Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Cuban heat at rampART

sb | 11.08.2004 11:23 | Venezuela | Analysis | Culture | Free Spaces | London | World

Yesterday (10th August), events for the second day of the Venezuela Week of Solidarity in London took place at the rampART creative centre and social space near Whitechapel...

The second day was billed as a day linking the culture and struggles of both Venezuela and Cuba with Rock Around the Blockade hosting an afternoon of films, debates & discussions. It began with an unscheduled premiere of a new film made by the Global Womens Strike about the attempts by Venezuelas elite to oust the peoples elected government by shutting down the oil industry. Oil represents 80% of Venezuelas economy and the shut down would have crippled the country had it not been for the workers who fought to get the industry back on its feet. (There will be another chance to watch this film at the European Creative Forum event that is taking place at the 491 Gallery in Leytonstone this Saturday.)

The second film of the afternoon was Commandante. This Oliver Stone ‘fly-on-the-wall’ style documentary follows Cuba’s aging president Castro through four days. Complete with grassroots style wobbly cam to give it a cutting edge feel, the film provides an interesting look at Castro as a person but many may have been disappointed about Stones greater interest in the human interest angle (such as probing into Castro’s love life) rather than the politics of the revolution.

Continuing with the Cuban theme, the final films were about Cuba’s hip-hop scene and the politics inspiring it. As part of the film, Cuban rappers were taken to New York in order to help spread their music. This provided some interesting reflections as the rappers talk about the crazy waste of the society they see and put down the plastic branded MTV style rappers of the US scene.

Slightly behind schedule, the projector was shut down and the chairs laid out in a circle for a round table discussion on how Cuba & Venezuela have liberated themselves from US imperialism. The session revealed the expected divergent views between the Marxist and anarchist elements present as the debate turned to the strengths and weaknesses of these so-called ‘democratic revolutions’ and their systems of government. However the real conflict was infighting taking place elsewhere in the building (oh the joys of the radical Left).

With the serious stuff over, it was time to eat some traditional South American food as the evening’s entertainment began. The room heated up as more people arrived for the live jamming of The Rub, Paradox and drummers from Rhythms of Resistance. With the temperature and humidity at Venezuelan levels, the beer quickly ran out (but not the rum) as the noisy evening progressed and spilled out onto the streets. Lets hope it didn’t piss off the ramparts neighbours too much as there are four more days of events hosted at the Rampart Street venue.

Check out the rest of the program on
 http://www.thenewagenda.org/venezuela/weekofsolidarity/index.html

Info about the Hands of Venezuela campaign from
 http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/

Info about the rampART creative centre on
 http://www.rampart.co.nr

sb

Comments

Display the following 6 comments

  1. What other media... — Paul Edwards
  2. unoriginal attack — communist
  3. they're at war - they gotta ration — pescao
  4. naive supporters of tyrranny — Matt A
  5. links/continued rant — Matt A
  6. idiots — communish
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech