Blockade of BAE Systems in Edinburgh
BAE systems at Crewe Toll, Edinburgh is being blockaded by members and visitors of Faslane Peace Camp. All gates have been blockaded since before 7am this morning by about a dozen people. There are banners and leafleting outside BAE systems, reminding workers and passers-by of their awful humanitarian record in arms selling.
"Printworks" Social Centre opens in Glasgow
On May the first, international workers' day, the Glasgow Autonomous Project opened "Printworks", a social centre in the heart of Glasgow, under a now extended temporary lease till end of June. "Printworks" has been open now every day from noon till 9 pm, offering a space for events and workshops.
The aim is "to work together for social change, rather than depending on politicians and other bosses, to participate directly in building a better society through grassroots organisation."
[pictures, interview, report, announcement].
Climate change in Edinburgh...
How to experience your own greenhouse effect. Wander through Edinburgh city centre in a dinosaur costume on an usually hot day in mid-May. Better still get a mate to wear a rubber George W. Bush mask – after 5 minutes inside georges head their brain will be boiled too…
So why a dinosaur and why George Bush? We didn’t just want to experience a personal climate change, this was the return to Edinburgh’s streets of international climate action day – a global day of marches and events on May 15th. [Pictures and call].
Protesters Stop Nuclear Weapons Convoy
May 9 2004: Anti-Trident protesters twice stopped a nuclear weapons convoy in Stirling and Balloch. 6 People were arrested. The protesters were from Trident Ploughshares, Stirling CND and Faslane Peace Camp.
Again a Nuke transport has been halted on the Scottish roads. The MoD regularly organises convoys to take Trident warheads to and from the Burghfield assembly plant to the Coulport store to be checked and maintained. Each warhead is believed to have the destructive power of 8 times the bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima.
A network of ordinary people called across the UK watch Nuke transports closely.[press release from Trident Ploughshares]
Nuclear sub out of control
A British nuclear-powered Trident submarine is out on patrol, submerged, ready, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to fire sixteen nuclear-armed missiles. Each of these 7,400 km-range missiles has three warheads. Now one of the Hunter Killer subs has run aground and the crew is under revolt unconvinced by the safety.
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The Zapatista Struggle in Montes Azules: Biopiracy and the Trojan Horse
Conservation International And it’s croniesConservation International (CI), a so-called environmental NGO founded in 1987, states that its duty is to 'conserve the Earth's living natural heritage, our global biodiversity, and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature'. It operates in over thirty countries, in the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Pacific, and claims indigenous communities are a threat to the environment, because of their illegal logging, overpopulation and slash-and-burn agriculture. However, in March 2003, Global Exchange convened an emergency delegation to the area and found that the destruction was most pronounced around military encampments, while Indigenous villagers had outlawed slash-and-burn techniques and were practicing sustainable organic agriculture.
Film Screening & Arts Exhibition about Palestine
"Jenin Jenin" Screening & Balata Art Exhibition. FILM SCREENING Monday 5th April, 8h30pm, Mono, Kings Court
ART EXHIBITION Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th April, 11am-5:30pm, GMAC,34 Albion Street, Glasgow.
Hunger strike asylum seekers close to death
A protest has been announced by a Glasgow based Refugee Solidarity Campaign for Thursday 18 March 11.30 a.m. in Edinburgh.
Three Iranian Kurdish refugees, who have been refused asylum in Glasgow, Britain, are on hunger strike. The Three men, Faroq Haidari, Farnborz Gravindi and Mokhtar Haydary, have now been on hunger strike for about 3 weeks. They have apparently now stopped taking fluids, and are in a really bad way. Friday, the 5th of March, two of the men blacked out and were admitted to hospital.
The men are faced with a harsh choice, as once refused asylum they have no right to work, housing or benefits of any kind. They must choose whether to return to Iran and face arrest, imprisonment, torture - perhaps death, or stay and starve on the streets of Scotland.
Around 200 people attended a hastily organised solidarity demonstration the evening of Tuesday, March the 2nd, outside the city chambers (council offices). In a statement read out to protestors, the men say they would rather die than return. Supporters say they are close to death. Faroq Haidari, Farnboz Gravindi and Mokhtar Haidari are getting weaker by the hour. More information: [1,2]
Lies, hypocracy and new labour in Lanarkshire
Two years ago Union Jack McConnell used the people of Greengairs to promote his newly found commitment to ‘environmental justice’. Two years on and his commitment looks as laughable now as it was unlikely then. Responding to the political pressure from the election of seven Green MSPs, New Labour in Scotland cynically exploited the community of Greengairs and surrounding villages by latching on to the latest environmental crusade. Now, as the Scottish Executive announce the latest approval for further dumping in what is already Europe’s largest landfill, McConnell’s political manipulation of this issue looks mean-minded and pathetic.
Mexican Army Burns Down Indigenous Village
Mexican armed forces have attacked the Chol indigenous community of Nuevo San Rafael, burning down 23 houses and violently evicting the inhabitants, who are Zapatista sympathisers. The attack, reported variously as happening on either 19 or 22 January, took place in the remote Montes Azules jungle area of Chiapas.
Resource-rich Montes Azules has long been coveted by multinationals. As the governments and multinationals press forward with the Plan Puebla Panama and Free Trade Area of the Americas, the “war of low intensity” against the thousand-plus Zapatista autonomous communities erupts into blatant repression. The Secretary of Government of Chiapas, Rubén Velázquez López, promises more evictions, declaring that land invasions will no longer be tolerated.
The fate of the inhabitants of Nuevo San Rafael is unknown, as the army is preventing reporters and human rights observers from entering the area. Local indigenous Chol, Josué Jiménez Cruz, has been arrested, and is apparently imprisoned in the town of Ocosingo. International solidarity activity is vital, declare Zapatista solidarity groups. Protesters call to ring the Mexican Embassy in London on 0207 499 8586 (open 9am-6pm)
Protest letter in Spanish by the Gruppe B.A.S.T.A.
Indymedia Chiapas
dissent!edinburgh - a new edinburgh based alter-globalisation collective
The g8 monolith might be coming to Scotland in 2005 (so the rumour is whispered). Already, plans are forming to confront this sinister instrument of imperialist hegemony! In Edinburgh, a group by the name of dissent!edinburgh is forming for just this purpose.
Drop Bush Not Bombs
Taking direct action to end the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.Sharing free vegetarian food inprotest to war and poverty.
Keith McHenry is visiting Edinburgh and will talk about the movement he helped start 23 years ago. On Wednesday 10th of December, 8pm at the Forest, he will describe Food not Bombs’ history, his experiences as an American political prisoner and the global Food Not Bombs movement. He will show a video about Food not Bombs. Keith will also discuss the movement’s future and plans for A Food not Bombs World Gethering to be held the week before the Republican National Convention in New York City.
Award winning Australian filmmaker Elizabeth Tadic, is making a video documentary of the worldwide Food Not Bombs peace movement. Its 2005 release will coincide with the 25th anniversary of Food not Bombs. Provisionally titled “Bombs & Broccoli”, the film will be the first to show the magnitude and quiet influence of this global social movement, virtually ignored by the mainstream media for the past quarter century.
[Food Not Bombs | Drop Bush Not Bombs Europe Tour ]
Scotland says No to Bush's War
Thousands took to the streets in Edinburgh and Glasgow yesterday, 19th November, to oppose the occupation of Iraq and Bush’s visit to the UK. Striking school students defied threats from headteachers and Education Authorities to walk out of class and head the demonstrations.
The Edinburgh and Glasgow daytime demos involved sit-downs and attempts to blockade traffic. In Edinburgh school students burnt an effigy of Bush in front of the US Consulate. The crowd chanted “Burn, Bush, Burn!” as a bonfire was lit on the road.
Demonstrators marched again in both cities in the evening. Protestors from round Scotland swelled the Edinburgh march to around 5,000. Marchers dismantled police barricades near the US Consulate but the police blocked the route to the Consulate building.
More on demos:
[Demo photos | Edinburgh evening demo report | More on Edinburgh evening demo]
Glasgow Demonstrators Denounce Deportations and Evictions
"This is beyond humanity", cried a woman from Rwanda. "I fled for my life from Rwanda, now this Friday here in Glasgow they are coming to evict me and deport me."
Demonstrators rallied outside the Glasgow City Council Chambers in George Square last night, 9th November, to denounce the Council's new policy of evicting refugees who have been refused asylum. Protestors erected tents in the Square to illustrate the reality of the State's inhuman policies.
Asif, a refugee from Afghanistan, spoke on behalf of the Glasgow Refugee Action Group. "The Glasgow City Council are making millions of pounds from their contract with the Home Office to take refugees. Now they are throwing the refugees out on the street....We appreciate the support of ordinary people in Scotland. This is not the end of our struggle but the beginning."
Refugee Eviction Programme in Glasgow
With the Scottish winter now upon us, Glasgow City Council has begun a programme to evict nearly 200 asylum seekers from their homes in Glasgow. In response, a demonstration at the City Chambers, followed by a public meeting, has been called for Monday November 10th November, details below.Screening of film about Edinburgh Youth against the War activities
Sat 8th November 2003 Edinburgh Filmhouse“OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER”
A film about the youth anti war movement in Edinburgh 2003 made by Edinburgh Youth Against War with Pilton Video.
Lost Film Festival tours Scotland
West Philadelphia's Lost Film Festival hits the Halt Bar, Woodlands Road, Glasgow, next Thursday 6th of november at 7.30 pm, and the Forest Cafe in Edinburgh next Friday, 7th of november, 7.30pm.(doors open at 7pm to get your drinks and food).
The Lost Film Fest is a traveling showcase of truly independent (read: anti-corporate) film, presented by Scott Beibin, Festival Director/owner Bloodlink Records.
The program features scathing and hilarious social commentary from North America and beyond in the form of narrative shorts, documented pranks, and hot amateur protest footage from around the world appropriately called "Riot Porn" by the festival organizers.
Unusually Large Movements of US Warplanes Overhead in Scotland.
Since Saturday, the 1st of November, people in the Highlands of Scotland have been witnessing large movements of US warplanes overhead. [1,2,3].
Experienced observers say the large numbers are reminiscent of those that preceded the bombing of Iraq in 1998 and military strikes on Libya in the 1980s as well as the first Gulf War.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or NATO,held a summit in Edinburgh, Scotland, the 6-7th of November. Spontaneous protests took place in small numbers. Increased security is in the area.
Read more here.
To get more impression of events in Scotland, please view the scotland events calendar and participate.
GM Nation?
In the largest procedure of its kind in the world, the UK government wanted to make sure that the introduction of GM crops in the UK would be based on scientific facts and public approval. For a change it seems to have been good that they have done so. It is now obvious that the public are against GM food and GM crops, and the trials showed that herbicide tolerant GM crops can be worse for the environment than conventional agriculture.
Public meetings were held all over the country, a website gave the opportunity to state one's opinion, a scientific commission wrote a report, and farm-scale field trials where conducted over several years. All of these results are now going into a final report (overview). Besides this official programme numerous actions took place. Meanwhile some GM companies have decided to reduce their activites in the UK.
[ Corporate Watch UK | Genewatch | GMwatch |Green Gloves Pledge | Stop Bayer's GM crops! | Greenpeace UK | Friends of the Earth | | Guardian GM debate | GM nation? Official Website | Full text of reports on GM field scale evaluations | BioTech IMC ]
