Northern Anarchist Network Conference 2005/6.

[Filthy McNasty]

thats a real politician-type answer BUT I'LL TAKE IT AS CONFIRMATION (see I can use caps lock as well) and wait for the reason why.

slum landlords? wtf?

[bryan]

I think Sean & Filthy are out to sabotage the Sol. Fed.. My history of anarchism on page 4 above went from the 1950s to about the 1970s - with some earlier references to E.P.Thompson's 'Making of the Working Class', around the early 19th Century. The Sol Fed didn't exist then.

SURELY, UNLESS THEY ARE AGENT-PROVOCATORS, NEITHER SEAN NOR FILTHY WOULD WANT US TO RE-EXAMINE THE RECENT SOL. FED. RECORD? IN RELATION TO THE REVEREND FATHER OR THE SOL. FED. RECORD DURING THE ANTI-JSA CAMPAIGN. OR THE VOTING RECORD OF SOME OF THE SOL. FED. MEMBERS IN CERTAIN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.

To deal with that here would be sectarian.

What we must consider is the real contribution of groups and individuals in an historical context. Above all, here we are trying to tackle the history of the anarchist movement in the UK, not the meanderings of a few ideological drunks.

For the record, I personally have never voted in either a parliamentary or local election in this country. Nor do I intend to change that habit at the coming general election. However, I don't want to get into the politics of self-rightious indignation about others who have voted or supported candidates. Lilian Woolf, formerly of FREEDOM PRESS ~ who Shelia Rowbotham interviewed years ago, was in her 90s and had never voted. I doubt that I will beat her record.

Anarchists have voted on occasions. Some Spanish anarchists probably voted for the popular front in the 1930s and I know many voted last year, many for the first time, against the Aznar governent, because of the PP party lies in relation to the M11 bombings. Stuart Christie (the best known Scottish anarchist) in his recent book 'Granny Made Me An Anarchist' (see my review on the BOOK REVIEW THREAD) has quoted from a member of the famous anarchist NOSOTROS AFFINITY GROUP of the 1930s to support the case for backing certain party political movements in some cases. Stuart told us he voted for 'Respect' in last year's elections and Noam Chomsky, who some say is the best 'anarchist intellectual', says he regularly votes against some politicians in the USA.

[bryan]

NORTHERN ANARCHIST NETWORK CONFERENCE:

SATURDAY 9th, April, 2005, at Central Burnley Methodist Hall, Hargreaves St., off Manchester Road, BURNLEY: 5MINS WALK FROM RAILWAY STATION.

10am to 4pm:

10am: adjustments to agenda.

10.30am: Mike Ballard - Manchester - on HOUSING PFIs. Plus hopefully someone from Piccadilly Road, Burnley, Housing Campaign on the issues confronting Burnley. Report from THE SHOCK OF THE NEW MEETING to be held in Manchester two days before on the 7th, April (see Political Events Thread).

LUNCH 12am to 1pm.

1pm: MILITANT TRADE UNIONISM:
Dave Douglass of the IWW (Wobbies) from Doncaster ~ a former miner, writer and probably one of the best known trade union activists in the North. Expect some discussion of the Manchestewr electricians' dispute and rank & file movements.

2.45pm: NORTHERN ALTERNATIVE MEDIA:
Michele Bruce (well known local Burnley activist) to talk about the local Burnley & Pendle web-forum:
oogleboogle.proboards23.com
speaker from the newly launched MANCHESTER TIMES (out April 2nd) probably Derek Pattison & Brian Bamford of the regional journal NORTHERN VOICES.

THE NORTHERN ANARCHIST NETWORK HAS BEEN GOING FOR OVER 10 YEARS NOW. ITS A KIND OF FORUM OR NETWORK WHICH HAS ROPED IN MOST ELEMENTS OF THE NORTHERN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT OVER THE YEARS: INCLUDING MEMBERS OF THE SOLIDARITY FEDERATION & THE FORMER SUBVERSION GROUP & THE ANARCHIST FEDERATION & CLASS WAR & NOW THE IWW.

SOME PARTICIPANTS IN THE NAN ARE RESIDENTS; SOME ARE MORE SEMI-DETACHED; SOME TREAT THE NAN AS A TAKE-AWAY. THIS IS INEVITABLE IN ANY FORUM OR NETWORK OR EVEN AFFINITY GROUP. STUART CHRISTIE, WHEN HE WRITES ABOUT THE 'NOSOTROS GROUP' IN BARCELONA IN THE 1930s, TALKS OF PEOPLE COMING AND GOING INTO THE GROUP. BUT AS LONG AS THERE ARE THE CORE PARTICIPANTS ~ dURUTTI, ACCASO, SANZ, GARCIA OLIVER, THE GROUP RETAINS AN IDENTITY. IN ANY ORGANISATION YOU ARE BOUND TO HAVE BIT-PART PLAYERS AS WELL AS CORE ACTIVISTS.

Over the years the NAN has provided a space for people to interact and campaign: such as the Anti-JSA Campaign & GROUNDSWELL in the 1990s. The Anarchist Federation, Subversion, Class War and many individual northern anarchists took part in that campaign.

In Manchester, the NAN participants have worked to delelop the MANCHESTER SOCIAL FORUM. It provided a focus for successful opposition to the SWP & Workers Power. It was the FORUM which launched NORTHERN VOICES two years ago and its core participants have been involve through the MANCHESTER SOCIAL FORUM in the campaigns of the MANCHESTER ELECTRICIANS.

Because of this the core NAN group is active in three vital struggles: MANCHESTER ELECTRICIANS' STRUGGLE; THE SWINTON FIELDS CAMPAIGN; THE ROCHDALE SPODDEN VALLEY ASBESTOS SITE DISPUTE. These are community based actions.

We are in the business of turning MANCHESTER into a radical peoples' city, not just a businessmans' city. Up to now anarchists, lefties and even trade unionists in this country, have only reacted to the interventions from governments and politicians. Our affinity group believes we should start to make events happen. That is why our activists in the NAN and on the SOCIAL FORUM pushed for the SHOCK OF THE NEW MEETING on April 7th, together with the Tameside Trade Union Council, the Manchester electricians, and other community groups. From the electricians on the sites in the city centre to the street corner barrow boys (remember in Barcelona in 1936, even the shoeblacks & barbers were anarchists) the northern anarchists are mobilizing; the City Council even had to abandon its 'Question Time' facility after the Social Forum started asking questions about the employment of local labour and health & safety on the building sites; journalists from NV are covering stories on local Asylum seekers and the arrest of Martin Gleeson (Oldham TUC secretary) in Oldham at the insistance of the BNP.

Why come up to BURNLEY with the NAN?

A justified criticism of the NAN has been that it is too MANCHESTER based for too long. MANCHESTER is becoming the new BARCELONA. The first NAN was held 10 years ago in Manchester Town Hall and the second was in Salford. Later ones were held in Leeds, Sheffield, Hebden Bridge, Bradford and Bury, but the last few have been in Ancoats, Manchester.

It is to be welcome if MANCHESTER is now putting London in the shade in terms of libertarian politics, and it will be good if Newcastle starts to challenge it culturally, as it did at the February Projectile 'do'. But anarchists should uphold the principle of decentralisation ~ we can't mock London and substitute Manchester. The pueblos and towns, and their special identities, must be cherished.

GOD BLESS BURNLEY THIS EASTERTIDE!

GOD BLESS NORTHERN ANARCHISM!

AND THANK GOD, I'M STILL AN ATHEIST!

[michele cryer]

Thanks for that latest post regarding the NAN conference in Burnley...

I'm looking forward to attending this year, as I didn't make last year's in Manchester...

Please let me know if advertising flyers are to be distributed in Burnley prior to the event, as I know of one or two ex Burnley Anarchist members who might be interested in attending.

[Barry Woodling]

The Northern Anarchist Network Conference is taking place in the Central Burnley Methodist Church Hall on Saturday 9th April from 10am to 4 pm. It is a very positive development that it is taking place outside Manchester and promises to be a particularly interesting event.

Topics to be covered include the Private Finance initiative in relation to housing policy, militant trade unionism and the Northern Anarchist Media including the oogleboogle notice board, newly launched <Man chester Times> and Nortern Voices.

The agenda should appeal to class struggle anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists as well as other libertarians/anarchists. Everyone is welcome to attend and contribute to the discussions.

Barry Woodling

Northern Anarchist Network

[bryan]

Michele:

There was a Northern Anarchist mail out last week. Some went to Burnley. Since then a leading anarcho-syndicalist in East Manchester got an email from Barcelona, saying that the anarchists there were willing to send an anarchist over to speak at the 'SHOCK OF THE NEW/TRIUMPH OF THE UGLY' meeting called by the Manchester Social Forum & Tameside TUC on Thursday 7th, April.

This speaker is an anarchist who, we are told, is very informed about construction & design of cities. Given the pace of development in Manchester, it is vital we get another view from a city which has already undergone this kind of treatment.

Now we don't want to raise false hopes up there in Burnley, but we have already given the go-ahead to pay £100 towards the companero's fare and if we can get him to stay over a few more days we'll try to get him/her? to come up to BURNLEY.

i'LL SEND SOME MORE FLYERS TO JIM PETTY TOMORROW FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE BURNLEY REGION.

[michele cryer]

That's great news Bryan...let's hope he/she will be able to spend some more time here and visit the Burnley NAN event too! Well done Bryan...and thanks for posting the flyers etc.

[octoberlost]

In the light of some postings (or maybe diatribes is a more apropriate term) people rather having a constructive anarchist vision of mutual-aid and co-operation are more interested in sectarian point scoring with old colleagues, a very sad thing if you ask me.

I hope the NAN isnt just another sad left offering, and it does conciously try and break out, but alas I have made other arrangements.

Good Luck

[michele cryer]

I'm sorry that you are not going to be able to attend the Nan event at Burnley, Octoberlost.

I too, hope that the event will be a worthwhile one...as I mentioned earlier, I haven't attended any in the past so I'm looking forward to this event with an open mind.

I am sorry about the recent 'point scoring' that has taken place on the boards and note that things seem much more pleasant at the moment. Still, all opinions are welcomed on all issues...just no 'sniping' please everybody!

[bryan]

The great thing about then NAN is that it isn't a membership organisation and has never been a membership organisation throughout the decade or more of its existance. It is and has always been a FORUM for northern anarchists; without sectarian rights to legistlate for the movement or exclude members.


It therefore was always accepted that it include all anarchists 'class struggle' and other types of anarchists, affiliated anarchists and the unaffiliated anarchists. There were early on, however, one or two attempts to exclude groups that were not specifically described as 'anarchist'. These attempts were all unsuccessful.

At an earlier NAN 'October lost' complained nothing was done or decided (see above). I think Fred said that is not what the NAN is about: it is there to inform and facilitate actions by the participating groups and individuals.

Thus it was a forum in the 1990s to launch the anti-JSA campaign. In Manchester and Hebden Bridge, it helped by allowing its space to be used to focus the attention of local anarchists on the Manchester Social Forum, and made anarchists in Calderdale aware that they could form one there.

The back-up of the NAN has given us confidence to promote our actions through the Manchester Social Forum to support the Manchester electricians - the latest development being the meeting called next Thursday on April 7 at the FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, MANCHESTER, following their REMEDIES HEARING at the INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNAL - and our support for community campaigns around Manchester in Salford & Rochdale.

Others may disagree, but we believe these are the kind of activities anarchists should be involved in, and the non-sectarian nature of the NAN has made us more sensitive to what is really going on in English society. Others must judge if what we do is useful and constructive in relation to the public at large. Above all we are willing to take risks and, if necessary, experience failure.

[bryan]

Requests are coming in from Martin in Cumbria and Chris in North Wales, suggesting that the coming NAN meeting in Burnley takes a stand on the Status of FREEDOM the 'anarchist' London newspaper. Complaints have been coming in for months from Northern contributors to FREEDOM THAT IT IS FAILING TO REPRESENT THE ANARCHIST MOVEMENT IN GENERAL & THE NORTH IN PARTICULAR. It is being suggested that the coming BURNLEY NAN make this known through a local concensus. It is also suggested by Chris that a proposal is made for the PARTICIPANTS OF THE NAN to produce one page of FREEDOM a month to be co-ordinated by say Harold, Hebden Bridge, and forwarded to FREEDOM. This section of FREEDOM to be edited in the North.

FREEDOM still has some international significance as a publication of the British anarchist movement. Its current content is somewhat patchy and lacks both gravitas and humour. The juvenile politics of the LONDON metropolis may benefit from a regional input.

[Caitlin ODirty]

Guest-bryan said:

I think Sean & Filthy are out to sabotage the Sol. Fed.. My history of anarchism on page 4 above went from the 1950s to about the 1970s - with some earlier references to E.P.Thompson's 'Making of the Working Class', around the early 19th Century. The Sol Fed didn't exist then.

SURELY, UNLESS THEY ARE AGENT-PROVOCATORS, NEITHER SEAN NOR FILTHY WOULD WANT US TO RE-EXAMINE THE RECENT SOL. FED. RECORD? IN RELATION TO THE REVEREND FATHER OR THE SOL. FED. RECORD DURING THE ANTI-JSA CAMPAIGN. OR THE VOTING RECORD OF SOME OF THE SOL. FED. MEMBERS IN CERTAIN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.

To deal with that here would be sectarian.

What we must consider is the real contribution of groups and individuals in an historical context. Above all, here we are trying to tackle the history of the anarchist movement in the UK, not the meanderings of a few ideological drunks.

For the record, I personally have never voted in either a parliamentary or local election in this country. Nor do I intend to change that habit at the coming general election. However, I don't want to get into the politics of self-rightious indignation about others who have voted or supported candidates. Lilian Woolf, formerly of FREEDOM PRESS ~ who Shelia Rowbotham interviewed years ago, was in her 90s and had never voted. I doubt that I will beat her record.

Anarchists have voted on occasions. Some Spanish anarchists probably voted for the popular front in the 1930s and I know many voted last year, many for the first time, against the Aznar governent, because of the PP party lies in relation to the M11 bombings. Stuart Christie (the best known Scottish anarchist) in his recent book 'Granny Made Me An Anarchist' (see my review on the BOOK REVIEW THREAD) has quoted from a member of the famous anarchist NOSOTROS AFFINITY GROUP of the 1930s to support the case for backing certain party political movements in some cases. Stuart told us he voted for 'Respect' in last year's elections and Noam Chomsky, who some say is the best 'anarchist intellectual', says he regularly votes against some politicians in the USA.

What is going on!!!!!!

What has the solfed & Noam Chomsky & Stuart Christie got to do with the question aksed? Does no one on these boards give a straight answer?

I give up you are so full of horsesh*t bryan.

After ploughing thru your other posts (something I wouldn’t reccomend) I think I’ve worked out what your reference to the ‘reverend father’ is. That must be Jim Petty/francis/fred character. Is that a nickname because of his religious beliefs or is he actually a vicar? I’ll think I’ll have to investigate more.

As for solfed members voting have you actually any proof or this that just another smokescreen?

[Cailin ODirty]

Guest-bryan said:

Requests are coming in from Martin in Cumbria and Chris in North Wales, suggesting that the coming NAN meeting in Burnley takes a stand on the Status of FREEDOM the 'anarchist' London newspaper. Complaints have been coming in for months from Northern contributors to FREEDOM THAT IT IS FAILING TO REPRESENT THE ANARCHIST MOVEMENT IN GENERAL & THE NORTH IN PARTICULAR. It is being suggested that the coming BURNLEY NAN make this known through a local concensus. It is also suggested by Chris that a proposal is made for the PARTICIPANTS OF THE NAN to produce one page of FREEDOM a month to be co-ordinated by say Harold, Hebden Bridge, and forwarded to FREEDOM. This section of FREEDOM to be edited in the North.

FREEDOM still has some international significance as a publication of the British anarchist movement. Its current content is somewhat patchy and lacks both gravitas and humour. The juvenile politics of the LONDON metropolis may benefit from a regional input.

this is very strange. you are going to edit some elses paper for them? hope they tell you to f*ck off.

[Rob Ray]

Just got this thread passed on to me.

As a member of Freedom's current editorial team, I've asked round on several occassions, primarily through SolFed but in general as well, for people from the north to act as correspondents and reporters.

our email to send to is [e-mail], please do write us some good content. We can't give you a page for the north (we currently have only one page available for the entirety of Britain, plus maybe two front page stories) but we are always short of decent news/features/reviews, written to length (as opposed to 3,000 word, poorly researched diatribes full of cliches).

Bear in mind when saying we don't give enough news from the north that we took over as a team last year, we're all in our early twenties and simply don't have a decent range of contacts or writers from up your way. When we have approached various groups, via email or whatever, they tend to be too busy to put out anything. I personally have not read anything from NAN (I'll be honest, I've barely even heard of you), would you care to say what you've sent in over the past year and what was ignored?

What would be nice of course, as a London-based paper, would be to have a complimentary fortnightly title based in the north which can adequately cover specific northern issues, who we could then share copy with directly over a production weekend. I can't see that happening anytime soon though, which is a pity.

In the meantime, I'll bring up the suggestion of a northern page for if we become a 12-page title (we'll be discussing the paper's future direction) but can't say what the reaction might be. We've had problems before in relying on people to provide regular copy who then haven't done so, thus leaving us with less than 8 hours to find, write up and edit 1800+ words for a page, so we're wary of people saying grandly 'we'll take over a page'.

Can you garuntee that you'll continue to complete a page every fortnight, every two weeks, for the forseeable future? Because I'll tell you now we sometimes struggle to do so, even with premises, three dedicated editors - one a trained journalist - sub editor, and various experienced and reliable contributors. Would the content be edited to a decent standard, or would we have to spend hours editing it ourselves when it came in?

What style do you plan to write in? Would it be news-led, feature-led, a series of NIBs? How do you plan to weigh the competing demands for breadth and depth of content? Do you regard this as primarily a tool for information distribution and outreach to the general public, or first and foremost as an opportunity to put out propaganda? What do you regard as 'gravitas' and 'humor'?

It's all very well accusing us of these things, but frankly, given our lack of resources down here, it is not up to us to continually chase you, it is up to you to let us know what the hell is going on and we will try to get it in print. The last article I remember being directly sent to us about northern issues was written by Zonk from Norwich Anarchists after he visited Hatfield the other week for the NUM event, where was your copy on that?

NB// This is a personal message, not written on behalf of the Freedom eds.

[michele cryer]

Rob Roy, Thanks for your personal message to us, including the email address to which articles etc. should be sent for inclusion in Freedom.

I will be attending the NAN conference on Saturday and I am sure that we will be able to spend some time discussing this issue and see if something can be arranged that will be beneficial to you and us...

Thanks for your interest.

[Rob Ray]

No problem (it's Ray btw ), sorry if my tone was a bit confrontational, but I get riled when people expect an 8 page volunteer-based fortnightly with no budget to cover everything in and around the anarchist movement, let alone when they suggest they can do it better with no evidence whatsoever.

We get this from individuals down south as well, it seems to be mainly overblown egotists (usually liberal 'intellectuals', sometimes 'revolutionary' students) trying to make themselves sound a bit more important by attacking people who actually work bloody hard in their time off work, though I'm not saying that's the case here.

[michele cryer]

Thank you, Rob Ray...sorry I got your name wrong the first time!! ;D

I understand your feelings about the above matter and hope that together Freedom and the anarchist groups 'int'north' can produce articles that cover the wide spectrum of issues that anarchist groups nationally and locally are concerned with.

I have never seen an edition of Freedom yet, but look forward to doing so, and would be grateful for any help or tips which you can offer us when supplying an article for publication, so that it meets the requirements of your magazine.

[bryan]

THE CATALAN ANARCHIST IS COMING!

BUT NOT ALAS TO BURNLEY.

EDWARD MASJUAN, an anarchist from Barcelona will be speaking at the SHOCK OF THE NEW MEETING
at the FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, Mount Street, (OFF aLBERT sQUARE), MANCHESTER on Thursday April 7th, at 7.30pm.

HE WILL SPEAK ON URBAN IDEOLOGY & the CITY.

He is known to be very critical of the haphazard hasty urban architecture of cities like BARCELONA and by implication MANCHESTER.

THIS MEETING HAS BEEN CALLED BY TAMESIDE TRADE UNION COUNCIL & THE MANCHESTER SOCIAL FORUM.

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF MANCHESTER AS THE CONSEQUENCES ON THE MANCHESTER ELECTRICIANS' DISPUTE REACHES BOILING POINT WITH THE LATEST HEARING OF THEIR TRIBUNAL TAKING PLACE TODAY (Wednesday) AND TOMORROW.(Thursday).

WILL THE BLACKLIST BE EXPOSED?

Other speakers include:

SUE MACHIN BARRISTER & REPRESENTATIUVE OF THE ELECTRICIANS.

JASON ADDY OF THE SAVE SPODDEN VALLEY ASBESTOS CAMPAIGN.

HILDA PALMER OF THE MANCHESTER HAZARDS CENTRE.

STEVE ACHESON SACKED MANCHESTER ELECTRICIAN.

THIS IS THE CULMINATION OF THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE BLACKLIST & FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK.

No genuine working class anarchist or decent human being can afford to miss this opportunity to hear these speakers - each of them an expert in her or his own field.

THIS IS NOT GESTURE POLITICS, BUT THE POLITICS OF HUMAN STRUGGLE AGAINST BIG CORPORATIONS, CITY COUNCILS AND WHAT SMELLS LIKE A BENT UNION.

IF THE CATALAN ANARCHIST CAN'T MAKE IT TO BURNLEY, MAYBE BURNLEY SHOULD COME TO THE CATALAN.

BIENVENIDO!!!!

[Mitch]

On the Burnley NAN event this Saturday, I will be there - it looks like a most interesting programme.

What might be useful moving forward in Burnley is thinking about a widely distributed Burnley and Pendle Anarchist leaflet focusing on the key issues locally:

Housing & rubbish on the streets
Casual work
Drugs & mental health
A hard hitting attack on New Labour
Clear Anti-fascist message

Help would no doubt be forthcoming from community activists around the campaign against masts, the Piccadily Road Residents Association and this web forum, as well as local activists from Friends of the Earth.

A good place to start would be a build up to May Day. Burnley May Day is now a tame event, appropriated by the likes of New Labour's Kitty Ussher and defunct unions out of touch. Kitty Ussher will no doubt be wielded out to give a speech, with Pike giving his fairwell speech - yawn.

If a hard hitting anarchist leaflet and a strong anarchist organisation around Burnley May day and the march through Burnley comes out of Saturday, on top of bringing people together then it will be a good day.

[bryan]

SHOCK OF THE NEW MEETING ~ Thursday 7th, April:

Facinating meeting - 25 turned up - but Catalan anarchist, Edward Masjuan told me he thought there were many different interests represented. These included: the Mancheste Social Forum; the Sol. Fed.; two trade union councils (Tameside & Oldham); the four sacked electricians fresh from the INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNAL earlier in the day; the Manchester EPIU Branch; a free-lance journalist from Stockport; members of Manchester Hazards Centre and Save Spodden Valley Campaign.

The Barrister Sue Machin was not allowed to attend, because the electricians TRIBUNAL CASE has not officially ended & the decision has been reserved. She expressed the wish to attend a future meeting once the TRIBUNAL decision is reached & made public. The suggestion now is another meeting is called to discuss the legal system and that Sue & possible Robert Lazar the solicitor involved in Asylum cases are asked to speak. This could be interesting because Martin Gleeson, of Oldham TUC, who was at last night's meeting is still facing charges of doing criminal damage to a wreath of the BNP on Holocaust Memorial Day.

The electricians declared that they intended to extend their campaign in Manchester to challenge the Manchester City Council.

Peter of the Manchester Social Forum is writing a fuller report of last night's meeting for NORTHERN VOICES. Because the speach of Edward Masjuan and the health & Safety campaigners need fuller treatment,

Noticeable by their absence this time were the SWP & Workers Power, and other Trot groupings; also the Manchest Central Trade Union Council. This may have something to do with the approaching General election and they have other priorities.

[bryan]

SHOCK OF THE NEW:

I owe an apology (see above) to the ANARCHIST FEDERATION & MANCHESTER YOUNG ANARCHISTS/KICK START, who were at the above meeting but who I neglected to mention when I wrote the above report.

[bryan]

EMERGENCY ISSUE TO BE RAISED AT THE BURNLEY NAN:

Martin (Cumbria) writes:

'My apologies to the NAN, cannot be with you this weekend for personal reasons. I hope the following can be raised in the NORTHERN ALTENATIVE MEDIA:

FREEDOM needs to be the platform fot the anarchist mainstream, even if that readership is hard to define. In the mid-60s, when we were selling about 60,000 per issue it achieved that task fairly well. A difficulty in meeting that goal is that whoever is doing the production of the paper, has the main influence on its content. I feel that a wide cross section of the readership are now thoroughly alienated from the neo-Marxist, Class War line. While we should be tollerant of our comrades views, the authoritarian way in which FREEDOM is now conducted contradicts our values and visions. As token gestures they occasionally print letters of complait. The problem is not only the type of articles that appear but the editors refusal to print material that does not fit their party line.

We have three alternatives to follow: we can watch the paper continue to decline, send some sort of protest, or offer to produce a complete page for every issue.

Whatever anger some of us feel now, what would be the political value to us of FREEDOM's death?

They will continue to print letters critical of the paper, but such correspondence is most unlikely to have needed results.

Chris Draper (NORTH WALES) suggests that we could produce a page for every issue of NORTHERN NEWS. There are all sorts of resources around to make this happen. We oinly need a few voluteers to make the necessary contacts, and see what is available to start this hopeful idea.

[michele cryer]

EEEK!!! Bryan...I hope you are reading this, first thing Saturday morning...

I've spent all of tonight designing (with much help from Graeme) and printing out Flyers to bring to tomorrow's event, and typing and printing out my speech and Sally's speech...which one of us must read as she is ill...that I haven't had chance to see this late alteration to the meeting...

Would it be possible for somebody other than myself to bring up the issue of Freedom as I have no more paper on which to print any extra additions to my speech...

Also, I felt that Rob Ray was quite decent in his approach to us having articles included, and was considering writing to him with the view to us sending articles whenever it was appropriate...I didn't realise that there had been any particular difficulty having articles printed, unless Freedom haven't been receiving the articles for some reason? Perhaps we need to re read Rob Ray's reply to us, and rethink our approach/view of the people who produce Freedom.

Just a thought...

[bryan]

Michele:

No problem! Harold is coming from Hebden Bridge. Harold has been involve with FREEDOM since the 1950s, and is still the SECRETARY OF FREEDOM PRESS. So he represents FREEDOM PRESS - the bookshop; the building in Whitechapel; and indirectly the paper & publications. He has some overall responsibility, but not of course hands-on editorial control. So FREEDOM'S interest will not be neglected today.

HAROLD READ MARTIN'S CONTRIBUTION YESTERDAY.

[michele cryer]

Thank you Bryan...that puts my mind at great ease!!

Thank you Harold too

[michele cryer]

I've just arrived home from the 1st NAN conference to be held in Burnley, and must say it was a complete success. Over 20 people were in attendance...and the discussions were varied and interesting.

After the opening addresses, the first speaker was Mike Ballard, who spoke extensively on the housing problems facing many council tenants, not only in Manchester but in other parts of the country...a question and answer session followed, hopefully Mike will be able to post something in this forum shortly...a synopsis of his talk, to share with us.

Following Mike, I was asked to read out a statement on behalf of the Piccadilly's Moving Lobby Group...Sally, who was supposed to be representing them was a little too ill to attend for the morning session, although she did see a little of the afternoon session. I will copy the text from Sally's statement following this post.

As the morning session was quite late in starting, the talks about housing problems lasted until the break for lunch.
Many of the people in attendance chipped in with their own area's stories of housing troubles, and what the outcome of their campaigns had been.

Following lunch, the first speaker was Dave Douglass. His was a very interesting talk outlining the history of the coal mining industry, the formation of a union within it, and the various strikes up till the final 1984 strike. Again I am hopeful that Dave will provide us with a synopsis of his speech. It was brilliantly illustrated with anecdotes from his time working as a coal miner...and again the other participants of the NAN conference added their own stories of relatives who had been involved in the various Miners' Strikes over the years. Dave brought along 2 books, which he sold, and which are still available for sale...The first was 'STRIKE, NOT THE END OF THE STORY'..Reflections on the Major Coal Mining Strikes in Britain...available from the National Coal Mining Museum For England, Wakefield, Tel no. 01924 848806...just in case your local bookstore is unable to order you a copy...

It's ISBN no. is as follows if you wish to order it:

ISBN 187292509X the publisher is National Coal Mining Museum for England Publications...and the author is stated as David John Douglass, published 2005.

He also brought along, for sale, copies of his book from 1999: All Power to the Imagination...author listed as Dave Douglass, published by The Class War Federation, 1999,
ISBN 0953734706.

After a short break it was my turn to speak, and I spoke about this web forum, why it was created, how it has progressed and how the Burnley Anarchists intend to reach some people via the web forum, but also additionally with the publication of a newssheet and various flyers, to join with their campaigns, and be informative and hopefully interesting on a cultural level too. I will reprint the text of my offering following this post too.

Finally it was the turn of Brian Bamford of Northern Voices to speak. He spoke about the history of Northern Voices, the kinds of features that it prints and how it is reaching communities that wouldn't normally buy 'Anti-Establishment' books or magazines, by including articles and news that is relevant to it's readers...relevant to the place in which they live. Their circulation has grown from, I believe, 200 to 600.

Rachel from Shropshire was then invited to read out a message from Martin who had voiced some concern over the Freedom paper, and it's 'failure' to include enough articles from the North. Various opinions for and against Freedom were expressed and although no specific conclusion was drawn as to how to resolve these issues, I did offer to write to Rob Ray and ask his advise regarding the matter.

The meeting ended, amicably, at 4pm prompt and was followed by drinks in the Inn on the Wharf pub on Manchester Road.

Everybody agreed that the day had been very successful.

The date for the next NAN conference has been set for 23rd July 2005, and should take place in Shropshire...full details to follow nearer the time.

[michele cryer]

Passionate about Piccadilly

As a group we have actively fought for what Elevate promised was in the Regeneration package: keeping communities together, meaningful community consultation, ‘Home swap’ packages, terraced house remodelling. Mass demolition has never been on our agenda. No-one can deny that Piccadilly has got into a pickle. The final straw being when an elderly lady was driven from her ‘palace’ by extreme vandalism and sold-out for £2,000 in fear of her life. Piccadilly’s Moving started at that point and the name came from several ideas: a proud neighbourhood had been ‘moved’ into despair; we wanted our community to turn around the ‘move’ forward; Piccadilly has been ‘moved’ out of South West Burnley by Burnley Borough Council and excluded from the regeneration promised by Elevate; Piccadilly’s residents would have to ‘move’ themselves and become pro-active. This is a start to a recent reply from the Management Committee of Piccadilly Moving Lobby Group to a letter from ‘Concerned Trinity Taxplayer’ in the 29th March Express, whose house is listed for demolition on 3 of the options being worked on by Burnley Borough Council. Keeping morale high has been difficult to achieve over the last two years. The reply goes on to say:

Many Piccadilly residents have taken this last idea to heart and worked passionately as a community causing mayhem amongst our politicians and town hall officers. And they live in every part of Piccadilly, from every size and type of housing. Indeed, it is the mix of housing and people that makes Piccadilly so special; it is a very inclusive kind of neighbourhood. We are sorry that your house is listed for demolition on three options, you are not alone: a high percentage of our committee have houses that are heavily implicated in the plans and of course many of our members are in the same position. But whether your house is directly involved in the plans or not Piccadilly’s Moving is actively encouraging all residents to be involved. Any form of communication is to be encouraged, but rather than be anonymous honest face-to-face discussion is always best. Our councillors would agree that the regeneration issue has already brought people together talking . Talking on the streets, in the shops, at meetings. Piccadilly must work together, we will never all agree but we must all support each other. We should at all times be on guard for regeneration being a reason for dividing a neighbourhood and if Elevate is responsible they must be made accountable. Being passionate about our neighbourhood is not enough. We have to use our heads as well. Strength in numbers gives the community more clout with the authorities. And that means actively campaigning for the kind of measures you describe ‘Homeswap’, maximum financial compensation, keeping our close knit communities together and considering terraced housing as a valuable asset to the town (and that means above and beyond simple finances). But we do have to take on board that some change is required and we must ensure that it is done to a very high moral standard where people count.

In the particular matter of ‘Homeswap’, Piccadillys Moving have found a high level of resistance having lobbied for 18 months without success. Our position has always been that before any meaningful community consultation, a ‘Homeswap’ package must be in place along side the other financial packages already offered or now in preparation. Without ‘Homeswap’ in place the Trafalgar/Piccadilly Elevate consultation exercise was seriously compromised and is causing undue stress. We are having to increase the pressure. Kitty Ussher has been in touch with Elevate head office on our behalf and they say a ‘Homeswap’ scheme is possible if the Burnley elevate team put forward an acceptable scheme. What Elevate means as acceptable we don’t know. But we do know what we think is acceptable:

If your ‘palace’ is to be demolished and you wish to remain in the neighbourhood and be relocated into a nearby ‘palace’ then

a) Several blocks or part blocks are bought by Elevate and renovated to a very high standard.
b) You ‘swap’ deeds and the house is decorated to your taste
c) Any outstanding mortgage debt is transferred to your new ‘palace’
d) If you move within 10 years a sliding scale comes into operation for any debt to Elevate, and stops speculative behaviour
e) If you live there for 10 years then any debt to Elevate is cancelled
f) If you die within 10 years then any debt to Elevate is cancelled

So, come on the ‘three Mikes’ (Wellock, Waite & Cook), let’s elevate on moral grounds.

Signed: The Piccadilly’s Moving Committee

Where Burnley Anarchist Group can help is by stopping so many houses being demolished that are unnecessary and so preserving the history and communities in Burnley. We need real help in getting this ‘Homeswap’ option to be put in place as it is already in Oldham, Birmingham, Manchester and other parts of the country. We thank you for your support. We have been working together on plans for Piccadilly but the final results which should have been made known to us by now will be with us early summer. Burnley Borough Council has had some delays.

[michele cryer]

The Burnley Voice:

Hello everybody and welcome to Burnley’s 1st N.A.N. conference.
I’ve been asked to speak today about the web forum which I created last July. It has had many names, but in tribute to the magazine of the same name, produced by Anarchists in the 1970’s we have recently renamed the site The Burnley Voice. To begin, I would like to read out the aims and objectives, and the motto of that magazine, which we have adopted as our own:

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1. To promote community action and solidarity amongst the people of Burnley.

2. To give a platform for: local action groups, views which do not get coverage in other papers and the work of local poets, artists, humourists and story-tellers.

3. To support attempts to bring power to the people and promote ideas about the accountability of representatives and direct democracy.

4. To be non-party political.

5. To encourage people to express their criticisms of the present, their ideals for the future and constructive proposals for alternatives to present policies.


"The Burnley Voice has finally found itself a suitable motto in the form of a short poem by Albert Camus.

Don't walk in front of me -
I may not follow

Don't walk behind me -
I may not lead

Walk beside me - and just be
my friend."

When I first created the web forum I just wanted it to be a place where my friends and online contacts could discuss such issues as Politics, Religion, Human and Animal Rights…however, as the membership grew, so did the number and variety of forums…we included Music, Poetry, Jokes, and began to include more information about various campaigns in the area, information about Community Groups, and the Anarchist forum, which has proved to be the most popular of all. That forum was designed mainly in order to educate myself and the general public on what Anarchy is really all about, to dispel some of the myths, and to teach more about the history of Anarchy in the UK and abroad.

I feel that via the web forum the Burnley Anarchists are getting more involved with the issues that worry the people of East Lancashire, for instance the housing issues of the Piccadilly Moving Group, the fight against the BNP by the Unite Against Fascism group, the work of the Together Against Masts group, which is pressing for the local government to object to the erection of mobile phone masts in urban areas, and the fight for recognition and a voice for those people suffering from forms of mental illness.

Various members of the B.A. have been attending the meetings of these groups and have been printing the information on the web forum to share with others.

One particular campaign which is organizing a march in Manchester on 14th July is Kissit.org. They are protesting against the forced use of a cocktail of neuroleptic drugs, such as haloperidol and a sedative, lorazepam on patients who are admitted to psychiatric wards suffering from hallucinations and confusion. The patients are forced to take these drugs via a hypodermic syringe, whilst being held down by staff in the hospital ward, in a process known as Acuphase. Kissit.org held a march in London on 14th February, and hope that we can spread the word about the march in Manchester so that it will be even more successful than the first. There is a meeting in Hebden Bridge on the 1st Monday in each month, at the Stubbing Wharf pub, which is called Evolving Minds, where the march and other issues surrounding Mental Health are explored.
Another area that the B.A. are involved with via the Web Forum is the LETS trading scheme, a process whereby people exchange goods and services without the use of money. Full details can be obtained of exactly how the scheme works, elsewhere, however there are flyers here advertising a Lets Social and Trading Event which is to take place here next Saturday, and anyone is free to sign up on the day if they wish.

So, having explained to you what the web forum is all about, and when it started, I will move onto the B.A. itself…we wish, via the forum, to be able to set up a local Social Forum, tackle more of the issues affecting people locally, head-on, and work with other local anarchist groups to take action on nation issues. We hope to raise the profile of the group when we hold a bookstall at the May Day event at Towneley Park, and by issuing flyers advertising the meetings and any events that we arrange, and long term we hope to achieve enough popularity to be able to produce a newssheet which we can leave in local venues which may attract more members of the public to join with us in our campaigns.

Finally, I would just like to thank you all for listening to me…I hope that you can take away the various flyers about the Burnley Voice and Lets, and perhaps consider joining us, and I hope that you enjoy the remainder of the afternoon.

[bryan]

I'd just like to send a big thank you to the BURNLEY ANARCHISTS for hosting a grand conference of the NAN. I CAN SAY ON BEHALF OF THE northern voices affinity group (Gwen particularly was impressed) that it was probably the most good humoured and spirited conferences I've been to. It was not the biggest ever but it was bigger than the last two in MANCHESTER.

UN BESITO GRANDE PARA TODOS EN BURNLEY!

It may also proof to be more fruitful than recent conferences in MANCHESTER because, apart from the excelent speeches from Mike Ballard, Michele & Dave Douglass and smashing debates that followed, BURNLEY VOICE has done something that no-one else up NORTH, in recent times, has been able to do: that is open up a direct line to FREEDOM IN LONDON. This may now have consequences for the last emergency item discussed: the suggestion from Martin (Cumbria) that FREEDOM open up part of the paper to the NAN PARTICIPANTS.

I spoke to Chris (NORTH WALES) last night and says if it happens, this should be a clear CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AT FREEDOM PRESS, and not something that can be taken away at whim or after the future change of editors down there. This means that if a concession is made to the NORTH by FREEDOM PRESS it must be a concession for all time. We don't want another off-the-record 'under the counter concession' that at a later date can be denied ever existed.

All this is important because FREEDOM is still regarded INTERNATIONALLY as the VOICE OF BRITISH ANARCHISM. It only has the odd article from the NORTH. Apart from a longish list of people who have sent reviews and reports to FREEDOM and never had them acknowledged (let alone printed), I will here only mention one: Derek 'P', anarcho-syndicalist & former member of the DIRECT ACTION MOVEMENT. Derek Pattison is, in my view, one of the best anarcho-syndicalist activists in the country. He is, I admit a personal friend, but his record of activism up NORTH is comparable to DAVE DOUGLASS. He is pResident of TAMESIDE TRADE UNION COUNCIL: he is joining the NUJ and has sent several e-mailed articles on the MANSOUR HASSAN ASYLUM CASE to FREEDOM. He has not even had any replies from the current editors, talk about having anything published.

DEREK 'P' is not a toss-pot! He is one of the star reporters on NORTHERN VOICES with a big following locally. He also writes for other publications and has been published in The Big Issue, the old Direct Action, the MANCHESTER TIMES, regularly in the old FREEDOM under Vernon Richards and Charlie Crute. He is by any standard a competent writer and no-one can say he is not a class war anarchist, yet he can't get things published in the current FREEDOM.

Rob Ray is going to have to do better, if he is to convince us he is serious about what he says.

[byan]

Oh, I nearly forgot!

Why, if FREEDOM is trying to do its bit, did they not publish the advert for the BURNLEY NAN CONFERENCE? Harold (Hebden Bridge) sent it down in good time, and Harold has been intimately involve with FREEDOM for half a century.