UK Newswire Archive
Free John Bowden Stickers
02-10-2012 08:39
George Galloway to sue the NUS - Analysis
02-10-2012 07:07
George Galloway to sue the NUS - claims against Galloway need to be understood in their political context.In South Africa, miners fight on, in the face of the bourgeois bullets
02-10-2012 06:45
The three thousand rock drillers of the Lomnin mine in Marikana, South Africa, with their indefinite wildcat strike for an increase in wages, have written, with their blood and courage, a new glorious page in the proletarian class struggle.Three days for Peace in Wrexham: report and photos
01-10-2012 18:25
![The marquee is put up just in time [photo: Holly Cooper]](/icon/2012/10/500786.jpg){kind=icon}
Peace Days in Wrexham have been marked for a number of years and have steadily grown, from the occasional 'peace picnics' that Wrexham Peace & Justice Forum and Wrexham Women for Peace held in Wrexham's Peace Garden (on the site of the old Quaker Meeting House) and in 2010 on the library green with local band Heal the Last Stand, to last year's collaborative effort with the additional involvement of Wrexham Diocese Faith, Justice & Peace Network, local music promoter Brendan Griffiths, Freeconomy Wrexham, Give and Take, the Yum Yum Project and others. [Reports 1 | 2 ]
This year, we organised three days for peace, the first in St. Christopher's school on Thursday 20 September with nine other schools represented and well over 300 children in total taking part – big thanks to St. Christopher's for inviting us - and then Friday 21 and Saturday 22 September on the library green. Brendan put on free gigs at Saith Seren cultural centre both evenings too.
Training Weekend for Calais Migrant Solidarity 10th & 11th November London
01-10-2012 17:58
Training weekend for Calais Migrant SolidarityLondon Action Resource Centre
10th, 11th November
A space to hear about CMS, meet people who have been to Calais and a great opportunity for skill sharing.
East Mids Anti-fascists: September report
01-10-2012 16:55
It's been a month of freefall for the EDL who had two disastrous demos in Walthamstow and Walsall, 3rd in command Tony Curtis of Nottingham, leave in disgust, and their favourite coach company targeted by anti-fascists. Meanwhile a few boneheads from the NF turned up to take back a small park in Skegness from the muslamic animal abusers and generally be ignored by everyone. "East Euro" hater, Elliott Fountain of the English Democrats tanked again and new EDL splinter group, the English Volunteer Force raised its ugly little head in Lincolnshire.
The month started with a humiliating defeat for the EDL in Walthamstow. Less than 300 turned up to have their march blocked by over 1000 anti-fascists, get pelted with missiles and then get kettled for 7 hours. The East Midlands divisions still loyally turned up as evidenced by the familiar sight of a GH Watts coach.
The zombie Nazis of the National Front rose from their tombs in indignation about a halal slaughterhouse in Skegness. The NF's demo was rejected by a more mainstream campaign against the slaughterhouse, but we were a bit sceptical about their references to "these barbaric people are all set to take over the world" and reckon they're a bit more racist than they'd like to think. Anyway, a bargain basement selection of fascist dregs said they'd turn up for the NF demo and got all hot under the collar when their re-direction point was leaked to us the day before. In the event, a sad bunch of less than 40 skinheads were confined to a park for the afternoon to be ignored by the public and the media.
Nottingham's Tony Curtis, big man within the EDL and favoured by many to take over from tinpot dictators, Tommy 'n Kev, announced he was leaving the far right street movement. He had been working with fascist nutbag, Bill Baker, on yet another no-hope far-right splinter group, the New Patriot Alliance, which probably didn't go down too well with the leadership. At any rate, they used Twitter to slag Curtis off and alienate all their followers who were fans. In the end, Curtis decided not to throw his weight behind the NPA because they were too racist for his liking and is now languishing in the political wilderness. A great result for anti-fascists!
We reported on the English Volunteer Force, another rival for the EDL's slipping crown, which has gained a (miniscule) following in Lincoln. The EVF was founded by Chris Renton, a former BNP and Combat 18 activist who used to make sexual threats towards grannies for the EDL. The EVF takes inspiration from the Ulster Volunteer Force, a loyalist paramilitary organisation renowned for indiscriminately torturing and murdering Catholic civilians in Northern Ireland. They consider all Muslims a target.
We were pleased to see that xenophpbic English Democrats clown, Elliott Fountain, had another dreadful election result, securing a tiny 24 votes (0.9%) in a Lincolnshire County Council by-election. We hope his bid to become Police Commissioner in the county goes just as well.
The month ended on a positive note with direct action by Leicester Antifascists against the GH Watts coach company, the EDL's carriers of choice in the East Midlands. They locked and glued the gates of the coach company shut on the night before the EDL's Walsall demo. The demo itself was another massive failure for the fascist footsoldiers, who only managed to turnout 150 who got filmed attacking the police, throwing missiles which hit their own side and then getting beaten up by the filth.
Workfare walk of shame in Nottingham
01-10-2012 16:55
Saturday 29th September 2012
People met for a Workfare walk of shame at 1.00pm at the Lions, Market Square, Nottingham
Today a group of anti-workfare activists took to the streets of Nottingham to picket some of the corporate workfare profiteers and to highlight why workfare is such a dangerous idea. We visited Burton, Barnardo’s, Primark, Greggs and Superdrug before we got through all of our leaflets and decided to call it a day. On the whole, the public responded positively to our message including several who agreed to boycott particular shops as a result of getting a flyer.
Workfare is the name given to various government programmes that force benefit claimants to work full-time jobs just to get their dole money. Various companies have signed up to get this very attractive (for them) workers that don’t have to be paid. It is obviously bad for the unemployed because they are being exploited and don’t get any reward, but it is also bad for paid workers who might be replaced by free labour from the Job Centre.
http://network23.org/autonomousnottingham
____________________________________________
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>
Census refuser on trial in Reading
01-10-2012 16:11
Bristol Squatters Occupy Lloyds TSB Private Bank
01-10-2012 12:56
Early Sunday morning a group of squatters occupied a former Lloyds TSB private bank in Clifton, Bristol.Police, a security guard and the estate agents have all been round. The new Section 6 for commercial buildings worked and we're still in the building.
Welcome The Tories To Birmingham
01-10-2012 12:00
On Sunday 7th October we’ll be welcoming the Tories to Birmingham for their annual conference, with a TUC organised demonstration marching through the town centre to a rally at St Marks Place:Assemble: 11am, High Street
March from 11:30am to St Marks Open Space (postcode B1 2PJ)
Scottish Coal rail terminal currently shut down - again!
01-10-2012 08:35
1st Squatter Jailed under new Squatting Law
01-10-2012 04:08
Yeah, the first jailing under the new Section 144 of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012. I know it's a week or two old now but didn't seem to be up on Indymedia despite it's significance. I put it up last week here but was taken down by IM mods presumably because it was cut/paste from The Guardian. But hey, as no-one else was taking about it and we should be it seemed fine. Ok, so here is a statement from Advisory Service for Squatters instead.Support required on Greenbelt Occupation!
30-09-2012 16:26
Occupation to halt House Development on Greenfield site.EDL Die In Walsall!
30-09-2012 13:57
The English Defence League held a poorly attended demo at the weekend in Walsall, were outnumbered by anti-fascists and subject to the virulent attentions of West Midland Plod. For those who can’t be bothered here is a summary from an EDL members’ point of view: ‘got up, got pissed, got to Walsall, got mouthy, got battered, got to grow up.’ The deluded fuck-bugles really thought that they would fare better than previous visits to the Midlands and were yet again proved wrong!Who stopped police helicopter from pursuing Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik?
29-09-2012 20:08
Oslo Police Department's Operation Leader Britt Børve, Britt Borve - it appears blocked the anti-terror DELTA force pursuit of pro-Zionist, anti-Muslim 'crusader' terrorist Anders Breivik. Her identity has been hidden from press and public, only her initials were revealed, but looks likely according to those in the know that it was indeed her that twice blocked requests for the helicopter.
Workfare walk of shame in Nottingham
29-09-2012 18:55
Today a group of anti-workfare activists took to the streets of Nottingham to picket some of the corporate workfare profiteers and to highlight why workfare is such a dangerous idea. We visited Burton, Barnardo's, Primark, Greggs and Superdrug before we got through all of our leaflets and decided to call it a day. On the whole, the public responded positively to our message including several who agreed to boycott particular shops as a result of getting a flyer.
Workfare is the name given to various government programmes that force benefit claimants to work full-time jobs just to get their dole money. Various companies have signed up to get this very attractive (for them) workers that don't have to be paid. It is obviously bad for the unemployed because they are being exploited and don't get any reward, but it is also bad for paid workers who might be replaced by free labour from the Job Centre.
We met at the left lion in Market Square and were sent off with an anti-workfare speech from a local anti-austerity campaigner who had a stall. Despite the somewhat pro-state slant of his words, it was good to receive some solidarity.
We were well equipped with a sound system in a pushchair pumping out revolutionary hip hop and our "Workfare ain't fair" banner as well as a stack of fliers. We walked and wheeled across the square to our first stop, Burtons. Burtons is part of notorious tax dodger Philip Green's Arcadia group, which has a policy of using workfare. The Burtons management immediately threw a massive tantrum, shutting up all but one of the doors to the shop and then standing in the remaining one snarling at us and chuntering on about how they had nothing to do with workfare and spent their whole days helping the sick and needy by giving them free suits, etc. All they managed to do was make their shop very unwelcoming for the time that we were there.
Next stop was the Barnardo's charity shop a few doors up. Barnardo's is one of many high street charities which is supplementing their volunteers with forced labour from the Job Centre. The workers were, perhaps unsurprisingly, much more sympathetic to and interested in our protest and read our leaflets. Some PCSOs came along to ask whether we were a peaceful protest and what time we were leaving so they could "update the control centre". When they went in to let the staff know we weren't dangerous psychopaths, we slipped off to Primark.
Primark was a bit mental. There were just too many people rushing in and out of those doors. We didn't stay long.
Next stop was Greggs on Clumber Street. There was more space to stop and have decent interactions with people and people had time to read our leaflets in the queue. One man went in taking a leaflet and then emerged a few minutes later without having bought anything thanking us all for letting him know about Greggs' exploitative practices. Another man took a leaflet and said "I won't be buying anything in there then" and a group of kids in hoodies tutted a bit and then were overheard saying they wouldn't be going in again.
For our last stop we moved over to Superdrug on the other side of the road and gave out the last of our leaflets. One man stopped to have a conversation with me about how he'd seen this coming with the New Deal and previous government attacks on the unemployed and how his son was involved in anti-workfare campaigning in Plymouth. "Why aren't there more of you?" he asked.
We will back and we hope that next time more people will join us. There are plenty of shops on our list that we didn't get to visit today, including Wilkinsons, Argos, Poundland, Miss Selfridge and Tescos. We know that anti-workfare campaigning is working: earlier in the year Holland & Barrett pulled out of workfare after sustained, nationnwide pickets of its stores. We just need to keep up the pressure.
British Foreign Influence: Learning From Cyprus
29-09-2012 17:23
Information about the invasion and subsequent occupation of Northern Cyprus and the UK involvement in it.The Film 'Four Horsemen' & ARK (Absolute Return for Kids)
29-09-2012 17:09
