PAUL HAWKINS

PLACE WASTE DISSENT

It all started with Place Waste Dissent. Having spent three years in the early 1990s occupying properties and protesting in Claremont Road, east London, in Place Waste Dissent poet Paul Hawkins maps the run-off, rackets and resistance along the route of the proposed M11 Link Road. Using the voices of Dolly Watson, Old Mick and many others in avant-garde experimental text and lo-fi collage, he explores place, waste and dissent; the stake the Thatcher/Major Tory government was driving into the heart of the UK.

From Claremont Road to Cameron via surveillance culture and Occupy: transient-beta memory traces re-surfacing along the A12. This collection is an important reflection on a historic site of resistance, offering us illumination, ideas and inspiration for the future. 

Read Miggy Angel’s article on the book at Burning House Press

Read an interview by Tony White with Paul over at The Quietus Pretty Messy, Fairly Trashed

covers/flyers/posters/photos from launches

Place Waste Dissent
Paul Hawkins
1st edition paperback
ISBN: 978-1916159426
Influx Press, 2015 
out of print

This book then spawned the DIISONANCE collaborations, exhibitions, performances & anthology with artist Steve Ryan.

DIISONANCE

DIISONANCE began as a response to Place Waste Dissent (Influx Press 2015 - 2nd edition Hesterglock Press, 2020) by Paul Hawkins/Steve Ryan.

DIISONANCE anthology

ISBN: 9781999915322
150 x 230 mm full colour
76 page paperback
Hesterglock Press, 2017
£12 buy
PDF £5.00 buy

‘politicised, faltering, broken & rebuilt many times over . . .’
- Paul Hawkins & Steve Ryan

The work was made during, or to perform at DIISONANCE, an exhibition of artworks by Steve Ryan & Paul Hawkins in June 2017 at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield. DIISONANCE is a collaboration, part of a jigsaw, the genesis of which is shared experiences; Steve & Paul met in the early 90’s squatting in Claremont Road, east London at the height of anti-road protests, poll-tax riots & dissent. They’ve tried to piece together the past from the future, making sense of the ghosts that stay with them & the shared feelings of confusion & love for their entwined topics; politicised, faltering, broken & rebuilt many times over.

Paul and poet Rowan Evans ran a workshop on experimental poetry and collaboration at Bank Street Arts on June 23rd. The workshop was attended by locals based in Sheffield, as well as London and Bristol and the work they produced was published in the DIISONANCE anthology. Ten poets were invited to perform brand new collaborative work themed on the word DIISONANCE. These five pairs of poets’ collaborative work was published in the anthology as well as Steve’s artwork he produced in response to Place Waste Dissent. 

Scroll down for photos of the events, an interview with Paul & Steve and films of all the collaborative performances in Sheffield and London.

Sections from the DIISONANCE anthology are included in the Hesterglock Press 2nd edition of Place Waste Dissent.

Place Waste Dissent & Diisonance (Hesterglock Press)
Paul Hawkins & Steve Ryan

2nd expanded edition
150 mm x 230 mm 
190 b&w pages
high-resolution PDF £5 buy
paperback £10.00 buy

There’s a Place Waste Dissent / DIISONANCE archival website here


Praise for Place Waste Dissent

'Fire sermons and authentic retrievals for a battleground on the edge of the liminal, delivered with spirit and spite and sting. True witness.'
– Iain Sinclair

“a celebration of friendship and community as it is an homage to those neglected by Thatcher’s government and the political ideology that outlived it. Containing not only the same iconic images, introspective diary entries, and powerful poems of the original collection, but a stunning selection of artworks created in response to it”
- Madelaine Culver reviews Place Waste Dissent & Diisonance for The Babel Tower Noticeboard. 

‘an incredibly important book. It is a window on the past but also a mirror on the gentrified times of today. I really, really urge you to read this book. Also, Place Waste Dissent is the fruition and continuation of a powerful project of examination of resistance and correspondence through experimental poetics which Paul Hawkins began in his other books, ‘Claremont Road‘, and ‘Contumacy‘. Paul is an incredible poet, the poet of England’s right here and right now.‘
- Miggy Angel

This is not so much a book as an archive, a dataset or a dossier of evidence. At times reminiscent of Tom Phillips' A Humument with its jump cut juxtapositions, liminal layers and luminous word wiring, Place Waste Dissent is nonetheless an utterly distinctive poetic document, weaving text and image to create a wakeful dream state of white noise, static and flux. If you want to know what this book is like, try staying up for 48 hours straight then taking a dawn ride in an unlicensed minicab with a can of Red Bull and The Faust Tapes on repeat. Better still, just read it.'
–Tom Jenks

'The lost world of London squatting and radical struggles is conjured up through experiments with words and storybook political consciousness. Paul Hawkins illuminates the past he experienced and allows us to smell touch and love the cultures in collision which he participated in as a foot soldier banging on a revolutionary drum. '
– Joe Ambrose

'The collage format of text and imagery works perfectly in conveying the complex dynamic of community struggle, external politics and inner personal insecurity. Its sense of "being in the thick of it", of being adrift and yet trying to get a handle on things, of being players in a drama that was both orchestrated and out of control is exactly what it felt like. Parts of Place Waste Dissent brought me close to tears.'
– Ian Bourn (artist, film maker & ex-resident of Claremont Road)

'Picture Sesame Street as reimagined by Guy Debord and the set designers for Apocalypse Now.'
Minor Literature[s]

Further Reading

(click on a title to read)

'Pretty Messy, Fairly Trashed' – Paul Hawkins Interviewed by Tony White
–The Quietus article & interview

'Poet Paul Hawkins raises the ghosts of East London’s "No M11" squat protests'
–Huck Magazine article

' . . . the mix of poetry, photographs and a multitude of voices is impressive, moving and assertive, proving that creativity and aesthetics can live alongside political protest without appearing twee or being completely redundant.'
Stride Magazine

' . . . this book, more than any I have read in a long time, is a collection. It truly works as a whole: poems bleed into one another, characters disappear and reappear later in the collection, images reflect and haunt other images. This book recreates and re-presents the culture and time which it is reflecting upon, and it is an ‘archive’ that delightfully overwhelms with sound and image. This book is important.'
The Contemporary Small Press

'. . . provided me with passion, inspiration, information, an appreciation of community and the gentle reminder that life is a balance of good and bad. It is a truly beautiful book.'
Book Smoke

'The photos alone would be fascinating – but it is the personal stories, told unvarnished, that give a real feel for the time.'
Red Pepper

'This book is a timely reminder that it only takes a few determined individuals to tear down the facade of order. Injustice breeds discontent. This powerful work documents how damaging that can be for all.'
Never Imitate

'These human stories are a reminder that what was at stake was not just the erasure of some lines in the A-Z of London but an assault upon a living community.'
International Times

'Place Waste Dissent is a valuable, experimental, unique contribution to contemporary British poetry. It serves to illustrate that every life and experience is valuable, and to impel us to resist anything that encroaches.'
Ambit

'I loved Hawkins’ book. The lo-fi, analogue, cut and paste of word and image is richly redolent of that early ’90s squat and crusty culture.'
Tony White, Piece of Paper Press

DIISONANCE EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS

Dates: June 21 – 24

Venue: Bank Street Arts, Bank Street, Sheffield 

Photos: Steve Ryan, Paul Hawkins & Miggy Angel

Film: Mark Van Klaveren for 612 Media

with thanks to all artists, poets, writers, performers, collaborators, Sarah, Mark Van K, SIX Project Space, Bank Street Arts and 612media. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

more Diisonance in London . . .

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Sept 1 – 30: Diisonance exhibition & events at The Gallery Cafe, St. Margarets House, 21 Old Ford Road London E2 9PL. 

Sept 8: Diisonance book launch at The Gallery Cafe, St. Margarets House, 21 Old Ford Road London E2 9PL w/Sarer Scotthorne, Roy McFarlane, Tony White, Paul Hawkins & special guest Gary Budden, entry by donation. 

Read a review by Kirsty Watling for Contemporary Small Press

September 29: Hesterglock Press / Caplet Poetry in Dialogue w/ Jonathan Mann, Jude Cowan Montague, Matti Spence, Amy Mcauley, Iris Colomb & Paul Hawkins. Part of the #Diisonance exhibition of collaborative prote(s)xt art by Steve Ryan & Paul Hawkins at The Gallery Cafe, St. Margarets House, 21 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PL.

Life In The Fast Lane - The No M11 Story (1995) 

Produced and directed by Mayyasa Al-Malazi and Neil Goodwin

"Excellent..." JOHN PILGER
“Brilliant. It both inspired me and gave me a much needed boost in energy and commitment." STEVE PLATT, New Statesman 

Featuring the music of The Levellers, Zion Train and The Clash, this film is a celebration of dignity in the face of oppression, providing a lasting testament to the strength of people-power and the resilience of community spirit.Drawing on personal testimony and nearly 200 hours of front-line footage, LIFE IN THE FAST LANE features the battle for Wanstead's George Green, and the subsequent eviction of its 250 year- old Sweet Chestnut tree. It re-lives the days of the Independent Free Area of Wanstonia, and highlights the celebrated rooftop protests at Westminster and the home of the then Transport Secretary, John MacGreggor. Against a backdrop of growing resistance to the Criminal Justice Act it charts the emergence of CLAREMONT ROAD as an extraordinary symbol of cultural defience, and for the first time tells the story of what became the most expensive eviction in British history.

As part of the Place Waste Dissent exhibition and book events we screened this film, as well as at all DIISONANCE exhibitions and events. We also screened Blight by experimental film maker John Smith and soundtrack by Jocelyn Pook regularly.