UK Newswire Archive
Arms and Careers at Bristol Uni
14-10-2010 13:28
Die-in at BAe stall (courtesy Tristan Martin)I spent a fairly depressing couple of hours yesterday inside, and out the front of, Bristol Uni's Engineering & IT Careers Fair. A very well attended event - there must have been more than a thousand students. Some 53 employers attended. So far, so harmless.
The problem was that an incredible number of these employers are involved in the "defence industry". A euphemism for people who build machines to kill and main human beings. In particular we had....
... Thales, QinetiQ, Atkins, GCHQ, Tessella, the Defence Engineering and Science Group, Babcock, Rolls Royce, the Royal Navy, Agusta Westland, BAe Systems, and the Atomic Weapons Agency...
All of the stalls were bright and shiny - I have a pile of glossies that were being given out to all and sundry - and were manned by young, hip characters speaking the language of de yoof. Perhaps I'm getting too old and cynical, but the students seemed to be lapping it up eyes wide, brains unplugged. The great undead seeking a job.
Nice jobs too. Good conditions on very attractive "graduate programmes". Starting salaries in the region of 25K with all the perks, travel, opportunity for promotion etc etc. It's an easy sell.
Protest
For my part, I gave out a few leaflets I'd drawn up suggesting that people THINK before they sleepwalk into one of these jobs. I was very happy to be joined after an hour or so by a bunch of students thinking along similar lines.
They had placards focusing on the presence of BAe, and at their particularly hideous reputation in matters of corruption, graft, and violence. They also staged a rather satisfying "die-in" next to BAe's stand. More power to them.
A little background
First some cause for hope: according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, arms companies have been struggling to recruit enough graduates to their dirty game. They quote Dick Olver, the Chairman of BAE, as saying, “Without action , the UK's widening skills gap will have become an irreversible gulf”. Fucking nice one!!
On the downside, I've also looked into possibilities around pressuring Bristol Uni to stop these guys coming on campus. It turns out that the Careers Fairs pretty much fund the entire Bristol University Careers Service. Central university funding for this service has pretty much frozen since the 1980's. The ever-widening gap between central funds, and required funds, is filled by the hefty fees these companies pay to attend these fairs.
Which says two things: (1) those companies really want to be there! If they're paying through the nose, they must NEED to be there. Which suggests that this is a weak point where we could hit them. (2) On the downside, the Careers Service simply can't afford for them NOT to be there. The big companies have the big cash, simple as that.
The way ahead
It's a long and winding road, but maybe one day we'll get there. To a world without BAe Systems and their ilk. There are plenty of people in Bristol doing good stuff agains the arms trade - while I was at the careers fair, a lot of good people were fighting the good fight in Brighton:
http://bristol.indymedia.org.uk/article/694176
If you're in Bristol and want to act against the arms fair, get in touch, or check out some of the splendid groups below:
http://universities.caat.org.uk/
http://decommissioners.co.uk/
We'll stop 'em yet.
Smash EDO protest ends with mass arrests in Brighton
14-10-2010 13:10
The protest at EDO MBM/ITT, a top ten U.S. defence contractor, aimed to shut the factory down for the day. Hundreds of police ensured that no one got near the facility and ended the day with mass arrests. Brighton, United Kingdom, 13/10/2010.Pictures from the day;
http://www.demotix.com/news/473932/smash-edo-protest-ends-mass-arrests-brighton
County Hall Attacked
14-10-2010 11:38
The Nottinghamshire County Hall was attacked last night with hammers and graffiti. Messages of "Fight the Cuts" and "Fuck Austerity" were left on the walls of the entrance facing the trent, whilst several windows were smashed.London Animal Rights Group meeting - Wednesday 28th October
14-10-2010 10:40
Wednesday 28th October
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, WC1R 4RL
Striking port workers in Marseille know the truth (modified by General Joe)
14-10-2010 10:18
"They (French workers) are “fighting privatization,” as we all should be. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a slave to private capital either! This article, like most in the capitalist press, omits this essential information to benefit the owners and bosses. Get a clue folks and stand up and fight back or be prepared to have everything stolen from you. Remember, the rich don’t want but one thing. And that’s “everything.” Kind a makes the bank bailouts a little more understandable don’t you think. See “class war” all around you."Cumbrian Greenfield Nuclear Sites 'Removed'
14-10-2010 09:50
Free Film-Making Course and Free film Screenings Programme in Glasgow
14-10-2010 09:23
Digital Desperados, a Glasgow based group, are pleased to announce our two new projects.
Anarchist Federation release October 2010 Resistance
14-10-2010 09:23
OCTOBER 2010 RESISTANCE is out.
Features include: SCOTTISH COMMUNITIES RESIST OPEN CAST MINING, Anti-racist resistance in Bradford and Brighton, Coca-cola strike, The Pope, UK and international workplace roundup, France pension strike, Spanish miners, Greece mass demo by truck drivers, Hackney Pride, Cape Town residents, AF group roundup, Forthcoming events, and more.
Linda Norgrove - another perspective
14-10-2010 08:29
The official story makes no sense. Special forces chuck a grenade at the person they should rescue? Rescue of a Brit carried out by the US? There is more to this story.Crude Awakening - Final Checklist for this Saturday
14-10-2010 07:38
This is it. 2 days to go. Oil – time’s up!Yes! to Fairer Votes Bristol: 2nd meeting
14-10-2010 06:27
Change the Govt: change the electoral systemWe have a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to change our anti-democratic electoral system which has kept the duopoly in power for 92 years.
Come to:
The Naval Volunteer
King Street
Yes! to Fairer Votes is a non-partisan, single-issue coalition
English Defence League V Muslim Defence League London rally October 42th
14-10-2010 04:24
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/10/464466.html] All anti racists should attend to oppose the fascists outside the Israeli Embassy October 24th
Police Station Squatted In London
14-10-2010 01:48
What follows is a communique' from the occupied to the occupiers:
The Crude Awakening - this Saturday, 10 AM! Final checklist...
13-10-2010 23:53
So this one is going to be short and sweet. Here’s your final checklist.Dark Light Graffiti Exhibition @ The Refectory 1
13-10-2010 23:27
A Graffiti Session, exhibition, and a bit of a party etc.
A Graffiti Session, exhibition, and a bit of a party etc.
At The Refectory, Hooton Steet off Carlton Road, Nottingham.
Is the writing on the wall for Cllr.Collins
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2010/02/445811.html
Oxygen Thievz
http://www.oxygenthievez.com
LightDark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNDEFjF4144
OhMyGosh Charity Live Graffiti Art Session & Street Party
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2009/03/424854.html
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2009/03/424875.html
____________________________________________
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>
Dark Light Graffiti Exhibition @ The Refectory 2
13-10-2010 23:27
A Graffiti Session, exhibition, and a bit of a party etc.
A Graffiti Session, exhibition, and a bit of a party etc.
At The Refectory, Hooton Steet off Carlton Road, Nottingham.
Is the writing on the wall for Cllr.Collins
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2010/02/445811.html
Oxygen Thievz
http://www.oxygenthievez.com
LightDark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNDEFjF4144
OhMyGosh Charity Live Graffiti Art Session & Street Party
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2009/03/424854.html
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2009/03/424875.html
____________________________________________
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>
Full article | 1 addition | 3 comments
SmashEDO besiege Brighton bomb factory
13-10-2010 20:25
Today the Smash EDO ITT's Hammertime demonstration saw 300 protesters surrounding Brighton's bomb factory and demonstrating against EDO/ITT for six hours.The demo was named for the 2009 Decommissioning, when a group of activists broke in to the EDO/ITT factory, decommissioning it with hammers to stop the production of weapons components being used by the Israeli military in the Gaza war. The Decommissioners were victorious in court, when they were unanimously acquitted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage in June.
Ratcliffe on Trial
13-10-2010 19:10
21 climate change activists face a Crown Court trial for defending the future of our planet. Their crime: Planning to shut down the UK’s third largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions.spanish civil war
13-10-2010 18:03
international brigades event: revolution in spain commemorated.a memorial to honour the volunteers who fought in spain in the antifascist struggle wil be held in liverpool from the 15th to the17th of october the event will be held in a couple of venues but saturday at the old tand g office lime street.
Coal trucks locked out at Mainshill!
13-10-2010 16:40
This morning people locked the haulage gate of Mainshill Open Cast Site on the B7078 with a d-lock preventing coal trucks entering the site and transporting coal to the Ravenstruther Rail Head.