Festival of Alternatives: Timetable

Events so far - keep checking as there are some changes of time & venue, and still more events being added. All events are FREE unless otherwise stated.

Mayday Social Centre - Temporary Autonomous Zone for Mayday 2002
A building has been liberated & the social centre is now open at:
'Speedy's cafe', 10 Great Eastern St, EC2. Nearest tubes: Liverpool St, Old St. Buses: 8, 26, 47, 67, 149, 242, 243.

Friday 26th April

Daytime:
Picket for Paul Robinson - 2pm, University College of London, Gower St, WC1.
Paul Robinson was imprisoned in Sweden for 8 months following the EU protests in Gothenberg, in June 2001. His job as a library attendant at UCL was kept open for him during his absence. 2 days after returning to the UK, he was sacked following a disciplinary hearing, for 'gross misconduct'. This decision is thought to be entirely political. Paul's appeal takes place at 2pm - please come along and support him.

Evening:
London-wide Critical Mass bike ride, themed around No Borders, meeting at Waterloo at 6pm.

After: Balkan/Roma gig featuring Tragic Roundabout, ROMANI RAD, Empty Hat Orchestra & Tarot Magik DJs. The starting extravaganza of the Mayday Festival of Alternatives with food, visuals and dancers. Speakers and stalls by refugee support groups welcome (contact nlmaydayfestival@lycos.co.uk).
From 7.30pm till 1pm at Chats Palace, 42-44 Brooksby's Walk, Homerton, E8. Nearest train station: Homerton on Silverlink line (change at Highbury Islington)
Entry: 5 quid/3.50 quid cons (3 quid for Critical Mass peeps)

London Anarchist Forum meeting - 8pm, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1.

Saturday 27th April

Daytime:
Day of workshops and discussions on the theme of social centres
, squats & how to set them up. The aim of the day is to transform a disused building into a vibrant social centre, and to learn & share new skills.
Workshops on plumbing, electricity, finding a good building & legal advice. Speakers from London Social Centres Network & Advisory Service for Squatters. There will also be talks from collectives who have set up both permanent & reclaimed social centres. Cleaning & decorating will go on all day, so please come down and lend a hand.

Squat electronics - 10.30am
Get the electricity connected without frying yourself.

Practical Plumbing - 12pm
Hands-on session covering elementary fix-it skills relating to whatever needs doing in the particular reclaimed space we'll be working in.

Lock-changing, securing a building & fire escapes - 1pm

Carpentry - 2pm
Learn to make your own bookshelves, tables etc.

Advisory Service for Squatters talk - 3pm
Help and legal advice for squatters.

London Social Centres Network talk - 5.30pm

The dutch experience of squatting - 7pm
Differences in law, police repression, defence, activist community mobilisation and cultural representation of the scene.

Venue for all of the above social centre workshops: Temporary social centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details.

Other workshops:
Women's Football Skills workshop - (please note change of date) - meet 12pm Clissold Park, Stoke Newington. (bottom side of park, near lake, behind tennis courts. A chance to brush up on tackling, headers etc for the Looney Left footie tournament on Sunday 5th May.

Anarchy, Anarchism and the Anarchists - 2pm
An informal talk on history, anthropology, psychology and ideology with special reference to the movements of the working class and disinherited, plus reflections on the anti-capitalist movement and the future. (Followed by open ended discussion, if so desired).
Venue: Temporary social centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details.

Stalls in Wood Green/leafletting for 'Vote Nobody' anti-election campaign (Haringey Solidarity Group).
Find out more about 'Vote nobody'>>>

Find out more about 'Mayweek in Haringey'>>>

radicalyoga - free yoga classes with opportunities for discussion, practice and meditation. You will be very welcome to participate…wearing loose clothing, bring a happy heart, an empty stomach and an open mind. 3pm-6pm – Diorama One (Movement Room 1st floor), 34 Osnaburgh Street, NW1

Evening:
The Mayfest Village Fayre!
The Fayre for Queers of all Sexualities - 7.30 - 1am

Venue: Chat's Palace, Brooksby's Walk, Homerton E9
Flaming Queers bring you the Mayfest Village Fayre - May Queens, fertility rites and sexy spring abandon! Join us for maypole dancing, apple bobbing, panata smashing, DJs, bawdy Mayfest cabaret and all the fun of the fayre.

Fancy Dress: lusty wenches, willing farm hands, virgins and fair maidens, Green men, village idiots, mayflies, shepherds and other country folk, or just dazzle us with your glamour and escape the small no-costume surcharge!

DJs confirmed: Megabitch, Offshore and SexyRubberSoles
Dancing: join in with maypole dancing, learn to dance the gay gordon. Can you be a caller?
Stalls: apple bobbing, cakes, kissing booth, brantub.
A Benefit to support future LaDiDah productions:
Free before 8pm, £4 concessions, £5 full price, with a £1 surcharge for anyone not making at least a gesture towards fancy dress. Attitude's more important than attire, of course.
For info./to offer a cabaret act: 07949 976 016

Sunday 28th April

Daytime:
Haringey Critical Mass Bike Ride - Meeting 12 Noon at Manor House.
A festive ride reclaiming the streets of Haringey from traffic and pollution, showing how much safer and pleasanter our streets can be. We will be highlighting local road safety campaigns and protesting in support of cycle lanes, bus lanes, free public transport and eco-friendly transport solutions. The ride ends in Chestnuts Park (Black Boy Lane, N15) at 3pm with a picnic and party.
Find out more about 'Mayweek in Haringey'>>>
 
All welcome -  bikes, wheelchairs, pedestrians, skateboards, rollerskates; and anything with wheels and no engine.
Bring music, food, drink, costumes, games, balloons and come and enjoy the ride...

Indymedia Event - 12-3pm - (Please note time changes)
Venue: Rio Cinema, 107 Kingsland High St, Dalston, E8. Tel 0207 241 9410
featuring: (times are approximate)

12pm Globalisation and the Media - Undercurrents 2001 - 40 mins -
This documentary explores the role of the media in this corporate led take over of the Planets natural resources. It explores how the media is involved in shaping public opinion during the ‘War on Terrorism’ - and offers a wide range of viewpoints from broadcasters, journalists, computer hackers, media activists, and news editors. It also investigate the bias of Television news during the protest blockades of the IMF and the G8 summits. From Nigeria to Britain the film reports on the violent suppression of alternative media and how new technology, such as the internet and camcorders, is challenging the role of the traditional news gatherer.

Includes Interviews with:
Chris Cramer- President CNN International news
George Monbiot- Investigative reporter
Katharine Ainger- Editor New Internationalist
Mark Covell + others - Indymedia network
Sonali Fernadez- Media Workers against the War
Danny Schecter- Director Mediachannel.org
Emmanuel Goldstein – Editor of 2600 The Hackers Quarterly
Amy Goodman- Producer Democracy Now in Exile

1pm Genoa Zona Rossa - IMC Global Mix - World Premiere - indymedia 2001 - 80 mins -
The 2001 G8 protests in Genoa Italy flashed across television screens worldwide - 300,000 people taking to the streets, the shooting dead of protestor Carlo Guiliani, the unseen levels of violence and police brutality culminating in the bloody attack of sleeping protestors at the Diaz school during the midnight raids on the Genoa Social Forum and Indymedia Italia. This film pulls together over 200 hours of footage shot by around 50 alternative media camera crews (individuals and collectives), to put the shocking events into their true context.

At the same time inspirational and shocking, the film deals with the background and preparations for the protests from the repressive security arrangements to the opening of alternative spaces, through the several days of demonstrations where various themes are explored, from the political issues to street tactics.

Over 20 films have now been made about the protests, but no single portrayal can do justice to the complexity and confusion that reigned in Italy during the 'genoa days'. This film will give the viewer a taste of the joy and sorrow experienced during those days, but it is also an ongoing story - and includes the struggle for justice in Italy as enquiries and prosecutions continue to send shockwaves throughout the political spectrum - while across the world, following the September 11th attacks in America, social movements and anti-globalisation protestors face an increasing level of repression as governments seek to criminalise dissent and widen the definitions of 'terrorism'.

3pm IMC Argentina Film -  about the recent crisis - from the start - subtitled eng -  - 30 mins
With time for discussion between each film.
£5 entry

New Cross & Deptford Radical History Walk — from the peasants revolt to punk rock!
Meet New Cross Gate tube 3.00pm.
This corner of south-east London has a rich revolutionary history. Home turf of pioneering punk band Alternative TV, its past spans the peasants revolt, anti-fascist riots and the New Cross fire campaign that signalled the uprisings of 1981. And "The Red Flag" - originally written to honour the Haymarket martyrs - was written in New Cross Gate!
Peasants revolt 1381 -
Cornish uprising 1487-
Christopher Marlowe 1593 -
demonic possession in Deptford 1684 -
Deptford Bread Riot 1867 -
New Cross 'bomb outrage' 1884 -
Gas workers strike 1889 -
General Strike 1926 -
V2 attack 1944 -
Malcolm McClaren and the Goldsmiths Free Festival 1969 -
Jah Shaka and the Moonlight Club 1970s -
anti-National Front march 1977 -
Alternative TV and Deptford punk 1977 -
New Cross Fire 1981 - Slavery, Slaughteryard and Shipbuilding and more...

London Reclaim the Streets will host a 'Free Market' - 10am to 4pm
Running up to Mayday, it will be a practical alternative to the apparently never-ending, sad story of our throwaway society. The idea is simple: we can create a thriving market without money! Come and have a look for something you want and then take it for free. And you are most welcome to donate and bring along anything that's cluttering up your closet, whether its books, clothes, music, board games. Just leave your wallet at home! 'Free Markets' are common for example in Argentina where the current crisis has deprived so many who through the collective and cooperative exchange markets have found new ways of getting their basic needs: even hair dressers or tailors are common on such exchange markets!
London Reclaim the Streets: 020 7281 4621; email: rts@gn.apc.org; http://www.reclaimthestreets.net
Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St.,
London E1. (nearest tubes: Whitechapel, Aldgate East)
LARC Tel: 020 7377 9088
LARC Email: fieldgate@gn.apc.org

Workshops - A series of workshops with a focus on useful skills for mass actions:

Legal workshop
on 'dealing with public order situations', including 'Section 60'. Essential if you're going to Mayday. (2 1-hour workshops from 2-3pm and 5-6pm).

Medical Workshops: First Aid on Demonstrations (3 one-hour basic first aid sessions from 2-3pm, 3-4pm, 4-5pm).
These workshops will provide an introduction to medical support for demonstrators. They will be interactive, with hands-on workshops, and focus on the how to deal with simple trauma (physical, mental and spiritual) as well as the recognition of serious injury.

There will be more detailed information available about medical care and medical support from the London Street Medics. For further information, contact: londonmedics@bigfoot.com or come along on the day!

London Street Medics
The London Street Medics are a group of activist first-aiders who will be providing medical support on May Day. There will be Street Medics on all of the actions who will be able to give support or advice or, in a worst-case scenario, summon further help. Look out for them!!

Banner-making workshop - 12pm onwards

Circus skills workshops - come along & join the 'Anarchist Travelling Circus'
Juggling & juggling-ball making - 11am - make your own juggling balls & learn to use them.
Poi Spinning & poi-making - 1pm
Marching band - 3pm - bring a drum, tambourine, flute, trumpet, rice shaker or other portable instrument.

'Gender & women-only spaces' - all genders are welcome. 4pm.
Why do radical groups sometimes become Boyz clubz? How can we acknowledge and address stuff like sexism, patriarchy, male female differences in our movement without it being divisive?

'The War on Terrorism' - discussion hosted by Anarchist Youth Network- 6pm

Discussion hosted by Pere Manel from the Campaign Against the Europe of Capital, Barcelona - CANCELLED.

Venue for all of the above workshops: Social Centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details of venue.

Evening:
Café in Social Centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details of venue.

To celebrate the affliation to the GMB, the International Union of Sex Workers presents:
Bands, performers, DJ's & visuals.
Dress code: Fetish, body paint, carnival, masquerade or any pagan godess.
Venue: The Fringe, 330 Kennington Lane, London SE11, 9pm til late.
Entry £5.

Monday 29th April

Daytime:
Beginning of week-long WOMBLES Trial, Horseferry Road - demo outside with 'We are all Wombles' theme. Wear a white overall.
Why are the Wombles on trial?>>>

Margaret Jones completes her sponsored walk for peace at 10 Downing Street, 11am, where she arrives with 'a letter addressed to Blair, Bradshaw, Straw, and all the other Blur Blah Blah bullshit quisling sellouts'.

On April 21, Margaret Jones begins a sponsored walk from Bristol to london to raise money for two Palestinian clinics - Al-Awda Hospital in Gaza, and the Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, in Ramallah.

The 120-mile walk concludes on April 29th at 10 Downing Street, to mark the vote of the British War Cabinet in 1917 that supported Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour in his colonialist move to give away Arab lands in Palestine to Jewish settlers, without the consent of the people already living there. 'Successive British governments, in their support for US policies uncritical of Israel's human rights violations, are directly responsible for the horrors currently endured by the Palestinian people.' she says.

Banner-making workshop - 12pm onwards.
Costume-making - 3pm onwards. Make a carnival costume for Mayday - bring material, sequins, ribbons, glitter etc.

Direct Action Workshop - 5pm
A participatory discussion on direct action. What is it? Why use it? Why is it important. A run-down of different direct forms of resisting, blocking, stopping, defending, reclaiming & occupying, and views on how we can be more effective and sustainable in the future. Everyone's ideas and experiences are welcome.

followed by:
Information for Action! - Investigating and understanding state activity.
This workshop shows you how to navigate your way through the complicated but interconnected web that is corporate and state activity. From genocidal, ecocidal corporations, and the institutions promoting them to policy forming thinktanks, government divisions, public hearings and legislation formation. Also includes guide to UK-based free market-championing, arms, police, international capital and repressive technology summits. This workshop aims to lend practical insight into how to stay on top of new state and corporate developments, agendas and strategies. Knowledge is power! Know your enemy!

Venue for above workshops: Social Centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details of venue.

Evening:
Palestine - a talk from women who have been to Palestine as part of a 'human shield' international peace mission. - 7pm
Going on the International Solidarity Delegations to Palestine this past year changed our lives, 100s of us. We saw the torture and humiliation first hand, we (some of us) were human shields, we were shot at, and participated first hand, if only briefly, in the struggle. This workshop will be a report-back from Palestine, an update (though things are changing all the time) and a discussion of how we can most effectively participate in the struggle.
Venue: Social Centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details of venue.

Film: 'La Bisagra de la Historia' - 8pm
Argentina hit the news spectacularly in December last year, when its people took to the streets in fury after a state of emergency had been declared by the president: the next day the cabinet had resigned, the president had fled and thirty were dead, killed during rioting and food looting.

Since then, Argentina continues to live through a transitional time; protests, road-blockings, and almost daily 'cacerolazos' (pot-banging protests) at the Supreme Court, Congress and at city centre banks have become a fact of life. As President Duhalde struggles to control a bankrupt economy and furious savers attack the banks in which their savings have been frozen, questions are being asked in Argentina and all over the world about the country's economic model and its heavy reliance on the IMF and overseas investors.

The film, 'La Bisagra de la Historia' (The Hinge of History) was shot on the streets of Buenos Aires during the protests of the 19th and 20th December - protests which turned to rioting as the police carried out a brutal repression. Made by a group called venteveovideo as part of 'Argentina Arde', a group of independent film-makers, photographers and journalists, the film will be followed by a short talk about Argentina, and open discussion.
Venue: Social Centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details of venue.

Choke On It! Action organised by M'AM (movement Against the Monarchy), against dinner by the 5 living Prime Ministers and the Queen. Downing Street - 6pm.

followed by:
M'AM film showing of: "an anti royal documentary that was screened on Channel 4 two years ago that we helped to make. The producer will be there to talk/answer questions and talk about the forthcoming anti Jubilee film we're making."
Venue: Social Centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details of venue. 9.30pm.

Tuesday 30th April

Daytime:
Making Websites Easy-Peasy - 11am - 2 hours
How to guide to making a website for campaigns, protests or just news and comment.  You don't need your own computer, expensive software or years of computer training.  This will help you make a site, publicity, images, domain names, email and all the other stuff you need to know.  Recomended for beginners to the internet as well as those who know a little more.  A Hand-out with all the info provided.
Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St.,
London E1. (nearest tubes: Whitechapel & Aldgate East)
Run by media activists group Pop Star Liberation Front: http://www.popstarliberationfront.org.uk /

Workshop: Outlaw Women - 1pm
From the Chinese straits, Mediterranian, Atlantic and Caribbean, to the streets of Philly, Bonn, Delhi and London, this workshop charts the rise and fall of gender-bending pirates, radical black eco-warriors, gun slinging bandit queens, freedom fighters and beatnik bomb girls - critically.
Venue: Social Centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details of venue.

Marching band workshop - 3pm
Join the Anarchist travelling circus marching band. All musicians (even bad ones) welcome. Especially trumpeteers.
followed by:
Samba Dance workshop - 5pm
Venue: Social Centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details of venue.

Post-revolution and post-capitalist visions - 4pm
An brief history of counter-revolution and insurrectionary failures; including 1930s Spain, France 1968, English Civil war and beyond, followed by group discussion amd simulated scenario outlines, focusing on post-capitalist social organisation, culture, and the shape and scope of counter-revolutionary elements; How could we be recuperated?What will we do about police, paedophilia, politicians with secret weapon stockpiles, us with weapons stockpiles?, food production, industry, work, religion. Could it happen here? And what would it look like if it did? If we cannot make it here, where will it smoulder first? What about the concept of an anarchist Permanent Revolution?
Venue:
Social Centre - phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details of venue.

London Reclaim the Streets will host a 'Free Market' - 4 to 8pm
Running up to Mayday, it will be a practical alternative to the apparently never-ending, sad story of our throwaway society. The idea is simple: we can create a thriving market without money! Come and have a look for something you want and then take it for free. And you are most welcome to donate and bring along anything that's cluttering up your closet, whether its books, clothes, music, board games. Just leave your wallet at home! 'Free Markets' are common for example in Argentina where the current crisis has deprived so many who through the collective and cooperative exchange markets have found new ways of getting their basic needs: even hair dressers or tailors are common on such exchange markets!
London Reclaim the Streets: 020 7281 4621; email: rts@gn.apc.org; http://www.reclaimthestreets.net
Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St.,
London E1.
LARC Tel: 020 7377 9088
LARC Email: fieldgate@gn.apc.org

Evening:
Why is Hackney up for Sale?
Come to an open meeting of the Hackney NOT 4 Sale group for a discussion on how Hackney got into the mess it is in and what alternatives there are for the future.
7pm at The Old Firestation, Corner of Brooke Road and Leswin Road, Stoke Newington, N16

Talk from Ex-Black Panther, Robert King Wilkerson. 6pm.
Robert King Wilkerson was held in solitary confinement in Angola maximum security prison, Louisiana, for 27 years for a crime he didn't commit. He was framed because of his political organising at the prison as a member of the Black Panther party. Released in February 2001 after a long campaign, he's now spending his time doing speaking tours around the world to raise awareness of the brutality, corruption, racism and injustice of the Louisiana criminal justice system. His co-accused, Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace, are still in prison and entering their thirtieth year of solitary confinement.
Venue: The Union Tavern, Camberwell New Road. Nearest tube Oval, Buses 36 or 185.

Protest against Channel Four's censorship of 'Injustice' - 9.00pm
Injustice is a radical feature length film about the struggles for justice by the families of people that have died in police custody. On its release a year ago the police tried to censor the film by threatening cinemas. Months of fighting, by the film makers & families in the film, ended in victory with the police backing off and the film on release in cinemas across the UK & internationally. But Channel Four still refuse to broadcast the film because they won't take on the Police Federation. C4 are not only banning the film they are telling the police 'It's ok to kill, we won't turn our cameras on you'. Protest against the ban - since C4 won't screen Injustice then we are going to screen it on C4!

Organised by 'Friends of Injustice' as part of the Mayday Festival of Alternatives.
Venue: Channel Four Television, 124 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P. Tube:
St. James Park.
For full details see: http://www.injusticefilm.org.uk

Wednesday 1st May - Mayday

Daytime:
7.30am - Critical Mass
South Ride - Camberwell Green
North Ride - Camden Town Tube

Ride For Your Life!
Calling all bikes, skates, boards, wheelchairs, and anything on wheels with no engine…
see critical mass page for more details>>>

9am - B.A.R.F. (Breakfast Against Routine Fit-ups): W.O.M.B.L.E.S. Protest
A demonstration of solidarity outside the trial of the Womble 7. Wear white overalls.
Don't let the Wombles fight alone.
Horseferry Road Magistrates Court, London SW1. (nearest tubes: Victoria, Westminter).
see Autonomous Actions page for more details>>>
see Womble 7 page to find out about the trial>>>


9am - NUJ Protest against The Guardian Newspaper Group

10am - International Socialist Resistance (ISR) organised demo against the international arms trade, outside British Aerospace, 6 Carlton Gardens, SW1 Contact details: againstcapitalism@hotmail.com

12pm - Mayday Mayhem Against The Fur Trade.
London Animal Action protest against Phillip Hockley Furs, 20 Conduit Street, W1 (off Regent Street).
see Autonomous Actions page for more details>>>

12pm - Trade Unions March
Held every year, this traditional march starts from Clerkenwell Green.
See: http://www.glatuc.org.uk/MayDay.html for details.

1pm - Mass Action: Mayday in Mayfair
Mayday in Mayfair will be a fluid, spontaneous and exciting return to the Mayfayre, happening everywhere at once, without a fixed starting point or finish. Four separate but intertwined elements of Ye Olde May Day will take place. These are: The Travelling Circus, Carniball, Wake for Capitalism and Critical Mass.
see 'Mayday in Mayfair' page for more details>>>

5pm - Soho Carnival Parade - Mayday Event called by Sex Workers Pride
Supported by International Union of Sex Workers and GMB London No.1 Region.
Assemble: 5pm Old Compton St., London W1
see Autonomous Actions page for more details>>>

Go to 'Mayday in Mayfair' page>>>
Go to 'Mayday Autonomous Actions' page>>>

Evening:
Comedy and Magic night.
featuring; Rob Newman, Ian Cognito, Smile & Subvert and Tony Allen (compere).
a mad bad bunch of anarchist comix to help relieve the stress of the day!
With Vegan food available from the Emmaz cafe crew.
Venue: Chats Palace, 42 Brooksby's Walk, Homerton, E8. Nearest train station: Homerton on Silverlink line.
£3.99 / £2.99 concs entry. (A benefit for Our Mayday)

The Documentary Filmmakers Group is hosting a special event for Mayday.
The evening will include screenings of activist video shot earlier in the day as well as completed Direct Action documentaries. This will all be followed by a panel discussion with speakers from Media Workers Against War, Undercurrents and Indymedia.
£3 on the door
7:00pm - Late
Arrive early for seats (120 seater cinema)
Venue: London Film School, 24 Shelton Street (nearest tube Covent Garden)
more details at: http://www.dfglondon.com

Mayday Madness: Save Spitalfields Market.
Spitalfields Market Under Threat (SMUT) & the 333 Club present:
A benefit night hosted by The Pineapple Boys, with suave surf sounds of The Bikini Beach Band, latin inuendo of Cuban funkistadors Y-ya, & retro latino tonemeister DJ Bakan, while Budgie & guests bring on the funk & break beats.
9.30 - 2am, Entry £8.
333 Club, 333 Old Street, EC1

Thursday 2nd May

Daytime:
Council Elections - 'Vote For Nobody' campaign.
Find out more about 'Vote nobody>>>

'Health & healing' day
Central to Anarchism is the belief in self-empowerment and the notion that we, the community, should control our lives as much as we possibly can. One way we can do this is through looking after both our own health and that of the wider community. We are holding an alternative health and healing day in order to learn more about how our bodies work, their relationship with the earth, and how we can help one another in the community to cut out the state (doctors) and capital (pharmaceuticals) as much as we can.

Contrary to popular belief, revolution can be good for our health!

Stress, contamination of food air and water supply, global warming, alienation, not to mention the police batons .... capitalism is bad for us in lots of different ways, and it is the end result of several millennia of patriarchy, with its drive to enslave the body and stifle desire. Come and celebrate the innate human instinct to heal ourselves and others, often persecuted and hindered, but never crushed. There will be a variety of workshops and therapies on offer, including shiatsu, aromatherapy, massage, ear acupuncture, radical yoga, herbal medicine, women's health, the politics of madness, and more, in a chilled out atmosphere and beautiful venue, and yes it's all free. Open at about 11 am; hopefully there will be some food, but bring your own or to share if you can.

If we can heal ourselves we can help others heal themselves, and together we can heal our society and our planet.

Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St., London E1. (nearest tubes: Whitechapel, Aldgate East)

Some times/details below (further details tba):

Sports massage - 5pm

radicalyoga - free yoga classes with opportunities for discussion, practice and meditation. You will be very welcome to participate…wearing loose clothing, bring a happy heart, an empty stomach and an open mind. 4:30pm-7pm – London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, E1

Evening:
Film: 'Injustice' - 6pm
Injustice is a radical feature length film about the struggles for justice by the families of people that have died in police custody. On its release a year ago the police tried to censor the film by threatening cinemas. Months of fighting, by the film makers & families in the film, ended in victory with the police backing off and the film on release in cinemas across the UK & internationally.
Venue: London School of Economics

Films: Showing of a documentary film (Spanish, no subtitles) of the SINTRAEMCALI trade union occupation of the Emcali tower in Cali, Columbia. On Christmas Day last year, 800 workers occupied the nerve-centre of the state-owned municapal company which runs water, electricity and telecoms, for over three weeks,and won their fight to stop essential resources being privatised. A talk by Carlos Gonzales, member of Sintraemcali and participant in the occupation plus a member of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign, follows.

followed by:
The destruction of Tabaco:
This Spanish language film is made up of simple and shocking footage of the destruction of a small farming village in Colombia by employees of Intercor, a coal mining company then owned 100% by Exxon, the largest energy company on Earth.

The residents of Tabaco - mostly of African and Indigenous descent - were facing relocation so that the coal strip mine of El Cerrejon Norte in the northern Colombian province of La Guajira could expand. They demanded a decent resettlement arrangement so that the whole community could stay together, move to a new site and carry on farming.

Intercor claimed it couldn't afford to meet the community's demands and told the people to leave. They stayed. So Intercor employees came to the village on August 9th last year with bulldozers, accompanied by 200 armed police and 500 soldiers, to confront 100 unarmed villagers and destroy their homes. The film shows the preparations for destruction, the efforts of the community's lawyer, Armando Perez, to get a local judge to call off the operations, and the aftermath of the demolitions. There are interviews with some of the residents.

It is a roughly produced film and won't make the cinema. It never made the news either. Even some progressive publications in Britain refused to cover it because there were not enough victims to make it newsworthy. So the campesinos and their Indigenous cousins in this forgotten corner of a forgotten country can be shafted by the world's leading energy company because their injuries weren't bad enough and none of them got killed that day - despite houses being demolished with people still in them.

Now the mine has been bought out by companies based in London. Come and see
what they are profiting from. Afterwards you might wish to be in touch with them....

Venue: The Union Tavern, Camberwell New Rd, nearest tube Oval or BR Vauxhall, in the luvly back room called The Latin Palace.

Friday 3rd May

Daytime:
Campaign Against The Arms Trade: Protest ouside BAE Systems AGM
Venue: QE2 Conference Centre, SW1
Morning: time tba
BAE Systems, the world's largest arms company are holding their AGM on 3rd May. BAE are notorious in
their disregard of human rights and regularly sell arms and equipment that is used in repression and
conflict around the world. Come and disrupt the people who fuel and profit from conflict around the world.
contact for protest: action@caat.demon.co.uk
http://www.caat.org.uk
http://www.baesystems.com

Prisoner Resistance! - 11am.
Introduction to the UK prison system, reform, revolt and how life has changed for prisoners over the years. The Parkhurst riots (1969), Grisley Risley victory (1989) and Strangeways uprising (1990) plus the shape of future resistance (i.e Detention centre uprisings Yarl's Wood,UK and Woomera, Australia) are all explored and their origins and impact on prison life evaluated.
Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St., London E1. (nearest tubes: Whitechapel, Aldgate East)

MILLION MIND MARCH
Serving Notice to Quit - St Paul’s Cathedral, London - 12pm

Meet at Monument to proceed via the London Stone to the Stone circle atop Ludgate Hill whereupon ‘Notice to Quit’ will be served on the Bishop of London to vacate the carbuncle known as St Paul’s Cathedral by June 3rd to enable its demolition in accordance with good healthy and safety practice.
Reclaim The Stones.

We invite u to join us in an experiment to use our collective psychic powers to take the cathedral back in time to that of the Fire of London. All the while, simultaneosly, taking it forward into the future. Then the ancient Stone Circle atop Ludgate Hill will reappear, where we will issue a Decleration of Independence from Great Britain.

To help us we shall be resurrecting the dead to raise generations of rebels - from Sylvia Pankhurst to Boadicca, from Watt Tyler to Paul Cuffee - and, of course, thousands and thousands of unknown rebels whose names were never recorded in the history books of the bourgeoisie.
Join us and BRING YOUR ANCESTORS - YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE

Rising Tide: Workshop on Climate Change - 2pm
We know climate change is happening, so it’s time to take action for climate justice!
Rising Tide UK is a new rapidly growing grassroots network.  It supports community initiatives and local protest against climate change, and for climate justice. It’s also a part of the international Rising Tide network.
For more info see: http://www.risingtide.org.uk
Venue:
London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, E1

Workshop/discussion: Feminism 101 - 4pm.
Challenging the (capitalist lie that) we live in a post feminist world, so don't need to talk about: Sexism, male power and patriarchy as political issues! How can men taking women-related issues (like feminisation of poverty, work, childcare, domestic violence, rape...) seriously? Should men be involved in those struggles and, if so, how? Most of us have some privilege/s and can be oppressors as well as oppressed. How can we--men, women, white/black, class divides, etc etc.-- acknowledge our privilege/oppressor behaviour without it being a big/divisive deal?
Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St., London E1. (nearest tubes: Whitechapel, Aldgate East)

European Social Consulta: discussion - 7pm
The ESC is a product of the ideas and visions of social movements that are struggling against capitalist globalisation and its neo-liberal policies. Our mobilizations have created spaces of convergence where we have become aware of the importance and complementary nature of our social struggles. Given our growing capacity for mass mobilization, the system is creating the conditions necessary to control us: police impunity, restriction of basic liberties, intimidation and manipulation of information. Because of this, we believe it is important to deepen our contact and communication, strengthen our networks, connect to the rest of society and decentralize our struggles.The ESC will allow our social movements to take the initiative, to build a precess complementary to mobilizations around international summits and forums and to support the cohesion of European social movements. The ESC is therefore meant to be a project that will reinforce the efforts of local groups and networks and to connect local and global struggles.
Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St., London E1. (nearest tubes: Whitechapel, Aldgate East)

Evening:
West London Anarchist & Radical History Walk in Hammersmith
William Morris's connections with Hammersmith are well known, but but there is much more to our radical history than just Morris.  Join us for a tour through the past finishing with a drink at one (or more) of Hammersmith's finest pubs.  Children welcome.
Meet at Hammersmith Tube, Hammersmith & City Line, 6.15pm.

Late night films at the Rio Cinema, 107 Kingsland High St, Dalston. E8 Tel 0207 241 9410
11.15 pm - Black Box BRD (Black Box Germany) Dir Andres Veiel - 2001
Black Box Germany is a powerful documentary film by the award-winning director Andres Veiel. It steps back into German history and portrays the Federal Republic of Germany during the 70s and 80s. The country is polarized due to the power struggle of the German state and the "Red Army Faction", and thus on a constant brink of civil war. Society is torn; the fronts are irreconcilable.
The life stories of both Wolfgang Grams and Alfred Herrhausen are linked to this era, though in a tragic way. Grams is the one who takes up arms for moral rigor; Herrhausen however seizes power and dies in power. Their curricula vitae lead through the enemy camps of the Federal Republic, through opposing worlds that have had no dialogue and incomprehensible to each other until now. The fight is over, but the wounds are still open.
The film, reconstruction of a true story, has won acclaim in Germany since its release this summer.

followed by:
Asurot (Detained) - Dir Anat Even and Ada Ushpiz - 2001.
Three Palestinian widows, live with their 11 children in a house in Hebron that lies on the border; the front is under Israeli occupation, the Palestinian authority controls the back. At the entrance to the house a military post, on the roof the Israeli army has placed a watch point over Palestinian Hebron. Three women, trapped in the middle, constantly surrounded by Israeli soldiers, carry on their difficult lives in a perverse situation: the occupation becomes a routine. This is the story of an occupation that extends to the house. This is an internal prison, the external one is the ongoing occupation. As Israeli Women directors, tired of the cumulative effects of oppression in the occupied territories in our own society, we wished to present the arbitrariness of the occupation as seen via the barred windows of an occupied house, in order to show the thin line between a smile and a gun shot.

Saturday 4th May

Daytime:
"Jayday" Legalise Cannabis day in Brockwell Park - visit the Schnews marquee, Indymedia marquee, and Mayday marquee for infostalls, vegan food, music & movie projections.
Films will include:
Britain's Black Legacy (1991/ 45minutes) A thirty year history of the black communities resistance to racist murders and uprisings against police violence.
Sweet France (1992 / 52 minutes) The young Arab and immigrant struggles against racist murders and for equality in France.
Tasting Freedom (1994 / 52 minutes) Resistance to deportation and detention by Arabs and African asylum seekers in the UK.

‘Urban redecoration’ - details tba.

Evening:
A political punk rock event
featuring; Seein Red (legendary Dutch Hard core lefties of the DIY scene), Whizzwood (Singalong angry punk stuff with humour from Hull), Shakari (Noisey kids of Holland), Freaks Union (more Hull based punk rock that rips and swings!), Scalplock (Londons grindcoredoomnoisemerchants).
£4 in 4 all!
An Active Event, Benefit for Emmaz Social Centre.
With Vegan food available from the Emmaz cafe crew.
Venue: Chats Palace, 44 Brooksby's Walk, Homerton, E5 Tel 0208 533 0227

Sunday 5th May

Daytime:
Looney Left Mayday Footie Tournament & 'Hackney Not 4 Sale' Picnic 2002:
'Hackney Not 4 Sale' Picnic
This year’s Radical Picnic is to take place in Clissold park, Stoke Newington, Hackney, from 12 noon onwards.

Hackney NOT 4 Sale are putting out a big shout for people to bring along; loads of food to share, theirs and other peoples kids, friends and parents, so that we can all take part in a big radical picnic alongside the Looney Left Football tournament that is taking place there on the same day as part of the Mayday Festival of Alternatives.

Who are Hackney NOT 4 Sale?
HN4S are a small group of people who live and/or work in Hackney. Many of us have been involved in grassroots politics and community campaigns in Hackney for many years, though we have no political party affiliations. The group formed last summer after squatting a council owned shop and turning it into a spoof Nelson Bakewell estate agent “selling off community property to the rich and powerful”. Over 50 buildings were shown to be in danger of having funding cut or being sold off by Hackney council.  We have since called for protests both inside and outside auctions, as well as joining with striking council workers and worked with other community groups resisting the cuts and sell offs in Hackney. We also produce a free newsletter as well as an email information list in order to get information out to as many people as possible around Hackney and beyond.

So back to the picnic...
Clissold Park has been on the receiving end of various attacks including the recent closure of it’s café, bowling green and the children’s paddling pool. In the past year park workers borough-wide have also suffered cuts in pay and conditions. As if that was not enough, Clissold Park’s much needed and much loved 1 o’clock club, used by parents, carers and children, is now fighting closure (along with all the other 1 o’clock clubs) in the borough, and there are still threats to the popular deer enclosure. Clissold Park is an example of what is happening to community resources all over Hackney and in many cases beyond.

It is for these reasons that Hackney NOT 4 Sale will be at the picnic on 5th May with more information about the closure and selling off of other community resources and other threats such as privatisation and gentrification in and around Hackney. We will also have ideas for what people can do to resist these threats both here and elsewhere.  Why not bring along campaign stalls or displays that you might have, as well as any practical information and creative ideas for social centres, workers co-ops, community gardens etc…

We are also hoping to encourage the local 'talent' (that hopefully includes you!); comedians, musicians, magicians, jugglers, hip-hop, poets… to come along and entertain us and each other. There will also be workshops and games for kids including samba instrument workshops and puppet making. This as well as a seed give away and an alternative health area with information on alternative therapies such as herbal medicine, homeopathy etc.

For more info, ideas and offers of entertainment please email: hackneyNOT4sale@yahoo.com or call: 07950 539 254

Looney Left Mayday Footie Tournament - 2002
Calling all footie Loons. Great footballing events do not rely on great footballers, this is the Looney Left ethos. In fact the Loonier you are the more we reclaim the game from the corporations who dominate what has now become a multi-million pound industry. We want to make this event a class act where we organise our own games, which are inclusive and fun, on a day of historical significance. We want to create an autonomous football space where we are uncontainable, uncheckable and uncontrollable. So if you agree with most of the above put in a team, or just turn up for a game, also kids game and if you’d rather try a non-competitive version of the game dreamt up by some other Looney, then join in the 3 sided footie event and put it to the test. With enough people a mass game is planned, so bring your own football.  There will be other festivities at the venue including music and picnic, but bring along your own contributions, food, music, games etc.

Venue: Clissold Park, Stoke Newington.

Kick off for main tournament: 12pm
3 sided event: whenever we feel like it!
Kids game: before tounament final


Very few women have participated in the tournament in recent years, this year we are trying to put in a women's team, it doesn’t matter if you don’t play regularly, get involved and experience playing with other women!

There will also be the Looney Left World Cup / Jubilee Tournament in early June. Date yet to be confirmed.

Mayday Tournament teams need to send £20 to Looney Left Collective c/o PO Box 32, 136 Kingsland High St., Dalston, E8. Cheques payable to ‘Between the Lines’, or send £30 to enter both the May and June tournaments. Money goes to covering costs, goals, printing etc. You should also send in team names, shirt colours and team contact no.
For queries & futher info. Email: looneyleftcollective@hotmail.com or ring 07786 720 146
to read about the radical history of football, go to the Carniball page>>>

Evening:
Introduction to D10 and anti-Militarist direct action - 7pm
D10 is a anti militarist group made up of a diverse collection of autonomous activists from many different backgrounds. We have chosen to define ourselves by our actions.  Recent actions have included blockades at Northwood and throwing paint bombs at a military presentation. This workshop explains the philosophy behind D10, lends insight into anti-militarist action in the UK and offers people a chance to get involved.
Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St., London E1. (nearest tubes: Whitechapel, Aldgate East)

Bass-heavy punky reggae bash with the Restarts, Nomadix Roots, One Style + DJ Dave (Zion Train). The return of the local punk & roots warriors.
8pm till 2am at Arsenal Tavern, 175 Blackstock Road, N4 (Arsenal, Finsbury Park tubes.)
Entry: 5 quid/3.50 quid
Contact for gig: nlmaydayfestival@lycos.co.uk

Monday 6th May

Daytime:
Anarchist Bookfair - 10am to 5pm
with stalls from Active Distribution, Ak Press, Anarchist Federation,  Haven Distribution, Freedom Press, London Animal Action., H.S.G., Stair, and many more.
Get the latest books, magazines, leaflts, t-shirts, badges, videos, posters etc.
With Vegan food available from the Emmaz cafe crew.
Venue: The Exchange Community Centre, Sebbon Street, Islington, N1. (off Upper Street, behind Islington Town Hall). Nearest tube: Highbury & Islington.
If you would like a stall at the bookfair please email: festivalofalternatives@yahoo.com

Film: The Coconut Revolution, 55 mins Director: Dom Rotheroe A Stampede production - 2pm
'The first successful eco-revolution in the world'

In 1987 the people of the South Pacific island of Bougainville began an armed rebellion against a susidiary of the British based multinational Rio Tinto Zinc. Conzinc Riotinto Australia (CRA), with the approval of the Papa New Guinean government, had sliced off the top of a hill hitherto known to the locals as a rich traditional hunting ground, and had turned it into the biggest open cast copper mine in the world.

The Panguna mine started production in 1974, and the untreated tailings from it caused devastating environmental damage. When talks about compensation broke down, the PNG governement sent in first the riot police and then the Papa New Guinean Defence Force (PNGDF)- assisted and trained by Australian military personnel. But starting with crossbows and home-made guns, Bougainvilleans fought back. An illegal military blockade of the island was imposed, depriving the local population access to medicines, food and any contact with the outside world. Hence this conflict went largely unreported for many years.

The Coconut Revolution tells the amazing and uplifting story of how the islanders re-discovered and developed a self-sufficient and ecologically sound way of life, in order to survive their 10 year long isolation from the rest of the world.

Under the threat of extradition to Port Moresby, with the possibility of being shot at by Australian piloted helicopters and hidden in a precarious boat in shark infested waters, the film-makers were the first European based TV crew to be smuggled into the island. One of them will be available for a Q & A session after the screening.

Winner of the Cora Coralina at the Brazil Environmental Film Festival 2001, The Richard Keefe Award at The International Broadcasting Awards, London 2001, and Best Documentary in Video at the First International Film Festival for Children and Youth, Argentina 2001. Shortlisted (1 of 3) for Amnesty International Media Awards 2001.
For any queries please contact ocproduc@gpo.sonnet.co.uk
Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St., London E1. (nearest tubes: Whitechapel, Aldgate East)
£2 donation on the door

Workshop: Food Autonomy - 4pm.
A one to one-and-a-half hour talk plus gorgeous slide show featuring images of diverse agriculture and grass roots resistance to corporate control of the food chain. Workshop also includes updates from the Resistance is Fertile (www.resistanceisfertile.com/english/) actions in Den Haag April 8 - 19 against the Sixth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (phew! - aka Cop6) which looks at the commodification and privatisation of 'genetic resources'- plants, ecosystems, land, agriculture, and knowledge.
Venue: London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, E1 (corner of Fieldgate St & Parfett St). Nearest tube: Aldgate East or Whitechapel.

No Borders - 6pm
A participatory discussion about the current strengthening of nation state borders and the proliferation of immigration controls. Come and join in a discussion about recent struggles against these controls and how the resistance can spread in the future until everyone can enjoy freedom of movement.
Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St., London E1. (nearest tubes: Whitechapel, Aldgate East)

Haringay: Mayday at the Markfield: A celebration of independence and interdependence of our communities, (Speak outs, festive stuff, discussions, videos, displays) at the Markfield Project, Tottenham.
Find out more about 'Mayweek in Haringey'>>>

Evening:
Film: Incitement to riot - 6pm; followed by a followed by a discussion about how police tactics during public order situations have changed over the past few decades.
"Incitement To Riot" is an hour long video that does just what it says on the box! Packed with footage from all the best riots of the past, and a hard hitting soundtrack, from Gil Scott Heron to Conflict!
followed by:
Film: New Kids on the Black Block.
Venue: London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, E1 (corner of Fieldgate St & Parfett St). Nearest tube: Aldgate East or Whitechapel.

Simon Jones Campaign: talk & film - 8pm.
Film charting the struggle of Simon Jones' family and friends to secure justice for their loved-one's death. Simon was killed on his first day of work four years ago when the grab of a crane virtually decapitated him. He was sent to work at Shoreham Docks for Euromin by Personnel Selection – a Brighton employment agency. He had had no health and safety training whatsoever and had never worked at a dockyard before.

Film is followed by a talk describing how the campaign was set up, gained momentum, succeeded in prosecuting Euromin - the company responsible for the health and safety breaches which caused Simon's death - the political issues behind corporate killing - casualisation, flexible labour, unscrupulous employment agencies, the use of direct action, and and the future tactics.
Venue: London Action Resource Centre: 62 Fieldgate St., corner of Parfett St., London E1. (nearest tubes: Whitechapel, Aldgate East)

Throughout the Week

Vote For Nobody Campaign
Leafleting and campaigning using the Vote For Nobody idea, against the Council Elections on Thursday 2nd May.
more about 'Vote nobody'>>>

WOMBLES on trial - the Womble 7 are on trial from Monday 29th April - Friday 3rd May, at Horseferry Rd Magistrates Court, SW1. There will be demos outside the court all week. Please come down and show your support for their fight against political repression.
more about the Wombles trial>>>

A temporary week-long Social Centre, with Infoshop, workshops, discussions, vegan cafe, art exhibition, film showings. Phone: 07786 716 335 on Friday 26th April for details of venue.
more about Social Centres>>>

Mayweek in Haringey 
People associated with Haringey Solidarity Group are organising local events around the time of Mayday - from Friday April 26th to Tuesday May 7th - to communicate the fact that there is a radical and realistic anti-capitalist/anti-authoritarian alternative to the current system.

more about 'Mayweek in Haringey'>>>

More workshops and events are planned for the Mayday Festival of Alternatives. Keep checking this timetable for updates.