ATHENS BEAT
A counter-culture documentary about underground art in an ancient city
Written, directed & edited by Vangelis Bekas

A writer is searching for a playful hero in crisis-stricken Athens, someone who lives every minute as if it were his last one. Following a brass band and a peculiar troupe of acrobats the writer comes across a community of artists who stuck their tongues out at the grey regularity and the Capital Controls. He finally realises that, during the crisis, Athens has transformed into a genuine underground weird city.

—

Μusic bands:
Elektrobalkana, Brass band of Metaxourgio & Keramikos, Rumba Mafia, Muchatrela Band, Cirko Cachivache, Rslg Quartet, L. Grigoriou & Global Daulia, Aera Patera, Afro Cargo +, The Sexy Christians, Madares, RadioSol, Zoro & Buzz
Drum bands: Batala Atenas, Bloco Swingueira, Anasa

Camera: Anna Antonopoulou, Apostolis Koutsianikoulis, Aris Pavlidis, Vangelis Bekas, Zafeiris Chaitidis
Script editor: Eftychia Panayiotou
Subtitles: Nickie Lambrinakou, Stelios Giannoulakis
Line producer: Kostas Kolimenos, Anna Antonopoulou
Produced by Vangelis Bekas
Abroad distribution: Series Balkans Distribution
Sound design: Stelios Giannoulakis

organized by Union Tribal Drum and Void Network https://voidnetwork.gr || https://www.facebook.com/kenodiktuo/

Ecstatic Drum Rave

Our time to collectively enter into a state of ecstatic frequencies through frantic live drumming, extreme bass beats, trance melodies, pagan sounds, cosmic visuals, fire, smells and high spirits.

With you we shall engage all the tools at our disposal to successfully journey in sync into a state of ecstasy.

This is not your usual festive gathering, this is an invitation, a personal challenge to reach your inner-self through euphoria.

Our global human heritage repeatedly shows an innate desire to go out of ourselves, enter into ecstasy, break free of cultural bounds and unite with our primal desires and true beingness with respect and unity with all that is.

Eleusinian, Dionysian, Bacchanalian, Shamanic, Tribal, Balkan, Celtic, and Pagan gatherings are all manifestations of humans getting in-sync.

Drumming has and always will create community, empower and awaken latent talents into collaboration.

We are still hungry for extreme dance happiness! We search for it today in festivals, at raves on the beaches of the tropics, in forest fire gatherings, at the solstice sacred sights, now we have a space and time to build the momentum to leave Babylon vibes behind, for our first night of many in Embros theater and enter together into ecstatic motion united by drums, self expressive dancing, friendship and entrancing Dj mixes ready to take us to otherworldly soundscapes.

We shall not follow musical genres but flirt with all of them.
Together we will fuse all our imagination and respond in the instant to the collective vibes. We will jointly experience how music can provide the ultimate proof that humans are instinctual masters of collaborative positive contribution for the grander amazement of all.

Exit the mental box. Exit Babylon. Enter into Collective Ecstasy.

Do you dare?

Then come prepared, let loose and inspire others.

We are all responsible for our collective happiness, its contagious.

Feathers, hula hoops, bare feet, masks , alter egos, costumes, face painting, fire spinning are all welcome:)

Nothing is fixed, all is doable.

If you so wish to contribute in some way special get in-touch or simply turn up on the night and share your passion.

The shall be one full hot pot of traditional Greek Racomelo ( raki/honey/cinnamon) on the fire to share at the beginning of the night, come early to enjoy.

And for the all natural health freaks and all night dancers out there the will be available throughout the night all the way from Goa India the high energy superfood mix Dance Wild to keep your energy, endurance, focus and flow at top levels.

Just in case you are still in doubt this night might be too much for you here are some reassuring words….

We all have rhythm, we are born with it, we walk in rhythm, we talk in rhythm, we pulse in rhythm, we love rhythm.

It scientifically takes only 15-30 mins for the absolute beginner to enter a state of rhythmic flow, followed by mass endorphin release.

Anthropologist Michael Harner, of the foundation for shamanic studies points out that a shaman in just 10 mins of rhythmic drum journeying produces brainwaves measured by electroencephalographic equipment that have only been duplicated by zen masters in deep meditation after 6 hours of work.

Take advantage of the health benefits and rave to the rhythms of the drums:)

_________________________

SEE MORE INFO AND DETAILS: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/360680828192004/

The post Void Network: Make Okupas Great Again+ ATHENS BEAT documentary- 10/8/2019 LONDON appeared first on Void Network.

Trump’s former White House chief advisor told The Daily Beast that he is setting up a foundation in Europe called The Movement which he hopes will lead a right-wing populist revolt across the continent starting with the European Parliament elections next spring.

The non-profit will be a central source of polling, advice on messaging, data targeting, and think-tank research for a ragtag band of right-wingers who are surging all over Europe, in many cases without professional political structures or significant budgets.

Bannon’s ambition is for his organization ultimately to rival the impact of Soros’s Open Society, which has given away $32 billion to largely liberal causes since it was established in 1984.

Over the past year, Bannon has held talks with right-wing groups across the continent from Nigel Farage and members of Marine Le Pen’s Front National (recently renamed Rassemblement National) in the West, to Hungary’s Viktor Orban and the Polish populists in the East.

After being forced out of the White House following internal wranglings that would later surface in the book Fire and Fury, Bannon is now reveling in the opportunity to plot his new European empire. “I’d rather reign in hell, than serve in heaven,” he said, paraphrasing John Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost.

The Movement’s headquarters are expected to be located in Brussels, Belgium, where they will start hiring staff in coming months. It is expected that there will be fewer than 10 full-time staff ahead of the 2019 elections, with a polling expert, a communications person, an office manager and a researcher among the positions. The plan is to ramp that up to more like 25 people post-2019 if the project has been a success.

Bannon plans to spend 50 percent of his time in Europe—mostly in the field rather than the Brussels office—once the midterm elections in the U.S. are over in November.

The operation is also supposed to serve as a link between Europe’s right-wing movements and the pro-Trump Freedom Caucus in the U.S. This week Paul Gosar (R-AZ) was its envoy to Bannon’s operation in London.

Bannon and Raheem Kassam, a former Farage staffer and Breitbart editor, set up shop in a five-star Mayfair hotel for a week while Donald Trump was visiting Europe. Between TV appearances as Trump surrogates, they hosted a raft of Europe’s leading right-wingers at the hotel.

“It was so successful that we’re going to start staffing up,” said Bannon. “Everybody agrees that next May is hugely important, that this is the real first continent-wide face-off between populism and the party of Davos. This will be an enormously important moment for Europe.”

Having seen the shock right-wing victory with the Brexit referendum and Matteo Salvini’s electoral success in Italy, which were achieved on relatively tight budgets, Bannon sees the opportunity to boost radically disparate nationalist parties by deploying a well-financed centralized operation intended to blow local opponents out of the water.

Up until now insurgent populist groups across Europe have often suffered from similar problems: lack of expertise and finances. Le Pen’s party was kept afloat by Russian loans back in 2014, when French banks refused to extend lines of credit for the Front National. Le Pen was back in Moscow shaking Putin’s hand before last year’s French elections, which the NSA  subsequently revealed had been hacked by the Russians.

The Movement plans to research and write detailed policy proposals that can be used by like-minded parties; commission pan-European or targeted polling; and share expertise in election war room methodology such as message discipline, data-led voter targeting and field operations. Depending on electoral law in individual countries, the foundation may be able to take part in some campaigns directly while bolstering other populist groups indirectly.

“I didn’t get the idea until Marine Le Pen invited me to speak at Lille at the Front National,” recalled Bannon. “I said, ‘What do you want me say?’”

The response came back: “All you have to say is, ‘We’re not alone.’”

Bannon was stunned to discover that the nationalist movements in Europe were not pooling skills and sharing ideas with populist parties in neighboring countries—let alone on a global scale.

Bannon said the Front National recognized that he was “the guy that goes round and understands us as a collective.”

Up on stage he told the crowd: “You fight for your country and they call you racist. But the days when those kind of insults work is over. The establishment media are the dogs of the system. Every day, we become stronger and they become weaker. Let them call you racists, xenophobes or whatever else, wear these like a medal.”

The former Trump campaign manager believes the fuse for the global populist revolt—now led from Washington, D.C. by his former boss—was lit 10 years ago during the financial crisis and President Barack Obama’s bailout of the broken financial sector. With income inequality growing, Bannon first championed Sarah Palin and then Donald Trump as vanquishers of the establishment elite who were capable of turning traditional politics on its head.

His next populist heroes can be found in Europe.

He sees Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, as the perfect foil to help accelerate that dynamic in Europe.

Noting Trump’s controversial decision to call out Merkel over her gas pipeline deal with Russia last week, Bannon said: “This is the lie of Angela Merkel. She’s a complete and total phony. The elites say Trump is disruptive but she’s sold out control to Russia for cheaper energy prices.”

He describes Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, the French president who crushed Le Pen in a runoff election last year but has since flagged in the polls, as vulnerable figureheads of establishment Europe. With Britain voting to quit the E.U., Merkel and Macron’s vision of a united continent will be put to the test at next year’s elections.

Bannon is convinced that the coming years will see a drastic break from decades of European integration. “Right-wing populist nationalism is what will happen. That’s what will govern,” he told The Daily Beast. “You’re going to have individual nation states with their own identities, their own borders.”

The grassroots movements are already in place waiting for someone to maximize their potential. “It will be instantaneous—as soon as we flip the switch,” he said.

The sight of Brexit virtually upending the entire European Union with a campaign spending cap of £7 million ($9 million) was a great inspiration. “When they told me the spending cap was £7 million, I go, ‘You mean £70 million? What the fuck?!’ £7 million doesn’t buy anything. It doesn’t buy you Facebook data, it doesn’t buy you ads, it doesn’t do anything.”

“Dude! You just took the fifth largest economy in the world out of the EU for £7 million!”

This week, British officials ruled that the Brexit campaign had not stuck to the legal limit—overspending by more than $600,000. There were also unofficial campaigns which spent additional millions arguing that Britain should leave the E.U.

Nonetheless, Britain’s GDP is around $2.6 trillion and leaked government figures estimate that Brexit could wipe 10 percent off that figure, meaning the impact of the democratic decision vastly dwarfs the scale of the investment by the campaign.

“The first thing they teach you at Harvard Business School is operating leverage,” said Bannon. With his expertise, contacts and financial backing, he is convinced that he can have an outsized impact all across Europe.

Bannon went to Italy to observe the campaign earlier this year as populist parties surged in the polls despite their tiny operations. “Look at Five Star and the Northern League,” he said. “They used their own credit cards. They took control of the seventh largest economy in the world—on their credit cards! It’s insane.”

The two anti-establishment parties reached a coalition agreement that made Matteo Salvini deputy prime minister and put him in charge of the interior ministry two months ago. He has since shut Italy’s ports to NGO ships carrying rescued migrants and called for a census of the Roma community that may lead to mass deportations. Last year, he called for a radical crackdown on immigrants. “We need a mass cleansing, street by street, piazza by piazza, neighborhood by neighborhood,” he said.

Bannon sees Salvini as a model for his future Movement partners to follow. “Italy is the beating heart of modern politics,” he said. “If it works there it can work everywhere.”

He admitted that the scale of his right-wing coalition could be limited by the extreme positions of some of The Movement’s potential partners. “Some people may opt out because they think some of the guys may be too immigrant focused,” he conceded.

“We’re not looking to include any ethno-nationalist parties in this although guys like the Sweden Democrats or the True Finns are perfect casting.”

Kent Ekeroth of the Sweden Democrats was one of those who met Bannon in Central London in the last week. The party, which had its roots in the Neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements of the 1980s, has shot up to almost 20 percent in recent polls after adopting a more conventionally populist, anti-immigration message.

Jérôme Rivière of Marine Le Pen’s Front National (Rassemblement National since June) also made the pilgrimage to London’s Mayfair, as did Mischaël Modrikamen of the People’s Party of Belgium, Nigel Farage of UKIP and Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Belang, a Flemish nationalist party formed in 2004 when its predecessor was found to be in breach of a Belgian law on racism and xenophobia.

Bannon said Farage and Le Pen would take the lead in figuring out the logistics of creating a new European parliamentary grouping that could be home to all of these parties and more.

Gosar, the Republican congressman, also stopped by Bannon’s London hotel. He was in Britain to attend a rally for the street protester and alt-right provocateur Tommy Robinson, who was recently jailed for contempt of court for breaching reporting restrictions on a trial. During his trip, Gosar accused the British government of jailing Robinson as part of a cover up of rapeperpetrated by “disgusting and depraved individuals” from Muslim immigrant communities, which he described as a “scourge.”

Bannon’s ambition is no less than to take a stranglehold on Europe in the same way that he believes Soros has been able to dominate proceedings in recent decades.

“Soros is brilliant,” he said. “He’s evil but he’s brilliant.”

Bannon wants to fulfil that role on the right and he is not ashamed to assert his objectives. “I’m about winning. I’m about power,” he said. “I want to win and then I want to effectuate change.”

He is not afraid of being caricatured in the way that Soros has been vilified by the right. He compared it to the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. “Look at Chris Wylie [the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower]. He is saying ‘Bannon made psychological weapons.’ He’s literally made me the most brilliant evil genius. I’m a Bond villain. I kind of dig it.”

Kassam, who worked closely with Bannon at Breitbart and followed him out the door of the populist news site, said The Movement was shaping up as a force that would subsume national politics.

“Forget your Merkels,” said Kassam. “Soros and Bannon are going to be the two biggest players in European politics for years to come.”

___________________________________________

written by NICO HINES

source: https://amp.thedailybeast.com

The post Inside Bannon’s Plan to Hijack Europe for the Far-Right appeared first on Void Network.

Similar protests were held in cities across the UK, and thousands rallied against the US President in Paris and Berlin.

The demonstration starts outside the BBC’s headquarters and finishes at Trafalgar Square where thousands are expected to attend. It is organised by a collective identified as ‘Together Against Trump,’ which includes several trade unions and campaign groups, such as Stop the War, Friends of the Earth and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

The post Thousands protest against Donald Trump in London – 13 July 2018 (video) appeared first on Void Network.

Around 50 Occupy protesters stormed a derelict court building in London today after driving there in a tank on a mission to bring ‘those responsible’ for the economic crisis to justice.

They have vowed to hold mock trials at Old Street Magistrates’ Court for alleged corrupt politicians and greedy bankers using real solicitors before a retired judge.

The group also includes a new offshoot comprising ex-servicemen who call themselves ‘Occupy veterans’.

• Claiming squatters’ rights after getting into Old Street Magistrates’ Court
• Vow to try ‘the one per cent’ they blame for economic crisis
• Will use real solicitors as prosecution before a retired judge
• Protester: ‘Government failed to bring those responsible to justice, so we felt the people should do it instead.’

The protesters have already unfurled a giant ‘Occupy Everywhere’ banner along the roof of the courthouse, although legal notices put on doors establishing their ‘rights’ as squatters had been ripped down by noon.

They scribbled the names of bankers and politicians on chalkboards outside the court’s cells.

Occupy member Adam Fitzmaurice, a 28-year-old music industry management student, said: ‘We are going to use the courthouse to put some people on trial.

‘The government has failed to bring those responsible to justice, so we felt the people should do it instead. We’ve got a retired judge and real solicitors.’

But asked whether they expected their ‘defendants’ to attend, fellow Occupy protester Ronan McNern admitted: ‘We might have to try them in absentia.’

He added: ‘We are targeting the people we feel have been let off or not been brought to justice – it could be bankers, politicians or companies.

‘These are not mock trials. These are trials with qualified solicitors. It’s not about staging anything. The accused will be invited to attend.’

Mr McNern denied the building was a glorified squat, saying: ‘This building has been empty since 1996, which is a travesty given what is currently going on.

‘This is about inviting the public in, just as we did with the ‘bank of ideas’ in the disused UBS building.’

A statement posted on the group’s website said: ‘As Occupy London Stock Exchange occupation prepares to present its case at the High Court today, members of Occupy London have liberated a disused court house – Old Street Magistrates’ Court – in London’s East End alongside a group of military veterans, Occupy Veterans.

‘The opening of Occupy London’s fourth occupation, will see the movement conducting ‘trials of the one per cent’ in the abandoned magistrates’ court building which has lain empty since 1996 despite its prime location and Grade II listing.’

A Met Police spokesperson said: ‘Officers were called to a disused building on Old Street this morning following a report of squatters in place.

‘Officers from Hackney attended the scene. No arrests have been made.’

The results of a poll published today shows that nearly two-thirds of Christians surveyed (63 per cent) thought the Church of England should do more to speak out against the financial sector.

This compared to just one in five (22 per cent) respondents who disagreed.

Peter Kerridge, CEO of Premier Christian Media Trust, which commissioned the survey, said: ‘The Church of England found themselves in a difficult position when taken by surprise by the protesters encampment.

‘However the Bishop of London’s intervention did make a positive difference to what could have become a truly disastrous situation.

‘The results clearly show that Christians believe the Church could have responded better to the protesters as well as doing more to combat corruption within some parts of the financial sector.

‘Even David Cameron, recently acknowledged that the absence of a Christian moral code allowed some bankers and politicians to behave immorally to the detriment of British society.

‘The Prime Minister’s speech has now given the Church of England the perfect opportunity to take a stand against this corruption on behalf of the Christian community and beyond.’

article source: Daily Mail (U.K.)

The post Occupy protesters take over disused London courthouse to hold ‘mock trials’… after arriving by TANK! appeared first on Void Network.

# BREXIT 10 point guide for post Brexit resistance as racist right wins EU referendum // text by Workers Solidarity Movement UK

1. The Brexit vote for the UK to leave the European Union demonstrates that even weak parliamentary democracy is incompatible with escalating neoliberal inequality.  In the UK as elsewhere a tiny segment of the population have taken a larger and larger share of total wealth in the last decades.  Particularly under austerity almost everyone else has seen their share of the wealth they produce decline massively.

2. The Remain campaign was headed up by the political class of the neoliberal establishment and backed by model neo liberal corporations like Ryanair.  But because the anger against rising inequality was successfully diverted through scapegoating already marginalized people, in particular migrants, the Leave campaign was also lead by wealthy elitist bigots whose variant of neoliberalism looks to the former colonies and the US rather than Europe.

3. The markets are now punishing the electorate with capital flight. But the racist colonialist nature of the Leave campaign means that rather than capitalism being blamed migrants will again be scapegoated.  The impact of continued inequality – on white citizen workers – will be blamed on attacks on migrants not being as cruel and ruthless as ‘required’.

4. The alternative to fight for isn’t yet another referendum but the abolition of a global order built on inequality & market dictatorship.

5. In the immediate future, the defense of migrants, including those yet to come, is fundamental to opposing the swing to the right post-Brexit.

6. If the left swings towards a simple economist stance post-Brexit then the racist colonialist nature of that vote will be solidified  We must argue on the more apparently difficult grounds of global class solidarity and not on the treacherous path of the narrow self interest of white citizen workers which can only serve a reactionary English nationalism steeped in racism and colonialism.

7. The fallout from the Leave vote will not just be limited within the borders of the UK will see a  but huge boost for racist colonialist movements across EU.  The leaders of those movements, like Marine Le Pen have already greeted the Leave vote with joy.

8. It’s vital to understand this cannot be combatted with liberal platitudes because it is a consequence of the rising inequality economic liberalism has created.  We are facing either a transformation to radical direct democracy that will create economic equality or a turn to the authoritarian politics of control needed to enforce sharp divisions in wealth.

9. Things look grim but then they were already grim as we face into climate change and automation under capitalism.  The rise of the far right and colonialist racism is not a natural phenomenon but a consequence of a system in a crisis that is a fundamental product of  its own functioning.

10. We need to take our world back from the patriarchal white supremacist capitalist elite that dominates the planet and dominated both sides of the EU referendum.  The transformation we need if we are not to face escalating poverty, war and climate destruction is a total one that eliminates the state and capitalism to create libertarian communism.

—-
A note on southern Ireland
The text above is written primarily with the UK in mind, including the north of Ireland which continues to be ruled from London and the large population of Irish migrants living in Britain.  However there are also enormous implications for people in southern Ireland, in particular those who do not have Irish or UK passports. In the light of the almost complete ban on abortion access people without Irish/UK passports with unwanted or unviable pregnancies may soon find it very much more difficult – if not impossible – to travel to Britain to access abortion services.

It’s an open secret that the border with the north being often unpoliced meant that it was a route that those without papers could sometimes risk to travel to and from Ireland and the UK, maintaining some physical contact with friends and family.  Finally although the virulent anti-Irish racism that was common in Britain up to the 90s had receded as anti-migrant rhetoric increases it may strengthen once more.  Indeed some Irish people living in Britain already felt they are in a more hostile environment from the experience of the Leave campaign.

source: http://www.wsm.ie/c/10-point-guide-post-brexit-resistance

The post #BREXIT: What the UK Anarchists think about it? appeared first on Void Network.

Void Network and Void Mirror international blog publishes 

two articles from today’s 

Guardian newspaper

about the student struggle in 

U.K. and Ireland, a struggle 

that 

creates hopes to all of 

us about 

the arising of critical thought and fearless action 

against neo-liberal capitalism 

and social, economical and 

political  inequality and totalitarianism 

in United Kingdom. 

We express our solidarity 

to all students and workers 

that participated in the 

attacks against targets of 

authority and control in 

London and all over U.K.

Your Fight is our Fight! 

Student fees protest: 

‘This is just the beginning’

• Tory HQ attacked as demonstration spirals out of control
• 35 arrested and 14 injured in violent clashes at Millbank
• Police admit being caught out by scale of student action

• by Jeevan Vasagar, Paul Lewis and Nicholas Watt
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 10 November 2010 21.38 GMT

The post Student fees protest in London U.K.: ‘This is just the beginning’ // Student protest: we are all in this together appeared first on Void Network.

Various events that Global Eye and Void Optical Arts Laboratory have presented at or staged.Events include sets by Fun-Da-Mental, McD and the Dohl Foundation. Events go back to tsunami benefits of 2005, Drop Beats not Bombs at the Custard Factory Birmingham, Bolognia’s amazing but now closed cultural centre Ca.Cu.Bo and Brazialian recycled fashion for London’s Conscious Fashion week.

The post Global Eye-Void Laboratories events appeared first on Void Network.