Weekends in September Are Looking Busy

To paraphrase Calvin & Hobbes, the weekends are so packed. It seems like there are interesting events on every one of them in September and this a list of some of the highlights:

Saturday 12 September

Exhibiting Guernica – Whitechapel Gallery

Seventy years ago, Picasso’s Guernica was first shown at the Whitechapel Gallery. There’s a day of discussion to mark this anniversary that starts with an introduction by the writer Michael Rosen, speaking about his personal associations with Guernica's history and the East End. Other speakers are historian Paul Preston on the politics and context of the actual bombing of Guernica and the SWP's Mike Gonzalez on Picasso's response, looking at the artist's development and comparing Guernica to other works.

The event continues after lunch, from 2 to 5.30pm, with lots more, but I’ll be popping over to Poplar for 3pm for…

Freedom to Photograph – Reclaim Our Shopping Centres

Few people know about the restrictions on photography in ‘public’ spaces like shopping centres unless they have been frog-marched out of Canary Wharf, Westfield or the Arndale Centre by burly security guards or threatened with the police if they bring out a camera.

I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist has organised a ‘flashmob’ in London to highlight the way that anyone with a camera is being targeted as a potential terrorist, whether amateur or professional.

Meet promptly at 3pm at the clocks near Canary Wharf Station

And then it’s back to Whitechapel for 4.30pm for

Anti-Fascist Footprints

This is one of Dave Rosenberg’s excellent walking tours tracing the people and places of he 1930s East End, from Gardiners Corner to Cable Street. This walk tells the story of how East Enders organised to combat fascism locally and in Spain.

Sunday 13 September

It’s the Thames Festival down on the embankment between the Tate Modern and Westminster and this year I really want to stay for the Night Carnival.

Saturday 19 September

Their crisis, our challenges

Red Pepper marks its 15th birthday this year and has organised a meeting from 10.30am to 5pm at Conway Hall in Red Lion Square to discuss with its readers, co-thinkers and co-campaigners how best to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the current political climate. And apperently we are now all the 'Green left', by the look of the agenda: why didn't I get that memo?

Morning session:

What are the needs and challenges facing the Green left now?
Panel discussion with Anthony Alabaster, Michael Calderbank, Hilary Wainwright, Seamus Milne and others.

What does Red Pepper mean to me?
Discussion led by Billy Hayes (CWU), Siobhan McQuirk and John Hilary (War on Want)

Afternoon session:

How does Red pepper need to develop a platform and a vehicle for the Green left?
With Red Pepper staff and volunteers including Tim Walker, Pablo Navarrette, Andy Bowman and others.


Plus: on Saturday, my friends Debbie and Supriya celebrate their 40th birthdays at a (not so) secret location in Dalston!

Sunday 20 September

It’s Open House London weekend and I have a hankering to nose around the Foreign Office on King Charles Street. Or after April's G20 protests, perhaps inside the Bank of England would be more appropriate?

It's also the Urban Green Fair down in Brockwell Park from 11am to 7pm - workshops, food, stalls and yer man Mark Thomas will be speaking in the Social Justice Zone.

Saturday 26 September

Brighton perhaps? With the Labour Party Conference starting this weekend, there is a surprising lack of protests planned, according to Sussex police. It's a sign that everyone knows that Brown is doomed.

But the Convention of the Left is meeting at the Brigthelm Centre near the station from 10.30am to 5pm. The event is called ‘Capitalism in Crisis: The Left's Response’ and looking at the list of organisations supporting it, it’s easy to see why “the left in this country has never been so weak”.

Sunday 27 September

And if I make it down to Brighton, then it seems a shame not to join Jobs Education Peace, the union-organised ‘lobby’ of the conference, assembling at 12.30pm on Madeira Drive.