On Tuesday June 21, at 6 pm, there will be a special Parliamentary screening of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” in the Boothroyd Room in Portcullis House, opposite the House of Commons.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with US attorneys Brent Mickum and Tom Wilner, who are both visiting London for this event, British lawyer Gareth Peirce, former Guantánamo prisoners Omar Deghayes and Moazzam Begg, journalists Victoria Brittain and Andy Worthington and film maker Polly Nash.
Spectacle’s latest inter-generational film workshop took place at the Silverlock Center on bank holiday Monday and saw children and adults from the surrounding communities come together to learn about and discuss the history and social issues of the local area. Through workshops they were enabled to film one another in an interview style regarding their feelings concerning the estate and how it has changed within their life-times.
Children interviewing a parent at the workshop
Thanks to all who attended for their interest, support and contribution to what was an insightful and rewarding day.
You can support our work by ordering Silwood related books, maps, dvds and prints from Spectacle’s Shop.
Central YMCA with the support of MP’s from major parties have launched their Campaign for Body Confidence, as well as the All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image (APPG) to which Central YMCA will be proving the secretariat. The campaign has the weighty task of addressing and resolving some of the problems concerning negative body image in British society, particularly amongst the younger generations. They are striving to curb the manner in which people view themselves and others by reaching out and engaging with individuals and communities a like, as well as with working with the leading media based industries that promote unrealistic expectations of body image. Jo Swinson, (LibDem MP,) explains that:
“These problems urgently need addressing and the APPG on Body Image will bring together some of the key players in this debate in a cross-party forum – youth organisations, the advertising industry, health sector and media. We will challenge some of the root causes of negative body image, highlight best practice and work towards building a society in which people feel more body confident.”
Spectacle contributed a short animated film to the campaign, that provides the viewer with a brief overview of the extensive research carried out by Central YMCA and Centre for Appearance Research in the University of the West of England, which premiered recently in the House of Commons. The film also draws attention to the financial, physically and psychological harm that appearance issues can invoke, ranging from the billions of pounds spent annually on dieting pills and food supplements, to the often devastating attitudes towards, and consequences of steroid use and cosmetic surgery. The video can also be found on the YMCA Body Confidence homepage.
As society in the UK becomes ever more sexualised and appearance oriented, the issues and pressures surrounding body image and appearance are becoming dramatically more significant and problematic. In Central YMCA’s research, statistically one in four people openly admitted to being depressed about the way they look, and as many as half of young females were open to the idea of using cosmetic surgery to enhance their looks in their future. The suggested ideals of beauty that is all too often plastered upon billboards, magazines, television, and the internet, shape the way that people, (in particular the younger generations,) perceive beauty and intrinsically sexuality. However it is thought that as little as five percent of the population look like, or could ever realistically achieve, the image of beauty and sexuality promoted by the models and celebrities.
This issue is of course further complicated by the introduction of image manipulation and airbrushing, which is now routinely used to perfect and enhance the outlandish ideals of beauty that the images promote. This means that not only are people being pressured into pursuing an image of beauty possessed by a tiny percentage of the population, the images often do not naturally exist in reality and are essentially unobtainable.
Results are leading to a steep rise in the number of young people affected by sever eating disorders, with girls recorded as starting their first diets at as young as eight years of age.
To help combat these issues amongst young people, Y Touring, which is part of Central YMCA, recently worked with a group of young teenagers from London to create a project that explores true body image through photography. Beautiful Photography Project 2010 empowers the teenagers involved to represent themselves and beauty as they perceive it, rather than the images fed to them by the aforementioned industries. Please show your support.
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Suresh Kalmadi, the Chief organiser of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, will spend the next 14 days in Tihar Jail. Kalmadi was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 25th April for “for conspiracy to cause favour to a company in Switzerland while procuring timers and scoring equipment for the Games”. A Swiss company was awarded a contract to manage timing, scoring and results during the September Games in India.
The CBI will file it’s first chargesheet for the Commonwealth Games which will name not only Kalmadi, but also Games office-bearers Lalit Bhanot (secretary general), VK Verma (director-general), Surjeet Lal (deputy director general-procurement) and ASV Prasad (joint director general-sports), besides Swiss Timing-Omega. If found guilty, Kalmadi could face years in prison.
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The Silwood Video Group (S.V.G) has been running for 10 years, documenting the life of residents both in and around the Silwood Estate. On Bank Holiday 30th May, we will be holding an intergenerational Film Fun Day, from noon til 4pm, at the Silverlock Centre (opposite Tissington Court). This will consist of young and old coming together to learn skills and local history. There will be location shoots on the Silwood Estate, teaching residents how to use camera equipment, helping them interview each other and introducing them to Final Cut Pro editing software. At the same time, an exhibition will be held in the Silverlock of old maps and photographs of what the estate used to look like, to be followed by various speakers. At the end of the Film Day, a screening of video archive will be held for residents and DVDs will be available.
All ages and backgrounds are welcome!
Register for this workshop by sending us an e-mail to silwoodvideo@spectacle.co.uk or call 02072236677. Please include information about how many people you are registering, how many of them are minors and how we can contact you.
Where: Silverlock Centre
Warndon Road
SE16 2SB When: Monday 30th May Time: 12pm-4pm
After London was announced as the host of the 2012 Olympic Games, Labour made a number of promises about using the Olympics as a way of inspiring people to be more healthy and get involved with sport and exercise. They planned to get a million more people playing sport three or more times a week and to get a million more people doing more general physical activity. Whether it is actually possible for mega events such as the Olympics to have this kind of impact is something which has been contested by a number of studies.
The BMJ set out to find any study that had ever been conducted looking at the real-world health and socioeconomic impacts on places which have hosted major sporting events. From the 54 studies they found, there seemed to be no evidence to support the idea that events like Olympics have a positive effect on health or socioeconomic outcomes.
One of the studies looked at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and found that sports participation fell after the games, and there became in an increased gap in participation between the rich and the poor areas of Manchester.
Another study in Manchester suggested problems arose because voluntary groups were being excluded from using Commonwealth branding and the new facilities built for the event tended to only benefit professional athletes rather than the general population.
The government now seems to be dropping any focus it had on its original plan to use the Olympics to get people involved with healthy activity and sport, probably having come to the realisation that they will never meet the large targets that they originally proposed. This goes to show that the government can make big claims when they are bidding to get these events but when it comes down to it, they don’t actually have to follow these claims through.
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Amateur Photographer has reported that the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is putting restrictions on the type of photographic equipment that the public will be allowed to bring to the Games, and are banning cameras from certain events altogether.
A photography enthusiast wrote to LOCOG asking if he would be allowed to bring his DSLR lens to the Stadium, and was told in an email that ‘LOCOG has yet to finalise the spectator filming and photography guidelines. As with other large sporting events there may be restrictions for spectators on the size of lenses permitted into venues.’
It is believed that certain kinds of equipment will be banned from the Games altogether, whilst no flash photography will be allowed at all in the public stands during certain events, such as shooting.
LOCOG is set to discuss its final photography guidelines at talks in the summer and in September. Once they have been finalised, the guidelines will be published on their website.
Dave Bedford, the manager of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, has resigned from his post after a series of disagreements with the Olympics organising committee, LOCOG.
Bedford tendered his resignation on the 4th April, saying that the organisers were ‘inexperienced’ and had not listened to his advice. It is believed that Bedford was angered by the committee’s decision to move the marathon away from Tower Hamlets in east London to the Mall without consulting residents and over their plans to close the marathon route for a test run for ten hours on 30th May.
Over the past weeks, the press has reported a number of controversies involving LOCOG over the planning of the Olympics. In spite of this latest criticism, London Marathon have already confirmed that they will continue to work with the Committee to finalise preparations for the 2012 Olympics.
The British intelligence services have been implicated in fresh allegations of torture, the Guardian has revealed.
In spite of promises from the government to investigate the complicity of the Intelligence services in the use of torture against terror suspects, it is alleged that MI5 was involved in a case of ‘rendition’ as late as July last year. Omar Awadh, a Kenyan businessman, was secretly captured and deported to Uganda (a practice referred to as ‘rendition’) in the wake of the July 2010 bombings in Kampala. He was subsequently held in prison where he claims that he was tortured by local security officials and interrogated by officers from MI5 and the FBI.
Previously, detainees from Guantanamo such as Omar Deghayes, have claimed that they were questioned by British intelligence officials during their time in detention. In July 2010, shortly before the bombings that lead to Awadh’s arrest, David Cameron announced plans for an inquiry into the complicity of MI5 in the outsourcing of torture to other countries and promised compensation if it was confirmed that British Intelligence had permitted the torture of UK citizens.
Although Mr Cameron was keen to investigate human rights breaches committed under the last government, he has yet to respond to the latest torture allegations in the Guardian.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is holding a meeting in London on April 5th. They will be discussing reports on their latest activities as well as making preparations for the forthcoming Olympic Games including London 2012 and Sochi 2014. A number of groups are planning to take this opportunity to form pickets outside were the meeting is being held.
Campaigners for Playfair 2012 intend to demonstrate at the IOC meeting to persuade Olympic bosses to make London 2012 a sweatshop free event. They want to ‘make decisive change for workers’ rights and ensure sweatshop-free conditions for workers making Olympic goods and sportswear.’
Click Playfair 2012 for more information about the picket.
The Counter Olympics Network (CON) are also planning on holding a picket alongside Circassian people who are campaigning against Sochi being chosen to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics despite the fact that this will be the 150th commemorative year of the Circassian Genocide.
Tuesday, April 5 · Assemble 1.30pm
Park Plaza Westminster Bridge 200 Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7UT London
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