UK UK Newswire Archive
#Flotilla to Gaza: Commemorating Our Martyrs and Preparing to Sail Again
31-05-2011 13:52
Despite widespread condemnation and an UN-commissioned investigation that found Israel’s acts unlawful, possibly amounting to war crimes, Israel has yet to be held accountable. Families of the victims killed on the Mavi Marmara await justice and millions of Palestinians continue to demand their human rights respected.
In the wake of continued government inaction to stop Israel’s human rights abuses, we, members of global civil society representing dozens of national coalitions and international organizations will launch next month Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human.
Stokes Croft Tesco Updates: Peaceful Protesters Repressed
31-05-2011 10:55
Over the past week, attempts at completely peaceful protest (some would say to the extent of being ineffective), have been met by repression by both the police and Tesco security.
Every little helps...despite the massive imbalance in resources it is amazing that Tescos are still being forced to fight for what is to them a fairly small and insignificant store. Despite the police's highly organised and expensive media and personnel-heavy response to the Stokes Croft incidents, it is significant that a large percentage of people agree that the police not only cocked up with their operations on Stokes Croft, but ultimately hold them responsible for the resistance that ensued when they flooded the area with riot cops (many from outside the area). Despite the subsequent media hysteria, and condemnation from all political parties, it is significant that a large number of people consider the protests in April an appropriate response to the police invasion, and that the police acted in support of Tescos attempts to dominate the 'market' against the wishes of a sizeable proportion of the local population. Full Story
Tesco Reopens, Time For PRSC to Earn Their Money | Anti Tesco Flyer | Stokes Croft: The Art of Protest (Guardian)
Environmental claim of JNF slammed following news of Cameron’s resignation
31-05-2011 10:43
The JNF is accused by campaigners of using an environmental image to cover up its role in taking Palestinian lands and denying access for refugees.
The FoES decision took place at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting and land rights conference. Stan Blackley, Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, confirmed on Saturday that “members at today’s AGM voted overwhelmingly to endorse the international call to stop the JNF. At today's land rights conference the activities of the JNF were brought to the attention of our members, supporters and interested members of the public. Our organisation is pleased to join the call for the revocation for the JNF's charitable status in the UK and to help raise awareness on this little known issue."
Save Our NHS Day of Action: Saturday July 9th
31-05-2011 08:12
The campaign against the government's plans for the NHS is at a crossroads. Overwhelming opposition, from ordinary people, the BMA, the NHS Federation, the RCN, the unions and even the Liberal Democrat spring conference has forced them onto the back foot.Call-out dates for real democracy
31-05-2011 06:35
THE new wave of hope created by the real democracy movement continues to inspire people across Europe.NEW twist in the Hollie Greig case
31-05-2011 04:55
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf5qp_xeN4A&feature=channel_video_title
Coal protesters show solidarity with the people of South Mongolia, and stand against China's crackdown on freedom of expression.
31-05-2011 04:55
European Revolution vs European Subjugation
31-05-2011 01:55
The occupation of city squares across Spain has shown the oppressed in Europe there is a way forward in our struggle for representation of our views. Fear dissappears when the need becomes greatest, and that is when a nation of traditionally fearful people like the Spanish, still recovering from a violent dictatorship 35 years ago, rise up together and take concerted action.
United against the apathy of the centre and the fascism of the right-wing, this move to enforce an anarcho-libertarian model for deciding matters of importance could be the beginning of something big across Europe. It showed that when there is no money in a nation, power is transferred to those who have the most representative ideas for the future. When capitalism fails to provide a hope and a future, when people's homes are snatched by the greedy banks, when the government withdraws the few financial aids it has provided in order to pay back the same banks and when disenchantment with politics grows to become intolerable, the bubble inevitably bursts.
This bubble is the one that is still holding the people inert in Britain, because they are too conformed to the current system which has for so many hundreds of years given wealth to this country. They have hope that things will get better, because they always have. That pride in their institutions keeps them from doing anything but moan among themselves while the whole welfare system is sold out to the highest bidder. The last thing to go will be the jobseekers allowance, the main procurer of comfort for the otherwise poverty-stricken working class. Desperation may flow then but it will probably be too late.
In Spain the questioning has already started. A fully-fledged globalised capitalist system that placed the country's economy at a delusive fourth place in the EU just five years ago now seems a long way away. As unemployment edges towards half the population and those years of abundant credit now seem long gone, the yolk of debt is choking the life out of their hearts and they must break free. The mobilisation of thousands of people to the main squares of both Barcelona and Madrid is a sign that the Spanish feel they should be given a chance to contemplate a different future. The indignation and repulsion felt when the police violently assaulted the protestors shamelessly shows they no longer see things as black and white as in Britain. The continuation and expansion of the assemblies across the neighbourhoods of the two Iberian metropoles, indicates that deference is dead.
Now the challenge has been laid: Will we respond to the desperation and react to bring about a Russian Revolution or will we continue to trust the patriarchs as they lead us to a new feudal state where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? I don't know if anyone noted last week that Marks and Spencer, an upper middle class institution, registered record profits of over £700 million in UK. This is a crisis for the poor and just an opportunity for the rich to balance the books by enslaving us even further. Capitalism is unsustainable unless we are too concerned with surviving to fight it.
When the British population hedged their bets in their traditions they forgot their realities. Last week I saw it with my own eyes. At another poorly attended UK Uncut demo, five burly drunks approached us and started arguing with the organisers. They were informed we were fighting for them but these football fans were hardened in their pride and said: “If you don't like it you can leave the country!” I just hope the rest of Britain will not shy from our problems in this way. If we do not fight now when we have a foot to stand on, change is going to be all the more painful when we are on our knees.
UK Gov Pays Fees of Rich International Students
31-05-2011 00:37
The UK Government is paying up to £12,000 towards the fees of International students, plus air travel, plus living costs.400 peasants, clowns, and reapers liberate Belgian GM potato field
30-05-2011 23:57
The "battle of the potato" field in Wetterem, near Ghent, Belgium, was a resounding victory for anti-GM activists on Sunday (29 May) as members of a crowd of around 400 people broke through police lines and barbed wire fences to destroy an experimental Genetically Modified potato crop.
A busy weekend for #spanishrevolution in London
30-05-2011 22:55
Following two weeks of daily protests and assemblies outside the Spanish embassy a camp was set up, once again, during the bank holiday weekend.
But during the long weekend activists from 'Real Democracy London' also took the protests away from Belgrave Square taking advantage that thousands of Catalan football supporters were in town, as well as many crews from Spanish mainstream media. They staged a series of actions and protests on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th, and on Sunday 29th, they joined the 'European Revolution' call to action that saw a large assembly taking place in Trafalgar Square. See reports and photos ...
What happened during the weekend?
Friday 27th:
Around 100 people from he London Camp and Assembly made sure that their voices where heard during the news broadcast from the main Spanish TV channel that was following the Catalan football supporters gathered in Hyde Park. Activists, showing solidarity with the Barcelona square occupation that had been violently attacked by riot police that same morning, took position just behind the TV reporter as he was doing a live broadcast. See video of the action.
They then moved back to Belgrave Square outside the Spanish embassy where a meeting took place to decide on the practicalities to set up camp, as well as debating the proposals for further actions during the weekend,
Saturday 28th:
At around 1pm, and as hundreds of the Catalan football supporters in town for the Champions league final were gathering at Trafalgar square, a group of around 50 activists turned up with banners and placards protesting against the police brutality that had gone on in Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya camp the day before. They read a manifesto in solidarity with the Barcelona square occupation, and called the football supporters to take the protest into the stadium and make it visible during the football match as the world's media would be broadcasting it. See video of the action.
Later in the afternoon, a larger group of activists made they way to the gates of Wembley stadium where they staged a protest. They were also approaching groups of Barcelona's football supporters asking them to take a 12m long banner they had prepared and display it inside the stadium during the match. Finally, a group of football supporters agreed to it, took the banner and unfurled it in the stands [see pic]
People then made their way back to Belgrave Square outside the Spanish embassy where they set up camp for the night. They then gathered in an assembly to asses the day's actions, and to decide on whether to participate as a group in the 'European Revolution' assembly that had been called for the following day in Trafalgar Square.
Sunday 29th:
A series of workshops took place at the camp in Belgrave Square during the morning, including drumming by Rhythms of Resistance, and a debate workshop with guests from several groups who work for the social justice in the UK, Italy, Greece and other countries. After the camp was cleared in the early afternoon, another assembly took place which decided to move as a group and participate in the mass action called to take place later in the evening in Trafalgar Square.
At 6pm around 500 people gathered in the centre of the square where a mass assembly took place. People from 'Real Democracy London' addresed the crowd explaining the reasons for their protests whilst putting it in context with what has been going with the square occupations throughout Spain for the last two weeks, They also explained the brutal police attack to the Barcelona's camp of friday morning,
Then people from Greece explained the situation in their country since the last wave of 'austerity measures' were imposed after the county's 'bail out' by the IMF, and called for a mass European uprising against the austerity measures being imposed throughout Europe. They also called for participatory and direct democratic systems of organising instead of the representative democracy farce.
An activist from Queer resistance then explained their current campaign against NHS cuts which will see the closure of many Sexual Health Clinics which provide information and treatment to HIV patients. People from Italy, Iceland, Palestine and UK also spoke about the situation in their countries. The assembly then debated whether to continue with the actions in the future, to which most of those present waved their hands to the air showing their support for the idea,
For the time being, 'Real Democracy London' is calling for a series of talks, assemblies and actions for this week and into the weekend:
- Thursday 2nd June: Talk about 'How Banks Work' from 7 to 9pm, followed by a mass assembly. Both events due to take place outside the Spanish embassy in Belgrave Square.
- Friday 3rd June: Meeting to address and debate about what the Real Democracy 'movement' is and where it is going, and possibly set up camp if people are up for it.
- Saturday 4th June: Possible camp and further discussions about the 'movement' and its direction.
- Sunday 5th June: Meeting with other UK groups and movements from other countries from 11.30am, and at 2pm departure towards Regents Street for the ''Taste of Spain' corporate event, to make the protest visible in central London once again.
For updates see the Real Democracy London blog
Related past articles in London Indymedia:
Migrants and supporters demonstrate in Calais
30-05-2011 22:48
Transition and activism: a response
30-05-2011 22:27
This post is a response to Charlotte DuCann’s beautiful and heartfelt post over on the Transition Norwich blog arguing that Transition needs to more explicitly embrace activism. It is wonderful to see, whether through that blog, through Transition Voice, or through the emerging social reporting project, new voices coming through in the Transition blogosphere. Charlotte speaks powerfully to the split that some of those engaged in Transition feel, that they almost need to keep their activism ‘in the closet’ in order to remain engaged. She states that she sees her post as a ‘working document’, and invites reflections, so here are a few of mine.
Justice for All - Sheffield says No Cuts to Free Advice
30-05-2011 21:27
Stop Atos Cutting Disability Benefits, Glasgow Mon. 6th June 5.30pm
30-05-2011 20:03
Picket Atos Recruitment EveningAtos Medical Assessment Centre
Corunna House
29 Cadogan Street
Glasgow G2 7AB
Monday 6th June
5.30pm – 8.30pm
YOUTUBE- Police Brutaity USA - Free Speech Use it or Lose it!
30-05-2011 20:01
If I can't dance to it, it's not my revolution (or even their "liberal democracy!")Police Brutality at the Silent Flashmob at the Jefferson Memorial
Monday 30th May in the Jordan Valley
30-05-2011 19:30
Heavy military training today in the ValleyInternational Day of Action in Solidarity with San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, Mexico
30-05-2011 18:52
International Day of Action in Solidarity with the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, MexicoPlain clothes FIT at #ukuncut protests. Cops use 'Breach of the Peace' strategy
30-05-2011 16:56
The police have a good track record in abusing breach of the peace powers. The situation in Scotland is very different, but in England and Wales the arrest is preventative, so doesn’t result in charges or convictions. But it does give police a handy tool to get people out of the way, and in the process, get their names and addresses.
Police defend corporate criminals: arrests at Edinburgh Uncut action
30-05-2011 16:55
Denouncing tax dodging by big companies and opposing cuts in public services, people took action at Boots, Vodaphone and BHS shops in Edinburgh on Saturday 28 May. Imaginative street theatre saw tax avoiding bosses detained by the Big Society Revenue and Customs Inspectors. But police acted to defend the tax-dodging criminals against Edinburgh Uncut's protests, arresting, detaining and charging two women.