This is the second of an irregular series of irb...productions events. The first, also held at London's Cross Kings (February 15th) was motivated by the outrageous assault by Israeli armed forces on Gaza. The event was extremely well received thanks to contributions from our brilliant line up of musicians: Low Key, Renu Hossain and Yaaba Funk. We successfully raised funds for Stop the War and Medical Aid for Palestinians.
About the cause...
This new campaign needs and deserves your support (and, yes, money!). Why? Please see below!
About Retaking our Liberties
For a mere £5 (plus optional donations) we guarantee you a real feast of goodies. The emphasis here is on guitars, lots of 'em! Sameh Moussa (acoustic Arabic/ Flemenco) Graham Larkbey and the Escape Committee (Bluesy/ Rocky) and the inimitable Barry 'the Fish' Melton (bringing us all that original 'electric music for the mind and the body' through his fiery, psychedelic blues!). Click on the flyer to find out more!
Why now...
We are focussing on a very important and alarming issue that has begun making the news with depressing regularity here in the UK: the increasing use of police violence as the State's chosen tactic, and forming part of a broader strategy, to drastically limit people's legitimate right to protest.
This has included the:
* Increasing use of stop and search, usually targetting particular ethnic minority communities despite there being little evidence of its effectiveness
* Use of oppressive terrorism legislation to hold protesters (for example the Gaza convoy members or, most often, climate change protesters) to disrupt organised opposition to particular government policies
* Recent events at the climate change protest when a protester was manhandled for asking an officer for their ID - see the Guardian front page (22/06/09)
* Filmed assaults on protesters, and non protesters, at the recent London G20 demonstrations
* Filmed tasering, kicking and punching of a man already on the ground in Nottingham only last week
* Shootings of unarmed individuals (Jean Charles De Menezes in Stockwell and Harry Stanley in Hackney) for which no one has yet been called to account
* Many unanswered questions regarding unexplained deaths in police custody, now numbered in the 100s, with, again, no one being charged in connection with any of them
* Intimidation (employing varying levels of violence) being regularly used to try and scare peaceful protesters off the streets, often coupled with aggressive surveillance and the use of filming in situations where it never used to occur
* Use of pre-planned and carefully rehearsed aggressive policing tactics (of which 'kettling' is but the latest) which are coming to represent a serious and sustained attack on the democratic legitimate right to protest.
Why support UCAPV...
We need a campaign to raise public awareness of both individual instances of the use of excessive force or violence by the police and the very real threat current methods of increasingly non consensual policing pose to all our civil rights. The United Campaign Against Police Violence is that campaign.
What we can do on Thursday, July 16th ...
Come and join Woodstock legend and the hippest Public Defender of all time Barry "the fish" Melton when he headlines an evening of entertainment that will deliver the musical event of the year as we make a start at....Retaking our Liberties
Remember the e-flyer is interactive - so download and click away!!!!!!!
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irb... productions
The story of i’d rather be...productions
"I'd Rather be Dancing" is the title of a most moving and powerful song by Seattle-based political activist and singer/ songwriter Jim Page about the brutal murder of American human rights activist, Rachel Corrie, in March 2003 by the Israeli military. He used Rachel’s own words, written to her parents, for the song.
We borrowed Jim’s title and decided to adopt it for our umbrella group of artists, promoters and other activists who came together outraged by what was going on in Gaza and like so many others wanted to do something about it. We settled on a ‘don’t get mad get even’ approach, agreeing to work together ‘fund raising the roof’ in various guises and contexts. We now intend to promote different fundraising events so contributing to organisations that can actually effect change on the ground. Feel free to contact us if you’ve any thoughts and ideas for fundraising at irbdproductions@googlemail.com. Let's work together and be creative!
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