RED RAG How YOU can support the health workers (Oh, my darling, will I be able to..?) The going-out guide Combating racism in the women's movement! Albion Fayres Events Burghfield News plus lot more!! Reading's Only Newspaper FREE 19 Sept - 6 Oct next copy deadline: 1 Oct for events to 20 Oct - - - RED RAG FUND-RAISING SOCIAL This Wednesday 22nd September at 8.00pm at the CROWN PUB, Crown St. (between London Road & Southampton St.) Bar Extension Food (if you bring it!) Raffle Music £1 or fill in standing order form on the door Tell your friends! - - - TYPED CONTRIBUTIONS TO RED RAG Now we are into photo-reducing... If you want to send in your article ready-typed, please could you make the column width a maximum of 12 cm, or 14 cm if it is to be reduced very small? Very late stuff, too late for reducing, should still be a maximum of 10 cm. And a nice black ribbon please, faint typing gives faint printing. (On a 12 cpi typewriter, 10 cm is 47 chars, 12 cm is 57 chars, 14 cm is 66 chars.) This was typed to a 12 cm column-width. - - - HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT THE HEALTH WORKERS What can be done this Wednesday to help the Health Service workers? Red Rag has been talking to local people about prospects and preparations, and offers a tip or two to readers. This Wednesday most people in Reading won't lift a finger to help the Health Service workers despite broad sympathy with their fight, and despite the call by the TUC for a Day of Action in their support. After talking to workers and union officials in the area, it seems that strongest support is likely from transport workers, National Onion of Public Employees (NUPE) members outside the health service and, possibly, some factories on Reading trading estates. The only unions which we know to have instructed members to strike are the print unions NGA and SOGAT, who have been told to stop for a shift. That means no national papers or Evening Post on Wednesday and probably that the Chronic will appear a day late. In addition, trains are likely to stop for an hour or two, which could cause useful chaos at the time when people are coming home from work. Nationally, cross-channel ferries won't in the main be running, airports will be hit by a two-hour strike by BA engineers, some car plants will close for half a day, Southampton and maybe Liverpool docks will close all day, and of course the miners will take action. You And Me Beyond that, the level of action depends on the level of support and agitation in each workplace - which means it depends on you and me for success or failure. Union national executives have failed to give clear instructions for a number of reasons. In some cases they are not allowed to instruct action without a ballot of members or a mandate from branches. In others they don't feel the necessary solidarity with the health service workers. But the most common feeling seems to be a fear of the results of instructing a strike which members take no notice of, so that the few militants who do act can be isolated and picked off by management. Three years of successful attacks on trade unions with the apparent support of even most union members have left executives unsure of themselves. Learning To Act This is the case with the teachers, where the Reading Teachers Association (regional arm of the National Union of Teachers) has told branches - one branch is one school - to send donations to the strike committee and has urged members to attend any meetings or rallies which might be held at lunchtime. The NUT rules require that each school must support any industrial action by a two-thirds majority before that school can take part. That means that here in the provinces where teachers are not normally militant, most schools will never take any action on any issue. And because the Day of Action call came when most teachers are on holiday there has been no time to call meetings to judge the strength of feeling among members. One teacher summed up feeling among her fellows as 'I think there is general support for the health workers, but whether that support would go as far as industrial action is another matter.' Nevertheless, there should be an NUT banner on the picket lines locally on Wednesday. Teachers should try and arrange a discussion for the lunchtime, or if that is impossible, to get down to the picket lines at Battle or Royal Berks hospitals. School students should raise the issue in class, and organise their own discussions on the day. If there is plenty of support in your class, how about a stroll down to one of the hospitals in the afternoon rather than going to formal lessons? Talking to the people on the picket lines is certainly educational. Lack Of Discipline The key problem facing public sector workers is the threat of disciplinary action against civil servants who join the protest. Sympathy action is now technically illegal, and can be the subject of injunctions, and later of fines, prison, etc. Sensing the depth of (at least passive) public support, the CBI has been telling its members in private industry to lay off using the law, and private sector employers have not been bandying injunctions about except where, as with TV stations, they think the threat will be enough to sway an irresolute workforce. The government is being stricter. It has told its employees that anyone taking sympathy action will not only lose pay, but also be subject to disciplinary action, which can be serious immediately and which stays on your work records. This sort of threat is basically a bluff, of course, and only holds good if 95 per cent of employees take it seriously. But it has influenced the civil service union executives, who have told branches to hold lunchtime meetings to discuss taking the afternoon off. They should take action only if there is a good turnout and wide support for action. The idea is that any action will be taken by a large enough number of people or percentage of an office to make it hard for the management threats into action. There have been no figures given for the size of support needed to take action, and it obviously depends on the size of your office. There should be meetings in every Reading civil service office. One tactic which might be worth trying is to get local management to forbid the meeting, so any action would be in furtherance of a local dispute (ie the ban on the meeting) rather than a sympathy walkout. One of the problems which remains is that individual offices might want to take action but feel that nobody else is doing so. Perhaps an answer to this is for any office which decides to take action to walk en masse around the other civil service locations in the town, to encourage colleagues to join and get a better feeling of the size of the protest. Anyone who has seen the film 'Man of Iron' about the Gdansk shipyard will have the general idea, and of the way such a walk can help action swell. Public Action And Private Industry This sort of device could be useful also on the trading estates, and could even get you talking to the folk who work in the factory next door for the first time - the new industries in Reading are small units which tend to be isolated and to feel weak. The level of formal organisation in Reading industry is very varied, from closed shops where your subs are deducted from your wages to 'anyone joining a union is out', and the level of union organisation doesn't necessarily reflect in the level of real organisation and initiative in the workplace - at least one Reading factory has a closed shop but shop stewards every bit as somnolent and corrupt as the crude caricatures of them beloved by individualist anarchists and Daily Mail leader writers alike. The General and Municipal Workers Union, and the Transport & General, say that the level of support in local factories is quite good, though turning that into action could be difficult. If you are in a unionised shop, don't rely on your stewards to get something moving - harry them til they call a meeting, and make sure the arguments for action are put forcefully. If you aren't in a union shop, discuss the issues with your fellow workers and keep an eye on activity in neighbouring factories. If they come out you may be able to get them to come and explain why to your colleagues, and just possibly give them the confidence to do something themselves. You Can Fight In City Hall In local government, Nalgo executive is urging all members to support the day of action and to attend picket lines. The constitution of the union means it can't issue instructions without a ballot of the whole membership (quite apart from the fact that such an instruction would put executive members and fulltime officials in jeopardy of legal action), but the union says it will support any member who takes action and then gets into trouble with management for doing so. Like every rule or statement in this dispute, the last promise obviously depends on circumstances. If you are in a branch where every other member thinks health service workers should be shot for abandoning their sacred duty, and you walk off the job with clenched fist raised high in solidarity, all the union executive support in the world is not going to stop your life being made very difficult in the future. Here again, communication is one of the keys. There are a lot of local government offices and depots locally, and they need to keep in touch. The first office or plant to come out should get people on the phone to other workplaces with the news as encouragement. Again it might be useful to go round en masse to help other sites that are wavering. Good luck - this fight is important and is one we are going to win. Mark Barratt. PICKETS AND DEMOS FOR THE TUC DAY OF ACTION WEDNESDAY 22 SEPTEMBER The general idea is that hospital picket lines will be held by members of non health service unions, allowing health service workers to go to London to express their demands. Other workers - and people who don't work for a wage - are also welcome to go to the London demo. If you want to do one thing or the other, call Jin Roy on Reading 586161 ext 227 and he will tell you whether people are needed on picket lines, and when and where to turn up. Or he will tell you you can go to the demo instead. People with an hour or two only should go to the picket lines - certainly at Royal Berks and Battle, probably also at the Great Western House HQ of the health authority opposite the station. Impromptu meetings are planned (??) at these sites for lunchtime, so they make good rallying points for you and your colleagues. Coaches for the demo leave as follows: 9.30am Battle, Royal Berks 9.45 Great Western House, opp BR station 9.45 Loddon Bridge, opp garage 9.45 Broad St/Reading Rd junction, Wokingham call Jim Roy to book a seat if poss, please. Contact For further information, and to give details of the action you are taking, use Jim Roy, who is organising for the West Berks Health Service Joint Trades Union Committee on Reading 586161 ext227 - - - In an effort to help build up a continuous, non-violent, active protest to stop the deployment of cruise missiles, there will be a GREENHAM COMMON HALLOWE'EN GATHERING AND CELEBRATION October 30th ~ November 1st Bring your own entertainments - food - camping equipment - ideas - enthusiasm Always go to a gatherings as self-sufficient as possible - don't expect everything to be laid on. It's up to all of us to prepare and co-operate ... Meet outside the Green Gate/Works entrance ... turn left off the A339 Basingstoke road, two miles out of Newbury. There will be workshops for those interested in taking part in direct action Hallowe'en bonfire Sunday evening Details: phone Handley (07255) 652, Bristol (0272) 44167, or Huntingdon (0480) 63054 All welcome! The next large event at Greenham will be a European Women's ACTION.... on December 12 - - - THE GOING-OUT GUIDE Sun 19 Hex-'Festive Moods in music' 7.30 £2- £3.50 Fives-The Ballistics,lunchtime free Forbury Gardens-Shaw Social Club Brass Band 3pm free Allied Arms St.Mary Butts -Readifolk 8pm free Angles Milton Road Wokingham-Lavema Brown Band 9.30ish £1 + £1.50 membership South Hill Park Bracknell (SHP)-Seals Island (U) + Ambush at Devil's Gap episode 2(U) 12.15pm 75p SHP-The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (X) 7.30 £1.90 " Opera Club first night with Gavin Henderson 8pm The Mill Sonning-'That's Entertainment' Mon 20 Hex-as above " -Exhibition 'As I walked out one Midsummer Morning' To 2nd The Horn St.Mary Butts-Jazz 8pm free SHP-Independent films 7.3O free Princes Theatre Aldershot-"The Most Happy Fella' (musical) £1.10-£3.20 7.30 Sat matinee 2.30 The Mill Sonning-'Haven't we met Before' Tue 21 SHP-Talk on Tennessee Williams 7.30 20p " Shoot the Moon(AA) 7.30 £1.90 To 25th Wed 22 Hex-Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans 7.30 £2.50-£5 Hex-Lunchtime concert free Grosvenor House,Kidmore Road C'sham- Denny Ilett Jazz Band 8pm free Thu 23 Hex-English Chamber Orchestra £3-£5 7.30 Upper Deck Duke Street-Folk club-Dick Gaughan 8pm Four Horseshoes Basingstoke Road-Jazz 8pm free Players Theatre Whitley Wood Lane-The Happiest Days of Your Life 7.45 £? Angies Wokingham-Spoilers (ex Blackfoot Sue) 9ish £1 + £1.50 membership Fri 24 Caribbean Club London Street-Seychelles+ sounds 10.30 £1.50 SHP-Cello recital by Amaryllis Fleming 8pm £2.75 + £3 " Dracula (Theatre Whispers Co.) 7.45 £1.90 + £2.20.+25th " Heaven Can Wait(A) 11pm £1.90.+ 25th Aldershot Centre Queens Road Aldershot- Caribbean night with Restriction (reggae) + disco 9pm £1.75 Sat 25 Hex-12.l5 pm Wiltshire Reunion Band free " 7.30 Reading Youth Orchestra £2.50-£3.50 Central London Street-Sons of Jah + Abacush ,sounds by Shaka Wahsafah + 2 poets 8 till late £5,£5.50 on door Angies Wokingham -Ground Zero + Strange: Comforts 9ish SHP-Gordon Tyrell(folk) 8pm £1 + £1.20 " Introduction to Cheese-tasting + glass of wine,10.30 am 90p/£l Sun 26 Fives-Larry Miller Band lunchtime free Forbury Gardens-Shaw Social Club Brass Band 3pm free Allied Arms St. Mary Butts-Readifolk 8pm free Angies Wokingham-Juvessence 9ish The Hill Sonning-Glassical Guitar Recital SHP-Black Island(U) + Ambush at Devil's Gap episode 3 (U) 12.15 75p SHP-Fox(X) 7.30 £1.90 Mon 27 The Horn St Mary Butts-Jazz 8pm free SHP-Independent films 7.30 free Watermill Theatre Newbury-Old time Music Hall 7.30 £2.50-£6. To 9th Oct Tue 28 Hex-Oliver 7.3O matinee Sat 2.30.Tue-Thu + Sat matinee £2.50,Fri + Sat evening £3,some concessions SHP-Don't dilly dally in the Duodenuia (theatre) 7.45 £1.50/£1.70.To 30th SHP-Lennie Best Trio + Dick Monsseyl (jazz) 8pm £1.70/£1.90 " Pennies from Heaven (AA) 7.30 £1.90 To 2nd Oct Princes Hall Aldershot-Wrestling 7.45 £2 + £2.25 Wed 29 Hex-Atarah's Band 10.30am + 2pm £1.50 kids £1 Grosvenor House Csham-Jazz 8pm free Princes Hall Aldershot-Pete Sayers entertains 8pm £1.75-£2.75 Thu 30 Reading Film Theatre (RFT) Palmer j_ Building,University-The Last Metro(A) 8pm subtitled £1.50,members£l Upper Deck Duke Street-Folk Club singers night 8pm 4 Horseshoes B'stoke Road-Jazz 8pm free SHP-Park Theatre Workshpp club night 8.30 Angies Wokingham-Twe1th Night 9ish Fri 1 RFT-as above Caribbean London Streai-To the East + sounds 10.30 £1.50 SHP-cello recital by Amaryllis Fleming 8pm £2.?5/£3 " The People Show Cabaret 7.45 £1.90 + £2.20 (recommended),also on Sat " If(X) 11pm £1.90.+ 2nd Sat 2 Hex-12.15 Beowulf free Central Club London Street-Prince Far I + support + Marcus Sounds about £3 Progress Theatre-'How I got that story' 7.45 £1-50 SHP-Magenta (folk) 8pm £1 + £1.20 " Exhibition -childrens book illustrations.To 24th Sun 3 Hex-Endellion String Quartet 7-30 (Mozart recital) £2.50-£3.50 (special offer on all 4 recitals-call Hex for details) Top Rank-The Dammed 7.30 £3.50 The Mill Sonning-Trad Jazz SHP-The Glitterball(U). + Devil's Gap episode 4 (U) 12.15 75p SHP-Satan's Brew(X) + Chinese Roulette (AA) 7.30 £1.90 Watermill Theatre Newbury-An evening with Judi Dench and Michael Williams 8pm £3-£5.50 Mon 4 Hex-Wrestling 7.3O £2-£2.50 " Exhibition-Batik art of Sri Lanka To 16th The Horn St Mary Butts-Jazz 8pm free SHP-Independent films 7.30 free Princes Hall Aldershot-Sooty's Circus (kids) 4.30 (sat 11,2,4.30) £1.50 + £1.25,concessions for kids Playhouse Oxford-The Cherry Orchard 7.45 M-F £3.90,Sat 4pm £2.45,8pm £4.90.To 16th Tue 5 Hex-Strasbourg Philharmonic 7.30 £4-£7 9.30ish winetasting evening £3 + light supper,limited number of tickets University-Mari Wilson Apollo Oxford-Ballet Bambert (Programme 1-Pribacutki Airs + The Rites of Spring) 7.30 £2.50-£5.50 + concessions SHP-Steve Lane's Southern Stompers (New Orleans Jazz) 8pm £1.90 + £2.20 SHP-Christiane F (X) 7-30 £1.90.To 9th. - - - The summer is coming to an end, and peace camps are having to prepare for for a lot of poor weather. All sorts of things are needed, here are a couple of lists: The Women's Camp at Greenham need TARPAULINS most urgently, in case their caravans are evicted, which could now happen any time. They could also do with the services of a mechanic to ensure that their vehicles are a little more reliable. Other things they ask for: money sleeping bags large umbrellas calor gas stoves wood axe wellies rope and twine candles rain gear and warm clothing The Rainbow settlement would also love a mechanic's help, and a lawyer would not go amiss... Other things: money food stamps water standpipe tarpaulin paper typewriter blankets winter/rain clothing More people would be nice as well: all visitors very welcome. - - - BURGHFIELD Heard a rumour about 70 Cruise missiles already at Greenham? After a visit to the Rainbow Settlement, somebody thinks that they have traced it back to a comment they made themselves in a conversation some months ago. Anyway, press reports earlier this year suggested the test programme was going disastrously; how many new high-technology projects are ready ahead of schedule? Moreover, labourers on the construction site are doing overtime until 10.30pm because work is behind schedule there. They expect to work right up to winter 1983. It is very unlikely that they are ready for one cruise missile, never mind 70. After all, nobody has reported seeing the 18 large specially-designed launcher-vehicles and the dozen or so armoured escort vehicles which would also be required. We still have time to stop them, but not a lot: what are you doing? One thing that is being organized is an International Women's Bay of Action at Greenham on Dec 12, anniversary of the Us Government's announcement to deploy Ground launched Cruise Missiles in Europe. Contact the Women's Camp for details. Another event being organised is a Halloween Gathering on 30/31 October. This weekend will mainly consist of Non Violent Direct Action workshops and discussions (possible resulting in doing something?) with a big bonfire on the Sunday evening to round the weekend off. People should come prepared, bring anything they might wish to find there and ready to do anything they might wish to see done. For mere information, and offers of help contact Bruce Garrard, 4 Chase Crescent, Woodcutts, nr Salisbury Wilts. tel. Eandley (07255)652 For those who are not fresh or freakes, there are plenty of other things that can be done in the campaign to stop Cruise: One idea: At least 80 companies deal with USAF Greenham and pressure could be put on them is we knew more about them: contact Newbury Campaign against Cruise Missiles P0 Box 29, Newbury, Berks, for the list, and do some research! Something else: Do you know why Cruise missiles are particularly unacceptable? Does the person behind the counter in your corner shop know? Learn the facts, study the issues and acquaint everyone you know with them. Don't wait for someone else to do it or it may not get done. Cliff - - - Sunny, aged six, summed it up for me when he came to visit us from London. He said, "The colours are nice here. And it smells nice." It was 7am on a typical Greenham Common day. The early morning sunlight flickered reflected on the ferns. The ealr risers were gathered round the newly lit fire. The children communicated their sense fo joy and wonder to everyone and the dogs as usual shared abundant life energy with us, setting us up for a day of creative activity. Tea, talk, breakfast, wood-chopping, jokes, washing-up, bathing in the stream, playing, music, painting, sawing logs, shouting, sweeping up the caravan, tea, discussions, answering mail, feeding the cats, fixing brakes, ideas, guitars, washing clothes, wooding, blackberrying, laughter, tea, barleycup, dismantling starting motor, chapatis, chopping vegetables, sunset, birdsong, tending plants, dinner, good vibes, guitars, flutes... Life flows on regardless of our petty ups and downs. They are all part of it, for all is One. Let's be at peace with life. Let's find our own homes and live in them. Be in them. All is One. We cannot wilfully destroy any living thing, any tree or spider, nor be a party to the destruction of living things, without destroying a part of ourselves. Come live at Greenham Common. it's your land. The colours are nice here and it smells nice. Jenny, Rainbow Peace Settlement - - - EVENTS DIARY from September 19th Sun 19 Coley Nurseries open. 2.30 - 6. Wenseley Road. Mon 20 Borough Council: Personnel Sub. 4.30. Civic Offices Newbury Courts (next to police station): appearance of women arrested on Aug 27 at Greenham. Anarchists: weekly meeting. 8pm. Ring Paul 52604 for venue. Woodley Peace Group together with Earley BANC Group meeting on Hard Luck (see Oct 2). 8pm at 27 Instow Road, Earley. Tue 21 Indian Religious Art and Symbolism. Informal prelim meeting to set up a discussion group. Please phone in advance 581509. 7.30 116 Oxford Road. Wed 22 Friends of the Earth meeting. Comments on the Central Reading Plan by John Punter, Chair of Civic Society. 7.45 in the Museum, Blagrave Street. Civic Society open meeting with speaker. 8pm. The Vachell Room, the Hexagon. Socialist Educational Assoc (open to all who are or are eligible to be members of the Labour Party) Meeting to discuss formation of a Reading branch. 7.30 at the Civic Offices. RED RAG fundraising social. 8pm at the Crown, Crown Street. £1 or fill in a standing order form! Bring food, records, tapes, friends, money. Thu 23 Borough Council Waterways Group 4.30 Civic Offices. History of Reading Soc: "Portrait of a School - Newtown" by Peter Southerton. 7.30 the Abbey Gateway, the Forbury. Details 476018. Talk: "The History of Reading". British Diabetic Assoc (!) 7.30 St Mary's Centre in the Butts. Free. Sat 25 Berks Pagans Against Nukes out of doors. Contact 69 Cranbury Road for details. Upper Heyford; march to protest at proposed 30-acre extension to USAF nuclear base. Assemble 10.30 at car park in Manorsfield Rd Bicester. 8m march, buses back. Rally speeches events. Buses 10am from Oxford. Details Campaign ATOM Oxford Sun 26 Burghfield Peace Camp grand (final?) meeting. 2.30 at the Mearings front entrance to ROF Burghfield. RED RAG Collective meeting. Earlier than usual as so many people were away for the last one. All welcome. Come and get involved. 4pm in Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St. Mon 27 May Day: Reading May Day Festival Steering Committee meeting 8pm Centre for the Unemployed, East St. Individuals and reps from organisations needed and welcome. Enquiries: Ron Knowles 868437 Whitley Wood BANC group meeting. Contact Paul Henrion on 873467 for details. Wed 29 WEA Industrial Branch Teach-in: The Local Economy. Workshops on office development, defence industries, multinationals and wasted human resources. 7.30, Reading Centre for the Unemployed, East St. Friends of the Earth: meeting to prepare a response to the Central Reading Plan, write to Councillors etc. 7.45 at the Museum, Blagrave St. Socialist Workers' Party: weekly meeting 8pm at the Red Lion, Southampton St. Start of new series of speaker meetings. This week: "Revolutionaries and the Labour Party" by Mel Norris. I got told off for speaking when I went to an SWP meeting recently but don't let that put you off... Sat 2 Operation Hard Luck is CND's counter to the govt. Civil Defence exercise Hard Rock (now cancelled). There will be a series of events and actions in the Town Centre today, incl street theatre on life after the Bomb (Pete Stevenson 54867), ending in march starting 3pm Old Shire Hall by the Forbury. More details from David Evans, Pangbourne 3153. Tue 5 Borough Council meeting 6.30 at the Civic Offices. Wed 6 SWP as 29th. "The Paris Commune" by Mary Phillips. Thu 7 Amnesty: business meeting. 8pm St.Mary's Centre in the Butts. FoE Bikes Campaign. Iteeting with Phil Schnepp of Berks County Council to discuss plans for improved cycling facilities in the area. 8pm at the Crown, Crown St. Reading Assoc for Multi-racial Education. Readings by two women poets from Liverpool Community Writers. Part of a Book Week at E.P.Collier School, York Rd (off Caversham Road). 7.30. If your events aren't here it's probably because you have not told us about them. Ring James on 666681 or write c/o Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham. St. Reading NCCL is planning to revive itself with a public meeting in the near future. Phone Nick Ashwell on 661035 if you're interested. Reading Anarchists will be hosting some sort of get-together for all groups and individuals in the area who are interested. Guy Fawkes night has been mentioned. Contact Reading Anarchist Group, Box 19, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St. Red Rag Directory: Entries welcome for our alternative directory of Reading, possibly to be called Red Pages. A form is available in Acorn and elsewhere, and may be reprinted in this Rag if there's room and money. (Send us money!) Send details of your group or organisation to: Red Rag Directory, c/o Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Reading. - - - Outlets. You can pick up a copy of the Rag at: Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St. Pop Records, 172 King's Road. Centre for the Unemployed, 4-6 East St. (off Queen's Road) Reading Emporium, Merchants' Place (off Friar St.) Our Price Records, Butts Centre (downstairs) Quicksilver Records, Butts Centre (upstairs) Ken's Shop, Students' Union, Whiteknights. One of our outlets prefers not to be named. Another, T Shirts 'n' Transfers, doesn't want to be an outlet any more. Why not? "Just don't want to". To get a copy delivered free to your door, give your address to Chris on 61257 or Nick on 666681. Do tell us if you move, or if your copy doesn't arrive. - - - ACORN'S BIRTHDAY Now we are six years on and your radical bookshop's still holding on. In case some of you are still thinking Chatham Street's a long way, or "must go down to Acorn's new shop some time", come and do your bit towards our 7th birthday. We might even have a party next year! - - - Dear REDRAG On a recent visit to the Family Planning Clinic at Craven Road. I was astonished at what I found. To start with, the place is decorated with the usual horrible clinical white, like a bloody morgue. Then I had my particulars taken down like I was being admitted to prison by one of the most obnoxious receptionists I have ever met. Then my file was examined and I was sent upstairs with file in hand to sit in a horrible little corridor awaiting an interview (just why I needed an interview I still don't know- I thought I was going to get a medical inspection at least, but no). Never mind, I thought. The door was flung open and I was called in to see a very condescending woman, staring at me over her spectacles as if I was a naughty schoolboy, and told to sit down. Then I was asked what I wanted (I nearly told her open heart surgery but thought better of it), and was then asked if I was married. I told her I wasn't. She then proceeded to inform me that I was USING my girlfriend and asked, didn't I feel I ought to marry her. Then she went into the old question about sex before marriage as though I was committing some terrible sin. I told her that I only went there for some contraceptives and I didn't need the lecture. I was then handed my file and told to go back downstairs. By then, all I wanted to do was get the hell out of the place as fast as I could, but I wasn't going away empty handed after all that. Downstairs I was directed to another room, where I handed a woman my file. She asked me how much stuff I wanted and when I told her, looked at me in a shocked way (here we go again, I thought). She asked me if I was sure I needed so much at once. I told her I would rather not come back for a while if it was all the same to her. She scowled at me, but after she'd totted up the value of my haul, she reluctantly handed over the goods in a cardboard contraceptives box, which she told me to carry label inwards. I think I'll stick to Boots in future. signed The man with the cardboard box (label outwards). The man with the sticky Boots. - - - TO CONTACT RED RAG News: phone 599804 or 61257 or 666681 Going out Guide: phone 663083 Distribution: phone 666681 or 61257 Events: phone 666681 or write to Red Rag c/o Acorn Bookshop 17 Chatham St. - - - STOP PRESS: George st / Great Knollys Street are having their first Neighbourhood Community Meeting on 28 Sept. a t8pm. At 172 Gt Knollys St. Phone Paul & Pogle for details on 587381. - - - September 29th WEA INDUSTRIAL BRANCH first teach-in 'The Local Economy', 7.30p.m, Centre for the Unemployed, 4-6 East Street, Reading. With Martin Stott from Oxford Political Ecology Research Group and workshops on planning, multinationals, defence industries, and the jobs we need. A bargain at 50p. - - - BAKUNIN SLIPS THROUGH THE ENEMY RANKS AND FINDS HIS WAY TO AN ISLAND OF LIBERALISM Combating Racism In The Women's Movement: Shape it - just relax for about 35 mins every day and excercise your buttocks and thighs. As muscle-tone improves they tighten. Listen to Terri Clark, a black woman who is active in the lesbian community and in the nuclear movement; shape it - drooping chinlines can be improved with a facial accessory. White feminists must not subjugate all other oppressions for the sake of their own. Kissing: Prince Peter Kropotkin (Khaki shirt - Fiorucci £27.50) once showed us a picture of a black woman and a white woman sitting on a couch and asked us to write a brief story about it. About IT. Our discussion seemed open. Linda said that snogging with anarchists was like a question and answer session on the relevance of small group C-R sessions. LIPS: Play it subtly by lightly tinting lips with a coloured lip gloss to emphasise their shape. Terri Clark says: the anti-nuclear movement's involvement with people of COLOUR - I mean - the anti-nuclear movement cannot be "strictly white". Red Rag is Reading's only paper. It is supported by donations. It exists to print views (a new look for one well-known Faere range) unpopular (not pertaining to the common people with the rest of the media, and will print or publicise (make widely known) most things, unless they are racist (a guide to multiculturalism, guy) sexist, right-wing (preservation of existing established ORDER) or supportive of oppressive religions. The Rich, The Poor And The Pregnant Being against those who are supportive of expressive religions needs hammering out. We Should Know Where We Stand. Proscripted; The rich, the poor and the pregnant The Society of St Vincent de Paul The Legion of Mary The Heroic People of Kampuchea, Ireland and Poland Jah Rastafari (Hold 'em Marcus, hold 'em - Island £2.99) Gerard Winstanley Glenn Hoddle The Imam of the Umma (Fascist! Fascist!) Nicaragua's Minister of Culture (Striped denim jeans by Pacific - £22.99) - - - ALBION FAYRES Two men and a woman, all in best evening dress (black velvet and the like), hauling a three foot cannon across a field. About a hundred people of all ages gathered round to watch their somewhat untogether progress. 'OK, we think we should explain what we're up to. We represent the Military Wing of the Cromer and District Round Table ...'. Their mission, to drive off the accursed Peace Convoy (more on them later) by firing pickled gherkins at it from the cannon. About a hundred yards away, another military expedition is blundering about. Hampered by totally opaque face masques and vast quantities of chicken wire, rusty Hurricane lamps and other unnecessary equipment, these two pose even less of a threat to anyone. Also on the field are a number of clowns, a pair of jugglers, various other theatricals and a collection of extremely drunken morris dancers. It's August bank-holiday weekend at the Fire and Water Fayre at Holt on the north Norfolk coast. If you've had enough of static entertainment, take a wander round the market stalls. You've a few hundred to get round: 'Moondragon silver jewellry, painted goose eggs, diverse muselis, herb stalls, hand-framed knitwear, goat's yoghurt, Iceric spinning wheels, Rhubarb and Custard original toys, Grange Farm recycled tools, pyrography' (from the programme of the Stour Valley Earth Fayre the previous week). There's badges, balloons, old books, new books, Danish iron stoves, face painters, hair sprayers, all manners of clothing and footwear, rolling gear, beads and bangles, causes political and charitable, and finally (most important) food in unimaginable variety (munchies are good for you!) At some of the stalls they're making things (so that's how it's done): pot throwing and firing (no, not an airbourne joint), puzzle games made with a jigsaw, spinning and weaving, kitemaking, tofu making, thatching, windmill building ... Two or three thousand people meander around in the sunshine. Kids and dogs are everywhere, the whole thing looks totally chaotic and it doesn't really matter - everyone's having a good time. A sign at the entrance to the field proclaims, 'It's never too late for a happy childhood', and this is what it's all about. Every way you look, there's something amazing going on. So much is new, good and different from the farce that people have the nerve to call everyday life, that your eyes are as open in wonder as those of a child, the difference of age - and everything else - simply aren't quite there. One of the best things I came across was a free sauna and communal hot shower, womped up from a couple of old oil drums, some lengths of rubber tube and an earth oven, the rewards of ingenuity without its usual attendant greed. I felt cleaner inside and out. Peace and love? Well, why not? It's further sighted than a return to the sixties. Fire and Water is on the Albion Fayre circuit, which was evolved from the Barsham Fairs of the mid 70s. They're an attempt to recapture the atmosphere of medieval fairs and have something of this air about them. A few thousand people, mainly local, of all ages and walks of life (ie not just young druggies), gathered in a field in the middle of nowhere. The ration of passive consumers to people who've put in the work is low, perhaps ten to one. These Fayres aren't very commercial - as one stallholder reckoned, 'If you're going to make a loss, this is the nicest place to do it'. Evening comes and the 'street' actors melt into the moon-shadows and the pyrotechnics start (well, this is a Fire Fayre, isn't it?) Fireworks and flares torchlit processions, music and performance, fire-eaters and breathers, at one Fayre (Faerie) 'Beowulf' recited round a camp fire. Still lots of kids under foot, the dogs are a bit scared by all the explosions and most of them have gone away to hide. Later the music gets going: from Atilla the Stockbroker to heavy Metal bands from Ipswich, to an acoustic reggae band (with a 'cello!?) to Nick Turner to the Wystic Mankers from the Tibetan Ukraine to Mr Spratts 21st Century Popular Motet (5-piece vocal band, highly recommended) to... This was a good year for fairs and festivals. You could spend three months continuously at one fair / festival or another. One group that did this was Peace Convoy, which started at Stonehenge in June, passed through Greenham in July and was last heard of characteristically generating mixed feelings in East Anglia. There's no doubt that this motley collection caused a lot of headaches for the people who were trying to get the Albion Fayres together, especially with their habit of arriving early, crashing in without paying and setting up somewhere really inconvenient from everyone else's point of view. Indeed at Holt they were so totally in the way that the entire stage and stall layout had to be changed about two days before the Fayre started. Word is that the Convoy has succeeded in giving bad names to pacifists, festivals, druggies, anarchists and especially to peace convoys. But there's no doubt that their presence did contribute, for better or worse, to the fayres in one particular way. Here's their price list: Black £20-25, Lebanese £15-18, Moroccan £12-14, homegrown £6, imported grass up to £16, acid (many varieties £1-2 per hit, UK Mushrooms £1, Mexican £5, opium £68, cocaine £60-65 (or £1 lines at about £100 p.g.) speed £12, heroin in £5 bags (Prices unless stated are per quarter ounce for cannabis, per gram for everything else). It's rumoured that tobacco and alcohol were also around, but these do cost more for what you get... I don't want to make any direct comment on the Convoy, Nor (as a consumer ) can I say much on what some of them were selling, except that I objected to having speed 'pushed' on me by a kid who can't have been more than ten years old. Last weekend I saw something of a rarity: an Albion type event in this area, namely the Otmoor Fair near Oxford. For various reasons, mainly misguided over organisation, it was not a roaring success. This is a pity because a good local Fayre is something this area lacks - the Reading Show and festival patently don't count. Apparently there are moves afoot, vaguely styles on the Green Gathering (perhaps with less of an eco-bias) details will appear when they exist and I get together to find out about them - watch this space. Just what Reading needs! Bill - - - 'THE KNIFE' CUTS ON... Gareth 'The Knife' Gimblett rode out three hours of Labour and Liberal onslaught on September 10th to retain his bloody grip on Shire Hall and begin cutting deep into the flesh of the County's Social Services. He tried of course to pretend he was doing nothing of the sort. The motion Labour had put down for the special Council meeting seemed straightforward enough - that the Council should agree to fund 92 posts in homes for the elderly, childrens' homes and field work lost as a result of 'The Knife's' Motion 0 at the last meeting plus 17 home help posts, but Gareth and his Deputy Ian Morgan tried their best to obscure it. They said passing it wouldn't result in a single new post being filled and defeating it wouldn't lead to a single redundancy, that the whole debate was only about book-keeping and about how Heseltine could be convinced the Council was not "overspending", not about cuts at all. Which was odd, because there'd been a meeting of Social Services the day before at which the Director had asked Councillors for advice as to where the cuts should be made. On homes for the elderly, which have been protected so far (though Labour spokesperson Juliet Clifford told the Council that in one sample home two night-care assistants had to get 40 elderly residents up by 8.30 a.m....which meant they had to start shortly after 5.30 a.m.)? On homes for the mentally handicapped (former Labour leader Alan Furley said there were homes that might be kept open only by closing others)? On the home help service (Tory chair The Hon. Elizabeth Samuels said she would be horrified if there were any cuts here, but rather spoilt the effect by admitting there'd been a 9% cut since 1979)? On field workers (the Director had suggested the County could opt out of certain classes of problem)? Or where? Answer had come there none at Social Services and answer came there none at Council, as no Councillor of any Party was willing to be associated with any particular cut, although Gareth and his Band are determined that cuts there shall be. Some of them had it is true floated at Social Services the idea of increasing charges for some items and even imposing them for services that are now free, but had drawn back quickly when they'd seen the political quicksand into which they were heading. The Tories want to save money and they know they can't do that without cutting services, but they want those services to be cut invisibly by officers who have dedicated themselves to building the services up in the first place. And Gareth even tried in his speech to put the responsibility for Motion 0 and everything else on Michael Heseltine whose spending limits and threats to the Rate Support Grant are of course nothing to do with Tories locally! Their hands are clean, they wash them between speeches. With one Labour absentee and the lone Ratepayer apparently convinced that it was all a technical matter he couldn't understand but his Tory friends no doubt had under proper control, the motion was lost after a heated if scrappy debate. Social Services and its Director remain squeezed between confused financial constraints and an ever increasing population of elderly, poor and disadvantaged people desperate for their help. And the opposition will continue to oppose 'Knifepower'... and hope. Gerald - - - MAY DAY 83 If we are still on the loose next May (Tebbit and Whitelaw permitting) we will be close to a General Election and even closer to local council elections. The results of those elections will have very serious implications for our freedoms (such as they are): Freedom to find work, to take legitimate trade union action, for a woman's right to choose, to be black and secure, from nukes and nukers, to have good health care, from 'sus', (continue your own list - additional sheets of paper will be necessary) Why, then, are we describing (previous Red Rag) May Day 83 as a celebration? Unity of purpose We can and should celebrate our growing unity and our will to win. The message/theme for May Day 83 can be "Save Jobs and Civil Liberties - Sack The Tories". In any case, some light relief from the struggle is necessary and it is valuable to meet and exchange ideas in an atmosphere of co-operation and enjoyment. Ideas and reality For 1983 we already have lots of ideas (but no money) - yet ideas are nothing until tested in practice. You may have other ideas so your participation from now on is essential. Not another appeal! Like everyone else, Reading May Day Festival Committee are seeking cash donations to set it up so that the personal savings of individuals don't have to be loaned and risked. Alternatively (..... or as well), donate yourself and your ideas to the Steering Committee - next meeting 27 September, 8pm, Unemployment Centre, East Street. Or Donate your skills - artistic, graphic, dramatic, electronic (PA etc), musical, sewing (for a secret project) OR Donate resources such as stationery, stamps, envelopes, off-set litho printing, PA, bands, entertainers(meaningful), etc. Contact Ron Knowles (Reading 868437) or any Steering Committee member. Competition time - a little light relief from all this heavy rhetoric and exhortation - complete the following insulting references: 1. Things that sound better than Thatcher's voice: ................................ (eg. the stylus sliding across your favourite record). 2. Things that are cleverer than a group of Daily Mail readers: ................................ (eg. a flock of dead birds) 3. Things that are more interesting to read than free newspapers:*..................... (eg. the list of vitamins in cornflakes) Selected quotes: Finally, as the space for this article rapidly comes to an end: "I've worked my way up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty" - Marx** "We shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all" - Marx*** Ron Knowles **Groucho ***Karl *- not Red Rag of course. - - - RED RAG MEETING: 12th SEPTEMBER Round about 4ish we gathered - 1 member of Production Group one, 2 people from Acorn, 3 hangers-on, and the Treasurer. We watched the British Legion march down Oxford Road with an awful lot of banners flying, a few men in dark jackets marching, ending up with a handful of small boys in military uniforms; somewhere in the order of march there was a band beating hell out of some drums. At 4.26 we gave up waiting for more people and started. Money: We're still getting in regularly about £50 a month and spending about £100. We need more regular income - those who do contribute more than cover the cost of their copies, but there still aren't enough of them. The Standing Order form will be re-issued again. We agreed to hold another Social as soon as possible to raise money; entry charge £1 or a completed Standing Order (there'll be a supply at the door). Directory of Groups - forms now available at various places or with James (666661) "Student Supplement" For freshers, as a guide to the venues and events and activities the Students Unions don't tell students about, also as an intro to Reading's only newspaper. Free but donations encouraged. Legal advice: Whom can we turn to if we need it? Couple of suggestions to be investigated. (Despite the need for money we'd contemplate occasional free advice in lieu of a Standing Order...) Spare copies: there's always a few spares (better too many than too few?) can we do anything useful with them - especially if it raised money? Production planning meetings - idea floated, reconsider at next meeting. Delivery complaints - people to be encouraged to ring the Distribution numbers if they aren't getting their copy regularly. Next meeting to worry further about money and think about the Autumn: Sunday 26th September, 4pm, Acorn Bookshop. Everyone interested very welcome. - - - LABORATORY ANIMALS NEED YOUR HELP Is it true that animals are being tortured in British laboratories? Read this and find out 1 Some monkeys were infected with a bacteria. After 3 days large amounts of mucous fluid poured from the animals' eyes and noses. They had high fevers, lost their appetites and had difficulty breathing. They were left in this state until death occurred on the fifth, sixth and seventh day. Br. Journal of Experimental Pathology (1978) Vol.59, p.630. Microbiological Research Unit, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wilts. 2 Baboons were injected with a drug and then divided into three groups. Effects of the drugs ranged from biting their limbs, laying prostrate on the cage floor for hours, twisting their bodies and screaming. Brain (1977). Institute of Psychiatry. 3 A number of rabbits were subjected to operations in which most of the brain was destroyed. The experimenters found that these brain-damaged rabbits could still learn to press a treadle to get food. Phys. & Behaviour, Vol.20, pp.157-70, 1978 MRC Unit on Neural Mechanisms of Behaviour, 3 Malet Place, London. 4 A veterinary surgeon, assisted by other scientists, poisoned pedigree Beagle dogs with the weedkiller sodium chlorate. These experiments were performed at the Huntingdon Research Centre, Huntingdon. The dogs were force-fed the weedkiller by stomach tube over a period of five days. The scientists noted 'marked loss of appetite and body weight with lassitude, vomiting and blood-streaked faeces... urine contained blood on day three. Death occurred on day four'. Vet. Record, April 1972, pp.416-418 (Left: Shampoo being tested on rabbit's eye. Front page: Cat with electrode implanted in its brain. (c) Jon Evans F.R.G.S.) 90,000 animals die every week in British laboratories. Animals are poisoned to death with weedkillers, lipsticks, paints, weapons, oven-cleaners, shampoos, floor polish etc. 83% are conducted without any anaesthetic at any stage. The Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 specifically allows the infliction of pain on animals. A radical alteration in the law is needed. People must press for this. It is urgent. These suffering animals desperately need your help. "... Thus in every field of science innocent animals are made to serve as scapegoats for man's vices and faults. We smoke, animals don't: so we force animals to smoke although for them it is torture, for us pleasure. We drink alcohol, animals don't: so we cause liver cirrhoses in animals by funnelling alcohol into them. We drug ourselves, animals don't: so we turn animals into drug addicts. We suffer from insomnia owing to our daily excesses, animals don't: so we force animals to stay awake until they go crazy. We suffer from stress owing to our unnatural way of living, animals don't: so we traumatize them in rotating drums to put them in a state of stress. We cause car accidents through incompetence or carelessness, animals don't: so we fasten animals to vehicles and send them crashing against walls. We contract cancer by consuming the wrong foods and toxic drugs, and through pollution caused exclusively by ourselves: so we inflict cancer upon millions of animals and continue to torture them while we watch them slowly waste away through the cruellest malady mass-produced by man". Extract from Slaughter of the Innocent by Hans Ruesch (Futura). What you can do to help ----------------------- 1 Send a copy of this leaflet to your MP and ask for his/her comments on it, as well as asking him/her to table a question in the House on the subject of vivisection. 2 Pass this leaflet on to a friend. 3 Send a copy of this leaflet to your local newspaper. 4 Join ANIMAL AID and help us to fight against all animal experimentation. ANIMAL AID is a society dedicated to campaigning for the total abolition of all experiments on living animals. We believe that vivisection is the worst of the many ways in which animals are abused in our society. In our view cruel experiments on animals can never be justified, and so we make no distinction between medical and non-medical experiments. Realising that people need treatment when they are ill we inform them about organisations concerned with alternative forms of treatment which do not rely on animal experimentation. We also encourage research into the development of non-animal testing methods. We are interested in the prevention of illness by proper diet, exercise and right living. We feel that more emphasis should be given by the medical profession to educating people to live a healthy life rather than curing symptoms. Our policy is strictly non-violent, relying on persistence, determination and sheer hard work to achieve our aim. By printing and distributing leaflets and posters we show the full horror of the atrocities perpetrated against animals in the name of science. We organise demonstrations and protest marches with the idea of attracting as much publicity as possible. For too long have scientists brought pain and misery to defenceless creatures behind the locked doors of their laboratories. It is our task to make the full truth known. The movement is growing steadily so please join us and help to bring the day nearer when vivisection will be totally abolished by law. Act now for the animals Join our campaign to prevent the suffering and death of 4 1/2 million animals every year in British laboratories. Work to stop the blinding, poisoning, burning, mutilating, and irradiating of these defenceless creatures. I wish to become a member of Animal Aid and receive the bi-monthly magazine Outrage which gives full details of the society's activities. [ ] BLOCK CAPITALS PLEASE Name (Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms) _______________________________ Address _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ Tel _________________ Signed _______________________ I enclose a cheque for £4 annual subscription (£2 if under 18, student, OAP or un-waged; £6 family membership) [ ] I enclose a donation to Animal Aid [ ] (Please tick appropriate boxes) Please send to: ANIMAL AID, 111 High Street, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1DL. Tel: (0732) 364546 - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1982/1982-09-19.txt#4 $