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London Frestival Presents Diverse Rainbow Line-Up To Highlight Future Gay Trends

20-09-2010 16:36

GFEST logo
GFEST 2010 runs for two weeks from Monday 8 November 2010 to Sunday 21 November 2010.
The full festival programme can be found on GFEST website:
 http://www.gaywisefestival.org.uk

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National Demo Against Agrofuel Subsidies

20-09-2010 16:22

A bus is available from Bristol to Portland
There is a coach leaving from Bristol (Anchor Road, near At-Bristol) at 10am on the 25th September for the NATIONAL DEMO AGAINST AGROFUEL SUBSIDIES. Look out for 'Eagle Coaches'. The returning coach leaves Portland at 6pm . Price is £10-15 for students/unwaged and £15- 20 for everyone else, depending on numbers.
Stop the unfolding catastrophe that is the explosive expansion of the agrofuel industry

At the site of the proposed new palm-oil burning, agrofuel power station at Portland in Dorset.

Coach from London leaves Kings Cross 9.00am, returns around 11.00pm. £13.50 return.
To book a ticket click here.

Coach from Bristol leaves 10.00 am. Prices between £15-20 depending on numbers, discount for students/unwaged. More info and to book contact Ian at biofuelwatch@ymail.com

Any enquiries e-mail stopagrofuels@campaigncc.org.

The demonstration will be organised together with Biofuelwatch, Food not Fuel and a very strong local group, down in Dorset - NOPE (No Palm Oil Energy) see http://nope.org.uk/

There is a wave of proposed new agrofuel power stations sweeping the country. If we can stand up to them here, in Portland, we can stop this wave in its tracks..The headlong expansion of agrofuel (biofuels produced through intensive agriculture ) use threatens to destroy the world's remaining primary forsts, exacerbate the global food crisis and cause a massive increase in climate-destabilising emissions.

Help us support the local residents down in Portland and make the battle to stop this plant the battle that wins the war against the disastrous expansion of the agfrofuel industry.

Provisional Timetable: 9.00 am: Bus leaves London for Portland
1.00 pm: Assemble for march
2.00 - 3.00 pm: Rally outside port gates (site of proposed plant)
3.00 pm: Workshops - including where next for Portland and the agrofuels campaign - and entertainment in local hall
6.00 pm: Bus sets off back to Bristol.

Camping/crash space will be available overnight.

The application for an agrofuel power station in Portland was approved in January (after the initial rejection was overturned on appeal by the company making the proposal, W4B). The power station will burn palm oil and increase by one third the volume of palm oil currently being imported to this country for energy usage. See more here. W4B are planning an even bigger plant in Bristol, so stopping W4B in Portland will help to stop them in Bristol, too!

Agrofuel burning power stations like the one In Portland would not be going ahead were they not subsidised by the government. Insanely, agrofuels are classified as a renewable energy and as such receive subsidies - so that, in effect, the government is subsidising massive deforestation in South East Asia (and other places), thereby accelerating, rather than slowing down, the destabilisation of global climate.

Make a stand against the madness of agrofuel use, wholesale destruction of the rainforest, deepening food crisis and spiralling emissions!


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Info evening on Afghanistan Sunday 26th Sept Brighton 18:00

20-09-2010 16:14

The Afghans’ voice must be heard.
Sunday 26th of September 2010, 18:00, South Wing Hall, Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton

A unique Afghan – British conference on the invasion of Afghanistan. The opportunity to listen to what Afghan’s have to say on the invasion of their country, and to exchange views and knowledge.

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SDL & BNP: smashed out of Glasgow

20-09-2010 15:23

A last minute mobilisation of anti-fascists yesterday saw off both the BNP and the Scottish Defence League, who both attempted to hold separate public activity in Glasgow city centre.

read more

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St Werburghs Arts Trail Cinema - Saturday

20-09-2010 14:22

Mina Road Park, St Werburghs, Bristol
This year there will be a cinema in the Mina Road Park Saturday and Sunday night showing mostly different films each night.
We will be showing a variety of films including some made in Bristol about Bristol. The program includes films about Squatting, Latvia, Mongolia, Graffiti, Stillness, Blindness, Football, Bicycles, Tescos, Immigration, Bristol and Palestine.

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St Werburghs Arts Trail Cinema - Sunday

20-09-2010 14:22

Mina Road Park, St Werburghs, Bristol
This year there will be a outdoor cinema in the Mina Road Park both Saturday and Sunday nights showing mostly different films each night.
We will be showing a variety of short films including some made in Bristol about Bristol. The program includes films about Squatting, Latvia, Mongolia, Graffiti, Stillness, Blindness, Football, Bicycles, Tescos, Immigration, Bristol and Palestine.

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Freeskilling - Tues 21 Sept - Basic Bicycle Maintenance

20-09-2010 14:22

7pm Better Food Co, Sevier Street, St Werburghs, Bristol, BS2 9QS
Hi everyone,

Basic Bicycle Maintenance is this week's freeskilling.. and what
better time for it than during Bristol Cycle Festival.

Volunteers from Bristol Bike Project have kindly agreed to share their
knowledge about the basics of bicycle maintenance.

Come along if you're unsure how to mend a puncture, or tighten brakes.. A chance to
ask questions about the basic workings of a bike.

Sorry, but there is no space inside the Better Food Company cafe for
your own bikes. There is space to lock bikes outside.

See http://bristolcyclefestival.com/ for Bristol Cycle Festival
events, 11-26 September.

FREESKILLING PROGRAM– SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2010

7pm Better Food Co, Sevier Street, St Werburghs, Bristol, BS2 9QS

28 September Freestyle Rhyming
Discover the art of freestyle rhyme and how to do it - plus a host of
interactive games to get you rhyming. With Paul Farrow

5 October Public Speaking – Tricks of the Trade
Learn how to prepare and deliver an inspirational and engaging talk or
presentation - whether to 5 or 100 people! With Claire Milne

12 October Meditations for Inner & Outer Peace
Learn the basics of how to meditate, how to apply meditation to
solving our human problems and finding the lasting happiness that we
long for. With Kelsan Chonden

19 October Car Sharing
Set up and manage a car share with your own car, limit your car use
and share running costs. Understand the logistics, pit falls,
benefits and responsibilities. There will be a car-share match making
service during the evening where you could find your perfect partner.
With car sharers Sarah Pugh, Hannah Fearnley & Adele Watt.

26 October Bach Flower Remedies for Pets
Learn more about the Bach Flower Remedies and how you can use them to
help your pets with emotional problems such as fear of fireworks,
anxieties, bullying, grief, and re-homing. With holistic vet Holly
Mash

If you have any skills you would like to learn, skills you could
share, or if you would like to help organise freeskilling events,
please get in touch. You can email freeskilling@gmail.com or talk to
one of the freeskilling team at the next freeskilling evening you go
to.

Please spread the word!

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Comment on the local 'Bike Back' scheme

20-09-2010 13:22

At first glance this appears to be a worthwhile scheme.

Disregarding the fact that certain groups and individuals have been doing this for years there are some pretty basic faults with this project.

While reducing buying items new, reusing items already brought and recycling unwanted items is to be encouraged - slave labour should not.

At first glance this appears an idea; long overdue for council backing is a sure winner.
Then on further reading you see who's doing all the work, i.e. volunteers - OK maybe and prisoners.
Certainly NOT OK unless they are receiving a decent wage for their industry.

And to say the alternative is worse (see below) is not a good enough position.

CLOSE DOWN PRISONS

This project could still be run without having people locked up, e.g. community service with training.

It’s not crime that breeds isolation in society, its society itself that breeds crime by destroying community.
It would be naïve and hypocritical to think that laws are made for all and in the name of all.
It is better to recognise that the law is made by the few to impose on the many.
Never ending trials, bureaucracy, bullying, the system of punishment, this justice mechanism steals the strength of those caught in its gears, strengthening its position in the world of power that flaunts its exclusive right to punish others.
In order not to offend public sensibility, the system of power has had to come up with subtler forms of punishment than the traditional torture and murder in its desire for vengeance.
Jail in its modern morphology, was created in the eighteen century.
Since then, mass internment has become the punishment of choice.
Contemporary prisons have become the status symbols of the dominant class,
who flaunt their exclusive right to punish others.
Prison is a ghost, a daily threat to those who dare to see beyond their social cages,
it’s a fundamental tool for maintaining social peace,
the last fortress of power in the state’s war against its people.
Prison functions according to efficient methods of repression, torture and manipulation;
every single aspect, from the architecture to the all encompassing rules,
promote the practice of repression and isolation.
Inside its walls there are rules similar to the ones ruling the society outside,
only they are even more tightly enforced.
Arrogance and silence stifles everything.
Detainees are particularly vulnerable as they suffer the repression in a more direct and evident way.
An illusion of hope is created in order to maintain order.
The detainees having something they can believe in are forced into being obedient.
There are benefits for those who cooperate and stay calm while the smallest signs of rebellion are recorded and punished with disciplinary convictions: cancellations of permits, isolation, transfers.
Drugs, mainly psychotropics, are distributed without measure, ensuring repression both at physical and intellectual levels.
Relationships between detainees and their behaviours are controlled to avoid solidarity relationships – which are seen as dangerous by the prison authorities because they are still able to shake the waters of the jail.
Transferring, or ghosting, prisoners to other jails, are the most used tactic to demoralise and break bonds between detainees.
The control must be continuous.

Full article | 4 comments

Militant Animal Liberation callout for the Tory Party Conference!

20-09-2010 12:58

Two weeks left until the Conservative Party Conference, there has be a mass callout for anyone who wants to disrupt the toffs on their special day!

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A call out from Amsterdam

20-09-2010 12:48

"Sleeping" Action
The squatting ban is not a threat - it's an opportunity and a tool.

Full article | 3 comments

"United Against Nuclear Iran": America's war propaganda mouthpiece

20-09-2010 11:30

United Against Nuclear Iran billboard ad in Peoria, Illinois, USA.
Those who regularly follow the developments of Iran might have come across to the website of "United Against Nuclear Iran", a "non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization" that seeks to "prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons"

UANI has compiled an elaborate list of the foreign companies and firms which do business with Iran and calls on its readers and visitors to send condemnatory letters and complaints to these companies so as to persuade them to withdraw their capitals and resources from Iran and stop doing business with a country which the United States and its European allies consider to be an emerging nuclear threat in the Middle East.

In a nutshell, UANI's objective is to impair the Iranian nation. They already know that Iran does not seek nuclear weapons. UANI's seeks a weak, demoralized and unstable Iran without an active role in the international community. UANI is not United Against Nuclear Iran, it is United Against the Nation of Iran.

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Bristol Smokers Latest

20-09-2010 11:22

Committee Meeting
A quorate group of the Bristol Smokers Alliance has welcomed moves by certain cafes and pubs in Bristol to create a more friendly and welcoming environment for Smokers. Bristol Smokers Alliance has long pointed out that the people who actually go to Cafes and Bars on a regular basis are all Smokers anyway.

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Hugo Blanco to speak in Bristol

20-09-2010 11:22

Prominent Campesino activist speaking in Bristol
Hugo Blanco, lifelong activist in the struggle for social justice and campesino rights in Peru, will be speaking soon in Bristol as part of his UK solidarity tour.
Hugo Blanco will be speaking in Bristol at a meeting specially organised as part of his UK tour. Hugo is a lifelong activist, environmentalist and revolutionary. He led the Quechua peasant uprising in the 1960s and is currently leader of the Campesino Federation of Peru. He is the author of Land or Death: The Peasant Struggle in Peru, written while he was in prison. Meeting details are as follows:

Latin America and the Ecosocialist Alternative
Tuesday, October 12th
7-9pm
Hamilton House,
80 Stokes Croft,
Bristol
BS1 3QY
(Opposite junction with Jamaica Street)

Entry is free although donations would be appreciated. The meeting is jointly organised by Socialist Resistance, Green Left, Bristol Green Party and the Centre for the Study of Colonial and Postcolonial Societies.

Please circulate details as widely as possible.

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This Sat 25 Sept Palestinian Solidarity Benefit, Brum

20-09-2010 11:05

Brilliant line up of Ska & Reggae
Interpal is a non-political, non-profit making British charity that works with international funding partners and partners on the ground to provide relief and development aid to Palestinians in need, mainly in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan.

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ANTI-CUTS MEETING AT CROSS KEYS PUB FISHPONDS

20-09-2010 10:22

On the Tuesday 21st September at 7.30, the Fire Brigades Union and other workers and Trade Unionists will be a gathering at Cross Keys pub in Fishponds to discuss, and plan action in relation to the government attacks on our resources and communiies.
On the Tuesday 21st September at 7.30, the Fire Brigades Union and other workers and Trade Unionists will be a gathering at Cross Keys pub in Fishponds to discuss, and plan action in relation to the government attacks on our resources and communiies. They are asking members of the public to attend, so why not pop along.

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FLASHBACK: Dialog Among Civilizations – Whytalksfail When Hectoring Hegemon Are

20-09-2010 05:48

What is the point of this dialog analysis and all this verbage?

The point is a matter of life and death for nations. That is the point of this. Let me be very precise.

Either the United States, or Israel, are poised to attack Iran, as noted by many commentators in the World press,...

This is March 2007. I have two imperatives before me: A) I do not wish to hear in 2010 that there was an “intelligence failure”, that it was another Gulf of Tonkin, or some other new contrivance from the imaginative and fertile mind of the hectoring hegemons.

Source URL:  http://humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2007/03/dialog-among-civilizations-whytalksfail.html

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JB Spray squat on the Telly: BBC Politics Show

19-09-2010 21:24

Just contributed piccy and work to the BBC Politics Show wot included a bit about squatting

Just contributed piccy and work to the BBC Politics Show wot included a bit about squatting: Should squatters be allowed to occupy empty premises?

A young squatter goes head-to-head with the Conservative MP for South Derbyshire, Heather Wheeler. Iona, who’s 21, left a squat in Nottingham after she was given a ...place at a homeless hostel. But now it may have to close because of cuts in funding.

Show now online, in the BBC iPlayer at:
  
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ttg1r/The_Politics_Show_East_Midlands_19_09_2010/

The squatting piece starts at 29mins 30sec into the show.

More links to earlier events there:

No eviction at the Spray Squat ....  yet! The pics
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/413

Spray Squat: bit of a street party before eviction
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/435

____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham.  UK
Email:                 tash@indymedia.org
Web:                   http://digitaljournalist.eu
Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
                                   It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
<ends>

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Oxford Action Resource Centre event report

19-09-2010 20:24

The Oxford Action Resource Centre (OARC) [1] held a brunch and fun day on Sunday 19 September. It went better than I expected :-)

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Meditation and Inner Peace

19-09-2010 20:22

You are invited to a discussion on meditation and inner peace with Buddhist monk Chonden.

At 28 Portland Square, St. Pauls

On Friday 24th of September at 8pm.



Everybody Welcome

Full article | 10 comments

freedom of infomation/police records/domestic extremism

19-09-2010 20:05

how do i find out if the police have "labelled" me a "domestic extremist"?