Exhibition: War Inna Babylon - The Community's Struggle for Truths and Rights

 

Institute of Contemporary Arts: 6 July – 26 September 2021

 

Photograph: Robert Croma

 

While War Inna Babylon was originally scheduled to open in May 2020 – the delay due to Covid-19 – has inadvertently made this the most timely exhibition it could possibly be.

 

In light of events over the past year, that have shown how little value is placed on Black lives – the Covid-19 Public Health England Review, BLM demonstrations, the Sewell washout, the increased use of police violence, and stop and search procedures against members of the Black community – we view this as the perfect time to focus on grassroots activism in Black frontline communities across the UK; which have been at the forefront of resisting state oppression and creating unfounded change for racial justice since the 1970s.

– Stafford Scott, co-Founder of Tottenham Rights

 

The Institute of Contemporary Arts reopens on July 6th with War Inna Babylon: The Community’s Struggle for Truths and Rights, an exhibition curated by London-based racial advocacy and community organisation, Tottenham Rights, Kamara Scott and Rianna Jade Parker.

 

Ten years on from the UK-wide riots sparked by the police killing of Mark Duggan, this exhibition shines a light on the vast range of collective actions, resistance and grassroots activism undertaken by Black communities across the U.K in response to over seven decades of societal and institutional racism. 

 

Using the ‘symbolic location’ of Tottenham, a neighbourhood that has received much attention in recent years due to its history of racial conflicts and heavy-handed policing; this exhibition combines archival material, documentary photography, film and state-of-the art 3D technology to ‘act as a window to the past and as a mirror for our present-day social climate’.  

 

War Inna Babylon will chronicle the impact of various forms of state violence and institutional racism targeted at Britain’s Black communities since the mass arrival-upon-invitation of West Indian migrants in the late 1940s. 

 

The exhibition will include original tributes from victims’ families, case studies of the controversial 'sus’ (suspected person) laws and the Gangs’ Matrix and highlights legal developments that have resulted from Black justice campaigns.  

 

War Inna Babylon will also present a new investigation into the killing of Mark Duggan by Forensic Architecture

 

The exhibition, the first of its kind to accurately assess the conditions of Black lives across Britain, will be accompanied by an extensive public programme presented both in Tottenham and at the ICA that will include film screenings, community educational groups, talks, cultural events, performances, and a digital presentation focusing on the interrelation between artificial intelligence (AI) and racism. 

Tickets will be available later in June.

https://www.ica.art/exhibitions/war-inna-babylon

 

'We Have Always Been Here': exhibition of BAME LGBTQ+ history in Haringey 1970s-1990s

 

Join us to celebrate the launch of We Have Always Been Here

 

Please join us online on Friday, 26 February at 18:00 to celebrate the launch of We Have Always Been Here, an exhibition of archives, artefacts and oral histories from the Haringey Vanguard Collection at Bruce Castle Museum.

 

This exhibition and new website resource marks the culmination of the Haringey Vanguard Project over the last two-years, collecting and preserving the history of BAME LGBTQ+ community and activism in Haringey from the 1970s to the 1990s.

 

Learn about the invaluable work activists did to promote acceptance. Find out about Haringey Council's pioneering role in the UK's fight for equality. Celebrate the camaraderie and cultural pride at the heart of community life.

 

Please register to be sent full details closer to the event.

 

 

Our exhibition title is a nod to "We Have Always Been Here", a report authored by Linda King in 1987 to address the exclusion of BAME voices from an LGBTQ+ archive.

 

Haringey Vanguard was a project funded between 2018-2021 by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and led by Haringey Archive and Museum Service at Bruce Castle, supported by London Metropolitan Archives.

Please do share amongst your networks.

Hope to see you there.

 

Best wishes

 

Deborah Hedgecock

Curator

 

Haringey Council

Haringey Archive and Museum Service, Bruce Castle Museum, Lordship Lane, London N17 8NU

Accounts of the 2015 RaHN meeting "Out and Proud in North London" can be found here and here.

Happening in Haringey

1. Priscilla Wakefield: forgotten heroine -- forgotten no longer

(TottenhamCivicSociety)

On Monday 22 October 1798, 220 years ago, Priscilla Wakefield founded the Tottenham Female Benefit Club at the High Cross. 

Join us to celebrate her life with an unveiling of a new plaque; an introductory talk on Priscilla Wakefield outlining her many achievements and a talk by Susan Johnson of the University of Bath: Reflections on feminism and microfinance.

Monday 22 October 6.30pm onwards at the High Cross United Reform Church, Tottenham Green, built on the site of Priscilla Wakefield's home. 

Priscilla Wakefield: Tottenham Quaker, feminist economist and writer

------------------------------

2. The Art of the Gestetner 

Bruce Castle Museum, ​Lordship Lane, Tottenham, London N17 8NU

Wednesday to Sunday, 1 - 5pm 

29th September 2018 - 26th January 2019

exhibition of The Art of the Gestetner

The exhibition will present material uncovered in Haringey and beyond over the course of our research into the Gestetner machine and factory, including zines, independent publications, duplicated newspapers, political pamphlets and a host of office material. These artefacts will be displayed alongside the fantastic Gestetner factory archives held at Bruce Castle Museum and Haringey Archive.

Alt Går Bra will show its mimeographed books, publications and prints, along with newly produced work for this exhibition. www.altgarbra.org

The Art of the Gestetner Bruce Castle Museum, ​Lordship Lane, Tottenham, London N17 8NU, Wednesday to Sunday, 1 - 5pm 29th September 2018 - 26th January 2019 Exhibition opening: 29th September, 1:30pm Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and Norwegian Embassy in London

The art group Alt Går Bra present a new exhibition exploring the political and social history of the Gestetner duplicating machine.

Featuring over 100 artefacts uncovered from Haringey and beyond, the exhibition explores the Gestetner machine as a device that revolutionised the office. It also reveals how the machines were put to alternative use, enabling a wave of political activists, artists and writers to produce printed publications quickly, affordably and with relative ease.

The Gestetner factory stood in Tottenham for over 80 years as a major employer in Haringey, fast becoming the largest duplicating factory in the world. Duplicators provided an efficient and labour-saving way for offices to organise and circulate increasing amounts of information. These versatile machines were also at the heart of small organisations, schools and churches, used to provide information to the community in the form of bulletins, pamphlets and letters.

The exhibition will present material from Bruce Castle Museum and Haringey Archive along with fanzines, political publications, and Alt Går Bra’s own mimeographic works.

Bruce Castle Museum and Haringey Archive’s collection of Gestetner artefacts include the fantastically illustrated house publications, which record the life of the factory in the 1950s and 1960s underscoring the companies close roots to Tottenham.

The exhibition will also feature material displayed for the first time as a collection: duplicated fanzines and alternative publications from the 1930s - 1980s. These amateur publications demonstrate the high level of creativity that was achieved with stencilling, as well as the extent to which duplicating technology enabled marginal groups to network and exchange ideas. This ability to self-publish is beautifully reflected in the host of newspapers and scouting publications on display.

Political pamphlets focus on the Gestetner’s potential to spread information outside the mainstream printing industry, leading to a number of political organisations to adopt the machines. Duplicated material by the Committee of 100 and the Hornsey and Wood Green Labour Party illustrate this aspect. The Gestetner as a clandestine printing device is seen in the pamphlets by the Spies for Peace group, exposing the government's secret plans to run the country in the case of nuclear war. 

The exhibition will include a retrospective of Alt Går Bra’s mimeographed works over the last four years. This section of the exhibition will center on Alt Går Bra’s book ​The Mimeograph, A Tool for Radical Art and Political Contestation , a compilation of texts by contemporary scholars worldwide dedicated to mimeography and the first known publication dedicated to mimeographic works. ​Alt Går Bra will show its mimeographed books, publications and prints, along with newly produced work for this exhibition.

An events programme will run alongside the exhibition, including an oral history walk around the former factory site and a series of Gestetner duplicator workshops.

Alt Går Bra is an art and research group exploring the intersections between art and politics through exhibitions and publications.

======================

Historic 'Spies for Peace'  pamphlets on display

HARINGEY LOCAL HISTORY FAIR 2017

This year's HARINGEY LOCAL HISTORY FAIR will be held on
Saturday 18th February, 11am – 4.30pm 
at Bruce Castle Museum, Lordship Lane N17 
Discover more about Haringey’s history at our Fair – you can visit the Search Room and talk to Archive Staff, enjoy our all-day talks programme or browse stalls from local organisations showcasing our heritage.

The Old Kitchen will have a café for teas, coffee and cake all day.
We look forward to seeing you.

Deborah Hedgecock
Curator 
Haringey Council
Haringey Archive and Museum Service, 
Bruce Castle Museum, Lordship Lane, London N17 8NU
T. 020 8808 8772

=================
As usual there will be a RaHN stall at this event.

There will also be a talk at 2 p.m. about the 1977 'battle of Wood Green' when 2-3,000 antifascists confronted and tried to disrupt a National Front march. 
A pamphlet on the subject is available here.
If you were there on that day 40 years ago please come and help with the recollections, or if you were involved with any other anti-fascist mobilisations from this period (eg Lewisham) as part of the wider context. 
=================

Also at the fair, a new book will be on sale:

Tottenham Walks

by Mareeni Raymond and Edward Richards

"Follow the four walks in this book to discover things about the Tottenham you thought you knew, including important history, architectural surprises and incredible people, that shaped Tottenham then and now. With simplified maps and colour photographs to guide you, explore Tottenham's many green spaces, changing streets and some of the great places to eat and drink along the way."

Walks cover:

1. Parks and Marshes: A pretty walk which takes you to Markfield Park’s beam engine and the urban garden of the Lea Valley.

2. Hidden Tottenham: From Northumberland Park to Bruce Grove, a short walk for those curious about the history of the High Road.

3. Bruce Grove to Seven Sisters: A walk through the beautiful village-esque Bruce Castle area to the Broadwater farm estate, with stops along Tottenham’s historical High Rd and Bruce Grove.

4. Seven Sisters to St. Ann's: A short stroll exploring some of the main historical sites of Tottenham High Road and the residential West Green area.

The authors say:

"We wrote the book because we are huge fans of the area we live in, and believe it is an understated place with a lot of hidden history in its buildings and residents past and present. It is a fascinating place to explore, a brilliant place to live in and so, with our daughter in tow, we’ve developed four guided walks highlighting some of our favourite places and interesting facts. There are of course plenty of things we have left out, as there just isn’t enough space to include everything, but we hope interest will be piqued enough to do some further exploring yourself!"

The RRP of the paperback is £9.99.

Featuring among other places and people:

Markfield Park beam engine

Tottenham marshes; Friends of the Marshes

Tottenham trees

7 Bruce Grove (Luke Howard's home)

Bruce Castle

Bernie Grant arts centre

Town Hall

Holy Trinity Church

The former Palace Theatre of Varieties

Lordship Rec community hub 

Haringey Archive and Museum Service

Friends of Lordship Rec 

Friends of Bruce Castle Park

Tottenham Clouds 

Haringey Friends of Parks 

Radical History Network of North East London

Haringey London Borough Council

Summerhill Road’s website team 

Hornsey Historical Society

Edmonton Hundred Historical Society

Tottenham Civic Society 

See the covers here.

Out and Proud in North London: Haringey Stories (1)

From: Radical History Network of North East London (RaHN) Meeting 

held on 25^th Feb. 2015

Out and Proud in North London

Two stories and opinions from people who campaigned

in the 80s for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Haringey

Chris’s Story

Background:

Chris grew up in the 1950s in Tottenham to a working class Irish Catholic family. At the age of 12 he knew he was gay. Being gay was illegal and it was a very difficult time for an effeminate boy to be growing up. Chris describes his experiences at school and his childhood as ‘awful’. During his teen years it was difficult playing along with the straight ways of his mates. He was closeted. There were no role models, support networks or obvious cultural outlets.

By the time of his early twenties he was thoroughly fed up with it so he told his parents and everyone else. His mum was good about it but his brothers not so. He had no contact with one of his brothers for 20 years as a result. Meanwhile his sister came out as a lesbian.

Chris grew increasingly concerned with politics and became active in a variety of activities including attending the anti-Vietnam demos in ’69. It was at around this time the SWP and Militant tried to recruit him. However, he had arguments about the position of gay rights within their parties. They argued that it was merely a middle class diversion from the class struggle. Chris retorted with, “Bollocks, I’m working class”, and argued for gay rights through class politics.

Labour Party Manifesto

He joined the Labour Party, though he later dropped out at some point. He voted against his party on the Poll Tax, getting into trouble in the process.

In 1982 he met people in the Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights. They were pushing to get gay rights into the Labour manifesto. As a result, Chris went to the Party Conference as a delegate for Tottenham where resolutions got discussed. It was the first time that gay rights had been introduced at a Labour Party Conference. It was the first step in a process that led to the inclusion of lesbian and gay rights within the Party’s equal opportunities policy. However, at the time, it didn’t get through. Many Labour members argued it would lose the party votes.

In 1984, the resolution was debated again. This was the year of the Miner’s Strike and Ken Livingstone’s GLC (Greater London Council) which included a ‘Gay Rights Working Party’ and which funded the London Lesbian and Gay Centre.  During the debate Chris recalled one constituency member referring to gays as, “These germ ridden, sick people” and pronounced that, “There are so many important issues. We don’t need gay issues.” To which, Chris’s mate said, “He’s just won it for us!” They needed a two thirds majority: they got 90 per cent.  Lesbian and gay rights was now part of the Labour Party manifesto.

Haringey Councillor

This victory allowed Haringey activists to develop things locally. This included the Positive Images campaign which, for Chris, was an opportunity to counter to the terrible experience he’d had at school: the bullying and isolation that had led to suicidal thoughts. More generally it continued the debates and campaigns of the 1970s that countered the dominance of heterosexual norms in society.

In May 1986 Labour won control of Haringey Council and included, according to Chris, ‘a good set of radical Labour councillors’ though opposed on the other side by some right wing councillors. Lesbian and gay rights were now part of the Labour Manifesto included within its position on equal opportunities.

A lot of people said they would vote for it in Haringey but didn’t do anything. As the local election loomed Chris was asked and encouraged to stand as a councillor as he was so committed. He did and he was selected. On his election address he was named as a gay and lesbian rights candidate. As a result, he did get some death threats on the phone which he ignored. On a positive note a passer-by said, “You’re the only one who is honest”, and said he’d vote for him.

Haringey Positive Images Campaign

Chris focussed on the Positive Images Campaign. Opposing them was the Parents Rights Group that included the chair of parents at a local catholic school. A mass campaign in the local press whipped up fear against them. They stated that, “They’re going to teach kids to be gay; even 3 year olds.” Meanwhile, Chris’s brother condemned him, worrying because they shared the same surname.

The campaign represented a big problem for Bernie Grant, head of Haringey Council at the time. Many in the black community in Haringey were extremely hostile to the Positive Images Campaign and lesbian and gay rights generally. So much so that Bernie called Chris about it.

Chris’s colleague, Roy, had been at a meeting at the West Indian Community Centre. Things had got so nasty that he threatened to leave. Bernie suggested that maybe it was not the right time; such was the pressure on him from within the black community. But Chris responded, “No way; if not now then never!” Bernie said okay in the end.

The Parents’ Rights Group said they were going to burn books promoted by ‘Positive Images’. Chris actually had a meeting with them.  He held that, “If you have got a student of 16, and they’re reading literature, they should know if the author is gay as it is a different way of looking at things”. And that, in a primary school, when a child is innocently racist (being children) they should be gently told so. Likewise, if a child is homophobic they should be told that, for example, ‘That is not a nice word to use’.

A short time later, the press released an appalling report on the meeting. When Chris was asked about it, he stated that either they misunderstood or they’re lying. Three months later The Express headlined ‘[surname] LIES!’ regarding the meeting. And, ‘Go to centre page for our survey on lesbian and gays.’ They had used an old article to advertise a spurious survey.

The Roundway Demonstration

In 1986 they organised a demonstration that went around the Roundway, Tottenham. They chose this route as it went into ‘Murphy area’, White Hart Lane; a Tory council area that was represented by 3 nasty, racist Tory councillors (including Murphy). This was not just a few lefties but it had wide support from Haringey lesbian and gays. There were 3,000 people on the march including people from all over London.

[Add photo]

As the chair of the sub-committee, Chris set up a lesbian and gay group in order to encourage disabled, black, ethnic minority gays and lesbians to get involved. Unfortunately it did not last long.

Attacked

In October 1986 a council meeting was attacked. The first half of the meeting was to do with bringing positive images into schools. It was the first education committee to do that, and they got it voted through. The second half of the meeting was with Sinn Fein arguing that there should be dialogue; this being a time of media/state censorship of the voice of Sinn Fein.

The meeting was chaos. There were Sinn Fein supporters and Parents’ Rights Group supporters in the same room. After the meeting the Parents’ Rights’ supporters left. Chris and colleagues decided to go for last orders round the local watering hole. Sitting in a car, a man appeared in front with a crowbar. He hit the glass and bonnet etc. The driver put his foot down. Chris was cut with glass. He recognised the guys. He identified them to the police. Three days, yep, three whole days later, the police went to the pub to make enquiries. Bernie implored, “You’ve got to move out from where you’re living!” Chris was very reluctant but stayed at a friend’s. However, he soon returned home and had no problems.

“Oi, are you the queer councillor?”

“No”, replied Chris, “gay!”

“You’ve got guts!”

Section 28

It wasn’t only Haringey that was active at this time but also Manchester, Hillingdon and many others that were active but then the Tories brought in Section 28. The right wing in the Labour Party were delighted. Now it couldn’t be said of them that they’d sold them out as it was now law. Someone said it was Livingstone’s fault. “No”, he said, “It was my mate Chris did it.”

Section 28 galvanised the lesbian and gay movement. There was a huge demonstration against it. And the next Pride event was twice the size as before.

Anti-Clause 28 Demonstration

        

Spurs and the ‘Proud Lilywhites’

A fanatical Spurs fan since 5 years old and a life-long season ticket holder, Chris got invited and became involved in the Gay Supporters Network. They put forward a motion to set up a lesbian and gay group but did not get the two thirds majority required. However, Chris argued it was a question of equal opportunities and that they shouldn’t need this vote. Chris and the Spurs group left the Gay Supporters Network.

In the Spurs matchday programme there was an invitation for any gay or lesbian fans to set up an official supporters club. So Chris and others set up the ‘Proud Lilywhites’. They designed a badge and banner with a cockerel (the Spurs emblem) and a rainbow coming out of it. There are now 200 members, including members from all over the world. As Chris suggests, ‘It’s a long way from 30 years ago.’

There have been disagreements with the club who have helped them set up however the group have made it known that ‘if we believe you’re not protecting the lesbian and gay community then there’ll be problems’. It is still early days. They had a stall at the latest Arsenal game. People took leaflets and some took photos.

Chris is, however, firmly against the club’s plans for expanding White Hart Lane at the expense of working class homes.

New publication: 100 Years of Social Housing

A 10-page booklet, now available as a pdf here, describes a walk in Tottenham for the Twentieth Century Society, led by John Goodier on 23^rd March 2013.

Summary of Contents (main headings):

Introduction on the history of social housing from earliest discernible origins

The Garden Suburb Movement and Style

The Moselle stream – “hidden force for much of this walk”

Railway Stations: Wood Green, Noel Park, Bruce Grove

Wood Green as shopping centre

taking in Spouters’ Corner, the Library, Gaumont Palace, The Mall and more.

Crown Court

White Hart Lane and Tower Gardens

Lordship Lane Park

Broadwater Farm

Peabody Cottages

Larkspur Close

Finishing at Bruce Castle 

A RaHN member writes:

Council housing has been fought for and defended for generations by those who realise that it is the only secure, affordable housing for working class people. If anything, ALL housing should be a public resource to be treasured and shared fairly, and not be treated as a commodity to be sold for private profit. Everyone should have a decent home as a right.

However Council housing is currently under attack from the Government and property speculators who cant stand what it represents - resources for need not profit. In London in particular, including Tottenham, property speculation and unaffordable house-building is rife, and developers are now pushing to get their hands on our public estates and the public land they sit on in order to build luxury housing for their own greedy profits. Haringey Council is obediently putting up a number of estates for ominous-sounding 'option reviews' and 'proposed redevelopment' - a disgusting, disastrous and failed policy being imposed by the powers-that-be throughout London.

However, wherever there is oppression there is resistance. Campaigners and local Tenants and Residents Associations in many boroughs have fought hard to oppose these sell-offs, and some have created their own Community Plans for the genuine improvements local residents want to see. A shining example of positive community-led regeneration is our very own Broadwater Farm Estate here in Tottenham, as outlined in the pamphlet. When there was talk of knocking it down in the 1980s, the residents demanded and lobbied hard for a range of improvements, and regeneration funding was then found to implement almost all of them. It’s now one of the most attractive estates in London.

There is a national Defend Council Housing movement, and in Haringey we are proud to have had an active Defend Council Housing campaign for the last 10 years. At the time of writing HDCH have held many public meetings on threatened estates and are calling on the residents of all estates, and their supporters, to demand improvements not demolitions.

This pamphlet is an excellent counterweight to the current anti-Council-housing propaganda in the media and in local and national Government. It demonstrates that the lesson of history is that we can and must fight for more and better public services and facilities of all kinds, and decision-making that benefits our communities and satisfies our real needs.

Dave Morris
- Council tenant in Tottenham
- An active member of Haringey Defend Council Housing
- Secretary of the Haringey Federation of Residents Associations