A Chronological List Of Events

A Marxist History of the World in 45 Minutes

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We face the greatest crisis in the history of humanity. Economic depression, imperialist war, climate catastrophe, and grotesque social inequalities threaten to tear the world apart. What is to be done? The lesson of history is that human beings make their own history.

Launching his new book, A Marxist History of the World: from Neanderthals to Neoliberals, archaeologist and historian Neil Faulkner argues that history is open and contested. It is an active process of creation in which different futures are possible. It depends on what we do.

Powered by the interaction of technological change, wars between rulers, and class struggle from below, history is a constant struggle for control over society’s wealth. For 5,000 years, that wealth has served greed and war. Now, in the great crisis of the early 21st century, we must act to create a different future.

The meeting will include plenty of time for questions and discussion. All welcome. Join us.

Described by The Guardian as ‘enlightening and apocalyptic in equal measure’, Dr Neil Faulkner is a research fellow at Bristol University, a revolutionary socialist activist, and the author of numerous books, including Rome: Empire of the eagles (2008). He was a lead consultant and contributor to Sky Atlantic’s The British.

MHW-flier-Bristol-no-bleed

The Fight against Blacklisting

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Di Parkin has been a left activist since the 1960s. She is a historian and published “60 years of struggle” history of Betteshanger, a militant Kent pit. She will be speaking about the actions on the Economic League in the 1970s, providing blacklisting information to employers and the impact on militants in places such as Cowley car works and Kent coal field.

An electrician who has worked in the construction industry for 40 years will talk about his experiences of victimisation and the campaign against blacklisting. He is an active member of Unite, shop steward on a number of jobs and the Welsh rep on the Rank and File National committee.

Followed by a discussion on how we can organise to prevent further victimisation and blacklisting.

Tony Benn House, 92 Victoria Street, Redcliffe, Bristol BS1 6AY

Organised by Bristol and District Hazards Group and Bristol Radical History Group

Libres: Songs of the Spanish Revolution

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Pilar Lopez’s performance about the Spanish Social Revolution of 1936 aims to draw inspiration from these amazing times, sharing the beauty and relevance of those events and making links with what's currently happening in Spain.

In 1936, after a partially unsuccessful military coup and by popular demand, the libertarian unions took control of the organisation of society in many parts of Spain. In no time large portions of land and industry had been collectivised and belonged to the workers. This short-lived and fascinating revolution inspired the whole world …and can continue to inspire us as we walk our paths working for and dreaming of equality and justice.

From the birth of the M 15 movement (also known as the Indignad@s movement) in May 2011, and as a response to a massive social and economic crisis, large numbers of people have been, and are still, engaging in horizontal grassroots organising, committed to giving a voice to everyone and learning to use consensus decision making effectively. They have been engaging in creative direct action to challenge this oppressive system and bring solutions to increasingly urgent social problems such as the repossession of homes (which has been leading to suicides), 50% of youth unemployment ( and growing), loss of health care for immigrants and the poor, increasing poverty, attacks on reproductive rights and police brutality. The vibrancy and momentum of the movement is exciting and encouraging; solidarity grows as the crisis deepens. Many are not waiting around to get a job but engaging directly to bring change to their neighbourhoods and communities.

“Libres” is a historical presentation which includes a concert and a lecture, story-telling and beautiful folk songs written and sung in those days as well as some of Pilar’s own.

It covers the events of the Spanish Revolution, bringing together the music of the freedom fighters of the 1930s with images and poetry.

Pilar is also touring in London, Edinburgh and Madrid. ffi. see: pilarawa.wordpress.com

Pilar Lopez Libres picture

Running down Whitehall with a black flag

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Running down Whitehall with a black flag. Memories of anarchism in the 1960s

Di Parkin was a revolutionary activist from the early 1960s to the 1980s. She was employed as a community worker and an Equal Opportunities Adviser. Her PhD was on opposition to the myth of National Unity in Second World War Britain and she published a book on the history of a militant coal mine (Betteshanger) in Kent

Now retired, she devotes most of her energy to the Bristol Radical History group: working on recording the names of paupers in unmarked graves at the Eastville workhouse.

The talk focusses on her personal memories as an anarcho-syndicalist in the 1960s and on records/ interviews with other members of the Syndicalist Workers Federation (British section of the IWW) and its links to the Spanish CNT in exile in London.

Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power

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Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power: Race, Class and Gender in the 60s U.S.

This talk is based upon a series of books that have recently appeared covering the hidden history of the white working class radical community groups who formed the 'Rainbow Coalition' with the Black Panthers, Young Lords, Native American and Japanese American revolutionary groups in 1969. The white radical organisations comprised displaced 'Southern' white working class people who were challenging racism, sexism and capitalism from a class perspective in the deeply segregated cities of the North and East such as Chicago, Philadelphia and New York. The FBI operation to smash this alliance was launched three days after the first meeting in Chicago in 1969.

 

Poor Man's Heaven: The Land of Cokaygne and Other Utopian Visions

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“We’ll eat all we please from ham and egg trees
that grow by a lake full of beer?
The landlord well take and tie to a stake
and we won?t have to work like a slave..."

In the face of a life defined by exploitation and suffering, the poor of the Middle Ages dreamed up a fantastical land where their sufferings were reversed; where people lived in idleness and plenty and the rich were barred.

"Those who sleep the longest earn the most here."

This myth of a free earthly paradise emerged in a popular song, The Land of Cokaygne, in which rivers ran with wine and milk, the houses were made of pasties and tarts, and animals ran around cooked and ready to eat.

"Geese fly roasted on the spit,
Crying out, "Geese, all hot, all hot!"

From fourteenth century Europe to the twentieth century USA, this dream emerges in songs, poems, folk tales. But it wasn't just a popular fantasy – the dream was linked to the culture & tensions of the times, and time and again rebels and heretics tried to turn dream into reality...

Three Minutes to Midnight: The Women’s Anti-Nuclear Protest at Greenham Common

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Elaine Titcombe.

History PhD Student, The University of the West of England, Bristol.

In 1984 the doomsday clock reached three minutes to midnight. This was the closest recorded time to global destruction defined (at that time) as imminence to nuclear war, since 1953. This crisis arose as a result of an escalation of militarism between the East and West Superpowers, following the NATO decision in 1979 to modernise their theatre of nuclear weapons in response to the perceived superiority of the USSR. This modernisation consisted of the deployment of 572 new American missiles in Europe. From 1983, 106 Ground Launched Cruise Missiles were positioned in Britain, with the majority being held at the Greenham Common RAF military base in Berkshire.

In 1981, a group of 36 women calling themselves, ‘Women for Life on Earth: Women’s Action for Disarmament,’ organised a March from South Wales to the base at Greenham Common to protest against the positioning there of the American controlled nuclear Cruise missiles. A lack of media interest and a dismissive response by the Conservative Government to their demand for a public debate on the issue, gave rise to the formation of a spontaneous peace camp. Slowly the protest began to attract attention and by early 1982 it had evolved into several (distinct) women-only camps around the military base. Several women committed themselves to live and work full time at the camps giving up their everyday home comforts, and thousands more supporters arrived en masse at the base for publicised protest days when it was reported that up to 50,000 people took part.

As time went on, the women living at the camps developed a particularly feminist stance against the militaristic nature of the State, with non-violent direct action at the core of their work. They attempted to construct and live in a ‘new’ female led society that rejected hierarchical structures of command in direct opposition to ‘normal’ patriarchal / militaristic society rules. Supporting women who did not live at the camps were encouraged to “Carry Greenham Home” and spread word of the protest and feminist argument in their local communities. With reference to events staged in various locations, including Bristol and Bath, this paper will describe the innovative ways that women embraced this call for support. It will draw upon the words of the participants as they have recalled their actions, as well as the publicity material created by them and the contemporary coverage of the events by the local media and other groups.

As the camps persisted the Authorities became increasingly intolerant of the women’s protest and began to react. Women were increasingly arrested, imprisoned, evicted and man-handled as they took part in disruptive actions in order to prevent normal operations at the base. The media was quick to brand the women as undesirables and over time it became increasingly difficult to persuade new women to the cause. Beyond the mid ‘80s the protest began to wane in popularity, but work continued at the camps well beyond the removal of the nuclear weapons following the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) of 1987, with the last residents leaving the site in September 2000.

In addition to exploring the story of the Greenham Women’s protest using a variety of media, this event allows the opportunity to consider its legacy upon radical movements and in particular for feminism.

 

British armed forces’ strikes and mutinies in 1918-19

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British armed forces’ strikes and mutinies in 1918-19: a radical history project for the anniversary of World War I

BRHG’s very own Roger Ball will kick off the afternoon with the conveniently forgotten history of British armed forces’ post WWI strikes and mutinies. Roger reveals how the mass refusal of troops across Europe included expressions of militant dissent in Britain. Such widespread revolt led to the collapse of the Allied invasion of Soviet Russia. The second part of the meeting will discuss what we can do to disrupt attempts by Cameron and the Tories to spin the 100th anniversary of the War’s outbreak next year. Never mind their flagging credentials; radical historians can start the resistance right here!

Secret Manoeuvres in the Dark

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The Radical History Zone of the Bristol Anarchist Book Fair will get off to a cracking start as author Eveline Lubbers shines a light on corporate and police spying on activists – the topic of her new book, Secret Manoeuvres in the Dark.

In the best tradition of radical Investigative research. Secret Manoeuvres includes revelations from the Economic League’s blacklisting of trade unionists, to the McLibel case to the high-profile exposure of police spy Mark Kennedy. Secret Manoeuvres treads on some on some topical and daring territory, making the case that activists need to be savvy to thwart corporations’ strategic attempts to disrupt and neutralise critical environmental and social justice campaigns. Using, we are promised, exclusive access to previously confidential sources, independent investigator Eveline will share some secrets at Hydra.

Book details: http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745331850

Pre-launch event for the Radical History Zone of Bristol Anarchist Bookfair: Hydra Books, which is on Saturday 20th April 2013.

Propaganda Shaping The Views of a Nation

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Permanent Culture Now, Bristol Indymedia and Bristol Radical History Group are proud to present as part of the Bristol Radical Film Festival a presentation and series of films about how propaganda was used by the Establishment during the time of the Empire and Colonialism to persuade our own population of the greatness of the empire. The techniques and manipulation of information have a resonance for today as we constantly see propaganda techniques used to justify illegal wars and policy decisions.

Frances Gooding has been researching colonial film as part of the a wider project and he will present a series of rare films thathighlight the propaganda machine in action, he will explain film was manipulated to rewrite history, a charge that could these days be pointed at Hollywood movies (Pearl Harbour, Braveheart anyone). After viewing these films Francis will unpick the motivations for making them and explain how they were changed to fit the ruling class ideology of the day. This will be an essential event for anyone interested in how our views are shaped by the media we consume and how this is used by the powerful interests of society, i.e. the state and ruling class to put their view of the world onto the mass population.

The event will be followed by a Q&A where we will discuss the relevance of these propaganda techniques for the world we live in today.

http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/

festival poster290113b3b

Physical Resistance: A Hundred Year's of Anti-Fascism

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Book Launch - Physical Resistance: A Hundred Year's of Anti-Fascism by Dave Hann

Large-scale confrontations, disruption of meetings, sabotage and street fighting have been part of the practice of anti-fascism from the early twentieth century until the twenty-first. Rarely endorsed by any political party, the use of collective bodily strength remains a strategy of activists working in alliances and coalitions against fascism. In Physical Resistance famous battles against fascists, from the Olympia arena, Earls Court in 1934 and Cable Street in 1936 to Southall in 1978 and Bradford 2010, are told through the voices of participants. Anarchists, communists and socialists who belonged to a shifting series of anti-fascist organizations relate well-known events alongside many forgotten but significant episodes.

Studies of anti-fascism in Britain have tended to be either academic texts or partisan political histories. Physical Resistance is niether; it is an inclusive history, broader in scope than any other work so far. It covers the whole period of anti-fascist activism but importantly, it redefines political practice according to the act of participation rather than the adherence to precisely defined ideological standpoints and offers an alternative interpretation of political action, which includes physical resistance as part of an everyday pattern of opposition. This wider and longer historical perspective is pieced together through the everyday experiences of activists themselves.

The importance of any book about anti-fascism depends upon how it is used. As well as the history of anti-fascism, our discussion will address the re-emergence of an anti-fascist movement over the last year.

For more on the book details see: http://www.zero-books.net/books/physical-resistance

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Resistance in an age of Austerity

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What does resistance mean take in an age of austerity? As we see the austerity agenda having massive consequences in Greece and Spain and the UK bracing itself for the real impact of this agenda, we ask what should a resistance to austerity look like. In Greece we see outright violent resistance, combined with a development of bartering systems and many people returning back to the land to support themselves.

Should we just resist or do we push for more radical change in society? If yes how can we do this? Are these the right ways to resist, could this occur in the UK, what can be done in this new age of the austerity agenda?

We will look at short films about the impact of austerity, hear from Bristol groups attempting to effect change and highlight new ideas of resistance and social change. The night will feature speakers from Bristol IWW, Afed, Solfed, Socialist Party Badaca plus many others talking about the issues they are coming into contact with, the activities they have been involved in and the future of resistance in Bristol to these appalling cuts.

Resistance to Debt: Catiline, El Barzon and Strike Debt

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Resistance to Debt is increasingly the way that class struggle is being expressed today. But debt resistance is not new. In Ancient Rome the battles between debtors and creditors were real ones, fought to the finish. This kind of struggle has returned in the late 20th century in many parts of the world though in a less bloody manner. Caffentzis will discuss one of the largest debt resistors' organization in history, the El Barzon (or The Yoke) movement in Mexico in the 1990s. A number of common elements in these movements will be discussed and their strengths and weaknesses will be discussed. Finally, he will introduce the work of a debt resistors' organization that is forming in the US arising out of the Occupy movement in the US.

George Caffentzis is a philosopher of money and a participant in Strike Debt who lives in NYC. He is author of several works including: Clipped Coins, Abused Words and Civil Government: John Locke's Philosophy of Money (New York: Autonomedia/ Semiotext(e) Press, 1989) and Exciting the Industry of Mankind: George Berkeley's Philosophy of Money (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000).

Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle

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Public Lecture by Silvia Federici and launch of her new book: Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle (PM Press, 2012)

Written between 1974 and the present, Revolution at Point Zero collects forty years of research and theorizing on the nature of housework, social reproduction, and women’s struggles on this terrain—to escape it, to better its conditions, to reconstruct it in ways that provide an alternative to capitalist relations. Indeed, as Federici reveals, behind the capitalist organization of work and the contradictions inherent in “alienated labor” is an explosive ground zero for revolutionary practice upon which are decided the daily realities of our collective reproduction. Beginning with Federici’s organizational work in the Wages for Housework movement, the essays collected here unravel the power and politics of wide but related issues including the international restructuring of reproductive work and its effects on the sexual division of labor, the globalization of care work and sex work, the crisis of elder care, the development of affective labor, and the politics of the commons.

About Silvia

Silvia Federici is a feminist writer, teacher, and militant. In 1972, she was cofounder of the International Feminist Collective, which launched the Wages for Housework campaign internationally. With other members of Wages for Housework, like Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Selma James, and with feminist authors like Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, Federici has been instrumental in developing the concept of “reproduction” as a key to class relations of exploitation and domination in local and global contexts, and as central to forms of autonomy and the commons. She is the author of Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation (Autonomedia, 2004)

In the 1990s, after a period of teaching and research in Nigeria, she was active in the anti-globalization movement and the U.S. anti-death penalty movement. She is one of the cofounders of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa, an organization dedicated to generating support for the struggles of students and teachers in Africa against the structural adjustment of African economies and education systems. From 1987 to 2005, she also taught international studies, women’s studies, and political philosophy courses at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.

Her decades of research and political organizing accompanies a long list of publications on philosophy and feminist theory, women’s history, education, culture, international politics, and more recently on the worldwide struggle against capitalist globalization and for a feminist reconstruction of the commons. Her steadfast commitment to these issues resounds in her focus on autonomy and her emphasis on the power of what she calls self-reproducing movements as a challenge to capitalism through the construction of new social relations

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Newport Chartist Convention

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This year's  'Newport Chartist Convention' is being held at the City Campus of the University at Newport from 11am to 3pm

Key note speaker: Professor Malcolm Chase (Leeds University)  "Welsh Chartism: Looking beyond November 1839"

Malcolm Chase is the leading Chartist historian in the UK today - author of 'Chartism: a new history" (2007)

In this lecture, Professor Chase will draw upon his recent Llafur article (2010) "Rethinking Welsh Chartism" and place the Rising at Newport in 1839 into a  broader context, considering not only the English risings that didn't happen, but also the preceding 1837-38 Canadian Rebellions.

Buffet lunch will be provided - so booking is required please

Further information about the full programme will follow

This event is sponsored by the University of Wales, Newport and its South Wales Centre for Historical and Interdisciplinary Research

UWE History Department vs Long John Silver & Bristol Radical History Group: The truth about pirates.

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Following our Sunday extravaganza with Gideon Defoe and Aardman, Mark Steeds (Long John Silver Trust) and members of Bristol Radical History Group debate with the academics to thrash out the reality and defend the tales.

Tickets and further details for these events are available at: http://unputdownable.org/events

Gideon Defoe & Peter Lord Pirates! Adventures with scientists...and historians!

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At The MShed

Pirates and adventurers take over the Harbourside to tell us who they were, what they did and why. The author and the film-maker arrive by ship to the MShed to show us how they turned a cracking, madcap novel into a blockbuster Aardman film, with BBC Bristol’s Steve Yabsley as your host. Have your books signed by Gideon Defoe who wrote the novel and Peter Lord who crafted it into the famous stop-start Aardman animation.

Northern Radical History Network

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The 3rd Northern Radical History Network meeting will take place on

Saturday 6th October 2012 at Manchester Metropolitan University.

The day will run from 11am to 4.30pm in the John Dalton

Building (Rooms E244 & E246), Manchester Metropolitan University (All Saints Campus) on Oxford Road, Manchester.

Speakers include:

  • Bill Williams, respected historian of Manchester and author of ‘Jews and other foreigners’: Manchester and the Rescue of the Victims of European Fascism, 1933-1940
  • Steve Higginson, researcher and writer, who will be discussing his work ‘Writing on the Wall’ and other Liverpool projects The day will also include opportunities to share project work, concluding with open discussion around the themes of the radical history and its uses.

Provisional programme for the day:

11am-11.30am Welcome, Introductions, Network business

11.30am-12.30pm Speaker: Bill Williams

12.30pm-1.30pm Lunch break

1.30pm-2.30pm Speaker : Steve Higginson

2.45pm-4.15pm ‘What is Radical History?’ & projects

4.15pm-4.30pm Feedback, Comments, Close of Meeting

Map of Manchester Metropolitan University All Saints Campus & travel details at http://www2.mmu.ac.uk/travel/allsaints/

ALL WELCOME!

Download PDF of meeting details: NRHN 3rd Meeting- Sat 6 October 2012

Otherstory Puppetry At Art On Hill

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Otherstory puppetry collective are exhibiting and performing this weekend 6th/7th October 12-6 at 101 Philip Street, Bedminster as part of the Art on Hill arts trail.

Come and join us and see animations, puppets and sets, masks and other art work made by the members of the collective.

There will be a performances each day at 5.00p.m. of 'Not only to rock the boat but indeed to sink it' - the rousing tale of Grania Uaile the Pirate Queen of County Mayo and her pirate crew who defied the marauders of the English Crown...Aaarrrr!   Adults and children welcome.

There will be cake!

http://www.artonthehill.org.uk/
http://theatrebristol.net/otherstory

HOOF Say's: Let's Have A Party

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HANDS Off Our Forest is organising a celebratory party at Speech House, and everyone is invited to let their hair down and cheer the campaign’s victory.

Musicians and entertainers, who rallied to the cause of keeping our Forest in public ownership, will be singing songs – many inspired by the great HOOF battle - with a little poetry and comedy also included. It’s hoped that everything from brass to lively acoustic music will help create a party atmosphere.

Entry to the HOOF Celebration, on Saturday July 28 from 5pm onwards, in the Speech House marquee, is free. There will be a hog roast and full bar (there will be a charge for food and drink).

Musical acts Bob Smith, Asha Faria-Vare, Max, Gorg n Zola, Cosmo, Muddy Summers, Mike Edwards and the lively trio Folklaw will take turns in performing, and Forest raconteur Keith Morgan will do a spot of poetry and comedy. Forest of Dean Brass, who so memorably led the procession through the Cyril Hart Arboretum at the winter rally in 2011, will perform at 6.30pm. Each act will perform songs - many self-penned - inspired by the HOOF campaign.

Viv Hargreaves, the editor of The Forester, who launched HOOF in late October 2010 and designed its distinctive oak-leaf logo, will welcome people to the celebration. There will also be short addresses from HOOF chair Rich Daniels, Baroness Jan Royall of Blaisdon, and Forestry Commissioner Sir Harry Studholme, who was a member of the Independent Panel for Forestry which recently produced a report. Sir Harry, Rich Daniels and Baroness Royall will be on hand to answer any questions people might have about the report, the extent of HOOF’s victory and the way ahead for the campaign.

“The Government has confirmed our Forest will stay in public ownership – so we have won a major part of our battle,” said Rich. “We all need to let our hair down and have a good time after a long time campaigning.

“So we’ve organised this party event as a thank-you to everyone who raised their voices and banners, signed petitions and wrote letters, which ensured our voices were eventually heard.

“However, HOOF’s work is not yet done, as we also have to ensure our Forest is managed publicly in the future and the Government resource it properly, and also to secure permanent protection for our Forest.

So while most of this event is a chance to party and congratulate ourselves on what we’ve achieved, we’ll also be explaining and having a short debate about what we still need to do. “We had a lot of help from musicians at our historic rally at Speech House, and also producing a compilation CD called Hands Off – while others helped with fundraising events and were inspired to write songs, and we’re really chuffed most of them can make it to the victory party.

“I reckon it’ll be a great party and I hope people will join us and have a good time. Everyone helped to make this happen, so let’s raise a mighty Forest cheer!”

Cinderford’s Triangle FM is providing the sound system. HOOF is also calling for feedback on the panel’s report, which can be accessed from the website www.handsoffourforest.org. People can either comment publicly on the website, or privately via email. See the website for details.

The programme:
5pm – doors open
5.30pm – welcome from Viv Hargreaves
5.35pm – Bob Smith
5.45 pm – Rich Daniels
5.50pm – Sir Harry Studholme
6.00 pm – Baroness Jan Royall
6.05 pm – Q&A
6.20  pm – Award presentation by Rich Daniels
6.30pm – Forest of Dean Brass
7.10pm – Asha Faria-Vare
7.25pm – Max
7.40pm – Gorg n Zola
7.55pm – Keith Morgan
8.10pm – Muddy Summers
8.25pm – Cosmo
8.40pm – Mike Edwards
9pm - Folklaw

NOTES:
•    Hands Off Our Forest (HOOF) is a broad alliance of people in the Forest of Dean which is campaigning to keep our Forest publicly owned and run by the Forestry Commission. See www.handsoffourforest.org for details.
•    The Independent Panel for Forestry was appointed by the Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman in the wake of the Government’s U-turn on February 17, 2011. It visited the Forest of Dean, and other forests, to consult and gather evidence. It published its final report into the future of forestry on July 4, 2012. While Mrs Spelman has confirmed our Forest (and others across England) will remain in public ownership, the Government is considering the report and will formally respond in January, 2013.

Radical History 'From Below'

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Niebyl-Proctor Library
6501 Telegraph - one block north of Alcatraz
Oakland
USA

Bart: Ashby

The Bristol Radical History Group (BRHG) from the UK explores history from below, opening up hidden histories and critiquing
mainstream narratives.

Bristol Radical History Group was born from an expanded sports club with the idea of opening up the hidden history of their home city to public scrutiny, to challenge some commonly held ideas about historical events and approach this history from ‘below’. The result has been to successfully engage the public in the excitement of radical history by the use of different media, integrating the formal lecture with street performance. Bristol Radical History Group will be outlining the influences that inspired their project through various media; from E.P.
Thompson to punk rock, describing their forays into the battles over the historical representations of their city from slavery to
labour history and looking to the future of radical history from ‘below’. So if you want to find out what unites a 17th Century blasphemous preacher and some drunken Can-Can dancers this is the event for you.

'The Short Hot Summer': The August Riots in the UK, 2011

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The Hold Out 2313 San Pablo Ave, Oakland CA, USA

The August ‘riots’ in Britain last summer were portrayed by the media and politicians as the actions of ‘greedy feral youth’ or ‘gangs’ within a ‘criminal underclass’. Most of these politically loaded explanations were presented before what had happened was even known. Using hard research and the voices of participants, this event will provide an analysis of the ‘riots’ of August, considering what (actually) happened, who was involved and how they did it. This approach is complimented by a critique of the content and use of government statistics and the representation of the disturbances in the media and mainstream politics.

The seminar discussion will be complimented by a showing of the short film ‘Rebellion in Tottenham 2011’.

Radical History From Below

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Red and Black Cafe, 400 SE 12th Avenue (Buckman), Portland, OR 97212, USA

The Bristol Radical History Group explores history from below,  opening up hidden histories and critiquing mainstream narratives. Roger Ball talks  about their fun and innovative project.

Bristol Radical History Group was born from an expanded sports  club with the idea of opening up the hidden history of their home city to public scrutiny, to challenge some commonly held ideas about historical events and approach this history from ‘below’. The result has been to successfully engage the public in the excitement of radical history by the use of different media, to integrating the formal lecture with street performance. Bristol Radical History Group will be outlining the influences that inspired their project through various media; from E.P. Thompson to punk rock, describing their forays into the battles over the historical representations of their city from slavery to labour history and looking to the future of radical history from ‘below’. So if you want to find out what unites a 17th Century blasphemous preacher and some drunken Can-Can dancers this is the event for you.

http://www.redandblackcafe.com/event/presentation-radical-history-from-below/

Parsons And Travern

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Casa Aztlan, 1831 S. Racine, Pilsen, Chicago

Accessible by Pink Line 18th Street stop and bus route 16/18th St.

Members of Bristol Radical History Group will discuss two of their heroes, both with mysterious histories and linked in time and space with Chicago. Lucy Parsons and B Traven may have never met (or did they?), but their influences born in the heat of class war in Chicago and Munich have outlived them and inspire us today.

I love Lucy: More dangeous than a thousand rioters

An introduction to Lucy Parsons. Lucy was a radical anarchist, unionist and militant member of the working class. This talk will give you an overview of her life, correct some historical inaccuracies and explain why to many she is seen as one of the most important revolutionaries of her time.

I don't have to show you any stinking badges: The writings of B Traven

The mysterious author B Traven is most remembered for his novel 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre', later adpated for the oscar-winning film by John Huston. However, his numerous other realist works, documenting the lives of the poorest workers in the early 20th Century, whether mariners or Mexican peons, relentlessly demonstrate the need for violent social change. Armed with his virulent anti-clericalism, Traven brings us closer to the anatomy of revolutionary movements in two continents.

The Life & Family of William Penn (NY)

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Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen Street, New York 10002.

260 years of bloody colonial history - an illustrated talk

A mighty counter blast to the deoiction of Quaker, Willaim Penn as a peace lover and promoter of brotherhood and religious freedom.

It will include: how Penn's family accumulated their wealth over five generations; their constant anti-republicanism; their involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the bloody colonial British expansion into Ireland, Jamaica and America.

It will change the commonly held image of Pennsylvania Quakers as slave abolitionists.

You can listen to the same talk that was given in Philadelphia.

The Family of William Penn

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Liam Flynn's Ale House 22W. North Ave. Tel. (443) 956 1702 liamflynn@gmail.com

The Family of William Penn: Their Role in the brutal Colonisation of Ireland

The Story of the Penn family's involvement in Cromwell's bloody occupation of Ireland, their amassing of land and estates by force and their role as aristocatic absentee landlords.

A mighty counter-blast to the accepted depiction of the Penns as peace lovers, promoters of brotherhood and religious freedom.

 

The Life & Family of Williamm Penn (MD)

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Red Emma's Bookstore, 800 St. Paul St. Baltimore, MD 21202.

260 years of bloody colonial history - an illustrated talk

A mighty counter blast to the deoiction of Quaker, Willaim Penn as a peace lover and promoter of brotherhood and religious freedom.

It will include: how Penn's family accumulated their wealth over five generations; their constant anti-republicanism; their involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the bloody colonial British expansion into Ireland, Jamaica and America.

It will change the commonly held image of Pennsylvania Quakers as slave abolitionists.

You can listen to the same talk that was given in Philadelphia.

The Life & Family of William Penn (PA)

Date:
Time:

Wooden Shoe Book, 704 South Street, Philadelphia PA 19147.

260 years of bloody colonial history - an illustrated talk.

A mighty counter blast to the deoiction of Quaker, Willaim Penn as a peace lover and promoter of brotherhood and religious freedom.

It will include: how Penn's family accumulated their wealth over five generations; their constant anti-republicanism; their involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the bloody colonial British expansion into Ireland, Jamaica and America.

It will change the commonly held image of Pennsylvania Quakers as slave abolitionists.

Listen to this talk:

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The Good Old Cause: Moments of wonder and betrayal in the English Revolution (1640-49)

Date:
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Brecht Forum, 451 West Street (between Bank & Bethune Streets, New York, NY 10014 Phone: (212) 242-4201 - Email: brechtforum at brechtforum.org

Despite the cheerleading you may have seen in the media about the Diamond Jubilee of the British Monarch, a wave of nausea and apathy, rather than nationalism has suffused 'Albion' of late. Echoes of the English Revolution of the 1640s still haunt the British Royals; an historic event which led to the first modern popular Republic and culminated in the decapitation of 'Divine Right'.

Bristol Radical History Group will be recounting some hidden histories from this stormy period, looking at key moments in the levelling of Royal power: the trial of Charles I and the treachery of those turncoats, the trans-Atlantic family of the Quaker William Penn. So if you want to find out why the humble son of a tailor, a broken silver cane, a plague of frogs and a falsified Aristocratic Crest were symbolic of the end of Blue Blood then come on down...

The Friends of Durruti and the Maydays in Barcelona (1937)

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This week marks the 75th anniversary of the 'Barcelona Maydays' an uprising in response to the Republican Government's attempt to seize power in revolutionary Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War. Tensions had been building over several months between the anarcho-syndicalist CNT membership and the Soviet controlled Republican army which centred on the questions of militarisation and 'War or Revolution'? When armed 'Communist Party' units attacked the Telephone exchange in Barcelona, thousands of workers responded with an initially 'successful' armed insurrection. The Friends of Durruti group were central within this opposition and openly criticised the collaboration of the CNT leadership with the Republican Government. This talk will examine the events of May 1937, why and how the insurrection was eventually defeated as well as the actions and arguments of the Friends of Durruti group. The fundamental question remains 'should the anarchists have seized power to further the revolution'?

The Haymarket, Chicago and Mayday

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On Tuesday May 4th 1886 near the Haymarket, Chicago, police attempted to violently disperse 200 remaining members of a peaceful demonstration called to protest about the police killing the day before of two workers at a strike at the McCormick Reaper Works. As the police moved against the crowd a bomb was thrown by an unknown person which killed a police officer and in the ensuing chaos the police opened fire killing and wounding demonstrators and police alike. In the days following the incident hundreds of workers were rounded up by the authorities and eighteen months later four anarchist labour organisers were executed, another committed suicide and several others were given life imprisonment. The trial was seen worldwide as a travesty of justice and an attack on those fighting for the 8 hour working day.

May 1st became workers day, labour day, Mayday commemorating the incident in the Haymarket in 1886. This talk will look at the history of the events, the strange narratives of the memorials and how Mayday is remembered in Chicago.

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PUPPET SHOW - Roots of Resistance: 20 years of Earth First! – Otherstory

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Using a magical "live animation " technique, Roots of Resistance celebrates the rise of radical ecological activism in the last 20 years: from the treetops of Newbury to the tops of power station chimneys. It draws together personal stories, and brings to life both legendary and more recent victories, in an inspiring call to action.

Ben Tillett

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Ben Tillett ~ Working class friend or foe? A talk and discussion led by Jim McNeill

To launch Bristol Radical History Group's new pamphlet, "Ben Tillett" this talk will cover the life and work of this Bristol-born, Trade Union leader. Tillett was the fiery and outspoken leader of numerous dock strikes from 1888 to 1914 in Bristol, London, Hull and elsewhere. However, by the outbreak of the First World War he, along with many union and Labour Party leaders, had become an open class collaborator and a recruiting sergeant within the working class for the bloody war in
Europe.

This talk will also highlight how the Victorian and Edwardian employing class co-ordinated their combating the  rise of mass trade unionism by organising blackleg labour that was protected by both the police and the military. In the light of recent class struggles such as the miners and the printers at Wapping then there are lessons to be learned as to what kind of leadership we want to elect to lead such struggles.

So come prepared for a discussion as well as buying this new BRHG publication!

Listen to this talk:

Part 1

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Part 2

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From the Great Plague to the Plague of Women: Purity, Misogyny and Female Enclosure

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We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause and will rearange this event for a date in the near future.

Steve Higginson will interpret the re-birth of misogyny by looking at the period of the Great Plague, 1345 onwards, and the great moralising discourse that swept across Europe post plaque. Located within this discourse of purity, women were viewed as both cause and effect of the plague, and were to be "enclosed" accordingly within the domestic sphere. The purity campaign against women was attributable to a re-reading of the Old Testament plus a resurgance of interest in Aristotlian ethics. (and why Pol Pot loved the Diggers)

Steve hails from Liverpool and was a Union organiser in the Communication Workers Union. Now a post-graduate, Steve lectures at John Moores University. His recent projects include an examination of time, memory and movement in port cities (principally Liverpool) as co-author of Edgy Cities (2006). He has been a regular contributor of Bristol Radical Hisotry Group events.

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Old Market March and Police Riot – 80th Anniversary

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February 23rd 1932 was the scene of a confrontation between the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement and the police. To mark the 80th anniversary, historians Roger Ball and Dave Backwith will consider the impact of the events of that day and the wider context of the struggles of the unemployed during the great depression.

Dave backwith is a researcher of Bristol’s working class history in the inter war years particularly 1919 and the unemployed workers movement in the 1930's. He is a family and community studies lecturer at the Anglia Ruskin University.

Roger Ball is a post graduate research student in the history department at the University of the West of England.

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Meet the Editor of Minor Compositions – Stevphen Shukaitis

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Minor Compositions is a research – theorizing – publishing project whose aim is to bring together, develop, and mutate forms of autonomist thought and practice, avant-garde aesthetics, and an everyday approach to politics. This draws a good deal of inspiration from history of militant research and workers’ inquiry, expanding it beyond inquiry into particular workplaces into a more general investigation of cultural labor, social reproduction, and the relationship between radical politics and their neutralization by market and state forces.

What can ongoing political organizing learn from the history of radical art and cultural politics?

For this evening editor Stevphen Shukaitis will talk about Minor Composition (and Autonomedia) as project and publication series, focusing on themes such as precarity, the radical imagination, communization, occupations, and autonomy. How do these ideas developed from within movements in one context migrate to other countries and situations? And what happens to them when they move?

Why Radical History Matters

Date:
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Stone Soup Cooperative - Ashland House 4637 N. Ashland Av

A presentation and discussion emphasizing the importance and relevance of radical history using a diverse series of historical case studies linking new narratives and critiques with current struggles questioning previous generations of ‘radical history’ challenging established narratives uncovering hidden histories

Panel Discussion

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Anchor Bar - back room 450 W. Fort, Detroit, MI 48226

Panel discussion with BRHG

The “August Riots” of 2011 in the UK

Date:
With: Roger Ball,

University Of Michigan 101

The ‘August riots’ were portrayed by the media and politicians as the actions of ‘greedy feral youth’ within a ‘criminal underclass’. Several major political figures implicitly racialised the events by attributing the signifier of ‘gang cultures’ to their public analyses. Using hard research, film and the voices of participants, this lecture will provide of what (actually) happened, who was involved and how they did it. It will also provide an empirical critique of the representation of the events in the media and mainstream politics.

The August Riots

Date:
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The August "riots" were portrayed by the media and politicians as the actions of "greedy feral youth" within a "criminal underclass". Most of these politically loaded explanations were presented before what had happened was even known.

Using hard research and the voices of participants, this event will provide an analysis of the "riots" of August, considering what (actually) happened, who was involved and how they did it. It will also critique the representation of the events in the media and mainstream politics.

Rebellion in Patagonia

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Rebellion in Patagonia (Spanish: La Patagonia rebelde) is a 1974 Argentine film directed by Héctor Olivera and written by Olivera with Osvaldo Bayer and Fernando Ayala, based on Osvaldo Bayer\\\'s renowned novel Los Vengadores de la Patagonia Trágica ("The Avengers of Tragic Patagonia"), based upon the military suppression of anarchist union movements in Santa Cruz Province in the early 1920s. It was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear

In the 1920s, workers in the far southern province of Argentina went on strike for better working and living conditions. In this film, the story of that strike is depicted. The military commander sent to investigate decides that the strikers\\\' complaints are justified, and he signs an agreement with them. As soon as he leaves, the industrialists and landowners ignore the agreement. When the workers strike again, the owners convince the government that this strike has been caused by the subversive action of the Chilean government, and the strikers are massacred. Only after the tragedy does the military commander realise that he has been duped.

Lessons from the Tredegar Medical Aid Society

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The Tredegar Medical Aid Society was founded in Tredegar in South Wales in 1890. In return for a contribution from its members it supplied free health care. This society contributed the model which established the British National Health Service

The provenance of John’s talk is a series of events which began last year. After recounting these events, he will discuss the lessons which he has learnt from his research into, and his reflections about the Tredegar Medical Aid Society. He will conclude by touching upon his current work about the health sector in Wales, which is informed by these lessons.’

John throws into sharp relief the contrast between the provision of a health service by the Tredegar Medical Aid Society and its current provision by the State.

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Sheila Coleman

Date:
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The recent debate in the House of Commons which culminated in a decision to release all Hillsborough documents was generally  perceived as a victory for those fighting for justice. The debate arose because of an e-petition to release documents. The e-petition was initiated after the Hillsborough Justice Campaign issued a statement condemning the government for appealing the Information Commissioner's ruling that it was in the public interest to release (under Freedom of Information), the minutes of a cabinet meeting, held under Margaret Thatcher in the days following the Hillsborough Disaster.

Sheila Coleman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign does not think that the result of the debate was a victory for either truth or justice. Rather she believes that a potentially dangerous precedent was set when the government agreed to hand over documents to the Hillsborough 'Independent' Panel.

Sheila will review the BBC's FOI request in light of subsequent developments including how it led to Hillsborough being the subject of the first e-petition ever to be debated in the House of Commons. She will also tell of the reasons why families and survivors of the HJC remain unconvinced by recent promises and how the HJC remains marginalised in spite of being at the forefront of the campaign for justice.

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Liverpool 1911 - A City On The Edge

Date:
Time:

Steve Higginson

"Rhythms That Carry"

"You need not attach great importance to the rioting in Liverpool last night. It took place in an area where disorder is a chronic feature".

- Winston Churchill

When Churchill made this statement to Parliament, Liverpool was under martial law: a gunboat was moored on the Mersey, dockers, seafarers, and transport workers were on general strike.

Rhythms that Carry, will explore and illuminate new histories concerning the events of 1911. In 1886, a magazine described Liverpool as being the “New York of Europe,.. A World City”. The open-ended nature of the port gave Liverpool a cosmopolitan edge and had a profound impact on the industrial, artistic, educational, cultural and social life of Liverpool.

However, there are questions that have remained unanswered with regards to the spontaneous nature and causes of the strikes that engulfed Liverpool across that long hot summer.

Rhythms that Carry, will attempt to answer these questions and much more besides. 1911 represented the birth of Speed-Up Capitalism. A natural tide and motion was being replaced by time and motion. The prominence of women and people of colour left a lasting imprint and symbolised Liverpool as the epicentre of new interlinking cultural and social movements... What was the influence of Liverpool 1911 on Charlie Chaplin?

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Hydra Bookshop Opening

Date:
Time:

A talk by Ian Bone - '1919 – year of revolution' - Maria Spiridonova, Jaroslav Hasek, Gabriel D’Annunzio, Percy Fisher, Simon Radowitzgy, Gustav Landauer, Max Holz.

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The August 'Riots'

Date:
Time:

Includes a showing of the film Rebellion in Tottenham 2011

The August 'riots' were portrayed by the media and politicians as the actions of 'greedy feral youth' within a 'criminal underclass'. Most of these politically loaded explanations were presented before what had happened was even known. Using hard research and the voices of participants, this event will provide an analysis of the 'riots' of August, considering what (actually) happened, who was involved and how they did it. It will also critique the representation of the events in the media and mainstream politics.

A joint event hosted by Bristol Indymedia and Bristol Radical History Group.

The Bible: The most dangerous book in the world?

Date:
Time:

At Hooper House Cafe

Part of Bristol Festival of Literature. Canon Tim Higgins, Bristol Radical History Group, Marvin Rees

For more than 400 years, the Bible has been available to anyone who can read English. This legacy is all around us. The guests go head to head in this debate to see if it qualifies as a truly ‘radical’ text.

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