UK Newswire Archive
Nottm Animal Rights - demos, fundraising & more
18-11-2011 22:55
National Anti-Fur Week Demos, Hunt Sab Fundraising, Greyhound Action, and more
If you missed last Thursday's fortnightly planning meeting you'll have missed that Animal Aid have a day of action about Victims of Charity. Whilst the national initiative is on Saturday, Nottm campaigners were out on Friday highlighing vivisection conducted or funded by High Street names such as Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, the Alzheimer's Society and Parkinson's UK.
Not only is animal research harmful to animals, it is also potentially harmful to people. Animals do not get the same diseases as we do, and different species react very differently to drugs and procedures. Drugs that are shown to be safe in animals have often later proved to be dangerous in humans, while valuable cures and treatments can be missed if they fail in animal tests.
Read all about it at http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/experiments//2503//
Future campaigning
Saturday 19th : National Anti-Fur Week begins
http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=1584
Demo at Paul Smith, Low Pavement at 1pm and Flannels , 34/36 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottm NG1 2GQ from 2pm.
Also on Wednesday 23rd: Paul Smith from 4pm, followed by Flannels from 5pm.
Also this Saturday 19th - Hunt Sabs Benefit at Sumac Centre.
Entry and food by donation, beginning with People's kitchen from 6:30pm.
Followed by entertainment until midnight with...
Powered By Tofu (singer songwighter); MC Promo; Sharie Anne; Martin the Livewire
http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=1504
Sunday 20th: Hunt Sabs Jumble Sale from 11.30am at the Sumac Centre.
Jumble could be brought to the Benefit the night before.
Friday 25th - Greyhound Racing demo
6:30 at Colwick Track
http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=1535
There is to be a NEW VENUE for the next meeting on Thursday 1st December
7.30pm at The Navigation, Wilford Street, Nottm NG21AA
(Details at http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=112)
Before the meeting there will be a McDemo at 6:30 at McDonalds, Clumber St
Nottingham Animal Rights is part of the Midlands Animal Rights Coalition. To find details of active groups in other Midlands towns and cities see http://midlandsarc.org/
Leeds PSC on Council’s Selection of Veolia
18-11-2011 22:55
Leeds PSC Statement on Council’s Selection of Veolia for Incinerator Contract
Leeds Palestine Solidarity Campaign (Leeds PSC) expresses its profound disappointment at the decision of Leeds City Council officers to recommend to Councillors the selection of Veolia as preferred bidder for the city’s incinerator (Residual Waste Project), with the council’s executive board expected to rubber-stamp their selection at a meeting on 2nd November (Ref 1).
Leeds PSC supporters have campaigned throughout 2011 objecting to the inclusion of Veolia as one of the 2 bidders.
By providing services to illegal settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Veolia is considered complicit around the globe in the many and ongoing grave breaches of international and human rights law committed by the state of Israel. Specifically, Veolia is involved in the development of a tramway line in illegally Occupied East Jerusalem, linking illegal settlements in the OPT.
Leeds PSC has communicated several times with the council’s procurement unit, council leaders and member of the executive board notably Counsellor Mark Dobson, executive member for environmental services with information about Veolia’s complicity in Israel’s violations of international and human rights law.
We believe Leeds City Council and others are bound by the 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice that‘All States are under an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation…’
Leeds City Council appears ignorant of many key facts presented on Veolia’s crimes in the OPT. For example, one of the council’s responses is that Veolia’s subsidiary in Israel is a separate legal entity to Veolia’s UK subsidiary, even though both companies are owned by Veolia Environnment, a French multi-national corporation.
In taking this decision Leeds City Council can stand accused of ignoring its tax payers concerns , based on Palestinian Civil Society’s clear call for people of conscience to act against profiteering complicit companies such as Veolia.
Recent reports show Veolia is in financial crisis and plan to stop operation in 37 countries (ref 5). Boycott & Divestment actions have had a clear effect on Veolia, which has lost several high profile contracts in the UK and it’s chief financial officer has been quoted as admitting its municipal services are suffering a downturn in some countries “in particular with pressure on the downside, namely in the UK where things are rather difficult.” (Ref 6)
The council has also cited fear of potential legal action from Veolia as one of the reason for not excluding it. However awarding the contract to Veolia also risks the city in potential legal action from human rights campaigners. A recent report by Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights group, states “Al-Haq has instructed Van den Biesen Boesveld advocates, Amsterdam, to submit a formal objection against the decision of Stadsregio Arnhem Nijmegen, a Dutch local authority, to award a one billion Euro public transport concession to Hermes, the Dutch subsidiary of French multinational company VeoliaTransdev. The objection is based on Veolia’s involvement in Israel’s violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).” (Ref 4)
We thus urge residents of Leeds to write, call, and meet with Leeds City Councillors to insist they follow other UK councils and exclude Veolia from the incinerator contract on the grounds of their clear grave misconduct.
ENDS
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Secretary of Leeds Palestine Solidarity Campaign (www.leedspsc.org.uk )
E-mail: info (at) leedspsc.org.uk
NOTES:
- Leeds Palestine Solidarity Campaign is affiliated to the national PSC and aims to raise public awareness about the occupation of Palestine by Israel and the struggle of the Palestinian people against the injustice of Israeli apartheid. PSC seek to bring pressure on governments and others to act, to bring about an end to Israel’s violations of international law. PSC is an independent, non-governmental and non-party political organisation with volunteering members from communities across the UK. We oppose all racism including anti-semitism and islamophobia. http://www.leedspsc.org.uk/?page_id=317
- The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) is a coalition of Palestinian civil society groups. It was formed as the Palestinian reference point in the broad campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), which resulted in the July 2005 Palestinian Call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, with the initial endorsement of over 170 Palestinian organizations.http://www.bdsmovement.net/BNC
- The Jerusalem Light Rail tramway that Veolia is involved in building and operating is explicitly designed to cement Israel’s grip on illegal West Bank settlements and tie them more firmly into the state of Israel. Veolia also operates other settlement infrastructure projects: It runs bus services for Israeli settlers on settler-only roads linking the settlements with Israel. These roads have decimated Palestinian towns and villages by stealing their land for construction and cutting them off from each other. Through its subsidiary TMM, Veolia also collects refuse from illegal settlements and buries it at the illegal Tovlan landfill site in the occupied Jordan Valley. For more background:http://www.bdsmovement.net/activecamps/veoliaalstom
REFERENCES:
1.12 October 2011 http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/central-leeds/leeds_550m_city_incinerator_plan_a_step_closer_updated_1_3860174
2.20 October 2011 http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/central-leeds/leeds_incinerator_plan_feeling_the_heat_1_3887736
3.24 October 2011 http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/central-leeds/leeds_incinerator_scheme_under_fire_1_3900712
4.OPT based Human Rights organisation Al-Haq submitted formal objection to €1bn public contract award to Hermes, linked to Veolia http://www.alhaq.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=473:al-haq-submits-formal-objection-to-1bn-public-contract-to-hermes&catid=72:other-cases
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Haq is an affiliate to Geneva based International Committee of Jurists, the equivalent of Israel’s Btselem*
8.http://www.inminds.com/article.php?id=10479 – Dump Veolia Protest at the Natural History Museum London 23/10
9. http://www.urbanmines.org.uk/?i=3541&s=1111 How decision was reported within the industry
Slowly slowly falling apart any illusion of democracy or the real face of civil justice
18-11-2011 22:49
Slowly slowly falling apart any illusion of democracyor
the real face of civil justice.
National Day of Action – 23 Nov – Defend Education, Fight Privatisation!
18-11-2011 22:46
Location: Your college, your school, your university
Following the national demonstration in London on 9 November, the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts is organising a national Day of Action on 23 November to keep the movement mobilised and step up the pressure.
STRIKE on 30th November!
18-11-2011 20:55
Strike to defend pensions on 30th November
Our public sector workers strike on 30th November is growing, and some say will involve more workers than any action since the 1926 General Strike. Schools and health services, as well as central and local government, will see workers defying their bosses in defence of pension rights, and the wider attack on public services.
The first union to ballot its members was the NUT in the summer. Their vote is still valid and they will be out on 30th. More recently the biggest union Unison balloted 1.1 million members, with 78% of those voting in favour. Over the last few days the GMB and Unite have also announced that their members have voted four-to-one in favour of a strike. This follows the building workers union UCATT who voted with an 83% majority. Today the NASUWT have announced 82% in favour, and there are many smaller less well known unions that are also striking.
Public sector workers are standing up to the ConDem government, who are trying to make them pay for the bailout of their friends the bankers, and the mess they have made. Most public sector pensions schemes have already been overhauled in recent years, and are sustainable. Don't believe the lies the government peddle, or their New Labour stooge Lord Hutton. The NHS pension scheme for example, after being overhauled in 2008, will earn 2 billion surplus each year for the government over the next 5 years. The Local Government pension scheme is also flush. The teachers pension was renegotiated in 2007, and put on a good footing. The government refuse now to say how much it is worth. The changes the government wants to make – raising workers contributions by half as much again, and making us work until we're 68 – are just ways of making more cash for the treasury.
And the government aren't playing fair (like they ever do!) A pension of all things is a long term commitment, and you can't be re-designing the whole damn thing every 3 years. The proper negotiations weren't had when the government proposed these changes. Nor were they when they unilaterally imposed the change from Retail Price Index inflation-proofing to Consumer Price Index. This much lower measure of inflation is now being challenged in the courts by Unison.
Public sector pensions are not gold plated as the media sometimes claims. The average public service pension is £7,800. I myself am a nurse, and went into nursing when I was 20. I'm 40 now. My pension forecast used to say I would get about £10,000 a year, plus a lump sum of around £12,000, when I retired at 60. Okay that's enough to live on, but its not exactly luxury. And thats after 40 years hard work. But now of course I my retirement age is being raised anyway.....
There will be a rally on the Forest recreation ground from 10.30 on the strike day, then marching into town down Mansfield Road at 11.30. It will pass through market Square before heading up to a rally at the Albert Hall, and in the square outside (beside the Playhouse theatre).
Some workers in essential (life and limb) services are being exempted from strike action by prior arrangement – our fight is with the government not with patients and service users. Many of these workers are donating that day's pay to a hardship fund. We want to defend public services for the benefit of everyone. Although the issue at hand is pensions, this is really just the straw that broke the camels back. As we saw when half a million or more people took to the streets of London in March, the bigger issue here is the continued existence of decent public services. Public bodies not private companies should run our health education and social services, and not be subject to the Tories slash and burn, their sell it off and make a dollar mentality. And we will not pay for their crisis! Tax the rich – the buddies of the 23 out of 29 cabinet ministers who are millionaires. They fucked the economy up, not us.
If you work in public services then STRIKE on 30th November! Join a union if you aren't already a member – new members will still be protected to take action.
Spread the word. Messages of support (or flasks of tea!) will be greatly received at picket lines at all major public buildings. Join the march from the Forest! Make a noise!
We won't pay for their mess!
Occupy London ‘repossesses’ multi-million pound bank offices
18-11-2011 18:34
Main story on demotix
http://www.demotix.com/news/930660/occupy-london-repossesses-multi-million-pound-bank-offices
Support the striking electricians Saturday 19th November Glasgow
18-11-2011 18:18
Support the striking electriciansSaturday 19th November
Canada Fur Trade In Numbers.. Including Those Caught In Steel Jaw Leghold Traps
18-11-2011 18:14
Canada still allows the brutal steel jaw leghold trap... and allows the murder ofseals,
badger, bear, beaver, cougar, coyote, ermine, fisher,
fox, lyns, marten, mink, muskrat, otter, rabbit, raccoons, skunk, squirrel,
bobcat, wolf, wolverine. Numbers DO NOT include harp seals on Canada's east
coast, or other seal products; Note that provinces and territories vary
enormously in size and amount of suitable habitat).
UG#576 - Is 5000 Years Enough? (Debt, Morality & Fiat Currency)
18-11-2011 18:06
UG#577 - Money = Debt = War (The Rothschild Formula and The Myth of Barter)
18-11-2011 18:02
This Week in Palestine week 46 2011
18-11-2011 17:03
N30 List of Pickets, Demonstrations and Rallies
18-11-2011 14:09
Monsanto, Bayer and Dow face trial for 'systematic human rights abuses'
18-11-2011 13:01
Permanent Peoples' Tribunal accuses biotech giants Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont and BASF of promoting dangerous pesticides including endosulfan, paraquat and neonicotinoids.
Occupy London ‘repossesses’ multi-million pound bank offices
18-11-2011 13:01
- New ‘Bank of Ideas’ open to public this Saturday. Offices and meeting rooms will be available for those that have lost their nurseries, community centres and youth clubs due to savage Government spending cuts
Occupy London has taken over a huge abandoned office block in the borough of Hackney belonging to the investment bank UBS in a move it describes as a ‘public repossession.’ [1]
Overnight on Thursday, a dozen activists from the Occupy London, campaigners for social and economic justice as part of the global fight for real democracy, gained access to the building and secured it, giving them a legal claim on the space.
Let’s Not Forget the UK Antifascist Prisoners
18-11-2011 12:42
Occupy Movement: where next?
18-11-2011 11:48
Now is a critical time for 'Occupy', as repressive forces bear down on them. This article puts out a few ideas to help us regroup, in order to carry the struggle forward.The Coming War on the Occupy Movement
18-11-2011 11:43
November 17, 2011As I begin to write this, Occupy Oakland circulates in a by-now familiar pattern: forced from the camp at the break of day, the occupiers reconvened as they have done before on the steps of the Public Library. Later, they will attempt to close a repeating circuit that stretches a short six blocks along 14th Street between City Hall and the Library.
This circuit, moreover, is one which draws its familiarity not only from recent weeks, but also from the early moments of what is a single cycle of struggle spanning years: it was down 14th Street that Oakland Police pursued us during the first rebellion, on January 7th of 2009, that greeted the murder of Oscar Grant. And it was in front of the same Public Library that I crouched behind a bush as an armored personnel carrier sped past, only to sprint off as heavily-clad militarized police-troops dismounted to chase myself and others on foot.
It has become all too apparent that the Occupy Movement is under attack, and that even my title is wholly insufficient: this war is not “coming,” this war has already begun.
An open letter to social justice activists, from an anti-psychiatry campaigner
18-11-2011 11:27
Not enough is being done to challenge the prejudice and exclusion of people labelled by the state as having "mental disorders" This issue affects all of us; it's time to get informed.The Stand Comedy Club Shows Support for STUC Industrial Action
18-11-2011 10:55
THE STAND COMEDY CLUB – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMEDY CLUB SHOWS SUPPORT FOR STUC INDUSTRIAL ACTION