Molly Naylors Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think Of You quick review Oxford Playhouse
I am glad I went to see ‘Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think Of You’ by Molly Naylor[1]. Any squeamishness I had about treatments of collective national victimhood – like 7/7 – was adequately allayed by Naylor’s fantastically subtle, Generation X like spoken word about a particular overdetermined moment on the Aldgate tube in London, the way it temporarily patterned a single life, and the web of postmodernish City subje… Read more
Sebastienne Posted by Sebastienne Below is the text of the presentation I gave at a panel discussion for Oxford pride, "We are Family: LGBT Community in 2011". It's a bit more introductory-level than I'd usually blog here, but it seemed to raise some interesting talking-points so I thought I'd let the discussion carry on here if people were interested. Read more »[2] 1. http://www.blogger.com/profile/140496023631058… Read more
A video summary of 38 Degrees’ Save the NHS campaign to date… Read more
The first in a series of short whiteboard art film made for the Great British Refurb campaign. Client: WWF, GBC, Grand Designs Magazine … Read more
I wont vote for any party who sells off our NHS
Last Friday, with members of Keep Our NHS Public, and disability campaigners My Life My Choice we delivered 700 petitions to County Hall telling our councillors ‘I won’t vote for any party that sells off our NHS’ We collected the petitions in only two hours the Saturday before, showing the incredible strength of support for a public NHS, free at the point of use, principles that the government wants to ignore. Mo… Read more
Saturdays protest to save the NHS
Last Saturday Oxford Save Our Services, Keep Our NHS Public, My Life My Choice and Unison Health protested in Cornmarket against the Health and Social Care Bill currently going through parliament. See the video below or some pictures here[3]. We collected 700 petitions in only 2 hours, saying ‘I will not vote for any party that sells off the NHS’. It showed the incredible strength of opposition people feel towards the … Read more
Peru's narrow escape from more Fujimori
Vanessa Baird reports from Peru, which has just elected a left-leaning President. … Read more
Lashings of Ginger BeerPosted by Lashings of Ginger Beer Welcome to the weekly Lashings links round up! Feel free to add your own links in the comments, with a brief description and trigger warnings if appropriate. Really thought-provoking post about racism and white privilege in feminist organisations. Like the song says, we know our class and ethnic make-up needs more diversity - but what are we doing about it? Bird of Paradox on the p… Read more
Ardley, The Incinertor Challenge to the Secretary of State
There will be a talk by Ian Groves on this interesting topic at our Monthly Meeting on Wednesday, 8 June in the Friends Meeting House … Read more
A.C. Grayling is trying to invent time-travel
Civilisation: A class of wealthy, all-white males, studying the traditional arts of law, history, economics, literature and philosophy. A well-rounded pupil, ready to enter the highly attuned games of politics and living-off-the-inheritance. Some compassion, of course – stirring in an approximate 30% of students who may be seen as the ‘other’ (poor, non-white, women, etc). Or at least that’s what Grayling i… Read more
I am a woman, even if I can kick
[IMAGE] [1] [2]At 5, I became an active feminist. On my first day of school in Dallas, while queueing for something or other, a boy behind me announced proudly, “Girls can’t kick.” I turned around and proclaimed with just as much pride, “Yes they can!” He looked puzzled, and then demanded, “Well then, prove it – kick me.” And I did… in-between his legs. I’ve told this story before, oft… Read more
The Opera Group will be performing their latest offering, Seven Angels, at the Playhouse on 8 July. I’ve seen the libretto and it’s wonderful. The opera is about seven angels who visit the earth and find it barren – but there is hope! Click here to find more details.[1] OxFoE will have a stall to publicise environmental issues and we are organising a discussion of the issues arising from the opera afterwards. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6… Read more
Save the NHS Everybody needs to stand together on this one.
Lashings Unplugged! Saturday 11th June
AnnalyticaPosted by Annalytica[1] Lashings will be performing in Oxford in just over a week! We will have live musical accompaniment courtesy of the highly talented Lashers Doctor Carmilla and Florestan. Where: East Oxford Community Centre (Cowley Rd). The venue has a ramp to the entrance and accessible toilets. The performance takes place on the ground floor. When: Saturday June 11, 8pm Cost: £5 Join us for our very first all-acoustic g… Read more
New Internationalist's IT manager heads off to the Barncamp once more... … Read more
Sally Outen Posted by Sally Outen[1] €œI totally accept that very young children can feel constrained in terms of their gender roles, and feel that the way they are expected to behave (dependent on being male or female) does not match how they would prefer to be. I felt like that growing up. I hated the idea that I was supposed to be feminine.€ Guess the writer? Yes, it's self-identified radical feminist Julie Bindel, who… Read more
A reactionary popular BBC documentary by Adam Curtis, All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace (BBC2 May-June 2011) recently used the famous interview with middle-class anti-cuts activist Lucy Annson, spokesperson €œnot for UK Uncut€ but €œonly for herself€, as a hook to discredit what Curtis alleges is becoming a widespread collective fantasy of leaderless autonomy, traceable to the erstwhile eco-m… Read more
Amazon knock back is sign of strength!
New Internationalist's co-editor Vanessa Baird is reassured by the Asháninka community's refusal to talk to journalists in Peru, where she is investigating indigenous resistance to mega-projects. … Read more
Florynce Kennedy Florynce Kennedy says fuck you patriarchy I’ve been called a “slut” twice. Once by a male partner, once by a man on the street. Both times it was about an attempt to control me, not a description of my behaviour or the way I dress. Both times it shocked me, then made me feel physically sick, like being punched in the stomach. I have a less visceral but still unpleasant reaction to being called &l… Read more
Oxfords Big Society Hospital A Real Life Horror Story
http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Foxfordsos.org.uk%2F%3Fp%3D1100 … Read more
ON YER BIKE: Cyclists in our world-class city deserve better
Tuesday 31st May 2011 James Styring I was at a table outside a bar in Manhattan in 1997. The street was rammed with wheezing and spluttering V8 beasts. An SUV nearly took the back off my head as it parked. The engine roared, belched a bomb of black soot and died. Its occupants piled out and sat two tables away. My beer arrived, I lit up. €œEw, that guy is smo-king! Let€™s go,€ they yelled. I was incredulous. Here, … Read more
Lashings of Ginger BeerPosted by Lashings of Ginger Beer[1] Sometimes when I check the stats for this blog to see which sites are referring people here, I find a URL for the stats page of somebody else's blog - usually one that has appeared on the links roundup - and I wonder if clicking on it will lead to an endless recursion of links back and forth. Enjoy this week's roundup! This is chord-striking: Hugo Schwyzer on self-deprecating jok… Read more
Disability covers a full range spectrum and this is also true for hidden disabilities. During the last 6 months I have come face to face with my own disability in a way that I’ve not had to deal with for the last 25 years. Not that I wasn’t aware of it during those years, but that its impact on the sense of who I am or on my life has not been significant. At least for me this has been a choice. I’ve been trying to l… Read more
The #spanishrevolution a view from the frontline
By Héctor Sanjuan of the Spanish Young Greens How it began A demonstration under the slogan “Real democracy now!” was held on the 15th of May (Sunday). The call for this demonstration had been distributed through the social media and it aimed to bring out to the streets the people who where “upset” with the current situation: crisis, corrupted politicians, loss of rights, banking greed, unemplo… Read more
Molly Naylors Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think Of You quick review Oxford Playhouse
I am glad I went to see ‘Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think Of You’ by Molly Naylor. Any squeamishness I had about treatments of collective national victimhood – like 7/7 – was adequately allayed by Naylor’s fantastically subtle, Generation X like spoken word about a particular overdetermined moment on the Aldgate tube in London, the way it temporarily patterned a single life, and the web of postmodernish City subje… Read more
Sebastienne Posted by Sebastienne Below is the text of the presentation I gave at a panel discussion for Oxford pride, "We are Family: LGBT Community in 2011". It's a bit more introductory-level than I'd usually blog here, but it seemed to raise some interesting talking-points so I thought I'd let the discussion carry on here if people were interested. Read more » … Read more
A video summary of 38 Degrees’ Save the NHS campaign to date. … Read more
[1] The first in a series of short whiteboard art film made for the Great British Refurb campaign. Client: WWF, GBC, Grand Designs Magazine 1. http://petespeller.com/great-british-refurb/vlcsnap-5868575 … Read more
Saturdays protest to save the NHS
Last Saturday Oxford Save Our Services, Keep Our NHS Public, My Life My Choice and Unison Health protested in Cornmarket against the Health and Social Care Bill currently going through parliament. See the video below or some pictures here[3]. We collected 700 petitions in only 2 hours, saying ‘I will not vote for any party that sells off the NHS’. It showed the incredible strength of opposition people feel towards the … Read more
Peru's narrow escape from more Fujimori
Vanessa Baird reports from Peru, which has just elected a left-leaning President. … Read more
Lashings of Ginger BeerPosted by Lashings of Ginger Beer Welcome to the weekly Lashings links round up! Feel free to add your own links in the comments, with a brief description and trigger warnings if appropriate. Really thought-provoking post about racism and white privilege in feminist organisations. Like the song says, we know our class and ethnic make-up needs more diversity - but what are we doing about it? Bird of Paradox on the p… Read more
[oxford-activism] 9 July pro-choice demo in London planned - Clare Cochrane
Ardley, The Incinertor Challenge to the Secretary of State
There will be a talk by Ian Groves on this interesting topic at our Monthly Meeting on Wednesday, 8 June in the Friends Meeting House … Read more
A.C. Grayling is trying to invent time-travel
[1] [2]Civilisation: A class of wealthy, all-white males, studying the traditional arts of law, history, economics, literature and philosophy. A well-rounded pupil, ready to enter the highly attuned games of politics and living-off-the-inheritance. Some compassion, of course – stirring in an approximate 30% of students who may be seen as the ‘other’ (poor, non-white, women, etc). Or at least that’s what Grayling i… Read more
I am a woman, even if I can kick
At 5, I became an active feminist. On my first day of school in Dallas, while queueing for something or other, a boy behind me announced proudly, “Girls can’t kick.” I turned around and proclaimed with just as much pride, “Yes they can!” He looked puzzled, and then demanded, “Well then, prove it – kick me.” And I did… in-between his legs. I’ve told this story before, oft… Read more
The Opera Group will be performing their latest offering, Seven Angels, at the Playhouse on 8 July. I’ve seen the libretto and it’s wonderful. The opera is about seven angels who visit the earth and find it barren – but there is hope! Click here to find more details. OxFoE will have a stall to publicise environmental issues and we are organising a discussion of the issues arising from the opera afterwards. … Read more