PAST EVENTS ARCHIVE
This page is an archive of our past in-store events. Thanks to all our guest and visitors for making these events so succesful.
JULY 2010
(talk)
‘The Partisan Coffee House’
with Mike Berlin
Wednesday 28th July, 7pm
Mike Berlin discusses the Partisan Coffee House, the spiritual home of the New Left. It drew in some of the leading intellectuals and artists of the late 1950s including John Berger, Doris Lessing, Lindsey Anderson, and Karel Reisz. Mike will be recounting the fascinating story of this short-lived, but highly influential, cultural institution.
(poetry)
‘Poetry from Another London’
with Alan Morrison, David Kessel, John O'Donoghue, Tom Jayston and Jan Bradley
Saturday 24th July, 5pm
An evening of poetry about imagined Londons. Alan Morrison will be launching his latest long poem, ‘Keir Hardie Street’, a fantastical journey on the hidden Sea-Green Line of the Underground, which ends at Keir Hardie Street, the heart of a secret, parallel socialist London utopia.
Wednesday 14th July, 7pm
Since 2005 walkwalkwalk have created live art events inspired by a routine walk through East London’s overlooked places. They have a vast archive of found objects, printed ephemera, texts and recordings which document the history and mythology of the route. For this event walkwalkwalk will present a selection of archival flyposters, prints and other artefacts from the archive. There will be a series of readings of walk stories, and the chance to sample some traditional walkwalkwalk refreshments. For more info about walkwalkwalk visit their website www.walkwalkwalk.org.uk
JUNE 2010
Feminist Review present:
‘Migration and the role of politics, love and sexuality’
with Rutvica Andrijasevic and Nick Mai
Wednesday 30th June, 7.30pm
Rutvita Andrijasevic and Nick Mai will be discussing the how love and sexuality have intersected with politics amongst migrant and ethnic minority communities in the UK.
In recent years the issue of migration has been strategically mobilised into moral panics which emphasised its association with irregularity, criminality and trafficking, while morally sanctioning cripplingly restrictive migration and integration policies. At the same time, migrants and ethnic minorities are increasingly mobilising themselves according to emerging political subjectivities.
The convergence between these social processes prompted scholars to focus on the specific ways in which the political, affective and sexual dimensions are implicated in the development of new forms of subjectivity related to mobility and migration.
These complex dynamics are examined in two special issues of the Subjectivity and Mobilities journals, which were published in late 2009 and co-authored by Rutvica Andrijasevic and Nick Mai, and which the authors will be discussing at Housmans Bookshop.
Rutvica Andrijasevic, a member of the Feminist Review Collective, will present a special issue on migration of the Subjectivity journal with the title ‘Conflicts of Mobility.’ The focus will be on theoretical and political innovative interventions in order to rethink the relationship between migration, labour and citizenship and the associated new forms of political subjectivity.
Nick Mai is Senior Research Fellow in Migrations and Immigrations at ISET, the Institute for the Study of European Transformations of the London Metropolitan University. He will present a special issue on ‘Love, Sexuality and Migration’ of the Mobilities academic journal, exploring the ways in which feelings of love, as well as discourses and practices framing sexualities are implicated both in the migration process and in the negotiation of migrant subjectivities.
‘Dissent, Resistance and the Military:
How should the peace movement engage with ordinary soldiers?’
Saturday 26th June, 6pm
In the 60s and 70s, dissent and resistance by ordinary soldiers played a major role in ending the Vietnam War. Returning to barracks following his appearance at an anti-war rally in London last October Joe Glenton - the only British soldier to date to have been jailed for refusing to return to Afghanistan - was greeted with handshakes and pats on the back: "Someone said I was saying what everyone else is thinking. I heard that from several people".
With the Observer reporting “growing fears [in the Government] that the loss of public support for the war could spread to the forces community”, join us at Housmans Bookshop on 26 June (Armed Forces Day) for a discussion about war refusal past and present, and how the UK peace movement should engage with ordinary soldiers.
Mike Marqusee is a journalist, anti-war activist and author. He currently writes Level Playing Field, a column on politics and culture for The Hindu Sunday magazine, one of India’s largest circulation English language publications, and Contending for the Living for Red Pepper (www.mikemarqusee.com). Ben Griffin is a former soldier, who left the army in 2005 after refusing to return to Iraq. He is now an active anti war campaigner and also sits on the steering comittee of ForcesWatch (www.forceswatch.net). Gwyn Gwyntopher is a voluntary counsellor with At Ease (www.atease.org.uk), a free, independent, confidential advice and information service for members of the Armed Forces.
This event is supported by Justice Not Vengeance (www.j-n-v.org) and Peace News (www.peacenews.info) and is part of the Afghan Peace Walk: six days of action against the war and Army recruitment, and in support of Joe Glenton: see www.j-n-v.org and http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/04/450117.html
‘The Changing Face of Journalism’
with Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday 23rd June, 7pm
Veteran Guardian security editor Richard Norton-Taylor, will be in-store on the 23rd of June to discuss the present state of the journalistic profession in both print and broadcast, and the many changes he has witnessed since embarking on his career some thirty years ago. He will be discussing the changes to the field wrought by the impacts of developments in communications technology, as well as cultural and structural changes in newsrooms.
Does the rise in ‘user generated content’, be it amateur footage of the 2004 Asian tsunami, current affairs blogs from every point on the political spectrum, or simply the comments left on major news websites represent the democratisation of news reporting? Or are they fuelling a de-professionalisation of journalism, allowing potentially ill-informed authors to publish their work without checks on factuality or style? Has the content of news reporting changed over the last thirty years, and if so, how? Is investigative journalism a dying art, replace by a low-cost culture of embellishing press releases and news feeds from centralised sources? Norton-Taylor will be drawing on his career's-worth of knowledge and experience to offer insights into journalism's past and predictions for its future.
Do join us at Housmans for what promises to be a fascinating event for anyone interested in news reporting. There will be an opportunity for questions and
answers with the speaker.
‘Couch Fiction: A Graphic Tale of Psychotherapy’ with Philippa Perry
Wednesday 16th June, 7pm
Artist and psychotherapist Philippa Perry will be in-store discussing her new graphic novel ‘Couch Fiction’, the touching and witty story of one woman’s experiences in therapy. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a fly on a psychotherapist's wall?
‘Couch Fiction’ is a psychotherapy case study in the form of a graphic novel - the first of its kind. It tells the story of James and his journey through a tumultuous year of therapy sessions. Handsome and successful, he struggles to cope when his girlfriend refuses to move in with him and it is only by confronting the reality of his past and admitting his insecurities that he can begin to make progress with his therapist…with surprising results.
A thought-provoking story which both entertains and educates, in ‘Couch Fiction’ explores several difficult themes including sexual fantasies, stealing and childhood neglect. It reveals how therapeutic change takes place by looking at the inner thoughts of both the therapist and the client.
Philippa Perry is an artist and practising psychotherapist, and is married to the artist Grayson Perry. She will be in-store on the 16th of June to discuss her experiences as a therapist, graphic novels as a genre, and how she has combined the two in ‘Couch Fiction’. There will be opportunities for questions and book signing.
‘Reclaiming the F Word’
with Catherine Redfern and Kristin Aune
Saturday 12th June, 5pm
Join The F Word website founder Catherine Redfern and senior lecturer Kristin Aune to discuss the demands of the new feminist movement.
In today's 'post-feminist' society, women and men are considered equal. For younger women and men, feminism is often portrayed as unfashionable and irrelevant. But since the beginning of the new millennium a revitalised feminist movement has emerged to challenge these assumptions and assert a vibrant new agenda.
This groundbreaking book reveals the what, why and how of the new feminist movement and what it has to say about women's lives in today's society. From cosmetic surgery to celebrity culture and girl power to globalization, from rape to religion and sex to singleness, this book reveals the seven vital issues at stake for today's feminists, unveils the beginnings of a fresh and diverse wave of feminism, and calls a new generation back to action.
Join the authors to discuss the meaning the new feminist movement.
‘Demilitarising global society’
with Diana Francis
Wednesday 9th June, 7pm
Diana Francis will be discussing her latest book, ‘From Pacification to Peacebuilding: A Call to Global Transformation’, which reviews developments in the field over the past twenty years.
Does conflict transformation work? In her latest publication, ‘From Pacification to Peacebuilding’ (Pluto Press), Diana Francis reviews developments in the field over the past twenty years. She recognises that it has helped those engulfed in violent conflict to respond constructively, but also warns that the real requirement for peace is a global rejection of militarism.
She will be considering some of the largest questions surrounding contemporary peacebuilding: What, for example, can be learned about demilitarisation (DDR) at local levels and how can those insights be applied globally? What are the impacts of gender politics and roles on the peacemaking process? How can peace professionals and peace movements work more together to promote nonviolent power? And, crucially, how can we bring about the transformation of current international relationships, based on national and sectional interests, backed by military violence, into interdependent, cooperative ones?
Join Diana at Housmans to discuss these issues and others raised by her research. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers, and drinks and snacks will be provided.
‘Human rights violations and resistance in China since 1989’
with Shao Jiang
Saturday 5th June, 5pm
Chinese activist and political exile Shao Jiang will be in-store discussing the state mechanisms of oppression in China and the future of Chinese human rights and civil resistance.
Twenty-one years ago, Shao Jiang helped to organise the Beijing pro-democracy student protests that culminated in the Tiananmen Square massacre at the hands of Chinese government troops. He spent eighteen months jailed as a prisoner of conscience and on his release was placed under house arrest and surveillance. Now living in political exile in London, where he is a researcher at the University of Westminster as well as a reporter on Chinese human rights for Amnesty International, he can return to China only if he agrees to publicly renounce his political beliefs.
Housmans are delighted to be able to host Shao Jiang in-store on 5th June, when he will be discussing the Chinese state’s mechanism of oppression, the social crises in since Tiananmen, and the potential futures of human rights activism in China.
MAY 2010
‘The Meaning of David Cameron’ with Richard Seymour
Wednesday 26th May, 7pm
The Tories are posing as a 'progressive' and 'radical' alternative to New Labour. Drawing from George W Bush's 'compassionate conservatism', they maintain that the 'Big Society' can do what 'Big Government' cannot - produce a cohesive, mutually supportive, happy society. Cameron's court intellectual, Philip Blond, maintains that this is a viable alternative to the failures of the egalitarian left and the excessively pro-market right. But is this more than campaign mood music? And are the conservative traditions that they draw on - from the bucolic, pseudo-medievalism of G K Chesterton to the anti-statism of Friedrich Hayek - really a bulwark of progress and radicalism?
Richard Seymour argues that such ideas can only seem 'progressive' in light of New Labour's acquiescence to Thatcherism. To understand the Cameronites, it is necessary to understand how the social landscape and corresponding political language was transformed by the collapse of post-war social democracy and its more radical competitors. To resist the Cameronites, he argues, it is necessary to attack the neoliberal consensus on which all major parties found their programme.
Join Richard Seymour, blogger of ‘Lenin’s Tomb’ fame, and author of ‘The Liberal Defence of Murder’ to discuss ‘The Meaning of David Cameron’. Copies of the book will be available for signing.
‘The Life and Times of a Revolutionary’ with Bill Hunter
Saturday 15th May, 5pm
Born in County Durham six years before the General Strike of 1926, Bill Hunter has been a committed Trotskyist from the age of eighteen. He has dedicated his long adult life to fighting against capitalism, fascism and bureaucracy and for the Fourth International – Trotsky’s anti-Stalinist interpretation of communism.
In 1936, Bill began working at an engineering factory in London, becoming a shop steward and joining a Trotskyist group the following year. After spending the war as a convenor in London’s Chrysler aircraft factory, he was elected to Islington borough council in 1952. In 1954, along with his wife Rae, a nurse and convinced socialist, Bill was expelled from the Labour Party on the grounds of his association with the radical left-wing journal Socialist Outlook.
He has supported the struggles of Tyneside and Liverpool dock workers from the unofficial strikes of the 1950s to the disputes of 1996-8, as well as founding the Liverpool 8 support group during the 1984 Miners’ Strike and a joint trade union committee into allegations of police violence. In more recent years, he has been one of the first to denounce the ‘War on Terror’ as a front for British and U.S. oil interests.
Housmans are honoured to be hosting a celebration for Bill’s ninetieth birthday this month. He will be in-store discussing the first volume of his autobiography ‘Lifelong Apprenticeship’, a fascinating insider’s perspective on the class struggles of the first half of the twentieth century, both in the U.K. and abroad.
'Pressure Drop' with Billy Bragg and Mick Gordon
Wednesday 12th May, 1pm
Housmans are delighted to welcome Billy Bragg and playwright Mick Gordon to discuss ‘Pressure Drop’, a new play about English identity and its complexities. This event will also act as a launch for the script of ‘Pressure Drop’, published by Oberon Books, which is is playing as part of the KX Reveal festival.
http://createkx.atticmedia.com/arrivals/reveal/default.aspa
'Pressure Drop' is the latest work from On Theatre and Mick Gordon. Asking a central question - what makes me who I am? - it explores the individual, familial, social and political reference points that make a person definable and recognisable to themselves and others.
Part play, part gig, part installation, the event presents three generations of a white, working-class English family struggling to define themselves both in relation to one another and within a changing social landscape. At the heart of the work lies a paradox. Our identities are continually in flux, but at the same time we need a firm sense of rootedness, of belonging to something stable.
'Pressure Drop' sees Gordon join forces with legendary singer-songwriter Billy Bragg. In his book 'The Progressive Patriot', Bragg explores what it means to be
English in contemporary Britain. Reflecting on his family and their history, and revisiting the music that originally inspired him, Bragg challenges versions of patriotism proposed by the far right. For the production he will write and perform new work.
London Zine Symposium
Wednesday 5th May, 7pm
The London Zine Symposium is an annual event bringing together zine makers from across the country to share in one another’s work. In celebration of the Symposium’s fifth anniversary an anthology of work has been put together, capturing the depth and breath of the British zine scene.
In celebration of the launch of this new title, Housmans will be hosting an evening of entertainment and information with zinesters, such as Rumlad, Last Hours, Hey Monkey Riot and Morgenmuffel. They shall be recounting tales of punk rock, vegan mass catering, UK social centres, revolution, anarchy and of course, zine-making.
The evening promises to be a wonderful chance to check out the great work being done in bedrooms and kitchen tables all over Britain. Please visit www.londonzinesymposium.org.uk for more information.
Mouvement Communiste present:
Italian Workers' Struggles in the 1970s
Saturday 1st May, 5pm
The last great global proletarian political movement began in 1968 and reached its highest expression in Italy, in a movement lasting more than 12 years. Although it was centred on the struggles of workers in big workplaces, its influence spread well beyond the factory walls. Very quickly it took on questions of housing, transport, energy and means of subsistence by organising the self-reduction of prices and the seizure of housing, as well as having to directly confront the reactionary manoeuvres of the Communist Party and the trade unions.
The centre of gravity of the workers’ committee movement was the Milan area, and it was the workers’ committee of Magneti Marelli in the Crescenzago factory which was the most advanced expression of the committees in this region and thus in the whole country.
‘The Red Guard Tells its Story’ is a recently published book about these struggles. As of yet, it is only available in French and Italian. However, a member of the ‘Mouvement Communiste’ who worked on the French translation of the book is travelling to London to bring the message of this book to a British audience. The event will involve a discussion of what is important about the struggles of that time and what we can learn from them in relation to workers' struggles today.
APRIL 2010
‘Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists' with Daniel Dorling
Wednesday 28th April, 7pm
Professor Daniel Dorling discusses his new book on the persistence of injustice. Hard-hitting and uncompromising in its call to action, this is essential reading for everyone concerned with social justice.
Few would dispute that we live in an unequal and unjust world, but what causes this inequality to persist? Leading social commentator and academic Danny Dorling claims in this timely book that, as the five social evils identified by Beveridge are gradually being eradicated, they are being replaced by five new tenets of injustice, viz: elitism is efficient; exclusion is necessary; prejudice is natural; greed is good; and despair is inevitable. In an informal yet authoritative style, Dorling examines who is most harmed by these injustices and why, and what happens to those who most benefit. Hard-hitting and uncompromising in its call to action, this is essential reading for everyone concerned with social justice.
Daniel Dorling is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Sheffield. With colleagues he has published 25 books, including 8 atlases, one now translated into 7 languages. In 2007 (Sir) Simon Jenkins described him as 'Geographer Royal by Appointment to the Left', in 2008 he was appointed Honorary President of the Society of Cartographers, and in 2009 he was presented with the Back Award of the Royal Geographical Society.
“Beliefs which serve privilege, elitism and inequality infect our minds like computer viruses. But now Dorling provides the brain-cleaning software we need to begin creating a happier society”. Richard Wilkinson, Emeritus Professor of Social Epidemiology and co-author of 'The Spirit Level'
War Resisters’ International presesnt:
'Women and Conscientious Objection'
Friday 23rd April, 7pm
War Resisters’ International launch their new publication ‘Women and Conscientious Objection’. The book includes contributions from women conscientious objectors from several parts of the world, and historical contributions. Including Mitzi Bales’ ‘They said 'no' to war’ – looking at women conscientious objectors across Europe and the US in World War II, and Tali Lerner and Idan Halili's stories of women’s refusal in Israel, alongside numerous other contributions from Korea to Colombia.
Editors Ellen Elster and Majken Jul Sorensen will be discussing book, and looking at the creation of a ‘distinctive feminist antimilitarism’ across the world.
"This anthology is much, much more than a mere round-up of experience of women in the movement for men’s conscientious objection to obligatory military service. It is more, even, than an account of women’s struggle against their own conscription. For what we see here is women, at different moments, in one country after another, creating for themselves the concept, analysis and practice of a distinctive feminist antimilitarism." - Cynthia Cockburn
Red Pepper debate:
“If voting changes so little, what are the means of radical change?”
Saturday 24 April, 5pm
Red Pepper was launched in May 1995 and aims to provide a bold and attractive voice for the independent-minded left. It also aimed to provide a means by which people from different traditions on the left could think aloud as they tried to recover from the defeats of the 1980s, drawing inspiration from green, feminist and ’developing’ world liberation movements to recreate a socialist vision.
Hilary Wainwright, editor of Red Pepper since 1996 and author of ‘Reclaim the State’, will be discussing the outlined debate topic alongside Stuart White, Oxford University lecturer specialising in egalitarianism and its application to policy, and Marianne Macekelbergh, lecturer in Cultural Anthropology and alterglobalisation activist.
No Sweat Forum:
‘How Honduran workers took on sweatshop bosses... and won’
with Speakers from People & Planet and No Sweat
Thursday 22nd April, 7pm
In 2009, Honduran workers who had been fired from their jobs making garments for US apparel giants like Russell Athletic won reinstatement and union recognition after a massive international solidarity campaign.
In many ways, their case was typical; low-paid workers in a developing country working for employers operating on subcontracts from big apparel companies. The clothes they stitched would be sold on college campuses and high-streets across America and, when their bosses fired them for attempting to organise a union, their experience was one shared by thousands of other workers in the garment industry across the world.
What makes this group of workers different is that, unlike so many others, they won. The combined pressure of domestic protest and massive international solidarity campaign - in which UK organisations like People & Planet, Labour Behind the Label and No Sweat were central - forced their employers to reopen a closed workplace and rehire all 1,200 workers on union contracts. How did they do it, and what does it teach us about how we can support frontline workers' struggles against sweatshop exploitation?
No Sweat is a UK campaign for workers' solidarity against sweatshop labour and hyper-exploitation; since 2001, it has build active links between workers and activists in the UK and workers in struggle against exploitation from Argentina to New Zealand, from Haiti to Indonesia. Our monthly central London discussion forums help us raise awareness of a variety of workers' struggles and discuss how we can support them.
'Animals Count' campaign launch
Saturday 17th April - 5pm
Animals Count, a political party formed in 2006, will be at Housmans to outline their manifesto ahead of the forthcoming general election, at which they will contest the Islington and South Finsbury seat.
Their mission, as outlined on their website is “to establish a voice for the animals through a dedicated political party that focuses on respect and compassion for all living beings.” Amongst their policies are the establishment of an NHS-style infrastructure of veterinary treatment, the promotion of vegetarian meals in hospitals and schools, the abolition of factory farming and vivisection, a ban on all recreational bloodsports.
Founding member Jasmijn de Boo was a member of the Dutch Party for Animals, standing for them in the 2004 European elections, and has likened the ongoing struggle for animal rights to the early twentieth-century movements for universal suffrage. Their Dutch counterparts are represented at all levels of government, with seats in the Senate, House of Representatives and local councils; Animals Count hope that this year’s election will mark the first step towards instating animal rights at the heart of UK politics.
'Gender Matters in Global Politics'
with Cynthia Cockburn and Dibyesh Anand
Saturday 10th April, 5pm
Cynthia Cockburn and Dibyesh Anand will introduce ‘Gender Matters in Global Politics’, with specific discussion of their chapters ‘Militarisation and War’ (Cockburn), and ‘Nationalism & Gender’ (Anand).
‘Gender Matters in Global Politics’ is written by an international line-up of established and emerging scholars from a range of theoretical perspectives, providing provocative and cutting-edge insights into the study and practices of how gender matters in global politics.
The book explains the insights of feminist theory for a range of other disciplines including international relations, international political economy and security studies. It addresses a large number of key contemporary issues such as human rights, trafficking, rape as a tool of war, peacekeeping and state-building, terrorism and environmental politics.
The event will feature a brief introduction to the book as a whole, with specific contributions from Cynthia Cockburn on her chapter ‘Militarisation and War’, and Dibyesh Anand on ‘Gender and Nationalism’. There will also be an opportunity for a question and answer session at the end.
Verso present:
‘The Last days of Gordon Brown’ with Christopher Harvie
Wednesday 7th April, 7pm
SNP MP Christopher Harvie discusses ‘Broonland’, his scathing and witty indictment of the architect of New Labour, Gordon Brown.
How did the intellectually intimidating, industrious architect of the New Labour project become its maligned and feckless undertaker?
Offering an indictment of the architect of New Labour, Christopher Harvie details how Brown came to preside over a bankrupt country on the brink of economic and political breakdown. Taking us on a tour of Britain, it explores the ever-widening disparity between rich and poor, and how manufacturing was replaced by 'retail, entertainment and recreation' - otherwise known as shopping, gambling and drinking.
Looking at how a deregulated, casino economy veered wildly out of control, and how Britain's public utilities and industries were privatised and sold off to the highest bidder, ‘Broonland’ is both an essential anatomy of New Labour's bankrupt policies and a caustic portrait of a decade that went from boom to bust.
Join the author as he discusses his latest publication at Housmans. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers and to have books signed.
MARCH 2010
‘Women and Activism’
with Maya Evans and Tamsin Omond
Wednesday 24th March, 7pm
Activists Maya Evans and Tamsin Omond will be discussing womens’ roles in contemporary peace and environmental movements.
Maya Evans was the first person to be convicted under the 2005 Serious Organised Crime and Police Act; her offence was to stand in front of the Houses of Parliament, reading out the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq. Since her conviction, she has campaigned against Islamophobia and the Afghan war, and for civil liberties.
Tamsin Omond is a high-profile environmental activist and founder of Climate Rush, an all-female climate change awareness movement inspired by the struggles of the Suffragettes, who advocate peaceful civil disobedience to inspire change.
Maya and Tamsin will be discussing the roles played by women in contemporary peace and green movements, and examining questions of gender and class identity in activism.
Tamsin Omond's book 'RUSH! The Making of a Climate Activist'
is available by clicking here.
‘Dissenting Women of the Eighteenth Century’
with Jennifer C. Kelsey
Wednesday 31st March - 7pm to 8.30pm
Throughout the eighteenth century, from childhood to old age, women from all strata of British society faced the same prejudice because of their sex. Not all women, however, were prepared to accept their lot; some openly objected to a double standard which placed them under far more restrictions - physical, intellectual, financial and social - than men and boys.
Even for those who did accept the status quo, there were ways to make use of, or even exploit, the situations in which they found themselves in order to better their positions and claim some autonomy. Kelsey’s new publication is a study of women’s resistance both explicit and subtle.
Join the author for a discussion of ‘A Voice of Discontent’ as well as an opportunity for questions and answers and book signing.
Jennifer C. Kelsey's 'Voice Of Discontent' is available by clicking here.
No Sweat Anti-Sweatshop Benefit Gig featuring
Resolution 242 +
Jonny One Lung +
The Ruby Kid +
Captain of the Rant
Saturday 20th March - 6pm to 9pm
No Sweat regularly host the best nights in politically-charged music, with all proceeds going towards fighting sweatshop bosses around the world.
This evening No Sweat bring a selection of their favourite artists to Housmans, all playing in an unplugged style. The fantastic line up includes:
Resolution 242 – sharp as nails acoustic folk punk reggae
Jonny One Lung - emotive and outspoken songs
The Ruby Kid – political rap, a cappella style
Captain of the Rant - spot-on slam poetry
…plus anti-sweatshop speeches, drinks and a raffle.
http://www.nosweat.org.uk
Zed Books present ‘Glamour: Social History, Women and Feminism’
with Carol Dyhouse
How do we understand "glamour"? Has it empowered women or turned them into objects? Once associated with modernity and the cutting edge, is it now entirely bound up with nostalgia and tradition?
Dyhouse’s latest publication tells glamour‘s story. It explores the changing meanings of the word, its relationship to femininity and fashion, and its place in twentieth century social history. Using a rich variety of sources - from women's magazines and film to social surveys and life histories , the author examines with wit and insight the history and meaning of costume, cosmetics, perfume and fur. She disentangles some of the arguments surrounding femininity, appearance and power, directly addressing feminist concerns.
The book explores historical contexts in which glamour served as an expression of desire in women and an assertion of entitlement to the pleasures of affluence, finally arguing that glamour can't simply be dismissed as oppressive, or as male fantasy, but can carry celebratory meanings for women.
Join us at Housmans to hear Prof. Dyhouse discuss her publication. There will be an opportunity to meet the author and to have books signed.
'Glamour' is available by clicking here, currently with a 15% discount.
‘Feminism Today’
with Nina Power and Lindsey German
Author and academic Nina Power joins veteran socialist campaigner Lindsey German to discuss the state of contemporary feminism, with a focus on the rise of ‘consumerist feminism’.
Nina Power’s latest book, ‘One Dimensional Woman’ charts the rise of ‘consumer feminism’, the cultural phenomenon according to which the height of female achievement consists of “the ownership of expensive handbags, a vibrator, a job, a flat and a man.” But how has it come to this?, she asks. Did the desires of twentieth-century women's liberation achieve their fulfilment in the shopper's paradise of 'naughty' self-pampering, playboy bunny pendants and bikini waxes?
Socialist activist and London mayoral candidate Lindsey German similarly examines women’s places within a consumer-capitalist economy in her 2007 publication ‘Material Girls: Women, Men and Work’, in which she argues that women’s relatively recent admission to the world of work has left them exposed to the worst exploitations of capitalism.
Join the authors in conversation at Housmans bookshop for a discussion of feminism’s possible futures.
Nina Power's book 'One Dimensional Woman' is available by clicking here.
Lindsey German's book 'Material Girls' is available by clicking here.
FEBRUARY 2010
‘Inside Quatro: Uncovering the Exile History of the ANC and SWAPO’
with Paul Trewhela
During its period of outlaw and exile under South Africa’s apartheid regime, the African National Congress operated from Angola and Tanzania. Located north of Luanda in Angola, Quatro was one of the most feared of the secret camps of the ANC, and only a selected few in the ANC leadership seem to have had access.
Established in 1979, Quatro (officially known as Camp 32) was supposed to be the rehabilitation centre of the ANC, where enemy agents who had infiltrated the ANC would be "re-educated" and would be made to love the ANC through the opportunity to experience the humane character of its ideals.
Through a process that still demands explanation, however, Quatro became as horrific as any prison that the apartheid regime - itself a crime against humanity - had ever had. Inmates were brutally assaulted, starved, given humiliating nicknames, denied medical treatment and subjected to forced labour. Camp staff were often young, impressionable, and sworn to secrecy. Were ANC leaders aware of what was happening in their name?
Born in Johannesburg in 1941, Paul Trewhela worked in underground journalism with Ruth First and edited the underground journal of ‘MK, Freedom Fighter’ during the Rivonia Trial, in which ten ANC leaders were prosecuted by the apartheid regime for sedition. He was a political prisoner in Pretoria and the Johannesburg Fort as a member of the Communist Party in 1964–7, separating from the SACP while in prison. In exile in Britain he was co-editor with the late Baruch Hirson of Searchlight South Africa, banned in South Africa. Since 2006 he has published numerous articles on South African political subjects on the websites. Join him at Housmans for a discussion of this publication, with an opportunity for questions and answers.
No Sweat Forum - Haiti Earthquake
No Sweat are holding a public meeting about the earthquake in Haiti and its impact on the labour movement there. Speaking at the meeting will be Charles Arthur from the Haiti Support Group and No Sweat activists.
Last Hours Collective present:
‘Excessive Force – policing in Britain’
The Last Hours publishing and politics collective present their latest offering, ‘Excessive Force’, a ‘comix’ anthology by eighteen different artists, - as well as articles by three authors - dealing with the issue of police brutality. Some of the short strips are drawn from imagined events, whilst others are based on real-life experience, including Edd Baldry’s account of the 2009 G20 protests, and the subsequent death of Ian Tomlinson.
The event will feature an extended discussion by members of Last Hours, FITWatch, and the LDMG (Legal Defence and Monitoring Group) on the current policing situation in the UK, how it has changed over the years, and how to best to respond to it. There will also be an opportunity to have books signed by contributing artists.
David Paul Press present:
‘This Room in the Sunlight’
with Bernard Kops
Wednesday 17th February - 7pm to 8.30pm
Bernard Kops, one of Britain’s most celebrated and prolific authors, has written more than forty plays for stage and radio, nine novels and two autobiographies, as well as seven volumes of poetry. ‘This Room in the Sunlight’ is his eighth - and latest - collection of poems, covering his preoccupations with love and death, reflecting his early breakdown and drug addiction, family life, growing up in London's East End, growing old and his Jewish identity.
He has included well-known poems such as ‘Shalom Bomb’, an unofficial anthem for the CND movement in the 1960’s, and the more recent ‘Whitechapel Library, Aldgate East’, in which he mourns the passing of the old library in London’s East End, a gathering place for writers and radicals of the area. Other poems tell of his feelings about encounters with people, ordinary and famous. There are glimpses of WH Auden, Allen Ginsberg and Henry Williamson, alongside those of his friends, neighbours and loved ones.
Join us at Housmans to hear Kops reading and discussing his poetry. There will also be an opportunity to have books signed.
This Room in the SunlightBernard Kops (David Paul, 2007)
Zed Books present:
‘Possibilities for the Post-Capitalist Era’
with Harry Shutt
Saturday 13th February - 5pm to 6.30pm
“Dissident economist” Harry Shutt predicted the recent economic collapse as early as 1998 with his book ‘The Trouble With Capitalism’. In the second edition of this remarkably prescient publication, he argues that the on-going crisis has arisen as a result of fundamental economic problems, stemming from the growing redundancy of both labour and capital since the 1970s. In doing so, he exposes the sham of laissez-faire economics, showing that state power and capital are increasingly being used to prop up capital while pretending that the aim is to roll back the frontiers of the state.
His forthcoming book, ‘Beyond the Profits System: Possibilities for the Post-Capitalist Era’, moves beyond the predictions explored in ‘The Trouble With Capitalism’ to offer a radical yet realistic way forward in light of the catastrophe.
The author will be discussing his theories and publications, answering questions and signing books. Do join us at Housmans for what promises to be an extremely interesting event.
War Resisters' International present:
‘Antimilitarism In Latin America’
Tuesday 2 February - 7pm to 8.30pm
In recent years, there have been efforts to create a Latin America-wide
antimilitarist network, which has produced statements on, amongst other issues, the threat of war between Colombia and Venezuela, and the military coup in Honduras. One of their most significant challenges is the new populist face of militarism in the region, with leaders such as Hugo Chavez garnering widespread support from civilians for potential conflicts.
Organised by War Resisters International, who monitor, report on and promote pacifist causes across the world, this event will feature activists Pelao Carvallo, a Chilean living in Paraguay, and Rafael Uzcategui from Venezuela, discussing their
experiences within the burgeoning Latino antimilitarist movement.
JANUARY 2010
Guy Debord's 'Game of War'
presented Class War Games
Wednesday 27th January 7pm - 9pm
Class War Games will show a short film introducing the Marxist theorist Guy Debord's political board game "Game of War". Audience members will then be able to play the game for themselves.
The "Game of War" is a Napoleonic-era military strategy game where armies must maintain their communications structure to survive - and where victory is achieved by smashing your opponent's supply network rather than by taking their pieces. It was devised by the Marxist theorist Guy Debord and his partner, the poet and novelist Alice Becker-Ho, in 1987, as a guide to how people should live their lives in a consumer capitalist society.
By playing, revolutionary activists could learn how to fight and win against their oppressors.
Class Wargames in London and the Radical Software Group in New York have launched a project to promote the game, are playing matches in public and developing their own versions of the game. The accompanying book has been translated into English for the first time. Zed Books present: 'Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance: The Power of Story' Wednesday 20th January 7.00pm till 8.30pm
Eric Selbin is Professor and Chair of Political Science at Southwestern University, Texas. His books include Modern Latin American Revolutions and Understanding Revolutions (with John Foran and Jack Goldstone).
'Venezuela: An Anarchist Perspective'
presented by War Resisters International
He will talk about the situation in Venezuela from a critical anarchist perspective, with a special focus on the militarisation of Venezuelan society and the co-option of social movements.
Class Wargames say:
"In our film of Debord's game, we have divided these teachings from the battlefield into five sections: terrain, combat, cavalry, arsenals and lines of communication. Analyse their insights with great care, fellow workers. As the crisis of neo-liberalism intensifies, you will need this military knowledge to thwart the wicked schemes of bankers and bureaucrats. Remember well the lessons of socialist history: clever tactics and smart strategy are our most powerful weapons"
Join Richard Barbrook and Fabian Tompsett for an introduction to the ‘Game of War’, film-screening and game-playing session.
Game of War Guy Debord (Atlas Press, 2007)
with Eric Selbin
Eric Selbin will be discussing his new book which examines the role of myth and storytelling in lighting the fires of revolutions and political struggles.
Why do revolutions happen? Decades of social science research have brought us little closer to understanding where, when and amongst whom they occur.
In this groundbreaking book, Prof. Selbin argues that we need to look beyond the economic, political and social structural conditions to the thoughts and feelings of the people who make revolutions.
In particular, he argues, we need to understand the stories people relay and rework of past injustices and struggles as they struggle in the present towards a better future. Ranging from the French revolution to the Battle for Seattle, via Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam and Nicaragua, Selbin makes the case that it is myth, memory and mimesis which create, maintain and extend such stories.
Published by Zed Books, this volume identifies four kinds of enduring revolutionary story - Civilizing and Democratizing, The Social Revolution, Freedom and Liberation and The Lost and Forgotten. These tales do more than report on events: they catalyse changing the world.
Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance Eric Selbin (Zed Books, 2009)
Rafael Uzcategui is a member of Colectivo El Libertario, an anarchist project and magazine in Venezuela, and works for the human rights organisation Provea.
'Health under Capitalism'
with
Colin Leys, Wendy Savage and Jonathan Tomlinson
Launching the 2010 edition of ‘Socialist Register‘, editor Colin Leys, along with contributors Wendy Savage and Jonathan Tomlinson, discuss the state of healthcare within capitalist systems.
The Socialist Register was founded by Ralph Miliband and John Saville in 1964 as ‘an annual survey of movements and ideas’ from the standpoint of the independent new left. It is currently edited by Leo Panitch, Colin Leys, Greg Albo and Vivek Chibber, assisted by an editorial collective of eminent scholars in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Each volume is focused on a topical theme and features a selection of inter-disciplinary analyses taking in diverse geographical locations.
It addresses the political and accumulation strategies of ‘big pharma’, the global food industry’s production of hunger and obesity, and the relationships between capitalism and mental illness, amongst other topics. It also examines the forces at work in a broad range of national health care systems to explain: 'Bending the Bars'
with John Barker
John Barker was one of those imprisoned. John went to prison in 1971, and stayed there for seven long years. ‘Bending The Bars’ is a collection of stories written then, and published together for the first time in 2007. This evening John will be discussing his experience of imprisonment, and answering questions on the Brigade’s outlook and actions. 'As Far as the Eye can Sing'
with Frankie Armstrong
'Arabs, Muslims and the Poverty of Liberal Thought'
'Putin's Russia: Power, Money and People'
with Simon Pirani
- President Obama’s plans for the US health system,
-The commodification of European public healthcare,
-Systemic gender discrimination in the health systems of Sub-Saharan Africa
-Cuba’s egalitarian health policies at home and abroad
-What we can learn from HIV/AIDS mobilizations to build a comprehensive public health movement.
Colin Leys, along with contributors Wendy Savage and Jonathan Tomlinson, will be discussing the state of healthcare across the world, followed by a Q &A session with audience members.
Health Under Capitalism: Morbid Symptoms edited by Colin Leys and Leo Panitch (Merlin Press, 2009)
DECEMBER 2009
Wednesday 16th December 7pm till 8.30pm
John Barker, one-time member of militant libertarian group The Angry Brigade, discusses his experience of seven years imprisonment, and answers questions on the Brigade’s outlook and actions.
Between 1970 and 1972 the Angry Brigade, strongly influenced by anarchism and the Situationists, launched a bombing campaign which targeted banks, embassies and the homes of Tory MPs. In total, 25 bombings were attributed to them by the police. The damage done by the bombings was mostly limited to property damage although one person was slightly injured. A group of anarchists from North East London, the 'Stoke Newington Eight', were prosecuted for carrying out bombings as the Angry Brigade in one of the longest criminal trials of English history (it lasted from 30 May to 6 December 1972).
Saturday 12th December 5pm till 6.30pm
Celebrating the re-launch of her autobiography, folk musician and voice teacher Frankie Armstrong reminisces about forty years in the folk, women’s and peace movements, with anecdotes and songs.
Frankie Armstrong is a singer with over 40 years in the folk, women’s and peace movement. From the early days of the Vietnam War, to the recent concert for Musicians Against Nuclear Arms, she has sung to raise spirits and awareness.
Housmans are delighted to welcome Frankie for an evening of reminiscence and music in celebration of the re-launch of her autobiography ‘As Far as The Eye Can Sing’.
with Steven Salaita
Wednesday 9th December 7pm till 8.30pm
'The Uncultured Wars' is a powerful indictment of dominant American liberal-left discourse. Through twelve stylish essays Steven Salaita returns again and again to his core themes of anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia and the inadequacy of critical thought amongst the 'chattering classes', showing how racism continues to exist in the places where we would least expect it.
By looking at topics as diverse as 'Is Jackass Justifiable?', 'Open Mindedness on Independence Day' and 'Ambition, Terrorism and Empathy', Salaita explores why Arabs are marginalized, and who seeks to benefit from this. He goes on to make the case that Arabs and Muslims urgently need to be included in the conversations that people have about American geopolitics. Part of a long tradition of politically engaged writing, and a trailblazer in the emerging genre of Arab-American writing, this book is eminently readable and relevant to our times.
Steven Salaita, RAWI Executive Director, is Assistant Professor of English at Virginia Tech. His other books include 'Anti-Arab Racism in the USA', 'The Holy Land in Transit', and 'Arab American Literary Fictions, Cultures, and Politics'.
Wednesday 2nd December 7pm till 8.30pm
Launching his new book on the subject, Simon Pirani discusses the interaction of power, money and people in Russia during the presidencies of Vladimir Putin and his successor Dmitry Medvedev, and the social movements that are working against an increasingly authoritarian government to change Russia for the better
Simon Pirani is a researcher and journalist focused on Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. As a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies his specialisms include oil and gas, other commodities, and financial markets.
Other Books by Simon Pirani
NOVEMBER 2009
'Last Shop Standing:
Whatever Happened to Record Shops'
with Graham Jones
Wednesday 25th November 7pm till 8.30pm
Graham Jones’ will be sharing anecdotes about the world of music retail and discussing the future of independent record shop, as explored in his book ‘Last Shop Standing’.
The book begins with a roll call of some of the 540 record shops that have closed in the last four years alone. For record retailing is an industry in crisis. Beset by the onward march of the supermarkets, the growing popularity of music downloading and a host of other rapidly emerging market trends, the traditional record shop has become an endangered species. While Graham recognises such problems, and explains them with an insider's knowledge and eye for detail, he remains committed to the future of the industry that he loves.
As well as being a eulogy to an era that is fast fading into history, ‘Last Shop Standing’ is also a celebration of the unique spirit of comradeship and entrepreneurial ingenuity that has enabled so many shops to keep operating successfully in such a harsh trading environment. All of which makes this a most timely and important book.
Housmans is delighted to welcome Graham Jones to share anecdotes about the world of music retail and discuss the future of record shops.
'The Chomsky Effect'
with Robert F. Barsky
Saturday 28th November 5pm till 6.30pm
Professor Barsky, on a rare visit from the USA, will be exploring the work of Noam Chomsky, considering his role as a both analyst and activist, and trying to asses why he has come to mean so much to so many.
"People are dangerous. If they're able to involve themselves in issues that matter, they may change the distribution of power, to the detriment of those who are rich and privileged." Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky, groundbreaking linguist and outspoken political dissenter - voted 'most important public intellectual in the world today'in a 2005 magazine poll -Chomsky inspires fanatical devotion and fierce vituperation. In 'The Chomsky Effect', Chomsky biographer Robert Barsky examines his subject's positions on a number of highly charged issues - Chomsky's signature issues, including Vietnam, Israel, East Timor, and his work in linguistics - that illustrate not only 'the Chomsky effect' but also 'the Chomsky approach.'
Chomsky, writes Barsky, is an inspiration and a catalyst. Not just an analyst or advocate, he encourages people to become engaged-to be 'dangerous' and challenge power and privilege.
The actions and reactions of Chomsky supporters and detractors and the attending contentiousness can be thought of as 'the Chomsky effect.' Barsky discusses Chomsky's work in such areas as language studies, media, education, law, and politics, and identifies Chomsky's intellectual and political precursors. He charts anti-Chomsky sentiments as expressed from various standpoints, including contemporary Zionism, mainstream politics, and scholarly communities. He discusses Chomsky's popular appeal - his unlikely status as a punk and rock hero (Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam is one of many rock and roll Chomskyites) - and offers in-depth analyses of the controversies surrounding Chomsky's roles in the 'Faurisson Affair' and the 'Pol Pot Affair'.
Finally, Barsky considers the role of the public intellectual in order to assess why Noam Chomsky has come to mean so much to so many, and what he may mean to generations to come.
'People Power:
Unarmed Resistance and Global Solidarity'
with Howard Clark
Wednesday 18th November 7pm till 8.30pm
Across the world, nonviolent movements offer resistance against repressive states, imperial interventions and corporate abuses. However, it is often hard for sympathetic activists in other nations to know how best to assist such movements. Howard Clark seeks to situate nonviolent struggles within a global context in which international solidarity is a critical weapon that such movements can use to achieve their ends.
Howard Clark has edited the recently published Pluto Press title ‘People Power: Unarmed Resistance and Global Solidarity’. The contributors place nonviolent struggles in an international context where solidarity can play a crucial role. Yet they also warn that good intentions are not enough, solidarity has to listen to local movements. Examining movements from Zimbabwe to Burma and Palestine, the contributors assess various forms of solidarity, arguing that a central role of solidarity is to strengthen the counter-power of those resisting domination and oppression.
Howard Clark is a nonviolent activist and independent peace researcher living in Madrid. He has worked for Peace News and since 2008 has been chair of War Resisters’ International. He is a research fellow of the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies, Coventry University and author of Civil Resistance in Kosovo (Pluto, 2000) and co-author with April Carter and Michael Randle of People and Power Protest Since 1945: A Bibliography of Nonviolent Action (2006).
'Songs of the Land'
with Leslie Ray
Friday 20th November 7pm till 8.30pm
Author and musician Leslie Ray will be discussing folk music, its connection with English history, and its role in forming our sense of identity. He’ll also be perform a selection of songs on these themes.
In 2007 Les published 'Language of the Land', about the Mapuche indigenous people, their culture, history and struggle for control over their ancestral lands.
In his current writing project he has turned his attention to these shores, focusing on folk music and its connection with English history, our sense of identity and our attachment to the land. In these times of intolerance, he sees folk music as a music that is rooted in place yet does not police its borders. He'll be performing a selection of songs on these themes, accompanied by his trusty guitar and mandola, and a selection of images.
For more of Leslie Ray's work and music please visit:
http://www.myspace.com/lesandthestreetscreamers
PEACE HOUSE 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Saturday 14th November 2009
3pm to 2am
At The Cross Kings,126 York Way, King’s Cross, London N1 OAX
Just a few minutes from Peace House
Peace House, at Caledonian Road in King ’s Cross, London, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Over the years the building has housed a host of progressive campaign groups. Join us in celebrating five decades of defiance, subversion and protest!
Tickets for the evening entertainment are sure to sell out as space is limited, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
In the Main Room
3pm - 6pm PEACE HOUSE REUNION TEA PARTY
a chance to catch up with friends over tea and biscuits
Featuring political street choir RAISED VOICES and poetry from DENNIS GOULD
Free entry
From 6pm – 2am
Songs from the frontline with JOE WILKES
IAN SAVILLE conjures his Magic for Socialism
Celebrating his 50th year of performing, political folk from LEON ROSSELSONThe unstoppable all-female five-piece FREYLEKH KLEZMER DANCE BAND
Beautiful, bold folk from SEIZE THE DAY
Followed by DJs till 2am.
+ more to be announced
In the Jester Bar
From 8.30pm till very late we have the best political and alternative comedy, hosted by ROBIN INCE, and featuring anarchist transvestite ANDREW O’NEILL, NATALIE HAYNES, and COLIN WATSON, as well as musical turns from MARTIN WHITE, PHIL JEAYS and JOANNA NEARY. Followed by DJs till 2am.
Because of capacity limitations, we're selling tickets which are either primarily for the Main Room, or primarily for the Jester Bar, depending on where you want to spend most time. However, subject to space constraints during the evening, you may be able to visit both entertainment areas.
All taking place at
The Cross Kings
126 York Way,
King’s Cross,
London N1 OAX
map: http://www.thecrosskings.co.uk/map.html
Benefit Tickets:
Free entry for Reunion Tea Party
£9 for evening entertainment in the Main Room
£8.50 for ticket for Robin Ince and Friends in the Jester Bar
Alternatively to purchase tickets or for more info please call: 020 7837 4473
Other Information:
Open 3pm-2am
Regretfully no wheelchair access for the Jester Bar.
Under 18’s allowed up to 10pm if accompanied by a responsible adult.
Full bar, hot and cold drinks and snacks available throughout
Vegan food available from 6pm
'Bob Dylan & Babylon: Together through Life'
with John Gibbens
Wednesday 11th November 7pm till 8.30pm
Drawing on his book 'The Nightingale's Code: A Poetic Study of Bob Dylan', John Gibbens will be discussing the many influences on Dylan’s music, examining his more recent works, and playing some tracks.
As a poet and rock musician, John Gibbens has the background to give us a fresh perspective on Bob Dylan's substantial body of work. He has also read all the major critical studies and biographies and tracked down Dylan's literary and musical sources, from Blake and the Bible to Howlin' Wolf and Woody Guthrie. As a result, this book is literate, personal, refreshing and shows a deep affection for the artist he calls 'our first old rock star'.
Dylan, Gibbens suggests, made himself into a particular kind of folksinger, an individual who picked up pieces of whatever lay around, including the 'museum of sound' of 20th-century recorded music, to create an individual vision, continually open to what was new and fresh.
Gibbens looks at all the different kinds of music Dylan has appropriated in this way, from country to gospel, and also at the social and political background against which Dylan has worked, particularly the rise and fall of the 1960s counterculture.
This evening will concentrate on the works since 2001 that have made the latter part of Dylan's career as brilliant as any before. There'll be some singing to leaven the speaking and at the end, even if the hour is getting late, some time to not talk falsely...
'What is Psychogeography Today?'
with Rich Cochrane
Saturday 7th November 5pm till 6.30pm
Rich Cochrane explores the modern significance of psychogeography. Does modern psychogeography retain anything of the radical agenda of the 1960s? Should it? Does the term really mean much in relation to modern practice?
Rich Cochrane explores the modern significance of Psychogeography, defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals."
Psychogeography came to have a political dimension, particularly brought out by The Situationist International, who advocated experiences of life being alternative to those admitted by the capitalist order, for the fulfilment of human primitive desires and the pursuing of a superior passional quality.
In recent years there has been a revival of interest in psychogeography, and Rich Cochrane will be investigating how the modern conception relates with to previous understandings.
OCTOBER 2009
Zed Books present:
‘Lugo: The Priest of Paraguay’ with Hugh O'Shaughnessy
Saturday 31st October – 5pm till 6.30pm
Paraguay had the oldest one-party regime on earth. Under the 60-year dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner's Colorado party, wealth and power became concentrated in the hands of a small few; until elections in 2008 broke the party's hold on the country and promised a newer, more egalitarian future, particularly for the country's indigenous people.
In ‘The Priest of Paraguay’, Hugh O'Shaughnessy tells the story of how Fernando Lugo, a bishop from a deprived diocese, swept to victory and what this will mean for his country, Latin America and the wider world. He traces Lugo's life alongside the turbulent history of Paraguay - from his early years in a family which fell victim to Stroessner to his release by the Vatican in order to follow a political calling.
The book also examines what may lie in store for the newest addition to Latin America's 'pink tide' of socialist and social democratic countries. This is history of a fascinating but largely unknown country by one of the most respected commentators on Latin America.
"There could be no one better placed to bring these events to the general public than Hugh O'Shaughnessy. His work on Latin America has been outstanding in its historical depth, subtle insight and sympathetic understanding of the travails of the population, and the intricacies of the domestic structures and international environment." Noam Chomsky
PRE-ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR SPECIAL
R.A.G. Issue Launch &
Colin Ward film screening
Friday 23rd October – 7pm till late
Ahead of this year’s Anarchist Bookfair, Housmans welcome the Revolutionary Anarcha-feminist Group from Dublin, who will be launching the latest issue of their magazine, whilst downstairs we will be screening a new documentary of ‘Colin Ward in Conversation with Roger Deakin’.
The RAG (Revolutionary Anarcha-feminist Group) is a magazine produced by a diverse group of anarcha-feminist women in Dublin. The members of the group are united in their recognition that women's subordination exists, and in the belief for the need to create alternatives to what they recognise as a capitalistic, patriarchal society wherein all are dominated and exploited. This evening guests from the group will be launching the fourth issue of this important publication.
Colin Ward was an editor of the British anarchist newspaper Freedom from 1947 to 1960, and the founder and editor of the monthly libertarian journal Anarchy from 1961 to 1970. Colin has written a number of books, which brought a fresh anarchist perspective on subjects such as housing and education. One of his most well-known book, ‘Anarchy In Action’, was an attempt to show "that an anarchist society, a society which organises itself without authority, is always in existence, like a seed beneath the snow, buried under the state and its bureaucracy, capitalism and its waste. . . "
Five Issues presents:
'Necropolis: rehearsing Koltes in such times'
A play by Kolkata Campus
Wednesday 14th October – 7pm till 8.30pm
Five Issues is an independent journal publising voices of dissent in India and tonight will be presenting a poetry/installation performance called 'Necropolis: Rehearsing Koltes in such times'. The piece is inspired by 'In the Solitude of Cottonfields' by Bernard Marie Koltes with additional texts from Slavok Zizek, Yulembam Ibomcha, Prabal Kumar Basu, Thangjam Ibopishak, Rajkumar Bhubonsana, Bhaskar Chakraborty, and Rabindranath Tagore.
It has been performed all over India and in International festivals at Dhaka and Thailand. This evening we are delighted to be a part of the first UK tour of this important piece of political theatre.
‘Payback ’ with Rosemary Hayes
Saturday 10th October – 5pm till 6.30pm
Like other young Muslim girls of 18, Halima has moved with her family to London and her horizons are beginning to expand. Then, just as she is about to start university, she discovers her father's plan: to marry her to the son of a distant relation in Pakistan who once did him a favour. Halima is to be the repayment of the debt. And it's payback time...
Housmans are delighted to welcome Rosemary Hayes, who will be introducing her latest book for young adults, ‘Payback’, based on the actual experiences of a young Muslim woman who was brave enough to defy her family and reject the husband chosen for her.
About the Author
Rosemary Hayes lives and works in Cambridgeshire. She has written numerous books for children including historical and contemporary fiction and fantasy many of which have been shortlisted for awards. She is also a reader for a well known authors advisory service and enjoys helping unpublished writers to hone their skills. Rosemary's first Frances Lincoln book, Mixing It, about the relationship between a Muslim girl and a non Muslim boy against a background of terrorism, was shortlisted for the South Lanarkshire Book Award.
Praise for ‘Payback’
“While clearly about a hot topic, this book should not be dismissed merely as a vehicle for the introduction of different points of view about Muslim and other ways of life in Britain today... Rosemary Hayes does not shrink from uncomfortable events and truths. The style is lucid and readable and the book should definitely appeal to teenagers who read less avidly. It would also make a useful starter for discussions about faith and values.” Writeaway
'Black Shoes' by Michael Obiora
Saturday 3rd October – 5pm till 6.30pm
This evening Michael Obiora, best known for his role as flamboyant receptionist Ben Trueman in BBC One’s Hotel Babylon, will be reading from his new novel,'Black Shoes'. Through the exploration of love, friendship, paranoia and ignorance, 'Black Shoes' looks at a black professional man’s quest to find his way through the maze of negative stereotypes, and his own personal battle with his identity.
SEPTEMBER 2009
Skookum Boom present:
Leon Walker, Viclambrusco, Captain Of The Rant, Jimi Gherkin
and Deferred Sucess
Saturday 26th September – 6pm till 9pm
and Deferred Sucess. Unfortunately this event was Cancelled at the last moment...
‘Solsbury Hill: Chronicle of a Road Protest’ with Adrian Arbib
Wednesday 23rd September – 7pm till 9pm
In 1994 eco-warriors took to the tree-tops and set up camps in the Solsbury Hill protest, as they launched a bid to halt construction of the Batheaston to Swainswick bypass at Bath.
Armed with little more than rope harnesses and mobile phones the size of bricks, the protesters were faced with often violent private security forces in muddy fields, high in the trees and even underground.
Adrian Arbib lived on site photographing the events. In so doing he captured all aspects of life on the protest. His work is a unique record of an important moment in British political history when a political movement changed government transport policy.
The photographs Adrian took over this period are at the heart of the book ‘Solsbury Hill: Chronicle of a Road Protest’, and we are delighted to welcome Adrian to Housmans to discuss the history and legacy of the road protest movement. Adrian will be illustrating his talk with a slideshow presentation of his photographs from the period.
“This is our history. It is appalling and inspiring at the same time. These pictures of brave people should not be forgotten.” John Vidal, Environment editor, the Guardian
‘Dark Light’ with Pat Arrowsmith
Wednesday 16th September – 7pm till 8.30pm
Pat Arrowsmith is perhaps best known as an anti-nuclear protester and peace activist. She was at the very heart of organising the first protest in the UK against the nuclear weapons establishment in Aldermaston, Berkshire, and continues her work for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) as honorary vice-president.
Pat is also an accomplished writer, her work deeply influenced by her life-long campaigning for the causes of pacifism and feminism. This evening Pat will be reading from her latest collection, ‘Dark Light’. Published by Hearing Eye, the book also features original watercolours by the author, and will be available to buy on the night
Zed Books present:
‘Lugo: The Priest of Paraguay’ with Hugh O'Shaughnessy
Saturday 12th September – 5pm till 6.30pm
Paraguay had the oldest one-party regime on earth. Under the 60-year dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner's Colorado party, wealth and power became concentrated in the hands of a small few; until elections in 2008 broke the party's hold on the country and promised a newer, more egalitarian future, particularly for the country's indigenous people.
In ‘The Priest of Paraguay’, Hugh O'Shaughnessy tells the story of how Fernando Lugo, a bishop from a deprived diocese, swept to victory and what this will mean for his country, Latin America and the wider world. He traces Lugo's life alongside the turbulent history of Paraguay - from his early years in a family which fell victim to Stroessner to his release by the Vatican in order to follow a political calling.
The book also examines what may lie in store for the newest addition to Latin America's 'pink tide' of socialist and social democratic countries. This is history of a fascinating but largely unknown country by one of the most respected commentators on Latin America.
Greenpeace and Climate Camp present:
‘Stopping Kingsnorth’
Wednesday 9th September – 7pm till 8.30pm
This evening Housmans will be welcoming guests from Greenpeace and Climate Camp to reflect on this years camp, and to consider future strategies for campaigning against the expansion of the Kingsnorth coal power station.
Greenpeace will be providing details of their forthcoming campaign ‘The Big If’. The campaign asks supporters to make pledges as to what they will do if Ed Miliband gives the go-ahead for a new dirty coal power station at the Kingsnorth site in Kent.
Climate activist Jonathan Stevenson will be talking about this years Climate Camp, and also recalling some of the other recent actions that have been undertaken to try and raise awareness of the governments energy policies.
There will also be a a screening of Nick Broomfield’s short documentary ‘A Time Comes’, which tells the story of the ‘Kingsnorth 6’ – the six Greenpeace volunteers who in 2008 were tried and acquitted for shutting down Kingsnorth power station after scaling a tower at the coal-fired power station.
Last Hours present:
Spoonboy, Apologies I Have None and PJ & Gaby
Friday 4th September – 7pm till 10pm
Last Hours is an online and print zine for the anti-authoritarian, DIY and punk communities, offering news, analysis, interviews and articles about radical culture, be it music, protests, events, books, zines or commix.
This evening the good folk at Last Hours will be hosting a night of top-flight acoustic folk-punk acts. Apologies I Have None and PJ & Gaby’s emotive and outspoken acoustic songs have made them well established names on the scene. Joining them in a rare appearance in the UK will be Spoonboy, already a cult figure in the US, and sure to win over new fans whilst in London.
AUGUST 2009
‘A Historical Walk Through The Radical Jewish East End’
with David Rosenburg
Saturday 29th August – 11am
A walking tour of radical Whitechapel. Soon after you begin your Radical Jewish East End tour you encounter a number of important landmarks:
• Angel Alley where the Jewish anarchist tradition lives on
• Gardiners Corner where East Enders blocked the path to Mosley’s fascists.
and that’s just the start…
During the tour you will find the answer to many questions:
Why did the Jews come to the East End?
Who was Rudolf Rocker and what did he do?
Why was there a riot in Princelet Street in 1904?
Who lived in the Rothschild Buildings?
What was the Workers Circle?
Who was Hannah Billig and why did she refuse a once-in-a-lifetime invitation?
‘London Stories: Personal Lives, Public Histories’ with Hilda Kean
Saturday 29th August – 5pm till 6.30pm
Hilda Kean debunks the melodramatic and romantic clichés that pervade popular conceptions of working-class Londoners in the 19th and 20th centuries. She will be recounting stories of muted historical figures, including an illiterate silk weaver, a grandmother in an asylum, a deserted family, an abused daughter, and a dead child, whose lives intertwine to evoke a haunting and original picture of working-class London that adds a much-needed, though bleak, facet to the city's social history.
Merlin Coverley & Friends - 'Books that London Forgot'
Wednesday 26th August – 7pm to 8.30pm
Merlin Coverley will be joined by writers, publishers and we hope you, to discuss some of the lesser known pieces of London literature.
‘Violent London: 2000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts’ with Clive Bloom
Saturday 22nd August – 5pm till 6.30pm
Some of Clive Bloom's publications are available from our online bookshop here
The complex and fascinating nature of London has provided fertile ground for bestselling social histories by writers like Roy Porter and Peter Ackroyd. For the first time a book explores the capital's secret history - the underground world of radicals and subversives from Boudicca and Wat Tyler to the anti-globalization riots of the Chartists, Suffragettes, Mosleyites and IRA.
‘Violent London’ is an account of political activism expressed in street fighting and slum warfare, assassinations and bombings. The main characters are demagogues and democrats, lunatics and libertarians, bigots and social revolutionaries. The story traces the growth of London as a capital and as a major city, following the people who live, work, demonstrate, fight and die in its violent byways. With its strong characters and dramatic narrative, Violent London is a riveting examination of past and present conflict, revealing a hidden thread in London's living history.
'Local Housing Campaigns in Context’ with Sarah Glynn
Saturday 15th August – 5pm till 6.30pm
From Hackney to Hammersmith, tenants and activists have been fighting a prolonged battle against what has become a persistent assault on the housing and housing standards of those on below average incomes. For that battle to have any chance of success it is important to know what we are up against.
In this talk, Sarah Glynn will be drawing on her recent book, ‘Where the Other Half Lives: lower income housing in a neoliberal world’, to analyse the impact of three decades of neoliberal economic policies that have regarded houses not primarily as homes for living in, but rather as a source of profit. And she will look at how this has resulted in crippling personal debt, rundown social housing, homelessness, mass demolition, unaffordability and now economic crisis.
Sarah is a campaigner as well as an academic and architect, and her interest in understanding what is happening is in order to provide the tools to change it. Her book looks beyond the impact of current top-down policies to examine grass-roots campaigns for better housing and explore possibilities for a different approach to this most fundamental of human needs.
‘The London Free School: Notting Hill 1966 – Counter Culture, Community Action and Carnival Roots’ slideshow and talk by Tom Vague
Wednesday 12th August – 7pm till 8.30pm
Tom Vague is best known for editing the influential punk fanzine ‘Vague’, and also for his contributions to Zigzag magazine. He has since written the liner notes for the Clash’s ‘London Calling’ CD set and continued ‘Vague’ as the London Psychogeography series of books and websites.
‘Vague is an extremely intense, radical, funny, el cheapo, deep-biting English mag with indescribable assortment of subject matter. Ugly as sin, but invaluable.’ Ivan Stang Sub-Genius Foundation
‘Falling Through the Centuries: Liverpool Street to Fleet Street ’
a walk with Tony Gee
Saturday 8th August – 2.30pm
Tony Gee will be leading this walk through the cities avenues, alleyways, courtyards, churchyards and slaughteryards.
Meeting at Liverpool Street and finishing in Fleet Street.
JULY 2009
Alternative Press in London
Wednesday 29th July – 7pm till 8.30pm
A launch event for ‘Anthology’, a book celebrating zines, small presses, self publishing and creativity in the print media. Jimi Gherkin and friends will be exploring what’s happening on the scene in London today.
This is also the first event of the
Alternative Press Festival 2009 - for more information on other events taking place please visit: alternativepress.org.uk/
‘The London Perambulator’ with John Rogers and Nick Papadimitriou
Saturday 25th July – 5pm till 6.30pm
Tracing his days as a Rachman-era Notting Hill hustler, to a 60s counter culture revolutionary, black power activist, and his ultimate descent into Manson-like madness in Trinidad, Williams skilfully captures the era and the man.
In the 1980s writer Ken Worpole interviewed a number of well known novelists and political activists in London's East End, such as Simon Blumenfeld, Alexander Baron, Jack Dash, on how they had mythologised the area in their books and political writings. Here he talks about that making of East End mythology and plays extracts from those recordings. ‘Visionaries, Dissenters and Rebels:
A walking tour of radical Islington. Find out:
A rare screening of John Rogers’ film ‘The London Perambulator’, a documentary portrait of arsonist and ‘deep topographer’ Nick Papadimitriou.
‘Michael X’ with John Williams
Wednesday 22nd July – 7pm till 8.30pm
John Williams recounts the life of Michael X aka Michael de Freitas, aka Abdul Malik, who, as Williams' fascinating biography makes clear, was a more complex figure than the simple monster of popular lore (which is not to say he didn't act in monstrous ways).
‘Dockers and Detectives’ with Ken Worpole
Saturday 18th July – 5pm till 6.30pm
a walk through Islington’s history’ with David Rosenburg
Saturday 18th July – 11am
• Which Islington-based preacher stood up to slavery
• Who used to meet in Clerkenwell’s Jerusalem Passage and why
• Which woman in Islington first proclaimed women’s rights
• Where the “Rights of Man” was written
• Which Islington school was closed because of its radical education
• Who the Spenceans were and why there were riots at Spa Fields
• Which radical newspapers were written in islington…
and discover Islington’s connections with Independence in India, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Civil War and the liberation of South Africa.
‘Blake: London’s Visionary Anarchist’ with Peter Marshall
Wednesday 15th July – 7pm till 8.30pm
Philosopher, historian, biographer, travel writer and poet, Peter Marshall recounts the life of one of London’s finest artists, William Blake.
Marshall offers a lively and perceptive account of his thought, ranging from his philosophy, his critique of existing society and culture, to his vision of a free world. Come along to find out why Blake can be understood as a forerunner of modern anarchism and social ecology, and discover the light which shines behind his symbolism and mythology.
'London' by William Blake
I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear:
How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appalls,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls.
But most, through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.
London Pacifism and Nonviolence Discussion Group:
How Peaceful is Pacifism?
Tuesday 14th July - 7pm till 8.30pm
The launch event for a new London Pacifism and Nonviolence Discussion Group - a group that will be meeting monthly
on the 2nd Tuesday of each month to discuss issues around pacifism and nonviolence. The subject for this month's discussion will be 'How Peaceful is Pacifism?'.
All are welcome, so even if this is a subject you know nothing about, do come along and take part in the discussion.
For any queries please phone Albert Beale on 020-7278 4474.
River Fleet walk with Laura Oldfield Ford
Saturday 4th July – 2.00pm
SAVAGE MESSIAH WALK ALONG THE PATH OF THE RIVER FLEET.
www.savagemessiahzine.com
Laura Oldfield Ford invites you to join a collective tracing of the Fleet, one of London’s lost rivers.
First meeting point 2pm Hampstead tube – Second meeting point 4pm approx Quinns public house, the point where the two tributaries of the Fleet converge. 65, Kentish Town Rd, London, NW1 8NY --end approx 6pm Housman’s Bookshop, Caledonian Road, Kings Cross N1 where we will be showing London films, more info to follow.
This event is free but we will be collecting donations at Housmans for food and drink.
Fleet road/ Gospel Oak Estate/ Irish boozers in Malden road/ Queens crescent Man of Aran pub/ Royal College street/ Rimbaud and Verlaine’s house/ St Pancras churchyard……
JUNE 2009
Zed Books present: ‘The End of Certainty’
with Stephen Chan
Saturday 20th June - 5pm
Stephen Chan argues the case that international politics has failed because the certainties of singular traditions of philosophy fail to help us in understanding power shifts and struggles in an endlessly diverse world. Followed by Q&A and book signing.
Chan argues that fusing different strands of Western, Eastern, religious and philosophical thought, is far more likely to help us understand and move forward amidst uncertainty. In doing so, he takes us on a journey from the battlefields of Eritrea to the Twin Towers, via the Book of Job, Clausewitz, Fanon and Wahabism. You'll never think about politics in quite the same way again.
Stephen Chan is Professor of International Relations and was the foundation Dean of Law and Social Sciences in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He began life as the son of Chinese refugees in New Zealand, studied classics, came to the UK and then spent several years in Africa as an international civil servant.
ISBO present: ‘The Bottom Will Rise and Create a New World’ The International School for Bottom-up Organizing (ISBO) launch their first book, sharing their work in training Revolutionary Organizers, creating and supporting radical grassroots projects across the Americas, and building powerful relationships of solidarity. From a rural Social Action Research Centre and Palenques in Colombia, to the poor Black community of the Lower Ninth Ward in post-Katrina New Orleans, ISBO is organizing and seeking out radical folk passionate and deeply committed to creating a new world from the Bottom Up!
Saturday 13th June - 5pm
This evening London-based members of ISBO will be discussing their work and launching their first book ‘The Bottom Will Rise and Create a New World’.
‘Clear Red Water: Welsh Devolution and Socialist Politics’ with Nick Davies & Darren Williams While the Labour party in Westminster moves further from its roots, alienating its traditional supporters by its readiness to follow the United States into disastrous foreign wars, its tolerance of inequality and its commitment to the free market, a Labour-led administration in Wales has pursued a very different programme, underpinned by a sincere commitment to equality and social justice. In 2002, Welsh first minister, Rhodri Morgan, said that these policies were putting ‘clear red water’ between Wales and Westminster.
Wednesday 17th June - 7pm
This book is a timely examination of the devolution process and the ambitions of the ‘clear red water’ programme, arguing that it draws on Wales’ rich traditions of radical politics, as well as a resurgent national consciousness. Warning of the dangers posed by the incomplete devolution process and the democratic deficit in Labour politics, the authors call on Welsh Labour to consolidate its initial achievements and follow a consistently socialist path to place Wales in the forefront of the struggle for a just and equitable world order.
‘Shamanic Maps of How the Universe Works’ with Leo Rutherford Leo Rutherford distils 30 years of study and experience of the Medicine Wheel, explaining the shamanic understanding of how the world works. Leo’s work hopes to explain how this complex and sophisticated tradition can realign us with the life force from which many of us have been separated.
Wednesday 10th June - 7pm
Grey Hen presents ‘Uncomfortable Poems by Older Women’ Grey Hen’s Joy Howard presents Angela Kirby, Gerda Mayer, Marianne Burton and Berta Freistadt who will be reading poems from their popular new anthology ‘A Twist of Malice: Uncomfortable Poems by Older Women’. All welcome - wine and nibbles.
Saturday 6th June - 5pm
Grey Hen is a new small independent press whose aim is to publish poetry, short fiction and autobiographical work by older women.
Grey Hen collects and shares some of today’s exciting new work by older women; work that is perhaps not being taken up by mainstream publishers. For older women, especially those who have reached their sixties before realising their writing potential, it’s often the case that it is difficult to build up a publishing history in the expected way.
If an older woman has not got ten years to play with before becoming an ‘overnight success’, she does have a special perspective - a lot of years and experience on which to reflect. Grey Hen also feels that older women from minority communities have tales to tell that the wider population often has little access to and so work hard to encourage those unheard women, and give them an opportunity to speak to us all.
This evening Grey Hen’s Joy Howard presents Angela Kirby, Gerda Mayer, Marianne Burton and Berta Freistadt who will be reading poems from their popular new anthology ‘A Twist of Malice: Uncomfortable Poems by Older Women’.
‘Meltdown The End of The Age of Greed’ with Paul Mason Newsnight’ economics editor Paul Mason discusses the financial crash and explains why, love it or loathe it, the neo-liberal era is over. Followed by Q&A and book signing. No Sweat @ Housmans No Sweat regularly host the best nights in politically-charged music, with all proceeds going towards fighting sweatshop bosses around the world. ‘Creatures of the Intertidal Zone’ with Susan Richardson Susan’s collection of poetry, ‘Creatures of the Intertidal Zone’ (Cinnamon Press, 2007), was inspired by her journey through Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland in the footsteps of an intrepid eleventh century female Viking. One of the collection’s central themes is the impact of climate change and other environmental issues on the landscape of the arctic and sub-arctic. “Here is poetry...driven from within into the shape best suited to its purpose. Internal rhyme and assonance...sing out when the poems are read aloud. This is free verse at its finest...Poems in this collection fly without difficulty…I can still feel their impact on my heart” - poet Ann Drysdale “Susan Richardson beautifully marries the landscape of the polar regions with their - and her own - emotional topography. I particularly admire her spirited recreation of Gudrid, that enchanting eleventh century Viking heroine” - travel writer Sara Wheeler “Susan Richardson's journey to the ice, a voyage of personal discovery, has yielded an intriguing harvest” - travel writer and broadcaster Trevor Fishlock
David Douglass was a pitman for 40 years in the coalfields of the Tyne and in South Yorkshire. This book, the second in his trilogy ‘Stardust and Coaldust’, deals with the period from the end of the 60s to the coming to power of Thatcher. In this 15 year period, dramatic events in the world revolution course around the globe. Dave Douglass transports us back to a time conventional histories have tried to forget or bury or rewrite. Women of today owe an enormous debt to the freethinking founders and foremothers of the women’s movement who dared question and confront the religious status quo which demand women’s silence, subjection, servitude and unquestioning obedience. Currently, out of 47 member states of the Council of Europe, only Turkey does not recognise conscientious objection as a human right. Conscientious objectors in Turkey risk repeated prosecution and imprisonment for their refusal to perform compulsory military service. They and their supporters are also frequently prosecuted for speaking out publicly in defence of the right to conscientious objection. To mark International Conscientious Objectors Day Housmans are delighted to welcome Ozgur Heval Cinar and Andreas Speck to discuss this ever-important subject.
Wednesday 3rd June - 7pm
'Meltdown’ tells the story of the financial crash that destroyed the West’ investment banks, brought the global economy to its knees, and began to undermine three decades of neo-liberal orthodoxy. Covering the credit crunch and its aftershocks from the economic front line, BBC journalist Paul Mason explores the roots of the US and UK’s financial hubris, documenting the real-world causes and consequences from the Ford factory, to Wall Street, to the City of London.
In response to the immense challenge now facing the existing economic system, he outlines a new era of hyper-regulated capitalism that could emerge from the wreckage. Paul Mason writes: “The book tells the story of the events of September-October 2008: I’m the economics editor of BBC Newsnight, so I had a ringside seat. It explains how we got here – from the shadow banking system, to subprime, to the commodities speculation that forced a billion people to go without meals in mid-2008. It also explains why, love it or loathe it, the neo-liberal era is over.”
Paul Mason is the economics editor of BBC Newsnight and has covered globalisation and social justice stories from locations across the world, including Latin America, Africa and China. His previous book ‘Live Working, Die Fighting’ was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.
Paul’s blog on the unfolding financial crisis ‘Idle Scrawl’ can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/paulmason.
Saturday 30th May - 6pm to 9pm
This evening No Sweat bring a selection of their favourite artists to Housmans, all playing in an unplugged style. The fantastic line up includes:
Clayton Blizzard - the Finest in Political Hip Hop
Jonny One Lung - emotive and outspoken Folk-Punk
Apologies I Have None – rowdy acoustic magic
Babar Luck -
…plus anti-sweatshop speeches, free drinks and a raffle.
Saturday 23rd May – 5pm
Wednesday 27th May – 7pm
Green Left is an eco-socialist, anti-capitalist current within the Green Party, which started in June 2006 when 36 Green Party members agreed its launch statement (the Headcorn Declaration).
Sarah Farrow, Green Left co-convenor said then: "Activists in the Green Party have founded Green Left because many Greens believe the only path to an ecological, economically and socially just and peaceful society has to be based on an anti-capitalist political agenda.”
This evening guests from Green Left will be discussing their agenda, and launching a new pamphlet on the issues at hand.
Throughout the whole story the air of sexual freedoms, which broke free of constraints in the previous decade survive and prosper. This is a time, when the world was up for grabs, the earth resounded to the world revolutionary impulse. The genii were free from the bottle, and the music was up loud. From where we all stand now, that distant period seems dim and becomes dimmer with every new law and every new brick successive governments have placed on the wall. Soon, they hope, no-one will remember how close we came, to finishing with the whole scumbag system of greed, privilege and power.
Housmans are delighted to welcome long-time coal miner, union activist and revolutionary Dave Douglass to discuss his latest book.
For more information about Dave Douglass please visit www.minersadvice.co.uk/dave.htm
http://libcom.org/tags/dave-douglass
Saturday 16th May – 5pm
The untold story of the feminist movement is that it was sparked and nurtured by women without superstition, by the religious nonconformists and liberals, the unorthodox, the heretics, by the freethinking sceptics, rationalists, agnostic and atheists.
Sue Mayer will be debating the relationship between atheism and feminism, and remembering the freethinking women who challenged religious sway over civil laws and practices so that women may have the rights they possess today.
Sue Mayer is the convenor for London Feminist Freethinkers, a secular feminist group the meets to discuss such issues as where attitudes to women come from, equal representation, pay, pensions and work, women’s role in the family and society, how politics and religion affect women and the family, women’s reproductive rights, autonomy, freedom and equality.
The objection to participation in war is as ancient as war itself. Throughout history people have made use of various methods in order not to partake in war and military organisations. The most direct of these methods -- conscientious objection -- means refusing to perform compulsory military service in the armed forces or any other direct or indirect participation in wars for reasons of conscience or profound conviction.
"The epitome of DIY and underground music" - Neil Sutherland
"Out Of Step keep putting on wicked free and dirt-cheap gigs" - Last Hours fanzine
"The best open mic in the capital" - The Leano
For more information about Out of Step please visit www.myspace.com/outofstepmusicnight
APRIL 2009
Wednesday 29th April – 7pm
Guests from the cutting-edge artist-run Elevator Gallery present a discussion on the meaning of postmodernity, accompanied by a performance by Emma Bennett.
What is Postmodernity? Is it the abandonment of the ‘grand narratives’ of Modernity? Is it a neo-conservative threat to the Enlightenment Project? Is it, according to Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, a global state of schizophrenia – complete with wasps, orchids, black holes, flying bricks and bodies-without-organs? How does Nicolas Bourriaud use these ideas to theorise aesthetics as a system of relations and, more recently, Altermodernism? Come discover answers, to these questions and more, in an engaging introduction to the End of History! Accompanied by an live artistic performance by Emma Bennett.
For more information about Elevator Gallery please visit: www.elevatorgallery.co.uk
Reel News is an activist video collective, set up to publicise and share information on inspirational campaigns and struggles - not just in this country, but across the world. They regularly produce DVDs which capture the latest actions and protests.
The evening they will be launching their latest issue, which will feature exclusive footage from both the G20 actions in London, and the Strasbourg based anti-Nato actions from earlier in the month.
Joining them will be guests from Brighton’s Smash EDO campaign, who will be showing some footage from their continuing campaign, as well as introducing their forthcoming May Day street party. Throughout the month we will also be exhibiting a range of artwork that has come out of the Smash EDO campaign.
See http://www.reelnews.co.uk and www.smashedo.org.uk for more info
Debord and the ‘Society of the Spectacle’
Guests from the cutting-edge artist-run Elevator Gallery present a discussion on Spectacle and Simulacra, with reference to the Situationist International.
How do we understand a world saturated by media images? Do we live in a Society of the Spectacle from which authentic life needs to be recovered? Or, as Jean Baudrillard claimed, is there no reality to speak of, except a hyperreality of media representation? An introduction to these problems, involving screenings of a selection of Debord’s films, to discuss how art can communicate outside of the dominant commodity culture of globalised capitalism, and how political resistance can remain possible in a world where the Gulf-War might not have really happened.
For more information about Elevator Gallery please visit: www.elevatorgallery.co.uk
Housmans are delighted to host the latest exhibition from up- and-coming photographer Sonalle, whose latest work explores ethnic minority domestic violence survivors.
“During our relationship, I asked his family for help but they never helped me. His sister suggested to ignore what he was doing and concentrate on me and the baby. He strangled me on many occasions, so it wasn't easy to ignore what he was doing.”
For more information about Sonalle please visit www.sonalle.com
Saturday 11th April – walk from 3pm, launch at 7pm
Launch party for Laura Oldfield-Ford’s latest issue of her London-focussed, cult psychogeographic zine, which turns its spotlight on Stratford and the Olympic building site.
We will be walking around the city of London and drifting towards Housmans where we will be having drinks and showing films to launch the zine. Meet at Dirty Dicks Public House Liverpool Street 3pm.
Housmans Bookshop, Caledonian Road N1, from 7pm.
Issue 11 is a drift around the Olympic zone and focuses on a particular moment in the build up to the June the 18th Carnival Against Capitalism riots in the City of London. The riots happened in 1999 and were a protest against the ludicrousness of the global financial system. The zine was written after a day of walking around the perimeter fence of the Olympic zone In March 2009 and is a direct response to the mass destruction of the Lower Lea Valley.
“I found the pub soon after that. From the outside it looked ordinary, an estate pub from the late 60s, early 70s, something of a bunker with fortress windows at the front, plastic hanging baskets and St George flags all over it. I thought at first the old man must have got the wrong place but then I could hear the thudding of the sound system inside, the frantic bpm and chaotic vocoder yelps.
As I got closer I saw all these skinhead types outside wearing tie dyed t shirts and temple of psychic youth symbols tattooed on their arms. There were groups staggering about lighting fires and breaking palettes. This party was the continuation of a Saturday all nighter at one of the massive abandoned factories on Carpenters road. They were all off it, topping up on psilosibin after a big weekend of acid and flyagaricks.”
Laura Oldfield Ford - Savage Messiah Issue 11. March 2009
For more information about Savage Messiah please visit savagemessiahzine.com/
Thursday 9th April – 3pm
Housmans welcomes Detroit poet, one-time manager of the band MC5, and leader of the White Panther Party, John Sinclair, who will be signing and talking about the just-published collection of his writings ‘It’s All Good; the John Sinclair Reader'.
‘It’s All Good; the John Sinclair Reader' is an anthology of miscellaneous writings previously published across a number of sources, including music magazines, underground newspapers, album sleeve notes and poetry collections.
There are 44 selections (one for each of Sinclair’s years as a journalist and poet) covering a multitude of subjects. These include Sinclair’s imprisonment for possessing two joints of marijuana, founding the Detroit Artists Workshop, the Motor City’s volatile history during the 60s and 70s, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, North Mississippi Hill Country Blues and the Mardi Gras Indians Of New Orleans. There are also articles on, and interviews with, the likes of MC5, Iggy Pop, Sun Ra, The Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Jack Kerouac, Irma Thomas and Dr John. On top of the reading matter there’s also a 13-track CD of Sinclair’s assorted poetry readings featuring a variety of accompanists, including Wayne Kramer.
Wednesday 8th April – 7pm
Guests from the cutting-edge artist-run Elevator Gallery present a discussion on Derrida and Deconstruction.
What does that mean! Well…ever wondered whether speech is better than writing? Or what the difference is between différence and différance? Or even whether the self-reflexivity of language can cause a crisis in rationality that may undermine the Western tradition of philosophy and the ultimate emancipation of mankind? These questions sound tough, but they needn’t be! Come along to an enjoyable introduction to the oeuvre of Jacques Derrida, and his influence on the political and aesthetic.
For more information about Elevator Gallery please visit: www.elevatorgallery.co.uk
Saturday 4th April at 5pm
Housmans are delighted to welcome Nawal El Saadawi, who will be in London for a rare visit to celebrate the re-issue of four of her classic titles. Nawal will be discussing her life’s work, answering questions and will be signing copies of her books.
Still supremely controversial and relevant today, Nawal has inspired generations of feminists throughout the world. Nawal is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including The Great Minds of the Twentieth Century prize, as well as honorary doctorates from the universities of York, Illinois in Chicago, St. Andrews and Tromso.
“The leading spokeswoman on the status of women in the Arab world.”
The Guardian
“Nawal el Saadawi writes with directness and passion, transforming the systematic brutalisation of peasants and of women in to powerful allegory.”
The New York Times Book Review
Housmans are delighted to welcome Nick Davies, who will be discussing his findings, answering questions and signing copies of book, which is now available in paperback.
MARCH 2009
Housmans Bookshop present the British premiere of ‘Chomsky and Company’, a French produced documentary which critically assesses Noam Chomsky’s body of political thought.
Noam Chomsky has become one of the most well known intellectuals in the world. His books, lectures, film and television appearances have familiarized his rumpled demeanour and revolutionary theories to millions of people, including a number of other influential thinkers and writers.
Co-directors Daniel Mermet and Olivier Azam travel from Boston to Montreal, Toronto to Brussels to uncover the far flung effects of Chomsky's work. Their exhaustive journey touches upon everything from Edward Louis Bernays' advertising techniques to Canadian Normand Baillargeon's ‘Crash Course on Intellectual Defense.’ The film also explicates many of Chomsky's greatest hits while paying particular attention to Chomsky's thesis that the perception of events often comes down to the interests of corporations, whether they're selling arms or selling news coverage.
This is not a complete love-in, however. The filmmakers, coming from a European position, pose a number of challenging questions including some rather pointed inquiries into the ‘Faurisson Affair’--the name given to the scandal that erupted when Chomsky's essay on free speech was used to preface a book by holocaust denier Robert Faurisson.
Covering some of the same turf as Adam Curtis' film The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom? (VIFF 07), Mermet and Azam's film greatly benefits from direct access to the man himself. Love him or loathe him, the sheer volume and scope of Chomsky's work is deeply deserving of a measured and inclusive approach.
Mark Gold discusses the inspiration behind his latest novel ‘Cranks and Revolutions’, a light-hearted drama-documentary of the last fifty years of radical protest in the UK.
Cranks and Revolutions tells the story of two brothers from a family for whom protest has always been a way of life. Brought up in the 1960s on CND marches, fund raising events for the victims of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war and rescuing oiled sea birds after the Torre Canyon disaster, the Bob Dylan inspired Rob goes off to university to be part of the hippy generation, campaigning passionately against the Vietnam War and apartheid.
But while Rob settles down to marriage, children and career, it is his younger brother who maintains the family tradition, involving himself in all the major campaign issues of the day before eventually taking a job with a rapidly growing animal rights organisation in the early 1980s. Against an unsympathetic backdrop of Thatcher and Blair's Britain, Tom Moore sets about convincing the world to become peace-loving vegans.
Cranks and Revolutions is a light-hearted drama documentary of the last fifty years of radical protest in the UK. It is a funny and sympathetic book, full of quirky and amusing events and characters - such as unreconstructed Marxist Aunt Helen, kindly, radical vicar Tony Swallow, suburban High Priestess Denise Oakley and zealous vegan anarchist Septimus the Severe. An alternative political history in the tradition of John O'Farrell's ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ or Jonathan Coe's ‘The Closed Circle’.
Mark Gold was Director of Animal Aid for eleven years and still works part-time for the organisation. He also works for Citizens' Advice. His previous books are ‘Assault & Battery’ (1983), ‘Living Without Cruelty’ (1988), ‘Animal Rights’ (1993), ‘Animal Century’ (1998) and ‘Under A Wanderer’s Star’ (2002).
Saturday 14th March – 2pm
Peace News and Justice Not Vengeance will be hosting an art auction, with all proceeds to benefit Medical Aid for Palestinians and the Free Gaza Movement. The artworks, primarily donated by Hastings artists, include paintings, photographs, brassware and glasswork.
‘Politics & Paranoia’ with Robin Ramsay
Saturday 14th March – 5pm
In ‘Politics & Paranoia’ Robin Ramsay, editor of para-politics journal ‘Lobster’, has published a collection of his lectures on subjects such as covert action, destabilisation, strategic theory, economics, politics, para-politics, Colin Wallace, Fred Holroyd, whistle-blowers, new Zealand, Australia, nuclear weapons, Blair, Brown, espionage, MI5, MI6, CIA, 9/11 conspiracy theories, the rise of New Labour and much more.
Robin will be touching on a selection of topics from the book, answering questions and signing copies of his books.
Praise for Lobster Magazine
Paul Foot
'Lobster is one of the most important magazines to be launched in the post Second World War period in Britain. It has covered a long string of stories boycotted by the other media. How has a magazine with no resources been able to do this? By understanding the the sinister side of our intelligence services - out of control and careless of the consequences of its excesses.'
John Pilger
'Now that the British media, like mainstream politics, has become an echo chamber, one of the rays of light is a journal produced from Hull called Lobster. It is journalism at its best: curious, analytical, wry and indispensable.’
‘Unmasking the State: A Rough Guide to Real Democracy’
with Paul Feldman
Wednesday 18th March – 7pm
Housmans are delighted to welcome Paul Feldman to discuss his latest book ‘Unmasking the State: a rough guide to real democracy’.
The book analyses the historical origins of the contemporary British capitalist state and the long struggle for democracy and political rights, from the Levellers to the Chartists and beyond. It then goes on to describe the changes to the state under globalisation and how representative democracy has been undermined.
Paul also makes a series of proposals for a new, transitional state to extend democracy into workplaces and society as a whole. The talk will be followed by a Q&A and book signing.
"This is a trenchant and timely re-statement of the classical Marxist analysis of the nature of the capitalist state, brought up to date. The aim is to show “how seemingly disparate struggles for rights can find their lasting solution in the struggle for democratic power itself”, and the book sets out ideas as to what a democratic state might look like. This well-informed and sophisticated book can be recommended to students and activists alike." Bill Bowring, Professor of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London
About the speaker
Paul is communications editor for A World to Win (www.aworldtowin.net) and is co-author with Corinna Lotz of a major book, also called “A World to Win”, that presents a detailed analysis of the corporate-driven globalisation process. With Gerry Gold, Paul also authored 'A House of Cards – from fantasy finance to global crash', about the financial crisis.
Saturday 21st March – 6.30pm
In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the miners’ strike, Housmans will be holding a book launch for ‘The Dirty 30' - an oral history of the Leicestershire Miners who struck throughout the entire dispute, written by Dave Bell and published by Five Leaves.
The event will also be a party for the London Support Groups who worked tirelessly through the strike. Housmans' own contribution was the creation of Canary Press which published a series of books about the strike, and the shop was a base for miners and collected many pounds for the strikers. The Canary Press titles will be on sale at the party.
With music and some tales to be told…
This evening will see Anthony Barnett and Peter Facey considering the successes of the campaign to date, and discussing the future possibilities of achieving a more directly democratic parliamentary system in Britain.
Unlock Democracy (incorporating Charter 88) is the UK’s leading campaign for democracy, rights and freedoms. A grassroots movement owned and run by its members, Unlock Democracy campaign for policies that would bring political power closer to the people through a range of parliamentary reform measures.
‘Unlocking Democracy: 20 years of Charter 88’ is a series of essays which look back at what has been achieved and, even more importantly, seeks to identify what needs to be done now. It offers a diverse and challenging collection from across the political spectrum which is sure to stimulate debate. The impressive list of contributors includes Helena Kennedy, Trevor Phillips, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, and Nick Clegg, amongst many others.
For more information please visit:
www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk
FEBRUARY 2009
Saturday 7th February – 5pm
a talk by Ziauddin Sardar
Wednesday 11th February – 7pm
War Resisters’ International launch
‘Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns’
Saturday 14th February – 6pm
Campaign against Climate Change presents:
‘Too Little, Too Late: The Politics of Climate Change’
with Colin Challen MP
Wednesday 18th February – 7pm
Trusty Chords Presents: Squab, Mega Games 2, PJ & Gaby
Saturday 21st February – 6-9pm
The Freethought History Research Group presents:
‘Darwin, Marx and Aveling’
a talk by Terry Liddle
Saturday 28th February – 5pm
JANUARY 2009
with Melissa Ronaldson
Saturday 31st January - 5pm
What is the rational of fasting and the physiology behind it? What exactly does detox mean? What is the point, and can you pick your own liver cleansing herbs yourself along the River Lea in spring time?
A seasonal, practical, and inexpensive look at theses issues from the perspective of medical herbalist, Melissa Ronaldson.
[due to server error events between Oct 08 and Jan 09 are not listed]
OCTOBER 2008
with Paul Flewers
Wednesday 1 October 2008 - 7pm
Paul Flewers will be discussing the impact of Stalinism on British intellectuals and political trends, in the period of Stalin's rule.
The first years of the Soviet Five-Year Plans witnessed an upsurge of interest in the Soviet Union. In hundreds of books and thousands of articles, commentators of all political outlooks expressed their opinions on the novel features of Stalin's Soviet Union - industrial construction and agricultural collectivisation, show trials and state terror, Popular Fronts and collective security.What was the Soviet Union? Was it a totalitarian threat to Western civilisation, or was it a utopia taking shape before our eyes? Was Stalinism the logical outcome of the October Revolution, or did it represent its betrayal? Was there anything that Western countries could learn from the Five-Year Plans? These were just some of the questions asked. Paul Flewers' latest book 'The New Civilisation?: Understanding Stalin's Soviet Union 1929-1941' uncovers and comments on a vast range of material published in Britain, from the far left to the far right, from the well known to the downright obscure, on all aspects of the Soviet Union during 1929-1941, and draws out the impact of the Soviet experience upon British intellectuals and political trends. Paul Flewers has been involved in left-wing politics since the 1970s. He studied at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, where he obtained his PhD. He is a member of the editorial boards of Revolutionary History and New Interventions. 'The New Civilisation?: Understanding Stalin's Soviet Union 1929-1941' by Paul Flewers
RRP: £12.99
Paperback: 299 pages
Publisher: Francis Boutle Publishers (21 Jul 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1903427401
ISBN-13: 978-1903427408
with Michael Eaude
Saturday 4 October - 5pm
Michael Eaude, author of 'Barcelona: the City that reinvented itself', talks about radical Barcelona, ranging from recent community struggles with developers, to the Spanish Civil War. Michael Eaude lives in Barcelona where he is active in the anti-capitalist movement. He is fluent in Catalan, Spanish and English. "Partly a jauntily erudite guide to the city, partly a sharply written history, Eaude's book excels at spiking his deft snapshots of squares, bars and sites with flavoursome fragments of Catalan lore and literature. Unlike other Barcelona boosters, Eaude knows how hard the road from Franco to freedom proved, and shows us the marks of that struggle.
The city's candid friend, but no hyper merchant, he is the kind of companion who even knows (say) that Placa George Orwell was one of the first spots to have CCTV. So Big Brother is watching you - or was, till anarchists severed the cables." - The Independent 'Barcelona: The City That Re-invented Itself' by Michael Eaude
RRP: £9.99
Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Five Leaves Publications (29 April 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1905512147
ISBN-13: 978-1905512140
writers and the East End'
with Ken Warpole
Wednesday 8 October - 7pm
Ken Warpole talks about East End writers - past and present, based on the new edition of his book 'Dockers and Detectives'. Long unavailable but in demand, Ken Worpole's pioneering study of twentieth-century working class reading and writing in Britain helped revive a number of literary reputations, such as those of Alexander Baron and James Hanley, as well as distinguishing distinct regional literary cultures and narrative styles still existing in Britain. Dockers and Detectives was Ken Worpole's first book, and was widely reviewed and praised on publication. For many years, Ken Worpole has been one of the shrewdest and sharpest observers of the English social landscape." - The Independent Ken Worpole is the author of a number of books on architecture, landscape and social history, including Last Landscapes and Here Comes the Sun. He writers regularly for the Guardian, Prospect, Times Higher Education Supplement and other papers. Ken lives in Hackney and is currently working on a book on childhood. www.worpole.net/
Dockers and Detectives
Worpole, Ken
Five Leaves Publications
ISBN: 978-1-905512-37-9
Pages: 120
Price: £8.99 (Paperback)
and the Myth of 'Work-Life Balance'
with Sheila Cohen
Saturday 11 October - 5pm
Sheila Cohen leads off a discussion on her recent pamphlet, which examines the largely hidden topic of work today and its increasing intensification and 'extensification' towards ever-longer working hours. New Labour's rhetorical embrace of 'work-life balance' suggests a utopia of ever-increasing leisure - but the opposite is happening. The reality of life at work is tough, but exposing the myths doesn't have to be. Sheila's pamphlet "What's Happening?? The Truth About Work and the Myth of 'Work-Life Balance'" contains lively and jargon-free accounts by workplace union activists of what's really going on - and what they, and we, can do about it. Come along and join the debate! Sheila Cohen (NUJ/UCU) is Education and Publications Officer of the National Shop Stewards Network and author of Ramparts of Resistance: Why Workers Lost Their Power, and How to Get It Back.
Wednesday 15th October7pm
Bernard Kops reads from his poetry, memoir and fiction, taking in his change from East End boy to Soho writer in the 60s, by way of mental breakdown and drug addiction. Bernard's' autobiography 'The World is a Wedding' has recently been re-issued by Five Leaves. The book marks his change from East End boy to Soho writer in the 60s, by way of mental breakdown and drug addiction. He will also be reading from his poetry, memoir and fiction in 'Bernard Kops' East End'.
hosted by Five Leaves
Wednesday 22 October 7pm
From Rudolf Rocker to the Battle of Cable Street via Lenin, the Jewish East End has a radical past unique to Britain. Bill Fishman has authored such works as 'East End Jewish Radicals' and 'The Streets of East London', which bring to life the tales of the political struggles of anarchism, socialism, communism and anti-fascism.
Unfortunately, due to ill health, Bill Fishman will not be able to read from his work as planned - however, colleagues from his publishers at Five Leaves will be presenting an evening of discussion sure to inform and entertain.
Reviews for East End Jewish Radicals 1875-1914"Brilliantly chronicled" - AJP Taylor
"An extraordinary period described by an inspired storyteller" - Arnold Wesker
"An immensely readable work, it should attract a large and enthusiastic audience" - Paul Avrich
SEPTEMBER 2008
Wednesday 3 September – 7 pm (talk) ‘Remembering Franz Jägerstätter’ with Gerry McFlynn
Vice-president of Pax Christi Gerry McFlynn will be commemorating the life of Franz Jägerstätter, the Austrian farmer who refused to serve in the Nazi army on grounds of conscience. As in most countries at the time, refusal to serve mandatory military service in war time was a criminal offence in Germany, and Jägerstätter was sentenced to death and executed.
When German troops moved into Austria in 1938, Jägerstätter was the only person in the village to vote against the Anschluss. Although he was not involved with any political organisation, and did undergo one brief period of military training, he remained openly anti-Nazi, and publicly declared he would not fight in the war – a decision he paid for with his life.
Jägerstätter’s story reminds us of the importance of saying No - and as such serves as inspiration for all those who seek to face the injustices of our times.
Wednesday 10 September– 7pm (talk) Meeting with Julian Ovalle - Colombian Conscientious Objector. Hosted by War Resisters International
*subject to Julian Ovalle receiving a visa (see below)
Colombia is a country with more than 50 years of armed conflict, especially affecting young people, who are at risk of being recruited by the state military, paramilitary groups, or the different guerrilla groups. However, many young people no longer wish to be part of the armed conflict, and want to opt out. They choose nonviolence and conscientious objection to service in any of the armed groups as their alternative – a choice that carries its own risks.
Julian Ovalle is a conscientious objector and activist with Collective Action of Conscientious Objectors in Bogota. He will talk about the situation in Colombia, the recruitment practice of the different armed actors in Colombia, and the work of the movement for conscientious objection in Colombia.
Julian will be speaking in Spanish, but translation will be provided by colleagues from War Resisters’ International.
*IMPORTANT NOTE: Please call Housmans or WRI to confirm the event is taking place, as at the time of publication the British consulate has not yet confirmed that they will give Julian Ovalle a visa – however we remain hopeful.
Saturday 13 September – 5pm (book event/talk) ‘War & Women's Activism’ with Cynthia Cockburn and friends
The international feminist antimilitarist network Women in Black will be hosting an evening of discussion on the subject of the role of women's activism against war. Leading the discussion will be academic and Women in Black member Cynthia Cockburn, whose latest book ‘From Where We Stand: War, Women's Activism and Feminist Analysis’ explores in depth many of the dynamics of international feminist anti-militarist groups.
As part of the event, Housmans will also be exhibiting a series of photographs taken by Cynthia, which document the many women’s anti-war actions that she has been present at over the years.
Signed copies of Cynthia’s latest book, and previous work, will also be available.
Friday 19 September – 7pm (book event/talk) ‘The Necessity of Permaculture’ with Graham Burnett
“History is littered with societies that over- exploited their resources; they are all now extinct. We are rapidly moving to the same situation. By designing rationally however, we can set up the systems we need for good living in such a way that they don’t destroy or pollute. Permaculture is the most coherent system yet devised.”- Steve Reed, Permaculture designer and teacher.
What is Permaculture? Why do we need Permaculture? What are Permaculture ethics and the principles of working with nature’s patterns? What are the basics of the Permaculture design process? What are concepts such as zones, sectors, edge, stacking and succession, and how they can work for us? How can you use Permaculture practically in your life, home, garden, land or community, whatever your situation?
An experienced permaculture practioner, designer and teacher, Graham Burnett will be providing all the answers. His latest booklet on the subject, ‘Permaculture, a Beginners Guide’ will encourage you to apply its ethics and principles of sustainability, and working with rather than against nature, to your land (whether it’s a windowbox or a 1000-hectare farm), your community and your life.
Wednesday 24 September – 7.15pm (book launch/talk/songs) 'Thank you Greenham: one woman's memories of direct action' with author Kate Evans, singer Frankie Armstrong, anti-nuclear
worker Rebecca Johnson and current activist Mell Harrison.
“Honest, brave and funny....I loved it” - Bruce Kent
In 1982 headline news of 30,000 women encircling the US base at Greenham Common shook the nation out of its paralysed fear of nuclear war preparations. Soon a photo of women dancing on the weapons silos at dawn on New Years Day went round the world. Fear turned to action as, inspired and encouraged by the women camping there, ‘Greenham women’ began doing direct actions up and down the country. They changed the pattern of protest and their lives as well as the nuclear climate.
Kate Evans took part in some Greenham actions, witnessed others, and has written up her memories in dramatic, moving and often amusing narrative.
Frankie Armstrong is a singer with over 40 years in the folk, women’s and peace movement. From the early days of the Vietnam War, to the recent concert for Musicians Against Nuclear Arms, she has sung to raise spirits and awareness.
Rebecca Johnson was a Greenham camper and activist, and has worked in the anti-nuclear field for 25 years. She will relate Greenham to current feminist anti-nuclear activity."
Mell Harrison, a current anti-nuclear activist, will talk about current direct action.
'Thankyou Greenham' is an honest, brave and funny account of how Greenham made Kate Evans aware of her potential and of her power to make positive change happen. I loved it.' Bruce Kent
Saturday 27 September from 5pm Book Launch
John Green introduces his new book Engels: A Revolutionary Life
Friedrich Engels supported his friend and comrade Karl Marx financially and he contributed massively to his thought, activity and writings. John Green will introduce his major new biography of Engels, followed by a discussion.
AUGUST 2008 - Latin America
Saturday 2nd August - 6pm ' Why Workers are they Key to Tackling Climate Change' - with Paul Hampton
Paul Hampton from the Labour Research Department will be hosting an evening of discussion and debate that places socialism and workers' control at the heart of the battle against environmental destruction.
Wednesday 6th August 7pm - Che in Verse.
Gavin O'Toole from Aflame Books will give an introductory talk on the Aflame books title 'Che in Verse', followed by readings and a discussion.
He was the last armed prophet - and became the first truly global icon of the modern era following his death at the hands of the CIA-backed Bolivian army. Complex and charismatic, Ernesto “Che” Guevara has been immortalised in popular culture as the archetypal, self-sacrificing rebel with a cause. His martyr’s death on 9 October 1967 transformed him into the poster-boy of revolution - but also inspired poets and songwriters the world over to put pen to paper.
To coincide with the 40th anniversary of his execution, Che in Verse reproduces 134 poems and songs from 53 countries about this enigmatic Argentine-Cuban revolutionary. It examines how Che was celebrated or remembered from before his death to the present day, and it explores why Guevara - himself a gun-toting poet - has achieved a level of sanctification comparable to Christ.
Edited by Gavin O’Toole and Georgina Jiménez, Che in Verse is published by Aflame Books. It brings together contributions both published and unpublished by poets and songwriters living and dead - ranging from Che’s fellow revolutionaries and anti-colonial freedom-fighters to two Nobel Prize winners, a gay rights activist, Brazil’s minister of culture, a Cistercian monk, and a Cuban prisoner of conscience languishing in the “Alcatraz of the Rockies”.
Gavin O’Toole is an academic and journalist who conducted research for Che in Verse under the auspices of the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London, while a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow. His first two books were Politics Latin America (2007) and the translation of Oswaldo Salazar’s From the Darkness (2007). Georgina Jiménez Reynoso is a Mexican freelance writer and translator. She has translated and written for several British newspapers and writes book and film reviews for the Latin American Review of Books.
Wednesday 13th August 7pm - Colombia Solidarity presents a talk on the violence in Colombia and its roots, tbc.
Wednesday 20th August 7pm - Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment
'Once the most lucrative European colony in the Caribbean, Haiti has long been one of the most divided and impoverished countries in the world. In the late 1980s a remarkable popular mobilization known as Lavalas, or “the flood,” sought to liberate the island from decades of US-backed dictatorial rule. After winning a landslide election victory, in 1991 the Lavalas government led by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown by a bloody military coup. Damming the Flood analyzes how and why Aristide’s enemies in Haiti, the US and France made sure that his second government, elected with another overwhelming majority in 2000, was toppled by a further coup in 2004.
The elaborate international campaign to contain, discredit and then overthrow Lavalas at the start of the twenty-first century was perhaps the most successful act of imperial sabotage since the end of the Cold War. Its execution and its impact have much to teach anyone interested in the development of today's political struggles in Latin America and the rest of the post-colonial world.' - Promotional copy from Verso Books, see: www.versobooks.com
Saturday 23rd August 5pm - Film Screening 'Territorio Pacificado'.
'On February 21, 2005, Colombian army units attacked two hamlets in the San Jose community in north-western Colombia. The soldiers brutally killed six people including two children and a baby. Those murdered were members of the peace community San Jose de Apartado. In 1997 the farmers had decided to declare neutrality and refrain from cooperation with any of the armed groups in the war-torn Uraba region - be it the state, paramilitaries, or the guerrilla. After decades of displacement the community hoped that neutrality would allow them to stay on their land.
In the face of continuing attacks, the people hold on to their project which they call 'el proceso'. 'El proceso' stands for the search for political alternatives in a conflict profiting few and victimizing many.' - cover text.
Monday 25th August 6pm - London Anarchist Forum present author Uri Gordon talking about his book Anarchy Alive!
Activist and journalist Uri Gordon introduces his new book which described how "anarchist groups and networks are spreading an ethos of direct action, non-hierarchical organising and self-liberation that has redefined revolutionary struggle for the twenty-first century." Uri's only appearance in Britain.
Wednesday 27th August 7pm - Film screening 'Brad: one more night at the barricades' - remembering the death of an activist in Oaxaca, Mexico
When Mexican paramilitary forces shot Brad Will in the chest, killing him, his camera fell from his hands, But it didn't stop recording. It continued moving from hand to hand, telling Brad's story, as well as the story of the movement of movements he was a part of.
JULY 2008
Wednesday 2nd July 7pm
BOOK LAUNCH & TALK
The NHS is 60- undervalued, underfunded and undermined, Radical History Network
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the NHS, the Radical History Network (RaHN) has published a booklet which outlines some ideas we have about the health service. In particular we are keen to expose the conspiracy of the Labour government to privatise large parts of it, with a view to establishing a health care market, American style. At present we are seeing the start to the process with the government imposing a health clinic (almost certainly funded and run by the insurance companies) in every area in UK, which doctors are being required to move into. This is the thin end of the wedge – new buildings to be run by US style health management organisations, basically insurance companies.
Of course the UK National Health Service is still to a certain extent “The Envy of the World”. With its provision of medical care, for even the poorest, with no extra payment on delivery, despite the attacks, open and hidden, the NHS is a tribute to the million or so staff who daily work hard to provide services.
However the hard reality is that the NHS is at present undergoing consistent sabotage from within. Cleverly disguised by rather grand schemes like that of Lord Darzi, Gordon Brown and big business are attempting a take- over. This will be a money based system, with private insurance as the entry point. We know from news seeping of the market dominated countries, of people dying on the streets, of the insurance exclusions. The film SiCKO exposes this as a warning we would do well to learn. Unless we stop this scandal, we will soon have a national wealth service.
At this meeting, we are inviting several of the authors who have contributed to the booklet. The writers were Liz Willis, Alan Woodward, Dale Evans, Peter Sartori and Paulette Case Robinson, Lesley Fisher and Terry Burton, Janet Shapiro and Melissa Ronaldson. There is also a short history of the London Health Emergency, and extracts from their 1984 booklet on hospital occupations. Finally the statement from ‘Keep our NHS Public’ presents a critique of the early Darzi document. The book is illustrated with cartoons and concludes by reprinting Bertolt Brecht's worker's address to a doctor. A directory of organisations is included. The book is selective, not comprehensive.
The booklet begins with historical analysis, looks at conflicts and strikes, examines other issues and concludes with the current situation. The primary theme is that the libertarian idea of a locally controlled health service, freed of capitalist and State domination, is the way to secure a service that is responsive to the needs of the population.
There will be a formal book launch at Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, King’s Cross N1, at 7 pm on Wednesday 2 July. This is close to the actual anniversary on the 5th. Please come and bring a friend, refreshments provided.
Thursday 3rd July 7pm
TALK
How local authorities are investing in unscrupulous corporations, hosted by the London Local Authorities Pension Campaign
A talk marking the launch of a new campaign that aims to disclose how local authorities are investing funds from our council taxes and pension schemes into some of the world’s most unscrupulous corporations – often without knowing it.
By collecting data through the Freedom of Information act, and networking with a range of anti-corporate and corporate accountability campaign groups and individuals, a picture has emerged in which local authorities are investing in companies that are raping the environment, profiting from war, and trampling over human rights. The campaign has received support from Corporate Watch, Campaign Against Arms Trade, Islington Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and FairPensions amongst others.
Wednesday 9th July 7pm
BOOK EVENT & TALK
How to Live Off-Grid, by Nick Rosen
The word 'off-grid' refers to places or people without mains water, power or phone line. Off-grid locations can range from private islands to tree-houses; the people living there might be back-packers, international business travellers or hippies; they may move around in buses or yachts, houseboats or 4-wheel drives. All are outside or in between the criss-crossing lines of power, water and phone that delineate the civilised world. Some are trying to save the planet, some live that way because it is all they can afford, some just want the freedom.
Nick Rosen’s book ‘How to Live Off-Grid’ is about that physical sense of off-grid. But it is also about taking the off-grid attitude into your local park or your own back garden. It is part travelogue as Nick Rosen, his wife and baby take off in a camper van to visit off-gridders representing every aspect of living off-grid - on land and water, metaphorical and actual, rural and city. And it is also a guide to avoiding the pitfalls and finding the best solutions for going off-grid yourself.
The Author
Nick Rosen is an award-winning documentary-maker, journalist and media analyst. He has produced and directed documentaries for ITV, Channel 4 (including Brezhnev's Daughter which won Best International Programme: New York Film and TV Festival 1994, and the widely praised documentary for PBS and C4 about the rebuilding of the World Trade Centre in New York) and for BBC Radio 4. In 1995 he founded one of the first UK Web-design companies and he wrote the Durlacher Report, a financial study of the Internet which spawned a generation of Internet investors.
Saturday 12th July, 5pm - 'Dancing in the No-fly Zone: A Woman's Journey Through Iraq' with Hadani Ditmars
Hadani Ditmars’ best selling book ‘Dancing in the No Fly Zone’ (chosen by the Toronto Globe and Mail as one of 100 best and most influential books of 2005) recounts her time in Iraq from 1997 until the autumn of 2003, and is one of the few recent books on Iraq that covers pre- and post-invasion reality. In this evening’s talk Hadani will be exploring the devastating effect that this most recent invasion has had on civil and cultural life, not least in the domination of religion over secular life.
"‘Dancing in the No Fly Zone’ …touches places in the nation’s soul that horror headlines never reach." - Boyd Tonkin, literary critic of the London Independent.
Wednesday 16th July, 7pm - Film screening of 'How Cuba Survived Peak Oil'
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call ‘The Special Period.’ The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.
‘The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil’ is a project of The Community Solution, a non-profit organisation that designs and teaches low-energy solutions to the current unsustainable, fossil fuel-based, industrialised, and centralised way of living.
This screening is hosted by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, who will be introducing the film and running a question and answer session afterwards.
The film runs at 53 mins, and is exempt from classification.
www.powerofcommunity.org
www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk
Saturday 19th July, 5pm - 'Producing Urban Order: Cleaning Up King's Cross' - film and discussion
Inspired by the Foucauldian notion of Society of Control, MA students from the department of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths College, have created a series of short films and pamphlets exploring King’s Cross as an area of urban transformation. Focusing on the role played by the new terminal of St Pancras International as a catalyst for urban development, their work draws upon an extensive archive of mapping, field work and theoretical engagement.
Through encounters with institutional and informal networks the group produces counter-cartographies, video interviews, visual documentation and a lexicon of key terms as tools to initiate critical debate on the local and global forces shaping the area.
This evening’s event will take the form of screening of three short films with room for discussion and comment throughout.
Wednesday 23rd July, 7pm - Campaign against Climate Change
Campaign against Climate Change – ‘Climate Camp and beyond…’
The Campaign against Climate Change, based upstairs from Housmans at 5 Caledonian Road, has been central in mobilising the population of Britain to stand up against the lack of action being taken by business and government in tackling this potentially catastrophic issue. This evening a range of supporters from this Campaign and from other climate campaign groups will be talking about the forthcoming Climate Camp, and looking forward to the future.
"We need to put climate change right at the top of the political agenda — it is by far the biggest threat to humanity. We have to turn this into the primary political campaign. That means keeping on the streets, keeping up the demonstrations and putting an enormous amount of pressure on our politicians." George Monbiot, Honorary President
www.campaigncc.org
www.climatecamp.org.uk
Saturday 26th July, 6pm - Newsnight's Paul Mason discusses syndicalism and workers' struggles
We are delighted to welcome Newsnight’s Economics Editor Paul Mason, to talk about his book ‘Live Working or Die Fighting’, in which he compares the struggles of the global working classes of today, with those of the late 1800’s (the first time the working class went global). In this evening’s talk Paul will be focussing on the significance of syndicalism in those early formations of class solidarity.
Wednesday 30th July, 7pm - Peter Cox discusses the cultural impact of the Radio Ballads, as explored in his new book 'Set in Song'
Peter Cox's new book ‘Set Into Song - Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker, Peggy Seeger and the Radio Ballads’ tells the story of a remarkable collaboration, one which produced a groundbreaking series of eight hour-long radio programmes for the BBC. The first, The Ballad of John Axon, was originally broadcast on 2 July 1958, and this evenings event will be marking its 50th anniversary.
Uniquely, the programmes took the speech of working people, until then almost always voiced by actors, and allowed them to tell their own stories. They told them into the new 'Midget' mobile tape recorder wherever they lived and worked - in railway yards, on fishing vessels, down pits, on bulldozers, in Traveller encampments. Their stories were woven together by Ewan MacColl with songs that he wrote specially for the programmes, after listening intensely to the language and rhythms of the voices, and by the young Peggy Seeger, who designed the musical setting and directed the performers. The programmes were rehearsed and recorded under the overall direction of the visionary Birmingham radio producer Charles Parker, a pioneer of the new painstaking art of tape splicing.
The radio ballads were hugely influential on what became the folk revival movement, and broke ground in challenging the domination of ‘Queen’s English’ on the BBC. Peter Cox lovingly explores this subject in his new book, and in this evening’s talk he will be playing extracts from the ballads and recounting his research.
www.setintosong.co.uk
Listen to the original radio ballads here:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/radioballads/original
JUNE 2008
Tuesday 3rd June - 7pm
Aidan Andrew Dun
Acclaimed poet, author of 'Vale Royal', 'Universal', 'The Uninhabitable City', 'Salvia Divinorum' and 'Rimbaud Psychogeographer' - see www.aidandun.com
"Rimbaud, undoubtedly the most important poet since Dante, lived in London during the most critical phase of his brief career. 'Rimbaud, Psycogeographer' reveals that the French poet and seer encoded, in fantastic detail, a specific London cityscape into his famous 'Illuminations'.
"This is the place of power known as Kings Cross, the holy zone of a long secret tradition, the sacred ground proposed by William Blake as the New Jerusalem." - Jacket copy from Rimbaud, Psychogeographer.
Wednesday 4th June - 7pm
Torriano Poets for Peace
Thursday 5th June 7pm
One Eye Grey
Shape shifting rats and feral pigs in the Fleet, lost zoos, pagan estate agents, Camden cannibals, ghosts of politicians and peculiar graveyards. Find out about some of London's more peculiar tales. Chris Roberts talks about the strange London stories that have gone into One Eye Grey - the 21st Century penny dreadful.
Wednesday 11th June - 7pm
Squatting in London
For decades the squatting of vacant property has played an important role in the history of London; from the mass squatting by families who lost their homes in the blitz of World War Two, to the recent squatting by homeless migrant workers. But London’s squat scene has also been a hotbed of political resistance, not least in the squatted social centres that today provide one of the few spaces in our city where counter-culture flourishes untainted.
Representatives from three of London’s best-known squatted social centres, Hackney Social Centre, 56a Info-shop, and Wominspace, will be hosting an informal talk at Housmans to discuss the current state of the squat scene, to share experiences on resisting eviction, and to give advice on how to set up your own squat successfully.
Thursday 12th June - 7pm
Stewart Home brings you a trippy night of occultism, sex and London
psychogeography to celebrate the first publications in Book Works Semina
series. Readings by Stewart Home, Maxi Kim, author of One Break, A
Thousand Blows! and Bridget Penney author of Index. More details...
Friday 13th June - 7pm London’s Feminist Library
- Is women’s liberation history worth saving? London is lucky to be home to a number of radical libraries, but unfortunately many are under threat. Come and join members of the Feminist Library management group to find out about their unique collection of Women's Liberation books, pamphlets, magazines, posters, badges ... and how they are trying to save it, who is trying to stop them, and what you can do to help.
feministlibrary.co.uk
Saturday 14th June - 5pm
Songs from the Hub with Rob Inglis.
Rob Inglis and his Musical Flying Squad will be performing their unique and uplifting blend of London songs, which effortlessly bring to life many gems from local history .
Rob has been instrumental in supporting the arts within the King’s Cross area, and co-ordinates artsXchange, a partnership of community and cultural that seeks to nurture our separate cultural activities and share them with one another to increase mutual understanding.
www.musicalflyingsquad.org.uk/artsxchange
Wednesday 18th June 2008 - 7pm
The London Nobody Knows (Norman Cohen, UK 1967, 53 min) + Les Bicyclettes De Belsize (Douglas Hickox, UK 1969, 29min)
A hymn to forgotten and now largely non-existent parts of the capital, ‘The London Nobody Knows’ stars James Mason as our guide who takes us around pie-and-mash shops, Victorian theatres and ‘gentlemen’s lavatories’. This is a little-seen London classic, noted for its compassionate treatment of the poor and down-and-outs. With London transforming at an astonishing rate, this film serves a crucial function by beautifully documenting and preserving our city’s collective memory.
The film will be shown along with the short ‘Les Bicyclettes de Belsize’, a stunning evocation of late sixties attitude, love and London.
The London Nobody Knows has just recently had a DVD release on Optimum Home Entertainment – please contact the shop if you’re interested in a copy.
Thursday 19th June - 6.30pm
Freeborn Traveller by Grattan Puxon
- Based on real events during the 1960s, including the legendary stand made by the Travelling People at Cherry Orchard near Ballyfermot, this remarkable novel tells the story of a young English couple who join with the Travellers, get mixed up with the IRA and find themselves personae non gratae with the Irish state and church.
Friday 20th June - 7pm Spinning Room Poets.
We are delighted to welcome for the first time this well-established group of North London-based poets, who will be showcasing four new, exciting anthologies: ‘Footprints on Africa and Beyond’ by Jennifer Johnson (published by Hearing Eye),‘Siren Song’ by John Snelling, ‘Accidents of Birth’ by Richard Leigh and ‘Sermons of Sedition’ by Murray Shelmerdine (all published by Nettle Press).
Saturday 21st June - late afternoon till late
The Housmans Solstice Party + Savage Messiah Psychogeographic Solstice Drift
More excuses for parties! We’re going to celebrate the longest day of the year in fine style, by bringing the spirit of Stonehenge to King’s Cross! With plenty of refreshment and music, come and join us for a drink and a chat.
Then all those willing to be led of into the sunset are welcome to join cult London zine-star Laura Oldfield Ford, of ‘Savage Messiah’ fame, on a psychogeographic drift into the urban wilderness (for more details on the route please contact the shop).
www.lauraoldfieldford.com
www.savagemessiahzine.com
Wednesday 25th June - 7pm
Occult London with Merlin Coverley
What Merlin Coverley doesn’t know about London isn’t worth knowing, and we are thrilled to have Merlin back at Housmans to launch his latest book ‘Occult London’.
London, perhaps more than any other city, has a secret history concealed from view. Behind the official façade promoted by the heritage industry lies a city of esoteric traditions and obscure institutions, of lost knowledge and hidden locations. ‘Occult London’ rediscovers this hidden history, unearthing the secret city and its forgotten inhabitants.
Today a concern for such hidden traditions has returned and Merlin Coverley explores this revival of interest in the occult tradition, one that accords well with emerging New Age philosophies, the interest in London's Ley Lines, in alternative histories, and in psychogeography.
The book itself is a must for any Londoner, and also included is an Occult Gazetteer: An A-Z of London's most resonant Occult Locations, from Abney Park cemetery to Wellclose Square, with a series of short descriptive entries including postcode, nearest tube, and map.
Friday 27th June 7pm - Out of the Woods.
Out of the Woods come nine stories that will propel you into life and death, love and loss, comedy, tragedy and alien invasion. More taxing than television, less calorific than chocolate, longer lasting than sex, this collection will bring pleasure and delight to the curious and discerning reader – and discerning readers should make their way down to Housmans to hear these brilliant short stories read by their London-based authors.
MAY 2008
As part of the
"All Power to the Imagination - 1968 and its Legacies"
season in London, Housmans will be hosting the following events. Also see the Housmans 1968 booklist page. Other excellent resources are: www.1968andallthat.net
www.1968.org.uk and www.nationalpsychogeographic.com
Saturday 3rd May - 5pm
Book Launch / Talk: Lou Rowan - Fiction for Justice
Housmans are very proud to welcome celebrated American author, Lou Rowan, to London for the UK launch of two new pieces of fiction, the novel My Last Days and short story collection Sweet Potatoes, as part of the Housmans '1968 and All That' season.
Wednesday 7th May - 7pm
Torriano Poets for Peace
Keeping the spirit of '68 alive, Torriano Poets for Peace will be hosting an evening of the best in peace poetry and song. This month's session will feature contributions from Valeria Melchioretto, Hylda Sims, Dan Kennedy, and songs from Eric Levy. Hosted by John Rety.
Friday 9th May - 7pm till late
The Official "1968 and All That" launch party
'68 music, film, drinks and guests. All welcome. In conjunction with the '1968 and All That' conference and book fair.
Saturday 10th "1968 and All That" Conference at Conway Hall (Red Lion Square, London WC1) 10am-10pm - see www.1968andallthat.net
Housmans will have a stall at the event all day. (The shop will be closed)
Sunday 11th May - 12noon-6pm
Housmans "1968 and All That" after party
An informal chance to meet up with drifting guest speakers, and watch '68 films. Good Jeff Laster of the Synergy Project will give a talk on Free Love at 1pm.
Tuesday 13th May - 7pm
Book Launch: Rebel, Rebel with Bibi van der Zee
Guradian journalist Bibi van der Zee launches "Rebel, Rebel", an easy-to-use handbook designed to turn any concerned citizen into a successful activist.
Wednesday 14th May - 7pm
Psychogeography with Merlin Coverley
A chance to take part in an informal Q&A with Merlin Coverley, and explore the importance of psychogeography across the decades. Merlin is the author of the essential guide to the subject, simply entitled 'Psychogeography' - available at Housmans now.
Thursday 15th May - 7pm
"We will not fight!" with Will Ellsworth-Jones
To mark International Conscientious Objectors' Day, Will Ellsworth-Jones will be talking about his WW1 book 'We Will Not Fight'.
Saturday 17th May - 5pm
Savage Messiah
Bringing the '68 spirit of imagination, confrontation and psychogeography into the present, the Savage Messiah collective launch the latest issue of their cult zine.
Tuesday 20th May - 1-2pm
Naomi Klein book signing
In a late addition to our May programme of events, we're pleased to announce that Naomi Klein will be visiting Housmans to sign copies of the new paperback version of her book The Shock Doctrine on 20 May. See www.naomiklein.org
Naomi Klein will also be at Friends Meeting House on 19 May for the launch of the paperback edition of her latest book, Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. She will be discussing her book and the corporate takeover of Iraq. The Hands Off Iraqi Oil campaign will be hosting the event. See www.waronwant.org for tickets.
Wednesday 21st May - 7pm
Esther Leslie on Walter Benjamin
Esther Leslie will be discussing the radical influence of Walter Benjamin on the activists and thinkers of 1968.
Wednesday 28th May - 7pm
Nick Heath on '68
Nick Heath will be giving us his take on the events of 1968 from an anarchist perspective.
Friday 30th May 2008 - 7pm
'68, '78, '88: From Women's Liberation to Feminism
In May 1988, this groundbreaking anthology of Women's Liberation history was published, to mark the 20th anniversary of the May events.
Saturday 31st May 2008 - 6pm
Peace News presents "Investigation of a Flame: A Documentary Portrait of the Catonsville Nine"
APRIL 2008
Wedenesday 16th April, 7pm BOOK LAUNCH/TALK:
Final Silence by Ronald Flores, translated from the Spanish-language original by Gavin O’Toole
Exploring the impact of torture, psychological warfare and the Guatemalan civil war, Final Silence is a compelling drama that examines the emotional wounds that blighted a generation.
This book is unique because it is the second of only two Guatemalan novels to have been published in English since 2006, and won the prestigious Mario Monteforte Toledo literary prize open to writers in Central America.
Housmans are delighted to welcome Ronald Flores, who will be flying in from Guatemala especially for the event to talk about the novel and the political situation on Guatemala. Ronald will be joined by the translator Gavin O’Toole.
Reviews and Recommendations
“Último Silencio is a highly intelligent novel that announced the arrival of an important new protagonist on Guatemala’s literary scene.” - Latin American Review of Books
“There is no improvising here - the author narrates well and directs with skilful technical solvency. The result is a powerful work of undoubted contemporary originality.” - Jury, Mario Montefore Toledo Prize, 1999
Price: £7.50
Extent: 108 pages
ISBN-13: 9780955233920
Paperback
Colin is one of British anarchism's best-known authors and Housmans will have all six of his books published by Freedom Press plus those published by Five Leaves, plus some others, such as Child in the City and Child in the Country, that have been unavailable for years. (We've managed to find some remaindered stock.) Colin was the editor of the famous magazine Anarchy which appeared every month during the decade of the 1960s, bringing a fresh anarchist perspective on subjects such as housing and education. Anarchy In Action is an attempt to show "that an anarchist society, a society which organises itself without authority, is always in existence, like a seed beneath the snow, buried under the state and its bureaucracy, capitalism and its waste. . . " It is also an introduction to anarchist ideas, a justification of them, and a philosophical way forward. Come and see Colin on the 19th.
Wednesday 23rd April, 7pm Feminist Publishing - past, present, and future.
From self-published pamphlets, mags, and zines, via established book publishers like Virago, to publishing on the internet, a panel including Red Chidgey, Gail Chester and Catherine Riley will lead a discussion about where feminist publications have been and where they're going. Come and tell us about your favourite publications, to expand Housmans’ own gender section.
Wednesday 30th April, 7pm What's happening with feminism today?
In the last few months there has been the biggest growth in feminist activism in two decades. To discuss this resurgence, we are bringing together a panel of activists including Jess McCabe from the F-Word, Finn Mackay of Reclaim The Night, Laurie Penny of Red Pepper, women from Wominspace (the new squatted women's social centre), Jennifer Drew, and others.
Tuesday 1st April, 7pm book launch
A Clockwork Apple by Belinda Webb
Passionate, angry, funny, emotional and brutally honest… these are the words that describe the fiction of Belinda Webb, one of the most exciting new writers of her generation.
In A Clockwork Apple, she creates an unforgettable vision of a future Manchester, where the gangs roaming the streets are all girls. The State its control through addiction therapy and the blunt administrations of female police and social workers. Men have long since ceased to have any influence.
Using her own powerful and distinctive language, mixing neologisms with plentiful contemporary cultural references, Webb hypnotises the reader with her passion and linguistic wizardry.
"A dazzling new voice bursts through the tired old glass ceiling of English Fiction. Belinda Webb is a writer to watch." - Will Self
Wednesday 2nd April Torriano Poets For Peace
This Month's evening of poetry and a little music will feature the usual suspects and the odd new face with poetry and song. It will be introduced as always by John Rety. Admission is free but donations are welcome. There will be refreshments.
Friday 11th April, 7pm, Smash EDO Tour 2008
The national Smash EDO Tour 2008 is on - touring the UK (and beyond) and screening On The Verge at every venue. It will give those involved the chance to discuss tactics, get feedback, and organise for the future.
Who are Smash EDO? "We are residents of Brighton who marched against the war. We were sickened to learn that a company in our home town was not only profiting from, but making possible the illegal and immoral slaughter in Iraq. Smash EDO is a grassroots response to EDO's complicity in murderous crimes - a banner under which people opposed to those crimes can rally." See www.smashedo.org.uk
Folks from the Smash EDO organisation will be in the shop to discuss the film and related issues. See: www.schnews.org.uk/schmovies
MARCH 2008
March 2008 sees a powerful programme of events focussed on the five-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
Saturday 29th March, 5pm
Film screening: double bill - Those Who Dance & The Carbon Connection
Those Who Dance (50mins) tells the story of a small community in Rossport, Co. Mayo, Ireland, who have resisted Shell's attempts to construct a high pressure gas pipeline and refinery across their land, which would have potentially devastating environmental and social consequences. The film compares their situation to that of the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta, where Ken Saro-Wiwa and nine others were murdered in 1996 because of their non-violent opposition to Shell's oil extraction operations and gas flaring.
Shell found in the people of Mayo a culture which speaks of community not commodity, of interaction not extraction. The film offers a powerful critique of corporate practice and philosophy, and challenges viewers to consider the impacts of the oil industry throughout the world, now that the reality of climate change is widely accepted.
The Carbon Connection (40mins) is a new documentary examining the impact of carbon trading. It follows the story of two groups of people from two communities affected by one new global market – the trade in carbon dioxide. In Scotland a town has been polluted by oil and chemical companies since the 1940s. In Brazil local people's water and land is being swallowed up by destructive monoculture eucalyptus tree plantations. Both communities now share a new threat.
Each community learned to use video cameras and made their own films about living with the impacts of the carbon market. From mental health issues in Scotland to the loss of medicinal plants in Brazil, the communities discover the connections they have with each other and the film follows them on this journey.
Monday 31st March, 7pm
Quand nous chanterons le temps des cerises - Nick Heath will be presenting an evening of French Chanson (lyrical songs)
A look at the tradition of chanson in France –
From the goguettes to chanson realiste. With an overview of the contribution of anarchism to chanson.
Illustrated with recordings from Aristide Bruant to Gaston Couté, Ferré, Brassens and Serge Utgé-Royo
Time for questions and discussion.
Wednesday 26th March, 7pm
A decade of suffering: Iraq in wood engravings - with Emily Johns in conjunction with Voices in the Wilderness UK
Artist, campaigner and Peace News co-editor, Emily Johns, will be presenting a collection of prints that tell the story of ten years of suffering in Iraq – first as a result of the devastating sanctions, and then the subsequent disastrous invasion. These images have been printed up as affordable posters, and will be available to buy, with all proceeds going to the Iraqi campaigning group Voices in the Wilderness UK.
As well as explaining the stories behind the images, Ms Johns will be signing prints of her work.
Wednesday 5th March, 7pm
We nearly won: how the anti-war movements nearly stopped the invasion of Iraq - with Milan Rai
Milan Rai has been instrumental in organising the anti-war effort in the lead up to this most recent invasion of Iraq, and he will be sharing his thoughts regarding the efforts that took place to stop the war, as well as considering lessons learnt from the experience.
Milan Rai is the coordinator of Justice Not Vengeance, co-editor of Peace News and amongst his published works he has authored two books on the subject of the Iraq War: War Plan Iraq and Regime Unchanged.
Saturday 8th March, 5pm
Extraordinary Renditions – with Lucy Edkins
Lucy Edkins has produced a powerful series of acrylic works based on the US army’s cynical policy of ‘extraordinary rendition’: the illegal practice of imprisoning suspects indefinitely, without charge and without trial, often at hidden sites beyond the reach of international law. Housmans will be displaying works from her Belmarsh and Guantánamo series. Ms Edkins will be present to discuss her work in person. See www.lucyedkins.com
Monday 10th March 7pm
Screening of "Route Irish"
"Route Irish", a feature length verité/essay film on the campaign(s) against Irish facilitation of the US/UK Invasion of Iraq.
It may surprise many that a majority of US Troops travel through Ireland on the way to Iraq - in spite of Ireland's own constitution and tradition of neutrality and non-alignment.
This Indymedia Ireland/Revolt Video film documents the emergence of the Irish antiwar movement between 2002 and 2006 and of the broad popular opposition to the US military use of Ireland's civilian Shannon Airport in the build-up to, invasion of, and occupation of Iraq.
The documentary follows a loose network of activist groups, individuals and politicians through the story of the rise, fracturing, sudden decline and then disappearance of this movement and then retraces the way in which their combined efforts, energies and strategies served to effectively tear away the Republic of Ireland's veneer of neutrality and non-alignment in the post September 11th era of the "War on Terror".
Wednesday 12th March, 7pm
Corporate mercenaries in Iraq: War on Want exposé on the private armies making a killing - with Ruth Tanner
Ruth Tanner, campaigner from War on Want, will be presenting the latest information on private military contractors, who now outnumber British troops in Iraq by three to one, making them the second largest occupying force in Iraq behind the US. Yet they remain unregulated and unaccountable, leaving open the potential for human rights violations. Despite a number of reported cases of abuse, no private military contractor has ever been prosecuted for actions in Iraq. The pattern is similar in conflicts around the world.
Saturday 15th March, 6.30pm
Book launch: Unleashing the Collective Phantoms: Essays In Reverse Imagineering, by Brian Holmes
Come join us to celebrate the release of Brian Holmes' new book Unleashing the Collective Phantoms. These insurgent essays describe, prolong and critique some of the cultural and artistic projects that arose with the worldwide wave of protests around the turn of the millenium, against what the global South calls neoliberalism. Dissent and the refusal of a programmed existence continually return to the streets; but they also unfold in the imagination.
Sponsored by Autonomedia (www.autonomedia.org) and Mute Magazine (www.metamute.org).
Wednesday 19th March, 7pm
City of Widows: An Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance - with Haifa Zangana
Haifa Zangana, a former political prisoner of the Ba'ath regime, is the first writer to put the plight of Iraqi women in context. She traces a long line of daring and vocal activists, resisting foreign aggression and despotism for the past 100 years, from a handful of turn of the century poets to 1960s activists in armed struggle and the suicide bombers of today.
Addressing the stark reality of Iraq under occupation, Zangana reveals Baghdad as a city of widows, where more than 300 000 women, their regular lives destroyed, have been left to head households. Ms Zangana will give a presentation on the subject, followed by a question and answer session, and will also be signing copies of the book.
FEBRUARY 2008
Wednesday 13 February, 7pm: UK launch of Metro by Alasdair Duncan, a cult classic amongst Australia's young gay community.
The author will be discussing identity issues young people face when trying to break away from the 'norm' and enjoy their sexuality.
Is there anything morally wrong with teenage experimentation? Shouldn't we let young people have fun, make mistakes and work out for themselves what they want?
Morality is a low priority in Metro; a good-looking young man can sleep with any boy he fancies while his girlfriend is away - because he is attractive.
An evening of young Australian vibrancy, with a twist of debate as Duncan invites Londoners to comment on and criticise his support of selfish sex, and infidelity. Book signing also available.
Tuesday 19 February 7pm Angolan author Ondjaki to launch his latest book in UK
Aflame Books takes the pleasure in inviting you to meet Ondjaki, the author of the inspiring Angolan novel The Whistler, at the launch of the book in London.
On a short visit to the UK to participate in a lecture tour at Kings College London, Ondjaki will also be promoting the latest of his works to be made available in English.
The Whistler is a spellbinding, irreverent and hilarious masterpiece from Angola. The Whistler, is a triumph of joy over adversity in a country ravaged by sorrow.
It offers a vision of hope and humanity to a people suffering the painful after-effects of the civil war that traumatised the author's homeland.
The launch of The Whistler will be attended by David Brookshaw of the University of Bristol's Portuguese department who will highlight Ondjaki's place in contemporary African writing.
The Whistler, translated from the Portuguese-language original, will be launched on February 19 2008 at
Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road London, N1 9DX - just round the corner from Kings Cross station.
The event starts at 7pm. Refreshments will be served.
For more info or if you wish to attend the launch please email: info@aflamebooks.com
Saturday 23rd February 1pm, War on Terror The Boardgame in-store gaming session. See: www.waronterrortheboardgame.com and; www.waronterrortheboardgame.com/wotblog
TerrorBull Games
In a publishing world geared to selling, terra incognita (ti) have launched the <1% series, an imprint of fiction not aimed at mass markets. Working against trends in publishing, ti are printing high quality, innovative literary work in small runs, distributed solely through independent book stores.
On 30 January 2008 at Housmans, Juliette Brown, editor at terra incognita, will talk about defying the current logic within publishing, returning the focus to the work rather than the sales potential. This is not about limited market appeal. It's about challenging the notion that the best seller is the best work. At ti, the feeling is that the mass market tends to homogeneity and conformity, and by ignoring the demands of the market, it becomes possible to support a range of more challenging voices.
The event features a reading by the author, Alana Jelinek, of Ohm's Law, the first title in the <1% series. The novel has been called 'compelling', and Jelinek is said to have 'an acute sense for the subtleties of power'. Ohms Law takes place in a not too distant future in which the 'meta-corporation' has taken the place of the nation state. In turn funny and disturbing, Ohms Law asks at what point we might begin to assume responsibility for the world we find ourselves in.
"This deceptively simple tale unfolds and expands to illuminate the depths of our corporate nightmare"
See www.ti3.org.uk/ohms_law for a review of Ohm's Law by Sebastian Michael.
Wednesday 27th February, 7pm
Torriano Poets for Peace
The long running, and ever brilliant, Torriano Poets for Peace return to Housmans for a night of the very best in peace poetry. This month’s contributions include songs from Eric Levy and John P Kenton and poetry from Robert Ilson and Recker Donnelly, plus many more. As ever, the evening’s readings will be introduced by the irrepressible John Rety. All poets and singers welcome, or just come along to listen.
Saturday 2 February 5pm, Launch of Birds, Booze and Bulldozers, a novel by Peter Styles
"Can you save the planet with a bicycle lock? Maybe. Birds, Booze and Bulldozers is the inside story of Britain's environmental direct action movement - the most effective political counter-culture of the 1990s.
More at home with a ball at his feet and a pint in his hand, Lester Stype is drawn into becoming an activist to help save the downland of his youth. The action follows Lester and his fellow 'dozer divers up cranes, down bunkers and through long, cold winters in an attempt to stand up for what we stand upon. A motley band of protestors trying to find the balance between protecting life and having one, as their actions change policy, society and ultimately themselves.
Youthful passion clashes against the colossal power of big business and the state over issues as diverse as live animal exports, rainforest timber and the arms trade."
Peter Styles was a full-time environmental activist for much of the 1990s. Deeply involved in a variety of campaigns, he was one of the first to be charged under the 1994 Criminal Justice Act and was jailed for his part in the Newbury bypass protests. He then spent several years covering the movement for the underground and mainstream press. Now living in Brighton, he has kept penury at bay with subsequent careers as a journalist, lecturer and comedy writer.
7th February, 2008 from 6.30pm to 7.30pm
Book launch: Confuse and Conceal: The NHS and Independent Sector Treatment Centres
BY STEWART PLAYER AND COLIN LEYS
PBK ISBN 978 0 85036 609 9 £10.95
"This is the first detailed analysis we have of the evolution, make-up and implications of independent treatment centres. What the book gives us is not only the story of a critical moment in the restructuring of the NHS but also a story of the persistent reluctance of the authorities to disclose information the public should be fully entitled to. The book should be read by anyone interested in holding our policy-makers to account." Sally Ruane, Health Policy Research Unit, De Montfort University
"For anyone still not convinced that the NHS is being broken up and privatised, this detailed study provides the evidence. It will be an invaluable guide and reference work in the struggle to preserve one of our greatest assets"
Peter Fisher, President, NHS Consultants' Association with PROF COLIN LEYS & DR WENDY SAVAGE
JANUARY 2008
Loren Goldner's talks at Housmans, hosted by Mute Magazine
Saturday 19 January, 6pm From Mass Strike to Casualization and Retreat: The Korean Working Class, 1987-2007
Monday 21 January, 7pm Class Strugle and the Academic Imagination in Herman Melville
About Loren Goldner: Loren Goldner is a writer and activist who divides his time between New York and Seoul, South Korea. He has written on various economic, political and cultural matters over the past three decades. He is currently writing a book on the Korean working class. Most of his work is available on the Break Their Haughty Power web site at
home.earththink.net
Wednesday 23 January, 7pm Torriano Poets for Peace
Wednesday 30 January, 7pm Defying the logic of the (publishing) market: Ohms Law and the <1% series
DECEMBER 2007
Wednesday 5 December 7pm, Nicola Hill, author of 'A Very Pink Wedding; a Gay Guide to Planning your Perfect Day' will be giving a talk and signing copies of the book in Housmans at 7pm. Drinks and snacks provided.
Monday 10 December 7pm, David Goodway and Five Leaves Publications have the pleasure of inviting you to the launch of 'The Anarchist Past and Other Essays' by Nicolas Walter.
Nicolas Walter was a key figure in the anarchist and free-thought movements for forty years. This long-awaited collection largely covers anarchist history, especially in Russia, coming up to date with essays on the "Spies for Peace" and Colin Ward and Murray Bookchin. Drinks and snacks provided.
Tuesday 11 December - 6.30pm for 7pm
TORRIANO POETS FOR PEACE at Housmans Bookshop (5 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London N1) present... June English, Robert Ilson, John P Kenton, Johannes Kerkhoven ... and all introduced by the irrepressible John Rety!
Wednesday 12 December - 7pm, 'Black Flag' Magazine Re-Launch, with Ian McKay the evening will include a brief introduction to the history of the magazine, and the anarchist symbol itself, followed by a discussion inviting comments and suggestions for the new version.
HOUSMANS WINTER PARTY! SATURDAY DECEMBER 15;JOIN US FROM MID-AFTERNOON FOR DRINKS, SNACKS, GREAT MUSIC AND COMPANY. SCHEDULED TO END LATE! THE DRAW FOR HOUSMANS RAFFLE WILL TAKE PLACE DURING THE PARTY, WITH MANY PRIZES INCLUDING A SIGNED PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPH OF TONY BENN AND SIGNED BOOKS.
Anne Aylor's Creative Writing Courses
46 Beversbrook Road
London N19 4QH
tel: 0207 263 0669
email: anne@anneaylor.co.uk
web: www.anneaylor.co.uk
Workshop Your Fiction • Course 32
4 October - 13 December 2007 @ Housman's Bookshop, London, N1
WORKSHOP VENUE
Housman's Bookshop
5 Caledonian Road
London N1 9DX
Date: Thursdays, 4 October - 13 December 2007
Time: 6.45PM - 9.15PM
Tube: Kings Cross
Cost: £198 for 11 weeks' tuition
TO undertake a novel is a long, often lonely, experience. Many people begin a book only to lose momentum. This workshop is an opportunity for those working on novels or short stories to receive constructive feedback, inspiration and a deadline.
This short course will consist of readings and discussions of your work-in-progress. Sessions will include:
• techniques to develop your novel or short story
• advice on how to arrange and expand your material
• help if you've hit a block
• a chance to create work that feeds into your manuscript
• the opportunity to have writing read and discussed
• learning how to edit to become a more objective critic of your own work
REQUIREMENT TO JOIN
It is not necessary to have written before, but because this workshop will be generated by the work students produce, you must be committed to bringing work for discussion. Constructive feedback and a weekly deadline will encourage you to steam ahead with your prose.
FEEDBACK
To receive the best feedback, you'll need to bring photocopies of the excerpts you are reading. These will be marked up and returned to you. Maximum number of words per person at each session: 1300 - 1400 words
TO BOOK
By post: Enrolment will be confirmed on receipt of your £60 deposit. Payment in full is due by 27 September. Download a brochure for a booking form and information on where to send your cheque. Online: To pay by credit/debit card, you will need to pay the full amount. Course fee: £198
CONTACT DETAILS
Anne Aylor's Creative Writing Courses
T: 020 7263 0669
M: 07951 579 064
E: admin@anneaylor.co.uk
W: www.anneaylor.co.uk
Click/paste for more info:
www.anneaylor.co.uk/WorkshopYourFictionAutumn
NOVEMBER 2007
Wednesday 7th November 7pm:
Kings Cross Residents Open Forum - chaired by Will Perrin
Will Perrin, of the local campaign website, King's Cross Environment, invites you to join him in an open discussion about the future of the King's Cross area - both the built environment and the social fabric of the community. A great chance to meet fellow residents, and learn about the many local campaigns, big and small, working on the issues affecting life in Kings Cross. Everyone welcome - if you are battling away on your own, or part of a largergroup, come and meet others, build alliances and find out what is going on.
Wednesday 14th November 7pm:
Christian Wolmar - How governments have always failed the railways
On the day of the opening of the Eurostar terminal at St. Pancras, Christian Wolmar will be discussing the fraught relationship between the government and our railways, a topic he covers in his latest book, Fire & Steam (Atlantic Books, £20). Mr Wolmar is a leading authority on the British transport system, and this is sure to be a fascinating insight into the politics of our railways. See www.christianwolmar.co.uk for more info.
"Our most eminent transport journalist" Rod Liddle, Spectator,April 27 2007
Wednesday 21st November 7pm:
Unjum Mirza - 20 years after the King’s Cross fire...
In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the King’s Cross fire, in which 31 people lost their lives, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) representative, Unjum Mirza, will be explaining how new safety regulations, brought in as a result of the tragedy, are being rolled back, and of the constant battle the RMT faces to protect these vital safeguards. Mr Mirza is the author of the RMT pamphlet I Do Mind Dying, which explores this subject and is now available at Housmans.
Wednesday 28th November 7pm:
Michael Edwards - The social costs of the redevelopment of King’s Cross
Michael Edwards, co-chair of the King's Cross Railway Lands Group and Senior Lecturer in the Economics of Planning at The Bartlett School, University College London, has spent the last 20 years examining the redevelopment of King’s Cross, and considering its implications for the local community. He will provide a fascinating and informed look at the future of King’s Cross that awaits us, as the redevelopment steps up a gear after the opening of the Eurostar terminal.
Throughout November:
Angela Inglis - Railway Lands: catching St. Pancras and King's Cross
Angela Inglis has recently published a book of photographs and writing about the King's Cross and St. Pancras we are losing. We are delighted to have some of the original prints on display within the shop throughout November. All prints are available to buy, as will be signed copies of her book (Matador, £30).
FRIDAY 30th NOVEMBER, 7pm BOOK LAUNCH!
'IRAQI OIL FOR BEGINNERS' The New Comic Book by Jon Sack
For the Iraqi people, war and occupation have led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, and relentless insecurity. But as Jon Sack's new comic book history explains, for Big Oil this desperate situation represents an opportunity to seize control of Iraq's oil and make massive profits at the expense of the Iraqi people. Spanning the period from 1908 to the present day, this is the ideal book for anyone who's ever wanted to put flesh on the bones of the slogan 'No Blood for Oil.'
Tuesday November 27, 7.30pm book launch
The First Six Days; with Abdul Wahab Sabbah from Abu Dis, Palestine.
In conjunction with Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association. We are delighted to welcome to Housmans Abdul Wahab Sabbah, who will be flying in from Palestine especially to launch this captivating book of oral histories of the 1967 Six Day War. The First Six Days features fascinating accounts and evocative memories of the war, as told by ordinary people from Abu Dis. Abdul Wahab Sabbah shall be recounting the history of the war and reading from some of the stories. Refreshments available.
Saturday November 17th Housman's Bookshop, Caledonian road N1. 7pm
SAVAGE MESSIAH 8 KINGS CROSS ZINE LAUNCH.
Posters, drawings, zine signings by Laura Oldfield Ford
Projections, films, readings - Savage Messiah Collective
John Wild anarchitect, activist, and psychogeographical explorer of data space will be transmitting a pirate radio signal, from a secret location in the Kings X area, constructed from locative data collected on the previous king x drift. A radio located in Housmans book shop will be tuned to the audio broadcast.?
"Walking through London is a melancholy experience. The phantom of an invented, slickly choreographed future haunts the landscape. Where are these photoshopped families, the joyful inhabitants of the yuppiedromes? They are not here yet, but their avatars stalk us.
Amidst the rubble and chaos, Polish construction workers in luminous garb skip in and out of vans for papers and fags. Oily leatherskins deconstruct the rusting heaps. Sometimes there's a group of kids with a nicked scooter, always the same, taking apart, a destructive urge, parts examined and strewn across the Greenway path. The area is cut, examined, destroyed, not rebuilt but cast off as parts hurled across a flat expanse. The sewage pipe was the conduit, it sliced through the wreckage and gave a gods eye view across the marshlands.
IN THE WORST NIGHT OF RIOTING LONDON HAS SEEN SINCE THE POLL TAX, HOODLUMS LOOTED AND BURNT THE BRAND NEW EURO STAR TERMINAL AT ST PANCRAS. RIOTERS WERE WITNESSED HURLING THEMSELVES THROUGH WINDOWS AND RANSACKING SHOPS ONLY TO SMASH, BURN AND DESTROY THEM. A spokesman for Eurostar said he'd never seen wanton vandalism on such a scale but assured customers that services would resume normally as swiftly as possible. "We won't be sidetracked by a few mindless thugs". The rioters left chilling messages in spray paint across the gleaming terminal building and promised to return. The metropolitan police failed to catch the rioters as they disappeared into the network of service tunnels and escaped through ventilation shafts, " The horses couldn't follow them there."
SAVAGE MESSIAH CALLS FOR AN INVASION OF THE ST.PANCRAS EURO TERMINAL!!! MASS TRESPASS KINGS CROSS TO HACKNEY WICK!!!!!!!
Bring balaclavas, jemmys, ladders and ropes.
Take a look round the new euro terminal, great coffee shops and places to hang out! Why not relax in the new champagne bar
or browse in some of the great new retail developments?"
Savage Messiah Issue 8: Kings Cross to Hackney Wick.
"Savage Messiah is like Heronbone with politics and pictures, Burial's London in words and image instead of sound. The collage form - text, photographs, Laura's own drawings - decomposes London from seamless, already-established capitalist reality into a riot of potentials, the city rediscovered as a site for drift and daydreams, a labyrinth of side-streets and spaces resistant to the process of gentrification and 'development' set to culminate in the miserable synchronized SF Capital festival of 2012."
Mark K-Punk
http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org
savagemessiah@hotmail.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/johnwild100
*Special Music Event*
Saturday 10th November 5pm: Unit will be playing a short set live in store. Unit are; Yiu 'Uj' Munn Cheung (flutes / guitars / keyboards) Dave Fanning (guitar / bass guitar) Andy Martin (Vocals) Luc Tran (drums & percussion).
Keith Woods calling: On Friday 2nd November we are going to hold another Tales From The Woods open day from 1800hrs through to 2000hrs, in which I will be selling merchandise at knock down prices, 'ie' CDs/Vinyl/T shirts/DVDs/Boogs, and general meomorabalia. Tales From The Woods is a brilliant, off-the-wall roots music magazine, covering skiffle to blues, via rock 'n' roll and jazz.
OCTOBER 2007 - Music and Politics
Wednesday 3rd October 7pm: Eric Levy - Songs for Peace
Singer songwriter, Eric Levy, will be performing his unique selection of songs for peace. A regular contributor at the Torriano Poets for Peace readings, Eric has an unmistakable voice and a talent for singing in a number of languages.
Wednesday 10th October 7pm: Film Screening: Festival
A chance to see this rare footage of the Newport Folk Festival. Recorded between 1963 and 1966, Festival captures the atmosphere at the height of the protest movement in the US. Includes electric performances by Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and veteran bluesman, Son House.
Wednesday 17th October 7pm: George Binette - Politics & The Clash
George Binette will be exploring the role The Clash played in putting radical politics into punk rock. Copies of his book, The Last Night London Burned, which documents Joe Strummer's final performance at a 2002 Fire Brigade Union fundraiser, will be available.
Wednesday 24th October 7pm: Bring Your Own Protest Song
Housmans invites you to bring along your favourite political music and play it to us - whether on cassette, or CD, or singing it to yourself! A great way to hear a broad cross-section of political music from across the decades, and share stories and memories over a glass of something.
We are expanding our selection of political musical CDs so if there is something you would like us to stock bring it along.
Wednesday 31st October 7pm: Helen McCookerybook - The Lost Women of Rock
Bass player and lead singer of punk band The Chefs, Helen McCookerybook (aka Helen Reddington) will be joining us to talk about the subject of her latest book, The Lost Women of Rock (Ashgate). Helen will also be playing some of her superb acoustic material for us.
Housmans Anarchist Bookfair Weekender '07
The Anarchist Bookfair, now in its 26th year, was born when Housmans Bookshop, Freedom Bookshop and the Anarchist Book Service combined with A Distribution, to lay the foundations for the book fair as it now is.
For a period of time these four groups not only organised the book fair, but also produced a free magazine called the New Anarchist Review. The group also encouraged local areas to set up their own book fairs. Regretfully, apart from an excellent bookfair organised at the 1 in 12 Club, this initiative did not take off.
The first bookfair attracted a faithful audience of about 10, however with the support of many groups, including Crass, the bookfair has since gone from strength to strength.
Housmans will have a stall at the fair, as it has had since day one, and to show our thanks to our many friends and supporters from over the years, we will be opening our doors for special events, both before and after the bookfair.
Friday 26th October '07 - 6pm onwards
Launch party for new Anarchist magazine Mayday + pre-bookfair social
Mayday is a new Anarchist journal, whose first issue includes contributions from Ian Bone, Dave Douglas, Trevor Bark and many more, who will all be in attendance. Join us for a drink and a chat.
Saturday 27th October '07
The Fair
The shop will be open as normal, but more importantly, stop by our stall at the fair and say hello.
Sunday 28th October '07- 12 till 6pm
After-party
We'll be opening up the shop especially for those who, like us, feel that one day a year just isn't long enough. The shop will open from 12 till 6pm, for a post-bookfair get together. A nice chance to meet, chat, and check out some of our great anarchist stock, including many rarities.
Torriano Poets for Peace: Tuesday 23 October - 6.30pm
This Month's evening of poetry and a little music will feature the usual suspects and the odd new face with poetry and song. It will be introduced as always by John Rety (rated 45,759th in the world by the World Chess Federation!). Admission is free but donations are welcome. There will be refreshments.
This Month's Readers will include, Heather Wilson-Queen, Eric Levy and John Kenton.
Poets who have read in this series and might read on the night: Rosemary Norman, Harry Eyres, Jeff Cloves, Dennis Evens, Johannes Kerkhoven, Anthony Baker, Danielle Hope, Janet Simon, Christopher Morgan, Racker Donnelly, Hylda Sims, Eric Levy (songs), Pat Arrowsmith, Shanta Acharya, Jane Fraser Esson, Jennifer Johnson, Osita Nwankwo, Jean Pestell, June English, Leah Fritz, Tom Rubens
Authors in the Torriano Meeting House Pamphlet Series:
A.C Jacobs, Jane Duran, EA Markham, Brian Docherty, Dinah Livingstone, Adam Johnson, Sue Hubbard, Katherine Gallagher, Kathleen McPhilemy, Simon Darragh, David Kuhrt, Jeremy Reed, Jeanette Ju-pierre, Fatma Durmush, Amanda Eason, Gerda Mayer, Paul Wright, Nick Orengo, Dubravka Velasevic, Alan Chambers, Peter Phillips, Rosemary Norman, Veronica Rospigliosi, Mario Petrucci, Jane Elder, Beata Duncan, David Floyd, Jo Roach, Florence Elon, Valeria Melchioretto, Sarah Lawson, Sara Boyes, Paul Birtill, Ray Wilmott, Pat Arrowsmith, Anna Robinson, Donald Gardner, Tom Rubens, Anthony Edkins, Jennifer Johnson, Jenny Vulgar, Daphne Rock, Janet Simon, Linda Black
*NB: should universal peace have been achieved by that date the event will be cancelled.
*Special Book Event*
Saturday 20th October, 5pm: Colin Jones & The Black House
Housmans are delighted to welcome photographer Colin Jones to Housmans to talk about his extraordinary new book, The Black House. The Black House was a ‘halfway house for vulnerable young people’ set on London’s Holloway Road in the early 1970s. Jones not only documented a unique slice of London history, but with this book also tells the tale of this fascinating building and its residents.
“The police regularly raid the house, usually in large numbers. Nobody asks to see their search warrant; nobody starts flushing things down the loo either. That’s not what they are looking for. It’s people, or a person. The police go from room to room. When they can’t find who they are looking for they go. Two hours later the person they were looking for comes in through the back.” Jones’s diary entries reveal the trust he had earned, but also hint at the danger he was always in.
Signed copies of the book will be available.
The Black House by Colin Jones, Prestel (Hardcover) £30.
A SPECIAL EXTRA MUSIC EVENT:
Friday 5th October 7pm: Tales from the Woods Open Evening
Tales From The Woods is a brilliant, off-the-wall roots music magazine, covering skiffle to blues, via rock 'n' roll and jazz. The magazine's founder, Keith Woods, will be hosting an open evening, selling merchandise at knock-down prices - CDs, vinyl albums, books, "TFTW"-related posters, etc, all to a typical "TFTW" roots music soundtrack.
Come along and meet those involved in the publication process, not just with "TFTW", but with other music magazines sold in Housmans. Many special guests are expected to turn up to sign CDs and other memorabilia. For further details, check the website at www.tftw.freeuk.com.
SEPTEMBER 2007 - Peace Month
Wednesday 5th September 7pm:
In a change to the previously publicised event, Ann Feltham will be talking about the Campaign Against the Arms Trade's history, successes and plans for the future.
Wednesday 12th September 7pm:
CND Chair Kate Hudson will be talking about her campaigning experiences and authoritative book CND: Now More Than Ever - The Story of a Peace Movement.
Wednesday 19th September 7pm:
Peace activist Norman Kember will be discussing his experiences and signing copies of his book, Hostage in Iraq.
Wednesday 26th September 7pm:
Albert Beale will be recounting the history of Peace News and discussing non-violence as a strategy, as well as celebrating the long-awaited return of Peace News to the news-stand.
Saturday 29th of September 7pm:
NIGHT DRIFT THROUGH KINGS CROSS: ££££££££££££££££££££
@HOUSMAN'S BOOKSHOP, CALEDONIAN ROAD, N1.
On Saturday 29th of September 7pm,LAURA OLDFIELD FORD of SAVAGE MESSIAH ZINE . …………. .. ……. .. …
. ………………… will facilitate a drift through the Kings cross area. The Savage Messiah employs the tactic of psychogeography to expose the repressed desires of the city. Savage messiah welcomes participants to this walk to join a collective cognitive anti mapping of the city and hopes that stories, anecdotes, drawings, ideas generated on the route will become part of the next issue of the zine to be launched at Housman's in November.
JOHN WILD, frequent collaborator with Savage Messiah and psychogeographical explorer of data space will be collecting the locative data calculate from mobile phone signals along the Kings X Drift.??The data will be compiled into an audio broadcast that will be transmitted in the location of Housmans book shop at the November launch. More...
AUGUST 2007
Aidan Dun and friends celebrated the work of Arthur Rimbaud - the original beat poet, anarchist, psychogeographer, drug abuser and everyone's favourite enfant terrible. Rimbaud lived in and around King's Cross between 1872 - 73 and fell in love with the area, stating that London left Paris looking like "a pretty provincial town". Clearly a man of taste!
Poet and dub troubadour Aidan Dun has been at the heart of a campaign to protect 8 Royal College Street, the only Rimbaud address which survives, from the grips of developers. A wonderful event to be repeated soon!
MARCH 2007
In 1984, "The People" branded Ian Bone 'the most dangerous man in Britain'. They weren't far wrong. From the inner city riots of 1981 to the miners' strike and beyond the butler's son and founder of Class War was indeed a greater thorn in Margaret Thatcher's side than the useless blatherings of the Official Opposition. Class War were the real opposition! It was Ian Bone who linked the inner city rioters of Brixton and Handsworth with the striking miners. It was Bone who "The People" spotted rioting with miners in Mansfield, attacking laboratories with the Animal Liberation Front and being fingered by the "Guardian" as the man behind the 1985 Brixton Riot. But that was only the half of it... from 1965 to 1985, from Swansea to Cardiff and London the mayhem spread countrywide. In "Bash The Rich", Ian Bone tells it like it was. From The Angry Brigade to The Free Wales Army, from the 1967 Summer of Love to 1977 anarcho-punk, from Grosvenor Square to the Battle of the Beanfield from the Stop the City riots to Bashing the Rich at the Henley Regatta, Ian Bone breaks his silence. In the 1980s, Ian Bone was 'The Anarchist In The UK' with a half brick in one hand and an incendiary pen in the other. How did the child who lived in a fabulous English mansion and saluted the AA man from a Rolls Royce come to be the man who famously promised to Bash the Rich and leave Hampstead a smouldering ruin? Where do David Niven, Keith Allen, Rik Wakeman, Douglas Fairbanks Junior, Cynthia Payne, George Melly, Flanagan and Allan, Yoko Ono Pope John Paul and Lofty from Eastenders fit into the story. Why did Gregory Peck send Ian Bone a Get well card? This is no dry tome destined to gather dust in leftie bookshops. Against a background of all the major outbreaks of disorder of the time it's a startlingly honest, funny, warts n' all scream of rage from a gutter level anarchist prepared to fight "by any means necessary". That "the most dangerous man in Britain" is at liberty to write books rather than serving a life sentence for sedition or being hung for treason will be the first question on every MP's lips as this smouldering anarchist bomb hits the bookshelves.
Torriano Poets for Peace - Thursday 15th, 6.30pm
This Months evening of poetry and a little music will feature the usual suspects and the odd new face with poetry and song. It will be introduced as always by John Rety. Admission is free but donations are welcome. There will be refreshments.
Poets who have read in this series and might read on the night: Rosemary Norman, Harry Eyres, Jeff Cloves, Dennis Evens, Johannes Kerkhoven, Anthony Baker, Danielle Hope, Janet Simon, Christopher Morgan, Racker Donnelly, Hylda Sims, Eric Levy (songs), Pat Arrowsmith, Shanta Acharya, Jane Fraser Esson, Jennifer Johnson, Osita Nwankwo, Jean Pestell, June English, Leah Fritz, Tom Rubens
*NB: should universal peace have been achieved by that date the event will be cancelled.
Book launch - Iran on the Brink. Tuesday 6th 6.30pm-8.30pm
Andreas Maslm & Shora Esmalian from the Iranian Workers Solidarity Group will be talking about their new book & the latest developments both inside Iran and the threat of attack by the United States.
This is an intimate account of Iranian working people; an account of the threat facing Iran from our own country; an assessment on the consequences for Iran and her internal struggles of external invasion; and an insider's account of Iran's people, its politics, and the threat of invasion. Iran is rarely out of the news headlines. President Ahmadinejad openly courts controversy over Iran's alleged ambitions to acquire the atomic bomb, and his outspoken criticism of George W. Bush means Iran is viewed with deep suspicion in the West. With US and UK troops entrenched in Iraq, is an outright invasion of Iran on the cards? This is the first book to explore the changes taking in place in Iran from the ground up. While the world keeps its eyes riveted on Iran's nuclear programme, the Islamic Republic has gone through a crisis of its own. This book shows how soaring unemployment and poverty has given way to social protest. A new labour movement has come to the fore. Although strikes are banned, workers are beginning to organise and underground networks are challenging the rule of the mullahs from within. The authors offer a unique portrait of the social upheaval, why it is happening and where it may take the country. Following the fall of reformism, the rise of Ahmadinejad and the recent outbursts of ethnic violence, this book provides rare insights into the inner contradictions of the Islamic Republic. The second part of the book deals with the international issues facing Iran - in particular the nuclear question, Iran's oil reserves and the serious threat of invasion. It is a sobering account of the realities of life in Iran, and the threat that war poses to the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people. Written with clarity, this is an ideal book for anyone who wants a detailed introduction to this fascinating country.
FEBRUARY 2007
Tuesday February 27th 2007 at 5.30 to 7pm
In February 2007 the Out For Our Children website goes live at
www.outforourchildren.co.uk
The site, authored by lesbian parents, aims to reach and inform all carers and educators of young children, as well as other parents. The site contains activity suggestions for educators, guidelines on the law and government policy, book & resource lists, weblinks and stories from the group about our children's experiences at nursery.
The Grant
Out For Our Children has received a grant from the National Lottery "Awards
For All" Fund to develop and pilot curriculum materials for use in nurseries and
with Foundation-stage school children.
The Book
Spacegirl Pukes is a ripping yarn about a small astronaut with two mummies who triumphs against the odds to get into space - A tale for reading with children aged 2-6 years, packed with hilarious and colourful drawings, Spacegirl Pukes is set to become a cult classic. Written & illustrated by OFOC members Katy Watson and Vanda Carter and published by Onlywomen Press, Spacegirl Pukes is available now from bookshops, online distributors & direct from the publisher.
How to get involved
Out For Our Children needs nursery workers, primary school teachers, writers, illustrators, designers and other creative people to join with them to develop positive resources for nurseries and schools, and to produce children's books, posters and music CDs. You don't have to be a lesbian parent to get involved. You just have to enjoy changing the world!
Out For Our Children was founded in February 2004 by a group of London lesbian mothers to write guidelines as an aid for nurseries and schools ill-prepared to welcome young children with lesbian parents. Out For Our Children produces books and resources that reflect the lives and family experiences of young children with lesbian parents.
Out For Our Children would like to see:
For further information: info@outforourchildren.co.uk or Julia 020 7326 0942.
Visit the OFOC website: www.outforourchildren.co.uk
Onlywomen Press has been publishing books with lesbian feminist perspectives
for 32 years, but publishing books for children is a new venture. Two new titles will be added to Onlywomen's Children's List in 2007.
For information & a full catalogue of titles, visit: www.onlywomenpress.com