UK Newswire Archive
Whose evidence? Which citizens? (Final Version with Additions)
11-05-2010 08:47
Whose evidence? Which citizens?: A view on the votes for Israel’s inclusion in the OECD(Final version with important additions. Apologies for bombarding the wire!)
Peoples assembly,parliament square, Churchill day of action and focus circle
11-05-2010 01:34
Daring democracy villagers climb high to make their point,then get into a focus meeting and tea,make tea NOT WARFree Antifa Benefit Gig: Rash Decision + Donnie Brasco + More - Taunton 20/05
10-05-2010 23:42
http://bristolantifa.org THURSDAY 20TH MAY @ ROADHOUSE (FORMALLY PEN & QUILL), TAUNTON
Strikes at Culture & Sport Glasgow
10-05-2010 23:22
Workers at leisure centres, art galleries, community centres and other cultural sites in Glasgow have taken part in two days of strike action over pay and working conditions.
Evan Harris Crying over lost election
10-05-2010 22:29
Evan Harris showed no compassion for the animals in Oxford Lab. He claimed to stand up for science but the real MP to stand up for science such as Lembit Opik couldn't stand him and saw him for what he was, a paid mouthpiece of vivisection. Now Evan has said animal rights leaflets caused his downfall.Software Summit in Whitechapel
10-05-2010 22:22
The first Hyperactive Summit was held this past weekend, 7-9 May 2010. The meeting was a mix of politics and technology centering around issues of free code, autonomous/anarchist social movements, grassroots reporting, and state and corporate surveillance. It had a special focus on the Hyperactive content management system used by London Indymedia, which was built by the London collective over the past few years.
There was vigourous political debate and discussion throughout the weekend. The summit was held one week after the 10th birthday of Indymedia UK, and the opportunity for "what are we going to do next" navel-gazing was combined with immediate practical concerns about the shape of the Hyperactive code to spark up some good arguments. The keynote speech by one of the Hyperactive developers asked some questions about what the next moves should be, for both the Hyperactive codebase specifically and for Indymedia and other political media projects more generally.
Indymedia was started a decade ago by media activists who were worried about the negative social effects of broadcast forms of corporate media. It was a form of media direct action which went past criticism and attempted to circumvent and overthrow the political power of the state and private media corporations. Operating under fairly adverse conditions, during local insurrections or national rebellions, Indymedia has had many tactical victories; however, the institutional pressures of modern society mean that there will be powerful corporate-owned mass media until the capitalist system can be replaced with more participatory institutions throughout the economic system. Indymedia cannot win until everybody wins.
As a whole, the global Indymedia network is still busy responding to the institutional problems identified ten years ago, working to create a counter-power to the corporate broadcast media. In the meantime, the media landscape has changed dramatically, to the point where one-to-many broadcast media forms are only one among a set of other problems, whose social impacts are as of yet somewhat unclear. Mobile phones, text messaging, corporate email systems, and social networking websites now form an interlocking set of communications systems used by a majority of the population, and a large proportion of peoples' everyday interactions happen via electronic media. A vast infrastruture of phones, wireless access points, routers, switches, and computer processors has spread out through our entire society, one credit-card purchase at a time - but under the conditions of a profit-making, data-driven economy, the software running on this infrastructure is a DIY corporate and state surveillance system rather than something that empowers people to connect with each other while respecting the limits of their privacy. Facebook and Google are not particularly interested in owning the broadcast media that Indymedia is worried about - they are busily putting themselves in a position to monitor and control the one-to-one communications of the vast majority of the population.
The main political discussion of the Hyperactive Summit was focused on these issues and the question of what the Indymedia response to this new set of problems could be. The keynote speech tried to set out these issues, with marginal success.
More Zippos Protests
10-05-2010 21:26
Either we missed something, or Zippos Circus was pretty quiet this afternoon. For a circus which boasts being able to host an audience of hundreds, we saw barely anyone going into or out of the circusparliament square rift spills out into public eye
10-05-2010 21:22
a long brewing rift between protestors in parliament square has recently emerged very publicly in articles, comments, and malicious disinformation on uk indymedia. the arrival of the democracy village in the square has brought to a head a serious communication breakdown between the 'parliament square peace campaign' which brian haw established almost a decade ago, and the 'peace strike' which is maria gallestegui's separate protest. she of course supported brian for many years, but he now describes her on his website as having withdrawn from his campaign 'by mutual consent'. as other journalists have recently alluded to the problems, and as there has been an orchestrated campaign to sabotage the democracy village, i felt it was time to put on record my own knowledge of the situation, and to suggest to some of the new villagers and others considering joining the protest to be aware of the history and context and to take care not to inflame the situation, and also to avoid conduct that might jeopordise either or both protests.
since the arrival of the 'democracy village' in parliament square, there have been occasional disparaging remarks posted on indymedia, and in the last 24 hours there have been several attempts at disinformation, suggesting that the village will be closing down on wednesday morning. a spokesperson for the village has confirmed that these postings are unfounded and mischievous.
i think a look at peter marshall's excellent and balanced article on indymedia might provide some background, and may point to the possible source of this disinformation.
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/05/450774.html
i have over many years formed tremendous respect for brian haw (parliament square peace campaign - PSPC) and his fellow campaigner, barbara tucker. followers of indymedia will know i have supported them with an enormous archive of work in the past (see the socpa section on indymedia)
barbara and brian have over the last couple of years formed the deeply held belief that others in the square are acting on behalf of the police (and peter marshall's article tells of the 'mutual decision' to split the protest into the PSPC and the 'peace strike').
i don't personally share that view myself, and although i have been open to receive any evidence to support the notion, and have actively requested it on many occasions, none has ever been forthcoming. i have also engaged in a genuine and sincere attempt to organise some mediation in this rift, but the PSPC is now set in its beliefs and the attempt has unfortunately failed. sadly, barbara and brian have now lost trust in me - a trust built over many years.
another effect of this situation is that one or two of the few remaining PSPC supporters have taken things to extreme. some of these people tend to assume guilt by association, and so anyone supporting the peace strike must in their eyes also be working for the authorities or, bizarrely, are accused of zionist beliefs. even partners or friends of people seen as supporting the peace strike have on occasion been maligned, despite not having any affiliation.
now the democracy village has appeared on the square (associated with the peace strike), and the tension has increased.
there have been some errors of judgement by a small number of 'villagers' and peter marshall's piece mentions the drinking of alcohol. as with any public protest, it's unwise to openly flaunt laws or bye-laws that have no connection with the issue you are campaigning on. it creates an easy target for the authorities to find a reason to close you down, and so it's just handing defeat on a plate.
perhaps those responsible are unaware of the history of hardship, assault, legal battles, and corruption that brian and barbara have fought to retain their tenuous place in the square and indeed in history. protesting in parliament square is not a party, it's not a joke - it's a hard-won, heart-felt struggle in the face of draconian laws put in place by arrogant and so-far untouchable politicians. those politicians are seeking any excuse to clear the square of the protest that daily reminds them what war-criminals most of them are. david cameron is on record as promising that if he comes to power he WILL move them on.
so i beg those new 'villagers' to consider this and let it inform their actions while they are in the square. the PSPC is quite right to be concerned that such behaviour might directly affect them - this is not a paranoid view, and the villagers would do well to respect it. the villagers should be very careful to do nothing that might bring harm to a protest that has now been running for nearly a decade. clearly no-one can tell them what to do, but i hope they will pause to consider the possible repercussions on others that their actions might cause.
having said that, i also ask that if it is indeed well-meaning supporters of PSPC that are posting the disinformation about the democracy village, well, frankly, stop being so childish. one of the stated aims of the village is to stop the war in afghanistan and bring the troops home. this supports the PSPC's aims. another aim is to take power from unaccountable politicians and to establish a more democratic system. again, this would give the people the power to stop our government from ever instigating an illegal war again. these are areas of total agreement surely, and these attempts to sabotage the village can only end up with lost support for BOTH camps.
i've so far stayed silent about the rift in parliament square, but as other journalists have now alluded to it, and as disinformation is appearing on indymedia, i feel it's important to make public what has been happening.
Democracy Village
10-05-2010 19:24
Over a week now Parliament Square has been occupied by the Democracy Village. This is a short mobile phone report about the police investigation of the redecoration of the Churchill statue with a new T-shirt slogan.
Report from http://www.circlecommunity.org
For more news http://visionon.tv/grassroots
There are to be more evictions in Zapatista areas; they warn that they will defe
10-05-2010 19:18
“We love the Earth; we work it, care for it, and protect it. For this reason, we are ready to defend it all costs.”Greece: the transnational elite’s “one way street”
10-05-2010 19:14
The tragic events at the fire-bombed bank, during the recent huge demonstration in Athens against the savage measures imposed by the transnational elite (an “unholy alliance” of the IMF and the EU), constitute neither a “murder,” as it was hurriedly declared by the permanently and blatantly lying leader of the parliamentary Junta that governs Greece today (G. Papandreou), nor a “provocation,” as the traditional Left permanently characterizes any event that it does not control. It was part of a popular counter-violence, within the logic of which it is unthinkable that it would aim at the death of oppressed employees (who had apparently been given a “work or strike” ultimatum by their boss forcing them, as it was reported, to work in a building with no fire safety arrangements and behind locked doors). It was an (obviously irresponsible) act clearly directed against property. Such acts aiming at the property of fundamental capitalist “symbolic institutions,” like a Bank, are far from rare in today’s insurrections at global level, constituting spontaneous popular counter-violence against the systemic (economic and physical) violence.Iceland volcano smokes toxic aluminium!& Geothermal to stop global warming+erupt
10-05-2010 18:53
As an ex raf cadet & former metal worker although I mainly worked on a lathe I did some metal work & forge work so I know it should be possible to pour-drop alot of iron or maybe marble into a volcano & then seal it with water sprayed on or dropped.Hopefully volcanologists, meteorologists & expert metalurgists are looking into this.
IF you smell sulphur, Keep in as much as possible especially kids& babies!
The smoke from Iceland has alot of aluminium in it
A potential win,win,win,win,win situ though if this wakes the world up to the geothermal power in iceland that could potentially power the whole of europe & alleviate volcanic activity if done safely
Ffos-y-Fran Coal Train Court Update
10-05-2010 17:33
Just to keep people updated - we were in court today for a first hearing in front of a magistrate. Nothing much of note except that the case has now been sent to a crown court and the next hearing will be on 20th May at Merthyr Crown Court at 11am. Any support would as ever be much appreciated.Video interview with Alberto Durango
10-05-2010 15:22
A video interview with Alberto Durango, speaking in Glasgow, about the Latin American Workers Association, the London cleaners campaign, its successes and the importance of solidarity (Interview by Bob from citystrolls)
ALIU Inspect Stocks House Farm, Bradford
10-05-2010 15:15
West Yorkshire ALIU today investigated Stocks House Farm near Bradford, where a breeding colony of New Zealand White Rabbits has been held for the University of Bradford.Calais, ville propre
10-05-2010 14:22
A silent protest was held near an official ceremony, celebrating the triumph over fascism in World War II. Activists wore white overalls with images of arrests of Afghan migrants and of some of the repeated raids on, and thefts at, ‘Africa House’, all perpetrated by the French authorities.
Apparently unable to bear the embarassment and shame of having the ugly truth made available for all to see, the two activists wearing the display were promptly handcuffed and whisked away by the police. They also arrested activists filming the event. All were released shortly after.
Then No Borders activists and a substantial number of migrants participated in a protest called by the C’SUR collective against the harassment of migrants in Calais. Following the demo, participants headed towards the site of daily food distribution. Three police vehicles arrived and officers poured out to try and arrest the migrants. They succeeding in catching five of them, one of whom was on crutches and therefore unable to escape.
for more info http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/
Reading Hunt Sabs Punk Benefit Gig
10-05-2010 13:25
Saturday 15 May, from 7.30 at the Blagrave Arms, Blagrave St (opposite railway station), Reading, RG1 1PW