UC46 June-July 1981 by Christopher Squire

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Undercurrents 46 June-July 1981 1 Eddies - News from everywhere 7 What’s When & What’s What 9 Women in Co-ops 10 Room At The Top - Anna Whyatt: Where have all the women gone? 12 Looking Back At Uhuru - Tess McMahon: Co-ops and women’s liberation 13 Natural Cycles - Jocelyn Chaplin: A new model for co-operation 14 Childcare in Communities - June Statham: A new generation of co-operators? 18 Building Without Men - Janet Payne: An all-women construction co-op 20 Companeras Fight Machismo - Audrey Bronstein: Women co-operating in Latin America 23 Home Truths - Matrix: A photo report on women and housing 27 Women’s Co-operation Isn’t New - Jenny Thornley: The revolutionary power of the market basket 30 How Can Men Co-operate? - Tess McMahon: Problems of working in a mixed group 32 Uncowed - Cinema of Women: A film distribution co-op 33 Co-op Contacts 34 AT Witch Rides Again 35 The Undercurrents Review of Books 44 Letters 46 Small Ads 47 Back Numbers and UC Index Offer 48 Personal Stationery On Recycled Paper A special offer to UC readers and, on the back cover: Going Down For The Third Time: A financial report by Chris Hutton Squire _____________________________________________________________________________ Published every two months by Undercurrents Ltd., 27 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1 R OAT. Full details of editorial meetings, distribution, etc., are on p. 47. ISSN 0306 2392. Cover: Anna Crichton _____________________________________________________________________________

Undercurrents 46

RTZ IN URANIUM COVER UP price tag: Â£7m.

(Canada), the Guaymi Congress (Panama) and groups representing aboriginal Australians. SWAP0 representatives also gave evidence concerning the Rossing mines. Previously shipments of Uranium from Rossing were flown t o Paris and then quietly trucked up t o Lancashire. Since the disclosure of this route, though, no-one knows where the uranium i s coming in. United Nations decree no. 1 states in pert that any minerals or other natural resources taken from Namibia (illegally occupied by South Africa) may be seized on behalf of the Namibien peoples wherever they are found. it is therefore permissible under international law t o get hold of a consignment of uranium going to BNFL. (Although it would still be illegal under national law.) It is recognised that t o do so, and then to hand the uranium over t o the UN committee on Namibia, would create a test case which would generate en enormous amount of publicity. It is though that should the multinational be dismantled, and the exploitation of

ANOTHER CHAPTER I N THE LONG AND CORRUPT HISTORY OF RTZ's involvement i n uranium mining was revealed recently. It was announced that RTZ is t o pay out over Â£1 million m the pries for their illegal dealings in uranium. Prominent members of the B - r i t i h Mtabliihment could find themselves contributing t o the cost of this sinlament. RTZ owns end operate mines wodd-kie. The RTZ Rotting mine in Namibia supplies British Nuclear Fuels with 50%of their -~~~~ uranium: thev ere contracted t o continue doina so until 1987. 240 a Ib. (between 1972and The mining of uranium at 1976 alone, the price rose by Rossing is illegal under intersome 900% - more than the national law, but the recent case increase in oil prices over the was over a rights issue and price same period). fixing. Not only does the British RTZ controls 90% of the government have a massive world's uranium supplies outside investment in Rossing, but of the USA and the communist prominent politicians, such as bloc. Lord Carrington (previously a It is alleged that RTZ's director), Lord Shackieton (a activities are leading to the Labour peer who was previously a genocide of indigenous peoples. director and is now deputy Representatives from some of the chairman) and Lord Byerk 20 countries in which RTZ (Liberal Peer, Director) support operates were in London over RTZ. the weekend May 9110th t o give After BP it is the multinationevidence before a tribunal on al closest to the government's RTZ. Testimony came from the strategic interests (its often Bolivian Miners Union, the referred t o as "Her Majesty's Labour Inuit Association Government's mining arm".) From 1972 RTZ operated en illegal certel in conjunction with several Western governments; finalised at a meeting in Johannesburg in June of that year, the THE GOVERNMENT WILDLIFE & COUNTRYSIDE organisation was top secret and BILL has now reached the Commons, having beaten its worked a system of 'rigged way through the House of Lords. While much of it is bidding' t o push up world admirable (protecting the bar-tailed godwit for example), uranium prices. Although it was formally dismantled in 1975 it is crucial parts of i t are either actively harmful or so weak believed to be still operating now, as to be useless. The major issue raised by the under the cover of en organisation The Bill.attracted media bill, however, is the protection that has offices in the Haymarket. attention while in the House of of wildlife habitats, end it is here London. This is the Uranium Lords because of the record that conservationists are now Institute which, although ostennumber of amendments tabled concentrating their pressure. sibly a respectable research end nearly 800 originally. The government is only prepared marketing body, is a product of The views of beckwoodst o give legal protection t o 40 top the certel. It was planned end men were in some cases very habitats, known officially as formalised at certel meetings. backward "personally I don't 'Sites of Special Scientific InterThis is shown in a set of like hedges. I thinkpeople would est' (SSSI) there ere about confidential letters, memos and rather see fields and the country3000 in total and a large number agendas known as the COMALCO side from their cars than hedges" ere under threat from the fermers documents. They reveal the as one peerless peer put it. and landowners on whose land methods by ' hlch the certel Against this conservationist peen they lie. Of course, greater operated, an ware leaked by an of ell parties put up a valiant protection will involve more employee working for Kathleen fight, even winning a few key money, compensating lendUranium Ltd IRTZAustrelia). battles. One of these was over owners conservationists argue The publication'promptad marine nature reserves, where this could come from e redirecWestinghouse t o take out en entithe government's delaying tion of the meny grants end trust suit for 22 billion against strategy was voted out; these subsidies available t o fermers RTZ the largest civil suit in US reserves, t o protect coastal history. wildlife are now to be established from the EECas well as the Ministry of Agriculture. These The case came t o Britien in an with the bill. Another grants often encourage the attempt t o prisa full documentemajor victory ww won over destruction of wildlife areas tion out of RTZ. A lower court footpath closures. The governand countryside landscapas ruled against RTZ, who then ment had propued delegating appealed t o the Lords. Sam powers for this t o county councils Exmoor and other moorlands, end wetlands such-as the SornerSilkin, then Attorney General, many of which are dominated by sat Levels ere particularly under declared that it wes'not in the farmers end lendownen who threat. public Interwt'that the docuwould love t o get rid of those The government Is content t o ments should be released, and the ancient rights of way and nasty rely on a 'voluntary code' to Lords ruled in RTZ's favour. remblara. An amendment protect valuable sltw agalnst Through the operation of the ensured that all closures would damaging agricultural developcartel RTZ pushed up world price be subject t o appeal to the menu amid flgurea that 10% Secretary of State. for uranium from 14.60 a Ib. t o

WILDLIFE I N COMMONS

the Namibien peoples working for RTZ stopped, then it is quite likely that the world price of Uranium would rise considerably. Nuclear power would become even more expensive and unacceptable.

'RTZ public relati&is; *is 'ull page ad., appearing as i t did only days before the week of action against RTZ, is seen by observen as an attempt to counter-balance harmful publicity.

of ail SSSIs are severely damaged each veer. An ali-party amend-' ment t o give statutory protection to all SSIs was defeated by only nine votes, as was another creating moorland conservation orders t o protect moorland in National Parks (at present the bill only enables moorland destruction t o be delayed for a year). These battles are seen as the crucial ones for the future of meny wildlife species in Britain. The bill goes to the Commons with both Labourend Liberal parties committed t o toughening it up. 'Hunting, shooting, fishing' opposition from Tory beckbenchers, plus pressure from the Agriculture ministry officials, is stopping any further gwernment concessions, so the Issue depends on Tory backbencher8 sympathetic to conservation (there are some). The government has packed the committee with its own supporten though, five out of 21 are government members. Conservation group! are urging those wishing t o protect wildlife In the future t o write t o their MPs, especially Tory beckbenchen. For further information contact the Royal Society for Nature ~onnrvation, 22 The Green, Nettlehem, Lincoln 10622 7623261

that.all the Tory counrnllonvoted for It'.The situation )Ujmilar in other' parts of South Wales.

Love Labour's win?

Minh

The massive victory by Labour in the County Council . elections on May 7 spells victory also for several radical policies, in transport, employment and the environment. Transport was a major electior issue, focussing mainly on high fares end poor bus services in cities such as London and Manchestar. Labour's local government conference in February agreed on a nationwide commitment t o cut or freeze fares. Ruling Labour groups in South Yorkshire, Tyne & Wear and Lothian Region have already practised this policy successfully in the face of Government objections. In London, Marseyside, West Midlands and elsewhere the new Labour administrations are committed t o at least a 25% cut in fares and moves t o a free-fares system. Meneyside is also c m m i ted t o scrapping the infamous Liverpool ring road which threatened so many communities there. Other Labour transport policies will involve tough opposition t o heavy lorries, and especially t o the heavier ones proposed. The GLC is pledged t o sat up an independent inquiry into the role of lorries in London -others may follow suit. Cyclists and pedestrians are also likely t o benefit in some of the major cities where Labour is committed t o creating new pedestrian zones or bus-only streek, and new reserved cycleways. Bus lanes are also likely t o be introduced in many amas.

Worken' Plans Employment creation is another major commitment by the new Labour rulers, especially in cities. The Labour proposals are more than a touch bureaucratic in London an "Enterprise Board" and a "Manpower Board" are proposed. But there are also commitments t o expend help for worker;' co-ops, unemployed workers' centres and trade union resource centres. And in defending these proposals before the election, London Labour spokespeople were emphasising community involvement and 'workers plan' initiatives. Tougher planning policies will help protect the environment of a lot of people -the Liverpool ring road scrapping will be welcomed, and also the support for low-rise development on the South Bank as promised by the London Labour group. More significant perhaps are the various proposals for community resource centres, where local people and residenk'groups would get access to technical help in designing and planning their own environment. Existino aoencies in Liverpool and

Hackney are already helping ,' numbers of groups. '

Cynical? All ,this representspmmises, and the mom cynical in the readershipwill already be* muttering V i f voting changed anything they'd make it illegal"). But much of the policymaking' for those new Labour administretions has been done by people determined t o make good use of county hall now, rather than follow past patterns of feebly waiting for central gOVernment t o change. There's been infiltration and consultation too from midents'and transport/environmental pressure groups. Conflict with central gowmm m t is confidently expected -1 higher public spending generally and specific policies such as transport. Therell be more

nuclear-free zones declared too, which won't help transport of nuclear waste. (

Dark Patchoc Amid this optimistic picture, there are of course dark patches Gwent County Labour group succeeded in ousting the radical candidates and produced a manifesto and a budget so far rightwingand making so many c u k

windscale: Breeding Faster THE PROPRIETORS OF WINDSCALE, Briiish N u d ~Fr d s Ltd, plam t o take the n u t Stw in WindKda's expansion with now of the fur t h i accommnimd ttr decision t o build the Thermal Oxide RepmeÃ‘in Flint - n o inquiry t o speak of, no national contrwerey, and, it -, not wen a dust-up with th* local anvimnmmtalets. The plan is t o build a massive 56 acre extension t o the plant, designed t o remove plutonium from the waste produced at Windscale. The idea of the new plant is viewed favourably by soma local opinion because it will mean less plutonium is left in Windscale waste: but, of course, the plutonium will have to go somewhere. Even a recent averything-isfine bookldt, Living with RMiation, produced by the National Radiological Protection Board, conceded that nuclear waste operationrare much the biggest source of manhade radiation. So anvthine which reduces wane

'2,'

Ruling Tory. groups prior t o the election made~nqqberof moves t o forestall t h e w o u r vic,tor+s. A 25p flat fare was introduced i n 0uterLondon on the buses in April, and a .10p flat fa? for any d i s t a n ' c e , ~ ~ introduced in the West Midlands on Mondays only (the buses ware packed out). A new cycleway was opened in London by the GLC and the Government. but it on1

output from Windscale is comparatively easy to sell as a good thing in Cumbria. If it works, the plant will allow less plutonium t o be put into the Irish Sea, but will also mean that more is available for worthy causes like fast breeders and bombs. The only problem is that Windscale is, of course, a chmnically unsafe and ill-managed place. BN F L has become so paranoid about the place that it has just changed its name t o Sellafield, and reformed the management by splitting the place into two halves - Windscale and Galder and setting upseperate management for each. One of the new management's first worries is the soon expected report of the planning inquiry into BNFL's scheme t o take lots of water from the world's loveliest lake, Wastwater. I f permission does not arrive, plans are laid t o purloin water (without which thingsat Windscale things will rapidly become even less safe) from nearbv wells and riven.

parks which cyclists bad bean using unofficially anypay! The universal Tory plÃ§w q a "red scam>na the Labour party wasunder the control,+f Marxists making dangerousprwouk for lower fares. As one transport campaigner asked, iffaces i n Paris are half those in London, does that pyt Giscard d'Eflaing t o the left of Ho Chi Minhp, Stephen Joseph

Nukedwomen ANTHONY MAZZOCHI, l drector of tho United Statw o f Amarica't 011, C h B m i and Atomic Work- Union d a i m that millions of women are under inemsing p m u m form USA industry t o undwoo starHimtiom in ordor t o amid giving birth t o d T f c t i v cliildrfi difecta wad b y chbmical axpanim on tb jab. ' Rather than remove dangerous substances from' the workplace, Mazzochi said,chpanies ere telling women t o qarilise themselves. Those who refuse t o do so either must w e p t lower paying jobs or l e a d ' . . The union's health end safety d i m t o r said that'&-are under similar pressure as eaw studies find that some chemicals are harmful to spermat well. He said that if this trend continue! there is a real possibility that "neutering clin[cs"will be established for certain kinds of workers in the USA. However there a sad an ironic ending in thecase of the five woman who were sterilisec in order t o keep their Jobs with American Cynamid in 1978. The company has shut down the section in which the wome worked and all five have been transferred with complete loss of the departmental seniority and pay for which they had sacrificed so much. They are now on the lowest levels of their new departments. They would not have needed t o be sterilisedt o work where they are now - a tribute t o the callous cynicism o f American Cvnemid,

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LW.

ANC BANK?

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US PI-- -1LACY

Ine of the m a t bizarre act of rap* sines Britain I o n if Empire uccumd in April with the launch of the U S m m shuttle. After about thirty years of planning, SlObn. disbursed amongst the needs 0 the US ma)industry, end delay long enough to warm the heart of the Central Electricity Gemming Board, the device r n m d t o stagger into the sky for two days, end take some nice photographs. ~ll of this nuv seem feiriy stock stuff, but it isn't. The main beneficiaries from which are there So paranoid the Shuttle will be Rockmell, the Pentagon got about ifs vu the prime contractor for the Shuttle and for other socially on instant take-off space ~. D necessarycroductsincluding the t o give immediate satellite rep6-1 bomber and the Polaris, Placement, and on a scheme for Poseidon and Trident missiles. its missile submarines t o carry Rockwell plans t o twist the one rocket each with a small governmeht's arm t o go for a communications satellite, to be fleet of five shuttles, although launched if existing satellites the government seems t o think are destroyed. The odd thina that four would be enough. is that the Russians seem tobe And although Reagan and cronies no farther forward with their think that space is a low-priority killer satellite tests than the item. the pressures on them t o Americans were 20 years ago. go for a large shuttle fleet are The big corporate money, immense. Making war in space though, is now riding on satellis by now an ancient military ite communications. The main custom of over 20 years antiquity use for satellite communications but now thepressure is on Reagan so far is t o keep multinational from the military and from US companies running smoothly. businesses which see mays of The rise of the multinationals making large amounts of money has made the Intelsat transom space'. oceanic satellite communications A third of the first 40 shuttle system one of the world's fastest launches, which may be happenirgwing businesses. Now the same ing about fortnightly by the end thing is happening within the of the decade, will be for the US continents, with groups like military, with quite a lot of them Satellite Business Systems flown under Department of (largely owned by IBM, RCA and Defense cover for the CIA and Western Union) starting satellite other charitable organisations. systems for big companies within The plans include better spy the USA, and others planning satellites, precise satellite navto start up in Europe. Watch out igation systems, and of course next for direct broadcasting weapons, principally lasers. of radio and TV from satellites. Quite a lot of the satellites will The trials work, and our own IHome Office officials ere taking be spares, in case the Russians decide t o shoot down the ones

on the aspect of rabbits in the car headlights at the prospect. They have absolutely n o idea how t o control satellite broadcasts t o the UK.

FREE SNOOPY THE ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT have shown that publicity is to be gained quickly and efficiently through direct action. Through beagle-burgling, walldaubing and paint-splashing cars they have received enormous publicity in the press, TV and radio recently. This lesson has been taken t o heart. as a press release from the ALF indicates: The militant tactics of the ALF are now being used all over the world as people in many countries are realising the value of direct action in the campaign against cruelty to animals!

THE ANTINUCLEAR CAMPAIGN haw launched a new initiative in a muting held o n May 12th whereby c o n s u m will withdd payment t o the Area Electricity Boards equivelant t o the proportion of electricity supplied t o the national grid by nuclear power (11%). I n consultation with lawyers ANC have set up a Consumer Trust Fund into which can be paid 11% of electricity bills. In the event of witholders being threatened with disconnection the Trust Fund will release the money owed and the consumer will then be free t o continue deducting 11% of outstanding bills. Since the electricity industq operates within tight cash limits this disconnection from the money supply has every-chance 3f successfully forcing the CEGB to reconsider their policy. Already 1000 people are ready t o take part and ANCestimate that 50.000 would be sufficient to achieve this aim. A similar :ampaign has been operating in Scotland for a year and in Germany 10,000 people have ilso been witholding the 'nuclear 3ortion3of their electricity bills. WC, PO Box 216, Shedfield i1 1BD.

I Despite recent statistics t o the contrary SIR JOHN H I LL, chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, told a BBC reporter 'Thepopulationsaround oower stations are not worn'ed, there is absolutely nopublic concern around those installations". He was commenting on the anniversary of the Three Mile Island disaster. Q: What is it that can "emerge, erect andejeet'? :? ,, MX missile, according to the reporter (male) who describedit on PANORAMA.

Susan Dowell, author of The DispossessedDaughters of Eve', who is lobbying for women t o have a greater p a n in the Anglican church, informed LBC listeners that hers was not 'a one-man campaign"; while a recent book by Catherine Spin k on the life and work of Nobel Prize winner Mother Theresa of Calcutta i s entitled The Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God',

The reporting of the passage of the Wildlife and Countryside Bill through the Of has not been untingad with cynicism. Praising their diligence Radio 4 reporter Christopher ~fyou were thinking of using " a bottlebank remember the words J"!l%c?T"enwd that Lords have of a spokesman for the Glass the Bill, Parhaps beea- the Manufacturers Federation who

Preparations for the Royal Wedding continue apace as e group of architects and engineers announce their plans for a display of lasers and fireworks involving 25 tons o f explosive. They were going to ask the public for funds (I) but have decided t o ask the CBI and industry instead. This is appropriate since they have a substantial interest in the wedding taking place, so much so in fact that Lloyds have insurance policies for firms wishing t o guard themselves against it not occuring. ' As GEOFFREY FOX, managing director of Adams Brothers, the City brokers, explained on the BBC, 'How d o you calculate Vie loss? I f you have 5000 mugs celehiino-the weddingend it's cancelled what do you do?' . Answers on a postcard please.

Finally, what is a subversive? The answer given on PANORAMA by HAROLD SAINSBURY, formerly Chief Constable of North Yorkshire, is that "Obviously anyone who shows any affinity towards Communism that's commonsense - the IRA, the PLO and Iwould say anyone who's decrying marriage, family life, trying t o break that up, pushingdrugs o r advocatingthe acceptance o f certain drugs, homosexuali~,indiscipline at school, weak penalties for antisocial crimes, pushing that sort o f thing. Oh, a whole gamut of things like that could be peeking away at the foundations of our society and weakening it." Compiled b y Jim Simpson

Undercurrents 46 CND at R A F Greenham Common, Easter Monday; left, Julie Christie speaking. Independent reporters now reckon that the growth of CND and more specialist groups (SANEIENDIJANE etc) in numbers and organisation i s likely t o disrupt the NATO programme for siting Cruise in Europe by 1983, even i f it doesn't stop it. Dutch and Belgian governments are wavering as they're faced by strong peace movements - if they succumb, the West German Government fears a change in public opinion there too. The UK Government has recognised CND's existence to the extent o f countering their arguments in the latest Defence White Paper. John N o t t ought t o know what happened t o the Tsar, Napoleon I l l the Shah and other autocrats when they started taking notice of the opposition. Open 'red scare'stuff I"..CND are dancing Brezhnev's tune" - J. Nott) may not work either, except for well-conditioned Daily Mailnelegraph readers. British Government traditions demand agent-provocateurs inciting violence o n CND demos -watch those Oxbridqe students

EARTHQUAKERS TWO UNIQUE PEACE MISSIONS left on May 3rd for Russia and America. Eight young mothers went t o talk t o other women about the dangers of war J and the need for disarmament. Both were organised and partly funded by t w o elderly though it is known that considerQuaker women who toured able numbers of dissidents, both England addressing meetings on in the West and i n the East the project and looking for believe this. I t is hoped that volunteers. The 'Mothers of Eastern Bloc activities will Peace'want t o break through play a much larger part in future the politics of the superpowers demos, and that before long we .to reach the people concerned will be able t o bring aid and with disarmament on both sides. comfort t o our 'brithren0 dissidents i n the East. Like the Duke o f Wellington, Marginal England, sufferers 1 was awed - so were ati the from the worst burden that other nationaliities - by this central government can impose display or raw primal English - nuclear weapons and their energy, and i f I were Maggie bases - is turning towards the Thatcher, Leonid Breznev or same sort o f regional, decentralRonnie Reagan, I would be terrist policies and movements ified. that are breaking out all over the The people there were extredeveloped world. ordinary and over the top. They Finally, after the march, were older, hardened lefties the speeches, the Belgian riot and visionaries like ourselvw, police and cavalry and sten guns, but the youngsters were like came an extraordinary dance in nothing I knew in thesixties, a large hall that evening. I've when things were much more never seen anything like it for rational and rnlddleciass and manic, almost hysterical enerqv. tolerant. This bunch of monsters I t was8 bit like sitting In the were secrlligeous, heretical, vast engine room of some colossal blowsy and broke all the venertransatlantic liner or intergalacable leftist taboos on sexism and tic space ship as it roared upracism and patriotism end ail the ward soontaneous combustion. other latinist ism with gay, iconThe atmosphere was electric, oclastlc abandon. i loved it. manic, but not violent. ~

END in peace -~

IN the wake of the Commons Select Committee on Energy Report which slammed the Torness power station as unnecessary, SCRAM and other groups arranged a week of actic from May 9-16, with marches, rallies, pickets end festivals. Although contracts have been placed, campaigners estimate that stopping Torness would cost E200-E300 million, as opposed t o the Ă&#x201A;ÂŁ250m (and rising) needed t o build it. . .

EASTER saw nuclear disarmament demonstrations all over Britain and Europe, w i t h the climax o f a march - mainly b y the English, who h i d arrived i n droves of b u m from across the Channel upon the N A T O headquarters i n Bruswla. JOHN FLETCHER g i v e his personal i m p r e ~ i o n ao f the weekend's eventsFollowing a morning of flatting and strmet t h a t r e i n the thoroughfama of Brumla, t o ahow wlidarity w i t h local activina and t o lend our w i g h t t o the growing parilementary and extra-parllemenmry struggle i n Belgium t o keep out C r u i r Mkallos, about 9000 of us mirchod o n the HQ. There were Danes, Germans, Dutch, Italians, and a few, very few French. We were addressed by speakers from each country, and an American, but unfortunately there were no Russian or East European dissidents t o speak o f the need for nuclear dlsarmament i n their own countries,

Undercurrents 46

CONNECTICUT: A peace activist who is also a former US marine has been convicted for attempting t o destroy a Trident nuclear missile with a truck. Dermott was found guilty of taking a truck from the General Dynamic shipyard in Connecticut and then repeatedly backing it into a submarine that was being overhauled in the yard. He told the jury "I rammed it as a protest. I see the Trident submarine and the arms race as an evil thing." Zodiac News Sa~vice/It'sAbout Times TOKYO: The environmental agency of the Japanese government is t o set up a panel to devise a regional environmental control plan. It will be presented to local governments next year and they will be urged t o work out plans covering measures such as the preservation of environments and the control of pollution. Chikyu no Koe

Wasted Sea IN 1979 Britain dumped 98% (in terms of radioactivity) of all the medium-tevel radioactive waste disposed of at sea. Many countries which used to dump at sea no longer do so, but Britain carries on, flouting various long-standing agreements against sea pollution. The 1979 total of 2,700 tons, dumped in the Atlantic 300 miles west of Spain, consisted of contaminated lab equipment, incinerator ash, protective clothing, radioactive sludge from spent fuel cooling ponds, and (probably) nuclear weapons industry waste. The 1980 total was even higher. Loading of the dumping ship, the Gem, takes place at Sharpness, a small port on the River Severn in Gloucestershire, and opposition t o dumping has been concentrated here. In 1980 aemonstrators at Sharpness preventeda train from carrying waste to the docks, by building a scaffolding tower across the

STOCKHOLM: A newmulti.media programme t o rekindle the global grass-roots environmental concern expressed at the 1972 Stockholm conference is t o be launched by the UN. Provisionally titled SURVIVAL 2000, the wide ranging programme aims t o promote a renewed commitment from governments, NGOs and the public t o the goal of safe-guarding and enhancing the environment. Ecoforum

CALIFORNIA: Four people from the Pacific Life Community broke into the Lockheed Trident missile factory in Sunnyvale on March 11th and, following the example of the Ploughshares 8 caused considerable damage t o missiles under construction. The Ploughshares 8 are awaiting sentence after being found guilty of walking into the General Electric Factory in Pennsylvania and beating up a Minuteman ICBM nosecone with hammers.

NEW DELHI: India is giving a major boost t o research on renewable energy in its new five year plan. The government will spend Â£2 million on research into biogas and the same amount on research into growing wood for fuel. I t will alsospend Â£5 million on R&D projects on solar, wind, tidal and other forms of energy. Anil Agarwal

FIJI: Representatives from trade union movements around the Pacific met recently in Fiji t o discuss their contribution t o a nuclear-free Pacific campaign. Establishment of the tentatively name Pacific Trade Union Forum marks an important step in the move towards broader and more active regional co-operation amongst trade unions. The Forum will be formally launched at a conference in Vanuata from 28th t o 3lst May. Free Pacific/Chain Reaction

MEDITERRANEAN: Sixteen of the eighteen mediterranean countries and the EEC have agreed t o a three year programme to 'save the sea', costing about Â£ million for 1981-83. A small co-ordinating group based in Athens will direct a series of studies on the impact of tourism, transportation etc., and a 'Priority Actions Programme' which will involvesuch practical projects as fish farming and solar enerov-..---, UNEP News

ISRAEL: An interdisciplinary team of scientists has recently been set up t o investigate the possibility of underground nuclear power stations in Israel. Underground plant, i t is said, would be more secure from natural hazards such as earthquakes and storms and could also be located near population centres. SCRAM

DARWIN: A E5,OOOmillion scheme to build Australia's first nuke plant has been cancelled on economic and constitutional grounds and a coal-fired plant is t o be built instead. On April 23rd the Minister for Mines and Energy revealed that a five month study by energy specialists had rejected the idea;apparently there is no provision in law for any State t o build a nuke station because all nuke material is controlled by the Federal Government. AustralasIan Express

Island, Three Mile. Profits from this new "creamy mushroom dressing" will go to a progressive independent school in St. Louis, Missouri. Ads for it were rejected by the New York Times i s "in poor taste". For info write to The Catalyst Company, PO Box 4675, St. Louis MO 63108, USA

railway line. ' This year the Gem will be loading at Sharpness again. The Government proposes to increase the amount of nuclear waste dumped at sea, even though the effect of previous dumping on the environment has not been properly investigated. Opposition is planned - a demonstration is to be arranged at Sharpness in July, and anti-nuclear groups are mobilising for this. Meanwhile a campaign on the issue has been started in the trade unions by the indefatigable Protection and Conservation of Animals and Plantlife (PCAPI, whose European Secretary Daniel Lindsay has circulated a model resolution to major unions. The latest campaign i s supported by large numbers of Labour ^Ps and trade union officials. For Sharpness action contact. Bristol AntiNuclear Group, 124 Coronation Road, Bedminster, Bristol. PCAP can be contacted via Daniel Lindsay, 29 Broughton Drive, Grassendale, Liverpool L19 OPE. Tel: 051-708 8248 (w), 01 5494 0470 (h).

Nukers Unite '

1 :

,A lot of pwb hwe working a long time t o bring the labour and anti-nudear movements together' slid Richard Grossman. of the US Environm e n t a ~ i s ~ f Full o r Employment. 'Now it's finally happening in a big way.' Just how big a way was indicated by the vast turnout at the second Three Mile Island anniversary rally held in Harrisburg in March - which attracted between 10-15,000 people. The rally was organised by the Labour Committee for Safe Energy & Full Employment and was sponsored by amongst others, the United Mineworkers, the United Automobile Workers, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the Longshoremans International and the United Food & Commercial Workers Union. rhe TMI rally followed on from a very successful conference organised by the Labour Comm-

ittee for Safe Energy & Full Employmfent held in Pittsburg last October. This attracted more than 800 trade unionists plus 100 environmentalists, who decided to set up local 'safe energy committees'. As one contributor put it: 'it used to be labour versus the antiixikes. Now it's people within the Labour movement that are arguing about it. Energy really has become a union issue.' More details from the Labour Committee for Safe Energy & Full Employment, 1536 16th Street, NW, Washington DC 20036, USA. They have produced a really useful pamphlet based on the conference 'Our Jobs, Our Health, Our Lives, Our Fight' $+ from the address above. Over in Eire. last year saw the setting up of a Trade Union Anti Nuclear Campaign ITUANCI spearheaded by the ITGW. The Irish government has in fact, temporarily at least, withdrawn its plans for a nuclear plant at Carpsore Point, but the very issue of uranium mining is still a very live one.

Sale Away Community Vultures A DEFENSE ELECTRONICS ,exhibition that was due t o be holi i n California has b u n cancelled after i n t e r i m work b y a group called the Citizens Committee Against the Military Electronics Exposition. The exposition, scheduled for March, was organised by the publishers of a military magazine and the citizens committee decided t o alert as many people as possible in the area about what was planned. Visits t o the publisher, the owner of the site and the local authorities paid off; the orgaoiser cancelled, saying he didn't want any controversy in the community. The cancellation is just one in a series, including 3 i n 1980 alone. At Weisbaden public pressure led the organisers of another fair t o mount a huge security operation, with barricaded streets, helicopters and the special border police called in. This police over-reaction won the protesters a lot of support. After the first day the police allowed them t o lie blocking the entrance for two days, forming a 'human carpet'. I n Britain Campaign Against Arms Trade supporters organised protests against the exhibition of defence components held in Brighton -at the Metropole Hotel, on May 12-14. The protest included an MILITARY TRAINING is in at the moment, what with unemployed youths being recommended for 'Youth Opportunities' in thearmy. But what will the day release work, normally called Life and Social Skills consist of? Youth organisations say 'Death and Social Skills'. Meanwhile, a shadowy group called 'Youthdl' is about to launch a call for compulsory community service for young people. The membership of this group, which includes left-wingers such as MICHAEL MEACHER is constant shifting; Community Service Volunteers staff forced their director ELIZABETH HOODLESS to resign,and to remove the postbox from the CSt back dooi. uamn tenies, spell in the army's what they need.. . . teeling mellow towards FOE after their 10th anniversary do, my beady ear has been drawn to the ConservationSociety, frozen in the grip of an ageing director called JOHN DAVOLL (I70 relation). With membership halved over five years, this character's manipulations are increasinglv being questioned - -oy the eloerly idealists on m e

Suspicions about 'community consultants' and 'community entrepreneun'ere voiced i n the latest Wasteland Bulletin, the organ of the Wasteland Forum. The Forum consists of various local community groups putting urban wasteland t o good use. Many of these groups have found themselves elbowed out of

negotiations with councils and other owners of unused land and buildings by smoothie middlemen, and it is these groups the Forum is attacking. The Manpower Services Commision and Urban Aid funding received by inner city projects is one reason for these groups getting on the bandwagon - proposals made usually include local environment trusts'and other such bureaucratic structures for . . between owners1 mediating' councils and community groups. I n practice, it seems these mediators are able t o help landowners gain permission for developments, while claiming approval of the 'community'. The alternative, the Forum points out, is access t o technical, legal

Ducking out Alternative Fair at the nextdoor Grand Hotel. A spokesperson said: "In its keenness to sell arms the government is subsidising delegates from wellknown human rights violators t o the Expo. Our exhibition shows that alternative products make more sense morally, politicaffv and economically."

QUOTE by Stephen Salter, inventor of the Duck. i n a lecture t o the Royal S o c i i of Arts on wave energy: 'The hardest problem of all is psychological. We are attempting t o change a status quo which is buttressed by prodigious investments of money and power and professional reputation. For a hundred years it has been

council. DAVOLL has survived previous coups easily, but the total inaction of the Society is not so easily explained. The banglwhimper cliffhanger continues.... I hearthe VERY REV. GODFREY BOYLE, Undies Founder and Open University star, bought a Datastar software package and a Wordstar software package but neglectedt o get the complementary 'Merge File' (a programme) without which this public money has only bought an electric typewriter for writing t o the press (see letters). The person sorting out this mess was quoted as saying 'Godfrey doesn't know one end of a software package from an other'. Perhaps it was O U gold burning a hole in his pocket which caused him t o act so hastily? Organisations seem to divide into those who think having PRINCE CHARLES as patron is great, and those who think it would be a curse. Intermediate ~wchnoligy Dweloomant Grouo is in the first group. Rumour has it that Charlie having come by a country ' mansion, has asked ITDG t o

renovate i t in IT style. ITDG staff have been asked for suggestions. How about sending yours, in Post Officegreetings telegrams t o St Paul's on July 29th? Dl's views on what the CEGB would call freezing i n the dark are unknown.. . . While on the topic of royal patriarchy -sorry, patronage the Society for the Promotion of Nature Comervation, which co-ordinates local nature trusts, has also received its charter from Cha$ie,and is now Royal Society for Nature Conservation. After wht PRINCE BERNHARD did, you'd think such worthies would pick their company more carefully. At the RSNC launch, CHRIS ROSE (he of Vole, Conservation for the People and other such causes) declared his intention never t o vote Conservative again because of the governmerit's Wildlife & Countryside Bill. Rumours of government resignationsand U turns are being denied . . Theaforesaid mellownesshas now worn off - I hear FOEare having 6oud~persuadingtheir local groups that a large new London HQ is necessary. An appeal has

dents and community groups directly, enabling themp& participate in their enviro+$hent. It seems, however, that the Forum may be pushing at an open door - one of the major entrepreneurs in the business, URBED (Urban and Economic Development), has just had its'funding withdrawn by the Sainsbury Trust, because it has achieved nothing identifiable whatsoever apart from lots of business lunches. This will be a considerable blow t o its smooth, rotund high-flier community consultant Nick Falk, whose bids for government money to fund i/rtĂ&#x192;Ë&#x2020;a initiatives seems likely t o be rejected. This is not least because all the loot requestedwwld no t o consultant's fees. Incidentally, the Wasteland Fortitn, which has just published a pawr on Composting City Wastes, is contactable at 26 Bedford Square, London WC1 3HU (OM36 4066) easy to burn and pollute. A hundred years of tradition cannot be swept away without a struggle. 'The nearer renewable energy technologies get t o success, the harder that struggle will become. We should never expect things otherwise. "The problems of corrosion and fatigue, of storms and biofouling, of bearing wear and bag tear are all being solved. But there still remains the problem of changing the habits of minds set in the fossil fuel age."

been launched t o enable them to buy somewhere when Rowntrees throw them out of 9 Poland Street in the autumn, but a DORSET group have urged that FOEbuy a de@ictrul-al property (a Welsh Cottage?) t o tV out practical AT ideas. East Anglian groups also agreed that FOE HQ gives them less help than the head offices of other environmental groups. The F& newsletter pleads the need t o meet journalists, MPs and Government Depts as reasons for sticking to London. Meanwhile TOM BURKE, 'wanting to get into politics seriously and looking for a vehicle' has joined the Social Democrats, known for brevity as the SO-DEM-ALLs. Maybe this explains the new BURKE image of suit, contact lenses, no beard and short hair.. . THE TEACHERS seem to be expanding their empire in Banger; on a recent visit I noticed their shop, a prime site in the town's main shopping centre. I didn't realise that selling toy warnlanes and guns was part of the alternativefuture..

L O O W DOOMSTErt

LONDON CO-OPS FATE?

3 0 t h May, 2pm - 11pm at Interaction, Wilkin Street NW5. Live bands i n the evening, bar, all y o u need for co-operation. Waged Â£1.50 Unwaged Â£1

CO-OPS FA1R Want a'jbb? A house? Workers control? A good time? The 1981 Co-ops Fair is shaping u p t o provide help for people t o acquire all those things. The good time we guarantee! Definate bookings so far include the Co-op Union and Brent BlackMusic Co-operative. The Co-op Union has hired a marquee t o itself t o house representatives o f all its spheres o f activity. Brent Black Music Co-op is a group of about 20 musicians who back Bob Marley and d o a l o t of work w i t h youth and community centres. They hope t o run some workshops at the fair and perform i n the evening. Friday is the Women's Day, Saturday, the public day and Sunday, the workshop day. Themes for the workshops so a r include local economies, nterrelating i n co-ops and co-ops and wider politics. We would be glad of any gifts or fixed term loans from co-ops t o guard us against cashflow crises before the pennies at the gate roll in. Any co-op able t o d o so should contact Free Spreckley at the address below. Fairdates: 10,11,12July. address: Beechwood, Elmete ane, Leeds 8. Tel Leeds (0532) 720205. 'iow can 'ten days o f dirty, nuddy, physically hard work ' ^e 'fun? T o find out,join the National conservation Corps who have organised a range of projects t o suit all tastes f r o m archaelogical or arduous, bia 'power chain saw operators needed'to wetland or woodland work; there are now so many projects (180) that a classified index is included i n their booklet. A typical 'arduous'task is rebuilding footpaths i n Snowdon, which would be somethina t o boast o f in years tocome. The cost is a daily contribution of Â£1.20 For the summer programme write with sae t o Alison Coe, NCC, 10 DukeSt, Reading 1, Berks.

I n f o r m a l courses a t L o w e r Shaw GEODESICS (UN)LIMITE~ Sharing t h e experience Of wring The next open meeting of the 5-7 June. A chance for those group will be July 10th - 1 W whose work involves caring for i n 6irmingham, atwhich inti others t o find nourishment ested participants will have t..and relaxation - massage, roleopportunity of becoming a play, games, country walks. founder members of the Co-op. Cycling weekend 26-28 June. Please d o join us. Write t o Dave Long and short rides over Cots~ ~at 16 park ~uoad, l wolds and Downs; maintainance ~ o ~0irmingham ~ l ~ for ~furth, , information, instruction; wholefood and fun. To kick o f f on June 8 t h and Beginners welcome. July 13th y o u can go t o Women's Health 3-5 July. SelfCND are organising a midsumm ASSEMBLY, help therapy,discussion groups, festival (June 19-21) at Worthy PLANNING MEETINGS (for the' herbal remedies, self-examination, Farm, Pilton, near Glastonbury Assembly July 29th t o 31st) yoga, massage etc. Somerset. This Bomb Bashers Help plan the Assembly for A r t and Craft Week 25-31 July. Bash will feature live music from ethnic and nationalist groups and Activities such as pottery, midday t o midnight, lectures and all those strugglingagainst giantspinning, basketwork, batik, for kids, 'everything from fireismand Over their linocuning, woodwork, painting, eaters t o puppet s h w s and plays'. own lives and neighbourhoods. sketching musicmaking, Child. Cost will probably be Â£7 Details Diorama Arts Co-op, 18 Park Sq welcome, from CND, 11 Goodwin Street, East, o f f Marylebone R d (Great London N4. Tel01-263 4954. Portalnd St or Regents Park tubes). 01-286 4366. 7pm for The 1981 Ecology Party Gather7:30pm. On: ing will again be a t Worthy Farm, Pilton, near Glastonbuw, SomerOn June 13th there is a conferset from July 27th -August 2nd. ence TOWARDS A SOCIALIST It will feature discussions, workTRANSPORT POLICY organised shops, music, theatre etc. Detail by SERA. It is an issue that from Christina Crossingham, attracts t o o l i t t l e attention from 11 Stanley Rd, Bristol 6. Shouli the politicians b u t is constantly be fun, judging b y last year, but on the minds of the public. be warned: don't go asking for Cost Â£2Time ? ring SERA Worthy Farm i n the local pub: 0 1 4 3 9 3749. Venueat South the publican is very unfriendly! Bank Poly Students Union. Rotary St. London SE1. FESTIVALS 1981 (Elephant and Castle).

June 14 - 19 F L E X I B L E STRUCTURES for a CO-OPERA T I V E S O C I E T Y - a fiveday experiment i n living and working. Cost Â£26 Booking form and venue; Freer Spreckley, Beechwood College, Elmete Lane, Roundhav. Leeds 8. Tel 0532

The NUCLEAR NETWORK are organising a series of free evening Open Forums at the Festival of Mindand Body (Olympia, London, June 22-26, 7:30 - 9pm); titles are Global , Vision (22nd); Ecology, Energy and Technology (23rd) ;Human Potential a n d Healing (24th); Communications, Networking a n d Media (25th) and Synthesis (26th). What's more, y o u get a free ticket t o the FMB for the following day. Details from Julian Russell on 01 -250 1219.

1 July 3 Canthi Stone free fest., trade

LONDON PEACE ACTION and LONDON CAAT ~t the last C A A T meetina it was decided that the group should merge w i t h London Peace Action (LPA). This was due t o a considerable overlap of active members. LPA is agroup committed t o non-violent action against militarism. Recent campaigns have been in the areas of war-toys, recruitment and nuclear weapons. The arms trade, of course, represents a very significant proport i o n o f its activity. They hold regular fortnightly planning meetings on Wednesdays at 7:30pm at the Peace Pledge Union. 6 Endslienh St. WC1. The next meeting will be o n 27th May.

The East Anglian Alliance Against International Sun Oay is Saturday Nuclear Power have put together an EnemyÂ¥sun 20th; Islington FOE are celebrating at Tollington Park Exhibition which will be on schOO', wray Open show i n Ipswich Corn Exchange Space, N4, from 2pm; (May 29 -June 10) and St there'll be an A T exhibition, Andrews Hall Norwich (June 18

-241 in direct comoetition w h . . street theatre etc. , ~ i t~ UKAEA's for Energy The International Communes Network Summer meeting is from show. Anyone who can help this project shouldcontact June 1 5 t o 24 i n Denmark. Robin Saddler, Bealings Barn, Details from KOKKOO, Huset, Grundisburgh Rd, Great Bealings, Radhusstaede 13, DK-1466 Woodbridge, Suffolk. Copenhagen K ; tel 009 4 5 1 1 5 T e l 0 4 7 335 638. 5 2 53.

toms

Newtown, Powys. July 9: Women's Day: Co-ops Fair, see elsewhere this issue. July 10.11 Co-ops Fair, Beechwood, Elmete Lane, Leeds 8. July 1 1 Folly Fair, Hunting5 . . Road, Huntings Halesworth, Norfolk. July 17-19 C r e w and Nantwich Folk ~estival. July 18-19 Capital Jazz Festival, Clapham Common, London. July 23-? Rhyader Free Festival, Elan Valley, Powys. July 25-26 Capital Jazz Festival Clapham Common, London. July 25-26 Ling Fair, Near Norwich. Contact Bruce Lacey (Wymondham 603262). July 27-August 2 Ecology Party Gathering, Worthy Farm, Pilton, near Glastonbuw, Somerset. August 3-? East Anglia Free Festival, Norwich. August 10 Deeply Vale Free Festival, Lanes. August 14-16 Rainbow Fair, Stour Valley, East Anglia. August 28-30 Reading Festival. August 29-31 Netting Hill Carnival, London. August 29-31 Bath Community Festival.. August 29-31 Albion Fair 2, East Anglia. September 4 +Psilocybin Fair, Devil's Bridge, Dyfed. September 4-6 Rougham Fair, Contact: Jeff's House, RoughanSuffolk.

. . .,

Undercurrents 46 ^Â¥Tt,

,& NUCLEAR LINKS: the chain

I/*'~*&,,.&

reaction of energy, aims and

Women and Life on Earth A unifying Network for Femin-

ism and Ecology. A group of women concerned with the patriarchal rape of this planet. They are holding an event in October. Women interested in becomming involved write to: Women and Life on Earth, 82 Lady Margaret Road, London N19 5ES.

FEMINISTSAGAINST NUCLEAR POWER has been meeting since 1978.Since last April six of them have been giving talks about nuclear energy to women at conferences, colleges, and women's centres. Theu pamphlet, Nudear Resisters aims to make essential rinformation about nuclear power and weapns accessible t o women, especially those who feel intimidated or put of by scientific, technical subjects. Nuclear Resisters is distributed t o alternative bookshops through PDC and is available by mail order from Sisterwrite bookshop, 190 Upper St, London N1. Women in the New Ireland was voted on and accepted as Sinn Fein policy by a large majority at the Aid Fheis (conference) in late 1980. Leeds Troops Out Movement is publishing the entire document because they think that what Sinn Fein has to say about women's liberation will be of interest to feminists and antiimperialists in this country. Sinn Fein's weekly newspaper An Phoblacht/Republican News has regular coverage and debate on feminism. An annual subscirption costs Â£1 from 51/53 Falls Road, Belfast, N.Ireland. For further details contact Leeds Troops Out Movement, Box LAP 1969, 29 Blenheim Terrace, Leeds 2. ISIS INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN (NO 18) WOMEN AND THE MEDIA Isis is an excellent publication o n international feminist issues. Produced roughly every three months by collectives in Rome and Geneva, it acts as a resource and documentation centre for the women's movement. Sub rates are 20SF/$15 surface mail, 30SF/$20 airmail. Contact Via della PelBccia 31,00153 Rome, Italy or Case Postale 301, CH 1227 Carouge, Switzerland. Tel:(022> 336746.

The CENTRE for ALTERNATN E EDUCATION and RESEARCH, CAER, is a self-sufficient centre for activities aimed at developing human potential. It is situated at the head of the Lamorna valley and is sorrounded by seven acres of woods, streams and gardens. CAER offers weekend and other events on transpersonal psychology, yoga, wholefood cooking, sel-sufficiency etc. For information and bookings CAER, Rosemerryn, Lamorna, Penzance, Cornwall TR19 6BN. Tel: 0 7 3 4 7 2 530. The life and death of Karen Silkwood (UC37) have been made into a play SILKWOOD by Jehane Dyllan of Union Sisters Productions (no address to hand, but try writing to NewRoots, Box 548, Greenfield, MA 01 302, USA); she has been acting it as a one-woman show t o union audiences in the Northeast US. Who will bring it t o Britain? The East Anglian Alliance again nuclear power are fighting again the application t o build the fust Pressurised Water Reactor in this country at Sizewell on the Suffolk Heritage Coast. Support, help and donations t o Clerk of the EAAANP, Garden Cottage, Bulmer, Sudbuiy, Suffolk. Ecology Party groups in East Angha have published Nuclear Breakdown a new pamphlet about nuclear explosions. Several hundred physics teachers in secondary schools have asked for such a pamphlet which is factual rather than discussing questions such as armament. The new Pamphlet is available for Â£ per copy or Â £ for 5 inc. p&p from Bridge House, London Road, St Ives, Hunt., Cambs. PEACE STUDIES DISCUSSION PAPERS: Foundations of Peace Research, Dec 1980, Peter van den Dungen. Â£1.9 ( 2 4 ~ ) . How Effective are Peace Movements? Dec 1980, Bob Overy. 95P ( 1 7 ~ ) . Problems and Possibilities in the Study of Peace. Jan 1981, Nigel Young. 85p ( 1 7 ~ ) . The Nuclear Arms Race. March 1981, Frank Barnaby. 80p ( 1 7 ~ ) . A Guide to Nuclear Weapons. April 1981, Paul Rogers. 80p (17~). Housmans, 5 Caledonian Rd, London N1

areukent that even if we don't need nuclear power, the Third World does. SANE and Third World First have combined forces to explode this myth. 50p from SANE 9 Poland Street, London W1 or TWI 232 Cowley Rd, Oxford. The premier issue of NETWORK the quarterly bulletin of AT International, was published March 31,1981. Network will inform its readers about past and present AT International efforts, also it will serve as a forum, presenting the ideas and experiences of other people and organisations facing the challenges of managing decentralised development approaches. Those interseted in submitting articles for publication in Network or wishing t o offer comments or suggestions should contact the editor, AT International Network, ,709 Street, Washington DC 20036. Subscriptions are available free of charge on request.

i f I had known

Up Your Street is a young person guide to environmental action published by YEA (Youth Environmental Action), edited by Stephen Joseph (now of OcEnCo & UC) and illustrated by Vicky Hutchins, formerely of UC, now art editor of the New Statesman. So it goes without saying that it's the best thing around if you want to stir yourself from in front of the telly and get to work creating a garden out of wasteland, recycling waste paper, or agitating for cycle paths or against nukes. Membership of YEA, who are based at the Archway Development Centre 173 Archway Rd, London N6, isÂ£ for youth,Â£ for a group, and the guide is Â£1.2 post free. LONDON OPEN RADIO. If you want to become an LOR member, or offer any additional help, please contact us at 2 Warwick Cresent W2 or phone 289 71 6314. All members receive a copy of LOR'S strategy and structure. Members can pick up or send a sae for kit including technical background, the overseas experience and a broadcasting glossary. Subscriptions Â£ unwaged;Â£ - Â£ waged;

Index o n Censorship is an 80 page magazine appearing six happening t o writers who have been censored, suppressed and sometimes imprisoned for their work. It covers all media and all countries, and both covert and overt censorship. Subscription is Â£1 from Index on Censorship. 21 Russell St.. London WC2 5HP. We are a little slow picking up on a couple of Friends of the Earth campaigns: Pothole Blitz was a March cyclists campaign t o draw attention t o the pot holes in the nation's roads. Since potholes are a n 'ongoihg' danger, write to FOE if you want any of theu pothole postcards addressed to your local county surveyor. FOE are also sending Maggie empty drinks cans t h o u @ the post, special message to Maggie labels t o go round the can.Â£1.1 per 100 fromFoE, g poland street, London Wl. Following on from two meetings ~ u ~ ~ ~ ~ ; ~ ~ h The Redistribution of Work ibout the opportunities for ionstructive action and for ~ e o p l eand organisations con;ern& with creating new conexts for work. 40pp A5 pamphet, Â£ inc UK postage from ruining Point, Spring Cottage, 3 New Road, Ironbridge, Shrop-

APHIC LIBRARY The Nottingham based Rentasnap photo library has been set up as an 'alternative' photography resourcl with material primarily for use by women's groups, environmental organisations, anti-racist groups, trades unions, socialist and community groups. The hirary is based at two sites, 118 Workshop, 118 Mansfield Rd, Nottingham, tel582369,and Nottingham Community Arts &Crafts Centre, Gregory Boulevard, Hyson Green, Nottingham tel782463. Membership, groups and individuals Â£ per year. Correction Food, Need, Greed a n d Myopia (UC 45) costs Â£1.6 and is disributed by PDC. Monica Frisch, of Earthright Publications, is intending to publish an antholog: on the theme of opposition t o nuclear weapons and t o nuclear power. Contributions, poems, prose, songs, drawings etc., all previously unpublished, are welcomed; contributors will not be paid, instead a percentage of the cover price will go t o CND, but they will retain the copyright. Write t o Monica Frisch, 7 Blaney Row, Newburn,

Undercurrents 46

ROOM AT THE'TOP '3 THE UMBRELLA ORGANISATIONS of the co-operative movement offer little shelter t o women. ANNA WHYATT, vice-chairperson of the Industrial Common Ownership Movement (ICOM), describes how women are excluded.

SOME 30 -40% of the workers in registered cooperatives in the UK are women. Many more women exact numbers are difficult t o estimate work in groups, which although not registered, work collectively and would consider themselves t o be cooperatives. Women work in a wide range of different trades but particularly in publishing, teaching, women's refuges and theatre groups. An increasing number of women work in trades not normally open t o them in conventional industry building, warehousing, driving, film. Women work very well too well?) in co-operative situations. enemus, supportive, non-hierarchical by nature, they work brilliantly in women only groups and are often the backbone of mixed co-operatives, particularly in the initial stages. There is no term in conventional management for the nurturing sup ort which is vital in the early stages o an enterprise. Yet in start-up situations, women provide this role time and time again -as friends. as wives. as participants. However, it'is always'the'entrepreneurs, usually men, who attr&ctattention and represent the eo^jfctative publicly, (The term front man' is not a mis-

nomer - whoever heard of a 'fmntwoman'?!) The mythology of the movement has few female names with which t o conjure.

It's a man's world -in the co-op Outside of the actual co-operative, the hierarchical structures o f t h e regional and national umbrella CTOUDS ~ r o m o t ing the interests of co-operatives-boast almost exclusively male management and male workers. The Industrial Common Ownership Finance (ICOF) has ten trustees. Only one is female. The three executive staff are male. In ICOM there are only two women out of fourteen Council members and two male members of staff. The Scottish Co-operative Development Committee has no women board members, and the three executive staff are all male. The East Midlands Association of Common Ownerships is an allmale board. The National Co-operative Development Agency fares slightly better: two women directors out of nine, three women staff members out of'ipleven. In addition, ICOF, ICOM, the SOBC and the CDA all have secretarial posts attached t o the agency.

You've guessed -all are women! Of the sixteen newly-created cooperative development posts recently established in the UK, two are held by women. Industrial development posts in Local Authorities o r similar are held exclusively by men. Both women co-operative development workers were featured in recent articles in womens' magazines about setting up workers' co-operatives. All very good. Except that both articles dealt with the women working with other women setting up co-operatives. No mention was made of the fact that these women also advise men in business enterprise or have been involved in larger scale developments such as the setting u p of workshop units. Women, it would appear, have a special working category all to themselves - working with other women! 'Women are the heart of the fast growing world of co-operatives', Womens'Realm confidently asserted. They are, but not in the way one might hope. What are the repercussions of all this? My growing fear is that it will mean a dwindling, rather than growing number of women in common ownerships, as in employment as a whole. It has been said that when the movement is so threatened anyway, that minority groups should take second place. More often, the fact that this is a predominantly white, masculine movement of working people is not even thought about. But the fact is that in developing the movement, we lay down policies particularly a t national level which take years to undo. We are effectively planning for the future. What is sad is that women in the movement did not foresee these developments years ago and prepare for them. All the national umbrella groups, except for ICOM, are relatively young and yet women are so totally un-represented among them. And this is your voice at national level t o government, to financiers, t o bur eaucracies. The new federation of Co-operative Development Group aims to introduce a new democracy from the regions into the movement yet its representatives nationally are once again, all male. At the grass roots I think that this under-representation will mean that fewer and fewer women have access, by default, to the information and assistance they might need t o set up. Within co-ops themselves, there is a common problem that technical expertise is amassed by male members, whilst women (often through lack of confidence) take on more menial jobs. After six years in the movement I am appalled again and again by the subtlety with which this system works, a reflection of general attitudes within industry as a whole. Women as a group are terribly underskiiled, particularly in business management, and need considerable training opportunities. Yet the opportunities for these, especially in the prevailing climate, are diminishingall the time. The structure of

Undercurrents 46 working life itself militates totally against full parte#ation by women in the movement. e demands of setting up a common ownership, especially in the early stages, re uires physical fitness, time and freelorn from other responsibilities. This is just t o work in the busine8s;interest in external activities is hard to maintain. Time is a continual problem. Most national bodies meet in London. Women in the provinces us continually excluded on this count alone. The message throughout industry, the Trade Union movement, most major political parties, and the cooperative movement is fit into the s stem or get out. Women who are less than fit, have children or other dependants, aged over thirty-five or thirtysix, step down!

Whose fault is it anyway? What I have to say in the next paragraph will provoke criticism I know from male colleagues. I want to make it dear that I personally have received a great deal of su port and help from men with whom fhave worked, most of whom have become friends. I have expected and been granted a considerable amount of respect and equality. I am particular) indebted t o the men in Suma wholefood Ltd who rarely viewed me as anything other thah a female entre reneur! Yet -andit is a large yet -the prevailing attitude in the movement in the UK is one of deeply rooted chauvinism, which is at its worst in the national organisations. I want to give two short illustrations of what I mean. At one conference I attended, a male

where for the majority of women, life will be life without work. Most of the one in nine one-parent families cited by the Child Poverty Action Group will be families brought up by women. In the current climate the possibility of productive, paid work canyin with it all the connotations 01status. freedom and independance is a pmblem for the single woman, but a virtual impossibility for a woman alone with her children. There is a vital need for women to create their own economic indeoendance within structures which ak not only democratic but which cater for their needs, in child care, working hours. holidays. In order t o ~rovide those kinds of o portunitiesfor themselves the" needaccess to the kinds of training schemes which not only nmvide basic skills instruction but which also give business training. In the present climate, most people would prefer to forget the concerns of women. For most small business consultants, for example, the aim is now t o help the "winners' - anyone needing concentrated advice or assistance is cast aside. In this sort of situation women need to combine across the broad spectrum of organisations -trade unions, industry, voluntary organisations, as well as the co-operative movement - to insist on their right t o work as they need and want to, and their rieht to as much assistance as they need inthe form either of training or finance. Some kind of campaign for the right of women to work involving

,women across the broad spread of industry is vital, before the general trend t o ignore women's working needs becomes irreversible. At the same time, statutory or large scale provision will only come about through pressure on government at national and reeional levels as well. The under-representation of women in umbrella organisations is a serious pmblem if any of these issues are taken up. Many women may feel that they do not want t o be involved in this way. I understand that. But if more women do not participate at these sort of levels within the unions, within the workplace and in this movement, then rains which have been made over the l i t twenty years may well be lost for another twenty. Are we reall prepared in i movement to e c t i v e ly support the notion of a collective/ co-operative working life for men whilst women may only participate on the fringes? -because by not making our views known that is what we are doing. It is extremely difficult for women t o make these kind of interventions,even in this more democratic movement, but the difficulty results largely born the way in which women participating in umbrella organisations are isolated. We need a larger voice in decisions that are made. We need t o demand, fight for and create the presence of women in these situations before it is too late. Sexual liberation doesn't help a women, if she hasn't got economic liberation, then she'sstill a victims_ .

Undercurrents 46

on, which involved struggle and con ict and excitement But after the initial leaps I fed we reached a Mock. The co-op movement (small, radical, or bigger, mainstream)does not seem to me to be a developing radical force, though it is certainly of increasing importance in society today, in terms of the numbers of people CO-OPSAND the Women's Liberation Movement Tew McMahon involved Men seem to keep coming in looks back on her experiences with the Uhum Co-operative in with the same old habits, taking over. not bang able to express real feelings, Oxford being obsessed by what they see as it did mean that those structures we I FIND it very difficult to think about logical, not doing much about their eventually chose were felt to be ours, the relationship between the WLM and not oppressive, open to change. Except sexism, or that of the outside world as it co-ops, even though I have been in co-o most of the time since 1973, that structures chosen by one grouping reacts with the coop and especially easily came to be seen as oppressive by a women in i t They end up priviliged and and hare been profoundy affected by subsequent one until they realised they women end up having a hard time, often the WLM throu out. I think thisis short of creative energy. And if s often Could make theh own changes. partly because ere has not been not the coop that gives us women interaction between the two, strength, but for many of us it is the whi is unfortunate for the wider WLM and other women In the (level ment of coIt is also group. oii~nc3t itienw% iaieo~? And if s not as if we women behind the feelings, ideas an necessarily have a wonderful time practice of peopleor groups. together in a mixed co-op. Often we're When we started Uhuru in Oxford all stouggling in our individual livesaid in l 9 7 3 p World, wholefood, end up not being sensitive to each commu ty shop and cafe) we other, competi .with each other (for suddenly seemed to be a focus for men, skills....); ose women who all forts of people's ideas, enthusiasms, gained confidence and competence aspirations and activities, so we hardly -&press ourselves. However we evolved have can seem to out down other women. methods and attitudes that helned.' knew which way to turn. At the And we actual! may put a lot into our like rotating a chairperson and' time I was most identified with those individual relatfonshb with men, minute-taker, minff round the room on engaging in (airly conventional left activities, specificall campaigning. onTliird world ismes. sure I was a feminist, but hadn't had much contact with the WLM. Others who activities or wornemonly co-ops, rotas for mnni the shop, and we were more into various rotated resnnt~%~ifv for administrative working or living together. Sometimes I ~c %#ewe politics. we m n feel I'm copping out in putting too tasks. knew that we wanted to work much into men or co-o s, though in co-o erativdy, but we had little A chip.off the block? , other moods 1may feefit's where it's at MI e hence to go on. Now I I feel that we made lots of big steps for me. I feel alienated from manv k l d SB t h a t feminist ideology and practice essential to co-operation, to political practice on an immediate and wider lewL

Looking ~ a c k At Uhuru -

eno3"

fms

e erience

t h r o u e freeing p e o p ~ e x mtheh

traditional sex roles, in practice developments in feminiaB d co-operation don't seem to have been that crucially linked to each other. Feminists in mixed co-ops take in th experiences of feminism, aprocew vital, I believe, for a radical co-operative movement, but they often have a bard time of it, sometimes feeli attacked or not supported on all sides,%m people outside the cofrom people within, and from some%hinW for giving to men instead of other woken. e needed a feminist inout at IJhum but at the time we were &re awue of the influence on us of the libertaian ideu of the late sixties. And ax blis everyday practice vent we worked it out the h u d way, learning from our mirtakei. Many of us were rebelling d n s t authoritarian iweriences. so 6tended to start withkt structures, which often lead to a '!lYiranw of strueturtlessnesi', whe6 for example some ~ e d could e act in wavs that others didn't like, but where-there was no agreed way of chailendng them. But

ensm

---

undercurrents 40 manifestations of the co-op movement eg Co-ops Fair planning meetings or operative Development Agency meetings and a lot of the women I respect dk not spend time on men, , leaving the co-op movement the loser.

this is much more threatening. So I am

interested in how much influence the WLM has actually had on co-ops, in how much it will have, and whether co-ops are going t o be able to respond to the challenge of feminism. Many of our aims at Uhuru were And now? basically feminist, but they came via But at resent it's quiteUdttelY I'd give libertarian channels and articulate men: up working and living with men. fn aims of challenging traditional sex roles. the end we have to work out solutions confronting exploitative relationships which include us all. I find it interesting amone ourselves. for our dav-to-dav that both traditionally and in separatist" lives and for integrity in o&politid groupings now, women have always action and understanding. Living out spent more time with each other than these aims meant all of us. especially the with men. The radical difference now, women, working out and k y h g what for feminists, is.that we want power for we wanted on an everyday ractical level in terms of how we J a r e d out ourselves, responsibility for our own lives, not just separation from men with cooking and accounts, how we made decisions.... I think we women were them having power and prestige and

Natural Cycles HOW SHOULD WE think about cooperation? The models we have in our minds are taken from a hierarchial, oppressive society. Finding words for what we want can be hard and often we do no better than to state what we reject. Jocelyn Chaplin has a model that may help. WHEREVER CO-OPERATIVES are set up, or indeed wherever people are trying to create co-operative relationships, there is a constant stru e against the dominant hierarchic tions that ermeate society from the office to the !em4 from our m s t o our d deepest feelings. These are so in in our heads u d hearb, Out ito= feels like a losing battle. It 1svital to keep asserting the alternative model, clearly, consciously and even Sasmnatdy. Vague ideals of equality, ustice, behaving co-operatively and doing without leaders are often not clear and strong enou to combat the depth of the power o hierarchies.

"hiinking in Opposites In a hierarchy the opposite classes, sides. tenders are arranged with one always above the otbec In a dialectical rhth m, the opposites are of al value andin constant interaction. Movement and change come out of the tendon or contradiction between em. Neither side is permanently superi I. There are still some opposites and some differences. Co-operative and equalising structures do not mean sameness. It is the way in which the opposites are related that makes them so different from hierarchies. Separation is always a first step. "Hie emendng child must separate from the mother. 'She must leami to distinguish between hot and col here and gone and eventually boys etc. But in our society no sooner e q a r a t i o n taken p k e tpan the opposites are joined again hierarchially. Boys are seen as above girls, adults above children, mind above body etc. Working towards a co-operative society involves the total transformation of these kinds of relations at all levels. And a model that could help with this task is the 'feminine' model of

kreasingiy able to do this with the general back u of growing feminist ideas and actirities. Because that was hap ening, and there was eneral access t o $minist ideas (Spare h%,Peace New conferences, women visiting...) then the women were receptive to feminist analysis and action. The presence of the women's movement and women supporting each other in a co-op' ho efully means the men in the co-op wd be more receptive unless they feel too threatened Feminists in mixed co-ops have got a lot to do 1 hope the men in them can be receptive enough to them, and active enough themselves, for it to be worth their effort. Tess McMahon

Wherever there are grou everyone has an equal G E E s p e * and listen, to lead and l& led, to be dependent and independent the model is being put into practice. Even the life cycle of a group can be seen in rh hmc terms. Rosem RandaII ant ~ o h Southgate n have described the

dialectic rhthyms. It is a model that underlies much of the natural world as Engels showed in Dialectics of Nature. The rhythmic dance or stru between opposites exists at%:evels. from the atomic to the astronomical, from the psyche of individuals to the class struggle. As tides ebb and flow, plants grow and decay, joy turns to sorrow and oppressed classes overthrow their oppressors. The female menstrual cycle and other aspects of womens' lives in many societies have helped women generally to be more in touch with the rhythms of existence. We already know and feel this model. It needs to be broueht out from our secret places, from artand music, from theunconscious and applied throughout society. It can be used consciousl~as a way of oreanisme. Hierarchin1 relations

ttem of group dynamics in a Kalthy group as the orgasmic cycle. A nurturing phase leads to an 'ng base, a peak and'then ieich applied this model to the healthy person and noted that no society had yet been devised that took the form of this basic biological structure. m y in a classless society where opposites are related rhythmically can co-operation be fully realised. In such a socie there will &Ill be differencesand o tes. But they will relate rhythmically to each other. And today ps everywhere are trying to out non-oppressive ways of r e l a I hope tha model can be a usem for those groups. Jocelyn Chaplin

02'

war Ef

This short article only presents a brief summary of Jocelyn s ideas which she if hoping to publish as a book. She can be contacted c/o Undercurrents.

Childcare in Cornmunit ies

else's child. Our street seems to be at one end of the continuum. Children are still cared for mainly by their arents, but they are certainly less underfoot than they would be in many other circumstances. The 24 houses enclose a street closed off to traffic, and a large shared garden runs alon the back of the South terrace. children can ulav with each other unsupervised,go"off to watch televisionMANY OF THE PROBLEMS experienced in mixed co-operatives arise in the community house or visit other adults along the street. The Co-op is from the different roles.women and men are brou&t up to play. If buying a shed for the children to use, children are to grow into the kind of people able to co-operate rather we are thiwinstdlin than compete then they need a different kind of socialisation. Talking alarms in all the houses where (Sere are to parents who were trying to bring their children up in a less restrictive, children or people willing to bab sit. It's a start, but we could do muc more. non-sexist wav. JUNE STATHAM found that many of the problems . .-.. -.-----

.. they encountered seemed to stem from the limitations of the nuclear ~~

family structure. For this article she has been talking with people who are bringing up children collectively in communities. THREE YEARS AGO, when I moved into the street of 24 renovated railway cottages about 40 of us rent as a housing co-operatie, I'd hoped to take an equal share, as far as possible, in look after the two children next door. oily was just four then, Katie exactly a year old I liked children but wasn't ready to haye any of my own, and I wanted to be a kind of 'third parent', taking a share of the

res~owibiiityand inconvenience as web is the pleasure of having small children around when it suited me. But somehow it never worked out ~-

I wonder if their mother is perhaps right when she says that there is a bade difference between parents and nonparents, and that single people can't reall be expected to give up their freedom to care for other people's children She finds it easier to ask for help from other parents in the street whom she can repay in kind. She feels that parents have the prima responsibility, and wants it t at way, but then maybe I didn't try very hard to take an equal share. I went away recently for a month, and apart from for someone else to collect m m who01 on 'mv' dav. there was little else I needed t o do. 'Parents don't have that kind of freedom, and maybe I was deluding myself thinking I was prepared to give it up for someone

Baby Cottage Other communities, like Laurieston Hall in Scotland, have gone much hither in attempting to collectivise childcare. Laurieston s past record with children hasn't been good. The Hall is a huge old house physically unsuited to small. children, and women who had jomed either pregnant or with young children had had difficulty in settling in and generally left. So when one of the women who had been living there for several years decided she wanted a child. p discussed it with the others and a baby group*was set up to help and support her. One of the Hall's small cottages was set aside as a 'children's house. The baby group consisted of people some ex erienced in childcare, some not who t ought they could commit themselves to supporting Linda through the pregnancy, birth and care of her future infant. Their first experience came not with Linda's baby however, but with Finn, Catriona's child born

- -

undercurrents 46 five months Go. Kate has also lived at Laurieston for several years, although she spends part of the year at another community, and when she inadvertently became pregnant the group offered her the support already set up for Linda. They discussed questions like whether the cottage would become too isolated from the main house, what would happen if Kate was breastfeeding, how much time would she want t o spend with the baby; but many of the questions couldn't be answered in the abstract. The grou didn't want to lay down any hard andfast rules about How Communal Chiidcare was to be and felt a lot depended on Kate's reactions once the baby was born. She has found that she welcomes their support and help.

' I ready appreciate the sharing of worry. If I had had Finn an my own I would inevitably have worried a lot, since he is my first baby. Is he backward? Is he allergic to this Vwt orthe other? Why isn t h e sitting up yet? etc. Because more than half the group has either had children or had a lot to do with them, they can answer my questions and fears and I trust the answers. They help without taking away my right to experience motherhood. They always encourage me to say what I feel and ask for what I would like. That has been especially true of the amount of time I spend with Finn Originally we had expected to do an equal amount; one dav a week each. When he was born, ifound I wanted to see him every day, so I did mornings. Then I began to feel I could let go a little bit more and would appreciate being able to concentrate on other work in the commune for a day a t a time. This coincided with other people waiting to do whole days themselves. If they had, asked for more time before I wanted to give it I would still have tried to li ten to that; as I believe they have nehts too!

non-parentq or how to letgo of the 'power' as parents'. Other children joined the community, Barbara herself had a child, and for a while there were eight children ranging born one to eight years old, with the three school-age children kept out of school and taught at home. That period is remembered as a chaotic time with the group not really sharing res onsibiility for the children. Then in Children in Common 19fs several things happened which resulted in childcare becoming more Finn will probably stay behind at Laurieston during the months that Kate organised. Several eople left, bringing the number of children down to three. spends at her other community, People Around the same time PIC formed itself in Common; a living and working co-operative of about eight people in six into a working as well as living co-o erative and be an to take on small terraced houses in a Lancashire town. They earn their money mainly by building jobs. In order to accomodate the needs of Barbara and her three year doing building work. Childcare at PIC old son David and also to free people has gone through many changes during for outside work, the creche became the co-operative's eight years of existence. When the group started there much more organised. Discussions were held about childcare, were three children under school age. Their parents felt strongly that 'kids are and a system of l's, 2's and 3's was adopted, 'ones' were equivalent to a everyone's kids' and that the other parent, 'twos' were fairly closely members of the community should be involved in looking after them. However involved but had less power, and 'threes' were like uncles or aunts. The three they were unwilling to allow the children each had a number one who nowparents much control, and wanted was not their biological parent, although their style of chiidrearing followed by there bad been no decision that it had the others. Barbara, who at the time had no children of her own, remembers t o happen that way. The system worked for a while, and the ten year old lived in that: a house with her non-biol cal parent, 'It was, for most of us, our first but it gradually fell apart.Â¡Â¤arba felt -*tempt at shared childcare, and we had it was partly because the children didn't I idea of how to be involved as want it, having been used to the

biological pGnt scene' How er the daytime arrangements for childcare continued. There was a rota for picking up the two older children from school and entertaini them until suppertime, thus freeing the parentsto work late, and the person on the cooking and cleaning rota looked after David du+g the day. Kate remembers this as a bit of a strain: 'Him screamingfar his parents, not wanting me, difficult to get to the shops to buy vegetables, difficult to get time to cook when he wanted attention. But also a growing relationship. David washingpotatoes, making bread, learning to draw'.

Thin improved when another child of Davigs age joined the p u p , and it was decided that looking after both children was a fulltime job that did not hare to be combined with 'support" work Le. cooking and cleaning. 'That was the best time. Bath about four years old, able to do things that were fun for adults too, and going to nursery school in the afternoons so you get a break'.

Major responsibility Ihe creche is now operating under a strain again The two older children have left and the two you er ones started school. but new chydien have

Â¥abe At weekly m up on a rota tor the &=en1\? wort, buildlngwalk andcreche wo The peison running the creche looks after the children in the morningi, 1gome of them o f fto nursery school Inthe afternoon,and then collects the two children from school and has them &ti1 supperlime. From suppertime, children are their parents' responsibility on the whole.

upsome of their 'power', which I know hasn t always been easy -it's needed a lot of trust and honesty aboutour feelings. '

=%?

washing and fill their hot water bottles. So is some of the financial reiponsihili the community's tnuurer one o f the family allowance books. The team is responsible tat the children from breakfast until dinner. and then there is a voluntary rota for putting them to bed and sleeping with them. Inrooms Rparate from their parents. h u r e who ~ has been cued for commudly more or 1- since she was born, finds this easier to Joel. who was looked &==e parents for his tint two group, l?ssmother Gills sometimes f e s d i e has to justify his behaviour.

h2di

Teso,who haslivedat PIC fora year and whose flirt baby is due any &y now, has decided to take the mq~onsibilityfor the baby hs 8tÃ would like help and n rt born the group, but fed* it w be unfair to attached

Jr'

shelsumureofhowlongshewffl~

them.

'He ten& to demand special atienibn from us as parents and is more reluctant to be put to bed by others, though he is usually happy to be with them during theday. Isometimeswonythathe& erfticfted or his tendency to cling to one or o erparent became people compare him to Laurel who hat had ite a different and much earlier hduction to communal parenti B U ~accept I &at I do have a spec feeling or him and he for me, and do not f bad about that!

I'll appreciate a lot of help, and I want my child to relate to a number of adults and children. ButI've seen the difficultiesof shared childcare. I've lived In homes where I'vewt very involved with younghildren, and then I'vemovedonand enupsettoleave them. I'veknow non-pia-ents@t involved with children, think th had moremomm&and**L* parents eventually &o@t they did. and h b w t when the children have been taken away.Ãˆ want to have a child and to have the major rwponsibaity it I'm aware of Use horror* that Neparents oftengo thr~ush,WoaaOn etc. and of the I & W r of the child behg cl-. think the childcare system here to excellent,andit would be fantastic if such qstems operated in many more places.

Power and Poawdvenea

Dave Walker

One of the fears that nta often experience is that their child will b&ome qlocer to another adult than to them. Despite this All feels the advantages outweigh the risks. 'Ido have problems some times with my feelings of low where they border on potsessiven and I don't know how1 will toke 3 f l u h e n Laurel actually u a the freedom I want to @a her to be herself not 'my child! I wonder what d l happen in just a few years time when the can toft and mi#t say the prefewed to be with Sam h w orlan rather than me. But t low control of her because she spend a lot of time with other adults, out of n control of my with her became I am not oppreuedby having to letvice her every need. I am with her became 1 want to be'.

33%hk@

Although non-parents are now taking

7 wanted to be 'let in'.I wanted the parents to glue up a bit o f their powerasparents. I didn't wantjmt to .help' - I wanted more responsibility than that,. * Once the chlldcue rota was let up initldl for bum1 and then extended to a community o f about a lit Jo SÃˆU found It much easier to get and three children in a row Inv wd. o f converted cottage# on the -totheeast -ot$isuwthw 'It teemed rather a strange thing to ptaceHutdoeshaveadniluchildcan (yitem. A* at PIC, a concern for the nee& o f lent* aad"cfifldzen dimntty a team*of e imh day ocgmh between em the domertic work, the cooking,

dozenadutle

armpond much larger tieslhare for children O f the at ~ifefpan, most of the 'powers' still seem to rest with the parents, although many have yet to be dlgcussed or tested. At the moment parents hive the ultimate lay over the child's ftiture, over health-care, education, clothe*,leavi the community. They Ãˆtff% m a

relationship' with their child, an Sally has recently decided, after It with the rest of the totryto omepregmnthersel

to-,

Fp,

7t't largely became I want that

igmWrelatioiuhip that the parents

still, to an extent, retab here, and I think anywhere. I wed to think Slot I a w and nt, be really r

acdvlu* ouflna, nipw change*, UN,

not setting exactly what 1want from ~farotter'schildren'. .

~ortantrevolution Laurieston, People in Common and ,ifespan all have a fairly structured ystem for looking after children. In .(her communities, like Wheatstone in Shropshire, children may spend a lot of time with adults besides their arents, but there is no organisational framework to ensure that people commit themselves to beinc involved in childcue. In others still, children may remain ve much their parents*responsibility,de ite living in a communal situation t was talking to people at Redfield, a housing c o o erative of 30 or so adults and 17 children in a large house in Buckinghamshire, that made me think that the critical factor in determining how br groups can take combined responsibility for the children in them, is the extent to which the group works together on other issues. Those which have gone furthest in sharing chiildcare. are those where work and mcome are also shared, and where there isn't a division ma.de between money-earning and domestic work or childcare. In communities where many of the members go out to different 'obs and where families have separate ouses or units as well as communal facilities, like Redfield or my own community, Rainbow. children are much mote riely to kmain the responsibility of their parents. That is not to say that the simple fact of living with other adults and children does not lessen many of the burdens of childcare. It is easier to fin~fpeopleto babysit or to ke an eye on the children and the areTesa dewndent on their oarents &r attention and amusement, but as Rosie at Redfidd put it, it-ismore a dilution than sharing of responsibility. It doesn't allow parents the freedom of knowing there are definite periods of time when they are not responsible for children and they can devote their full attention to other things.

It is obvious that thqe are many benefits in collective chiidcare for parent no* arents and for children. From me chii&enyspoint of view, there are plenty ofpio Ie aroundto relate to. a vanetv of skills to tao. the are'not trapped in an often ' suffocating relationship with one or two adult* and can explore a wider range of behaviours than those normally considered 'appropriate' >rtheir sex.

'I think Joel benefits, as I do, from close contact with a lot ofpeople a- ' not too much close c o n t d with me. He is learning to relate to a lot of peopk which leaves him less dependent for his explanations of the world on one or two people. A t first1 could see much of mvself reflected back in what he learnt but morerecently he tells me and shows me thingshe has learnt with other peopk'. (Gilla) '/hope Laurel will have a greater chance of realising her potential here because she will havemany mare adult

models to imitate than she would in a regular nuclear family set UD. Here she sees women dohg buildingwork, operating the press, heaving shit around the garden; she is cared for by men and women, she sees men cooking and cleaning etc. ' (Jill) "They have become very perceptiue concerningpeople, and their relationsh s with adults we based on t rather than the honest fee ings standard dominant-~ossessive relationship of parent and child or authoritarian-dominant relationship of teacher and child! (Qwa)

'There I am in the cottage with maybe some sewing, knitting, letten or an idea for wn'ting something if Is t the time, while doingall the necessary things in looki after a baby and keeping the cottage dean and warm. Just like your wee nuclear fitmily! But unlike that it is not on for me 24 hows a day. &n days a week.

Jill summed importance of looking at how children a r i being brought up in communities and co- eratives. Somewhere in 'Why ~ h i l d r e someone ~, says that the most ortant revolution to work for is in B d c a r e .If we are serious about Parents, particularly mothers, benefit experimenting with an alternative too by having the freedom to do other lifestyle in which our politics become things besides being a M t i m e caretaker. pem6na) and our livesbegln to And the attractions of childcare for non- aooroximate to our ideals. then our parents become more obvious when it is e' 'eriments with childcak, and the not considered as a fulltime debates and arguments we should be responsibility. Maybe one of the reasons having about our childcare, are crucial'. many parents find it hard to believe that other oeoole would want to share the June Statham care 01their children is that the positive aspects of childcare are outwei ed for Many thanks to Teas,Kate and Barbara them by the feelines of being ed down at Peo~lein Common: JilL Gilla and and prevented from doing t h ' i they want to do. But there Is a oleasurable side too. I felt it stron y r&din &Icall's description of &king after for .writingor talk! to me-and for . lettang me include they said. Filin in Lauriestm Hall's baby cottage:

t?"

w>at

Undercurrents 46

Building wi-Lut men' AN ALL-WOMENS building co-operative, in London, talked to Janet Payne about their experiences. ELEVEN women builders came together in January 1980 to convert the buildingnow used by the Lambeth Women s Workshop see panel). Three went on to teach at e Workshop, and several of the lest found the experience so positive that they decided to form a permanent all-women building co-op, rather than just an ad-hoc group. Since then, no-one has left the group, and some have joined, so that there is now a core of eight women. Other women have ' ined for particular jobs, such as a ayer, electricians, carpenters, and more recently a lasterer. They call themselves the Women's Building Co-op. The co-o members' experience is varie& leng& of time in the building industry rioges &om about fire years to 'not very much'. Some of the women trained through TOPS courses (a government-run retraining scheme), others through apprenticeships, working with small firms, and some had worked in other mixed) coops, while others started oi f unskilled and learned on the job. Now the group consists of a mix 6t skilled and semi-skiled women

of one job approaches, they start looking for the next, make designs and give estimates. If their tender is accepted, they then go into the

When a job is under way, the running of a 'ob is done at lunchtime, as they all break and eat together and share information. They also have a regular meeting once a week, with a business meeting one week, a social one the next. They divide up the basic jobs such as wages, VAT, vehicle control etc; the role of administrator is rotated. Obviously, there are problems in rotating the work like this, such as lack of continuity, but it does avoid the situation of one erson having all the information, andthus being a power *tion The m u is finding out as it goes along the goofand bad points in that way of working. Everyone earns the same hourly rite, Ă&#x201A;ÂŁ2.50 on their last job. They keep timesheets, at the end of the day,,giviig the job number, hours spent on each particular job, and the number of hours actually allocated to it. This assists with How do they work? costing and cost control. Child care? Only one woman at the moment has They've chosen to work as a co-operative, sharing administration and children, and they're 13 and 11,so it's not really a problem. If anyone else control over a job so that then is less did have a child, they'd arrange thinoc fragmentation with a +--"**-"-ll.. differently it would be a priorit segregated structure, and sl as for the health and safety asnei Ă&#x192; *air- -1-a mrtaneilv

bnckf

there's no investment in machismo, there's far less of a pmblem than is usual on a building site. Their most recent job was converting the old Law Centre in Balham, in South London, (regrettably closed due to the cuts) into premises for the Balham F O O ~and Book Co-op. They would prefer to work for projects like this, and the Lambeth Women's Workshop conversion that started the group off, rather than for private individuals. However, if s getting harder and harder to come by such work, though word of mouth is helpful.

Why organise as a co-op? As a way of working, it avoids many of

the articifial divisions that would otherwise exist, including the potential hierarchy between skilled and unskilled workers. The whole process of learning on the job, and born each other, and working together, sharing out the administrative tasks and the control of a job in a co-operative structure, is the most positive way to work, in their opinion One of the advantages of being a registered co-op is that they're recognised as a firm, so that they can s onsor women for City & Guilds y-release courses at technical colle es and the like. That's particularly use& since the grou is committed to women getting trainedwithin the industry, which is even more difficult than usual at the moment, due to the high level of unemployment both in general and in building in particular. The women in the grou primarily identity as builders, part of the building industry, who happen to work in a co-op. They are concerned with taking action within the industry, and all support the group Women and Manual Trade (see panel). Position of women in the trade unions the building worker's union has about 2000 women members out of about 365,000 and most of those are in woodwork factories (including packers and so on rather than working on site. As somet ing like 400,000 building workers are now unemployed, the unions are wen more reluctant than usual to encourage women to enter the industry.

Who works as an all-woman co-op? The women who do work in the construction industry ye incredibly isolated: typically one in 1000 on direct labour, and one woman was one in 6000 the well known Gas, Light and Co e Co. in London). When working among men, ou're under constant pressure to twice as well to be thought half as good. As has-been said before 'Luckily, this is not difficult". It may not be, but still the constant pressure is demoralising. And you still end up with the feeling you can't do it, even after several years of proving that you can In a mixed co-op, you've still got that 'one in a 1000'problem, in microcosm, and the same pressures dill exist. With an all-women group, there are no

predetermined role models, and there's no waste of energy having to justify your existence. Instead you can expand your knowledge, and learn new skills the atmosphere is much better for skill-sharing, and the combination of working skilled and unskilled. While working, you feel like yourself, not inhibited As one of the women commented, it was the first time she had ever felt like that while she'd been working. And when it comes to meeting peo Ie and being visible to the e n d the effect is &&boding! .If ~~ubfic you're working on a building or dealing with builders' merchants, and they see

LAMBETH WOMEN'S WORKSHOP Lambeth Women's Workshop m

up over a year ago, t o provide

metical training in carpentry and oinery for women who would not fotherwise he able t o do such work.

Then are three TOPS-trained women carpentry instructors,and a bookkeeper, who work collectively. Due to lack of funding, they are only open three days a week, though they've applied to the EEC and the Inner City Partnership scheme for additional money go they can do a fill week. The trainees receive no pay, but timber is provided. They do

only women, it does shake a little of the blanket asstun tions of what is %omen's That only happens because it is all women, and they have total responsibility for the job. If there was wen one man involved, he'd be seen as being in charge. The way of working, as an all-women co-op, sets a precedent and is im rtant as a role model. d e group they get an incredible response from women of all a es, passers-by who see them working. &ere are other BTOUDS. throuehout the country, but notmany; not enough! The group definitely sees itself carryi on, build~ngon then experience g a n i3 so far.

war!'.

have dmachine tools,but most of the training ia on me of hand tools. As a ~riority,they will take local white and ~ a c workingdaw k women, and women trying to gat on to a. TOPS course. or who an determined to become c b n t o a . They can take twelve trainees a t any one time, who attend two days per week for 16 weeks. In that time, they can gain some bank ddfl*. the ability to tackle household maintenance job, be able to make small items of furniture, and the confidence in thenuelre* to be able to tackle thin* The workshop are hoping to start a carpentry co-op for women who've trained with them, to be able to work part-time.

WOMEN A N b MANUAL

TRADES

Women and Manual Trade* rtarted life about dx or seven y e m ago M 'Women in Comtmction' fanned after a women's liberation national conference, u a nippcrt group by and for women who'd choaen to work in the conxtniction indurtrr M b k k h y n , carpenter*, plumber* etc and found t h e d v m incredibly isolated Since then. the mine h a changed to reflect the wider memberhii: car mechanics, electricians, women in electron& gardenera, printers.... At one &age, the mine wax ' W h e n in teaditiouaD male-dominated job*', which apart from beingunwieldy, tended to attract lawyersetc.... Perhaps that does cover rathex a lot of occupation& WAMT atill act* a* a support group, and a communication and infourntion network; there's a newdetter, a register of women in manual trade and a t w i c e y ~ l y conferern& The next one ia on May 23 and 24 in Nottingham. They have Iso produced a video called 'Building our Future', running for 30 minutea, aimed at school-leavere, showing what job* women can do (and an doing) in the comtruction inductry. Alth&& it's aimed at icho&lMven. I've seen it twice now, and found it wdl worth watching. There's a lovely uquence in the middle Ă&#x201A;ÂĽbowinwomen at work during the laat war, doing all &ow job they're puently not capabh of anymore.., e video n available for bin (am contact a d d r m pap).

ARTEMIS, THE FIR&' WOMEN'S BUILDING CO-OP [NLONDON Talking to women in Artemil, which rtartad in mid-1979,and now h n fplemben, two fun-time,two pottime, they made many of the m n e point& They've mainly worked on ihorMift houdng, and ,&ne -me bb*for private houmhdden. They're dl cupenten,one TOPStrained,the rest learned on the lob, but do other work too; roof re-dating, plastering, glazing. Work keeps coming in, so they'd like to keep on doing it. They find working u a co-op' good, +ce it give* them pontrol over the work rituation, add the chance to (tart work without training. And working a* an. all-womanco-opha* the additional advantage* that your confidence ia not undermined by men.and you hare to tackle thin* fayo~radf. After an, men have plenty of other opportunities.

"."

;

".A

Undercurrents 46

Compaiieras Fight Machismo or if allowed in, were not allowed to $9.4 vote. fc.3 But these were not seen as inequalities or 'wrongs', t o be balanced;'$;^ or 'righted'. They were la costumbre (the custom). They said that women dur not participate actively in the community, or in the co-operativas, and Many of the women were involved in some kind of non-traditional were considered by many, to be 'inferior' income-generating activity or non-traditional community activity. This to men. included women who were members of co-ooeratives (weaving and other The few women who were critical of crafts, jam-making, bread-making, agricultural), women who had this situation, often cited, in strong, attended various training and community development courses (health, angry terms, the women, themselves, as the source of the problem. Their nutrition, co-operative development), women who were leaders within their own communities, and women, too, who were not involved in any acceptance of the situation, as it is, they said, is that which most militates against kind of community, social or economic activity outside of their change by them or anyone else. traditional roles as wife, mother and subsistence farm worker. Only rarely did the structure and political approach of the co-operative offer these women any alternatives or Interviews were conducted while DURING THE HOUR-LONG journey support. For most, the co-operative women cooked, spun, wove, knitted, from Lima, Peru, along the coast to the provided a more reliable, market for qricul tural co-o erative, 'Los Laboreles', washed clothes, dishes or children, their products, offering a slightly worked in the fields, led their animals me of the men from the Peruvian Institute of Co-operative Education had t o pasture, tended sick children, and did higher income than the 'middlemen' to whom they had always sold previously. their buying or selling in the i story to tell me. He was married to a Often, too the development of rural woman from the Sierras (Peruvian market. We were almost always co-operatives had been imposed throug surrounded by at least three or four Andes). She had left her community the intervention of foreign workers ome time ago to live in the city, but her babies and very young children, as wen (eg. The American Peace Corps), tir as, often, the older children of the aarents still lived in the mountains. On government policy (as in Peru with the n visit to the village, the young man and family. If the husbands were around, Agrarian Reform of 1969). The when I arrived, as they were in 50% of his wife went to collect firewood He philosophy of co-operatism is very the cases, I had to ask their permission, :arried the load back to her parents' different from the traditional way of even before asking the women if they louse. Shortly after, the mother working and producing in the village, would agree to talk to me. drew her daughter aside, and said, 'Why that is through the small family or The real difficulties, however, arose did he carry it? That is y our job. What extended family unit. Women had litt), from the nature of the questions I was dl1 people say ?' askin Questions about change, that is, time to go to co-operative meetings as well as meet the demands of their whattind of changes a particula And he went on to remind me of co-operative had brought for the women husbands and children. And when they low many times I had seen women, did go, they were afraid to speak up, personally, brought long pauses. I t toubled over from the load on their especially if there were men present. wasn't just that the right words weren't backs, pregnant, surrounded by several As one young woman in an :hiidreit, walking behind their husbands, being used, but rather concepts quite alien in manner and substance to the agricultural cooperative in southern who went ahead, unburdened save for way that most of the women thought. Peru said, 'The co-opemtive has made a :arrying a machete. They tend not to look at themselves in big change with money and work, but In rural Latin America, this is a terms of independence, rights and there are still a lot of things we can't di scene that overtly verifies the norm:freedoms, much less think about change for women. We want to have classes so t is machismo, that brand of sexism, they can learn to do new things, and and choice for themselves as women. leeply rooted in the Latin culture that learn to speak+p.- but the husbands The role and activities of the women in lot only encourages, but also demands say, 'Who is going to cook? Who is goin the rural communities are clearly .u enor a essive and authoritarian to look after the children? How can yc defined and fixed. This includes the [>ehavioirfrom men, and general go?'and the womensa3> that the only icce tance of this behaviour by women, way in which they participate in their women who go are the ones who never co-operatives. in allsocial classes. do any thing in their houses, and that is For many of the women I talked to, Unequal participation why they can go to classes and meeting, t was the first time that anyone, Identifying 'problems' was another area They say it is a waste of time. I t is goin, 'specially a foreigner, had specifically to take a long time to change the way --of questioning that proved difficult. Ă&#x201A;ÂĽoughthem out to ask what they Often in talking about the equality or people think...and for women to stop %ought and how they felt about inequality between men and women in being slaves'. inything, let alone such a wide range of And to talk of change and choice in ssues as we dealt with in the interviews. the co-operative, the women would maintain at the outset that 'all is equal'. situation where both nein and women difficulty talking But as the discussion carried on, they, are operating daily on a penny econom: themselves, would point out that men is on the face of it, somewhat absurd. Iften, I had trouble talking to the were paid more for the same work. Men one of the Peruvian women said, 'It vomen on their own. Many men just had the right to go and do whatever doesn't make sense to talk about a ouldn't understand why I'd want to they wanted, whereas women rarely left better life, unless y our children are the house without their husband's alk to their wives instead of them. eating weII, have shoes, and are getting permission. In most agricultural .hi attitude was prevalent amongst the an education'. co-operatives, wives and single women women too. So often did the women Maria could never become full members. In suggest that there was no point in some community and co-operative talking to them, as they 'didn't know The following extract is from meetings, women were not allowed in, any thing'. interview with Maria, a Peruvi

AUDREY BRONSTEIN is a member of Inter-Action Trust. During 1979-1980, with grants from Inter-Action and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, she travelled through Guatemala and El Salvador, in Central America, and Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia in South America, interviewing rural peasant women.

^sff

roman, who is an d i v e co-operative member and a leader within her own community. MariaSsconfidence and Ă&#x192;â&#x20AC;ĄctMt m an exception to the norm. Overcoming f e u and ignorance enough and express a view is a it can be bud of or us to imagine m the West. In one rentoe coonenthre for instance buses-= hdd in such bade thin@as he -- me -- of a tme measure. Mlia shows ~ ~ ~ ethe v es rk i~@and e n that~ romen in the most oppressive situations an find to change then-lives. m e co-ooerative 'LOS Laboreles' (the lliander 6 ) in a small town north'of IJma, is one o f the most successful in ha. Formed in 1972, it has two full &era. Best known its oran e mpa and daily reduction ( 2 00 head i f cattle producing about 10,000litres i f milk daily), it is located in the m e , wutiful mansion house that belonged o the owners o f the once-private farm. W d a grand entrance gate, and nidst l o d e n s , complete witb itUe water and simll, stone bridges, he white stone walls of the building lie covered with revolutionary murals ind ---dmang. Un ,- the ..-late - 60's. an ipridng o f local peasants and' farmers elzed the term and tamed it into a

'roblem

She has been president of the management committee of the cctoperative,and is a member of the executive committee o f the Peruvian National Federation o f Camperinos (peasant farmers). She is 39 years old and has four children I found her in one of the rooms at the back of the hacienda, reduction graphs on about an hour before the meetm&wm gois to atart,and she went into e Harden to talk.

Fififatinetogether

Maria: I got married when I was years old. I didn't want to get d d much younger, because life becomes very dimult I went to first year primary schooL.. but nothing more. I wanted to study more, but my father abandoned my mother with five children, and as I was the oldest 12yearsold Ihadtogoout to wo I worked combing cotton, because we needed the money. I read and write. ..the lifflethat I learned in the first year of ichod I used topractice on my own d the time. I would write and,read anything, just to have thepractice. HOW did you join the co-ooerati ? ~rkimani~vd. ,- -r---.-,Maria is a member of the co-operative. I have al&s'worked here-in @e

for

(wen&

fields, when it was a 'hacienda; before the co-opemtmes, before the A g r A Reform. And in 1968, when we had all the problems, I be@n to see the strikes, and the stoppage*. At the beginning, even though I was a member of the union, Ididn't think it was that important. But then, each day, I saw more and more,andlbegan torealbe uhatitall meant to v t t-ther. And especially e women we shouldn't have been quietly in our houses washing, cooking, looking a f ter our families. Na.. we should have been Mting andparticipating equal with ant to the men. And amongst all the women,I.w the only one who began toparticpate more, in an open way.- ftot because I thou$ttI was specid, or became I wanted to be a personality, but because I believed it had to be done. eras' (compaaiwu) And my 'co they are g o o x m e n , but at the end 01 itall, they seemed to want to stay wher ,they were. My husbandand1 sqmmted, andI left my children with my mother and father, and I carried on with the st^& And I became a leader o f the union, ant then a delesate to the valley federation. But because of my political ideas,some people here, with the help of the government, denounced me. and had mi removed And I said that1 wasn't goiw to get involved any more. But you know, when you are a leade you always hose that inside of you, eve1 thw& you say you don't You cony i~ with you in your blood And I remember one o f the b a a s , when the police were after us, and we were throwing bombs, and they were beathg us... there was no way to say 'No,I won't cany on! And as a woman, I hat to carry o n I have always tried to represent the women - the c a m p h ('t)women - wherever I g a Now I work here as an or fun member of the ceopemtiue.%~em my money, and do whotever work has I be done. First, Iwas working in the fnctoly, packing oranges, then in the fields in the tree nursery, and lastly, they put me in the children%house,, where I worked the kitchen. And then I was work clearnng the children's house, en on the day of ttu last month, I was geneml mee elected to wo on the electoral committee. So I have permission to do this. and lease the other work. WhenI finish with this committee, I will go regular work. I have never %%fom, and I wanted to 1about it I get my experience from all over Pem...notjust from here w Huando. It comes from everyone Iiw. met in cooperativesand other n o s in the in the j u n k on coast, And it has all been a t the level o f the workers themsetves... living with the

- ..

the

who are more

Undercurrents 46

All this experience has taught me whatI know. And there is no better experience, no better school than you get in the factory or in the fields. That is where you really learn what the reality is. And the women. ..they have fought.. but now they don't want to continue. They started and finished with that first battle! I don't know why they have stopped and gone back to their kitchens. I guess some o f them have problems with their children. and others with their husbands.

Jealousy

people have differentopinions. But the woman, in her house all day long, never has an understanding o f wha t is happening in the world Many women never leave their houses. Reality frightens them..'..! tell them that they must come out, and talk and see - and above all, participate without fear. The women here do come to the general meetings, and they have their vote. I t is the place where most of them participate. After that there aren't many who have any responsibility.. one woman is on the finance commi'ttee, and another woman is on the administration committee. but that's alL..only two women out o f the whole co-operative. The problem is not only that the men don't want to give them rewonsibili but also thatthe women don't want take it a

The men are very jealous, and they think that i f a woman spends i@ae with othercompaneros, or works with them, that it must be for personal reasons. They don't believe that there is such a Discrimination continues thing as tcompanerismo' (work companionship between a man and The women here also earn less than the woman...a loya l friendsh' based on the sfen The men earn 10 soles more per co-operative and the work they have to hour (2p) than us and in one o f the do. No, they think in quite a different meetings, I suggested that the women way, and it is a big mistake. should earn the same as the men 'We But the problem as I see it is that do the work equally', I said The only the women are not organised, and don't thing we don't do is drive the lorries! have any awarenass o f the fact that they But they said. 'No, how can we pay the have the same rights as the men. Of women the same as the men? The men course, the mendo some thingsv.gbing are worth more. The men have to be out drinking, staying out all night.. we betterpaid than the women'. And so aren'tgoing to do those things- We are we have those basic inequalities And if women, we aren't going to wake up a t dawn in a canteen. But participation.. beings leaders, and assuming responsibilzties. that we can and should do, e p with the men. But without a p itical awareness, we won't beabletodoanything. 'Hintistrueof anyone - man or woman. I f we stay in our ignorance, we will never change any thing. But from the beginning women we not accustomed to doing this From the*%%time they are born, in school, in the ?.**' house, women are taught to be .*. submissive. They are taught to dedicate themselves to the wishes o f their fathers and husbands. Anotherproblem is the lack o f understandingamongst many of the husbands. ' l a m a man' the say. 'I can go out, but you can't' ~ n d t h women e themselves,,. actually believe that we are inferior beings.... that the men are superior. They say Wo&v children.... no, how c y I...no because the men are there.... And they believe they are worth less AndI am always saying that women have equal rights with the men. We have ourpapers, our voting cards... everything to prose we are equal. HOT. has the co-operative changed the lives o f the women here? Now women have their own money. .. that makes a difference. They are not so dependent on their husbands to give them what they need - because many husbands will drink the money away. And when you have work outside the home, you learn more...even more than the work you are doing. You talk to the other workem about many different things about what is happening in the work. Andy our understanding o f thinga can change, because other

....

the women can't getpaid the same as me men for equal work, they will never feel equal. We also have a discrimination that I think is wrong between the full workers, and the casual workers, whethei they we men or women. The fuU members get more. So even then?, we have men exp citing men. That didn't change with e Agrarian Reform. The co-operative, like the 'patron' (boa), m . e s on exploiting the poor workers. But I will cany on working as a? ordinary member o f the co-opernI think you should stop; after you have been a leader for a whHe. I f y ou are always a leader, doing the work of a leader... you need a rest But, more important, you get to expect certain things, or you can get used to working on a certain level. You should stop. @ back to the earth...to the people, because you forget what it is like. You should give otherpeople a chance, and you should start a@in from the bottom. just so you don't forget what ?t is like. what you are fighting for.

...

Audrey Bronstein

This article is taken from material to be uUished as a book in the autumn by ar on Want.

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side. But mainly the value of the therings to me has been the chance start getting to know more women. Jill, Lifespan

Women Gather THE FOLLOWING accounts are from three women living in communities,. talking about their experiences at "Womens Gatherings'. IN THE 6 MONTHS since the first

(Lifespan) Women in Communities weekends, I've left my community, nt Ãˆm months away, and Â£side to join another community niher thin back. The 81 and c O n t h I've ~ fot b m e Women's ends me been valuable to me. When the invitation to the first

PBO*

I FEEL that women who live in communities are a special group. The problems we bee in imng and working in a group, trying to share skills and sole income, are often very different from those faced by women who have chosen other lifestylea I have therefore been excited by the opportunity to celebrate that 'specialness' as well as by the chance to begin explo with other women how our feminist deals and community living are linked. My decision to ' in a community had a lot to do with the restrictive options and roles I saw open to women in 'normal' society. I wanted to love and work co-operatively, to operate without a hierarchy, to try to reach decisions b coosensu to take more to Ifor m h e more skins, but I also wanted to live within a group where we were at least conscious of sex roles and sexism and where I could start trying to break these down, both b c-nf myself and by queRioning

THE IDEA Fast a m e born Sally, I remember hearing about it and thinking what a really good idea, to have a weekend gathering together of women only, women who live in wmmunitiea Women who must all ex erience similar difficulties and similar joys, similar difficulties with children, cooking and dead and fixing the roof and mending e car. And a million other things that are unique to communal living. I was really excited b the idea. We held the first one here at ~ifespan. A cold weekend in October. The men stayed in the bottom terrace and we made ourselves a temporary home in the top terrace. It's funn really, I can hardly remember what happened it was so long o and so many things have happened since. I remember doing thi like each reading a oem or something that we liked, to share it with each other. I remember us all going for a long ramble across fields and woods near us. Some of us did self exam and others massage. We talked, about this and that, about children about visitors about working with men and other women I remember Sonya knitted her first pair of gloves. I remember us all cooking in a tiny kitchen with a tiny oven. I don t remember anything about the second event as I didn't go. And I only remember half of the third weekend as I on) went on Sunday. Thisonewashel~inhmata womens collective house (commune?) It's a lovely big house with a big n for a city. I arrived late on t eve and it was lovely to meet so nmny wonderful women, names I had h a r d of and faces I va ely recognised from some o er event. So I talked about goat* to Rode (ours just kidded) and listened to others talk about meetings and children and this and that. We did some meditation and Snewy and Becky did some psychometry character readings. .

and wanted to live where I could be involved in develop sompkind of collective child cue would leave me with mole choices of what I could be involved in. Natu didn't leave behind all the s o c u i o n of 29 years, nor do any of us, so usually our cornmunit falls far short of all my ideals and me here can seem very frustrating and ineffectual. It is good, therefore, t o share these feelings with women in other communities from time to time. Our lifestyle is so different from others that the usual political and feminist gatherings often leave us a bit on one

I am glad that these events are happening, that women ale getting t ether to talk and sup ort each o er. They are very in?ormal events. 1 find them a bit too long, even two days is too long to 'ust sit around and talk and be with just women. It will change though as the weather gets wanner I get a thick head sitting around all day. What I want from them a reminder that I'm not alone trying to create a better way to live. To hear how other women wpe with t s that are difficult for women phyd y, things that are traditionally not seen as women*

from different communities of the similarities and differences of what we are tack1 individual! in our groups. ~ b o utrying .to alternatives t o the family, the monogamous couple, the well job for the b business, the wegard of domestic labour, the &tory farm. It has been very good for me to be able to talk over my r e m n s for leaving and my reasons for looking for another community, with women who live similar enough lives to understand what I'm saying. And the sympathy and warmth I've got have been worth a great deal. I can feel a

form

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metiagt~at mixed community therings in the past and I'd got a. women m of energy from he other communes talk of t eir struggles a important part of communal But it and their ways of livl living. hadn't occured to me% organise a weekend for women on1 As it Celebration turn out. a 'whole' weekend alw s

visa

seems too short! The structure o the weekend is usually quite loose in

However at the March weekend we didn't get round to doing any of the workshops we belatedly planned half way through Saturday morning, and t I found plenty to talk about. for me though, because I'd met most of the wonted before. It might not have been so good for women new to community therings. The cd things like otganlMtion of p washing-up and what to do amiing in meetings, hive worked out very easily with no planning. Is it years of conditioning to domestic work. or sensitivity to

ZZ"&mtte

iJ"

discussion?

Cows and cash flow

- - ih

I enjoy hearing the news from other communes reall getting the e news about fed of the network the state of the roof, the cows or the bank balance, and the news about the ebb and flow of morale, the new twists to old busies, the development of new relationah-~ps,the emotions behind the decisions that make the headlines in Communes Network. What I appreciate most is the dineusdon in a small group of women

Sharing with each other

Pun

ring

mi^&

.!P

n's women's movement had a stronger influence on the current explosion of co-operathe activity. They might be heartened to know that the 19th century co-aperative. , movement was strondy influencedby the embryonic women's mwement of those times. Also surprising is h t the energy and organisation came from workios clasĂ&#x192;women. Jenny Thoroleyexplains. ,L

WOMEN HAVE WORKED in

co-ouerathaa since the 1820s when a

work Feeling inferior. Not being pushy or verbal or confident, Making myself heard, getting my ideal across. Fed ignored and left out, taking the lea and tau onresponsibil ties and rejects. ?want to be revitalised and strengthened and feel supported and not alone. I

mam~nnlb h g a t t o me, A U e d y mixture of emotions muscles and leftover soup wolkshops and shitt~ ttant and real, pies and dl illAID, Ă&#x192;Â§n m getting t h e slowly and I want these weekends t ' ~ help. in

attitudes towards other women, to learn and redise that We things I see as important and necessity are not the most important things to everyone. I want to learn to be a woman, soft, gentle, open, caring, thoughtful, that being tough and manlike and getting things done is not so important. I guess thats why I get impatient at the weekends. Just being with a bunch of women who keep having babies. I want us dl to et mole in touch with our creative rid to get closer and be more open, a 3 in the ~ women I live with, BY that I can tab

ezf-

h%w Fe ats what

babies and same breath. I guess

Eh of women into movement b a orce capable of influencing its &ec tion, came with the formation of the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1883. These -6 attracted into the movement nconsumers in the retail stores, at first'conflned their interest to the affairs of these shops. But soon they brotdei?e)itheir horizons to include 'women's issues' such as the,

and

one at Lower Shaw Farm, and at 123 Anderton h a d , B M i a m . They are o n a W-II ^o to mixed or women only, and their function is to provide warm and support, wd contact and th women to work and -an,

If you live communal! and would like to come to one of these eld, details of the next one.

how solidarity within the labour , movement couldhave commercial advanta , They encouraged trading w s %*om M the workshops, providing a crucial market for the co-o rative artisans. At the nine time t C y brouct out the political principles hind intertrading

IA-

Building the Guild Only a onaB number of the GuBd's members were born the middle clan.

and his ~ i ~ r Ã § f Ã § i nideal the communitieswhich spmg up to the 1820sand 1030sintroduced many such benefits. But without a wideepread demand from women themselves, the failure of these experiments br-t an ab t endto an ho of greater eq3"tortheLELg. have been tmnsfonned from buyen nt of the bnomic remit* of It was not until the secondhalf of eir acts, into intelligent ~o-operato~8.the 19th ce that the estlonof conscious that they can undermine women's ema n ha&aimd wi& and mmenhm%?z%Ed continuing Capitalism, and make good their right to share in e control of the the Radicals, who were closely followed Movement. the ilanthropists. It was under the o the philanthropists this CKÃ NETWORKING ~ h z t i a nSocialists Oat the Women's Co-operative Guild came to life. While Before the guild was formed women Onistlan Socialists such as Frederick Maurice, E;V:'Neale and Chades be criticised for their

3 P

it never oecuied

workers and did not do full-time

work outside the home. Between the chons of housekee they could attend meathgw h gwe them the space beyond e kitchen and children where they could 'remodel lives, belt(xtthisreformandthat.

concept of co-opeftlon embraced mole rights torwomen like children's d e s and equipment in the h o d Robert Owen

TteT'

treatedinthesamewayasmen.Itwm no mean achievement to challenge the Victorian maxim that a women's place is in the home, and hard surprising that the more cone&

humble view the women first took of' their role. They did not want to be d a t e d with the more ndical women's rights advocates with their unfeminine dress and behaviour. la bet, it wm two full yegn before Guild member felt they could appeal on platforms making public speeches. The first activities of the Guild were imitative of the church, the only other o q a n i d o n to axrangemeetingsfor women at that time. For instance the Guild let UD cod club&clothim dubs. fchemes foi vislting the sick, and maternity bags. But these were soon abandoned in favour of co-operative education,such u in workplace .democracy,in mow ractical matten like how to read a d a n c e dieet and later in political issues ond the co-operative movement.bgy In their own movement Guild members were concerned that =of

wm1"Y8t the Roc e Pioneem, the Of

ertablfahed in 1844. But instance, 4 equality between men and women in the movement was encouraged in the rules

women should pave the way. Vote!, criticis;!, Act!.

Mrs Alice Acland, editor of the Women's Coiner in Co-operativeNewt from its d in 1883, introduction in the j stimulated the formation of the Women's ntive Guild. She was e Acland, a trawls t o f e & s around the country for his work ght her into contact with many co-ooerative leaders and their wivei Impressed with these women, die thought 'the?+should have greater up ortunit-sforself expression in other directions'.^ In the first article for the Women's Comer Mrs *and to women leaden, raying. appealed -, 'What aremen always urged to do when there it a meeting held at any obce to encouraae or to start

~ ~ t t insgtutions? o e Comet

Help1 Vote! Criticisel Act! What me

women urged to do? Come and BuyI... In this matter of co-operation why should not we women do more than we do? Surely, without departing from our own sphere, and without trying to undertake work which can befietter done by men, there is more for us women to do than to spend money-... Why should not we have our vetings, our readings, our discuidons? A did e with women readers inmedia followed which led ta the creation of the Women's League for the Spread of Co-operation, iton renamed the Women's Co-operative Guild Enthuaium for the Guild

received from the Co-operativeUnion. However, many women had VD '

overcome rejadice (rom among the m e m e n 8 8 men particularly in the North of ~nglandThis was despite the-

of retail society membership For many societies allowed only one person from each family into their ranks. In practice this meant men, not women. The Guild campaigned successfuUy for open membership in all societies and gradually the new recruits to the movement were elected onto committee ports and were dde to influence society @icynuld%Th eGuildwaslift} alarmed that w stores were being set up

objective of pmvidQ

was being overtaken

the noouladtv of the dividend In - - r =-some societies members preferred to ' buy foods it aboveaverige prices so that vidends would also be high.

workers' co-operatives to provide jobs tor women and girls. But the survey of these two women drew conclusions which favoured the traditionally NU CWS factories. Convinced that omduction wax best ended out bv b d on behalf of the retail (torn," Miss DÃˆrie claimed that 7t is more to the aduantaae of workers to have food wages and shorter hours than the' doubtful chance of a thare in the profits'. The Guild swung behind the survey's conclusions. Since many Guild women were by then elected to co-operative Education committees and posts outside the co- erative movement, there can% little doubl that they influenced many people in favour of CWS fac ries. In any cue,ax Beatrice Webb lat&monatnted, the worksh I were provin to be very maheraze in the -el and many woe diluting their principles to survive. This brief glance at 19th century co-opention reveals a ride of the movement which deserves more attention born historians. The Women's Co-operative Guild is important from many viewpoi& Its appear b e d in rer=lirozbut its ability to educate and train alarge number of working class w men in democratic self- renion was radical in its effects. Strachey and others following her have noted, the foundationsof the women's movement were in aeconduy and higher education for women The Guild surely made an imoortaat beEinninc in demomtntiof both the de&d existing among women and value of education in the push towards women's emancipation. The Guild women's influence among e ente rises was equal! They3elped to r eestablish

& 8

The People's Store The Guild argued that People's Stores should be opened in poor ireas and chea~toodihouldbeddinunall quan%tiÃ§ It'also recommended that a low fund should be started to do away with people's weekly pawnin habits. A t o r e of h k l n d w ~estaUi t ed in Coronation Street, Sunderland, In1904 by the locd Mtafl society. Attached to the store wen dubroonu. facilities for

The experiment ~ a a ssuccess in every way, but two years later the store was closed. Catherine Webb su sted that the Sunderiand Soci hadtoo nairow a view of democracy, ieving that all stoics should be runin the same way. GDH Cole thought the idea ww too far removed from fie soup-and- blankets ropy that member8 were used

r a v

n n a ~ ymention , should be made of the survey undertaken by Guild members, Miss Davles and Mrs Nosh, in 1888.of the condition for women in

men, had d r e w for years of founding

movement. lt$8 was the first time .. women had been able to &ow that hft , using organised strength they could ' ''. bring about progressive and radical changes in society is a whole. Jenny Thornley

edited by

et-idewellyn h v i e t , Hogarth Rea td, 1931, p.xxxviii. 3 Web -&therine, The Woman With

e e Women's Co-operative h f l d , 192%.D-12. 4 IMd.P.17. .6 Women's Comer, Cooperative News, 6 Jan 1883 6 Webbo cif. 7 ~affin, Women and Co-operation, in Women in the Labour Movemen edited Luc Middleton, 8mom H zLtd, 1977, p.124. 8 Cole, GDH, A History of .Co-opemtion, Co-operative Union Ltd, 1944, p.219.

Jean,

uno

How Can Men Co-operate? TESS McMAHON describes some of the MANi(n)festations of

sexism in a mixed building co-operative. (Thisarticle was interrupted by Tess having a baby, so it's been freely adapted by an Undercurrents back).

A NUMBER of men seem to be demanding guidelines from the women's movement for dealing with their own sexism. For a start it seems obvious !hat feminists in mixed co-ops must be mfJuencm men. as are those in relatiow^ps men, those win I mixed hou olds,those walking wi men in straight jo bs... in bet anfeminists that hive amthine to with men And wen woGn who won't have anything to do with men, whether lime entirely in a separatist world, or

wti

me and so co-operate with them having wer and control over me. Feminists ave often started by unconsciously accepting an inferior role when young, later optimistically trying to work things out with men on an equal basis, then toying to chan men, and then deciding thefie harenough, and are going to ut their energy into other women m not doing that exclusively at the moment, but I'd certainly defend the position of women who are.

Within the co-op Co-ops need a strong feminist input if

they are to stand a chance of achieving their aims. A lot of my experience of the sort of dynamics involved comes from workine in buildine ~O-OPS,first with the Leeds Building Collective, where I was the only woman for most of the time, then with 'Pebple in Common', in Burnley, which I "oineda year ago. We live together as a o u a g co-o and most of us work as a building co-op, Altham Workers Co-op. One member does light removals as his waged work, and we all he1 him from noticed that something I'm trying very time to time. Usually we a! do about hard to bring to the notice of a man d work a week, and three days just doesn't get noticed until I stop perhaps o n x with children and one being nice. day 'support' (cooking and cleanin I am referring to feministsrather the time I've been here there's usunI.)! y than the women s movement because been about the fame number of men the latter would imply rather more and women (about ten altogether) and uniformity of attitude towards men several small children. Most of us have than does in fact exist. One thing been in co-o s for several years, and all almost all feminists have in common is p, men and of us in the kilding that they've ent years putting energy women, now have a E a r level of skill, into men, anrtheir cumnt attitude with strengths in different areas. Sexism probabl has a lot to do with how they is a recurring issue, both in workin and now feelabout that effort. The little lirinfl together, and in relation to tfoe girls around me now are so obviously outside world authorities, su pliers, learning how to service the little boys. and customers we meet in budding work The roles involved go so very deep, even and removals. for women like me who were brought up to expect and demand equality with Building it men. I am still having to learn to take responsibility for my own life, not to be I've found it better being in a building ultimately expecting men to look after co-op with other women, as well as men,

rather than being the only woman as I was before. There are many things that on1 the women in a group experience, both in relation to the men in the group. and to the outside world. If a woman M to things on her own it can be lonely, aid work, and demoralising. She can lose the ability to trust her own perceptions. Whether she trusts herself or not she may feel she can't kee 'going on about the same thi&. fbecantrytoi oretheputdowns but still end up eeling upset. Sometimes the process of putting up with it leads to fortettint there was a roblem, and if s right 6be upset. Working with other women means you can notice these things, work out what's hap ening, decide how to deal with ptoElems, and support each other. So I'd say to women, if you're goingto work in a mixed co-op, make sure there are other women too. You may survive withou but probably at a cost to yoursel And I'd say to men, take the above seriously. You need feminist values in a coopatostand a chance of working in a co-operative, non-heirarchicab caring way. Working co-operatively implies deep changesb theway yoti work with otherpeo le; and men, espec traditiody macho area like bu dine. are u e k e l y t o work out how to do iton their own. Women aren't going to enter building work on men's terms. We don't want to join the world of bullshitting, putting down, competitiveness, 'uncari ess, efficiency abovĂ&#x192;all, being cut ofl%m children, that is the male building world. You need to work bald on this yourselves. If there are women in the g b p they'll be able t o help you do this. but don t leave it to them to do the emotional, noticing, confronting work. If you don't work as hard as you can at it too. they've every ridit to leave. perhaps to work m an all--&en coop. Even if you think you're well on the way to losin these faults, there's the whole outsi,fe wortd to deal .with, and

-9

Tea

Undercurrent* 46

And outside? I went into a power tool hire shop with one of the men in the group. AS usual, I

learnt from the first incident.

should write complain! to the Or the manuhcturen, or whether we should eng 6 in more direct action, m e m m e s n the irony favoured the latter.... Of courm, it s a man's w<rid we're invading, and as far as they* concerned we shouldn't be there if our sensibilities are 80 easily affected! Our attitude b that we want to affect that worid; we're not qoi to take it all on their They re%aulting Us. what can we and men sympathetic to ﾃナdem do? stickers, todeface the can come up with POste% if some good slO@ns. We haven redly come up with anything yet. Just an everyday erience of sexism, that weBavezfound a suitable way of dealing with. On another occasion, one of the other men in the group we builder's merchants, see NF written large

- -

. relatedto

the group to go a10 with me, as a bck-u The cIien8ad met him before, him automatically anyway as the t&e, and entirely ignored me, often even stanbetween us with his back to me We can't afford to lose dl our custom\rs, so I mmyut in when I could. &ey were hardy and my fellow worker, of what -happenin to me, collabnted over. (A -CIS besd re% t h ~ & rt d 1 for the job handed the CT.oml& over to him, so he'd set off on the wrong tack). The client actually seemed incapable of nuking y e contact with me. the idea of n otiatmj with a wowas so unthinka 1e. I gradually got more and more incemed and started t o make comments which didn't

fee

I'd say to Hie men in a group, you should give a lot 6f respect t o what women in a group say they are experiencing. It muiderminin to women when the men continually justify the behaviour of customers and officials, saying things like: 'Of course they're goi to be sexist; it's their M condition!i^ and: 'Of ~ ~ I Uthey'll ignore ou, turn their backs on you, only re&te to the men, -me you re not doing the job, treat ou as infe~ior..~ ips their conditioninf. 0 I know as wen as you do that it's the condition! ;but if we ate being we m i ~ t x w d s of confronfmg it, whethezy using humour, or serious talkins showing we're upset or angry, or by 'showing

Tess McMahon

Undercurrents 46

'Women's films' are seen by many commercial and non feminist distributors as big potential money earners, especially m the wake of the success of films like Julia and Unmarried Woman. As feminists we fed it is important to work to COW FILMS and feminist distribution explained prevent our films being misinterpreted or exploited by distributors with no sympathy with, or understanding of, feminist politics. When we watch films at our local CINEMA OF WOMEN, this countries pornography, prisons and art. All of Odeon or on television we tend to sit first feminist dim distribution group them are reasonably cheap to hire back and consume the film as a was set up nearly two years ago with from Â£6.0 for the shortest to product, without really thinking about seven short films, a room in 30.00 for a long feature length film). the ideas contained in it. Beyond mmebodys house and borrowed simply liking or disliking a film we Projecting 16 mm film isn't difficult rarely get the opportunity to examine and we try and make it even easier money. A leaflet circulated to or disagree with it. But within the schools, youth clubs, women's groups by including projection notes in our catalogue. women s movement shared experience and independent cinemas produced a is important, as is respect for each good response, we breathed a sigh of To us distribution isn't just a others opinions and perceptions. As and. We now relief and began to assive organisational 'ob of getting distributors working with the have over twenty-five ilms, a new films from place to place, but an principle8 of the women's movement, active part of promoting feminist office and a part time paid worker. we feel that encouraging dialogue These still isn't much money around ideas. As women working in film between the audience and the filmtho? since unliie man other groups Production the founders of 'COW makci through after screening we on't seem to quality for grants realised that simply making feminist from either the Arts Council or the films wasn't enough - there had to be discussions is a vital part of our work. a feminist distribution network to British Film Institute. A good discussion gives the audience distribute and show the finished films. some influence over what is being Our main work is circulating produced, and the film paker the chance to critically assess her work in the light, of feedback. Although we always try and encourage grou showing our films to discuss them erwards, and send us a report of what they felt, we are aware that discussion needs to be thought about in advance. Sittinff in the dark can have a soporific effect on even the noisiest audience. To try and revent a bewildered silence when the

UNCOWED ! Is

ex0

aft

feminist films made by women b community grou s, women's organisations and educational institutions who show films in church halls, womens centres and classrooms. For instance, we have several films which are particular1 des ned for ounger women, suc as aught To e Girls, about sexism in schools and ways of fighting it, Size Ten, about the way we think about our bodies and the animated films Token Gesture and Funny Valentine. All of these seem to be popular with schools and youth clubs, especially on the (dlls day which many- -youth clubs now hold. We expect two of our newest films, Risky Business about health and safety at work audit's Not Your Imagination about the sexual harassment of women in the workplace to be In demand from the trade union movement. Other films are about womens health, domettic violence,

and t o work to get films made outside Britain available here. Otherwise the films can either languish unshown in the film maker's cupboard, or be exhibited in a way which negates their message. Some of us have had unpleasant experiences with feminist films being show9 as part of a double bill with a sexist film, f a example, or with objectionable advertisements.

Sexist promotion

J B working within a feminist dis button network film makers can be sure that any money which is made born the hire of prints of their film will go to support feminist productions. In other distribution networks the Income made from feminist films is often used to buy films whlch support sexist politics

at the moment, and hope in the future to be able to produce teaching ks to accompan the films when they are used in ichools. Like many women we are too familiar with the spectacle of a fen men loudly dominati mixed discussions to feel thathiis is the best atmosphere for the issues that the films raise to be ex lored i n Instead, if it is at dl pomibi we encourage groups to hold se te discussions after screenings. problem of women feeling inhibited uncomfortable in mixed 8 L d o n is particularly important in the cases of some films we distribute which deal with women's health and body image. For this reason 'Big Chakra' and 'We aim to phase' are only available to women only audiences. We also encouraee a dialogue between the women who book our films and the collective. Frequently women contact us to ask how to urn and show our films, and we feel It b crucial that they can (peak freely to us, as women who shire their polltical awumptlons, and trust our advice. We never try to 'hard tell' our tllms, and often end u suggesting that women book shorter film, than the Intended to urn, or that they try &nu d8trIbuted by other groups.

The

:Undercurrents

Cinema of Women doesn't think of itself as the guardian o r 'experts' of 'correct' feminist theory and film making. Some of our films give some women space to think about their position, some look a t particular women's lives, while others are talking more explicitly about changing the society we live in. Some of our films are experimental in form, while others are very simple. What is important t o us is that they all speak directly from an understanding of the experience of women, and play a part in our struggle against our oppression.

The Invisible Woman 18 minutes Â£15.00Colour (Sabina Wynn). The Invisible Woman breaks down the fears surrounding the menopause and looks at the role of advertising and the media in perpetuating these myths. Daugl~terRite 50 minutes Â£20.00 Colour (Michelle Citron). An experimental film which explores mother/daughter and sibling relationships, and looks at the emotional contradictions of anger. love and manipulation in the nuclear family. The Power of Men is the patience of Women 78 minutes Â£30.00 +our (Cristia Perincioli). The first feature film about the socially taboo subject of violence withinmarriage t& be made from a woman's point of view. Soho 20 minute* Â£15.00Colour (Jan Mathew). This film looks at what if hidden what you see in Soho are the images of women in film advertising. What you don't see is the labour of women 44%of the workforce are women, but we are seen as commodities rather than workers. Watching Looking 20 minutes ' a5.00. Colour (Caroline Sheldon). This film is about pornography, and the way men look at women The camera watches a porn shop and the coming and going of its customers, while women's voices talk about the use of pornography as weapons against women. As a Matter of Fact 28 minutes Â£15,00Colour (The Abortion Film CoDective). A documentary about an abortion clinic run by women in Australia. The films ends with an animated sequence telling you what to do if you are pregnant

Who needs Nurseries 10 minutes Â£6.00Colour (The Leeds Animation Workshop). The film presents the serious facts about the lack of nursery provision in an entertaining way from the childs point of view. My Survival Aa an Aboriginal. 50 minutes Â£25.00Colour (Essie Coffey ). Essie Coffey, black activist, musician, and resident of ' h d g e City' show the conflicts of living as an aboriginal under white domination Come On 8%minute Â£8.00 Hack and white. (Elizabeth McRae and Joanne Hornbur& ). A fiction film about women's common experiences of sexual harassment and intimidation, Come On is based on the actual situation of one woman going home alone at night Thriller 35 minutes.Â£20.00Back and white (Sally Potter). Thriller uses the opera La Boheme as the basis to look at the position of women as romanticised victims in fiction and create the first feminist murder mystery. Linda Beyond the Expected. 11 minutes. Â£8.00Colour (Audrey Summerhill). The films looks at the everyday pressure put on women t o conform and is centred around one woman Linda who lives on her own with two daughters Especially for a teen age audience andthose not involved in the women's, movement

The Selling of the Female Image 9 minutes Â£8.00(Carole Kostanich).

This film shows how the media portrays women in stereotypical roles such as beautiful/sexual and neurotic/anxioua We're Alive 50 minutes. Â£25.00 Black and white (Women's Film Workshop and the Video Workshop, California Institute for Women). This film came out of a video workshop held inside a prison and is a powerful statement of the women's awareness of themselves 'as prisoners and why they are there. Susanna 20 minutes Â£15.00Black and White (Susanna Blaustein). Susanna documents the film makers struggle to assert her lesbianism in the face of her family's disapproval. Taking A Part 60 minutes Â£18.00 Colour (Jan Worth) A film which both challenges the usual treatment of prostitution as criminal and the voyeuristic approach of documentary by concerning itself with the experience of two women both involved in prostitution Some American Feminists 55 minutes. Â£25.00Colour (Luce Gmlbeault, Nicole Brossard and Margret Wcocottj A moving and thought provoking document of women's struggles as told by Ti-Grace Atkinson, Kate Millet, Betty Frieden, Mae Brown, Margot Jefferson and Lila Karp. Marions Story 10 minutes Â£8.0 (Nicei Crowther) A personal account of one woman's struggle against violence in marriage rape, incest and battering.

All of the& films are available from Cinema of Women. 27 Clerkenwell

People In Common 5 8 Clarence Street Budey Lancashue

6^S

Scotland Women and 'Ihdes c/o First Bookshop 4 3 Candlemaker Row Edinburgh

CA fcrf

5 Y

Lambeth Women's Workshop Park Hall Trading Estate Robson Road West Norwood London SE27

. Artemis CO-operative~ 182 Lamdown Drive

t d

England & Wales: Women and Manual Trades

Hackney London E8 Two new women's coepts doing ded work:,.

Audenshaw Manchester M34 5PZ

Decorating and household maintenance, just getting started

South of En and: Women and k n u a l Trades c/o Jessica Datta 40 Dale Street London W4 mum 35 Cowley Road Oxford

South London Women Decorators

'I0

Undercurrents

Electricians and plumbers co-op, hoping t o get going in the autumn c/o G i i 37 Thorpedale Road London N4

Through the looking !( ANCIENTMIRRORS OF WOMANHOOD2..(Our Goddess and Heroine Heritage) by Merlin Stone, published by New Sibylline Books, Box 226, Village Station, New York 10014. (Available from Sisterwrite)

FOR ANYONE interested in reclaiming a feminist version of mythology this book is a must. A large bodv of detailed information about women as deities. often as s u reme omnipotent deity, has long existed in the written literature of many cuftures, and in oral traditions of others. Perh s, in our contemporary quest for ,role models and positive images, the accounts zwomen as Goddens, or as culture heroine, that reveals portraits of women as strong, determined, wise, courageous, powerful, adventurous, and able to surmount difficult obstacles to fna*v achieve set goals, may be of great interest and value to

A voune man called Cian saw her and took p i 6 on the frightened hare, so lifted her u and carried her to a nearby creek. On reaching the other side of the water, he was astonished to find the Goddess Rhiannon standing before him. Pleased with the youth s compassion for a helpless animal Rhiannon invited him to oin her on her beautiful island, Sidhe. He lived their happily for many months until one day when Rhiannon was enjoyin the solitude of a eaceful grove, he crept up behind her. hercane by luat he tried to ra e her. She turned to face him, and was mocked to discover her attacker was C i Anger rose from her usually gentle being. Anger at his cowardly attack, and his betrayal of her kindness, : Through her anger she rose up and, taking the form of a great mare, she raised a massive leg against Cian's body and splintered his thigh bone with her werful hoof. So it was that imped in ain for the remainder of his life unable to forget either the kindness or the wrath of Rhiannon.

DO One such example is the Welsh Goddess Rhiannon, from our own Celtic culture. Rhiannon possessed a magical bag of abundance'. and rode a pale white horse, which ossibly links her with the Mare ~ o d d e s Epona. s The assertive wit, tinged with a hint of sarcasm, that is noticeable in the words attributed to Maeve in the Cyfranc a'r Mab, are also noticeable in several passages concerned with Rhinnon. One ge records that as Rhiannon rode ex magical horse, a prince of Dyfed made many attempts to catch up with her, each in vain. After several days of trying, always finding his horses slower than hers, the pnnce finally called out, asking her t o wait. Rhiannon turned to the prince, still far behind her, agreeing to his request, but not h e s i t ~ t i y t oadd and it would have been far etter for the horse had you asked long before this'. Another story of her tells how she was playing in some woods one day, having taken the form of a hare. A hunter saw her and thought to k i l l her

I?=

R a s

HE)'! at

RAPE. The price of coercive sexualit BY Lorenne M G Clark and Debra J Lewis. *The Canadian ~ o ~ e n ' s Press. 224 pp. Ă&#x201A;ÂŁ2.95 THE FEAR of rape affects all women. It inhibits their actions and limits their freedom, influencing the way they dress, the hours they keep and the mutes they walk. The fear is well founded, because no woman is immune from tape; and many of us must, by now, be aware that the law is not likely to be on our side if we ha pen to be a as the victim. Few cases get as courtroom, even fewer rapists are

far

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convicted, and in practice it is the victim, rather than the rapist, who is put on trial. It seems that only those victims who are deemed to be 'respectable' are likely to be taken seriously if the report the crime (God help you if you're unemployed, divorced, in our early 30's, unmarried, etc.), andonly a ve few ra ists ie those seen as socially inferior anyway - are likely to

....

let alone wntenced in be even hnvic T t Ie damage they have accordance with done. Lorenne Clark and Debra Lewis . examine the reasons for this state of affairs ust data from 117 rape complainaaid with the Metropolitan Townto Police artment as their emdhicd basis, ere is no doubt that their evaluation of the historical origins of the laws and attitude* surrounding the subject of race makes sen= of the of justice that occurs, That the hou t processes involved t the underiylna are made clear assum tions are still outrageou6 aid shoultfnever be glorified as yustke One assumotion is that '..individuals havearigh'ttoownprivatepmpertyand that ineaualitv in the distribution of such p&&can be traced to n a t d differences between men. Thus. a fundamental cornerstone o western liberal democmc~is the b e k f that private property'and inequality in its distribution are justified Another assumption is *...that men 'are naturally w e n o o rto women and that this inequality can be traced to natural differences between the sexes Thus an equally fundamental corneretone of western liberal democmc if the belief that legal, social andeconomic ins d i e between men and women is also fustified Added to these assumptions is the male- -need - - to .- control - --.. .the .. ..renmductive . canacitv of women in order to ensure that HIS mate property is passed on to HIS chil&n resulting in the necessi of making wives the private ro their husbands. So from beram was nerceived as an offence affainst p ~ e ~ - z t g g g f & t a 9 e %is is precisely why it is that dependenfwomet w o k lwingat home under the control of ~nrento.or with a husband, are the e e victims the system most strongly supports. Independent women, on the other hand. are seen as quite literally hasing no right to complain of rape: since they cannot own themselves, and since rape is an offence against the owner of sexual property, such women are not v@ed of having a lw'timate complaint if they 'ore raped Instead they are viewed as 'vindictive*or 'unreasonable', u&"> of course, they sustained serious and preferably permanent physicof damage, which mieht affect their market value and if their market value is deemed not to have been very high in the first place then the law will reckon that no harm has been done. For in the end 'respectabldwomen are those who... accept their status as forms of private and relinquish any chum to

3 -

'The systemof inequalities which has determined the formulation and application of rape laws is also, we believe, the root cause of rape itself. Women and men do not face each other as equals in our society, and their sexual relations are scarcely ever a simple expression of mutual sexual interest in one another.

Complaint Two knigfatain a forest. It's early in May. Bright sunlight filter through the leave& A damsel in distxeaa Â weeping quietly. One of the knighto has abducted thin danud. The other ia her lover. The knighta are fighting. Her lover win& But the problem is that the danud in dutreu has alreacfa been raped The +night, her lover, ia greatly (Bttremed How can he many her? He grieves bitterly. from Feminist Fables by Suniti Namjoshi with drawings b Susan Trangmar. Pubiished by ~1ei.m Feminist Publishers 1981. Â£2.25

..research has shown the rapist t o be remarkably similar to the average heterosexual male." 'Not only is i t regarded as normal for 6,

men to be misogynists, it is also regarded as normal for women to be misogynist& Many women admit that ' they do not like other women very much, and theirpreference for male company is not regarded as unnatural. But of course, the converse is not true. I t is unusual for men to like women. except as sex objects, and it would not A be considered either healthy or normal for a man toprefer the company- of women'. 4 The asamption that 'most women are innately heterosexual' itu&u a theoreticaland political itumUi block for many women. It remains a tenable assuqption, partly because lesbian existence has been written out of history or catalogued under disease, partly because it has been treated as exceptional rather than intrinsic;partly because t o acknowledge that for women +teroaezu&ty may not be a preference' at all but mmethina that has had to be imposed, m&d, organised,propagandised, and maintained by force, is an immense rtep to take if you &odder youndf (reelv and f n ~ t e l vbeterowzud. * ' Yet the failure to & n i n e . hetorocezuality as an irtitution is like failina to admit that the economic-system called capitalism or the caste system of racism is maintained by a variety of forces, including both physical violence and false consciousness. To take the step of quentioning hetero~exualityas a 'preference' or 'choice' tor women and to do the intellectual and emotional work that follows win call for a special quality of courage in heteroaexually identified ferninisto but I think the reward! will be groat: a freeing-up of thinking, the exploring of new paths, the shattering of another great silence, new clarity in personal relationships.

It is regarded as normal, the for women to dislike other women(and, therefore, themselves) but it is remrded as abnormal or insane for a wo& to dislike. hate or fear men - the one class of peifons whom she is very likely to have very sound reasons todislike, bate, or fear This is becinninc to sound like a n i g h k The riot thickens But why are men 'normally' amisogyniste? What have they to fear? Itevenge perhaps?

....

Man-eating Mammal And then there'i the tale of the miserable male poet, who discovered, one day, that Mother Nature had tangs of her own, which he had not given her, and which she nastily used I 'at unpredictable momenta That was all right She became, as it were, the Wayward Woman, the Incalculable Queen He could cope with that And later, when she swallowed him, not he her, it wasn't too bad Enclosed as he was in plenary (pace, he found he could function; she served as an ark. But when at last he heard the first rumblings of her natural processes, he was genuinely frightened. She had already eaten, she would now digest. from Feminist Fables by Suniti Namjoshi with dmwi by Susan Tran Published? Sheba 1981.Â£2.2 ~ed%%bliishers m1 .

'Men are unwilling to acknowledge fiat there is any thing abnormal about uantingsexual relations with an tnwSlNpartner. And, as we have hown. even the convicted rapist efuses to acknowledge his behavfoilr Ã morally wrong.'

....

from Co uhory HeteroaexuaJty and ~esbianxistenceby Adrienne Rich. Published and printed by Onlywomen PreÃ Ltd 1981. pp 32 Price 90p.

' 1 1 is our Oelief mat much behaviour hich is considered 'normal' for males &%inthis society, should be regarded 'abnormal', and that treatment mmes incorporating these beliefs t to be devised for dealins with

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Undercurrents 46

. . i t is not until we are prepared to recognise that the misogyny 'characteristic of the rapist and many other men in society is abnormal - a bagnosable, treatable illness - that we an even hope....to cure such behaviou The Woman Who Lived on the Beach The woman who lived on the beach noticed that over a oeriod o f time the sea had been creeping closer and closer and that by now it was dabbline in the bottom o f her garden.3he decided that she ought to do somethi about it. So she went down tothe sea and questioned the creature. 'I'm in love', was the answer. 'Nonsense', said the woman. 'Not nonsense', said the sea, 'the air caresses you, the sun licks your skin, and on& in a while, when you come do n to bathe, it's my turn again and1 make love t o you then.' The woman didn't know whether she liked this or not, but she stood there awhile and let the sea lick her toes, and then her ankles and even her legs. That night when she was sleeping, she heard the sea lapping softly by the side o f her bed. 'Go away', said the woman. 'No,'said the sea, ' I want to hold you. Don't be afraid. Once you're in my arms you11 be a part of myself.' 'No', said the woman. W h y not?'said the sea. 'Because,' said the woman, "what you want isnt human. It's too one-sided. from Feminist Fables by Suniti Namjoshi with drawings by Susan Trangmar. Published b- Sheba Feminist Publishers 1981. Â£2.25 '......rape is aproduct of a very specific kind of society and o f the social relations characteristic of it. Only fundamental changes in that society's legal and social structures, will, ultimately, solve the problem wf rape, so long as private property exists there will be institutionalised and structured inequality; so long as women remain forms of private property there will be institutionalised and structured sexual inequality. It is the unequal legal status of men and women within society that i f the root cause of this and many otherproblems, and for this reason, changes within those structures must be given priority in a strategy o f social change. The recommendations coming out o f Lorenne Clark's and Debra Lewis's study are directed towards both changing the law and changing public attitudes. '....the awareness of women as full persons under the law must be accompanied by the abolition of kgislation and judicial practices which view women asproperty. New legislation and procedural processes must firmly entrench women's full status as equals with me in and t before the law. ~ ule&tiue change alone is not sufficient either. . Perhaps we can look forward to a

Love Your Enemy? Only Women Press. Price Â£1.75 The debate between heterosexual feminism and political

of sexual coercionBut it is clear that p e d v e coercive tactics will be inevitable w lone as women do not haw rights of sexual and reproductive autonomy. Autonomy does not, of course, mean that women should honour every demand for sexual gratificationThat version of 'sexual liberation' is simply another aspect o f the old status and its underlying assumptions, it still sees the right to female sexuality resting with the mate, but extends rights beyond those of an individual owner/husband T o insist that women are 'free' sexually when they sleep with everyone is simply to give all men,rather than only some met legal rights to access o f the female sexual property they want. It is certainly our belief that rape would ceaseto be a problem if all persons were sexually and reproductively autonomous, both legally andpractically speaking. In such circumstances, woken would have no soecial duties of care with resoect to their sexuality, and would ouk no . duties to anyone with respect td its use and disposition. Consequently, men would not have to 6ormin for female sexuality, at least in the normal course of events Nor would they be able to intewret a women's 'no' as being based on anything other than her ownreal desires. Any actions done aeainst her express lack of agreement c h d then be seen as nothing but aphysical coerced interference with her body against her

THE LEEDS Revolutionary Feminists have produced a aper, originally written for a con!erence, and then published in WIRES (a women only newsletterion Political Lesbianism. This arnphlet is a summary o f the debate it caused in WIRES. Their stance 'all women can and should be political lesbians, that is a woman identified woman who does not fuck pen', has created a great deal o f controversy within the Women's Movement. As a personal reaction I felt it to be very biased (at least in relation to the title), as the heterosexual feminjan ade is given very little coverage as a 'politically acceptable option. They later say at the end that it should haw been the 'Case Against Heterosexuality' given tha in a different context, i6 a use 1 anthology o f womens 'experience o f sexuality' and provides a background around which women can auestion their 'sexual norms', in daf.ion t o men. However, it does seem to centre around the debate o f 'whv should women out energy and time into changing men?' That a lot of women choose to do that is somehow seen as a non feminist stance, that we're celling out' for thff'unpredictableheterosexual privilege , and not that we're attempting t o change men into non-oppressors. In utting my own position at the moment as heterosexual, am not justif g it as the only 'real' way to be. it has many problek, and a very definite power' imbalance. ee. when I soseested to a

cornerstone of the rights of women and indeed, of the rights of all. ' '~othingshortof a complete m'ZL .re-education of all members of society,, can possibly brine about our ultimate I t would be both unreasonable and objective. Not until everyone accepts unrealistic to prohibit all forms o f and cannot escape the reality o f the coercive sexual contact whUe any principle that women are socially vestige remains o f the old structures legall economically, and sexual! the and their attendant ideology. So long as men must bargain for sex, it would be equals'of men, will rape cease to a probkm. I t is a big job we only hopi unjust to prohibit all coercive that this book goes some little way strategies. But clearly there must be towards moving us forward to that limits, and those limits must be agreed upon by both men and women, The law sexually egalitarm society all women desire and all men must learn to accept must reflect the perspective o f free, Meanwhile since most o f us haven't autonomous women and not solely mastered (sorry distressed) the art o f that of property-owning men. More transformineourselves a la Rhiannon . importantly, changesin the law and in into great white mares capable o f social attitudes must remove the land! a crippl kick, or indeed into necessity of any forms o f coercion. any o%er class o f a w e m e beast, migh~ And that means removing all traces of I recommend the acquisition o f a k m l and social structures which vicious canine Battersea Dog's Home &ord women a status other than that do a fairly reliable version preferably o f full legalperson, with compkte one that's been trained to go for the autonomy over all aspects o f their male nitals convenient4 at teeth lives. The twin poles of women's level for a reasonably sizeinooch liberation are the right to reproductive control and the right to equal access to absolutely aranteed to deter even the mod c e n t o f rapists. the productive labour market An entrenched right to sexual and Val Robinsol reproductive autonomy is a fundamental

Undemurents 46 momous : aaequate if liirea income. Male sexuah is not a necessary component in my e. I feel it is up to me to either take on that challenge, of coping with a woman lover, which, as women of sexism, if the potential is great enougb course aren't threatening. a8 they or leave it if it isn't. I do however iea have no power....was all right...... These (as do, it seems, a lot of other women, contradictions I choose to fight..! do not matronising'attitude {rom some fed I am being coerce&....as I do not separatists that they are the only depend on men for emotional/sexual politically OK people on this planet I fulfillment or su port, having dose respect their right to choose, and would relationships with wome long periods hope, if the WLM is t o hold together, of celibacy (where is thedebate on that they respect our integrity also.

United we fall? lover& it was unfair of him t o expect me to relate monogamously t o him, while he was tied up (! ....) with someone else he suggested that rather than relate sexually to another man (about which he felt jealous and possessive) I conveniently found myself ..on

......

TWO

'There's no trusting men, not my own brother So girls, if you would love, love one another" This sage advice comes not from the booklet compiled b Onlywomen Press, but from a traditional E lish folk song, T h e Blacksmi '. Several hundred years later, the advice seems as relevant as ever. The issue of sexuality is central to the Women's Liberation Movement, and feminist theory and practice. Carried t o its (il)logical conclusion, if every women in the wodd gave up sleepin with men, the problem o women's oppression would be solved within a hundred years -the human race would be extinct. If we assume that a less extreme solution is possible, then sexuality and sexual practices must be questioned and discussed, since it is a central battleground in the war between the sexes ( or has that phrase gone out of

Tam Dougan

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paper raised hackles and set the fur flying at the conference and so was put into W I R ~ S(the national newsletter of the WLM) to stimulate further discussion. It certainly did that -this booklet contains a wide spectrum of reponses to the original paper, and letters taking up points raised by those responses .and so on. As such, it's a vital document for one central issue in feminism in 1980, and essential reading for anyone trying t o work out how feminists view lesbianism and heterosexuality. There is

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NO Party line,no agreement* nor any attempts t o define such a position. Sexuality is an incredible loaded and emotive topic, as this book bears full witness. Some of the points raised by the never on nal Leeds paper re Y answered -like, just how does heterosexuality shore up the patriarchy, and just what can we do about it anyway? What came over to me, reading various letters, was the insecurity felt by some of the heterosexual women about their relationships with men, which they expressed by attacking lesbians. Sure, all lesbians live in Hackney squats, eat lentil stew and drink herb tea, and never see a man from one year to the next - and are all more feminist than thou. It's not like that. Feminism is based on individual women, and each woman's perception of her place in our society and her experience of growing up female. That's what consciousness-raisingis about,

-----

-4

and why it continues t o be important as the grows, evolves, changes-The personal is political - that means, evely experience is valid, is real, is art of any theoly we evolveThe WLM is a movement of women who recognise that we as women have more in common with each other than we do with other easily recognisable groups, such as middle-class lefthanded vegetarian nonsmokers who vote Liberal. Within that broad classification (51%of the population) there's an incredible diversity. There is always talk of splits in the movement -it is (or should be) big enough t o encompass many levels, many views. Lesbians who are also feminists (I dont like the phrase 'political feminism' - I still don't understand it, even after reading the booklet) are women who have gone firther in their political analysis by refusing to relate t o men - that s seen as a challenge not just by men, but also by women who still those relate to men. women should look closely at just why that is threatenin t o them. It's not possible to e totally seperatist the hypothetical Hackneyite I described earlier gets her

from men - but relating only to is a nuDor step in the ri t ) direction. So I'm li g n the big city, I catch the bus to work,

a bloke takes my fare. I get to work, I'm surrounded by men. I go out for a drink more men. Lot of them around, aren't there? Reading this book doesn't give me the answeis -I don't expect it to. It does give me a peispect.ive on some other women's view -and even the odd chuckle, aided and abetted by Jo Nesbitt's cartoons enlivening the pages. Well, you've fot to laugh, haven't -you? ~t that, or stark staring bonkeis. whoh business of the male powel structure didn't happen overnight, nor is it going t o vanish like the dew in the morning. One woman giving up men, or one h u n d ~ even one thousand. .. isn't going t o make any difference. It's going t o take a lot of work, a lot of time, and a lot of energy from a lot of people to change the worid. It is possible, and it's gdng t o happen . . if they don't blow the hp mt: SO far, this is the 0~1, worid we've got. m e more we can talk about our ideas and compare our experiences, the more hope for that within thechange. movement do necessary So we agree witheach other, do have different views --lets talk it out. I'd like to see more publications like this, collecting particular papeis on ponse t o them. Otherwise, - papers are written by articpeople 01 POUP or a conference, are discussed, then disappear into a hole In the ground. Anything that achieves the dignity of bok publication is in danrer ofacquiringaspurious au"x"l^p ""less it is "laneed by a range of views. &, thanks to Onlywomen p^ this book - go out bu your own ~ n wd L are they going to bhg out Janet Payne

She's not the woman she was. Smile. An anthology of oe Alifon F~U,stet Pixner, Tina%%, Mkhelle Roberta and Ann Oonthuizen. Published by Sheba Feminist Publishers, Cost Ă&#x201A;ÂŁ1.75

Spook by "nna Reid

An anthology of poems and prose to Anger, sorrow, sensuality and irony entertain and identify with. "Civilisations run through the book with taut imageq acrobat' is a projected 'dance' with the occasional glimpses of humour lighten technology of the future. it slightly, like the lady novelist Umbering up after writing her diary. Reminiscences of childhood, struggles with an alienated society, and recur as themes throughout. -friendships -"you insist I think my favourite one is 'heavy t h p are obsokscences: luggage' by Tina Reid.

she's not the woman she was.,. She's not the woman he wants. He wants the woman she was. hands that once curved over clumsy He thinks. She was. At this distance die can carve chips with silicone, compute and For poet, intellectual and 3-a. page clock It is thus in her interests bmin galaxies, cosmos o f nerves and To keep her distance. blood But she's not half the woman she More like twice. What nil! buttocks He's c t dip through his fingers! On the other hand The Iluciou8 h i t of compliance His dried to a bard nut, A natural remedy that sticks in

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Ionce knew aman Whosepenis led him evevwhere, A merry dance. I knew another Who had to take it out daily, Rain or shine. . And still another with anothe Whose escapades he endured Ruefillly Today, two million ricks Are riding, meek as %p The motorways One an

Tarn Dougu

Undercurrents 46 result isan accurate and thoughtaccomplices in their own deception. roles but seems set upon creating new provoking book. 'Men andsex*is-of greater consequence ones by proferri answers rather Goldberg his set himself a very than demanding at the reader find his than its title and subject matter might and worthwhile task in "The New suggest because of the implications of own. ', that of examining men's 130th hooks are reallv too its method that of radical perceptions of themselves and how they sympathetic to men, them as 'self-examination, and is worth spending should behave, how this affects their victims only rather than recognising the time and money on. means by relationships and to su extent t o which men are willing J. D. Simvaon which these might be c meed. At the very beginni he announces his oDinion.+imt%minim offem an ortunity to cast aside these 'self-destructive' images and to recreate relationships upon a balanced basis. Some of what he says is perceptive and sensible but it is spoilt by,a h@rin&ste and the use of n such ad same-sex support groups' n an attern t to gain a spurious dsi&t ~ o u le*ot!j nee&& In common with 'Men andsex' the book stresses the Isolation of men and the proposed solutions, such as a greater degree of intimacy and honesty with one's male friends (the afore-mentioned 'same-sex support groups), are perfectly sensible. However Goldbe puts forward dmplbtkally ~ t ~ o m u h upon which to judge one's self and one's relation& s, such as in the chapter I loni 4 s i(: Â¥tt<hid Â¥Ã i-1% w b apii- Â¥~>ei~i~ebes 1 11 Kay ~oulddfcwe Â¥W< entitled ' ow to spot a womanputting .. you in a w w i n situation' which is Roche published by Sheba Feminist Sour cream Cartoons by Jo Nesbitt, downright offensive. The New Male' Publishers Lesley Ruda, Liz Mackie and Christine claim*to be 'libe~ting* men born old

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life. Her husband, from a similar background, is try! to get through university, to better imself, with the burden of a wife and two kids. Says his mother: 'My Teny worked hard to get where he is; he gets no help from he: She's trying to drag him back again. You don't understand, mum' Terry said, 'Gin's got all these funny ideas. Cactus. Anna Wilson, Onl omen We get on.' 'Funny ideas?' June Gold Press, Â£2.25 Brainchild, Eve Croft, was scathing. "She's jealous and you Onlywomen Press, Â£2.95 can't see it, She's got no time for ideas, TWO RECENT novels from Onlywomen not with two kids and a husband to look after.' The thing is, Ginny wants time Press (who describe themselves as a for her ideas, and takes it by walkin women's liberation ublishing and out on her husband and kids and m&ing tinting group, producing work by and o r women as part of creating a feminist her own life in her own place. She has communication network and, ultimately, a feminist revolution) reflect the viewpoint and lifestyles of some modem women, in the aftermath of the new wave ost 1960's) of feminism. Eve Croft ntroduces her book thus: "This book is a child of the Welfare State, the Women's Liberation Movement the Federation of Worker Writers and an assortment of ends and family. So #hat lets me off e hook: it's their baby! The vision of the Department of Stealth and Total Obscuntv as a of the arts certainly takes some getti used to. A generation of pen on the dole is facing us? and In Brainchild. Ginnv. a working class 2j woman living in'and around East '

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Irene, who arrives on the doorstep when she feels like it and turns Ginny's life upside down, dmost in passing. Through the seventies, she encounters the flower people, the women's movement - 'I jotned, ago. men 1unjoined'. S q u a t t i n z n conversation with her next door nei hour who was planting out his d e n : how did you end up here?' he wanted to know. End up?' 'Whatever. ' He shrugged. 'No.choice really. It's somewhere to live, isn't it?' 'You're not making apoliticalpoint then, about the .housing shortage? 'Me? I'm the lining proof of it'. Throughout, Ginny remains herself, observing her own life and that

and a kind of warmth. Her two kids end up back with her, after her ex-husband decides he's had enou ,and she retains her independence wh e working out a new relationship with them. And her friend Kate wants to be a piano tuner all she has to do is convince the Job Centre. Ginny doesn't want a job -just to be herself. By the end of the book, one gets the feeling she'll probably succeed - if the grim austerity of Thatcherite Britain lets any of us do anything.

Cactus is a short novel about four women, of different generations, whose lives are interrelated Like Brainchild, it's set in the year of grace of 1980, with flashbacks. Ann and Dee are lesbian feminists who've fled the big city to make adtangiblecommitment' to each other, in the traditional rural setting, trying to make their politics work. As one of them comments 'How tiring it

was, trying to bring your politics into your life. And how boring for other people. And somewhat later, while making lunch as if nothing happened, after a confrontation, and considering the various options and likely discussions: All the same,, it's less trouble to make the lunch . The other main characters, Eleanor and Bea, worked in the same office and romance blooms when they go away for a holiday together, But this is in the 1950'6, and Bea decides t o marry someone suitable and do her pait at earden oarties and evmkhanaa Eleanor makes her own way;living with her mother and looking after her, then buying a greengrocer's shop and running it, in the village which Ann and Dee have chosen as their refuge. The two groups meet, and the similarities and differences between them come out. together with the point of how much or how IitUe choice anyone actually has in our society, if they try to live a life which in any way deviates from the norm. Both these books are novels, that is, works of fiction. Neither is 'heavy', the sort you feel a duty to plou& through rather than read for enjoyment. For me, a novel is something I'd pick up to read on the train, or as an alternative to watching my socks swirl round in the launderette. If I can read the book with pleasure, and a smile of recognition for the characters and their circumstances, as in these two, so much the better. Very few books are eoine to receive a wide readership in our &iet growing illiteracy, the ascendancy of image over text, the ever-increasing costs, add the lack of accessibility of particular books (specialised bookshops. or that marvellous are the invention, th6 public lib onlybpe for most b o o k s a t are really worth reading) all work against it. So go out and get your local lib buy these books, and read them?% for the bus. You might g L ? t E % e r peo le in the queue with different eyes (bloated plutockats should buy their own copies.)

Janet Pavne

is, how she perceives herself and world until she awakes and out ot own experience of herself and her o m autonomy she myths for herself her world awake?' Vow many of us have felt that in despairing of what a patriarchal society has to offer us we are left h# and without a pra er? y the reen Nigger helps us to understand our position; to listen to that art of ourselves which we fear is mahess but which lies ready to be expressed 'We must dream a better dream', writes Ms Dodson Gray, enabling us t o see that we each hold our fragment of a new vision, however alien it may Seem at present. Lesley Sareent

Why The Green Nigger Elizabeth Dodson Gray; Roundtable Press, 4 Linden Square, Wellesly, Mass 02181, USA $ 6.75 post free MS DODSON Gray examines our mistaken conceptions of our place on the earth and stresses the need for a 'whole system ethic'. Having analysed the hierarchical nature of Genesis which places man at the top of an order of living things, she makes the icularly valid oint that Charles %n*s suppose4y revolutionary theories involve the very same hierarchical assumptions. Racism and classism as well as sexism are the results of our unfortunately everpresent belief in the need for a structure based on these hierarchies. Doomsday is here in a sense, she is because time is running out way we have done thzngs'. Current male thinking is more directly questioned when Ms Dodson Gray comments on some passages from Ernest Becker's The Denial o f Death. You are left with the feeling that Becker, in attempting to have the last word has only achieved a mental dead end She is ready, however, to quote men: Charles Ferguson, Eugene Bianchi, etc., who have looked beyond the confines of established male thought. Throughout the book there are sections in which the author describes her own experiences of a sense of involvement in the natural world, expressing her sense of a spiritual need for physical awareness of the elements. These passages validate her belief, put forward at one point in the test, that It is direct ex erience and particular knowledge which are of value, for they communicate a real sense of joy and excitement to the reader. In the last chapters she focuses on the place of woman in the natural world Dismiss stereotyped roles of male and f e 4 e she sets out to defend and establish the particular value of the feminine consciousness which results from our involvement in the ph sical world throu Our chil* bearing; women must play a positive, effective role in the way that human life is shaped if we are to move into a new way of life which is in tune with all life. The final chapter looks courageously into the unknown territory of the future:

'who but woman knows what woman

Life As We Have Known It by Cbo erative Working Women; Virago Ă&#x201A;ÂŁ2.50 THIS is an anthology of biographies of women involved in the Womens Co-operative Guild at the be nnhg of this century. As a f i s t hanf record of the lives, experiences and aspirations of working class women it is a poignant reminder that some 'progress' has actually occured. Mrs Burrows, for example, had spent her early childhood in the Lincolnshire fens in the 1850's. At eight years of e she worked 14 hours a day with 40 or 50 other children, in the fields; an old man followed the gang with a long whip 'which he did not forget to use. The Guild became an important agent in the education of women and the lives recorded in this book demonstrates the need the Guild me most falfjled. What &aes forcefully in this collection is the and painful strode these women endured. with humour and great fortitude, in order to assert their independence and equality with men. Tam Dougan

Reich On

encouragement, andits nicely set out exercises. For anyone wanting to set up a self-hel group and star scratch this book is an excellen piice from to start and an one already in Nich a group should also find much to stimulate and encourage them.

Rosemary Randall In Our Own Hands -a book of Self-help therapy, Sheila Ernst and Lucy Goodison. The Womens Press Ltd 1981 328 pp. $3.95.

THE IDEA of therapy as a political activity goes back to the work of Whelm Wich in the 1930s. Reich, both psychoanal and political actiTtet:,wu the t to make any ' connecUwbetween the overt

character reinforces the exist' stem and m a w creative oppotitiondi%cu~t. Reich's Mitical ideas made him unpopufar in psychoanalytic circles while most o o l i t i i activists found his psychologid theories too threatening to consider seriously. It wasn't till the late '601 that his ideas re-emerged along with the &naissance of the women's movement and the idea of a psychd& dimension to political activity fain gained some &deuce. Sheila Ernst and Lucv Goodiscn's book is a welcome addition t o the growing literature in this area. Its concern is not the theoretical relationship of tics and and Freud but how psychology or toqractice a political form of therapy. Its strength is that it is a practical manual of self-help - how to take control of the therapy process for yourself. 'The result is a book that is enthusiastic about the possibilities of self-helpwork, dear and practical in its descri horn of what to a$o and realistically sober about its potential and limitations. Theapproach is eclectic as the authors readily admit. They have taken and adapted methods from many of the 'new thenwies' co-counsellinfl. gestalt, bbnergetics, encountex.. psychodrama aiid transactional analysis are all described and ways of usinit them shown. They also'discuss the more traditional piychoanalytic approxch to then y and the contribution that Its theoretical and deic live understand! can make to Â¥eif- D work The weiEest cart of the book 6 my view is the chapter dealing with the problems that can arise in a culariy the self-help group, unconscious c usions that encouraee resistance and block creative wok. This is a criticism of self-helo work however rather than of the book itself, to my knowledge, no one has found an entirely satisfactory way of coping with the difficulties of projective feelings and mutual transference in a Self-help framework. The strengths of the book are its comprehensivecoverage of different methods. its clear but sober

Mflra

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dorrors

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SHE NAMED IT CANADA - Because that's what it was called. The Collective Collective.*"rhe Canadian Women's Press'. 80 pp. Price 50p.

BEAUTY FOR FREE Catherine Palmer. A comoendium of beauty secrets from hearsay, history and he A HISTORY of Canada, from the publifbed by ~0nÃ§tht man orginal exploitation of the avaricious Â£5.95 Bnts, up to the current women's struggle. Beautifully direct and witty accounts of the main events, FOR Making the True Lose Powder'. illustrated by hilarious cartoons.' The 'Take elecampane, the seeds of radical selection and consistent flowem, vervain, and the b e d s of rotation from the ordinary mistletoe, Beat them, give it to the party you design upon in a glass of wine F z e ' s y t of view binds the s t o e together nto a coherent lucid whole. and it will work wonderfil effect to Easily the best history book I hare your advantage'. ever read (1066 included). . Well so far on experimenti these recipes I've

does say its to my advantage....Ã§ha next?.". well now I have a &ad body on my hands I must find a recipe which can tell me what to do with it..... Ah ah.... TOregain your lover's affections!.... Pick three rose buds on Midsummers eve (note its a good idea to time your murder, well otherwise it will tend to t a bit smelly Bury one (and the of course in a newly made nave. another under a Yew and a third under your pillow (ouch! Your lover's sleep will be wracked wi dreams about you until he returns... Hmnun...difficult.. but stflLn.Iets see..,..+to get over the shock of parting an we are.....Henbane and Belladonna, 'to help girts recover from the shock of beingjilted', both incredibly poisonas...at this oint I begin to wonder if a secret plot is afoot....Ab ha.....I hare discovered a flaw in this ineffable publicatlon..ao recipes for curing paranoia. oh well at this rate they won't have many readers left to get paranoid... PS I did try out one of their more 'tame' redoes,a S ~ ~ ~ DforOdrv O hatr...It gab me a rather interesting case of rampant dandruff!...... ' T ~

%LY 1.

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SHEBA is a feminist publishing cooperative run by a group of women from within the Women's Liberation Movement. They were brou t together bv a shared need. t o see bot more and a b a t e r variety of publications on feminism. They 'want t o see not only books bufbatnphlets, practical handbooks, theohtical texts, experimental pros&andpbetry, iBustrations, cartoons,

Women's Press'. 223pp. Â£2.95

THIS IS a collection of papers about child day care facilities, mainly in Canadian urban areas. The general emphasis is on non-institutional community-based co-operative &cUities, with parents, children and an equal say. Useful to anyone act vely involved with child staff caie ourside the family. Comprehensive bibliography. EK. Crow *Books from The ~ h a d i a nWomen's Press are distributed in Britain by Writers and Readers, 25 Nassington Rd London NW3 THE MISTAKES. Radiation. On Twist and Shout Records. Single. A FEMINIST 'anti nuclear weapons' record. The single his just come out. The Mistakes,an all women band play many benefits in and ardund London, and their home town Oxford. Thvy can be contacted at 76 Fairacres Rd, Oxford.

Undercurrents 46

Jany

of them n&h it or not. (And a---. lot else will have to ,.--.. change besides!) It doesn't seem to me that feminists deny - this.. in any great number. Lastly,it & up to men to take the responsibility for changing themselves,as it's up to anyone who'wants to, t o change her or himself - and attempt to change other oeoole too? - and to get on with h a s best one can:only (but not subject ) to the opinions of others. My letter is prompted by the remark of a feminist acquaintance ~ she who said. the b i difference r e c o d-~ e s between herself now A d how she was in heryouth is that she now has an exatanation for when she's f e e h e depressed, angry or whatever whereas formerly she tended to imarine there must besomething wrong with her. I think many of us men (and women too?) have still to make the opposite journey -and back again. For women - and I suggest for men "feminism refreshes ~ (raises the consciousness of) those parts of the body-politic persona that other -ishis cannot reach." I conclude sadly however, that there is no way a male can ever be a right-on feminist -and would wish to be proved wrong. Why is there no 'masculist' movement? What is this problem that has no name? Man's Lack of Consciousness, Woman's World? Colin Geddes 111c Harehills Avenue Leeds 8 PS Why is there no men's liberation movement? "When the conception of change is beyond the limits of the possible, there are no words to articulate discontent so it is sometimes held not to exist." (SRowbotham: Through the Looking Glass, in Woman 's Consciousness, Man's World). PPS There is a network of men trying to change things -see the small ads! The typesetter ~

WOMEN FIGHT BACK One major type of oppression suffered bv all women is the continual request by men for 'explanations' of the women's liberation movement (eg. Sexism and Progress, UC45 Letters). This would be more convincing if these same men showed any interest in other sources of information, such as feminist literature. I know of none that do. I conclude that men are so used to being propped up by women that any sign of independence by a woman is immediately met by a barrage of question to redirect her energy intotts proper channel, i.e. looking after a man. Ruth Every Edenbank Dairsie Fife

CAN A MAN BE A RIGHTON FEMINIST? hi reply to Nick Godwin (UC45): "I used to think WLM'was antisexist, until I discovered feminism." i.e. back in the '60s it pleased me t o suppose that the so-called "women's liberation movement*would sure& brine about changes as liberating foi man the oppressor as for woman the oppressed. I therefore believed that: Women's lib for emancipation - a word preferred by auch strange bedfellows as Ariana Stassinomjulosand Emma Goldman) deserves o w support, as men" - not out of patronage, of course. but out of man's own self-interest. More recently it has been brought to my attention that the first concern of at least some women ia the creation of new 'liberated' and self defined roles for themselves as women, leaving us poor men to cany on being 'right-on' males, if that's what we're into; or -for those who do not enjoy being sexist, racist, agist, rapist etc. - to find for ourselves new and liberating ways of being 'male'. And what's wrong with this? Nothing, except that in my experience men are not 'male' nor women 'female*in any sense but the most superficial and certainly not psycholoeic%"'~omei's of exhibition - Spare Rib 99, 102. Also 104, letter from male reader about seeing it with a woman friend - to see ourselves as others see us). ~econdly;aboutrape: Susan Brownmiller's definition ("all men . . .all women'? went deeper into my 'human* being than anything I've ever read. And until many more men and a lot more women accept responsibility (a) for colluding with rapist culture and (b) for allowing rapes to happen. women

able to reply to him personally perhaps he could take it like a man' from another. Meantime. if this apalhng letter is supposed to be the kick off for a Great Debate in of all places a womens issue, then smallwonder the dkntion. PLease Mi Goodwin. dont ever write a letter like that again - and please god, if he does don't let Undercurrents publish it. Tony Paxton Berrington Hall, Shrewsbury.

Dear Currants, Godwot's letter, arrogant paternalistic and hopeless, inspires awe, frustration and despair for a woeful level of consciousness clearly prevailing in Bewickshire. Has nothing at all got through yet, have the sixties and seventies meant nothing, and whatever possessed you collective to publish the piece in the first place? I expect you're already swamped by a fury of replies: the riatierit-point-bypoint explanations - (Dear Sir, where have you been?), the uncontainable anger - ("intruding and undermining"). and the reconunendations for further reading, exhorting him to just one last glorious effort . . When calmer. I mav feel

. .

a-..--- was specifically ab&t'the social crisis in the advanced technological countries, not the Third World. While out of the question in Mali or Upper Volta, providing phones for everybody in wealthy countries like Britain is well within our means. Our crisis is not about lack of resources, but unused resources like the millions of unemployed. Information Technology, as well as creating problems, creates entirely new possibilities which have not been widely appreciated, especially on the Left. What strikes me about the Left is its lack of imagination. What I wrote about is entirely possible because the technology has created new possibilities. Geoff Wright 15 Castello Avenue, London SW15.

CASHEW NUTS

A Harris's letter about imported foods mentioned Cashew Nuts. I think it is worth noting that the process for extracting cashew nuts frbm the fruit they are found in is very dangerous for the workers ~-~ involved. The Cashew tree produces a large, red, fleshy fruit with a sliehtiy alkaline taste. Under this fruit is a pod containing the nuts. Unfortunately the pod also contains a strong add which can bum the skin unless it is properly neutralised. Many workers in cashew nut factories have burned finffirs and skin because of this add. On the whole I think it is unwise to encouraee the use of cashew nuts unless a process can be invented and adopted which will not damaee - the workers. EG Matthews ~

"Red Rag"

MANIFESTO FOR THE EIGHTIES John Bradbrook's letter (UC44) concerning my Manifesto article (UC42) was based on a misreading of my article. It contained so many misconceptions I couldn't let it pass without reply. Some specific examples of repressive legislation passed by Labour governments are: The Dangerous Drugs Act; The Criminal Trespass Act and The Prevention of Terrorism Act. As an ex-member of the Labour Party (and not an admirer of Shirley Williams etc.) I am always critical of the hypocrisy of that party. While I am not blind to the existence of progressive elements within it, there are also elements which make Mareaiet Thatcher look not only daringly progressive but positively sweet. In any case, my loyalties are to certain principles and mv own eeneration, not politicaigrou$or Parties. L o o k i i around. I don't see any ~ o l i t i c derouos - . or parties . L would trust. JB quotes the Equal Pay Act. Despite the Labour Party declaring a belief in socialism and equality from its birth in 1910, it wasn't until the modem Women's Movement organised outside the Labour Party and made life uncomfortable for the politicians, that the equal pay principle was conceded. The thine aboutthe Parliamentary Labour Party is that it gives way very, very reluctantly to enormous pressure~frombelow, but when it comes to repressive legislation it's like'greased lightning! JB also didn't realise my

Achilles Heel? The news item 'Foot Rot' (UC 45) was not of your usual standard of objective journalism, sad to relate. Over forty thousand people demonstrating against the conservatives is not news apparently, while one person attempting to grab the microphone is. It is like saying that the only significant thing about last years Beyond the Fmgmen t s conference in Leeds was the autonomists' autonomous efforts to take over at the end of the day. This call for the 'right to speak was clearly not a spontaneous call from the Glaswegian working class as you implied. It was a carefully planned action by one of the groups of heavy Marxists that specialise in taking over other people's events, most probably the Revolutionary Communist Tendency (their past record). The 'right to work'is an overworked slogan that is often an alternative to thinking seriously about the issues involved. Large national demonstrations organised by anyone for any cause are probably a mistake. They are either chaotic and confusinx or somewhat authoritarian

in organisation. People travel a long way, which costs money, miss the speakers, feel rather useless and go away feeling disillusioned. Last years' TUC Day of Action and this years' TUC Week of Action were much better. Many smaller local events eive m o d e a chance to meet each other. and givesthe labour movement a sense of its own identity locally. More people can be involved and there can be a local follow-up. The peace movement is an examole of what small but coherent local groups can do to build a movement with real roots that cannot be swept away in the ebb a n d flow of politics. So please Undercurrents,less suoerior smue sneerine in ydur reporting, If you wantto do your bit for a creative fightback against the conservativesit would be better to do without the snide sniping against people who are basically for the same cause of oeace and social iustice. ~ 6 h Bradbrook n 23 Offord Rd., London N1.

SQUIRE BASHING On seeing the review of The Origins of Britain'by Chris Hutton-Squire in the last issue of Undercurrents, I thought perhaps this was a rather late April Fool's Joke in bad taste. But on reading his tortuous, pro-imperialist and anti-Welsh argument I realised it wasn't. In today's world it is the ultimate sanction to equate the behaviour of your adversary with that of white South Africa. Never mind the facts - iust chuck in a few good Boer quotations and your enemies are damned forever! But truth is molt complicated. In reality, English colonialists in Wales -and their supporters whose views are more suited to Now! magazine than ~ndercuwents -are condemned because they are colonialists. nbt immig~aits. If there is any similarity between Wales and the South African situation - a situation which I have been lucky enough to study first hand for a short while at the invitation of black .~~ activists there - it lies the attitude of those English colonialists who believe they have a divine right to imposetheir cultural, political and economic criteria in our country. That attitude towards their host nation is shared by many whites in South Africa. But the comparisons are not extensive. Whereat most whites in South Africa are probably racist, many En Ush in Wales are not colonialists. They fit into their new society, add a vitality, new energy and a fresh outlook to it, and thay enhance Welsh life instead of destroying ~

~~~

-~ ~

11.

No-body is burning theh cottages down. But as for Mr HuttonSquire and nil Uk,there's a lot of people

who would willingly strike a light for him! Perhaps part of his problem can be found in his assertion that a hook called Britain Before the Conquest . . can be recommended.. to English people who wish to understand thtir . . Celtic , neighbours." If you want to understand the awkward Welsh, Mr HuttonSquire, you don't need t o read much about the happenings of 2000 years ago. Instead get to grips with the cultural genocide, imperialism, economic deprivation, political helolessness. depopulation and colonialism which is happening in Wales today. Rebecca Thomas 17 Windmill Terrace St Thomas Swansea

. .

BENT THEORY Perhaps what Dave EUiott meant in his review of Arguments for Socialism (UC44) is that Tony Benn if a hypocrite (not merely inconsistent). During his time as Secretary of State for Energy, his stated opinion of nuclear power was more a reflection of the ftwoadl~anti-nuclear) opinion of the news media than an expresion of his innermost beliefs. Required by his position to decide, for example, whether or not British Nuclear Fuels Ltd iTUKht contract to provide nuclear fuel reprocessing services for the Japanese, he was unable. (Consequently, such matters were dealt with by other ministers: his Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Alex Eadie; or more prominantly ,Foreign Secretary David Owen and Secretary of State for the Environment Peter Shore.) Yet, he also was unable t o act to curtail Britain's nuclear power programme (an action - 1 believe within his power had he attempted to construct a coherent national energy strategy in which the use of coal given the political complexion of the NUM, his favourite fuel wholly supplanted that of uranium). We lack a coherent energy strategy: we retain a nuclear power programme. AT l d d 3 Pennineton. orton Goldhay Peterborough ~ f e ORB. 2

including music and poetry - and that the neuron density (often taken as a measure of brain 'quality*) is as great as in ourselves. Lacking the use of hands. this mentalcapaaty hat turned to other spheres than the manufacture of artefacts and weapons of war. We do not know just what they think and communicate about but they certainly seem to know how t o live in peace and happiness toge tier and in harmony with nature. Dr John Lillv .in California. has done a tremendous amount of pioneering work both physiological and behavioural with dolphins. Various other researchers have also worked with dolphins, orcas ('killer whale') belugas ('white whale') etc., mostly on funding from navy 'defense* budgets. Now there is a chance to work in the UK with dolphins (fursiops truncafus and an orca {orsinus arca), e are starting to develop some inter-active devices which the cetaceans can operate t o control eouip-

more sophisticated interface devices, possibly linked to a comouter. later on. Our orime object is to make life in Aptivity molt interesting and intellectually stimulating for these large brained creatures. We hope t o establish communication channels by which we can learn from them and demonstrate to visitors a better philosophy of life. Perhaos we can even do our bit to save the world from the mass destruction now threatening. Any of your readers who would be willing and competent to help with this work can write to me at 7 Parkthome Drive. Harrow. Middlesex. Owen W ~umpleton

Efforts to communicate with possible intelligent life forms on ather planets have 10 far been a :omplete failure but we do have available to us a race of bdnia vith highintelligence, wen developed ethics and soda1 structure and a wide range - of emotions. The Ceticm (Whales and Dolphins) have generally larger '. brains than humans andk is known that virtually allo(the extra capacity ia In the flortlcal silent asaociationd m u r, those parts of the brainwhich an used for crea.tiye activity

BAIT BITES BACK Your gossip column seems to dellzht in attacking us, but it is worii aeain to im& that we & Our rightworking wing fanatics. party was brain

CAN WHALES TALK?

great many other tasks, in what he calls my "Utopia". What cam opposed to, however, is the pointless computerisation of tasks (like a community notice board) which in a small community easily be carried out by traditional - chalkandblackboard, or paper and pen methods. What is the point, in a small community, of having a complex computerised system for informing people about job vacancies on their home visuals display terminals when they could stroll along to the community cafe to scan the jobs noticeboard instead, incidentally enjoying a chat with a few friends in the process? Computers should not be used in a way that could undermine opportunities for informal human contact. As for videotape recorders and calculators, Mr Spencer may he surprised to know that I not only use such devices. when I n&d to, but enjoy doing so. Technologies should be used for the tasks to which they are appropriate. And just as a sledge hammer is an inappropriate tool for nut-cracking, microcomputers can sometimes be an expensive and cumbersome substitute for the paper and pencil. Incidentally, just to show I'm not prejudiced against micros I'm writing this letter on the ATG's North Star Horizon microcomputer system, using thi Wordstar word processing package. OK, I know a paper and penc would be more appropriate, but Wordstar is more fun! Godfrey Boy AT Grouo. &en university, Milton Keynes 7.

MICRO NUT CRACKERS?

As one who uses microcomputers in the course of his work, I was surprised and amused t o be labelled a Luddite by George Spencer (Letters UC 44). Mr Spencer ii obviously reacting to what he thinks I laid in my article on Greentown WC43),not to what I actually said. What I actually laid was that "there Is a place for microcomputers", and that they should be used for "those Information processing tasks which are too difficultto do by hand, and to. facilitate communlddtion between communities frather than wlthIn communltiu) where facetoface contact Is difficult or , expensive." So there would certainly be room for computerbed iysten" fnr book-keeping, and a

~~w~

stormint ideas for nossible people to invite as speakers to the Fourth World Assembly (at City University July 30th to Auiuit - ~ ~lit) -- -- and ~ .wewere thinking in termsof a prime minister from a small nation such as Iceland. Someone sume! ed Singapore. Nick Hanna, myself and others shot this idea down, pointing out that the prime minister was ultraright who.

fie an non-party political, but with draft oronoaala for neighboihwd power indudlq neizhbourhood control of land an6 roperty, we'd expect if anything labels such as anarchir or d ~ n t r a l i aaodgUst. t

Nicholu Albt 24 Abercom Place, London NW8. Editor's Note: plena main you, letters legible, preferably typed, double ced and not m m than 300words: we're not psychic!

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opportunity. You can reach us at PO Box 255, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada BOS 1AO. LIVING on the land in yearround Canadian conditions or summer living in the most heavily reinforced authentic tioi made. Sand Â£ for tioi book, mailingand information (no cheques please) t o Heritage Tipi, Box 910, Calgary, Alberta, T2P 2J6, Canada. CONSULT Oracle mail order book service. Over 2500 titles on oarawvchdow. the occult mysticismand divination. We stock books on Astrology, Earth Mysteries. UFOs, Psychic Research, Phenomena, Clairvoyance, Meditation. Dreams, Reincamation. Manic. Witchcraft, Folklore& ~ythology,Alchemy, Kabbalah, Spiritual Healing, Health & Food Reform, Yoga ' and much more. Send 6011 for 44 page catalogue t o Oracle Books, 38 Mount Pleasant, London WC1X OAP. MEN against sexism magazine Achilles Heel, 60p from 7 St Mark's Rise, London E8. ANTI-SEXIST men's newsletter 30p from 190 Tonerdown Street, London SW17. PLANNING t o take the Open Universitv's Man-Made Futures course, l'd like t o get in touch with people who have already taken it t o oet to know about projects. Bernard Ekeuez, 1336-0 Lakewood Drive, Vancouver BC, Canada V5L 4M6. ALTERNATIVE Times. A monthly rundown of alternative energy news and views, plus items on nuclear power, information, resources, dates. Sub. Â£ inc. post from 35 Wedmore Street, London N19 4RU. ANTI-NUCLEAR PowerIDisarmament Mail Order Catalogue: Please send sae to: Comer Bookshop, 162 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds 2, W.Yorks. HOLIDAY caravan on organic farm in mid-West Wales. 6-berth. fully fitted;Tel Talley 538.

THE Coming Age: magazine of the living matriarchal tradition, 45p, Lux Madriana (UJ, 40 st John St., Oxford. FIRST British whole Earth Catalogue and "Alternative England and Wales" seauell update (addina Scotland). ~ k p r e h e n s i v enational catalogue and directory in the making. nfonnation now needed from1 about local alternative papers, small press publications and bookshopslother retailers carrying these. Please write: Earthworks Intakes, 12 Garnet Street, Lancaster, LA1 3PN. CRECHES Against Sexism (London), c/o 316 Upper St, London N1. We need antisexist men (women welcome too) to help occasionally in creches during evenings and weekends, also toys, nonsexist children's books, other equipment and especially money. The money is used for helping feminist projects and for buying toys. Tel: 01673 0091 (evenings and weekends). ANTI-NUCLEAR mail order service. Full range of Smiling Sun Materials, and a wide selection of books on nuclear power and AT. Send for free catalogue: SCRAM, 30 Frederick St., Edinburgh.

BOOKS THAT MAKE YOUR MIND MATTER! from OPEN HEAD PRESS 2 Blenheim Crescent,'London W11. (All prices inclusive of P and pack - U.S. thoughÃ§hd multiply price by two...that's the world, folks). 1) FANATIC - Bumper Anarchi=* Anthology. Â£1.2 2) ILLUMINATUS/IMMORTA 1ST -Fanatic Supplement: R.A. Wilson & Bob Shea. 3) TO REPRESENT OUR SAVIOUR AS "that gnurt cock" (Kirkup, Gay News) IS NOT BLASPHEMY BUT ETERNAL AND CHRISTIAN OFTHODOXY. Furnished with rare illustrative proofs. Rare. Price f-. 1 ,-76 4) THE FULL AND TRUE TE! OF A NOTORIOUS. REMARK ABLE AND VISIONARY SPEECH MADE BY JOHN, EARL RUSSELL on 18th July 1878 at 7.08 pm in the H o u r of Lords... 'The first person since Guv Fawkes t o have entered parliament with honest intentions. Price: Â£1.2 5) UFO DEBATE Ripe stuff (as reviewed in Undercurrents) Price: Â£3.2 6) MARGARINE THkLEADEI INE. Searing poster rdontageplus,plus,plus, Phenomenal Missile Poster (If you swal.low th.. youll swallow anything) for surreal peacenicks. B..b..b..both for Â£1.0 (Heavy items. 7) CAGLIOSTRO SHINER. An exclusive novelty item for those who have t o have one of everything. Wow your friends and bankrupt your enemies. Price: Â£2.5 "No, and I mean no cadsharper or conjurer should be without one... totally indetectable." (Magick Mart)

SPINNING, Natural Dyeing & Weaving courses in a beautiful country setting overlooking the River Wye near Tintem's ancient Abbey. The tutor is craft weaver Barbara Girardet and the dates: June 18/19 - 21, July 18 -25and Oct 15/16 - 18. Or you can bring your children (c.5-14 yrsi on our "Family Crafts & Wildlife Week", Aug 15 -22. Autumn courses include "How t o Start 81Run a small farm" with Patrick Rivers, Sept 9 - 11 and Oct 23 -25;"Edible Wild Foods", Oct 2 -4;also Yoga, Birdwatching, Painting, Baroque Music and monthly Esoteric Study weekends. On our 30 acres we grow all of our food, from spuds to melons, as well as flowers and fuel. and all ere husbandedstrictly organically, together withpoultry, bees and goats. when courses are not open we remain open as e Guest House, or provide facilities for small groups and conferences. Deteds from Adrian and Elsa Wood, The Nurtons. Tintern, Gwent, NP6 7NX -stamp appreciated - or phone 029-18 253.

U N D E R C U R R E N T S i s t h e m w z i n e o f rampant alternatives a n d c o r n m u p i t y technology published every t w o m o n t h s b y rents Ltd., a company registered under t h e laws o f England (no.1 1 6 4 5 4 ) a n d l i m i t e d b y guarantee. T e n t h year o f issue. ISSN 0306 2392.

undereur

EDITORIAL OFFICE: 27 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1R OAT. Tel: 01 7303. A:The U C - e d i t o r i d collective meets every Wednesday Â¥Vflnlafro 8 pm o n t o c o b b l e t h e magazine together, p a y t h e bills and goÃ‘ip adjourning as early as possible to t h e back b a r of t h e C-?)yarn. These meetings e m o p e n to e l l friends of t h e v i n e . The office i s n o t staffed a t o t h e r times but S i m o n Woodheed, our u i l n c r i p t i o n s coordinator a n d factotum, is usually w o r k i n g there o n Wadnosdav afternoons: on o t h e r davs there is o f t e n a member o f t h e collective in t h e o f f i c e a r o u n d 2 p i opening t h e mail. Outside these times times u r g e n t enquiries may b e a d d r d t o Chris Mutton Squire on Dl-261 6774. CREDITS: U n d e r c u r r e n t s 4 6 was p u t together b y T a m Dougan, Tess McMahon, Helen Saunders, Rosemary Randall, June Statham, Janet Payneand Val Robinson. Stephen Joseph a n d N i c k Hanna d i d t h e Mews. T h e cover was d r a w n a n d designed b y A n n a C r i c h m n Typesetting was b y P a m Yeomans a n d C o m m u n i t y Typesetters (01-226 62431. O u r thanks t o t h e Collective A t Large f o r advice a n d encouragement, spontaneous contributions etc. COPY DATE: Undnrcurrents 47 (AugustISeptemberl k i t 1 be o n sale o n S a t u r d a y 2 5 t h J u l y :closing date f o r last m i n u t e items is Wednesday June 24. D I S T R I B U T I O N : within t h e British Isles by F u l l t i m e Distribution, 27 Clerkenwell C l o u , London E C 1 OAT, t e l 0 1 - 2 5 1 4976. I n t h e US by Carrier Pigeon, R o o m 3 0 9 , 7 5 Kneelend St., Boston, Mac 02111. Our US m a i l i n g agents ere Expediters of t h e Printed Word, 527 Madison Avenue, N e w Y o r k NY 10022. P R I N T E R : Western W e b Offaet, 59 Prince St., Bristol 1. C O P Y R I G H T : T h e contents of Undercurrenls are copyright: permission to r e p r i n t i s freely given to non-profit groups w h o apply in writing, a n d s o l d to anyone else.

DISPLAY AD RATES Full page.. . . . Â£8 Other sizes down to '18 page are pro rata. For details please phone Chris Hutton Squire on 01-261 6774 or write for a rate card.

UNDERCURRENTS INDEX THE FIRST NINE YEARS Yes! Here it is at last, thanks to Charmain Larke of the AT Information Group, a comprehensive 32 page index of articles, authors, subject areas and books from No. 1 (Spring 1972) to No. 43 (Dec 80/Jan 81). At only Â£1.2 (Â£ to institutions) it's the ideal gift for the alternative person who has everything! Just tear out the form below and return it to UC Index, 27 Clerkenwell Close, London ECI. NAME

BACK NUMBER Sl"------ SALE Any ten of the back numbers listed below for only Â£3.50 Or, even better, all thirty-two plus a free copy of our new index for only Â£10.50surface mail, worldwide.We regret that Nos. 1 to 7,9,11,13,19 and 20 are completely out of print. Lucas Aerospace; Crabapple; Biofeedback; Community Technology, 12 Comtek 75; Alternative Culture (3); Alternative Health Service. Lucas & AT; Jack Mundey; Overseas AT; Hillside Cottage: Building 14 & natural e n e r a Shutter design; Alternative Technoloey i n India. W h o N e e d s Nukes?": Biodynamic gardening; Wind generator 15 "progress report; Invertor design; Insulation& jobs; Productionfor need. People's H a b i t a t : NA'ITA; Citizen's Band: Garden villages; Tree I6 farming; DIY new towns; Self-sufficient town houses;Lifespan;Planning. I n n e r T e c h n o l o g y : save y o u r o w seed;Computerleyhunti~; 17th' 17 century radical science; Dowsing; K i l i a n photokit; Women & AT. A T 6 the T h i r d World: Irrelevant technology; 2nd class capitalism; 18Chinese science; Supermacker Green ban; HydroponicsSey lines. Health: Centre for AT; Findhorn; Alternative history; L i m i t i 19 medicin'e; self help; ~ o m m u n i thealth y Home birth:Alternative medicine. F i f t h Birthday: Land; Tony Benn; Fanning; US Food co-ops; 20Cambodia: Control oftechnolotv: ~ o c i a l luseful y work: UKsolar forecast. Good squat guide, Dangers of counter-culture; Broadcasting; Reich: 2 1 Nuclear poiicy. ~ r o nage farm; ~aurieston;peace conversion; DIY print to

A doctor writes; Ireland; Paranoia power (1); Stonehenge; Primal therapy; Cod war; Fish farming (1); Ripple revolutionism: Free radio. Seahmok Nukes & unions; Fish fanning (2); Wastesaver; Lorena stoves; Charles Fan; Solar collector VHF transmitter; ParanoiaPower(2). Chicken's lib; Namibian health, Windscale; VHF transmitter (2): DuncanCampbell on the Eavesdmooers: Forestrv Cheese& cidermakinf. .. Emotional plague. Fmdhorn. Compost & communism (2): Water power Antw Aelhaeam; Oz community radio; PI& Thailand, PoaitiveSabotage. A T & the Portuguese revolution; The Russians aren't coming; Boat repairs; . New Age Access; Orkney crofting; Growingdope: Packaging;ELF. Soft energy: hard politics; Fast breeders; Tools for small farms; BrookhouseAmpemrid co-op; Fish fannine-, The Shakers;DIY Woodstovt. Windsrale 1vmd. Atlantic Mondragon, A T & thestate; Canadian AT, Behaviout Mod Bicycle planning, Urban wasteland; Can Walesmakeit? W o m e n 6 Energy: Windscale; New ClearEnerey; Feminiataagalnst nukes; Women& Science; Womanthought,Alice&ATnmi;Skillexchailfea. Windscale; Ecofeminiam; Solaroal; A T & the British State, Alice; Muscle poweredrevolutionary samadhi; Greeningsocialism;Parishpolitick. F o o d p o l i t i c s : Factory fanning; Additives: Wholefood co-op*; Commodity . campaigns; Common agricultural policy. Potatoes; Grain dÃ‘ling E c o p o l i t i c s : British road to Ecotopia, Larzac, Nukes 6 the un* Workers' plans; UKAEA; D I Y VHF transmitter Shotton; Micros Planning; Garden <.tien. I r h a n wasteland; National parks; Shetland; Country Me:WWOOFing, A'!'workshop;Ennr~yoptiocr&empbymenL . . . Co-op lessons; Crabapple; UNCSTD, Earthcare: CounterRevolution Quarterly; Feminist ami-nukeism; Ian Lloyd; Engineering; Rural reality. C o m t e k 79: Wave power; Teamwork Training Trust; campaign for the North, 1)IY Woodstove design; Decentralising AT; Greentown. C h i l d r e n 6 t h e E n v i r o n m e n t : Future perfect; (Sity jungles; lice; Flysheet camps; M a Gaia; Community schools & service; Free schools. Third world energy; F A 0 food conference; Street fightin' man: D N biogas; compost; Ecotopoly; Environmental education; Karen Silkwood.

23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

39 &anarchism; C o m m u n e s : ('0-Â¥)perativework-Â¥/-groun Christiania;Commuifes Peaice's ~olemic;U Wlndoower Inc.; Scandinavian AT. F u s i o n : Wave bongoMu; ~ i e w d a t a . ~ e ~ r ~ r a Ecoropa, mmt~ 40 Third World R I M . Canals; Jobs& Socid Chsnec: French AMinuluJm. 4 1 Orgasmic C o - o p e r a t o r s Fair: Suma: winds of change; Working co~~eitiveiy: labour. Machonations: CapitalismandCo-ops: Delta-T: Co-oplit power,

Protopia: Convivial computing; Manifesto for the 80s; END: K~shtym;N A T T A ; Tesla. Darrieus windmill design; Pirate Radio. Bombs into windmills; Atoms for peace; L a n d retbnn - no thanks,

ADDRESS '

Please rush me my copy of the UC Index. Ienclose a cheque/postal order/Giro Transfer for Â£1.25/â‚¬3.

43 Greentown; Life without T.V.; E.S.T.; Pmpertarians. Media Special: P e n pushing; 4th world; Arts council; Open 44 radio c a m p a i m D e r i k Jarman interview: R u I T T u f fCreem Puff, LAW Barristerq 45 Prostitutes; Welsh Community 'n ANARCHY: Red Arsonists;

WstmiMler Zoo; Law; Lapp Education.

Tribal Justice;

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"Publishing has much In common with gambling: ttw playr Â¥nh takes a risk or quite lhÃgain*, and the on* ImpulÃ that soparates publlchw from ttrlr mom ifflrtit*aow gambtom to hot publlftfn bell*vthat they ploc* their bets for tho good of Ã‡ocÃ‡Ãˆt JP Morpurgo in his Ute of Alton Laic. King Penguin.

GOING DOWN FOR THE THIRD TIME

A financial report by Chris Hutton Squire

1980.llke 1979beforeIt.was a badyear for UC'sfinances. Income, at Â£13,830was only 93%of costs, leaving a deficitof Â£1,080FortunatelyweeamedZ230bysubtettinga desk to the ANC. Â£6 In book royalties,and we had Â£43 stashed away Inthe UC Monthlydepositaccount; the net deficit on the year was a bearable Â£360So we faced 1981with some confidence. Since the New Year matters have gone steadily from bad taworse to terrible. Unless we think of something quickly, the cumulative losses wlll overwhelm our overdraft (secured by personal guarantees from collective members)and the magazlnewlll fold. Incomeforthe first four months,atÂ£4,290 Is 12%downon lastyear, despltea 17% price Increase, while costs, at Â£5,240are 9% up, turning a surplus of Â£13 Into a deficit of Â£950And we now have no other sources of income or nest eggs stashed away to cover our losses. So what are we doing to get back Inthe black?First, we are organisinga series of benefitconcerts In London. We hope that once these gigs become established as reaular events they will make a useful contributionto our funds. Second, we are producing a leaflet to promote the magazlnewhlch will be Included In the mallshots of as many friendly organisations as are willing (If you can help us with this, please let us know asap). The main difficultywith thls. as anyone who has beento one of our meetingswill appreciate, 1s getting agreement as to just what UC Is about, who it Is aimed at. etcl However, the knowledgethat uc may be bankrupt In a few months 1s concentrating our minds wonderfully. Finally, and Inevitably,we are jacking up our prices by a swingelng 31%:from the next Issue, UC47,the Inland sub rote will be Â£5.5(Â£1for two years): renewals will be accepted at the old rate until the end of August. We know that many other small magqlnes are losing money; 1981wlll no doubt see the death of several well-loved and long establlshedtitles.Will Undlesbeone of them? Don't miss the next horrible episode: subscrlbe today1 WHERE THE M ~ N E G YOES: Out of each Â spent last year, 3 4 %went ~ on printing (despite using one of the cheapest printers In the land); production (Including typesetting and pictures) took another 21p (the design, except for the covers. Is all done by unpald membersof the collective); postage, packing and carriage were a further 20p. The remaining 24%~consistedof office costs (9p). subscription dept.wages and travel expenses (8%) and rnlscellaneous (7p), whlch Includedpromotion andthe book service. For eachÂ£scenIn 1980we earned only 9% (1979: 91%~).

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WHAT SUBSCRIBERS MEAN TO SMALL MAGAZINES: Everything, and here Is the best statement of that. We found It In CoCvolutton Ã‡uari*rtywho reprinted It from F w , the Canadian cultural and news magazine. Our plight Is thelr plight, only more so, given the greater reluctance to subscrlbe to magazlnes In Britain. . . Every reader that has any warmth toward any small magazlne should take out a subscription. There are many reasons why thls Is a must. And I mean essential. Firstly, every small magazlne would then become self-sufficient. For FuÃwith a clrculation of 10.000 we would operate on a budget of $90,000. Thls would mean that the production and writing labour of the magazine could be paid for. There would be no profit. I repeat no profit. Secondly because not enough readers of such magazlnes take out subscriptions It means the following: a) twice as much time and energy Is spent on raising money through hare-brained Inefllke Advertising and Distribution; b) ficlent schemes that same scramble diverts the focus away from the function of a small magazlnewhlch In part Is to develop alternate editorial content. So by not subscribingto such magazines(he reader Is unlntentlonally dealing the magazlne a death blow and simultaneously helps to editorially weaken hls/her welcomed reading material. I'm afraid It's that simple.. . INDEX:yes, we'vefinallypublishedan Indextothe first nine years of UC (see p. 47). Half the profits from Itwill go to UC (the other half to Charmlan Larke of the AT Information Group, who complied it). If all our readers orderedthemselves thelr own personalcopy, that would make us solvent again at a stroke. It's just a thought. . .

RECYCLED STATIONERY FROM CONSERVATIONBOOKS: Thls ad is being paid for by a commlsslon on orders generated. So you can help to keep us afloat by ordering reams and reams of notepaWr.It's just another thought.. . DONATIONS: we consider that UC should aim to pay Its way In the market place without the need for regular

appeals for donations.Inpracticethe magazlnehas lost money In all but two of the lost nineyears; hitherto these losses have been largelyoffset by Income from Radical Technology: thls Income has now fallen to almost zero. Undies has acquired a worid-We reputationwhlch has never been reflected In our circulation. We accept that thls 1s largely our fault: our energy has gone Into editing and designing the paper rather than Into selling It; the post flve years have shown that thls 'build a better mousetrap' philosophy doesn't work. So. ye* please,we are asking for donations, but not to cover current losses but to pay for our promotionalleaflet andother marketing co

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Children of Hiroshima Children of Hiroshima is a collection of children's eye-witness accounts of the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The book makes harrowing reading. The children, aged between 4 and 16 when the bomb was dropped, relive the horrors they went through as relatives and friends died and homes were destroyed. The material in this book has not been rewritten: the innocence and simplicity of the children's original accounts have been preserved. Originally issued in Japanese, Children of Hiroshima was compiled in 1951 as a waming against the use of nuclear weapons in the Korean conflict. In publishing this English edition, the Publishing Committee for 'Children of Hiroshima' hope to bring their plea for peace to the attention of the whole world, and to remind people in this time of massive expenditure on nuclear weaponry, of the true human cost of atomic warfare.

rood S

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3'. ike It or not, headlines like these right direction. The degree ia now only offeredase ~flectthe world we live In today. Are cienmandtechnotooyreallylncapable two-year full-time couraa following on J ftniwina the from the MIddlOUx Polvtechnk Dto.~rnblenui . - . .nf . -rtv Gistionand pollutionthataffinikr oms of Higher Education (DIPHE). If you already hold a DIpHE or hew ocietv? If you are interested In these ippropriate equivalent qualifications robtems,endlhlnkyourcareershould you am also welcome to apply. onlritHJtelnwmewaytoprovldlngthe Contact Admlulons OWcÃ‡ (mf nswera,MiddlmexPolytechnic'aBSc C519), MIddlÃ‘ Polytechnic, 114 ind BSc Honoum In Soctoly and C h m Side. London N14 5PM. 01'echnolow could steer you in the 886 65M.

Copies available inApril 1981 at Â£4.9 each

4 JOHN STREET, LONDON WC1N 2ET

RIO FEEDBACK

RADIATION

The paradox of the Bio-Feedback Monitor is that the reason for owning one is to reach the staee where vou no loneer need one! The ~ i o - ~ G d b a principle ck is &is: only by becoming aware of our internal states can we learn to control them. The way it works in practice is quite astonishing - basic control of one's autonomic nervous system can be achieved within amatter of hours, rather than years of intensive training required by most spiritual disciplines. This is not to say that Bio-Feedback re laces Yoga or Meditation, but rather enhances them in a way that is hard to beieve until you have experienced it for yourself. We can sup ly a Complete Bio Feedback package including the Monitor; Skin pads, conductive ,el$, Monitor phone, and full instructionsfor only Â£13.95Free detailswill be supplied on request.

DETECT AND SURVIVE hoT%wmequences of the mevita le uclear accident can only be averted by being fore-warned. But warning through 'official' channels may come too late, and we must take action to protecfourselves. The best means of individual protection is the pocket dosimeter which can be conveniently carried at all times, and will give warning of an increase in radiation levels before any damage can be done. Radiation detectors of this type are available from the manufacturers for a little over Â£2 (and worth every penny of it but we have taken steps to 0 t h supplies of these instruments at a substantially reduced price, i.e. Â£12.9each. There are only a few available, so please let us know at once if you would like one. We have all data on how to use them, and technical details too.

View through I.

Please send your request for any of the items described, or a large S.A.E. for any details you would Eke to: Jenny Freeman, I.admlm, cmigo F Gwenl.

m ,Tintern,

IONOGEN

. ;. . I am sure you will have heard about air ionisation. The subject has been attracting a lot of attention recently with articles in Health and Yoga magazines, appearances on T V and radio, and so on. So you will already know the importance of keeping a natural and healthy ion balance in the air. What you may not know is that the remarkable devices which have been causing all this excitrnent are made by a very bright and enterprisingfamily business in Gloucestershii, who are keen on promoting the human side of modem technology. We have permission to offer you their Ionogen air ionisers at the exceptionally low price of Â£37.9each. Further details will be sup lied free - just write and ask. ~n ioniser for' your car is also available at Â£29.43.1makes dthe differenceon those long, tiring roumevs. , - ~ ~ If you have missedout on all the newsabout air ionisation,there is an excellent bookon the subject by Fred Soyka and Alan Edmonds. Your local bookshop will probably have The Ion Effect on theirshelves, but if not wecan s u ~ ~ l v c o ~ i eÂ£l:20includin~~0~tage sat -. - 1 can thoroughly recommend this book, so do try toget hold of a copy! ~2~