Monica Sjöö - art of anarcho-feminism, the Goddess and the peace movement

'Monica Sjöö: The time is NOW and it is overdue!' at the Beaconsfield Gallery, London SE11 brings together a large collection of paintings by the Swedish anarcho/ecofeminist artist and activist Monica Sjöö (1938-2005). Some of this work would be familiar in pagan scenes - for instance her paintings have been part of the Goddess Temple in Glastonbury for many years - but less so in the gallery art world which is rushing now to catch up with previously marginalised women artists.

Many of her works feature powerful Goddess figures, standing stones as well as more personal imagery relating to the tragic early deaths of two of her sons. Sjöö was a deeply political figure, going back to her involvement in the anti-Vietnam war movement in the 1960s. An article by Rupert White in the excellent Legion Projects zine 'Monica Sjöö; artist, activist, writer, mother, warrior' notes that in the 1960s 'she became affiliated with Anarchist and Situationist groups' including befriending King Mob in London who 'gave her some contacts in the States, such that in August [1968] 'she was able to travel to New York and stay with pioneering Eco-anarchist Murray Bookchin. Whilst she was there she also met up with Black Mask'.

Becoming more involved in the feminist spirituality movement, Sjöö was very critical of what she termed 'The Patriarchal Occult Thinking of the New Age' which in its focus on the light and spirit she saw as disavowing the dark (including the dark skin), the body (especially the woman's body) and the Earth. She wrote that the 'most frightening aspect of the New Age is its adoption, and perpetration, of a mishmash of reactionary, patriarchal occult traditions and thinking of both East and West, all of which have in common a hatred of the Earth, authoritarianism, racism and misogyny' (Return of the Dark/Light Mother or New Age Armageddon?: Towards a Feminist Vision of the Future, 1999).

She was also critical of Goddess worship separate from political action. In her book with Barbara Mor, 'The Great Cosmic Mother', they argued: 'Nor does the Goddess "live" solely in elite separatist retreats, dancing naked in the piney woods under a white and well-fed moon. The Goddess at this moment is starving to death in refugee camps, with a skeletal child clutched to her dry nipples. The Goddess at this moment is undergoing routine strip-and-squat search inside an American prison. The Goddess is on welfare, raising her children in a ghetto next to a freeway interchange that fills their blood cells and neurons with lead. The Goddess is an eight- year-old girl being used for the special sexual thrills of visiting businessmen in a Brazilian brothel. The Goddess is patrolling with a rifle slung over her shoulder, trying to save a revolution in Nicaragua' (interestingly this is very similar to language of Christian liberation theology).

Women reclaim Salisbury Plain

She became very involved in the 1980s women's peace movement, and in her book 'Return of the Dark/Light Mother' she gives an account of a remarkable 1985 action 'Women reclaim Salisbury Plain' which saw women walking from Avebury to Stonehenge across the military land used for tank exercises:

 'This extremely powerful and empowering pilgrimage was magical and a highly political direct action which as far as I am concerned is a truly spiritual-political women's way... We joined a group of punk women from Greenham sitting within the stones [at Avebury]. Police were also gathering by now, and when we were sitting later at the foot of Silbury having our lunch they approached us and warned us not to entertain any ideas of camping for the night anywhere in the vicinity. We all knew, however that we would sleep on Silbury and by late afternoon we gathered up there.

This was the night of Beltane and we were here to celebrate the Mother. We made a Beltane-fire carefully so as not to damage the mound and then gathered to discuss a possible ritual. By now, we had been joined by the American wise woman/witch, Starhawk' [who] 'suggested that we cast a circle, call in the elements, ground ourselves and dance the spiral dance. We danced and drummed and chanted'

At the end of the procession on 4th May they 'cut holes through the fences and snaked our way into the stones across the field, all the while singing Return to the Mother while police and tourists looked sheepishly on. Our number had by now increased since many women had come from London, Bristol and other nearby places to join us just for the weekend. Once within Stonehenge, we gave the ancient stone-beings loving care and energies and danced for hours amongst them; we meditated, sang, lit candles and dreamed. 

Many pagans and people of the Craft have a love for the land and a reverence for the Earth, but many too do not realise that this is not enough and that one must also take political direct action against those that ill-treat and exploit Her. It was this understanding that fired the women on our walk'.

From the Flames: radical feminism with spirit' (Winter 1998/99). Cover design by Monica

  Sjöö. The contents inside included her poem 'Are there Great Female Beings out there waiting for us to be free?'.  Sjöö certainly thought so and believed she was in some kind of communication with them across time and space.

The exhibition at Beaconsfield gallery, 11 June to 10 September 2022

 

Ragged Ragtime Girls: Leila Waddell, Aleister Crowley and seven dancing violinists

I have been enjoying Phil Baker's 'City of the Beast: The London of Aleister Crowley' (Strange Attractor, 2022), which traces his life through places associated with him. In doing so he situates Crowley in a specific London bohemian world of cafes, salons, clubs and temples, populated by people often seen only as (mostly temporary) followers of his but who led interesting lives in their own right - and were probably much more pleasant/less abusive people to befriend.

One of the sites Baker mentions is the Tivoli Theatre which stood at 65-70 the Strand in London, a building 'demolished in 1914, replaced by the Tivoli cinema and the site is now a featureless modern office block'.  It was here that in 1913 a musical troupe called The Ragged Ragtime Girls (sometimes spelt Ragged Rag-Time Girls) played for seven weeks, an act consisting of 'seven pretty girls who play the violin and dance at the same time'. I hadn't heard of them previously so set of searching at the British Newspaper Archive and elsewhere to find out more.

A contemporary review describes them as 'a charming septette' sharing a bill with American songwriters Harry Williams and Nat Ayer, composers of 'Oh you beautiful doll' and the dancers Ida Crispi and Fred Farren. On another occasion they shared a bill at the Tivoli with comedian  George Formby sr., father of the later ukelele star (Sporting Life, 19 March 1913).

The connection with Crowley was that among the seven was Leila Waddell, Australian violinist and sometime 'Scarlet Woman' consort of Crowley. If Crowley is to be believed the group was his idea, arising from his suggestion that 'she should combine fiddling with dancing. My idea was, of course, to find a new art form. But of this she was not capable. She failed to understand my idea'. 

He goes on: 'I turned my thoughts to making a popular success for her. We collected six assistant fiddlers, strung together a jumble of jingles and set them to a riot of motion; dressed the septette in coloured rags, called them “The Ragged Ragtime Girls” and took London by storm. It was a sickening business [...] In the early part of 1913, my work had apparently settled down to a regular routine. Everything went very well but nothing startling occurred. On March 3rd, the “Ragged Ragtime Girls” opened at the Old Tivoli. It was an immediate success and relieved my mind of all preoccupations with worldly affairs'. Later that year Crowley was 'free to accompany the “Ragged Ragtime Girls” to Moscow, where they were engaged for the summer, at the Aquarium. They were badly in need of protection. Leila Waddell was the only one with a head on her shoulders. Of the other six, three were dipsomanics, four nymphomaniacs, two hysterically prudish, and all ineradicably convinced that outside England everyone was a robber, ravisher and assassin. They all carried revolvers, which they did not know how to use; though prepared to do so on the first person who spoke to them' (The Confessions of Aleister Crowley).

The group also seem to have played at other London venues including the Tottenham Palace (Stage 10 April 1913) and the East Ham Palace, as well as in Edinburgh, Glasgow and at the Manchester Hippodrome - this time advertised as 'Eight Ragged Rag-Time Girls' (The Era, 17 September 1913).

 Then there were a series of shows in the North East of England including the Sunderland Empire with Tiller girl dancers, Miss Louie Tracey, 'a male impersonator'  and the Great Barnetti who produced 'weird effects of a black magic character';  and the South Shields Empire Place as 'Seven Gipsy Ragged Ragtime Girls dancing fiddlers'. They also gave their services for free as part of a benefit concert for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution at the Empire Theatre, Newcastle (Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 29 May 1913).

 

I can find no reference to them playing after November 1913 but more may turn up. Crowley is sometimes described as their manager and producer but whatever his role they also had professional management.  In an interview with vaudeville producers Ellis Entertainments Ltd, director Anthony Ellis boasted that 'we were responsible for the appearance of the Ragged Rag-time Girls at the Tivol - an act which proved so popular that it is now, after a seven weeks run at the Tivolo, booked for a year ahead in the provinces, including a return visit to London at Christmas time' (The Era, 22 October 1913). 

It should also be remembered that Waddell was an accomplished professional musician - for instance she as described as 'The Queen of Australian Violinists'  while playing at West's Picture Palace, Shaftesbury Hall, Bournemouth (Bournemouth Daily Echo, 4 July 1910). Neither was she a passive muse for Crowley's spiritual work, among other things she played a key role in the Rites of Eleusis performed at Westminster's Caxton Hall in 1910, another site mentioned in Baker's book.

The Ragged Ragtime Girls

Leila Waddell in the Rites of Eleusis

'Riot in Whitehall': London Miners Strike Demo 1985

In February 1985 the miners strike in Britain was in its last few weeks. A highly organised state sponsored strike breaking operation was having an effect, and more than 150 miners had been jailed for their activities during the strike. 

It's surprizing that nearly a year after the strike started there had not been a major demonstration in London in support of the miners (other than a lobby of parliament in June 1984), but one was called by the South East region of the Trades Union Congress, along with the Liaison Committee for the Defence of the Trade Unions, on Sunday February 24th 1985. 

Notice of demo in Socialist Worker

As usual estimates of the crowd varied - the organisers said more than 50,000, the police only 15,000 which was a ludicrously low number. The demo went from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, and scuffles broke out as the police arrested a couple of miners in Whitehall and a section of the crowd refused to move on demanding their release. A cordon of police blocked the top of Whitehall to try and stop people from the main body of the demo in Trafalgar Square joining this, before mounted police charged in to clear the area.

If it was a riot it was a fairly one sided one. Some missiles were thrown at police but mostly ineffectual  sticks, plastic bottles and empty cans which were no match for charging horses and swinging batons. My main memory is of panic and chaos as horses charged and police on foot piled into the crowd to try and make arrests. Some people were crushed and I remember demonstrators climbing on to police lorries loaded with metal crowd control barriers and pushing the barriers into the street to try and block the police advance. More than 100 people were arrested.

The photos I took on the day aren't great but hopefully they do convey some of that chaos. 

Police in Hyde Park at start of demo

Red and black flags on demo

Crowd and police outside Whitehall Theatre of War (this was an exhibition of WW2 memorabilia)

Here comes the police horses...

A demonstrator is comforted after police charge 

Demonstrator makes ironic nazi salute at police as horses move into crowd

'Riot in Whitehall' - Black Flag, 18 March 1985

'On February 24th a huge march of 80,000 miners and their supporters was held in London, in a festive atmosphere. The feeling of solidarity was destroyed when plain clothes police and uniformed police arrested 2 Notts miners as their part of the March neared the Theatre of War in Whitehall. Police and miners were quick to respond, with skirmishes breaking out as police snatch squads went for people only to have them snatched back by the crowd, as sticks and bottles rained down on the police lines which had halted the demo.

TV cameramen were pushed aside as they zoomed in for sensation, as a steward with a loudhailer told everyone to go to Trafalgar Square. Abused, and asked whose side he was on, he accused "outside agitators" of causing trouble which he later changed to "anarchists" and "students".

Meanwhile the march was staying put, determined not to move until the Notts miners were released. The police withdrew, while a large crowd gathered outside 10 Downing Street (chants of "Maggie, we want you...DEAD! echoed and bands played the catchy tune 'Here We Go, Here We Go!) and people milled around in Whitehall which was clear of traffic.

Then in a new tactic and with new cops the police moved in again about 100 strong making arrests only to find themselves surrounded and given a good kicking. A Superintendant's hat was thrown up in the air, to cheers. During the pushing and shoving, an elderly man was seen hitting the backs of cops legs with his walking stick! A cry of 'Horses' went up, and the helmets of the mounted police could be seen over the heads of the police lines.

Then a crushing line of police moved forward, in a pincer style strategy to break up the crowd, forcing people into side streets off Whitehall. Children who were placed in safety on ledges, behind

fences, were dragged out by the cops, some people were viciously beaten as they were chased, jumped on and dragged to vans and into Whitehall buildings. One woman lost consciousness as her head was bashed on the pavement by the five cops arresting her. Stacks of crowd barriers were thrown off nearby trucks.

About 30 mounted police cleared Whitehall crushing people against railings and then charging into groups of marchers without warning. Some people arrested were taken into the Horseguards area, and beaten up. There was a shortage of missiles to throw at the police at one stage a pile of Socialist Workers (the papers not the individual Trots) got thrown at a police line, and someone said "best use for them yet!!"

While being arrested a man got his leg trapped under a parked car - the police yanked him so violently that his leg broke. He is still in hospital. Ministry of Defence windows were smashed, and a police motorbike overturned, as crowds withdrew to Embankment, police in pursuit trying to give the impression that everything was under control.

There were 121 arrests, in all, including some DAM [Direct Action Movement] members. Many people had to have hospital treatment, and 13 people were held overnight. Police were also hospitalised. The general feeling was of amazement that a day for celebration of solidarity had been turned around so viciously by the police. And, on the other side, the police had learnt that these marchers weren't going to take attacks on them lying down'.

'Gay in thick of Whitehall battle' - Capital Gay, 1 March 1985

'The day began peacefully in Hyde Park, and there was loud applause for the Lesbian and Gay Support the Miners banner as it left the park. But while the march was still filing into Trafalgar Square police blocked off both ends of Whitehall and arrested two miners. Soon afterwards all other exits from Whitehall were sealed off. Detachments of mounted police in riot gear formed in Parliament Square and Horse Guards and charged into the crowded street. The large and conspicuous lesbian and gay contingent found itself in the centre of the charge and found it impossible to make their escape from the horses surrounding them. Observers told Capital Gay "The police drew night sticks and struck out indiscriminately at the marchers"' (Capital Gay, 1 March 1985)

'Pit Violence Comes to Whitehall' - Daily Mail, 25 February 1985

'Pit strike demonstrators battled with police in Whitehall yesterday. In scenes reminiscent of picket line violence, a surging mob hurled stones, chunks of wood and plastic beer bottles at officers. Close to the Houses of Parliament, mounted police rode in to disperse the crowd...

The first fighting started outside Whitehall's Theatre of War with the black and red flag of the International Anarchists Movement at the thick of it. As Mr Arthur Scargill, miners' union president, Mr Anthony Wedgwood Benn and others spoke to the massed crowd in Trafalgar Square, skirmishes started again. 

[...] Among other groups which took part in the march were the Communist Party, the Socialist Workers Party and some lesser-known pressure groups such as the Orient Supporters Against Pit Closures, London Gays for the Miners and the the Iranians Popular Organisations for the Miners'.

'100 held as police tackle miners' - Guardian, 25 February 198

'One group of demonstrators, including women and children, were pressed against railings as police horses moved in on both sides of them. Children were lifted over railings to comparative safety but some fell under the police horses'.  The picture shows demonstrators climbing on to a statue of Charles I.

Update - some additional photos from the day provided by downlander

(thanks to LGSMPride who posted the Capital Gay clipping recently)

See previously on the 1984/5 miners strike:

'Sound of police truncheon against body': David Peace's miners strike soundscape

Miners demo in Mansfield 1984

Miners demo in Durham 1984

Miners support in Kent

The 'Here we go' chant

What did you do in the strike - my mix of music from the miners strike

 

Discothèque dancing - 'you don't need a band' (1964)

'you Frug, Surf and Watusi and you don't need a band - Discotheque Dancing.  As of last night, the smart dances to do were the Frug, Wash Wash, Surf, Hitchhiker and Watusi. But so rapidly are dances invented and discarded nowadays that they may be outmoded tonight - along with the Saint, in which dancers wave hands as if they were marching in. It is being danced below in a new kind of nightclub called a discotheque - this one is New Jimmy's in Paris but they are popping up everywhere in Europe and the US. At a discotheque recorded music is played' (Life magazine, 22 May 1964). 

The full article includes photos of people dancing in Paris, London and Los Angeles.

Defend the Atlanta Forest

'Defend the Atlanta Forest' is a movement opposing the destruction of woodland in Atlanta to build a police training facility that would include a mock city (perhaps similar to the Metropolitan Police's riot training 'town' in Kent). The campaign has included protest camps  tree dwelling and lots of music and creativity, including a music festival there last month.

Some nice lines in this flyer distributed there:

 'This is not a Music Festival... Because we are not here as consumers or as mere spectators. This is not another photo-op, another 'networking opportunity'. We are here because our need for a free forest, culture, and existence can't be crushed by the police, nor can it be sold back to us as an image in an uninspired Hollywood rip-off. 

In a cave called Divje Babe, located in present-day Slovenia, archeologists have recently discovered a 60,000 year old flute. The human need for music has been with us since the very beginning. We

are here to affirm that this deep and timeless desire, which has survived an Ice Age, the rise of empires and states, the advent of borders; slavery, war, famine and Holocausts, is an important part of the current struggle...

Our communities will not be held together by their ability to kill and maim enemies or heretics. They will be held together by music, and the ability to generate common luxuries. So let's not say 'Oh they don't really care about the struggle, they are only here for the party' or, 'this is not about music and festivals and all of this crap, this is about serious politics and organising." Instead let's say the truth:

this is only a glimpse of what we could give one another if we manage to outlive the oil-based economics of the current world system. The emancipation of the senses, the free development of the imagination and the passions: this is precisely what we are fighting for'

(images from Defend the Atlanta Forest twitter feed)

Disco Chart 1980

UK Disco Chart, Record Business, 25 February 1980. Interesting to see BPM displayed, 'Spacer' by Sheila & B Devotion one of the fastest at 135 BPM  - the French singer produced on this one by Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards (Chic).

 

Wildcat benefit at AMP, Covent Garden (1974) - with Charlie Gillett and members of Henry Cow

I am always interested in the social/cultural/musical life of radical scenes, here's a report of a London benefit night for the mid 1970s anarchist/libertarian left paper 'Wildcat' (no direct connection to 1980s ultra-left paper I believe). This report is from issue no.2 of the paper, October 1974. Sounds like an interesting line up including music from Lindsay Cooper and Fred Frith from Henry Cow with flautist Clive Bell, and DJing from Charlie Gillett and 'Pete's disco'. All this plus a performance from General Will, a radical theatre company that started out in Bradford and whose members included Brian Hibbard, later lead singer with the Flying Pickets.

The event took place at the Art Meeting Place, which I believe to have been at 48 Earlham Street, Covent Garden. It opened in 1974 and Cosey Fanni Tutti and Genesis P. Orridge were involved with it - indeed they first used the name Throbbing Gristle there. Cosey describes it in her book 'Art Sex Music' (2017):

'The shift in direction to COUM being mainly me and Gen also coincided with my leaving full-time work and connecting with other artists at the Art Meeting Place... AMP, as it was known, was set up by John Sharkey (along with others) in one of the buildings left vacant from the relocation of the Covent Garden fruit, veg and flower market. Other buildings had also been opportunistically acquired by activists for use as community centres and alternative arts spaces. AMP was a kind of Arts Lab that provided free facilities for artists across the spectrum - musicians, poets, film-makers - and was run by the artists themselves, with open meetings every week, exhibitions and performances. Me and Gen became regulars there, using their resources and trying out ideas in the available spaces-  as did Anish Kapoor, Carolee Schneemann, John Latham, David Medalla, David Toop and Susan Hiller among others.

Participating in the meetings was always interesting, watching people getting antsy with each other over art or politics, or art being a political act, feminism and Marxism. Some people had great ideas and ideals to uphold but there were time-wasters whose posturing made me angry and I got the sense that they didn't fully appreciate what an amazing thing AMP was'.

Flyer for 'Tracking' - performance and films by American artist Carolee Schneemann at the Artists Meeting Place in June 1974.

Miners Strike Memories: Durham Miners Rally 1984

Technically there was no Durham Miners Gala in 1984 - instead on the day the Gala would normally take place there was a miners strike rally in the city. Many of the Gala elements were still present on Saturday July 14th 1984 - a parade through the town with banners from miners' union branches, marching brass bands and speeches at the Durham racecourse, with not a little drinking. The mood was angry, determined and at this point still hopeful just a few months into the strike.

This report is from the north east of England paper 'The Sunday Sun' (15 July 1984):

'Durham looked like a city under siege yesterday as town centre pubs stayed closed and shops shuttered. But the mass invasion of miners from all over the country to take part in the biggest protest  march in the pit dispute turned out to be fairly peaceful affair. Police kept a low profile and, despite  some rowdy behaviour by a young element, there were only three arrests for disorderly conduct and obstruction.

About 10,000 people took part In a march through the  city that replaced the traditional gala celebrations, cancelled by Durham Miners' Association in a cost-cutting move because of the dispute.

Banners were paraded by contingents from every  British coalfield, but pride of place at the head of the parade - led by Bearpark and Esh Colliery Band - was the Bearpark banner. The pit, the smallest in the Durham coalfield, closed for good in the early days of the strike because reserves were exhausted. Another banner that passed by to loud cheers was that of Cortonwood Lodge-  the pit whose threatened closure sparked off the strike.

Trouble flared briefly in Durham's market square when about 50 youths clashed with police after the rally. Bottles and beer cans were thrown and three arrests were made as extra police arrived  on the scene.

There was an amazing scene when a bronzed teenage girl ran across the square with the back of her black-and-white frock torn  away exposing her bare bottom. She was last seen running along the riverside'.

I don't remember the latter episode, which seems an odd thing to report in the paper. But I was there, drinking cider and gravitating towards the 'rowdy young element' scuffling with police as was my wont at the time. I recorded in my diary: 'We sat in the market square there were about 50 people there, mainly young miners. We sang anti-police songs, eventually the cops lost their sense of humour and moved in to arrest somebody. A fight ensued'. Apart from that my main memory is of the rally at the end. Peter Heathfield and Arthur Scargill from National Union of Mineworkers spoke, but when Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock came to the platform a lot of miners turned their back on him and headed out of the park rather than listen to him, disgusted by what they saw as the Labour leadership's half hearted support for the strike.

'A priest and some punks in debate after the speeches at the rally'

Following report is from The Miner (July 1984), the NUM's newspaper: 'Tens of thousands turned up to register a single, cast iron Geordie pledge on what is traditionally the Labour movements proudest day: The North East of England is rock solid and would only be content with a 101 per cent miners' victory in defence of jobs and communities'.

There's some very evocative uncut film footage from the day at the Yorkshire Film Archive  reminding me of some of the visual elements of the strike, not just banners but hats covered in badges and the ubiquitous yellow 'coal not dole stickers'. The sounds of the strike too, colliery brass bands and people chanting 'Maggie Maggie Maggie, Out Out Out!' and singing 'we shall not be moved'.

From the film: 'Whittle Miners Wives Support Group - Coal Not Dole'. Whittle Colliery in County Durham closed in 1987.

[post last updated 10/8/2022 with addition of report from 'The Miner']

See previously:

'Sound of police truncheon against body': David Peace's miners strike soundscape

Miners demo in Mansfield 1984

Miners support in Kent

The 'Here we go' chant

What did you do in the strike - my mix of music from the strike