Just in (and hopefully available from now on) unique to Pogo are these amazing non spicy Mushroom and Garlic samosas. Made by a local family to our vegan specifications these samosas are perfect for those of us who are not keen on “hot and spicy food”  but love the texture of a crispy  potato samosa in this classic flavour. £1.50 each from the Pogo counter.

Can’t afford to be vegan?  - try eating at Pogo more often or…. Think again…  veganism isn’t a privilege
for the rich!

The Alternative Vegan Festival is a DIY, grassroots event which will
show how being vegan doesn’t have to cost the Earth.

We can reduce the environmental impact of capitalism by through
conscious consumption.  This event will focus on highlighting ethical,
anti-consumerist ways of living.

There will be practical workshops on the day about many topics,
including creating your own products (jam, milk, booze,
toiletries…), cake baking & turning rubbish into useful stuff.
Discussions include veganism vs. freeganism, nutrition, mass-catering,
anarchism, ethical consumerism and getting stuff for free!  There will
also be campaign stalls and a cinema room.

We will have a DIY pizza stall – bring some vegan toppings with you.
Dough will be provided.  There will also be a screenprinting workshop,
so bring fabric and designs!

Come along and find out more about low-impact veganism, spend the day
helping out or just chilling out with like-minded or interested
people.

Come to rAtstar Autonomous Social Centre, 298 Camberwell Rd,
Camberwell, London on the 7th November.  The festival will be open
from 12noon until 6pm and entry is free!

First Earth is about a massive paradigm shift for shelter—building
healthy houses in the old ways, out of the very earth itself, and
living together like in the old days, by recreating villages. An
audiovisual manifesto filmed over four years on four continents, it
proposes that earthen homes are the healthiest housing in the world;
and that since it still takes a village to raise a healthy child, we
must transform our suburban sprawl into eco-villages.

First Earth is not a how-to film, but a why-to film. It establishes
the appropriateness of earthen building in every cultural context,
under all socio-economic conditions, from third-world communities to
first-world countryside, from Arabian deserts to American urban
jungles. In the age of collapse and converging emergencies, the
solution to many of our ills might just be getting back to basics, for
material reasons and for spiritual reasons, both personal and
political.

Hunger is a 2008 film about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It is
written by Enda Walsh and Steve McQueen, who also directed. It was
made by Blast! Films and commissioned by Channel 4 and Film4. It
premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, winning the prestigious
Caméra d’Or award for first-time filmmakers. It went on to win the
Sydney Film Prize, best picture by the Evening Standard British Film
Awards, and received 2 BAFTA nominations, winning one. The film was
also nominated for 8 awards at the 2009 IFTA’s winning 6 at the event.
So it should be good!
Hunger was turned down by the Irish Film Board but has gone on to be
one of the most successful Irish films. The film stars Michael
Fassbender as Bobby Sands, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA)
volunteer who led the 1981 Irish hunger strike and participated in the
no wash protest (led by Brendan “The Dark” Hughes) in which Republican
prisoners tried to regain political status. It dramatises events in
the Maze prison in the period leading up to the hunger strike and
Sands’ death.

A documentary film followed by a question and answer session with the film maker. In the Documentary Carefree vacant property (Leegstand zonder zorgen) seven Dutch tenants of the 2 largest anti-squat agencies, Camelot property management and Ad Hoc property management, are followed to investigate the consequences of living in a house without tenancy rights. Who uses the services of anti-squat agencies?

How do politicians, housing experts, lawyers and other people involved in vacant property management judge this rising phenomenon?

The documentary makes visible this hidden reality and tries to stir up the debate around what are better ways of dealing with empty properties.

Anti-squat agencies are rapidly spreading in Europe and are already active in The Netherlands England, Belgium France Germany and Ireland.

A documentary film followed by a question an danswer session with the film maker.
In the Documentary Carefree vacant property (Leegstand zonder zorgen ) 7
Dutch tenants of the 2 largest anti-squat agencies, Camelot property
management and Ad Hoc property management, are followed to investigate the
consequences of living in a house without tenancy rights. Who uses the
services of anti-squat agencies? How do politicians, housing experts,
lawyers and other people involved in vacant property management judge this
rising phenomenon?

Temporary tenants/guardians, who are often unable to find a home on the
housing market, are placed in empty buildings to prevent squatting and
disrepair. By becoming guardians, tenants find themselves in a position
where they have almost no rights. For instance, the special type of
‘’licence agreement’’ stipulated can be ended without any reason at two
weeks notice, the domestic peace is not respected, people may not throw
parties and may not talk to the press without prior permission.  More than
30 rules violate the European Convention of Human Rights.

The documentary makes visible this hidden reality and tries to stir up the
debate around what are better ways of dealing with empty properties.

In The Netherlands the documentary has stirred a big public debate in
parliament and in the media.

Anti-squat agencies are rapidly spreading in Europe and are already active
in The Netherlands England, Belgium France Germany and Ireland.

What would you do if you found out the “faux” fur trim on your neck was really made of dog fur? How far will the fur industry go to get you to buy real fur? Skin Trade takes you on a journey from the birth of the fur industry as fashion through the current trends, misconceptions, and lies perpetrated upon unknowing consumers. Voices from the underground, celebrities, historians, native americans, activists, designers, fashion icons and experts weigh in on the current use of of fur as fashion, which inevitably begs the question, “Why are animals still being killed for fashion?”

The July Exhibition
No Blood For Vanity was a demonstration on the streets of East London. It was a march of animal ghosts as a silent protest against the use of fur in fashion. I created seven different animals, each with their own unique headpiece (plaster of paris with additions like branches for horns, wires for whiskers, etc). As an alternative way of demonstrating against the horrific fur industry. The setting was imporant: Brick Lane on a Friday evening, the epicenter of what is en vogue for young chic people of East London. I was hoping to fascinate those who are most attracted by the visual -those who wear fur for that reason. To bring people forward to ask questions about the performance, instead of having to listen to preaching and a typically negatively charged animal rights (AR)protest. It is a serious matter and requires a certain tone of voice in expression as the fur industry is truly barbaric, but usually people are only annoyed and bothered by AR demonstrations. With my alternative approach I was quite successful in having people stop of their own free will when captured by the eerie ghost situation. I was ushering the procession and at the same time giving out Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade flyers with a short explanation of what the ghost animals represented. People were impressed visually and as a result openly considered the issue. They seemedmore willing to ask about the matter than at the demonstrations I have partaken in before. . This was the type of peaceful mental provocation I was hoping for.