FORTNIGHTLY FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FORTNIGHTLY RED RAG RED RAG, c/o Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham Street, Reading next copydate: Thursday 9th June GET YOUR RED RAG FROM ANY OF 20 OUTLETS IN READING or HAVE YOUR RAG DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR RING 666681 WITH DETAILS EVENTS: 666681 GOING OUT GUIDE: HELEN 531222 ext 423 NEWS Reports: 666324 or 666681 - - - ELECTION SMEAR a RED RAG Roving Reporter special. Dr David Owen (one of the infamous Gang of Five) came to Reading today to boost his party's hopes. A luxury coach with "SDP" plastered all over it parked in Broad Street outside the Midland Bank. Double yellow lines, but a policeman on the other side of the road politically turned a blind eye. A public address system blares out in the afternoon sunshine, "David Owen M.P., Liberal/SDP Alliance leader, is now in Broad Street". A steady stream of shoppers vacating the area, bus queues trying to ignore the noise. Twenty or so smartly dressed people giving out leaflets with an air of brittle enthusiasm. I don't argue when I am given a leaflet in case I upset him. A cluster of party-workers, some with silly diamond-shaped SDP-Liberal Alliance placards on long poles. A few photographers. Avid TV watcher as I used to be, I managed to pick one out as the hypocrite himself. He managed to catch one or two people as they came out of the bank, but otherwise in the 15-20 minutes I stood around, only one person appeared to approach him voluntarily. This one had sunglasses and a paper plate, plied high with sickly yellow shaving foam stuff. It was duly propelled at our astute statesman, and the mysterious figure then strolled away. "What wozat?" "Wot wozit?" were the immortal's words. "Who wozat?" "Hoo wozit?" chorussd the followers, while cameras flashed. Mild dazedness for two or three minutes, and vacuous splutterings tailing off into "I wish...." One eager young thing, however, sees our mysterious friend stroll a little hurriedly into a shop on the opposite side of the road, and sets off in hot pursuit, followed by two or three "innocent" passers-by. At this stage I gaze fixedly at a bus, pretending I've noticed nothing. Lots of suspicious glances thrown at me the only person within 25 yards without an SDP badge or suit. Eventually I crack and stroll casually away. From further investigation, I discover that the bright young thing in a suit captured some innocent shopper in British Home Stores, until "accomplices" assisted him to give up on the idea. The "Evening Post" the following day carried a nice obscure report of Dave's walkabout, with no mention of custard pies. Then the Chronic came out, complete with front page photos of flying pie and bespattered politician, so the Post pulls its finger out and gets telephone comments from various hacks. (At this point, things become clearer if you realise that the local SDP/Lib Alliance "news"paper is printed by none other than our own dear Post.) Dr. J. Owen does the statesman bit, and lets slip that he was talking to a pensioner at the time (Ho Ho, David, pull the other one.) The local candidate, best left nameless like all the rest, was quoted as saying that it could be the start of an unfortunate trend in the campaign. Let's hope so. PS. While the fun was going on, a bus conveniently stopped in front of the policeman, who consequently missed it all. - - - ELECTION SPECIAL! Red Rag Election Competition How to enter - send answers on a standing order form to "RED RAG" by Thurs 9th June. Judges' decision will be final. First Prize: several months of life under a government not of your choice. Second Prize: to be announced. Red Rag Election Competition Question No. 1: In less than ten words, what would David Owen have said if he had managed to finish his sentence, "I wish____________"? Just to show that we are biased against all the candidates fairly, some news of other contending factions! The Conservative Party offices at Erleigh Rd are now deserted - they've moved into a shed in the back yard, in response to various objects flying through their windows, which are now completely boarded up. Red Rag Election Competition Question No. 2: In less than 20 words, "What sort of democratically-elected government is it that can't even keep a shopfront together in a town like Reading?" The Ecology Party has been grappling with problems of electioneering and the GPO: after negotiation, they have had to agree to make illegible the word "join" (before "the Ecology Party"), and add "'s policies" (after "the Ecology Party"), before the GPO will deliver it. According to the GPO's reading of the law, election material must be aimed solely at people's votes, not recruiting people to actually do anything. A brief nod to the Labour Party: what happened to the slogan "Jobs, Peace, Freedom"? Now they're talking about being elected to be a government, they've dropped the word "freedom". Such honesty is so refreshing. - - - WEEK OF INACTION AGAINST PORN MAY 14th - 21st. Judging by the turnout for this week's activities, most women seem quite content with the way the porn industry operates in Reading. On Sat l4h, we had planned to picket all the sex shops in town - we managed to do the one in Southampton Street for five minutes courtesy of the 'Evening Post' photographer and then we moved down to the Oxford Road. There were two pickets, one women-only and one mixed, which eventually merged as the women's picket regressed from being sparse to virtually non-existent. Indeed, without Reading's As and their black flags we would hardly have been noticeable. On Monday we fared a little better with 25 women reclaiming the night in Reading. On Sat 21st our worst fears were confirmed when only three women turned up to picket W H Smiths. With four doors to cover, we decided to make the best of a bad job and joined the Anti-Militarists outside Tesco's. The preparation session on Monday for the action in Soho on the 25th was surprisingly well attended. Apparently what women want is the excitement and anonymity of a large demo but are unwilling to take action against porn in their own home town. Porn isn't just confined to Soho - it's all around us in our local shops, newsagents and pub pubs. (Have you looked at the Guinness calendar in the 'Dove' recently - the acceptable face of porn ?) It may be dull doing local actions but it's just as important. No one will take us seriously until we are visible everywhere. Lynn, Sarah & Caroline. P.S. Chris - our phone no. has been in the last two issues of Red Rag and here it is again: Rdg 667517. - - - YET ANOTHER CARDBOARD BOX STORY Contrary to popular opinion Reading Family Planning Clinic is not there to help you but harass you. My first encounter with them was, I naively thought going to be simple. I wanted a cervical cap - these, so the doctor in Eldon Square had told me were available only from the F.P.C. Yet before I even had the chance to mention the word 'cap', I was given a long anti-smoking lecture - including the fascinating piece of information that this Dr.'s daughter (and I quote) 'wouldn't touch a cigarette with a barge pole' - I could not help but feel that this is probably because she's too busy doing heavier drugs with a mother like that to cope with! I was also asked if: a) I was married, and b) if I had a job (what either of these actually have to do with contraception I am afraid I really do not know) This second question was then followed by, you've guessed it, yet another lecture; only this one was just to let me know that I cannot expect to be a 'parasite' for all of my life. Don't I realise that some people, like the good lady doctor herself don't pay their taxes just too support the likes of me! (Evidently she does not know that Unemployment Benefit is also taxed these days. How lovely to be unaware of such things!) Anyway having quickly sorted my life out for me (not that I was aware of its needing to be sorted out) apparently, if I am ever to be an erstwhile citizen of this illustrious realm I had better get myself on some kind of a course and grab myself a few bits of paper (qualifications I think they are called). I did at this point tell her that I had in fact given so called 'Higher Education' a try, but really didn't think that it is all it is cracked up to be. Eventually we reached the real reason for my appointment _ just in case you have forgotten I had gone about contraception - I was passed to a nurse who promptly fitted me with a cervical cap and told me to come back a week later. The next appointment was equally farcical. Whilst looking through our files my friend and I were told to 'put those away now girls; you're not allowed to look at your files'. When we asked why not we were told that if we were in the F.P.C. we had too abide by their rules and regulations, which include no looking at files. It was interesting to note that M's request for a speculum (last visit) had been noted. When she asked why she was told that evidently it was thought relevant to her case - perhaps all subversives ask for speculums? I might add at this stage that her request had been turned down on the grounds that if women could examine themselves, know about their own bodies, it would no doubt put a lot of quacks out of business. However the clinic was a couple of speculums short when we left. In conclusion, my advice to anyone thinking of obtaining a little guidance from Graven Road Family Planning Clinic, forget it; that is unless you are middle class and either married, in full-time education or working! Anyone interested in sharing their experiences of advice with a view to a more naturalistic approach to contraception, contact Ruth or Michelle 666681 - - - UPPER HEYFORD -- NON VIOLENT DIRECT ACTION MAY 31st TO JUNE 3rd Non Violent Direct Action is a much talked about element in the present peace movement's campaign, yet still in its infancy and still little understood. And despite the attention paid it, numerically it still involves only a very small part of those who support CND: at Easter, people in the Chain outnumbered those involved in the blockades by 30:1 or so. Yet it has a significance out of all proportion to the numbers. A major event is the continual blockade of USAF Upper Heyford, from 6am on Tuesday 31st May to 6pm on Friday 3rd June. Despite the efforts and hopes of some people actively encouraging its development, large national events still attract many people who are not motivated to organise and take action in their 'normal' lives. But this particular event will occur in such a way that all involved should gain useful organisational experience and all develop ways of working together that do not alienate people. In line with the devolved nature of the event, local areas have been encouraged to organise themselves as far as possible. To this end, there have been two "Sunday schools" in Reading to prepare local people for the event. The first, it was hoped, would consider the nature and role of NVDA in a whole range of forms, and develop ideas as to its place in the peace movement. In fact less than 20 people turned up with such disparate experiences and perceptions that the day lurched woodenly from tea-break to tea-break. It had been organised at quite short notice, and depended far too much on the telephone to let people know about it in advance; it's impossible to tell how many potential participants failed to come because of the "Chinese Whispers" effect. The video we hoped to show had been wiped clean by somebody in CND's national office, so we lost that as a starting point for discussion of the press coverage and image of NVDA and the peace movement. Some films did arrive, but no spare reel with the projector, so they couldn't be shown either. Some workshops were quite lively and informative, but to my, slightly jaundiced, view, the most encouraging feature of the whole day was the high proportion of participants who said they would return for the following week's day of preparation for the Upper Heyford blockade. This one was better attended, although several people who had expressed an interest still found Sunday morning too much of an obstacle to overcome. Several of us had more idea what to expect this time and the whole & day had a much more productive pace. Somebody had wondered beforehand how one could use up a whole day just preparing for a demo. It was satisfying to see that at 4.30pm he still had lots of issues he wanted to discuss & ideas to explore. Most of us though, had found 5 or 6 hours of discussion pretty tiring, so lots of matters were left hanging. It now looks as if 40 or so people from the Reading area will be going to Upper Heyford to participate, about half of them prepared to do various tasks in support of the event that do not involve risk of arrest. In many ways, it is a completely new departure, so nobody knows what will happen. What does look certain now is that several thousand (35,000 according to certain sources in the local parish council) people will come together in a major nonviolent and delightfully illegal demo. As somebody pointed out in a workshop, what could be more subversive than TV news showing masses of people breaking the law and enjoying themselves, while causing no harm to anyone? For those who are interested, every one is welcome to go and visit/join the occasion; the nature of the event means that there will always be plenty of things to be done. The peace camp has put together a list of some things which people can do, all of which are useful and valuable. Without Coming To Upper Heyford 1. Send money to peace camp to help pay for printing, hire of campsite, hire of toilets, hire of walkie-talkies,etc... 2. Help cover expenses of people from your area who are coming to Upper Heyford. 3. Send food with people from your area who are coming. 4. Make banners, decorations etc for the fence. 5. Publicise the event, and the fact that people from your area are taking part. (Before, during and after the event) 6. Write letters to local papers, to the MoD, to your MP etc... For/with information of transport to Upper Heyford, contact Liz at the Acorn Bookshop, (Rdg 594425). She should also have up-to-date news of what's going on.... At Upper Heyford 7. Come with a camera. 8. Come with a bike. 9. Come and be here 10. Emotional support for people blockading gates. 11. Physical support for people blockading gates. 12. Join a group to blockade a gate. 13. Entertainments - can you play any musical instruments, clown, dance, sing, act etc ? 14. Help with transport group. 15. Help with creche. 16. Help with toilets. 17. Help with carparking. 18. Help at Information and Assembly points. Cliff - - - EVENTS and GOING OUT Mon 30th Community Carnival Day - Organised by Reading Council for Racial Equality. Procession starts 12.30pm from the lorry park in Great Knollys St, along Bedford Road, up Oxford Rd, around the Norcot Hill roundabout, back down the Oxford Hd, down George St, along Gt Knollys St, along the Caversham Rd to Richfield Avenue. The many attractions will include live music, stalls, sideshows, discos, food & drink. Prizes for the best carnival floats will be presented at 4.30pm. Come & share this fantastic experience. Details from the RCRE office (Rdg 583773). Art Exhibition - in the upper foyer & choir gallery of the Hexagon. Open till Saturday 4th June. Featuring work by artists living and working in the West Reading area. Admission free. 10am - 5pm daily. Details from Patrick Chandler (Rdg 55911 ex 2069) Anarchy - there's a group of people who meet every Monday at 8pm (ish), but probably can't be contacted on 666631. Fete - organised by Tilehurst and Norcot Liberal Party. Victoria Recreation Ground, Armour Rd, 2pm. Admission 10p (children free). Outdoors is just the place for some pre-democratic mudslinging. Hexagon, The Butts-Wrestling 7.30 £2-2.50 West Reading Carnival - Oxford Road to Richfield Avenue site. Music, stalls fun & games etc. 2ish at site free. Caribbean Club, London St- Carnival Dance with hurricane force Steel Band 8-late £2.50 Bull Hotel - Nettlebed - Folk Club 8pm £? Pinder Hall, Cookham - Dance Swarbrick, Simon Nichol, Jim Megaan Johnny Collins + Keepers Gate 8pm £2 (folk). From this one must presume that Mr Swarbrick's early retirement due to deafness is not as immenant as his press releases made out. South Hill Park, Bracknell - 1pm Rotunda Show Band. Free. 2.30 Bugsy Malone (U) £1.90 + conc. To 5th. 7.30 Jubilee (18) £1.90 +conc Tue 31st "Together We Can Close Upper Heyford" - four day blockade of the USAF base starts at 6am today. The local region of CND is taking the first 13 hours. Details elsewhere in Rag. Contact 534425 with offers/requests of transport. Reading's Week for Jobs (sounds horrible) - open meeting at Centre for the Jobfree, 4-6 East St. 7.30pm. South Reading Anti-Nuclear Group - meeting at the Community Centre, Northumberland Ave, 8pm. Reading Gay Switchboard - is now on Tuesdays and Fridays, 8-10pm. Ring 597269. Hex - Allegri String Quartet 7.30 £2.75-3.75 Tudor Arms Gay Disco 8ish free Fives- Doris and The Dots 8ish free The Mill, Sonning - Educating Rita 8.15 mat Thurs and Sat 2pm £6.90-11.90 inc buffet SHP - Gandhi (PG) 7.30 £1.90+conc. To 1lth. White South Africans please sit in the special enclosure on the far right. Wed 1st First of the Month - meeting for all women interested in the Women's Centre, Abbey St, 8pm. Candidates Meeting - Woodley Peace Group (Wokingham Constituency) has invited all the local hopefuls (at least two have accepted). 8pm, Bulmershe Comprehensive. Socialist Workers Party - every Wednesday, 8pm, Red Lion, Southampton St. City Farm - Organisational Meeting, every Wednesday, 7.30pm, Staff Room of Ashmead School. Open Day in July. Hex Childrens Book Fair 10am-4pm free to 4th Reading Film Theatre, Palmer Building Whiteknights Campus- Burning an illusion 8pm £1/1.50 Apollo Oxford - Robert Palmer 7.30 £4.50 - one of rock's stranger customers. Thu 2nd Music Workshop - Centre for the Jobfree, East St, 6pm. Ring Laura for details (596639,daytime). The Week For Jobs (see Tuesday) grinds on with a rally outside the Civic Offices, 1pm. It says here that if you go you'll have to listen to 25 speakers, (if these are their tactics, I'd prefer an honest job...) Youth Training Scheme - LPYS meeting on the forthcoming new-style YOP. 8pm, Community Centre, Northumberland Av. ("How can youth resist these latest attacks?" Serves youth right for not going to the rally.) RFT - Lola 8pm £1/1.50 Target- Twelfth Night 8ish £1 Must be Reading's longest running heavy metal band staffed by ageing punks (well I like them anyway - typist) Horse & Barge, Duke St - Saffron Summer field 8ish £? (folk) SHP Straight Up 7.45 £1.50/1.70 to 4th (theatre) Fri 3rd Tudor Arms - Gay Disco 8ish free Central Club, London St - Coxsonne + Channel I-sounds 8-late £3 Caribbean Club - SRPM Disco 9.30-late £1.50 SHP - That'll be the day (18) £1.90+conc also 4th. Ringo Starr is delightfully grotty, good nostalgia trip for ageing David Essex fans. Have you washed his autograph off your arm yet? Sat 4th East Reading Rights Group - information stall outside the church on Cemetery Junction, 11am - 1pm every Sat. Music Club - Women's Centre, Abbey St, 11am - noon. British Cactus & Succulent Society - 17th Annual Cactus Show. Exhibits, sales, refreshments. St John's School Hall, Orts Rd, 11am - 4pm, 25p (kids l0p). SWAG (Save Waste And Gain) - monthly waste paper collection (proceeds to local charity), from Tilehurst Key market; Palmer Park; Northumberland Avenue; St Martin's Precinct; Recreation Rd, Tilehurst; Cattle Market car park. Wokingham Carnival - Wokingham Peace Group will have a stall. Offers of help, please, to Ann Harris (791335). Sizewell Demo - London. Details from 0742 754691. Veggie Dining (& free live entertainment) - Fairview Community Centre, George St. Dinner is served between 7 and 3.30pm. Bring your own drinks. Tickets (£2) on sale from Acorn up till 1st June. Hex - The Birds of Paradise 12.15 free. All girl or mostly so steel band. Bulmershe College, Early - Geisha Girls + Brothers of Beat 8-late £1.50 buy tickets in advance or you may not get into the bar. Central Club - Crystal Image + Marcus Sounds 8-late £2.50 Sweet Jamaican style reggae. Caribbean Club - Rock Steady Night with Quorum + Campagne Posse Sounds 7-late £2.50. If you thought ska was good to dance to, Rock Steady knocks it flat. SHP - 2.30 Baron Albans Water Walking Booted Shoe Design Competition free? - 7.30 The Picnic Orch free - 8pm Sarah Grey £1.20/1.50 folk Apollo, Oxford- George Chisholm, Keith Smith & hefty Jazz 7.30 £3-5 Sun 5th Week For Jobs - another rally (& demo) in London. Coach from station, leaves 9.45 (back 5-6pm),£3 (£1.50 unwaged) Water Carnival (West Reading Festival) - varied attractions under the auspices of Caversham Round Table, Thames Promenade, Richfield Ave, 10.30 onwards. 60p (kids 30p) Hex - De Danaan 7.30 £2.50/3.50 Water Carnival, Thameside- lots of things to see & do 10.30am 60p Kids 30p Allied Arms - Readifolk 8ish free All Saints Church, Devonshire Sq - Arion Orchestra 8pm £1.50/2.50 0APs £1 Fives - Mainstream lunchtime free SHP 1pm Windsor & Maidenhead Schools Band free 8pm Opera group members and friends evening £1.10/1.25 Mon 6th Anarchists - or at least those of you who go to the Monday meetings, you have until Thursday to give me your new contact number, otherwise I'll just have to guess. Women's Peace Group - 71 Hamilton Rd, 8pm. Ecology Party - fortnightly meeting, 25 de Beauvoir Rd. For details ring Maria, 663195. Hex - Magnum 7.30 £2.50/3.50 - Exhib of paintings by Valerie Jones free to 13th Bull Hotel Nettlebed - Common Thyme 8pm £? (folk) Central Studio, Cliddesdan Rd, B'stoke - Macbeth (Nat Theatre workshop) 2pm+7.30 £3+conc Tue 7th ROAR (Animal Rights) - pub meeting, 8pm. Back room of Crown, Crown St (see next Saturday) Blockade of London Rd turnoffs onto Liverpool & Cholmeley roads to draw attention to local effects of the "London Road scheme". From 4.30 to 6. (Planning Meeting - Sunday 5th, 4.30pm, Newtown Community House, 117 Cumberland Rd) Woodley/Earley Peace Group Meeting. Details Sue Watts (690313) Tilehurst CND - meeting. St Michael's Cottage, Routh Lane, off The Meadway, 8pm. Reports on the Peace Canvass. Hex- Festival of Spanish Dance 7.30 £2.50-3. Tudor Arms- Gay Disco 8ish free Fives- Track 4 8ish free Wed 8th Hex - Steam on the Great Western 7.30£1.50-2.50 (film) RFI - The Draughtsmans Contract 8pm £1/1.50 also 9th Thu 9th IF VOTING COULD CHANGE ANYTHING THEY'D MAKE IT ILLEGAL RED RAG - planning meeting for next issue. If you would help in any way, ring 666324. Amnesty International - 8pm, St Mary's Centre. "How Can The Labour Movement Challenge The Bosses' Monopoly of the Media?" - LPYS, as last Thursday. Target- Mungo Gerry 8ish £2 (possibly bar extension). You remember Mungo Gerry, one summer boppy sensation from the dark ages. Fri 10th Hex- Don Pasquale 7.30 £3-5 also 11th (opera sung in English) Tudor Arms - Gay Disco 8ish free Caribbean Club - Nozes £1.50 9.30-late SHP- 7.30 Grand Firework Display & Military Band Concert £? 11pm Babylon (I5) £1.90+conc also 11th film about being black in this here capitalist state. Sat 11th RED RAG Production Day. Ring 666324 to find out what's happening where. Katesgrove Community Day - (probably) Waterloo Meadows 2 - 5.30pm. 25p (kids 10p). Stalls, exhibitions, food, music, games, information, fancy dress, Irish dancing, obstacle races... Newbury Friends of the Earth Benefit Gig. (Proceeds to help fund FOE's Sizewell Inquiry); at a barn in Bradfield. With Twelfth Night, plus three or four support bands & buffet. Tickets available only in advance. Details from Paul 537331. ROAR leafleting near Merry Maidens (Shinfield Rd) 9am. Then on to NIRD to kick up a fuss of some sort. (noonish) One Day Cookery Course at 72 Curzon St, Reading. Why not try some interesting traditional foodstuffs from around the world. Daphne Watson, who has five years experience in catering at the Community Health Foundation, will introduce you to the delights of such intriguing foods as:- Tempeh, natto, seitan, & tofu & will show you how to use different seaweeds in cooking. The cost is £5 for the day including a meal. Book well in advance as places will be limited. Ring Lis 531305. (Vegan Society) Newtown Community House Open Day & booksale & "Events". 2.30pm, 117 Cumberland Rd. Hex - 10.30+2.30 Brian Cants Fun Book £1/1.50 - 12.15 Katesgrove Steel Band free Caribbean Club - Volcanoes 8-late £2.50 (steel band) Museum & Art Gallery, Blagrave St - German Expressionist drawings + graphics 10-5.30 free to 9th July University Gallery, London Rd - Work by Peter Startup 10-5pm free to 2nd July FOE Benefit Gig in Bradford (for the Sizewell enquiry) Twelfth Night, Mike Chapman, The Pseudos + folk support & buffet. Tickets £2.50/2.00 with UB40 etc. Tel 537331. SHP - 7.30 performance festival free - 8pm Rod Sherman + Dave Houlden £1.20/1.50 folk Sun 12th Hex - 2pm Medieval Players free - 7.30 Orchestra of at Johns Smith Square + Reading festival chorus £4-7 + conc Allied Arms - Readifolk 8ish free Fives- Lorelei lunchtime free St Peters Church, St Peters Hill. Caversham - English Baroque Music 3pm £1.50 SHP l2-5pm Family Day 75p Kids 35p lots to do. Sun 12th RED RAG Folding and distributing - 666324 for details. Cycle into the Chilterns - with the Cyclists Touring Club. Open to cyclists of all abilities. 15-20 miles. Meet 9.15 Caversham Bridge. Details Richard, Bracknell 50849. Mon 13th East Reading Anti-Nuclear Group - 8pm, 21 Eastern Ave. Tue 14th BANC General Meeting - film & discussion, probably on alternative defence ideas (buy your "Sanity" now). 8pm, Friends Meeting House, Church St (off London St). Also, no doubt, a chance to decide "where we go after the election". Pregnancy Testing - a full demonstration of how this works, for all women interested. Women's Centre, Abbey St, 7pm Sun 19th RED RAG COLLECTIVE MEETING - 4pm, 117 Kendrick Rd, either on the lawn or in flat 6 (depending on weather). There, I've gone out on a high note again. - - - MONEY We now have a balance of £92!! (This is healthy.) Before the next issue, the monthly standing orders come in, so we're positively revelling in No Crisis this issue. This is thanks largely to £65 proceeds from the Benefit Gig at Fives last Sunday. This won't last long however: the average cost of printing a Rag (£70+) is creeping up all the time as circulation grows. It has now got to the point where metal plates are being used for printing (instead of paper plates, cheaper but less durable in the press). So don't let those new £1 coins get rusty in your pockets... Cash donations to collection boxes in Acorn Bookshop, Pop Records and Lazer. Cheques, postal orders, standing orders and such (payable to 'Red Rag') to our Treasurer, please, c/o Flat 7, 66 Wokingham Rd, Reading. - - - OUTLETS Get your Rag from: Acorn Bookshop. 17 Chatham St; Pop Records, 172 King's Rd; Lazer Records, Our Price Records (both Butts Centre); Central Club, London St; Ken's Shop, SU, Whiteknights; Unemployment Centre, East St; Reading Emporium, Merchants' Place; Mace Grocer, 2 Crown Colonnade, Cemetery Junction; Johal, 14 Cholmeley Rd; Bridge Stores. 6 Bridge St, Caversham; Elephant Off-Licence, 1 Derby St; Fine Food Stores, 168 Oxford Rd. Why not ask for it at your local newsagent? - - - FESTIVALS Provisional list as at 21/4/83 June 3rd Annual Buskers' Fair, Meanwhile Gardens, London W10 4th GLC Free Festival, Crystal Palace, London. ? 17th Rougham Tree Fayre, Thornham Magna, nr Eye, Suffolk 17-19 Glastonbury CND Festival, Worthy Farm, Shepton Mallett, Somerset (Tickets 12.00 weekend from CND, 11 Goodwin Street, London N4 3HQ. Pay "Glastonbury CND Festival" + SAE) (Curtis Mayfield, Dennis Brown, Dr John, The Beat, Aswad et al) ? 17-26 Stonehenge Free Festival, Wiltshire 18 Rod Stewart at Ibrox Park, Glasgow. (Tickets 9.30 from Kennedy Street Enterprises, PO Box 4, Altringham, Cheshire WA14 2JQ) July 1-3 Norwich Peaceful Green Festival, University Village & Farm, Earlham Road, Norwich, Norfolk 1,2 & 3 David Bowie at Milton Keynes Bowl (any tickets available after April) 2nd GLC Free Festival, Crystal Palace, London (with Capital Radio) ? 2-3 Eye Festival, Suffolk. ? 8-9 Roseland Festival, Parkston Quay Park, Harwich. (Artists for Animals) ? 14-17 Green Moon Gathering, Nenthead, Alston, Cumbria. 29-31 Cambridge Folk Festival Cherry Hinton Hall Grounds, Cherry Hinton Hall, Cambridge (Details = Box Office, Central Library, Lion Yard, Cambridge. Tickets 12.00 weekend. Stephane Grappelli, Peter Rowan, Tex Logan et al.) 29-31 Elephant Fayre, St.Germans, Cornwall Aug 6th GLC Free Festival, Victoria Park, Hackney. 12-13 Fairport Reunion, Cropredy, nr Banbury, Oxon. (Details - Dave Pegg, Wormwoods Hilton, Lower Street, Barford St Michael, nr Banbury) 12-14 Penwith Festival, Splatten Riddens, nr Penzance, Cornwall. 20th Monsters of Rock, Castle Donington, Leics. (Whitesnake) tickets £10.50 advance. Pay : Wooltare Ltd., to PO Box 123 Walsall, West Midlands + SAE ? 26-28 Reading Festival ? 27th International Black Music Festival, Crystal Palace, London 27-29 Notting Hill Carnival, London Sept 9-11 Otmoor Fair, nr Oxford 9-11 Leeds Folk Festival, Temple Newsam Park, Leeds. (Details = Festival Office, Central Library, Leeds, LS1 3AB) ? = unconfirmed - - - REVIEW - The Local Economy, WEA Reading Industrial Branch, 29 pages, available from Acorn Bookshop. This booklet derives from the teachin of the same title last autumn, of which rave reports appeared in Reading. I'm afraid I found it rather indigestible and off-putting (hence the time it took to get a review together!), with its heavy emphasis on "jobs", "the jobs we need" etc, and tables of statistics such as "youth unemployment expressed as a percentage of total unemployed". (So what's all this about unemployment? Is someone without a job therefore "economically inactive", doing and making nothing? It seems unlikely. No such fuss is made over housewives, for instance. But if the booklet is concerned with the unemployed's welfare rather than their economic activity, why is there no discussion of money? Or of wages at all, or of the quality, as opposed to the quantity, of jobs in the area? Or of whether most jobs are worth doing at all - we are told there are "moral implications" in the fact that 10% of the working population is employed by defence companies - so why should it just be assumed that anyone without a job ought to have one?) As the opening paragraph points out, it isn't easy to identify a "local economy", as "large numbers of people commute in and out of Reading daily" and "many of the companies based in and around Reading have sites in other parts of the county or region". The railway connection with London and the M4 are crucial features of economic life in the area. The growth of big companies and multinationals (incidentally, the section on multinationals is disappointingly general), whose operations may be local but whose control is not, and of defence industries which depend on government policy, makes the idea of a "local economy" even more problematic. "Local employment" would be a better phrase. But there is a lot of valuable information here. (E.g. a table of employment, by industry or service, and by sex, in the Reading Employment Exchange area in 1978.) The booklet shows how unemployment locally follows the national trend pretty closely, though always much lower. Between 1976-80 the number of manufacturing plants in Reading fell by an estimated 14%. The main growth has been in offices and "high technology" industries, i.e. defence electronics and computers. Did you know that Reading is now Britain's third largest insurance centre, after the City of London and Croydon? We see yet again how office developments do not "provide jobs" apart from a few low-paid administrative ones, as the companies are not involved in manufacturing, and move their own professional staff here from elsewhere. The working-age population of Berkshire rose by 6% between 1977-81, compared with a national rise of 2%. And so on. Plainly a lot more work could be done, and would be worth doing. Meanwhile, there is nothing else which collects the information here, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in Reading, to have available if not necessarily to read... JM - - - REVIEW - Earley Poetry no. 2 The "Spring Issue", 12 pages A4, duplicated, free. Available from Acorn (and elsewhere?), or from Trevor Randall, 18 Somerton Gdns, Radstock Lane, Earley, Reading, tel, 867787, who is also the person to send poems for "possible future publication". 'Earley Poetry' no 2 contains 32 poems by 16 contributors of whom "most... live in Earley; all are from Reading", though of course this is not reflected in the poems they write. According to the editorial bit on the front page, "This venture was stimulated by 'Here Today', Reading's little literary magazine of the 1940s, and Bracknell's recently published collections of poems written by local people." The poems are of variable quality, of course. Any publication like this will have its share of doggerel, armchair "concern", "feeling" and "inspiration", and over-prolific "cleverness". But there's a wide variety of stuff here, some of it well worth reading. I liked 'Ride' by Marie Carter-Wilson, with its vigorous and enthusiastic long lines: "The sun-dappled pony bore me through careless childhood days,/ he showed me fairytale meadows and sun-drenched magic ways./ We trod the paths of fantasy where mythical creatures play;/ till a mortal youth trampled the magic beneath his mount's hooves and showed me a different way...." Allan Walker's 'Twilight of an Age' has something of the same strength of language: "Through the twilight of an age a horseman rides...." Elsewhere there are moments of simplicity, as in Kathryn Trye's 'Waiting for a Train, Looking over the Kent Estuary': "Grey and silent,/ Impending doom, / Pale and hollow / Reflection of the moon./ The clouds move close....", or even starkness, as in Jaime Blake's 'Creativity Gone Wrong': "There comes a time./ There comes a time,/ when even the driest well / gives water..." Richard Brown's ironic but unpretentious "Sunday Stroll" is my favourite poem from the collection; it depends too much on repetitions to quote bits of it. His 'At the End of the Day' is the best of the "concerned" poems: "We saw it all from behind locked doors;/ the beatings of innocent men./ We heard the lies from the leaders on TV,/ we sussed the spies but couldn't do a thing." B.H.Burton's 'Observation' made me laugh: "I know a man who lives in town,/ Who likes to watch the rain come down./ Yet a friend in the country stands on his head/ To watch the rain go up instead...." I'd like to see the poems broken up by prose pieces and pictures (can be done with electro-stencils). I imagine any expansion (the second issue is already much bigger than the first) would need some income to be sorted out. Anyway, this is something worth supporting. JM ** As Red Rag gets sent poems occasionally, and more or less has a policy not to use them very often - and as 'At the Controls' have gone to ground - we will forward such as we can't use to Earley Poetry' in future. - - - LETTERS Dear Red Rag, We couldn't help noticing that you had doctored the advert of the Labour History Group meeting that appeared in the last issue - "Unemployed Workers' Struggles (or why Workers Power wishes to be known as the Labour History Group)". You suggest that in some way the Workers Power Group is hiding behind the Labour History Group. This is, of course, nonsense. As the hand bill advertising the same meeting clearly says, "the Labour History Group was initiated by Workers Power as an open forum for discussing topical and historical questions within the labour movement" and "it is open to all political tendencies and individuals in the labour movement." Certainly, we make no apology for taking a much needed initiative in providing an opportunity for political discussion of labour movement issues without confining it to supporters only; the well-known practice of other so-called revolutionary tendencies. In fairness to your readers we supply some facts. The previous meeting of the Labour History Group was introduced by Mike Orton, Leader of the Labour Group on Council. This discussion, on Municipalism, was chaired by a non-Workers Power member/supporter. Seventeen people attended. Three were Workers Power members. The next meeting is provisionally booked for June 17th at the Red Lion. Brian Revell will speak on the nuclear threat, Lindsey Lockley will chair the meeting. Both are well-known non-Workers Power supporters. Some of us remember the idealism which accompanied the launching of Red Rag. Indeed, we respected the attempt of the original Red Raggers to set up a real news service. Gratuitous comment on invited contributions were hardly compatible with the original editorial spirit. You provoke us to think about the deletions which you may be making and of which we, your readers, know nothing. Perhaps you think your snide comments are amusing. Take comfort in that. To us it demonstrates merely that old age is not suiting you, the more so as it seems to have skipped over maturity. Workers Power Dear Red Rag, We write to you on a disturbing issue in the hope that you will overcome your natural inclinations and publish unedited. The state censors Acorn Bookshop then Acorn censors the Left. At least it refuses to sell our book "The Death Agony of the Fourth International" on the grounds that it is "boring" and it "attacks other people". But "boring" like "beautiful" is in the eye of the beholder and many is the book on Acorn's shelves that refuses to appeal to your correspondents. Sour grapes? Not a bit of it. We make no claim to any rights in Acorn's commercial decision-making process. Indeed, we would defend their right to sell boring books on gardening against the long arm of the British Empire. We would only point out that our book is of appeal to a minority (for the time being) audience. More serious is the refusal to sell it because it "attacks other people" (presumably other peoples' ideas). Acorn refuses trade in Workers Power's books only to trade in double standards. We have on different occasions bought from Acorn copies of Engels' "Anti-Duehring" and Marx's "Poverty of Philosophy." Both of these books constitute "attacks on others" and, alas, many today would even think them boring. So what special de-merit does our book suffer from? Unlike those works of Marx and Engels it certainly isn't "old" or "famous." But surely Acorn doesn't apply these latter criteria either when they decide to reject books? Don't be coy Acorn, if you've got a political grudge don't bear it, share it! We would point out too that our "attack" is in fact a critical and polemical history of "Trotskyism". There is no malice but a comradely and factual recounting with the intention of at least stimulating debate. One of the principal "victims" of our "attack is the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, unlike Acorn they not only agreed to sell the book, they displayed it prominently in their bookshop and, having sold their first order, have promptly taken a second. We do not expect W.H.Smith and similar to sell our material. They are, after all, our class enemies. As for Acorn we have not doubted their attempt to be "alternative, radical or left". Until now. Workers Power (Workers' Power is the fearless and unflinching only true revolutionary party and upholder of the beleaguered banner of the Fourth International. Incidentally they have never 'respected' Red Rag in any sense of the word allowed in our bourgeois dictionary.) Dear Red Rag, During the recent Borough Council elections criticisms were raised regarding the motives of the ecology party in fielding candidates and its reasons for existing as a separate political party. Our presence in the local elections was in no sense opportunistic. We have fielded candidates in all the major elections in Reading since 1979 on a consistently unilateralist and anti-nuclear manifesto. It is clear that our presence does not "Split the vote" of any other party - our support comes from people of all political viewpoints, and of none. In fact the ecology party is not some kind of annexe to one, or anther of the main political parties, nor is it an environmental pressure group. We have major disagreements with all the main parties. One difference is over the way that the other parties see politics in terms of a choice, every few years between one or another bundle of policies. While we see some role for elected representatives we favour as far as possible decentralised decision-making and participation rather than representation. A second issue is the way in which the main parties advocate "economic recovery" and "prosperity" as objective aims when the present exploitative, materialistic, and wasteful lifestyle of the rich countries is in itself a threat to world peace. Rather than simply removing the weapons, which are a symptom of the disease, ecology sets out to challenge the causes. These include "growth" centralisation of power, the supremacy of multinationals and the nuclear state, and the social values of violence, competition and male dominance. The ecology party fielded only four candidates in the borough council elections. This reflects our support for a political process where all viewpoints are included and our opposition to a first-past-the-post elections where large minorities gain absolute power and small minorities are excluded. It is not the intention of the ecology party to divide or weaken the peace movement, but we do not believe that it would further the causes outlined above for our candidates to stand down altogether. Reading Ecology Party. - - - THE ECOLOGY PARTY - A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS? Anarchists and ecology party members share many aims - a sustainable society built on peoples self reliance, initiative, and co-operation - a non-hierarchical mode of organisation whose diversity serves as the basis for unity. The differences lie in the Ecology Parties commitment to a "minimal state", and in their belief in the usefulness of participation in the conventional electoral process in bringing about the ecologically based, "semi-anarchist"(?) society they envisage. As someone who believes that the science of ecology has made the art of anarchy not just a desirable ideal, but a precondition for human survival, I intend this article as a serious attempt to persuade members and potential members of the Ecology Party that the electoral approach is mistaken, and can only divert the search for the type of society ecologists and anarchists both claim to desire. The Ecology Party would say that we must begin "where people are" - as most people look to conventional politics as the source of change, we must use the system against itself (taking care to avoid any corrupting pitfalls). Moreover, they'd maintain, the Party recognizes that an ecological society must be built "from the bottom up", and sees its political activity as only one part of a "pincer movement" co-ordinated with numerous grass-roots campaigns and initiatives (the 'green movement' as it's increasingly called). I'd reply that "where people are" is in a complex web of everyday situations and relationships which are structured by the social and environmental factors that concern ecological/libertarian politics. Campaigns on traffic, housing, violence against women, or whatever, can build from peoples experience of the oppressions and drudgeries of existing society. The fact that currently people look to television and conventional politics for their awareness of what matters is something that needs to be fought against and changed, not pandered to! Ultimately, in my view, the system can't be used against itself. "The medium is the message" to the extent that "an ecological consciousness" or a determination to take responsibility for ones own life just can't result from a ten minute canvass on the doorstep or a five minute political broadcast on television (the main thrust of both experiences remaining "vote for us"). Moreover, if activists focus so much of their time on the electoral process (they'll have to, given their numbers) who is going to act as the necessary catalyst to get all those grass roots/"green movement" initiatives going? And once elected, and promoted to "media status", these people would be ever more slavishly dependant on the methods that conventional politics defines as "legitimate". If they avoid compromises they'd at best be irrelevant (when they could be doing something useful at the grass roots). Why should we need the electoral approach anyway? The basic flaw in the Ecology Party strategy is that a society capable of electing them shouldn't need to if it has taken their ideas to heart and has acted accordingly in everyday life at community level! If it hasn't already done this, such an ecology government would be powerless, judged by its own standards - you can't legislate against passivity. Two recent, local illustrations of this basic flaw in thinking: First - the Reading Labour Party attacks the Ecology Party for splitting the "nuclear free zone vote" (whatever that is!) That was predictable - more depressing is the Ecology Party's enthusiasm to deny the charge, while accepting the premise on which it was based - that the campaign for a nuclear free zone is worthwhile. Would such a cosmetic gesture at the bureaucracy level mean anything in real terms - a greater awareness in Reading of the nuclear threat? A determination among Reading's inhabitants to mobilise for direct action to resist it in the months to come? No - it would mean that, in a predominately conservative town, the Labour Party had got a disproportionally large number if its supporters out to vote, and not particularly on the issue we're discussing. It's people we need to change, not paper politics. Secondly - the Ecology Party candidate got 12% of the votes in Park ward recently. But look closer. Many of these were the third votes of those otherwise voting conservative. The Falklands... hanging, flogging, ....poverty - all combined with a love of trees, no doubt, but do you really think that 12% represents an upsurge in "ecological awareness"? An ecological movement aware of its fully anarchist implications would not make political compromises. It would attempt to force concession after concession from the authorities, but broadening its demands each time they were met, increasing the scope for individuals, groups, and communities to build the ecologically based, non-hierarchical society we all aim for, and progressively driving the state machine, capitalism, bureaucracy, patriarchy and war into the dustbin of history where they belong. A long hard task, no doubt. So let's get started. Stephen Kelly. - - - * Last November, Vickers, the arms manufacturers, opened an Armstrong tank factory near Newcastle, employing 700 people. The govt. paid £3m towards the costs of this, and the premises are exempted from rates for the next 10 years. POLICE SERGEANT 283 FASLANE 1983 An ugly evil police brute Whose total brains lie in his boot Savaged the campers at Faslane Who only sought world peace to gain; Both on the road and in the cell He did his low work very well Anonymous, but named he'll be The Nazi Bastard 283. * Britain is the 2nd largest world exporter of the instruments of oppression (ranging from military radios to electric "prod" batons, from handcuffs to small arms). - - - ACORN'S BIT New books arrived:- - Alan Reeve's autobiography 'News from a Waiting Room' in Heretic Books at £3.50 - remember him? Escaped from Broadmoor and now doing time in Holland. - 'When the Wind Blows', by Raymond Briggs in paperback - 'Animal Liberation* by Peter Singer - back in print. The book that sparked off the 'Animals Film' - 'Memoirs of a Callous Picket' by Jonathan Neale. About working for the NHS. Pluto, £2.95. - 'Reweaving the Web - Feminism and Nonviolence'. A big American anthology of fascinating essays on peace, feminism, anger, Gandhi, nonviolence and connectedness. It we don't seem to have what you want, ask! We can't stock lots of copies of everything you and we would like, but we can order any British and American book. If people don't buy books from us then we won't be here to offer all the other services which are being used a lot now - ticket sales, poster displays, box numbers (can all the animal groups collect their mail by the way?)... You need our support - we need yours! Printing Don't forget we can do printing up to this size (large A3), posters, cards, magazines, booklets, leaflets, etc. - - - AGAINST THE GRAIN? ....by special request... How to cook brown rice. Take 1 part (cup, jug, dustbin-full) brown rice (not white, which is stripped of fibre and minerals and vitamins and taste). Put in a pan with a tight-fitting lid, and add two parts (cups, jugs, dustbins-full) of cold water. Bring to the boil without the lid on, then put it on and turn the heat down low. Simmer for about 45 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed. Don't stir it or drain it or rinse it or anything. It won't burn, unless you forget it completely, and you'll quite soon get the hang of it. Normally it goes fine like this, and you retain all the nutrients. If for some reason you run out of water before it's cooked enough, like if someone phoned up before you got the lid on, just add some more water, preferably hot, and drain off any excess when the rice is soft enough to eat. The left-over water will be full of B vitamins. Whole barley (pot barley, not pearl barley, which is refined like white rice). Cook it just like rice. It's just as nice, and cheaper too! You may think this method is very long-fangled. Once you've stopped needing to lift the lid every two minutes, it isn't. But there's also: Bulgur, which is a pre-cooked, dried and broken-up form of wheat which you cook like rice or barley but in about 20 minutes. It should be soft and fluffy. Can be need for couscous. What to eat with these grains? Well, whatever you fancy, really. It doesn't have to be exotic Indian style, though that only needs a good range of spices and a few ideas from the Indian Vegetarian Cookbook (£3.25? from Acorn). I suppose you could eat meat or fish with them, but I can't honestly see why, and as I never have I can't tell you how. All cooked grains can be used cold in salads, with a scattering of nuts, fruit, sunflower seeds vegetables are seasonal and cheap. In the summer I recommend handfuls of fresh herbs from your garden or windowbox snipped over the salad - oregano, mint, thyme, marjoram, chives, parsley - with a dash of oil and cider vinegar or lemon juice and black pepper. Yum. Quantities: 1/2 a pint mug raw (plus 1 pint water) is enough for one person. Left-over grain is very useful for salads, burgers, rissoles and so on, so it's worth cooking more while you're at it. Unless there's an outcry by carnivorous scientific materialists (who don't eat, of course), that cookery is a bourgeois deviation and not part of the real struggle, and that we ought to live off fish and chips and baked beans like real workers, and what's all this vitamin nonsense, and I wouldn't be seen dead eating something that wasn't - there might be some more of this in the next Rag. Just don't look up how to cook lentils in 'Red Pulse'. It's a Workers' Power paper. Useful pamphlets - The Use of Wholefoods - Wholefood Recipes - International Wholefood Recipes - Full of Beans (All these by Lifespan Community, all 25p, from Acorn, Harvest Food market stall, maybe Reading Whole Foods. - Uhuru Cooking Guide (85p from Acorn. NB it was written in the winter, so it's all hearty, warming foods!) - First Hand First Rate (Vegan Soc, ?p from Acorn) Bigger cookbooks: Gail Duff's 'Vegetarian Cookbook' is much better than Rose Elliot. Mrs Beeton - - - THE COAL There's a stretch of "waste ground" parallel to the river between King's Meadow and Kennetmouth. Part of it's an old coal dump, and bits of it have belonged to several different bodies (Gas Board, Huntley and Palmers etc). Over the last few years I've walked across it at all times of day and night, in all weathers, at all seasons and have come to love it, in the heavy snow, in the hot sun, on cold autumn nights in the full moon, in spring when the leaves start on the birch trees. In June the flowers there are all shades of mauve and yellow - rose bay willow herb, evening primrose, mullein, stonecrop - and there are all kinds of others too, wild roses, columbines, scarlet pimpernel; elder trees, hawthorne, poplars, chestnuts, birches. It's a haven for birds and rabbits and over-urbanised Newtown dwellers. And they want to build a road through it to join the motorway at Sutton's Seeds roundabout, bridging Kennetmouth. Is anyone interested in doing a plant survey of the area now - in the next couple of months - for its own sake and maybe to present to the Council? (I don't know any botany - I learnt flower names from the "Flower Fairies" books.) Contact Liz c/o Acorn Bookshop, 584425/ 867955. - - - SMALL ADS Anyone interested in a production of 'The Lysistrata' (Aristophanes)? For either acting or just general idea of help, ring Ruth on 666681. Wanted: Secondhand adult's tricycle. Does anyone know anyone who has one? Also wanted: Old, men's racing bike, cheapo. Please contact Luke, 106 London Rd. Unwanted: bags of polystyrene packaging free to anyone who can use it for insulation, packaging, floor cushions etc. Come & ask at Acorn Bookshop. Also cardboard boxes, sacks used large sheets of paper for drawing. Wanted: A bike without a crossbar. Cheap, working, not necessarily with gears. Contact Liz, 534425/36 7955. The Shitsons - Paradise at the Epicentre. 1hr tape by infamous IoW experimental punks., Send 80p or C60, + SAE, to K. Lano, Maths Dept, Rdg Univ. Book available from Acorn. - - - RED RAG RED RAG is Reading's Only Newspaper. It is fortnightly & free, financed entirely by readers' donations and produced by an open collective. It has no political links or ties. It aims to provide an alternative to the coverage of local news and views provided by the commercial and state media. Lots of material is submitted from outside the collective: we have no staff of reporters, so things usually only get covered if somebody involved writes them up. Contributions should be sent c/o Acorn Bookshop, or phoned to one of the telephone numbers on the cover. Copy should be legible, should have a contact address or phone number (not necessarily printed, but so that we can discuss the piece if we aren't happy with it as it is), and should say whether you mind it being edited or not. We aim not to print anything that is "racist, sexist or supportive of oppressive religions". Decisions on the content of any issue are made by the production group for that issue at the "editorial meeting" on the Thursday evening before publication. More long-range decisions are made at Collective Meetings, which happen every 4 or 6 weeks, and are open to anyone who's interested. See 'Events' for details. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1983/1983-05-29.txt#5 $