UK Newswire Archive
Bristol Radical Film Festival promo night: Blood in the Mobile (with the film's director)
02-02-2012 12:55
Bristol Indymedia, in association with the Bristol Radical Film Festival, presents: BLOOD IN THE MOBILE plus director Q+A (tbc)
(Mon 2nd Feb/ 8pm / £4/3 but nobody refused for lack of funds)
We love our cell phones and the selection between different models has never been bigger. But the production of phones has a dark, bloody side.
"A hardhitting documentary that shows us the appalling price paid in Africa to sate our obession for mobile phones." 4/5 stars (Guardian)
The minerals used to produce cell phones come from the mines in Eastern Congo, home to a civil war that human rights organisations claim is the bloodiest conflict since World War II. By buying these so-called conflict minerals and phones we therefore contribute to the financing of this war, which for the last 15 years has claimed the lives of more than 5 million people, and during which 300,000 women have been raped.
Blood in the Mobile shows the connection between our phones and the civil war in the Congo, and exposes the extent to which contemporary technologies are needlessly perpetuating slavery and child labour in the world today. Director Frank Poulson will be introducing his film and taking a Q& A after the screening.
This screening is part of a series of promotional events leading up to the Bristol Radical Film Festival (27th Feb to 4th March), a week of screenings, workshops and debates culminating in a weekend of the best in radical film at The Cube cinema..
| Full article | bristolradicalfilm.org.uk | Festival Facebook Page | Film's website
John Voysey's census case: photos and report from Wrexham Magistrates Court
02-02-2012 12:49
25 supporters gathered at Wrexham Magistrates Court on Wednesday 1 February in solidarity with John Voysey, 82, of Herefordshire who is charged with failing to complete the 2011 Census. John, who registered as a conscientious objector in 1947 while still a schoolboy and later became a Quaker, has refused to complete the 2011 Census on moral grounds because of Lockheed Martin's £150 million contract for processing the census data. The case has now been adjourned until Friday 2 March midday for a pre-hearing and will be heard by a District Judge in recognition of the important legal points raised by the defendant, who is representing himself in court.
ProtectTheWilderness Open letter to Andrew McCartney (Glos County Council Property Oligarch)
02-02-2012 10:55
Egyptians angry at deaths of rebel fans
02-02-2012 07:37
ANGER is growing in Egypt about the state's role in the deaths of almost 80 people at a football match.Bisexual convention (BiCon) comes to Bradford!
02-02-2012 02:55
BiCon comes to Bradford University this August.
BiCon exists as a social gathering, a forum for discussion, and educational space serving the UK bisexual community. The programme of events closes with the BiCon Ball to celebrate the convention's 30th birthday!
Bisexual here is used in the loosest of of terms as an umbrella word encompassing many different identities. The website says that 'bi people, their friends, partners and others with a supportive interest in bisexuality' are all welcome.
You can buy day (from £10) or weekend passes (from £30) and accommodation at the university is available (which will add from £105 upwards to the price of your ticket, covering the whole 4 days).
It's not a cheap event by any means, but there is a sliding scale of costs according to income and some charitable funding that you can apply for.
I think it's very exciting to have something specifically geared towards Bisexual people around these parts, and it has a robust code of conduct to back it up. This is why I can't personally pass up the opportunity to go to my very first BiCon.
Advanced booking to confirm your place (and if you require accomodation) must be completed by Friday 29th June.
Further details are to be found on the website.
Photo attributed to BiCon, taken from http://bicon.org.uk/ , and used under the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike" license.
Call from the Wilderness Forest of Dean Wilderness Centre
01-02-2012 22:19
Two activists jedi'd their way into the meeting, and handing out our "statement of intent" (link below) to the officious types sat around with members of the police, various council officers and advisors in Shire Hall, Gloucester, before being asking to leave -all was very polite, civil and in good humour.
We await their decision, which will dictate our next move.
Non-Census Protest at Wrexham Law Courts
01-02-2012 18:55
John Voysey from Herefordshire appeared at Wrexham Magistrates Court today Wednesday 1 February charged under the Census Act 1920 with failing to complete the 2011 Census.
John has been a conscientious objector since 1947 and is still standing up for his principles today, aged 82, to the point that he will refuse to pay any fine imposed rather than 'become an accessory' to the actions of the arms industry.
Lockheed Martin is the world's largest weapons manufacturer. It jointly runs Aldermaston AWE, makes nuclear weapons, fighter jets, cluster bombs and many other deadly products. It has interrogation contracts at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and is implicated in torture. It has been awarded a £150 million contract for processing the 2011 England and Wales Census data.
NOCONCENSUS SUPPORT NETWORK
A network of census refusers and supporters, organising under the banner 'No CONcensus' has been offering information and solidarity to defendants in census refuser cases, which are being heard all over the country. Many people are being required to travel long distances from their homes to hearings in other towns and cities.
No CONcensus can be contacted at NoCONcensus@yahoo.co.uk
and by phone on 0845 330 4505 or 0709 201 4524.
All images copyright:
© Stillshooter 2012
Occupy Liverpool Reclaim 2nd Building
01-02-2012 17:46
The Abuse of Children In Privately Run Prisons – By John Bowden
01-02-2012 15:29
After more than a decade of unlawful abuse and brutality within child prisons run by private security companies it took the deaths of two young people and the inquests into those deaths to finally expose the sort of violence routinely inflicted on children held in such institutions. A subsequent legal action brought by the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) laid bare completely what had been going on in these places, and on the 11th January the High Court delivered a judgement that was absolutely damning of the privately owned and run “Secure Training Centres” (STC) and the brutality of their regimes.Support the NO TAV arrestees in Italy!
01-02-2012 14:42
More than twenty NO TAV activists were arrested a few days ago all over Italy: more info at
http://italycalling.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/wave-of-arrests-among-the-no-tav-movement/ Have a look below for prisoners' addresses.
New Shift Article Online - Islamism and Nationalism
01-02-2012 11:52
Written by The Wine and Cheese Appreciation Society of Greater London, published February, 2012.This article is a response to debates around religion and politics that we published in issue #11.
This Weekend - Leeds Antifascist Film Festival!
01-02-2012 11:44
Anarchists target fat cat Hester
01-02-2012 07:17
ANARCHISTS are set to invade the country estate of British banker Stephen Hester.Forever Planting (for Peak Oil & Climate Change)
01-02-2012 05:08
Chinese New Year Celebrations @ LakesideArts, Nttm
01-02-2012 00:55
Sunday 29th Janaury 2012
Sunday evening saw the spectacular Chinese New Year Celebrations at the Lakeside Arts Centre, University of Nottingham.
This being the year of the Dragon and was celebrated with an assortment of musical and vibrant dance styles performed to a large crowd in the grounds.
After thestage performance, a splendid fireworks display, launched from the islandin the middle of the lake.
In the Lakeside Gallery building, there is currently a splendid photograhy exhibition of Chinese landscape and portraits by Yuan-Hsiung Wang and Xue Qian. Both capture the rapidly changing nature of the enviroment and the way of life and culture of some of the 56 different ethnic groups who live in China. It is on until the 20 Febrary. Do go and take a peek.
A bigger set of piccys on Flickr at: http://tinyurl.com/7eocgbo
Chinese New Year Celebrations: http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/Chinese-New-Year.html
Brochure PDF: http://tinyurl.com/7a5xcoz
Lakeside Arts Centre: http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk
____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email: tash@indymedia.org
Web: http://digitaljournalist.eu
Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
<ends>
Join solidarity vigil for census refusers, 8 Feb, Bristol
31-01-2012 23:55
Two veteran peace campaigners will be appearing at Bristol Magistrates Court, Marlborough St, Bristol BS1 3NU on Wed 8 February on charges of failing to complete the 2011 Census. Both have a conscientious objection to the contract to process census data being awarded to arms manufacturers Lockheed Martin.There will be a solidarity vigil outside the court from 9am. Please support if you can.