As we face austerity and what seems like an ever changing global economic situation, understanding the reasons behind it all can seem daunting.

Really Open University will be hosting a 2 month crash economics course at the Space Project. We present a beginners guide to economics through lectures, discussions, film showings and workshops unravelling the financial jargon, examining the history and analysing the causes of the crisis whilst also collectively creating our own resistance to this new stage of Capitalism.

Each session works on its own so you are free to come to as few or as many as you like. For further readings and discussions around a specific area of economics, check out the New Weapons reading group on "Crisis".

6th Feb – "Why Does Economics Matter?" David Harvie

Lecture introducing basic ideas of economics. What is economics? Why is it important to understand and how does it affect our everyday lives?

David Harvie is a senior lecturer in finance and political economy at the University of Leicester, political activist and member of the Free Association collective.

13th Feb – "Inside Job" Film Showing

Film highlighting the systemic corruption within the financial system and how it led to the debt crisis. This will be followed by a discussion on the central role played by debt in Neoliberalism. The session should explain the ideology of debt and how it is inherent to the capitalist system, a great introduction to the following workshop...

20th Feb – Corporatewatch Debt Resistance Workshop

As we all face more and more debt, this is a practical workshop on how we can resist it in our everyday lives. Corporatewatch is a research group providing information on corporations and supporting campaigns against them.

27th Feb – "Know Thy Enemy" David Harvie

The second introductory lecture, focusing on financial institutions and the technicalities of the economic system. How do they work? What does the jargon mean?

We'll have more events in March including reflections on the Eurozone crisis by the Occupied London blog, and talks by the ex-Deterritorial Support Group and Paul Mason. Keep an eye on the website for further details!

4th - 5th February

Since its emergence as a distinct ideology at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, fascism has brought more misery to the world than any other political doctrine. Yet, even today, even after the titanic antifascist struggles of the past, and even the Nazi Holocaust, from Anders Breivik to Dale Farm, the threat of fascism still exists. In the past, our comrades had the courage to stand up and say No Pasaran! – They shall not pass! – From Leeds' own Holbeck Moor, where Oswald Mosley was routed, to the battlefields of Spain. The heroism of these brave antifascists, who often paid the ultimate price for their resistance, should not be forgotten. 

We are showing these films, documenting the fight against fascism in Spain, Germany, England, France, and Poland, to educate and inspire. We should never forget the reality of fascism nor shrink from confronting it ourselves. For evil to flourish it is only necessary that good people do nothing.

We are showing films documenting the struggle against fascism in Spain, Germany, France, and England. The programme also includes some short talks, a quiz, and there will even be some anti-Nazi comedy. The Leeds ABC bookstall will be there selling books, pamphlets, T-shirts, badges, CDs, and more. There'll be sandwiches and vegan cake, a raffle, and the weekend concludes with a session of antifascist songs from Javaad Alipoor.

This should be a great event so please make every effort to attend. Admission is free, but donations will be gratefully received on the door. No Pasaran! is a benefit for antifascist prisoners.

Programme

Saturday

11.00am - Auschwitz – Recollections Of Prisoner No. 1327 - Kazimir Smolen survived four and a half years in the Nazi concentration camp. In this Polish-made documentary, he returns there to tell his tale. Running time 42 minutes.

12.00 Noon - Remembering Auschwitz - A short talk by Javaad Alipoor and Imran Manzoor about the infamous death-camp and their work in taking West Yorkshire teenagers to visit the site.

1.00pm – Conspiracy (15) - The chilling true story of how, at a short conference in Wansee, just outside Berlin, in 1942, the Nazis decided on 'The Final Solution' to the European 'Jewish Problem'. Stars Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci. Running time 92 minutes.

3pm - When The Violins Stopped Playing - A short talk about the Gypsy Holocaust.

3.30pm - Edelweiss Pirates (15) - Politically and culturally the Edelweiss Pirates were the polar opposite of the Hitler Youth. This film focuses on a group of young Edelweiss Pirates in Cologne towards the end of World War Two. In German with English subtitles. Running time 96 minutes.

5.30pm - The 43 Group - Returning home after World War Two, many Jewish ex-servicemen and women were astonished to see Oswald Mosely's fascists once again trying to stir-up anti-Semitism on the streets. This short film chronicles the militant response of the antifascist 43 Group.

6.00pm - Antifascist recollections from the 1970's - A short reading.

6.10pm - The Welling Case - A talk about last year's prosecution of 20 antifascists on trumped-up 'conspiracy' charges by one of those acquitted.

6.20pm – Spinach Fer Britain – The 1943 anti-Nazi Popeye cartoon which wasn't released until 2003.

6.30pm - Laughing At The Enemy - Bod Green tells some of his favourite antifascist jokes, including some genuine 1930's gems.

7.00pm - The Army Of Crime (15) - The true story of one of the most notorious resistance groups in Nazi-occupied France. In an attempt to discredit them, they were dubbed 'The Army of Crime' by the fascists they fought against. French (mainly) with English subtitles. Running time approximately 135 minutes.

Sunday

12.00 Noon - Land And Freedom (15) - Ken Loach's inspiring film about the Spanish Civil War, which follows a (fictional) young antifascist volunteer who leaves his native Liverpool to go and fight in Spain. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. Running time 109 minutes.

2.30pm - Living Utopia, The Anarchists & The Spanish Revolution - Juan Gamero's 1997 documentary, which contains moving and inspiring interviews with 30 survivors of the Spanish Revolution. Regarded by many as the best film of the genre. Spanish with English subtitles. Running time 95 minutes.

4.30pm - The Anarchist Black Cross – A short talk about the work of Leeds ABC.

5.00pm - Pan's Labrynth (18) - Guillermo Del Toro weaves fairy-tale imagery into this powerful film set in post Civil War Spain. Spanish with English subtitles. Running time 119 minutes.

7.15pm - The Dead Fascist Quiz – What it says on the tin!

7.45pm - To The Barricades! - Javaad Alipoor performs a set of international antifascist songs.

Around 40 people fouhgt their way through the hordes of christmas shoppers to tour the streets where Leeds workers, chartists, co-operators and radicals met, organised and were opposed by violent and repressive city bosses.

Shaun Cohen of the Ford-Maguire Society, named after two notable Leeds socialist pioneers Isabella Ford and Tom Maguire, shared his wealth of knowledge.

He led us past the Markets, originally an area called Vicars Croft used for open air political meetings. It was here that chartists rallied, as well as a marshaling point for the workplace struggles of the 19th century in which Leeds played a crucial role in getting lower working hours.

The consumerist temple of Harvey Nicols stands on the site of the old town hall, where the heads of executed Parliamentarian consprators were placed on poles in the 17th century.

We ended up by City Square, where Victorian inspectors compiling a report on child labour had been beseiged at their lodging in the Scarbrough Hotel by a mass of working children themselves.

It's so easy to be dazzled by the glitzy windows or just to see the changes in our time. But to be told of this peoples' history changes the way we feel about the streets around us. Harvey Nicks will never look the same again.

The event built on a walk a week earlier along the railway viaduct through Hunslet learning about strikes at the mills adn the as works and fights against the Black Shirts. There are more events coming up so keep an eye on the Space Project website.

Former miner and NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) official Dave Douglass gave a comprehensive history of class-struggle in the coalfields of England. Once Britain's most powerful trade union, Dave explained how both Labour and Tory administrations had plotted the downfall of the NUM, as a precursor to the taming of the organised working-class as a whole.The 1984-85 Miner's Strike was the most important industrial action of modern times, but it was more than that, it was about far more than jobs, and it involved whole communities fighting back against the might of the British police state. In the run-up to the strike, both sides made preparations, Thatcher's NCB National Coal Board) axe-man MacGregor stock-piling coal and the miners trying to wear those stocks down through an overtime ban. The NCB picked the time, March 1984, by provoking a walk-out at Cortonwood colliery, and the strike quickly spread through Yorkshire and throughout the country. A year of hard struggle followed and Dave covered everything comprehensively, from scabs in Nottinghamshire who sided with Thatcher and her boot boys, to the role of the pit deputies union NACODS, who despite an 80% vote in favour of strike action, kept every pit open. Eventually losing the strike was a crushing defeat, not only for the miners, but for the working-class as a whole. Nonetheless, people kept fighting back throughout the 80's, not least in the coalfields, which saw strikes and walk-outs within weeks of the return to work. Dave put the strike and that great period of struggle firmly in its historic context and talked about the lessons we can take from this watershed in the class war, lessons that were certainly not lost on the audience at The Space.

The first weekend of November saw The Space Project team up with the Leeds International Film Festival to programme a series of film screenings about class struggle in Italy in the 1960s and '70s. The series, dubbed Living With an Earthquake, kicked off with Working Slowly (Radio Alice), a 2004 feature film about cultural subversion in Bologna, and was followed by Porto Marghera: The Last Firebrands, a documentary about workplace organising in the toxic environment of Venice's heavy industrial zone. The series finished with a double bill of documentaries featuring Antonio Negri – a Revolt that Never Ends, a profile of the famous radical philosopher and political prisoner, and Il Trasloco / Moving out of the future, a film about some of the central characters from the Italian 'autonomia' movement.

Living With An Earthquake will be followed by a series of regular fortnightly screenings of radical, subversive and countercultural films at The Space Project. The Militant Cinema Club opens with Omicron on 22nd November, followed by Medium Cool on December 6th and The Working Class Goes to Heaven on December 20th. All films start at 7.30pm and entry is 100% free.

Militant Cinema Club 2011 programme:

Tuesday, November 22 · 7:30pm

Omicron

(Hugh Gregoretti, 1964)

The body of an apparently dead Italian worker is found inside a pipe. The worker, however, is not dead. His body has, rather, been taken over by Omicron, an alien who is seeking to learn the customs and functions of modern humans as a prelude to an alien invasion. As Omicron learns how to operate the body he returns to the workers factory job and is soon enmeshed in the class struggle of the time. This plot device allows us an outsider's view of the situation resulting in a light-hearted parody of the capitalist system.

***********

Tuesday, December 6 · 7:30pm

Medium Cool

(Haskell Wexler1969)

Two "world-wise" middle class news reporters are sent to film the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and become unwittingly involved in its political demonstrations, the inner city problems that have precipitated them, and the lives of a single mother and her young son in this harsh, confusing and seriously under-privileged world. A 60s counter culture classic that is part film, part documentary and famously contains scenes shot amidst the actual riots surrounding the Convention.

***********

Tuesday, December 20 · 7:30pm

The Working Class Goes to Heaven

(Elio Petri, 1971)

Lulù Massa is a boss's dream, a Stakonhovite enemy of his class, until he loses a finger at work. Newly radicalised, he joins the movement torn between the unions and more radical workers and students- only to be fired during the ensuing strike. Alienated, bored with the monotony of the factory, Lulù is shaken into awareness of his true value as a worker.

About thirty people joined us on the "Leeds Turned Upside Down" guided walk last week. They were taken on a secret path above the city from which we could look down onto the key sites in the history of Leeds. We talked about history but we were also interested in the present and the future. We talked about the 'undead' plans the big developers and their compliant council have for our city.

One area we visited is now called 'Holbeck Urban Village'. Interestingly it's a development plan that comes with its own historical narrative, in which the story of Leeds is reduced to entrepreneurs, businessmen and gentlemen reformers. In many ways our walk is an antidote to that 'official' history. The ordinary people of Leeds are written out of the official story, mere pawns, to be housed here or sent to work there. And they'd like to keep us as pawns in their future Leeds.

But that Leeds is never going to happen, it's been killed by the economic crisis. We now need something fundamentally different but it's not going to come from the economic and political elite..

Luckily the real history of Leeds has many stories of ordinary loiners organising themselves, taking action and bending the city to their needs. On our walk we saw how, again and again, people had to step up and struggle for control over their lives, whether struggling for the vote, for the 8 hour day, or just for some dignity. It seemed to us walkers that we are long overdue a turn of our own.

Last night Really Open University launched the new critical pedagogy discussion group at The Space Project. Critical pedagogy is a group of theories within educational theory that attempts to look at power relations within education, how education relates to and often mirrors the politics of society outside the classroom and how these relations can be subverted to make education a site of political resistance. We were very lucky to welcome Sara Motta and Sarah Amsler, both of whom are lecturers in critical pedagogy and active in projects which attempt to put the theory into practice including the Social Science Centre and West Midlands Critical Pedagogy Group.

The event was opened with some brief words from ROU members about negative experiences with teaching and the desire to explore critical pedagogy in order to enact it in our transformation of education, including in The Space Project. Sara and Sarah gave a great introduction to critical pedagogy. They told us how the recent rise of groups like Really Open University and the Social Science Centre are creating an exciting change in how people are viewing critical pedagogy and attempting to use it as a tool in practice rather than an abstract thing to be discussed. The description of critical pedagogy they gave acted as a warning against set methodologies and how it can be absorbed into a neoliberal model. They instead emphasised that critical pedagogy should come from a political project and analysis of society at large, that it cannot be divorced from an analysis of power and critical reflection.

The rest of the session was taken up by a workshop in which participants discussed why we are interested in the theory and what we hope to gain from it. We talked about some texts that were handed round as a group to get a better understanding of some key concepts. The really exciting part of it though was that we were constantly thinking about how power was acting even within the group, including how the texts themselves could be alienating, and the different positions each of us came from. This led to a collective questioning and enquiry that we're all keen to pursue. We'll put up a mind-map of what we discussed on the site soon for people to look at and think about. The next session for the critical pedagogy group will be on the 23rd November in which we will build on this introduction to come up with some collective questions we want to read around and discuss for the rest of the course. It's open to anyone who has ever taught or been taught, in whatever setting or standard. If you want to know more about the course or how to get involved get in touch.

On Thursday night Shaun Cohen, a self-taught local historian, gave a talk on Leeds' radical past to an audience of over twenty people. Starting in the 1790s, the talk leaped dizzingly back and forth in time, rather than taking a linear, step-by-step narrative, up until around 1848, though the time-travel took us to 1911 at one point and back to the 1720s at another. We sprang through the rise of Trade Unionism, the Leeds Corresponding Society, the Luddites, the Chartists, the Dripping Riots, the Leeds Gas Strike - and less-well known evidence of resistance, of working-class organisation and self-education. Some of what was covered can be found in E.P. Thompson's indispensable The Making of the English Working Class, but much was drawn from Shaun's own research into this period. Given the time period covered and the amount of material to be brought to light, this leaping from one time to another, between different struggles, proved to be a useful and perhaps necessary approach and kept the audience attentive. Perhaps most valuable was that this encouraged us to make connections across time between all of the manifestations of radicalism, too often portrayed as isolated, separate events in mainstream history. Throughout his talk, Shaun passed around copies of original documents, from an alarm-filled reactionary letter about subversives meeting in Leeds public houses to plot revolution though to Chartist posters. A very important point made by Shaun was that, for those people struggling for self-determination in the early 19th century, there was nothing inevitable about Capitalism's success and, for them, it was a foe that could be defeated. What succeeded most about the talk was that it left one wanting to know more, to follow up some of the inspiring connections - right up to the present day.

Shaun Cohen is also leading a walk, exploring some of the sites of Leeds' radical history, on Sunday, 27th November, setting off from The Space at 2:30pm.

Last night The Space Project played host to Jano Charbell, journalist and anarchist activist from Cairo in Egypt. Jano spoke to an audience of about 30 in the newly decorated Space, about the conditions in Egypt since the revolution began and Mubarak fell. He warned of the counter-revolutionary activities of the ruling military council in Egypt as being a threat to the energy and optimism of the millions who took part in the initial uprisings of 2011. The council has put thousands of civilians on trial, gagged the media and delayed promised elections. He also spoke, however, of the causes for optimism in Egypt where new civil society organisations, such as independent trade unions and neighbourhood assemblies continue to spring up. 

For Jano the internationalism of the current wave of resistance is crucial. There is a real cross-fertilisation of struggle. Activists in Egypt are not only inspiring and inspired by other Arab popular revolts, but also inspired by the current global Occupy movement and other anti-capitalist protests. Building international links of solidarity and support is a key part of ensuring that the challenges to capitalism remain strong.

Jano’s talk is just one of the many events being organised in The Space Project. Other up and coming events include: ‘There Was Struggle Before Us’: A programme of walks, talks rides and performances concerning radical history on the streets of Leeds; and in conjunction with Leeds International Film Festival, ‘LIVING WITH AN EARTHQUAKE: A WEEK OF MILITANT CINEMA’.

Most of the decorating is done now and the Space Project is looking great. Thanks everyone who's given up their time and helped out on the work days.

We can't believe how quickly everyone has taken to suggesting events for the Space and started to fill up the timetable. Already we've had film showings, a German conversation group, and meetings for No Borders and Real Democracy Now. November is already looking busy so get in touch soon if want to put something on.

We're very excited to be hosting a talk by Egyptian Anarchist Jano Charbell tomorrow, one of only two speaking dates he has in the UK. Jano will be talking about his experiences in Arab Spring, including being an occupier of Tahir Square. Come along to this interesting talk and rare opportunity to discuss with a participant in the Egyptian Revolution Sunday 23rd October at 19:30. 

Next week we also have our next open house meeting. All are welcome if you want to get more involved with the Space. It will be a great chance to talk to other people putting on events in the Space and exchange ideas.

Also next week we have our launch event! Stay tuned to the events page for updates!

We’ve moved into the space! Finally got the keys to the new hub of radical education in Leeds on Tuesday! Seeing as we don’t waste any time we had our first public meeting that evening with about 40 people attending. After an introduction to the space we handed over to people to introduce their own ideas for events they might like to run in the Space, then had a chance for everyone to socialise and chat to each other. Some really good ideas came up and we’ve already had some additions to the calendar so keep an eye out for new stuff! Next up we have a day of cleaning and decorating the space and maybe even making some furniture from midday on saturday. Please come along if you have the afternoon free and want to get involved in the Space. Thanks to everyone who came on Tuesday and made the first meeting a success!