Skip to content or view screen version

UK Newswire Archive

Full article

Riseup Rebel Radio: October the 4th session.

08-10-2011 10:55

Radio for the great unwashed!

Alternative news to the mainstream.

Full article | 4 comments

TUC March for the Alternative Manchester Oct 2011

08-10-2011 03:26

Salford against the cuts Banner
They may have come in their thousands to tell the coalition government "cuts are not the cure".
Unfortunately they were met by Dr TUC’s quack medicine wagon and patented Labour party elixir

Full article

20 new HLS suppliers leaked!

07-10-2011 19:33

20 new US / UK HLS suppliers have been leaked and published by SHAC.

Full article

Blockade on tenth anniversary of Afghan war

07-10-2011 16:55

Members of the London Catholic Worker movement blockaded Downing Street today on the tenth anniversary of the start of the Afghan war. Red paint was spilt on the ground symbolizing the blood that has been spilt during the conflict; banners were held; names of the dead were read out.

Today marks ten years of tragedy. We - the US, the UK, and our allies - have spent ten years bombing, shooting, killing people in Afghanistan. A war that started a mere 26 days after the horror of 9/11 carries on to this day.

A group from the London Catholic Workers gathered this morning at the seat of power - Downing Street - to call again for the war to stop. We split red paint on the ground to remind us of all the blood spilt during the conflict; and we read out the names of some of the dead. May they never be forgotten.

We also blockaded the entrance to Downing Street - to at least create an inconvenience for the machine of power that drives this war. And we called on those passing by to join us, to wake up from their stupor and see this war for what it is.

For there's a numbness which has descended on the British population with regards to Afghanistan. We don't talk about it, we don't curse it, very few of us organise against it. Unlike the war on Iraq which was routinely pilloried and condemned, Afghanistan just keeps going and going and going, while we look away.

And yet it's a tragedy on the scale of Iraq, and with as little point. As I write there have been 2676 Coalition deaths through the duration of the American-led war (first called Operation Infinite Justiceand now Operation Enduring Freedom), also including the NATO operation known as theInternational Security Assistance Force. What is more the trend is ever upwards - pretty much every year is worse than those that came before it, with 2010 the worst so far. Who knows how 2011 will end?

Calculating casualties on the Afghan side (civilian and military) is a whole lot harder of course. People who do counts on these things generally preface all their numbers with the caveat that they are probably underestimating. The main source of the figures that follow, Prof. Marc Herold, has described the figures he came up with as an absolute minimum and probably a vast underestimate.

And yet the numbers are still appalling: 6000-9000 civilians killed directly (violently) by the Coalition, roughly the same number killed directly by the other side. A further 3000 - 20000 (that's quite a range) dead as an indirect result of the conflict. By any measure this is a momentous tragedy. Now imagine scaling it up to account for all the dead that no one counted. And then add in the untold numbers of Afghans and others who died fighting the coalition invasion; we call them the bad guys but they still bleed red.


We should also note that the same upward trend applies to these figures too: every year is worse than the last. In 2010, for instance, Marc Herold's ``vast underestimate" is that some 2777 Afghan civilians were killed, a jump of 15% over the previous year. We hear in the news that progress is being made in Afghanistan but how can this be, when every year is worse than the last?

The numbers are appalling, but they're still only numbers. Do they measure how bad a war has to get before we think we should end it? What's the maximum number of casualties that we can collectively stomach? How many mothers and fathers need to wake up screaming each morning before it's no longer OK to keep killing their children?

What the hell are we doing in Afghanistan? What hell are we making there?

Full article | 2 comments

Policing public order - the manual

07-10-2011 16:14

I've been told the attached is the handbook for policing public order (i.e. the manual for riot cops). I can't guarantee it's genuine, but seems realistic enough.

Full article | 1 addition | 8 comments

Bury the Dead, Heal the Wounded, End the War

07-10-2011 12:58

6 peace activists arrested outside Downing St on 10th Anniversary of the Afghanistan War.

Full article | 1 addition | 2 comments

Free coach to UK Uncut Block the Bridge

07-10-2011 11:34

UK Uncut have called for mass civil disobedience in protest at the Health and Social Care Bill that threatens to destroy the NHS, by blocking Westminster Bridge on Sunday 9th October.
There will be a free coach running from Birmingham, contact kerryliz at live co uk to book a space
coach meet at 8:30am, Carrs Lane Church, near Moor Street Train Station

Full article

Dale Farm: Get Ready To Resist: skills and mischief at Camp Constant this weekend

07-10-2011 10:54

Latest court date for a decision on whether or not a judicial review will be held is set for Wednesday. The result could go either way and the threat of eviction is still very real. This weekend at Dale Farm we are holding two days of workshops and activities. This is a great time to come to Dale Farm and get a feeling for the current situation here and at the high court, share skills and learn some new ones and prepare us all better for possible eviction.

Full article

#rebelliousMC book a space for a meeting

07-10-2011 10:46

The interactive section of the Rebellious Media Conference website is for anyone who is passionate about radical media.  http://live.rebelliousmediaconference.org

Full article | 1 comment

Drugs, greyhounds and self-regulation

07-10-2011 09:50

Where greyhounds are used as a betting medium the misuse of drugs on the dogs is inevitable.

Full article | 1 comment

Voices from #OccupyWallStreet

07-10-2011 07:54

Julian

While the slant of corporate media coverage of the Wall Street Occupation has focused on the general motivations behind the movement, often missed are the variety of personal perspectives, backgrounds and desires that brought this protest-city together. Here are some of the many voices that have combined their efforts to bring New York City the Wall Street live-in protest.

Full article

Local police forces are now little armies. Why?

07-10-2011 07:31

Manning Protest at Quantico PHOTO: Ellen Davidson
More and more, in dealing with nonviolent political protesters police across America show up in battlefield dress with intimidating military gear supplied by the Pentagon and Homeland Security. Writer John Hanrahan says reporters, instead of ignoring this ominous development, should ask local, regional and national leaders: Do we need this crap?

Full article | 1 addition | 13 comments

Open Letter from TPTG

06-10-2011 20:43

Open Letter to the British internationalist/anti-authoritarian/activist/protest/street scenes (and to all those concerned with the progress of our enemies)

Full article

The Wrong Kind of Riot

06-10-2011 20:13

Audio The Wrong Kind of Riot
Sheffield anarchobass label serves up it two penneth on the UK summer of rage...


Full article

Abrupt Climate Change - Has Is Started?

06-10-2011 19:19

Audio
Sure it was great at the beach in October. BUT science shows the climate can shift as much as 4 degrees C in less than a decade, with violent weather. Has this already begun? Learn about abrupt climate change, and what we might do to survive it, from Dr. Alder Stone Fuller, in this two part Radio Ecoshock interview.

Full article

European Bank Fantasy - Ilargi

06-10-2011 19:09

Audio
Debt can never solve more debt! Popular financial writer "Ilargi" from The Automatic Earth on the European banking mess - and the blowback to America.

Full article | 3 comments

Occupy Britain - Join the 99% for positive change

06-10-2011 18:33

For anyone who is not familiar with this movement or the events taking place all over the world, we would like to try and provide an introduction….

Here are a number of reasons why one might feel compelled to get involved in the Occupy Britain movement.

In 2008 the global recession was felt worldwide, and although the media reported ‘recovery’ there has not actually been one, in fact, what has held off the, what appears to be an inevitable global financial collapse thus far, is a process called ‘quantitive easing’ and the selling off of national institutions, such as the NHS, with job losses, redundancies, cuts to vital services, school closures, unreasonable welfare reforms, increase in the cost of living, banking institutions requiring bail outs, and the tax payer footing the bill and paying for the mistakes of others.

People are now recognising that there is a split in fairness and equality, we see bankers bonuses increasing, media tycoons controlling and withholding information that they should be reporting, in the public interest, systemic corruption of our police force, politicians and quite possibly our prime ministers, the introduction of, an ever increasing amount of legislation and statutes to further restrict our ability to speak out against them.