Kennington and Oval

Today, avoiding real work that is piled up on my desk, and waiting on the gas inspector to check my pipes and tell me what I already know - ie that my listed Edwarding building is not allowed to have a gas boiler outlet sticking out where it does - for shame... well, I thought a leap into local history would redeem my (actually my landlord's) crimes against heritage listings... so I have been reading about the neighbourhood. Strange stuff, for example, I live on Kennington Park Road just down from the Oval - site of the first Ashes test (heh, cricket eh?) - where the following wartime incident from the VauxhallandKennington site amuses:

"The Oval Airman

There was an interesting incident near the Oval. The largest and last of the daylight raids on London took place on 15 September 1940. Over 180 German planes were shot down and a German airman, Robert Zehbe, baled out of his stricken Dornier bomber and landed in front of Alverstone House in Harleyford Road. Pieces of his plane came down elsewhere in central London, including in the forecourt of Victoria Station. Zehbe was attacked by a mob of furious women but was rescued by the police and driven across the Oval's turf and Vauxhall Bridge to the Millbank military hospital, where he died next day. There was a suggestion that he had been seriously injured by the Oval mob, but it is equally likely that he was badly injured before he landed.

Information about this incident was provided by historian Martin Smart. ... Pieces of the bomber are now in the RAF Museum, Hendon."

Its not all stirring battle of Britain/mob of furious women stuff though, reminding me that Kennington park is a site of all manner of horrors - used for hangings as well as political meetings, charged down by the police and corn law incidents, the Chartists, and, if you follow up the article I cite from here, you can find out all you need to know about Kennington:

"Fascinating information and stunning revelations including Public Executions,A Radical Black Methodist, The World's First National Labour Movement - The Chartists * the Significance of 10th April 1848 * The World's First Photograph of a Crowd * the Occupation of Our Common by the Royal Park * The Horns Tavern and Charlie Chaplin * The Princess of Wales Theatre * The Scandal of the Unmarked War Grave * The Squatters * 'Red Ted' * The Return of the Commons Spirit" - From Working Press: Kennington Park - birthplace of British democracy

and - pushing the political meetings theme a little:

"'Red Ted' Knight’s socialist council started the annual fireworks displays in the Park. By 1984 the park was again being used for political gatherings. The demonstrators on the Anti Apartheid Rally of that year used the park as an assembly point. In subsequent years the park has hosted many important political gatherings including; Gay Pride (starting 1986), National Union of Students (1986), Irish Solidarity Movement (1986), Vietnamese Community event (1989), Anti Poll Tax March (1990), Kurdistan Rally (1991), Integration Alliance (1993), TUC (1993), Nigerian Rallies (1993), Campaign Against Militarism (1993) and Reclaim the Streets (1997). These events often reflect key moments in the political history of the time and are an important part of the democratic process". From: Kennington Park - birthplace of British democracy

... well, there's lots more to write on this. For now I will just also go back to note that theunmarked war grave is now marked, however minimally. So minimally that I did not know that the south field of the park, where in summer people laze about not going to demos and where there is often a 'funfair', was also tragically the site of the largest single bomb loss of life in the Blitz when an air raid shelter was hit on 15 October 1940 (again from VauxallandKennington):

"The shelter was large enough to accomodate hundreds, and maybe thousands, of people, and it filled the whole of the south field in Kennington Park - the field opposite what is now the cafe. The outline of the buildings can still be seen from the air, especially when the ground is very dry - see the photo. But the shelter was an unpleasant place, and people only went there because the government stopped them going down into the nearby underground stations. One witness reported that “The public shelter was horrible, smelly. It had a mouldy slab of concrete for a roof. But you couldn’t go anywhere else - the Oval Station was full of barbed wire … they wouldn’t let you near it.”"

I've included the picture and you can indeed see the evidence - the ill-defined area to the south of the trench pattern shows where the bomb hit. There's more on the bombing here (a pdf file). More to read... And with this I give notice of the start of a thread, sort of, on wartime stories that I'll come back to soon so as to relate the adventures of grandfather Thomas Mouat Tate... Stay tuned...

Spectrum - I'll Be Gone (1971)

For Sunita Narayan

In solidarity with bookseller Sunita Narayan, this is from WTW:

"India: What is a “terrorist” book?

20 November 2006. A World to Win News Service. A contingent of 70 armed police invaded the Chandrapur Book Fair and surrounded the stall of the publisher Daanish Books 15 October. They made a list of some 200 books they found “objectionable” and “anti-national”. Among the authors were Clara Zetkin, Bhagat Singh, Che Guevara, Baburam Bhattarai, Li Onesto, Anand Swarup Varma and Vaskar Nandy. These books are not banned in India; they can usually be bought anywhere. Yet the police surrounded the bookstand for three hours. On the initiative of the Superintendent of Police, they returned the next day to seize 41 titles and arrest the owner, Sunita Narayan.

She was interrogated for 14 hours and finally charged under Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, a law passed two years ago when the new government came in that was presented as a step away from the widely hated (and US/UK-inspired) Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). The section under which she is charged states, “Whoever conspires or attempts to commit, or advocates, abets, advises or incites or knowingly facilitates the commission of, a terrorist act or any act preparatory to the commission of a terrorist act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.” The authorities have made it very clear that her “terrorist act” was publishing progressive books.

Although Narayan was released three days later, after protests locally in the state of Maharashtra and on the national level, she was given written notice to present herself if and when the police summon her.

At a 20 October press conference at the Press Club of India in New Delhi, a dozen independent publishers, half a dozen organizations and individuals condemned this arrest. In their statement, they pointed out that this was not an isolated incident:

“Similarly, a few weeks back, the performance of a play dealing with the history of Mumbai mills was forcibly stopped in Nagpur and the theatre group harassed.

“We are also concerned with the increasing menace of vigilantism by right wing groups in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Orissa, and the tacit or open support provided to them by the state agencies. This spells danger to the free exchange of ideas and the freedom to read, write, publish, disseminate and perform.”

end item"

So now we at Goldies anticipate controversy over our Mao Workshop even though we are not selling any of these revolutionary books by old retired Naxals and Che etc - but we already had some curious mail, including from India wondering why we were doing a conference on Maoism (a journalist from The Telegraph). Timely though - yesterday I was slightly dismayed to see that already the publishing machine that is Slavoj Zizek is introducing a new edition of Mao's "On Contradiction" in January with Verso - in some small way our efforts will help prepare the ground for that I guess, and Verso will profit - I am remembering with poignancy that it was the Black Panthers 40 years ago today that sold the Little Red Book as a fundraiser... in these times commodification of Mao expands exponentially.

Come to our workshop. Details here.

Global Warming in New Cross??

Neil of New Cross writes on Notes from an Island (a forum that will no doubt be one of those blogs eventually bought up by the multinational corporation that is Lonely Planet - we should start writing the people's own travel guide now, beachfront development plans are clearly afoot...) ...

"Work
We like to think of the Island as a place which has abolished work, but the other day we did come across somebody in a fluorescent yellow jacket clearly engaged in paid employment there. He appeared to be counting the traffic passing the Island, with others of his colleagues sitting on the corner of Pepys Road doing the same. In a recent chat with Ken, landlord of The White Hart, we discovered that there is a proposal to change the traffic flow and possibly even join up the Island with the mainland by the pub. Presumably then it wouldn't be an Island anymore. We would be prepared to surrender this sovereignty in the interests of reducing traffic accidents, but only if the conditions on the Island can be extended to the New Cross mainland - no borders, no prisons, no violence, lots of flowers..."

Visit the Island, virtual tour.

Words of Advice For Young People

"The gadgets are gone!" - Burroughs Adding Machine Ad.

I have long been misguided by the wise counsel of Bull Lee, whether it be on school, school recess, or the world of gainful employment. Viddy these links below to see-hear his routines on America, world, atomics... the fight against control is sure to leave you in hearty cheer.

Thanksgiving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Z_08o108E

Cut ups yes hello
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrmw3Rr9SQM

Ah Pook nuke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-cGJDvOY4k

ah pook 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd8SESU8Xpw

Apocalypse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlvB76AymiY


My favourite Burrough's quotes include (do the drawl):

"I don't know if its Marxist or not, but its the truth"

"We are all black centipedes at heart"

"Words of advice for young people"
(check this out on the Disposable Heroes mix on "Spare Ass Annie")

"A Johnson minds his own business"


The accompanying picture is of Grandpa Burroughs' 1954 version of the Adding Machine. The text says:

"Because it's built with a "memory," here's a calculator that does for you what a calculator should do. The all electric Burroughs Calculator with Memory Dials gives you instantaneous answers in one register, and automatically accumulates those answers in a second register (the Memory Dials) - for grand totals or net results. There's no rehandling of figures ...no chance for pencil and paper errors.
But that's not all. This new Burroughs calculator has the distinctive advantage of combining this answer - saving feature with the day in, day out advantages of a simplified, instant - action keyboard. The gadgets are gone! Every key is "live" and every key stroke counts. Finally, this truly extraordinary calculator has a very ordinary price tag. It's as easy to buy as it is to operate - just call your Burroughs man. Or write to Burroughs Corporation, Detroit, Mich".

Long Sunday

This blogger blogging on blogety bloggery is elegant at the end, and starts off with choice Teddy, the cuddly critic who is always super sharp, like the razor's used so well on Sunday Too Far Away.


short sunday long - by CR

jane dark's sugarhigh not only has some swift Adorno for us (especially good for LS) -

"The consciousness of the unfreedom of all existence, which the pressure of the demands of commerce, and thus unfreedom itself, does not allow to appear, emerges first in the intermezzo of freedom. The nostalgie du dimanche is not a longing for the working week, but for the state of being emancipated from it; Sunday fails to satisfy, not because it is a day off work, but because its own promise is felt directly as unfulfilled; like the English one, every Sunday is too little Sunday. The man for whom time stretches out painfully is one waiting in vain, disappointed at not finding tomorrow already continuing yesterday".

- but there's also a new term for us to learn today:

"The anxiety of having to pay the rent, having to show up for work on Monday, is now only a start. There is a new anxiety into which that anxiety now hemorrhages. It's no longer enough to find happiness is being always at work; that fades over the long Sunday. One must place that work within the space of flows, within the interlocking, competing and colluding organizations of interstatal politics and transnational capital, and this knowledge comes with a price: weltsystemangst, 'world system anxiety.'"

The pleasure of the world-wide accessibility of your texts. The sense that you type into Burma, Moscow, Brazil's backwater-ranches, Central Park West. The unbearably light weight of the whole that you move with your insomniac fingers. The job well down, everywhere all at once. And what drives it, what need it fulfills, what hole it fills.

The international-access - and international-labor - of the blog (especially as voluntary work) remains under-theorized...

Whatever. I must admit, I fantasize at times about international business travel. That I will be called to present in Sao Paolo, Cape Town, Copenhagen, and yes, above all, Shanghai. That it will be all Lost in Translation, all the way down. Laptoping myself towards the sublime.
.

Skyhooks - Whatever Happened To The Revolution (Live, 1974)

And this...