|
Free! Fortnightly! Fun!
This page lists the 1987 back issues of Red Rag, culminating with the
Rag's unfortunate demise in July. . Each issue
is available in two forms:
- scan - choose this to see exactly what each issue looked like, but
be prepared for 20MB downloads
- txt - just the text - choose this for a much faster download or if
you want to copy the text into any other form
You can also link from here to the introduction page for each issue.
|
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
The Job Destruction Agency comes to town; the Winter Solstice is
celebrated at Stonehenge; a new 10 question "availability for work"
test arrives and the Rag prints the answers; there's a demo in support
of independent trade unions at GCHQ Cheltenham; maybe the Chatham
Street carpark could be used as a playground; Red Rag readership has
dropped by 90%; and there's something called Snorkmaster Grobblie.
The passengers in the passing buses sat with
their faces glued to the windows. Here were hundreds of police with
vans and horse, surrounding a group of people dancing and playing
music. They were mystified. Was it a riot or a street
party?
|
 |
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
While Harbax Singh goes on trial for the murder of Gurdip Kaur, her
husband is still walking free; the Women's Centre moves into new
accommodation; there are bailiffs at the Blue Gate; World Education
Berkshire focus on AIDS; BT are double-charging a "takeover fee" to
house movers; Blowzabella are down one tunesmith; and the community
engineer will fix your hi-fi, although whether or not he'll do this with
talcum powder is a little unclear.
|
 |
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
Despite Parliament being told recently that there were no women at
Greenham, no fence had been cut, and so no money was necessary for
repairs, small groups of women have cut down parts of the perimeter
fence at Greenham Common every night for a week. The Wildlife Garden,
dismissed by some as a heap of rubble, wins an Environmental Award;
the Job Training Scheme is only there to get the unemployment figures
down in time for this year's election; a Free Mandela demonstration is
coming to London; and Veggie Dining have had more comebacks than we
care to remember, had their cutlery stolen and been banned from most
of the suitable venues in Reading.
|
 |
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
Reading Council's Health & Safety Executive agree that the old bus
depot can be demolished by a crane swinging a ball and chain, so long
as someone squirts a hose at the asbestos as it falls. Red Rag
challenges borough councillors to stand on the site during the
demolition and demonstrate their confidence in this method. The new
Women's Information Centre opens; the all new risen-from the ashes
like a phoenix veggie dining takes a nose dive; and the current state
of advice about AIDS and the HTLV III virus that causes it.
|
 |
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
The new Women's Information Centre has opened in style; the Night has
been Reclaimed; Greenham women are everywhere. The USAF are asked to
mark the anniversary of bombing Libya by suspending flights for the
duration of an 18-hour vigil; the DHSS has no leaflets about the
forthcoming changes in death and maternity benefits, but even if they
had any they won't hand them out until the new rules have taken
effect; an exercise in social control; another guide to safe sex; and
Red Rag readers need "News on Sunday" - Britain's first national
radical newspaper for a generation.
|
 |
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
It's next to impossible to say how much of Reading will be trashed by
"developers" over the coming years, but it seems like nothing short of
a market collapse will stop the rot. In its first year The Conspiracy
put on over 30 concerts and raised thousands of pounds for local
organisations; working people must organise together, understand the
full implications of attacks on their living standards, and fight for
democratic control over their own affairs; International AIDS Day is
on April 3rd; and why you might say that the formative mechanism of
culture amounts to a reification of human activities which fixates the
living and models the transmission of experience from one generation
to another on the transmission of commodities: a reification which
strives to ensure the past's domination over the future.
One might ask who exactly it is who gains - like
one might ask how come there aren't any winos in the architects
drawings of the latest Kings Rd office.
|
 |
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
150 officers, 20 vehicles and nine months of planning and undercover
work go into a raid on Mandela Court which seizes a paltry amount of
soft drugs; one local person comments that "...at the moment cannabis
is virtually impossible to get hold of", but adds "almost every other
drug is available". The Police and Criminal Evidence Act's
authorisation of prolonged detention of up to 96 hours for questioning
until the suspect breaks down is in flagrant contradiction of the
right to silence; Reading students protest about government cuts in
arts education, a block to any kind of education which encourages
questioning, analytical thinking and curiosity; how handing out
anti-fascist leaflets gets you branded a fascist yourself; and under
the powers of the Public Order Act (only three weeks old) the police
have can control the size and route of marches, and the CND footslog
through London later this month will be their test case. What will
happen?
On being challenged to reconcile his position as
a trustee of the Vegetarian Society with the promotion of meat
products he retorted that the Society's existing rules allow a butcher
or even a slaughterman to serve on the
Council.
|
 |
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
A spate of suicides hits defence trade computer experts in the Reading
area; a new pressure group encourages councils to enforce the laws
concerning estate agents boards advertising houses for sale; the
Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has kept secret more
than 250 reports of breakdowns at nuclear power stations; it takes
twelve people to hold a riot, three for violent disorder, but only one
for affray; along with Yuppies, Young Upwardly Mobile Persons and
Dinkies, Dual Income No Kids there are now Yummies, the Young Upwardly
Mobile Marxists; and Caversham has a plague of rhinoceroses.
|
 |
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
The only independent telephone system in Britain other than British
Telecom is in Hull, where the telephones are run by the local council;
while BP lost 50,000 jobs, Hull has a policy of retraining employees
displaced by new technology; it is cheaper to subscribe to than BT and
far more efficient in its service. Radio 210 reports that local
anarchists have prepared posters, leaflets and stickers as part of a
"Don't Vote" campaign; but you should vote for the SDP-Liberal Alliance
because David Owen wants power and if we help him, perhaps he will
throw us a few crumbs once he has leapt into partnership with the
Tories; and the Rag has a recurring inability to decide exactly what
is or isn't folk music.
|
 |
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
Not much news this time, but a vacancy for a Red Rag co-ordinator. How
long can they keep this up? Bosses in Bracknell for example are
refusing to touch the MSC's new "Job Training Scheme" with a
bargepole, partly because they're no doubt afraid of catching
something nasty off the town's 3000-strong mob of claimants; the
Anti-Apartheid organises a National Sponsored Cycle Ride for Nelson
Mandela's 69th birthday; the Conspiracy Tape hits the streets; and
what are the chances of Mrs Thatcher not winning next month's general
election?
|
 |
(scan
/ txt
/ intro)
Thatcher's second term draws to a close. So prepare for the "Festival
Season", highpoint of which is the solstice bash at Stonehenge, as
seen on TV. Or for National "Marking The Routes Day", when people all
over the country will mark the routes of nuclear convoys. Help Reading
Community Farm Project establish a city farm. Go watch films at the
Hexagon, which boasts Dolby sound and Reading's biggest screen. Or
maybe you could write a piece for the Rag?
No copy means no Red Rag, so it's up to you.
There are lots of people who claim to work in a collective way, so
it's startling that so few seem to apply this to their fortnightly
Rag.
|
 |
(scan
/ txt)
It is our sad duty to inform you of the demise of Red Rag... Despite a
long tradition, Red Rag was not in debt... Box 79 is to be recycled
and the bank account closed.
|
 |