LEADING ARTISTS SAY NO TO BLAIR'S TATE MODERN PARTY

LEADING ARTISTS SAY NO TO BLAIR'S TATE MODERN PARTY

Tracey Emin, Vivienne Westwood, Brian Eno and Katharine Hamnet are among the many artists and designers who are objecting to the Tate Modern art gallery hosting a party on Wednesday 8 September at which Tony Blair will be celebrating the publication of his memoir, A Journey.

Stop the War's demonstration outside the gallery from 5.30, calling for no war criminals at the Tate Modern, will be joined by artists and other public figures.

Art "happenings" and other events are planned for the protest, including the appearance of a pack (substitute your own collective noun) of Tony Blairs.

If you are joining the protest, feel free to bring your own imaginative expressions of outrage at one of Britain's foremost art galleries hosting a party for someone who should be indicted for the illegal war in Iraq that has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.

NO WAR CRIMINALS AT TATE MODERN
PROTEST FROM 5.30PM WEDNESDAY 8 SEPTEMBER
Tate Modern Gallery, Park Street,
Bankside, London SE1 9TG.
Nearest tube Mansion House

Sent from my iPhone

Coalition of Resistance Update 25 August

Coalition of Resistance Against Cuts & Privatisation | Newsletter 2 | August 26 Coalition of Resistance against Cuts & Privatisation "Resistance is the secret of Joy!" Alice Walker. Coalition of Resistance supporters meeting: Thursday September 2, 6.30pm University of London Union Malet Street London WC1E 7HY (Map) Signatories this week include the Ryde and East Wight Trades Council, UCU National Executive member Caroline Gray, campaigner and journalist George Monbiot, Clive Searle, National Secretary of Respect, Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the FBU, writer, activist and cricket lover Mike Marqusee, Alex Kenny National Executive of the NUT, the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, Sally Ingrey UCU anti-casualisation rep at City and Islington college, musician Katy Marchant, actor Celia Mitchell, artists Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps (Thanks for above image)and many others. At their meeting this week The Haringey Alliance for Public Services agreed, after hearing from Paul Mackney, to support the Coalition and send delegates to the conference . COR will be supporting and sending speakers to a number of important anti-cuts meetings in Gateshead, Bath, Northampton and Leeds. Website Following our appeal for web help we have have had many offers of support A new website is under construction and will be live by Friday. It will compile news and information about the cuts and the opposition from around the country. http://coalitionofresistance.org.uk Thanks both to Mark Thomas and Mark Steel who have agreed to link their own websites to ours. Thanks also to Mike and Rebecca for their design ideas (see image left). A number of artists, musicians, filmmakers and actors have initiated projects to support the work of the Coalition. What you can do to help Keep circulating the statement to get more support and send in new signatures - the bigger our network the stronger the resistance. Some groups have been doing street stalls to spread the word. If there is no existing anti-cuts group in your area to join then please set one up. We will put you in touch with others and help with speakers Pass resolutions in your union, anti cuts campaign, trades council, tenants group, backing the statement and supporting the conference. Send us reports of cuts and local campaigns. Donate to the coalition. Please make cheques out to Coalition of Resistance and send to 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX. ( thanks to the Green Left for their £100 donation towards the conference costs ) Coalition Conference Saturday Nov 27 10 am - 5pm Camden Centre, London WC1H 9JE (Map) Download the CoR statement Leaflet for the London meeting. Registration forms for the conference will be available at next weeks meeting. Contact details Email: coalitionofresistance@mail.com Phone: Andrew on 07939 242229 Website: http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk Unsubscribe revolution@soas.ac.uk from this list | Forward to a friend | Update your profile Coalition of Resistance - you are receiving this email because you added your name to the coalition of Resistance statement or signed up to our mailing list Our mailing address is: Coalition of Resistance Coalition of Resistance, c/o Housman's Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road London, London N1 9DX Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2010 Coalition of Resistance All rights reserved.

Protest at Tony Blair's book signing 8 September 2010

FORWARD TO ANYONE IN THE U.K.

 
JOIN US AT:
 
TONY BLAIR'S BOOK-SIGNING
ON WEDNESDAY, 8TH SEPTEMBER 2010
AT WATERSTONES PICADILLY
203-206 PICADILLY
LONDON W1V 9LE
AT 12 MIDDAY

Join us to demonstrate against Tony Blair's book-signing and bring banners and something which will make a lot of noise!
 
Not known for his generosity, Blair has stated he will donate the proceeds of his book to charity, ironically to a charity where most of the victim's injuries were caused by his decision and the direct result of his lies!  This is only a PR stunt and comes from fear of the mounting criticism and hatred from the British Public and media. We know this man will not do anything unless there is something in it for himself.  Does he think a few million is going to make up for the devastation he has caused to millions of people, taking us into an unnecessary war in Iraq with lies, just so he can personally benefit?
 
Before the war, he was not only broke, but in debt, but he has amassed a personal fortune worth conservatively, £45 million, (US$72 million), the true figure is not know, as he has it  hidden in a maze of secret companies, as any corrupt person would do!
 
This very clever and malevolent man persuaded and intimidated his own government for his own ends to invade Iraq, without any justification and based, now we know on lies, resulting in the deaths of our soldiers and over a million Iraqis, many of them innocent children. How do you make up for the total devastation of a country and the ever-lasting grief of millions of people,  with a few measly pounds from such an extremely wealthy person? A so-called Catholic convert, even a billion "Hail Mary's" will not give him absolution from this sin!
 
A pariah in his own country, but a hero in America?  But Blair's continuing involvement in Libya and friendship with Gaddafi is a slap in the face for all the American Lockerbie victims and their families, including the other atrocities Gaddafi has been involved in. Americans are now looking again at this man they think is such a hero. Making a fortune is not a crime, but the way you do it, can be.
 
His actions have proved that this ex-Labour Prime Minister is an amoral, self-serving and arrogant man who will go anywhere and do anything to increase his wealth, regardless of ethics or integrity and totally ignoring the suffering to others.  How can Blair continue to profit from this blood money, when many believe he should be tried as a war criminal? His actions brought terrorism to our shores and has divided its citizens.
 
It is also obscene that we, the taxpayer are still paying for his personal security and for security on all his many homes, even when he is not there.  This is totally unacceptable in such a recession, when many are suffering and he has more than enough money to protect himself and his family.  He has betrayed this country and its people and we do not owe him anything. Please contact your MP and demand that this protection from the Public purse stops now!
 
We would ask you to stop buying from Waterstones, who are also making a profit from this blood money. There are many other bookstores just as good. Foyles, WH Smith, Blackwells, Stanfords,
Grant & Cutler, Travel Book Store and many others.
 
Join us on 8th September to show your opposition to Blair!
 
FORWARD TO ALL IN THE U.K.
...........................................................................................................................................

--

Clare Solomon

University of London Union President

020 7664 2001

http://ulucampaigner.wordpress.com

Israeli army's female recruits denounce treatment of Palestinians

Facebook images of an Israeli servicewoman posing with blindfolded Palestinians have caused a storm. Now two former female conscripts have spoken out about their own experiences

Harriet Sherwood

The Observer, Sunday 22 August 2010

It was a single word scrawled on a wall at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that unlocked something deep inside Inbar Michelzon, two years after she had completed compulsory military service in the Israeli Defence Force.

The word was "occupation". "I really felt like someone was speaking the unspoken," she recalled last week in a Tel Aviv cafe. "It was really shocking to me. There was graffiti saying, 'end the occupation'. And I felt like, OK, now I can talk about what I saw."

Michelzon became one of a handful of former Israeli servicewomen who have spoken out about their military experiences, a move that has brought accusations of betrayal and disloyalty. It is impossible to know how representative their testimonies are, but they provide an alternative picture of the "most moral army in the world", as the IDF describes itself.

Concerns about Israeli army culture were raised last week following the publication on Facebook of photographs of a servicewoman posing alongside blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinians. The images were reminiscent of the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq. But the former soldier, Eden Abergil, said she didn't understand what was wrong with the pictures, which were described by the IDF as "ugly and callous".

Israel is unique in enlisting women at the age of 18 into two years of compulsory military service. The experience can be brutalising for the 10% who serve in the occupied territories, as Michelzon did.

"I left the army with a ticking bomb in my belly," she said. "I felt I saw the backyard of Israel. I saw something that people don't speak about. It's almost like I know a dirty secret of a nation and I need to speak out."

Michelzon, now 29, began her military service in September 2000, just when the second intifada was breaking out. "I joined the army with a very idealistic point of view – I really wanted to serve my country." She was posted to Erez, the crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, to work in the radio control room.

"There was a lot of tension, a lot of shootings and suicide bombings," she said. "Little by little you understand the rules of the game. You need to make it hard for the Arabs – that's the main rule – because they are the enemy."

She cited a routine example of a Palestinian woman waiting at the crossing. Michelzon called her officer, asking permission to allow the woman through. She was told to make such a request once the woman had been kept waiting for hours. "I felt very alone in the army. I couldn't talk about the things I felt were misplaced," she said. "I didn't have strong views but I felt uncomfortable about the talk, about soldiers hitting Arabs and laughing. I thought everyone else was normal and I was the one who wasn't. I felt an outsider to the group experience."

At the end of her service, in June 2002, Michelzon said she felt the need to escape and took off to India. "I went through a breakdown little by little," she said. It was only when she returned to enrol in university, and two years of therapy, that she began to consider her "duty" to speak out. She also came across Breaking the Silence, an organisation of army veterans who publish testimonies from former soldiers on life in the occupied territories to stimulate debate about the "moral price" of the occupation.

Michelzon gave evidence to the group and two years ago appeared in a documentary, To See If I'm Smiling, about the experiences of young women in the army. The film, she said, was criticised by all sides. The left focused on "the bad things we did and not on the fact that we wanted to start a discussion. We wanted to put up a mirror and tell Israeli society to look itself in the eyes.

"From the right, the reaction was, why are you doing this to your own people? Do you hate your country? But I did it because I love my country. We had to fight to say we want to talk about the political situation."

The psychological impact of military service on women is undeniable, according to the testimonies of Michelzon and others, particularly those who serve in the occupied territories. "If you want to survive as a woman in the army, you have to be manly," she said. "There is no room for feeling. It's like a competition to see who can be tougher. A lot of the time girls are trying to be more aggressive than the guys."

Her experience is echoed by that of Dana Golan, who served in the West Bank city of Hebron in 2001-02 as one of about 25 women among 300 male soldiers. Like Michelzon, Golan only spoke out after finishing her service. "If I had raised my anxieties, it would have been seen as a weakness," she said.

Golan, now 27, said the "most shaky moment" of her military service came during a search for weapons in a Palestinian home. The family were awoken at 2am by soldiers who "turned their whole house inside out". No weapons were found. The small children of the house were terrified, she recalled. "I thought, what would I feel if I was this four-year-old kid? How would I grow up? At that moment it occurred to me that sometimes we're doing things that just create victims. To be a good occupier, we have to create conflict."

On a separate occasion she witnessed soldiers stealing from a Palestinian electronics shop. She tried to report it, only to be told "there were things I shouldn't interfere with".

She said that she also saw elderly Palestinians being humiliated on the streets, "and I thought these could be my parents or grandparents".

Israel is discomfited by these testimonies, she said, partly because of the universality of military service. "We grew up believing the IDF is the most moral army in the world. Everyone knows people serving in the army. Now when I say we are doing immoral things, I am talking about your sister or your daughter. People do not want to hear."

The IDF is proud that 90% of its roles are open equally to men and women. "Serving in a combat unit where you have daily contact with people who might do you harm is not easy – you have to be tough," said Captain Arye Shalicar, an army spokesman. "It's not only a female thing, it's the same for everyone. In the end, a combat unit is a combat unit. Sometimes things happen, not every deed is 100% correct or fair." The army, he said, has procedures for reporting misdeeds which soldiers are encouraged to follow.

Both Michelzon and Golan have no regrets about speaking out. "For two years I saw people suffering and I didn't do anything – and that's really scary," said Michelzon. "At the end, it felt like the army betrayed me – they used me, I couldn't recognise myself. What we call protecting our country is destroying lives."

Counterfire Magazine

Open publication - Free publishing

The time to organise resistance is now: sign up HERE

The time to organise resistance is now

We reject these cuts as simply malicious ideological vandalism, hitting the most vulnerable the hardest. Join us in the fight

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• • Tony Benn and 73 others
  • guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 4 August 2010 15.32 BST
  • Article history

It is time to organise a broad movement of active resistance to the Con-Dem government's budget intentions. They plan the most savage spending cuts since the 1930s, which will wreck the lives of millions by devastating our jobs, pay, pensions, NHS, education, transport, postal and other services.

The government claims the cuts are unavoidable because the welfare state has been too generous. This is nonsense. Ordinary people are being forced to pay for the bankers' profligacy.

The £11bn welfare cuts, rise in VAT to 20%, and 25% reductions across government departments target the most vulnerable – disabled people, single parents, those on housing benefit, black and other ethnic minority communities, students, migrant workers, LGBT people and pensioners.

Women are expected to bear 75% of the burden. The poorest will be hit six times harder than the richest. Internal Treasury documents estimate 1.3 million job losses in public and private sectors.

We reject this malicious vandalism and resolve to campaign for a radical alternative, with the level of determination shown by trade unionists and social movements in Greece and other European countries.

This government of millionaires says "we're all in it together" and "there is no alternative". But, for the wealthy, corporation tax is being cut, the bank levy is a pittance, and top salaries and bonuses have already been restored to pre-crash levels.

An alternative budget would place the banks under democratic control, and raise revenue by increasing tax for the rich, plugging tax loopholes, withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, abolishing the nuclear "deterrent" by cancelling the Trident replacement.

An alternative strategy could use these resources to: support welfare; develop homes, schools, and hospitals; and foster a green approach to public spending – investing in renewable energy and public transport, thereby creating a million jobs.

We commit ourselves to:

• Oppose cuts and privatisation in our workplaces, community and welfare services.

• Fight rising unemployment and support organisations of unemployed people.

• Develop and support an alternative programme for economic and social recovery.

• Oppose all proposals to "solve" the crisis through racism and other forms of scapegoating.

• Liaise closely with similar opposition movements in other countries.

• Organise information, meetings, conferences, marches and demonstrations.

• Support the development of a national co-ordinating coalition of resistance.

We urge those who support this statement to attend the Organising Conference on 27 November 2010 (10am-5pm), at Camden Centre, Town Hall, London, WC1H 9JE.

Signed:

Tony Benn

Caroline Lucas MP

John McDonnell MP

Jeremy Corbyn MP

Mark Serwotka - General Secretary PCS

Bob Crow - General Secretary RMT

Jeremy Dear - General Secretary NUJ

Michelle Stanistreet - Deputy General Secretary, NUJ

Frank Cooper, President of the National Pensioners Convention

Dot Gibson, General Secretary of the National Pensioners Convention

Ken Loach

John Pilger

John Hendy QC

Mark Steel

Kevin Courtney - Deputy General Secretary NUT

Cllr Salma Yaqoob

Lee Jasper - Joint Coordnator Black Activists Rise Against Cuts [BARAC]

Zita Holbourne - Joint Coordinator of BARAC campaign & PCS National Executive

Ashok Kumar - VP Education & Welfare LSE Student Union (SU)

Hilary Wainwright - Red Pepper

Francis Beckett - Author

David Weaver Chair of the 1990 Trust

Viv Ahmun Director Equanomics UK

Paul Mackney - former General Secretary NATFHE/UCU

Clare Solomon - President University of London Union (ULU)

Lindsey German - Convenor, Stop the War Coalition (personal capacity)

Andrew Burgin - Archivist

John Rees - Counterfire

Romayne Phoenix - Green Party

Joseph Healy - Secretary Green Left

Fred Leplat - Islington Unison

Jane Shallice

Neil Faulkner - Archaeologist and Historian

Alf Filer - Socialist Resistance

Chris Nineham

James Meadway - economist

Cherry Sewell - UCU

Alan Thornett - Socialist Resistance

Peter Hallward - Professor of Modern European Philosophy

Matteo Mandarini - Historical Materialism Editorial Board

John Nicholson - Secretary Convention of the Left

Michael Chessum - UCL SU Education & Campaigns Officer

Mark Curtis - Writer

Nick Broomfield

Sean Rillo Raczka - Chair, Birkbeck College Students' Union, NUS NEC

Robyn Minogue - UoArts NUS Officer

Prince Johnson - President Institute of Education SU

Roy Bailey - Fuse Records

Doug Nicholls

Granville Williams

Gary Herman - (CPBF National Council member, in personal capacity)

Louis Hartnoll - President UoArts SU

Sarah Ruiz - former RESPECT Councillor and Community Activist in Newham

Michael Gavan

Mary Pearson - National Union of Teachers, Vice President Birmingham Trades Union Council

Joe Glenholmes - Unison, Life Member Birmingham Trades Union Council Baljeet Ghale - NUT Past President

Jane Holgate - Chair of Hackney Unite and Secretary of Hackney TUC

Marshajane Thompson - Labour Representation Committee NC

Richard Kuper

Chris Baugh, PCS Assistant General Secretary

Trevor Phillips - Campaigner

Stathis Kouvelakis, UCU, King's College London

Carole Regan

Bernard Regan

Roger Kline

Hugh Kerr, former MEP

Nina Power Senior lecturer in Philosophy, Roehampton University

Norman Jemmison, NATFHE Past President, NPC

Kitty Fitzgerald, Poet and Novelist

Iain Banks. Author

Arthur Smith, Comedian

David Landau

Anne Orwin Actor

To sign the statement email: coalitionofresistance@gmail.com

Lovely Philosophy Football Gaza T-shirt

In the 1970s and 1980s Soweto became a global watchword not simply for the murderous brutality of the racist Apartheid regime but also the heroic resistance of the South African people. Solidarity with Soweto became a huge, popular international movement which helped isolate Apartheid.

Today Gaza requires that same wave of support.

As part of Philosophy Football's contribution towards this they have produced a delightfully simple T-shirt design on a non-profit making basis.

They are actively supporting and raising funds for the September 2010 aid convoys to Gaza organised by Viva Palestina. We cannot all join the convoys by land and air. Yet we can all wear 'GAZA' on our chest and help spread the message of solidarity. T-shirt in sizes S-XXL, plus womens' skinny-rib fit.

Special campaign low-price JUST £9.99 Available from http://www.philosophyfootball.com/view_item.php?pid=622

Vote for Counterfire in the Total Politics blog poll

Total Politics has opened the ballot boxes for Britain's best blogger and we are asking our readers to vote for... Counterfire. The deadline for the election is July 31 so vote now!

If you don't already know, Counterfire provides news, features and theories from a network of activists who are Marxist, anti-capitalist, anti-war, anti-cuts while campaigning for equality and workers' rights.  As it was launched less than 12 months ago it has not yet featured in the Total Politics directory.

The website launched this year with an opening day readership of 2,000 and has quickly been recognised as the cutting edge publication for the left. The network also runs Counterforum and is up to its knees launching the Can't Pay Won't Pay campaign to defend jobs and the welfare state.

Adrian Cousins, editor of the website, said: "Counterfire fights for the working class to defend jobs and defend the welfare state. A vote for Counterfire is a vote for a publication which supports strikes and pickets against redundancies, which supports the fight against the cuts through Can't Pay, Won't Pay, supports struggles around the world including Gaza, while opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A vote for Counterfire will - if only in a small way - help raise awareness of these struggles." 

Bloggers who are on the editorial board of Counterfire include The Sauce & Luna17 by Alex Snowdon. The site also provides content from Penny Red by Laurie Penny, A Very Public Sociologist  from Phil and Brother S and the Third Estate collective. 

The Total Politics magazine was launched by Britain's most successful blogger and former Conservative parliamentary candidate Iain Dale. The annual vote is now in its fifth year and a high ranking is a huge boost to the profile of any blog.

The rules of the poll state that you must vote for between five and 10 websites and bloggers are not allowed to provide a "slate" or list for their readers to vote for. Too many people voting for the same bloggers in the same order will lead to votes being rejected. We ask all our readers to vote now and canvass everyone they know to vote as well.

Find out more and  vote at Total Politics HERE.

Joe Glenton, jailed for refusing to fight in Afghanistan, speaks out against the war. With Caroline Lucas, Jeremy Corbyn and Mark Steel.

'AFGHANISTAN:TIME TO GO'. PUBLIC MEETING MONDAY 26TH JULY 

7pm, Monday, 26th July
Conway Hall
25 Red Lion Square
London, WC1R 4RL

Joe Glenton, jailed for refusing to fight in Afghanistan, speaks out against
the war. With Caroline Lucas, Jeremy Corbyn and Mark Steel. 

The war in Afghanistan is in crisis. The strategy is crumbling, with Obama's
sacking of General McChrystal and an increasingly corrupt Karzai government.
The violence is intensifying with No clear goals and even fewer results.
ThousandS of Afghan civilians are dying every year and very little rebuilding
is being done.     Despite the 77% of people being opposed to Britain's
involvement in Afghanistan, this government continues to send troops to kill
and die in a war that is being lost.

This war is wrong, this war has failed and it's Time To Go-- 

Two photojournalists injured by IDF at West Bank protest

Two photojournalists injured by IDF at West Bank protest  

Video

Two Palestinian photojournalists were injured by Israel Defense Forces troops on Saturday during a protest in the southern West Bank town of Bait Ummar near Hebron.

The photojournalists were covering a weekly demonstration again the theft of agricultural land by the Israeli settlement of Karmei Tsur. The demonstration was attended by dozens of Palestinians as well as international and Israeli activists.

One photojournalist reported being hit in the face and leg by a soldier with a rifle and another photojournalist suffered concussion and hearing loss after a stun grenade exploded near his head.17/07/10 Bait Ummar, Occupied Palestine.

© Fil Kaler 2010

_

www.filkaler.com

Only 17% of British want troops in Afghanistan.

> PROTEST FRIDAY 16 JULY
> END THE KILLING, BRING THE TROOPS HOME
> 5.00 - 6.00PM
> DOWNING STREET LONDON SW1A 2
>
> Four more UK soldiers killed in one day, three of them by a recruit
> to the
> Afghan army, but Liam Fox, the defence secretary, still says we will
> "see our mission through and train Afghan security forces so they
> can look after their own security and our forces one day can come
> home". The latest opinion poll shows that only 17 percent of the
> British public agrees with him.

> Stop the War has called a protest at Downing Street this Friday to
> represent the vast majority who say bring the troops home.
>
> *******************************************
>
> RALLY MONDAY 26 JULY 7PM: AFGHANISTAN - TIME TO GO
> CONWAY HALL, 25 RED LION SQUARE, LONDON, WC1R 4RL
>
> SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Lance Corporal JOE GLENTON, just released from
> prison following his court martial for refusing to fight in
> Afghanistan, ex-soldier ROSS WILLIAMS, jailed in 2008 for refusing
> to fight in Iraq, CAROLINE LUCAS MP and other MPs. More speakers TBA.
>
> The war in Afghanistan is in crisis. The strategy for the US-led
> occupation is crumbling. Violence is increasing, with deaths of
> Afghan civilians and Nato troops at higher levels than at any time
> since 2001. But the Con-Lib coalition government continues to send
> troops to kill and die in a war that has no purpose and is being
> lost. Among the speakers at this rally will be two soldiers who were
> jailed by the British army for agreeing with the two thirds majority
> of people in Britain who want all the troops brought home now.

Put The Media on Trial next Thursdya...and not just the biggoted Daily Mail and Daily Express

Reality TV star Carole Vincent and photojournalist Guy Smallman join this month's carnivalesque investigation into The Media

"Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster", claimed The Sun in 1986. "There has been no global warming since 1995", the Daily Mail headlined in February 2010.

We can't always trust the media but since the invention of the printing press it's been a central force in politics, religion, society and fashion.

The advent of reality TV and the rise and rise in online media has made everyday human action a focal point like never before.

The general election was supposed to be decided on Twitter but in reality it was traditional television debates that set the agenda – and the tabloid press that tried to bully the voters.

Mutiny presents a topical and interactive discussion on the nature of the media, the challenges it can pose and how it can be used as a force for change.

The Media on Trial opens at 6pm on Wednesday 21st July at the Resistance Gallery, 265 Poyser Street, London E2. Tickets are £5 with £3 for concessions.

The event is a whistle-stop tour from Big Brother to blogging and hegemony to hatred, with live performers, art installations and video – all in an evening, at one of London's most famous subversive venues.

The event will be hosted by former Sunday Times journalist and blogger at The Sauce, Brendan Montague with contributions from photojournalist Guy Smallman, Big Brother contestant Carole Vincent and Counterfire editor Adrian Cousins.

The night begins with speed debating, followed by three discussion sessions covering the impact of the media, hegemony and the media and activism and blogging. We are still open to submissions for art and performance in all media.

Join us as we put The Media on Trial.

Strike back against homophobic, racist tabloids

Tell the Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Star - LGBT asylum seekers are welcome here

Following the homophobic witch hunt against asylum seekers in the tabloids yesterday  please find the attached statement calling for a full retraction and a protest outside of the Daily Express offices Thursday 15^th July, 5.-6.30pm.

In times of crisis we know there will be more attempts to divide us by whipping up bigoted ideas. But there has been widespread anger yesterdays newspapers with our statement and protest attracting widespread support already including from the NUJ Gen Sec and many members, UCU LGBT committee, NUS LGBT and Black student campaigns and more. We must take a stand against any attempted anti-gay backlash but also use this opportunity to win arguments in defence of asylum seekers and refugees.

Please circulate the statement widely and get backing from individuals, organisations and union branches. Send names to noroomforhomophobes@gmail.com

Bring people and banners to the protest on Thursday 15^th July

Check out facebook groups

"No room for gays? No room for homophobes" http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133406423360622#!/group.php?gid=137196942964613&v=wall&ref=ts

Plus event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133406423360622#!/event.php?eid=133406423360622&ref=mf

Statement: Tell the Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Star - LGBT asylum seekers are welcome here

We condemn the disgraceful homophobic comments in the Daily Star, Daily Mail and Daily Express which attack the recent Supreme Court decision to prevent the deportation of two gay asylum seekers back to Iran and Cameroon.

The Express front page on 8^th June headlined "Now asylum if You're Gay: they must be free to go to Kylie concerts and drink multi-coloured cocktails, says judge". The Daily Mail asked "What planet is he on?" and called his decision to give home to gay asylum seekers "infantile". The Daily Star carried an editorial titled 'No room for gays' which claimed "opening the floodgates to gay asylum seekers is absolute madness." (see links to articles below)

The reality is very different. Homosexuality is still illegal in over 80 countries world wide. LGBT people seeking asylum in the UK are often fleeing attempted murder, serious assault or rape. Only this month a young gay man has been sentenced to death in Iran. In 2003 a gay Iranian man who had been refused asylum in the UK poured petrol over his body and set light to himself in the offices of Refugee Action in Manchester rather than go back to Iran.

Stonewall's recent report "No Going Back" reveals that only 1 in 50 people who claim asylum on the basis of their sexual orientation is admitted to the UK with applicants frequently being told by the UK authorities that they can avoid attacks by being "discreet" in their country of origin - that is, by lying about their sexuality for the rest of their life.

Abbey Kiwanuka from Uganda where there are moves to introduce the death penalty for homosexuality, said: "This (recent decision) gives me hope …..I feared for my life in Uganda. Just two weeks ago a gay man was beheaded. I lost my appeal because the court said I should go back and live a discreet life. I can't do that. It's impossible to do. "

The only motivation in these tabloid articles is to whip up hatred and division. They want to weaken our support for persecuted people and use asylum seekers and LGBT people as scapegoats to divert attention from an economic crisis we did not create. This is designed to undermine opposition to the cuts which their rich friends want to force on us.

It also risks intensifying homophobia in Britain at a time when reports have shown an increase in reported homophobic attacks of up to 63%. The brutal murder of Ian Baynham in central London last Autumn is a terrible and tragic reminder of where this can lead.

We remember Jan Moir's homophobic article in the Daily Mail following Stephen Gately's death in which she claimed "Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one" and questioned civil partnerships. Despite a record 22,000 complaints, including one made by Gately's former partner, the Press Complaints Commission found no case to answer. This cannot be allowed to happen again.

We demand an apology and retraction of the vile views published in The Daily Star, Daily Express and Daily Mail and that they publish the truth about the persecution which LGBT refugees and asylum seekers face in their home countries, and about homophobia here in Britain.

We urge you to write to the papers' editors, post comments online and register a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission.

We also support calls for a protest outside the Daily Express Thursday 15^th July, 5-6.30pm.

Supported by: Supported by Love Music Hate Homophobia, Jeremy Dear NUJ Gen Sec, Michelle Stanistreet Dep Gen Sec NUJ UCU LGBT members committee, Elly Barnes LGBT history month/Schools Out, Vicki Baars & Alan Bailey NUS LGBT campaign, Clare Solomon ULU President elect, Richard Simcox National press officer PCS, Mark Bergfeld NUS NEC, Aaron Kiely NUS Black students campaign, Stow College Student Association, Sean Fox Branch Sec Haingey UNISON, Robert Goddard Youth and Education Officer Stonewall Cymru, Dave Toomer NUJ NEC rep for North West England, Steven Bird, deputy FoC, Katie Carnie, chapel officer, David Crouch, FoC. from NUJ Financial Times, Jason Brown LGBT rep NUS Black students campaign, Jess Hurd Chair NUJ London Photographers' Branch,Counterfire, Socialist Workers Party and many more. All individuals in a personal capacity.

To add your name please email: noroomforhomophobes@gmail.com

Homophobic Articles

Express: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/185617/Now-asylum-if-you-re-gay

Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1292715/Gay-asylum-seekers-win-legal-battle-stay-Britain.html

Daily Star: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/143442/No-room-for-gays/ 

Stonewall Report No going back: Lesbian and gay people and the asylum system (2010), http://www.stonewall.org.uk/what_we_do/research_and_policy/2874.asp 

Two major Athens protest/actions TMRW to build for the general strike

Two Athens demos TMRW: A moto-demo will start at 10.30 from Pedio Areos (King Konstantinos' statue) moving around Athens in order to promote Tuesday's general strike. At the moto-demo participate various groups and campaigns, neighborhood assemblies, and the Coordination of Grassroot Trade-Unions.

Also, tomorrow night at the borough of Elliniko, the mayor
Christos Kortsidis [while on his 60th day of hunger strike against Kallikratis, a restructuring of the state and municipality map in Greece, and against the occupation and privatisation of the beach of Elliniko by the industry of the night, clubowners and corrupted political elites] will attempt along with the people of the borough the blockade of three clubs that operate illegally at the area. The meeting is for 11pm at Pezogefyra Ellinikou on Leoforos Poseidonos, Ag. Kosmas.

Shell Shock and Awe: War, Capital and Carnage in Iraq

Christof Bϋchel: "Unplugged (Simply Botiful)"

Pireos 260

7-11pm every day til 6 July 2010

Even after a shower to remove the grime left on my body after visiting this awesome exhibition in Athens I am still reeling from the impact of the installation.

Taking the headline from a UK right-wing tabloid article 'Simply Botiful' Christoph Bϋchel 'forces the viewer to take part in physically demanding and psychologically uncomfortable scenarios'.

In a space 15m x 15m the artist arranges 10 rooms of death and destruction in such a way that you can almost taste the fear of the millions of Iraqi's who were murdered or affected by the so-called War on Terror in Iraq.

And it is certainly not for the faint hearted or easily offended. Using original items recovered from the aftermath of the Iraq war—bullet riddled clothes, photos, pornography, a full bar frequented by the military, voting booths and bomb-making equipment—Buechel gives us a glimpse, a striking insight, of what is daily life for both the invaders and the victims.

The stench is shocking. In one room, a caravan clearly used for soldiers sexual gratification, an airfreshner can sits alongside remnants of women's underwear and fag-butts. Loud, brash American rave music blares from a tiny sound-system and competes for your attention with an Arabic voice coming from a TV in another area.

The contradictions in this exhibition cause confusion. My companion, the cartoonist Carlos Latuff, said 'it causes an inconvienience in my brain...it makes my body feel sick'. It certainly left a foul taste in my mouth.

This exhibition is in no way beautiful. How can it be? 'War is NOT beautiful' Latuff reflected.

Take time to sit in every room, to absorb the atmosphere and to examine every piece of the 1,000's of items to really get a view of Iraq through the eyes of hard core, pro-war American soldiers. Talk to the bar men. Climb up every ladder. Crawl through every hole. Wear sensible clothing.

With politics as good as is display in this installation no doubt the artists price tag of Euro600k covered mainly what I imagine to be very high transportation costs. That profiteering from war comes at a price is thoroughly displayed within this exhibition.

For more details go to: http://tinyurl.com/iraqart