|
|
Blog Feeds
The Saker Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Lockdown Skeptics
|
'The Debt' : Ultra Red in Dublin (music/activism), June 28th & 29th national |
miscellaneous |
news report
 Monday June 16, 2003 22:43 by redflaremist
 Details of Ultra Red's visit to Dublin The Debt (in five acts) by Ultra-red. For Ultra-red, our project in Ballymun is very much a continuation of that project begun all those years ago with the release of the CD, “Structural Adjustments” (Mille Plateux/Germany, 2000). That is, the public release of art practices developed within the context of struggles around public housing. Some of the analysis in those initial days centered on the connection between neoliberal globalization (as critiqued in the global justice and anti-corporate globalization movements) and domestic policy – specifically domestic policy for public housing. On the global front, institutions like the IMF, World Bank and WTO enforce a variety of economic and social regimes – structural adjustment programs, austerity measures, and debt servicing – on the underdeveloped world. Meanwhile, in the overdeveloped world, governments enforce public sector austerity, privatization and budget cuts in an effort to shift public money to increasing corporate monopolization and militarism. So it was that each of the album/cd releases in this series has taken for its name a title that references the global struggle around economic justice. Connecting the privatization/defunding of the public sector in the US with the neoliberal order being imposed (and militarily enforced) in the global south. The situation in Dublin at Ballymun is no doubt equally bound up with global developments. The rise of the maquiladora economy (the myth of the “Celtic Tiger”) in Ireland has created conditions of public financing not seen before. While there have been many benefits of this new economic boom in Ireland, the costs have been equally dramatic. At the center of the development in Ballymun is the notion that residents are finally seeing promises made real. The regeneration is very much the result of forty years of activism and organizing in the Ballymun community. This dynamic: local struggles and global changes, grass-roots organizing and institutional co-optation, has created a situation that can be titled simple: “The Debt.”
The Debt (in five acts) by Ultra-red. The Debt is a series of collective reflections that will take place in Dublin and Los Angeles between June and October 2003. The purpose of this project is to foster a dialogue between public housing residents in Ballymun, Dublin and Pico Aliso, Los Angeles. Residents from the Ballymun Women’s Resource Centre and LA’s Union de Vecinos will share experiences and histories, focusing on urban geography and the impact of grass-roots leadership on urban regeneration. Each Act amplifies stories of action and struggle, offering crucial perspective on the destiny of public space and urban development. ACT I: Peripheral Vision: Community at the Urban Margins. ACT II: Leading Voices: The Legacy of Leadership in Public Housing Community. ACT III: Housing Exchange. ACT IV: The First Women. ACT V: Ballad of Seán Ó Cionnaith. ********** Ultra-red is an artist group based in Los Angeles. With a fluid membership determined by collaborations between community members, visual artists, electronic musicians, and grass-roots political groups, Ultra-red develops projects around a variety of urban ambiences. For more visit http://www.ultrared.org. The Debt (in five acts) by ultra-red is a public art project commissioned by Breaking Ground. The Ballymun Regeneration Ltd art commissioning programme "Breaking Ground" is funded through the Department of the Environment and Local Government's Per Cent for Art Scheme. Partners in The Debt include the Union de Vecinos, Ballymun Women’s Resource Centre, and The Metropolitan Complex. Special thanks to Project and BRYR for the generous use of their venues. For information in Dublin, call 087 760 8529 or email info@themetropolitancomplex.com. In Los Angeles, call 310 662 7891 or email info@ultrared.org.
Add Your Comments >>
 printable version
with comments
   |
Digg this
del.icio.us
Furl
Reddit
Technorati
Facebook
Gab
Twitter
|
