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> home - action - mayday -
May Day Monopoly Game Guide to Anti-Capitalist Actions in London Information reproduced from http://www.maydaymonopoly.net CONTENTS 1.1 GET OUT OF JAIL FREE 1.2 INTRODUCTION 1.3 COME TOGETHER - RIGHT NOW : PREPARING BEFORE THE GAME BEGINS 1.4 HOW TO PLAY SUBVERT THE GAME TOUR OF THE BOARD From GO we advance to 2.1 OLD KENT ROAD 2.2 The RAIL STATIONS 2.3 The ELECTRIC COMPANY 2.4 FREE PARKING 2.5 WATER WORKS 2.6 DON'T GO TO JAIL 2.7 SUPER TAX 3.1 A WORLD WITHOUT MONEY 3.2 HOUSING 3.3 DON'T FORGET THE DICE! 3.4 GLOSSARY 1.1 GET OUT OF JAIL FREE Despite what the cops and politicians think, the Terrorism Act did not abolish the right to protest. Many people on previous actions have been identified by videos or photographs, so wear masks, hats, sunglasses etc if you do not want to be identified. You may also want a change of clothes. Remember you do not have to give the police a name and address unless you are arrested, so if you are stopped by the police say nothing. The police may impose a section 60 order, as they did in Trafalgar Square last May Day. This allows them to search everyone in a given area for weapons. It does not allow the police to take photos and you do not have to give your name and address. It is really used to keep people penned in, to stop everyone leaving and to try to get everybody's details. The best response is for everyone to refuse to co-operate and demand to leave together. More information on s60 orders is on the website. On the day bust cards will be circulated, so make sure that you get one. If you are organising an action you can download a bust card from the website. 
If you are arrested you only have to give a name and address. Phone a solicitor who you have used before or from the bust card. Do not accept a duty solicitor. Say "no comment" to any questions until you have the chance to talk to the solicitor. 1.2 INTRODUCTION After the expectation and the delays it's finally here - the Mayday Monopoly game guide. Welcome one and all! If you haven't guessed already, this initiative is based around the concept of celebrating Mayday 2001, on Tuesday 1st May, with numerous autonomous actions centred on locations around the Monopoly board. Whilst each action may be small, the cumulative effect should be huge. For this to happen lots of groups need to be planning events in advance: occupations, sit-ins pickets, blockades, mobile actions, spectacles, street theatre, public speaking, banner drops, information points, music or in fact whatever it is that interests your friends, group, campaign or network. This booklet is designed to provide some initial information on the locations and perhaps provide some ideas. So what are you waiting for? Get plotting… 1.3 WHY MAYDAY? WHY MONOPOLY? …WHY CAPITALISM? The game of monopoly is one of accumulation, making it perfect for our times. The aim is for each player to make profits through the sale of a single commodity - land - and to expand their empire. In real life one single commodity generates all profits - our labour power. Since labour power cannot be separated from people, we are literally bought and sold in the market place. To prevent stagnation, capitalism must constantly expand. Thus we must also consume as well as produce. Originally invented as The Landlord Game, to expose the parasitic role of landlords, it was repackaged as Monopoly in the USA at the height of the great depression, as a sop to be sold to those workers who were being laid off and losing their livelihoods, a distraction from the reality of capitalist poverty. Such distractions may have got more sophisticated - TV, the internet, holidays abroad, flashy cars etc - but our exploitation continues unchecked.
As capitalism is a social relation between classes its continuation requires the participation of both exploiters and exploited. By continuing the repetitive cycle of work and consumption we reproduce this alien mode of production. We are therefore our own jailers. However, since capitalism is opposed to human needs and desires, there is a constant struggle between those of us who produce and the bosses who reap the rewards. Capitalism is a global system, with the rule of the market imposed everywhere, usually by force. Hence the destruction of indigenous cultures. Indeed, capitalism's twin is war. Barely a day passes without the death of humans at the hands of capitalist weapons. To give but one example, British and US forces carry out daily bombings of Iraq, whilst sanctions have killed more people than the despotic Iraqi state. Mayday is the day above all others when we celebrate struggles against class society and demonstrate our internationalism. From its origins as a pagan festival, Mayday was a time to eat, drink, reject the control of our rulers and have fun. Our rulers responded by first trying to control and then banning the may fairs (see MAYFAIR). Later, Mayday was adopted by the workers movement as the day to celebrate the general strike led by the anarchist Haymarket martyrs, who were executed in Chicago in 1886. Last Mayday saw huge demonstrations and strikes in many countries, including India and Iraq. Labour bosses responded in the way of all would be rulers and turned Mayday into a safe bank holiday for speachifying. In the last few years there have been attempts to reclaim Mayday as a day to celebrate our struggles. We hope that Mayday Monopoly will continue this process. As we celebrate this year, we should remember that by acting collectively we have the power to bring the whole game to an end!
1.4 COME TOGETHER - RIGHT NOW So you want to change the world? Fight the forces of globalising darkness? Not a bad ambition - but you'll need help. Activism - like playing monopoly or having sex - can be a bit embarrassing if you do it alone. You need an affinity group, a gang, a posse. If you are going to play Mayday Monopoly, you best do it with people you like and trust. It should be the start of an ongoing career of activism, agitation, and generally making a nuisance of yourself. Is there anybody out there? Check out whether a nearby group already exists. Get a copy of the brilliant guide The Agitator c/o Haringey Solidarity Group, PO. Box 2474, London N8 (send £1) or on the net: http://home.clara.net/hsg/agitator/
Friends If there's no group nearby, what then? First, try your friends; if you're into all this 'smash the state' malarkey it is quite possible that your mates share some of your views. So ask around: "Fancy help getting a group together to fight for truth, justice, and the socialisation of the means of production, distribution, and exchange?" If the answer's 'no', keep looking. If 'yes', still keep looking: you should guard against the group becoming merely a cider-drinking club (although this is a vitally important secondary function). What were you doing again? Who next? What sort of group do you want to have? Is it: Purist anarchist? Revolutionary communist? An anti-capitalist alliance? About a particular issue? If the last, there will be a number of national organisations to go to for help. The Internet Mayday Monopoly runs one of many radical mailing lists. Send out emails asking if anyone lives in your locality. It's a long shot but it might just work. Even if not, some people might live near enough to come over and help you get started. Also see the links page for other groups with similar aims.
Think global, get local Next, get in touch with others near you. Put up a notice in local bookshops, alternative pubs, record shops, student unions and anywhere else you might find likely-looking local characters. Keep it simple - like: "New radical group seeks rebels, radical feminists, raving anarchists and reds. Get in touch with: (your mobile)" You can probably think of better wording than that. People will almost certainly crawl out of the woodwork and want to join with you but it might take them a while. So, in the meantime, get active.
Hey Ho Let's Go What your group does is entirely up to you. But it probably shouldn't just be waiting to do something really big on Mayday. Warm up with smaller actions. The more active you are the more new people will want to get involved. What to do? A local radical newsletter, like Worthing's Pork Bolter: http://www.worthing.eco-action.org/porkbolter/, or Leicester's GrassRoots: http://radical.members.beeb.net/Grassroots.htm Campaigns. Just standing in the street asking people to sign a petition about something will get you talking to people and the world will know you exist. Talks and video showings. Politics is all about changing minds, so we all have to be radical educators. Support other struggles. If a local trade union, or community campaign is fighting against the system, you should be beside them, asking them what they need. Have fun. Entering a pub quiz or a football league with a team called "The Anti-Capitalists" will alert people to your presence. Organise stunts and visual actions. If you have any theatrical or musical talent set up a bit of political street theatre. Find allies. Build up a list of other radical, workplace, community and campaigning groups in your area. you never know when you might share an aim. You can probably think of better things to do. But do something if you don't, no one else will do it for you. Your first try won't be perfect, so do it properly two weeks later. Let's get loads of groups together for Mayday but let's keep them going afterwards too. If there was an autonomous organisation in every community in the country, Tony Blair would be shitting himself - a damn fine reason to do it. Happy organising!
1.5 HOW TO SUBVERT THE GAME Get your campaigning or affinity group together. Pick an institution or aspect of capitalism to do an action against (this could be based on a 'single issue' or on something that's happening where you live or work). Research your target this pamphlet is only the starting point. Information on companies and their directors can be obtained from Companies House, Tel 029 2038 0801. Decide on the form of action or protest you are happy doing. For example it could be a picket, demonstration, occupation or some other stunt. Don't forget the power of humour. Produce a leaflet, make a banner, build some props, make costumes - the more colourful the better. Let us know the theme, meeting point & time and your contact details and we'll publicise them. Rules? There are no rules! TAKE BACK YOUR LIFE AS YOU PASS GO
2.1 A TOUR OF THE BOARD For sites that are * asterisked see section 3.7 Glossary OLD KENT ROAD Always a hotbed of religious and political ideas, the first noted event was that of Wat Tyler who was involved in the poll tax uprising in the 13th century. In the 16th century it was a major highway for pilgrims going to and coming from Canterbury. Always a working class area with industrial sites and factories, it was heavily bombed during the Second World War, which displaced people and whole neighbourhoods were torn apart. The road hasn't really recovered from that time in history. Local councils have tried to entice big business but have failed miserably meaning that on one side of the road it is gentrified and on the other side you run down and dilapidated. The same local councils have used racist housing policies to try and divide people, but recently there have been a number of struggles around this issue.
PROPERTIES McDonalds* 518 British Road Federation & Movement for London (& other regional road action groups) (Pillar House) 194-202 Lobbies for more and bigger roads throughout the UK. The BRF described the construction of the M11 link road as "the culmination of many years of campaigning by the Federation") Tesco A prominent member of the Freight Transport Association which lobbies for more road building. Encourages intensive monocrop agriculture, upsets eco-systems, forces 3rd world peasants to grow for exports, uses excessive packaging to the detriment of the environment Dixons B&Q . 520 WHITECHAPEL ROAD Built in the 15th Century to house new trades, like metal working, considered too noisy for the City, for the last 200 years Whitechapel has bee the heart of some of London's immigrant communities. Jewish immigration following repression in Russia in the 1890's created a vibrant radical culture. German anarchist Rudolf Rocker, edited Der Arbeiter Fraint here and set up an anarchist social centre and library. Kropotkin spoke at the Mile End Waste and the Russian Social Democratic Party Congress was held here with Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin (now the site of McDonalds). In the 1930's the Jewish community was subject to the terror of Oswald Moseley's blackshirts. They fought back and the battle of Cable St saw the fascists routed. It was also the centre of Sylvia Pankhurst's East London Suffragettes which, against the more bourgeois movement of her sisters, took up working class issues of low pay, healthcare and rights at work, developing revolutionary politics. Since the 1960's it has been home to the Bangladeshi Community. The late 70's saw racism and violence against Bangladeshis and a weekly NF paper sale on Brick Lane. The Altab Ali Park marks the spot where the young clothing worker was murdered by fascists. In the 1990's BNP members nearly beat Quddus Ali to death, but the youth tooled up, reclaimed the area driving the fascists of the streets through militant self-defence.
PROPERTIES The Chronos building A complex of Yuppie flats Royal London Hospital Those working in the rundown NHS are at the sharp end of public pay policies Barclays Bank* 240 Sainsbury's 1 Cambridge Heath Road McDonalds* 223 Jaguar Citroen 100 P&O Nedlloyd Beagle House, Brahm St Container shipping division of P&O The Marsh Centre: The Conference Forum 2.2 The RAIL STATIONS Railways were central to the development of capitalism. Built by private monopolies guaranteed by Acts of Parliament, they soon supplanted the canals for the distribution of commodities. Nationalisation after the war was a response to under investment, not an act of socialisation. These days however, roads have largely usurped the role of the railways (see FREE PARKING). Mainly a political decision, as rail workers had a reputation for militancy, it was thought that road transport was immune from industrial action (although the fuel protests have shown that this is not the case). The rail network was reduced to ferrying workers to work and all that was left to do was to sell it off. The privatisation of the railways has literally been a deathly disaster, but even before the recent spate of tragic accidents rail privatisation was deeply unpopular, as delays mounted whilst the rail companies and their shareholders made billions in profits (largely from state money). To increase productivity, nearly 100,000 rail workers have been sacked since 1992. Those left have to work on average 45 hours hard labour a week, because the pay is so crap. Half the track is on its last legs, so speed restrictions are imposed, and the ATP system (which automatically stops trains going through red lights and saves lives) will not be fitted because the cost would reduce profits.
the underground The tube suffers from the same problems as the mainline network. London Underground (LUL) is preparing for privatisation and over 100 sub-contractors now work on the tube. Government privatisation plans are for a Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme under which the tube will be run for private profit. In supposed opposition to this are Mayor Livingstone and ex-CIA boss Kiley. Kiley, also former anti-union boss of the New York Subway, and Livingstone want corporate bonds under which dividends would be paid to shareholders (i.e. another form of privatisation). Real opposition to privatisation has come from workers and the anti-capitalist movement. In February 1999 tube workers staged a serious of 1-day strikes. Mayday 1999 was celebrated with a tube party. N30 at Euston was partly in opposition to rail and tube privatisation. This January there was a massive vote for strike action, but LUL took RMT to the courts and had the strike declared illegal on the grounds that RMT hadn't told the bosses where their members worked! (on the tube?). Tube workers went on strike any way. A new round of strikes involving both RMT and ASLEF workers is (at the time of writing) just beginning. Rail workers have also backed strike action to stop the fat cat controllers from removing the safety duties of guards on the mainline. Hopefully they will all be out on May Day.
USEFUL ADDRESSES Railtrack see EUSTON ROAD, LUL, 55 Broadway, SW1 THE ANGEL, ISLINGTON The area is named after the Angel coaching inn on the road out of London to the north and east of England. This inn was actually never in Islington but in Clerkenwell, to the south. Comrades of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw in the Peasants Revolt against the poll tax in 1381, camped on Clerkenwell Green and set fire to St. John's priory and destroyed the prior's house at Highbury. For many years, Islington was the last halting place for cattle being driven to Smithfield Market. Thomas Payne wrote the Rights of Man here and a monument stands in the Angel Complex. More recently in 1990 Islington was again the scene of protest and resistance to the attempted imposition of the poll tax, and in 1995 traffic was excluded from the area all day by a huge illegal Reclaim The Streets party in protest against car culture.
PROPERTIES All in Angel Square complex: Tertio Ltd Balfour Beatty offices Building the Ilisu dam in Turkey see WATER WORKS Financial Training Co. Heery International Islington Rent Officer Service HM Customs and Excise (London Central Collection) McNeece Islington Town Hall Upper St Job Centre Upper St McDonalds* Chapel Market Burger King* 31 Islington High St Boots* 35 Islington High St Body Shop* 7 Upper St Pret A Manger* 27 High St Starbucks* Royal Bank of Scotland* 42 Islington High St Lloyds TSB* 19 Upper St HSBC bank* 25 Islington High St Barclays bank* 38 Islington Green NatWest bank* 2-3 Upper St EUSTON ROAD Euston Road runs from Kings Cross to Great Portland Street tube station, it was built as a main thoroughfare as part of the New Road, which included the modern Marylebone and Pentonville Roads, in 1756 and used to drive cattle to Smithfield Meat Market. It contains three of London's main railway stations: Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was the first woman in England to qualify in medicine, and opened a hospital where women could be treated by women. It was moved to its present site here in 1888. At Euston on November 30th 1999 anti-capitalist demonstrators and riot police clashed at a Reclaim the Streets event coinciding with protests in Seattle against the WTO.
PROPERTIES Railtrack House 355 The headquarters of the privatised rail company see STATIONS Executive Agencies of the Dept. Social Security, Benefits Agency Medical Services & Child Support Agency 196 Currently spending thousands on yet another anti-fraud campaign e.g. "fat cats have got the money, why can't I have a bit more?" National Insurance Contributions War Pensions Agency Wellcome Trust Gallery & Building 210 Notorious for vivisection, the company is currently trying to stop the use of cheap generic drugs in Africa for the treatment of AIDS and other illnesses UCLH Healthcare plc 301-305 A major PFI project involves Balfour Beatty and AMEC, building a new privately financed and managed hospital. 600 NHS staff have already been transferred Seeboard see ELECTRICITY 307-317 Fire Station The London Fire Brigade faces major funding cuts but fire fighters are fighting back Mirrors Restaurant Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit 222 Euston Square Tube Station Prudential Building 250 Euston Tower Former M15 building Inland Revenue Inquiry Centre 286 Starbucks* Pret a Manger* 2 Triton Square a new office site Regents Place office block site 350 British Land Company new office block building site 372 McDonalds* 13 Burger King* HSBC* Camden Town Hall Brittania building society Barclays Bank* 25 & 161 Unity House: RMT 205 Euro Car Parks Volvo Showroom 373
PENTONVILLE ROAD Built in 1786, linking the City with western suburbs. The road was patrolled at night to protect homeward bound theatregoers from Sadlers Wells. The area was a planned estate for the rich. A mansion house at no 166 was converted into the London Female Penitentiary in 1807, where "sincerely repentant fallen women were rehabilitated". In 1829 a pioneering bus service was started. During the late 19th century the area degenerated into a slum. From 1972 - 1990 the White Lion Free School, a libertarian school, was based in White Lion Street just around the corner. In 1972 dockers, acting on mass, released their militant rank and file leaders from Pentonville prison. PROPERTIES McDonalds* Corner of Pentonville Rd and Caledonian Rd NatWest Bank offices (2 big offices) 200 234 Girobank offices 101 113 Scheme 2 20 'effective stake holders and corporate benefits' (www.scheme2.com) Whittles House 14 Home of British Railways Board & Strategic Rail Authority BT Angel Centre 1 Mount Pleasant Sorting Office Facing closure in the restructuring of the Post Office in preparation for privatisation Pentonville Prison in Caledonian Rd
PALL MALL The name is derived from the French paille maille, meaning ball and mallet, a similar game to croquet played in the 17th Century. St James Palace was built in 1532 on the site of a hospital for women with leprosy and became the London royal residence following the burning of Whitehall in 1697. The street is best known for gentleman's clubs, which flourished in the 18th century. They began as coffee shops where rich young aristocrats met to talk, drink and gamble. They had their high point as centres of power in Victorian England but the archaic rules and rituals remain; out of bounds for women and closed to the public. It was at the (Tory) Carlton Club that Margaret Thatcher had to be made an honorary man in order to join. PROPERTIES Institute of Directors 116 - 123 Athenaeum (gentleman's club) 107 Travellers Club (gentleman's club) 106 Reform Club (gentleman's club) 104 105 The Royal Automobile Club (gentleman's club) 89 P&O Ferries (see WHITECHAPEL ROAD) 78 79 St James Palace and Apartments Royal British Legion 45 Army and Navy Club 41 Rothmans Showroom 65 Banco Sabbadell 120 Quebec House 59 Commonwealth Secretariat 55 58 Buckingham Management Services 18 19 Peninsula Petroleum 12 Reebok 12 Nigel Burns Yachts 12
2.3 The ELECTRIC COMPANY The production of electricity is carried out for profit, with scant concern for the impact on the environment, our health or peoples' ability to pay. Pylons are linked to Leukaemia; those with key meters pay over the odds for their supply, whilst others face being cut off if they cannot pay. Most of Britain's electricity is produced from fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal fired generating stations). The burning of fossil fuels is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gasses and to global warming, but the industry has resisted any moves towards renewable energy sources. Nuclear power, which is the by-product of the arms industry, was sold as electricity that would be too cheap to meter and that it would be clean and safe! Three Mile Island, the renamed Sellafield and Chernobyl nailed that lie. The production continues to threaten our safety - a recent accident in Japan was in a processing plant bang in the middle of a housing estate. Radiation levels 15,000 times the normal rate were recorded within minutes across a 2km radius - kids were playing in a nearby school at the time. The disposal of highly radioactive nuclear waste is also dangerous (nuclear trains run regularly along the North London railway line, whilst nuclear trains are stopped in Germany) and it poses a life-threatening danger for generations to come. Governments and private companies refuse to even tell us where and how it is stored, let alone veto their decisions. Nuclear fuel is also more expensive than fossil fuel. Now the government wants to sell off British Nuclear Fuels a sure way to create a disaster. Renewable energy - solar, wind, tidal and wave power and other biofuels could easily provide more than enough electricity in Britain. Solar power alone could provide 85% of the current energy requirements. However there is massive under-investment, as this threatens the profits of the energy companies. Despite Labours' election promises (a massive 10% of green electricity by 2010!), there is not even a serious attempt to put filters on fossil fuel power plants.
WHITEHALL A focal point of the English Civil War, culminating in the trial and public execution of Charles I in 1649 outside Banqueting House. During the 19th Century Whitehall became the administrative home of colonial England with the setting up of the India, Foreign and Colonial offices. It remains the public centre of the state with Parliament at one end, the Prime Ministers Residence at 10 Downing Street (although Blair lives at no. 11) and other state buildings. A key purpose of the state is to prepare and maintain the conditions under which capitalism can flourish. This is done by the passing and enforcement of laws, the use of the police, the provision of the welfare state, privatisation and the making of grants and other gifts to capitalist enterprises. The threat of force always looms large, but state administrators are also fearful of the mob - in 1990, worried about increasing demonstrations, Thatcher had large gates erected at the entrance to Downing Street. PROPERTIES Portcullis House A new office block for MP's, which cost £285m Downing Street Official residence of the PM, Chancellor (Brown) and the party whips office Cenotaph Erected as a memorial to those who fought in the First Imperialist War, the unveiling led to rioting by former soldiers - although reading the press hysteria after last Mayday you may be forgiven for thinking it commemorated a fight against fascism Ministry of Defence Built in 1957 at the cost of £5m, it incorporates the former 'War Office', a change of name which fools no one. The main entrance is on Horse Guards Parade Foreign Office Maintaining Britain's links with dodgy regimes throughout the world Banqueting House Charles 1st was executed here in 1649 The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry 12 Corporate group representing 90% monopoly of drug supplies to NHS, conveniently positioned close to the ministries paying and protecting their wealth
NORTHUMBERLAND AVE Built in 1876 on the site of Northumberland House, the London residence of the earls, later dukes of, guess where?, Northumberland. This short street connects Trafalgar Sq to the Embankment, and has one notable side street Great Scotland Yard named for the house given to King Kenneth III in 959. Best known for famous residents John Milton and Inigo Jones, the Headquarters of the Metropolitan police were here between 1829 and 1891, before being moved to New Scotland Yard. PROPERTIES Ministry of Defence Embankment end Enterprise Oil (see STRAND/TRAFALGAR SQ) PBR Financial Services 16 An offshoot of Petroled Brasilero SA Petrobus with a $722M annual turnover Nigeria House 9 The state is still providing troops to smash the Niger Delta; assisting Agrip and Cheria Oil against fierce local resistance from local communities; Shell is sniffing around the Ogoni land again Bovis Lend Lease Public Finance Initiative, i.e. privatisation of hospital buildings etc. Virgin Bride- Wedding Shop The Grand Buildings Arnold Hill Accountants 16 Royal Commonwealth Society (Club) 18 Citadines Hotel
BOW STREET Organised policing in London was long resisted as many citizens felt it to be a threat to liberty. However, in the 1750s Henry Fielding set up London's first police office at Bow Street. The red-vested 'Bow Street Runners' were in many instances corrupt and abusive, found to be receiving money and stolen goods, while 'congregating with villains in taverns'. Robert Peel later established a centralised police force for London, based at Great Scotland Yard in Whitehall. Members of the police force were unpopular amongst many. They were considered to be attempting to arrest and control their own people. They were so unpopular that when in 1832 an unarmed police constable was stabbed to death near Clerkenwell Green, the jury recorded a verdict of 'Justifiable Homicide'. In the course of their history the police have been known by various names, including, raw lobsters, runners, charleys, bogeys, rozzers, slops, creepers, crushers, coppers, peelers, bobbies, bluebottles, filth, flatties, narks, fuzz and pigs. PROPERTIES Bow Street Police Station Bow Street Magistrates Court Royal Opera House In 1792 major alterations were made and the price of a 1-shilling gallery seat was doubled. Riots forced the price down again. In 1809, following a fire, a new Opera Hse opened. Seat prices were raised again, which sparked off "Old Price Riots" which continued for 61 nights until management gave in and dropped the prices! In 1995 it received £78.5 million lottery money for refurbishment. A night at the opera anyone?. Round the corner at 90 Longacre are the offices of Dow Jones International, Capital International, Scottish Equitable, Cable and Wireless, NTL and others. Two minutes' walk away on Great Queens Street you will find Freemasons' Hall
MARLBOROUGH ST Actually Great Marlborough Street, this short street has a number of chartered accountants and film production companies as well as a few other interesting names. Liszt (as in Brahms and ....) lived here in 1840 and Percy Bysshe Shelly lived in Poland Street (at the end of Great Marlborough St.) in 1811. In the 1960's MI5 counter-espionage operated from an office in Marlborough Street. They complained of having "to pick our way through the peep-shows, flower stalls and rotting vegetables of Soho Market to get to our top secret files." Marlboro cigarettes are so named because the original Philip Morris factory was on Marlborough St. Due to a Fenian bombing campaign against Whitehall in 1867 a special Irish branch (the Irish being dropped at a later date to include all terrorist activities) of the Met was set up and installed in Scotland Yard. PROPERTIES Marlborough Street magistrates court (closed and empty) CNN Turner House US propaganda around the world Corus 15 Previously British Steel has just sacked over 6,000 steelworkers Sony 10-13 Freedom Recruitment & Freedom Hotels 49&50 Freedom through work - no we didn't make it up! Research Defence Society 58-59 Dr Mark Matfield, Executive Director welcomed the last-minute reprieve for HLS EBRA 58-59 European lobbyists for the use of animals in medical research and safety testing Coffee Republic 37 Logica 53 Starbucks* 34 Marks & Spencer Palladium (side entrance) Carnaby Street
VINE STREET There is nothing in Vine Street today, except for a now empty but once notorious police station, so we will use this space to examine one aspect of London's notorious police force - deaths in custody. In the last decade 170 people have died whilst in the custody of the Metropolitan police (compared to 551 nationally). Nearly 20% of these people were black. Not surprisingly, the family and/or friends of many of the victims have organised worthwhile campaigns. Find out more at: http://www.maydaymonopoly.net  Have your say in the forums!DISCLAIMER: All material is reproduced for information purposes only. urban75 has no direct or indirect involvement with any of the organisers of the Mayday protest and does not support violence against property or person. |
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