A week that started with British soldiers exposed as torturers and the US president proclaiming his "calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom" ended much more sanely at Birmingham's DIY Culture weekend.  Hosted by The Nursery Social Centre collective [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ], the weekend featured three days of workshops.  Participants got their hands dirty converting a Ford Escort van to run on used vegetable oil, set up solar power systems, erected wind turbines, learned to shoot and edit video, set up lowtech computing resources using GNU/Linux, and did a sometimes-vertical Situationist-style tour of the city.  The explosive film Injustice, about the community response to deaths in police custody, was featured on Saturday night, and was followed by a talk with the film's director. 

Sunday included workshops on permaculture,subvertising and practical experience in low impact dwellings over at the Nursery secret garden, plus real progress was made on setting up a Birmingham Indymedia website - contact Indy Brum to find out how to get involved.

Full schedule of events
Reports: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ Photos ]
Videos: [ DIY Chip-fat Vehicle Conversion ] [ Urban Explorations ]
Links: [ The Nursery ] [ Stuffit.org ] [ InjusticeFilm.co.uk ] [ United Families & Friends Campaign ]