Edinburgh University Anarchist Society

Welcome to the Edinburgh University Anarchist Society Week 2

Welcome to the Edinburgh University Anarchist Society website. We use this space to inform anyone interested in the events the society is putting on and to display contact details for getting involved with us.

We are a group of people unhappy with the current state of the world and looking for change. We share the common values of equality, liberty and respect and believe that by implementing these in our every day lives we can make a difference.

We operate as a non-hierarchical community of equals who meet each week to plan new ideas for activities and direct action. We make our decisions by full consensus and value the opinion of the newest member as much as the oldest. There is no charge for the society and the environment is friendly and respectful toward the opinions of others. We don't all call ourselves anarchists and each person has a different idea of how they envision change for the future; we count these differences among our assets and strengths as a diverse and dialectic community.

To get involved with the society, find out more about us and what we are or even ask us a few clarifying questions, please come along to one of our meetings, or social events detailed below. Additionally, keep checking this space for updated new events that EUAS will be holding throughout the year. These involve guest lectures, film nights, reading groups, radical art groups, skill share days and more.

Weekly Meetings
- Administration Meetings- Every Wednesday 3pm Room 2.04 Appleton
- Socials- Every other Thursday (starting 26th January) from 7:30pm in The Meadows Bar

Anarchist Events:

- Anarchist Social - Thursday 26 - 7:30pm - Meadow's Bar (Buccleuch St)
Our social will now be a fortnightly affair. Expect drinking and merriment and the ability for us to chat together and plot with our hair down.

- Reading Group - Monday 30 - 1:30pm - Chaplaincy Auditorium
We are reading this week, and will be trying out, 'Six Thinking Hats.' A different and structured way of bringing a group to consensus. This reading group will coincide with the Fair Trade Cafe that is on in the auditorium at this time, providing an ethical lunch between 1 and 2. The week after this we have set a rota for the reading group so that every other week we will meet at 5/half 5 in a nearby cafe. Black Medicine was suggested and will be confirmed next week. A brief overview of 'Six Hats' can be found on these lecture slides:
http://www.csun.edu/~vcrec004/rtm300/Lecture%20six%20hats.pdf

- Art Group - Saturday 28 - 2pm - 1 West Richmond St/Flat 4.

Art Group cancelled this week, look out for a meeting next week though

Previous art group projects took Anarchists to cathedrals and toy museums to work on sketches in a friendly environment. Large scale projects have had anarchists all sit around and work on one large piece of paper. These sessions embodied anarchism, a group of people working together and learning from each other without leaders. The art group took a more radical spin last semester and attempted to creatively put a message across to consumers in the form of messages planted in egg boxes. Ideas of where to take the art group next will be discussed on Saturday.

- Film Night - Sunday 5 (Feb) - 8-10 - Banshee's Labyrinth (Niddry St)
Our film night happens every other week and so will next take place on the fifth. The film will be "The Wind That Shakes the Barley."

Other Events:
- Anarchist Black Cross
Anarchist Black Cross are group of anarchists who support and write to political prisoners. This Thursday (26) Black Cross are having a meeting in the Waverley from 6-8. Every other week after that they will be having their meeting in the meadows bar (bringing them to our social!)

- Role of University
Next Tuesday in the chaplaincy auditorium from 5:30 to 7 there will be a discussion/talk on the value of education and the role of university featuring the newly appointed University Rector, Peter McColl.

- Autonomous University of Edinburgh
Have began meeting Mondays at 9:30am in the Chaplaincy Auditorium.

- SJP : Professor Norman Finkelstein - Tuesday 7 (Feb)
SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) are hosting Professor Norman Finkelstein in George Square Lecture Theatre at 7pm on 'How to solve the Israel-Palestine problem'. A world renowned scholar and frequent lecturer on the Middle East, Dr Finkelstein was famously denied tenure at DePaul University in Chicago after a vendetta led by Alan Dershowitz and members of the pro-Israel movement in the US

- New Urban Frontier - Jazz Bar - Thursday 26 - 8/9
NUF are Edinburgh's fast-flowing muzikal mash-mash. A politicised punk-inspired dub-loving, soul-singing, ska-swinging seven-piece live band with a rapper. Featuring some anarchist society members.

EUAS: Week 1, Semester 2, 2012

Anarchist Events:

Tuesday 17th January:

- Refreshers Fair,  11:30 - 2:30, Chaplaincy Auditorium, Bristo Square. We welcome new members to come pick up some pamphlets and ask old members to help set up (from 11am) and run the stall.

- 'What is Anarchism: The Practicality of Anarchism', 6:15-8:00pm, Teviot Middle Reading Room. We invite the casually interested, the advocates and the objectors to gather in one space to listen and learn from one another in this group discussion. This has been a very successful discussion in the pass and is now in what must be its 7th incarnation

Sunday 22nd January: Film Viewing of Palms, 8:00pm, Banshee Labyrinth Cinema, 29 - 35 Niddry Street, EH1 1LG. Join us for the first of our monthly radical film viewing. "Palms is Aristakisyan's astonishing portait of people who live on the margins of life and exist outside the normal society. Profound, spiritual and hallucinatory, Palms is remarkable at every level and one most visionary films of recent times.
Narrated by the director directed addressing his unborn son, the film is compassionate, relatory and bold in its originality and was awarded the NIKA for Best Documentary in 1994"

Wednesday 25th January: First Anarchist Society meeting of the year, 3:00pm, Appleton Tower Rm 2.04. We welcome any and all to come along to our meetings and share ideas and get involved with new activities.

Thursday 26th January: First EUAS social, 8:00pm, upstairs of the Meadows Bar. Join us for a chat and a drink on the 26th and every other Thursday (from 7:30pm) after that.

Other Events:

Tuesday 24th January: The Grassmarket Mission Fundraising Gig, time TBA, Voodoo Rooms. An evening of live music featuring New Urban Frontier and for a great cause, please come along and support if you can.

EUAS: Week 9

Anarchist Events:

Thursday 24th (today), 5pm, DHT Faculty Room South: A talk from Irina, an anarchist who has participated in several resistance movements around the world, followed by a discussion of how best to organise for the strike next week.

Friday 25th, 7pm-1am, Teviot Loft Bar: People and Planet hosted celebration of all things and groups trying to make the world a better place, with free food, poetry and music.

Wednesday 30th, ALL DAY, EVERYWHERE: over 3 million workers across the country are going on strike, including the UCU (and others) here in the university. Don't go to lectures or use the library (or anywhere else that's on strike) and if possible go and lend a hand at the picket lines.

OCCUPATION: George Square Lecture Theatre, as of last night, has been re-occupied by anti-cuts demonstrators. It will be held until at least next Wednesday, in solidarity with the strike. Get down there!

EUAS: Week 8

8pm Thursday 10th November, Meadows Bar (upstairs): Social!
3pm Saturday 12th November, 1/4 West Richmond Street: Art group will be meeting to discuss and plan new projects.
8pm Sunday 13th November, Banshee Labyrinth: we will be showing the film 'Catch-22'.
1pm Monday 14th November, Chaplaincy: reading group will be discussing John Ball's speech in the 1381 Peasant's Revolt:
- Reading
- Overview
-Introductory Paragraph:

EUAS: Week 7

Anarchist Events:

Thursday 3rd, from 8pm: Social in the upstairs room at the Meadows bar.

Friday 4th, 1pm: People and Planet reading group in the Chaplaincy, reading Doing It Without Leaders

Saturday 5th, 4pm: A group will be meeting in Teviot to discuss/write motions for the EUSA AGM. Meet them in the foyer at 4pm.

Sunday 6th, 11am-5pm: Zine and Independent Music Fair, Teviot Debating Hall.

Monday 7th, 1pm: Our reading group will be discussing Taoism and Anarchism (apologies for the orange on black. I advise copy/pasting it into your favourite text editing software, unless you're a vampire)

Ongoing Events:

-Occupy Edinburgh in St Andrews Square need people and have a website.

EUAS: Week 6

Anarchist Events:

The week at a glance
Wednesday(today) - NUF Gig
Thursday - 0830 Council Picket, Social as usual in the Meadow Bar at 8pm
Friday
Saturday - What is Anarchism? Event at 1500 in St Andrews' Square (look for Alex)
Sunday - Film Night 8pm Banshee Labyrinth
Monday - Reading Group 1pm Chapaincy
Tuesday
Wednesday - Planning meeting

What is Anarchism?
On Saturday 29th at approximately 3pm Alex will be conducting a workshop at the St Andrew's Square occupation with the aforementioned title. It would be really good for a few of us to go along and help out. The occupation seems to be going well, with between twenty and thirty occupiers there at any one time, but, as always, the more the merrier.

Film Group
There were a few problems with the emailing of the list of films out to everyone. The meeting agreed to leave the choice of film to Euan, and it will be shown at 8pm in the Banshee Labyrinth on Niddry Street.

Reading Group
We had a great discussion of the articles on Fascism last week at the reading group, with a good attendance, and great soup. The group will meet again in the Chaplaincy at 1pm on Monday to discuss Rudolf Rocker's excellent piece "Methods of Anarcho-Syndicalism", which can be found here

Radical Book Fair
This wonderful thing is taking place from today until Saturday in the Blue Drill Hall, 30-38 Dalmeny Street, entry is free and there's lots of lovely things happening there. Joel also asked me to include a request for anyone interested in a radical zine fair on the 6th November to get in contact. We should definitely get some Polemics to that.

Possible Music Group
Complementary to the Radicool Art group, which focuses on visual art, I (Charlie) would really like to have some sort of anarchic jam session or music night. I'm offering my spacious living room for the event. The idea was not just to bring protest songs, but freely jam on tunes and keys that we like. Jam sessions are a great example of the beautiful art that can be produced by a group of equals playing together with no leaders and a minimum of direction and rules. All will be welcome regardless of musical ability or instrument ownership.

Shoutouts

The fabulous New Urban Frontier will be playing on Wednesday at the Jazz bar for a Forest cafe fundraiser, much dancing will ensue.
Tomorrow starting at 8:30am there will be a picket of the CEC Council Chambers on the Royal Mile against the privatisation and cuts that the council will be implementing soon. If you can, go along and show your support.

EUAS: Week 5

Anarchist Events:

Occupation - Ongoing - St Andrews Sq
Following Saturday's demonstration which attracted around 300 people a group of around 20 people have established occupation of St Andrews Sq in New Town. This is a group of people who are primarily not regular activists. They operate non-hierarchically and hold General Assemblies everyday at 12 and 6. Donations have been plentiful (food, tents, clothes, a stove). They could use additional support and there is a lack of members from society anarchists or other university activist groups. Please go down and show support. Let's end this evil phase of capitalism.
The groups goals now include trying to grow in numbers and raise greater awareness to the 'Occupy' movement. This is not traditional lobbying for change through the usual channels style politics. The occupy movement seeks to find a new way to solve the issues it is aimed at exposing. Combined with the fact that St Andrews Sq now provides a Social Space just as the anarchist society envisioned at a meeting several weeks ago this is something in which a lot of our members would find a place.

Social - Meadows Bar from 8pm
Our weekly social tomorrow night, from 8pm in the top room of the Meadows Bar on Buccleuch St. Banter and lively discussion and space to talk freely. The revolution will be plotted.

Art Group - Tuesday from 12noon
The Radicool Art Group is preparing to embark on its first expedition. After two weeks of planning a template is in circulation; email Flane for a copy of our first piece of work to print. Meeting at 1 West Richmond Street, Flat 4. Bring a long a few copies if you can, although there will be a good number of copies there with which to disperse if you can lend a hand in the process.

Reading Group - Monday 1-2pm in the Chaplaincy
The reading group meets every Monday from 1-2pm in the main Auditorium of the Chaplaincy Centre and coincides wit the Fair-Trade Cafe. So come along and save the world/immerse yourself in political literature. The reading group has chosen a piece examining Fascis: Shorter Reading, Longer Reading (recommended to just read the first section), Further Reading.

Other Goings On

UKUncut - Saturday 11am
UkUncut is reborn on Saturday. Meet at 11am in Bristo Sq for a positive and creative protest in response to the ludicrous tax-avoiding businesses around town. Past Edinburgh events have seen superheroes and the cloak of death cast judgement on public services and the crippling effects of avoiding tax as a business.

Anarcha-Feminist Skill Share - Saturday 11am
The anarcho-feminist group is running a skill share on Saturday starting from 11am and going on all day. We think this is going on at 62 Marchmont Road, but its advisable to check with an anarcho-feminist.

EUAS: Week 4

Anarchist Events:

Thursday 13th (tomorrow) 8pm: euas Social
We'll be upstairs in the friendly meadows bar for our weekly social. Later on, New Urban Frontier will be playing live in Teviot. Take a look at them here.

Sunday 16th, 8pm: Film Night!
EUAS is screening Dr Strangelove or : How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Join us at Banshee Labyrinth for a dark nuclear satire: facebook event link

Monday 17th, 1pm: The Reading Group
Meet in the Chaplaincy, Bristo Square, to discuss Oscar Wilde's The Soul of Man Under Socialism. Fair Trade Café will be selling delicious soup to wash down the ideas, and the text is availablehere

Tuesday 18th, 12pm: The Art Group
Meet at 1f4 West Richmond Street for a creative expedition to a supermarket. More will be revealed on the day.

Other Events:

Wednesday 12th, 3pm: Tenants Action Group
First meeting to discuss housing rights, at the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh (ACE). Alex attended and will feed back about what the group is doing and how to get involved.

Friday 14th, 8pm: Joel and the Rascals' gig
Starts 8pm in Teviot. Facebook event link

Saturday 15th, 1pm: Occupy Edinburgh
Meet at 1pm in St Andrews Square "for an international day of action against austerity". Occupations may occur.
See the Indymedia Article or go along to find out more!

Upcoming Events:

- "Just Do It" screening, 18th October, 7.40pm in Appleton Tower

- Zine Fair, 6th November, Teviot.

EUAS: Week 3

Anarchist Events:
Thursday 6 7:30pm onwards- "Anarchist Social"
Thursdays from 7:30pm onwards the top floor of the Meadows Bar, on Buccleuch Street, is our weekly social and this is the first time in two weeks society members won't be spread across various other conflicting leftist events so its sure to be more spirited: come down for lively banter and fun times and the plotting of the revolution over some pints.

Monday 10 1-2pm "Reading: Anarcho-Feminism (from the Fair-Trade Cafe)"
The reading group is being relaunched from 1-2pm on Mondays in the Chaplaincy Auditorium to coincide with the Fair-Trade Cafe. Lovely super ethical food can be obtained over the lunch hour that supports various charity projects whilst we discuss, for this week, Anarchism and Feminism and the dynamic between. The article is fairly short and can be read here.

Tuesday 11 1pm "Radicool Art Group"
The Radicool Art Group will convene next week from 1pm at 1 West Richmond Street Flat 4. A joint spiritual successor to last years United Propaganda League and the Art Group, the Radicool Art group is the place to be to reveal radical topics or points of view to the world through the creative medium.

Wednesday 12 2-4pm "EUAS Meeting"
Wednesdays from 2-4pm in room 11.01 in the David Hume Tower in George Sq are our weekly planning meetings to discuss the week/weeks ahead and decide upon proceedings as a group of society members that reach a consensus after deliberating: its a good example of anarchism in action; there are no leaders in our meetings and the discussion is kept moving so that no one gets too much of a say and everyone can have a say if they want.

Other Events Coming Up:
Friday 7 6-9pm "Anti-Cuts Strategy Meeting"
A general strategy meeting for the Anti-Cuts Alliance has been called for this Friday. The intention is to review and discuss in what way and when to proceed with action for the semester/year ahead. This will be in one of the David Hume Tower Faculty Rooms.

Saturday 15 "Occupy Everything"
A series of related direct action world-wide is set to take place on October 15. The Anarchist Society expressed an interest in local/country events. More to follow.

Saturday 22 "UKUncut"
UKUncut intend to hold their first event for this semester on Saturday 22, meeting in Bristo Sq, if they can guarantee this is a good day to get a lot of presence from other groups. The idea is also to interest more freshers in the movement.

Sunday 23 "Forest-Fund-raising Gig"
The Anarchist Society was asked to book a room for this event that will happen in the Teviot Underground. We discussed helping to promote/flyer.

EUAS: Week 2

Events in the Next Week:
- Thursday 29 - Anarchist Weekly Social - 8pm - Meadows Bar
- Thursday 29 - Party for Palestine - 9pm - Teviot Dining Room
- Friday 30 - Pre STUC March banner making session - 7pm - 22/6 Brougham Street
- Saturday 1 - STUC March Bus - 8:30am - Bristo Square Bus Time (March - 10:30/11am - Glasgow)
- Sunday 2 - Film Night - 8pm - Banshees' Labyrinth
- Monday 3 - Polemic Deadline - 0am - EVERYWHERE
- Monday 3 - Reading Group - 5pm - Outside Teviot