Tag Archives: resistance

Bristol Poll Tax Resistance 1988-91: Exhibition and Launch Event

Members of BASE library collective have curated an exhibition of materials from the Poll Tax resistance in Bristol, compiled from archives held at BASE with contributions from other comrades in the area, Bristol Archives and the Bristol Reference Library, as well as images from local photographer Mark Simmons. The exhibition will be on at the Cube Cinema for two months from April 18th, with a Launch Event on the 18th at 6pm, in collaboration with Angry Workers (Bristol), which will include a film screening at 8pm – Get tickets here for ‘From the Poll Tax to the Climate Crisis: What Can We Learn? What Can We Do Now?

The inspiration for the exhibition came from finding some forgotten materials from the Poll Tax years in BASE library while the Don’t Pay campaign was being promoted. However, we realised there are more parallels with today than simply the existence of a non payment campaign. By the end of the 1980s, ten years of Tory government had created widespread poverty, unemployment, and disillusionment with politics, with a weak parliamentary opposition failing to represent the poorest people.

It’s no accident that what most people know about the Poll Tax rebellion is the London riot on 31st March 1990. Blood, flames and horses make for lingering images in a way that public meetings just don’t, but it wasn’t a big demo that the government was afraid of. Police violence in Trafalgar Square was simply a failed attempt to crush unstoppable localised organising, which went on for several years before and after this moment. 17 million people refused to pay the tax – many of whom were breaking the law for the first time in their lives.

The exhibition sheds light on the ongoing and often forgotten work of keeping a campaign going locally: outreach among neighbours, regular public meetings, street stalls, organising rapid-response ‘phone trees’ and practical support for non-payers, as well as regular demonstrations on the street and direct action against bailiffs. It also shows the importance of ongoing solidarity in the face of state repression, both for Poll Tax non-payers and people facing charges as a consequence of protests. Over 100 people were jailed for taking part in protests (primarily in Trafalgar Square and Brixton in 1990), and more for refusing to pay and for resisting bailiffs – many of whom remained in prison even after the tax had been formally abolished.

Highlights of the exhibition include previously unseen ephemera, such as an account by local activist Sue Walker of attending the Trafalgar Square demonstration and witnessing police provocation and violence, local fliers, badges and newsletters, prisoner support zines and classic agitprop by Class War, as well as work by acclaimed photographer Mark Simmons, who has been documenting resistance in Bristol for over 30 years.

Resistance to the Poll Tax led to the tax being scrapped, and ultimately to the resignation of Margaret Thatcher. This resistance was radically decentralised with no official leadership, and a lot of organisation coming from people who did not see themselves as ‘activists’ or whose experience came primarily from community support, such as volunteering in unemployed workers’ centres, rather than politics.

At a time of increasing inequality and increasing criminalisation of dissent, we think it is important to keep the lessons of the Poll Tax campaign in mind. We still have time to build a better world, and the practical solidarity and mass organising of the Poll Tax resistance shows us one of the ways we might get there.

Were you active in resisting the Poll Tax in Bristol? Let us know what’s missing from the exhibition and the story we’re telling. Watch this space for a DIY archiving session, time and venue TBC, so we can record our collective histories together and share more stories of resistance. And if you’re interested in joining BASE library collective and helping with the ongoing work of ordering what is in our collection, get in touch on baselibrary@riseup.net

A Conversation with the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement

Thu, 23 June 2022 19:00 – 21:00 Online event

BASE regulars, the Kurdish Solidarity Network (KSN) are organising this event, A Conversation with the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement

note: it’s online, not at BASE… book tickets via the Eventbrite link

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-conversation-with-the-mesopotamian-ecology-movement-registration-350465219907

A discussion on the struggle for ecology and life under state oppression in Turkey and North Kurdistan

About this event

Join Kurdistan Solidarity Network for a conversation with the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement (MEM), a network of grass-roots organisations in Turkey and North Kurdistan focusing on ecological work with a radical vision for a better society.

MEM are active on many fronts, organising in a context of economic crisis, conflict, climate change and state oppression in Turkey. They are both struggling to protect nature and communities from state-sponsored megaprojects, such as mining and dams, which displace the population and destroy the ecosystem, and also working to create living, breathing alternatives through their democratic organising model, tree planting initiatives and co-operatives.

Rather than seeing ecology as separate from politics, the group imagines a radical reorganisation of society in order to ensure the protection of nature. MEM’s vision of a radically democratic, confederal politics is based on pluralism and social ecology, where people and human societies are a part of nature. They envision a communal economy based on gender liberation that moves beyond scarcity and hierarchy, toward a world that re-harmonises human communities with the natural world, while celebrating diversity, creativity, and freedom. And in doing so, protects not just nature but also the rights of women, all the peoples, cultures and languages of the region, and of humanity as a whole from war, alienation and dis-empowerment.

KSN will join the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement for a two hour online discussion about their work, vision, and the context of war, fascism and severe state repression they are organising in. Ticket sales will support the work of MEM. Please donate what you can afford.

When we collectively organise with a radical vision for a better world, we have the power to make real change. And as states respond with violence, our solidarity and our struggles must be international to succeed.

Read more about the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement here.

Bristol squatters research group @ base

BSRG will be at BASE on 6th March.. they will be in the library rummaging from 3pm, and doing a cafe from 6pm :)

www.bristolsquatted.org/

They are keen to talk to people involved in squatting in Bristol and especially anyone involved in squatting Base. If you want to chat to them come along.
Their research is on squatting in Bristol 1940’s to present day.

So much of what we love about Bristol was made possible by squatting. Bristolians have taken over buildings and public spaces for housing, protest, art, gigs, raves, libraries, food and laughter from Leigh Woods to Easton. We’ve squatted in the aftermath of the Second World War, during the Miners’ Strike and in response to 21st Century austerity. But the memory of squatted spaces is all too easily lost to eviction and criminalisation.

This projects seeks to map when, where and why us and our neighbours have squatted in Bristol. By mapping the impact of squatting on the city we hope to claim the tactic the space it deserves in the city’s history and ask what the role is for squatting in Bristol today.

We’re starting by interviewing people who have squatted in Bristol to pull together a map of formerly squatted spaces. We’ll use that to start developing ways to tell the story squatting in Bristol in the 20th and 21st Century and running workshops on the future for squatting in the city.

View the map (hosted by the Squatting Europe Kollective)

How can I help or get involved?

Have you been involved in squatting in Bristol? Whether you’ve attended squat parties, squatted for housing or supported people squatting on your street, we’d love to interview you. For the foreseeable future interviews will be over Zoom or telephone. You can remain anonymous and you will have control over what we record and what we don’t. Get in touch at toyo@riseup.net.

Are you interested in helping run the project? We’re particularly interested in this being an intergenerational project where younger Bristolians who haven’t squatted in the city get to know older generations who have. All skills and none are useful, but we’d be particularly keen to hear from people who know how to record audio and video, archive, interview and organise events. Get in touch via toyo@riseup.net.

https://www.brh.org.uk/site/project/bristol-squatted/

The politics of martyrdom

Martryrdom: culture and politics

Sunday 20th 6.30pm at BASE

Throughout history and the the world there have been individuals and groups who through various differing situations becomes personified and held as Martyrs. This will be a seminar that will explore the culture and political significance of martyrdom in revolutionary sense. and where we can also share our own thoughts, feelings and experiences on how we approach martryrdom.

Bristol Kurdistan Solidarity Network @BristolKSN

Locked down, but not knocked down!

Make no mistake, the lockdown is a massive power grab by an authoritarian government straight out of any number of dystopian future fictions. Except it’s happening now, it’s for real and they will not give up their new powers easily. The Corona virus Bill 2020 is a huge attack on our ability to gather, organise and resist the escalating totalitarian state we now face. The time to join the resistance is now.

Yes, we will self isolate for now to stop the spread of the virus, but we won’t be divided in our contempt for a government and corporations that from the outset made things so much worse and continue to make us pay for their characteristic greed and callous inaction. As usual, the root of the problem is capital and state and it’s not just the coronavirus that we need to defeat…

We share here some links to articles and statements put out by groups doing solid counter information, anti repression and anti police state work. Read, react, resist!

https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/2020/03/emergency-coronavirus-bill-most-draconian-powers-in-peace-time-britain/

https://netpol.org/2020/03/19/netpol-calls-for-restrictions-to-police-powers-and-a-strict-time-limit-on-draconian-coronavirus-bill/

https://freedomnews.org.uk/i-never-want-to-see-the-word-covidiot-again/

From Slave Trade to Arms Trade

Bristol Against the Arms Trade (BAAT) presents: From the Slave Trade to the Arms Industry
BAATBristolians played an active part in abolishing the slave trade, despite the economic benefits it had for the city. Now Bristol’s wealth is tied to military aerospace and arms industries which are profiting from the current endless wars. Time to call for conversion?

On Sunday 28 February, doors open at 1.30pm, at Kebele social centre:
2.00pm – Open Planning Meeting + speaker from CAAT
4.00pm – Films “Not in our Name” and others
6.30pm onwards – The Legendary Kebele Sunday Social and vegan cafe.
See FB event
All welcome!