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Events
Future events
Free film - Taking Liberties
Monday 18-Aug-2008 20:00
The Vic, Victoria Hill, Old Town, Swindon ( map )
Swindon Stop the War Coalition organising meeting
Tuesday 02-Sep-2008 19:30
Friends Meeting House, Eastcott Hill, Swindon (map)
Swindon Stop the War Coalition organising meeting
Tuesday 07-Oct-2008 19:30
Friends Meeting House, Eastcott Hill, Swindon (map)
This page is provided as a service to the community by Swindon Stop the War Coalition. Events listed on this page are not necessarily organised by or endorsed by Swindon Stop the War Coalition. To get your event listed here, contact webmonkey@swindonstopwar.org.uk
Free film - Taking Liberties
Monday 18-Aug-2008 20:00 The Vic, Victoria Hill, Old Town, Swindon ( map ) A documentary by Chris Atkins. Watch the trailer at
http://www.noliberties.com/trailer.htm
The Victoria, Victoria Road, Old Town, Swindon
8pm, Monday 18th August
Admission free
Channel 4 review: http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=1...
With its partisan persuasion and grim entertainment, Taking Liberties follows a familiar and well-established formula to reveal a new evil of the modern age. Since the terrorist attacks on New York in 2001, claims director Chris Atkins, "a group of sharp suited PR Men and management consultants called New Labour have stolen the rights and freedoms of the British People."
And his evidence is compelling. There are the peaceful protesters on their way to a demonstration intercepted by police and forcibly escorted back to London, the RAF veteran arrested under the Terrorism Act for wearing an anti-Blair T-shirt, and of course Walter Wolfgang, the 82-year-old Labour Party member ejected from the 2005 Labour Party Conference for shouting "nonsense" at Jack Straw. Most viewers will have heard these stories before, but what sets them apart here is the connecting narrative and remarkable footage, some of it being shown for the first time. It is genuinely astonishing that people can be imprisoned without trial, prevented from protesting and even have their freedom of speech curtailed in modern Britain, and as Atkins gets behind the headlines the stories assume a new significance.
BBC review: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6705375.stm
Atkins' argument - told through a mix of animation, news footage and interviews - is that Labour has over-reacted to the terror threat, using it as an excuse to bring in a series of alarming curbs on personal freedom.
"If I had died, I would not have wanted the constitution to be shredded on my behalf," says Rachel North, who was injured in the 7 July attacks, at one point.
There are interviews with Walter Wolfgang - the veteran peace campaigner ejected from the 2005 Labour conference and briefly held under anti-terror laws for heckling Jack Straw - and Maya Evans, arrested for breaking the ban on unauthorised protests in Westminster for reading out names of soldiers killed in Iraq near the Cenotaph.
David Bermingham and "the NatWest Three", the bankers extradited to America on fraud charges, and Parliament Square protester Brian Haw, also feature.
Amazon review: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Liberties-Chris-Atk...
With the 'shockumentary' TAKING LIBERTIES, director Chris Atkins puts Tony Blair's New Labour government firmly in his crosshairs and takes aim.
Reviled over his handling of the 'War on Terror' and special relationship with U.S. President George W Bush, Blair's image took a very public battering from which it never fully recovered.
Much like Michael Moore sought to undermine the U.S. administration and make a fool out of the president with FARENHEIT 9/11, Atkins has constructed a similar argument using previously unseen footage intercutting with commentary from various talking heads such as Mark Thomas, Boris Johnson and Tony Benn as well as other leading politicians, celebrities, human rights organisations, academics and more.
The result is a revealing and entertaining look at the burning issues of the UK today.
Guardian review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/jun/08/documen...
Director Chris Atkins shows how, since 1997, New Labour's residual passion for ideology, combined with a fear of looking Spartist or soft on terror, has combined to deliver a panic-stricken abandonment of liberties that we'd somehow held on to in the face of Nazi Germany and the IRA.
Some pundits may find it deficient in sophistication or the fence-sitting neutrality of good taste; for me it was a vitamin-boost of scepticism. Cheerful, polemical and tactless, Atkins's film raises a celebratory glass to the spirit of British awkwardness and bloody-mindedness, the dissident spirit that infuses both the anti-war protesters and the Countryside Alliance - Mark Thomas and Boris Johnson alike.
Hosted by Socialist Unity - http://www.socialistunity.com/
To suggest films for future Socialist Unity film nights, e-mail andyd1961 [at] yahoo.co.uk
The Victoria, Victoria Road, Old Town, Swindon
8pm, Monday 18th August
Admission free
Channel 4 review: http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=1...
With its partisan persuasion and grim entertainment, Taking Liberties follows a familiar and well-established formula to reveal a new evil of the modern age. Since the terrorist attacks on New York in 2001, claims director Chris Atkins, "a group of sharp suited PR Men and management consultants called New Labour have stolen the rights and freedoms of the British People."
And his evidence is compelling. There are the peaceful protesters on their way to a demonstration intercepted by police and forcibly escorted back to London, the RAF veteran arrested under the Terrorism Act for wearing an anti-Blair T-shirt, and of course Walter Wolfgang, the 82-year-old Labour Party member ejected from the 2005 Labour Party Conference for shouting "nonsense" at Jack Straw. Most viewers will have heard these stories before, but what sets them apart here is the connecting narrative and remarkable footage, some of it being shown for the first time. It is genuinely astonishing that people can be imprisoned without trial, prevented from protesting and even have their freedom of speech curtailed in modern Britain, and as Atkins gets behind the headlines the stories assume a new significance.
BBC review: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6705375.stm
Atkins' argument - told through a mix of animation, news footage and interviews - is that Labour has over-reacted to the terror threat, using it as an excuse to bring in a series of alarming curbs on personal freedom.
"If I had died, I would not have wanted the constitution to be shredded on my behalf," says Rachel North, who was injured in the 7 July attacks, at one point.
There are interviews with Walter Wolfgang - the veteran peace campaigner ejected from the 2005 Labour conference and briefly held under anti-terror laws for heckling Jack Straw - and Maya Evans, arrested for breaking the ban on unauthorised protests in Westminster for reading out names of soldiers killed in Iraq near the Cenotaph.
David Bermingham and "the NatWest Three", the bankers extradited to America on fraud charges, and Parliament Square protester Brian Haw, also feature.
Amazon review: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Liberties-Chris-Atk...
With the 'shockumentary' TAKING LIBERTIES, director Chris Atkins puts Tony Blair's New Labour government firmly in his crosshairs and takes aim.
Reviled over his handling of the 'War on Terror' and special relationship with U.S. President George W Bush, Blair's image took a very public battering from which it never fully recovered.
Much like Michael Moore sought to undermine the U.S. administration and make a fool out of the president with FARENHEIT 9/11, Atkins has constructed a similar argument using previously unseen footage intercutting with commentary from various talking heads such as Mark Thomas, Boris Johnson and Tony Benn as well as other leading politicians, celebrities, human rights organisations, academics and more.
The result is a revealing and entertaining look at the burning issues of the UK today.
Guardian review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/jun/08/documen...
Director Chris Atkins shows how, since 1997, New Labour's residual passion for ideology, combined with a fear of looking Spartist or soft on terror, has combined to deliver a panic-stricken abandonment of liberties that we'd somehow held on to in the face of Nazi Germany and the IRA.
Some pundits may find it deficient in sophistication or the fence-sitting neutrality of good taste; for me it was a vitamin-boost of scepticism. Cheerful, polemical and tactless, Atkins's film raises a celebratory glass to the spirit of British awkwardness and bloody-mindedness, the dissident spirit that infuses both the anti-war protesters and the Countryside Alliance - Mark Thomas and Boris Johnson alike.
Hosted by Socialist Unity - http://www.socialistunity.com/
To suggest films for future Socialist Unity film nights, e-mail andyd1961 [at] yahoo.co.uk
Swindon Stop the War Coalition organising meeting
Tuesday 02-Sep-2008 19:30 Friends Meeting House, Eastcott Hill, Swindon (map)
Swindon Stop the War Coalition's regular organising meeting. All welcome to plan the way forward.
Got something you want on the agenda? Contact our Secretary at office@swindonstopwar.org.uk
Swindon Stop the War Coalition organising meeting
Tuesday 07-Oct-2008 19:30 Friends Meeting House, Eastcott Hill, Swindon (map) Swindon Stop the War Coalition's regular organising meeting. All welcome to plan the way forward.
Got something you want on the agenda? Contact our Secretary at office@swindonstopwar.org.uk