Place Waste Dissent & Diisonance
Paul Hawkins & Steve Ryan
second, expanded edition
first edition paperback published in 2015 by Influx Press
OUT OF PRINT
ISBN: 978-1916159426
Having spent three years in the early 1990s occupying properties and protesting in Claremont Road, east London, poet Paul Hawkins maps the run-off, rackets and resistance along the route of the proposed M11 Link Road.
Place Waste Dissent maps the run-off, rackets and resistance along the route of the proposed M11 Link Road, and then spawned the DIISONANCE collaborations, exhibitions, performances & anthology with artist Steve Ryan.
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.
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
'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
'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
'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