UK Culture Feature Archive
Notts Indymedia Launches Radio Show
02-02-2008 10:17
Notts Indymedia and others have launched a new radio show called 'Riseup! Radio'. The community based podcast includes reports covering issues often overlooked by other local media, as well as music from local artists and bands, and chat about stuff that matters. Each month a new podcast will be downloadable through the riseup! Radio website, or by subscribing to our feed. Look out for extra features and new shows in the near future, but for now.. Download, listen, enjoy, distribute and comment on February's show !
Listen: #1 The February Show | #2 The March Show
Links: Riseup! Radio Website | RSS feed | Notts Indymedia Audio Archive
Monday Love Returns....
29-01-2008 18:13
For the valentine month of February, Monday Love will be bringing you the finest in uptown, underground, raise your spirit and blow your mind live music, film and real life grassroots media.
Feb 25th - Monday Love 'Oil & Culture'
Come down for the last Monday Love of the season
Documentary films Source an award winning film about BP's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, presented by Platform Londons own Mika.
Live Music from Ruth Theodore and Hip Hop Poetry from 'The Assembled Servants'
DJ Snuff bringing Protest Reggae, Funk & Hip Hop from (Speakers Corner)
free entry to all those who believe in something more than money & fear
Liverpool's Culture Of Capitalism
04-01-2008 02:24
rampART on the defensive
29-12-2007 17:25
The rampART social centre in London is finally facing eviction after almost 4 years of providing a non-commercial venue for a wide range of activities. On the 12th of December, the social centre and the squatted houses in the street were all served with notice of court proceedings. On the 20th, the case was heard and a possession order granted from the 3rd of January 2008. However, the occupation has continued and the social centre is open as normal. An appeal has been lodged and evcition held off until a decision about the appeal has been made.Meanwhile, there have been various meetings to organise opposition to the threat and open a new space. There was also an assembly on the 6th Jan to look at setting up a group to support London social centres and maintain continuity.
RampART legal battle: appeal lodged | court case notes | possesion order granted | court papers served
Background : Audio: Eviction is a comin' | developers make move on Rampart Street | Developments at rampART | The rampART and its evolution
Full article | 1 addition | 13 comments
Say Hello To Liverpool's New Social Centre
14-09-2007 19:59
At 7pm on Saturday 15th September, the door was unlocked at Next To Nowhere in Bold Street, and Liverpool's new social centre was 'officially' opened, although there weren't any mayors or anything like that. However, there was a whole week of great events, starting with a party and ending with a film night.
Sneinton Festival Rolls On
15-07-2007 18:44
The Sneinton Festival took part for the 13th year running last week. The theme of this year's festival was Earth, Wind and Fire, with a focus on green energy. Schools and youth groups from around Sneinton have been working hard to make fantastic costumes for this year’s parade. Many feel this year's festival was one of the best one yet, creating a sense of pride within the community and involving local children increasing their self esteem, skills and confidence in art. The Caves had been opened up on Wednesday, while on Thursday the International Food Tasting Evening gathered hundreds in the Hermitage Community Centre. On Saturday a big parade took off from Sneinton Windmill, along the Dale and down the Boulevard onto the Hermitage Square. On the square performances took place all afternoon, with workshops and stalls. One stall showed people how to build their own wind turbines while elsewhere folk were informed about why they should make their way over to this year's climate camp.
On the newswire: Sneinton Festival: Some More Photos | Sneinton Community Festival: 2 Hermitage Square Festival | Sneinton Community Festival: 1 Parade | International Food Evening: Sneinton Community Festival | Sneinton Festival - Opening Of The Sneinton Caves | The Sneinton Festival Rolls On
Links: TRACS Neighbourhood Centre | Wikipedia on Sneinton | Sneinton related articles on Indymedia | sneinton.com
A Tale Of Two Gardens
19-06-2007 13:56
In Reading, a group of local activists and residents have reclaimed a plot of land left empty by the local council, transforming it into an attractive community garden. After months of hard work, they went public with banners and door-to-door flyering, advertising the opening day and encouraging the neighbours to see the garden as common land for all to enjoy. The councils response? Injunctions and threats of eviction. Undeterred, the group pushed ahead with the opening day, which was a great success.
A few legal hearings later, the council have their eviction orders, and are expected to try and evict the garden and adjacent squatted building on Wednesday 20th June. Help is needed to resist the eviction - meet 9:30am at the garden.
Meanwhile, in Oxford, locals have turned an area of derelict garages into a similar community space - in this case, with the permission and help of the local council (undoubtably because access issues make the site unsuitable for developers).
They held their official opening on Saturday 16th, also a varied and wonderful community event. In a sickening counterpart to events in Reading, council bureaucrats and the local Blairite MP used the project as cover to prop up their own crumbling reputations, to the discomfort of many of those present.
[ Reading: eviction callout | eviction hearing | detailed report | injunction hearing + demo | opening day report + pics | opening announcement | local mainstream coverage ]
[ Oxford: opening day pics | opening announcement ]
Full article | 1 addition | 2 comments
Peace in the Park 2007
31-05-2007 21:17
This years Peace in the Park festival was a great success with a large turnout, on a nice warm day, there were lots of bands and political stalls. Money was raised for Sheffield Assist and Stepping Stones Nigeria.
Peace in the Park came out of the massive anti-war movement in Sheffield that grew in response to the "war on terror" and the Anglo-American occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Nerve 10 - Injustice For All?
03-05-2007 21:50
Full article | 2 additions | 8 comments
Euromayday 2007
29-04-2007 19:23
Like in previous years, precarious in Europe and beyond have chosen the first of May to take the streets. On Mayday, casual and flexible workers, immigrants, unemployed, temp-workers, part-timers, are stepping out of invisibility: L@s precari@s se rebelan! (The precarious are rebelling). They are demanding new social rights, or, as in the South of Spain, "the right to have rights" in the first place. In some cities, the precari@s march with the trade unions. In others, they set up their own Maydays. Who are "the precarious?" Here is a description from Barcelona EuroMayday Manifesto 2004:
"We are the precarious, the flexible, the temporary, the mobile. We’re the people that live on a tightrope, in a precarious balance, we’re the restructured and outsourced, those who lack a stable job, and those who are overexploited; those who pay a mortgage or a rent that strangles us. We’re forced to buy and sell our ability to love and care. We’re just like you: contortionists of flexibility."
Mayday Mayday 2007!: Barcelona | Berlin | Birmingham | Bristol | Ghent | Glasgow | Hamburg [Video] | Hanau | Helsinki | Japan | Leon | Liverpool | London block, Camberwell and dancing in the city | Madrid | Malaga | Milan | Napoli | Nottingham | Liege | Lisbon | Nottingham | Sheffield | Switzerland | Thessaloniki | Tuebingen | Vienna | Wolverhampton
Portals and Collections: Euromayday Network | Mayday Sur | theagitator blog | videos: precariadotube | precarity-map
Regional Mayday Features in: IMC-Nottinghamshire | IMC-Liverpool | IMC-London
Protest over multi million pound redevelopment of Edinburgh
19-04-2007 23:00
Demonstrations have taken place throughout the city on redevelopment plans which may mean the demolition of some of Edinburgh's most historic and listed buildings. Protesters from 'Save Our Old Town' (SOOT) demonstrated on the Royal Mile outside the City Chambers as the Council discussed the £300 million development plans of both the Canongate and Market Street. With these, and many more 'redevelopment' plans for around the city, Edinburgh is changing quickly, and the Old Town is being destroyed quicker than you can say 'Listed Buildings'.
Links: Canongate Community Forum (SOOT) | Save Glenogle Baths Campaign | Save Meadowbanks Campaign | 600 protest against Meadowbank Stadium destruction
Ladyfest Leeds - 10th-15th April 2007
04-04-2007 12:00
Celebrating creativity, diversity and gender equality in Leeds, Ladyfest Leeds will showcase female artists and performers in a number of venues across the city centre from 10th-15th April 2007.
Ladyfest Leeds is set to be the biggest Ladyfest the UK has ever seen with well over one hundred events across all the arts- spoken word, comedy, dance, theatre, visual arts, film, performance art, live music and workshops. As Amy Brachi, one of the organisers comments:
"Since we started preparations for Ladyfest Leeds, we have been amazed at the interest and support which we have received. Over 50 people are already involved in the festival as organisers, helping to secure venues, artists and to manage what looks like will be one of the largest events in Leeds in 2007. It is really fantastic to see many of our organisers learning new skills as well as others mentoring fellow volunteers.”
For further information, either read more or visit the event website.
Repetitive Beats. Police Baton London free party.
03-04-2007 00:20
Update: The RTF4 building was illegally evicted and a meeting cancelled on Thursday, 5 April, by private security backed by police.
Four months after the acquittal of the Coronet Five, police again sealed off Holloway Road and provoked a pointless confrontation with people attending a major event on the social calender of the anarchist movement. [Pics: 1 | 2 | video]
The setting this time was Reclaim The Future 4, a networking event which combined workshops, info stalls, cinema screenings, a vegan cafe and party, and was attended by hundreds and hundreds of people [Pics]. The event was held in a squatted building on the Holloway Road, which was formerly a workshop and salesroom for London Taxis.
Whitechapel Knees Up against Starbucks
29-03-2007 15:54
On Saturday 24th March, the London's collective of Anarchitects called Space Hijackers invited the Whitechapel local community to a 'East End Knees Up' against the fact that the corporate chain Starbucks recentlty opened a new store in the area. Starbucks has a long history of undercutting and closing down local independent cafes, of treating their staff badly, and their coffee growers even worse.
The tea party in "defense of our area, and to show off the lovely culture we have" lasted for about 4 hours. At 1pm a small crowd turned up outside Starbucks to set up a stall and a sound system, and to give out maps of the area which listed alternative local places to buy coffee and keep money within the local community. From then on, many local people that just came across to it joined in for a hot drink or a plate of hot food provided by the group Food Not Bombs. Police eventually stepped in and threatened to arrest those gathering around the stall for obstruction of the highway, although no one was finally arrested.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3
Related Links: Space Hijackers' Projects Archive | Starbucks - The Faulty Logo | I Hate Starbucks
Two Days of Action Target Climate Criminals
06-02-2007 03:37
Over the weekend of 3-4 Feb 2007, actions up and down the country and beyond targeted dangerous 'greenwash' being desperately pushed by corporations and politicians. The actions came in the wake of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released on Friday, which warned of world temperature rises of over 6C by the end of the century. The report indicated that a 4 degree rise would mean a 10% loss in global food production due to draught, flooding, water shortages. While the world slowly wakes up to the magnitude of climate chaos, Shell and Exxon Mobil last week announced record breaking profits. With the figures laid out so clearly, the nauseating hypocrisy spouted by corporations and politicians has spurred action from Paris to Aberdeen.
Links Press release for oil spill action | action report, photos & video | another video | Shell sponsorship background
Other actions Glasgow | Edinburgh | Plane Stupid | Greenpeace
Coming up Protest against ESSO, 9th Feb | Spring into Action
Climate Camp 2006 indymedia page | website | 2007 Camp 14-21st August | next organising meeting 17-18th Feb
Buy Nothing Day mischief
04-12-2006 21:09
As evening fell Breach of the Peace samba band reclaimed Cornmarket to the cry of 'stop shopping, start living', merging beautifully with a local Faslane 365 anti-nuke group who were out and about doing a series of die-ins. Finally a 'merry band of Oxford pixies' reported having cheekily relabelled goods in several chainstores.
Meanwhile many other events took place across the UK.
[ reports: Samba and die-in | Shop worshippers | Relabellers ]
[ related: BoP samba | Faslane 365 | UK feature | radical carols ]
In the small town of Plav...
22-07-2006 13:26
Plav is a small town in the north east of Montenegro. The 3.500+ inhabitants form a mixed community of Montenegrians, Serbs and Albanians. 80% is muslim, 14% orthodox, 2% catholic. Among the Montenegrians there are both muslims and orthodox, among the Albanians both muslims and catholics. Part of the population are refugees from the Bosnian war (1992-1995) and the Kosovo war (1998-1999). The town is very isolated, surrounded by mountains and six hours away from the capital Podgorica. In autumn last year, a small group of people set up an NGO, Plagus_M, with the aim to activate the local community and the youth culture.
The Art and Activism Caravan was guest in the town of Plav for a very special and hectic week. We were made very welcome by the people and everybody has worked very hard to make a big parade happen on the final day. The samba practiced by marching through the town, getting many funny looks. The Mischief Makers build a giant football and stadium seat, to support the demand from local youth to get better seating in the local football stadium. At the moment they have to sit on a rubbish dump to watch the matches... Another group of mischievious fairies made costumes and danced around during the parade. The video workshop produces films about the local lake and its safety, the management of waste and another one on local youth in Plav. The clowns worked on a performance about waste and collected some from the street in order to find its owners...
Photos: On our way to Plav... some photos | Plav final event - The parade... | Plav final event - handing over the petition | Plav final event - Filmscreening and party...
Other articles: Small town activism in Montenegro - interview with a community activist | Samba in Plav
Links: AA Caravan Indymedia | Wikipedia on Plav
A for Athens, B for Bitola...
13-07-2006 11:30
After a week of student uprising in Greece, the Art and Activism Caravan moved onto Macedonia, where it was welcomed by the Bitola Youth Forum, to fill a week of youth activities in the city of Bitola. Bitola is a city in the south-western part of the Republic of Macedonia, with just under 100.000 inhabitants.
Workshops included: action samba, silkscreening, video activism and rebel clowning, some of which took place at one of the local swimming pools. The Mischief Makers worked in a Roma settlement just outside the city. At the end of the week a large event was held in the local amphitheatre, which was joined by some local bands.
Photo: On the road to Bitola | Roma children's workshops | Video workshop | Final event
Video: Beautiful Bitola (about litter on the streets) | Bitola's Neighbourhood Voices (aspirations...) [will be uploaded soon!]
Other articles: A Week in Rromani | All You Ever Wanted To Know About Roma Culture | videos made in bitola by video workshop participants
Links: AA Caravan Indymedia | Wikipedia on Bitola
The Revolution in Internet TV
10-07-2006 15:48
OfflineTV is innovative because it brings together a number of tried and tested technologies (P2P, RSS, broadband) to make a really user-friendly internet TV interface. It has the capacity to scale from hundreds to thousands and hundreds of thousands viewers in full-screen quality. The other crucial thing is the content: the best of politically radical underground video on direct action, social justice, and the environment. This version is now beta-testing.
Two channels are already up and running :
OfflineTV – a quality-controlled screening of the best of what’s out there in radical cyberspace.
News from the Balkans - the first regional network of what will hopefully be many similar networks around the world. NfB gives a radical voice to this region which is so mis-reported by the corporate media. This project is being launched out of the video workshops in the EYFA Art and Activism caravan, but we hope to create a permanent network of radical film makers posting regular reports.
To watch these channels, download Democracy Player
Then search for Undercurrents inside Democracy Player and subscribe to each channel.
And calling all video activists: if you’ve got a funky report about anything anywhere, post it to the Scratch Channel
Nottingham Green Festival in the Arboretum
07-06-2006 09:53
Nottingham Arboretum celebrates with a Green Festival embracing all things green. Live bands, fun for children and sustainable produce. Stalls, including crafts, plants, local produce, energy conservation demonstrations, wind and solar power, social struggles and human rights issues etc and plenty of other organic, eco-friendly activities.
Earlier events
Nottingham Green Festival, 2003 | Nottingham Green Festival, 2005 | Arboretum Festival Weekend [May Bank Holiday 2006]
| Nottingham Live Music Festival 1 | Nottingham Live Music Festival 2 | Nottingham Live Music Festival 3 | Nottingham Live Music Festival 4
