The Factory
“A glimpse into life inside Egypt’s Mahalla textile factory – a cauldron of revolt where workers inspired an uprising.”
We showed edited extracts of this 50 minute documentary at the film night, but it’s worth watching in full.

Tweets from Tahrir
This was our main feature, telling the story of the ousting of Mubarak and the progress of the revolution in 2011 through interviews with five of the people who tweeted the whole way through. It’s a fast-paced, gripping film, which is also 50 minutes long.

Mosireen’s YouTube channel
Activist video collective Mosireen’s YouTube channel is still being updated with footage from the latest developments, though it’s only slightly older videos that have English subtitles yet.

It was a great evening of clips, analysis and activism, guiding us on a journey through some of the systemic problems with the global economy, to the financial crisis and its consequences and finally to some exciting campaigns and alternatives that are taking place.

The almost unbelievable stories presented in the Inside Job showed how deregulation and the capture of government by Wall Street allowed the banks to reap havoc with the economy, taking ridiculous risks and even tricking their customers to take risks they knew wouldn’t pay off – which they then bet against! Marxist historian David Harvey provided a succinct explanation for why capitalism will always lead us to such crises, accompanied by beautiful draw-as-you-speak illustrations, while Paul Mason provided an insight into the deep-rooted structural problems that led to our failed economy and how the crisis is affecting people across the UK.

On the night we were also lucky to have Sargon Nissan with us, an ex-investment banker turned economic activist. In particular, insight around sovereign debt – the latest manifestation of the crisis – showed how declaring a country bankrupt is a purely political act, and often prevented by international financial institutions and governments who would be adversely affected (e.g. Ireland being made to keep servicing its debt to a defunct bank by Germany and the European Central Bank).

The evening ended on a more positive note – looking at alternatives out there and movements that are happening across the world demanding another economy that works for them, and making it happen. Particular thanks to everyone shared their campaigns and alternative projects with the rest of the audience.  You can find a list of these with links below – get involved!

There is also a list of all of the films and clips that were screened below in case you weren’t able to make it/want to share them around/feel that three hours of economics viewing just wasn’t enough for you!

Great to see you all, and catch you again next time.

Current campaigns, activism and alternatives:
Occupy LSX

UK Uncut

Move your money

La quadrature du net

Wild Law UK

Fuel Poverty Action

Climate Justice Collective

Not Our Debt

Clips screened:
Catastroika

The Real Social Network

We’re not broke, just twisted

Inside Job

The Take

Paul Mason

To view all clips below, right click and open in a new tab

David Harvey

Press conference with the European Central Bank in Ireland

Debtocracy

False Economy

Spain’s Indignados and the globalisation of dissent

Occupy New York – housing movement

Occupy Wall Street

Have I got news for you on Occupy LSX

The sparkies strike

Organisers of the event:
Jubilee Debt Campaign
World Development Movement
War on Want
Friends of the Earth

The venue is Bethnal Green Methodist Church, Approach Road, London E2 9JP, which is a short bus ride from Rich Mix. However, in order to take advantage of it, you must register with us in advance.

UPDATE: Last minute requests for Friday night should be directed to Jonathan Stevenson on 07818 651124. You will be able to sign up for Saturday night at the registration desk at Rich Mix on Saturday. Though best to do it after the morning rush.

So, you’ve spent the day with hundreds of others committed to making another world possible. What are you going to do next? This afternoon event will be a space to reflect on the conversations you’ve had at 6 Billion Ways, and consider ways to build a stronger movement for global justice. There’ll be space for organising together with other participants, as well as for discussing ways that the groups, organisations and networks you’re part of can strengthen and co-ordinate their efforts.

We will use ‘open space’ facilitation – meaning the agenda will be made up of what people who attend want to talk about, but in a structured way. So come along, get involved, and help shape the movement.

12pm-5pm, Sunday 6 March
Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6LS
(googlemap)

Speakers

Samir Amin, Third World Forum
Tariq Ramadan, Egyptian academic (Oxford University)
Gigi Ibrahim, Egyptian activist

Time and venue

17:15-18:45; Whitby Street

Speakers

Rob Newman, writer, activist and comedian
Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists
Natalie Fenton, professor of media and communication at Goldsmiths College, London
chaired by Tim Hunt, Manchester Mule

Time and venue

17:30-18:45; Rich Mix venue 1

Now it is truly a dystopic post-industrial city, in which 40 per cent of the land in the centre is returning to prairie. Greenery grows up through abandoned office blocks, houses and collapsing car plants, and swallows up street lights.

Police stations and post offices have been left with papers on the desks like the Marie Celeste. There is no more rush hour on what were the first freeways in America. Crime, vandalism, arson and dog fighting are the main activities in once the largest building in North America. But it’s also a source of hope.

Streets are being turned to art. Farming is coming back to the centre of the city. Young people are flocking to help. The burgeoning urban agricultural movement is the fastest growing movement in the US. Detroit leads the way again but in a very different direction.

Julien Temple’s film explores both Detriot’s history and its hope for the future.

Time and venue

10.00-11.15; Rich Mix screen 2

Time and venue

13.30-14.45; Rich Mix screen 2

These are excellent ways for people with no specialist knowledge to get to grips with the social and environmental impact of modern consumer society, and we’ll be showing them together at 6 Billion Ways.

Time and venue

16:30-17:45; Rich Mix screen 3

Celebrate Peoples’ History is a project by US-based artist collective Just Seeds. Its a gradually expanding collection of posters produced by different artists to help remember and celebrate the struggles of ordinary people against injustice, and for dignity, decent livelihoods and liberation from oppression. At 6 Billion Ways we will be displaying a selection of their 12 year project inside Rich Mix.

The exhibition coincides with the UK release of a book which brings together the full range of posters with an introduction by project co-ordinator Josh MacPhee and a foreward by Rebecca Solnit.