Wales Repression Newswire Archive

A protest took place outside the Wrexham Jobcentre at lunchtime today against changes to the benefits system.

16 November: Solidarity vigil at Rugby League World Cup Quarter Final in Wrexham.

As Australia geared up to meet the USA in the Rugby League World Cup 2013 quarter-final match in Wrexham last Saturday, we joined the crowds outside the ground to talk with fans about Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, to sell raffle tickets for the football signed by Assange and collect donations to the Pvt. Manning Family Fund. Our last effort, at the Wales vs USA first round match on 3 November was covered prominently in the Australian magazine Rugby League Week. Text of article can be read in this post.

Over the past few days, supporters of Private Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning have been in Wrexham and Liverpool in solidarity with Manning's Welsh family. Close family members living in Pembrokeshire face years of costly travel to the US for prison visits and a family fund has been set up to take donations.

In August, after over three years of pre-trial detention and nearly a year of torture, a military court sentenced Manning to 35 years for revealing evidence about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - including evidence of war crimes - that the US government was keeping from the public (along with many other things).

Curos's head of service development David Clarke said staff were dealing with very angry and upset tenants every day of the week.

Change of court venue - see addition below

My banners (pictured) were seized by Bristol police at the end of May, at the start of a Bradley (Chelsea) Manning solidarity tour of Bristol and south Wales and on the eve of the Manning show trial in the U.S.

The banners were up on the Gatton Rd footbridge over the M32. Read my account of what happened.

I'll be at Bristol Magistrates Court, Marlborough St. on Tuesday 8 October at 9.15am to answer an alleged offence of 'causing danger to road users contrary to section 22(1)(a) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988'.

Support (and banners!) welcome.

On August 5th cops in Greece continued their campaign of repression against squats by raiding three squatted spaces in Patras: Parartima, Maragopouleio and the Self-managed Hangout inside the Technological Educational Institute (TEI). 16 comrades were detained in total; 5 squatters and 11 supporters.

Some news from Bradley Manning's ongoing trial, expected to continue into August, a report and photos from yesterday in Wrexham, and a call-out for solidarity everywhere on Saturday 27 July, which has been called by the Bradley Manning Support Network as an International Day of Action.

Bristol Defendant Solidarity (BDS) was formed in the aftermath of the street resistance in Stokes Croft in late April 2011. That resistance occurred when the state acted to defend a newly opened Tesco shop on Cheltenham Rd which had been the focus of widespread community opposition.

Now after 2 years of active solidarity work since its formation, Bristol Defendant Solidarity, with a little help from Kebele Sound Collective, present a benefit night of international radical hip hop, rap and conscious beats.

South Wales (Heddlu) Police officer (collar number) 3896 has his photo taken with ex-EDL activist and Nazi Wayne Baldwin...

On the final leg of my five day Bradley Manning solidarity tour of Bristol and south Wales, I headed west from Cardiff early Sunday morning, through Carmarthen and on to Haverfordwest, where members of Bradley's family still live. My aim was to have a solidarity presence in Haverfordwest as Brad's trial begins in the US. See previous reports from: Bristol | Bristol/Cardiff. This report covers Sun 2 and Mon 3 June, with a few photos of banners etc. to illustrate.

Bradley Manning's trial starts Monday 3 June and this weekend activists around the world have been taking action in solidarity, including in London [Photos here | Links to reports etc. here] where around 250 people from all over gathered outside the US Embassy to hear speakers including Peter Tatchell, Vivienne Westwood and Craig Murray, music including David Rovics. There was also an ill-fated banner drop in Bristol [Report here], a smaller one with a replacement banner in Carmarthen and a presence in Cardiff and Haverfordwest. This is a brief report with some photos from Bristol and Cardiff.

The big pink 'FREE BRADLEY MANNING' banner has been displayed, without incident, all over the place in the past 18 months or so: Wrexham, Cardiff, Bala, Haverfordwest (where members of Brad's family still live), Chester, Liverpool, Oswestry, north Yorkshire, London, the summit of Snowdon. It's designed to be re-used, attached to railings with easy-to-undo tapes.

In Bristol yesterday, at the start of a five day solidarity effort leading up to Bradley Manning's trial which begins in the US on Monday, this banner and another - 'TRUTH ON TRIAL' - were seized by cops who told me they would be destroying them. In fact they had already badly damaged the banners by hacking them off the railings with a knife and ripping them instead of undoing the bows, having refused my offer to remove them. Since the incident led to an arrest and threat of summons, the banners are now in police custody as exhibits A and B, with the arresting cops announcing as they escorted me to the exit door of Trinity Road police station: ' and when it comes to court we're going to apply for a destruction order.'

Saturday 1 June is an international day of action for Welsh-American WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning, facing Court Martial on over 20 charges including 'Aiding the Enemy' and a possible sentence of life without parole or even potentially the death penalty if convicted. The trial starts on 3 June and is expected to last over two months. Bradley Manning dared to reveal the truth about US-led wars, US interference around the globe and much more, hoping that this information would trigger "worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms... if not... then we’re doomed as a species." He went on to say "I will officially give up on the society we have if nothing happens."

Brad still has many family members living in Wales. Cardiff Reds Choir/Cor Cochion Caerdydd is organising a solidarity event in Cardiff on 1 June. In London, there will be a protest outside the US Embassy . Worldwide events listed at bradleymanning.org.

In the final week of the 'Loss of Innocence' Exhibition of Children's Art from Gaza at Wrexham Cathedral, Rod Cox came to speak about how he collected this artwork in early 2009 as part of the Aid Convoy in the wake of the 'Operation Cast Lead' bombardment of Gaza by Israel, about the children who created the artwork, their trauma, injuries, lost families, destroyed homes and shattered lives, as well as their hopes for a peaceful future free from fear.

The Exhibition has now moved on to the local Yale College of Further Education where it will be open for viewing by students and the public in the Learning Resource Centre (library) for the next two weeks. From 4 June it will move again to St. Christopher's School in Hightown.

Today, 17 May, is the 100th day of the current Guantánamo hunger strike, with most of the 166 remaining prisoners now refusing food, including British resident Shaker Aamer. Like most of the others, he has not been charged with any crime and has been cleared for release, but with no prospect of actually being freed. Aamer has been held at Guantánamo for 11 years and joined the hunger strike in March. Over 30 prisoners are now being brutally force fed. Some are close to death. A global emergency three days of action has been called.

 http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/what-are-you-doing-on-17-19-may-global.html

URGENT REPORT:

IMMINENT EVICTION PLANNED,

TERROR GROWS IN SAN MARCOS AVILÉS

February 23, 2013:

One of over 60 protests around the world against the continued detention of Bradley Manning, incarcerated for blowing the whistle on war crimes.

Meet Queens Square, town centre, Wrexham.
10am - 11.30am

Last October, Mrs Saleh and her two children were woken at 6.30am by UKBA agents and dragged off for deportation.

Alternatives to Capitalism Meeting: 31st January 2013

Storming the Heavens (open forum for anti capitalists)
is series of meetings for reds and greens to discuss and explore
alternatives to the current economic system.

Activists from different networks in Cardiff, including No Borders South Wales, South Wales Anarchists, Gremlins, Travellers groups, Cardiff Migrant Solidarity and the new Network of Cardiff Squatters came together to continue the support shown for migrants in recent months.

Several activists decided to use International Migrants Day this week to respond to a call-out from French activists for actions outside French Embassies and Consulates in solidarity with a recent day of action that aimed to highlight the continued state repression against sans-papier, Roma, the homeless and anti-airport activists in France despite a change of government to a party that spoke out against such actions before they were in power.