Women's Views on News |
| Peace Signs: preventative photography Posted: 07 Jun 2016 07:42 AM PDT
The London Imperial War Museum (IWM London) is currently holding an exhibition of work by photographer Edward Barber, 'Peace Signs', showing more than 40 photographs that explore the anti-nuclear protest movement in 1980s Britain. Among them are the iconic 'Embrace the Base' showing some of the 30,000 women linking hands, completely surrounding the nine-mile perimeter fence at RAF/USAF Greenham Common, Berkshire, taken in 1982; the Labour Party's 'Nuclear Arms No – Peace Yes' rally in Hyde Park, London in 1980, and the 'Stop the City' protester at the Bank of England, City of London, in 1983, with the sign reading 'War Stocks Move Up'. The exhibition is a contemporary reinterpretation of photographs taken by British documentary photographer Edward Barber, who recorded major protests staged at key sites such as RAF/USAF Greenham Common, Westminster, Trafalgar Square and the City of London. Peace Signs, Barber's collected body of work, was originally taken to attract media attention to the anti-nuclear movement, and this exhibition will explore these protests as multi-generational and distinctly British forms of self-expression. The photographs are a unique social document of mass popular protest in late twentieth century Britain and have rarely been seen in public since they was first published in 1984. Barber's images create a social record of both individual and collective responses to war, as well as illuminating the activists' humour and creativity. The photographs capture hand-rendered signs, banners, badges, clothing, make-up and costumes, and illustrate the often overlooked role of performance theatre, folk art and fashion at peace camps and demonstrations. They also highlight the important role of women in the movement and the activity of the female-only protest camp at RAF/USAF Greenham Common, which marks its 35th anniversary this year. Selections of Barber's photographs were first published in international media outlets like The Guardian, The Observer Magazine, NME and US News & World Report in the 1980s. They were also disseminated globally by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and published as part of the book ‘Peace Moves: Nuclear Protest in the 1980s’ by Zoe Fairburns and James Cameron in 1984. The photographs also toured nationally in 1984 as the exhibition Bomb Disposal, to venues such as Camerawork, London and Watershed, Bristol. His images were also shown at the ICA and Tate Britain. The display offers a fresh interpretation of the images: the photographs will be contextualised by a graphic installation entitled ‘Mind Map of Anti-Nuclear Protest’, created by Barber specifically for this exhibition. The Mind Map will trace his contemporary re-evaluation of the events he captured in the 1980s. As a British documentary photographer Barber is best known for his portrait work which, during a career spanning 40 years, has been exhibited widely in the UK by The Design Museum, Museum of London, National Portrait Gallery, The Photographer's Gallery and the V&A. He is also a designer, curator and teacher, and used to be the Subject Director for Fashion Photography at the London College of Fashion. ‘Peace Signs’ will be on show at IWM London until 4 September 2016. Admission is free.  |
| Don’t forget: it’s your referendum Posted: 07 Jun 2016 07:35 AM PDT
On 23 June, Britain will take the massive decision to remain in or leave the European Union. Sadly, many feel that much of that debate so far has been an alienating squabble between different factions of the Tory Party. But this isn’t their referendum, it’s your referendum. So Momentum and Another Europe is Possible have created #YourReferendum, a crowdsourced, online platform for campaigning and organising tools to take the debate out of Westminster and into our communities. A platform to take back this referendum from the Tories, UKIP and ‘Project Fear‘ and make it yours. A way to take the stuffy EU Referendum debate out of Westminster and into our communities. The #YourReferendum webpage will develop alongside the activism that takes place across the country. It has a space for your ideas: for example what do you think referendum campaigners should be doing? You can add your ideas to the site, and upvote the ones you like. You can download your EU campaign materials so that other people can use them: send any templates or resources you’re using in your campaigning to yourreferendum@peoplesmomentum.com, so they can be shared with thousands of other citizen campaigners all over the UK. You can see where there is a Labour In event near you, and you can find other events near you – or add yours. You can also download a Doorstep EU app: 'an invaluable pocket guide to the European Union [EU] and Britain’s place in it. Designed for anyone who’s interested in the relationship between the UK and the EU.' This is an astonishingly useful tool for EU doorstep campaigners when faced with “I’ve read that …”. It rates each press story for reliability and accuracy based on evidence, showing how biased much of the press is in favour of Brexit and how willing they are to twist or even invent Eurosceptic evidence. And there are also tables of statistics on jobs and investment, a myth buster section and some clear explanations of various aspects of the EU. Momentum was set up to build on the energy and enthusiasm that arose during the 'Jeremy Corbyn for Labour Leader' campaign, and aims to increase participatory democracy, solidarity, and grassroots power and help Labour become the transformative governing party of the 21st century. 'Another Europe Is Possible' is a campaign for a radical 'in' vote in Britain’s EU referendum. It campaigns to put the case for staying in the EU independently of Cameron and big business, opposing any part of a "renegotiation" that attacks workers', migrants' or human rights. And it combines campaigning for an in vote with arguing for an alternative economic model, maintaining European citizens' rights to live and work across the EU, and for far-reaching democratic reforms of European institutions. A British exit from the EU, Another Europe says, would have a seriously detrimental impact on the free movement of people; trade union and human rights; environmental protection; international cooperation; and a host of other vital issues. While, at the very least, the EU is in desperate need of a democratic overhaul, an exit at the current time would boost rightwing movements and parties and hurt ordinary people in the UK. European politics has been dominated by neoliberal thinking for far too long – as recent events in Greece brutally demonstrate. But changing this means working to strengthen anti-austerity movements across all of Europe – not walking away. #DontWalkAway For more #YourReferendum info, click here.  |
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