mp->> Do you feel like you're part of a wider culture? Either around the country or globally?

Ray->> Yeah, definitely.

Amy->> Definitely. Especially when you go to festivals.

Will->> The bottom line is, the Criminal Justice Act is part of a continuing attack on alternative lifestyles, on not being straight.

Ray->> So in a sense it focused a lot of different groups working together and finding out that we had a lot of stuff in common. And finding out about the People's Global Action, and going on from the Zapatistas using email to contact all 'round the world and so on.

Jack->> I think it's jumped every six months or year. We were quite Brighton-based, Criminal Justice Bill, then it jumped a bit so we were covering national stories. And then it was Geneva where we went to the People's Global Action conference. And we just linked up. I mean, that just blew my mind, we were with all these amazing people from around the world. We did a booklet about it, interviewed them. (I always sort of judge people, whether I'd like to go and have a beer with them, whether I think they're alright.) And these people were just fucking amazing, from all around the world! And you see all the struggles are exactly the same. We might be coming at it from different angles, but they're the same. Then we jumped, went international, we were linking up with email, the web, and things like that. Me and Ray were talking to Amy about it the other day, how we want to make the next jump really, to do more connections with Asia and Africa. Try and get into their news groups. The G8 summit in Birmingham last year, coordinating with RTS, and the big actions in Brazil and India were like the first coordinated big actions, I think, around the world, using email. I was listening to Radio 4 and they had all these boffin academics on. And the geezer from One World was talking about this was the first coordinated email demonstrations. The actual Reclaim the Streets events, going on simultaneously. And June the 18th is the next step of linking up with different groups.

mp->> You're mentioning email. How do those initial contacts get made? Do people normally get in touch with you?

Amy->> Partly through parties and festivals, just being out there.

Ray->> I think a thing that differentiates SchNews from a lot of other organizations in this country is that we've had the same office since we've started. So, there's been that.

mk->> So having a stable center?

Ray->> Yeah. Our phone number's been the same and so on.

Will->> If we weren't at the Levellers' we'd have probably been all hauled off by now.

Ray->> Yeah, really.

Will->> It's only because if they went to bust the Levellers, it would cause such a commotion, probably. People just want a bit of freedom, have a smoke, party in the street.

Ray->> Enjoy themselves.

Will->> After all, what the hell's wrong with that?

Ray->> Yeah, really.

Will->> Every street, every road on this planet is given over to cars twenty-four hours a day. You decide to have a party somewhere for a few hours, and you would think that you'd planted a bloody bomb in the middle of the street! And all you're doing is having a bit of fun.

Ray->> And once people have got the idea, you know, "Reclaim the Streets," a little catch-phrase. Every few months or during the summer every year there are a certain amount of them in this country. But then you can think about that when you're walking around during the day. If you're about to cross the road and there's a car coming, you step in front of the car. There are witnesses around, they're not gonna run you over. But taking it from something big-scale to just being something that you do naturally, that's really important.

mk->> So, it's like little pieces of freedom that start to widen up in people's lives, then they want bigger ones.

Ray->> That's right, yeah.

Will->> For example, my kid, he's gone to RTS and Newbury and stuff like that, and it's just so natural to him. He can't work out what he's doing wrong, why all these police officers are standing 'round waiting to beat us up. He can't quite fathom what it's all about, because all he's doing is having a bit of fun on the run-way or whatever. You know? That keeps me going because I see that actually what we're doing isn't something totally unheard of, it's something natural.

Ray->> I think SchNews is good in that because there's different age groups as well. From toddlers up to toddlers like Will! So you see your mates having kids and settling down, or you do that yourself, and you realize what it's all about. And there is quite good information being put around now, so it is fairly clear to people what's at stake, I think. And once you've gone to a few events and a few actions, you see that things are possible, and that they do succeed.

Will->> I think the thing about the Miners' Strike and the Poll Tax is that people were protesting and they had the full weight of the state put against them.

Ray->> Yeah, they were really important.

Will->> And it makes you think, "Well, if they're doing that, if they've got that much weaponry, at the end of the day you're not going to be able to beat them in a fight." Because even if you beat up five thousand policemen at a protest, they're gonna come along with ten thousand troops tomorrow. And at the end of the day you know you're not gonna beat these bastards, because they're looking for any excuse to have a go at culturally cleansing you. So what alternative is there left but to have fun and organize things as much as you can? That's what it's about. You've only got to look at Stonehenge, the free festival over there that went on for years. When it was almost becoming a legal thing, they got the Convoy and just smashed it to pieces. And covered up all the evidence. And ever since then it's been that kind of thing, where they just want what's described as "monoculture."

Ray->> We've got a quote in our office on the filing cabinet from someone from Tiananmen Square, "Why do we need to make up stuff about our enemies? Don't the facts speak for themselves?" And if you can put that across to people, they know you're on the same level as them. If we were on the TV spouting out our stuff in some mega-serious way to people, then they probably wouldn't be interested. But, we have a sense of humor.

 

• up to the top
  
• back to ...part of a wider culture...?

• Peoples' Global Action
  From the 23rd to the 25th of February 1998, peoples' movements from all continents met in Geneva and launched a worldwide coordination of resistance against the global market, a new alliance of struggle and mutual support called the Peoples' Global Action against "Free" Trade and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The first worldwide co-ordination of local struggles during the WTO ministerial conference in Geneva in May 1998 was a huge success: many different demos, actions and Global Street Parties took place on all five continents from the 16th to the 20th of May.
  
  _______________________________________________________________________________

  Find out more on this topic by checking out the Index	back up to the interview
  ( Click your browser's [BACK] button to return to this interview page )

• Levellers
  Excellent high-energy UK band, full of radical fire, formed in early 1988. They've become huge in England, headlining some of the largest music festivals. With some of the extra dosh they have on hand due to this fame, they provide free rent to various activist groups, like SchNews.
  
  _______________________________________________________________________________

  Find out more on this topic by checking out the Index	back up to the interview
  ( Click your browser's [BACK] button to return to this interview page )

• Stonehenge
  In 1985, an annual free festival celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge was violently repressed by police. At the infamous Battle of the Beanfield, police attacked a group of non-violent Travellers and festival-goers, known as the Peace Convoy, on their way to the festival. The unprovoked violence of police, who viciously beat people and smashed up the Convoy's caravans, received national exposure and provoked widespread outrage. Despite extreme police misconduct, the festival, along with any unauthorized pagan or festive presence at the stones on the summer solstice, has been prohibited. On the solstice in 1999, after announcing that Stonehenge was open to visitors, police again attacked & arrested people coming to celebrate the festival holiday.
  
  _______________________________________________________________________________

  Find out more on this topic by checking out the Index	back up to the interview
  ( Click your browser's [BACK] button to return to this interview page )