UK Newswire Archive
REPORT ON SMASH SEOUL, SMASH G20 PROTEST IN LONDON
15-11-2010 09:28
Israel Protest at Bath Festival
15-11-2010 09:20
Bristol Palestine Solidarity will protest against links with the Israeli military when the Jerusalem String Quartet play in Bath this Thursday.the expected unexpected
15-11-2010 09:19
50.000 students, teachers and lecturers are not a few, in particular if the student union‘s expectation was around 7000 people for the 10 of November. Las week it was the biggest demonstration of social opposition from the 90s in England. The spokesman of the student union said that the direct action was just «despicable action» organized by a minority that occupied the head quarter of the Tory. For who was there last week it was clear that the only minority group of the demo was the union! This is a kind of a paradox for a rally organized by them.Protest Vince Cable in Birmingham: Tuesday 16th November 1pm
15-11-2010 09:16
The Con-Dems are launching an onslaught of cuts and privatisation and a vicious ideological attack on our welfare state.It is vital that wherever the Tories and their Lib-Dem lapdogs go, they are hounded and forced to face up to the widespread rage at their blanket attack on the working class and students.
EDL? MAC? Same Thing.
15-11-2010 09:03
Despite their opposing positions, the Muslims Against Crusade and English Defence League both serve the same purpose.Free screening of 'Dirty Oil' - about the impact of Tar Sands projects.
15-11-2010 03:29
Free screening of the film 'Dirty Oil'Wednesday 17th November, 7:30pm
at The Clifton Club, 22 The Mall, Clifton (Red door next door to Saville’s)
Everyone Welcome. FREE of Charge.
Organised by Greenpeace UK in association with The Co-operative Group.
'Dirty Oil' shows the devastating impact Tar Sands projects in Canada are having on the environment and local & indigenous communities.
Never heard of Tar Sands?
Come along and find out more about what has been called “One of our planets greatest threats”
- Jim Hansen, NASA
The film lasts 73 minutes and will be followed by refreshments provided by the Co-operative
and a Q&A session with Wilf Mound of Bristol Greenpeace
FFI on the Tar Sands campaign:
www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/stop-the-tar-sands/
For information on the about the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, one of the indigenous communities affected in Alberta, Canada - see the Co-op website:
www.goodwithmoney.co.uk/toxicfuels
You can also take action online:
http://forests.org/shared/alerts/sendsm.aspx?id=bc_tars...eline
Please print and distribute the attached poster, and generally spread the word.
Students to target S Williams MP as day of action planned
15-11-2010 01:22
Remember remember the 10th of NovemberHot on the heels of last weeks student demo in London, the NUS has announced plans to target LibDem MP's who told porkies to get elected - including S William (Bristol West) and Dan Foster (Bath). At the same time, a coalition of students and workers is calling for a national day of action on Wednesday 24 November.
Along with Williams (see http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/698403) and Foster, the NUS has Nick Clegg (Sheffield) and Simon Wright (Norwich) in its sights (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/nov/13/nus-cam...-dems). The aim will be to get students to either use forthcoming 'recall' legislation (ha - we'll believe that one when we see it!), or the next election to unseat these liars. Which is great, but leaves one huge problem - all the other parties have voted for fees. So if there's nobody to vote for...the possibilities become endless.
More relevantly, and more importantly to keep the campaign real and moving, the National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts has called for 24 November to be a day of walkouts, occupations, protests and outreach (see http://anticuts.com/2010/11/12/press-release-24th-novem...tion/). This is extended to all students, including school students whose futures are rapidly being ruined.
Here in Bristol it is unclear if student unions will formally support the day, but so what, it only needs a few students to get the ball rolling, and as we saw in London, who knows where it'll end up? So pass it on by any means necessary, diy and we'll see you on the streets and in the occupations.
Talk about drones - killing made convenient
14-11-2010 23:22
Chris Coles from Oxford will be talking about Drones.Chris Coles from Oxford will be talking about Drones and their increasing use in modern warfare.
How this is another step towards making death convenient. What is BAE Systems involvement and other contractors.
Arrive at 6pm at the Smiling Chair Next to Sprinters the Printers on Stokes Croft for a little business then talk and discussion.
NATO opens a back door to Russia's entrance to Afganistan after 25 years !
14-11-2010 21:43
NATO chief asks for Russian help in Afghanistan
Two decades after the Soviet Union’s retreat from Afghanistan, NATO is working to get Russia back into the country to help fight drug trafficking and rebuild Afghan security forces. The deal, championed by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen as part of a “new start in the relationship between NATO and Russia,” would see Moscow providing helicopters to Afghan and NATO forces, training Afghan national-security forces and pilots, and helping on the ground with counternarcotics programs and border security.
VIDEO back to 1988 >
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WIjUMRQPKo
Millbank – what happened, and how can we build on it?
14-11-2010 21:39
Millbank – what happened, and how can we build on it? http://yabastamedia.wordpress.com/2010/11/13/millbank-what-happened-and-how-can-we-build-on-it/
Congratulations. You are using Tor.
14-11-2010 19:48
Book Review: LUGO, EL GRAN FRAUDE
14-11-2010 19:42
Democracy Live? It looks pretty dead to me...
14-11-2010 19:29
Article about a recent House of Lords debate of 8th Nov 2010. Following a question by Baroness Trumpington of the Conservative party asking: "Is any agency responsible the removal of those occupying the pavement in Parliament Square?" , Home Office Minister Baroness Neville-Jones declares the UK government's intention to bring in new legislation to remove the Parliament Square protesters.
House of Lords debate. 8th Nov 2010 Following a question by Baroness Trumpington of the Conservative party asking: "Is any agency responsible the removal of those occupying the pavement in Parliament Square?" , Home Office Minister Baroness Neville-Jones declares the UK government's intention to bring in new legislation to remove the Parliament Square protesters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6ficguPTIY
By Louise Almond 14/11/10
I actually feel nauseous having just watched 7 minutes of a House of Lords debate in which peers refer to the protesters of Parliament Square as 'squatters' and 'litter'. How else is one supposed to feel upon watching the tiny elite of British society - an elite which has facilitated two illegal wars in 9 years, and so is therefore an elite populated by war criminals - chortling and guffawing their way through a discussion of how best to proceed in limiting the right of public protest. At the bottom of the screen we are told that we are viewing 'Democracy - Live', a democracy where those discussing are unelected and those being discussed have no formal right of reply.
If the 'noble' Lords had bothered to seek out an informed opinion in order to balance out the debate, I believe many of those involved with the Parliament Square protests would have raised the following points:
1. Access - The 'honourable' peers seem to feel it is their duty to seek to evict the parliament square protesters on account of the perception that the protest prevents public access to a world heritage site. If access is such a concern, why then does the GLA persist in fencing off the square when, by the admission of the peers, all reconstruction work has been completed? Furthermore, why have none of the several bodies responsible for the management of Parliament Square ensured that their is a safe way to access the site? At present one has to brave three lanes of traffic without the aide of a pedestrian crossing - something which is quite obviously a violation of equality laws as it prevents wheelchair users accessing the square.
2. Current legislation - The peers posit that the issue with current legislation is that each authorised protester is allowed up to 20 more people under their permission. At a guess I imagine such a provision was allowed for under SOCPA in order for the legislation to be compatible with Article 11 of the Human Rights Act, and perhaps also to save the police a logistical nightmare when granting permisssions to protest. The peers feel that this provision is leading to a violation of the acceptable boundaries of peaceful protest? Well let me first suggest their are no boundaries to what is an acceptable level of peaceful protest when citizens are trying to stop a government committing war crimes. Let me secondly suggest that having to apply for police authorisation to protest is a violation of human rights, whether or not the European Courts find it acceptable.
In fact, as someone who recently stayed at Parliament Square, I would argue that the issue is not that current legislation is too liberal, but that the authorities are failing to enforce their current legislation. Whilst Peace Strike and Brian Haw's protest have SOCPA authorisation, there are several inhabitants at the square who have no interest in peaceful protest and behave in ways which are detrimental to the 'legitimate' campaigns. Despite an awareness of this, the powers that be have failed to check the authorisation of those camped out, and so are allowing the very squatting that the honourable peers are so appalled by. That said we must be aware that those camped without authorisation, are a representation of some of the most disenfranchised members of society, whose addictions and 'anti-social' behaviours are a direct result of social inequality, so perhaps their very presence outside the institution that upholds inequity is a legitimate protest.
The authorities' lack of enthusiasm for enforcing their own legislation is not new to Parliament Square. If we rewind to the days of Democracy Village, one may remember that it had no authorisation under SOCPA and so could have been cleared by the police at any time. By the polices' own admission, however, they were told to stand down (an order which stretched to allowing acts of extreme violence to occur unchallenged).
So in the summer we saw the State was unwilling to enforce its own draconain legislation for fear of revealing the lie which is Britain's democracy, choosing instead to quash peaceful protest through the high court so that it can be claimed D.V. was given a fair trial.
Knowing this I guess I should have a stronger stomach, and that it should have come as no surprise to see a house of unelected representatives busying themselves with finding new ways to silence the voice of legitimate dissent. In fact on closer examination it is not a feeling of nausea that I have at watching the clip, it is a fire in my belly - and that fire is one I know is shared by the many people I have met through visiting Parliament Square. It is a fire that will ensure that whatever new legal fictions the dishonourable peers dream up to protect the interests of the international war machine, there will be honourable protesters challenging their every lie and showing that the power of peaceful protest is something that can never be suppressed.
See also:
people's assembly and more fence jumping (25th July) http://london.indymedia.org/articles/5330
Activists stages Westminster Sit-in (9th November) http://london.indymedia.org/articles/5916
Tory Party Demo in Malvern.
14-11-2010 19:22
Protest Friday 19th November at 6.30pm, Malvern College...EDL target Portsmouth mosque
14-11-2010 19:06
Yesterday, around 200 people, among them EDL, angrily protested outside Portsmouth Jami Mosque.
Anticuts protests and public meetings across UK this coming week
14-11-2010 18:48
anticuts.org.ukCarfree Bristol November meeting
14-11-2010 18:23
Carfree Bristol will be meeting again on Wednesday from 7.30pm in the Cornubia. You and any friends are welcome.There will be a short meeting to talk about some of the positive things which have been happening since we last met, and then we want to end the formal business and have a social meeting.
We have made some progress on the ideas we had for the Green Capital Community Challenge Fund. We have some news to update you on one of the ideas, and a decision to make about which of the others to pursue.
We are also making some progress on the feasibility study for carfree developments around Temple Meads, and we have discovered another organisation - the Bristol Civic Society - is interested in joining a campaign to remove traffic from the city centre. Want to hear more?
Hope to see you on Wednesday.
Brighton Hunt Sabs Benefits
14-11-2010 18:19
Upcoming hunt sab benefits at the Cowley Club in Brighton