[Campaignforrealdemocracy] 25th November Passing Clouds

[Mark Barrett]

Please put in your diary and spread the word

*Peace not War (PnW) hosting* a*ctivist group networking and outreach
+ music & film*
*Wed 25th November at Passing Clouds, Dalston Hackney*

One the night there will be various groups including a CRD presentation,
circle discussion and debate, plus fliers about democracy cells at the local
level and how to do it. Aswell as other groups there will also be
non-activists, plus all sorts of performance and film. PC is a truly lovely
venue, as anyone knows who's been so please spread the word.

Also, fyi last night we had a good planning meeting about a real democracy
event for Feb / March, and a follow on direct action campaign around the
general election. So, come April / May / June, is anyone for picnics and
music at town halls across London / further afield? Or even,er...  a
democracy rush..?!

About the 25th, pls could PnW send details so I can promote on Facebook.
Also please let me know when the site is updated with info about gig so I
can put it around as a link.

Also, any volunteers for helping out on the night please email as per Rob's
mail below. You can put me down for a spell on the door or making tea before
or after the CRD bit.

Finally any news on the accessibility / decisions about downstairs or
up? Width of doorways for chairs downstairs would presumably be useful.

Hope to see you all there

Mark

2009/11/3 Rob - <rub at peace.fm>

> PEACE.FM <http://peace.fm/> volume 3, Passing Clouds, 25th of November,
> Archie is organising the music section (9.30pm on, gig is free before this
> time, people coming for late drinking/music will have a cover charge as a
> fundraiser for Holly's choice this time, solaraid, with regard to copenhagen
> coming and peace.fm's stated objective of forging links with and unifying
> the eco/peace movement)... so that's Archie at peace.fm, also if you are
> interested in tea not war ladies, music programming... Josef, united
> diversity, you all know, will be running the "activist section" (some people
> prefer to call it "films"), so groups proposing discussions or screenings
> want to email Josef at peace.fm... people interested in preliminary debate
> about what sort of things you would like to hear discussed or said at such a
> forum would do well to speak to magik dave (Dave at peace.fm) as well as
> josef and archie and all of us of course... wednesday 25th... we can start
> at 6pm if there is a genuine desire to... license till one, show end, with
> option for private meeting/debates after, lock in like, as long as noone's
> silly, xxx.rub.fm
>
> Music Archie at peace.fm 9.30-1am
> Films/Activism Josef at peace.fm
> Debate Dave at peace.fm
>
> there's a rumour that da100thMonkey got an exclusive Yap edit coming,
> T.B.C.
>
> and holly's volunteer request sheet went (ctrl v)
>
> DOOR (2 hours each, 3 people);
> BAR (2 hours each, 3 people);
> SOUND AND MUSIC PROGRAMMING (9.30 - 1AM); rob and archie and perhaps caro
> on sound for a bit?
> FILMS (7-9.30); josef? baraka?
> MERCHENDISE (2 hrs, 3 ppl);
>
>
>
>> *THEY MAKE A DESERT AND CALL IT PEACE*
>>
>> I am usually suspicious of claims that understanding the history of the
>> ancient world helps you to understand the history of our own. When people
>> tell me that antiquity was so like today, I tend to object that it was very
>> different in almost every respect. But two of the topics in Roman history
>> that I teach have come to seem almost uncomfortably topical — and raw.
>>
>> The first is the whole theme of “native” resistance to the Roman Empire.
>> If you didn’t have the military resources, how could you stand up against
>> the ancient world’s only superpower? Between the 3rd century BC and the 1st
>> century AD, Rome extended its control over the world from the Sahara to
>> Scotland. As with most empires, it was not without advantages for at least
>> some of the conquered. I’m not just talking about consumer goods, literacy,
>> water and drains (which didn’t impact on as much of the Roman world as we
>> often imagine). Rome’s imperial strategy was first to incorporate the local
>> elites and then spread citizenship, with all its advantages, throughout its
>> territory. It was generosity, even if sprung from self-interest.That said,
>> what could you do if you didn’t fancy being taken over by Rome ? The Roman
>> legions represented an insuperable military force. They might occasionally
>> be delayed but, while their power was at its height, they could not be
>> defeated. Barbarians were not stupid. They did not waste their men’s lives
>> in formal battle lines against the superpower. Instead, they did what the
>> disadvantaged will always do against overwhelming military odds: they
>> ignored the rules of war and resorted to guerrilla tactics, trickery and
>> terrorism.
>>
>> Much of this was ghastly and cruel. Our image of plucky little Asterix
>> with his Boy Scout-like japes against the Roman occupation is about as true
>> to life as a cartoon strip would be that made suicide bombing seem like fun.
>> Boudicca’s scythed chariots (if they existed) were the ancient equivalent of
>> car bombs. In terrorising the occupying forces, she was said to have had the
>> breasts slashed off the Roman civilian women and sewn into their mouths.
>> Roman writers were outraged at barbarians’ tactics in war, decried their
>> illegal weapons and their flouting of military law (“terrorist” sometimes
>> captures the Roman sense of the Latin word barbarus better than the more
>> obvious “barbarian”). But in the face of invincible imperialism, they must
>> have felt they were using the only option they had. Does it sound familiar?
>>
>> My second teaching topic is the account by the Roman historian Tacitus of
>> the career of his father-in-law, Agricola, who was governor of Britain in
>> the late 1st century and extended Roman power north into Scotland. On one
>> occasion, the barbarians were foolish enough to risk a pitched battle — and,
>> just before it, Tacitus puts into the mouth of the British leader, Calgacus,
>> a rousing speech denouncing not only Roman rule but the corruption of
>> language that follows imperial domination. Slaughter and robbery go under
>> the name of “power”. And, in a now famous phrase, he says: “They make a
>> desert and call it peace.” This is often treated, and quoted, as a barbarian
>> denunciation of Roman rule. It is nothing of the sort. No real words of
>> Calgacus or of any British “barbarians” have survived. As with many imperial
>> powers, the most acute critiques often came from within the Roman system.
>> This is an analysis by Tacitus himself, a leading member of the Roman elite,
>> observing the consequences of Roman expansion and daring to put himself into
>> the place of the conquered. As such, it makes an even more appropriate
>> message for us. Whatever forms our “deserts” take — whether it is the poppy
>> fields of Afghanistan or the ruins that will be left of Beirut when Israel
>> and Hezbollah (and our own culpable inactivity) have finished — we are still
>> making them and calling them “peace”.
>>
>> http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article6896091.ece
>>
>> * *
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/campaignforrealdemocracy/attachments/20091106/9da4a026/attachment.htm>