Catalyst newssheet for September 2005

Graffiti IS public art!

The recent charging of a graffiti artist, commissioned by the Biennial Arts Project, with criminal damage shows the narrow mindedness of the people running the city.
Liverpool's regeneration chief Charlie Parker has already trumpeted his belief that we don’t need anything that doesn’t create wealth and the council’s zero tolerance of things that don’t have a £ sign attached only undermines grassroots art.

Sea Cycles

Twice a day the tide rises and falls in the Pool of Liverpool 6 metres below our feet along Whitechapel and Paradise Street. Once a year there is a Sea Cycles Celebration reminding us of the Pool's existence.
The event follows the route of the tidal pool from close to its source in William Brown Street to its mouth on the river Mersey near the Maritime Museum. The parade is on Sunday 18 September 2005, meeting at 11.15am at the World Museum.
Bring hats, bikes and costumes to fit in with the theme.
www.poolproject.co.uk/seacycles

“Communities must act on Racism”

The reporting of racist attacks on Merseyside has gone up fourfold since 7 July according to Merseyside Racial Harassment Prevention Unit,
with outlying areas such as Dovecot, Huyton and Halewood having the most incidents.
"This figure is just the 'tip of the iceberg'", a spokesperson for the unit said. "Racial abuse and physical attack could have been happening for a long time, but people put up with it, or find ways of coping without reporting incidents"
"There was a spontaneous demonstration of 4000 people after Anthony Walker was murdered; we need to keep this level of response going. The message to communities is not to tolerate racism and report even low-level incidents to us on 0800 138 1688."

Dockers Decade

When Liverpool Dockers refused to cross a picket line on 29 September 1995 and were immediately dismissed by Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, no-one could imagine the full consequences. Port after port joined the fight against casual labour and deregulation as dockworkers around the world recognised that they confront the same issues in a global industry.
The Liverpool Social Forum is inviting activists to join them in organising a week of events - bands, talks, films - around the theme of workers and communities united in struggle.
If you know bands that would play, people who would talk or rant, artists, sources of films and film shorts they can show, or would like to be involved in planning and organising, get in touch: liverpoolsf@yahoogroups.co.uk. We were there, let's celebrate our role in what was a historic struggle.

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