UK Newswire Archive
Super rabble rousing Book Block demo, Rome Nov 30th
01-12-2010 15:11
The amazing symbolic and practical Book Block returns to the streets of Roma and comes up against a blockage - a line of police vans. What to do?UK Foreign Secretary calls for "Pro-American Regime"
01-12-2010 13:13
Hague said whoever enters 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister soon learns of the essential nature of the relationship with America. He added, “we want a pro-American regime. We need it. The world needs it.”Full article | 2 additions | 4 comments
Met Police begin profiling student protests
01-12-2010 12:29
Yesterday’s student demonstration in London ended in a mass arrest of 144 people, being described by protesters and legal groups as an exercise in information gathering by Metropolitan Police.
After being surrounded by moving ‘kettles’ throughout the day, Police forced protesters back to Trafalgar square where at 6.20pm a Kettle was formed around the remaining people followed by their mass arrest for breach of the peace.
Ashley, who was inside the demo last night, said “The police took me from the kettle with another person to be searched and questioned in front of cameras. They told us that if we gave our details we would be released but after giving my name, address and date of birth I was arrested.”
Guide to public order situations
01-12-2010 12:26
With the police getting ever twitchier in these days of austerity, and even resorting now to kettling children on the city streets, here is a guide that is essential reading for all those planning to stand up and say no to the man.
Put the kettle on, and we'll have a party...
01-12-2010 12:25
Despite the snow and cold, and having had lots of exercise during the day, people in the kettle at trafalgar square still have a party!DayX2 Pics and Comments
01-12-2010 12:25
Some pics of the day, and general impressions and musings.
Check out the reports on the occupation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and why this happened.
Get to trafalgar square at about 1pm, and everyone's gone already. Luckily Imc timeline knows where people took off to. But once you lost the protest, there's no way of catching up. For the largest part people are just moving way too fast! Looking for demo, passing down Whitehall. Of course Downing Street must be protested from the electorate.
Some protesters come together at parliament square around 1:30pm, but are not being let off in any direction. A short kettle with about 200 people in it ensues, with some people taking off over the fence. The kettle is opened or broken through and the crowd runs down victoria street. Police aren't keeping up and anyone past their Storm and Stress phase may find the pace a bit challenging as well.
Students Defy Police to Take Streets
01-12-2010 12:25
Thousands of students and austerity cuts protestors took to the streets of London on DayX2 in another national day of action [uk reports]. Refusing to be stopped by hundreds of police officers [1,2] they took their protest mobile, marching miles across the capital city chanting slogans, chased by a police force playing catch up [report + pics]. Later having returned to Trafalgar Square clashes saw one woman knocked unconscious. Mass arrests followed with around 140 people arrested for breach of the peace in an apparent new policing tactic [report + pics].
SEE: Full Account, Pics + Upcoming Demos | Timeline | Tumblewire | Videos [1,2,3,4,5,6] Kings Occupied | Slade Occupied | Cuts Wire | Legal Support 07946541511
Second Lecture - University For Strategic Optimism
29 Dec: No More War, Remember the Dead
01-12-2010 12:21
RADAR boss to team up with Lib-Con government
01-12-2010 12:04
The government is trying to neutralise the disability lobby by giving a paid part-time job to the boss of RADAR.Smash EDO: Noise demo back today!
01-12-2010 11:53
After having taken a week off last week to join the students' demo, we are back outside EDO today as usual.Up, up and away!
01-12-2010 11:29
At the midday, short term kettle at parliament square, some people aren't fazed by police lines and choose to get some exercise and go over the fence, rather than stick around and get cold.
UG#526 - Understanding Economic 'Development' (Black Power & Economic Hitmen)
01-12-2010 11:24
Merseyside United Againts the Cuts March and Rally – Saturday 11th December
01-12-2010 11:19
TIME TO BRING ALL MERSEYSIDE OPPOSITION TO THE TORY CUTS TOGETHER - STUDENTS, WORKERS, SERVICE USERSBoots branch occupied in search for missing 86 million quid
01-12-2010 11:15
Lesbian couple humiliated in Hampshire
01-12-2010 11:14
Lesbian couple humiliated in HampshireRegister office staff unhelpful & obstructive
Legal action now planned by Katie & Colette
Gay marriage ban violates Human Rights Act
‘Equal Love’ campaign seeks gay marriages & straight civil partnerships
UKUncut: Next wave of actions announced
01-12-2010 09:22
UKUNCUT NEXT WAVE OF DIRECT ACTION AGAINST AUSTERITY CUTS
SIR PHILIP GREEN IS NEXT TAX AVOIDANCE TARGET
Day of action this Saturday 4th Dec to include Sir Philip Green beside Vodafone as the focus of public anger
- UKuncut launches 'Big Society Revenue and Customs'
- Announcement comes on the third day of national student action against fees and cuts
UKuncut - the group that recently targeted Vodafone - [1] are today announcing that in addition to Vodafone, Sir Philip Green and his retail empire will be a target for nationwide tax avoidance protests across the christmas period, starting this Saturday.
Sir Philip Green is the boss of Arcadia which is one of the largest fashion empires in the UK, with 2,500 stores across brands that include Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins [2]. Acardia is owned by Taveta Investments Limited, which is registered to a small office on the tax-haven island of Jersey [3].
Sir Philip Green is not however the official owner of Taveta Investments. Instead, the owners are his wife and immediate family, who reside in Monaco [4].
Monaco is of course famous for its 0% income tax. As a result, when Sir Philip Green - the 9th richest man in the UK with wealth estimated at £4.4bn in 2008 [5] - in 2005 made the largest single dividend payout in UK corporate history to his wife of £1.2bn, he avoided paying a reported £285million in tax to the British public purse [6].
Amid criticism from key MPs, Sir Philip Green was also asked by the coalition government this year to advise them on austerity and cuts within the civil service [7].
Daniel Garvin, 26, said "Philip Green is a multi-billionaire tax avoider, and yet is regarded by David Cameron as an appropriate man to advise the government on austerity. His missing millions need to be reclaimed and invested into public services, not into his wife's bank account."
UKuncut are also today launching the 'Big Society Revenue and Customs' (BSRC) [8], following the announcement that HM Revenue and Customs faces thousands of job cuts following a 15% cut in its budget [9].
Commenting on the launch of BSRC, Daniel Garvin said: "David Cameron wants ordinary people in their spare time to carry out vital state run services that have been cut, so this is exactly what we're doing. If HMRC won't chase down tax avoiders, then we will."
The first, in what is expect to be a series of actions against Philip Green and Vodafone by the BSRC across the Christmas period, will take place this Saturday, on high streets across Britain [10].
This follows on from nationwide protests against the communications giant, Vodafone, that resulted in over 30 of its stores being closed by ordinary people who blockaded and picketed its entrances to stop trading [11].
The protests were sparked after the corporation reached a ‘settlement’ on a long standing tax dispute with HMRC earlier this year, following the change in government. Some experts believe the deal meant that Vodafone saved up to £6bn in tax [12]. Rebecca Davies, 32, said: "The cuts will hit the poorest and most vulnerable in our society the hardest are based on ideology, not necessity. There is an alternative."
"the tax gap in the UK is an estimated £120bn [13], £25 billion of this down to tax avoidance by extremely wealthy individuals and big business [14], while the government is barely lifting a finger to stop it." Looking ahead to the weekend she continued, "this Saturday, and across the Christmas period, ordinary people around Britain will stand up to show that we will not let these unnecessary cuts happen without a fight."
Notes to Editor:
[1] Details can be seen on the website http://www.ukuncut.org.uk
[2] http://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/about/index.html Arcadia also own, Burton, Wallis, Evans and Topman.
[3] http://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/about/index.htmlAnd the office in jersey was shown by Channel 4's Dispatches broadcast on Monday 18th October.http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-72/episode-1
[4] http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2004/nov/03/money
[5] The Sunday Times Richlist from 2008: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Rich_List_2008
[6] http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2010/08/13/sir-philip-green-the-wrong-man-to-head-a-review-of-public-spending/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/analysis-the-rich-get-richer-in-poor-old-britain-470417.htmlThis independent article states: when Sir Philip Green paid his divident he financed it by taking out a loan. Although this is a common form of financial engineering in privately owned companies, it had the benefit of cutting Arcadia's corporation tax bill, as the interest charges on the loan could be offset against profits. In this way, wealth was simply being redistributed from taxpayers to Mr Green's family.
[7] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/13/philip-green-eficiency-savingshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/19/philip-green-liberal-democrats-tax
[8] Please see www.ukuncut.org.uk for a full explanation on the thinking behind the BSRC.The BSRC logo is also available to download on the website.
[9]http://www.accountancymagazine.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?channelId=-305535&contentId=1707614&Failed_Reason=No+BVCookie+present+to+retrieve+the+session.&Failed_Page=/jsp/Editorial.do&BV_UseBVCookie=No
[10] UCL Occupation Students yesterday blocked the entrance to TopShop, linking their tax savings to the cuts in education.http://ucloccupation.wordpress.com/
[11] Please see www.ukuncut.org.uk for details
[12] The original investigation was completed by Richard Brookes, a tax inspector, at Private-Eye, but has since been written about by other journalists.http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=in_the_backhttp://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=514832&in_page_id=2http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/14/vodafone-tax-evasion-revenue-customs
[13] Richard Murphy, a long standing and respected campaigner on the issue of tax justice has produced a report stating that £120bn is the tax gap to britain.http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/features/2010/10/there-is-an-alternative/
[14] Richard Murphy, a long standing and respected campaigner on the issue of tax-avoidance has produced a report stating that 25bn is lost to the public purse by tax avoidance. £13bn through individuals. £12bn through large corporations.http://www.tuc.org.uk/touchstone/Missingbillions/1missingbillions.pdf
Direct Action and Civil Disobedience
In the last few weeks, the phrases direct action or civil disobedience have been talked about a lot. The media have treated them like strange foreign terms, reporters have hidden them in scare quotes and TV news anchors have raised a sceptical eyebrow when forced to say them. They like to pretend that civil disobedience is an unfamiliar, sightly wacky, fringe activity engaged in only by ‘dangerous anarchists’ and those they have led astray.
The truth is that direct action is a tactic as old as protest itself - it has been central to virtually every major progressive advance in recent history. At its simplest, direct action just means making change for yourself, rather than asking your political representatives to do it for you. Sometimes this might mean breaking the law, other times it may not.
100 years ago the suffragettes stormed parliament; half a century ago Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus; in the 1980s people dug up sports pitches in protest against South African apartheid. If we are going to win the battle against austerity- and we can win - then strikes, occupations, sit-ins, blockades and tactics that we haven’t even dreamed up yet must be central to our campaigns.
Direct action is about personal empowerment. If you are thinking about coming on Saturday or organising an action yourself, remember that no-one will tell you what to do. There will be no officials in yellow bibs guiding you. You will make decisions for yourself. There will be many ways you can contribute, including handing out leaflets to passers-by, and it is important that you only do what you feel comfortable doing.
However you choose to engage, you will be helping to make corporate tax avoiders pay. See you on the high streets.
New target for Dec 4th day of action is Sir Philip Green
When this government let Vodafone get away with not paying a £6bn tax bill earlier this year they sent a very clear message to UK citizens: we are not all in this together. Ordinary people must accept savage public spending cuts, whilst rich corporations can avoid paying billions and billions in tax.
It was not a one off. This government has slashed jobs at HM Revenue & Customs, making them impotent in the face of corporate tax avoidance. This certainly isn’t a money-saving measure: every pound invested in investigating tax avoidance brings £60 back to the public purse.
There can only be one explanation. David Cameron and his cabinet of millionaires must have decided that collecting tax from the rich is just another one of those pesky features of bloated big government. Like education, libraries, care for the elderly or disabled, creative arts, sports provision and even policing maybe tax collection is just another vital public service that would be best left to volunteers. In this spirit we are forming the Big Society Revenue and Customs (BSRC). Staffed by armies of citizen volunteers we will replace the HMRC and, in our own unique way, make sure that corporate tax avoiders pay.
Already, hundreds of people have hit the high streets in cities across the country to protest against Vodafone’s £6bn tax-dodge. In an incredible display of co-ordinated, spur-of-the-moment action around 30 Vodafone stores were blockaded and forced to close by angry citizens. “If you don’t pay your tax,” they chanted, “we’ll shut you down.”
This Saturday December 4th we will be taking to the high streets once again to escalate our action against Vodafone and take on a brand new tax-dodging target. As announced by the Guardian today, the new target is Britain’s most notorious tax-avoider, Sir Philip Green, and his vast retail empire. We need you!
On this website you will find all the information about both targets, all the resources you need to stage a protest, ideas for creative action, and most importantly the action centre, where you can join or organise you local action.
And if you find a moment to spare, go to the No. 10 website and nominate us for a Big Society Award. We think we’re all going to deserve it.
Get prepared. Get excited. See you on the high streets.
Wikileaks and Imperial Mobilization By Zahir Ebrahim
01-12-2010 07:08
Wikileaks has always been a rather transparent Mighty Wurlitzer ops. It is trivial to see through the absurdity of its existence despite it promoting itself as being a sort of watchdog upon the empire, and therefore, ostensibly, being inimical to its unbridled quest for “full spectrum dominance” – just like Al Jazeera television based in Qatar, which too, absurdly enough, is permitted to function unhindered in the same nation as America's CENTCOM headquarters. Would it not be trivial for an armed to the teeth National Security State to take-out either apparatus rather trivially?The reason each is allowed to function is of course social engineering, the sine qua non for waging modern warfare upon civilian populations by way of deception. It spans the entire gamut of engineering consent, from mantra creation in the mainstream and diabolically controlling dissent in order to control all opposition, to actually fabricating the visible pretexts which can naturally ripen the conditions for the mantra of “clash of civilizations” to be called real before the Western public in order to sustain the otherwise untenable “imperial mobilization”. Zbigniew Brzezinski had most succinctly summed this motivation in his book The Grand Chessboard – American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives: “Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization”.
Bradford Students Day of Action Against Cuts
01-12-2010 04:23
Students take to the streets in Bradford; Trade unionists, pensioners and priests join forces to combat impending attack on education and public services.
X2 30th november student protests (part 1)
01-12-2010 04:22
police forced students to change their plans quickly this afternoon. although organisers had furnished and agreed the route of their march from trafalgar square to parliament, within minutes of the start, police began attempting a kettle of peaceful demonstrators. in response, students changed their plans and ran around central london while police tried to contain them. eventually the focus was back at trafalgar square.
both UCL occupation and NCAFC (national campaign against funding cuts) have released statements condemning police actions at the very start of today's protests.
the original plan was to rally at trafalgar square, and then march to parliament square. police had been informed of this plan and according to the statements, agreement had been reached. however, within minutes of the rally beginning, police moved in to try to kettle the protest in trafalgar square, and not wanting to be held in freezing and wet conditions like the week before, the students quickly escaped and ran through st james' park.
groups split off, and while some arrived in parliament square, they soon saw that the square was like some sort of military zone, and barriers had been erected to keep them well away from parliament, so they headed off for a jaunt round london.
i followed one group through st james park, where i met MP john mcdonnell, who told me he thought indymedia was "brilliant".
the students i was with, made it up to oxford circus, but i heard others went via the mall with some serious skirmishes with police, and past buckingham palace and hyde park. another group of more than a thousand were seen heading along the embankment towards the city.
at oxford circus, several hundred people blocked the junction and danced to samba, but as police arrived and tried to contain the crowd, skirmishes again broke out as students rushed to escape a kettle, and some police lashed out at them. one young man was brutally arrested on regent street by members of the TSG.
by keeping to back streets and splitting up further, this group eventually made it down to trafalgar square which seemed to have become a focal point for the protest after all.
thousands of students stood on nelson's plinth, and milled aound the square, while police built up huge numbers at every road exit and brought central london to a halt.
a well-prepared group of protestors erected a small marquee tent and served hot food, while a sound sytem and a samba band provided music.