I’ve never been to Buddhafield but this year my friend Helen of East End Prints persuaded me to join her and a few of her Bristol based friends, all travelling solo with little ones to this year’s much smaller offshoot, Green Earth Awakening Camp. Any reservation I had about attending a specifically Buddhist festival were mollified once it was established that we all consider ourselves ‘Buddhish’ in nature. No surprise then to bump into yet more friends from the world of activism and FSC childrens’ camps.
Held deep in the Somerset countryside, this was a tiny gathering of just a few hundred, with one main meal tent and workshop spaces around a central meeting area and the huge ‘mindfulness’ gong. Before long we were barefoot and enjoying the marvellous weather; glorious sunshine during the day giving way to the occasional shower at night time. One night a mild rainstorm was preceded by the most amazing lightening forks, which we watched move towards us across the valley as dusk fell.
I was determined that this should be a child led experience, so we meandered between different parts of the gathering according to my toddler’s whims. In the past my naturally inquisitive and frenetic nature would have ensured that I attended as many workshops as possible, but being a mother has encouraged me to embrace a different pace of life.
So, we tried felt making (until Snarfle got bored), dressed up as Green Tara, joined in with impromptu group sing alongs, blew giant bubbles, caught bugs in nets in an adjoining field with Pupa Education, played in the paddling pool in Rupa’s sauna area… and danced gloriously naked to drums near the meditation tent (well, the boys did, we weren’t so brazen despite some of the fabled Buddhafield nudity on site). And I located the best friend of my acupuncturist: a monk turned shaman.
We ate beautifully presented and delicious local produce for every meal; home made fermented pickles and potato cakes cooked on a rocket stove and washed down with Sea Buckthorn juice. All made by folks who have lived at Tinker’s Bubble and Embercombe.
Us mothers half heartedly tried to take part in foraging, yoga, Qigong and dance classes (and mainly we failed). Sadly I did not catch up with the latest in Forest Gardening or learn the art of Focussing (a cross between mediation and counselling), but instead we rambled with the kids along an ancient track which bordered the field, made shady by gnarled trees.
The children revelled in the wide open green space, and I marvelled at the easy freedom of the older (mainly home-schooled) kids, who swung from the trees or raced around with sticks and home made bows and arrows. Snarfle became obsessed with the banjo, so I made him one out of odds and ends in the craft area. I’m sure this is how all childhoods should be, all of the time, not just for a few days here and there.
The gathering closed with a ceremony, as it had begun – the whole camp dancing, chanting and offering devotions to the goddess Green Tara, representing compassion and an ecologically minded alternative to our sometimes selfish and greedy ways. It was a fitting end to a magical few days.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday August 6th, 2014 3:54 pm
Just in time for a last minute eco Christmas round up before the Royal Mail goes totally pear shaped….
Firstly, I am a bit in love with Kirsty Allsopp, either that or I am just really bloody jealous – how did she get to the position where she has managed to forge an entire career out of learning to craft? That’s like my ideal job. And her own entire range at Marks & Spencer? If you fancy yourself a bit of Kirsty why not take a peek at some of the gift packages she’s put together. They’re a bit girly for me, so I’m gunning for this Marks & Spencer baking set, currently on special offer for £15. With all the things you need to make festive treats over Christmas in a pretty red and white heart tin. Get in.
On a purely decorative from how about these? I love these candy wrapper stars from Re-Found – they’re the kind of thing that I would make out of my rubbish in that alternate Kirsty Allsopp world where I have lots of spare time… handily these ones come ready made.
One of the best place to hunt for interesting eco goodies is Nigel’s Eco Store, which is a veritable treasure trove of environmentally aware goodies, including this pretty silvered tea light holder, made from recycled glass.
Tara Starlet, an ethical fashion designer who is featured in Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, has put together this adorable Patchwork Pooch kit from leftover fabrics, vintage buttons and recycled ribbons: so adorable, and the perfect project to keep crafty types happy over Christmas.
Lastly, I couldn’t go without mentioning Culture Beyond Oil, a publication put together by my friends at Platform and perfect for the environmentalist and art enthusiast in your life: as recommended by me in a recent interview about arts and activism with Sierra Club online. Not If But When: Culture Beyond Oil is a long hard look at the way that oil funding has infiltrated our art institutions, with contributions from a range of top artists including Banksy and Matthew Herbert. This line of investigation could not come at a better time, as proved by an article in the Guardian only today which confirms that four of the UK’s biggest cultural organisations – the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Opera House and Tate – have announced they are to renew sponsorship deals with BP worth £10m despite protests from environmental campaigners. Here’s to more positive news on that front in 2012.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Monday December 19th, 2011 1:54 pm
ed Helvetica, medications sans-serif; font-size: 12px;”>Reclaim Power Climate Justice Action at Cop15
On Wednesday the 16th of December the Reclaim Power! demo was due to hit the streets surrounding the Bella Centre (where the Cop15 was being held). The highlight of the Climate Justice Action calendar, it was towards this that the majority of British activists who had travelled as part of Climate Camp were working over the preceding days and with this in mind we retired to bed in a slightly wary frame of mind the night before. I’ve been the subject of a midnight raid before, and let me tell you, it’s pretty discombobulating to be woken by someone screaming in your ear “POLIIIIIIIIICE” as you scramble to take stock of the situation whilst pulling together some decent happy-to-be-arrested-in clothing (I was one of the 114 people arrested in the Iona School in Nottingham last April). This time I wasn’t so worried as we’d seen nothing of the police out at Voldparken, but when I awoke before daybreak and wandered bleary eyed betwixt bed and portaloo in my sexy checked pyjamas I was greeted by some friendly coppers at the exit, who had been sent to search everyone as they left the building. “Where are you going today?” “Oh, you know, just off to hang out in Copenhagen for a bit.” At 6am. There were plenty of ways we could have escaped without being checked if we’d wanted to, but it seems that coppers everywhere are, well, just a bit thick really.
Being searched before leaving Voldparken school on December 16th
It was a long cold ride into Copenhagen with my Bike Bloc affinity group (a trusted collective of people who have agreed to stick together and look after one another through an action), and from there onwards to the island where the Bella Centre is located. Unfortunately part of our group had decided to go on ahead without us and whilst we were waiting for them on a corner in a vaguely interest-arousing manner we were stopped and searched. This was not exactly unexpected, but one of our members had rather stupidly brought a map with him that had segments drawn onto it around the Centre, and for this he was detained immediately – a short day for him, straight to the holding cells.
Being searched on the way to the Bella Centre
Definitely not a suspicious map officer, definitely not.
The rest of us quickly cycled onwards and were soon turning in circuits around the residential backstreets near the Bella Centre, at first trying to evade the many many police vans patrolling the streets (a Netto supermarket proved a good venue to hide in at one point, the bemused staff unsure how to react), but eventually just giving ourselves up to the patrols – thereby delaying the police and hopefully preventing them from harassing other activists, particularly those in the Green Bloc who would be using more direct means to scale the fences of the centre. (So the theory went, we later learned they were all arrested long before they got anywhere near the perimeter.) One *lovely* officer even offered to kiss me, as you can hear in my audiocast here.
I find it’s always a nice touch to wear a fancy hat to a demonstration.
It’s quite hard to provide an overall analysis of what happened next as there was so much going on at once and even though I did my usual mad dashing about the place, of course I couldn’t cover it all. As the marchers formed a blockade (video here) and attempted to breach the gates we continued to hold the space on one side. I witnessed a man climb on top of a police van, only to be beaten with a baton then hauled down, and I repeatedly saw people being pulled from the crowd with reddened faces, weeping from the pepper spray that was being squirted with abandon at peaceful protestors on the front line.
Pepper spray sure looks like it hurts!
The Santa Block do their thang. In fancy dress no less.
A ‘hub’ – the way that Bike Bloc affinity groups gathered to discuss plans.
At our end there was far less aggression from the police, who seemed fairly bemused by our tactics, especially the ‘Santa Block‘ who cycled in circles chanting “ho ho ho”. Here’s an especially good video of me wobbling along on my bike as I try to tour between the two, nearly crashing into someone in the process. Between this a group of Climate Camp activists launched what looked like a large inflatable lilo over their heads towards the Bella Centre perimeter and indeed there was soon a ‘lilo bridge‘ angled across the moat into the scrubland surrounding the Bella Centre. Unfortunately this highly inventive approach to getting inside was destined to be thwarted by circumstances, as those who reached the other side were promptly arrested by a squad of riot cops.
Climate Campers made a lilo bridge to get into the Bella Centre. So inventive!
There was poetry, dancing in the street and even a call for the cops to give an activist a hug (amusing audioblog here) – all as we waited (since we couldn’t get in ourselves) to hear whether the delegates inside the Cop15 would be able to march out and join us for the planned People’s Assembly. It looked increasingly unlikely that they would be able to do so: we were later to find out the extreme lengths to which the police went to prevent them from leaving the Bella Centre – for shocking footage of the bassist in my band Green Kite Midnight being beaten with a baton see this Guardian video. At about 7 minutes in Tim can clearly be seen mouthing the words “peaceful protest” as he is whacked. He has had his fractured arm in a cast since then.
People’s Assembly outside the Bella Centre.
Instead activists from all over the world sat in circles on the cold road, discussing in groups of a dozen or so, how real life grassroots solutions could be applied to the crises that we face. For video footage of this see here. But the light was failing and all too soon it was over and the decision made to march back into central Copenhagen. By this point I was seriously cold and had a very wet foot due to running around in the scrubland and stepping into an icy cold bog. As the sky turned into a beautiful orange haze over the Bella Centre the Bike Bloc attempted to decide on a course of action, but a lack of clarity about how or what we should do led to a random diversion for some back onto the scrubland where we were immediately met by police on horseback. I decided to call it a day and together with Dave headed back towards the Klimaforum in search of a hot cup of tea and a radiator on which to dry my socks and shoes.
Final Bike Bloc hub to decide our next move… home.
Everyone should have a red bobble hat.
And orange fabric tied around their ankles. A must for every direct action.
The one fancy bike I saw: a Tall Bike ridden by a clown.
Homeward bound.
The following day a few Climate Campers decided that we should not leave Copenhagen without holding some kind of camp (since that’s what we’ve become so well known for), so in the evening about 50 of us rocked up to Hopenhagen, where we popped open a few tents (video here) and stood around chanting and thinking, ho hum, what shall we do next? Having been autonomously organised it wasn’t exactly the most considered of actions, but it was an interesting experiment in seeing how the police would react to a completely impromptu non-violent occupation. They started off on quite an aggressive footing, with one snatching a tent and ineffectually putting it into the bin, from whence it was speedily retrieved.
Setting up camp in Hopenhagen.
Oi! Give me that tent. No. It’s mine.
A particularly articulate young man gives an interview.
The brainchild of the action declared his ambition to stay put through the entire night (before popping open a can of beer) – not a desire shared by the majority present, what with the sub zero temperatures and lack of planning. However first there was some fun to be had in disrupting a television programme being broadcast from inside one of the alien green boxes – where a smarmy looking presenter caked in make up with slicked back hair (a man, I might add) steadfastly ignored the Caution: Greenwash banner being held up behind his head. I wasn’t sure what exactly this action was meant to achieve but was assured that this particular TV channel had been misrepresenting activists in its coverage, and that since they were talking about the Cop15 it was an ideal place to get our message across. By this point the cops had relaxed and we got into some entertaining conversations with them about the efficacy of our actions.
Greenwash on the television at Hopenhagen. He’s looking straight at me isn’t he?
Suddenly Tim was at my shoulder, one-handedly suggesting that we do a ceilidh, since Green Kite Midnight has always held ceilidhs at Climate Camp actions. But, there was only the two of us out of a band of six, no instruments and no amplification. Not a problem. Tim whipped out his harmonica, and laughing, I managed to call several dances, yelling from atop a concrete pillar holding aloft the giant Hopenhagen balloon above our heads. You can see footage here, but be warned, I’m loud – filming whilst calling being an up close and personal affair.
Green Kite Midnight performs their first international gig.
Erm, I’m not sure how we deal with this. Errr.
Swing your pardner! Ceilidh dancing in Hopenhagen with Climate Camp.
It’s like an alien ball isn’t it?
It was then back to an amusing last evening at the Voldparken School, what with an impromptu music video shot in one of the disused laboratories and a full on rave held in one of the air-locked antechambers far into the night, where I espied our ambitious young activist in the wee hours. The police gave him a lift all the way back to the school, keen to see both him and his tents dispatched safely back to the far reaches of the suburbs!
The crew for the Voldparken music video.
Playing the piano at Voldparken school.
A map shows the best skips in the area for food runs.
Your friendly reception staff! Only joking, we don’t do staff.
One of the final things I did in Copenhagen was to visit their most famous landmark; the mermaid, of course. It was beyond bitingly cold, and as I admired her temporary cohorts, some frozen penguins, I considered the probability of losing both my fingers and my toes to frostbite. Visitors from all over the world clearly saw this spot as the most emblematic place to stage a protest and during the short time we were there they came in their dozens with placards held aloft, cameras at the ready. Behind the Little Mermaid another special Cop15 sculpture reared out of the grey waves, a grotesquely oversized woman sat astride the shoulders of a skinny little man – the ‘Survival of the Fattest’ by Jens Galschiot and Lars Calmar.
The Little Mermaid with Survival of the Fattest and penguin friends.
Korean delegates protesting in front of the mermaid.
After cleaning up our accommodation (surreal audiocast of me peeling up the masking tape used to mark the fire lanes in our room here) as best we could the coach ride home from Copenhagen was, how shall I put it… interesting. Even though I decided early on (as we sat delayed, due to snow, in a traffic jam into Calais) to practice the art of zen, I, along with everyone else, was starting to lose the will to live by the time we had sat in a car park in Dover for several hours whilst our increasingly irate drivers tried to figure out where their relief drivers were to ferry us the last hour home to London, eventually both completely losing their rag and threatening to kill their employers.
Trying to sort out Climate Camp coaches home in the hallway.
Snowball fights whilst we wait to catch the ferry home.
White Cliffs of Dover by floodlight.
White Cliffs of Dover by night. OH GOD WE HAVEN’T MOVED IN HOURS.
Since I got home there has been plenty of editorial commentary on what happened inside the Cop15 summit and what exactly our actions did or didn’t achieve. From my point of view (and maybe I should keep this to myself), I didn’t ever for one moment think that we would actually get into the Bella Centre – it was immensely well fortified and we didn’t have the strength in numbers or ability to get inside – so I wasn’t exactly surprised when we didn’t. As a whole it was quite hard to take part in the Climate Justice Action pre-planning meetings because of the distance between activist venues, which I think resulted in many people thinking that others would be more organised than themselves and lead the way. The Bike Bloc felt a bit disparate – we lost half our affinity group, split up and regrouped several times – taking our lead from the people around us rather than from the pre-planned messages that I was expecting to be sent out via text. It was a shame that Double Trouble (confiscated earlier in the week by the police looking for our fictional “machine of resistance”) and the Sound Swarm never made it to the gates, (at least not to my knowledge). As usual we were underprepared to make fast decisions, which led to a confused ending to the Bike Bloc during the final march away from the Bella Centre. On the plus side the Bike Bloc was massively effective in blockading the street and confusing the police, and was a beautifully mobile way to take part in the action – I think it will lead to further creative direct action on bikes in the future.
Thankyou in snow at the Voldparken School and to all the activists who worked so hard to make sure our stay was enjoyable.
On a wider scope, although many people were seriously disappointed that we were unable to get into the Bella Centre to hold the People’s Assembly as promised, I feel that our very presence served to highlight the inequality of the whole Cop15 process, which has only now begun to filter down to those disappointed NGOs who were so certain they could use the current ways of meeting to facilitate meaningful change. Because I never for one moment believed that any good decisions could come out of the Cop15 I felt more than vindicated by the dismal outcome, but for many of the NGOs who were excluded from the Bella Centre it must have been a wake up call and one can only hope they have been radicalised. We were there to show that there is a strong global grassroots movement ready to challenge the accepted status quo, and those relationships cultivated on the front line will be crucial in taking creative action in 2010. System Change Not Climate Change now feels firmly on the agenda. I feel as though this is just the beginning…
Read Part 1 of my trip to Copenhagen here: wherein I describe our journey over by coach.
Read Part 2 of my trip to Copenhagen here: wherein I attend lots of actions and fix up my bike.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday January 20th, 2010 6:32 pm
UK Uncut gathers on the South Bank on Saturday 26th March 2011. All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Unless you have been living under a rock you will be aware that there was a huge anti-cuts march on Saturday 26th March 2011. In the days since then the press has been dominated with both outrage from the government that “hooligans” should be allowed to roam the streets, recipefind and on the other side, purchase shock at the way in which once again the police and media have mistreated protestors. As anyone who was following me on Twitter will know I was involved on the UK Uncut action, which involved an occupation of Fortnum & Mason… yet another large corporation culpable of massive tax avoidance: This action led to by far the largest numbers of arrests and charges on the day: a staggering 138 of the 149.
On my way through London I saw the most enormous amount of creativity, from pound coin shields to a Trojan Horse cunningly installed at the centre of Oxford Circus – and of course plenty of banners bursting with witty one liners: included in this blog post are just a few of the amazing sights from the day. With a march numbering possibly half a million and upwards (something the government has been quick to downplay) there were surely many great ones that I missed – especially the legendary message “I was told there would be biscuits” carried by a small child on someone’s shoulders. I broke away from the march early on to take part in UK Uncut actions on Oxford Street and then at Fortnum & Mason.
Demonised by the press for their behaviour, UK Uncut have been quick to fight back with their version of events: really, the police and media should know better. Both UK Uncut and Green & Black Cross, the support network that provided legal observers and arrestee support, have grown out of Climate Camp networks and ways of organising, taking on completely new identities of their own. As a result some of those involved are no strangers to wrongful arrest, police brutality and political policing: remember Heathrow, Kingsnorth, G20 and Ratcliffe anyone? These people know what they are doing; naturally the unfair arrests of UK Uncut was filmed and immediately shared, the footage unsurprisingly making the front page of the Guardian.
Some people might wonder what on earth the links between the anti-cuts movement and Climate Camp are, but Climate Camp has always been rooted in a desire to address the social inequalities of capitalism – for example a breakaway group in London is currently looking at ways to campaign around fuel poverty. One of the favourite slogans at the COP15 Climate conference was System Change not Climate Change – we can’t cure the problem with simple quick fix answers, but rather by tackling the whole global neoliberal system. A brutal plan to cut services such as libraries and the NHS will undermine the fabric of a just society, affecting the poor most. Meanwhile the rich are able to avoid huge tax bills at a time when we desperately need to start building a green economy that is not based on endless profit. Clearly these inequalities are something that green activists are keen to tackle.
Climate Camp has also always been a broad mix of liberalism and radicalism, so it’s no surprise that UK Uncut is as well. The very name Green & Black Cross indicates how the group combines the more autonomous anarchist streaks of activism with the skills, infrastructure and ideologies built up within the green movement. It supports grassroots social struggles in the UK and during the March for the Alternative the Green & Black Cross provided Legal Support, Action Medics and Action Kitchens. They even had a basic compost portaloo roaming the streets in a supermarket trolley – but in the event it was never used: it’s hard to get into a kettle once it is formed. They will be independently advising on all arrests during the day at a defendants’ meeting on Saturday 2nd April and were generally out in force to offer biscuits and legal advice as soon as arrestees were released.
Since the arrests UK Uncut activists have had to field a barrage of commentary from the media, which has been ever quick to notice the anarchic element of their protest. Their sit in at Fortnum & Mason was largely peaceful – protestors ate their own sandwiches and listened to performances and speeches – but on Newsnight a spokesperson was asked to denounce all protestor violence. She did a marvellous job of neither condoning nor supporting it: there were people from all backgrounds in Fortnum & Mason. For some it will have been their first experience of direct action (read this shocking report of the arrest of a 15 year old girl) and others were part of the Black Bloc earlier in the day – the two are not mutually exclusive. UK Uncut has an incredibly loose non-hierarchical structure, and to be successful it must somehow find a place for those of all backgrounds.
Inside Fortnum & Mason. They look super scared don’t they?
Most UK Uncutters recognise that there is more to successful activism than a simplistic black and white damnation of violence, but the more liberal end of the spectrum may well be new to the idea that damage to property is not considered violence by many activists – see here for a definition – so there is going to be a rapid need to redefine and educate as soon as possible. Most of the targets for property damage on Saturday were well thought through – big banks that avoid tax, Topshop, BHS and so on. Who threw paint, and who broke windows? It’s not clear, but the targets were clear enough. Some people, whether you agree with it or not, think it is more effective to inflict damage on a well selected target than to simply march from A-B and then listen to speeches. After all, what did it ever do to stop the Iraq war? Direct action through the ages has proven that targeting property can be highly effective – the Suffragettes were never afraid of inflicting collateral damage. Last year at Climate Camp windows were smashed at the RBS head offices in Edinburgh to demonstrate concern against their continued investment in fossil fuels.
By Trafalgar Square at night some rogue elements (possibly pissed up) were clearly provoked into throwing glass bottles at police, never something I would recommend however bad police brutality gets (and by all accounts it did get REALLY bad) because I personally don’t believe that violence against people is ever acceptable. But I do believe that the Black Bloc as a considered and thoughtful tactic is something that our movement needs: people who are willing to put their bodies and actions on the front line to stop those who are damaging the fabric of our “democratic” society. Many of them were very young, possibly disaffected veterans of kettling at the student demos last year – others were highly organised groups who came to join the march from across the country. Those involved will undoubtedly have slightly different views as to process and outcome but recent online dialogues prove that diverse parts of the movement are keen to work together. Rather than dismiss Black Bloc actions as the nihilistic work of masked “hooligans” we would do well to consider the underlying reasons why this is seen as an appealing tactic utilised by at least a thousand people last weekend. After all, we’re all in this together… and this is just the start.
Unless you have been living under a rock you will be aware that there was a huge anti-cuts march on Saturday 26th March 2011. In the days since then the press has been dominated with both outrage from the government that “hooligans” should be allowed to roam the streets, hospital and on the other side, shock at the way in which once again the police and media have mistreated protestors. As anyone who was following me on Twitter will know I was involved on the UK Uncut action, which involved an occupation of Fortnum & Mason… yet another large corporation culpable of massive tax avoidance: This action led to by far the largest numbers of arrests and charges on the day: a staggering 138 of the 149.
On my way through London I saw the most enormous amount of creativity, from pound coin shields to a Trojan Horse cunningly installed at the centre of Oxford Circus – and of course plenty of banners bursting with witty one liners: included in this blog post are just a few of the amazing sights from the day. With a march numbering possibly half a million and upwards (something the government has been quick to downplay) there were surely many great ones that I missed – especially the legendary message “I was told there would be biscuits” carried by a small child on someone’s shoulders. I broke away from the march early on to take part in UK Uncut actions on Oxford Street and then at Fortnum & Mason.
Demonised by the press for their behaviour, UK Uncut have been quick to fight back with their version of events: really, the police and media should know better. Both UK Uncut and Green & Black Cross, the support network that provided legal observers and arrestee support, have grown out of Climate Camp networks and ways of organising, taking on completely new identities of their own. As a result some of those involved are no strangers to wrongful arrest, police brutality and political policing: remember Heathrow, Kingsnorth, G20 and Ratcliffe anyone? These people know what they are doing; naturally the unfair arrests of UK Uncut was filmed and immediately shared, the footage unsurprisingly making the front page of the Guardian.
Some people might wonder what on earth the links between the anti-cuts movement and Climate Camp are, but Climate Camp has always been rooted in a desire to address the social inequalities of capitalism – for example a breakaway group in London is currently looking at ways to campaign around fuel poverty. One of the favourite slogans at the COP15 Climate conference was System Change not Climate Change – we can’t cure the problem with simple quick fix answers, but rather by tackling the whole global neoliberal system. A brutal plan to cut services such as libraries and the NHS will undermine the fabric of a just society, affecting the poor most. Meanwhile the rich are able to avoid huge tax bills at a time when we desperately need to start building a green economy that is not based on endless profit. Clearly these inequalities are something that green activists are keen to tackle.
Climate Camp has also always been a broad mix of liberalism and radicalism, so it’s no surprise that UK Uncut is as well. The very name Green & Black Cross indicates how the group combines the more autonomous anarchist streaks of activism with the skills, infrastructure and ideologies built up within the green movement. It supports grassroots social struggles in the UK and during the March for the Alternative the Green & Black Cross provided Legal Support, Action Medics and Action Kitchens. They even had a basic compost portaloo roaming the streets in a supermarket trolley – but in the event it was never used: it’s hard to get into a kettle once it is formed. They will be independently advising on all arrests during the day at a defendants’ meeting on Saturday 2nd April and were generally out in force to offer biscuits and legal advice as soon as arrestees were released.
Since the arrests UK Uncut activists have had to field a barrage of commentary from the media, which has been ever quick to notice the anarchic element of their protest. Their sit in at Fortnum & Mason was largely peaceful – protestors ate their own sandwiches and listened to performances and speeches – but on Newsnight a spokesperson was asked to denounce all protestor violence. She did a marvellous job of neither condoning nor supporting it: there were people from all backgrounds in Fortnum & Mason. For some it will have been their first experience of direct action (read this shocking report of the arrest of a 15 year old girl) and others were part of the Black Bloc earlier in the day – the two are not mutually exclusive. UK Uncut has an incredibly loose non-hierarchical structure, and to be successful it must somehow find a place for those of all backgrounds.
Inside Fortnum & Mason. They look super scared don’t they?
Most UK Uncutters recognise that there is more to successful activism than a simplistic black and white damnation of violence, but the more liberal end of the spectrum may well be new to the idea that damage to property is not considered violence by many activists – see here for a definition – so there is going to be a rapid need to redefine and educate as soon as possible. Most of the targets for property damage on Saturday were well thought through – big banks that avoid tax, Topshop, BHS and so on. Who threw paint, and who broke windows? It’s not clear, but the targets were clear enough. Some people, whether you agree with it or not, think it is more effective to inflict damage on a well selected target than to simply march from A-B and then listen to speeches. After all, what did it ever do to stop the Iraq war? Direct action through the ages has proven that targeting property can be highly effective – the Suffragettes were never afraid of inflicting collateral damage. Last year at Climate Camp windows were smashed at the RBS head offices in Edinburgh to demonstrate concern against their continued investment in fossil fuels.
By Trafalgar Square at night some rogue elements (possibly pissed up) were clearly provoked into throwing glass bottles at police, never something I would recommend however bad police brutality gets (and by all accounts it did get REALLY bad) because I personally don’t believe that violence against people is ever acceptable. But I do believe that the Black Bloc as a considered and thoughtful tactic is something that our movement needs: people who are willing to put their bodies and actions on the front line to stop those who are damaging the fabric of our “democratic” society. Many of them were very young, possibly disaffected veterans of kettling at the student demos last year – others were highly organised groups who came to join the march from across the country. Those involved will undoubtedly have slightly different views as to process and outcome but recent online dialogues prove that diverse parts of the movement are keen to work together. Rather than dismiss Black Bloc actions as the nihilistic work of masked “hooligans” we would do well to consider the underlying reasons why this is seen as an appealing tactic utilised by at least a thousand people last weekend. After all, we’re all in this together… and this is just the start.
Unless you have been living under a rock you will be aware that there was a huge anti-cuts march on Saturday 26th March 2011. In the days since then the press has been dominated with both outrage from the government that “hooligans” should be allowed to roam the streets, sales and on the other side, shock at the way in which once again the police and media have mistreated protestors. As anyone who was following me on Twitter will know I was involved on the UK Uncut action, which involved an occupation of Fortnum & Mason… yet another large corporation culpable of massive tax avoidance: This action led to by far the largest numbers of arrests and charges on the day: a staggering 138 of the 149.
On my way through London I saw the most enormous amount of creativity, from pound coin shields to a Trojan Horse cunningly installed at the centre of Oxford Circus – and of course plenty of banners bursting with witty one liners: included in this blog post are just a few of the amazing sights from the day. With a march numbering possibly half a million and upwards (something the government has been quick to downplay) there were surely many great ones that I missed – especially the legendary message “I was told there would be biscuits” carried by a small child on someone’s shoulders. I broke away from the march early on to take part in UK Uncut actions on Oxford Street and then at Fortnum & Mason.
Demonised by the press for their behaviour, UK Uncut have been quick to fight back with their version of events: really, the police and media should know better. Both UK Uncut and Green & Black Cross – the support network that provided legal observers and arrestee support – have grown out of Climate Camp networks and ways of organising to take on completely new identities of their own. As a result some of those involved are no strangers to wrongful arrest, police brutality and political policing: remember Heathrow, Kingsnorth, G20 and Ratcliffe anyone? These people know what they are doing; naturally the unfair arrests of UK Uncut was filmed and immediately shared, the footage unsurprisingly making the front page of the Guardian.
Some people might wonder what on earth the links between the anti-cuts movement and Climate Camp are, but Climate Camp has always been rooted in a desire to address the social inequalities of capitalism – for example a breakaway group in London is currently looking at ways to campaign around fuel poverty. One of the favourite slogans at the COP15 Climate conference was System Change not Climate Change – we can’t cure the problem with simple quick fix answers, but rather by tackling the whole global neoliberal system. A brutal plan to cut services such as libraries and the NHS will undermine the fabric of a just society, affecting the poor most. Meanwhile the rich are able to avoid huge tax bills at a time when we desperately need to start building a green economy that is not based on endless profit. Clearly these inequalities are something that green activists are keen to tackle.
Climate Camp has also always been a broad mix of liberalism and radicalism, so it’s no surprise that UK Uncut is as well. The very name Green & Black Cross indicates how the group combines the more autonomous anarchist streaks of activism with the skills, infrastructure and ideologies built up within the green movement. It supports grassroots social struggles in the UK and during the March for the Alternative the Green & Black Cross provided Legal Support, Action Medics and Action Kitchens. They even had a basic compost portaloo roaming the streets in a supermarket trolley – but in the event it was never used: it’s hard to get into a kettle once it is formed. They will be independently advising on all arrests during the day at a defendants’ meeting on Saturday 2nd April and were generally out in force to offer biscuits and legal advice as soon as arrestees were released.
Since the arrests UK Uncut activists have had to field a barrage of commentary from the media, which has been ever quick to notice the anarchic element of their protest. Their sit in at Fortnum & Mason was largely peaceful – protestors ate their own sandwiches and listened to performances and speeches – but on Newsnight a spokesperson was asked to denounce all protestor violence. She did a marvellous job of neither condoning nor supporting it: there were people from all backgrounds in Fortnum & Mason. For some it will have been their first experience of direct action (read this shocking report of the arrest of a 15 year old girl) and others were part of the Black Bloc earlier in the day – the two are not mutually exclusive. UK Uncut has an incredibly loose non-hierarchical structure, and to be successful it must somehow find a place for those of all backgrounds.
Inside Fortnum & Mason. They look super scared don’t they?
Most UK Uncutters recognise that there is more to successful activism than a simplistic black and white damnation of violence, but the more liberal end of the spectrum may well be new to the idea that damage to property is not considered violence by many activists – see here for a definition – so there is going to be a rapid need to redefine and educate as soon as possible. Most of the targets for property damage on Saturday were well thought through – big banks that avoid tax, Topshop, BHS and so on. Who threw paint, and who broke windows? It’s not clear, but the targets were clear enough. Some people, whether you agree with it or not, think it is more effective to inflict damage on a well selected target than to simply march from A-B and then listen to speeches. After all, what did it ever do to stop the Iraq war? Direct action through the ages has proven that targeting property can be highly effective – the Suffragettes were never afraid of inflicting collateral damage. Last year at Climate Camp windows were smashed at the RBS head offices in Edinburgh to demonstrate concern against their continued investment in fossil fuels.
By Trafalgar Square at night some rogue elements (possibly pissed up) were clearly provoked into throwing glass bottles at police, never something I would recommend however bad police brutality gets (and by all accounts it did get REALLY bad) because I personally don’t believe that violence against people is ever acceptable. But I do believe that the Black Bloc as a considered and thoughtful tactic is something that our movement needs: people who are willing to put their bodies and actions on the front line to stop those who are damaging the fabric of our “democratic” society. Many of them were very young, possibly disaffected veterans of kettling at the student demos last year – others were highly organised groups who came to join the march from across the country. Those involved will undoubtedly have slightly different views as to process and outcome but recent online dialogues prove that diverse parts of the movement are keen to work together. Rather than dismiss Black Bloc actions as the nihilistic work of masked “hooligans” we would do well to consider the underlying reasons why this is seen as an appealing tactic utilised by at least a thousand people last weekend. After all, we’re all in this together… and this is just the beginning of our future.
Unless you have been living under a rock you will be aware that there was a huge anti-cuts march on Saturday 26th March 2011. In the days since then the press has been dominated with both outrage from the government that “hooligans” should be allowed to roam the streets, drugs and on the other side, order shock at the way in which once again the police and media have mistreated protestors. As anyone who was following me on Twitter will know I was involved on the UK Uncut action, information pills which involved an occupation of Fortnum & Mason… yet another large corporation culpable of massive tax avoidance: This action led to by far the largest numbers of arrests and charges on the day: a staggering 138 of the 149.
On my way through London I saw the most enormous amount of creativity, from pound coin shields to a Trojan Horse cunningly installed at the centre of Oxford Circus – and of course plenty of banners bursting with witty one liners: included in this blog post are just a few of the amazing sights from the day. With a march numbering possibly half a million and upwards (something the government has been quick to downplay) there were surely many great ones that I missed – especially the legendary message “I was told there would be biscuits” carried by a small child on someone’s shoulders. I broke away from the march early on to take part in UK Uncut actions on Oxford Street and then at Fortnum & Mason.
Demonised by the press for their behaviour, UK Uncut have been quick to fight back with their version of events: really, the police and media should know better. Both UK Uncut and Green & Black Cross – the support network that provided legal observers and arrestee support – have grown out of Climate Camp networks and ways of organising to take on completely new identities of their own. As a result some of those involved are no strangers to wrongful arrest, police brutality and political policing: remember Heathrow, Kingsnorth, G20 and Ratcliffe anyone? These people know what they are doing; naturally the unfair arrests of UK Uncut was filmed and immediately shared, the footage unsurprisingly making the front page of the Guardian.
Some people might wonder what on earth the links between the anti-cuts movement and Climate Camp are, but Climate Camp has always been rooted in a desire to address the social inequalities of capitalism – for example a breakaway group in London is currently looking at ways to campaign around fuel poverty. One of the favourite slogans at the COP15 Climate conference was System Change not Climate Change – we can’t cure the problem with simple quick fix answers, but rather by tackling the whole global neoliberal system. A brutal plan to cut services such as libraries and the NHS will undermine the fabric of a just society, affecting the poor most. Meanwhile the rich are able to avoid huge tax bills at a time when we desperately need to start building a green economy that is not based on endless profit. Clearly these inequalities are something that green activists are keen to tackle.
Climate Camp has also always been a broad mix of liberalism and radicalism, so it’s no surprise that UK Uncut is as well. The very name Green & Black Cross indicates how the group combines the more autonomous anarchist streaks of activism with the skills, infrastructure and ideologies built up within the green movement. It supports grassroots social struggles in the UK and during the March for the Alternative the Green & Black Cross provided Legal Support, Action Medics and Action Kitchens. They even had a basic compost portaloo roaming the streets in a supermarket trolley – but in the event it was never used: it’s hard to get into a kettle once it is formed. They will be independently advising on all arrests during the day at a defendants’ meeting on Saturday 2nd April and were generally out in force to offer biscuits and legal advice as soon as arrestees were released.
Since the arrests UK Uncut activists have had to field a barrage of commentary from the media, which has been ever quick to notice the anarchic element of their protest. Their sit in at Fortnum & Mason was largely peaceful – protestors ate their own sandwiches and listened to performances and speeches – but on Newsnight a spokesperson was asked to denounce all protestor violence. She did a marvellous job of neither condoning nor supporting it: there were people from all backgrounds in Fortnum & Mason. For some it will have been their first experience of direct action (read this shocking report of the arrest of a 15 year old girl) and others were part of the Black Bloc earlier in the day – the two are not mutually exclusive. UK Uncut has an incredibly loose non-hierarchical structure, and to be successful it must somehow find a place for those of all backgrounds.
Inside Fortnum & Mason. They look super scared don’t they?
Most UK Uncutters recognise that there is more to successful activism than a simplistic black and white damnation of violence, but the more liberal end of the spectrum may well be new to the idea that damage to property is not considered violence by many activists – see here for a definition – so there is going to be a rapid need to redefine and educate as soon as possible. Most of the targets for property damage on Saturday were well thought through – big banks that avoid tax, Topshop, BHS and so on. Who threw paint, and who broke windows? It’s not clear, but the targets were clear enough. Some people, whether you agree with it or not, think it is more effective to inflict damage on a well selected target than to simply march from A-B and then listen to speeches. After all, what did it ever do to stop the Iraq war? Direct action through the ages has proven that targeting property can be highly effective – the Suffragettes were never afraid of inflicting collateral damage. Last year at Climate Camp windows were smashed at the RBS head offices in Edinburgh to demonstrate concern against their continued investment in fossil fuels.
By Trafalgar Square at night some rogue elements (possibly pissed up) were clearly provoked into throwing glass bottles at police, never something I would recommend however bad police brutality gets (and by all accounts it did get REALLY bad) because I personally don’t believe that violence against people is ever acceptable. But I do believe that the Black Bloc as a considered and thoughtful tactic is something that our movement needs: people who are willing to put their bodies and actions on the front line to stop those who are damaging the fabric of our “democratic” society. Many of them were very young, possibly disaffected veterans of kettling at the student demos last year – others were highly organised groups who came to join the march from across the country. Those involved will undoubtedly have slightly different views as to process and outcome but recent online dialogues prove that diverse parts of the movement are keen to work together. Rather than dismiss Black Bloc actions as the nihilistic work of masked “hooligans” we would do well to consider the underlying reasons why this is seen as an appealing tactic utilised by at least a thousand people last weekend. After all, we’re all in this together… and this is just the beginning of our future.
Amidst the renovations and general detritus that inevitably comes when you do a top to toe renovation of a two floored building, Nathan Englebrecht and Margherita Berloni are guiding me around the former print works in Leonard Street, EC2 which will soon form the light-filled gallery space for EB&Flow. In the run up to the April 2nd opening, the gallery founders – both twenty somethings who met on an art business course – seem as cool as a proverbial cucumber and in good spirits as we tour the premises, chatting all the while about their vision for the space and how it will serve and suit their artists in residence. While art galleries are certainly not hard to come by in this neck of the woods, there is something very noteworthy about this particular endeavor, and that is the galleries extensive level of support to the artists who will exhibit in their gallery. Their aim is to cultivate long term relationships with the artists in residency, and share an ethos that they will try to make anything happen for them; advising them on their careers, placing them in collections, even paying for material costs if necessary.
A selection of works by some of the 10 artists who will be exhibiting at the group show Since Tomorrow Gemma Anderson
Albemarlensis, Pahoehoe Lava
During the time that their work is exhibited at EB&Flow, they are also given studio space within the gallery. (After a period, the walls will be removed and the studio becomes an exhibition in itself). It soon becomes clear that Nathan and Margherita feel passionately about this, discussing at length something which is somewhat of a current hot topic – the sense that artists are not provided with enough support and advice during their time at art school with regards to the business of art; (a subject that was recently discussed in Jessica Furseth’s article here). “We never felt that artists had the right platform in which to exhibit and the support that was needed to develop their careers”, Nathan explains. Born out of this is an additional feature of the gallery; an educational programme kicking off at the end of April that will discuss issues such as collecting, curatorial practice and artist professional development. They list a few of the topics that will be covered, such as the legality issues of selling art, re-sell rights, how to store art, how to do art fairs…..all things relevant and vital to a burgeoning artists career. It’s worth mentioning that these courses and lectures will be open to all. Check the EB&Flow website for further details.
Margeherita and Nathan, EB & Flow.
I ask Margherita and Nathan what they are looking for in an artist, and what type of work will feature at EB&Flow. “There is a certain aesthetic line going through our choice of artists”, Nathan explains, with Margherita adding “we steer away from very conceptual stuff and minimalist art; we want something rich and interesting to look at”. Their first collection is entitled Since Tomorrow, curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini and features work (using disciplines such as installation, painting, sculpture and photography) from ten emerging artists exploring the dynamics of space and providing responses to the question ‘ what is the space we are living at the moment and how do we represent it?’. Work will be shown by Briony Anderson, Gemma Anderson, Neil Ayling, Ross M. Brown, Shannah Bupp, Sue Corke, Dylan Culhane, Alessandro Librio, Nicholas McLeod, Katie Louise Surridge and Cristian Zuzunaga.
Amongst the core group of artists whose work will be opening the gallery is Katie Louise Surridge, a Slade School of Fine Art graduate. (She will also go on to have a residency at the EB&Flow gallery). Her work will particularly resonate with anyone who lives in grimy, rubbish strewn London because Katie has the ability to make something beautiful out of the underbelly of the city. Her installations use found objects which she sources during scavenging missions done mainly along the Thames, creating a utopia out of what has been left behind and discarded. While I was talking with Nathan and Margherita, Katie was busy getting a sense of the space that will feature her (very big) installation. She works mostly with natural materials, such as aged wood and metal; “natural materials that have been used in this urban scheme, and then reverted back to being natural again”. “I have this fascination with what’s left behind”, she continues, “I like the aesthetic of what the river washes up – it’s been there for a long time and it’s aged and it feels like its got a bit of history behind it”. It’s impossible not to warm to Katie, especially after discovering the following facts about her:
– She once found an S+M style gag washed up in the river and took it to the pub, thinking that it was a dog collar.
– She was in the Boy Scouts as a child (not the Brownies)
– She is a self confessed obsessive hoarder
– Her beloved dog is going to be featured on a ‘Dog Borstal’ style TV show
– She is saving up to buy a metal detector to assist her scavenging expeditions.
Katie Louise Surridge, A Beautiful Struggle
Discovering Katie’s work makes me realise how little I know about what gets discarded in big cities, and how much waste washes up around us.
Since Tomorrow: Exhibition Dates, 2 April – 26 May.
Dylan Culhane, and his work Mechanotron which will feature in Since Tomorrow.
UK Uncut gathers on the South Bank on Saturday 26th March 2011. All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Unless you have been living under a rock you will be aware that there was a huge anti-cuts march on Saturday 26th March 2011. In the days since then the press has been dominated with both outrage from the government that “hooligans” should be allowed to roam the streets, viagra and on the other side, web shock at the way in which once again the police and media have mistreated protestors. As anyone who was following me on Twitter will know I was involved on the UK Uncut action, which involved an occupation of Fortnum & Mason… yet another large corporation culpable of massive tax avoidance: This action led to by far the largest numbers of arrests and charges on the day: a staggering 138 of the 149.
On my way through London I saw the most enormous amount of creativity, from pound coin shields to a Trojan Horse cunningly installed at the centre of Oxford Circus – and of course plenty of banners bursting with witty one liners: included in this blog post are just a few of the amazing sights from the day. With a march numbering possibly half a million and upwards (something the government has been quick to downplay) there were surely many great ones that I missed – especially the legendary message “I was told there would be biscuits” carried by a small child on someone’s shoulders. I broke away from the march early on to take part in UK Uncut actions on Oxford Street and then at Fortnum & Mason.
Demonised by the press for their behaviour, UK Uncut have been quick to fight back with their version of events: really, the police and media should know better. Both UK Uncut and Green & Black Cross – the support network that provided legal observers and arrestee support – have grown out of Climate Camp networks and ways of organising to take on completely new identities of their own. As a result some of those involved are no strangers to wrongful arrest, police brutality and political policing: remember Heathrow, Kingsnorth, G20 and Ratcliffe anyone? These people know what they are doing; naturally the unfair arrests of UK Uncut was filmed and immediately shared, the footage unsurprisingly making the front page of the Guardian.
Some people might wonder what on earth the links between the anti-cuts movement and Climate Camp are, but Climate Camp has always been rooted in a desire to address the social inequalities of capitalism – for example a breakaway group in London is currently looking at ways to campaign around fuel poverty. One of the favourite slogans at the COP15 Climate conference was System Change not Climate Change – we can’t cure the problem with simple quick fix answers, but rather by tackling the whole global neoliberal system. A brutal plan to cut services such as libraries and the NHS will undermine the fabric of a just society, affecting the poor most. Meanwhile the rich are able to avoid huge tax bills at a time when we desperately need to start building a green economy that is not based on endless profit. Clearly these inequalities are something that green activists are keen to tackle.
Climate Camp has also always been a broad mix of liberalism and radicalism, so it’s no surprise that UK Uncut is as well. The very name Green & Black Cross indicates how the group combines the more autonomous anarchist streaks of activism with the skills, infrastructure and ideologies built up within the green movement. It supports grassroots social struggles in the UK and during the March for the Alternative the Green & Black Cross provided Legal Support, Action Medics and Action Kitchens. They even had a basic compost portaloo roaming the streets in a supermarket trolley – but in the event it was never used: it’s hard to get into a kettle once it is formed. They will be independently advising on all arrests during the day at a defendants’ meeting on Saturday 2nd April and were generally out in force to offer biscuits and legal advice as soon as arrestees were released.
Since the arrests UK Uncut activists have had to field a barrage of commentary from the media, which has been ever quick to notice the anarchic element of their protest. Their sit in at Fortnum & Mason was largely peaceful – protestors ate their own sandwiches and listened to performances and speeches – but on Newsnight a spokesperson was asked to denounce all protestor violence. She did a marvellous job of neither condoning nor supporting it: there were people from all backgrounds in Fortnum & Mason. For some it will have been their first experience of direct action (read this shocking report of the arrest of a 15 year old girl) and others were part of the Black Bloc earlier in the day – the two are not mutually exclusive. UK Uncut has an incredibly loose non-hierarchical structure, and to be successful it must somehow find a place for those of all backgrounds.
Inside Fortnum & Mason. They look super scared don’t they?
Most UK Uncutters recognise that there is more to successful activism than a simplistic black and white damnation of violence, but the more liberal end of the spectrum may well be new to the idea that damage to property is not considered violence by many activists – see here for a definition – so there is going to be a rapid need to redefine and educate as soon as possible. Most of the targets for property damage on Saturday were well thought through – big banks that avoid tax, Topshop, BHS and so on. Who threw paint, and who broke windows? It’s not clear, but the targets were clear enough. Some people, whether you agree with it or not, think it is more effective to inflict damage on a well selected target than to simply march from A-B and then listen to speeches. After all, what did it ever do to stop the Iraq war? Direct action through the ages has proven that targeting property can be highly effective – the Suffragettes were never afraid of inflicting collateral damage. Last year at Climate Camp windows were smashed at the RBS head offices in Edinburgh to demonstrate concern against their continued investment in fossil fuels.
By Trafalgar Square at night some rogue elements (possibly pissed up) were clearly provoked into throwing glass bottles at police, never something I would recommend however bad police brutality gets (and by all accounts it did get REALLY bad) because I personally don’t believe that violence against people is ever acceptable. But I do believe that the Black Bloc as a considered and thoughtful tactic is something that our movement needs: people who are willing to put their bodies and actions on the front line to stop those who are damaging the fabric of our “democratic” society. Many of them were very young, possibly disaffected veterans of kettling at the student demos last year – others were highly organised groups who came to join the march from across the country. Those involved will undoubtedly have slightly different views as to process and outcome but recent online dialogues prove that diverse parts of the movement are keen to work together. Rather than dismiss Black Bloc actions as the nihilistic work of masked “hooligans” we would do well to consider the underlying reasons why this is seen as an appealing tactic utilised by at least a thousand people last weekend. After all, we’re all in this together… and this is just the beginning of our future.
Unless you have been living under a rock you will be aware that there was a huge anti-cuts march on Saturday 26th March 2011. In the days since then the press has been dominated with both outrage from the government that “hooligans” should be allowed to roam the streets, health and on the other side, stomach shock at the way in which once again the police and media have mistreated protestors. As anyone who was following me on Twitter will know I was involved on the UK Uncut action, cialis 40mg which involved an occupation of Fortnum & Mason… yet another large corporation culpable of massive tax avoidance: This action led to by far the largest numbers of arrests and charges on the day: a staggering 138 of the 149.
On my way through London I saw the most enormous amount of creativity, from pound coin shields to a Trojan Horse cunningly installed at the centre of Oxford Circus – and of course plenty of banners bursting with witty one liners: included in this blog post are just a few of the amazing sights from the day. With a march numbering possibly half a million and upwards (something the government has been quick to downplay) there were surely many great ones that I missed – especially the legendary message “I was told there would be biscuits” carried by a small child on someone’s shoulders. I broke away from the march early on to take part in UK Uncut actions on Oxford Street and then at Fortnum & Mason.
Demonised by the press for their behaviour, UK Uncut have been quick to fight back with their version of events: really, the police and media should know better. Both UK Uncut and Green & Black Cross – the support network that provided legal observers and arrestee support – have grown out of Climate Camp networks and ways of organising to take on completely new identities of their own. As a result some of those involved are no strangers to wrongful arrest, police brutality and political policing: remember Heathrow, Kingsnorth, G20 and Ratcliffe anyone? These people know what they are doing; naturally the unfair arrests of UK Uncut was filmed and immediately shared, the footage unsurprisingly making the front page of the Guardian.
Some people might wonder what on earth the links between the anti-cuts movement and Climate Camp are, but Climate Camp has always been rooted in a desire to address the social inequalities of capitalism – for example a breakaway group in London is currently looking at ways to campaign around fuel poverty. One of the favourite slogans at the COP15 Climate conference was System Change not Climate Change – we can’t cure the problem with simple quick fix answers, but rather by tackling the whole global neoliberal system. A brutal plan to cut services such as libraries and the NHS will undermine the fabric of a just society, affecting the poor most. Meanwhile the rich are able to avoid huge tax bills at a time when we desperately need to start building a green economy that is not based on endless profit. Clearly these inequalities are something that green activists are keen to tackle.
Climate Camp has also always been a broad mix of liberalism and radicalism, so it’s no surprise that UK Uncut is as well. The very name Green & Black Cross indicates how the group combines the more autonomous anarchist streaks of activism with the skills, infrastructure and ideologies built up within the green movement. It supports grassroots social struggles in the UK and during the March for the Alternative the Green & Black Cross provided Legal Support, Action Medics and Action Kitchens. They even had a basic compost portaloo roaming the streets in a supermarket trolley – but in the event it was never used: it’s hard to get into a kettle once it is formed. They will be independently advising on all arrests during the day at a defendants’ meeting on Saturday 2nd April and were generally out in force to offer biscuits and legal advice as soon as arrestees were released.
Since the arrests UK Uncut activists have had to field a barrage of commentary from the media, which has been ever quick to notice the anarchic element of their protest. Their sit in at Fortnum & Mason was largely peaceful – protestors ate their own sandwiches and listened to performances and speeches – but on Newsnight a spokesperson was asked to denounce all protestor violence. She did a marvellous job of neither condoning nor denouncing it: there were people from all backgrounds in Fortnum & Mason. For some it will have been their first experience of direct action (read this shocking report of the arrest of a 15 year old girl) and others were part of the Black Bloc earlier in the day – the two are not mutually exclusive. UK Uncut has an incredibly loose non-hierarchical structure, and to be successful it must somehow find a place for those of all backgrounds.
Inside Fortnum & Mason. They look super scared don’t they?
Most UK Uncutters recognise that there is more to successful activism than a simplistic black and white damnation of violence, but the more liberal end of the spectrum may well be new to the idea that damage to property is not considered violence by many activists – see here for a definition – so there is going to be a rapid need to redefine and educate as soon as possible. Most of the targets for property damage on Saturday were well thought through – big banks that avoid tax, Topshop, BHS and so on. Who threw paint, and who broke windows? It’s not clear, but the targets were clear enough. Some people, whether you agree with it or not, think it is more effective to inflict damage on a well selected target than to simply march from A-B and then listen to speeches. After all, what did it ever do to stop the Iraq war? Direct action through the ages has proven that targeting property can be highly effective – the Suffragettes were never afraid of inflicting collateral damage. Last year at Climate Camp windows were smashed at the RBS head offices in Edinburgh to demonstrate concern against their continued investment in fossil fuels.
By Trafalgar Square at night some rogue elements (possibly pissed up) were clearly provoked into throwing glass bottles at police, never something I would recommend however bad police brutality gets (and by all accounts it did get REALLY bad) because I personally don’t believe that violence against people is ever acceptable. But I do believe that the Black Bloc as a considered and thoughtful tactic is something that our movement needs: people who are willing to put their bodies and actions on the front line to stop those who are damaging the fabric of our “democratic” society. Many of them were very young, possibly disaffected veterans of kettling at the student demos last year – others were highly organised groups who came to join the march from across the country. Those involved will undoubtedly have slightly different views as to process and outcome but recent online dialogues prove that diverse parts of the movement are keen to work together. Rather than dismiss Black Bloc actions as the nihilistic work of masked “hooligans” we would do well to consider the underlying reasons why this is seen as an appealing tactic utilised by at least a thousand people last weekend. After all, we’re all in this together… and this is just the beginning of our future.
Unless you have been living under a rock you will be aware that there was a huge anti-cuts march on Saturday 26th March 2011. In the days since then the press has been dominated with both outrage from the government that “hooligans” should be allowed to roam the streets, visit this site and on the other side, buy shock at the way in which once again the police and media have mistreated protestors. As anyone who was following me on Twitter will know I was involved on the UK Uncut action, which involved an occupation of Fortnum & Mason… yet another large corporation culpable of massive tax avoidance: This action led to by far the largest numbers of arrests and charges on the day: a staggering 138 of the 149.
On my way through London I saw the most enormous amount of creativity, from pound coin shields to a Trojan Horse cunningly installed at the centre of Oxford Circus – and of course plenty of banners bursting with witty one liners: included in this blog post are just a few of the amazing sights from the day. With a march numbering possibly half a million and upwards (something the government has been quick to downplay) there were surely many great ones that I missed – especially the legendary message “I was told there would be biscuits” carried by a small child on someone’s shoulders. I broke away from the march early on to take part in UK Uncut actions on Oxford Street and then at Fortnum & Mason.
Demonised by the press for their behaviour, UK Uncut have been quick to fight back with their version of events: really, the police and media should know better. Both UK Uncut and Green & Black Cross – the support network that provided legal observers and arrestee support – have grown out of Climate Camp networks and ways of organising to take on completely new identities of their own. As a result some of those involved are no strangers to wrongful arrest, police brutality and political policing: remember Heathrow, Kingsnorth, G20 and Ratcliffe anyone? These people know what they are doing; naturally the unfair arrests of UK Uncut was filmed and immediately shared, the footage unsurprisingly making the front page of the Guardian.
Some people might wonder what on earth the links between the anti-cuts movement and Climate Camp are, but Climate Camp has always been rooted in a desire to address the social inequalities of capitalism – for example a breakaway group in London is currently looking at ways to campaign around fuel poverty. One of the favourite slogans at the COP15 Climate conference was System Change not Climate Change – we can’t cure the problem with simple quick fix answers, but rather by tackling the whole global neoliberal system. A brutal plan to cut services such as libraries and the NHS will undermine the fabric of a just society, affecting the poor most. Meanwhile the rich are able to avoid huge tax bills at a time when we desperately need to start building a green economy that is not based on endless profit. Clearly these inequalities are something that green activists are keen to tackle.
Climate Camp has also always been a broad mix of liberalism and radicalism, so it’s no surprise that UK Uncut is as well. The very name Green & Black Cross indicates how the group combines the more autonomous anarchist streaks of activism with the skills, infrastructure and ideologies built up within the green movement. It supports grassroots social struggles in the UK and during the March for the Alternative the Green & Black Cross provided Legal Support, Action Medics and Action Kitchens. They even had a basic compost portaloo roaming the streets in a supermarket trolley – but in the event it was never used: it’s hard to get into a kettle once it is formed. They will be independently advising on all arrests during the day at a defendants’ meeting on Saturday 2nd April and were generally out in force to offer biscuits and legal advice as soon as arrestees were released.
Since the arrests UK Uncut activists have had to field a barrage of commentary from the media, which has been ever quick to notice the anarchic element of their protest. Their sit in at Fortnum & Mason was largely peaceful – protestors ate their own sandwiches and listened to performances and speeches – but on Newsnight a spokesperson was asked to denounce all protestor violence. She did a marvellous job of neither condoning nor condemning it: there were people from all backgrounds in Fortnum & Mason. For some it will have been their first experience of direct action (read this shocking report of the arrest of a 15 year old girl) and others were part of the Black Bloc earlier in the day – the two are not mutually exclusive. UK Uncut has an incredibly loose non-hierarchical structure, and to be successful it must somehow find a place for those of all backgrounds.
Inside Fortnum & Mason. They look super scared don’t they?
Most UK Uncutters recognise that there is more to successful activism than a simplistic black and white damnation of violence, but the more liberal end of the spectrum may well be new to the idea that damage to property is not considered violence by many activists – see here for a definition – so there is going to be a rapid need to redefine and educate as soon as possible. Most of the targets for property damage on Saturday were well thought through – big banks that avoid tax, Topshop, BHS and so on. Who threw paint, and who broke windows? It’s not clear, but the targets were clear enough. Some people, whether you agree with it or not, think it is more effective to inflict damage on a well selected target than to simply march from A-B and then listen to speeches. After all, what did it ever do to stop the Iraq war? Direct action through the ages has proven that targeting property can be highly effective – the Suffragettes were never afraid of inflicting collateral damage. Last year at Climate Camp windows were smashed at the RBS head offices in Edinburgh to demonstrate concern against their continued investment in fossil fuels.
By Trafalgar Square at night some rogue elements (possibly pissed up) were clearly provoked into throwing glass bottles at police, never something I would recommend however bad police brutality gets (and by all accounts it did get REALLY bad) because I personally don’t believe that violence against people is ever acceptable. But I do believe that the Black Bloc as a considered and thoughtful tactic is something that our movement needs: people who are willing to put their bodies and actions on the front line to stop those who are damaging the fabric of our “democratic” society. Many of them were very young, possibly disaffected veterans of kettling at the student demos last year – others were highly organised groups who came to join the march from across the country. Those involved will undoubtedly have slightly different views as to process and outcome but recent online dialogues prove that diverse parts of the movement are keen to work together. Rather than dismiss Black Bloc actions as the nihilistic work of masked “hooligans” we would do well to consider the underlying reasons why this is seen as an appealing tactic utilised by at least a thousand people last weekend. After all, we’re all in this together… and this is just the beginning of our future.
Amidst the renovations and general detritus that inevitably comes when you do a top to toe renovation of a two floored building, Nathan Englebrecht and Margherita Berloni are guiding me around the former print works in Leonard Street, EC2 which will soon form the light-filled gallery space for EB&Flow. In the run up to the April 2nd opening, the gallery founders – both twenty somethings who met on an art business course – seem as cool as a proverbial cucumber and in good spirits as we tour the premises, chatting all the while about their vision for the space and how it will serve and suit their artists in residence. While art galleries are certainly not hard to come by in this neck of the woods, there is something very noteworthy about this particular endeavor, and that is the galleries extensive level of support to the artists who will exhibit in their gallery. Their aim is to cultivate long term relationships with the artists in residency, and share an ethos that they will try to make anything happen for them; advising them on their careers, placing them in collections, even paying for material costs if necessary.
A selection of works by some of the 10 artists who will be exhibiting at the group show Since Tomorrow Gemma Anderson
Albemarlensis, Pahoehoe Lava
During the time that their work is exhibited at EB&Flow, they are also given studio space within the gallery. (After a period, the walls will be removed and the studio becomes an exhibition in itself). It soon becomes clear that Nathan and Margherita feel passionately about this, discussing at length something which is somewhat of a current hot topic – the sense that artists are not provided with enough support and advice during their time at art school with regards to the business of art; (a subject that was recently discussed in Jessica Furseth’s article here). “We never felt that artists had the right platform in which to exhibit and the support that was needed to develop their careers”, Nathan explains. Born out of this is an additional feature of the gallery; an educational programme kicking off at the end of April that will discuss issues such as collecting, curatorial practice and artist professional development. They list a few of the topics that will be covered, such as the legality issues of selling art, re-sell rights, how to store art, how to do art fairs…..all things relevant and vital to a burgeoning artists career. It’s worth mentioning that these courses and lectures will be open to all. Check the EB&Flow website for further details.
Margeherita and Nathan, EB & Flow.
I ask Margherita and Nathan what they are looking for in an artist, and what type of work will feature at EB&Flow. “There is a certain aesthetic line going through our choice of artists”, Nathan explains, with Margherita adding “we steer away from very conceptual stuff and minimalist art; we want something rich and interesting to look at”. Their first collection is entitled Since Tomorrow, curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini and features work (using disciplines such as installation, painting, sculpture and photography) from ten emerging artists exploring the dynamics of space and providing responses to the question ‘ what is the space we are living at the moment and how do we represent it?’. Work will be shown by Briony Anderson, Gemma Anderson, Neil Ayling, Ross M. Brown, Shannah Bupp, Sue Corke, Dylan Culhane, Alessandro Librio, Nicholas McLeod, Katie Louise Surridge and Cristian Zuzunaga.
Amongst the core group of artists whose work will be opening the gallery is Katie Louise Surridge, a Slade School of Fine Art graduate. (She will also go on to have a residency at the EB&Flow gallery). Her work will particularly resonate with anyone who lives in grimy, rubbish strewn London because Katie has the ability to make something beautiful out of the underbelly of the city. Her installations use found objects which she sources during scavenging missions done mainly along the Thames, creating a utopia out of what has been left behind and discarded. While I was talking with Nathan and Margherita, Katie was busy getting a sense of the space that will feature her (very big) installation. She works mostly with natural materials, such as aged wood and metal; “natural materials that have been used in this urban scheme, and then reverted back to being natural again”. “I have this fascination with what’s left behind”, she continues, “I like the aesthetic of what the river washes up – it’s been there for a long time and it’s aged and it feels like its got a bit of history behind it”. It’s impossible not to warm to Katie, especially after discovering the following facts about her:
– She once found an S+M style gag washed up in the river and took it to the pub, thinking that it was a dog collar.
– She was in the Boy Scouts as a child (not the Brownies)
– She is a self confessed obsessive hoarder
– Her beloved dog is going to be featured on a ‘Dog Borstal’ style TV show
– She is saving up to buy a metal detector to assist her scavenging expeditions.
Discovering Katie’s work makes me realise how little I know about what gets discarded in big cities, and how much waste washes up around us.
Dylan Culhane, and his work Mechanotron which will feature in Since Tomorrow.
Since Tomorrow: Exhibition Dates, 2 April – 26 May.
UK Uncut gathers on the South Bank on Saturday 26th March 2011. All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Unless you have been living under a rock you will be aware that there was a huge anti-cuts March for the Alternative on Saturday 26th March 2011. In the days since then the press has been dominated with both outrage from the government that “hooligans” should be allowed to roam the streets, purchase and on the other side, shock at the way in which once again the police and media have mistreated protestors. As anyone who was following me on Twitter will know I was involved on the UK Uncut action, which involved an occupation of Fortnum & Mason… yet another large corporation culpable of massive tax avoidance: This action led to by far the largest numbers of arrests and charges on the day: a staggering 138 of the 149.
On my way through London I saw the most enormous amount of creativity, from pound coin shields to a Trojan Horse cunningly installed at the centre of Oxford Circus – and of course plenty of banners bursting with witty one liners: included in this blog post are just a few of the amazing sights from the day. With a march numbering possibly half a million and upwards (something the government has been quick to downplay) there were surely many great ones that I missed – especially the legendary message “I was told there would be biscuits” carried by a small child on someone’s shoulders. I broke away from the march early on to take part in UK Uncut actions on Oxford Street and then at Fortnum & Mason.
Demonised by the press for their behaviour, UK Uncut have been quick to fight back with their version of events: really, the police and media should know better. Both UK Uncut and Green & Black Cross – the support network that provided legal observers and arrestee support – have grown out of Climate Camp networks and ways of organising to take on completely new identities of their own. As a result some of those involved are no strangers to wrongful arrest, police brutality and political policing: remember Heathrow, Kingsnorth, G20 and Ratcliffe anyone? These people know what they are doing; naturally the unfair arrests of UK Uncut was filmed and immediately shared, the footage unsurprisingly making the front page of the Guardian.
Some people might wonder what on earth the links between the anti-cuts movement and Climate Camp are, but Climate Camp has always been rooted in a desire to address the social inequalities of capitalism – for example a breakaway group in London is currently looking at ways to campaign around fuel poverty. One of the favourite slogans at the COP15 Climate conference was System Change not Climate Change – we can’t cure the problem with simple quick fix answers, but rather by tackling the whole global neoliberal system. A brutal plan to cut services such as libraries and the NHS will undermine the fabric of a just society, affecting the poor most. Meanwhile the rich are able to avoid huge tax bills at a time when we desperately need to start building a green economy that is not based on endless profit. Clearly these inequalities are something that green activists are keen to tackle.
Climate Camp has also always been a broad mix of liberalism and radicalism, so it’s no surprise that UK Uncut is as well. The very name Green & Black Cross indicates how the group combines the more autonomous anarchist streaks of activism with the skills, infrastructure and ideologies built up within the green movement. It supports grassroots social struggles in the UK and during the March for the Alternative the Green & Black Cross provided Legal Support, Action Medics and Action Kitchens. They even had a basic compost portaloo roaming the streets in a supermarket trolley – but in the event it was never used: it’s hard to get into a kettle once it is formed. They will be independently advising on all arrests during the day at a defendants’ meeting on Saturday 2nd April and were generally out in force to offer biscuits and legal advice as soon as arrestees were released.
Since the arrests UK Uncut activists have had to field a barrage of commentary from the media, which has been ever quick to notice the anarchic element of their protest. Their sit in at Fortnum & Mason was largely peaceful – protestors ate their own sandwiches and listened to performances and speeches – but on Newsnight a spokesperson was asked to denounce all protestor violence. She did a marvellous job of neither condoning nor condemning it: there were people from all backgrounds in Fortnum & Mason. For some it will have been their first experience of direct action (read this shocking report of the arrest of a 15 year old girl) and others were part of the Black Bloc earlier in the day – the two are not mutually exclusive. UK Uncut has an incredibly loose non-hierarchical structure, and to be successful it must somehow find a place for those of all backgrounds.
Inside Fortnum & Mason. They look super scared don’t they?
Most UK Uncutters recognise that there is more to successful activism than a simplistic black and white damnation of violence, but the more liberal end of the spectrum may well be new to the idea that damage to property is not considered violence by many activists – see here for a definition – so there is going to be a rapid need to redefine and educate as soon as possible. Most of the targets for property damage on Saturday were well thought through – big banks that avoid tax, Topshop, BHS and so on. Who threw paint, and who broke windows? It’s not clear, but the targets were clear enough. Some people, whether you agree with it or not, think it is more effective to inflict damage on a well selected target than to simply march from A-B and then listen to speeches. After all, what did it ever do to stop the Iraq war? Direct action through the ages has proven that targeting property can be highly effective – the Suffragettes were never afraid of inflicting collateral damage. Last year at Climate Camp windows were smashed at the RBS head offices in Edinburgh to demonstrate concern against their continued investment in fossil fuels.
By Trafalgar Square at night some rogue elements (possibly pissed up) were clearly provoked into throwing glass bottles at police, never something I would recommend however bad police brutality gets (and by all accounts it did get REALLY bad) because I personally don’t believe that violence against people is ever acceptable. But I do believe that the Black Bloc as a considered and thoughtful tactic is something that our movement needs: people who are willing to put their bodies and actions on the front line to stop those who are damaging the fabric of our “democratic” society. Many of them were very young, possibly disaffected veterans of kettling at the student demos last year – others were highly organised groups who came to join the march from across the country. Those involved will undoubtedly have slightly different views as to process and outcome but recent online dialogues prove that diverse parts of the movement are keen to work together. Rather than dismiss Black Bloc actions as the nihilistic work of masked “hooligans” we would do well to consider the underlying reasons why this is seen as an appealing tactic utilised by at least a thousand people last weekend. After all, we’re all in this together… and this is just the beginning of our future.
Beyond the Brink is young filmmaker Ross Harrison’s personal investigation into the debate on Climate Change. After feeling inundated by the media discussions in the lead up and fall out of Copenhagen in 2009, prostate Ross set himself the task of answering the ever present question of “What is Climate Change” followed by the provocative “and does it really matter?” To help himself along his journey and to find out more about the current consensus on climate change Ross interviewed a selection of commentators and scientists from David Attenbrough, Deepak Rughani, Mark Lynas, Dieter Helm to Dr Heike Schroeder.
Amelia’s Magazine interviewed Ross about why he decided to make this film, the impact the film has had in schools and what he now thinks needs to be achieved on a personal and governmental level to tackle the impact of Climate Change.
First things first, what inspired you to make a film that investigates the vast and divisive topic that is Climate Change?
Back in 2009, it seemed like an unavoidable issue – what with the media coverage building up to Copenhagen for nearly the whole year and films like The Age of Stupid being released. I also found the subject cropping up more and more in my school work.
What did you feel was missing from the discussion in the media or schools during the lead up to Cop 15 in 2009?
It seemed like a very polarized debate with no middle ground. I was frustrated by hearing the same arguments again and again bouncing between the same groups of people. I didn’t understand why people weren’t cooperating more to work towards a common goal. That hasn’t changed a great deal. Probably and most importantly I wanted to provide a young person’s perspective.
How has the film been received since its release? Has it been taken around schools in the UK?
Since I launched the website at the end of last year there has been a lot of positive feedback, which is encouraging. For the week of screenings I posted about 300 DVDs to schools, universities, community groups and individual volunteers. I’ve been along to some screenings myself, but because they’re all over the country it’s mainly teachers and students using the film themselves, which I’ve tried to make as easy as possible by releasing the film for free.
What -for you- were the most difficult aspects to making this film?
Weighing up the masses of information about climate change – articles, books, blogs, programs, interviews – and trying to filter that down into a documentary that was balanced, accessible and understandable was the first difficulty. The second was trying to think of ways of doing things differently, using different language, presenting the problem in a new way that might make it more inspiring.
Beyond the Brink contains a mixture of talking heads and personal narration, what lead you to construct the film in this way?
The talking heads are in there because I felt that was the best way to convey the experts’ viewpoints. The audience hears what I heard and can draw their own conclusions. I chose to feature myself because it was a very personal project and I wanted to include my slant as a teenager.
Was it particularly important to you that the film was released for free and under a creative commons license?
Definitely. My hope is for the film to get the widest audience possible and I think making it freely available should mean more people watch it that otherwise might.
On reflection, since Cop 16 and the overshadowing of Climate Change in the media by the recession and the arrival of the coalition government, what do you think is next for the climate movement?
Cancun was not surprising – after such a flop at Copenhagen the officials involved were bound to be desperate to publicize some sort of success. Even so COP16 was a small step rather than the deal people had set their hopes on in 2009. I don’t want to rule out the UN process completely, but I think its limited real impact in the 19 years its been running, is a sign progress needs to be made elsewhere. Those involved in the climate movement need to be pressuring the governments of their own countries to lead by example. The discussion needs to move away from talking about climate catastrophe to selling the benefits of a clean energy infrastructure and low-carbon lifestyles. People are far more likely to be driven by an appealing goal than a danger that could affect them at some point in the future.
What did you learn during the making of the film that surprised you with regards to the debate on Climate Change?
A greater proportion of the scientific community than I realized think that humans are largely causing current climate change. A scientific debate about whether we are contributing to climate change doesn’t really exist anymore, it is widely assumed we are.
Have you plans to follow up the film with further interviews?
No, although it’s something I may come back to at a later date, after I’ve finished working on distributing this film I’ll be looking to take on a new project.
How difficult did you find approaching the range of experts -from Sir David Attenborough to Deepak Rughani and Dr Heike Schroeader- that appear in Beyond the Brink?
It was certainly a challenge. Obviously the people I met know a massive amount about the subject, much more than I do, but you still have to research lots to be able to ask good questions. Thankfully all the interviewees were very approachable and generous with their time. Like many things, you get better at interviews with practice and in the end I was really pleased with the responses I had. That’s not to say there weren’t disappointments. Sometimes technical problems meant some of the best answers couldn’t be used.
How did the animations within the film develop and do you feel they were integral to explain a few of the ideas behind the causes of Climate Change?
Concepts like the greenhouse effect are difficult to explain at all, let alone with a strict time limit and so animations seemed like the best option. The problem is they take a long time to create. I’ve still got 100 paper Earths on my shelf that I traced from my computer screen.
Film Stills from Beyond the Brink
What fact or possible event as a cause of Climate Change shocked you the most during the making of this film?
I found that the number of species threatened by potential warming was really startling. One in four land animal and plant species could be threatened with extinction this century.
Which five environmental documentaries would you recommend everybody watches?
What conclusions have you come to since Beyond the Brink was completed?
Being optimistic is important. Working towards a vision of a better world with a reliable renewable energy supply, full employment, smaller bills, and healthier lifestyles, has got a far greater chance of uniting the population than struggling to avoid a catastrophe. You don’t have to be an environmentalist to want those things. And working together is essential. In whatever situation people are taking action, by joining forces with their neighbours, friends, schoolmates or colleagues, they can make their voice much louder.
Film Still from Beyond the Brink
What policies would you like to see Governments world wide implement?
I’d like to see serious investment in green technologies, stricter regulation of energy industries, and policies that make it easier for individuals to reduce their carbon footprint. Channelling money into developing renewable energy and other green products can create jobs. On the one hand if our current energy system is replaced by a carbon neutral one then individuals will not have to make many changes, on the other, behavioral change is essential because we need to start appreciating almost all the resources we use are finite. One policy I think is especially urgent and needs to be implemented by some South American and Indonesian governments is strong protection of rainforests. The rate of deforestation is mind-blowing and can’t go on.
“Are we really causing Climate Change and who cares?” (Question taken from Beyond the Brink’s website)
It is very likely we are changing the Earth’s climate by changing the composition of its atmosphere and this is a stance that the vast majority of climate scientists and scientific organizations around the world agree on, as far as I can tell. The implications are serious and everybody could be affected, but importantly the poorest people in the world who are less able to defend themselves against potential hazards are likely to be affected first.
Like many problems, climate change is easy to ignore and only a minority are taking action, even if a much larger number might say they are concerned. The next step must be to encourage changes that people want to see and which reduce our impact at the same time, like demanding cheaper, better public transport, or designing more energy efficient products. What really makes me hopeful, though, is education. I’m hopeful people my age will grow up with different attitudes to those of generations before.
After watching the film, what’s the next step for a viewer who would like to be engaged in the Climate Change debate?
Well, for a start the debate has largely moved from are we really causing climate change, to what’s the best way to minimize the impact we are very likely having. If someone wants more information, there are endless books and websites. The Rough Guide to Climate Change is particularly good. But be wary of blogs – it’s very easy for people to write anything they like and pretend to know more than they do.
In terms of getting involved, the best thing to do is join an existing network, of which there are many. There are so many organizations with basically the same aims I sometimes think if they all joined forces then they could really change things. If you’d call yourself young then check out the UK Youth Climate Coalition, some of whose members feature in the film. Other initiatives like 350 and 10:10 are building the movement, making it exciting and making an impact.
Last week the Earth team at Amelia’s Magazine went along to the Friends House in Euston to listen to a report made by the Public Interest Research Centre (PIRC). The issue was climate change and the information it uncovered was alarming.
As a self-confessed newbie to these sorts of events I must admit to harboring uneasiness about feeling out of place in a room full of swampys. But my silly preconceptions were immediately flattened.
Lead by a panel of speakers expert in their field, the atmosphere at the Friends House was alive with people from all manner of backgrounds but united in the opinion that climate change is a matter of urgency.
Chairing the debate was Christian Hunt who kicked off by asking the audience a few questions. 99% raised their hand when asked whether they would describe themselves as environmentalists. Roughly 70% would say they had some knowledge of climate change while roughly 20% would say they had lots of knowledge on the subject. 99% of us responded yes we did like his t-shirt that read ‘don’t give up.’
The first to speak from the panel was Kevin Anderson from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He started with a clear message: the question of climate change is a humanitarian one. While the U.K. and E.U’s definition of a dangerous climate change as 2°C per annum may be an adequate threshold for us in the western world, it is not nearly small enough to safeguard the rest of the world.
It is the southern hemisphere, containing the world’s poorest, that is targeted the most by global warming in it’s present state, with people dying on a daily basis. Therefore it is an ethical decision about how much we care about the world’s weakest as to how and when we go about dealing with the climate.
He went on to say that the entire climate change debate needs an urgent rethink when taking into account the latest emissions data. The planet is heating up at an even faster rate than we thought, and our government seems to be denying this is happening by following the miscalculated advice from the Stern Report and not pumping in nearly dosh needed to implement a strategy that will radically cut back our emissions.
But Kevin Anderson pointed out there may be a silver lining to retrieve from the present economical situation. History has shown us that larger emission reductions occur when there is economic turmoil. I guess this has something to with cut backs in industry forced by a plummeting economy. When the Soviet Union collapsed, for example, there was a record drop of 5% per annum.
Tim Helweg-Larson, the director of Public Interest Research Centre bounded onto the platform next. So this is where it gets rather technical but don’t worry, Tim’s clear and straightforward delivery meant that even my mind didn’t drift into thinking about what I might eat for tea.
He showed us a series of images showing the levels of sea ice in the arctic in 1979 and in 2007 and I was taken back to those pretty pictures in my school science lab…Predictably the more recent images contained a much larger surface area of dark gloominess.
These dark regions absorb more heat. This additional heat penetrates 1500km inland across a plain of perma-frost. This stuff is harmless if left untouched but once melted, its carbon content-which is twice the amount of the entire global atmosphere-is released into the air. Yep that means even more bad stuff is added to the high intensity of CO2 that started this whole malarkey.
The knock-on effect going on in the arctic-known as the triple melt- is steadily destroying the climatic state of the entire planet. Soon we will reach the point where we will no longer be within the realm of temperatures that enable things to grow and humanity to survive (known as the middle climate). If this isn’t scary enough this tipping point is likely to peak sooner than we thought; as early as 2011 to 2015.
George Momboit was next to speak. Hello. His exuberance for the cause was exciting…ooh la…did you know he has been shot at, shipwrecked and pronounced clinically dead? Well he was very much alive that evening as I listened – intently- to his practical, if ambitious, advice to the government to stop fannying about and introduce a ‘crash program of total energy replacement.’
He whizzed through a series of steps geared to cut our emissions by 20% by 2012 and more thereafter. But those wild curls, brisk demeanor and air of academic brilliance were just a little distracting. Without getting too carried away I managed to jot down the key points of this radical plan:
1. To train up a green army of builders that is equipped to build more energy efficient homes
2.A mass subsidy program to re insulate homes
3.Replacement of power plants
4.Re engineering of roads to cater better for cycles and coaches
5. To Cap number of landing spots for airports so that by 2030 the maximum number of flights is 5% of current levels.
6.Agriculture should be devoted to the most efficient carbon saving schemes
7.He summed up with the statement that lowering demand for fossil fuels should happen simultaneously with lowering their supply and we need to dramatically cut oil and gas exploitations.
Pretty rousing stuff…
Solar energy pioneer, Jeremy Leggett gave us a more buisnessy slant on what can be done for climate change especially in this current state of economic upheaval and an encroaching energy crunch (the I.E.A. predicts 5 years time). With people becoming increasingly disheartened by the government’s spending priorities, now’s the time to duck in and make a collective effort to re-engineer capitalism. He enforced the notion that money needs to go into building a carbon army of workers that would create 10 thousand new jobs and…cost a measly half a billion squid
Caroline Lucas, MEP for South East England and Leader of the Green Party, disheartened by the inertia of our government, shocked us all by urging ‘a massive campaign of civil disobedience.’ This prompted uproar amongst the audience and I must say it felt pretty inspiring .She went on to talk about Climate Rush, an activist group who take their inspiration from the Suffragette movement. Like the women who were denied the vote, their rush on parliament really is a demand for life itself. They also dress-up in fancy Edwardian petticoats, which sounds fun. But their theatricality is not without sincerity, direction and a passion to change the injustices that climate change is causing on humanity. Caroline Lucas’ speech stirred an energetic drive to ‘do something’ in me. She reminded us of the words of Emily Pankhurst ‘to be a militant is to be a privilege’ and something hit home. We are very lucky to not be totally powerless in this situation, as so many people across the world are, and it is possible to make our government listen to us, albeit with a bit of hard work. To find about the next climate rush action click here.
So I’ve dipped my toe into the murky sludge of our current climate. All the facts and figures might not have filtered through into this article but I hope if, like me, you previously thought this issue was for only for really clever people and maybe just a little put off by dreadlocks, you’ve realized that this is something we should all be aware of whether we want to listen to it or not, including our government.
As I left the Climate Safety talk to cycle home, I felt almost grateful for never bothering to learn to drive as perhaps in a small way it might make up for that stomach-sinking feeling of how terribly selfish I had been for only vaguely paying attention to news of melting popsicles and greenhouses.
The truth is I felt safe in the view that the really scary things won’t happen for a very long time, well after I’m buried in the ground and used for compost. Well I was wrong, it’s not our grandkid’s grandkid that’s going to feel the full force of climate change-it’s us.
Written by Lucy Jones on Wednesday December 10th, 2008 1:11 pm
Perhaps its because I’m getting older, adiposity perhaps I’m becoming more eccentric or perhaps its one too many glasses of wine but I am becoming increasingly intolerant of waste. The latest object of my ‘waste rage’ is envelopes. I am ‘online billed’ to my eyeballs, dosage but I still seem to receive an avalanche of junk mail and catalogues for companies I’ve never heard of through the post. Its probably Facebook’s fault; selling my soul to Identity Theft R Us and IWillSpamYouToTears.com.
But before I retreat into an envelope and Facebook induced pit of fury, order I’ll bring this baby back to the point.
What to do with those pesky envelopes?
According to the folk at Green Box Day the average British family throws away 6 trees worth of paper in their household bin a year. Thats 120 trees over 20 years, which is, like, a small forest. Or something. Obviously reducing the amount of paper we bring home is the best thing, but finding ways to reuse the stuff is the next best thing.
Before you recycle (or chuck away, tut tut) your next envelope, look closely at it. Envelopes have a rather nice graphic blue or black pattern lining the inside. Once you start noticing, I warn you its a slippery slope. You may find yourself rating companies according to the graphics they choose for the inside of their envelopes. Tate, for examples get top marks in my book, but HSBC are at the bottom of the cool envelope lining charts.
These small graphic patterns would lend themselves well to something small… like muffin toppers. Or cake bunting. Don’t you see?! (ahem)
You will need
Old envelopes
Scissors
Ruler and pencil
Needle and thread
Cocktail sticks
Pritt stick
Firstly, make a stencil of the flag shape of your choice, trace onto the envelope several times and cut them out.
Use a bit of glue to wrap the flag around a cocktail stick.
An alternative to muffin toppers is a string of mini paper envelope bunting.
Cut out some tiny triangles, and using a needle and thread, pierce the triangles twice with the needle. Prepare for ‘small pain’ rage.
Then string them together.
Or if all that is all a bit pointless and over the top for you (bah humbug), you could just save them for your shopping lists. Just cut off the gummy bits, make a hole in the corner and tie them together. A free, self replenishing notepad, handy for to do lists and passive aggressive notes to housemates and other halves.
Whilst researching for this article, I realized that I can register my address at the mail preference register to stop junk mail. My level of excitement about this is unequaled. Go forth and experience the joy.
This column attempts to provide lovely ways to recycle junk into useful and beautiful things. If you have had a genius recycling idea or if you are stuck with something you don’t want to chuck away, leave a comment and let me know! I may feature your idea or I will try and come up with a solution to your recycling conundrum.
P.s I am currently trying to think of a decent name for this feature. Any suggestions warmly welcomed.
Written by Hannah Bullivant on Wednesday June 2nd, 2010 11:21 pm
When did you last hear an amazing story? A tale of derring-do, helpmedical or grand ambition, shop heights scaled, ambulance depths plumbed – simple stand-up human decency or quiet unassuming endurance or some quirky ingenuity fit to inspire generations to come. The kind of stuff they used to sing songs about, and still do.
Sat around their dining table one evening, David and Clare Hieatt pondered. They were rubbing their chins over what they could really do about the things they cared about. They’d started howies back in 1995, something of an awesome inspirational-type clothes company in itself, but this was clearly not enough. From that evening of reflection, they figured that the world’s Doers are the best people to inspire people to go Do something. In David’s words, ‘They show us what is possible. They leave a trail that we can follow. Knowing how they did it helps us to connect the dots about how we can do it. They give us the inspiration, the final push we need to go and do our thing. Whatever that might be. From starting a new business, to inventing something that hasn’t been done before to fighting for your cause, doers seek.’
And so the Do Lectures were born – a series of talks by people who have Done stuff, and might well Do more, if we let them up and at it – a few days gathering each year to share ideas and stories, to meet other fantastic Doers, and thereby get these stories out and about in the world. Here are a few Qs – the As courtesy of David Hieatt – that might give you more of an idea.
Why do people get involved with the Do Lectures?
There isn’t a set of talks like it in Britain. The talks have sustainability at its heart. Their reason to exist is to make a positive change. The speakers do not get paid but we do cover their expenses. Speakers come from all over the world to tell their story. They want to share their learning, they want to share their new ideas, they want to share their journey. They want to tell the world about the change they have made or are seeking to make. It might be a small tent but there are some big ideas being shared. They have a story to tell. People remember stories. They forget facts.
How do you choose your speakers for the Do Lectures?
We spend the year researching the speakers. We find out who has written the most interesting books, written the most thought provoking articles, who is doing the bravest thinking in their field, and then we pull from that research and start to compile a short list. We already have some of the speakers booked for next year. We also have a number of Do mentors throughout the world. They report back to us from time to time. They tell us who their doers are in their part of the world. They we literally get on the phone to the people we are going to invite. Even in the second year, an invite is starting to carry some kudos.
What is the most unusual topic for this year’s Do Lectures?
Maybe, Mount Everests binman. Or a school that aims to create chaos and not order. Maybe the man wants to change how concrete is made. Or maybe the man who’s doodles have ended up on the big screen for what could be the biggest film of the year: Where the Wild Things Are.
Where do you see the Do lectures in 5, 10, 20 years’ time?
In 5 years – There will be a series of How to Do books. That cover the subjects that the talks cover from clean tech to inventing to climate change. Global talks. The talks will take place all over the world. From Sydney, to Bangalore, to Stockholm, to Tokyo, to San Francisco, to Beijing. The talks will over time become an important set of talks, respected throughout the world. In 10 years – The aim for the Do Lectures over the next decade is to build a world resource for Doers and to supply that knowledge for Free for the world to use. To make a positive change. In 20 years – To build A Do school. There will be a physical and a virtual library available free to the world.
So here’s a gathering with a difference. At one thousand pounds a place, you’re less buying a ticket, more contributing to the speakers’ expenses and the future free distribution of the lectures. David and Clare are thinking big – what is fast becoming a respected annual event should attract over a million people across the world this time around to get inspired for free. If you can go, I most humbly and slightly jealously urge you, go. And if a back seat is the order of the day – well, don’t make a habit of sitting there. Once this year’s stories are out and available, I think there’ll be more than enough get-up to go. Yes, I surely Do.
Written by Tom Russell on Wednesday August 5th, 2009 6:31 pm
The eponymous release from New York based The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has everything you could want from a summer album. A certain been-in-the-sun-too-long hazy-headyness without the too-much-ice-cream sugariness of many indie-pop summer albums. No-No! I’m rallying for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart being trail-blazers for a new genre we shall call ‘Sandalgaze” aka Shoegaze for when it’s not raining out.
From the rip-roaring opener ‘Contender’, buymore about the album manages to be catchy without being twee, shop noise without being dreary, imagine My Bloody Valentine on a beach doo-wopping and you’re halfway there.
Whilst treading this line The Pains of Being Pure at Heart consistently avoid being schmaltzy. The track; Young Adult Friction is danceable, its lyrics of a whimsy worthy of Stuart Murdoch yet reflect on themes like first love with a sort of yearning nostalgia, again souring the sweetness. Here the oft-overdone boy/girl singing duo is slightly off-kilter and the effect is more reminiscent of early Yo La Tengo or Jesus and Mary Chain than Belle & Sebastian.
The Pains of Being Pure of Heart is definitely tinged with nods towards the 80s and early 90s,yet it is perhaps too easy to criticise the album for this. The band manage to utilise certain stylistic tropes without being too retrospective or shallow.
In fact The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is refreshing in it’s redefinition of certain preconceptions: summer isn’t all about whistling and tambourine jangling anymore and Shoegaze is reinterpreted with a sunny touch rather like enjoying a 99 flake with Kevin Shields!
The album ‘The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’ is available now and the single ‘Young Adult Friction’ is released on 18th May (Fortuna Pop!)
They play The Lexington, London on 15th May
Kitsuné has really got its groove on this time. Left eyebrows are often tilted to a 74-degree angle at the mention of a Parisian fashion boutique that puts out compilation CDs, symptoms amongst other music releases. At first, tadalafil you kind of expect endless Dimitri From Paris types churning out catwalk-flavoured lint, but Kitsuné really knows what it is getting, and won’t be holding onto the receipt. With utter confidence and bravado, you see, it was Kitsuné that released Wolfmother’s ball-busting old-metal limited edition EP. Benetton scratches its head in confusion.
For all that, Compilation 7 is a danceable disc, with lots of European disco-beats, and plenty of fruity basslines in the Frenchified Electro style. But it’s not the kind of thoughtless, juvenile poppy end of it. You won’t hear anything approaching “Lady, give me tonight, cos my feeling is just so right”, since the Maison-people (Maisonettes?) are clued up. They listen to Tangerine Dream and Elvis Costello, and anything they select from the here and now is selected with a certainty that reminds me of the chap who picks the leaves for PG Tips: He just knows where the good stuff’s at.
Highpoints include Chateau Marmont’sBeagle, filled with synths fresh from Tomorrow’s World demonstrations, sidewinding through arpeggiated chords, with the occasional crash-bang with a wooden spoon by the stove, and Beni’sFringe Element, which popcorns along with hi-hats before going to a thoroughly spiffing hiatus of slap bass with one of the squidgiest, wiggly-wormiest synth solos since Mr.Scruff’sShrimp. Probably the most exciting track here is Crystal Fighters’ (above) Xtatic Truth, a journey involving Epic-Ragga-Happy-Hardcore, hints of Chinese Folk, and a choir of the ether.
But it’s a plentiful CD. There are nineteen songs, in all, and although everything chugs along to the metronomic pulse of cubase, there is pacing and variety to the beast overall. Gentle relief comes best of all in This Sweet Love by James Yuill (above), as remixed by Prins Thomas, a ponderous chillscape based on the warmest fingerpicking, and an embrace of vocals. You will feel truly hugged. And once you’ve digested it all, you can take that lovely warm glow on the Eurostar with you, and buy yourself the bestest clothes (I’m not a fashion writer, actually) in all Pareeee!
You can buy the Maison’s goodies at www.kitsune.fr or at their myspace.
If you are a university student, online what do you make of your schools environmental policies? Do they even have green policies to speak of? This week, the students of the University of Arts London have been bringing environmental issues to the forefront, and discussing the various ways that both themselves, their campuses and the courses themselves can be more environmentally aware.
The Go Green Week, also known as Green: The New Black has been running for the last few days and culminates in talks and workshops on Friday, that include Fashion Forward: Creating an Ethical Label between 4pm-6pm RHS East Space, LCF, John Princes Street
which asks: “How can you create a label that looks good, but is also good to the environment?” ECCA and the Centre for Sustainable Fashion present fashion design businesses that are sustainable throughout from their manufacturing processes and materials, to marketing methods that aim communicate and promote their ethical processes to their customers.
Also on Friday afternoon at LCC is the meeting “Students Going Green” –top of the agenda are the following points “Fed up with the lack of recycling at your College? … Want sustainability on the curriculum? … Think Arts London should GO GREEN?” Speaking with the Press Officers of the Student Union, I learnt that a large number of students have voiced their concerns over this topic. The recycling issue specifically has been on ongoing and much debated subject. Many students feel that not enough is being done to provide facilities to recycle. The Green Charter laid out by the Student Union demands that “Sufficient recycling facilities should be available at all Arts London Sites and all Halls of Residence, with consideration also given to specialist recycling e.g. textiles, wood at relevant sites.”
Also on the agenda is for the issues of sustainability to feature more heavily in the Universities curriculum, either in the form of specific modules, or integrated as a whole, and for the campuses to switch to a green energy provider. The student union also explained that they are setting up an “Ethical and Environmental assembly” that will set future Go Green Assembly’s. They have also been encouraging students to sign a petition that is campaigning for a greener Arts London. Realising that strong visuals are the best way to get the point across, the students were asked to be photographed with the green charter and upload their pictures to the blog. An example would be these brave folks.
Learning about the concerted efforts to raise environmental awareness amongst students started me wondering how other universities and student bodies broach this subject. As this is a topic that is dear to our heart, we would love your input on whether your schools and universities are committed to the environmental cause, and if so, do you feel that they are doing enough? . Tell us more at hello@ameliasmagazine.com and maybe we can help to highlight the issue. Be featured in this limited edition anthology of the best new illustrators engaged in environmental thinking. Read on to find out more…
***Please note that this brief is now closed: you can now order a copy of this book online by clicking here***
Now, malady anyone who is following me on Twitter – my new favourite thing in the whole world – will know that I asked my dad to do the research for this book. I know what he’s like – apart from being a typical male who loves nothing more than “disappearing down the rabbit-hole” as my mum calls it (also known as busying himself in new projects) – he also loves a challenge. So I asked him to dig up some info on all the most obscure new alternative technologies currently being explored, sale so that I could put together a brief for Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration.
He rose to the challenge and then some… almost immediately I started receiving email updates on strange new ways of producing energy. But not only that… it seems I have been the unwitting catalyst for a whole new venture – or a whole new rabbit warren to explore, depending on your point of view. A trained if somewhat out of practice scientist, Bruce (that’s my dad, I know, wierd, I call him by his first name)- gleefully told me on Bank Holiday Monday that he’s just designed the best new wave power technology not yet invented. Having read nearly 2000 patents for various wave power technologies he has, in his inimitable way, decided that his idea is quite clearly the best (my dad ALWAYS knows best). Except he won’t share it with me, cos I might, like, post it on the internet or something, before he’s applied for a patent.
Still, exciting stuff, and just the kind of thing I hope to do more of with both this open brief and the resulting book that comes out of it. Amelia’s Magazine in print may be no more, but I could never leave print entirely, and so the idea for this book has been mulling around in my head for sometime now. What we need right now is a whole heap of imagination, because humans need to make a big leap forward if we want to get out of the mess we currently find ourselves in. And whilst the scientists and boffins of this world busy themselves with the minutae of complicated chemical reactions and intricate moving parts, we also need the skills of artists to make these technologies a concrete reality. Without both visions together we will continue to move at a snail’s slither, so my aim is to help quicken that pace. If I can inspire designers and illustrators to better consider the way their energy is produced by drawing alternatives, then maybe they will make better choices about where their own energy comes from. Of course I don’t believe that technology alone is a cure all for all our ills, but it’s a move in the right direction, and I aim to produce a book that provides a comprehensive resource of all the best new illustrators capable of engaging with environmental issues and envisaging future alternative energy sources.
What will be in Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration ?
The book will be a compendium of profiles on the best illustrators who submit to this brief. Anyone is eligible to submit work, from anywhere in the world. I would particularly encourage new illustrators; those who are still at college, just graduating, or new to the field. Amelia’s Magazine is used by many influential creatives looking for new talent to employ, and this will be an even better way of getting your work noticed globally.
What will the book look like?
The book will be the same dimensions as Amelia’s Magazine, thereby sitting nicely on the shelf with any copies of the magazine that purchasers might already possess! It will be designed in a similar fashion but also expect some new ideas.
When will it be published and where will it be sold?
Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration will be self-published (again!!!!) The lead-times are just too long with the big publishers, plus they would want more design control than I am prepared to give to them. The ones I have spoken to also insist on producing all their books in the Far East, something I am very uncomfortable with given the dodgy environmental credentials of many industrial operations in that part of the world. It will be produced in the UK by Principal Colour as a limited edition hardback towards the end of 2009, in time for Christmas. Advance orders should be available to purchase on my website by the end of the summer, and will be much appreciated in order to finance the production process as it is going to cost me much more to keep production in the UK. The book will be sold worldwide at specialist art book shops such as those that already stock the magazine. I will aim to produce a second (possibly softback) edition the following year to be made much more widely available.
What can I do to contribute?
I need a number of different artworks from aspiring contributors, so please read the following information carefully and make sure that your submissions meet the criteria before you send them in to me.
Submission criteria
EXCLUSIVE WORK: produced specifically for AMELIA’S ANTHOLOGY OF ILLUSTRATION
1. Most importantly:
ONE EXCLUSIVE LARGE PIECE done specifically for this anthology and not featured anywhere else.
This should feature an alternative technology that has not yet been built or mass-produced in any great scale. NO RUN-OF-THE-MILL WINDMILLS AND SOLAR PANELS PLEASE!
an intriguing design for a line of windmills on a bouncing rod
This is a challenging theme, but thanks to my dad there are dozens of links below that will lead you off in the right direction. You will need to disappear down the rabbit hole for awhile for this brief requires time and thought to complete. It also requires huge amounts of imagination, which is what illustrators specialise in! And my dad! I’ve always held a belief that the scientific mind and the artistic mind are not really so different from each other. How else do you explain me? The child of two scientists?! but rubbish at science….
Anyway, I digress. In this illustration I want to see ways that a new technology would be integrated into our future lives… so interaction with the surroundings or people will be good. This is not a technical illustration, it’s an aspirational one, but you should imagine this technology in some detail, however fantastical it may be. You could even look back at technologies that were patented as far ago as the 1800s, but that have never become part of the mainstream. Your chosen technology should be the main focus of your whole picture, but don’t forget to add detail.
This should be accompanied by a short written piece describing why you picked this particular technology and what the illustration means to you. This should be no more than 300 words.
A word to the wise: the more obscure your choice of technology the better, since I will probably choose different technologies for each illustrator that I choose to profile.
You can choose to work in two sizes: Double page (as was used in Amelia’s Magazine) SIZE: page size: 400mm wide x 245mm high, with a bleed of 3mm all around; ie. final size of your artwork: 406mm x 251mm.
or Single page SIZE: page size: 200mm wide x 245mm high, with a bleed of 3mm all around; ie. final size of your artwork: 206mm x 251mm. NOTE: Don’t put important stuff in the 3mm bleed zone (but do continue your image into it) as this is where the printers may cut bits off when the magazine is cut and bound. RESOLUTION: 300dpi, as a photoshop file in CYMK mode, using Photoshop print profile: euro standard swap coated 20% (or euroscale V2) GUTTER: please also note that the book will have a very deep gutter in the middle so it is good to keep important parts of your illustration away from the centre of the spread in double page images. MY STYLE: if you want to know about my taste in illustration you should check out the current issue of the mag, or buy a back issue here!
2. A exclusive PICTORIAL LOGO on an environmental theme
If you have submitted something for the Climate Camp logo open brief then you would be able to resubmit it for this brief, irrespective of whether it was used or not. The logo could be for an event or a company or a product or anything at all, but it must be promoting environmental themes and ideas. I will be looking for colourful and engaging logos. Consider the work of Adrian Fleet for the G20 Climate Camp in the City logo when thinking about what to enter for this. My style tends to be maximalist, but the words must always be a bold and easy part of the logo to read. It could be work that you have already created and has already been used by a brand (though please check with them before sending it to me) or you could create a new piece of work for a real or fictional brand. It should encompass a creative use of typography with illustration. There will be plenty of food for thought amongst the alternative technologies you will already have researched.
This should be accompanied by a short written piece describing what the logo has or would be used for. 50 words max.
It can be any size, but please create work at 300 dpi to a largish size.
3. Typography: YOUR NAME!
Please create your name in the most imaginative way possible. This could be done by hand, or on a computer, but you should really go to town! Amelia’s Magazine is well known for the use of creative typography, and for Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration the floor is open to you to create your own type for your own name (or how you would like to be known professionally) Don’t think of it as branding, but as something to go to town with. If your work is chosen it will be used to head your page, and it should therefore be really creative and fun. Think of this as your chance to really grab the reader’s attention!
For this reason please work to these dimensions and no smaller. (it could be bigger) SIZE: 200-400mm wide x 40mm high RESOLUTION: 300dpi, as a photoshop file in CYMK mode, using Photoshop print profile: euro standard swap coated 20% (or euroscale V2)
4. A Border
Again this should fit a single page and reflect an environmental theme. Be sure to work with 3mm bleed and no more than 25mm in from the edge. SIZE: page size: 200mm wide x 245mm high, with a bleed of 3mm all around; ie. final size of your artwork: 206mm x 251mm. NOTE: Don’t put important stuff in the 3mm bleed zone (but do continue your border into it) as this is where the printers may cut bits off when the magazine is cut and bound. RESOLUTION: 300dpi, as a photoshop file in CYMK mode, using Photoshop print profile: euro standard swap coated 20% (or euroscale V2)
NON EXCLUSIVE work:
4. Two other bits of illustration.
These should be your best recent work. They do not necessarily need to be on an environmental theme but should showcase as wide a range of imagery as possible, eg. people, things, places, typography etc. If you have created artwork for any of my previous open briefs this could form part of your submission although I would prefer to see new work. Be sure to stick to one style though – illustrators with a strong style of their own will always make the biggest mark, and I am unlikely to pick anyone who does not show a strong style throughout their submissions.
These can be any size, but please label each illustration clearly with a name and date of creation. SIZE: as big as possible to fit the book’s page sizes. RESOLUTION: 300dpi, as a photoshop file in CYMK mode, using Photoshop print profile: euro standard swap coated 20% (or euroscale V2)
CLOSING DATE: Monday 3rd August, by midnight please.
Please send lo res versions of your images (saved for web) to info@ameliasmagazine.com in an email clearly marked ANTHOLOGY OF ILLUSTRATION so that I don’t lose sight of it in my inbox if I am rushing through things on the day it arrives.
(This should be 6 pieces of work altogether. PLEASE DON’T SEND MORE THAN THIS)
If you are chosen for inclusion in Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration then you will be notified shortly after this date, once I have made my decisions. I have yet to decide how I will put together the profiles, but I may well need a photo from you and a short interview. If this is the case you will be notified later on in the summer.
And if you have any questions that are not answered above then please email me for clarification. Join the facebook event here to ensure you get updates as they happen.
Best wishes and happy drawing!
Links
Below is a very long list of links, courtesy of Bruce: this is by no means conclusive, and the technologies may never work, but they are all being explored and would be valid ideas to illustrate. Youtube and Google Images are both a great source of innovative technologies, and I am sure you can find more. Feel free to go off and google you heart out – but you must illustrate something real and possible, and not a fantasy idea of your own. (unless you are also a scientist of course)
Features a variety of vintage and modern prints from Werner Bischof’s well known humanitarian photography including the Bihar famine, more about Europe post WWII and the South Korean war. Alongside these sit Bischof’s equally beautiful but perhaps lesser known early experiments with abstracts and nudes.
Photographic co-op Magnum Photos Ground Floor, 63 Gee Street, London EC1V 3RS, 0207 490 1771
Free Entry
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re.orient.ate
Reorienting common notions of contemporary Arab art and lifestyle and debunking ‘Orientalist’ depictions. Arab artists Marianne Catzaras, Dora Dhouib and Wael Shawky explore themes of mass media, Diaspora and religion via film and photography.
Selma Feriani Gallery, 23 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London W1S 2QN
7th Apr – 13th May 2009
Free entry
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The Abyss
A new joint exhibition by former Wimbledon College of Art students, Nicola Stead and Dan Jupp.
The Outside World, 44 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DP
7th May – 13th May By appointment Thursday to Saturday
Free entry
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The Hiding Place
Lewis Chamberlain
Exquisitely rendered pencil drawings whisk the viewer away into muted landscapes
which toy with scale, suburbia and the surreal.
James Hyman Gallery Savile Row, London W1S 3PD, 020 7494 3857
30th April – 30th May
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Crafted
Contemporary Craft and Fine Art
An exhibition celebrating the materials, processes and techniques involved in making extraordinary objects, the exhibition will feature nine artists from different arts and craft and design fields.
Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Church Lane, Carmarthen SA31 1LH
4th Apr – 16th May 09, 10 – 5 Mon – Sat
Free entry
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Monday 11 May
Telepathe are a too-cool-for-school three piece from Brooklyn. They’re playing 93 Feet East. They get obtuse Krautronica and make it go “POP!” – maybe they’ll be the next Animal Collective… Supported by Ou Est Le Swimming Pool.
Tuesday 12 May
Dan Mangan plays The Electroacoustic Club, salve housed at The Slaughtered Lamb, viagra Clerkenwell. He’s a heartfelt songwriting kind of guy, information pills sings like he means it, and he’s much better than that Elbow record. Support comes from Deer Park.
Wednesday 13 May
Our new favourite boyfriend-girlfriend duettists, Young Paul, will be giving The Cobden Club, 107 Kensal road a taste of 80s electronic treats. get in touch with the band for hassle-free entry, as it’s a private members club. Not just a fine gig, then, but also a chance to see where the Old Etonians schmooze.
Thursday 14 May
Alice and The Cool Dudes at Barden’s Boudoir. This is the high point of our music week. Alice Grant of Fulborn Teversham, is leaving her jazzhead buddies to one side to unveil some pensive indie songs, delivered by a totally unique voice that totters across a tightrope of uncannily powerful and tearful exhaustion. Surely she won’t disappoint?????
Friday 15 May
Up in Nottingham, North-East London’s finest jokeshop salesmen of parallel-universe, narrative ska will be testing out some new material where they think no one can hear them. If you can find a place called Demo, you must prove Hothead Show wrong. Prepare for shockingly tight wizardry of the jerky-jerky groove.
Saturday 16 May
A night of so-angry-we-can-only-tell-you-very-very-slowly Metal, with some catatonically droning Grunge, and atonal noise that may cause loss of balance on all but the lowest of seating. Roll up at The Constitution and enjoy Dethscalator, Scul Hazzards and Batrider. If you don’t take earplugs, then take cotton wool to mop up you bleeding lugholes.
Sunday 17 May
Always a good bet for a sunday night is Cross Kings, 126 York Way, in King’s Cross. On the ground level, David Goo will jolly along an open mic, which always has a few very eccentric envelope-pushers pencilled in. The avant-gardishness couples nicely with the family warmth, houmous and pitta that makes this a great pub. It’s worth paying a few quid to be allowed into the basement also. Things are a bit more organized (sound-checks and everything) but happily, there’s still no obvious divide between the musicians and the audience. What sundays are for.
Rescuing the planet requires behavioural change on an unprecedented scale. From individual action to global politics, what are the different strategies attempting to achieve this? Social psychology, advertising, policy and direct action are all thrown into the mix in this debate. ??This event is trying out a new format called Policy Slam, which is funded by the Democratic Innovation Fund of the Ministry of Justice. With the help of the experts, you will discuss, present and vote on several different options.
Wednesday 13th May
Morphic Resonance, Collective Memory and Habits of Nature – An evening with Rupert Sheldrake
6.30pm drinks & buffet at Gaia House,
(18 Well Walk, Hampstead, NW3 1LD)
7.30pm Talk & discussion at Burgh House
(Opposite Gaia House, New End Square, Hampstead, NW3 1LT)
When Rupert Sheldrake first put forward his idea of Morphic Resonance more than twenty years ago, it caused a great stir in the scientific community. The Editor of Nature denounced it as “the best candidate for burning there has been for many years” and proclaimed that it was “heresy”. In his recently published new edition, available on the evening, Rupert documents the evidence that has built up in support of this hypothesis. He will reflect on the Human Genome Project and other reductionist ideas, where few of the grand claims have come to fruition, not unlike the economic bubble that has recently burst.
The paradigm shift that Morphic Resonance offers is coherent with the Gaia Hypothesis, where the cosmos is understood to be a developing organism, where nature is alive, interconnected and creative. There is an inherent memory in nature, and evolution is an interplay of habit and creativity, like our own lives. According to this way of seeing formative causation, all self-organising systems, including crystals, plants and animals contain an inherent memory, given by a process called morphic resonance from previous similar systems.
These ideas also resonate with diverse indigenous traditions around the world, including those of European ancestry. For much of our history humans have experienced our relationship with the Earth, and indeed the Universe, to be fluid and reciprocal. Rupert has taken up the challenge of exploring this ancient wisdom thorough the modern scientific tradition.
You can reserve your place online at: www.gaiafoundation.org/learning/online.php
Or send a cheque for £10, made payable to The Gaia Foundation.
For further details please contact Sarah at: sarahn@gaianet.org or 020 7428 0055.
Rupert Sheldrake is recognised as one of the world’s most innovative biologists. He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and a Research Fellow of the Royal Society, and is currently Director of the Perrott-Warrick Project. He is author of more than 80 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and many books, including ‘The Presence of the Past’, ‘The Sense of Being Stared At’, ‘Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home’ and ‘Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness’. His web site is www.sheldrake.org
Thursday 14th May
TAKE BACK THE POWER!? THE IMPORTANCE OF DIRECT ACTION TODAY
6:30-9pm ?Amnesty International UK
Human Rights Action Centre?
17 – 25 New Inn Yard
London EC2A 3EA
Nearest tube: Old Street
Free entry, refreshments and snacks provided
RSVP: london@climatecamp.org.uk or call 07534 598 733 (Early booking recommended!)
Find out what YOU can DO to stop climate change.?Throughout history ordinary people have been responsible for all major social changes – women’s rights, civic rights and even democracy itself in many places can be said to be result of direct action. Taking action is the very first step in making big changes happen. Direct action is taken by people who feel that the political process is not working to address profoundly important issues.
Climate change is the most urgent challenge we’ve ever faced – and politicians are not showing the strength of character needed to actually address this problem. Instead of serious sustainable solutions we see new runways and new coal fired power stations- deals that benefit the bottom line of the big players and not the wider population. Climate Camp believes that people everywhere need to work out what they can do – and then do it. Taking action yourself to make the world you want to see is a logical response to a very serious situation.
Are you interested in doing more to highlight the urgency of climate change? Or the relevance of direct action to struggles for jobs, peace and justice? Are you intrigued but feel uncomfortable about going outside the mainstream political process? Would you consider getting involved but don’t know how? Are you nervous about the consequences? ‘Take Back the Power! The Importance of Direct Action Today’ will be unique opportunity to hear about direct action from people who have participated in different ways. Speakers will range from people on the front line to those helping in the background. This includes Deborah Grayson – one of the Parliament Climate Rush – who is on bail and will be speaking about Climate Rush (photgraphed below)
To reserve a place/s please RSVP to london@climatecamp.org.uk or call 07534 598 733.
Saturday 16th May
Euroflashmob: Europe United Against Airport Expansion
Stop Airport Expansion
Saturday 16 May 2009. The day of the Eurovision Song Contest. 12 noon on the dot at Heathrow
Terminal 1 Departures. Join Heathrow Flashmobbers in a Europe-wide Flash Mob – taking place on the same day at 6 airports across Europe. Flash Heathrow! Flash Paris! Flash Frankfurt! Flash Schipol! Flash Brussels! Flash Dublin!
Each flashmob will be singing Eurovision classics (song-sheets provided), so download your favourite eurovision song onto your ipod or phone and bring your friends, instruments, hats, wigs, and your dancing shoes and let’s party. Now for the serious bit: airport expansion is seriously bad for local people, increased noise, air pollution, and especially the climate. The aviation industry want to expand airports across the UK and Europe, but opposition is huge, and the scientists are telling us we have to drastically cut emissions if we are to beat climate change. Flashmobs are a fun way to highlight the real opposition there is to expansion at airports across Europe. Here’s another big chance to show our opposition to a 3rd runway at Heathrow.
See you in Heathrow Terminal 1 Departures at 12 noon on the dot!
Tell BAA to get in tune: No Third Runway. www.euroflashmob.com
Contacts:
Selim: 07853 725476
Come along and support the local bands by cheering loudly, the Green Party by giving us your money and support, and the Pangea Project by drinking copious amounts.
It’s all shaping up to be a fun night, ably facilitated by your host Matt Hanley (ahem), with comprehensive Eurovision updates throughout the evening!
You can buy advance tickets here:?http://www.skiddle.com/tickets/
Written by Cari Steel on Monday May 11th, 2009 5:20 pm
On our way out of an informative but visually underwhelming lingerie exhibit in south bank’s Fashion and Textiles Museum, this site all was soon forgiven when a well deserved browse through the museum shop led us to surface designer Jason Cheng’s bouncy bangles. This clever designer elevates the humble rubber band to where it shares the shelf with metalsmithed jewlelry.
Accomplished with tight little knots and a muted monochromatic palette, these bangles begged to be touched, plucked and donned. Jason Cheng’s accessories were apparently inspired by maps, geographical references, board games and sports themes. Although in our imaginations they conjured more organic visions of snipped veins (is that all I got from my biology textbooks?) underwater life (maybe because we know what a snorkel tastes like) and braces (those damn little rubber bands we had to attach, drooling, to our teeth’s hardware).
A surging theme of associations points to the lowly rubber band’s first appearance on our scene in grade school. Manifesting itself as a hand held projectile mechanism capable of launching anything from bent paper clips to entirely-too-sharp pencils, the rubber band ignited the weaponry engineer in legions of boys.
Whilst among the girls it became the emergency hair tie (taking with it most of my ponytail when removed) or the inspiration for the-more-the-better bracelets. Jason Cheng’s innovative application for the meager office supply has caused this accessory collector to make some room in her jewelry box.
Best thing about them, they won’t break when you drop them, pack them or smash them during a particularly vigorous night on the dancefloor. All a girl could ask for from an accessory. That, and you could always take a cue from the boys in class…keep a pocket full of pebbles on your walk home at night. Just in case. Monday 3rd August
Camp for Climate Action – Scotland
Climate Camp hits Scotland this week – there is no time to act but now! Come to the Camp for Climate Action in Scotland 3-10 August
For a week of low-impact living and high-impact direct action, story keep 3-10 August free and join us in Scotland to take direct action against the root causes of climate change and ecological collapse. This summer the struggle against a capitalist system intent on extinguishing life on the planet will hit the Firth of Forth!
Renowned international Permaculture teacher Geoff Lawton outlines the methods of designing and building your own food forest from conception to completion, drug demonstrating the evolution of a food forest from day one through to a living 2,000 year old example still flourishing in the Middle East.
7pm – 8pm – Passing Clouds, Dalston
(440 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London E8 – Corner of Kingsland Road and Richmond Road, behind Uncle Sam’s pub now called the Haggerston)
Wednesday 5th August
Terribly Tall Towers
Learn more about the oldest building in Hackney, St Augustine’s Tower, and be inspired to create your own towering construction! This is a workshop run by The Building Exploratory for children of all ages, who must be accompanied at all times by an adult.
14:30-16:30 – St John-at-Hackney Churchyard Gardens
Contact: The Building Exploratory – 020 7729 2011 – mail@buildingexploratory.org.uk
8pm
outside Dept of Energy and Climate Change, 3 Whitehall Place.
Friday 7th August
I think, I see
Join Sally Booth for a large-scale outdoor drawing project : interact with the built environment on the Southbank. More details here.
Drop-in, 12noon – 5pm
Southbank, outdoors.
Saturday 8th August
Introduction to Permaculture
A lively and dynamic weekend, run by Naturewise, looking at the foundations of permaculture and some of the practical tools it offers. Can be considered a stand alone introduction to ethics, principles and design, or a lead-in to the more in depth full 72 hour Design Course.
Here at Amelia’s Magazine we are keen to nurture new talent as soon as we get our greedy hands on it. Fashion photographer Britta Burger is no exception to this rule. No stranger to the fashion sphere she recently made the transition from fashion stylist to photographer, viagra orderillness just like Amelia’s Magazine founder Amelia Gregory. Britta even styled a shoot for Amelia’s Magazine in issue 10, ampoule which is still up for grabs by the way.
Her pictures are a haze of over saturated colours that collide to create a quixotic ambience to her pieces. Utilising pastoral settings and natural lighting Britta has a lucid expressionism to her approach. As a newcomer to the sphere her compositional awareness is mesmerizing, and her shoots have a real sense of fluidity.
I caught up with the talented lady to find out more information and get an insight into her mindset.
Tell me a little bit about yourself Britta?
I was raised in the Austrian mountains, but have lived in London for more than 7 years. I have done all sorts of fashion related jobs – writing, styling, pr, and now photography. I also teach.
What made you make the break from styling to photography?
Some shoots started to bore me, I felt like I was just waiting around while photographers sorted their light out. I also heard so many people say that you can’t really do anything new in photography, but I felt I could. I also wanted to move away from big productions with 20 people in a studio and do something a lot more intimate, with me doing the photography and the styling and not even hair or makeup people around sometimes. The results are quite raw; I’m not a big fan of an overly polished aesthetic.
What do you aim to capture within your pictures?
Youth, a mix of the everyday and the magical.
Your pictures have a rather quixotic feel, is all your lighting natural?
I only use natural light, I don’t want to control light, if it changes it changes. I do however use filters to create some colour effects.
What do you use as a main stimulus when you’re planning a shoot?
Colours, feelings, memories and the model.
What other photographers inspire you?
Wolfgang Tillmans, Venetia Scott, Jürgen Teller, Ryan McGinley, Marc Borthwick, Lina Scheynius
What camera do you use?
My new favourite is the little Panasonic FX150, it’s a digital compact camera, but with 14 mega pixels so you can do double spreads. It also has an amazing Leica lens.
So keep your eyes peeled for Britta Burger, with such an abundance of talent she will have a whole flock of avid fans chasing her tail! Monday 30th
Tuesday`s greatest choice it`s at the 93 Feet East in Brick Lane where Robert Logan launches his new album full of, tadalafil what we can call, an abstract and atmospheric electro. Followed by Bass Clef and Gagarin.
7:30pm. £5 in adv / £7 on door
Formerly known as the Third Eye Foundation, Matt Elliott brings some slick and subtle electronica next Thursday together with Revere at Bardens Boudoir.
8pm. £5.
Matt Elliott
Friday 3rd
Time to launch a new single for Ex Lovers, the girl/boy indie pop duo. At Bar Rumba.
10:30pm. £6, concs/NUS £4.
Ex Lovers
Saturday 4th
Enjoy a completely improvised set of techno, house, electro, hip hop, trance and drum ‘n’ bass with The Bays next Saturday at Koko, supported by Red Snapper.
7pm. £14.50.
The Ruling Class
I was introduced to Ian Stevenson a couple of weeks ago when I was reviewing the 100 Minutes of Havana draw-off (his team lost in case you were interested) and he very kindly agreed to meet me for an interview. Ian is known for his strange yet charming drawings, buy often infused with his trademark deadpan humour. One only has to look as far as his website welcome page, which opens on a SALE sign, but with the sale crossed out and “EVERYTHING FULL PRICE” scrawled in black underneath. Both funny and depressing considering our current economic climate.
I meet Ian outside Concrete Hermit on Club Row and he passes me a cardboard tube, which I discover when I excitedly rip it open, has an amazing print of his work in it. Yes Mr Stevenson, bribery will get you everywhere! We have a leisurely stroll down to Brick Lane towards The Big Chill and the icing on the (purely metaphorical) cake is when on the walk I discover that he is as lovely and funny as his drawings.
Despite now enjoying measurable success Ian Stevenson didn’t have a straightforward route to illustration. He tells me that he started on an architecture degree but quit after he found he didn’t enjoy it, “after about two weeks something clicked and I thought, this isn’t right.” He then went on to do a foundation before finally returning to do a BA at Camberwell, but in graphic design. “It wasn’t a typical course, we didn’t learn type layout and we’d get projects that were one word, so the title might be fly spray. That’s one of the things I learnt from college, how to not let having no boundaries scare you.”
After finishing university Ian worked at Airside, a graphic design company, for a few years. “It’s the best kind of graphic design job, because we designed T-shirts, animation characters and things.” Not surprisingly for such an obviously creative person Ian became disillusioned with the graphic design world and left, “I was just a bit annoyed, bored by the whole industry and how people follow trends. Not that it was anything to do with the company, but it was just so boring.”
Ian’s break came after leaving Airside when he began to draw in sketchbooks eventually putting them on a website. “A few friends said “Oh you should do some more of that” so I did some more of that. I slowly started to think that I should develop that further.” His first illustration job came when Mother advertising agency asked him to draw in the women’s toilets at their offices. “I’d never drawn on a wall before, but just said yes. Most of the time with a job even if you can’t do it you say “yes”. When someone says can you do this you say, “yes of course I can” and then you think oh, actually can I?” Ian Stevenson doesn’t appear to have any of the usual embarrassingly bad early work like the rest of us creatives. Despite being one of the earliest illustration projects he did one can see that, while the drawings are perhaps not as developed, they are just as funny and as brilliant as his more recent work.
It wasn’t always quite as easy as it sounds to get work as an illustrator. “You do sit on your own for long periods of time thinking. “Where are they? When are they coming, where are the people?” “At the start it did hurt, because there weren’t many people doing it.” Luckily it would seem those feelings are a thing of the past as people are definitely taking notice of Ian Stevenson. He exhibits here in London and internationally, the most recent an exhibition called Pens on Paper in Paris, with Pictoplasma. “There were lots of artists invited who draw on paper and I did eight drawings. They also asked me to do some more work for another event called Pictopia so I did eighteen drawings from magazines They also screened Staring in to the Sun, a music video animation which Ian is promoting on his website.
As well as exhibiting, success can also be marked by the fact that Ian’s recently gained representation by BLUNT, who have a number of really good artists on their books. I ask Ian why he decided to get representation; he gives me an amusingly blunt answer “Even if you’re perfectly capable of the job they still like to be reassured that you’re with someone who is more adult. Someone with letter headed paper.”
But it’s not only BLUNT and the people curating exhibitions who appreciate Ian Stevenson. A quick look at The Drawing Adventure, an animation he’s posted on Youtube, unearths three pages of comments. My favourites are, “This is special stuff”, “Thank you for putting this in my life” and “Your drawings are like crack to me” high praise indeed.
“If they do appreciate it, which hopefully they do, then that’s nice because otherwise I’d be sat in a room doing it, but no one would like it and that would be quite sad. It is nice when people do like it because it means I’m not completely mental. Yeah, It makes me smile inside… can I say that?” He asks me with a smile that suggests he knows he just committed an interview faux pa.
I was first introduced to Ian’s work at his Lost Heroes exhibition he did in Concrete Hermit and I can’t resist the chance to ask the artist directly about the show, “Imagine a world which is full of Disney characters and they’re real people, but then you have to think that there is a casting for Mickey Mouse, imagine all the people that didn’t get the role as Mickey Mouse.” The result of this concept is a series of not-quite-right drawings of well-recognised characters. There’s Bambi, except he’s slightly cross-eyed and a wannabe Donald Duck but one of his legs is twice the size of the other.
In many ways it would seem Ian works in a similar way to the documentary photographers’ earnest plight to photograph the marginalised members of society. But it’s way funnier, because it’s a community reach programme for drawings. “People might say they’re weird but I might say they’re weird. What I’ve said in the past is that it’s my head, my mind on paper.” So in this way Ian is closer to a novelist constantly thinking about and attempting to understand his characters. This is further evident when we talk about another of his drawings, this time of Pacman’s brother (who works in a supermarket). Ian Explains, “He might have a brother, but he’s not famous. Pacman’s got to have a mum and dad. Doesn’t he?”
With such personal, handcrafted drawings it’s no surprise that Ian isn’t a fan of the increase of computer generated images in illustration. “I don’t like them!” He exclaims before launching into more detail, “That’s what I wanted to get away from…. these computer created characters that have no soul and anyone can do. They’re just a bunch of shapes. With uniform eyes and everything is symmetrical and I just get bored. Maybe one has a big arm, and they seem to have a bit more life…. I’d want to talk to those more than to some kind of egg with eyes that are perfect.”
To try and see what it is that Ian does like I ask him what illustrators he rates, “Can I say there is a lot of people I don’t like?” After some gentle coercing and promises that I won’t name names Ian explains a few of the things that frustrates him about the illustration scene. “Trendy things, yeah that’s bad, anyone that started doing things because it’s now more successful than it was, that’s bad… It’s bad! I draw, and I do it because that’s what I wanted to do. There wasn’t anyone doing this in their advertising campaigns and now over the last three years lots of people have started doing it and sometimes it just makes me want to stop doing it. There should be an artists/illustrators union where if someone does copy they’re brought to some kind of court. We’ll go to Gordon and say “look this is important. I know it isn’t important to you or relevant to the global economic downturn. It’s not war, but it means a lot to me!”
Ian Stevenson for Prime Minister, quick someone start a Facebook group now!
For more information and news on upcoming events check out Ian’s website. His prints are also available online.
Sheesh, adiposity bit of a last minute one this. An email comes through at approximately 7 O’clock confirming tickets to tonight’s gig leaving me with a face full of fish cake trying to sort myself and be out of the house by half 7. Knowing the roadhouse, drug the gig’ll probably finish early, pharm making way for another event straight after, so no time for pontificating. I threw my stuff in a bag and legged it for the next bus, praying the 192 journey be as kind as possible.
I got there as it happens with time to spare before the first band came on. Arficeden appeared and within seconds lunged into a blistering, pounding set of post rock brutality akin to Slint but darker, much darker. Reeling back from this wasn’t on the agenda as five minutes after this onslaught came another in the form of Worried About Satan.
Dark and disturbing techno set to the equally disturbing backdrop of Russian roulette movie 13 TZAMETI. In the film the lead character Sébastien steals an envelope containing instructions for a mysterious job that could pay out a fortune. Following the instructions, the young man unwittingly becomes trapped in a sinister and dangerous situation. I can empathize, that email I opened at approximately 7 O’clock this evening was that envelope and now I’m here embroiled in a sinister and dangerous situation of my own with only a vision of spokes lighting up the end of this tunnel.
Having just signed a contract earlier this year with Ninja Tune, they have a certain responsibility to prove themselves worthy and they do that without even breaking a sweat. Well there may be a little sweat. 45 minutes of pleasure, pain and sweat. Promoting 6-track ep ‘’ they show us a future worth looking forward to.
Swedish married duo Wildbirds and Peacedrums bring blues` best to London and introduce their new album Heartcore at The Luminaire. Supported by American fellows Volcano! they make a perfect foreign match for a Tuesday evening out.
Acoustic Ladyland has a new album due later this summer with now added Chris Sharkey on guitar and Thursday they will be playing live in its entirety at The Lexington! Plus all the psychedelic fun from Screaming Tea Party.
7:30 pm. £8
Friday 10th
It’s a night of legends down at Twee as F*** this April where you can get an unique chance of seeing The High Llamas in a venue as intimate as the Buffalo Bar. Support comes from Gina Birch and Downdime.
9pm. £6/ 5 concessions
A press conference on the Wiwa vs Shell trial
+ live performances from ZENA EDWARDS, thumb BREIS & BABACAR DIENG
Monday 6th April, 6.30pm
Amnesty International UK, Human Rights Action Centre, London
Hunger & Climate Change: Some Practical Answers?
Tuesday, 7 April 2009, 2.00 – 5.30 pm
at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, One Birdcage Walk, London SW1H 9JJ
Followed by reception for the launch of Understanding Climate Change Adaptation
Almost one billion people in the world are hungry today. And the world’s population will continue to grow until it stabilises at nine billion in the middle of this century, by which time our food systems will have to feed 50% more people than they do today. Achieving this would be a challenge anyway. The likely impact of climate change on agriculture will make the challenge even greater.
2009 is a critical year, with a new US President at the start and all eyes on Copenhagen at the end. It follows a year with a global food crisis, an energy crisis, and a financial crisis in quick succession. The underlying context of global poverty and environmental degradation is unchanged and future crises seem almost inevitable.
But how can we develop sustainable food supplies and tackle hunger in the developing world in the face of climate instability? What would constitute a climate resilient food system? How can we secure sufficient future food supplies and reverse environmental damage?
Baghdad Shorts
Thursday 9th April 6.15pm
Insititut Francais
7 Queensberry Place
London, SW7 2DT
+44 20 70731350
Checkpoints, tanks, car bombs: so much is familiar from the TV news. But how often do we hear directly from Iraqis themselves about their lives, fears and hopes? This exceptional programme of films, two by students at Baghdad’s Independent Film and Television College, offers an uprecedented insight into the lives of ordinary Iraqis in 2007. A Stranger in His Own Country (dir. Hassanain Al Hani) profiles Abu Ali, a refugee from Kirkuk living in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Kerala; A Candle from the Shabandar Café (dir. Emad Ali) looks at the repercussions of the bombing of this favourite haunt of Baghdad intellectuals; The Singing Barber of Mosul (dir. Katia Saleh) follows the fortunes of an Iraqi barber who flies out to Beirut to take part in the Middle Eastern version of Pop Idol. ?
Friday Arts & Awareness Festival
Date: Friday 10 Apr 2009 to Tuesday 14 Mar 2009 ?Time: day/evening (considerate hours)
Description: Five days of participation, ecology & creativity for adults & children. Intro. to Transition Town Lewes (free), green workshops, belly dance, circle dance, drumming, world music, art-play and healthy foods.
Full listings on website (click on “arts & awareness”)
Venue: Lewes New School, Talbot Terrace, BN7 2DS (and other local venues)
Contacts: Maria Gibbs 01273 475798
E-mail: mariajgibbs@yahoo.co.uk? Web Address: www.worldance.org
sat
(walk & zine launch)
?Savage Messiah zine launch: The Olympic Zone ?Saturday 11th April – walk from 3pm, launch at 7pm
Launch party for Laura Oldfield-Ford’s latest issue of her London-focussed, cult psychogeographic zine, which turns its spotlight on Stratford and the Olympic building site. ??
Walk
We will be walking around the city of London and drifting towards Housmans where we will be having drinks and showing films to launch the zine. Meet at Dirty Dicks Public House Liverpool Street 3pm.
Launch Housmans Bookshop, Caledonian Road N1, from 7pm.
Issue 11 is a drift around the Olympic zone and focuses on a particular moment in the build up to the June the 18th Carnival Against Capitalism riots in the City of London. The riots happened in 1999 and were a protest against the ludicrousness of the global financial system. The zine was written after a day of walking around the perimeter fence of the Olympic zone In March 2009 and is a direct response to the mass destruction of the Lower Lea Valley.
“I found the pub soon after that. From the outside it looked ordinary, an estate pub from the late 60s, early 70s, something of a bunker with fortress windows at the front, plastic hanging baskets and St George flags all over it. I thought at first the old man must have got the wrong place but then I could hear the thudding of the sound system inside, the frantic bpm and chaotic vocoder yelps.
As I got closer I saw all these skinhead types outside wearing tie dyed t shirts and temple of psychic youth symbols tattooed on their arms. There were groups staggering about lighting fires and breaking palettes. This party was the continuation of a Saturday all nighter at one of the massive abandoned factories on Carpenters road. They were all off it, topping up on psilosibin after a big weekend of acid and flyagaricks.”
Laura Oldfield Ford – Savage Messiah Issue 11. March 2009
?For more information about Savage Messiah please visit http://savagemessiahzine.com/
This is a bit of a special edition of the Earth Listings. As we are sure you know, stomach there is plenty going on in the City of London on April 1st, and in all different parts too. Check the listings below for further details.
Monday 30th March
ASEN/Nations and Nationalism Ernest Gellner Nationalism lecture
Empire and Ethnicity in the Modern World
Time: 5.30-6.30pm ?
Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street
London
WC2A 2AE
Events Information Line
Tel +44 (0) 20 7955 6043
Fax +44 (0) 20 7955 6272
?Speaker: Professor John Darwin ?Chair: Professor John Breuilly
This lecture will examine the ways in which colonial empires promoted, exploited or repressed ethnicity; the extent to which emergent ethnicities looked to their colonial masters for protection and guidance; and some of the post-colonial consequences of this.
ASEN and Nations and Nationalism sponsor and publish this annual lecture in memory of Professor Ernest Gellner.
John Darwin is a fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford.
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For more information, email nations@lse.ac.uk or call 020 7955 6801.
Media queries: please contact the Press Office if you would like to reserve a press seat or have a media query about this event, email pressoffice@lse.ac.uk
If you are planning to attend this event and would like details on how to get here and what time to arrive, please refer to Coming to an event at LSE
Tuesday 31st March
My Word Is My Bond? Rebuilding Trust – The G20 and Beyond
St Paul’s Cathedral, EC4M 8BX
11am – 12.30pm. Doors open at 9am. Members of the public should arrive in good time in order to clear security into the event.
On the eve of the G20, St Paul’s is hosting a high level debate about the moral questions raised by the dramatically changing world we find ourselves in.
Can opportunities for society’s good come from the economic crisis? Has there been a disconnection between morality, policy-making and practice? What are the prospects for remaking the global order, rebuilding financial systems and re-establishing trust? How will a new global order actively include development goals and address climate change?
Those on the platform will include a very senior member of the Cabinet, and the debate will be open to questions from the audience.
Doors open at 9am. Members of the public are invited to attend this event. Because it is a high-security event, no one will be admitted without photo ID in the form of passport or driver’s licence, and no large bags, rucksacks or suitcases can be brought into the cathedral. Please be prepared to have your bags searched and ensure that you arrive with plenty of time before the event begins.
This event is the first in the St Paul’s Institute 2009 major programme, Money, Integrity and Wellbeing, which continues in the autumn. http://www.stpauls.co.uk/institute
On April 1st the G20 leaders arrive in London. At a time of climate crisis their response to the market meltdown is emergency loans to car manufacturers, increased spending to encourage consumption, and bailouts for the very people who got us into this mess – just the thing that will make the climate crisis worse.
Don’t let them get away with it: join our camp in the Square Mile!
We will convergence on the European Climate Exchange, Hasilwood House, 62 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AW (street view) at 12:30 exactly.
Bring a pop-up tent if you’ve got one, sleeping bag, wind turbine, mobile cinema, action plans and ideas…let’s imagine another world.
Financial Fools Day Street Party ?Assemble
Cannon Street, Moorgate, Liverpool Street or London Bridge stations 11am to form four marching blocks heading towards the Bank of England for 12-noon, in the ‘Square Mile’ of the City of London.?See: http://www.g-20meltdown.org/?Bring a portable radio!
?Fossil Fuels Day? Royal Bank of Scotland AGM? The Royal Bank of Scotland (which owns NatWest) is two things: ?1) The UK’s private high street bank with biggest investments in fossil fuel projects around the world ?2) Over 70% owned by UK citizens. People & Planet will be taking action at the RBS-NatWest AGM in Edinburgh and at RBS’s HQ in London. We need as many people there as possible to clean up RBS-NatWest. Especially now that about 70% of the bank is in public ownership, we’ll be telling RBS-NatWest: we’ve cleaned up your finances, now stop messing up our climate.? Edinburgh: EICC, Morrison St, 12.30pm. Time to get out the feather dusters and marigolds for an RBS-NatWest spring clean, let’s tell them to stop sweeping their coal under the carpet!?
London: RBS HQ, 280 Bishopsgate, 12.00 noon. Kitted up as comedy bankers (monacles, giant top hats, and yuppie suits) we’ll expose how greedy bankers vote for a future of climate chaos.? More info here: People & Planet
Saturday 4th April
Future Foods, Science Museum
Daily 10am – 6pm
Exhibition Road, London
London
SW7 2DD
As nearly a billion people go to bed hungry again tonight, the question of feeding the world has never been more urgent. But is genetically modified food a good choice to have on the menu for our planet? Or does it leave you feeling queasy?
This new exhibition explores the science and technology that could boost crop yields. Do we need GM to increase food production in the future, or are there other options? Weigh up the benefits and risks – then step up to the table and have your say.
Find out more about Future Foods, an exhibition debating genetic modification.
UK Uncut gathers on the South Bank on Saturday 26th March 2011. All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Inside Fortnum & Mason. They look super scared don’t they?
visit web _Another_Level, 
