Variant, issue 23, Summer 2005

Contents

Editorial and Letters

Elsa Stansfield (1945-2004)
Pioneer of European artists' video
Steve Partridge

The New Girl
Pilvi Takala and Lucy McKenzie

Making Space for Culture(s) in Boomtown
Some Alternative Futures for Development, Ownership and Participation in Leeds City Centre
Paul Chatterton and Rachael Unsworth

The Saints of the Future
Gus Abraham

Freedom from Seizure
Tom Allan

Heading in the Wrong Direction
The M74 Northern Extension

B+B Meeting Points
Sarah Carrington and Sophie Hope

Same Difference?
Tom Jennings

not simply, relations of a man
Colin Graham

The Conformist Imagination: Think-Tankery Versus Utopian Scotland
Alex Law

Inserts
Commons Service Group declares contemporary art a "GATS Free Zone".

Cover Jim Colquhoun

The Other Side of History - part vii ...part of an ongoing artwork by Euan Sutherland

Editorial
I don't have time for this
Most artists and arts administrators agree that the last thing they want to do is go to another meeting about future strategies for arts funding. There's so much 'public consultation' already, most of it performed by 'independent' third parties, who somehow never manage to 'consult' the most relevant people. We're a little worn out by it, and we seldom seem to see the benefits of it. The trouble is, the decisions that are about to be taken, in both Scotland and Northern Ireland, will affect the shape of arts provision for a generation. Fundamental questions are now being asked by central and devolved governments about how the arts should be funded. Tedious as it may seem, it's essential that practitioners and arts organisations involve themselves in addressing these questions; particularly because politicians may already have answers of their own in mind about what 'uses' culture might have.
In Northern Ireland, the Review of Public Administration (RPA) has just been published. It aims to cut the size of the public sector in the North, from the 26 District Councils to the various Executive Agencies and 'Executive Non-Departmental Bodies' such as the Pig Production Development Committee and, of course, our own dear Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The laudable plan is to pass as much responsibility as possible back from the many unaccountable quangos set up during twenty-five years of direct rule to the various departments of the new Executive.
The relevant passage of the RPA reads as follows: "The alternative to the existing executive public body would be to delegate most of the Arts Council's grant giving power to local government and to bring the remaining funding within DCAL [Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Northern Ireland] for direct support of regionally important projects."
The potential for political influence is clearly one problem with direct executive funding of the arts. This isn't some conspiracy theory, just an observation about politicians' priorities: if you can redirect arts funding towards so-called 'social regeneration', particularly the kind that's very visible in your own constituency, then why not? The various political parties in the North have not so far had any particular love for the arts. It's quite possible that after any resumption of the Executive, Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists could be running DCAL. The DUP are more well known for picketing and censoring art forms they don't like than for supporting experimentation and innovation. As the RPA itself points out, " ... there is support for the long established principle that [arts funding] is best done at arm's length from government to avoid the suspicion of undue political influence in individual decisions and to protect Ministers from being directly answerable for the policies and performance of organisations or individuals in receipt of funding."
The principle of peer review and expertise is also at stake. Within the current Arts Council, imperfect as it undoubtedly is, there is an established system of evaluation of applications by panels of artists, and furthermore there's the many years of experience that arts officers have in assessing artforms. The politicians and civil servants don't have that. So why waste time duplicating, relearning, and so on, when the object is supposedly to save money? This is all very straightforward for (say) pig production, but cultural provision is not just about economic throughput and return. The return is largely – horror of horrors! – unquantifiable.
If grant-giving powers are devolved to the local authorities and DCAL, furthermore, then small arts organisations face yet more bureaucracy. Those not designated as 'regionally important' (probably this excludes most organisations that aren't the Ulster Orchestra or the Grand Opera House), but who routinely carry out arts activity in different council regions, will have to duplicate their funding applications to several authorities. They'll also have to work out which one will provide their core funding.
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, having realised last year that their future could only be secured if they made common cause with their clients, are now organising a series of 'workshops' across the North to meet clients and concerned parties with regard to their response to the RPA, which has to be submitted by the end of September. It's in all our interests that this response makes as strong a case as possible against direct executive funding. We'd therefore urge all interested parties to get involved in the consultation process – the dates of the various discussions are shown in the ACNI's ad elsewhere in the magazine.
In case you think that the closure of the Arts Council is an unlikely option, bear in mind that this was precisely what the Welsh Assembly wanted to do to the Arts Council of Wales. Only at the last minute did practitioners manage to raise enough of a rumpus to scupper the Assembly's plans. Several 'regionally important' groups – theatres and orchestras again – were nonetheless 'topsliced' and are now funded not by the ACW but by the Assembly.

Meanwhile ...
Arts Council charm offensive hits first hurdle with return of literalist bureaucracy!
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland will have to work harder to convince practitioners that "we're all on the same side really". Applicants for this year's General Arts Awards to individuals who had also received an award under the same scheme last year were told that their applications could not be considered, since the rules state very clearly that only one award may be made in any twelve-month period. Most applicants probably felt that the 364 days that separated the 2004 and 2005 deadlines constituted twelve months: surely one was 'last year's award' and one was 'this year's'? Unfortunately the Arts Council did not feel the same. Public funds will now be wasted considering the inevitable appeals, and extra money may have to be found to subsidise applications for which there was no sane grounds for disqualification. Little misunderstandings such as this may not help the ACNI's new project of encouraging us to find common cause with them in their hour of need.

Letters

Dear Variant, 21/4/05
I read with great interest Leigh French's article on progress with producing a new visual-arts magazine for Scotland. It was good to see made so explicit how such a magazine has to negotiate a complex theoretical, political and cultural minefield if it is to be useful and successful.
There were a number of aspects of the article which touched on CIRCA, and I would like to add a few correctives:
(a) In 1996 the Scottish Arts Council gave CIRCA £2,000 towards researching a Scottish supplement to the magazine. The supplement itself was self-financing, through advertising (and because CIRCA covered the overheads). The Editorial Panel – Sam Ainsley, Malcolm Dickson, Judith Findlay, Neil Firth, Kevin Henderson and Eva Rothschild – determined the content. The British Council, because they were approached by us and because it was a one-off event, agreed to send the supplement to all British embassies.
(b) CIRCA did not tender for the new Scottish visual-arts magazine.
(c) We haven't decided to ditch the compact format of CIRCA – though we are in a process of redesign, and anything could happen.
(d) It's a bit of a stretch to describe CIRCA as "almost entirely publicly subsidised"; approximately 40% of our income comes in grants from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
If, as the article suggests, CIRCA is the model in some people's minds for how the new Scottish magazine might appear, then I can guess at one reason why progress has been slow: although it is a large sum, £200,000 over three years is probably completely inadequate. The key problem, as far as I can see, is that by the time advertising income is at a healthy level – after a year or two, say – production costs, salaries and overheads will have dug a very deep hole of debt from which it might be impossible to recover. Just a guess. In that respect, teaming up with The List does make sense, as some costs can be shared. As for only employing the editor two days a week – as the article suggests – and expecting the magazine to come together: I suspect the editor would spend the remaining five days of the week in therapy.
I really hope the new magazine does appear, and soon, whoever the publisher may be. There is so much good art, and so many good writers in Scotland, that such a magazine is long overdue.
Keep up the good work,
Peter
Peter FitzGerald
Editor, CIRCA Art Magazine
43 / 44 Temple Bar, Dublin 2, Ireland
Tel/fax: +353 1 6797388
editor@recirca.com http://www.recirca.com

Variant responds:

Dear Peter,
Thank you for clarifying that CIRCA did not tender for the Scottish Arts Council's new Visual Arts magazine - which narrows their 'selection' even more.
You may perceive the British Council support for the supplement in CIRCA as 'matter of fact', but inequitable use of institutional resources is just that, inequitable.
We can inform CIRCA that The Map was launched in Edinburgh in early February and is commercially published by The List group. Despite recently being further underpinned by a SAC subscriptions drive, this 'invisibility' neatly serves to illustrate the deficiencies in their imposed market 'solutions'.
Presenting the SAC's decision making processes as merely pragmatic is to negate their political complexity, and the negative impact such corporatist consolidations of market and institutional power have on 'cultural diversity' - to use their language.
There may well be 'many good writers in Scotland', but this is largely due to the support of self-organised networks, and this latest rebuttal is based on the market exploitation of their knowledge and circumstances.
You may consider that £200,000 is small fry to produce a magazine with salaried staff, even with privileged institutional co-operation, but we would like to take the opportunity to thank the SAC Literature Department in awarding Variant an annual project grant of £9,200 towards the production of three issues of Variant magazine and for their support of the independence of Variant's editorial.

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Elsa Stansfield (1945-2004)
Pioneer of European artists' video

For more than thirty years, the Amsterdam-based artists Madelon Hooykaas and Elsa Stansfield have been creating both discrete and monumental works and installations across the world. Now this successful international partnership has drawn to an end. In the morning of Tuesday, November 30, Elsa Stansfield died, after a two month struggle against acute leukemia.
Elsa Stansfield was born and grew up in Glasgow and later trained in London, where she studied film at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. From 1972 she worked regularly with Madelon Hooykaas on collaborative film- and videoprojects in London and Amsterdam. In 1980 she was asked to develop the department of video/sound at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht and consequently she decided to settle down permanently in the Netherlands.
Stansfield and Hooykaas are closely associated with the development of video art in the Netherlands although they might be more properly referred to as sculptors using a wide range of media, both old and new. Materials such as copper, lead and stone are combined with contemporary media and methods resulting often in keynote commissions such as their work 'Abri' situated in the sand dunes near Wijk aan Zee The work manifests itself as a kind of parabolic dish, situated within it is a seat, giving view over dunes and sea. Visitors can, sheltered by this 'shield', listen to the amplified sounds of wind, birds and the breaking of waves.
The work she made with Hooykaas has been exhibited all over the world, for example at the Documenta in 1987, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and at exhibitions in Sydney, Montreal and Tokyo. Elsa retained strong links with Scotland, exhibiting their first video installation at the Third Eye Centre in Glasgow in 1975, and most recently a new video installation at the Visual Research Centre, Dundee Contemporary Arts in April 2004. Stansfield and Hooykaas were well known and respected by their peers across the UK. David Hall, the pioneer of British video art commented on hearing of Elsa's death:
"Elsa was the first artist to be awarded an Arts Council bursary to work with video in my department at Maidstone College of Art in the mid-seventies. Later, from 1980, as head of time-based media at the Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht, Holland, she enthusiastically organised international seminars and exhibitions. Her work in association with Madelon Hooykas will be remembered as of profound importance in the developing European video art scene."
Sue Hall, another colleague from the early days of European video scene said:
"From one of Elsa & Madelon's art videos I remember the chaotic tranquillity & soothing rhythm of breaking waves. That's the image I see when I think of Elsa. Compact, dark, intense, clever & a completely original artist. On her own path, with Madelon, a unique talent whose art could immerse an audience in her world."
Elsa was an artist, inspirational teacher, and profound thinker. One of her ex-students Justin Bennett, now an established new media artist, offers the following thoughts:
"I met Elsa for the first time in 1991 through a mysterious bullet hole in the window of a gallery she and Madelon were exhibiting in. Although I was a fan of their work since seeing the grey, grainy photos in an old LYC booklet, the meeting was the start of a long, though sporadic relationship. I studied with Elsa the next year at the Jan Van Eyck Akademie in Maastricht, and thereafter collaborated occasionally by making soundtracks for their work. Elsa was a great teacher – one who didn't have to say very much to get me thinking. Sometimes her comments could be completely off the wall, and only much later it would dawn on me what she had meant.

Steve Partridge

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The New Girl
Pilvi Takala and Lucy McKenzie

L. I just read Event on Garnethill, and found it very interesting, particularly because I have a close relationship to the art school and Garnethill area. In 2001 I made a project including the neo-geo murals that got painted over last summer beside the student union at GSA, and am interested in the community projects since the 1970s. I'm glad that you identify this place as an intense site for enquiry.
Your project seems concerned with structures which produce identity and the misuse by individuals of the inherent rules contained therein to expose these structures. In the form of a book documenting an action it asserts itself as an experiment in cause and effect, and is an ascetic, matter of fact account of what happened and its consequences. The reader of the documentation is denied immediate access to the drama implied by what took place, and does not get the satisfaction of witnessing a young female artist dressed up as a schoolgirl. There are barriers in place to stop it entering the bloodstream too fast.
In this respect it reminds me very much of the book "A Glasgow Gang Observed" by James Patrick published in 1973. Patrick, a young sociologist, infiltrates a late '50's Maryhill Young Team, and conveys in a dry and unexploitative manner what he experienced, and postulates on what social conditions are required to create intense gang culture. In the end the sociological study has as much tension as something using fictional tropes. In regard to your project taking place so specifically to Glasgow using its social ambits, currently I am living in Brooklyn which is made up of very concentrated communities. My area is African American close to Hassidic Jews, Poles, Italians and gentrification hipsters in Williamsburg, and I could imagine a similar experiment here. Though unlike Glasgow, New York is historically built on a dense population of different racial and religious groups, and relies on a certain level of tolerance to be able to function at all. Glasgow, while suffering from chronic racism, is nowhere near the same type of extreme. Your project highlights how much in Glasgow codified dress defines class and allegiance.
Firstly, perhaps you could tell me something about the decisions you made in what to present and what to leave out in documenting your action?

P. When I started the project I thought of the various ways of recording what happens and felt a bit inadequate. So I decided to just write down everything that happens; which is of course a bit inaccurate, but possible, since I stayed out less than half an hour at a time. I thought the final outcome might be a book already when I started, but it took a couple of months after the event to decide how to deal with what happened. Firstly I wanted to do something visually effective, but as I didn't have a possibility to use any images of the school kids; I would have never got permission from the school. I didn't want to use an image of me in the uniform both because it just felt too obvious and I wanted to avoid the feeling that dressing up as a school girl was something that I enjoyed, some kind of fetish. It wouldn't have made any sense to dress up in the uniform if the St Aloysius kids weren't around, so a photo of me alone in the uniform didn't make any sense either. Actually I really hated to wear that thing, the three days were a total horror, I couldn't sleep, but it was far too interesting to just stop doing it.
So, I had a diary about what happened, but no images, which felt a bit boring. I tried to keep the writing as short as possible and add images which would help to explain what happened. I realised that the project would seem very critical towards St Aloysius, which I didn't want to stress, so I tried to make the text personal and neutral as much as possible. I also wanted to avoid the impression that my project would be a scientific research trying to prove something, so I ended up somewhere between research and a personal diary. The book actually tells more about me than St. Aloysius.

L. I didn't think that St Aloysius seemed to be shown in a particularly bad perspective, though the details outlined in the school guide about dress are of course rather hilarious, and underscore an idea of scholastic propriety which seems Dickensian in the face of events in continental Europe regarding the wearing of headscarves and other religious symbols. I interpreted that St Aloysius functioned as an institution to mirror the GSA, as a site of freedom a priori. It seems relevant at this time to draw attention to the art school's proximity to an elitist private institution – the geographical location is metaphoric in the wider sense. I don't get the impression that you were placing them in opposition to one another, rather, identifying and exploiting something obvious; the assumption that the two schools are symbolic of different worlds and how romantically this is maintained. Your project highlights this with more insight than the standard equation of art with commerce.
In the UK, art students are generally several years younger than their European counterparts and could feasibly go straight from St Aloysius into GSA, crossing the invisible social perimeters you wished to aggravate. Was your project meant to be critical about institutions in general? Or more focused on the notion of borders?

P. It was more about the borders. I've never been very critical about institutions; I guess my experience has been in general good. Of course when it gets as extreme as St Aloysius, I can't help thinking critically about it as well. Mainly I was just amazed to see the green army on Garnethill; I thought it was very beautiful but also weird. I was more curious than critical, there must be good things about these kinds of strict rules, although I wouldn't put my kid in a school like that...

L. It's obvious that a sexual component in the action could be ascertained, because of the contemporary commodification of young women, particularly schoolgirls. Was this central to your experiment?

P. I came to think about how much my project has to do with sexuality after the event, and the British way of being over protective with children wasn't very clear to me when I started. I was quite confused for a while, trying to think over what the hell was I doing and how to present it. With the issue of sexuality I came to the conclusion that it wasn't my motivation or concern in the first place, it's just something that comes along inevitably and something I didn't want to stress in the final presentation. I actually thought that what I was doing was quite harmless, although I knew it would probably piss St Aloysius off a little. Dressing up in the uniform for me was about crossing a border and trying to communicate over it, to get somewhere in a grey area.

L. Was the British hysterical tendency towards children and sexuality something noticeably alien to you?

P. Yes it was. Things are much more relaxed in Finland in that sense, but of course we haven't had a lot of paedophilia cases to scare people. As a Finn it also feels really weird to make children dress up in these uniforms. It was only afterwards I realized how many issues my project touches and how it could be seen, which was partly because of strong responses to the project from other people.

L. What types of responses did you get from different people? An open letter sent to people in a range of professions requesting a response was included in the book, making it clear that the repercussions and interpretations are an important part of the project.

P. While doing the action schoolmates said that I should be careful; I could get into a lot of trouble, get sued or something. Then afterwards, when GSA got the angry phone call from St Aloysius, I got told that I should never do anything without permission and even if I'm not breaking the law I'm breaking unwritten rules and offending other people; doing things like this is childish and unprofessional and I should be more responsible. I was also explained how much my event had to do with sexuality, even if I didn't want that, and how it seemed just very perverted that somebody adult would want to dress up in a uniform and hang around school kids without a reason. But of course there was also people who thought what I've done is interesting in many ways; some people who knew the school seemed to get pleasure from the fact that somebody did something to challenge St Aloysius (and incidentally the art school). It was also clear that nobody British would have done this and often people started to tell me about their experiences with school uniforms as a kid when they heard what I've done.
As I expected, I didn't get many responses to the letter, but the ones I did get were quite interesting. I had a private detective calling me right when he got the letter and I had a nice conversation with him. When he finally worked out that the event really happened and I told him where, he thought it was super exciting. I also got a nice letter from a sociologist, outlining all the issues my project touches, and I had a conversation with a psychologist as well. Then there was just a couple of no-answers, one from the Supreme Court. I thought all of this was very interesting for me, but too much to include in the book.

L. I find it hard to imagine a native Glaswegian artist making this work. Because sexuality is such an under-explored and under-discussed subject, and because these social borders are just accepted. The site of the Aloysius uniform shop was that of the Women's Library before it moved down to the Trongate, and perhaps in general the area round and context of the art school are just too symbolically loaded. Could this work have been made somewhere else?

P. I'm sure I could have done the same thing somewhere else, but it was luckily quite an extreme and closed community that I found on Garnethill. The same kind of situations exist in many places, but it seemed to be very strong in Glasgow. I haven't had the feeling that I want to do a similar thing somewhere else, since I can't think of a better place.

L. Can you tell me something about your practice and how this project relates or develops from other works?

P. My practise isn't very easy to describe as a whole, there's a lot of different things, which is very normal to a young person I guess, but there's a work I made in 2000, when I was 19, which I think relates to this. It's Amusementpark, a one minute video based on a childhood memory, where two kids (girls) are in an amusement park and go to the toilet to touch tongues. You can see stills of this in the frame website: www.frame-fund.fi/aom/takala/index.shtml
Like Event on Garnethill, Amusementpark was something I could do without being questioned because I am a young woman. It would be a whole different thing or impossible to do for a man. I'm not very good in making links between my works, but at least the using of my gender and age is quite obvious.

L. I had the same experience when I was an art student and was looking at gymnastics as source material for paintings. I would watch the practising children at the sport centre, and enjoyed feeling aware of my status as a young woman, and what this permitted. It seems important in your work to capitalise on these kinds of social assignations, because this is as much about recognising a border and transgressing it as the Garnethill project in entirety. How far were you willing to go with the project?

P. I really didn't know how things would work out, but after the first day in the uniform I thought it could go on for weeks. I had these rules I wanted to follow (which I ended up breaking a bit): not to lie, stay in public areas and not to approach anybody myself, so my idea was to go on as long as I can within the rules. I expected the kids to discover me before the teachers, since I assumed they would eventually ask me who I was. I was interested to know what the kids would do with the fact that I'm an outsider. I could easily guess what the teachers would do and I tried to avoid them. So I guess I was willing to break my rules to keep the project going on, since I entered the private area in order to avoid the teacher. I really don't know how far I would have been willing to go, since this is all that happened. But for example, I didn't dress up in the uniform again after the teacher got me, I could have tried to go on, but I really thought it was enough for the time being.

Event on Garnethill is held in the collection of the British Library, and can be requested from any public library in the UK. The Mitchell Library, Glasgow holds reference copies, and the book is also available for loan from libraries in Finland.

www.lucymckenzie.com
www.frame-fund.fi/aom/takala/index.shtml

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Making Space for Culture(s) in Boomtown
Some Alternative Futures for Development, Ownership and Participation in Leeds City Centre
Paul Chatterton & Rachael Unsworth

Introduction
In attempting to find its feet in the post-industrial world, over the last ten years Leeds has mobilised an extremely positive and upward image for itself, which we summarise through the idea of 'boomtown'. It now styles itself as 'Leeds: the UK's favourite city' (see www.leeds.gov.uk). However, amongst this hubbub of self-congratulation, what we explore here are the less sanguine aspects of attempts to make spaces for cultures in the city's centre (see Hannigan, 1998; Zukin, 1995; Chatterton & Hollands 2003). The context for this discussion, as highlighted in the introduction to this volume, is the two contradictory uses of culture within urban regeneration (Evans & Ford, 2003). The first, which forms the basis of much cultural planning rhetoric is, as Williams (1976) suggested, that 'culture' encompasses intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development as well as works and practices of intellectual and artistic endeavour. Hence, culture is an essential part in everyday life, be it in the home, at work or in the street. The second, which often describes the reality of cultural policy in action, sees culture as an asset or resource that can be harnessed to generate property, income and jobs and promote places. Making spaces for cultures means managing activities that fall into these two definitions. It is for this reason that we focus on the need for cultures in the plural, to stress how – left to market forces – mono-dimensional definitions, based upon revenue-generating activity, usually predominate. In this paper, we outline the cultural strategies and activities that have emerged in the urban core of boomtown Leeds.¹ Rather than simply reciting what happened and why, and highlighting problems and pitfalls, here we ask what the barriers are to doing cultures differently. We conclude by asking how harnessing cultures could make a genuine difference to social equality while fostering creative and dissenting interpretations of the ways we live our urban lives. Here, we offer some practical alternatives that could be rolled out to make more spaces for different ideas and practices of cultures in boomtown Leeds.

The Growth of Culture in Boomtown Leeds
Leeds' growth is premised on a desire to move up a league in the national and European urban hierarchy: 'Going up a league as a city making Leeds an internationally competitive city, the best place in the country to live, work and learn, with a high quality of life for everyone' (Leeds Initiative, 2004).
At face value, Leeds has been relatively successful in this. It has been able to weather economic recession and move away from its industrial legacy relatively painlessly. Between 1981 and 1998 over 52,000 jobs were created and the workforce grew by 17% – higher than almost anywhere else in the UK (Leeds City Council, 2002). A boom in high-value residential, office and retail property in the centre continues and investment opportunities have soared. While the number of commercial investment properties in the central area has remained relatively stable, their capital value increased from £17 billion in 1981 to over £102 billion in 2002 (IPD, 2003). Leeds has become Britain's third financial centre after London and Edinburgh and has emerged as one of Britain's 'core cities', which are claimed to be economic drivers behind UK competitiveness (ODPM, 2004; Charles et al., 1999). Clearly, this does not mean that the city has done away with unemployment, social polarisation or physical dereliction. The obvious inner-city deprivation, ringing the prosperous core, is one of the most pressing problems.
Leeds' policy approach, like that of most other big cities, has been to mobilise a new partnership approach to urban governance, create active relationships between the public, private and voluntary sectors, 24 hour activity, vigorous place marketing and a move to more entrepreneurial rather than mere managerial functions (Harvey, 1989; Haughton & Williams, 1996; Heath & Stickland, 1997). The main partnership is the Leeds Initiative, established in 1990 and now acting as the Local Strategic Partnership which all local areas are required to have. This partnership, coupled with a 'moderate' (read business-friendly) political approach, has helped to capture new investments and give Leeds a new look to the outside world.
Culture, the arts and, more broadly, entertainment and nightlife, were all recognised early on as playing key roles in Leeds' post-industrial makeover. Strange (1996) notes that this was done through a pragmatic, business-oriented approach based upon property initiatives, promotional activities and developing established events. Much of this approach was personality driven, through people like Councillor Bernard Atha and Jude Kelly from the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Jon Trickett, council leader between 1989 and 1996, also guided the Council into a proactive (some would say survivalist) approach to the future of the city centre. Hosting the first 24 Hour City Conference in 1993, a vision was articulated for the city around ideas of Europeanness (especially through allusions to being the 'Barcelona of the north'), 24 hour activity, café society and city centre living, many of which are shorthand for an ideal city based on creativity, inclusion and prosperity (Trickett, 1994). A French boules court, along with chess tables, for example, have been built in a new public square in the business district, while the Council has established an annual European Street Market and German/Belgian festival. Interestingly, it was one of the city's few small, independent, rather than corporate, bars who organised the beer festival. Over this period, then, an ambitious 'events strategy', '24 Hour City Initiative', and commitment to animating the city centre emerged. Emphasis was placed on street legibility, improving street furniture, lighting and public transport, although clearly much of this is geared towards consumer spending rather than cultural activity per se. Leeds also has a significant creative industries sector comprising those employed in advertising, publishing, media, software, design and crafts.²
Compared with other British core cities, Leeds has a fairly small number of cultural and arts facilities and providers, although this stock does continue to grow.³ Only the West Yorkshire Playhouse has developed a serious commitment to outreach and educational programmes. Throughout the 1990s, Leeds pursued several flagship projects geared to improving the city's external image, many of which resulted from London decentralisation. These included the relocation of part of the Royal Armouries, the attraction of retail giant Harvey Nichols, and the development of Quarry Hill based around the relocation of the NHS Executive. Lottery funding also helped to create a new public square for the Millennium. This £12 million project, funded by the Council and the Millennium Commission, complete with movable stage and underground logistics area, highlights many of the ambiguities regarding the city's approach to culture and public space. Originally, dubbed the 'people's square', the City Council sought to ensure that nobody should be excluded on the basis of price. However, many events are ticketed, and bylaws have been drawn up to restrict certain activities. Some now call it the Council's 'posh patio' (Figure 1). In its favour, it does host a variety of events aimed at a fairly broad section of social groups.⁴
An impressive programme of more populist festivals and street events has been established for several years (see Figures 2 and 3).

Figure 2
• Rhythms of the City, which started 1993 runs for a month in the summer bringing a broad programme of street entertainment
• Hyde Park Unity Day, annually in August which showcases local artists and is focused upon community building
• The annual Chapeltown West Indian Carnival in August based around the city's afro Caribbean cultures.
• The St Valentine's Day Carnival establish in 1992 in the city centre, but now moved out to the inner city.
• The International Film Festival in October.
• FuseLeeds in March 2004, a new biennial music festival based around the growing Quarry Hill cultural quarter, showcasing music from jazz and pop to classical while developing a community education and fringe programme.
• 'Shift: looking beneath the everyday city' event in May 2004, during which a group of artists transformed underused retail space on the fringe of the city centre, provided a programme of events including recipe tours of the city and an investigation into emotional responses to multi-storey car parks.

However, such events often operate outside official policy and in spite of, often restrictive, legislation.
The most noticeable feature of Leeds' cultural coming of age has perhaps been the influx of thousands of high spending, city living professionals who have fuelled a demand for high value added goods and services in the centre (see Figure 4).⁵
This is perhaps most evident, not in the arts and cultural sector which represents a very small percentage of city centre 'cultural' and entertainment activity (Chesterton, 2003), but in 'informal leisure' in the city centre: the shops and café bars during the daytime,⁶ and at night, the bars, nightclubs and restaurants (Chatterton & Hollands, 2003). As Table 1 shows, there has been a huge increase in entertainment facilities.

Table 1. Growth of entertainment in Leeds centre
Type of outletNumber 1991 Number 2003
Catering and entertainment in LS1 and LS2
Restaurants 50 80
Bars and Public Houses 55 110
Cafes 61 110
Hotels 11 17
Night Clubs and Casinos 13 21
Source: Leeds City Council, Environmental Health 2002.

Over the 1990s, Leeds was put on the cultural map, not through high culture but through popular culture, emerging as the UK's Number One clubbing city. The Exchange Quarter acts as the city's coolest entertainment district, and clubs like the Warehouse, Back to Basics and the Mint Club have given Leeds a national reputation for innovation in clubland.
Even with this range of activity in mind, compared with other policy sectors, culture is an area where the city drifted over the 1990s with policy pursued in an opportunistic and piecemeal fashion. Cultural success came more by luck than good judgement, with some notable institutional bickering between the Leeds Initiative and the City Council (Strange, 1996). It was only in December 2002 that a five year Cultural Strategy was published by Leeds Culture, a partnership within the Leeds Initiative (see Leeds Cultural Partnership, 2002). Its opening words, 'culture is what makes cities tick' sets the tone for this ambitious and wide-ranging document. Going on to state that 'no single organisation can develop and implement a cultural strategy', it contends that the overall aim of the strategy is to promote the 'cultural wellbeing of the area'. It adopts a challenging and wide definition of 'culture':
"Culture does not belong to large institutions. Culture exists through people – it is about people and how we choose to express ourselves, interact with each other and communicate with the world."
Leeds Cultural Partnership, 2002, p. 12
Such an ambitious strategy is likely to receive close scrutiny in the coming years. A concern is that the city centre will remain a key area for the development of cultural activity as it is accessible to the maximum number of people, contains the greatest concentration of existing investment and is most appealing to visitors due to its critical mass. Further, one offshoot of the strategy is the 'Cultural Facilities Task Group', which remains embedded in property-based routes to culture. Acting as consultants to undertake a feasibility study into major new cultural facilities, in the words of its chairperson, its role is to 'ensure that we get the right facilities to 'go up a league' otherwise we shall fall behind other cities'.⁷ Voicing concerns about such an approach, Peter Connolly, director of Yorkshire Design Group, highlighted that Leeds' renaissance is still about putting up buildings rather than the way the city functions, noting that neither the Council nor the Leeds Initiative is in charge of the processes going on in the city centre (Leeds Civic Trust, 2004).

What are the Barriers to a More Creative Cultural Policy?
Within local authorities there is no shortage of good ideas, good will and genuine commitment to using culture creatively to tackle issues such as social exclusion, accessibility, and meeting what are perceived as local needs. A whole raft of more inclusive rhetoric has filtered into policy documents covering sustainable development, culture, social inclusion and participation. Local authority corporate plans, planning policy guidelines and regional strategies are replete with good intentions and attractive-sounding visions and mission statements. The key question here, then, is not why there is a lack of innovative and creative ideas in the cultural sphere (clearly there is), but why so little of it is translated into practice. Below we examine some of these barriers to putting the creative rhetoric of cultural policy into practice, and from this suggest how localities can proceed to do things differently. Clearly, policy changes are constrained at different levels – by local circumstances and wider political-economic contexts (Chatterton & Bradley, 2000), hence some barriers are more surmountable than others.
First, local authorities work within frameworks of best practice, best value and statutory responsibilities, and even with the best intentions degrees of freedom are severely limited. Local authority restructuring under the Local Government Act 2000 has shifted decision-making away from committee to cabinet-style structures emphasising the role of a few super councillors. Moreover, the emergence of a quango culture and public– private partnerships has made it less clear where executive power really lies. Restructuring of the planning system in the manner proposed by the Government in its 2001 Green Paper 'Planning: delivering a fundamental change' may result in legislation that will further constrain local authorities in addressing traditional notions such as the 'public good'. Urban authorities are also constrained by ongoing funding shortfalls and the struggle to find sufficient funds for public services. Increasingly, funding for specific projects has to be won in competition against bidders from other cities. In such a context, policies will only rise to the surface and be implemented if they are economically viable.
The 'bottom line' profit motives of the development and property market is a second substantial barrier. Only activities that are financially viable and offer stable returns are selected. Within a property market where publicly-quoted companies are limited by fiduciary duty to shareholders, there is little scope for smaller, riskier cultural projects. Competition for scarce centrally located sites usually means that the successful bid will be the one which has the greatest completed value. Developments that emerge are a function of the amount and quality of floorspace in 'use categories' that are perceived to be most in demand, rather than creating a balanced public infrastructure.⁸
Third, the lack of public ownership of physical space in central areas is a major barrier to developing a range of cultural activities. City Councils are under pressure to maximise the income from land disposals and this inevitably means attracting development proposals that will add the most value. With a restricted city centre property portfolio of their own, the Council cannot move beyond issuing 'development briefs' that specify what will be acceptable on each site.
The dominant discourse of the city-region model also throws up particular challenges for doing things differently locally. This model is predicated on an inter-regional hierarchy of functions between specialised tasks. The eight core cities at the top of the urban hierarchy take on high value-added functions, with smaller centres taking on lower level functions (ODPM, 2004). Within this model, Leeds undertakes high value-added, core functions of a national and regional importance in finance, banking, culture, retail and housing. Undertaking these core functions means that less attention is paid to lower value activities and employment that may cater for lower income groups. It is for localities lower down the city-region hierarchy, or certainly areas beyond the centre, to do these.
At the wider level, local authorities work in a context of inter-urban competition, market-led economics and representative democracy, which present a multitude of limitations to change at the local level. For example, the ability of local authorities to deviate from national guidelines and policy agendas, opt out of competing with other similar urban centres, hand over entire budgets to neighbourhood assemblies, decentralise or renationalise service provision, or pursue non-market forms of growth is restricted, and probably economically suicidal. The reality of contemporary urban governance is that in a highly inter-connected, networked society and economy, there is very little real scope for independent and creative action and policy formation.⁹

From 'Dreaming the Impossible', to 'The Art of the Possible'
Here, taking the current culture offer in Leeds as the starting point, we seriously ask what alternatives can be tabled and achieved? Visioning events and futurology have become common practice for policy-making. Questions are asked such as: where do we want to be in, say, five years time, and what do we need to do to get there? Such processes have gained legitimacy through public consultation and participation. However, such events rarely cast the net wide enough to include the full range of possibilities and scenarios and they draw some potentially specious conclusions (Clarke, 2003). Seldom – despite the efforts of those running consultation exercises – do they include the voices of the most marginal or questioning. Many people-centred ideas or traditions of popular architecture and planning are rarely heard. Moreover, many sacred cows such as profit maximisation, raising production and consumer spending, and wage labour are not up for negotiation. The current practicalities of competitive-oriented, market-led democracies are a sober reminder of what can be achieved.
The questions, then, depend on the balance between radicalism and reformism. Instituting a social and economic climate based upon public ownership of space and resources, active redistribution of wealth, environmental sustainability and promoting use-value rather than profit-based activities would pave the way for many changes, most of which are outside our vision and policy frameworks. Such ideals aside, below are some pointers at what could be achieved within current frameworks.
Like all urban centres, there is a vast array of activity going on in Leeds, which changes across the rhythms of the day and night. Hundreds of groups meet in pubs, churches, schools and halls discussing topics from boat building to ecological direct action. Sub-cultural groups (the goths, the skaters, the kids from the estates, the homeless) use city streets to meet, chat, pose and play out their identities. Bars, restaurants and clubs provide a backdrop for creative encounters for the wealthy and the poor. That said, it is important to note the real narrowing of choice and activity in city centres. This is particularly evident in terms of nightlife. While the first round of developments in new style and café bars and nightclubs was led by individual entrepreneurs, this has since been overtaken by a surge in growth from larger corporate operators. One key issue here is how to stop the corporate carpet-bombing of the night-time economy and maintain mixed-use, small-scale entrepreneurial activity. Hence, a concern is that the 'cultural offer' of Leeds is heavily biased towards higher value-added activities that tend towards a more passive, mass cultural experience, which despite efforts to the contrary, remains dominated by alcohol consumption and commercial music in corporate-owned branded bars, highly regulated by price and dress codes (Hollands & Chatterton, 2003). Moreover, the focus on the city centre, geared increasingly towards business and tourist users, has diminished the sense of community involvement in cultural events (Strange, 1996).
It is disingenuous to say that development in Leeds is accessible and successful just because thousands go to multiplexes, theme bars and fast food restaurants. Stimulating demand for more creative activities depends upon creating policy that will develop options outside the mainstream. Moreover, there are many people who are priced out, policed out or feel out of place, so do not enter the city centre. Certain demographic groups (children, the elderly, poorer people, women, minority ethnic groups) are effectively excluded, or at least, not provided for specifically (Chatterton & Hollands 2003). 'Sub-cultures' – alternatives to the mainstream – are not catered for and are even discouraged. Overall, the Cultural Strategy may talk of a wish to see these groups included, but in reality there is a tension between what is desirable in theory and what emerges through a process of market-led development in practice. It is vital to ask non-participants why they do not come, and if not, what types of culture and entertainment they would like to see. Even asking this type of question to people who live on council estates would be a major step forward for local authorities, the police or developers. While the 'dual city' phenomenon is perhaps too simple to describe a large, complex, multi-speed, urban area like Leeds, it does remain useful to highlight the huge disparities between those who can easily gain access to the city centre – as operators and consumers – and those who are excluded.
Many future plans for redevelopment do little to hide their commercial focus. Current plans to develop a large site to the north and south of Eastgate do include some public open space and links to adjacent inner city areas, but the main elements of the site will be aimed at mainstream Making Space for Culture(s) in Boomtown 371 commercial occupiers and their customers. To date, development briefs have been formulated with a large anchor tenant in mind. Moreover, the cultural quarter on the northern side of the city centre, faced on all sides by corporate bars and restaurants, is committed to externally-focused and high value-added development. On the old Electric Press building, for example, an advertising hoarding proclaiming a 'superb new theatre and conference venue with associated high quality restaurants and offices' sets the tenor for the development, and the drift away from the inclusive rhetoric of the Cultural Strategy (Figure 5).
However, there are spaces that are intended, at least partly, to be used by a range of people. The new Millennium Square is a useful example here. It exists in a difficult intersection between controlled/secure and open/spontaneous. It does not have a fixed meaning, as it is used by various social groups and interests, ranging from commercial to community. There is no defined policy stating what kinds of uses are acceptable or unacceptable, and anyone can use the square for an arts performance or event, within the parameters of Council policy (Sandle, 2001). Of course, there is unlikely to be agreement about the threshold beyond which certain activities become unacceptable, so at the margins, there will be conflict. A key aim for the success of the square is to go beyond officially organised events to give a sense that the space is not just civic controlled but has broad public ownership.
There is an ongoing dispute, for example, between skateboarders, other users and the Council's management. There are those who see the freedom to skateboard as a legitimate and important use of the square and others who view it as a hazard, nuisance, damaging to the environment and an intimidation. As Sandle (2001, p. 12) notes:
"The council itself is uncompromising and has gained a legal injunction to try and stop the skateboarders. The resolution or containment of such conflicts will be an important influence on how the square develops democratically and some issues may require imaginative compromise."
Various mechanisms could be developed here – citizens' panels and user forums that bring together skaters, young people, the council, developers and the police is one example. Finding ways of encouraging and showcasing art forms such as skating and graffiti are other possible solutions. This is part of accepting and understanding various sub-cultural groups and how they could be encouraged alongside accepted ones.
An important caveat is how to support cultural activity on the creative, sub-cultural fringe without restricting it. The key is to create genuinely independent spaces where creativity, dissent and critique can flourish, while letting go of fears associated with the growth of subversive cultures. A wider problem is that of commodification and hence sanitisation of cultural forms into the commercial mainstream (Hannigan, 1998). At some point, we also need to face the difficult issue that whoever is making or influencing policy imposes moral and aesthetic judgements on what should happen in city centres.
An 'art of the possible' generates many new ideas. Pragmatically, revitalising culture in the short-term means working with what there is in terms of spaces, ideas and funding, but aiming to create 'win-win situations'. Here, a series of connections need to be made – between different social groups and ages and between the prosperous centre and poorer outer areas. One of the most important points is that briefs and plans from developers need to take on board seriously the idea of culture as critical engagement and encounter rather than passive consumerism. Through this, priority would be given to spaces for creative engagement, spaces where people can become active participants in the creation of cultures – be it art, music, food, dancing, singing, or debating. Urban space can be used more flexibly, especially throughout the day to maximise activity. For example, bars and nightclubs are not used during the day, while public buildings are not used at night. Local authorities could also play a stronger role. Rather than permitting the assembly of large sites for large developers, smaller-sized property units should be maintained through planning guidelines, to encourage a greater diversity of products and opportunities for small-scale, local entrepreneurs and riskier start-ups. Such property patterns underpin the vitality of European cities, and should be a key focus if Leeds is serious about its 'Europeanness'. However, due to its industrial urban form based upon an urban core, arterial routes and detached residential suburbs, there are serious limits to Europeanising life in Leeds.
One of the sticking points has been generational divides and associated moral panics. Cohorts of young people have always congregated in city centres, but increasingly encounter restrictive policing, surveillance and moral disapproval (Lees, 2003). New legislation such as Anti-Social Behaviour Orders have been used to restrict the movement and activities of certain young people, along with homeless people and beggars, who are seen to be deviant, or simply not consuming.¹⁰ In Leeds, for example, goths and skaters are regularly moved on from the Calls and Corn Exchange areas due to perceived negative impacts on consumers, while in April 2004 the Council gave the Big Issue Magazine one month to stop its sellers begging and aggressively selling, or it would ban them from the city centre.
Much can be done to bring social groups and generations together. Child-friendly areas in bars and night-clubs for teenagers are a start but policy could go much further. Central spaces where the city's young people could represent their own lives, through music or theatre for example, would create bridges between generations and classes. Competitions or festivals that attract and involve local children in creating drama, art, music, sculpture and new media could be developed along with opportunities for showcasing the winners in central public spaces such as Millennium Square. Such activity can increase pride and self-esteem and give young people a greater sense of ownership of, and possibly respect for, of city space.
Spaces that celebrate rather than police and restrict the creativity of young people, and which offer activities away from both consumerism and an alcohol mono-culture, are a real priority. In essence, it is about making time and space for sub-culture, critique and dissent. None of these concern maximising returns on investment, increasing consumer spending or creating an appealing external city image for tourists and business elites, but they are the life-blood of cities and cannot be ignored. The case also has to be made that broadening cultural activity does bring social and economic benefits, albeit tangentially and thus are difficult to measure. In areas such as policing, safety and health there could be lower costs and positive spin-offs from Leeds as a place where there is genuine diversity and tolerance rather than crime and fear.
Much creativity occurs in what Ray Oldenburg (1999) calls 'third places' – the first being the home and the second being work. There is no set format for such places but they often provide space for small-scale, live acts, sell locally produced food and drinks, and offer space for information. Such places should be inexpensive, welcoming, a place of encounter. They are crucial to community life for a number of reasons: they are distinctive informal gathering places, they make the citizen feel at home, they nourish human contact, they help create a sense of place and civic pride, they provide numerous opportunities for serendipity, they allow people to relax and unwind, they encourage sociability instead of isolation, and they enrich public life and democracy. Considering the breadth of these roles, the disappearance of third places like the corner shop and neighbourhood café is unhealthy for our cities. The pub is perhaps the UK's quintessential third place. But many of these are being rationalised, corporatised and sanitised (Chatterton & Hollands 2003) and have really been more about alcohol than community. In Leeds, the development of the city centre has been so much led by a pro-active private sector, that third- and public-spaces have been squeezed out of proposals (Unsworth & Smales, 2004).
In light of the above discussion, a cultural checklist emerges that can be used to gauge the likely effects of developments (Figure 6).

Figure 6. A checklist for city centre cultural developments and activities.
• Do developments retain a range of small, cheap units to allow a range of small-scale entrepreneurs and more experimental activity?
• Is there a real commitment to social housing quotas on new developments?
• Is equal weight given to small-scale investors in terms of land acquisitions, legislation, licensing etc.?
• Is there equal commitment to the economic and social elements of development briefs?
• Are non-alcohol-related uses been sought for ground floors of residential buildings?
• Is there provision of quality open spaces within new developments to maximise opportunities for meeting, appreciation of public art, open air events etc?
• Are opening hours of cultural venues being maximised to show commitment to 24 hour activity that is not alcohol related?
• Are informal spaces for art exhibitions and installations being encouraged?
• Is there a commitment to participation rather than policing?
• Are event strategies focused on local as well as national/international performers?
• Are public spaces offered on flexible and cheap terms for non-traditional users?
• Are developments sensitive to human scale? Here 'minor planning' might be as appropriate as 'master planning'.

Signs of Change?
There are several signs of change in Leeds in terms of cultural policy making. Whatever the outcome, there is now a cultural strategy in place. The City Centre Management Team is also no longer in charge of Events and Leisure Services now has responsibility for events across the city. The councillor responsible for Leisure Services also has education and youth services within her portfolio. This should make it easier to link communities from the whole city into city centre activities, and already there are plans, for instance, to showcase local groups in central spaces. Further, the new city museum, which is to open in 2007, will be as much for the people of Leeds as for visitors to the city. The layout and content aims to involve as many kinds of people as possible and draw them into further active exploration of their cultural heritage.
As mentioned earlier, the Council, concerned about the negative aspects of the city centre at night, commissioned consultants to suggest ways of achieving a night-time economy that is 'accessible, attractive and safe to use by all' (Chesterton, 2003, p. 3).¹¹ This amounts to a series of 'containment' policies that should, over time, lead to a city centre less dominated by alcohol-related evening activity. Other recommendations did include giving consideration to independent operators and businesses within the city centre (Chesterton, 2003, p. 77). While there are a few concrete ways of doing this, one tool to achieve this could be stipulations on plot ratios, which would limit the density of development, prevent high rises and keep the overall scale of buildings smaller.
A newly constituted Property Forum is also bringing together a range of people who are charged with the task of thinking innovatively about (amongst other issues) cultural and additional city centre facilities, and quality spaces and places. Membership of the special working groups of the forum is open to any interested people who consider that they have ideas to contribute.

Conclusions
So what kind of space is boomtown Leeds making for cultures? Leeds, like all cities, is walking a difficult path, attempting to mobilise culture to the ends of both economic growth and social inclusion. Clearly it is not going to please everyone. In many areas, Leeds has developed a fairly broad package of events, in which barriers between performer and spectator, producer and consumer have occasionally broken down. However, many gaps remain, especially considering its status at the centre of a major city region. There is no city-centre art house cinema, only one small-scale commercial gallery, little flexible space for artists, the number of independent bars is diminishing, and public and green spaces are few and far between. Gaps in creative and fringe cultural activity are important. As one of Britain's eight core cities, Leeds needs a spread of functions ranging from high value-added to more small-scale, experimental and creative activities. This range of activities makes sense, especially considering it is the transport hub of a large sub-region. But the city has followed a route of encouraging high value-added investment in its ambitions to enter a European super league. In not providing spaces and opportunities for smaller, riskier activity, it has also overlooked the fact that this kind of activity is the lifeblood of today's large vibrant metropolitan areas, especially in continental Europe.
The outcomes of cultural activity, in terms of meeting government social and economic targets, but also in terms of improving people's daily lives, are often contradictory and unpredictable. The yearly Leeds Valentine's fair is a good example. Here, Harcup (2000) asks to what extent can such cultural events actually transform participants' relations with each other and their city? While the city may be alive with activity, to what extent are unscripted spectacles, unlicensed demonstrations or critical interventions permitted in the corporate city and tolerated by new urban residents? Moreover, to what extent has Leeds used culture to harness creativity from the bottom-up, to allow us to step outside our normal lives, turn perceptions on their head and inside out, take a critical look at the city, subvert and transgress our normal social roles, glimpse alternative visions of community life, or encounter people we might not normally meet? Here, many initiatives are unlikely to welcome many youth and subcultures to take a full role within the city centre. They are likely to remain on the social and geographical margins unless those involved with economic and social development of the city are prepared to take some unusual risks.
The answers are probably that much cultural activity continues to create safe spectacles to increase the saleability of the city, rather than critically engaging with people and their problems, helping us to gain a better understanding of our daily lives and the constraints we face. Most culture is also too tied up with the act of consuming and spending, which brings with it a host of problems such as easy debt, but also the lack of environmental sustainability, corporate control of manufacturing, distribution and consumer chains, production outsourcing and sweat shop labour, and long distance transport. Without real commitment, culture usually drifts into the service of place marketing and attracting tourists. Strange (1996) warns us of the dangers here: 'corporate hospitality is not the same as culture'. Moreover, Leeds is likely to embrace the Business Improvement District (BID) model from the USA, which in practice orients public space even more closely to the needs of business users.
The recipes for great cities are widely known, by public officials as much as artists. The problem is that, as we have outlined, there remain certain blocks from property markets, statutory regulations, and law and order agendas that mean they are rarely put into practice. The bottom line is which city authority is prepared to genuinely embrace the real diversity of city life (including poverty, crime, drugs, social anxieties, dissatisfaction, pollution and alienation) within city centre cultural activities? The short answer is none. It is easier and more profitable to ignore it and concentrate culture towards a more sanitised and profitable version of city life. Moreover, a problem is ambiguity in policy-making, or rather only halfhearted commitment to certain sacred principles. For example, diversity is seen as both an obstacle to, and objective of, public policy (Lees, 2003). This is a particular issue in terms of how young people are perceived. But in the spaces which boomtown has not colonised, outlines of very different cultures can be seen; not based on profit, consumerism or maximising investment, but on people, creativity and solidarity. Ambivalence, spontaneity and dissent, on the part of the many different groups who use urban space, are not easily transferred into a cultural or events strategy, nor should they be. But they are the essence of urban cultures. This is why it remains so important that city spaces can be used in multiple ways, and not completely restricted by both regulation and the operation of the free market.

Notes
1 Due to space constraints, our focus is on urban core, as it represents the most intensively used and valued part of the city. This is not to deny the importance of cultural activity beyond the urban core, or the relationship between the two.
2 A recent study by Taylor (2003) showed that the creative industries employed just over 12,000 people in Leeds in 2001, the third highest amongst the UK's core cities. This accounts for about 3.2% of the city's workforce, with the biggest subcategories in advertising, architecture and the performing arts. The study also found that 87% of organisations employed less than 10 people but most of the employment was accounted for by a handful of large firms.
3 These include: the performing arts (the West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Grand Theatre, Opera North, the Civic Theatre, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Phoenix Dance, and City Varieties), art spaces (the City Art Gallery, Henry Moore Institute, Bruton Gallery), museums (the Royal Armouries which relocated from London was seen as a major coup for the city, and a new City Museum planned for 2007), an International Concert Series, free lunchtime recitals, and a media sector comprising regional headquarters of the BBC and ITV.
4 Recently, these have included a Palm Sunday procession, St Patrick's Day March and events, a Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity roadshow, a Disability Festival Day, a Sikh Festival, community arts events, a Battle of Britain Memorial Day, a Children's beach football and volley ball competition sponsored by Nike, Athletes hospitality for the British Transplant Games, open-air film and video screenings as part of the Leeds International Film Festival, open-air theatre drama presentation, as well as several commercial concerts and trade events (Sandle, 2001).
5 The growth of the city centre economy has far outstripped other parts of the urban area, and is home to 30% of all the jobs in the metropolitan area (Dutton, 2003). By 2003, only 1,805 residential units had been built in the centre, but over 8,000 more are planned, permitted or under construction, mostly along the waterfront. One third of households in the centre have incomes above £55,000 per year, with the modal price between £120,000–145,000 (Fox & Unsworth, 2003). Typically, up to 60% of developments are pre-sold at planning stage to investment consortia, often using bulk discounts, who are keen to maximise rental returns.
6 Shopping is the top reason for people coming to the city centre (Leeds Initiative, 2003).
7 Tom Morton is chair of Cultural Facilities Task Group & President of Leeds Chamber of Commerce, quoted in Leeds Financial Services Initiative Newsletter (Spring 2004, p. 3).
8 A current example in Leeds is illustrative of such tensions over private/public uses of space. Warehouse Hill, on the north bank of the River Aire, is one of the last remaining open sites on the waterfront. When a development company acquired the land, at a high cost, the development proposals consisted of high-density buildings for private occupation. However, the Civic Trust has pointed out repeatedly that granting permission for the scheme precludes the possibility of this space being used by the public. Nevertheless, the development is to go ahead according to the private developer's brief.
9 However, one locality, Hastings, has taken the bold step of prioritising growth based a strong local offer.
10A recent campaign led by Leeds Community Safety Partnership called 'Change for the better' encourages shoppers not to give money to beggars, but instead put money into boxes which is donated to 'legitimate' charities. While this may placate many fears, such as their donations to beggars being spent on drugs, policies should be more creative than simply reducing contact between groups and making beggars less visible.
11The recommendations include limiting and spatially concentrating licensed premises, and balancing market forces with public need; balancing the interests of the growing number of residents and revellers; limiting binge drinking; and new policing methods to minimise the disorder caused by bar and club customers.

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Kindly reprinted from Local Economy, Vol. 19, No. 4, 361-379, November 2004, Routledge, Taylor & Francis
ISSN 0269-0942 Print/ISSN 1470-9325
Online © 2004, LEPU, South Bank University

Correspondence Address: Paul Chatterton, School of Geography, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
Email: p.chatterton@leeds.ac.uk

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The Saints of the Future
Gus Abraham

We have seen men and women born in other lands join the fight for peace.
We have seen some, in their own lands, start building the long bridge that says "You are not alone",
We have seen them take action and cry out their 'Ya Basta'.
First we saw them imagine and put into practice their demands for justice,
Marching like those who sing, writing like those who shout, speaking like those who march.
–Ya basta!

Ceud mile fàìlte – a hundred thousand welcomes. That's what Blair and Bush will be getting from the people of Scotland and around the world gathered to oppose their world of war, poverty and exploitation. Welcome to Scotland, the home of golf and the worst poverty rates in Britain. While diners at Andrew Fairlie's restaurant in the Gleneagles Hotel tuck in to "Roast Anjou Squab with Black Truffle Gnocchi", one in three children are born into poverty and a quarter of our senior citizens live below the poverty line. In Glasgow's Shettleston, life expectancy is 63, the same as Iraq.
Welcome to Scotland – home to all of Britain's nuclear weapons at Coulport and the strategic nuclear submarine fleet at Faslane. Our seas are littered with munitions dumps, our soil is scattered with disintegrating military bases and our air is full of the sound of fighter jets training to bomb foreign lands.
In July the leaders of the world's 'most powerful economies' will be gathering in Perthshire. Normally the home to bad-taste golfers in Pringle and check, the elite Gleneagles hotel will instead be brimming with nervous security guards, armed police and the leaders of the Global State.
In the 1970s, with the so-called oil crisis highlighting the increasing interconnectedness of the world's economies, meetings of the 'Library Group' began. Founded by the United States, this group included France, Britian and Germany, who soon invited Japan for these initial 'fireside chats'. The G7 (or Group of Seven Nations) was formed in 1975, with Canada and Italy joining; the EU joined in 1977, although it does not have the same status as national governments. Russia achieved partial membership in the group in 1998, and full membership as of 2003; thus the G7 have become the G8.
The purpose of the G8 and their summits is described as threefold: providing collective management of the world economy; reconciling globalization tensions among G8 members; and generating global political leadership 'where heads of state and government take cooperation further than their officials and ministers can' (Bayne, 2001: 23). That's brilliant isn't it?
Over the last quarter century the G8 has emerged as the central forum for global governance, and until relatively recently they have managed to meet and plan in secrecy, making decisions and controlling the systems that affect all of life on earth. But this time there's a cute twist with Tony pleading that he wants to make "Africa" and "Climate Change" top billing.

"Africa"
This is Tony's Band-Aid moment. In his eyes he's an amalgam of great world leaders and fêted "Good Celebrities" – the Saints of the Future. In Tony's head he's Ghandi (without the loin-cloth), Martin Luther King (minus the morality or the rhetorical skills) and Bono without the shades. All humble Tony has is a cleanly ironed shirt and a team of professional liars.
But, as so often with Tony's dreaming, there's a problem. As Gill Hubbard and David Miller point out in their recent book 'Arguments Against G8', Pluto Press, a collection of analysis of the G8 by leading writers and activists:
"Despite declaring himself the saviour of Africa, weapons are being sold with the blessing of the Labour government on an unprecedented scale. For instance, the government of South Africa is purchasing warships and military aircraft to the value of US $4.8 billion from the UK and other European suppliers. The UK has also sold arms to Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Zambia."
But this record should be added to George Monbiot's documentation of the Labour government's pivotal role in the privatisation of water utilities in South Africa (and especially the role of 'Saint' Clare Short), that...
"according to a study by the Municipal Services Project, [privatisation] led to almost 10 million people having their water cut off, 10 million people having their electricity cut off, and over two million people being evicted from their homes for non-payment of bills."
( http://qsilver.queensu.ca/~mspadmin/pages/Project_Publications/Reports/bell.htm )
So watch the spinning get frantic as they try and square the circle of Tony's emotional hand-wringing and much over-acted sincerity with the rape and carnage their collective policies bestow on the rest of the world. Watch too as Blue Peter politics kick-in big style: Poverty is about dark-skinned people in far-off lands who – some think – deserve our hand-outs. It's not their fault they're in a mess, but it's not ours either. It just sort of happened because, er, it's hot, and they don't have proper vaccinations or something.
As Salih Booker, director of Africa Action, describes the G8:
"Together they have a decisive influence over international financial institutions, including direct control of 46% of the votes in the World Bank and 48% of the votes in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The G8 members similarly control other powerful international institutions, such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO).... Although their decisions may mean life or death for tens of millions with no seat at this table, there is no global body that can demand accountability from the rich-country leaders."

"Climate Change"
Climate Change might be a bit trickier. The G8's own web site is cute on this, here's an extract:
"The UK Prime Minister sees climate change as 'probably, long-term the single most important issue we face as a global community'. For this reason climate change will be a priority during the UK's G8 Presidency this year, along with Africa."
So what's the plan? Well as they themselves admit, "The G8 accounts for over 65% of global GDP and 47% of global CO2 emissions" – or put another way, those seated around the table represent little more than one-eighth of the world's 6.2-billion people.
Tony's trouble is not to upset the others who either flatly deny there's really a problem or admit there's sort of a problem but don't want to do anything that would hamper business. So that's why Tony comes up with three great sidesteps. The trick here is to be seen to be doing something, while actually doing nothing. With this in mind his G8 statement reads:
The UK has set out three broad aims for climate change in the G8 in 2005:
• Building a solid foundation on the science. We need to further explore the relationships between greenhouse gas emissions and the associated level of climate change.
[This is a sop to the Americans. It's a duplicitous lie meant to delay action. It's morally indefensible.]
• Reaching agreement on how to speed up the science, development of technology and other measures necessary to meet the threat.
[This focus on technology is pie in the sky. It's yet another 'pipe-end' solution meant to distract from the reality that what is needed is a massive change away from our production and consumption, profit-driven economies.]
• Engage countries outside the G8 who have growing energy needs, such as China and India, both on how these needs can be met sustainably and how they can adapt to the impacts which are unavoidable.
[This is blame-shifting on an enormous scale. Of course it's good to develop and share renewable technologies, but the problem lies in the massive over-consumption of the North, not in the developing countries.]
Of course behind all this is the fact that the world's scientific community has known exactly what the problem is for years. Calling for more science is a boon to the Americans who will come up with a whole heap of horseshite from the Institute of Oil Barons, Texas, or the Research Centre Into How We Can Carry On Making Billions, Illinois.
There's some great links on the official G8 web site ( www.g8.gov.uk ). Take this one from the American EPA site on global warming:
"What has changed in the last few hundred years is the additional release of carbon dioxide by human activities. Fossil fuels burned to run cars and trucks, heat homes and businesses, and power factories are responsible for about 98% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, 24% of methane emissions, and 18% of nitrous oxide emissions. Increased agriculture, deforestation, landfills, industrial production, and mining also contribute a significant share of emissions. In 1997, the United States emitted about one-fifth of total global greenhouse gases."
In another bit on the official G8 site, they ask:
'What are the world's governments doing to tackle climate change?'
"Climate change is a global problem and requires a global solution. In 1992, the world's governments adopted an international agreement to tackle climate change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Convention enjoys almost near universal membership with 189 countries (including all the G8 countries) having ratified it. This was followed in 1997 by the Kyoto Protocol which sets out more specific, legally-binding commitments to levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, this has been ratified by 128 countries and is due to come into force on 16th February 2005."
Well, that's sort of true isn't it? Blair making the ecological crisis a centre point of this summit is a sick joke. It's like tobacco companies holding a bring-and-buy sale for cancer research.
Scientists estimate that a reduction of 70% of greenhouse emissions over this century is necessary to prevent the worst effects of climate change, including flooding, hurricanes and droughts. Yet the Kyoto pact, which is part of the United Nation's framework on climate change, only requires developed countries to reduce greenhouse emissions by 5.2% by 2012. And the United States, which is the world's biggest polluter – spurting out 5,795.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per annum – has refused to sign the pact.
Ultimately the British State's role in Scotland, and the Blair Government's attempt to portray themselves as champions of the world's poor, will make Tony the laughing stock of the rational world. The gap between their fantasy of enlightened hope and the reality of the Labour government's role in the New World Order will be exposed.
The G8 are met with massive resistance wherever they meet, here is a partial and incomplete guide to the protests ...


Actions/Events Diary

Saturday 2nd July - Make Poverty History March, Edinburgh, from 11am
As the leaders of the world's richest countries gather in Scotland for the G8 summit, join tens of thousands of others in Edinburgh demanding trade justice, debt cancellation, and more and better aid for the world's poorest countries.
The day's events will start from 11am, and will include:
• rallies with international speakers, celebrity supporters and music
• the creation of a giant human white band around Edinburgh city centre, with staggered starts at 12pm, 1pm and 2pm - so no need to rush!
• entertainment, 'market stalls' and activities
• an opportunity for you to send your messages directly to the G8 meeting in Gleneagles
The event will be a family friendly, safe and fun day - so bring as many people as you can!
www.makepovertyhistory.org
Sunday 3rd July - "Ideas to Change the World", G8 Alternatives Summit, Edinburgh
Usher Hall, Queens Hall & Edinburgh University. Will feature prominent speakers from around the world in eight plenary sessions and more than 36 workshop/seminars. The purpose of the Alternatives Summit is to present a serious ideological challenge to the corrupt policies and ideology of the G8.
Plenary Sessions will focus on: War & Imperialism, The Attack on Civil Liberties, Africa, Climate Change, Asylum & Immigration, Nuclearism, Corporate Globalisation & Privatisation, Aid, Trade & Debt
Speakers will include: Mark Curtis, author of Web of Deceit & Unpeople; Susan George, Vice-president ATTAC France; George Monbiot, radical journalist & author; Trevor Ngwane, Anti-Privatisation Forum, South Africa; Dita Sari, President, National Workers' Struggle Indonesia; Scott Ritter, former UN Weapons Inspector; Ken Wiwa - son of Ken Saro Wiwa, executed by Nigerian government; and many others.
For more information including a list of confirmed speakers visit: www.g8alternatives.org.uk
Tickets £10/5
Contact Usher Hall for tickets 0131 228 1155
www.usherhall.co.uk
Monday 4th July - Blockade of Faslane Nuclear Weapons Base, from 7am
Non-violent direct action called by Scottish CND and Trident Ploughshares to disrupt Faslane as much as possible, primarily by blockading the entrances. Faslane is home to all four Trident submarines, Britain's own nuclear WMD Programme.
www.banthebomb.org
www.tridentploughshares.org
www.faslaneg8.com
Tuesday 5th July - "Close Dungavel, No-one is Illegal!", mass protest at Dungavel Detention Centre, Ayrshire
Dungavel is where Scotland imprisons hundreds of people, including families and children who have committed no crime. They have merely crossed borders fleeing persecution and poverty, seeking safety and freedom.
Coaches leave in the morning from Edinburgh. Shuttle-bus service from Glasgow. For more info contact Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees: glascamref@hotmail.com
www.closedungavelnow.com
Wednesday 6th-8th July - "Another World is Possible", convergence on Gleneagles.
Assemble 12noon at Gleneagles Train Station for a march to the gates of the Gleneagles Hotel on the opening day of the G8 Summit. Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder, between Perth and Stirling on the A9.
Thurs 7th July - Climate Justice Alarm, 13.45
A one off event organised by Friends of the Earth Scotland to sound warning bells to try to wake the G8 up to the fact that time is running out to tackle climate injustice. Edinburgh and Everywhere.
www.foe-scotland.org.uk
Saturday 9th July - Alternatives Concert, Gleneagles


Who's Who? An Incomplete Guide to Protesters and Action Groups

Dissent!
Dissent is a largely anarchist-oriented network planning a rural convergence somewhere near Gleneagles... In their own words:
"The Dissent! Network, has formed to provide a networking tool to co-ordinate radical resistance to the Summit. The network was formed in the autumn of 2003 by a group of people who have previously been involved in radical ecological direct action, Peoples' Global Action, the anti-war movement and the global anti-capitalist movement which has emerged around meetings of those that rule over us.
The Network has no central office, no spokespeople, no membership list and no paid staff. It's a mechanism for communication and co-ordination between local groups and working groups involved in building resistance to the G8, and capitalism in general. It hopes to exist long after the world leaders have returned home in the early summer of 2005.
Dissent! is open to anybody willing to work within the Hallmarks of Peoples' Global Action (PGA).
PGA was founded in February 1998 by hundreds of people from social movements as diverse as the Brazilian landless peasants movement (MST), Reclaim the Streets in the UK, the Zapatistas in Mexico, radical ecologists from the Ukraine, Maori from New Zealand and squatters from across Europe, all of whom had gathered in Geneva for the founding conference. The PGA Network was created as a tool for co-ordination and communication between groups, movements and individuals wanting to organise global anti-capitalist resistance, particularly to international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and to draw attention to the possibility of alternative forms of social organisation..."
Note: An intervention was made, commenting that the PGA Hallmarks do not cover everything and do not, in themselves, make a movement. Some found the Hallmarks problematic. Some groups present at the meeting would not join the mobilisation under the Hallmarks, due to the problems they have with them.
www.dissent.org.uk

G8 Alternatives
G8 Alternatives is a coalition of groups led by Socialist and Trotskyist organisations. G8A is a network that enables organisations and individuals from a broad range of social movements to come together to plan for and organise events and activities which offer alternatives to the agenda of the G8, such as mass non-violent peaceful protests, an alternative summit, cultural and creative events, and a convergence space with camping and other amenities to facilitate protest at the Summit. Events facilitated by G8A will be non-violent, non-discriminatory and non-partisan.
The network includes those who oppose the G8 as an institution and also those who wish to press the G8 to adopt different policies.
"What unites us is our belief that 'another world is possible' and that we need to have a massive mobilisation that brings together anti capitalists, international development campaigners, trade unionists, peace activists, environmentalists, human rights campaigners and more to discuss, debate and demonstrate."
G8A welcomes participation from any group or individual committed to social justice, international development, environmental protection, peace and human rights.
www.g8alternatives.org.uk

Make Poverty History
"Every day 30,000 children are dying as a result of extreme poverty. This year we finally have the resources, knowledge and opportunity to end this shameful situation." MPH
"The gap between the world's rich and poor has never been wider. Malnutrition, AIDS, conflict and illiteracy are a daily reality for millions. But it isn't chance or bad luck that keeps people trapped in bitter, unrelenting poverty. It's man made factors like a glaringly unjust global trade system, a debt burden so great that it suffocates any chance of recovery and insufficient and ineffective aid." MPH
MPH is a UK coalition of NGOs (people from Oxfam, local churches and big relief groups) within the Global Call to Action Against Poverty who are focused on issues of debt, trade and aid. This is the official body organising the main march around Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd July. This is sanctioned opposition – Bono, Nelson Mandela, and Bob Geldof. The march will be huge, estimates vary up to 200,000 people.
www.makepovertyhistory.org

Free Party People
The Free Party network will be organising parties around the event and will be working to help make safe the free party at a possible rural convergence space. Crew 2000 have agreed to help out with supplies of fresh water for partying people, advice for party goers and a chill-out/rest area. Also a club night for the MPH demonstration with some top flight DJs and live acts.

People and Planet
The largest leftwing student organisation in Scotland. There will be a P&P G8 Summer festival bookable through the People and Planet website. Ticket price £15 (£12 before the 6th June) includes MPH counter-summit, and festival including campsite space:
http://peopleandplanet.org/g8/

Scottish CND
Scottish CND are aiming to support all the demonstrations, in providing legal support. There is a guide to Scottish law for activists on their website:
www.g8legalsupport.info
S-CND will co-ordinate from an office what arrests are made and where, try and provide transport for those arrested and follow up for those who are, providing liaison with lawyers.
Trident Ploughshares and CND are organising the blockade of Faslane on Monday 4th. They have organised floor space for 1,000 people in Edinburgh and for 500- 1,000 people in Glasgow. Buses are organised from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Faslane. They are supporting the Wednesday convergence on Gleneagles, and the MPH march. There will be an anti-war zone at the rural convergence space.
S-CND are behind the call to blockade the Faslane Nuclear Submarine base on the Clyde, because:
"The G8 depend on their overwhelming military might to defend and extend the globalisation that allows them to exploit and oppress the poor. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate expression of the militarism that makes economic globalisation possible. Military spending drains resources away from health, education and international development. Poverty leads to conflict, and conflict leads to poverty. We cannot make poverty history unless we also make war history."
www.faslaneg8.com
www.banthebomb.org

Friends of the Earth Scotland
FoE's actions will include a Climate Justice Alarm at 1.45pm on Thursday 7th July. There will be individual and collective actions throughout Scotland, the G8 nations, and the world – all sounding a climate alarm at the same time.
FoE are part of G8A and Counter Summit events. WDM, WoW, FoE, FoES have organised an event at the CoS Assembly Hall, Edinburgh on 3rd July on trade justice, debt, aid, corporates and climate: pushing the government to go further towards MPH goals.
FoE London are in the Up in Smoke coalition with Oxfam, People and Planet, WDM etc. There is a report showing that climate change impedes the Millennium Development goals. FoE has organised 'Global Warming 8 conference' with representatives of countries affected by global warming – Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh, 5th July.
FoES's Global communities project is collaborating on cultural events with Ya Basta! – a new Scotland-wide network of cultural activities and action responding to the arrival of the G8 leaders, encompassing a diverse range of performances, gigs, workshops, film screenings and exhibitions, aiming to bring together artists, activists and interested individuals to share ideas on how cultural activities can be used to protest and celebrate.
There is a New Consumer event at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh on 1st July with an evening concert with the Proclaimers and others, and to include a meeting point with an accommodation notice board.
www.yabasta.org.uk
www.newconsumer.org
www.foe-scotland.org.uk

Indymedia
Indymedia is the anti-capitalist movement's online presence, and represents a revolution in media communications. It is an open publishing forum for people to report their own actions. There will be a primary Indymedia centre in Edinburgh above the Forest Cafe and mobile units covering events and actions.
Along with Camcorder Guerillas, Variant are helping to co-ordinate an associated Glasgow media centre, and look out for a Glasgow G8 newsheet.
Indymedia is part of no faction and want everyone to use the sites, go to:
http://scotland.indymedia.org
www.indymedia.org.uk
www.camcorderguerillas.net

The Wombles
The "White Overall Movement" derives from folk on protests padding-up to protect themselves from police assault.
In their own words:
"WOMBLES, despite the media manipulation and hype, has always been an open meeting ground for people struggling for a new world based on the dignity of people to live freely, without coercion, states, private property and exploitation. A world without classes and ethnic, sexual or gender divisions. A world without borders.
A message too to those who think a riot shield or prison sentence will protect them...
The anger doesn't fade believe me, not for a moment, not by a long way. Some of us fight to keep alive, some of us are alive because we fight, either way the battle is one & the same. As one riot cop said in court when justifying the need to get his gun out & start shooting people, "they kept coming, we couldn't stop them". Remind me again why we do this, remind me again why all this is fucking worth it.
The creative urge is an indestructible urge - we know what our anger means.
We are dangerous people not simply because we desire freedom, but because we desire it together. These are the criminal activities of the working class, these are the crimes that we live by. In the words of Bobby TBS "a troublemaker's what you made me" (anything else would be a crime). If we're not causing trouble, we're not doing it right. This is everything we are. This is all we have.
And I'm proud as fuck to be a part of it - the travelling circus, the whispering conspiracies, the deafening global roar, all the chaos & wonder, courage & warmth, never once, in the face of brutality & murder, doubting itself, the madness & togetherness, the desire & danger & damage done. The fearlessness with which we continue to grab at life. When you dare the world to be special, the world will respond... They kept coming, we couldn't stop them. THIS is what our anger means.
Humanity is not the future you try and create, the future is the humanity you refuse to let go of. We hold it all in our hands..."
Paul Robinson, Gothenburg Prisoner

Black Bloc
A message describing the Black Bloc and their tactics is included here, to counter the inevitable propaganda that will be put out by the mainstream and corporate media:
"The Black Bloc is a fairly recent phenomenon, probably first seen in the U.S. in the early '90s and evolving out of protest tactics in Germany in the '80s. The Black Bloc may be in part a response to the large-scale repression of activist groups by the FBI during the '60s, '70s and '80s. It is impossible at this point to form a radical activist group without the fear of infiltration and disruption by the police and. for some, taking militant direct action in the streets with very little planning and working only with small networks of friends are the only meaningful forms of protest available.
Although there is no consensus among us on what we all believe, I think I can safely say that we have a few ideas in common. The first is the basic anarchist philosophy that we do not need or want governments or laws to decide our actions. Instead, we imagine a society where there is true liberty for all, where work and play are shared by everyone and where those in need are taken care of by the voluntary and mutual aid of their communities. Beyond this vision of an ideal society, we believe that public space is for everyone. We have a right to go where we want, when we want and governments should not have the right to control our movements, especially in order to hold secret meetings of groups like the WTO, which make decisions that affect millions.
We believe that destroying the property of oppressive and exploitative corporations like The Gap is an acceptable and useful protest tactic. We believe that we have the right to defend ourselves when we are in physical danger from tear gas, batons, armored personnel carriers and other law enforcement technology. We reject the idea that police should be allowed to control our actions at all. Looking at Rodney King, Amadu Dialo, Abner Ruima, the Ramparts scandal in Los Angeles and the Riders in Oakland, many of us conclude that abuse by the police is not only endemic, it is inherent.
We live in a society that is racist and homophobic and sexist and unless that is taken out of our society, it cannot be taken out of the cops who enforce the rules of our society. In an even larger view, we live in a society that has agreed to give some people the right to control what others do. This creates a power imbalance that cannot be remedied even with reforms of the police. It is not just that police abuse their power, we believe that the existence of police is an abuse of power. Most of us believe that if cops are in the way of where we want to go or what we want to do, we have a right to directly confront them. Some of us extend this idea to include the acceptability of physically attacking cops. I have to emphasize that this is controversial even within the Black Bloc, but also explain that many of us believe in armed revolution, and within that context, attacking the cops doesn't seem out of place.
- from a letter by Mary Black

For more information visit:
Indymedia: www.indymedia.org.uk and www.scotland.indymedia.org
Schnews: www.schnews.org.uk
1820: www.1820.org.uk
Scottish CND: www.banthebomb.org
Dissent: www.dissent.org.uk
G8Alternatives: www.g8alternatives.org.uk
City Strolls: www.citystrolls.com

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Freedom from Seizure
Tom Allan

"Dungavel is built as prison system. It is not a detention centre. That is the first thing you should know."
Makielokele Nzelengi Daly

My first impression of Dungavel was one of isolation. The squat, heavy, grey stone building with its Victorian turrets was reminiscent of a miniature castle, but girded by a modern moat – fifteen feet steel fences topped with razor wire and cctv cameras. But its first defence was its remote location in the South Lanarkshire countryside, lost among the fields, difficult to get to and find. It was certainly an impenetrable fortress to the small group that gathered beneath the fence on the 23rd of January to celebrate the birthday of Rabbie Burns and to demand its closure.
As a newcomer, I scanned the windows, hoping to see some of the people inside that we had come to support. The windows were shuttered, I noticed indignantly.
"Do they shut all the windows up so that people can't see out for the protest?" I asked Graeme Cummings, one of the organisers and a member of Friends of Refugees Ayrshire. The group has been campaigning for the centre's closure ever since it was opened in 2000.
"At one point the recreational facilities used to be here," he said, "and they could see us, but they've changed it round. Everyone stays in the inner part of the building."
"Do they know we're coming?" I asked. "You can never tell."
Rosemary Byrne, Scottish Socialist MSP, thinks the move was deliberate. "The first demonstrations we did here, those fences weren't so high. The people could come to the window and wave to us, they could see that we were there. As the demonstrations increased, they started moving them away from the windows."
So, gathered outside, speeches were made, Burns' poetry and songs read, and finally gifts were handed in through the gate for the detainees. What would be a more appropriate name for asylum seekers and refugees that have been locked up without having committed a crime? The "refused?" The "rejected?" Perhaps the silent seekers. They have, after all, no voice; a fact that was painfully illustrated by the small ceremony of presenting gifts. People asked, as they handed over the bags one by one;
"How many children are inside?"
No comment.
"Can you tell me how many children are inside?"
Sorry, no comment.
"How many children do you have in at the moment?"
No comment.
The silence of the guards is enforced by statute:
"No officer shall make, directly or indirectly, any unauthorised communication to a representative of the press or to any other person concerning matters which have become known to him in the course of his duty." ["Detention Centre Rules 2001", p.13]
Not even the manager running the detention centre can speak to the press or public, and all of my enquiries have been redirected to the Home Office. That is because the centre is owned by Serco Group plc, and also run by a private company, Premier Detention Services a subsidiary of Premier Custodial Group, on behalf of central Government. Since asylum and immigration policy is an area "reserved" for Westminster, the Scottish Executive can effectively ignore the issue. The Scottish Green and Socialist parties have campaigned against the centre, as well as a number of other MSPs, and a cross party group visited Dungavel in 2002 condemning it as a prison. But they have no powers to close the centre, and only limited oversight.
Ideally, the Government would like detention centres to be totally sealed institutions; one way staging posts before deportation. They have recently renamed them "removal" centres, a re-branding designed to reflect their hopelessness and to impress this upon the electorate. The stories of the people inside are the last thing they want to get out. The figures one can obtain from the Home Office are not damaging for the Government. They are just anonymous numbers. "92 men, women and children as at 6am, 26th January 2005." [email from the Home Office Press Department] But the people inside have names, faces, stories.
Barriers, every bit as formidable as the steel fencing outside, prevent communication between detainees and the outside world. Language barriers, trust, fear of damaging their cases, and sometimes outright obstruction by staff or management, all reduce contact. Only a quarter of detainees in 2002 had received visits from friends or family. ["An Inspection of Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre", HMIP 2002, p.6] Detainees are entitled to phone cards and stamps, but few know of their entitlement. Visitors' groups, particularly those that are explicitly opposed to the centre such as Friends of Refugees Ayrshire, have been discouraged by the management. They have been turned away for arbitrary reasons, such as misspelling a detainees name. Graeme used to make regular visits. "You go up, you're photographed, and your fingerprints are taken. You're searched." But it's the emotional cost that is most discouraging. "It is quite harrowing," he explained. "A lot of us found it very difficult to sustain that, particularly since the person you're visiting may just disappear, and you don't know where they've gone. You'll never hear from them again."

Detention
Pastor Makielokele Nzelengi Daly's story is known because with the help of hundred of supporters, politicians and activists, he was released in January. He and his family fled Angola four years ago after he refused to spy on his congregation for the MDLA Government (Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Angola). Along with thousands of other asylum seekers they settled in Glasgow, whose local authority had accepted a deal with central Government to house refugees in their disused, now condemned, high rise buildings.
Makielokele went door to door in the Red Road flats where he lived, building up a thriving Pentecostal church with some two hundred families in the large community of African exiles and refugees. But last December, after four years, he was abruptly informed that his asylum application had been rejected. Without further explanation, he was taken to Dungavel detention centre pending deportation on the 23rd of December 2004.
The picture Daly paints of Dungavel is not one of major abuse, but of powerlessness, of small but degrading humiliations. "Detention is a place where people can get crazy very quickly," he tells me. "It is a place that the Home office uses to torture people, not necessarily in a physical way, but mentally, you are tortured."
There is constant surveillance, constant constraint. Yellow lines show you where you can and cannot walk. On the first day he recalls being told off like a child for crossing the line and unwittingly setting off an alarm. You must obtain permission to go anywhere in the building. You are referred to not by your name, but by your number. Makielokele was number 4707.

"In our rooms there were peep-holes so they can check on you when you are sleeping – so that they don't have to open the door all the time. At three o'clock in the morning they will come and check on you to see if you are all in your rooms. They will just open the door brutally and bang it, and you have to wake; and then you can't sleep again – because you know they will come again at six."
"And This is every night?" I asked incredulously.
"Oh yes." Pastor Daly laughs. "You don't know Dungavel. Now, imagine if you are feeling safe, with your wife, what will happen then!" and he laughs again.
The visitors' room in Dungavel quietly boasts of the centre's facilities. Each table has a folder describing, in many languages, the restaurant, the gym, and the different classes available – art, music, and the "world computer" course designed to provide detainees with IT skills that can be used "wherever they end up." Internet access is not provided. The room itself is decorated with paintings made by detainees. There are beautiful pictures and portraits, some clearly self portraits. But it is bitterly ironic that they may be the last traces of people who have long since been deported, and worse that they are used to decorate the facility which incarcerated them.
Generally, detainees' material needs are met. But there is no way to ameliorate the basic fact of detention, nor the serious mental impact that it has. Trapped in a monotonous and stressful environment, without access to information about one's case, and surrounded by others in a permanent state of anxiety creates a "pressure cooker effect." ["No Place for a Child: Children in UK Immigration Detention" Save the Children 2005, p.19]
Imagine for a moment that you have been the victim of some terrible abuse. That you have been raped or tortured, or that the lives of your children have been threatened. Now imagine what it must be like to be held in a facility where at any time you could be returned to the scene of your worst fear. You don't know when.
"Information about the progress of their cases, which was of over-riding importance to detainees, was very difficult to obtain and not communicated in their own languages. There was no access to official country information reports on the internet which might have allowed detainees to make their own assessment of the personal risk of return." ["An Inspection of Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre", HMIP 2002, p.16]
In fact, it seems that keeping detainees ignorant and ill advised is a matter of policy, designed to facilitate their removal.
"On-site immigration officers avoided face to face contact and sometimes withheld removal directions until the last minute from those they feared would resist being removed. There was little information provided about how to access good quality legal advice and to complain if this was not received, and there was some evidence of exploitative and ineffective representation." [ibid]
There were examples of detainees paying for legal representation that should have been free, and suggestions of exploitation. Less than half of those eligible in 2002 were aware that they were entitled to a review of their case.
Throughout the UK detention estate, according to the Refugee Council, the lack of information, good translation services and high quality legal advice means that many detainees are being detained "quite arbitrarily and unnecessarily," and few detainees know that they have a right to a bail hearing. [The Refugee Council, cited in; "Fourth Report of Session 2002-2003, Vol.1 Home Affairs Select Committee," p.25]
The result of placing vulnerable people in such conditions is predictable. In July 2004, a 22-year-old Vietnamese refugee, Tung Wang, killed himself at the centre, and in August the Glasgow Sunday Herald revealed that a 27-year-old refugee priest from Nigeria, John Oguchuckwu, had been sent to Greenock prison indefinitely because he became suicidal after spending eight months in Dungavel. Lessons have been learnt though; when a Chinese man attempted to commit suicide in April this year he was quickly isolated from other detainees. No news of that incident reached the press.
Whilst there is provision of some psychiatric treatment in the centre, it favours those who speak English, and official concern has been expressed that it could be used to justify detention when alternatives, such as care in the community, may be more appropriate. ["An Inspection of Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre," HMIP 2002, p.16,] In any case, No Place for a Child suggests that "mental health services are unlikely to be successful in the detention environment because detention is itself a cause of trauma and distress."
"That is why the chapel that I started was very popular within the detention centre," says Pastor Daly. "It was the only place that people could go and have some words of hope, and also some counselling from their own." Even here, facing deportation, he sought to help others with their problems. He laughed when I asked him about the counselling provided by the centre. "The first objective of the Home Office in detaining people is to torture people, so that whenever they go back home, they will never even think about coming back here. In there, you don't have anyone to give you advice. The GP makes you feel unwelcome. The guards tell you they don't care about your immigration issues."
The effects of detention upon vulnerable adults is bad enough. But despite condemnation from Human Rights groups and repeated recommendations by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, that the detention of children is inappropriate and harmful, children and young people continue to be detained.
A major campaign in 2004 by Scottish refugee support groups and Trades Unions was thought at the time to have cleared the centre of children. [18 detainees (17%) were children in 2002 – "An Inspection of Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre," HMIP 2002, p.11] But the family unit at the centre is again being used, and detention of families has actually increased nationwide. Before 2002 families were only meant to be detained shortly before removal, but a change in Government policy outlined in the White Paper "Secure Borders, Safe Haven" now allows them to be detained "at other times and for longer periods than just prior to removal." [cited; Fourth Report of Session 2002-2003, Vol.1 Home Affairs Select Committee, p.26]

The changed provision made it possible to detain the Ay family for thirteen months from 2002 to 2003, before their appeal was finally rejected. As ethnic Kurds, they feared persecution upon their return to Turkey. Three of the four children required psychiatric treatment after detention, according to Professor Harry Zeitlin, a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry at University College London. Had they been British children, he added, issues of child protection would have been raised. The family were ultimately deported to Germany, where they were granted asylum. [ZNet Dungavel: Scotland's Asylum Shame, by William MacDougall; September 10, 2003]
Pastor Daly's wife Isabelle, and their four children, Rachel, 16, Josue, 14, Linda, 13, and 11-year-old Isaac, were initially hidden in the local community of African asylum seekers and refugees, to prevent them from being detained. But towards the end of the campaign to release him they were tricked into a meeting and also taken to Dungavel.
"They lied to my children," he tells me angrily. "I saw the children come in, and they embraced me. I asked them, 'What are you doing here?' They said 'Oh, we were told we were coming to visit you.' But I told them 'No, that's not the truth, the truth is you've been arrested with me.' "
"My daughter asked me, 'Why should we be arrested, what did we do? Should we be arrested for nothing?' Those kind of words are very painful to a father."
Again, it is the mental health implications that are most worrying. No Place for a Child gives examples of problems with feeding and sleeping, depression and listlessness, and suggests that children are unable to be taught effectively under such conditions, whatever the standard of the educational facilities.
"I saw another family, with three children between two and five years old," the Pastor continued. "The two year old child was not crying every night, but screaming every night. There was something frustrating that child."
Children can be further disturbed by seeing parents powerlessness and distress, whilst parents feel guilt and hopelessness because they cannot help their children. The Prison Inspection Report concluded that "the welfare and development of children is likely to be compromised by detention, and that it should be an "exceptional measure" lasting only a matter of days. ["An Inspection of Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre", HMIP 2002, p.15-16]
There is still no way to know how many children are being held in detention in the UK, or how long they are held for. The Home Office, despite the recommendation of the Home Affairs Committee, does not publish the total number of asylum seekers detained over a given period, but only gives a snapshot of those detained. Thus we know that on the 25th of December 2004, 1,515 detainees were being held under the Immigration Act, twenty five of which were recorded as being under eighteen years old.
That figure excludes a significant number of "age disputed" asylum seekers, who say they are children but are not believed.

Deportation
Deportation is usually quick and unexpected. Pastor Daly was fetched at 7am, taken to the manager's office and told he was to be deported to Angola the next day. He was refused a phone-call to his supporters or lawyers, and refused a change of clothes. He was wearing only his pyjamas.
"I asked him, 'Can I get some clothing here?' It was the 22nd of December, it was very cold out there. But he was adamant, he refused. I told the manager that, 'Ok, those clothes are mine, they are not for the detention centre. Why are you refusing me to protect myself with my own clothes?' "
"The manager told me that 'I am giving the orders here', and 'I am telling you that you are not getting those clothes, and you will travel the way you are.' "

It was a freezing twelve hour journey South. The only break was when he was marched through a petrol station, flanked by guards and allowed to use the toilet – but only with the door open, in full view of the public. He was locked up over night in Birmingham. No-one else knew where he was.
"I was then left to tremble all my cold night and morning," he says. Then he was rushed to the airport. "According to the conversation of the policeman driving the car to his colleague, I was supposed to be reunited with my family to be deported together to Luanda."
Not all deportations are from detention centres. Sometimes people are picked up from home, in dawn raids, or from work. Children were sometimes picked up from schools. A Home Office note of March 2004 recognised the difficulties and upset this practice causes to staff and pupils in schools, but there is no acknowledgement of the impacts on the detained children. [No Place for a Child, Save the Children, 2004, p.30-31] Adult detainees rarely have time to put their affairs in order, or con