RED RAG FREE news 666681 666324 distribution 666681 events 666681 going out 581222 x423 next copydate 26 May c/o Acorn Bookshop 17 Chatham St contents Scrounger Tourism Gardening section Pieces of peace Events Letters Going out REAP Rag - - - ANTI-MILITARIST WEEK "Summers are here and the time is not right for fighting in the streets". To this end May 14-21 is Anti-Militarist week, and Reading's pacifists will be coming out of the closet to "enjoy themselves outside Tesco's!" on Sat 21 (see events). The Anti-Militarist Week is being arranged to focus attention on issues beind the rhetoric of disarmament and to help develop ways of actually beginning the disarmament process here and now. - - - ANTI-PORN WEEK The very moment you read this (or at least the very moment I write it) Anti Porn week is in full swing. Pornography is a multi-million pound industry which is becoming increasingly acceptable and has infiltrated newspapers TV and advertising. If this merchandising of human flesh like groceries offends you this is your chance to get up and show your anger. Anti-Porn week activities range from reclaiming the night for women to picketing Soho. Read Events for details and you can do your bit. P.S. The week has become a fortnight due to the Cup Final. - - - WOMEN'S DAY FOR DISARMAMENT 12.00 Women and children should assemble at the Women's Centre, Abbey Street, Reading. Bring clothes to dress up in, balloons, facepaint, food to share, song sheets, instruments, banners, placards, painted sheets to make a snake with, and safety pins. 12.15 March to Hosier Street (by the market). 12.30 Die-in, building of survival shelter from cardboard boxes, singing and dancing. 1.15 March back via West Street, Friar Street, to the Women's Centre. 3.30 Children's party at the Women's Centre. Bring food to share and any games you know. Helpers are especially wanted at this party. Contact Penny 873469, or Ruth 596466(work) or 582081(home) for more details. See under 17 May (Events) for planning meeting details: there's lots of help needed. - - - SCROUNGER, CENSORED The recent furore over a humorous article in the first edition of the Scrounger has, apart from confirming the old 'mountains from molehills' adage, caused the co-editors to reflect upon the reasons behind the sudden interest shown by the local press. The Chronicle reported, in a subdued manner, the opinion of a member of the management committee of the Reading Centre for the Unemployed which was that some elements in the article in question were not meant to be taken seriously (we agree) but because there were those who might take it in this way (the Post), he felt it best to obliterate the 'offensive' information - thereby arousing press interest. It must be pointed out that this same member of the management committee (a committee set up to represent the interests of the unemployed) threatened to confiscate the entire issue of the Scrounger if it was not censored, an act which would have deprived the unemployed of a further source of information: welfare rights, resources at the Reading Centre for the Unemployed, women's sign-on campaign, black unemployment, etc. Their main argument, that the article may have been taken seriously, yet again shows that those in authority underestimate the intelligence of the unemployed. The Chronicle, for the most part, simply reported. The Post chose to sensationalise. It even went as far as to emulate the national gutter press by printing, out of context and word for word, material, a tactic often used by other papers to arouse the prejudices of their readers. The two Berkshire County Councillors quoted in the Post seemed largely unmoved by the whole affair despite the Post's attempt to leave one with the impression that The Scrounger might contain 'subversive elements'. Anyone whose thoughts are not channelled and filtered through the established media can be called 'subversive'. It is our hope that Reading's unemployed will 'speak' through it. It is an 'access medium'. It is also hoped that the management committee will re-think its priorities and give its full support to this venture. - squeak Mickey and Minnie Addendum: An extraordinary meeting of the management cttee made three decisions relating to the Scrounger; firstly that a working party should be set up to look into establishing an 'editorial policy' for the Scrounger (presuming that there wasn't one in the first place) to consist of 2 members of the cttee, a representative from Berkshire County Council, the co-ordinator of the Centre, the media-worker and one or two of the unemployed people who worked on the first issue of the Scrounger Scrounger! The other two decisions made by the m/cttee were that neither the next nor ant other issue of the Scrounger should go to print before it has been seen by the co-ordinator and vetted by a m/cttee meeting. the offending bits.. Free food- Marks & Spencer used to give away food that was past the sell-by date to charities. Try asking them and other food shops. Also send back any food to the manufacturers - with a stone/safety-pin in it, and get a whole box of stuff back! Free food- of course, what the Centre for the Unemployed should be doing is running courses on shoplifting. We need to learn about the law, how to deal with the police, how to spot the store detectives, lessons in sprinting and how to eat the evidence. Perhaps we could get an MSC grant for building a mock-up of a supermarket? Free luxury-St. David's Hall, the University's facility, for students who live out has: free baths and showers, a piano (in the attic), newspapers and magazines, t.v.s, lots of quiet rooms with heating in the attic and in the basement, one of the cheapest laundries in town at only 20p a wash, empty in the mornings). Open 9am to 10:30pm. Term times only. The Hall is located on London Rd., almost opposite Sidmouth St. (Check notice board in entrance). Free education-ask at the Centre for the Unemployed or at the Technical College, Kings Rd. about evening classes at one third prices. Also, all of the lectures at the University are free, just walk in. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to know what they are on until you get there. The University does have Language Lab at the Whiteknights Campus that you just walk in. Find reception and ask for a tape. Go to the campus and ask for the Language Lab. - - - News From The University: ANARCHIST MAGAZINE BANNED 'Total Subversion', the proposed organ of the university's libertarian group, was initially given a grant (£30- really breaking the bank hey?), but certain right wing members of the union objected strongly - accusing the mag (which they hadn't seen) of printing material 'that encourages people to commit illegal acts' (sounds familiar doesn't it!) 30 of these people turned up to a meeting on Thursday to stop the magazine. However (courtesy of our local radical bookshop), Total Subversion will soon be available - write c/o the Libertarian Group, Students Union, Reading University. - - - TOURISM The Costa del Kennet, Nuclear Valley - Last Resort for the 90's A draft plan published by Berks. County Council in March of this year, the "Countryside Recreational Local Plan for Berkshire", sets out proposals for the development of the county as a major tourist resort for the 1990's. Most of the attention of the plan is centred around the Kennet & Avon canal, and the further development of the gravel pits which have been creeping nearer to Reading itself over the last few years. The plan, which can be consulted at the reference section of the Central Library in Reading, briefly disscusess the anticipated increase in population of central Berkshire over the next ten years,and suggests that increased petrol costs will mean that the population of West London will be making more use of recreation facilities in Berkshire. This will put some strain on existing facilities, such as Windsor Great Park and the Thames. The solution seems to be to refurbish the Kennet & Avon canal, then construct a marina here, a car-park there, encourage gravel extraction at Smallmead & Burghfield, then use the craters left by such workings as "inland water recreation facilities". Pardon the cynicism, but the only sort of of boat tour that may have mass appeal would be a pilgrimage to some of the countrys more important nuclear factories and bases - Greenham, AWRE, and ROF Burghfield all lie within a mile of the Kennet. A couple of years ago the Evening Post (not usually noted for its concern with the environment) ran a series of articles on Berkshire's polluted rivers. This pollution stems not just from the various nuclear establishments, but from much of Berkshire's heavy industry. A visit to the jobcentre in Reading shows that recruitment is under way for refurbishing work at Aldermaston Wharf and various locks along the canal, and also for an ecological survey of Kennetside. There is also a large display for the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment ("we prefer to call it AWRE"). Take a walk along the Kennet sometime, from Berkeley Avenue, say, to Burgfield Bridge Marina. Imagine the towpath refurbished and landscaped, then ask yourself who with enough money to spend a holiday afloat is going to linger long on, or revisit, a course through unremarkable Reading (remember the Gasometers at Kennetmouth/Newtown?) through the back end of an industrial estate, part a gravel working and rubbish tip, through pylons & water slicked with oil at certain points, taking in the suspicious looking Fobney waterworks (like a bomb factory without the barbed wire) in the company of hordes of inhabitants of West London, fishing, canoeing, waterskiing and cruising, trying desperately to get away from it all on that annual holiday? Perhaps they're right - perhaps this will be a big industry in ten years time. It seems more like they're clutching at straws, and its difficult to see how the local community will benefit from this project in the long term. Perhaps a few more TOPS courses on boatbuilding and bilge maintenance, or (at the risk of offending the bosses at the centre for the unemployed) tips on how to pick pockets in the fishermans cottage at closing time. Get yourself an icecream franchise now before the rush! Though I bet when they carved this little lot up, they already thought about all that! Landlubber. - - - CONSERVATION SOCIETY TALK On 6th May Dr. George Whitefield (of Reading University) gave a talk on 'Alternatives to Nuclear Energy' to the Reading branch Conservation Society. He discussed the possible use in this country of solar, wind, wave and hydro-electric sources of energy, and dwelt upon the various mechanisms currently being designed to exploit these. Though there were few new ideas, the subject was reviewed in enthusiastic detail, and accompanied by an interesting slide-show. Perhaps the most exciting parts for me were the description and slides of a power-station consisting of a field of individual sun-tracking mirrors, which reflect an intense cone of sunlight upon a large generating tower to one side; and the statement that one hundred miles of wave-driven generators could supply the quantity of electricity presently used in Britain. Prototypes of solar power stations exist in France, the U.S., and several other countries; but as for the wave-driven generators, they must unfortunately approximate the size of tankers. Mr. Whitefield (an expert on alternative energy technology) was unwilling to discuss a transformation of the present energy network to one dependent on safe, natural sources, but preferred to visualize a future where Britain consists of a federation of self-sufficient villages of the Ecology Party dream), each depending on local sources of energy, not excluding fossil fuels. When I pressed him on whether British society as it is today (though perhaps with the elimination of private transport and a little(?) rearrangement of heavy industry) could survive on energy derived from the sources discussed, plus thermal energy and energy from sewage, his reply was equivocal: he didn't know, but seemed to doubt it. I personally believe that such a transformation is possible, and would be viable, and that it is this which must be striven for on a political level. -Luke - - - THE SUN, the News of the World, The Times and the Sunday Times are all owned by News International Ltd., a public company in which the dominant share is held by Rupert Murdoch. News International also controls 26 provincial papers. Almost all other British papers are owned by six wealthy families and/or international corporations. Considering the editorial influence that these companies or families must exert, it becomes clear why one never reads of 'the militant right', 'the radical right', 'the right extremists' or 'the unacceptable face of the Tory party'. For tax purposes advertising is considered a business expense, and therefore profits spent on advertising are tax exemptible. In this way, the visual pollution from which it is almost impossible to escape is actually subsidised by the government. - - - GARDENING (PART 3) Connect the tubes in parallel (live to live, neutral to neutral, etc) up to a timer switch. This ensures that the plants have a regulated day length without manual attention. Make sure that it can be adjusted to give one period per day, to give a "day" and "night" to the plants. If you are unsure about the wiring speak to an expert. The day length seems to affect the plants' sex; short days give more females, but less bush so 18 hours is judged to be the best. All these bits can be very cheap if they are second hand, or scrounged; beware of electrical safety; one rig cost a total of £3 to set up. Good place to scrounge are demolition sites, the workmen are very obliging if treated well. Happy Growing, a P.H.P. PS: ordinary common or garden florescent tubes can be used, and street light timers are useful as switches (Hope the wiring is ok!) - - - UPPER HEYFORD Preparation for Upper Heyford 4-day Blockade Sunday 22nd May 10-4.30. RCU For anyone thinking about participating in the blockade and anyone not wishing to risk arrest but prepared to help with support work. Creche and refreshments available. Southern region CND, of which Berkshire is a part, has been asked to cover the first 18 hours 6am to midnight on Tuesday 31st May. Anyone wishing to participate at other times is still of course very welcome. The calling of a General Election on June 9th gives added importance to the blockade: it should ensure that the issues of defence, nuclear weaponry, American Bases, (law & order?) will be graphically brought to the TV news screeens each day in the week prior to the election. A lot of preparation has already been done, but with the thousands of people expected to take part, there will be a great deal more work to do. Please help. Come to the dayschool at the centre for the unemployed on 22nd May, or contact for further details. - - - READIES WOMEN'S PEACE GROUP Originating from the BANC / Reading CND meetings, are a small group of women trying to become active and useful in the Peace Movement in our own way. We discuss our involvement in the Nuclear Issue and ways of organising events for women such as a Day Group recently set up and a Weekend of Workshops to be held in May. The work requires a certain degree of commitment and willingness to take time for small tasks which we assign to each other every month. We need much more support to keep the meetings innovative and rewarding and welcome women of any age who feel they can help in the advancement of the Women's Peace Movement. We meet at 71, Hamilton Road on the First Monday of each month at 3pm. Next meeting June 6th. See you there! - - - EVENTS mo 16 Party at the Womens Centre - (Abbey St) 8-Late, break at 9.30 for a Reclaim the Night March. Bring jam jars, candles & string for the march & booze for the party. (Women only) Anarchists - Try 666681 for venue Ecology Party - Regular meeting, 33 Longburn Lane, 8pm. Ring Maria for details on 663195. BANC Caversham group - Discusion of doorstep questions & answers. Church House, Church St, Cavershan 3pn tu 17 Reading Gay Switchboard-is now on Tues & Fridays, 8-10 pm. Ring 597269. Blue Katesgrove - Well, the ward now has a Tory councillor (its first). All three councillors will be on display at the Katesgrove Residents' Assoc. AGM, 7.30pm Wellington Arms, Whitley St. + election of new committee, plus "local gossip". All welcome. Music Workshop - Centre for the Jobfree 4-6 East St. 6pm. ring Laura (596639, daytime) for details. Planning meeting for the Women's Day for disarmament activities: Women's Centre, Abbey Street at 8pm. All women welcome we 18 Not a Love Story - Film for Anti-Porn week at Reading Film Theatre, room 109, Palmer Building, University Whiteknights campus. 8pm. (Only RFT members + 1 guest each, strictly speaking) £1.50/£1 Living in Dead Towns - A Civic Society meeting with guaranteed 'distinguished panel'. 8pm, Vachel Room, Hexagon. Free Pub Meeting - Friends' of the Earth, at the Sun, Castle St, 8pm Batik classes (at Centre for the Jobfree) - Restart 2-4pm. Bring any old cotton sheets or bits of natural cloth. Community Action Group - Meet at Fairview Community Centre at 7.45pm, to start making preparations for a float in the Reading West Carnival. Anyone interested phone Mike 588459 or Paul 587381 Socialist Workers Party are (I presume) still meeting every Wednesday, 8pm, Red Lion Southampton St. City Farm Organisation - meeting every Wednesday 7.30pm, staff room of Ashmead School. Open day in July. th 19 A Walk for Life - Faslane to Greenham - starts today. If you can't stand the thought of 10 weeks in the company of whoever wrote the leaflet we reprinted last time, you can join the walk when it gets to Reading in August. Women and Violence - an all day gathering at Bulmershe College. Starts at 10.30am (in room BG15) with speaker Linda Bellors. From 11 till 12.30 - workshops on rape, battering, incest, pornography. At 1.30 Rape (film) and discussion. From 3.30 till 4: plenary session. Free. Open to all women and men (workshops will be segregated) West Reading CND meeting at 8pm, 6 Cranbury Road Reading Health Watch - aims to make those cuts visible, to fight them in whatever way it can, and to publicly defend the basic principles of the NHS. Meeting at 7.30pm Centre for the Jobfree. Claimants Action Group - meets every Thursday 2-4pm, Centre for the Jobfree. The Early Days of Whitley Park School - History of Reading Society meeting, 7.30pm, Abbey Gateway. Work - Women at work, shiftworking, office hazards, industrial disease, health and safety, protective legislature. Session 5 in a series of 6 on Women's Health, 7.30pm Centre for the Jobfree, East St. Tutor Sue Lister. £1 (50p unwaged). For creche, lift babysitting, details, contact G Stewart, 49 Northumberland Ave. (WEA). Think well, act well, be well - Modern visualisation techniques are used to mobilise body resources to fight disorder of mind or body, whether cancer or depression. Jane Lang, Holistic Hypnotherapist presents basic techniques. Friend's Meeting House, Denton Road, Wokingham, 8pm The Police and the Public - Should the former be accountable to the latter? Thus ponder the Labour Party Young Socialists at 8pm in the Community Centre on Northumberland Ave. fr 20 Friend's of Shehnaz - picket of courts in London. For details see elsewhere in the Rag. Unemployed Workers' Struggles (or why Workers Power wishes to be known as the Labour History Group) 8pm, Red Lion, Southampton St. sa 21 Your rights explained... at the East Reading Rights stall, every Saturday, 11-1, outside the Church on Cemetery Junction Porn picket - The action against porn in Soho has been postponed till next week because of The Cup Final. Instead there will be a picket of W H Smith in Reading to protest about the way they market porn in a respectable package. Meet 10.30am at Women's Centre, basement, Old Shire Hall. Musicians and fun-loving people wanted to enjoy themselves outside Tescos, 12-2pm. Fancy dress optional, anti-militaristic. Meet Acorn Bookshop 11.45 Semi-oppressive religion - Christian CND pilgrimage from Woodley to Burghfield. Details Pat Toner 28263 Music Club - Women's Centre 1lam-noon Grand Plant Sale - Stalls, food, books, records, toys, puzzles, organic gardeners... 14 Copse Ave, off Micklands Road, off A4155. 2.30pm su 22 RED RAG benefit at 5's bar, 8pm-midnight. Myopic Muldoni Boys + disco (bring your own records) £1 (less with UB40) in advance. Reading Tree Club Expedition to Wytham Woods, an ancient woodland preserved by Oxford Univ. Own transport. Party limited to 25 - for booking and details ring 874347. Upper Heyford blockade preparation - 10am-4pm, Centre for the Jobfree (4-6 East Street). Creche, basic refreshments. There will be information and workshops on the ideas and issues behind the blockade, briefings on legal matters, the organisation of this 4 day event, and the support network which will be required. Those not willing to be arrested but willing to help cook, drive vehicles, 'take care of' the press, creche and traffic, look after information, 'registration', communication (bikes, walkie-talkies) and entertainment are especially welcome. mo 23 Preparation session for Soho action against porn to take place on May 28. 7.30pm at Women's Centre. It is important that any women who want to take part in the action can get to know each other and prepare the themselves for what might be a very intense demo. Anarchists - as last week Non-competitive games - Practice for Sunday. Meet 6pm, 15 Christchurch Gardens (near Cintra Park) or phone Andrew 873072 Wokingham Peace Group - Prof M Pentz 8pm Wokingham Town Hall tu 24 Women's Day for Disarmament - Like last year it is hoped this will be organised with a multiplicity of local actions. This year the aim is to make it the most effective day of women's action yet! If your group would like to be involved please contact 16 Arundel Road, Brighton, East Sussex... says one leaflet. We are asking all women everywhere - women working in the home, women in paid employment, unemployed women - to leave their usual occupation for the day and to take creative anil imaginative actions to stop the siting of nuclear weapons throughout the world... says another leaflet. Locally... we 25 Peace Pledge Union Film Van showing peace films 10-6ish outside St Marys Butts Church. Help needed with leafleting. Tel David Pangbourne 3153 th 26 RED RAG copy deadline 8pm + meeting to get next issue sussed. Ring 666681 for venue or if you'd like to help between now and Sunday. Ecology Party Talk on the economy may well have been ditched (something to do with impending democracy.) Ring 663195 to find out what's going on. "Healthy Futures" - Last of the WEA series on Womens Health (details as last Thursday). Course review, discussion, discussion, social event, what next? "Women in the local economy" - Reading's economic base / role of the state and the media/domestic labour and the 24 hour day / impact of cuts in the public sector / new technology / position of women in the economy - various speakers. Weekly 10-11.30 am, at the centre for the jobfree. Ring Chris Miller 596639 for details. "Debate - The Labour Party Young Socialists vs the Tories + SDF/Liberals" - No bets on the outcome. 8pm, Community Centre Northumberland Ave. fr 27 "The War Game" - Oldfellows Hall, Oxford Rd, 7.30pm Free. Followed by Disco + Bobby & the Soda Pops (50p) (West Reading Festival +CND) sa 28 RED RAG - Next issue is produced today. Ring 666681 if you'd like to join in the fun. (Scissors provided free of charge) Walk For Peace (High Wycombe) Assemble 11am at RAF & NATO War HQ, Walters Ash. Followed by gathering with refreshments, amusements and information. Local group going. All support needed phone 587381. Pornography - National action in Soho - to reclaim the centre of the porn industry. Women only. For/with details of transport phone Michelle on 66668l. For other details phone Lynn/Caroline on 667517. Girls Club - Disco + Other activities. Ages 9-12 Womens Centre, 2.30-4.30 su 29 RED RAG - Folding and distributing. We tend to get very short of people at this stage of the proceedings - even an hour or so's help can make an impact. Ring 666681 to find out what's happening when and where. Non-Competitive Games - 2pm Richfield Avenue Festival site. Great fun for children aged 1 to 99. (Note: the free festival has been cancelled) A day in the Country - digging, planting or watching things grow! - Veronica & Bill Poad - members of the Vegan self sufficiency network - will welcome you to their 21 acre smallholding, situated just this side of Newbury. Food will be provided; please phone 5818805 (Liz Howlett) in advance to get further details & coordinate transport. mo 30 Torness '83 - music, theatre, video, song, dance, food, drink, stalls, creche, non-violence training. Details: SCRAM, 11 Forth St, Edingburgh (031-557-4284) Community Carnival Day - Organised by Reading Council for Racial Equality. Procession starts 12.3pm from the lorry park in Great Knollys St along Bedford Road, up Oxford Road, around the Norcot Hill roundabout, back down the Oxford road, down George St, along Great Knollys St, along the Caversham Rd to Richfield Avenue. The many attractions will include live music, stalls, side shows, discos food & drink. Prizes for the best carnival floats will be presented at 4.30pm. Come & share this fantastic experience. Details from the RCRE Office, telephone 583773. Art Exhibition - in the upper foyer & choir gallery of the Hexagon. Open till Saturday 4th June. Featuring work by artists living and working in the West Reading area. Admission free. 10am to 5pm daily. Details from Patrick Chandler, telephone 55911(extern 2069) (West Reading festival) Ecology Party - Regular meeting, 25 de Beauvoir Rd, 8pm, ring Martin 663195 for details. Fete - organised by Tilehurst and Norcot Liberal Party. Victoria Recreation Ground, Armour Road, 2pm Admission 10p, children free, (outdoors is just the place for a little pre-democratic mud-slinging) tu 31 "Together we can close Upper Heyford" - start of 4 day blockade of the USAF base. Local groups are taking the first shift (6am-midnight tonight). Details in (maybe) next Rag. Readings Week for Jobs (sounds horrible) - open meeting at Centre for the Jobfree, 7.30pm we 1 First of Month - meeting for all women interested in the Womens Centre, 8pm. Next Vegetarian Dining At Fairview Community Centre, George St, Reading. Dinner is served between 7-8.30pm (bring your own drinks). Free live entertainment! Tickets £2 on sale at Acorn from 17th May -1st June. - - - LETTERS Dear Rag, Judging by two letters in your last issue it seems clear that BANC is becoming an even more overtly pro-Labour Party organisation. Both Neal Marsden (Treasurer) and Brian Revell (founder and former Chairperson) regret the fact that some wards in the local elections have two anti-nuclear candidates as a result of the involvement of the Ecology Party. Would it not be more constructive for them to regret the fact that all wards have at least two "pro-nuclear" candidates - and to work to reduce that number in future elections? It seems to me that to think that "the nuclear problem" can be solved by putting our trust in one political party, which could in any case only be in power for a limited term, is the height of "naivety" (Brian's word). Perhaps we should be asking ourselves whether the local Liberal politicians have been driven into bed with the Tories on the nuclear issue because of BANC'S party-political bias. The tragedy of the current situation is that the nuclear disarmament movement is becoming split on party lines with the result that the hard work done by many dedicated campaigners (including Neal and Brian) is much less effective than it could otherwise be. What we should be doing is working to win over people of all political persuasions to see the folly of the nuclear arms race. When the politicians realise there are votes in it they will soon adopt oar principles. Much work how has to be done within BANC to steer it away from the clutches of the Labour Party. Failure to do this will result in further damage to the movement in the run-up to the forthcoming parliamentary elections. I'm not too happy about the over-dramatic language, but I can't resist the temptation to lift the last sentence from Brian's letter: "Division is the first stage on the road to defeat - those responsible carry a heavy burden". Let's not bother about whether we are tories, liberals, SoDems (ho ho), levellers, diggers, anarcho-syndicalists, Stirnerite egoists, neo-Kropotkinist kabouters (for details of that one send s.a.e. to Box 10, Acorn), Labour Party members or whatever. Let us remember an old CND slogan: "Together we can stop the Bomb". Yours in Peace, David Evans Dear Red Rag, Just before receiving the last issue (the May Day one) I was about to write a long raving letter abusing your insipody and dullness - that has been somewhat stymied by the quality of the April 30th effort. However, being a thorough egotist, I decided against silence so here goes: Red Rag is full of predictable & hackneyed 'concerned' left wing writing, dreary and wet, never going below standard 'knee-jerk' reaction into a deep analysis of the processes involved. What we want is inspiring and dramatic prose - I seem to remember a time when you never knew quite what to expect on the next page, surely there is some space for creativity in the mag? Please bring back the fascinating uncertainties of the papers youth, or at any rate the long peace camp articles. Don't tell us how to grow cannabis, tell us how to make petrol bombs! See you at the revolution, H-flanshit. Dear Diary, Well isn't the new Red Rag just wonderful! (I know there's nothing particularly 'new' about it but it seems so much better of late), anyway what about the Mayday extravaganza at the old town hall? Got up late so I missed the march and most of the speakers, but no-one was taking much notice of the last few anyway. Saw 'Winstanley', rather like the prehistory of Sid Rawles and the SWP rolled into one. Wandered around the stalls - seemed a pity the Centre for the Unemployed didn't actually let anyone know that they had a stall... Then came back for the evenings entertainment. Quite a contrast with last year. I gather that people complained that it wasn't a family event suitable for kids so this year it was just like a labour party social. The Aldbrickham Band tried hard but with only about a third of the attendance of last year it was a bit difficult them getting enough people to do those funny rustic (I think that's what they're called) dances. Still, I suppose it was in keeping with the spirit of Winstanley. Personally, I can't see why people can't take their kids into a noisy band (Amazulu last time wasn't it) even if there were all those funny 'anarchist' poets and comedians saying the odd rude word - seems a lot better than the folk singer gentleman, one of whose enlightened and sensitive songs revolved around the chorus of 'boys will be boys and girls will be girls, that's what nature intended' or words to that effect. A bit ideologically unsound if you ask me. However, why should everybody's Mayday 'entertainment' be upset by politics. Went home, went to bed, will forget all about Mayday until next year. Love, Simon, xxxxx Dear Red Rag, I like porn! The article in the last Red Rag is against porn, but all its criticisms involve other things such as violence, advertising, exploitation, big business, all of which I don't like; but pure porn? - A picture of a person flaunting their sexuality to turn on another person; is this wrong in itself? The belief in equality for all people is immovably entrenched in me & porn does not go against this. For me, women in porn are certainly not degraded, they are exalted & celebrated, they are beautiful, they turn me on, is that wrong? I would be delighted if a picture of me turned a woman on, which brings us to the real problem. Male and female sexuality is different, and it amazes me the extent to which in this day and age this still appears to be a grey taboo area. I notice none of the events in anti-porn week involve men and women talking to each other and trying to understand each others view of sex and porn. I've found a huge gulf of understanding and non-communication amongst people I have discussed it wtth. We must talk and talk. In fact, rather than a long series of letters in Red Rag I would welcome the opportunity to talk to a very anti porn person, e.g. the writer-of the article, maybe to write a summary in Red Rag showing where we agree/disagree, concede/stand firm etc. Chris - - - SMALL ADS MUSICIANS - male or female - can you sing, drum, play synth/piano wind or bass? If so please ring Reading 476546 to join a successful band. READING COMMERCIAL BAND seeks manager. Contact Brian on 664862. THE S_TSONS - Paradise at the Epicentre, one hour tape by the infamous isle of Wight experimental punks. Send 80p (or a C60) +SAE to K.Lano.dept. of Maths, Reading University. Book available from Acorn. ROOM AVAILABLE off Whitley Street phone 864574 - - - GOING OUT Monday 16 * Hexagon, Allegri String Quartet 7.30 £2.75-3.75 * Progress Theatre, The Mount, Christchurch Rd. Entertaining Mr Sloan 7.45, £1/80 until 21st [still too risque for Berks, it seems] * Bull Hotel, Nettlebed. Roy Bailey 8pm £? [folk] * Silks, Thatcham. Twelfth Night 8ish £1.50? * South Hill Park, Bracknell: Underage AA + Blacks Britannica 7.30 £1.90 + concessions * Apollo, Oxford. Maze 7.30 £4-5.50 mellow * Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, Newbury. Romeo & Juliet 7.30 £2.75-6.50 + concessions, until 28th * Memorial Hall, Thatcham - Paul Hansard's puppets 7pm £1.50 kids 75p * St Nicholas Church Newbury - Paul Tortelier + Maria de la Pav 8pm £3.50-6.80 [recital] Tuesday 17 * Hexagon - A soupcon of Saki + Shock Headed Peter 7.30pm £3 + concessions, until 18th [theatre] * Tudor Arms, Gay Disco 8ish free * Fives, the Signals 8ish free * University, Whiteknights campus, Martha & the Muffins 8-1 £2.25 * The Mill, Sonning, Educating Rita 2pm + 8.15 £6.90-11.90 including buffet until 11 June * Highclere Castle, Highclere. An evening of Edwardian and Victorian Song 8pnm £12.50 including champagne - no concessions for claimants unfortunately * Apollo Oxford, Cleo Lane & John Dankworth 8pm £3.50-7.50 * Central Studio, Cliddesden Rd, B'Stoke, Elvira Madigan 7.45 £1 or 75p [cinema] * Arts Workshop, Northcroft Lane, Newbury, poetry reading 7.30 £2 Wednesday 18 * Reading Film Theatre, Palmer Building, Whiteknights campus - Not a love story + Jury of her Peers £1, £1.50, members and one guest only * Grosvenor House, Kidmore Rd, Caversham - Jazz 8ish free * South Hill Park, Chamber Orchestra 8pm free * St Nick Church, Newbury - BBC Philharmonic Orchestra 7.30 £3.50-6.80 Thursday 19 * Hexagon, Amphion String Quartet free 1.10pm * Hexagon, Syd Lawrence Orchestra £3-4 + concessions 7.30 * RFT, The Third Generation £1-1.50 + concessions 8pm * Target, Jackey Linton Band £1 8ish * Central Studio B'Stoke, Master class with John Barstow (piano) 7pm £1-2 including food, participants (19-) free, £2 Friday 20 * Hexagon, A Guard's spectacular 8pm £3/4 * RFT, The Witness 8pm £1/1.50 * Tudor Arms, Gay Disco 8ish free * Caribbean Club, London St, Expresso Bongo 9.30-late £1.50 * Bulmershe College, Earley - Geisha Girls + Brothers of Beat. 8ish-late £1.50, get tickets in advance or you may not get into the bar * SHP - Don't dilly dally in the duodenum £1.50/1.75 7.45 until 21st [theatre] * SHP - Grease II £1.90 + concessions 11pm until 21st * Central Studio B'Stoke, O.O.P.S. 7.45 £2 + concessions [theatre] * Arts Workshop Newbury - Late night cabaret with "The Joeys' 10pm £2.50, doowop/cabaret meant to be good * Downwe House School, Cold Ash. Janet Smith + dancers 7.30 £2.50/3.50, Also 21st at 2.30 and 7.30 * St Lawrence Church, Hungerford. Alberni String Quartet 8pm £2.50/3.50 * St Mary's Church, Thatcham. Classical guitar recital 8pm £3 Saturday 21 * Hexagon, Villans Four 12.15 free * Hexagon, The Tredegar Orpheus Male Voice Choir 7.30 £2/3 * Central Club, London St. Steel band festival with Hurricane Force, Volcanoes, Birds of Paradise + Ali Boo sounds 8-late £3 bar * St Marks Church, Kensington Road, Handel's Messiah 7.30 £2 * Caribbean Club, S.R.P.M. [dance] 9-late £2 * Bradfield College, As You Like It 8pm £2 * SHP, Pete Bond 8pm £1.20/1.50 [folk] * Arts Workshop, Newbury. Jan Steele + Janet Sherbourne 2pm £2 * Church House, the Croft, Hungerford. Paul Hansard's puppets 2.30 £1.50, kids 75p * St Nick Church, Newbury. English Chamber Orchestra. 7.30 £3.50-6.80 Sunday 22 * Hexagon, Arion Orchestra 3pm £2-3.75 + concessions * Allied Arms, Readifolk 8ish free * Fed Rag Benefit at Fives, Myopic Muldoni Boys + disco 8-late £1 + concessions for claimants * SHP - They Found a Cave (U) + shorts + serial 12.15 75p * SHP - A talks on Berg's opera Lulu 8pm £1/1.10 * Apollo, Oxford - Jim Davidson - extremely dubious 'comedian' much touted by TV 7.30 £3.50-6.50 Monday 23 * Bull Hotel, Nettlebed - Singer's night with Devils 8pm £? [folk] * SHP, Quadrophenia (18) 7.30 £1.90 + concessions * Apollo, Oxford. Jasper Carrott 7.30 £4.50-6.50 Tuesday 24 * Tudor Arms, Gay Disco 8ish free * Fives, Doris & the Dots * Bradfield College, As You Like It 24th-26th 3pm 25th + 27th 8pm £2 Wednesday 25 * Hexagon, Chris Barber's Jazz Band 7.30 £? * RFT, Pennies from Heaven 8pm £1-1.50 * SHP, Class of 1984 (18) 7.30 £1.90 + concessions, until 29th Thursday 26 * Hexagon, Primary Schools Music Festival 7pm £1-2 * RFT, The German Sisters 8pm £1-1.50 * Target, Fugitive 8ish £1 * St Georges Hall, St Georges Road, The Joy Ride 7.30 £1 oaps + kids 50p [theatre based on Lady Godiva] * Purley Memorial Hall, Glebe Rd, Merrie England, until 27th, tel 26999 for details [theatre] Friday 27 * Hexagon, Carnival Queen Dance 8pm £3.50-4 (v unsound eh!) * Tudor Arms, Gay Disco 8ish free * Caribbean Club, Brothers of Beat 9.30 £1.50 * SHP, Gregory's Girl 7.15 £1.90 + concessions, until 29th, acne-ed love * SHP, The Warriors 11pm £1.90 + concessions, also 28th * Central Studio, B'Stoke, Marathon [2 man show] 7.45 £2 + concessions Saturday 28 * Hexagon, Country Mac 12.15 free * Hexagon, Radio One Disco Special £3-3.50 - at last the high life hits Reading * Central Club, Immortal Rockers, Nasty Rockers, Roots Man Posse + Marcus 8-late £3 * Caribbean Club, Hurricane Force Steel Band 9-late £2 * SHP - Come All Ye 8pm £1.20-1.50 [folk] * SHP - Atlantic Crossing 7.30 free [folk] * Wellington College, Crowthorne. Gala Beethoven concert 8pm £4, £7.50 with buffet * Apollo, Oxford, Howard Keel 8pm £4.50-6.50 * Watermill Theatre, Newbury. Gala performance of Romeo and Juliet 6.30 £2.75-6.30 (don't know what is meant by 'gala') Sunday 29 * Allied Arms, Readifolk 8ish free * Fives, Off the Bone, lunchtime free * SHP, Adventure in the Hopfields (U) + shorts + serial 12.15 75p * SHP, Pirates 1pm free [kids theatre] * Apollo, Oxford. Motorhead 7.30 £4.50-5 - - - Cash to Acorn, Pop records, Lazer Records collection boxes. RED RAG is funded totally by donations. Cheques made payable to Red Rag, please c/o Flat 7, 66 Wokingham Road. - - - IN 1892, AT THE TIME of the first international build-up of highly technological weapons, and at a tine when he owned numerous explosives factories throughout the world, Alfred Nobel is reported to have said: "My factories may end war sooner than your (Peace) Congresses. The day when two army corps will be able to destroy each other in one second, all civilised nations will recoil from war in horror, and disband their armies." - - - BOOK REVIEW The War of The Flea, Guerrilla Warfare Theory and Practice. Robert Taber. Paladin. Copyright 1965-9. The first edition of this excellent book was bought in its entirety by various branches of the US armed services. Fortunately this will probably not help them to suppress insurgence in the countries in which they are interested; it is the very purpose of the book to explain why such policies can never succeed. Taber deals essentially with the revolutionary, in situations where she or he is forced to militancy. In countries with a powerful elite fully in control of the army, or where colonial rule is established, or being established, by a superior military power, this militancy mist take the form of guerrilla warfare. But for successful revolutionary guerrilla warfare several conditions are necessary. Taber writes, "The prerequisites are the following: 1. An unstable political situation, marked by sharp social divisions and usually, but not always, by a foundering or stagnant economy. 2. A political objective, based on firm moral and ideological grounds, that can be understood and accepted by the majority as the over-riding cause of the insurgency, desirable in itself and worthy of any sacrifice. 3. An oppressive government, with which no political compromise is possible. 4. Some form of revolutionary political organisation, capable of providing dedicated and consistent leadership towards the accepted goal. There is one final requirement: the clear possibility of success. Until people believe that a government can 'be overthrown - and it must be the first act of the insurgency to demonstrate this possibility by successful defiance of military forces - the attempt will not be made, the revolutionary following will not be found." Taber also stresses that a most important addition to this list is that the revolutionary activity must be the result of an upsurge of popular will. Isolated groups of guerrillas, without popular support, become little more than bandits. Guerrillas who divorce themselves from the populace (such as the Greek communists after the 2nd W, who pillaged villages and drove the inhabitants from regions they had captured) divorce themselves also from the source of their strength, and are inevitably crushed. But once these conditions are satisfied, under what circumstances is it possible to fail? There is one circumstance where failure is certain: when the oppressor is willing to wipe out the indigenous population; and when this population has nowhere to hide. It is here that defence policies such as the one proposed by the Ecology Party break down. A civilian army and/or civil disobedience would be totally useless before a ruthless invader, in a country without impenetrable forests or mountains. And to deny the existence of potential invaders is to deny the existence of a frenetic, irrational world. The War of the Flea deals with a host of popular uprisings. It discusses Mao Tse-tung, his writings, and the war for which he was a spokesman. It describes the Cuban revolution, and how a small group of sometimes fewer than 100 men brought down a powerful military government. It talks of the guerrilla tactics used against French colonialism in Indo-China and North Africa. It tells of the war against American imperialism in Vietnam, and the potential for equally successful revolt in Latin America. And every case dealt with leads to this conclusion: that given an oppressor unwilling to commit genocide, or an enviroment in which one can evade a more ruthless oppressor, then a popular revolution, infused with the knowledge of guerrilla warfare, is certain to succeed. - - - NEWS FROM READING'S EMERGENCY ACCOMMODATION PROJECT Many of the people staying with us are long-term 'skipperers' - people forced to sleep 'rough'. For many, their only income is the £2.94 DHSS daily allowance for those of No Fixed Abode; this will buy food, but not accommodation. It's too little for laundry facilities, or buying anything to carry their few basic personal possessions. The longer a person sleeps rough, usually in cold and wet conditions, the dirtier and less socially acceptable they become to society. They rapidly lose self-respect and are often chronically ill: few doctors show concern, and they can't afford to treat themselves even if they knew how to. Alcohol is often the last refuge from the present. We're sometimes told '...your lot are all winoes, and I'm not going to help them'. Because we do help, offering acceptance and friendship, in the short time we've been open one of our most alcoholically hardened friends has gone 'dry', regained self respect, and confidently faces a future he might never have had. With donated clothing, adequate food and, perhaps above all, a hard core of friends rooting for him, he's a changed man. We've recently started a soup-run; we've met more 'skipperers', who we gradually befriend, overcoming shyness and suspicion. They're very vulnerable people, at the mercy of bad weather and indifference, and some have been victims of violence, as if destitution wasn't enough... In a period of only ten weeks, 120 homeless people stayed at the Keep for an average of 4 1/2 nights each; 2/3 of these were sleeping rough previously. These peoples problems tended to be worse, and it was harder to find alternative provision for them. Thus they tended to stay longer at the Keep than those whose homelessness was of a different order. Also, 1/3 of those staying had medical problems, 1/4 had psychiatric problems, and 2/3 had problems with alcohol. What can you do? We're in desperate need of extra help at the Keep, both those who can spare the odd night, and even more vital, those willing to offer full-time commitment to a spell of this demanding but rewarding work. Can you help? If so please contact us on Rdg. 54020 - - - CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING CR is a revolutionary social form (!) designed to increase awareness of the world and the network of oppression, and to develop trust between the group members to a greater extent then is usually possible in ordinary meetings. (The difference being that the CR meeting is there for that specific purpose,with the relation of personal experience being the fundamental base of discussion, rather than opinions/argument over opinions, etc.) Several groups in Reading have attempted CR - notably the antisexist groups, where it seems to have gone quite well. The Reading anarchist group also attempted (several times) to set up meetings, but lack of time and understanding of the purpose contributed to their rapid dissolution. This article is an open invitation by the Reading anarchist group to anyone interested in restarting these (you don't have to be a strict @ist or libertarian, but obviously widely disparate attitudes would make things a bit difficult). KCL (Contact via box 19, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St.) - - - RED RAG is Reading's only newspaper. It's free and has appeared fortnightly since 1979. 1,240 copies of this issue were printed, more than half of which go to the outlets. (Others are delivered straight to the front door by hand). It is financed entirely by donations. It is produced collectively, and has no links with any political party, group or line. We print anything subject to approval by the collective editorial meeting, normally held one evening before an issue is produced. (Come to this meeting and help determine what goes in the Rag, Help is always: needed with the rag, ring 666681 for the next issue.) As a guide, we do not print articles we consider 'racist, sexist or supportive of oppressive religions'. We try not to edit articles without the writer's agreement, and prefer to hold them over to the next issue if we can't get in touch. So it helps if people can give a contact number with any material they submit. If typed, it should be single spaced and 12cm wide (which we photo-reduce to 10cm). - - - Would research group @ please contact Red Rag. (confidence assured) - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1983/1983-05-15.txt#3 $