THESIS Retro tops & I Love Soweto hoodies @ Thesis Concept Store

Hi there winter babies! Braving the chill is the “in” thing this winter, so I hope you buckled up well for the season storms; hitting the southern hemisphere like crazy! If not here’s a couple of what we call: the Retro tops The I love Soweto hoodies from THESIS @ the THESIS Concept Store. The tops came in black with red trimmings & there were red tops with black trimmings. The hoodies in beige & navy with red trimmings.

Then an inspiration of hosting the most massive tournament on the planet; bit us & we decided to honour our flag with the last edition of the tops. While we everyone 100% behind bafana bafana: the boys hopes were dashed after just two innings! We at the concept of instilling hope back into the people & reminding them that we are still South Africans. These ones were done in the spirit of Pride & honour! In black; laced in red; blue; green & yellow trimmings. Green in red; yellow,green & black trimmings...

THESIS Concept Store
Mashaba Drive
173 Mofolo village, Soweto

Camp for Climate Action Gathering

This weekend we will be doing the (people's) kitchen and the party for the Camp for Climate Action Gathering which is coming to Glasgow. People from all over the UK will meet up to plan the camp. More details below and at www.climatecamp.org.uk.

If you can help with the kitchen or the party give Johnny a shout on 07737030560. If not then come to the party, it will be ace!

The Gathering

What?

The gathering is a weekend of organising, discussing and planning this year’s Camp for Climate Action which will be taking place near Edinburgh in August. Climate camp is a week long camp for educating and taking action ourselves to stop the root causes of climate change. The gathering is a great opportunity to get involved in the camp which is looking to target RBS and the fossil fuel industry. There will be vegan food provided and accommodation for anybody who needs. Disabled access also. Everyone is welcome

Where?

3^rd floor, 18 Albion Street, Glasgow G1 1LH

When?

31^st July – 1^st August 9am-6pm both days

The Party

(7pm – 12pm)

We’ll be hosting a d.j. set at the Barra’s Bistro, a chilled out, covered “outdoor” space in the heart of the Barras. Easy to find but give us a shout at the number above if you’re lost.

What Conservatism Isn't.

2Blowhards is shutting up shop. Which is a shame since it was one of the best culture blogs out there. I must of been one of the last to know but Michael Blowhard's real name is Ray Sawhill. I think he has a great blog and recommend that you visit it. I don't agree with all of his views but his opinions are intelligent and informed unlike 99% of the blogosphere.

Whilst browsing his blog I stumbled upon a piece by Michael Oakeshott entitled, "On Being Conservative". I had briefly skimmed upon some of Oakeshott's writings in the past but they failed to capture my imagination, but I put in the effort on this piece and sadly, it was wanting.

Oakeshott's contention is that Conservatism is a disposition, a resistance to change. Valuing things for the way things are and and as such not wanting to meddle with them. Basically Oakeshott's reiterates the view of the Progressives, that conservatives are people who unthinkingly resist change by virtue of their temperament. They are the treacle in societies progress; the dead weight inhibiting change. Timidity and anxiety their virtues.

Bullshit.

And this is all the more depressing that this opinion comes from a man who was professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics. If conservatism is "Intellectually light" its because of rubbish such as this.

Oakeshott's conservatism is by nature "value light", in that man can have a conservative disposition in all sorts of social political circumstances and by his definition called a conservative. According to Oakeshott's view, an elderly British colonel tending his roses and Russian bureaucrat in the Brezhnev Soviet union (a time when the communists were loathe to change anything) could both be considered " Conservative". Nazi's who resisted policy changes by the party could also be considered " Conservative". What matters is not what you believe in, but on how prepared you are to change. Stupid people, who take a long while grasping new Ideas could then be considered de-facto conservatives.

Who's side is he on?

Firstly and foremostly, Conservatism is not a disposition: it is a weltanschauung, a world view, a metaphysical system. Conservatism is not a resistive disposition, rather it is a metaphysical system which believes that there is a reality, truth or good which man bases his life on. Be that Shiva, Jesus, Allah, Science etc.

Conservatives of all stripes have ideas on what constitutes the good. And in the words of an Australian commercial, "When your on a good thing, stick to it". We don't resist change for the sake of it, rather change is resisted when thing are changed for the worse. And frankly over the last 100 years or so a lot of the social changes have not been for the best.

Conservative are right to resist change when it is from good to bad, but they're moronic if they resist change which is an improvement on the bad, something people disposed to reject change are liable to do. In a sick or corrupt society, it's the Conservatives which are the radicals agitating for change, wanting to change the way things are to the way things should be.

Sometimes I really despair.

TSJS Two Years Anniversary Session...!

Hip Hip Hoooray! Thesis Social Jam Session is turning two years. Yes it’s only been two years it feels like we’ve been jamming a life time. From the early days when we jammed inside Thesis Concept Store, to yesterday when we jammed outside and braving the winter blues, to today when we are lounging in couches with heaters and stretch marquees with the “never compromising” good music. It’s been a great journey.

Happening every first Sunday of the month, at Mofolo Village in Soweto with music as the foundation, The DJ booth has been endowed by big guns and prominent contests from DJ Oil(France), Kid Fonque, The Wedding DJs, DJ Mdoo, Nathi Quwe, Music At Last, Paledi; The Layders; PO(US) and now Khenzero. Live performances; breed intensity between the crowd and performers. The best performances by Motlatsi; Future History; The Name Is Taken; Dirty Paraffin; Babu; P2DHI(US); Reebirth; Mnandi Blues & the list goes on and on and on...

TSJS is setting the world on fire on The 1^st of August, to celebrate its second birthday. DJ Khenzero will be our guest, also on the guest list is DJ Nana; Deep Soweto will be in the space; very large regular; feeding you home-grown kasi hip hop. Nature will be coming back to make us glad to be here: listening to the music. For the second time; on our 2nd birthday. Our resident DJ’s keeping the residential suite sweet as they welcome you and our guest performers to arrive. Springer; Omi and Wireless G deserve their own sentence of sweet melodies.

Omi has been with us from the beginning, since 3 August 2008. Known to the TSJS crew as historian DJ. He plays a sound with soul & the knowledge of its history. What ever you want to know about what he’s playing: he’ll tell you; just listen to his mix and his biggest influence is Giles Peterson (another great historian). Wireless G has been a great part of the residence. His play is fresh and futuristic. I’m not even saying playing futuristic stuff; but he illustrates a new point of about the DJing concept; conceptual and a hard core brand manager. Springer on the other hand has been a playing friend for a while now since the jams started. Took several months to get ready to join our ship of reverberates. His new, fresh and a break beat or two.

Liquid Gamz will be gaming on them PS3 consoles for your entertainment. Nyambose’s kitchen; next door; will food us till we close; we know how hungry the sounds of TSJS can make us.

I can’t wait to see you there...:)

Two Good Posts by Fred Reed.

I like Fred, I like him a lot. He's put up two posts which echo my thoughts.

Killing Feels So Good.

Hooking Up.

Enjoy.

Fight Poverty NOT Prostitution

Monday July 19th many of us flooded City Council Chambers with our families and friends in tow.  We found it important to stand up against Councilor Ferrera's proposal to create a mandatory minimum sentence for people offering as well as people soliciting sex for a fee.  There were many reasons to oppose this ridiculous proposal.  For one, Arise has fought for years for the decriminalization of prostitution in Springfield.  Secondly, most women charged with such "crimes" are already serving 9-18 months in the Chicopee Jail so this mandatory minimum would just be redundant--but would give the inflated impression that Councilor Ferrera was tough on crime. Thirdly, even the Dept of Corrections is re-evaluating mandatory minimums and the ways in which they create large racial disparities in our criminal (in)justice system.  Additionally we would like to see the City Councilors creating plans to reduce poverty in Springfield NOT working to further criminalize acts of survival.  Arise members, OUTNOW members, Prison Birth Project members and other concerned people filled council chambers carrying signs and taking the mic during the speak-out period.  Fortunately the Council saw the wisdom brought forth by the community and voted Ferrera's proposal down 12 to 1!
The media seemed overwhelmed with the concept that SO many queers and kids were moved to speak out against this measure, evident by this amazing news clip: http://www.cbs3springfield.com/news/local/Prostitution-penalties-stay-the-same--98862014.html

Thoughts on the Attractiveness of European Women.

After several visits to Europe I thought I would offer my rating of the attractiveness of women (18-35) from the various countries that I have visited. Firstly, every country has its fair share of attractive women but it would appear to me that there is quite a variance in the "mean" of each country.

With regard to my scale, My tastes unfortunately tend to align with Roissy's with the exception that I prefer slightly older women. With that in mind:

Northern Italy:
Mean of 7 with standard deviation of 0.9.
I was pleasantly surprised. Not only were most of the younger women of normal to low BMI but they dressed in a way that was both feminine and not slutty.

Germany:
Mean of 5 with standard deviation of 1.2
The Aryan race needs some work. An abundance of fatties and no dress sense. Zero style but all in all a cheery bunch. Most are unfeminine.

Switzerland:
Mean of 6 with standard deviation of 1
Home of the mountain trekkers and it shows. Pleasant enough variety and no real fatties. Women are feminine in a school mistress type of sense. Appear boring. Dress expensively but clothes are unfeminine.

France:
Mean of 5.5 standard deviation 1.5
Quite a disappointment. Natual French beauty was pretty much rare. But to give the French girls their due, they did the best with what they had. Fashion generally good (though not as good as in Italy and Croatia) and quite feminine.

England:
Mean of 4 standard deviation 1.2. (Obviously the distribution didn't follow a typical bell curve, the mean was far more heavily slanted towards the bottom end.)

The glory has departed. Really, English women can be divided into two groups. The prole class which are by and large overweight and dress trashily. The middle and upper classes dress in manner that could best be called vicar's wife style. Frumpy. Most also appear to be chronically unhappy. Still, one of the most beautiful women that I have ever seen on my travels was English.

Croatia:
Northern Croatia, 6 with standard deviation of 1.
Typical Central European/Slavic stock with the exception that they dress well. Bit dour.

Southern Croatia (Dalmatia)
8 standard deviation 0.4.
I had independent verification on this one as I thought I may have been biased. Virtually no fatties. Less feminine than the French or the Italians. Italian inspired dress sense. Summer is glorious.

American female tourists.
Hey you see a lot of them. Mean 6 standard deviation 1.2. Better than the English but loud. American women are in many ways similar to the English. An overweight loud prole class which is totally declasse and an upper middle class that that seem to have a formulaic approach to beauty that makes it appear artificial. Tense.

I spoke to some of the local players as well. The consensus was that the more Northern a woman the easier she is to get to bed. Italian, Croatian and Spanish women tended to be the hardest to seduce. Though some of the older players stated that things were changing. Czech girls are reputed to be the easiest.

This Land is Your Land at the CCA

Today the Glasgow Social Centre presented our documentary and gave a talk about our current activities and the upcoming Mayan 'Day out of Time'.






Luis from the Southside Collective gave a spirited talk about the corruptive nature of 'ownership'. GSC volunteer, Omair also spoke about his experiences in a Scottish detention centre.

We also showed (most of) our film 'The Stroy so far' which documents our time at Osborne street. You can watch it in full below:

Glasgow Social Centre: The Story So Far from Bean There Done That on Vimeo.

Garnett Hill Park 25th July 'Day out of Time' Festival

This event will be loosely based on the 'Day Out Of Time' Celebrations, an international day of festivities promoting the concept of 'Peace through culture' and 'Time is Art'. For those of you who are familiar with Garnett Hill Park it is particularly appropriate for this with its Mayan like pyramid, water garden and amphitheater.

The day will be a celebration of community, the park and the fine thought and work that brought it into being, an inspiration for the many community garden and landscaping projects currently emerging and those to come in the future.

There will be a pa system set up in the amphitheatre area for music, poets, storytellers etc with dancers, performance artists and all things accoustic at the pyramid. Nothing set in stone,this is the first year for doing this event here so we feel our way and set a precedent for an annual celebration.

The idea is that the two spaces be linked by the 'Rainbow Bridge' via the stone staircase and stepping stone water garden. The Rainbow bridge will be processional i.e. made of people using costume ,body paint ,flags ,banners etc and hopefully have a ceremonial element to it....this may involve the planting of a vine!

So far we have the 'peoples kitchen' group working on providing free food, a pa system, some materials, and a growing cast of performers and artists plus the debut performance of a locally produced radio play and hopera(!) written by the late Fraser Clarke 'MEGATRIPOLIS@FOREVER' which introduces the concept of TimeDancing!!.....

Come along, and get involved. We'll see you there.

More info on Collectives

So you're interested in getting involved in one of the collectives? Great! Here's some more information on what they are all about:

Food Cooperative Collective
Help us get people out of the supermarkets and eating healthy food with less packaging! This collective involves sourcing initially dried foods from GreenCity Wholefoods and hopefully vegetables from a local farm at a later date. The dried and wholefoods will be bought in bulk and sold on at low prices with a wee profit to the Glasgow Social Centre.

People's Kitchen Collective
Serving free food to people on the street. This process provides a space to talk about how we relate to food, encourages eating together and gets healthy food into hungry mouths.

Film Collective
Showing radical films and documentaries in interesting spaces around Glasgow.

The collectives are being set up now so that they have a running start when we get a space. If you want to be involved in these collectives when we have a space (or don't!), please get stuck in now. See earlier post for contact details.

If there is a collective that you would like to start then please come along to our Monday meeting 7pm at the CCA to let us know.

Get involved in our Collectives

The Glasgow Social Centre group are setting up a Food Co-op Collective, People's Kitchen Collective and a Film Collective. For the food coop get in touch with Kate Hughes on 07969240530 and the all others contact Johnny on 07737030560.

Mpho Skeef

Holla!

Prolific jammers & members
back in the days it was all Goapele and Now I present to you:

Mpho Skeef: (her name meaning gift in South Sotho ) was born of a mixed couple in South Africa at the height of the struggle against apartheid. She then spent her first birthday in jail when her mother was arrested. Her biological father is none other than renowned South African musician Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse. Mpho or should I say "Mphoza" grew up listening to a wide variety of artists from Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, and John Coltrane, to Parliament, Prince and Fela Kuti. Alongside this premier list her parents encouraged her love of World Music (modern electronica and pop music, a staple diet including hip hop and R&B artists from KRS1 to NWA, Chaka Khan to Mary J as well as Rock) and Electronica from Daft Punk to Kate Bush.

In the 80's, her mother and stepfather (percussionist Eugene Skeef) fled to South of London; Brixton where Mpho still lives. After leaving secondary school she joined the newly opened Brits Academy. Fellow students during the two-year period included the late Lynden David Hall, and Floetry. She has appeared alongside artists such as Ty, The great: Eska, Terri Walker as well as mainstream artists like Ms Dynamite and Natasha Beddingfield. Most recently she provided the lead vocals for the Bugz In The Attic smash “Booty La La”, (voted record of the year 2004 by listeners of Giles Petersons World Wide show ) She is also featured on the ColdCut album “Sound Mirrors”. In 2005 she released the “Don't Like You” EP to critical acclaim, and this year she follows up with her debut.

sky is no limit for this wonderful song bird.

SWAPORAMA: This Saturday

GSC presents an amazing Swaporama at the CCA. Saturday 10th July 12-4pm.Contact Melissa for more info.