An Artsadmin project allowing young people to express their socio-political opinions through processes including performance, discussion and happenings. The project involved a group of 16-25 year olds who met weekly between February and April ’08 to discuss political issues that affect them and their communities. Participants worked with artist Richard DeDomenici and a selection of invited guest lecturers to see how they can actively bring awareness to the issues affecting the group.
When I was talking to someone about our intervention on Tuesday with the mayoral candidates sex cards, they asked me where we'd be handing the cards out. I said I wasn't sure, but I assumed it would be around the Aldgate/Whitechapel area. He pointed out that that area was quite a Muslim area, and on account of the importance that Islam attatches to modesty, we may get quite a few offended people if we hand out cards with sexual innuendo and semi-naked bodies in a religious area.
Was my friend just being paranoid? Or should we avoid this area? It seems a bit against the point to filter out who we're going to target with this, but I don't want to get people too pissed off.
I found Arnold Schwarzenegger finding fault with Boris Johnson's eloquence rather amusing, as he refers to Boris Johnson as 'fumbling all over the place'.
I found this article where Boris Johnson claims he can out-ethnic an Asian radio presenter. I copied and pasted the transcript from the article below:
In the BBC Asian Network debate, Mr Johnson said: "Almost 100 years ago my Turkish great-great grandfather came to London and I'm very proud of that." Presenter Nihal Arthanayake asked: "What part of your Turkish culture do you maintain?"
BJ: A lively ... interest in Turkey.
NA: How often do you go and see your family?
BJ: It turns out I've got plenty of Turkish cousins living and working in London.
NA: Did you just find out when you needed it to get the ethnic vote?
BJ: I'm happy to say that lots of Turkish relations have been coming and going in our family for a long time.
NA: Are you down with the ethnics?
BJ: I'm down with the ethnics. You can't out-ethnic me Nihal.
NA: How many bhangra gigs have you been to over the last few years?
BJ: I can't remember. But my children are a quarter Indian so put that in your pipe and smoke it.
NA: Okay, let's not try to out-brown each other.
Afterwards, Lib-Dem candidate Brian Paddick said: "Sitting next to an Asian presenter and saying he can 'out-ethnic' anyone just shows how stupid an intelligent man can be."
Mr Johnson's spokesman said: "Boris pointed out, in a tongue-in-cheek way, that he is the perfect embodiment of the ethnically diverse melting pot that makes London the world's greatest city."
After reading that Boris Johnson was against Section 28, I wikipedia-ed what Section 28 actually states and found this:
The amendment stated that a local authority"shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship".
I then found a video of Boris Johnson on youtube talking about S28 about his libertarian views on that the state shouldn't be interfering on what should be taught in schools and what shouldn't, when in fact, he does believe that the ideas of marriage and homosexual relationship's shouldn't be taught in schools, which is a clear contradiction of his own belief!
One of the other speaker talks about Boris Johnson comparing a homosexual relationship to 3 men and a dog. I then found an article on The Pink News which brings up that comment.
One quote in particular, taken from his 2001 book Friends, Voters, Countrymen, has angered and upset many gay people:
"If gay marriage was OK - and I was uncertain on the issue - then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog."
Since I'm not very familiar as to what Ken Livingstone ever did for London, I googled, "What did Ken Livingstone ever do for us?". Upon finding a youtube video with only 23 views, but without any sources, I decided to google what Sian Berry ever did. And Google rewarded me Sian Berry's blog posts on the New Statesman's website, which make quite an interesting read up to the mayoral elections.
They also have a Fantasy Mayor game thing which helps you decide who you should vote for mayor. I found out that if I had registered in time, who I should be voting for is Ken Livingstone.
Also, the video I found entitled, "What has Ken ever done for us?" which I found rather amusing.
"Boris Johnson has vowed to return to Barnet "all the time" if he is elected Mayor of London next week.
The Conservative candidate today promised not to neglect the borough, which he has visited on three occasions as the election draws into its final straight. "I'll be back all the time," he said. "You won't be able to get rid of me. Well, maybe not all the time."
Mr Johnson also laid out the policies that he believes will be most important to Barnet residents, describing the increase in violent crime in the borough as "unacceptable" and vowing to get more police on the street by reducing police paperwork.
He also said that he will station Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) on buses to crack-down on unruly youngsters and denied that their limited powers would undermine their authority.
"A lot of them are extremely capable and they can be given more powers. They can certainly contribute to a greater sense of safety and if the situation gets really out of control they can radio for police officers.
"It think it would be extremely popular. We need to have an absolute zero tolerance of minor crime. We're losing £50 million a year through lost bus fares. It's time we changed that." He said the extra PCSOs could be paid for by slashing the Mayor's publicity budget. Mr Johnson said that he would reduce crime in Barnet, and London-wide, by appointing himself chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, the body which scrutinises the work of the Met. He would also introduce "crime maps" which would allow residents to see the location of crimes in the area on a website, information which is currently held but not made accessible to the public.
He admitted that in some areas that would exacerbate the fear of crime, but added: "In some areas it will dispel the fear of crime.
"I think it's time we started treating the public as adults. People can see these big yellow police notices all over the place saying there's been a crime, but we don't have a system that gives people real information."
"Boris Johnson accused Ken Livingstone last night of using millions of pounds of public money to bribe Tube maintenance staff into calling off a 48-hour strike that would have paralysed all lines just before the mayoral election on May 1.
More than 2,500 staff employed by Metronet, which collapsed last year, will receive free annual season tickets worth almost £1,800 each for themselves and their partners in a deal approved by Mr Livingstone.
The deal, which also includes the right to join Transport for London’s generous pension scheme, will be funded by passengers and London council tax payers. The strike would have disrupted the journeys of the three million daily Tube passengers and been highly embarrassing for Mr Livingstone.
Mr Johnson said: “This is an election bribe to keep the unions sweet a fortnight before the election.” The Conservative mayoral candidate called on Mr Livingstone to explain his involvement in the discussions on Friday with the Rail, Maritime and Transport union. He added: “Did Mr Livingstone order his transport adviser to stop the strikes no matter what the cost? If so, this will be yet another breach of the election rules.”
A spokesman for Mr Livingstone said: “The mayor remains responsible for the government of London until the election. He, therefore, is in constant contact with TfL, which he chairs, and was naturally kept fully informed of every stage of negotiations with the RMT.” Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, said late on Friday that he would recommend to his executive that the strike be called off"
We thought you might be interested in attending this tomorrow. If you are then let me know and we can all pop along to Russell Square together.
Come along to the Racism in Britain event that NMP have organised on Wed 23rd April at 7pm – Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, Russell Square, London.
Panel includes: Benjamin Zepenhaih – poet and writer Yasmin Alibhai Brown – columnist for the Independent Gareth Peirce – civil liberties lawyer Moazzem Begg – former Guantanamo prisoner and muslim activist Nick Hardwick – Director of the Independent Police Complaints Commission
Possibly due to his lack of public appearances i have failed to find any audio or video of boris that i think properly sums him up, (though there are lots of good written ones on wikiquote), but i did manage to find this, which i think could be suitably incriminating.
At the moment in Barcelona, bus drivers are protesting. They have requested two days off per week. Currently they don't enjoy set weekends and cannot take their days of in series.
The campaign is called 2 dies, two days, and is symbolised with two fingers of victory. The symbol can be found on bus and underground tickets.
At the moment very few bus services are running.
The above posters are advertising the march that took place on Wednesday. It started in Placa de la Universitat. It involved both supporters and bus-drivers.
Strike!!! Together we can do it!"
Fem pinya!!! = Make a pineapple!!! = Strike!!!
"Two days of relaxation? What less!! TMB Exploiters Freedom and Resistance"
CNT is the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo, the National Union for Workers. TMB is Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona, the organisation that controls Barcelona's public transport.
This is Placa of the Revolution of September 1868 in Gracia.
Gracia is seen as a politically leftwing centre of Barcelona, populated by students and native Gracians alike. The neighbourhood was originally a village that was engulfed by the expansion of Barcelona. Generally the residents are identify as being Gracians NOT Barcelonans.
The revolution of 1868 is a cause of national pride here in Catalunya. The Catalans attempted to revolt against the Spanish and were defeated but still, every year, diade, or D-day, is celebrated on the 8th of September across Catalunya.
There are several flags for Catalunya that symbolise Catalan nationalism. Four red stripes on a gold background represent the Catalan flag and people say symbolise the blood of the dragon that was slain by Sant Jordi (Saint George) the patron saint of Catalunya. (The 23rd of April, St George's Day is celebrated here in Catalunya a lot more than in UK. It's not a bank holiday).
The above flag is the most radical, the red star symbolising Marxist values, held above the state of Catalunya (els paises Catalans, or Catalan country).
Eight of these graffiti walls have been positioned around the Gracia neighbourhood of Barcelona as part of the Public! project. Each day a different question is posed and each board is photographed and documented on the website www.projectepublic.net. Debats escrits = Written debates. The question posed here is "Quina es la millor musica?" "What's the best music?"
"Registry and maintainance of Written Debates. All commentary and written expression displayed on this board is photographed daily and becomes part of an archive that can be accessed immediately. (www.projectepublic.net/debats) The boards are renewed periodically to make space for new ideas. Last renewal: 14/04/08"
"Proposal of another question. Is capitalistic ecology possible? (or ecological capitalism?)"
"Why have you set up "places of communication" with regard to virtual space (on vertical boards in the modern neighbourhood of Gracia) instead of setting up actual spaces?"
"Why do they install individual benches in Barcelona?"
The last question has reference to public benches around the city of Barcelona that only seat one person instead of the usual three or four. I'll post a picture soon.
You can see that people have used the boards to pose their own questions. More can be seen on the website but most of the writing is in Catalan.
Less than 24 hours in Barcelona and this is the first protest I saw along Passeig de Pujades next to the Parc de la Ciutadella. Sunday 13th April (afternoon) at 6pm. Although you can't see them, some of the protesters are holding small cardboard signs, "Bicicletas mejores que coches" "Bikes are better than cars"...
In Session 7 we asked members of the group to devise theoretical anarcho-surrealist responses to the following forthcoming events:
London Marathon, 13 April 08 London Mayoral Elections, 01 May 08 London's biggest shopping centre opens, Shepherd's Bush, London, Late 08
Participants were asked to consider the following questions for each:
1. What would the performance consist of? 2. What would be the location & time of the performance? 3. What would be the duration of the performance? 4. Who would be the audience for the performance? 5. What would be the objective/intention of the performance? 6. What would be the reason/justification for the performance? 7. What would be the likely outcome/response to the performance?
After 30 minutes we all feed back to the group, followed by a discussion.
Some excellent ideas were generated, some of which will be carried forward to fruition.
Therefore I shall not divulge any further details at this time.
Even though the weather was on our side and we convinced lots of friends and family to get involved we didn't manage to blow out the torch!
It was great to see so many people using their right to protest for those in China and Tibet who are unable to express there basic right to freedom of speech!
Just before the torch come past Thinktankers having fun
The "ring of steel" One torch we did manage to blow out
The policeman we were talking to on the Whitechapel Road said that the best protest he had heard about on route was that at some point near Ladbrooke Grove the protesters all turned their backs on the passing Olympic torch!
and finally a slightly more radical attempt to blow out the flame
Here is the video of the Olympic Torch relay on whitechapel road. It features I am a Think Tank's A Blow for Beijing, where we attempted to blow out the Olympic Torch in protest at China's human rights record and their occupation of Tibet, and also features two guys being arrested for highway obstruction, count the police it takes to hold each one down and listen to the policemen telling them what they are being arrested for.... heavy handed? Apologies for shakey quality of video....
The stop the war coalition have asked supporters to create a "wall of sound"outside Westminster Cathedral at 7.00 pm on Thursday 3 April, when Blair gives his lecture on "Faith and Globalisation". He will be making the case for an "activist" foreign policy -- in other words, for acts of aggression against other people's countries.
"We believe a noisy protest, which has a long and honourable history, is appropriate in these circumstances, particularly as the nightmare of Iraq, which is Blair's legacy, continues to worsen by the day (see below). If the anti-war movement did nothing, our silence would be seen as endorsing Blair's own plea that we "move on" from highlighting some of the worst war crimes in recent history, for which no one -- least of all Blair, as one of the prime architects -- has been held accountable.
Please join us, Bring musical instruments and sound making implements of every kind -- drums, trumpets, saxophones, violins, cymbals, whistles, sirens, horns, rattles, saucepans and cans. Every type of band, choir and musical group will be very welcome.
SOUNDING OUT TONY BLAIR THURSDAY 3 APRIL 7.00PM WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL FRANCIS ST, LONDON SW1P 1QW JUST SOUTH OF VICTORIA STREET Nearest tube: Victoria Station For updates see: http://www.stopwar.org.uk/
IMPORTANT NOTE: The campaigning Catholic group Pax Christi, which has been a consistent supporter of Stop the War and the anti-war movement, will be opposing Blair's lecture with a silent vigil outside the cathedral from 6.30 pm to 7.00 pm. We will respect this vigil and start our wall of sound in unison for maximum impact when Blair starts to speak at 7pm."
After the urban training workshop with Lottie I realised how often I avoid walking through London at night. I walked from Aldgate to Bethnal Green tube and on the way saw a group of girls playing music from their phones at the bus stop, as I walked past I danced along to the music and got cheered! I then decided to walk home (from Holland park to Chiswick) and scatter the wild flower seeds all around the Shepards Bush roundabout. Here's a pic of me at about 11pm walking through the urban scrub land.
Lottie Child was the first of our guest lecturers and taught us some urban training skills. The session started with a quick talk about her work and her ideas behind street training, talking about issues of architecture, how we use space and this impacts on us physically (I won't go into too much depth as the podcast of the session will be up soon).
Off we went to Liverpool St where we split into pairs and led our partners (who had to keep their eyes closed) around the station during rush hour.
We then went off to Broadgate and thought about how we can have fun in the area. This resulted in an impromptu relay game played out in front of office workers and lots of CCTV cameras. It was great to walk around the area, deviating from our usual path.
We tried to make city workers laugh by smiling, waving and doing funny walks.
Arts Admin
Strike!!! Together we can do it!"
Just before the torch come past
Thinktankers having fun
One torch we did manage to blow out
It was great to walk around the area, deviating from our usual path.
We scattered wild flower seeds.
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