+ Tuesday climate camp screening and follow-up
+ Thursday weekly cinema
+ Friday benefit party for No Borders
+ Saturday State of Emergeny benefit Sack Parliment
+ Sunday rampART 'get involved' work and social from midday
+ rampART survey results
+ Other news, soy bad
TUESDAY 12TH, 7PM
Camp for Climate Action screening and follow-up discussions
The Camp for Climate Action (www.climatecamp.org.uk) was spectacularly
well-organised, with inspirational workshops and amazing actions. Come see
footage from the camp and the day of action this tuesday plus a chance to
share stories about the camp and actions that week along with starting to
plan next steps for climate activism in London and beyond. All are
welcome, regardless of whether you came to the camp.
The screening will be accompanied by live commentary from London Rising
Tiders and others who were there, and followed by a short chat about where
climate activism is heading in London over the next few months.
Locally-sourced food and drink will be served after.
Organised by London Rising Tide: london@risingtide.org.uk
www.londonrisingtide.org.uk
THURSDAY 14TH, 8PM
Getting off the theme of climate change, this weeks free cinema night is
about immigration. We'll probably be showing Dirty Pretty Things
( http://www.dirtyprettythingsband.com/), in which kind-hearted Nigerian
doctor, and Senay, a Turkish chambermaid, work at the same West London
hotel. The hotel is run by Senor Sneaky and is the sort of place where
dirty business like drug dealing and prostitution takes place. However,
when Okwe finds a human heart in one of the toilets, he uncovers something
far more sinister than just a common crime. It's got plenty of relevence
to news this week about dodgy dealings with human organs.
We'll also show other short films about immigration, perhaps Latitude 36.
FRIDAY 15TH, 8PM
Benefit reggae party for London No Borders and info about the
international day of action which takes place on the 7th October
No Borders is a social movement of people opposed to borders, immigration
controls, detention centres and forced migration. Borders are created to
carve up territory and have been formed due to imperialist and colonial
wars through out history. There purpose is to divide humanity into
"national identities" and pose the nations and states as "natural"
entities. This is however not the reality. Borders serve the interest of
those which maintain power - capitalists, politicians, dictators,
religious fanatics. Borders maintain a divided humanity and there use is
that of racism and exclusion.
The Benefit on September the 15th 2006 will raise money to help cover the
costs of the International Day of Action for Migrant Rights on 7th Oct.
for more info visit
http://noborderslondon.blogspot.com/
SATURDAY 16TH, 8PM
Over the past few years the UK parliament and government have led this
country into war upon war, torn up age-old rights and made the division
between rich and poor to grow ever wider. Despite only 22% of the
electorate voting for them the Labour party has suppressed any opposition
to its legislation, whilst opposition parties have continued to offer them
a veil of legitimacy by engaging in weak debate rather than denouncing
this one-party state. Despite repeated mass protests, parliament has
ignored those it is supposed to represent and consistently sided with
continuing wars and further authoritarian legislation.
"We have only one option left - Sack parliament!"
'State of Emergency' is a party being held at the rampART to raise funds
for the Sack Parliament event on the 9th October. The party is a night of
eclectic funk, hip hop, reggae, soul, disco, techno, house and everything
else in between, noise, beats and more. DJ's on the night will include
Stuart P ('Hit Or Miss'), boogie knight and Rass Smallmoney.
Suggested donations: £5 waged / £3 unwaged
For more info see www.sackparliament.org.uk
SUNDAY 17TH, 1PM
We're having another day aimed at enabling people to get involved in
maintaining the building and being part of the collective. The first one
about a month ago seemed to work really well so we going to do the same
again. If the weather is nice we hope to work on the roof garden again,
otherwise we'll probably be creating a new workshop space on the top floor
and moving then rebuilding the radio studio.
There's lot's of opportunity to get do something useful and learn new
stuff. So, if you want to get involved in the rampART, please turn up at
1PM and we'll work together then have a meal in the evening and put on
some tunes.
RAMPART SURVEY RESULTS
Nearly 800 subscribers to the rampART mailing lists were asked last week
to answer three questions. We had a 10% response rate which is pretty
amazing, thanks for everyone who took time to reply. The results were
compiled on sunday afternoon when there were 72 responses. Below are the
results...
Asked about the importantance of the rampART striving to be a non-commercial venue ...
65 said it was important (53 of those saying it was very important)
5 gave a nutural answer
2 said it was not important
Basically, 90% appear to agree with the rampART constitution relating to
ensuring that all money raised goes directly to social causes rather than
personal finacial gain.
Asked about the importance of keeping the building fully communal rather
than allocating space to private individuals...
42 said it was important (29 saying very important)
20 gave a nutural answer
10 said it was not important
While 26% appear nutural on the issue, over 60% appear to agree with the
desirability of keeping the building a fully communal project space
compared to just 14% who appear to support the concept of turning some
space over to private use.
Asked about the current balance of informational to entertainment
events at rampART...
17 wanted a more emphasis on info / politics
37 said the current balance is about right
17 said they wanted more emphasis on entertainment
The majority, 50%, seem to think the current range of events are about
right. The remaining reponses are spread pretty much evenly, with 25%
wanting more info/politics and 25% wanting more entertainment.
We took these responses into account during a special monthly meeting of
the collective held on sunday when considering a proposal to allow
products to be sold for private gain during rampART events and decided to
reject the proposal and retain the current constitution.
We also decided we would reorganise the 2nd and 1st floors to ensure that
space is always available for people wanting to do banner making in the
space which has become dominated by screening printing. A new workshop
space for printing, stenciling etc will be set up in what was the radio
studio which will be moved down to the projection/small cinema room
on the 1st floor.
A knock on effect of this is that the samba drums currently stored in the projection
rooms will now be stored on the ground floor in the cage under the stairs,
thus making life much easier for the samba band. The cafe equipement for
WANC will also need to be moved downstairs, probably into the kitchen
which makes a lot more sense too.
Other plans include encouraging event organisers to provide more
information during their events about their campaigns, what money is being
raised for and how people can get involved. We'll also be doing a similar
thing for the rampART itself with a new leaflet, mailing list sign up
sheet, notice board outside etc. Additionally, as a collective, we plan on
organising debates, discussions and talks etc in the hope of encouraging
more groups to propose such events rather than just parties ;-)
OTHER NEWS
There's a unique opportunity this weekend to come and learn about the devastating
social and environmental effects of soy production in Argentina and
Paraguay, and the resistance of social movements to the greenwash of the
'Responsible' Soy Round Tables. Films and a presentation by Javiera Rulli
from Grupo Reflexion Rural (Argentina) plus how GM soy ends up in your
food here.
It takes place this Saturday 16th September, 10am - 1pm @ LARC, 62 Fieldgate St E1 1ES (corner of fieldgate and parfett st) and from 2pm -5pm at E4E Social Centre, 4 Dalston Lane, Dalston (opposite the peace mural).
Later this month (29th Sept) there will be a related benefit event at the
rampART, see future newsletters for details.