Courage and Consequence:- Women publishing in Africa, by African Books Collective This book tells the astonishing life stories of female publishers in Africa in their own words. The contributors to this book write not only about the publishing and gender, but also about the political situation in their home countries, like Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Their fields of publishing are diverse: from the state, commercial, non-profit, community publishing to a women’s writers group and a bookseller. The book is easy to read, and though factual, the personal situation and individual writing style of every author of the eleven short stories provide an interesting and broad- mindening experience.

Ken Loach hat anlaesslich des Kinostartes seines neusten Filmes “Sweet Sixteen” dazu aufgerufen, die Altersbeschraenkung zu seinem Film zu missachten. Der Film wurde in die Kategorie “Ueber 18” von der British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) eingestuft, weil in dem Film mehr als 200 Fluchwoerter enthalten sind. “Das Problem ist, dass die meisten der Zensoren in ihren eigenen kleinen Elfenbeinturm leben und ihrer eigenen Mittelklassenzuschauerschaft zuspielen”, so Ken Loach. (“The problem is that the censors live in their own little ivory tower and are playing to their own middle class gallery.”) “Die Sprache ist die Sprache der Strasse und des Spielplatzes, und hier gibt es kein Wort, das die meisten Kinder noch nicht gehoert haetten oder die meisten haeufig am Tag verwenden,” Der Film “Sweet Sixteen” hatte bei den Filmfestspielen in Cannes den Preis des besten Drehbuches verliehen bekommen.

Theatre Workshop launched its new play “Nothing ever burns down by itself” (in relation to the Chumbawamba song “Give the anarchist a cigarette”/Anarchy) on Thursday, Friday, Saturday (3-5th October) in Edinburgh. The play broke down the barrier between the audience and the players by the total removal of seats and stage, constantly moving artists, audience and requisites around, giving the audience the feeling of really “having been there” and to “been involved”. “Before this play, I used to think theatre is like television only crapper,” Spacebunny said at the discussion after the play. “but this play was so interactive, close to reality and brought up real-life memories, that it revised my opinion on theatre”.

Giacomma Castagnetti tells about her tasks in the Italian Resistenza: “I am from an antifascist family. My brothers have told me already as a little girl, that the documents and talks of the Duce aren’t true, that they are not at all expression and signs of democracy. 1935 I have heard for the first time about the war. Italy had invaded Ethopia. The keywords were saying, we would not have enough room and we must enlarge our national boundaries. The second World War then started off in 1940. I have joined the communist party at the time when I was 15 years.

An Italian partisan tells: It was like a promotion to have to go underground Milan 1943: Milanese women collect the weapons of the escaping soldiers. Laura Polizzi, code name Mirka, comes from a family in Parma which fought against the fascists for a long time. It was two uncles, both in leading positions in the Communist Party, who introduced Laura into politics. «After the dismissal of Mussolini, my uncle Remo and another relative moved in, they didn’t feel secure anymore at theirs. Our house became the meeting point of the antifascist resistance. Many contacts arose from this time, like e.