RED RAG 7th March to 21st Free Volume 4 No. 6 Next deadline March 18th Contacts:- News 861841 Write to: 68972 31b Milman Rd 662302 or Events 83275 Acorn Bookshop Going out 662740 Distribution 666681 - - - RED RAG'S NEWS DIGEST Next deadline Thursday 18 Match, call 666681 or 861841 with news or sent it to 24 Norwood Road or 31B Milman Road. This digest edited & compiled by Mark Barratt and Production Group 2 - stories from the sources credited below each one. - - - RATES TO RISE An alliance between Liberal and Labour County Councillors last week resulted in a rates rise of 27.5 per cent for Berkshire - the UK's richest county. After the debate the Tory group - the biggest group on the council - resigned from committee chairship in a fit of pique. Afterwards Labour and Liberals claimed they were not keen to share leadership of the council in a pact - but practical politics will probably force them to come to some sort of agreement. On Monday Reading Borough Council agreed to a 6.25 per cent rise in the town's rate. As a result, the 'average' terraced house will pay an extra £1.50 or so in rates. This is reflected in the rent of furnished flats and rooms. The rise means some extra cash, for more teachers, free milk for nursery pupils, more for the police and emergency services, and money to keep young unemployed people off the streets. But colleges will get no equipment, there is little for repairing council houses, and Rag editorial staff will keep having to replace bike wheels after encounters with potholes. We can't use the buses instead because fares are going to rise despite the warnings in the Rag on this one. Predictably, the Chronic was the most vigorous in its condemnation of the rises, making much of the worries by the CBT that it would result in increased unemployment in the county, and of its silly 'referendum', which revealed that very few people want to see rates rise. Quote of the affair come from Patrick Baily, reported in the Chronic as saying: 'It's a very sad thing that politics has to get into local government affairs.' - Chronic, Post, MB - - - FOOLS RUSH IN Seems the Mayor of Reading needs to learn from the Police in the field of public relations. At least the Thames Valley Police are going through the motions of co-operation with women following the BBC 'Police' programme on rape, showing a woman complainant being brutally interviewed. They have spent 2 1/2 hours at a meeting with four women from the Women's Centre discussing the demands made subsequent to the screening of the programme. They have sent a 'carefully considered' reply in writing. They say they do not see the value of a printed list of right which can be handed to any woman lodging a complaint of rape or sexual assault. They are concerned that handing a written list to a distressed woman might upset her even more. And that the giving of such a list might be interpreted as impersonal or unsympathetic. But the final decision on this is being discussed by the Chief Constable with colleagues from other forces before a final decision on this important question. But the Mayor! Poor Jim Day put his foot in it by saying that rape was not a proper subject for debate, and that it was outside their jurisdiction. Council can debate about nuclear policy or football hooliganism, but apparently not about an issue that affects half its constituents. It doesn't, however, affect the Mayor (we hope), not half the council. Reading woman are concerned that the police are concerned only about appearances and the Liberal (sic) Mayor about rules of order, and say that a Rape Crisis Centre now looks essential. Next meeting to organise one and discuss the above is on 15 March at 7.30 in the Women's Centre. - Lesley Punter - - - FORCEPS DELIVERY? A group of Reading people has been talking for some time now about forming a federation to unite the many residents and community groups in the area. Despite the difficulties in forming such a federation between groups with often very different aims (revealed by whether they are called 'Ratepayers', 'Residents', or 'Community' figures in the title), the Reading Federation of Community Groups has been born,. It has a draft constitution and the first General Meeting will be in May or June. If there are any groups interested in attending, contact the Voluntary Services Council at 38 Caversham Rd, Reading. Phone 54123. - Lesley Punter - - - FOR FOX' SAKE The County Council passed a resolution to ban fox hunting in Berkshire, despite protests from the Tories that hunting was a 'pleasant country pursuit', that it would increase unemployment among horses and dogs, and that the people really affected will be those who own whippets and use them hunting hares. The resolution was moved by Bracknell's Peter Darke, who was accused of being a tool of outside organisations who want to further their own ideas and views. Reds under the bed? Not quite. The sinister organisation referred to is the League Against Cruel Sports. Mr Darke must find it ironic that he is being accused of being a tool of outside agitators, since he spends a good deal of time combatting the Militant tendency within his party. - Mark Barratt - - - UNEMPLOYED CENTRE Between 10 and 15 people are using the new Unemployment Centre in East Street each day - mostly just dropping in for a chat. The Centre wanted to start off quietly (see Rag 7 February) and has done so. The Centre says it now has to build up custom steadily, and is hoping that money from the Workers Educational Association will help. The WEA has applied for £7500 to fund courses for unemployed people in Berkshire, and Reading hopes for a slice. - Brian Revel - - - BIG STRONG MEN Following the big demonstration on the University campus when one of its Halls of Residence hired a stripper and was surrounded by chanting extremists, the University's rugby club has beaten a retreat. But not far. The club's annual dinner also features a stripper, and was this year removed from the campus to Sonning. The University was relieved that the move has swept any trouble, if not under the carpet, at least off its property. - Nick Levine - - - ENORMOUS MP FLOORED William Van Straubenzee, MP, who was reported here last issue as having issued a letter to CND chair Brian Revell deriding Mr Revell's debating ability, has met his match. After being challenged by Mr Revell to a public debate on cruise missiles the MP wrote: 'As regards a possible debate - my advice to you is this - start by choosing a man of your own size. Later you can work your way up to me.; But on Friday he debated the issue at Bracknell College against David Pitt of Henley Peace Group. He lost the debate. - - - MAYDAY The people organising this year's Mayday celebrations say it looks like being the best ever. After a march round the town in the morning on the theme of unemployment and government attacks on unions, afternoon events centre around the theme of new technology. So far 24 groups have booked stalls, there will be computers to play with, and a debate on technology and socialism. Evening entertainment not yet finalised though the Raincoats and Broadside Theatre are talking about coming. All this in the Old Town Hall, May 1. Anyone who wants to help, please contact Chris Borgas on 477073. - Mayday festival organising committee - - - RED RAG GETS RESPECTABLE? Red Rag, Reading's only newspaper, decided at a meeting last week to try to talk to TUs and Res Assns about mutual aid. See events. - - - EVENTS DIARY MONDAY 8th MARCH * ANARCHISTS MEET. Ring James 473205 for details * Reading University Womens Group, Lunchtime meeting, Students Union. TUESDAY 9th MARCH * EL SALVADOR SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN, 106 London Road (side entrance next to garage). This is first meeting of Reading group, everyone welcome, ring CLive 666681 for furher details or if you don't make it * TARGET BERKSHIRE. B.A.N.C. Talk about Nuclear Sites in Berkshire, Friends Meeting House, Church Street, 8pm. * Reading University Womens Group, a speaker from the English Collective of Prostitutes. Women Only. Room 101, Palmer Building 7.30pm * SWP Weekly meeting, Red Lion, Southampton Street, 8pm, Supporters welcome. THURSDAY 11th MARCH * BERKSHIRE ANTINUCLEAR CAMPAIGN, First meeting of Woodley Neighbourhood Group meeting, 3 Reading Road, Woodley, 7.30pm * AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Monthly Meeting, 8pm St Marys Centre, behind St Marys Church, off the Butts. FRIDAY 12th MARCH * SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY picket of Dr VAUGHAN'S SURGERY, 5.15-6.30pm 'Womens right to choose, Abortion Campaign' at 30 Erleigh Road, East Reading. * BERKSHIRE HUMANISTS A seminar on Contemporary Religion, 8pm at the Friends Meeting House, Church Street. SATURDAY 13th MARCH * WOMENS CENTRE... POLICY MEETING for all interested women, 10.30am at the Womens Centre, Old Shire Hall. SUNDAY 14th MARCH * READING YOUTH CND 3pm AUEW HALL, Oxford Road, I think they meet every Sunday, contact Dave 416536. MONDAY 15th MARCH * ANARCHISTS MEETING... Call James 473205 for details. * Reading UNIVERSITY WOMENS GROUP, Lunchtime meeting 1 o'clock at the Students Union. * RAPE CRISIS CENTRE MEETING More women are needed ,7.30pm at the WOMENS CENTRE, OLD SHIRE HALL. TUESDAY 16th MARCH * B.A.N.C. WOODLEY Neighbourhood Group, showing of 'WAR GAME' 8pm Coronation Hall, Woodley. * B.A.N.C. COLEY Neighbourhood Group, will meet at 8pm, 21 Castle Crescent WEDNESDAY 17th MARCH * SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY A public meeting on 'A WOMENS RIGHT TO CHOOSE, ABORTION CAMPAIGN' 8pm AUEW HALL Oxford Road. THURSDAY 18th MARCH * NON-SEXIST, NON-ELITIST NETBALL, at Alfred Suttons Girls School, Green Road, 7.30pm Anyone welcome, contact Lucy 477797, Leslie 68972 SATURDAY 20th MARCH * There will be an ECOLOGIST / FEMINIST led procession from the Main Gate Aldermaston, at 11am, to the Green Gate Greenham Common, the Cruise Missile Base, wear face pain & costume... also bring a musical instrument to play.... it's about an eight mile walk. NEXT RED RAG MEETING FOR PRODUCTION TEAMS, DISTRIBUTORS, ALL OUR CONTRIBUTORS, READERS, 4pm at the COMMITTEE ROOM, AUEW HALL OXFORD ROAD. - - - RED RAG'S GOING OUT GUIDE Covering going out from 8 to 21 March. 'Entertainment' events - please give details of forthcoming events for free inclusion here to John Hoggett on Rdg 662740 by Thursday 18 March. MONDAY 8 MARCH EXHIBITION: Until 31 March, an exhibition of work by the University print workshop. Room L25, London Road University site. Free. WOMEN's CULTURAL EVENING. No details to hand. Might be interesting. University Students Union, 8-10.30. Free. FARCE: Fur coat and no knickers. North Country humour by Mike Harding. Hexagon. Til Saturday. 7.30, £2.50up TUESDAY 9 MARCH JAZZ FUNK: Shackatak. Uni Students Union, 8 til 1. £2.50. MUSIC: University String Quartet, playing Schubert, Dvorak, Palmer Bldg, Whiteknights Park. 1.10pm,. £? DRAMA: Ashes. Sensitive study of childless couple. Arts Workshop. Newbury. 8pm, £2. WEDNESDAY 10 MARCH FILM: The Marriage of Maria Braun. Fassbinder melodrama set in postwar Germany. RFT, 8pm, £1.40 THURSDAY 11 MARCH FOLK: Something at the Cap & Gown, Kings Road, 50p-ish JAZZ: Footstomping trad at the Tudor Tavern, Friar Street. MUSIC: Lunchtime concert. Kathryn Stott piano recital. Hexagon, 1.10. FILM: RFT as yesterday. FRIDAY 12 MARCH GIG: Pig Bag. Exuberant jazz/funk band, Child's Hall, University. * til late, £? SATURDAY 13 MARCH FOLK/HUMOUR: Mr Smith. Hexagon. 12.15 Free. CONCERT: Beethoven's 'Incidental music to the ruins of Athens'. University Great Hall, London Road, 7.30, £? FILMS: All-night session including: The Man who Fell to Earth; Don't Look Now'; The Shout; and Radio On. Uni Students Union. 10pm. 90p. MONDAY 15 MARCH JAZZ: Free at Uni Student Union, 8-10.30 TUESDAY 16 MARCH DRAMA: Sparks. Educational theatre for children. Til Saturday. Hexagon. 10.30am & 2pm, £1 OPERA: The Mikado. Reading Operatic Society's presentation of this well-known Gilbert & Sullivan comedy. Til Sat. Hexagon. 7.30, plus 2.30 Sat £2.50 WEDNESDAY 17 MARCH GIG: Theatre of Hate. Radical punk band. Recommended. Uni Students Union. FILM: Hyena's Sun. About impact of Western culture on a Tunis fishing village. RFT, 8pm. £1.40 THURSDAY 18 MARCH JAZZ: Trad at the Tudor Tavern, Friar Street. Free. FOLK: Tom McConville and Kieran Halpin. Cap and Gown, Kings Road. 8pm, 50p-ish. DRAMA: The Hot 1 Baltimore. Modern US drama. Not suitable for children, they say. Til 27th. Progress Theatre, off Christchurch Road. 7.45. £1.50 FILM: Gregory's Girl plus That Sinking Feeling. Two excellent comedies about Scottish youth. RFT, £1.40 FRIDAY 19 MARCH CONCERT: Francis Jackson, organist of York Minster, recital, Reading Town Hall. 7.45. £? SATURDAY 20 MARCH REGGAE: Urban Warriors, Ital Survivors plus sound system. Central Club, 8 til late, £? GIG: Department S. Had a hit record some time back. Mansfield HAll, Kendrick Road, 8 til late. £? SUNDAY 21 MARCH GIG: Theatre of Hate at Top Rank. 8pm, £2.50 CONCERT: London Bach Choir and London Bach Orchestra, works by Mendelssohn and Beethoven. Hexagon, 7.30 £2-£4 FILM: Alice's Restaurant. Reading Cinema Club. Famous Anti-Vietnam film (the record was funnier). Shinfield Theatre. 7.45. Free to members. MESSAGE from typist to John: we can't read your handwriting. Ever. - - - BUSINESS NEWS An extended business news this week as Red Rag had one of its rare meetings (but more on that anon). We started this issue with £65.48. We received a donation of £2 from PAMA of Grange Road, which was used for postage, and we spent about £24 on paper. So now we have about £40ish (not entirely clear about this because some people make regular donations by bankers order and we don't know how much til later). This is enough to produce two more issues. So cheques, please, to Susan Clarke (payable to 'Red Rag') at 181 Shinfield Road, Reading. Decided several things at our meeting last week. First, Caversham readers - those of you who live in the central bits are OK, but those spread out around the outskirts are losing their distributor, who is moving. Is anyone willing to do this round? you need a car/motorbike really, or healthy legs plus bike. Takes about an hour. If you are affected, please tell us if you can get your Rag through some other channel, or send us money and we'll start posting them to you. EDITORIAL POLICY: We discussed the need to divide reporting from polemic and agreed that 'copy' will usually go under 'news' unless there is strong doubt about whether it is straight reporting or not, in which case it should go under 'platform' and should be signed in some way. Platform should always carry an introduction/disclaimer. Also agreed that the news section should try for more credibility, ie should distinguish fact from comment. RESPECTABILITY: Agreed to talk to Trade Unions and community groups about possibility of mutual aid. ACCOUNTABILITY: Next Rag meeting, Sunday 28 March, Community Room, AUEW Hall, Oxford Road, is open to anyone who feels they have something to say/contribute. 4pm. - - - ADVERTISER'S ANNOUNCEMENT UNEMPLOYED? FED UP? AGED 18 TO59? JOIN THE HOME DEFENCE FORCE NOW. YES LADS, THE HSV IS JUST WHAT YOU NEED TO ADD DIGNITY AND PURPOSE TO YOUR ANGST-RIDDEN LIFE. DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE SOVIET THREAT: JOIN THE NEW, PROFESSIONAL READING-BASED HOME GUARD FORCE AND DO YOUR BIT TO SAVE YOUR COUNTRY. You'll get a smart khaki uniform, full training, and a regular wage. Your job, in the ever-more-likely event of war, will be to protect our telephone exchanges, power stations and railway stations. Think of it boys: where would YOU rather be in the war? Conscripted into Central Europe waiting to be neutron-bombed - or standing guard at Didcot Power station with a gun in your hand and your mates from the dole queue at your shoulder? Red Rag urges you to do your bit - join up now! (see local press for details). - - - MORE TALK LESS ACTION? Writing in the last Red Rag O.B.W. has a lot to say about Torness. Perhaps if he'd ever taken part in any of the actions he might have got even a few of his facts right. It's always much easier to sit at home and write putdowns after the event than it is to actually do something. Firstly to set the record straight with regard to Torness. "Fences are people too" was a joke amongst pacifists (mainly) who felt that property which enslaves and restricts people (e.g. fences, reactors, bombs) has no right to exist. The opposition to damaging fences however was mainly based on the view that it might generate bad publicity. The dispute that he refers to during the 1979 Torness occupation was between two small groups who felt that everyone should do as they said. Both groups seemed to find it intolerable that people could get on in small groups and dismantle construction, paint slogans, flood quarries, plant trees and argue with the police all without the benefit of anyone else's leadership. All of the people involved were actively taking part in the occupation not as O.B.W. says only some of them. Moving on to 1981 the major obstruction to an occupation of the Torness site was made of barbed wire in six feet high rolls. That combined with the high level of security and relatively small number of people present made an occupation of the site seem unrealistic. Merely calling the demonstration had resulted in all work being stopped at the site for a week and most of the moveable equipment moved elsewhere "just in case". Nevertheless contrary to O.B.W. no one was prevented from attempting an occupation. One group in fact did turn up with the intention of "doing" the site (whatever that meant). Having been lent a map of the site and a pair of bolt cutters (both by O.B.W's despised pacifists) they set out only to become lost. Unfortunately they panicked when a police car stopped to offer assistance and eventually got themselves arrested for trespassing on railway property. They were released without charge presumably on the principle that they represented a threat to no one but themselves. Possibly the article they wrote for the otherwise excellent anarchist fortnightly Freedom is the source of O.B.W.'s information. Finally on Torness the only group of "daytrippers out for a laugh" I encountered were a group from Edinburgh who having drunk themselves just short of collapse discovered that they had neither money nor alcohol and that no on was going to entertain them. They therefore (therefore?) tried to pick a fight and when this failed they set fire to some people's possessions before some of their friends calmed them down. Is this really the sort of action that O.B.W approves of? Having hopefully set the record straight on Torness I would like to discuss the wider movement against nuclear technology. Here we have very few examples of "successes" where we have actually managed to stop a project. The only two recently are both in France. There the proposed power station at Plogoff and the vast extension to the army camp at Larzac have both been cancelled. Both of these victories came courtesy of France's "socialist" government but clearly as the rest of France's nuclear programme is going ahead the key factor wasn't the government. The thing that both of these have in common is a history of continuing local opposition to the government's plans combined with strong support throughout France. A formula not that dissimilar to that described in Red Rag recently by "Polonius". In this context the rocket attempting on Malville Fast Breeder Reactor can be seen not as a symbol of strength of the opposition but of its weakness. The campaign against Malville has never really recovered from the disasterous demonstration where one person was killed by a police grenade. Why that demonstration was such a disaster is worth an article of its own. The effect of it though was to marginalise the opposition to the reactor to such an extent that mass opposition now seems extremely unlikely. Those activists still opposing construction have been reduced to gestures such as the rocket attack which was both ineffective in stopping the plant and provided yet another opportunity to suggest that the anti-nuclear movement is a communist plot. (Incidentally, if anyone knows where all the Moscow gold to finance the anti-nuclear movement is going can they please get in touch 'cos I've not had mine yet.) Similarly the set piece confrontations in Germany between police and demonstrators where both sides arrive armed to do battle have had no discernable effect upon the nuclear industry. They have, however, served to make the German state look like the legitimate defender of the peace against the armed barbarian hordes, instead of the repressive creature that it is. What can we learn from all this? It seems to me that to be effective the British anti-nuclear movement needs to move on from its position or merely protesting about the government's plans to destroy us all, to actively resisting them. After all, if the government felt we were important enough to be worth listening to they wouldn't be planning to blow us up in the first place. This means opposing the nuclear state wherever it is vulnerable, not just sitting in front of the gates at Greenham Common for an afternoon (although that's a start) but organising a whole range of actions both large and small which both hinder the nuclear start and almost more importantly inspire others to take similar actions. Attacking a power plant with a rocket requires equipment most of us haven't got access to even if we wanted it, but stopping a nuclear waste train with scaffolding on hire from a local builder's suppliers, now that's something we could all do. The list of possible actions is endless: strikes, occupations, balloon releases (balloon releases? during an airshow) but the key thing is not to lose touch with the mass of public support. It's all very well to talk of guerrilla activity, but there's not much point in being the vanguard of the revolution when everyone else is going the other way. A Park Keeper Torness Public Parks Dept. - - - The Platform section consists of contributions not necessarily reflecting the Rag's views. Stuff contributed should be labelled 'News', in which case it will be edited and may be checked for facts, or 'Platform', in which case we will print it unedited. Platform stuff should be signed, though we can't make you put your real name. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1982/1982-03-07.txt#1 $