Anarchist counter-cultural festival in Tampere

Dato for begivenhed / date of event: Friday 10 July 2009 14:00 by Musta Pispala Black Pispala

Tagget som: anarchist_counter-cultural_festival finland tampere

Steder: finland tampere

Anarchist counter-cultural festival in Tampere, Finland

Through the workshops in the festival you can get familiar with topics such as basics of anarchism and anarcha-feminism. There will be a couple of workshops on anarchist parenting and unschooling. Anti-psychiatry criticizes mainstream views on mental problems, and offers alternatives for mental care. Environmental themes are approached practically and theoretically through worm-composting, edible wild plants, climate change and the environment and technology thinking of anarchists. We also have workshops about specifically local struggles such as anti-gentrification/yuppification and a counter campaign against the city council's efforts to clean the streets of Tampere from street art and posters of small scale events.

We are consciously trying to work to ensure a safe anti-oppression atmosphere. In order to do this, we come up with guidelines for situations of harassment, and we'll have a specific conflict resolution / anti-harassment group. This doesn't mean we wouldn't encourage everyone to take responsibility to ensure that the atmosphere would be positive. We have a conscious anti-oppression policy including but not limited to anti-sexism, anti-heterosexism and anti-racism.

If you need a sleeping place and/or help with child care, please get in touch via mustapispala (at) takku (dot) net beforehand so we can prepare. You can also get in touch if you want to offer your help in organising, hold a workshop or come to the book fair with your distro. The workshops are in Finnish with English translation.

We are sorry that we are so late with our announcement, which makes it pretty much impossible for people who need visas to arrive. We'll try better next time.

More detailed descriptions of the workshops, timetables and other additional information: http://mustapispala.takku.net

How to get there

Pispala is within a walking distance (3-4km) from Tampere railway station. You can get to Tampere easily from Turku or Helsinki (that's where your ferries will arrive, check timetables and prices here: 1 2 3). Driving instructions to Vastavirtaklubi (That's where the Info desk will be located).

The festival locations in Pispala are Vastavirta, Hirvitalo, Kurpitsatalo and Tahmela beach. A map may be available later.

Short revolutionary history of Pispala

Pispala has a rich revolutionary history. During the civil war of 1918 Tampere was the "capital"  of the reds, and Pispala was the last place where "the workers defended themselves with guns in their hands" , as the text in the memorial statue of the "class war park"  says.

Pispala was built a little before the civil war as a neighbourhood for the workers who came to wage-slave in the first factory of Finland built in the centre of Tampere. It was chaotically built full of small wooden houses, and it also had a lot of apple trees and berry bushes in a forest garden -ish manner.

In the 70's it was almost completely destroyed when the city and the construction mafia wanted to build it into "The Nordic Riviera". This would have been realised by destroying all the wooden houses and replacing them with big blockhouses. How creative!

Another 70's plan which was blocked by peoples activity, was to build a motorway just next to the Lake Pyhäjärvi shore. Pispala is a ridge between two lakes, and there was already a motorway on the Lake Näsijärvi side. In the techno-enthusiastic 70's spirit the city officials probably thought that one motorway is obviously not enough. At the other hand they might have thought that it's a waste since soon everyone will be using flying vehicles anyway. Whatever the case, the building company shareholders would have pocketed some millions of taxpayer money on the process, which made it look appealing for them. Luckily the local folks managed to prevent this project.

The greatest example of the destructiveness of the engineer-spirit, and the logic of industrialism is the case of the well. There is a spring in lower Pispala, or Tahmela, which provided drinking and other water to the whole of Pispala from 1906 to 1966. Then some engineer thought that it might be a good idea to "improve" it a little bit, and did something to mess the bottom. The sand never settled, and the well has been useless since then.

Pispala is a perfect example of the corruption of hierarchical systems such as representative democracy and at the other hand the potentialities of peoples co-operation. The area is booming with self-organised activities such as the Rajaportti Sauna, the oldest public sauna in Finland, Vastavirta club, which is owned by a punk-co-operative, Hirvitalo which is home to the Center of Contemporary Art, Kurpitsatalo (The Pumpkin House), home of the community garden movement in the middle of the plots, and the communally self-organised library in the neighbour of Hirvitalo, which has been independently kept alive after the council closed the local branch of the city library. Currently the city council wants to sell Kurpitsatalo and Rajaportti, which they own, effectively destroying them as they are at the moment. Additionally they are planning to give a building permit for houses to be build over the community garden plots. This would obviously be one of the stupidest things possible concerning the current situation - climate change, peak oil, the need for localised food self-sufficiency etc. For capitalists and their lackeys in the city council short term monetary profits seem to be more important than anything, including the survival of humanity.

Pispala has also been an area of strong gentrification despite the strongest special legislation in Finland to preserve the unique historic spirit of the area. Rich bastards with friends in high places have managed to build outrageous mansions, wiping out many nice wooden houses with cheap apartments. Many owners leave their houses to rot hoping to get a permit for de-constructing them later and so get a permit for a new house. In this situation they could sell the plot with a high price to some yuppie.

There have also been quite a few squats in Pispala, currently there is one in Hyhky, Pispalan valtatie 72.

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