UK Newswire Archive
STOP WORKFARE UPDATE – NEW TARGET: WHSMITHS IN BATH!
06-07-2012 13:05
Week of Action already a Success! Major Blow for Government as Holland & Barrett pull out of Workfare!BP F***ing the Future subverts
06-07-2012 12:55
With the Olympics now only three weeks away, protests against Olympic sponsor BP are escalating. Today dozens of BP logos across London were sabotaged, including the UK’s most prestigious billboard site at Cromwell Road. Around the capital, protesters hit petrol stations, BP-sponsored cultural institutions and advertising hoardings, protesting against one of the world’s most environmentally destructive companies being a major sponsor of the London Olympics. Signs were splattered with oil and BP’s tagline ‘Fuelling the Future’ was subvertised with the URL ‘f-ingthefuture.org.uk’.
BP has continuously been slammed for its systematic disregard for the environment, human rights and worker safety, including its failure to clean up after the Gulf of Mexico disaster of 2010, its decision to enter the devastating Canadian tar sands, and its plans to drill for Arctic oil. This criticism has increased dramatically since BP was announced ‘Sustainability Partner’ of the London 2012 games, and today’s protests follow a series of recent actions targeting BP’s Olympic sponsorship:
* On the eve of BP’s AGM in April, protest group CAMSOL posed online as LOCOG and announced BP had been dropped as Sustainability Partner.
* In April, the UK Tar Sands Network nominated BP in the Greenwash Gold campaign as ‘worst Olympic sponsor’.
* Since April, the Reclaim Shakespeare Company has been invading Shakespearean performances across the country to protest against BP’s sponsorship of the Cultural Olympiad.
* Last week, acclaimed actor Mark Rylance spoke out against BP’s sponsorship of the Games, revealing he had questioned his own involvement in the Opening Ceremony.
One of those taking part in the action, Brendan Pierce, said, “BP is paying tens of millions of pounds to clean up its tarnished image, in what could well be the most expensive use of propaganda in history. But with even its own business projections preparing for a six degree temperature rise, BP knows it is damning us to a future of runaway climate change.”
Another activist, Deborah Dudley, said “Reports suggest that BP’s sponsorship of the Olympics has been highly effective at laundering its filthy image, so we’re revealing the dirt behind the glossy branding. I’m proud to be taking direct action as part of a worldwide movement for climate justice. I encourage others to get involved.”
A website, f-ingthefuture.org.uk, shows pictures of the action and outlines the problems with BP’s sponsorship of the Olympics.
For more information, interviews and high-resolution photos, email: f.ingthefuture@gmail.com
What the website says:
-------------------------------------------
Why shouldn’t BP sponsor the Olympics?
BP’s green logo is plastered all over the Olympics. The company is ‘Official Fuel and Gas Provider’ and also sponsor of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival.
Worst of all BP is ‘Sustainability Partner’. That’s right, the organisers of the Olympics have decided to allow BP, one of the dirtiest companies on earth, the opportunity to rebrand itself as socially responsible and take an active role in proposing how society should approach climate change.
Do you remember images of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s deep-sea Macondo well back in 2010, coating the ocean and its inhabitants? Have you heard of BP’s plans in the tar sands, the world’s second largest oil deposits after Saudi Arabia, that can only be extracted by using four times as much greenhouse gas and have been labelled the most destructive project on earth? Have you heard about BP’s deals to extract oil from the depths of the pristine Arctic, despite the potential risk of a catastrophic spill even harder to clean up than the Gulf?
Do you think BP has earned the right to be ‘Sustainability Partner’ to the London 2012 Olympics?
Does BP have the right to have any association whatsoever with the Games, whose founding statement speaks of ‘universal fundamental ethical principles’, whose 2011 Charter declares that the Games should be ‘promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity’, and require ‘mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play’?
Do you think oil and sport shouldn’t mix?
Do you sometimes have the feeling that wherever you turn these days, advertising has intruded a little further, uninvited, into your personal space?
BP is a corporation that feeds off injustice and the destruction of the natural world that we and countless other species rely on. That destruction comes most threateningly from the current brutal destabilisation of the world’s climate.
BP is deeply embedded in British society – our energy, our pensions, our investments, our culture… It pumps serious money and effort into keeping things this way. Marketing works. Shiny advertisements around the capital do change the way people perceive a company. By sponsoring activities like the Cultural Olympiad, the London 2012 Festival, the World Shakespeare Festival and the Games themselves, BP is able to continue its catastrophic, though increasingly profitable, operations. That’s why we had to act.
Remember, if you see any ‘improved’ BP advertisements, please take a photo and email them to f.ingthefuture@gmail.com – and don’t worry, we won’t assume that you have any responsibility for them!
Here are a few more things you can do:
- Take action for climate justice! See Rising Tide UK and Climate Justice Collective for ways to get involved.
- Learn more about BP’s enormous environmental and human rights atrocities. Start with tar sands.
- Move your money away from banks and other institutions who will lend it to fossil fuel-based projects
- Harness your creativity to a more caring, conscious future, possibly by contributing to Art Not Oil‘s ‘Cutural or Vultural 2012?’ gallery.
- Be part of a movement for real, deep, positive and lasting social and ecological change: http://www.occupyuk.info, http://occupylsx.org
- Cut your carbon! Cut out short-haul flights, minimize car use, minimize your meat consumption, insulate your house. There are plenty of things you can do…but whatever you do, try to challenge the overarching mindset and system that’s allowng this insanity to happen!
(NB. These links are not connected to us, we just like ‘em!)
7 July: Join Queer Friends of Bradley Manning at World Pride event, London
06-07-2012 12:48
Welfare & Benefits Conference in Birmingham – Tues 10th July
06-07-2012 10:03
http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=1192 , about welfare reforms, workfare, the attacks on our benefits system and building claimants support, advice and campaigning networks. This will be held at the Unite the Union Building, Transport House, 211 Broad Street, B15 2AY. The building is wheelchair accessible, and children are welcome though a creche facility is not available.
BP Brand Piracy Action
06-07-2012 09:41
Brighton protests against workfare as part of the week of action
06-07-2012 09:20
Brighton actions during the the national week of action against workfare called by the Boycott Workfare network.Students strike at NCN High Pavement
06-07-2012 08:55
Over 100 students refused to go to lessons and staged a protest outside the New College Nottingham High Pavement campus this morning. Students are angry about plans to concentrate students at the campus and radically alter student timetables next academic year, as well as claiming that they have been excluded from the decision making process.
Newswire: NCN strike: Interview with a student | Student strike at NCN High Pavement | NCN High Pavement students plan boycott
The protest started before 9am and was enthusiastically supported by staff, who were unable to strike but made their appreciation clear. Students were vocal with chants of "Give staff a voice!" and "No more Amarjit!" in reference to the college's Principal and Chief Executive Officer, Amarjit Basi, who is behind the proposed changes. The students lined the entire pavement in front of the building and waved banners proclaiming "No Change Needed", "College not business", "We aren't ca$h cows!" and "Excellence, Employability, Entrepreneurship. Where's Education?"
Principal, Amarjit Basi, came out to speak to the protesters soon after 9am but looked very uncomfortable as anger about his alleged lack of engagement with students was voiced. "You've totally ignored us, you've gone behind our back, and you've left it till the last minute to let anyone know", a student challenging him to loud applause, "I do not want to be at a college that doesn't listen to me." Students claimed that staff had been threatened with disciplinary procedures if they supported the protests. One student told Basi "You've blackmailed them because they can't support us."
Apparently, many students who rely on the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) had had to cross the picket line otherwise their payments for the week would have been voided. Otherwise the picket might have been much bigger.
Staff gave applause to the students (and were applauded in turn) and brought out solidarity drinks and food for the students including several pizzas, a tray of flapjacks and packets of ice lollies! Lots of cars and vans going down Chaucer Street gave honks of support.
At one point a passing police car pulled over and an officer came over to see what was going on, had a bit of a chat with some of the senior managers and obviously decided it didn't merit any further attention so headed off.
I spoke with one of the students about the protest and he told me that "We tried to put our point of view across [about the changes] but we haven't been listened to whatsoever. So what we're trying to do today is prove our point, to show that we aren't just people who are going to take whatever they throw at us. We're going to stand up for what we believe in and we've got a very good point of view and we should be listened to. That's what we're trying to do today, to get our voice heard and to get involved in the decision making process".
He mentioned that the Principal has infrequently come in to speak to vocal students individually, in small rooms, in what he saw as an attempt to silence dissent. "If you try and communicate with him he just cuts you up and carries on". They have attempted dialogue in the form of a letter to the Principal as well but felt that it was ignored.
"We have made it very clear to [the management] that we are prepared to take further action if we aren't listened to", he continued,"and if in the future we aren't involved in the decision making process. We want to rectify a fundamentally flawed system and get involved." The College's communication had "not been open and honest" and had been limited to meetings announced only an hour or so before they were due to begin. He speculated that next time they take action they could have the support of a whole new year's intake of students who have not been told about the changes that will be in place by the time they start.
Asturias-Leon (Spanish State)... New Clashes Between Miners And Riot Police.
05-07-2012 21:06
As the so-called "Black March", organised by miners and supporters from the main Iberian mining areas (Asturias, Leon and Aragon) approaches the capital Madrid, new clashes are taking place in the Asturian mining pits of Lieres and Soton...Venezuela: Interview with Rafael Uzcátegui
05-07-2012 19:28
Champion Vegan, Vegetarian, and Fruitarian Athletes
05-07-2012 19:27
Since the Telegraph, the US' National "Public" Radio, and Yahoo Sports on July 5th chose to make criticize vegan and vegetarian athletes and to publicize critics of a Chinese athlete ban on meat, here is a record of a tiny fraction of the world champion vegan and vegetarian athletes. That same day, NPR, owner of 200 million dollars in fast food stock correlated to human disease, animal agony, global heating, energy waste, and famine, chose to promote fish suffocation and strangulation twice.
NCN strike: Interview with a student
05-07-2012 16:55
Here's the full audio of an interview with a striking NCN student outside the High Pavement campus this morning.
See the main article for more details: Student strike at NCN High Pavement
Full article | 1 addition | 1 comment
4 July at Menwith Hill: Independence FROM America Day. Photo report
05-07-2012 16:42
4th July saw the annual Independence FROM America demonstration at the US base at Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire, organised by CAAB: the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases. We hear a lot about US occupations of other countries, but little about the military occupation of Britain by the US. The base at Menwith Hill, run by America's National Security Agency (NSA), is a very important intelligence gathering and surveillance base, occupied and controlled by the American military and their agencies. The base has the ability to listen in to all our phone calls and intercept emails, as well as several other concerning roles including US 'Missile Defense' (read 'Offense') and intelligence-led warfare.
Student strike at NCN High Pavement
05-07-2012 12:55
Over 100 students refused to go to lessons and staged a protest outside the New College Nottingham High Pavement campus this morning. Students are angry about plans to concentrate students at the campus and radically alter student timetables next academic year, as well as a feeling that they have been excluded from the decision making process.
The protest started before 9am and was enthusiastically supported by staff, who were unable to strike but made their appreciation clear. Students were vocal with chants of "Give staff a voice!" and "No more Amarjit!" in reference to the college's Principal and Chief Executive Officer, Amarjit Basi, who is behind the proposed changes. The students lined the entire pavement in front of the building and waved banners proclaiming "No Change Needed", "College not business", "We aren't ca$h cows!" and "Excellence, Employability, Entrepreneurship. Where's Education?"
Principal, Amarjit Basi, came out to speak to the protesters soon after 9am but looked very uncomfortable as anger about his alleged lack of engagement with students was voiced. "You've totally ignored us, you've gone behind our back, and you've left it till the last minute to let anyone know", a student challenging him to loud applause, "I do not want to be at a college that doesn't listen to me." Students claimed that staff had been threatened with disciplinary procedures if they supported the protests. One student told Basi "You've blackmailed them because they can't support us."
Apparently, many students who rely on the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) had had to cross the picket line otherwise their payments for the week would have been voided. Otherwise the picket might have been much bigger.
Staff gave applause to the students (and were applauded in turn) and brought out solidarity drinks and food for the students including several pizzas, a tray of flapjacks and packets of ice lollies! Lots of cars and vans going down Chaucer Street gave honks of support.
At one point a passing police car pulled over and an officer came over to see what was going on, had a bit of a chat with some of the senior managers and obviously decided it didn't merit any further attention so headed off.
I spoke with one of the students about the protest and he told me that "We tried to put our point of view across [about the changes] but we haven't been listened to whatsoever. So what we're trying to do today is prove our point, to show that we aren't just people who are going to take whatever they throw at us. We're going to stand up for what we believe in and we've got a very good point of view and we should be listened to. That's what we're trying to do today, to get our voice heard and to get involved in the decision making process".
He mentioned that the Principal has infrequently come in to speak to vocal students individually, in small rooms, in what he saw as an attempt to silence dissent. "If you try and communicate with him he just cuts you up and carries on". They have attempted dialogue in the form of a letter to the Principal as well but felt that it was ignored.
"We have made it very clear to [the management] that we are prepared to take further action if we aren't listened to", he continued,"and if in the future we aren't involved in the decision making process. We want to rectify a fundamentally flawed system and get involved." The College's communication had "not been open and honest" and had been limited to meetings announced only an hour or so before they were due to begin. He speculated that next time they take action they could have the support of a whole new year's intake of students who have not been told about the changes that will be in place by the time they start.
Free Software Clinic at the Cowley Club, Brighton
04-07-2012 21:26
The Cowley Club library is offering free training on installing and using free software. Come along to learn about the wonders of free software and how to protect your privacy and anonymity online.Smash EDO anti semitic libel: Tory Story II
04-07-2012 18:57
In response to our earlier story B&H Tories rushed out a statement written by Graham Cox, chairman of the local Conservatives and co-incidentally one-time head of Brighton CID. Unfortunately it didn't shed much light on the issue - so here's what we said in return...Never Plead Guilty! - Activists Found Not Guilty
04-07-2012 18:05
Three activists were found not guilty in court because the police witnesses didn't turn up!