World festival on human rights includes local experiences

Maryhill Integration Network’s dance piece ‘Lullaby Spirit’ is one of the events to be seen in

DOCUMENT – the ten day festival on human rights issues in Glasgow starting on Friday 19 October.

The beautifully choreographed piece by Natasha Gilmore, centres on sleep and is interpreted by people from around the world who have arrived in Maryhill for a multitude of different reasons. Those different reasons are seen and understood even without one word being spoken. Produced by award winning author Remzije Sherifi, the dance is skilfully shown by adults and children who are touching on their own experiences.

That is just one of the stunning events and 85 films on offer at DOCUMENT which celebrates its tenth year now.

Another local contribution will be the special screening of ‘Roma of Govanhill’ with a guest audience of Govanhill residents.

Most of the films and events take place at the Centre of Contemporary Art (CCA) at the Charing Cross end of Sauchiehall Street but some are scheduled for Glasgow University’s Gilmorehill Centre at the foot of University Avenue near Kelvin Way.

Festival Director Mona Rai said: “A visit to DOCUMENT Film Festival is like time-travelling through a decade of world events from the comfort of an armchair.”

A special award presented by an international jury has been created for the best film. In the form of a glass sculpture featuring Glasgow’s Duke of Wellington statue, complete with his famous traffic cone ‘hat’, it will be handed over during the final gala night on Sunday 28 October in the CCA. The winner will be one of the 11 films which have already won a category at the Festival. All of them will be screened in Glasgow. On the same evening Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh will receive the Festival’s DOCUMENT Lifetime Achievement Award. His films explore the state of Cambodia in the aftermath of years of genocide.

Other events include ‘Harry Horseplay’ a tribute to cartoonist and social commentator Harry Horse performed by actor Tam Dean Burn.

The festival programme will also feature a debate on Israel and Palestine, with a screening of films made by B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, in association with The Guardian newspaper.

Other film highlights include ‘The Redemption of General Butt Naked’, about former Liberian warlord Joshua Milton Blahyi who reinvents himself as a Christian evangelist preacher.

‘The Sisterhood’ tells the story of Hope, Rollie and Pietie, South African vineyard workers and drag queens.

Full details can be found at http://documentfilmfestival.org/doc10/

All screenings are free for OAPS and asylum seekers / refugees. Since visiting international film directors from Germany, Poland, Italy, South America and elsewhere will be attending DOCUMENT is a Festival where there is a lot going on. Don’t miss it! See their website: www.documentfilmfestival.org

 

 

Open mic invite

Fundraising for human rights

The Campaign for Human Rights in The Gambia will hold a fund-raising concert in the CCA, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow on Tuesday 25 October at 7:30.

Local musicians have agreed to perform and VIP guest speakers have been invited. Film of recent activities by the Campaign to bring to public notice in the UK the fact that people are ‘disappearing’ and being killed without trial in the West African sun spot, is also expected to be shown.

Exiled journalist Alieu B. Ceesay recently conducted two successful workshops at a seminar in Edinburgh on ‘Reporting International Development’ which was jointly organised by Amnesty, ‘Take One Action’, NIDOS and the National Union of Journalists.

Internet reports show that a Gambian lawyer had been sentenced to two years hard labour by a Nigerian judge in The Gambia on a charge of ‘giving false information to a public servant’ (http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/gba-condemns-moses-richards-conviction). The Gambia Bar Association had called a week long strike in protest . (http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/lawyers-protest-moses-richards-conviction).

Top speakers at CND social

 

Glasgow West CND Social

Friday 15th April

7.30pm till late

McPhabbs

23 Sandyford Place (Sauchiehall St).

Speakers include Bruce Kent and David Hayman

Readings from Tom Leonard and Chris Dolan

Songs from Mick West and Maeve Mackinnon.

Tickets £6/£4.

contact: Alan Mackinnon

Seeds of thought event

Live urban poetry, comedy and acoustic music will be presented by three artistes at the CCA on Sauchiehall Street (near Charing Cross) on Wednesday 6 April from 7.30pm. Tawona, Tarneem and Ernest make up Seeds Of Thought. Their aim is to share cultures through poetry, art and music. Their website is: www.seedsofthought.webs.com and they can be found on facebook.com/seedsofthoughtglasgow.

Tawona Sithole is from Zimbabwe. He is a poet and a master of a unique traditional musical instrument called a mbira. With his brother Ernest and their friend Tarneem Al Mousawi, they formed Seeds of Thought some years ago.

CND Sounds

Glasgow West CND Social
Friday 15th April
7.30pm till late
McPhabbs
23 Sandyford Place (Sauchiehall St).
Speakers include Bruce Kent and David Hayman
Readings from Tom Leonard and Chris Dolan
Songs from Mick West and Maeve Mackinnon
Tickets £6/£4

CONTACT: alan.mackinnon2@ntlworld.com

Fire rips through Sauchiehall Street building

A Sauchiehall Street building, gutted by fire, was still being monitored more than 12 hours later.
Strathclyde firefighters saved four adults and a child from the top flat of the property in what Area Commander, Garry Milne described as: “A classic textbook ladder rescue”.
Believed to have started around 11pm on Tuesday 8 February in the kitchen of The Steak & Cherry Restaurant – normally open till 4am to serve clubbers – the fire quickly spread to the upper floors and the roof space of the tenement. A major hazard was the threat of hidden fires spreading via enclosed voids and spaces in a traditional building of that type.
Surrounding flats were evacuated and overnight accommodation found for those displaced.
At the height of the blaze 11 engines including two with high reach capability, and 70 firefighters, were in attendance.
The fire was under control by 8am but smoke could still be seen drifting from the building at 12 noon on Wednesday when it was still being closely monitored.
Traffic which would normally enter that part of Sauchiehall Street from Charing Cross, was diverted.

Valedictory for the Vic

Students at Glasgow School of Art are preparing to say goodbye to the Vic Bar which closes, with adjacent Newbery Tower, in June.

Part of the campus in Renfrew Street, the Victoria cafe bar is where art and music collide and produce great things.

Third year students will host the last ever annual Fashion Show in the Vic on Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 March.  Textile design students who are based at Newbery, which is to be demolished, will create garments and the fabrics, using the wealth of information from the School’s archives.

Some of the unique pieces will be sold afterwards. Tickets are £7 per adults  £5 concession and the funds raised are expected to enable the final year students to take their degree collection to London next year for the New Designers’ graduate event.

Alongside the show, an exhibition of work from first year fashion and textiles students will feature in the School’s Atrium Gallery from Tuesday 8 to Sunday 13 March.

The various parts of the school turned out of their present accommodation will re-locate in Skypark. But at the time of writing, the Vic’s new home had not been confirmed though there are high hopes it will be on Sauchiehall Street, near the School of Art.

Famous textile students include: Timorous Beasties, Jonathon Saunders, Louise Grey and Bebaroque.

Benefit gig for a good cause

What better way to bring the first month of the year to a close than turn up for a musical delight at Nice n’ Sleazy’s in Sauchiehall Street?

In aid of Govan Destitution Fund which provides practical support for destitute asylum seekers, the gig on Sunday 30 January has a terrific line-up: Swedish/Scottish(ish) indie circus popsters, The Social Services; island-fired, melodious folk ensemble, Bear Bones and the lovely Timbrel.

Entry £6. Asylum seekers free

www.bearbonesmusic.com/

www.thesocialservices.net

www.myspace.com/graceandcara

Gambia social draws the crowds

With music, poetry, film and words, the Scottish Campaign for Human Rights in the Gambia launched its first social evening which was enjoyed by more than 100 supporters at the CCA in Glasgow on Tuesday 18 January.
In his welcome, John Matthew, chair of the Glasgow Branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) which is actively promoting the campaign, said: ‘Everyone is welcome – and an especial welcome to anyone sent here by the Gambia Government or Security Service. Here, you will hear the truth!’
The truth about people who had been imprisoned, tortured, disappeared or killed in cold blood for saying things that were constitutional but critical of the present regime, was related in a variety of ways.
Exiled journalist Alieu Ceesay outlined the reality of life in the sunny West African country. Not only is he on a ‘wanted’ list which is checked at every point of entry to the Gambia, but last week the country’s own Justice Minister Edward Gomez, threatened him and the Scottish Campaign for Human Rights. ‘We will wait here for them to come,’ said the Justice Minister. And warned they would be prosecuted on arrival in Gambia.
Amnesty filmed interviews of a woman writer who was imprisoned and whose baby was taken from her and put into an orphanage and of a male politician who was tortured and witnessed others being tortured and killed in prison, were screened.
A messages of support was given by Peter Swindon, assistant to Westminster MP Anas Sarwar (Labour) who has had 27 cross-party MPs signing an Early Day Motion condemning the abuses of human right in the Gambia. Through the MP, the Campaign has made contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee to inform their cause and the UK Government’s responses and policies.
Said Peter: ‘We have been inspired by the courage and bravery of people like Alieu Ceesay and exiled journalist Charles Atangana from the Cameroons. These voiceless people need us to stand up and shout for them.’
MSP Patrick Harvie (Scottish Green Party) detailed how he has brought forward a similar early day motion in the Scottish Parliament which has been signed by 25 MSPs from the different parties. He emphasised that such human rights were a fundamental part of any democracy. MSP Anne McLaughlin (SNP) also pledged support.
NUJ President, Peter Murray, explained how important it was for a journalist to be able to investigate and circulate their stories especially when a government is corrupt. ‘This is at the heart of good journalism,’ he said. ‘Informed people are strong people.’
Amnesty International representative Arthur West, who is chair of Ayrshire Branch, told the meeting that asylum seekers like Alieu and Charles have been rejected by the UK. ‘We are encouraged to continue the fight for fairness and justice when we hear what people like them have to say and what they have experienced.’
The information was interspersed with poetry, music, song and laughter.
Karina and Ben set the tone of the evening with voice and keyboard. Babs MacGregor followed with some old and new Gaelic songs. Tawong Sithole a poet and musician from Zimbabwe, played the traditional music instrument, mbirg, to wonderful effect. His poems of critical assessment of self and others, were powerful. He and some of his colleagues entertain regularly at the CCA at the Charing Cross end of Sauchiehall Street under the name: Seeds of Thought. An uplifting set from the Parsonage Choir keep the mood bright and enabled everyone to leave with a song in their hearts and with some serious information in their mind.