Do you love Love? Could you love a Tory?! Mutiny's 2nd event: Love on Trial, a Revolutionary Valentines.

If music be the food of love.. Love on Trial. 10th February 6pm
Money on Trial in September was a fantastic success with around 100 people coming along and almost all of them emailing or letting us know personally they had a fantastic time. The Sauce blogged about it here: Money on Trial
Join us on on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/tweetthemutiny

Our next event is especially for all you romantics. If music be the food of love...

We already have a brilliant line up so far, with Nina Power, the author of One Dimensional Woman speaking in the first session,

The fab poet Musa from PoeJazzi who has also performed for Stop the War.

The Speed Debating session will kick off the night to get you all mingling and thinking: we want your thoughts on what questions to add to this. Please comment at the Join the Mutiny blog

We are also looking for further artwork, musicians, poets, visual artists, films, speakers and, of course, participants for the evening.

And, finally, like last time we are doing political goody bags. Last time we had LMHR cd's, Stop the War badges, War on Want stickers & matches, flyers for demo's, signup sheets for UAF, an appeal for Gaza and much, much more. If you want your event to submit something to the bag, please email jointhemutiny@gmail.org. We will need to arrange delivery for these items so let us know as soon as possible

Join the team or send us any ideas & suggestions by emailing us at jointhemutiny@gmail.com

More info on how to get more involved coming soon.


Planning meetings are every Tuesday at 6pm in the Birkbeck Bar. Feel free to come along with your ideas and bring people with you.

Please click the above image, print off and put up in any place or make into flyers to hand out at meetings, in class, at work or on the streets…

Read more about the evening at the Join the Mutiny website

Join us on on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/tweetthemutiny

Please feel free to link this publicity to your blogs.

Boycott fascist pub in Camden week of action 25th-29th Jan 2009 update

The Gloucester Arms on Leighton Road in Kentish Town has been subjected to protests by anti racists following the landlord, John Coyne's decision to let organised racists hold meetings in the pub. There will be a week of email and telephone action on the week of 25th - 29th Jan asking that Camden council remove the pub's licence especially as they play hardore porn in front of kids.

- application/msword 24K

The far right group Jobbik Party, part of a racist group "The Alliance of Nationalist Movements" drafted by the BNPs Nick Griffin, have been holding meetings in the pub. The pub's walls were recently daubed with Close BNP Pub and local people are sick of the loud music being played at full volume all night and hardcore porn dvds being played in front of children in the bar.
During protests held by Camden Anarchists and covered by the Camden New Journal the lanflord John Coyne came out and told them to "go whistle" before allowing the meeting to go ahead. The landlord is believed to have links to racist right wing groups formed in Ulster.

Contact Camden Council and ask that they remove the pub's license.

Write to or phone Camden Council on 0207 974 4444

Camden Town Hall
Judd Street
Camden
London
WC1HJE

http://www.camden.gov.uk/

The Gloucester Arms is at 59 -61 Leighton Road, Kentish Town, Camden NW5 2QH

You can upload a letter from here to post of to the council.

Boycott Fascist pub in Camden week of action 25th-29th Jan 2009 update
e-mail: camdenantifash@yahoo.co.uk

Very timely: Symposium on Georg Lukács's 'Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat'

2–6pm, Saturday February 6, 2010, at the London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald Street, London, WC1

Speakers:
Gordon Finlayson
Tim Hall
Michalis Skomvoulis

Gordon Finlayson is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Sussex and is the author of many books and articles on the Frankfurt School.

Tim Hall is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of East London. His article 'Reification, Materialism & Praxis: Adorno's critique of Lukács' is forthcoming in Telos (2010) and he is the co-editor of The Fundamental Dissonance of Existence: New Essays on the Social, Political and Aesthetic Theory of Georg Lukács (New York, Continuum: 2010)

Michalis Skomvoulis is a PhD student at the University of Paris 1: Pantheon-Sorbonne and has written extensively on Lukacs.

The English translation of Lukács's essay is available at <http://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/works/history/index.ht

Attendance is free and open to all. To register e-mail Meade McCloughan: m.mccloughan@ucl.ac.uk

Directions and map: <http://tinyurl.com/ywmsvc> Tube stations: Holborn and Russell Square.

Marx and Philosophy Society: http://www.marxandphilosophy.org.uk/

iPhone art of Bernie Spain Gardens yesterday

The only footprints are those of these two magpies-Joy.
Today not a flake in sight!

My expulsion from the SWP has been ratified by conference.

I'm taking a few days to let it sink in, to collect my thoughts etc and will write something here soon.

Thx for all your support. I'm out but not down.

From Clare (the autonomist, renegade, guevarist, dilletante, spawn of the devil)

[Posted with iBlogger from my iphone ]

But I forgot thes best one:SCAB! Alex has added a few more below...

Soas Palestine presents: Gaza: Our Guernica

All welcome. 

A series of events to commemorate Gaza one year after Israel's attack

 

Gaza: Our Guernica

 

organized by the Palestine Societies at

 

SOAS

University College London

Imperial College

Kings College

Goldsmiths

University of Westminster

 

Thurs 14th January – 6.30pm

***Remembering the War on Gaza (followed by Candle Lit Vigil)***

Tariq Ali (Writer)

Ghada Karmi (Exeter University)

UCL – Christopher Ingold Building/Main Quad

Mon 18^th January – 7PM

***Besieged in Self Righteousness: Israeli public discourse after the last invasion of Gaza***

Daphna Baram (Journalist)

SOAS – G2

 

Mon 25^th January – 6.30pm

***The Wounds of Gaza***

Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah (Surgeon, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Worked in Gaza after the last war)

Andrea Becker (MAP, Medical Aid for Palestinians)

Imperial – G16, Sir Alexander Fleming Building

 

Thurs 28^th January – 6pm

***The Media and the War on Gaza***

Ehab Bessaiso (Media Analyst and Writer): The Arab Media and the War on Gaza

Sharief Nashashibi: The British Media and the War on Gaza

Chair: Dr Dina Matar (SOAS)

Westminister Uni – 2.05a LT, Titchfield Street

 

Mon 1st Feb – 6.30pm

***The End of Israeli Impunity? Gaza and the Goldstone Report***

Bob Marshall Andrews (Labour MP),

Paul Troop (Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights),

Prof. Robert Wintemute (Kings College)

KCL – s-3.20 Strand Campus

Wed 3rd Feb – 4pm

***Gaza: Past and Present***

Prof. Avi Shlaim (Oxford University)

Goldsmith Uni – Richard Hoggart Building Rm 256

 

Wed 17^th February – 7pm

***Supporting the Boycott on Israel: A View from Within***

Dr. Anat Matar (Tel Aviv University)

SOAS – Room tbc 

...in response to student occupations, Schwarzenegger announces more HE funding...

From an article in yesterday's New York Times;SACRAMENTO — With his state strapped and his legacy looming, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed on Wednesday to greatly reduce the amount of money California spends on its prisons and to funnel that sum to the state's higher education system instead[...]

Those protests on the U.C. campuses were the tipping point; the governor's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, said in an interview after the speech. Our university system is going to get the support it deserves.


Full article: http://bit.ly/87ZY18
>

Palestinian children are stoned while walking to school

See related press release here: http://sn.im/tzeyr

See full report on the situation: http://sn.im/tzf1e

At-Tuwani On Wednesday morning, 30 December 2009, an Israeli settler from the Israeli outpost of Havat Ma'on (Hill 833) chased and attacked Palestinian schoolchildren from the villages of Tuba and Maghayir Al-Abeed. The Israeli army exposed the children to this attack by arriving more than 90 minutes late to escort the schoolchildren to their school in the village of At-Tuwani.

The schoolchildren had been waiting for the army escort to arrive for nearly 30 minutes when an Israeli settler came out from a house within Havat Ma'on. The fourteen children, ages 6-15, immediately began to move away from the settler, towards their village. When the settler saw the children moving away he charged them, hurling stones at the children with a slingshot. Tareq Ibrahim Abu Jundiyye, a 15 year old boy from Tuba, spoke about the experience, the younger kids started crying as we were running away because they were afraid the settler would catch them. I mean, we had to run away, if I would have stayed I would have been struck on the head by a rock.

International peace activists made several calls to the local army office urging them to send soldiers in order to escort the schoolchildren. The army dispatcher claimed that the soldiers thought there was no school because of the rain. The army only arrived after the mayor of At-Tuwani called the Palestinian District Coordinating, a Palestinian body responsible for liasing with the Israeli military regarding civilian affairs in Area C, who in turn spoke with the Israeli army. The army's late arrival caused the children to miss their first two classes of the day.

The children require a military escort to and from school, because of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers from Maon and Havat Maon. When the Israeli military does not arrive on time to accompany the children to Tuwani, they must wait in an area controlled by the Israeli settlers, a location where settlers have attacked the young Palestinian children on a number of occasions in the past.

For a complete report on the school escort in 2007-2008, including maps, photographs and interviews with the children, please see A Dangerous Journey at www.cpt.org/files/Dangerous-Journey-Summ ary-2008.pdf

A report for the school year 2008-2009 is forthcoming.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Sent from my iPhone

http://solomonsmindfield.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/solomonsmfield

Sod Sodexho. Please support these striking workers.

SOAS has had a campaign against Sodexho based not only on their notorious track record of allegations of racism and for their oppresive treatment of staff but also because they provide the catering for the American military in Abu Ghraib and Afghanistan. This message is a reminder to both us and them that we are watching them and will not tolerate their view on life. We must support these striking workers in any way possible. If not financial, please send them even a short message of solidarity. 

Dear Comrades and Colleagues 

NORTH DEVON HEALTH BRANCH HARDSHIP FUND 

These low paid workers really need funds to keep this dispute going. It has come after Christmas, which is a difficult time for many families anyway. 

Their efforts to win the pay due to them from 2006 has made a big impact in North Devon. It is an inspiration to other workers. 

Please give generously. 
Cheques to: 

North Devon Health Branch Hardship Fund 
UNISON North Devon Health Branch
Union Office, Suite 2, Munro House
North Devon District Hospital
Raleigh Park, 
Barnstaple, 
North Devon
EX31 4JB  

Send messages of support to unisonhealthndevon@hotmail.co.uk

Please raise at branch meetings and in school staffrooms if you can.

Please pass on to your email list, Facebook etc.

Thanks

A luta continua!

Dave Clinch

January 6, 2010

North Devon NHS strike - please send message of support

Over 200 low paid hospital workers started two days of strike action on Tuesday, following the refusal of their employer Sodexo and the local NHS trust to implement a pay agreement dating back to 2006. During the day, with heavy snow falling, nearly all of those on strike attended the picket.

Local Unison Branch Chair (Health), Mark Harper says, "Unless there is a significant shift from the employer and the Healthcare Trust then more strike action will take place. The funds were allocated to pay our members. North Devon Healthcare Trust is one of only a few NHS Trusts not to implement the agreement."

He added "Unfortunately the employer is bringing in scab labour from Hillingdon Hospital to try to undermine the strike."

The support locally has been excellent. A rally is also being planned. 

Send messages of support to unisonhealthndevon@hotmail.co.uk

Sent from my iPhone

http://solomonsmindfield.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/solomonsmfield

Coin Street neighbourhood film club - Friday 15 January - Maria Full of Grace (15)

This is from my local film club. Feel free to pop in. 

Happy New Year!  Please find attached information about the films for January to March.  The details of the first film, next Friday 15 January are below.  Hopefully see you there!   

Friday 15 January

Maria Full of Grace (15) Spanish with English subtitles

Sundance and Berlin Film Festival award winner, ''Maria Full of Grace'' tells the story of 17 year old

Maria Alvarez who lives with her family in rural Columbia. When she is offered the chance of a

lucrative job involving travel, which is in fact becoming a ''drug mule'' Maria finds herself

transported into the ruthless world of international drug trafficking. Her mission becomes one of

determination and survival as she plunges into her a chaotic and dangerous new world.

http://www.filmbank.co.uk/default.asp?page=film.detail&id=34404&search.title=maria

 

The Coin Street neighbourhood centre will be open from 7pm for snacks, wine and soft drinks and the film will start at 7.30pm. 

Please contact Laura Cowell for more information on 020 7021 1600 or email helpdesk@coinstreet.org 

MI5 'still using threats to recruit Muslim spies'

MI5 'still using threats to recruit Muslim spies'

By Robert Verkaik, Home Affairs Editor

MI5 faces accusations that its officers have blackmailed and harassed vulnerable immigrants living in Britain as part of a campaign to recruit spies to report on Muslim communities. In one case, a man who escaped persecution in Africa where members of his family were murdered claims that for the past...

Click here to view this content.

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Tansy Hoskins on sexism, war, & awfullness in *that* Rhianna video

New left-wing blog in town, it's Tanzle Town! HERE.

And what a great first article talking about the strange, if not down right perverted, video by Rhianna depicting war, sexism & violence as if it is empowering and something to be proud of.

Well done Tansy, I look forward to many more of your musings.

So, her premier, premiere article goes as follows:

"If you haven't already seen the music video for Rihanna's new single 'Hard' you can view it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qMIyGOFhZ4

My problems with this video are threefold. Firstly, this video is pure old fashioned misogyny masquerading as empowerment. The second is that the position of female soldiers has been completely distorted – US State Department figures report that one in three women in the US military will be raped or sexually assaulted by her male counterparts. And the third is that riding around on a colonialist expedition with America’s army does not make you ‘hard’ and that war is not something to be glamorised.

It saddens me to see the route that Rihanna has taken with this video, particularly since she has herself recently been the victim of domestic violence by her former partner. It appears that this video is in part a reaction to that period of her life or at least a reaction to the media circus that sprung up around her since. The fact remains that we live in a world where one in six women are raped and even greater numbers suffer abuse – stopping this should be a priority in the world today but it isn’t. It is no wonder therefore that there is still a market for the false empowerment in this video, that the music industry can tell women that sex is the real way to be respected by men. Unless things change more young women will remain both lost, exploited and unempowered.

“Its not for her specific feminine virtue that gives women a place of honour in human society, but the worth of her useful work accomplished for society, the worth of her personality as a human being, as a creative worker, as citizen, thinker or fighter.” So wrote Alexandra Kollantai almost a hundred years ago. Sadly not much has changed in this respect. Women are still valued primarily for how they look. This is not to say that women can not be fighters. They are. Across the world they play their part in conflicts, fighting and dying along side men. And at the other end of the spectrum they take their place on the sporting field, becoming known for their strength, courage and endurance."

Read more HERE.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qMIyGOFhZ4

[Posted with iBlogger from my iphone ]

NUS president Wes Streeting stoops to a new low

Check back here soon for video of his remarks on Gaza & student occupations incl on occupations over education cuts. I can't work my YouTube uploader atm.

Please comment below or ask questions. I will try to get them answered.

NUS NEC member James Haywood writes on Wes Streetings latest comments

Wes Streeting stoops to a new low

People should hold their stomachs and read this Ha'aretz article about NUS President Wes Streeting's recent visit to Israel: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1137628.html

I was in two minds of whether to write something about this, it truly is so disgusting that most points don't need much coming back on, but actually some serious issues do come out of this.

Of course Streeting attacking the UCU is nothing new, first the planned strike last year was needed for students "like a hole in the head", and now this attack on the UCU's bravery in standing for the academic boycott (which has now been followed by the TUC). But then, hey, since when has New Labour ever been about supporting unions?

His quoted remarks on Palestine really are disgusting however. Livni, the politician responsible for the massacre in Gaza which will be mourned on campuses across the UK over the next month, was apparently "a really strange choice" for lawyers in the UK to seek arrest for war crimes. With no sense of irony he says this attempt to uphold international law must, "seem so really ignorant". mmm....quite,
so while we're on the subject of ignorance lets carry on with the article:

"my first impression of the West Bank was that it was just like the place on the other side.... The surroundings were the same, the people were doing the same things - there wasn't much difference between the two places." The Palestinian economy in the West Bank seems "to be a lot more stable and active" than he had assumed, he added."
The charities, religious groups, NGOs (including Israeli NGOs), Amnesty, they are all liars.....he didn't add.

What a pity he didn’t go 5 minutes from the Church of Nativity to Dhieshesh refugee camp where thousands of Palestinian refugees live in terrible conditions and survive on UN hand outs: not a stable and active economy. Or perhaps Streeting could have gone to Hebron, and seen the settler violence against Palestinians there and the destruction of the economy by the siege on the old city by the Israeli army. Or gone to Nablus to visit the huge graveyards, or Ramallah to Bir Zeit University to hear from students of the military lockdowns the campus has suffered consistently over the years.

But most normal people know this, so why bother raising it? Because actually this highlights a dangerous issue with this trip. This wasn't a holiday, which can be seen not just from his press comments but Ha'aretz reported that these comments took place, "after a meeting in the Prime Minister's office".
This trip was organised. By who?

Students in the UK have a right to know who organised this trip, and if it was paid for who funded it. Because whatever organisation did organise it are clearly not even interested in promoting a two state solution let alone a just solution. If the issues are so "complex" why did Streeting not visit officials in the West Bank? Why did he not meet the Palestinian student council? Or visit refugee camps? Or look at the illegal settlements and the violence perpetrated by settlers in the West Bank? Or villages being destroyed by the apartheid wall? Why no attempt to enter Gaza? Yet again we have the racist vision of Palestinians as invisible "problems" that need to be "solved", not human beings who have a right to live, let alone to education, health, housing and other basic things they are denied by the occupation.

We have a right to know who organised and funded this trip, and we should question whether such biased and frankly corrupt practises are acceptable in our National Union.
And if Streeting is genuine, then I have an offer for him: Goldsmiths are organising a trip to the West Bank in early April, he is now formally invited to come on the trip to see "the other side". I look forward to his response.


Haarerrz article

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Bicycle beats nr Oxford St.

Available for booking@puncturekit.co.uk

See more at puncturekit.co.uk

Specially for Rog from Flook iPhone app. See post below for fab MacBook Air comp...