Oxford is full of diversity; town and gown, rich and poor, black, white, brown, asian, african, student, homeless, imigrant, student, native
how social a place is it?
there was talk of an Oxford social forum
how inclussive would this be?
how social a place is it?
there was talk of an Oxford social forum
how inclussive would this be?
FUSPEY
i arrived here in september to study in brookes and have found it hard to mix.
there is loads going on but groups dont seem to mix as much as they could. the war actually brought many groups together for the first time but i wonder if they are still communicating, or is there more groups that could get involved
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/oxford/2003/06/272690.html
was an earlier forum that tried to get an oxford social forum up and running
it seems it has faded??
i really feel that there is great potential here in oxford, for groups to come together, communicate together and socialize more. and with that DO something profoundly positive in this world- you can do a lot if you try
i feel its important to be as inclussive as possible, to make things known to the public, invite them to participate and let them get involved
im involved with the FUSPEY network that is based in brookes
it would be good if different groups and individualss added their views to this discussion
how SOCIAL are we?
there is loads going on but groups dont seem to mix as much as they could. the war actually brought many groups together for the first time but i wonder if they are still communicating, or is there more groups that could get involved
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/oxford/2003/06/272690.html was an earlier forum that tried to get an oxford social forum up and running
it seems it has faded??
i really feel that there is great potential here in oxford, for groups to come together, communicate together and socialize more. and with that DO something profoundly positive in this world- you can do a lot if you try
i feel its important to be as inclussive as possible, to make things known to the public, invite them to participate and let them get involved
im involved with the FUSPEY network that is based in brookes
it would be good if different groups and individualss added their views to this discussion
how SOCIAL are we?
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UP ON A HILL.......
03.07.2003 20:07
I feel it is our job to make the top of the hill the most exciting fun place around, so that everyone comes up and has a blast
Tall order?
1989-@ 150 people take to the streets of Berlin for a fun event to promote tolerance, understanding, and respect between nations-
1999-@ 1,500,000 (one and a half million) people dance in the streets and it rocked!!
that reminds me, you know how the start of that strokes song, "the modern age" - UP ON A HILL.......
dancey rocker
random thoughts on how 'social' oxford is
03.07.2003 22:00
love & respect
becky
Becky
e-mail:
lazorraguapa@hotmail.com
Social Forum News site...
04.07.2003 09:24
If you get anything off the ground, then be sure to let us know and we will do our best to publicise it to the other groups around the UK.
Also, as of next week, we will be offering a free web-hosting service to Social Forum groups. If you want to take advantage of this, leave a message on our boards or drop us a mail.
Peace,
Dan
Dannyboy
The factory of education?
04.07.2003 16:01
I also agree that been locally involved is just as important as been globalally involved if not more, generally think global act local.
Just some thoughts :)
Leg
Sorry I have been away
04.07.2003 19:00
for being so long out of this discussion.
I started the last discussion as a response to calls from many members
of Oxford students stop the war... (of which I am an active member)
who felt that this year has empowered them and broken through these town
gown barriers, at least in the Activist community and that we wanted to
widen the scope and direction of our action.
So you see it was students who have made this call and thus we have an important
opportunity to create something. However, as with me, many of us are not going to
be in Oxford for the next three months (due to no accomodation) so our imput
will have to be largely electronic.
Having said this I haven't heard anything I disagreed with particularly.
BUT I think what we need to do is start by brainstorming some ideas of potential
inclusive social action.
Some ideas I have heard are:
1 some kind of squat cafe/ social center in central
oxford that people can plug in to.
2 a large event like the Cowley road carnival that
gets the whole community involves and draws people in.
3 Some kind of fora/communications network for activist and other groups.
4 The most important thing being a stress on Social and Fun rather than political
and prescriptive.
5 workshops like those found in the Manchester Peoples Assembly
I also remind anyone who does not know that there is a discussion list on this
that can be joined by visiting
That although it has been quite quiet this
is only so because people have not joined it in large enough numbers.
Peace and love
Chakuwi
Chakuwi
Thoughts
04.07.2003 19:21
I think the way to proceed with an Oxford Social Forum is to start it off as a communication tool, so that people interested in progressive and community issues can meet up with each other; exchange information and ideas, and help each other out. The new Vice-President (Charities and Community) from OUSU could be a helpful source of publicity for within the student body. After this is established (Indymedia will help here when it catches on), then we can start thinking about (a) a big event like the Canal Carnival to bring everyone together and really publicise everything community-orientated in Oxford and (b) the possibility of a permanent space for a Social Forum.
(b) would be a lot of work, and needs to have a solid basis of people involved and supportive if it is to succeed.
Matt
Matt S
Get Involved
05.07.2003 18:47
I have been going to most groups meetings and met people I would never have met otherwise. Still there is a limit to the sociability perhaps due to the good old English reserve. I have found it difficult to become accepted in some groups. Activists in oxford need to become more inclusive. If one conforms to certain language, ideas, food etc one can fit into a clique. I say this as someone who is mainly vegitarian but who has enjoyed hunting and killing animals. If anyone is willing to set up a vegitatian hunting group let me know.
The same few active people seem to be involved in all the events. There is leafleting in Cornmarket every Saturday 12 - 2pm and all are welcome to come and help and socialize. At meetings now I see fewer and fewer people. If one gets involved and does something useful rather than stay at home and in cliques things become more social.
Paul
Oxford feels like home to me
06.07.2003 02:13
> where you go in, do what you need to do and then go home for the holidays.
That's probably true of a lot of students. For me Oxford feels a lot more like home
now than where I spend the holidays. But that's something that's grown gradually over
the past two years.
I'm quite tempted to kickstart the whole squat cafe thing just so I can have somewhere
to live and don't have to leave for the summer ;-)
student
squat café - social wander?
06.07.2003 12:10
need a squat tea
OXFORD SOCIAL WANDER- saturday 120703
06.07.2003 12:38
OXFORD SOCIAL WANDER
2- cowley road, diversity “you can walk the whole road and
not hear english being spoken” the "welcome wall" c/o the rapyard
3- the peace plain,(roundabout) vigil was held here for peace, during
recent war on iraq, site of old graveyard
4- the half moon, a Clare pub, great ceoil (music) in here
5- the river cherwell, punting on the river, may day stuff,
6- angel meadows, a public park entrances from saint
Clements road
7- the private grounds along the river, cant get to where
the rivers meet, the public should be able to get here
8- botanic gardens, lovely but an entry fee, heard rumour
that oxford residents can get in free?
9- Public walking area of the university, nice spot, so to
is university parks, up the cherwell, not everyone knows of the parks
10- River themes, or isis river as the call it in oxford,
why?
11- River walk alongside nice old housing
12- The canal, pleasant public walkway there to be followed
13- public Park @ ice rink
14- Old boat works, canal locks, interesting area
15- Allotments, many people grow their own vegetables in oxford
16- People live on the boats
17- Port meadow, occasional parties happen here, finish up
in the old circle
Everyone is welcome to join on this OXFORD SOCIAL WANDER, meet
menzil gardens @ 4.00 next saturday.
We might stop in the half moon for a quick pint to quench the
thirst, after the first litte leg of the wnader, and im sure we will have a few more later
Hopefully the sun will be as plentiful as it was a few weeks ago
Tell everyone, get your friends and your grannies to come, get them to announce it in the bingo hall
Lets socialize more
dunk
dunk
e-mail:
02092997@brookes.ac.uk
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http://www.geocities.com/fuspey/
squat thoughts...
06.07.2003 18:52
Sorry to take my usual stick-in-the-mud position...
Have any of you ever actually squatted in Oxford? I lived in squats here for four years, and it is something which became increasingly difficult, not least because land and housing are so expensive they are not often left empty for long, and when they are people would rather pay security guards than let people it. There are also issues around how the centres get run, was anyone around during the LMS squat in town (where the Said blood-money school now stands)? It was a really good idea, happened during the summer, brought people together on an idea which the whole community felt strongly about, and it still flopped in the end. It takes a huge amount of energy and time, and the issues people create a squat cafe/ info centre to discuss get pushed aside to talk about who's allowed in.
There are places and spaces which people can use for very little money and which don't pose the same problems. There's some exciting stuff going on at E Oxford communitiy centre (on princes street) looking at setting up a community resource centre. Why not get involved there and help make this happen?
peace & love
Becky
Becky
Ambition
06.07.2003 23:08
Matt
Matt S
Semi-squat?
07.07.2003 01:30
I know they have some plans for the use of parts of the building, but an idea could be to work with them on the project and create a social center on the second floor or something like that. It is perfectly situated, in the center of Oxford, and the Reservoir Books project aims at creating a "culture center" for the Oxford community, as i understood it, so it is a project that could fit well with an Oxford Social Forum and a social center.
So i think it is much more realistic than a squat for now, and could leed to a permanent social center, and maybe meanwhile to a home for Oxford indymedia.
But i suppose before talking about it, if we are interested, we should formulate a clear idea of what our project could look like and discuss with them if it could be feasable and if they would like to collaborate with us.
The idea of collaborating with East Oxford Community Center is also possible and has been discussed for example in Oxford indymedia. But I think it could be a good idea to try to create a new community center in the center of Oxford also.
love and freedom :-)
Mr patate
TESTING these ideas- social space
07.07.2003 07:47
but i think we should also be asking ourselves the questions "right, if we had it, what would we do there, would we have events/ gigs/ workshops/ art/ cooking/ debates/ games/ street theatre practice/ brainstorm sessions etc..."
with that i think we should start TESTING these ideas by putting on (social) events, such as above. go to different palces and DO something, see how it goes, test the waters. we would learn a lot from this, we could be meeting face to face
we could rotate the venues, and while its warm use the public parks etc, personally there are places i havent been to yet, some places im sure i dont know of yet. we can SHARE IDEAS, go to different places and try out a few things.
if this is going on it can be something real and parctical and social, for more people to get involved with
not just them getting invovled with (y)our stuff, but encourage them to add their input, what would they like to do
dunk
Agree!
07.07.2003 09:06
peace
Becky
T.A.Z. ....Tenacious Autonomous Zone !!?!
12.08.2003 11:52
Finance is not the problematic issue (this lot raised £500,000 via Radical Routes, The Ethical Property Company and Triodos bank), for Oxford it is whether we have enough truly commited people willing to invest a few years as they have done in Brighton, and enough punters to buy the beer and food and pay the mortgage. THe Cowley Club in Brighton has got this right, it is a fantastic place, answering the communities truest needs and galvanising an extremely potent activist community. It is one of a network of other social centres springing up in major cities around the country e.g Manchester, Nottinghham, Bristol). The Cowley Club and Radical Routes can provide a blueprint of the highly bureaucratic organisational process, and I'd really love to hear some feedback on how possible the Oxford activist community feels this may be.
The principle is that instead of pouring our beer money into the hands of corporate coffers, it can be ploughed directly back into the community.
suze
e-mail:
sooz@yesmate.com