PUTNEY DEBATES exhibition

[Mark]

Ref: http://ianbone.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/the-putney-debates/
(edited - expletives removed)

Spurred on by THE DEVILS WHORE (new 4-part Ch-4 dramatisation of the
English Civil War) I made the long awaited trip to ST.Mary's Church,
Putney to see their PUTNEY DEBATES exhibition well funded by the Heritage
Lottery. What a disapointment! What did they spend all the money on? About
8 display boards of the kind hawked aroud by Health Promotion departments
stuck away in an alcove The contents of the boards were fine, but it was
definitely a case of "Is that all there is?" Maybe the vicar being out of
sympathy with the radicals - (he described himself as a royalist - which
probably has something to do with it!)

What a joy then to see the TAKING LIBERTIES exhibition at THE BRITISH
LIBRARY. There you can see displayed not only the original AGREEMENT OF
THE PEOPLE presented by the New Model Army but also the original book of
notes of the debate opened to the page of Rainsborough's great speech. I
nearly choked. The original AGREEMENT OF THE PEOPLE - almost in my hands!!
Theres also a very fine depiction of CAPTAIN SWING  as an incendiarist and
pictures of Chartist and Suffragette demonstrations. Well worth a look.
I.Bone


other news:
PRICE REDUCTION CAMPAIGN

Whats being planned?

After a successful first meeting, the group that has now met as the Price
Reduction Campaign is planning to go ahead to organise an event for
DECEMBER 13th at TESCO, morning lane, Hackney (the heart of the
universe!). The event will consist of a public rally/launch in the car
park of Tesco"s with the view of communicating to the shoppers about the
need/posibilities of Price Reduction considering the increase of prices
and why they should support it and get involved. This was a step back from
the immediate form that it was going to take in the sense that we
orginally planned to make an action of negotiated Price Reduction before
XMAS, this will in on JANUARY 10th. We felt that we need to make the case
FIRST and learn from the issues/responses/desires of other people - so in
a way it will be asking people what they feel about food prices, what they
feel about the campaign..etc.

In parallel to this we have set up a team of negotiators that will be the
contact between the campaign and the store manager. An open letter will be
drafted by the communications group, which will form the basis of the
politics of the campaign, and will be sent to the Hackney Gazzette. We
wanted the negotiations to be transparent and involve people, so we will
make a point of publishing responses.

This event/action is aimed at moving beyond protesting against the
economic crisis to actively sparking the imagination of what forms of
struggles people can take to influence it for their own benefit. This is
not a one off stunt, it is part of a wider mobilisation of antagonism that
is occuring, and will increase when bosses announce huge lay-offs at the
end of January, and aims to also support proposals for occupations of
empty housing, demonstrations at the HQ of utility companies and any
formations of working class oppositions that occur whether as strike
actions, anti-debt and anti-repossesion support groups.

We are asking comrades and groups to support this initiative and get
involved in mobilising people for it. It would be good if othr price
reduction initiatives round the country could aim for January 10th as a
date for similar action to get thatsense of momentum developing.

The Smiths - Shoplifters Of The World Unite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRbp0ZIehk0&feature=related