UK UK Newswire Archive
Day X2: Birmingham students occupy council chambers
30-11-2010 15:32
Prince Andrew: UK "In the thick of playing the Great Game"
30-11-2010 15:18
¶9. (C) Addressing the Ambassador directly, Prince Andrew then turned to regional politics. He stated baldly that “the United Kingdom, Western Europe (and by extension you Americans too”) were now back in the thick of playing the Great Game. More animated than ever, he stated cockily: “And this time we aim to win!” Without contradicting him, the Ambassador gently reminded him that the United States does not see its presence in the region as a continuation of the Great Game. We support Kyrgyzstan’s independence and sovereignty but also welcome good relations between it and all of its neighbors, including Russia.Action East End Film Club
30-11-2010 14:59
Forthcoming film shows from East London community action group Action East EndUni of Nottingham Occupation
30-11-2010 14:23
Students at Nottingham University have occupied The Great Hall in The Trent Building on University Park.
They say:
1. We demand that the University of Nottingham lobby the Russell Group and the government and issue a statement condemning all cuts to higher education, the EMA and the rise in tuition fees.
2. We demand that the University of Nottingham implement a complete open book policy in regards to existing budget constraints
3. We demand that the University of Nottingham ensure no redundancies for teaching, research or support staff.
4. Ensure that no victimization or repercussions for anyone participating in the occupation.
5. Allow free access in and out of the building.
Join Them!
The Students are Revolting
Slade School of Art has been Occupied
30-11-2010 14:22
The SLADE SCHOOL OF ART has just been occupied by students, which means two buildings in the stunning UCL campus are now under occupation. They are planning 3 days of alternative education, art, activism and disobedience this weekend, from Friday night 3rd to Sunday 5th December.
Last evening’s rather spontaneous meetings of reps from across art colleges was really a great turn out, with students from the following universities: Kingston, UAL ( LCC, Central St Martins, Chelsea, Camberwell, Byam Shaw), Courtauld, Brikbeck, Slade, Goldsmiths, as well as members of the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination and the Carrot Workers Collective. No RCA reps were present but there were links to RCA activists in the group.
In this meeting we discussed a broader co-ordination of artistic action that we are going to realise within the next week, I hope I speak for the whole group when I say we are all really excited about the outcomes.
Open Planning meetings will take place for all who want to attend at 7pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings THIS WEEK.
Meetings will be held at the top of the stairs in the main Slade building on Gower Street, across from UCL.
It would be great if all groups could send a rep to help to build the programme. (Issa to help with programme)
Contacts at the Slade are:
0789 442 7355
0776 709 1945
Lollipop Ladies: Defending Education
30-11-2010 14:22
Lollipop Ladies: ensuring your children get through education safely.
Day X2: London live coverage
30-11-2010 13:47
Follow the cat and mouse game from London as protesters try to avoid being kettled by a massive police presence. Groups of people were walking, running etc around the main West End and Parliament areas. Cops seem to be kettling small groups.Day X2: Early kettle for Leeds Students
30-11-2010 13:22
A march of around 300 students starting out from Leeds University to the town hall, convened in protest at proposed increases in tuition fees and cuts to the education budget, was kettled by police shortly after departure at 11.00am this morning.
Kent EDL Meeting December 1st
30-11-2010 12:52
Kent EDL are planning to hold a meeting tomorrow December 1st at O' Connells bar in Chatham,Kent.Screening of Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo in Sheffield
30-11-2010 12:45
Outside the Law: Stories from GuantánamoIs new documentary telling the story of Guantánamo: torture, extraordinary rendition and secret prisons. Examining how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international law, rounding up prisoners in Afghanistan and Pakistan without adequate screening and often for large bounty payments. Focusing on the stories of three prisoners, Shaker Aamer, Binyam Mohamed and Omar Deghayes, 'Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo' is powerful rebuke to the myth that Guantánamo holds “the worst of the worst”.
(Spectacle Productions, 2009; 75 mins., directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington)
Omar Deghayes (Guantanamo 'Detainee') and Poly Nash (Director) will be present to introduce the film.
A weekend of anti-cuts action in Nottingham
30-11-2010 12:23
Notts SOS is pleased to announce a weekend of anti-cuts action in Nottingham. The campaign is growing and many more people are taking action. Visit Notts SOS website for more events and information.
Saturday 4th Dec: Protest against corporate tax evasion - starts at Clumber St. at 1pm.
Sunday 5th Dec: 3rd day of action against education cuts and fees - starts Market Square at 12 noon.
Follow links for more details. Do come and support these actions.
Next Notts SOS meeting: Monday 6th Dec at 7.30pm (for venue see details on website).
Lewisham's democracy
30-11-2010 12:22
Labour's Lewisham Council votes Mayor Bullock's cuts in behind closed doors, and defends the vote by riot police.
At first, it seemed like a small turnout at the demo called by Lewisham Anti-Cuts Alliance (LACA). The police were expecting decent numbers, and were there to contain a repeat of what happened a couple of weeks ago when the protesters forced the meeting to adjourn. This time we were going to be in the public gallery with a maximum of 40 people.
As I was queueing up for the search and pat down, the 150/200 strong march from Goldsmiths arrived. Speeches were held and all seemed to be going according to time-worn liberal traditions, until a masked protester appeared on the roof of the Town Hall with a banner saying: ‘Commons not Cuts’. They were letting people in 5 by 5 and sending them up in the lift. When it was our turn the security guard said:
‘Believe me, I want to be here as much as you.’
‘No, you don’t understand, we do want to be here.’
As we are waiting in the lobby to be sent up, the crowd charges the door shouting: ‘Let us in!’. The door opens and police tumble in backwards, dancing with protesters. About 20 of us are in. The police scramble to push us out or detain us. I jump in to de-arrest someone and get punched in the face. The security guards are out of control. There are several bloody faces. The glass at the front of the building cracks from the commotion outside. Someone sets of a smoke bomb. We try and board the lift, but the police and guards yank us out. We are trapped in the lobby. CID arrive – it is stalemate – no one is going in or out for the time being. A second smoke bomb is set off and the fire alarm starts. The guards get rid of this one as well. The people from the gallery are sent down and yanked out of the stairwell – they either end up in our group or ejected through the front. The officers draw their batons and tasers – their pupils are dilated. We start shouting: ‘Don’t do what you did to Ian Tomlinson!’ That stops them in their tracks. We call out the numbers of the most violent ones. One by one we get shoved down the stairs and out the back. I get thrown backwards and break my fall by dragging a couple of cops down.
Once outside a group leaves singing: ‘Harry Roberts is our friend, is our friend, is our friend. Harry Roberts is our friend, he kills coppers.’ We make our way to the front, where riot police has arrived with shields, horses and dogs. About 10 vans have blocked the South Circular. ITV is there. There are more charges to the front door. I hear that the meeting has been adjourned. CID target one of the protesters and after attempt to stop them, manage to arrest him. The crowd slowly disperses. We hit the pub.
About an hour after the meeting was adjourned, the cuts vote took place behind closed doors (so much for democracy!). It was 36 for, 3 against, 11 abstentions. All Labour councillors voted in favour of the cuts, the Tory and Green councillors voted against, and the Lib Dems abstained. There is seamless progression from what happened outside Lewisham Town Hall to what happened inside. A council, whose members were elected to serve the people, totally betrayed them by acting on the orders of an unelected ConDem junta which has no legitimacy and even less, a mandate for the most vicious cuts we have seen this side of the 1930's. The people gathered outside to protest and assert their right of witness. The answer was riot shields, horses, dogs and brutuality to bring home the will of the bond markets to municipal politics.
LACA:
http://lewishamanticutsalliance.wordpress.com/
BLOGS with pics and videos:
http://www.hangbitching.com/2010/11/lewisham-protests/
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/07/19/poor-people-all-in-it-together/
http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2010/11/lewisham-town-hall-stormed.html
http://blackheathbugle.wordpress.com/
CORPORATE with blog videos:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/29/lewisham-council-protest
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11870742
Press release: Sir Philip Green Is Next Tax Avoidance Target
30-11-2010 12:07
hit the cuts with a snowball
30-11-2010 11:27
Police are already lining up in Whitehall in preparation for today's protests.
After the Lewisham Council meeting was disrupted last night [video] with mainstream reporting 4 arrests, there is a call for the 2nd day of action, or DayX2, against the cuts today. A Kettle Carnival is announced for noon at Trafalgar Square, as well as a Black Triangle action against Disability Cuts at South Bank at 12:30, followed by a march by the
Women Against the Cuts starting at the treasury at 5pm. Bust cards are available online and today's legal team can be reached at 07946541511.
So far the day is promising snowball fights and other merryment.
more soon...
Lewisham Town Hall Storming - Report
30-11-2010 11:27
Inspired by the recent student protests and angry about proposed local cuts people in Lewisham stormed the Town Hall where a vote on the cuts was taking place after the number of people allowed into the meeting was cut.
Around 100 people tried to force their way into the building. Extra riot police were sent to the town hall along with police horses and dogs to disperse the protest using force.
The lobby at the town hall which drew several hundred people was also supported by students from Goldsmiths College.
Lewisham Anti Cuts Alliance said "a peaceful lobby was denied democratic rights as we attempted to enter Lewisham town hall to make our voices against the cuts heard. Police brutally attacked protesters with batons, shields. There were so many cops that the south circular outside the town hall was closed due to the number of police cars and vans."
VIDEOS:
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6162
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRgKNL6UzLk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLJjKGd7yCM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c2GKwvXjr0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEmY1-FJLqc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urakyh6vTOc
BLOGS + PRESS:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/29/lewisham-council-protest
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11870742
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=23216
http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2010/11/lewisham-town-hall-stormed.html
http://transpont.blogspot.com/2010/11/lewisham-demo-tonight-cuts-catford-and.html
http://greencroftonpark.blogspot.com/2010/11/angry-scenes-at-tonights-council.html
http://www.hangbitching.com/2010/11/lewisham-protests/
LINKS:
Lewisham Anti Cuts Alliance
http://lewishamanticutsalliance.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=151507044863124
BACKGROUND:
Call out: http://anticuts.org.uk/?p=966
The Mayor has presented the budget, but we can still stop the cuts
Town Hall (Catford), 6:30PM, Monday 29 Nov.
Come and tell the councillors to vote against the cuts, outside (and inside) the council meeting. No closures of libraries, Early Childhood centres, Open Doors advice services, no job losses, no privatisation!
We know many councillors do not want cuts, but feel pressured into voting for them. Our message to them is simple: Vote for what you believe in, how would you even consider any other action?
======================================
Letter to Labour Party Councillors:
Dear Labour Councillor
On 29th November you will be asked to vote for a budget, which will have devastating effects on the people of Lewisham you have been elected to represent.
The ConDem government has cut local government funding this year. But they plan more cuts next year and the year after that. If we give in now they will be back for more and more and more. This is an ideological attack on our welfare services. The poor are being made to pay for a financial crisis, which was caused by greed for profit.
The coalition government has a choice. These cuts are not inevitable. In fact the money to offset the deficit is readily available:
• There is £120 billion tax gap of avoided and uncollected tax
• The UK holds £850 billion in banking assets from the bailout – this is more than the national debt
• The UK government “owes” £200 billion of debt to the Bank of England – solely owned by the UK government.
Simply accepting these cuts without resistance is totally unacceptable. We are asking you to stand by your party principles and protect the people who elected you from these draconian cuts.
There are things you can cut without affecting jobs and services. For example:
• Cut top management pay
• Sack the consultants
• Pass a No Cuts budget
Help us to build the anti cuts movement in Lewisham, by mobilising the unions, tenants associations, and community activists with the central demand that the coalition government restores the money for local services.
• Don’t vote for the budget on the 29th.
• Don’t tell the people of Lewisham that there is no alternative.
• Join us at our next planning meeting to discuss how we can build the movement agains the cuts:
7th December Amersham Arms, New Cross Rd 7pm
In solidarity
Lewisham Anti Cuts Alliance
ILPS Condemns War Provocations by the US, South Korea Puppets vs DPRK
30-11-2010 11:21
Notes from an Occupation
30-11-2010 10:54
On 24th November, as part of the first National Day of Action Against Fees and Cuts, the Radcliffe Camera, a central library of Oxford University, was stormed and occupied by around 200 people. The building was occupied for 28 hours until being raided and evicted by police. The occupation involved students from Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University, Ruskin, and many other educational institutions in Oxford. The intention of the occupation was to open the university library as a resource for the entire community. However, police and security colluded to deny access to anyone who attempted to enter. Below is a text begun within the Radcliffe Camera and completed after eviction. It was composed by a few not all of the those involved in the Radcliffe Camera Occupation, and neccessarily does not represent everyone's views.Somalians Convicted of Piracy Based on US Slave-era Law
30-11-2010 10:30
Clashes with police at Lewisham Town Hall
30-11-2010 10:22
Video of clashes with police at Lewisham Town Hall 29/11/10 when protesters interrupted a crucial council meeting.
Angry clashes at Lewisham town hall
30-11-2010 07:23
ANGRY clashes broke out in Lewisham, London, on Monday night as police stopped campaigners from attending a key council meeting.