UK UK Feature Archive
Calais: Repression and Resistance
10-02-2010 12:12
On Sunday, 7th February, French Police attacked the Kronstadt Hangar as part of an ongoing campaign of repression against migrants, which included the destruction of many migrant camps and squats in July 2009. The Hangar had been hired by the No Border Network and the French organisation SôS Soutien aux Sans Papiers as an autonomous space for migrants and activists struggling for the right to freedom of movement. Before the Hangar was opened, migrants had been meeting up outside the night shelter during the day, but the night shelter had finally closed at about the time the hangar opened its doors on 6th February.
Previous articles: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
Links: Calais Migrant Solidarity | No Borders London |
SchNEWS: Eye-Witness Afghanistan
04-02-2010 21:29
Ever keen to get an up close and personal look at the world's most troubled regions, SchNEWS was fortunate enough to sweet-talk Brightonian Al Jazeera journalist, Medyan Diarieh, recently returned from reporting in Afghanistan. As a Palestinian who has extensively covered the conflicts in the occupied Palestinian territories, Iraq and Turkish Kurdistan for many years, he's a man with a useful perspective on events on the ground in what's become Britain's longest war since the days of Empire. Medyan has become a well known figure amongst pro-Palestine and anti-war protesters, informing the public in the Arab-speaking world of the UK's solidarity movements.
Interviewer: So what was it like arriving in Afghanistan?
Medyan: When I arrived in Kabul I could see even from the plane that it is a very poor city. When you walk from the airport you can see Turkish army and American armies, but the airport is very small and the electricity is cut off for half an hour at a time. Once I went to the street, I knew everything about this country. There is no life at all. The electricity is sometimes on sometimes off, no clean water, no sanitation at all. And this is in Kabul. Outside the city is nothing, most people don't know what a cooker is - they just cook on wood. Most of the roads in Afghanistan have not been concreted. The water you see on the street is sewage water coming from the houses since no proper sewage system is in place. Some of the streets I visited have a stream of dirty water running, and they are really hazardous. The houses are very poor. This is Afghanistan.
Also in SchNEWS 708: A HONDURAN LOBO-TOMY 'Return to democracy' sees the coup leaders holding on to power and upping the repression | INSIDE SCHNEWS Decommissioner James Elijah Smith is moved again, this time to Sheppey | STOP 'N SUE Kingsnorth Climate Campers win in the High Court against unlawful police stop and searches, protesters expect big payouts | VOULEZ VOUS COUCHE? No Borders and SoS Soutien open an autonomous safe space in Calais | TREADING A FINE LINE RBS branch in art attack, this time because of tar sands | DIAMONDS ARE FOR NEVER Top jeweller Tiffany subjected to protests for their involvement with Botswana's ethnic cleansing of the Bushmen | OVER THE MAINSHILL? Report of last week's eviction of the Mainshill Solidarity camp | BLAIR FACED CHEEK Anti-Blair demos outside the Chilcot Inquiry | ..AND FINALLY.. Swordfish sabotages Total Oil pipeline in Algeria
SchNEWS: Lanarky in Action
28-01-2010 19:55
Early Monday morning bailiffs and police under the auspices of the National Eviction Team (http://ukevict.com) began the long expected eviction of Mainshill Solidarity camp. (See SchNEWS 681 for the beginnings)
At the time of going to press the eviction was still ongoing with the tunnel teams working 24/7 to get at the hold outs underground - 43 arrests have been made so far - the majority charged with aggravated trespass.
Mainshill in South Lanarkshire, is the proposed site of a massive open-cast coal mine. Ten years of local opposition (Mainshill is set to be the fifth such mine in the area) culminated in the protest site. The camp was occupied 7 months ago in solidarity with communities in the Douglas Valley and support has been consistent ever since, with the camp kept well supplied by neighbours - including a full Christmas dinner. The site is owned by Lord Home, who is set to profit from allowing Scottish Coal to dig out 1.7 million tonnes of coal from Mainshill.
Also in SchNEWS 707: GONE TO POTTERIES The English Defence League embark on a racist rampage through Stoke | CALAIS: GIMME SHELTER French police evict a night shelter and destroy the makeshift camp erected by migrants in protest | FESTIVAL CLAMPDOWN: TOKING THE PISS The Police War on Fun continues with the prosecution of a festival owner for allowing cannabis to be smoked on the premises | CRAWLEY: NO BOARDERS A coalition of No Borders activists and local nimbys help derail plans for a new deportation centre in Crawley | ..AND FINALLY.. James Cameron proves once and for all that 9/11 was an inside job
Schnews: Haiti - The Aftershock Doctrine
24-01-2010 08:00
As the rescue effort winds down and the body count piles up, SchNEWS takes a look at why this earthquake hit so many so hard, and how the international aid effort is being subverted by military and corporate power.
As Haiti’s total estimated dead hovers at around 200,000, the earthquake has hit the country so hard that it’s dropped a whole digit off its former population of 10 million. It’s almost a law of world injustice that the poorer the country, the more vague the body count.
Haiti is a unique place. The only nation to be founded by a slave rebellion, its angry population of African slaves managed to defeat the French back in 1791. Renamed as Haiti - the original Arawak name for the island - it was the Cuba of its day- an inspiration to enslaved peoples the world over and a thorn in the side of the imperial regimes.
Also in Schnews 706: MOBS AND COPPERS Smash EDO demo runs rampage - again | STOKING THE FIRES English Defence League counter demo on January 23rd | LANARKY IN THE U.K Mainshill site has pre-eviction gathering | GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN Anarcha-feminist gathering at Brighton's Cowley ClubMainshill Solidarity Camp digging in to resist eviction
23-01-2010 09:56
After seven months of occupying woodlands in South Lanarkshire the Mainshill Solidarity Camp is preparing for an eviction on Monday the 25th. The camp called a pre-eviction gathering after receiving a tip-off.
They are calling for people to come to the site and prepare to resist the forced removal by the notorious National Eviction Team, who visited the site late last year. The land they are occupying belongs to the Earl of Home who plans to allow Scottish Coal to extract 1.7m tonnes of coal ear marked for Drax power station in Yorkshire.
In September clear felling and test drilling of the site restarted since the woods were first occupied and since then a relentless campaign has been launched by the camp to disrupt it, including lock-ons and sabotage (see a round-up of actions here).
Local opposition to the coal mine has solidified, especially since the release of a health study revealing the health impacts of the open cast already spread across South Lanarkshire. Practical support for the camp has continued since the site was taken and locals are currently bringing down supplies for those holding the site against eviction.
Numbers on site are growing as activists from across the UK to stand in solidarity with the residents of the camp and the communities in South Lanarkshire, but campers say more people are still needed.
Links:
Mainshill Solidarity Camp | Pre-Eviction Gathering Details | Coal Action Scotland | Directions to the camp | Indymedia Scotland
Schnews: Ships in the Fight
18-01-2010 15:24
Since Japanese whalers sliced Sea Shepherd vessel the Ady Gil in two last week, the marine conservationists have faced a propaganda onslaught accusing them of lying, polluting and preparing to attack the whalers with bows and arrows.
The Ady Gil, with the Bob Barker, had been chasing the Japanese fleet’s mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, away from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in the Antarctic and had succeeded in bringing whaling operations to a standstill.
The confrontation began when activists hurled stink bombs of rancid butter onto the deck of the Nisshin Maru. The whalers responded by trying to force the Ady Gil away with high powered water canons. According to Captain Chuck Swift on the Bob Barker, harpoon ship the Shonan Maru No. 2 then started up suddenly and rammed the stationary Ady Gil, shearing off a eight foot section of the hull.
The six crew members were rescued by the Bob Barker, but the boat could not be saved. Despite the crew of the Bob Barker’s round the clock efforts it had taken on too much water and three days later had to be left to sink. Before abandoning , the crew boarded the boat and pumped out the fuel before it leaked into the sea.
Also in SchNews 705: Wild at Heart|Pyramid Schemers|Gaza Arrests Witness Callout|Funky Gibbons|Frisky Business|X-Mas Size Attack|Cat on a Squat tin Roof|And Finally...Full article | 1 addition | 25 comments
Indymedia Reporting At Smash EDO's Remember Gaza Mass Demo
15-01-2010 18:15
On Monday 18th January, the first anniversry of the final day of the Israeli massacre in Gaza, Smash EDO are holding a mass demonstration in Brighton against arms manufacturer EDO/ITT. Indymedia will be running an up to the minute timeline of events for the day.
Be the Media:Phone or text in your reports from the demonstration to Indymedia Dispatch on 07943685168 (from Monday morning).
Timeline:
Arrests - So far we know of four people who have definitely been arrested. Three have been released on police bail until March. Those who live in Brighton have been given bail conditions restricting protest at EDO/ITT, non-Brightonians have been bailed away from Brighton. It seems that the police have been deliberately targeting action medics.
Update on the Squat raid - Reports have come in that the police who raided the squat last night were armed with tasers and at least one gun. The person who was arrested has been released without charge.If you were affected by police tactics on the demo call Emotional Support on 07985211033
19.26 - There have been four or five arrests in total. Several for breach of section 14 and one for threatening behaviour. Legal support are outside the police station waiting...
Smash EDO Press Release for the Demo
17.59 - There are reports of one more arrest in the North Lanes. If you witnessed an arrest or need support call legal support on 07805125940.
17.43 - Police have snatched two people, including an action medic, out of the cordon on North Rd.
17.42 - People have attempted to reach Barclays on North St. Some people made it.
16.17 - The demo is now marching alongside St Peter's Church toward the Old Steine. People are beginning to disperse.
16.10 - The demo has reached the Level and is crossing it.
16.10 - A crowd of about 300 has reached the junction between Lewes Road and Elm Grove. The police are attempting to prevent them from going further. A kettle may be forming.
16.00 - Reports are coming in that EDO/ITT has closed for the day
15.52 - The demo is now moving again, with the police in front, toward Brighton on the Lewes Road. There are about 150 people in the main section. No arrests so far
15.46 - One person has been hit with a police baton
15.45 - Cops now blocking Lewes Road at Comet. Some people are corralled in the car park of Brighton university. Lines of riot police in front of lines of riot vans are at the front of the demo.
Click here to view the rest of the timeline
Information for Action:Spot of bother with the Old Bill? We recommend Kelly's Solicitors – (01273) 674898 –**Witnessed an arrest or need advice? Legal Support – 07805125940** Need somewhere to crash? Accommodation – 07805125965**
Links:Smash EDO's Remember Gaza webpage|Directions to the Demo Meeting Point|Some notes on masking up|Smash EDO on Dissident Island Radio|SchNEWS - Wild at Heart
Environmental Activists killed by Mining Companies in Latin America
05-01-2010 19:00
On 26th December, Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto became the third victim of a wave of violence against environmental campaigners in the Cabañas Region of El Salvador, where community members are protesting against the re-opening of a Gold Mine by Canadian Company Pacific Rim.
Dora Alicia was a member of the Cabañas Environmental Committee, and had been active in opposing the mine. She was eight months pregnant when she was shot dead, and her two year old son was also wounded in the attack.
Her murder comes six days after the fatal shooting of Ramiro Rivera Gomez, Vice President of the Cabañas Environmental Committee, who had survived being shot eight times in August this year. In June, another environmental campaigner, Gustavo Marcelo Rivera Moreno, had been tortured and killed. Many other members of the community have received death threats, including youth workers and journalists for the local community radio station Radio Victoria, and the local priest Father Luis Quintanilla narrowly escaped an attempted kidnapping.
In Mexico, Mariano Abarca Roblero campaigned against the environmentally destructive open-pit Barium mine Blackfire, a World Bank project. He was shot to death on the evening of November 27, 2009, in front of his house in Chicomuselo, Chiapas.
[ full report | Amnesty International Campaign | UpsideDown World 1,2, 3 | cispes | Share - El Salvador | Waves of Change | Chiapas Anti-Mining Organiser Murdered | Germany Indymedia ]
Remember Gaza
26-12-2009 18:06
From December 27th 2008 to January 18th 2009 Israeli bombers pounded Gaza. The Israeli assault was the most violent since the occupation began in 1967. On the eighth day of the attack Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) entered Gaza and remained there for two weeks. Throughout the 22 days of the assault civilians were delierately targeted, hospitals were attacked, schools were bombed and 1417 people were killed, including at least 318 children.
The international Palestine solidarity movement is calling for January 2010, the first anniversary of the massacre, to be a month of solidarity actions in support for the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. One such call has come from the Free Gaza movement, whose volunteers broke the siege in order to stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza during the massacre.
On December 27th demonstrations, commemorating the first day of the massacre, were held in Brighton, Sheffield, Liverpool and Birmingham while a thousand strong demonstration was held outside the Israeli embassy in London. Elsewhere Manchester's Target Brimar campaign has called for 22 days of waging peace, incuding several actions against Manchester based arms manufacturer, Brimar, who supply equipment used in Israeli fighter aircraft, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has called for a week of action, from the 9th to the 17th of January, against supermarkets selling Israeli goods, a mass 'die in' is planned in Trafalgar Square on the 16th and Smash EDO have called for a mass demonstration against EDO MBM/ITT, now ITT Integrated Structures, who supply components for F-15s and F-16s used by the Israeli military.
The Viva Palestina convoy was supposed to arrive in Gaza today, breaking the siege and bringing much needed medicine and rebuilding materials. However, the convoy has not been allowed to enter Egypt and has been in Aqabah, Jordan, since December 25th. On the 27th the convoy members began a hunger strike calling for the Egyptian government to allow them to enter. Activists are also arriving in Egypt to join the Gaza Freedom March, a march from Egypt into Gaza and to the Erez crossing. Freedom marchers have already suffered repression from the Egyptian authorities with dozens arrested (and then released) and a Gaza massacre memorial in Cairo shut down.
Links: Palestine Solidarity Campaign|Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign|Smash EDO|Target Brimar|Palestinian Return Centre|Gaza Freedom March|Viva Palestina|Free Gaza Movement|Palestinian BDS Campaign|
COP15 Fails -- Capitalism is Ecocide
20-12-2009 21:59
As the politicians and protesters disperse from Copenhagen , the COP15 climate talks were judged to have ended in a failure to produce any binding commitment to tackle climate change. On Saturday 12th, an estimated 100 000 joined a demo, to be met with repressive policing and mass arrests. The same style of policing continued for the duration of the summit, with hundreds of protestors detained for hours in degrading and inhumane conditions. Whilst the police demonstrated the limits of freedom and democracy on the streets, inside the convention centre western powers and corporations dominated the proceedings, imposing unfair conditions and watering down the already inadequate proposals that were on the table.
In London, the Climate Camp which was set up after the 'wave' demo on December 5th, remained in situ in Trafalgar Square throughout the summit, mounting a number of actions, including an action against Tar Sands at Canada House on Monday 14th, and a protest against the Danish police on Thursday 17th.
Links:
Time Line | Climate IMC | IMC Denmark | iCOP15 aggregated site.
Titnore Woods Need You
20-12-2009 13:54
With the threat of development on Titnore Woods fast approaching now is the time to rise up and resist the destruction of our natural environment by corporate greed.
Campaigners have been camping in Titnore Woods, in resistance against the development, since 2006.
West Durrington Consortium, which consists of Persimmon Homes, Taylor Wimpy and Heron Homes could be given the go ahead to build a 1250 home development and a road in the new year. Previously the consortium had planned to build 875 homes. The project is estimated to cost over 3 billion pounds to build and take 6 years to complete which is utter madness when Worthing is reported to have over 1000 empty buildings! If the development goes ahead West Durrington will no longer home a semi- ancient woodland with its rich diversity in rare species, flora and fauna or its surrounding farmland but a massive housing development, road and a giant Tesco.
Links:Protect Our Woodland| Tinore's Blog|The Pork Bolter|Time out at Titnore - By SchMOVIES
Previous Indymedia features about Titnore Woods: [1|2|3|4|5|6|8]
Still working for a Nuclear Free City?
15-12-2009 14:47
This latest move by the government aims to boost technical expertise in nuclear power generation while at the same time securing more environmentally sustainable sources of energy. The region already boasts a strong presence in the nuclear sector, employing more than 25,000 skilled professionals in 300 companies across the region, with a reported combined turnover of approximately £3 billion.
Once You COP You Just Can't Stop
10-12-2009 22:09
Going to COP15? Wondering which pair of socks to bring? A space-hopper and a peace flag or a gas-mask and a bag of transit wheel nuts? Ask no longer as SchNEWS brings you our prepare-for-action guide to the week long climate protest in Denmark, a country which professes itself to be a 'key developer of climate solutions'. Let's hope they're right. Read on for yer essential what's-what: border checks, police tactics, and probably most importantly, what will the weather be like?
See www.schnews.org.uk or click 'full article'
Fascists rally in Nottingham
09-12-2009 18:41
The English Defence League (EDL) are a small fascist organisation which has been demonstrating against "Islamic extremism" in towns across the UK in recent months. Anti-fascist organisations say the group is anti-Muslim and fascist.
On Saturday 300-400 EDL members descended on Nottingham where most were held in a police pen near the castle all day. Their presence was opposed by a number of organisations including Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) who rallied in Market Square and then marched down Friar Lane. A large number of autonomous anti-fascists and local youths managed to avoid being kettled by the police.
The EDL demonstration repeatedly attacked police lines on Castle Boulevard but failed to escape their escorts. Fighting also broke out several times outside pubs in which EDL members were drinking, and photographs have been published showing EDL demonstrators urinating against the walls of Nottingham Castle.
On the newswire: Running Rings Round the EDL | Piss-Poor EDL Defending England's Heritage | Saturday and the EDL: Whose Streets? Our Streets! | The EDL & The Far Right | EDL Violence In Nottingham | Can Police or BBC Count? | EDL: soldiers of the state? | EDL Nottingham - Photos | report from anarchists in nottingham who fought fash today.... | Wetherspoons (and the Police) Allow Drunken Nazis Onto Roof | Confronting the EDL - our historic duty! | Weatherspoons warned not to host EDL | Why do the police accept the EDL/CU line? | Weatherspoons Advised dont hold EDL demo in Notts! | We WILL be in Market Square! | Police tell UAF to change anti EDL demo | Saturday's Events and The Stop the War Coalition | Join us and stop the EDL in Nottingham, Sat 5th Dec | Nottingham Stop the EDL march: Useful info and tactics | EDL in Nottingham: Information for Action
Links: Antifa England | Nottingham Stop the BNP | Unite Against Fascism
Full article | 1 addition | 7 comments
50,000 in Climate Change Protest + Climate Camp Occupies Trafalgar Square
04-12-2009 09:46
Around 50,000 people took part in 'The Wave' demonstration in London on Saturday 5th December [ photos: 1 | 2 | 3 ] ahead of the Cop15 Climate conference - see Indymedia London Feature reports.
Following the Wave events and demonstration the London Climate Camp invited people to the COP Out Camp Out action - which took over Trafalgar Square, setting up a camp for an intended 48hrs to highlight the issues around the Cop15 mobilisation, summed up in the phrase "System Change not Climate Change. See Climate Camp Feature reports.
For coverage see Indymedia London Timeline
See also Liveblog archive | Twitter Tag search | Twitters: climatecampldn | copoutcampout
Help report what's happening by sending your reports from the streets.
See: The Wave Demonstration | Bike Ride | Climate Emergency | Climate Camp Action
Also see: Indymedia London | Imc uk Cop15 Section
For Cop 15 coverage see: Indymedia Denmark | Climate IMC
Southcoast Indymedia Revamp
30-11-2009 23:46
Southcoast Indymedia is three and a half years old. Since Southcoast Indy began it has been a place where local activists can report their news. Southcoast has hosted reports on the growth of the Smash EDO campaign [1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18], the battle for Titnore Woods [1|2|3|4|5|6|8], battles over freedom to protest in Brighton and Worthing [1|2|3|4], The Gatwick and Calais No Borders camps [1|2|3], Sussex students' struggles, the South East mobilisation for the G8 in Gleneagles, the campaign to free Omar Degahyes and Binyam Mohammed, Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Southcoast Indymedia was set up with the aim of "of providing a readily accessible source of news and information on the Kent, Sussex and Hampshire area of the south of England...We will be extending an invitation to all kinds of community groups and campaigns (well, almost all - racists and fascists are not welcome here!) to use South Coast IMC as their own site, a place where they both post news of their own and catch up with others".
Almost four years on, we would like to renew the creative process that drives Indymedia and relaunch the Southcoast collective; making South Coast Indymedia an ongoing, relevant resource for all activists in the area. With more people involved, we can make South Coast Indymedia a valuable tool for wide variety of campaigns and individuals, with South Coast-relevant features, campaign diary and newswire for announcements and reports of events in the area.
On Sunday 6th December, from 2-3.30pm, at the Cowley Club in Brighton, there will be a workshop to discuss a revamp of Southcoast Indymedia. The session is for anyone who wants to contribute content, tech support, graphic/web design or has any skills or experience to share, etc.
New ideas and general curiosity are very welcome on the day, get involved!
If you are interested contact southcoastindymedia@riseup.net
Full article | 3 additions | 2 comments
November 30th: Happy Birthday Indymedia!!
30-11-2009 20:01
Ten years have passed since the first Indymedia site came to life in November 30th 1999. Media activists came together for the first time during the amazing anti-WTO summit protests that took place in Seattle (US), kick starting the emergence of a global 'movement of movements' that has spent this decade struggling against neoliberalism, war and environmental destruction.
Anti-Militarists take on Barclays
28-11-2009 20:33
On Saturday 28th November protests took place in Brighton, Wrexham, Falmouth, Hastings, Tunbridge Wells and Cambridge [Pics] as part of a day of action marking the launch of Smash EDO's'Target Barclays' campaign.On November 30th an action took place in Plymouth.
Smash EDO have been calling for autonomous actions against Barclays Bank to force them to stop providing 'market maker' services for ITT Corporation on the NYSE. Smash EDO's site states 'Bankers and institutional investors are the glue that finances the state terror wreaked by the arms trade. Companies like EDO do not operate in a vacuum but are propped up by the networks of corporations and investors which constitute the global capitalist system which puts profit before peace, greed before people.'
As ITT’s market maker, Barclay’s acts as a ‘middle man’, purchasing shares from a seller and holding them until such a time as a buyer becomes available. This ensures the stability of ITT’s share price by allowing shareholders to sell off their assets at any time, even when a buyer is not immediately available, and vice versa. Barclay’s also profits from this enterprise, by selling ITT’s shares at a small markup, which nevertheless generates a considerable income when spread across large sales. Barclays is also the largest UK investor in the global arms trade.More.
Target Barclays webpage| Smash EDO Press Release| Smash EDO website| Anti-Militarist Network
Smash EDO's next big mobilisation is the REMEMBER GAZA SMASH EDO MASS DEMO JANUARY 18TH. Assemble at 1pm, Brighton, wear black.
Full article | 4 additions | 5 comments
Cop15 Climate Conference: System Change, Not Climate Change
23-11-2009 16:55
As the world watches Copenhagen, thousands of people will participate in protest marches, direct action and alternative forums. In Denmark new repressive laws have been proposed [update: now passed] to discourage protests including extending preventitative detention from 6hrs to 12hrs, significantly increasing fines for public order offences under Danish law, and increasing the penalty for not dispersing when ordered to do so by police [see 1 | 2]. Meanwhile in a clear display of political policing, four uk activists on their way to an organising meeting in Copenhagen were detained and questioned under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 [2 | 3].
Despite this hundreds of people from the uk will head to Copenhagen to participate in the protests, actions and the Klimaforum. The uk Climate Camp is organising coach transport and has joined the Climate Justice Action network which is co-ordinating some of the protests, in particular the Reclaim Power! action on 16th December, which aims to push into the conference area and hold a "People’s Summit for Climate Justice". They are supported by a wide range of groups, including members of Climate Justice Now, a network formed in Bali during Cop13 and including many groups and networks from the global south, such as Via Campesina. Other planned actions focus on food sovereignty, migration, corporations and 'business as usual'.
In the countdown toward Cop15, there has been an upswing in direct action around climate change. On September 12th hundreds of people protested and took direct action at Hazelwood coal power station in Victoria, Australia [utube video]. On 26th September, hundreds of protestors in Denmark took direct action, breaching the fences at Amagerværket coal-fired power station (owned by Vattenfall) in an action called "Shut It Down" [reports 1 | 2 | video]. In the uk on 17th October around one thousand people protested at Eon's Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal power station, repeatedly breaching fences [pics]. On 26th October, activists in the uk occupied parts of Npower’s Didcot power station, blockaded an access road at Mainshill Wood where Scottish Coal plans a new coal mine, and climbed onto machinery at Shipley opencast coal mine stopping work [collected reports]. On October 28th activists from the action group Climate Alarm! blockaded the entrance to the Business Europe Copenhagen conference in Brussels [video 1 | 2 | 3 | pics]. At the start of November in Barcelona at the last preparatory session before Copenhagen, protestors marched, blocked roads and blockaded entrances to the meeting, whilst inside delegates from the African bloc staged a walk-out of the discussions [reports 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]. Whilst on 23rd November in Australia around two hundred protestors blockaded Parliament House in Canberra.
Ahead of Cop15, demonstrations are scheduled in Geneva alongside the WTO, and on November 30th the Mobilization for Climate Justice has called for a global day of action coinciding with the 10 year anniversary of the famous Seattle WTO protests. Linking the WTO to the Cop15 mobilisation is the Social & Climate Justice Caravan, with 60 representatives from global movements from the South travelling two routes from Geneva to Copenhagen, arriving 9th December. In London, a large pre-Cop15 protest march called "The Wave" is planned by a coalition of NGOs on December 5th, meeting at the US Embassy before marching off at 1pm to encircle Parliament. Earlier there is a Climate Bike Ride meeting at 10am at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and a Climate Emergency Rally at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park at midday. Update: An action has also been announced by Climate Camp in London: COP OUT Camp Out, to take place after the Wave demonstration.
Listings of Events + Protests: 1|2|3
Latest Logistics (accomodation etc) | Legal Advice / pdf | Medics and Trauma Support | Google Map
Climate Camp UK Coaches (11th-19th Dec) - (Booking deadline 25th Nov) | Other Coaches from European Countries
See coverage at: Indymedia DK | Climate IMC | Imcuk Cop15 Section
Recent: Bolivian COP-15 Delegate's Call Video | 300-350 Show: Civil disobedience for climate justice + legal issues
See also:Why Climate Change is Not an Environmental Issue (pdf) | Deal or No Deal Newspaper (pdf) | 350 Reasons Why Carbon Trading Won't Work (pdf) | Carbon Supermarket Comic by Kate Evans | More Background
Scotland in Resistance
21-11-2009 00:00
Protests against the NATO parliamentary assembly in Edinburgh culminated in its the disruption on Tuesday morning [ Summary report ]. Six Trident Ploughshares activists were arrested when blocking the entrance to the Edinburgh Conference Centre. On Saturday, hundreds of protesters, including some NATO delegates, marched to the Edinburgh conference centre under the banner of the Stop the War coalition [ report ], whilst antifascists resisted a SDL rally in Glasgow.
The NATO Welcoming Committee called for action at the opening of the NATO meeting on Friday, but first the group was kettled by police before the protesters individually and spontaneously rallied in front of the assembly's meeting place.
About a week beforehand the access to the G20 finance meeting in St Andrew's was blockaded by five students and later in the day more than a hundred protesters marched to the Fairmont Hotel against the G20's policies.
Meanwhile the direct actions against the opencast coal mining at Mainshill Solidarity Camp continue. [ Report | Weekend of Actions and Workshops | round-up ]
The City of Edinburgh Council has also seen a lot of different grassroots groups campaigning against their policies, such as the privatisation of health and support services [ latest update], a bin workers "work-to-rule strike and overtime ban" [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ], manual workers dispute, parents group resisting the closure of schools, fight against funding cuts for community projects and opposition to the regeneration of the lower part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site [ Save our Old Town ] and the initiative to Save Meadowbank .