If it has some subversive stitching on it.
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Labor is scared. This delightful situation has seen them actually say & do some good things for once! Not at a party policy level, of course, they’re afraid on a national scale too but their fear there is a fear of the right-wing political parody known as Abbott. That fear has seen them bowling over refugees, homosexuals, Indigenous fellas & anyone who doesn’t have a big chunk of advertising dosh behind them, in their desperate race to the Right. I really think they should all be a bit careful. Abbott is probably a creationist who still believes the world is flat & he & Gillard will soon have dragged the Liberal/Labor mash-up perilously close to that world’s furthest right edge.
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In the seat of Melbourne, however, Labor’s fear has manifested itself in a much more agreeable manner. That is because in Melbourne they are afraid not of the Libs, but of the Greens. In Melbourne the Greens, headed by Adam Bandt, need just a 4.7% swing to secure the seat. Labor has responded to this threat by placing at their helm Cath Bowtell, a woman who has publicly stated her personal support for gay marriage & other anti-archaic policies.
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Labor is an unmoored ship, floating whichever way the political winds blow. Jumping onboard the Labor ship could send us anywhere but by voting Greens we’ll at least be directing the currents on which they sail in a positive way &, in some electorates such as Melbourne, we may even be able to commandeer the ship with real leadership.
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So. Vote Green. Suggest your friends vote Green. & Stitch your Green heart on your sleeve & any other available surface to encourage others to do the same.
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We’ll be carrying around bundles of green wool to stitch hearts on fences, bins, shopping trolleys, whatever until the election is held. Join us.

Our Anti-Gentrification Festival, held in conjunction with Earthsharing, kicked off on Sunday at The Birmy. Highlights included a talk from Earthsharing’s Karl Fitzgerald about land tax reform that was interesting & entertaining (TRUE!), a highly professional lagerphone making workshop directed by Alica Bee (she was colour coordinating the bottle-caps, this lady takes her lagerphone making VERY seriously) and a surprise performance by legendary poet Pi-O.
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Pi-O delighted us with two awesome poems while I donned the magnificent Tote carpet dress crafted by Kathryn Jamieson
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The festival sparked a fair bit of media attention, most objective and/or supportive such as our interviews with 3CR’s DIY Arts show, ABC 774’s Derek Guilles & Radio National’s Life Matters program and Dewi Clarke’s piece ‘Fitzroyalty snubs gentrification’ in The Age, some rather less than positive like Marcus Westbury’s article ‘Artists kick-start gentrification’, also in The Age, & some down-right hostile such as this blog post by a bloke called Brian.
We were happy with all of these responses, we do like a bit of shit-stirring we do, we do. We’ve also felt quite smug & proud that our festival has given the media a chance to address the issues of housing affordability and community displacement WITHOUT causing mass nap-attacks. We would have liked to have discussed the fest with Marcus first, though, & because this didn’t happen, we asked The Age if we could write a response piece. They turned us down, but, rather than sooking for the rest of our lives, we sooked for a couple of days then remembered that we are a DIY outfit & decided to just publish it ourselves.
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Here it is:
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We Built This City On Art & Soul
Craftivists reject the ‘inevitability’ of gentrification
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The cycle of artists moving into areas, establishing desirable communities and then being displaced by the wealthy repeats like a stuck record and most people are familiar with it. So depressingly familiar that we’ve grown used to meekly following its flow and moving further & further out into the ‘burbs with hardly a complaint.
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Many will tell you this process is unavoidable, but in fact, it doesn’t have to be this way!
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It’s true that we’re not the first artists to complain about being kicked from our stomping grounds. We’re quite pissed off about it. It may come as a shock, but as crafters and activists we’re poor (in Aussie terms). That’s right – craft is no money spinner. Generally this is okay as there’s not much we want for that we can’t craft. However, even here at Craft Cartel HQ, we have yet to devise a way to craft land and we’re getting pretty sick of the rich not wanting to share it with us and of the Government facilitating their greed.
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This does not mean that we want our communities ‘preserved’. Artists by definition are creative and the prospect of living in static suburbs is unbearably restrictive. We don’t want our homes and communities to stagnate; we want the right to be involved in their evolution.
Artistic communities aren’t the only ones being displaced, of course. Even in a world with no artists (visualise Perth if you find this concept hard to imagine…) the gentrification process rolls on. Under a system that encourages inflated land prices in prime areas, all low income groups are eventually pushed out to the fringes of society. The problem isn’t about individual landlords and wealthy people acting like bad guys – it’s about the Government tax policies encouraging this behaviour.
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As a centrepiece for the festival we ripped up the old Tote carpet, chopped it into doormats and branded them, ciggie-style, with a branding iron of the pub logo. The carpet reeks of community history (literally), so yes, the festival has elements of nostalgia, but the point is, people didn’t collect pieces of the Berlin Wall because they wished it still stood, they collected them because the falling of the wall marked a seminal time in their history.
The carpet itself is stinky and revolting. We’d much prefer some deep plush pile, thank you very much. But it is symbolic of a seminal time in the history of Melbourne’s artistic community, when thousands marched in the streets to protest the closure of yet another inner city artistic venue, displaced by gentrification.
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There’s nothing wrong with reflecting on times gone by and getting a bit nostalgic now and then but the thing we find sad is not the loss of our past in these areas – it’s the loss of our future. We are aware that there is only one Earth and we’re going to have to share it. We don’t want to close the good bits off to others; we just don’t want to be pushed out of them ourselves.
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Many will say that resisting the gentrification cycle is futile because government policy is set up to encourage it. This is true but whatever happened to system overhaul big picture thinking? We’ve gotta stop being wussy and start lobbying for some real reform.
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After thousands marched the Tote is once again opening as a band venue – a welcome stall in the process of the displacement of a community but, unless government tax policy is changed to encourage the opening up of land in prime areas to people of all economic levels, there will very soon be no locals of the type it caters for (low income artists) to visit it.
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The truth is that there is a lot of underutilised land in the inner-city. A recent Earthsharing report showed that the vacancy rate was 6.9% overall and as high as 29% in Carlton South! Housing supply and affordability in the inner-suburbs is a problem because our tax structure encourages speculative land vacancies. Land transactions and developments are taxed (stamp duty etc.) but land holding is not. There is no motivation for landlords to make their properties available for rent or development so supply falls behind demand, prices rise and less people are able to live in communities than could be easily accommodated.
If land value was taxed, the profits from community resources we create would return to our communities, speculative land hoarding would be discouraged, more properties would come onto the market, land prices would fall and more people would be able to afford to live where they want to and where the infrastructure is best. Challenges relating to how the denser communities could co-exist harmoniously would inevitably arise and ideas flagged for discussion at our festival to cope with these challenges include the introduction of art zoning and increased social support services.
We’re holding this festival to encourage the community to brainstorm practical solutions like these. Gentrification is by no means unavoidable and we’ve decided to stand our ground. Because it is our ground too.
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Check out upcoming festival events at The Workers Club

In a beautiful piece of timing the Tote hotel is set to reopen just as our Anti-Gentrification festival is launching. If thousands hadn’t marched on the streets to protest its closure it no doubt would have slid quietly into oblivion as so many other low income arts & cultural spaces in the inner city have done before.
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People power works, people!
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MX cover featuring Kathryn Jamieson in the dress she designed from the Tote carpet with hair & make-up by Fiona Middleton
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So come along to the festival, maintian the rage, share your ideas. Housing in inner-city areas doesn’t have to be closed off to artists and other low income groups. There’s plenty for us all. Check the Earthsharing report that shows a 6.9% vacancy rate across the city (as high as 29% in some areas like Carlton!) question why landowners find it more profitable to hold speculative vacancies, pushing land prices up & driving us out & protest the system that encourages this.
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Regime change! Big Picture! System overhaul! Viva la revolución!

Yes, of course, what a stupid question.
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I think that if I hadn’t had to pay to see Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s movie ‘Amelie’, I might even have enjoyed it. As it was I had an overwhelming urge to slap her cutesy-puke naive little face, grab my ticket’s worth in eyelashes & storm out. Not everyone is of this opinion, my better half in craft, Rayna, thought the film was quite delightful. But the point is, if I hadn’t had to pay, we all would have been happy. Which is why we’re all going to be super happy to see Jeunet’s latest work ‘MicMac’ because we’ve got a whole bucketload of 2 for 1 tickets - hurrah!
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FREE STUFF = GOOD STUFF
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If you want a pass all you have to do is pledge to make a crocheted explosive for our Bang! Knit! Purl! KaPOW! campaign which is uniting knitters across the nation in opposition to the proposed Gunns Pulp Mill & destruction of native forrests, & we’ll send you one.
They’re dead easy to make, instructions are up on our the front of craftcartel.com.
So either contact us with your pledge to knit & addy or drop off your woolen explosive at Bebida cafe 325 Smith st Fitzroy & a 2 for 1 pass is yours.
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casey(at)craftcartel.com
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Valid at Nova, Rivoli, Village Knox, Kino, Sun Theatre Yarraville, Palace Como, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Balwyn and Palace Westgarth from Mondays to Fridays (excluding discounted days & public holidays) until the film finishes showing.
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The spruikers of the flick who have kindly given us the passes tell us that:
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“Jean-Pierre Jeunet is one of cinema’s most inventive and inspired talents and the creator of Amelie, Delicatessen and A Very Long Engagement. His new film Micmacs, is a dazzling comedy that follows a band of misfits, lead by accidental hero Bazil (Dany Boon), who take revenge on big business in the most ingenious way. Part comic fable, part caper, Micmacs features Jeunet’s trademark sense of wonder and is full of magical schemes and a chain of fateful events that lead Bazil and his friends through the bewildering mysteries of life - and brings answers to questions such as: Can a woman fit inside a refrigerator? Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? Is it better to live with a bullet lodged in your brain, or have it removed? The aesthetic sensibility at play in Micmacs is breathtaking, and with its ingenious plot, infectious imagination and sprinkling of romance, promises to delight and entertain audiences.”
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I tell you that “It’s FREE!!!”

So Rayna has been preggas. Very, very preggas. She was waddling around almost as wide as she is tall, about to print herself a t-shirt ‘No! I’m not having twins!’ when at last things began to move. After an experience I have no hope of fully comprehending but which one mother I know has described as “like having a stampede of horses running through your guts for hours”, a beautiful little girl emerged into the world.
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Then, to EVERYONE’s surprise, two little feet followed, and eventually out came a little boy.
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WHAT THE FUCK!!? We all know Rayna is an over-achiever but honestly!
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Because of the nature of his birth things were a bit scary-hairy for the wee fella for a while. Rayna, her partner Karl, elder daughter Tara and all who love that awesome family have been through a gumut of emotions; awe, wonder, shock, fear, hope, and love, love, love. I am so very spectacularly happy to be able to report that both the twins are now at home and doing super. Tough genes.
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I’m extra specially happy in light of a deal I made with Rayna while she was still preggas. When she announced that this would absolutely be the last time she was ever with child I sulked - her first kid is so ace I would have liked her to breed a whole army. Well, I hope it’s twins then, I said to which she replied “If it’s twins, you’re keeping one!”. Therefore, as Rayna is a woman of her word, I now have a baby. Fuckin choice.

I’m sure you’re missing us as we’re missing you, but if you need a hit of rad craft while Trashbag Rehab takes a break over summer head over to the ‘I Want To Live Here’ film comp finalists’ screening next week- we’ll be holding a wee market.
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If you haven’t entirely blocked out the horror of the Howard years you might remember fluoro-green cruesader Julie ‘Aussie Jules’ Dunk (Carla from The Town Bikes), well, she’s back to take on the un-Australiana landlord fatcats and will be comparing the film comp screening. Plus there will be radical craft from us, free entry AND giveaways from Crumpler and Madman. This is going to be a ripper. Plus the shorts are bloody good.
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Wed 2nd. Dec 6:30pm
The Order of Melbourne (opposite RMIT)
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RSVP on the facewank invite: http://www.facebook.com/search/?init=srp&sfxp=&q=speed-renting#/event.php?eid=347261450124&ref=mf
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Rayna’s been organising the sellers list but is currently being eaten alive by a fetus so if you want to jump on board and your craft has a radical bent please get in touch with me: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Nothing too benign & cutesy please.
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Our market will be rent free - that means NO stall holder fees xx

In response to an article lamenting crafters’ apparent need to “put a vagina on everything” (where are these wonderful people? I wanna play with them!)a very clever indeed Etsy seller has created this ‘Vagina on Vagina’ tampon holder.
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It is a detatchable vagina pin on a vagina purse and it is genius. We are very proud to be putting this vagina blog post on top of the vagina pin on the vagina purse. Vagina on vagina on vagina! Put your vagina comments on us!
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Stacks on VAGINAS!!!

Today I quite like trad media, and one publication in particular - Frankie magazine. In their latest edition they showcased different creative collectives from around the country including Craft Cartel. So far, so ace, but the really really really ace bit is that, in their infinite wisdom, they decided to print the answers we gave to most of their questions verbatim including (the ace-est bit) the word ‘cunt’. They didn’t have to. They could easily have snipped it off or blanked it out (all other print publications who have written anything about us have done so) . Frankie is a sweet, whimsical little periodical and I thought it would hit the cutting-room floor as quick as a blush. I have rarely been so happy to be proven wrong. Frankie is no lightweight, Frankie has guts: Frankie rocks.
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Therefore you should all go and buy a copy immediately. Apart from the joy of seeing the word ‘cunt’ in mainstream glossy print, you can get a chunk of really handy tips about green renting from Cartel stalwarts Cate & Chris (wearing their greenrenters.org hats) PLUS read contributions from at least two of my fuck-sisters (’fuck-sisterhood’, of course, referring to the relationship between two women who have had sex with the same man at different times). The last probably isn’t much of a selling point for most of you (particularly as the man in question has been quite prolific so the coincidence is kinda small) but, for me, it added a nice spice to an already enjoyable read.
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“What’s one thing we should know about the group? We don’t find the word ‘cunt’ offensive. Why would you? They’re deep, warm and delightful. Rotarians, on the other hand, are disturbing.”

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Have you checked out The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice? Well then get onto it. If you think it sounds very lofty and important, that’s ’cause it is. These are the fellas who brought us the very awesome ‘Your voice in the house’ campaign - a resource that lets you locate all the polis who represent you in every house of parliament with just a few mouse clicks.
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Also, one of its head honchos is our very own web guru Hammy Goonan so obviously they are very discerning and wise in all of their activities.
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This is further proven by their latest project ‘En Masse‘, a campaign to “Rethink Copyright in our digital age; to Reclaim culture by encouraging people to step outside the current intellectual property regime; and to provide the tools to Redo cultural outputs, remixing them into something new.“. Pretty ace yes indeed.
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The whole shebang will be launched on Tuesday at 7:30pm at Horse Bazaar, 397 Little Lonsdale St with the screening of the new remix doco ‘RiP: A Remix Manifesto Screening‘.
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On the facefuck invite Hammy says that in the doco “web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers. The film features mash-up musician Girl Talk, Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig, Brazil’s Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and pop culture critic Cory Doctorow”
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Can’t wait.

If ever there was a city addicted to rules and regulations it’s Melbourne. Just this past month dozens of bike riders have been charged a couple of hundred bucks each for cycling along the wide, virtually deserted, paths of the Carlton gardens. It’s illegal to carry marker pens around the streets for crying out loud. We are hooked on convention - our hunger for conformity is sick I tell you, SICK!
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Thank lord we’ve got some expert artists on hand to help us. Between the 16th and the 18th of this month eleven urban artists (including our very own Rayna Fahey) will come together in one awesome project - equalling a 12-step program to help break Melbourne’s habits of convention.
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Curated by Lynda Roberts of Public Assembly (another Craft Cartel regular participant)’The Interventionist Guide’has its HQ in the subterranean gallery, Platform, at Flinders st Station. From there it spreads out into far-flung and forgotten corners of the city. The cabinets within Platform provide illustrative mapping devices, a ‘users guide’ to creatively intervene within a range of urban spaces selected by each artist to reveal the unique nature of each location and the creative potential it offers. Lynda will also be temporarily overlaying an alternative map on Melbourne’s Information Way finder signage to show the location of the Interventionists and their installations and projects.
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Lynda is inviting the lot of you to get involved by taking the radio powered ‘Transistor Show’ or gentle sensory walk alternative tours with artists Neil Thomas, Anthony Morgan and Iian Abrahams, listening to violinist Cye Wood’s strings reverberate in underground tunnels and walkways, watching as office walls and wire fences are transformed into blank canvases for the works of Projector Obscura and Radical Cross Stitch, being confronted with odd behaviour by the Roarawar Feartata Collective and delighted by tiny microgalleries and playful experiments with mirrors by jeweller Caz Guiney and Light-Jacker Ceri Hann.
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So check out the Public Assembly website & facebook invite for The Interventionist Guide, and rock up to help out with an interactive artistic wake-up call to confront all that is predictable and boring in our city.
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YEAAAAH!