Author Archives: a-hydra

by | 02/05/2012 · 7:00 am

The Friends of Durruti and the Maydays in Barcelona (1937) (BRHG Talk)

Saturday 5th May 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Speaker: Lee Groves (Bristol Radical History Group)
Price: Donations

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the ‘Barcelona Maydays‘ an uprising in response to the Republican Government’s attempt to seize power in revolutionary Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War. Tensions had been building over several months between the anarcho-syndicalist CNT membership and the Soviet controlled Republican army which centred on the questions of militarisation and ‘War or Revolution’?

When armed ‘Communist Party’ units attacked the Telephone exchange in Barcelona, thousands of workers responded with an initially ‘successful’ armed insurrection. The Friends of Durruti group were central within this opposition and openly criticised the collaboration of the CNT leadership with the Republican Government.

This talk will examine the events of May 1937, why and how the insurrection was eventually defeated as well as the actions and arguments of the Friends of Durruti group. The fundamental question remains ‘should the anarchists have seized power to further the revolution’?

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by | 01/05/2012 · 7:00 am

The Haymarket, Chicago and Mayday (BRHG Talk)

Date: Friday 4th 6:00pm – 7:30 pm

Speaker: Roger Ball (Bristol Radical History Group)

Price: Donations

On Tuesday May 4th 1886 near the Haymarket, Chicago, police attempted to violently disperse 200 remaining members of a peaceful demonstration called to protest about the police killing the day before of two workers at a strike at the McCormick Reaper Works. As the police moved against the crowd a bomb was thrown by an unknown person which killed a police officer and in the ensuing chaos the police opened fire killing and wounding demonstrators and police alike.

In the days following the incident hundreds of workers were rounded up by the authorities and eighteen months later four anarchist labour organisers were executed, another committed suicide and several others were given life imprisonment. The trial was seen worldwide as a travesty of justice and an attack on those fighting for the 8 hour working day.

May 1st became workers day, labour day, Mayday commemorating the incident in the Haymarket in 1886. This talk will look at the history of the events, the strange narratives of the memorials and how Mayday is remembered in Chicago.

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by | 24/04/2012 · 6:00 pm

The Revolution will not be Televised

Bristol Communist Discussion Group

Thursday 26th 7:00pm

Exerts from 2003 documentary focusing on events in Venezuela leading up to and during the April 2002 coup d’état attempt, which saw President Hugo Chávez removed from office for two days. With particular emphasis on the role played by Venezuela’s private media.

The film examines several key incidents: the protest march and subsequent violence that provided the impetus for Chávez’s ousting; the opposition’s formation of an interim government headed by business leader Pedro Carmona; and the Carmona administration’s collapse, which paved the way for Chávez’s return.

Followed By Disscussion.

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by | · 10:58 am

Genetically Modified Wheat: What is going on?

Wednesday 25th April 7.30pm

Public meeting and films to learn about and share ideas for the upcoming day of action against the Rothamsted genetically modified wheat trial. Bakers, farmers, growers, allotment holders, scientists, beekeepers, and people who eat food are turning out to voice their opposition to GM crops coming back to the UK.

Public day of action against the Rothamsted genetically modified wheat trial. Meet Sunday 27th May, at 12 noon, in Rothamsted, Harpenden, Herts. Or take your own action in your own way, at your own time. Together we can stop this trial.

Cow genes on toast anyone? No thanks!

What’s up with the trial?

It could be dangerous, this trial is testing a brand-new synthetically-constructed ‘fake’ gene that is ‘most similar to one found in a cow’. This is a concerning use of synthetic genes and of animal genes in plants.

Its not wanted. Even the USA has abandoned attempts to commercialise GM wheat because there is no market for it. Biotech company BASF recently  backed out of Europe because no-one wanted to buy GM food.

Once it flowers, it’s here to stay. The trial is happening in the open air, meaning that when it starts to flower it can cross contaminate other wheat crops and wild grasses. This is a real threat. In Canada there is no organic oilseed rape left because all the farms have been cross-contaminated with GM rapeseed.

For more info nearer the time, go to www.taketheflourback.org or contact
us at info [AT] taketheflourback.org

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by | 28/03/2012 · 7:00 am

Communist Disscusion Group – The Propaganda Model

Date:  Wednesday (Tomorrow)

Time: 7:00pm

We will be discussing the current role of the media and in particular Chomsky and Hermann’s Propaganda Model.  Is this the best way of analysing the media or are there other factors at play in the era of the News of the World phone hacking inquiry and Wikileaks?

Suggested reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model

http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/20031209.htm

http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=90&Itemid=22

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/09/julian-assange-wikileaks?INTCMP=SRCH

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