Reasons to come to Brighton this week
Jo Makepeace | 14.04.2012 20:36 | Anti-racism | Climate Chaos | Culture
Brighton has many things going for it – sunny weather, a world famous (albeit slightly stoney) beach, a large LGBT scene, a vibrant squatting community (
https://network23.org/snob/), the world's greatest free anarcho newsheet ( http://www.schnews.org.uk) and much more. However this week there are even more reasons to head south with bikes, fascists & punk all vying for your attention.
https://network23.org/snob/), the world's greatest free anarcho newsheet ( http://www.schnews.org.uk) and much more. However this week there are even more reasons to head south with bikes, fascists & punk all vying for your attention.
This week sees Brighton Bike Fest ( http://www.brightonbikefest.org/) a week long DIY bicycle festival with enough cinemas, workshops and critical masses to satisfy even the most obsessive bike fans.
Next weekend (20th-22nd) Brighton will host it's second Punx Picnic ( http://punxpicnic.wordpress.com/), with around 30 bands including Oi! Polloi, Headjam, Contempt, Inner Terrestrials, Spanner and Agnosy playing a 3 day, DIY benefit festival. Any money left over will go towards supporting squatters, antifascists and hunt sabs.
If punk's not your thing there's also a Ceilidh raising money for antifascist prisoners ( https://network23.org/londonabc/2012/03/29/ceilidh-music-and-dancing-brighton-abc-benefit-for-anti-fascist-prisoner-support/) and a Gypsy Folk extravaganza at the Cowley Club to help fund the Bike Fest.
Finally on Sunday 22nd April we'll 'welcome' the return of March for England (MfE) to our (usually fairly pleasant) streets. MfE are a rightwing organisation who share membership and ideology with the English Defence League. Though they pre-date the far right street gang, they are now little more than a front organisation for them and their racist politics have tended to become more overt every time they come to town.
There has been a callout for locals to oppose the march from around 11am ( http://stopmfe.wordpress.com). Hopefully a few bike fans, punks and antifascists will also make it to the centre of town to bolster numbers. While Brighton is far from a hotbed of fascism, the EDL will see it as a victory if their bused in supporters can even come close to matching the counter protesters in number or action.
So in short – come to Brighton.
http://www.brightonbikefest.org/) a week long DIY bicycle festival with enough cinemas, workshops and critical masses to satisfy even the most obsessive bike fans. Next weekend (20th-22nd) Brighton will host it's second Punx Picnic (
http://punxpicnic.wordpress.com/), with around 30 bands including Oi! Polloi, Headjam, Contempt, Inner Terrestrials, Spanner and Agnosy playing a 3 day, DIY benefit festival. Any money left over will go towards supporting squatters, antifascists and hunt sabs. If punk's not your thing there's also a Ceilidh raising money for antifascist prisoners (
https://network23.org/londonabc/2012/03/29/ceilidh-music-and-dancing-brighton-abc-benefit-for-anti-fascist-prisoner-support/) and a Gypsy Folk extravaganza at the Cowley Club to help fund the Bike Fest. Finally on Sunday 22nd April we'll 'welcome' the return of March for England (MfE) to our (usually fairly pleasant) streets. MfE are a rightwing organisation who share membership and ideology with the English Defence League. Though they pre-date the far right street gang, they are now little more than a front organisation for them and their racist politics have tended to become more overt every time they come to town.
There has been a callout for locals to oppose the march from around 11am (
http://stopmfe.wordpress.com). Hopefully a few bike fans, punks and antifascists will also make it to the centre of town to bolster numbers. While Brighton is far from a hotbed of fascism, the EDL will see it as a victory if their bused in supporters can even come close to matching the counter protesters in number or action. So in short – come to Brighton.
Jo Makepeace