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UK Newswire Archive

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The Anti-Vietnam War Movement

04-11-2010 12:22

The student rebellion in America in 1968 was fuelled by revulsion against the Vietnam War. It gave momentum to previously existing anti-nuclear and anti-racist movements on the campuses. The difference between the anti-war movement then and now is that the students were being drafted to serve as junior officers in Vietnam.
Mike Levine provides an eyewitness account of the student revolt illustrated by contemporary newspaper pictures.

Roger surveys the hidden history of resistance to the war amongst the US armed forces, which ranged from desertion and sabotage through to outright mutiny. Includes excerpts from the film Sir, No Sir.

Venue: The Hatchet - (upstairs), 27 Frogmore St., BS1 5NA.
Time: 7.30pm
Price: Donation
Speakers: Mike Levine, Roger

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Opening of Western Sahara photo exhibition

04-11-2010 12:00

Michael Palin describes new Sahara photo exhibition opening tonight in a Stoke Newington gallery as "tribute of hope over adversity"

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RBS glasgow occupied ongoing!

04-11-2010 11:36

royal bank of Scotland on Gordon st, Glasgow currently being occupied.
say no to the austerity cuts!!

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Everyone complain now about the mass deer cull in Richmond Park

04-11-2010 11:31

Every year around 200 deer and killed in Richmond Park. The Park authority claims this cull is necessary to control deer numbers. But there are other ways to control the deer population such as food based contraception and relocating deer. It seems this deer cull has little to do with controlling deer numbers and more to do with providing posh restaurants with expensive deer meat.

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Royal Parks Deer Shoot - Take Action

04-11-2010 11:30

200 deer are set to be shot over the next four weeks in the Royal Parks. You can help stop it - take action!

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Squatting in St Pauls Bristol

04-11-2010 11:22

Squatting on St Pauls
I am questioning the squatting movement in St Pauls.
I have a house in St Pauls and have done for about ten years.
Last year some squatters broke into a house on the street. The house was very noisy and became a nuisance in the street keeping everyone awake. The squatters just seemed there to have a good time with free accommodation. They did not try to intigrate, on the contary they did not care about the locals. They were evicted but before leaving smashed the house up.
The other day I spoke to some potential squatters who were looking to break in again. They were two guys who were obviously from upper middle class families. They were just doing it for fun not because they were homeless. Come on with accents like that you are not fooling me!
I believe squatting was legalised after the second war to help genuine families in need, these guys were nothing like that.
It is not easy living in the area and squatting is making it worse.
I do think there are cases where squatting is justified, for example if a house has been abandoned for years. However entering a house that is for sale or to let and then having a freebe causing huge problems to the owners and local community is something else.
There are two sides to the story and rents are very high, buy to let landlords are at an unfair advantage and some housing is abandoned. However squatters believing they have the moral right to go anywhere and do anything is not correct. Just leave our houses in St Pauls alone.

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Learn to sing gospel

04-11-2010 11:22

£10/£5 (conc) for 4 workshops in November

Get to the roots of gospel music, build the Voice of Hope workshop gospel choir and learn to sing this healing sound.


All songs are taught by ear and no previous experience needed.

Voice of Hope director, Kim Samuels is passionate about musical talent and gospel music.

Every Friday at Saint Stephen's: 5, 12, 19 and 26 November 6.30 – 9.00 pm

Donations of £10.00 for whole series welcome.

Saint Stephen’s Cafe open for fair trade/organic refreshments during workshop.

To book a place contact Kim Samuels:

infoATrocksolidgospel.com | text/call: 0794 197 6545

The workshops are part of the Bristol Reconciliation Reredos programme, Saint Stephen’s artistic response to its past links with slavery.

Saint Stephen's | St Stephen's St off Corn St | Bristol BS1 1EQ

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Warrant for Arrest (for how long?) - while Seeking Asylum in France

04-11-2010 10:52

Maurice insists in being arrested only for the purpose of going to court and meeting the judge who convicted him in his absence, despite his request for adjournment. But the Court is far from co-operating. Here's his account with questions to the Court.

The NHS has asked their solicitors about the release of the medical records. The Judge and the Police's solicitors are meeting in Maurice's absence.

Is the only purpose for solicitors to run up bills, while Maurice not only suffers physically, but is also made to suffer the anguish of having to be arrested for an indefinite period?

The Police are only doing their job. And the lawyers who tell the Law Enforcers what their job is, don't care, do they...

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Facebook blocks accounts of Polish liberal and conservative opposition

04-11-2010 08:56

Facebook blocked recently many accounts of Polish users that were politically engaged. This move hit even me.

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TItnore emergency meeting

04-11-2010 07:37

The farmer who owns the Titnore woodland in Worthing, West Sussex, that may still be under threat from the developers has issued an ultimatum to the Guardians who are still living there – leave or I’ll chop the trees down. Although this may be just an empty threat we do have to take it seriously.

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Palestine Today 11 03 2010

04-11-2010 05:10

Sources in Gaza revealed that Namnam was recently arrested by Hamas and interrogated about his role in firing rockets at Israel. The sources said that Namnam was accused of violating understandings between Hamas and other Palestinian groups to halt the rocket attacks

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Cry Freedom Concert

04-11-2010 03:39

Sweet Liberation (community choir), Richard Burley & Danny Ward (acoustic set), Red Notes Choir (4 part harmony), Lynda Sanderson & Pauline Setterfield (opera singer and organist).
A celebration of roles played by St. Wulfstan, Thomas Clarkson and the Seven Stars pub played in gaining freedom.

Date: Thursday 25th November
Venue: St. Thomas the Martyr - St. Thomas Street, Redcliffe, BS1 6QR.
Time: 8:00pm
Price: Donations

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How We Won

04-11-2010 03:39

Strikes In The 70s
The dominant idea of strikes in the 1970s is that of the 'winter of discontent' of 1979 in which workers took industrial action in support of pay claims that breached the social contract brokered between union leaders and the Labour Government.
However, the highpoint of workers' militancy was in the early years of the decade when rank and file workers led successful strikes across industry. This meeting will examine the strikes of miners, builders and dockers as well as industrial action in Bristol in an attempt to understand how the disputes of the early 70s were won.

NUM member Dave Douglass, author of The Wheel’s Still in Spin, was a pitman for 40 years in the northeast. Mike Richardson (UWE) was a print worker in Bristol in the 1970s.

Venue: Room 5A1 Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, BS1 3QY.
Time: 2:00 - 4:30pm
Price: Donations
Speakers: Dave Douglass, Mike Richardson

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"Make Them Grovel"

04-11-2010 01:23

The 1976 West Indies Cricket Tour
The West Indies Cricket Tour to England in 1976 came at a time of mounting attacks and provocations on black communities both by fascist groups such as the National Front and by the institutionally racist police forces.
The West Indies Cricket Tour to England in 1976 came at a time of mounting attacks and provocations on black communities both by fascist groups such as the National Front and by the institutionally racist police forces. The situation was inflamed by the comments of England Captain and native South African Tony Greig, who before the tour claimed "I intend to make them grovel", a comment which came amid the controversy about apartheid and sporting boycotts. Includes a showing of the BBC documentary Nation on Film - The 1976 West Indies cricket tour – on and off the field.

Venue: Bristol West Indies Cricket Club - Rose Green Centre, 65 Gordon Road, Whitehall, BS5 7DR.
Time: 7:30pm
Price: Donations

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From The Ford Workers' Group to Made In Dagenham

04-11-2010 01:22

Ford plants in the 1970s were epicentres of worker militancy as recently depicted in the film Made In Dagenham. Carlos was a founder member of the Ford Dagenham Workers' Group and Brian worked at the Halewood plant from 1970 till late ‘77. They will discuss the reality of life in the Ford Company, the hidden history of the equal pay disputes and the changes that have taken place since that era.
Carlos (Charlie) Guarita worked at the Ford Dagenham Engine Plant from 1976 till early 1980. He was a founder member of the Ford Dagenham Workers' Group which later became part of the Ford (UK) Workers' Combine and which was probably the first autonomous rank and file organization to exist within a transnational company in the U.K. He will also talk about the ‘reality’ depicted in the Made in Dagenham film.

Brian Ashton worked at the Ford Halewood plant from 1970 till late 77. He was a shop steward for three years in the assembly plant. He will talk about that period and also the changes that have taken place in the intervening years at Halewood. He will use the analytical tool of class composition to try and explain Halewood past and present.

Includes the film ‘A Woman’s Work’: The story of the Ford sewing machinists.

Venue: The Hatchet - (upstairs), 27 Frogmore St., BS1 5NA.
Time: 7:30pm
Price: Donations
Speakers: Carlos Guarita, Brian Ashton

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The Asian Youth Movement

04-11-2010 01:22

In the mid 1970s, a new generation of South Asian youth were growing up in Britain. They emerged less prepared to tolerate the racism in British society, which their parents had had to suffer. This period also saw heightened fascist and racist activity, increasing police violence and the institutionalisation of racism through discriminatory immigration laws.
A racist murder in Southall was the spark for the formation of a new organisation: the Southall Youth Movement. This organisation made up of mostly young Asian but including some African-Caribbean men, took it upon themselves to defend their community against fascist and racist attacks. Using the film ‘Kala Tala’ Anandi Ramamurthy charts the rise of the SYM and how it helped to create the countrywide Asian Youth Movement.

Anandi Ramamurthy is Senior Lecturer in Film and Media Studies at the University of Central Lancashire.

Venue: Easton Community Centre - Kilburn Street, Easton, BS5 6AW.
Time: 7:00pm
Price: Donations
Speaker: Anandi Ramamurthy

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Grunwick

04-11-2010 01:22

The End Of An Era?
The two-year strike (1976–1978) over trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Willesden, North London is iconic in left wing history.
During a decade of industrial unrest, the Grunwick dispute became a cause célèbre of trade unionism and labour relations law, and at its height involved thousands of trade unionists and police in confrontations. The total of 550 arrests made during the strike was at the time the highest such figure in any industrial dispute since the General Strike of 1926. This meeting includes excerpts from the films Stand Together (1977) and The Great Grunwick Strike a History (2007) introduced by film director Chris Thomas, as well as eye witness accounts of the pickets by supporters of the strike.

Venue: Room 5A1 Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, BS1 3QY.
Time: 7:30pm
Price: Donations
Speaker: Chris Thomas

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Spies, Lies And The Coup

04-11-2010 01:22

State Repression In The 70s
The rise of militancy in the workplace, universities and the new left in the early 1970s Britain generated a reaction by the ‘secret state’.
A major campaign was launched by Special Branch and MI5 to infiltrate and destabilise these arenas, which culminated in a plot to overthrow Harold Wilson’s Labour government in the mid 1970s. Investigative researcher Larry O’Hara will give an overview of the period, looking at the tactics and strategies of the secret state.

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Musheir Al Farra speaks at the Sheffield Humanist Society Meeting

04-11-2010 00:21

Audio Ball Pool donated by Sheffield people to the kids of Nussairat Refugee Camp 2010
Wednesday 3rd November 2010
Conflict in the "Holy Land".
Musheir Al Fara, Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign

What is the reality of the situation in Israel/Palestine? How did the ongoing ‘troubles’ come about and to what extent is
religion responsible for the conflict affecting the "Holy Land"?

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Defending the state? Welfare cuts and the social wage

04-11-2010 00:19

Audio
Attached is a recording of the Sheffield communist discussion group meeting held on 3rd November 2010 on the subject of the Con/Dem public sector and welfare cuts.