RED
RAG

17/31 March

FREE

SQUAT SPECIAL

The next issue will concentrate on housing in Reading; just for this
time typed copy should be to an 8cm column width.

Copy deadline - Thursday March 28
Co-ordinator  - James (599605)
Events        - to co-ordinator
Going Out     - Mark (782178)
Distribution  - Guy (669562
Red Rag, c/o Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham Street, Reading,
Berkshire.

                                - - -

GET OCCUPIED!

The old dole offices in south st are being occupied for a 9 day long
festival. The squat started on friday afternoon and a building that
has been standing empty for over a year is at last being used in a
positve vay. On Saturday this Red Rag was designed and pasted up, at
the squat being folded and distributd at the same place on Sunday. The
week long series of workshops starts proper on Sunday 17 and runs
through till the following Saturday, when there will be a day long
presentation of exhibitions, displays and performances.

Activities will include:- drama, music, printing, painting, origami,
creative writing, tai chi, video, new games, photography, dance,
hypnosis, junk art and much more. (See leaflet in this Rag for further
details).

Bring your ideas, enthusiasm, support, a sleeping bag if you can stay
overnight but mainly bring yourself. Come along and get occupied.

love from the south st squaters

                                - - -

YOUR CARING SHARING CO-OP

STEER what where? The Steering Group for the West Berkshire
Cooperative Development Agency may meet regularly now-most recently on
12 March - but at least some of its members are very unsure of where
it's heading. Especially me; once again, feeling unable to lucidly
examine and express my feelings at the time, I've recourse to Red Rag
- well, at least things get said somehow. To business...

The Group almost seems to be more intent on applying for funding for a
CDA, (the means), than on nurturing recent interest in coops in the
area (the objective). This truth was briefly illuminated at the
meeting, when it was said that favourable reaction to a funding
application will require it to be obvious that the Group has carefully
considered the personnel, property, & other needs of the CDA - ie,
what the Agency will do. But then the discussion drifted......

Support, advice and promotion of individual worker coops, and the
wider philosophy, can take many forms - each with unique implications
for the amount, type and source of CDA funding, and the Agency's
structure. Possibilities include education; acting as an information
point, sending prospective cooperators to (outside) experts for legal,
financial or managerial advice; providing these and other services (eg
product promotion) "in house"; or investment appraisals of potential
coops' viability, to help them get grants or loans. The Group must now
consider these in relation to W.Berkshire; its 12 members have split
into 4 sub-groups to look at the needs of existing coops, (by liaison
with Acorn & UB Cycles) other CDAs' funding applications; other CDAs;
and the problematic constitution. Ay least people volunteered for this
work, which will hopefully clarify the Group's objectives - but is the
net being cast wide enough? Possible omissions include contact with
those who are considering setting up coops now, in Reading & elsewhere
in the area; contact with ISWE and the Orts Rd Housing Coop;
recognition that Acorn didn't start as a coop and so may have avoided
many of the early problems.

The suceess of a funding application, and the CDA, would be enhanced
by a clearer grasp of which sectors in the local economy are suited to
coops - such analytical skills exist, unused, in the Group. Indeed, a
"skill bank" would be valuable to the Group and the CDA's "clients".

I feel there is a danger that national precedent will receive undue
attention, at the expense of local needs and resources - especially
regarding the CDA's format. The drift towards a management committee
hierarchy seems inexorable - is it just the labour movement background
of some of its members? Potential alternatives, like running the CDA
on cooperative principles, (to act as an example; a learning process;
an organisation serving people and not vice versa), appear to be less
favoured - why?

Examples exist elsewhere... the subgroups looking at the constitution
and at other CDAs must consider all structural alternatives.

The very real need for a CDA in the area makes these issues all the
more vital - problems of finance personnel, and support resources
jeopardise the continuation of the work done at Reading Centre for the
Unemployed. We must get it right this time - and time presses; the
Group is to meet at RCU on March 26, April 2, April 9, (to discuss &
finalise the funding proposal, to be submitted by the end of
April). If you can help in any way, phone Maureen on 596639,

PS. Acorn & UB Cycles are running a workshop on "Working in a coop &
why we do it", on Sun. March 31; probably at RCU from 2pm-4.30. Check
with UB (509089) or Acorn (584425).

Mark, (aided & abetted by Albert).

                                - - -

  (This WOOZY WOMBAT article was so illegible that I didn't think I
  could ever improve on what my OCR did to it.)

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Cnu-\eMlon tlr.t f-'atlij i:<u/H> iu>tzd and decided to i-.'obble.

be.ioi.C-   the end o{ the eveninq and bz\on.z he. '\zll

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i qi Temper'4 a'.idi.' and &o can't bay any rr.o.ie. about tint even
Inn., r.-.a.ie. cdizizncz and conhulon next tlvz an.ou.nd.
Keep ait I out 'on. folly at the next F.F.F.E.G.aita natch thz
holly wobble but not <atl down.   ,,-,ALLV d& ,,0urAT CJ,

                                - - -

(Paid ad)

OPEN FORUM on Unemployment

Mon, 1st April 8pm at

The Paradise Club

With Speakers invited from The Labour Party, The Communist Party, The
Socialist Workers Party and Workers Power.

All Are Welcome

                                - - -

OPEN FORUM

A few weeks ago, an 'Open Forum on the Left in 1985' was held at the
Paradise Club. The main aim of the organisers was to attempt to
maintain the enormous energy and spirit of cooperation among the left
that grew up during the Miners Strike. Local speakers from the Labour
Party, the Communist Party, the Socialist Workers Party and Workers
Power put their views on policy, tactics, and on their differences
and/or agreements with the other groups. Over 40 people turned up and
the debate was lively and constructive, with many contributions from
the floor. Obviously there were limitations on how much could be
discussed in two hours, and the main conclusion was that the
experiment should be repeated. And so....

Open Forum (2),

The second Open Forum will be held at the Paradise Club, London
Street, on Monday April 1st at 8pm. The coordinator this time is Mike
Price (tel 867789), and the subject is Unemployment. The bar will be
open and the debate promises to be lively and interesting. If it is a
success, this may become a regular and important part of Reading's
political calendar, so do please give it a try.

                                - - -

A RED COLUMN

Molegate

The Freedom Association seems to be spreading from the Kennet to the
Cam. After the single (and Government-assisted) triumphs of Ratepayers
Against Greenham Encampments (RAGE) we will now have to listen to the
undemocratic bleats of Ratepayers Against Molesworth Settlements
(RAMS), newly set up to help "Mad Mike" Hesel-Flakjacket campaign
against the enemies of cruise. How he must value these Fifth Columns'
help in distracting attention from his role as Sheriff of Britain
County.

Howlers

There's severe resistance to the ticky-tacky spreading north. It went
a bit unpublicised in Reading but there was a public meeting in
Sonning Common earlier this month to discuss the County's land-grab
proposals north of the Thames. 200 people attended and the 'Henley
Standard' reported the meeting under the headline "Reading's Mayor
howled down over land grab". Poor old Ron Jewitt had tried his best
for his friends, had explained to the people of Sonning how dependent
they were on Berkshire for education (in fact Caversham kids are
bussed to schools in Oxfordshire) and buses (which the Government will
shortly be withdrawing anyway), and didn't attract a single
supporter. They want to keep Bovis and the rest out of their green and
pleasant land!

The Local Beerage

Back in the early years of the century the Tories relied on an
alliance of the peerage (their blocking majority in the House of
Lords) and the beerage (the brewers who funded their
anti-Nonconformist votes in the House of Commons). Noting the
"election" as High Sheriff of Berkshire of yet another brewer, Rupert
Oliver Steel, an ex-Chairman of Courages and director of the Imperial
Group to which it now belongs, one might be forgiven for thinking
nothing much has changed. Something has: Mr Steel as High Sheriff will
be supporting a Palmer as Lord Lieutenant, and back in those days the
Nonconformist Palmers were very much on the other side! Now is the
time for the biscuitry and the beerage to stick together in the sacred
cause of the Establishment!

Pranged

The major provider of school buses in the area, Pangbourne Coaches, is
shutting up shop and will be selling its assets, presumeably to
Horsemans who are gearing up for the wonderful free world heralded by
the Buses Bill and have already gobbled up Smiths
Coaches. Notwithstanding the results of Nicholas Ridley's "experiment"
in Hereford where Midland Red, the local equivalent of Alder Valley,
managed by a short savage burst of price-cutting to force all
competitors off the road and get back to the monopoly situation Mr
Ridley says he is so much against!

Citizen Cain

                                - - -

DISTRIBUTION

Red Rag will soon once again have a fully operational distribution
system, using a new method of printing the address labels. It should
be ready by the issue after next at the latest. Thanks to all the
distributors who have put up with the confusion over the past weeks.

Due to the continuing drift of Reading's rootless population we are
once again looking for distributors so if you can spare an hour a
fortnight and live in the North Woodley or Wokingham Road - Wykeham
Road areas please ring Guy on Reading 669562.

                                - - -

CRUISE RUMOURS

During the financial year 1982/83 Newbury District spent £13,500
evicting Greenham Common Peace Campers. Anticipating that things could
only get worse, Newbury Council budgeted £35,100 for evictions in
1983/84. The eventual cost for 83/84 was £51,800 resulting in
supplementary estimates having to be approved to cover the extra
£16,000+.

In case the media has led you to believe that the Womens' Peace Camp
has faded away, you should know that Newbury Council have set aside
£52,700 for evictions during the current financial year.

Thankfully the presence of the peace camp prevents Newbury Council
from recouping some of its expenses in the way (below) devised by a
public relations nerd in America. As you can see from the photograph,
Chuck the Cruise Missile has a happy smiling face and will stand arm
in stubby wing with you and be your pal.

Zed Feecher

                                - - -

LETTERS

Acorn's Bit + Job Ad

Dear Everybody,

I want to say how much. I still love Acorn and those nice people from
Acorn, but don't feel that the work suites me.

After 12 years of structured work the informal chaos that makes Acorn
the place that it is was too much for me to adapt to. A nine to five,
Monday to Friday slog can seriously affect anybody's ability to
readjust to a co-operative job.

I personally am still seeking a co-operative outlet for all my skills
and enthusiasm, but in a different line.

The sort of work I feel I need to do can be done in London - this is
not the point. I want to find this outlet in Reading - why should
everything happen in London!

I still look forward to being a friendly volunteer in Acorn now and
again.

See you there,

Love,

Vessa


Due to Vessa's decision as above there now exists a vacancy for a full
time co-operator to join Ian, Maggie and Mark at Acorn. Preferably
another woman.

The work involves not only running the bookshop but also requires
various printing skills or an ability to learn them. Running a
bookshop involves office work, accounting, cleaning and a whole host
of things of that you wouldn't expect or believe.

The work needs flexibility, familiarity with numbers and an ability to
cope with interruptions, unreasonable demands (and general chaos at
times). A loose work structure. A knowledge of the sort of books we
stock is useful.

As you can see a demanding job with little financial reward.

Still interested!

Call in or ring up to arrange an interview.

Acorn Bookshop,
17 Chatham Street,
Reading.

Telephone 584425.



Prom the Hall President,
Dear Sir,

At a J.C.R. Meeting on Tuesday 5th March the members of Sibly Hall
Common Room voted to make Sibly Hall a nuclear free zone.

Yours faithfully,
CD.Filey.



Dear Red Rag,

I was quietly smashed by the piece in Red Rag (a couple of issues
back) called "Escape from Sex Ghetto".

I couldn't figure it on first reading - it had no story, no ending,
and didn't appear to make sense.

However, it was tantalising and fortunately I read it through again -
wow, what a surprise. I found some beautiful images dancing in my head
and felt sensations and feelings of nostalgia, sadness and joy. I am
beginning to appreciate that everything does not have to conform by
being hard core fact stuff with a conventional beginning, and ending
with a distinct point.

This piece was refreshing and open, and I would like to say a simple
Thanks - and let's have more "feeling" stuff, (although I appreciate
it doesn't spring to order)

Shine on, Paul.



Canarvon Rd,
Reading
14 March 1985.

Dear Red Rag,

I was disappointed with the report by Mark in the last Rag. It seems
that during the discussion on how to set up a Cooperative Development
Association in West Berkshire he switched off at any challenge to his
imagined world of the Worker Cooperative.

Mark is not the possessor of the true faith, but represents one of
many strands that go to make up the rapidly expanding (but still
pitifully small) worker cooperative movement. The "alternative"
movement of the 60's and 70's cruelly characterised in jokes about
wholefood and sandals has been replaced by the vision of coops as an
alternative to the dole queue. It is anened that the rapid growth
exists and mainly around the establishment, with the help of the local
state, of CDAs. In the intervening period there was of course the
attempts at rescues, the "Benn" coops such as Meriden and KME.

In all of these strands exists one fundamental need, viability, which
can only be achieved by relating to the market (or "outside world" if
that suits) and it is here that Mark's comments about the Trades Union
and Labour Movement are misplaced. The exception to this would be if
you see coops as a permanent ghetto, operating on the margins, with
miserable wages and conditions, a precarious existence, with many
failures.

In working with the Labour Movement to strengthen the coop sector in
return the trades unions will be influenced to desire for their
members greater democracy in all aspects of their lives, at home, in
the family, and particularly at work.

Yours fraternally,

Keith Jerrome.

                                - - -

YOUNG, GIFTED, & BLACK...

Respect to the Apollo Allstar & All Black Football Team,

who so far this season are the only unbeaten team in the Reading
league.

More on them soon from your mainman. Also, big congratulations to
Tilehurst British Legion first team for reaching the Finals of the
cup, for the second year running. Well done to the 5 Allaynes, and to
Mr. B.M.Anderson, who scored the winner. Do the business, Supas , from
your Mainman,

The Lion.

                                - - -

A GREEN COLUMN

Compost - The New Religion

If you're planning to grow plants outside at all, you're going to
exhaust the soil (in most cases).  So - feed it! The cheapest +
ecologicalest way is with compost.* Anything that has been alive will
decompose + feed the soil eventually. It's a matter of intensifying
the process.

* Potting compost is a specially prepared mixture, sold (or home-made)
for growing in containers. Totally different.

You will need:

A bucket (not very big) for the kitchen where you put all once-live
kitchen waste.

A space out of doors where you don't grow things at the moment
(preferably an area of soil so worms can get into the heap, but not
vital). Compost heaps are usually termed 'unsightly'. Yours won't be
but your domestic politics may necessitate tact.

Principles (have you any?)

You're trying to build up heat in a heap of rotting vegetation so that
it doesn't just rot any old how but ends up the texture of chocolate
cake (mmm!) + kills any weed seeds on the way. It should not smell
unless you just let it sit around being sludgy. A pile of orange skins
+ blue bread is not a compost heap - it's a mess. Avoid rancidity.

Method

First, choose your site. Not too inaccessible or you'll never look
after it properly, unless you need to hide periodically.

Then mark out the area of the heap. Wire enclosures stop it all
heaving around the garden; wood or brick look good, but none are
vital. Air must circulate all round it. Your space should be at least
3ft sq., preferably infinitely more. (The university Botanic Gardens
is worth a visit if only to see their row of veritable haystack sized
heaps). Ideally your space is twice the size of your heap + you can
have one finishing while the next one starts.

Start your heap with twiggy stuff over the whole area, to encourage
air underneath. If you have some spare bricks you can lay them in
channels with the twigs on top. Then start piling up your compostable
materials and keep the sides straight + the top flat at all times
(i.e. don't just chuck it all in the middle.) If you aren't careful
you'll end up with a small area to put new stuff on and sloping sides
for it all to roll down.

The Stuff

Things you don't want and often get in heaps: plastic, metal milk
bottle tops, anything connected with cigarettes, clothes pegs, rubber
bands, etc, etc. Also prickly plants e.g. roses, hawthorn, as the
prickles don't rot + get into you later on.

Things you can have in moderation: citrus fruit skins, paper, bones,
eggshells, corn cobs, leaves, lawn clippings, (too much of the last
two clogs it all up. They're best piled separately.)

Things you can have all you want: vegetable peelings, plate scrapings,
burnt toast, old porridge, dead houseplants, tea bags; weeds, prunings
if not too twiggy, + general garden refuse. (Not ash unless you don't
want to grow any mints). If you have any really vicious weeds around
(e.g. couch grass, ground elder - both edible incidentally) or an
unofficial weed (pretty in the right place e.g. celandine, anchusa)
then don't compost them, or you risk spreading them even further. Burn
them + dance in the flames.

A way of piling up all this so that your heap remains respectable and
doesn't turn into one of those scowling, ponging nihilistic miserable
looking mounds that give compost a bad name, is to have some "garden
waste" to hand to cover up "kitchen waste" with, or to bury the
k.w. under a layer of g.w. (keeping it flat)!! This way you can
pretend the rancid spaghetti isn't there if needs be. You need lots of
stuff. (If you're a one-person household with a small garden you won't
generate enough, unless you're exceptionally wasteful and/or
destructive. This is where you get a reputation for oddness, sneaking
around town with rucksacks of nettles or bags of rotten vegetation
filched from florists, greengrocers, veggie dining, etc. (If you ask,
people never refuse, but you risk your reputation). If you insist on
collecting all the tea-bags + apple cores at work you may become
unpopular, but only if you develop the nasty habit of collecting it
all up + not getting it to the heap straight away, which brings me
back to the size of your kitchen bucket. If it's too big and you wait
till it's full it'll start going off. The stuff should rot in the
heap, not before.

To help all this rot fast so you can use it before you have to move
again you should:-

1 have everything in very small pieces

2 keep turning the heap every few weeks so the middle's outside + vice
versa, the heat builds up + it doesn't clog up.

3 use an activator: certain plants speed up the composting process if
added to the heap, e.g. comfrey, nettles, yarrow, chamomile. Also
seaweed (needs covering up like kitchen waste)! Well rotted horse
manure too, added in occasionally. Which brings me to "Chairman Mao's
favourite" a standby in Maoist China: dear reader, your very own urine
diluted one part/3 parts with water and poured onto the heap. Those
big peanut butter tubs with lids are ideal for carting it to the heap
without arousing suspicion. All those activators will make your heap
shrink dramatically - which is what you want. After a few months (less
in summer) you can cover it up with soil and leave it to finish off,
turning occasionally, while you start a new one. In winter it's an
idea to bury your kitchen waste, as you won't have anything else much
to mix it with.

When the process is complete (which you'll know if you've been turning
it) use it! Dig it into the soil, or spread it on top before the soil
dries out in summer to retain moisture, spread it around greedy plants
like tomatoes. All kinds of soil benefit.

This method takes a little time but it works and makes an immediate
difference to the soil. A new and impeccably moral ritual for you. All
you people with no garden - next issue - repotting houseplants.

Ladybird

                                - - -

SMALL ADS

Albert needs a loving home. She is tabby-and-white, clean, litter-tray
trained, affectionate and home-loving - and, on the available
evidence, sterile. Also timid, so doesn't get on with other
animals. But loves people. Ring Liz for details - Reading 867955.

2 reg sarnum milking goats, mother & daughter to good home only, £25
each. Twyford 343728.

Wanted - net curtains any size, any colour, any condition, to cover up
our activities in our new home. Please contact Mark at Acorn.

Hilman Imp (L Reg) for spares or repair. Not running at present, MOT
til end of April, 4 good tyres. Offers to Maggie, 597065.

Free range eggs, 2 1/2 dozen for £1 upwards. Cartref Farm, Wokingham
Rd, Hurst - tel. 343728.

Miners Strike rap records £1.50... now available at Acorn - proceeds
to miners' families.

"New Song" - a collection of poetry(... ) 30p from Acorn bookshop.

                                - - -

WHO TOLD YOU, YOU WERE CONSUMERS?

Preface: The view expressed here is a strand of industrial-sensualist
culture. All the words used have been agonised over, thought about,
discussed, chewed, spat out- the one mystification is the use of the
word nosferatu. This is a straight adaption stolen from the horror
genre to express the surrealist and situationist sense of ideological
inversion of theory. Otherwise the contents is another wave of
situationist theory... OK, let's get on with the show.

The Spectacle: A spectacle, a circus, a show, an exhibition, a
designation of contemporary culture... a one-way transmission of
represented experience; a form of non-communication to which one side,
the signified, the recipient, the audience can never reply; a culture
based on the reduction of almost everyone to a state of abject
non-creativity: of receptivity passivity, isolation, alienation and
blank numbness. The same structure applies not only to the activities
of culture, leisure, entertainment and political organisation (whether
that of the dominant elites in the socio-political spectacular
hierarchy or that of the leftist bureaucratic-collectivist
pseudo-alternative), but to the global experience of alienation,
passivity, isolation, and abstraction imposed by the contemporary
spectacular totality: an experience emanating from its basic material
alienation, the commodity; which when combined with state-collectivist
bureaucracy and abstract multiple representation creates the society
of the spectacle.

The Rastarfarians call it Babylon, because they experience it as a
Babel condition; a white male architectural totalitarian Utopian
fantasy, a form of technological megalomania which lies proliferated
and bloated to dinosaur proportions. It is achimera, a mass of
fossilised megastructures, a closed system, a place of zero creative
life, like the Arndale centre in Manchester, which is part of the
counterfeit psycho-history of spectacular consumption. Hobbes called
it the Leviathan, Marx saw it as Capital and the Situationists and
almost everyone today struggle against it as the Spectacle. Life in
the modern world is existence in the society of the Spectacle. Current
reality is dominated by the power of the political economy of the
sign, the image or the representation, the "buy this!" signal. Its
primary forms are the state, the commodity and the sign - it is power
realised. Everywhere you go it's raining signs, because the spectacle
uses semiology the way capital used money - it is a total experience
in the belly of the beast, in the realm of power.

Power: Power is the perfect one-way transmission and realisation of an
intended effect, by the agent (the Spectacle), so that a recipient's
(the Consumer) actions are limited to the positive instigation of that
intended effect (consumption).

Spectacular power does not only manifest itself in individually chosen
acts of commodity consumption, but even in certain conversations and
it is also conditioned into the socially structured and culturally
patterned behaviour of groups and is inherent in the practice of
spectacular institutions -the Hacienda club in Manchester - take the
alphabet and stop at C for Civilisation - or zero in to the decay of
the West and choose Top of the Pops or H.T.V. in America - it's time
for Top of the pops - everyone feels that pavlovian twitch, the latest
soap opera, that vital fascination, and grasps the glass teat in
expectant frenzy, waiting for the weekly transfusion and reaches for
the - you can watch the world and his wife or get out the file on
spectacular mythology and flick through the index to the televising of
the American presidential elections or walk into W.H.Smiths and buy
the I.D. "street fashion" magazine - in 1982, the buying out of
I.D. by Fiorucci occured a perfect recuperation. This is the
nosferatu; turning the authentic into the inauthentic - spectacular
recuperation.

Recuperation: The spectacle is an ever-developing system, which
requires continuous inputs of energy, and much of this energy comes
from co-opting, inverting and colonising the struggle against the
spectacle - which spectacular forces perceive as eddies in the greater
spectacular stream; but they don't interrupt the flow, they revitalise
it through various partial struggles as it cannibalises them.

In the modernity, post 1946 global society, the modern conditions of
production and collectivist bureaucracy prevail to varying degrees
between concentration and diffusion, while there has been an
acceleration and accumulation of the mass dissemination of images
towards the total inversion of life, experience and moaning into a
uniform representation, a spectacular language - language is like a
bacteria, you breathe it in, or it gets under your skin and infects
you and spreads... then you transmit it to someone else - it colours
and expresses everything - whoever controls language, controls the
collective subconscious - 90% of all homes in America have television
- more than those which have phones, toilets, fridges,
washing-machines, or cars. The Japanese now realise that American
culture has colonised the collective subconscious of Japanese youth,
to such an extent, that all the sub-cultures that evolved in the West
(America and Britain), now exist in a surreal convergence in Japan -
as if temporal-linear history has broken down. The last Japanese
samurai, Yukio Mishima said that Japan was drunk on economic success,
but was really in a state of advanced decomposition.

Decomposition: This is an attempt by the situationists to understand
the evolution and self-perpetuation of capital-spectacle, a
re-application of the ideas of Georges Sorel. As old structures
collapse, they are replaced by new ones, with the same relationships
maintained - each new shopping mall or city retains the same
counterfeit psycho-geography, the same alienations. From the
industrial revolution to the automatic transition and the space effort
(the frontier of the 3rd industrial revolution). It can be applied to
revolutionary activity as well and the failure to express new ideas
and tactics - you can see it in terms of identical clones - each new
clone displaces more of the meaning of the original (activity) -
i.e. increased meaninglessness - since the spectacle is recuperating
all the time. So the longer an activity runs in series - the more
useless it becomes till it's totally spectacular (nosferatu).

An immense convergent accumulation of spectacles is happening; because
of the self-accumulation and perpetuation of capital and commodities,
state and bureaucracy, images and representation, all of which
triadically interact to generate the spectacle(offeet) and its power
relations - for instance, typical victims and not so innocent
collaborators the revolutionary communist party, decided to hang an
effigy of Norman Willis, the General Secretary of the T.U.C., for
selling the miners down the river to "Thatcher and the Spectacle
Trading Co.", while the medium of television gently transfers the
experience to video tap - and this is the point of inversion, the
transformation of real beings into simple images, which then become
spectacular representations for real beings - in this particular
incident of spectacular humour, the R.C.P. saw the cameras and obliged
almost as if on cue by stepping up the theatrics - unaware or maybe
they are aware - that Big Brother isn't watching them, but that they
are part of Big Brother and that on the televised news the masseurs of
the screen then massage the treated images on to the cortex of the
brain and on into the subconscious. Accumulation enhances strength
potential, so that power sources are accumulated to enhance power
potential and spectacular sources are accumulated in order to increase
spectacular potential - in relentless decomposed style, president
Eisenhower said: "we must buy! Buy everything! America can save the
world from economic recession and buy it into democracy!". Further to
this it is now commonly acknowledged that everyone was working for the
Nixon Administration in America, even though some didn't realise it at
the time, but who was Nixon working for? - or what was he caught up
in?

Power and the spectacle are symbiotically related - which is the same
as Nelson Rockerfeller investigating the C.I.A. - Nazi film culture
understood this relationship between power and the spectacle - because
the spectacle is the concrete realisation of rational power, and this
is interchangable with spectacular power, because of the spectacular
inversion of reality. "Rational power" is based on the domination of
society by hierarchical socio-political elites and the suppression,
constraint and elimination of opposition. All power elites reflect
each other in the spectacle, and so if Reagan calls the Soviet Union
the focus of evil in the modern world, then the implications are
clear.

To be continued...

                                - - -

REGULAR EVENTS

Anarchists: meet every Mon Details via Box 19 Acorn Bookshop. Also
Autonomists.

Alcoholics Anonymous : groups meet regular in Reading (9 meetings a
week), Pangbourne, Thatcham, Henley, & Bracknell. Day and night info
and help line - 597494).

Amnesty: meets 2nd Thurs of month at St. Marys Centre, Chain
St. Contact Jean 472598.

Astrology; A beginners class. Please contact Sue on Reading 669571 for
details.

Aikido Club: Relaxation, body / mind co-ordination, self-defence for
women and men. Every Tuesday St Saviour's Church Hall, Berkeley
Ave. Ring 667863 for details.

Books and Records Sale: every last Sat of the month. 10-4 at 4 Culver
Rd (side of College Arms). Contact 65533. Proceeds to Ecology Party.

Berkshire Humanists: meet on the 2nd Friday of every month, at the
Friends Meeting Hse. For details ring the secretary on Crowthorne
774871.

Cruelty-Free Toiletries : market stall every Sat behind Tesco's.

Cyclists Touring Club outings Sun 9.15am from Caversham Bridge or
Henley. For details ring Richard on Bracknell 50849

Ecology Party: meets 1st & 3rd Hon of the month at 8 College Rd and 38
Long Barn Lane respectively. Contact Maria 55415

History of Reading Soc.: meets 3rd Tues of month at the Abbey Gateway.

Housing and Welfare Rights: 1st Thurs morning every month at the
Community Hse. 117 Cumberland Rd.

Incest Survivors Group: meets regularly. Write c/o Rape Crisis Line,
17 Chatham St. for details.

Labour Party Young Socialists: Weds at Fairview Community Centre,
bottom of George St. 8pm.

Labour History Group: meets monthly at Red Lion, Southampton
St. Contact Kathy 590139 or Mike 867789 for details.

Men's Group: meets weekly. For dates and venue, contact Box 28 Acorn
Bookshop.

Miners Support Committee: meets every Thurs 7.30pm. at TGWU office, 36
King's Rd. Ring 590311 for details.

Mini Market: Thurs 9-1 St Marys Centre, Chain St.

Greenham Support Group (Women): meets fortnightly. Nightwatch every
Thurs. Contact via Womens Centre, Abbey St.

National Council for Civil Lib: meets 2nd Mon of month at St Marys
Centre Chain St. Ring Paul 861582.

Newtown Community Association: meets every 2nd Wed, 7:30. 117
Cumberland Road. All welcome.

Peace Pledge Union (PPU): meets monthly. Pacifist group. Contact
588459, 374532 or Box 10 Acorn.

Reading Cycle Campaign: meets 2nd Mon of month at UB Cycles London St
8pm. Membership enquiries ring Chris Mayers 589178. General enquiries
John Nixon 483183 or John Rigby 64667.

Reading Birth Centre: meets 3rd Tues of month for food and chat Ring
61330 for venue.

Reading Gay & Lesbian Helpline: Tues & Fri 8-10pm 597269. Information
& support.

Reading Organisation for Animal Rights (ROAR): 1st Tues of month at
the Crown, Crown St. Details from Dave 54098 or Jeff 476529.

Reading Recreation Arts Centres: painting for pleasure at Town Hall,
Blagrave St. Mon 7-9 Tues 10-12. Details 55911 or 861289.

Socialist Workers Party: meets every Wed at the Red Lion Southampton
St. 8pm.

Silkscreen Workshops: at Community House, 117 Cumberland Rd. Details
from Clive via 665806.

Sahaja Yoga Meetings: Every Fri. At 7.30pm approx. At St. Davids Hall
26, London Rd. Rm. 3. All welcome, no charge.

Traditional Festival Dance: Every Wednesday, at the Friends Meeting
Hse. 6 Church St. From 7.45-10, Adm. 75p. Ring Anna on 864665 for
details.

Tai Chi Classes: Every Wed. at R.U. Students Union in the Main
Hall. 16/1-20/3. 12-lpm Long form (intermediates) and 1-2.30pm Short
form & General practice (everyone). Contact Nick Booth on 873672 or
875123 ex 6221.

Vegans: meet 1st. Sun of month at 1 Orrin Close, Tilehurst. Contact
Liz & Steve on 21651.

Women's Centre: open Sat 11-3. All women & kids welcome. Free
pregnancy testing Tues 7-9. Bring urine sample from 1st Pee of the
day. At the basement, Old Shire Hall, Abbey St. Beside Abbey Gateway.

Dance: Penny Bodman welcomes all women who want to improve their self
awareness and confidence. Every Wednesday at 8pm at the Womens Centre.

Indian Community Centre, 2 Norris Road: Hindi Classes every Monday
4.30-5.30. Contact 667262

Punjabi Classes every Wednesday 4.30-5.30, also at Indian Community
Centre as above.


Courses at Centre for the Unemployed

All courses are free to the unemployed. No enrolment, just turn
up. Free creche available.

Silkscreen: Come and print your own posters, cards etc. Tuesday l-3pm.

Womens Self Defence: Learn to value and defend yourself in the
supportive group. Wed. 10am-12 noon.

Carpentry: Learn to use woodworking tools and chose your own
project. Mon. l-3pm at the Wilson Centre. Wilson Rd.

Dance Fitness: Learn basic routines, and develop your creativity and
fitness. Men & Women welcome. Thurs. 10-12 noon.

Womens Confidence-Building: Gain confidence in your own abilities
working in a supportive group. Friday l-3pm.

Skills for Co-ops: A 10 week course starting in the beginning of
Feb. Market research, Raising finance, & Financial records and
control. Contact Maureen Cotter on 596639.

Reading Shelter Group: meets on the first Thursday of the month at the
Centre for the Unimpressed, East St. 8.00pm Start. Details Mark Goldup
863153.

Drinking or Gambling Problem? Feel you cannot talk? Alone & lonely?
Then you may want to talk to Michael at RCU, who will be pleased to
talk in strictest confidence. Every Tues 2-4pm.

Box office community arts workshop: Mon-Fri at the RCU, Jo & Dave can
be contacted at 596639 or occasionally on 666681.

Writing workshops at RCU. Thursdays 1-3pm. 10 sessions. All welcome.

Women's discussion group, 10.30 every Wednesday in room 1

Joint Oxfam, Reading WDM, and WEB Conference, 'Debt Crisis and Hunger
- two sides of the same coin' on March 9. We will explore these issues
through games, working groups, speakers and panel. RCU: 2-5. To
register send £2 (waged or £1 (unwaged) to Reading World Development
Movement, 22 Hemdean Road, Caversham. Creche available (50p per child)

Unemployed tutors wanted for Photography (basic) and Home Maintenance
courses at RCU

Also: Coming shortly! Improve your English / Improve your Maths,
Alternative Medicine, Basic photography, Living in a multiracial
society, Running an allotment, Unemployment: Whose problem? Womens
Performance Group (Sats, March), Writers Workshop, Motorcycle
Maintenance, Operating a small offset-litho printing press, clothes
making, cartooning, outing planned to Nature Reserves.

                                - - -

GOING OUT

Sunday 17th

Mother's Day treats include...

Readifolk - Caversham Bridge Hotel, 8pm, free.

The Butler, Chatham St: Jazz, 8pm, free.

Mill at Sonning - "Absent Friends" (by Ayckbourn), £2; tel 69800, til
6th April.

Wokingham Theatre, Norreys Ave - "The Heiress", 7.45pm.

St Patrick's Day Ceili, Presentation College, Bath Road. Tickets
£2.50. 9pm-1am. tel. 28263

SHP - "1984" (15) 7.45pm.

Monday 18th

University Students Union, jazz, 9ish, free.

Thatchers, Woodley - jazz / funk / soul - 8pm, free.

The Bull at Nettlebed; folk with Keith Marsden, 8pm.

Wokingham Theatre - as 17th.

Hex - "The Ghost Train" - comedy thriller - 8pm, £3.50 - £4.50.

SHP - "1984" (15) 7.45pm.

Tuesday 19th

Paradise - free festival benefit.

Gay Disco, Tudor Arms, 8pm, free.

University Students Union - Motley Crew (blues) + disco. 1am bar. £1.

Wokingham Theatre - as 17th.

Hex - as 18th.

SHP - "The Gondoliers", rock version, 7.30, £3.50/2.50.

SHP - Cayenne - latin funk, 8pm, £3/£2.

SHP - "1984" (15) 7.45pm.

The Out of Town Club - Lifecan plus Shooting the Rapids, £1.

Wednesday 20th.

RFT - "Dimanche a la Campagne" (PG), 8pm.

Civic Offices - bolshevik theatre with the Housing Committee: 6.30,
free.

The New Yorker - Jive Dive Club.

Wokingham Theatre - as 17th.

Hex - as 18th plus 2.30 matinee.

Progress Theatre - New England Repertory Company - 2 contemporary
plays + a musical for £1.80: 7.45pm.

SHP - "1984" (15) 7.45pm.

SHP - Gondoliers as 19th.

Thursday 21st

Civic Offices - Roger Smee in "a developers view of planning", 12.45,
free.

The Sportsman Shinfield - Country and Western, 8pm, free.

RFT - "First Name Carmen" (18) Godard, 8pm.

Progress Theatre - as 20th.

Wokingham Theatre - as 17th.

Hex - Ghost Train as 18th.

Hex - The Hill Wittschinsky Guitar Duo, 12.45-1.30.

SHP - "The Gondoliers" as 19th.

SHP - Videos at Work, including Miners Strike, unemployment - made by
the Films at Work collective. 7.45pm, free.

Friday 22nd

Fairview Community Centre - Veggie Dining, Men's Group benefit.

Gay disco at Tudor Arms, 8pm, free.

Wokingham Theatre - as 17th.

Folk at the Lamb, Eversley, 8pm.

Paradise club - ?

Progress Theatre - as 20th.

SHP Cellar Bar - Free Live with Seconds of Please. £2/1 UB40. 8pm-12.

SHP - The Gondoliers as 19th.

SHP - "Gremlins" (15), 7.45pm.

SHP - music from SHP courses, 8pm, £1.50/75p.

Hex - as 18th.

Saturday 23rd

Hex - as 18th + 5pm matinee.

Wokingham Theatre - as 17th.

Paradise Club, London St. - Pelican Steel Band + disco.

Target Club - Shy.

All Saints Church - St John's Passion, Goring Chamber Choir, 7.30.

Reeding Museum + Art Gallery - three photographic exhibitions -
Mon-Fri 10-5.30, Sat 10-5, free admission. Until 13th April.

SHP - "The Gondoliers" as 19th.

SHP - "Gremlins" (15), 7.45 + 11pm

SHP Folk - Keith Kendrick + Barry Coupe, 8pm, £1.80/£1.50.

Hex - The Thin Line, 12.15pm, music, free.

Sunday 24th

Readifolk at Caversham Bridge Hotel, 8pm.

The Butler, Chatham St - jazz, free, 8pm.

Half Marathon.

St. Laurences Hall, Variety '85 - charity show, £1.50 from Mo's
Place. 7.30pm.

Hex - Jimmy Tarbuck, 8pm, £6.80/£7.80.

SHP - "Gremlins" (15), 7.45pm.

SHP - South Berks Music Centre, 7pm.

Monday 25th

Thatchers, Woodley - jazz/soul/funk, 8pm, free.

Folk at the Bull, Nettlebed, 8pm.

Progress Theatre - "Once a Catholic" by Mary O'Malley, 7.45,
£3/£1.50. Best phone 28018 to check this one.

Hex - Primary Schools Music Festival, stories + poems - 7pm, £2/£1.

SHP - "Gremlins" (15) 7.45pm.

Tuesday 26th

Paradise Club - Miners Benefit?

Tudor Arms - Gay disco, 8pm, free.

Progress - as 25th (definitely on tonight).

Hex - Schools Prom, 7.30pm, £2/$2.50.

Emmergreen Townswomens' Guild - "Journey across Canada" Folk, 7.15pmSt
Banrabas Hall, Grove Rd, Emmer Green.

SHP - "Gremlins" (15), 7.45pm

SHP Jazz - John Burch Quartet - sorry Octet, my brain's going... 8pm,
£2.50/£1.50.

Wednesday 27th.

Jive Dive at the New Yorker.

Martine's, Station Hill - Gay Disco, 9-2, £1.50 with membership card.

Progress - as 26th.

Hex - Georgian State Dance Company, 8pm, £9/£10!! Do the Stalin
twostep.

The Crown, Crown St - Pandemonium Club 9-12: Diaghilev Rhythm band
(ethnic improvisation) + cacophonists (free jazz) + Pete Hall
(flamenco gtr). £1/£1.50.

SHP - Easthampstead Park School music, dance + drama
festival. 7.30. £1.20.

SHP - "Gremlins" (15) 7.45pm.

Open Garden - The Old Rectory, Burghfield, 11am - 4pm, 40p.

Thursday 28th.

Folk at Horse + Barge - Spredthick, Chris Newman + friends, 8pm, £1.60
on door.

Shinfield Players, Whitley Wood Lane, next to Shire Hall - A Streetcar
Named Desire, 7.45pm, £1.50/£1.

The Paradise Club - Unity Hi Power + Armagedeon, 8-late.

Sportsman, Shinfield - free country + western.

Progress Theatre - as 26th.

Hex - as 27th, comrade.

SHP - Easthampstead Park School festival as 27th.

SHP - "Gremlins" (15) 7.45pm.

Friday 29th

Progress Theatre - as 26th.

Tudor Arms - Gay disco, 8pm, free.

Folk at The Lamb, Eversley, 8pm.

Shinfield Players - as 28th.

Paradise - Howlin' Horrors + support.

SHP - Friday Live - Some Like It Hot, £2/£1, 8-12, Cellar Bar.

Hex - Brenda Lee, 8pm, £6.50-8.50.

SHP - piano duo, 7.30, £2.50/£2.

SHP - "Gremlins" (15) 7.45pm.

Saturday 30th

Progress Theatre - as 26th.

Shinfield Players - as 28th.

Paradise Club - Volcanoes Steel Band + disco.

Target - Dumpy's Rusty Nuts.

Upper Hall, Wilson Centre, Wilson Rd - Ova women only voice workshop -
11am - 5pm, creche.

Hex - The Krankies. 2pm/8pm. £3.50.

Handel's Messiah - St Giles Church, Southampton St. 7.30pm.

Handel's Messiah - SHP - 7.30pm £3.50/£2.50.

SHP Folk - Gerry Hallom 8pm £1.80/£1.50.

SHP "Gremlins" (15) 7.45 + 11pm.

Mayday fundraising social at 16 Priory Ave, Caversham, bring a bottle,
8-late.

Sunday 31st

Readifolk at Caversham Bridge Hotel, 8pm

The Butler, Chatham St, jazz, 8pm, free.

Open Garden - Old Rectory Cottage, Tidmarsh, Pangbourne, 2-6pm, 50p.

SHP "Gremlins" (15) 7.45pm.


Please give details of all events to Mark on 782178, phoning before
the delicate hour of 10.30pm - local dances, gigs, theatre groups etc
especially interesting...

                                - - -

EVENTS

18 March

Palmer G01 University - environmental impact of agricultural support;
Paul Cheshire. 8pm

cycle campaign - general meeting 8pm at the crown pub, crown street.

tues 19

talk "first aid for the under-fives" given by mrs richards of st johns
ambulance. organised by the reading branch of the national childbirth
trust at st andrews united reformed ch. hall, london rd at 8pm
adm. 50p.

wed 20

banc - business meeting, forward planning for molesworth (easter
demo). two double deckers will leave at 8pm from alder valley bus
station on easter monday. buy tickets from acorn book shop, chatham
st. or ring ed wilson on 594855 £5 waged £3 unwaged u5s free.

ppu meeting at 44 gosport rd. 8pm ring val and derek on 483416 for
details.

21 March

"a developer's view of planning" - Roger Smee Civic Offices 12.45pm
free.

ecology national conference until 24th at dover if anyone's interested
ring 65533 and talk to philip.

fri 22

veggie dining - at fairview community centre (the end of george st.)
tickets in advance from acorn, chatham st. the men's group are having
a go!

23 March

Swindon Green Conference - Friends Meeting House, Swindon, 9.30-5pm
£3/£2.

three exhibitions - reading camera club, tofrek centenary and ridgeway
photographs. at the reading museum, blagrave st. adm. free.

tofrek 100 - the anniversary of the royal berkshire regiment
coinciding with their involvement in yhe massacre of zulu tribespeople
at tofrek. more war glorification, the ppu will be leafletting the
exhibition.

conference - the federation of claimants unions at cambridge. although
there is no claimants union locally, any individual interested in
going will be welcome there. details from nick on 666681.

sun 24

readings half marathon starts at 10.30am reading university,
whiteknights.

cyclists touring club - ride to well a village near farnham. meet at
caversham bridge at 9.15

25 March

FoE - St. Mary's centre Chain St 8pm - to consider actions on acid
rain etc.

26 March

Coop Development Agency Sterring Group an Centre for the Unemployed
7.30pm

thurs 28

red rag copy date, ring co-ordinator (no. on cover) for when and
where.

fri 29

red rag typing and headlines (as above).

30 March

OVA voice workshop, Wilson Centre, Wilson Rd. 11-5pm women only.

red rag paste-up and printing as 28th.

31 March

Co-ops Workshop by Acorn. For those who want to know more about
worker co-ops; at Centre for the Unwaged, East St. 2pm.

red rag folding and distribution, as 28th. everyone is welcome!

cyclists touring club - a ride to the three hundreds of aylesbury,
lies near wendover in the chi Items. meet at henley bridge, henley at
9.15am. (55m)

1 April

Open Forum On Unemployment, 8pm the Paradise Club.


key:
banc - berks anti-nukes campaign
ppu - peace pledge union.


New Events Person needed as of Now - why don't you volunteer? It's not
difficult - ring 595605.

                                - - -

ARE YOU OCCUPIED?

From Friday 15th March until Sunday 24th March the old Unemployment
Benefit Offices in South Street, Reading, are to be the venue for a
series of workshops and projects, from music to video, screenprinting
to street theatre. The timetable on the other side gives some very
provisional details.

What is a workshop? A workshop is an informal class in which everyone
can decide what they do. Sharing skills replaces the idea of teaching.
The person who runs the workshop brings some ideas to hold it together
or some skill they have and want to share, but that is all. Everyone
participates, everyone learns. And everyone enjoys themself.

If you are interested in this festival of self-expression, call in and
have a look around, have a coffee, come and take part in, or run, a
workshop. Bring a sleeping bag and stay. The more people the better!

There is no space provided in Reading for such activities, despite the
town's size and population. The U.B. Offices, like many other
buildings have been sitting empty and useless for over a year. We
therefore decided to occupy the building for ten days (day and night)
and use it creatively, as a protest against the lack of space in
Reading for people to express themselves, and to point out the waste
of many ideal sites. The U.B. Offices were chosen because they are
centrally positioned and offer lots of room.

We are not prepared to sit and wait another ten years for space to be
provided. We have the energy, enthusiasm and ideas now, and would
rather use them positively to organise events like this than to engage
in fruitless struggles with the powers that be for recognition and
response.

We decided to limit the occupation to ten days. We felt it would be
better to have an organised and concentrated event. However there is
no reason why this kind of event shouldn't happen all the time. All
that is needed is a few committed people and an empty building. Anyone
can do it.


Events

Sat 16 March

11am onwards Red Rag Reading's free, fortnightly newspaper will be
designed and pasted up.

1pm Junk Music Workshop

Sun 17

11am Tai Chi
     Red Rag folding and distribution

1pm  Junk Music Workshop

4.30pm Vocal Workshop

7.30pm Music/Drama/Dance
       Non Competitive Games

8pm Video Screening

Mon 18

11am Tai Chi

12noon Screenprinting

1pm Junk Music Workshop

2pm Creative Writing

3pm Video Workshop

7pm Dance
    Creative Writing

8pm Music
    Video Screening

Tues 19

11am Tai Chi

12noon Dance

1pm Junk Music Workshop

3pm Junk Workshop

7pm Womens Video Workshop
    Photography
    Print and Paint

8pm Video Screening

Wed 20

11am Tai Chi

12noon Photography
       Painting

1pm Junk Music Workshop

3pm Drama

8pm Pandamonium Club
    improvisation, jazz, blues, didgereedoos

Thur 21

11am Tai Chi

12noon Dance

lpm Junk Music Workshop

3pm Video Workshop

7pm Music
    Video Workshop

8pm Video Screening

Fri 22

11am Tai Chi

lpm Junk Music Workshop

8pm Video Screening

Sat 23

All Day - Exhibitions, Displays and Performances

                                - - -

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