The Pledge of Allegiance says "...with liberty and justice for all." What part of "all" don't you understand?
Pat Schroeder, American politician and feminist

 

Up and Atom: Winter 2007

Ipswich Peace Festival

In May last year I met Margaret Bulatis of Ipswich Stop the War at Ipswich May Day festival and she told me about a meeting being held soon in Ipswich town centre. I assured her I'd be there, and I gave my best friend Litmus a shout, and we went along.

The meeting was geared up towards challenging the Bush-Blair threats on Iran. Litmus and I discussed what we could do to make a difference, and as we were in the very active Ipswich indie-rock band Tuscan Raiders we thought that we might be able to arrange an all-day festival at the Steamboat Tavernin Ipswich.

Through his own business, Spontin Music Promotions, Litmus had a huge network of bands he knew he could contact. So I took the job of co-ordinating with the organisations. We agreed that there could only be one message, one of peace. Ipswich Stop the War and CND were to be the organisations we would involve. This ended up with me getting in contact with the remarkable Mell Harrison at Eastern CND, which in turn led to me getting involved in other things (inevitably!).

Litmus approached his contacts, In the end, to our surprise and delight, only one band said no. The wonderful Val at the Steamboat Tavern really made it happen. She is a great supporter of local music and has had many fundraising events at her pub. We had a discussion with her, and the festival was on.

We promoted by leafleting in the town centre with Stop the War, and the great Stephen Foster from BBC Suffolk took plugged the gig in the Evening Star and on his Drivetime show.

On the day, we set up two stages, an acoustic stage outside, and an electric stage indoors. Some accomplished setting up by Scotty, Litmus and Nick from SpontinPromotions meant that we were ready in plenty of time to go at 2pm on the Electric Stage with very young 'Battle of the Bands' winners, Cosmic Sands. The idea was that whilst there was a band on one stage, the next would set up on the other, ready to go when they'd finished. This was the real miracle of the day. Musicians are reknowned for their poor timekeeping, and somehow every single set finished in time with a prompt switch to the next set.

During the day we had a stall each for Stop the War and CND, respectively manned by Margaret and Mell, a stall selling commemorative t-shirts manned by Joanna Oldham (and me sometimes!), and a posse of good hearted souls who stood on the door shaking buckets for donations. Particular recognition to Christy, Megan and Ruggy for their generosity in missing the music and doing this.

The Steamboat Tavern's irrepressible landlady, Val, put on fantastic food (including plenty for us vegetarians) at a quid a plate, and she put every penny into the fundraising bucket.

As evening came, Mell Harrison took the stage for a short speech to a very attentive audience, explaining the UK's nuclear arsenal, and the damage it can do. When Litmus and I took the stage with our own band, Margaret introduced us. She also made a wonderfully passionate and angry speech against our imperialistic and bloodthirsty politicians, hell bent on destruction (the politicians, that is, not Margaret). Our own set was finished, and it was over to Ipswich punk legends, the John Peel endorsed Red Flag 77. To our amazement, the whole thing finished as scheduled, which allowed Red Flag to play a couple of extra tunes.

What a fantastic day. The feeling is that our objectives of raising awareness and having a bloody good time were achieved. But it is not over, Litmus, myself and Val are committed to it happening again in September '07. Also, every band that appeared donated a track to a CD, available at £6 (£5 of which goes to Stop the War & CND) from knowyourproduct.net .

The feeling is that our objectives of raising awareness and having a bloody good time were achieved.

Our profound thanks go to all those great bands who played (Ipswich has the best music), to Mell Harrison and Margaret Bulatis for their presence, support and inspiration, to Stephen Foster for being on our side, Roger and Teresa from NUT for backing us up, to all the people who made the effort to come down and have a good time. Most of all thanks go to Val at the Steamboat Tavern, New Cut West, Ipswich. May she rule for ever more!