Hello,
Here's the finished timetable for the Bristol Social Forum Launch on Saturday 30th April. Food + Drinks will be available all day (Pitta Bread + Fillings).
TIME. 1:00pm - 6:00pm. Free Entry (donations welcome). VENUE: St. Werburgh's Community Centre, Horley Rd. (off Mina Rd.) St. Werburgh's, Bristol. BS2 9TJ. MAP:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=360342&Y=174535&A=Y&Z=1
Here's the finished timetable for the Bristol Social Forum Launch on Saturday 30th April. Food + Drinks will be available all day (Pitta Bread + Fillings).
TIME. 1:00pm - 6:00pm. Free Entry (donations welcome). VENUE: St. Werburgh's Community Centre, Horley Rd. (off Mina Rd.) St. Werburgh's, Bristol. BS2 9TJ. MAP:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=360342&Y=174535&A=Y&Z=1
BRISTOL SOCIAL FORUM LAUNCH TIMETABLE
1:00 - 1:30pm: Red Notes Choir / Open Mike
1:30 - 2:00pm: Intro / Invited Speakers*
2:00 - 2:50pm: Workshop Choices 1
2:50 - 3:10pm: Tea Break / Stall Time
3:10 - 4:00pm: Workshop Choices 2
4:00 - 4:50pm: Gigantonas Theatre*
4:50 - 5:20pm: Open mike / Report Backs
5:20 - 6:00pm: Discuss Constitution
FOOD WILL BE SERVED ALL DAY
*There will be two main speakers – one from Cardiff Social Forum and the other from Nicaragua - Giaconda Perez Arostegui. She is a youth and community worker and will speak on how globalisation is being challenged in her country. She will also lead an interactive session with Gigantonas, or ‘giant women’ puppets. These are used as a way of encouraging and unifying resistance in Nicaragua through music, dance and poetry.
WORKSHOP CHOICES 1 - 2:00-2:50pm
a.) Housing For All / Not For Profit
b.) Direct Action – G8 Summit : (Dissent!)
c.) ‘Using The Media’
d.) Sustainable Transport : (Transport Alliance)
WORKSHOP CHOICES 2 - 3:10-4:00pm
a.) Work / Benefits / Pensions
b.) Arms Trade, Global & Local - (Campaign Against Arms Trade)
c.) Billboard Subvertising
d.) World Water Crisis - (World Development Movement)
CONFIRMED STALLS
Campaign Against Arms Trade - Bristol Dissent! - Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - World Development Movement - Bristol Inner City Credit Union - Bristol Co-Housing - Bristol Green Party - Red Notes Choir - Feminist Activism in Bristol - Workers Power - Revolution Youth Group - Simultaneous Policy - Queer Mutiny - Kebele Kulture Projekt
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Extra Info Has Been Provided For Some Workshops.
Topic: "Using The Media". Led by Rowland Dye and Margaret Jones. "Have you got a campaign or burning issue that you want to get out to a wider audience but unsure how to us the media to do this? Have you got experience of media work that you want to share with others?! The aims of this workshop are:- * Share experience of using the media for campaigning, both locally in Bristol and Nationally. * Discuss the nuts & bolts and practical tips of how media work can be done. * Discuss the pros and cons of using main stream and alternative media. * Encourage and empower newcomers to get involved."
Topic: "Sustainable Transport". "The Transport Workshop will be a chance to find out about the newly formed Transport Alliance. - Provide information about current transport planning thats happening in Bristol and the Avon area. - Explore ways to win councillors over to support sustainable integrated transport plans."
Topic: "The Arms Trade, Global & Local". "It will be a presentation on current issues in the arms trade and the role of local companies, followed by a disussion of how the arms trade can be challenged in the Bristol area. (newly formed: BCATT)."
Topic: "The World Water Crisis". "A look at WDM's new campaign on Dirty Water Dirty Aid, against UK aid money going into the pockets of consultants pushing water privatisation as the solutions to the water crisis in developing countries, and broader issues around the government's lip service to the Make Poverty History campaign and its continued support of policies that have caused the problem in the first place."
1:00 - 1:30pm: Red Notes Choir / Open Mike
1:30 - 2:00pm: Intro / Invited Speakers*
2:00 - 2:50pm: Workshop Choices 1
2:50 - 3:10pm: Tea Break / Stall Time
3:10 - 4:00pm: Workshop Choices 2
4:00 - 4:50pm: Gigantonas Theatre*
4:50 - 5:20pm: Open mike / Report Backs
5:20 - 6:00pm: Discuss Constitution
FOOD WILL BE SERVED ALL DAY
*There will be two main speakers – one from Cardiff Social Forum and the other from Nicaragua - Giaconda Perez Arostegui. She is a youth and community worker and will speak on how globalisation is being challenged in her country. She will also lead an interactive session with Gigantonas, or ‘giant women’ puppets. These are used as a way of encouraging and unifying resistance in Nicaragua through music, dance and poetry.
WORKSHOP CHOICES 1 - 2:00-2:50pm
a.) Housing For All / Not For Profit
b.) Direct Action – G8 Summit : (Dissent!)
c.) ‘Using The Media’
d.) Sustainable Transport : (Transport Alliance)
WORKSHOP CHOICES 2 - 3:10-4:00pm
a.) Work / Benefits / Pensions
b.) Arms Trade, Global & Local - (Campaign Against Arms Trade)
c.) Billboard Subvertising
d.) World Water Crisis - (World Development Movement)
CONFIRMED STALLS
Campaign Against Arms Trade - Bristol Dissent! - Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - World Development Movement - Bristol Inner City Credit Union - Bristol Co-Housing - Bristol Green Party - Red Notes Choir - Feminist Activism in Bristol - Workers Power - Revolution Youth Group - Simultaneous Policy - Queer Mutiny - Kebele Kulture Projekt
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Extra Info Has Been Provided For Some Workshops.
Topic: "Using The Media". Led by Rowland Dye and Margaret Jones. "Have you got a campaign or burning issue that you want to get out to a wider audience but unsure how to us the media to do this? Have you got experience of media work that you want to share with others?! The aims of this workshop are:- * Share experience of using the media for campaigning, both locally in Bristol and Nationally. * Discuss the nuts & bolts and practical tips of how media work can be done. * Discuss the pros and cons of using main stream and alternative media. * Encourage and empower newcomers to get involved."
Topic: "Sustainable Transport". "The Transport Workshop will be a chance to find out about the newly formed Transport Alliance. - Provide information about current transport planning thats happening in Bristol and the Avon area. - Explore ways to win councillors over to support sustainable integrated transport plans."
Topic: "The Arms Trade, Global & Local". "It will be a presentation on current issues in the arms trade and the role of local companies, followed by a disussion of how the arms trade can be challenged in the Bristol area. (newly formed: BCATT)."
Topic: "The World Water Crisis". "A look at WDM's new campaign on Dirty Water Dirty Aid, against UK aid money going into the pockets of consultants pushing water privatisation as the solutions to the water crisis in developing countries, and broader issues around the government's lip service to the Make Poverty History campaign and its continued support of policies that have caused the problem in the first place."
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Next BSF Meeting / Report Back On Launch
02.05.2005 13:20
Thanks to everyone who came to, & helped run and organise, the Bristol Social Forum launch on Sat 30th April. Numbers were a little lower than anticipated (70-90 came throughout the day), but the diversity of groups present was greater than most people generally could have hoped for in recent decades. It was also good to meet up with a number of people who I only ever, or mostly only ever, communicate with on email, and I'm sure the same positive feelings were felt by others.
Visit us:
WHAT NEXT?
The next meeting of the, now launched, Bristol Social Forum will be on Wed 18th May, 7:00-9:00pm, @ "1 in 8", 160 Gloucester Rd (A38). Map:
This is along the 'showcase' 77 bus route, which links north and south Bristol, and which cuts through the city centre, and so is quite accessible to most people.
We also hope to have a theme for this meeting, which will be posted a little later.
The Bristol Social Forum Constitution was agreed by consensus at the launch. The next phase of the forum - alongside beginning to put into practice the tasks outlined for the forum - will be to put together a set of procedures and positions.
My personal feeling on this, as the person who currently does most of the emails, is that the position of secretary, which is effectively the job I have been doing, is simply too much for one person to sustain, and needs to be shared between 2 or 3 people. One other person agreed to help with this job, but we still need a Treasurer.
Any volunteers?
How these positions will be held to account, and what their remits should be - within a project compromised of independent groups which are unlikely to forego their own independence either by design or by accident - will be for those groups and individuals who comprise the forum to decide at these public meetings.
A FEW MORE NOTES:
Hopefully others will post their own feelings on the day. Here's a few more points raised during the constitution. A reminder of our Constitution can be found here:
An area it was felt we are currently lacking is with our contacts with unions, although a number of people at the constitutional discussion were themselves in unions. This was partly put down to Patrick's stroke. Patrick was intending to contact and liase with unions in Bristol, and once he became unwell, we didn't have enough time, people, or energy to fill that gap.
It was also felt that the political left were not as represented as they could have been. It was noted that most people who this applied to were out canvassing for the election, and would hopefully be better represented at future events.
On the issue of what we ourselves as a forum should cover, it was noted that while the constitution does not explicitly cover every group or issue, it is sufficiently broad for all social issues to be able to feel implicity included as part of our brief.
In particular, the need to focus on Bristol issues, and how they link in to global issues was covered, as well as the need to experiment with formats and issues covered at future events. For example, the launch was intentionally quite informal, while future events may be more educational in form.
Within this context it was also noted that culture and the 'pleasure principle' should be a part of these events whatever the format. The Gigantonas Theatre and the serving of food through the day at our launch, were felt to be good examples of culture and the 'pleasure principle'.
Our next high profile event should hopefully take place some 6-8 months from now. This would conveniently coincide with the next European Social Forum, due to be held in Greece in March 2006. While it was felt that this gives us something to mobilise around, there was also concern that our energies shouldn't only be spent mobilising for the ESF, at the expense of other local issues and energy.
I hope to see some of you on the 18th, as we now begin to the process of putting our constitution into practice.
Best wishes,
James
james venables
e-mail:
bristolsocialforum@yahoo.co.uk
Homepage:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bristolsocialforum/