker Bruce Kemp. Bull Brook Community Centre, 8p.m. AMNESTY FRIDAY 30th OCTOBER Amnesty International Jumble Sale United Reformed Church, Broad St. 7p.m. WOMENS CENTRE SUNDAY 1st NOVEMBER 1st of the month meeting, Womens Centre, 7.30 p.m. RAPE CRISIS Advance notice: There's to be a regional meeting on Rape Crisis in Aldershot in November. BRACKNELL WOMENS GROUP WEDNESDAY 4th NOVEMBER Womens group meeting at 109 Underwood, 8 p.m. S.W.P. WEDNESDAY 4th NOVEMBER SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY meeting at RED LION, Southampton Street, 6 p.m. All supporters welcome. BRACKNELL CND SATURDAY 7th NOVEMBER Display and nuclear fallout shelter in Bracknell town centre. WOMENS GROUP THURSDAY 12th NOVEMBER Tuesday evening meetings to be restarted on Thursdays, 8 p.m. Anyone interested? AUTONOMY CENTRE 0l Warehouse, Metropolitan Wharf, Wapping Wall, London E.1 Tel: 0l 481 3537 (Ansaphone outside opening hours) Four minutes from Wapping Tube Station. EVERY WEDNESDAY Anarchist Youth Federation - call in for informal chat, cup of tea, read the papers or revise for your A levels! 2.30-5.30 p.m. THURSDAY 22nd OCTOBER A-Distribution mailout - come to help or just meet the folks - from 7 p.m. SATURDAY 31st OCTOBER Halloween event. Tony Allen of Alternative Cabaret plus music from the Helicopters, food, drink. £1.00 members, £1.50 non-members. Centre open from 7 p.m Thursdays and 2 p.m Fridays and Saturdays. - - - GOING OUT GUIDE In which we tell you where it's hip to spend your consumer time. Next deadline: Nov 5th for events to Nov 19. Call John, Rdg 662740. MONDAY OCTOBER 26 Horseshoe Theatre, Basingstoke - psychological murder mystery. 7.45pm 1.50-3.50 till October 31st. TUESDAY 27 Palmer Building, University - Flute and piano works by Bach, Berkley and Brubeck, 1 pm, £1. Woodley Playhouse, Headley Road - 'Wait until Dark', Woodley Players 2.45pm, tel 690837 for tickets. WEDNESDAY 28 RFT - 'The Tin Drum', acclaimed film about Germans during WW2. 8pm, 90p/ 1.40 Organ recital by Antler Wills, Holy Trinity Church, Oxford Rd, 8pm, 1.50 Garden open day, the Old Rectory, Burghfield 11am - 4pm 35p, kids 5p. THURSDAY 29 Cap and Gown - John Kirkpatrick and Sue Horns, 8pm, 50p. The Horn, Castle St - Folk, free. The Price of Wales, Caversham - excellent trad jazz, 8pm, free. RFT see yesterday FRIDAY 30 Caribbean Club - Sound Systems Murder Session- featuring King B, Ali Bo, Lover's Rock & Rub-a-dub, PLUS Jumping Duke: jump, soul, &rock'n'roll + special surprises £1.50, late! Bow wow wow at university, 8pm-1am, tribal & dancey Gregory Isaacs at Central Club has cancelled. Target- Arris, pop/rock, 8-llpm, free Faculty of Letters Theatre, University -Anti- nuke cabaret with European Theatre of War, 1pm and 7.30 SATURDAY 31 Target - Big noses and funny teeth, 8 - 1lpm, free University The Higsons, 8pm SUNDAY NOVEMBER 1st Bad Manners at the Top Rank TUESDAY 3 University - The Au Pairs, feminist rock band Hexagon - Offenbach operetta: 'La Belle Helene', Sainsbury Singers, 7.15pm, £2-£3. 0n till Nov 7th. Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke - 'Black and Blue', a newly commissioned piece by Peter Fieldson on Joe Orton & Kenneth Haliwell's last night. Black biographical humour; gay relevance of unknown quality. 7.45pm, £1.50 £3.50 till Nov 14 WEDNESDAY 4 RFT - 'The Missouri Breaks'- Brando & Nicholson in atmospheric western 8pm 90p/£1.50, till Thursday. Hexagon- Freddie the superflea, a children's extravaganza, 10.30am and 4.30pm £1 & £1.50 THURSDAY 5 Cap & Gown - folk, Bob Stewart, 8-10.30 Prince of Wales, Caversham - trad jazz free FRIDAY 6 Caribbean Club - 2 bands = sound system late bar, £1.50. Top Rank- Odyssey - ESP- black soul and Reading jazz SATURDAY 7 King's Meadow - fireworks put on by Reading Round Table, 6pm; tickets from Anglia Building Soc; Friar St. University- The Meteors, bar till 1. Hexagon- The Contortions, folk w/ amazing improvised dancing. 12.15-2.30 free SUNDAY 8 Hexagon- John Lill playing Beethoven piano sonatas 7:30 pm STOP PRESS ANARCHIST ACTIVITY Meeting every Monday, ring James on 473205 for venue. SWP Wednesday October 28: 'Neither Washington nor Moscow but International Socialism'. Speaker: Ian Neilsen. CAPITALIST ACTIVITY Sunday Market at St. Laurences Hall, Abbey Gate, off King's Rd. 10.30- 4pm. Stall space still available. Admission 20p. Nov. 8th. Box no. 007, 31B Milman Rd. RAPE CRISIS CENTRE? SATURDAY NOV. 21st- Regional meeting for women 2pm- 6pm at West End Centre, Aldershot, to see if there are enough women interested in starting up a rape crisis centre. - - - TWO UNIVERSITY GIGS AND A MORAL Thompson Twins, Talisman: Child's Hall El Seven, A1 Vegetables, Kwesi Clarke: University Students' Union I'd always had the impression that Thompson Twins gigs were rather freaky affairs- for once, I thought, I wouldn't go looking too straight. More fool me... The most prominent people there turned out to be sporting-student live-in-hall-types and anyone who didn't look quite right was in for a rough time (eg being doused with beer or beaten up in the bogs). The hostile reaction of many of the heavies to any member of the audience who looked half-way like a member of the band fuelled an already unfriendly atmosphere for which these broad-minded academics were largely responsible. All this left me in a mood in which it was impossible to enjoy the gig. The Twins (about half a dozen of them) are somewhere between punk and tribal folk (bring your own tom-tom). It's the sort of music that demands audience participation/ enthusiasm if it's to be at its best- their album sounds flat compared with their set on a good night. So no insult to the band, only I didn't like it, and the same went for the support (Talisman). The other gig was a benefit for the Right to Work campaign. The Vegetables were on top form, especially with "Animal Noises", which gets wierder-and better- each time I hear it. Kwesi Clarke (punk poet) was also very good in the ten minutes he was allowed; El Seven are Ok but should have been further down the bill. But the main point about the evening is that benefits don't seem to attract the Hall crowd. The gig was small and friendly. No-one, that I saw, got hassled, whatever they looked like. Incidentally, since there wasn't a bar extension there were no bouncers either. And the moral of this tale is not to go to Campus gigs unless they're benefits. The point is, Whiteknights Park should not be the preserve of an elite. It shouldn't be so difficult for students and "townies" to get on. (A student) - - - MORE STOP PRESS "Art and Propaganda in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany" This exhibition, originally organised at Lancaster University, can be seen in the Palmer Building, University Campus (room 102) until Friday 30th Oct, 9am-6pm. Free. - - - BANKRUPTURE? Dear Red Rag, May I as one of the bureaucrats - comment on your notice of the Berkshire Anti Nuclear Campaign meeting? There was no conflict at all over supporting the Greenham Common Peace Camp; women from BANC have been going over there with food, practical help and conversation almost every day since the camp began, with the backing of the committee. But we understood that the camp was to continue until 19 October and then round off with a march to London. BANC have offered food and accommodation in Reading and will be marching alongside them. The conflict arose when we heard that they had changed their minds and were to stay all winter. We have given generously so far but enough, we felt, was enough and the value of staying all winter would not justify the energy and expense that would be needed to support them. As the man said, we do have our own projects to get on with. Otherwise your piece was most perceptive and I enjoyed it a lot; please come to the meeting on 10 November. Best wishes -Tony Sumner - - - IS WOMENS' FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE AN IMPORTANT ISSUE? Apparently not, judging by the total lack of attendance at a proposed meeting on October 14 entitled 'The cohabitation rule - how to challenge it.' We spent an exhilarating evening, awaiting the first arrivals, surrounded by empty chairs and growing angrier by the minute. We had expected the support of at least one so-called Feminist but we were obviously mistaken. Their minds must be occupied with higher things than mere money, which is so mundane and does not raise your consciousness at all. But will your heightened sense of self-awareness pay the rent or put food in your stomach? The hell it will! Come on, 'sisters', get your priorities right or isn't financial independence a priority? You tell us! Sue Webster & Sid Harlow, Flat 6, 92 Wokingham Road, phone Rdg 661460 - - - WOMEN'S ACTION FOR DISARMAMENT Although Tuesday and Wednesday were workdays, the lack of local visible support for the women who are marching from Greenham Common to London for the CND rally on October 24 was most noticeable, they are determined to keep their camp going through the winter at Greenham US air base (one of the 100 US bases in the UK). We have been asked to thank those who provided food, transport, baths, beds, and help at West Reading Methodist Hall. Thanks also to those supporters who walked with the women into Reading on Tuesday afternoon, and again on Wednesday morning. Among the supporters on Wednesday was a male nurse from Battle hospital. The Rev Arnold visited the hall during Tuesday evening and wished the women well. Father Methuen from St Marks saw them off on Wednesday morning. Members of BANC provided funds for this day in Reading. -Womens Group, Berkshire Anti-Nuclear Campaign. (nb from typist - above dictated rather than sent in & maybe inaccurate) - - - BUSINESS NEWS Red Rag is thriving, apart from the fact that our duplicator is on its very last legs, and we are broke. We finished the last one with £50 in the bank, since when we have had to spend £17 on paper and 10 on ink, which leaves us with £23 - enough to to one or two more issues. We need money. Send it (cheques to Red Rag) via Sue Clarke, new treasurer, at 181 Shinfield Road Reading. If you want to join in/ criticise the Rag there will be a meeting to do so and a meal on Thursday 12 November. We will charge £1 for you to come to cover food. If you want to, call Lesley on Rdg 68972 at least a couple of days beforehand. She'll tell you the venue. - - - Reading's only newspaper: RED RAG This is Red Rag, Reading's only newspaper. It is produced fortnightly by and for people in Reading and is delivered, free, to the homes of people who ask for it. It aims to keep people in touch, with an events diary which spans the activities of groups as diverse as organic gardeners and anarchists; anti-nuclear activists and civic planners; wild-eyed liberals and woolly communists. It also has details of things to do in and around Reading and Bracknell, including the fringe events which are ignored by the media. Increasingly, we are also reporting the news that matters locally - something which we think the local press can't do. Reflecting the fact that the Rag is produced by a diverse bunch of people, its 'line' is varied, contradictory, extremist, sometimes funny, often illegible, but always inflammatory; in our 2 1/2 years of existence we have managed to offend a surprisingly large number of people - well beyond our circulation of under 600. If you would like to receive Red Rag, please fill in the form below and return it to Red Rag Distribution, c/o 24 Norwood Road, Reading. If you live outside Reading (except Bracknell) please give us some money to cover postage - otherwise do or don't as you please. * Please send ____ copy/copies each fortnight to __________________ at_________________________________________________ Postcode_________ * I would like to help write/produce/distribute the Rag. Please come and see me/write to me/phone me on ________________________ * I think you are wonderful/ I am stricken by liberal guilt. I enclose £___________ (cheques to 'Red Rag' and don't stint the zeros). nb The Rag is cheap to produce (that's why it's so hard to read) but it is still a strain on the resources of the people who produce it, and we rely on voluntary contributions. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1981/1981-10-25.txt#5 $