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Strawberry Fayre Fight Back!

Class War Cambridgeshire | 25.03.2010 15:52 | Culture | Free Spaces | Social Struggles | Cambridge

In an act of utter shamefaced prudishness and class warfare the actions of the cambridgeshire constabulary have led to the Cambridge cultural event the strawberry fayre to be called of by the organisers for fayre.

It is understandable why the rich and their lap dogs would want the it not to happen: the fayre is large oneday event with a festival feel organised entirely by the community. Thats right no burocrats or profiteers involved. It takes place on midsummer common in cambridge on the first saturday of june, has done for years, as an opportunity for local arists and bands to give their work an airing and gives great coverage to the community groups and campaigns that so often get subordinated to money making events.

This decision comes as no surprise to those involved in organising the event, last year the police demanded payment in the hundreds of thousands for policing the event. Thats right folks! Despite no one asking them to attend, and many criticising them for creating a hostile atmosphere, the coppers demanded payment for policing the event or they would do every thing they could to stop it going ahead. A successful campaign was launched last year against these Mafioso tactics and the fayre went ahead but the pigs had it in for the fayre.

This year the police decided that they didn’t have the resources to police the fair, again no one asked them too, so called upon the council to ban it. To their credit the cambridge city council chucked the veto out on it’s arse. But the police were not to be beaten so easily. They began a campaign of intimidation against the organisers, and tied the organisers up in appeals and paperwork.

The overwealming feeling has been that of disgust at the police action and the class boundries have been drawn very clearly. As one of the cities few free events it is the faovurite event in the social calendar of the working class in cambridge, free music cheap beer lots of cool stalls and a chance to just chill out on the common, but the middle classes have applauded the decision claiming “It’s about time! Lets keep cambridge looking clean, and maybe it’ll encourage some of those wasters to get a job!”  http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Strawberry-Fair-cancelled.htm

The organisers have taken the sad decision to cancel the fayre. But the people are up in arms. A facebook group has been set up and now nearly 20,000 people have said they are going to turn up anyway. This could be the biggest kick off in local Cambridge history. Cambridge Anarchists and Class War Cambridgeshire invite all those who believe that the working class has as much right to a good day out as the rich and their pet police men to come down and join us on the first saturday of june. Big your family, picnics and music.

NO CONTROL!

ACAB

Link to article on Cambridge Anarchists website:
 http://cambridgeanarchists.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/strawberry-fayre-fight-back/

Class War Cambridgeshire
- e-mail: classwarcambridgeshire@worker.com
- Homepage: http://cambridgeanarchists.wordpress.com


Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

is there a link to the facebook group?

25.03.2010 16:44

sounds like fun...

anonarchist


facebook

25.03.2010 17:42

This should be banded about on the already existing facebook groups, and perhaps have its own group? Though should be done with proxy profile, for obvious reasons!

antifascist casual


Facebook links

25.03.2010 18:00

strawberries and cream


wicked

25.03.2010 18:27

the best thing about Strawberry Faire is the peace and love in the afternoon, and then the locals kicking off around 7pm, i remember one time a big punch up between a load of irish travellers and some squaddies, bloody amazing.

jo blogs


facebook.

29.03.2010 20:37

Event Canceled

This Event is no longer available because it has been canceled.


hmmm?

this is the message i get from facebook.

=/


This is not a working class fight, it's everybody's.

10.04.2010 20:22

Most middle class people in Cambridge also think it's outrageous that Strawberry Fair should be cancelled, and are as ready to resist it as anyone else is. It is a free festival for the whole community regardless of class. Let's all fight back together and beat the oppressors who are against all freedom and fun loving people regardless of class. Stop dividing us up into old class divisions, for issues which are not class related. It's one of the establishment's weapons to divide and rule, it shouldn't be ours.

classless anarchist


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