UK UK Newswire Archive
oppression in bangladesh - parliament protest
12-10-2011 12:55
the 'save bangladesh' group held a several hundred strong protest outside parliament yesterday afternoon, asking the uk government to condemn the current repression they claim is happening in the former british colony.
click on image for larger version. 'some rights reserved' - free for credited non-commercial use, otherwise contact author for permission
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bangladeshi people have recently been suffering huge price increases on staple foods and services, rising crime rates and unemployment, gas and electricity shortages, collapsing infrastructure, and rampant corruption including an ongoing stock market scandal.
however, demonstrations have been met with police brutality provoking campus riots, and the democratically elected government is turning to increasingly brutal repression to stifle opposition.
'save bangladesh' describe themselves as an independent campaign and advocacy organisation working to promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in bangladesh. the campaign is headed by various barristers and human rights campaigners, and at yesterday afternoon's rally, a crowd of several hundred people listened to a succession of speakers on behalf of the campaign.
according to the speakers, the current ruling party, the 'awami league', led by PM 'sheikh hasina', has arrested thousands of its critics on trumped-up charges, and the campaign of intimidation has seen buildings burnt and damaged, brutal attacks on opponents, and even torture and extra-judicial killings.
the biggest target for the attacks has been the country's largest mainstream islamist party, 'jamaat-e-islami', with its leaders arrested and detained. the government has also set up a 'war crimes tribunal' which, despite international criticism, has been used to impose highly politicised death penalties without due process.
the 'save bangladesh' organisation has received expressions of solidarity from a few members of parliament and peers, and is hoping to persuade the british government and the international community to intervene.
further info at: www.savebangladesh.eu
Filmshow - Emma Goldman: An exceedingly dangerous woman, 12th Oct 2011
12-10-2011 12:44
Filmshow - Emma Goldman: An exceedingly dangerous woman, 12th Oct 2011, Brighton (UK)Eyewitness: Occupying Wall Street
12-10-2011 12:05
Before I went to Occupy Wall Street, I did some research to see what I was protesting. I went to Occupywallst.org which told me the time and location of the occupation, but not much more. “The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%,” claimed the site. I felt like I could buy into this cause, so I got a couple of people from my college dorm just outside New York City to come with me to Manhattan to be stereotypical protesting college students. We were going to go down in history, just like the kids from the UC Berkeley Free Speech Movement, the Paris spring of 1968, and Tiananmen Square. Hopefully not just like Tiananmen Square.
Occupy Bristol?
12-10-2011 10:55
On October 15th the Occupy Movement will go global with plans for Occupy London and other major cities across the world, which is now set to include Occupy Bristol
The last four weeks have seen the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City grow to exponential size. Since the camp was set up on September 17th, various "Occupy" Movements have started across the US including; Occupy Boston, Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Chicago, Occupy Portland, Occupy Seattle and Occupy Washington (to name a few).
On October 15th the Occupy Movement will go global with plans for Occupy London and other major cities across the world, which is now set to include Occupy Bristol
In solidarity with those protesting against corporate greed, power and corruption in the United States, London and the world we propose the moving towards a Occupy Bristol movement to coincide with the Occupy London demonstration on October 15th.
Capitalism is not a North American phenomenon, it is a world-wide institution of power who's effects can be felt across the earth. Americans are not the only ones who are feeling the negative effects of a global economic crisis, they are not the only ones who suffer from the greediness of the few. We cannot let them fight this alone.
That leaves us with one final question...
Occupy Bristol?
Slavoj Zizek at #OWS
12-10-2011 09:17
TranscriptsPart One:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu9BWlcRwPQ …2008 financial crash more hard earned private property was destroyed than if all of us here were to be destroying it night and day for weeks. They tell you we are dreamers. The true dreamers are those who think things can go on indefinitely the way they are. We are not dreamers. We are awakening from a dream which is tuning into a nightmare. We are not destroying anything. We are only witnessing how the system is destroying itself. We all know the classic scenes from cartoons. The cart reaches a precipice. But it goes on walking. Ignoring the fact that there is nothing beneath. Only when it looks down and notices it, it falls down. This is what we are doing here. We are telling the guys there on Wall Street – Hey, look down! (cheering).
Sentencing From Student and Anti Cuts Protests As Of 10/10/11
12-10-2011 07:42
PLEASE NOTE - WITNESSES STILL NEEDED!! http://london.indymedia.org/articles/10374
Boston Police Brutally Assault Occupy Boston
12-10-2011 00:08
Nazi 'New Right' secret meeting in London-details
11-10-2011 22:18
Details of a secret meeting of the 'New Right' on Saturday 15 October- a British Fascist tendency with a taste for holocaust denial and nazi occultism. Gunter Deckert, the leader of the far right German NPD party and holocaust denier, and Jonathan Bowden, former leading member of the BNP and leader of the New Right, will be speaking. This tendency is linked to Troy Southgate and the so called 'National Anarchist' and 'third position' that infiltrated 'Green Anarchist' and the animal rights movement.Operation Atomic Phaseout: Neither Satisfied Nor Pacified
11-10-2011 20:41
Pedallers Arms Opens
11-10-2011 18:55
After a long six months absence the Pedallers Arms opened its doors on Monday. The aim of the project is to empower people to repair their own bicycles and in the new space there are 5 workstations each with a set of tools. There will be sessions every week on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 4-8pm with each session will have a minimum of two mechanics to offer help if needed and assist the members find the right tool for the job. The weather was at best drizzling but still the 60m2 of warehouse on Mabgate Green was full. Other Northern Bike projects include Recyke-Y-Bike (in Newcastle), Pedal MCR (in Manchester), I Bike Shefield.
The Pedallers Arms hopes that letting people get mucky with their own bikes will give them confidence that they can fix things. The bike world can sometimes be dominated with rich boys playing with expensive bikes. Pedallers Arms is promoting cycling as a cheap transport and so people are not looked down on by not knowing how to use a spanner or having a cheap bike. There are also second-hand parts available for a low price making repairs more affordable. Also to address the gender imbalance on the third Sunday of the month there are women and trans sessions. The project is vounteer run and funded by donations.
The Pedallers Arms moved into the space 2 weeks ago and since then there has been lots of activity building a workbench, wheel store, counter and a beautiful sign. Soon after opening all the stands were filled with wet cyclists repairing bikes then after the bike repair was over for the opening night only there was some cake and ale.
Witnesses needed. Defendants need your help
11-10-2011 14:55
Your help is needed if you attended any of the following: student
protests. March 26th (UK UNCUT, Piccadilly, Oxford Street, Trafalgar
Square), June 30th.
What YOU saw during these demos might stop more people going to prison.
What YOU saw during these demos might stop more people going to prison.
We need you to respond to this call out and we need you to spread the word
- especially through the student networks. Many people do not seem to know
how serious this is. Already we have people in prison when they really
should not be there!
We need all potential witnesses to come forward.
If you were on any of these protests this could well be YOU!
The job of Legal Defense and Monitoring Group and Green and Black Cross is to stop people going to prison by helping people prepare their best defence - but of late we are spending way too much time preparing people for prison instead, and many of the cases could
have been so different if we had more witnesses come forward. It is hard to know if you could be useful as a witness but we hope to find that out if you get in touch with some basic information.
It is often the case during a trial that it is simply the police version
of events against the defendant and it is often blatantly obvious that the
police are lying (yes, shock horror). The judge and the jury often
believes the police version of events in most case (yes, shock horror).
And it often doesn't mater if defendants are telling the truth, if they
don't have thier own witnesses, they have far less chance of being
believed and therefore being found not guilty.
Witnesses do not have to have seen the arrest or indeed the incident
itself and often it is helpful if you were simply there, saw the mood of
the crowd, witnessed unprovoked police attacks etc..
Judges dealing with these cases are being incredibly harsh in their
sentencing, harsher than many of us have ever known before, and things
show no sign of easing up as the public's memories of the protests fades.
It seems like the courts are sending out a massive message to anyone who
dares to challenge the cuts and the system that is behind them that people
dare not protest and we need to support all those going through this court
process. It could easily have been any one of us who were arrested and
preparing for the possibility of prison right now.
There is no sense or justice in many of these arrests. Some people were
trying to protect themselves and those around them when attacked by police
in an unprovoked manner, many weren't even doing that, they were simply
'in the wrong place at the wrong time'.
So far it has mainly been people pleading guilty that have been sentenced
but trials are now starting to take place and the gaps in the defence for
some are huge as many defendants believe that if they get up on the stand
and tell the truth, they will be found not guilty. Sadly it just doesn't
work like that.
In our experience it is people who have witnesses who are more likely to
be found 'not guilty'.
As we approach the one year mark for some of these protests, many of those
facing charges are incredibly stressed and others completely terrified of
what lies ahead if they are found guilty and it is heartbreaking to see,
especially when you know that it doesn't have to be like that.
What little justice there is seems to have gone out the window. Their best
hope is other people! I'll say it again - they desperately need more
witnesses to come forward in order to stop people going to prison.
There are various call outs that have gone out about specific arrests and
we will try to collate these further over the next few days and add them
to the following links. Please read through them.
In the meantime, please get in touch and tell us which protests you were
on and where you were. You can leave it that vague for now. We will get in
touch with you about specifics if you were in a place where people are
calling for witnesses.
In the meantime these are a few of the requests we have:
People who witnesses the policeman falling off his horse on student
protest in dec and / or witnessed the police charge into the crowd.
December 9th 2010. Parliament Square/Broad Sanctury between about 2pm and
3.30pm If you were in parliament square or broad sanctuary (in front of
westminster abbey) during this time
9th December 2010. He was on Northumberland Avenue (Embankment end) outside
The Playhouse Theatre appx 8.20pm. But was arrested in the Haymarket W1.
Witnesses to events near the Treasury from about 5.30pm to 8.30pm on 9
December 2010.
Witnesses from March 26th at Trafalgar Square mid - late evening
There are more details of others here:
http://greenandblackcross.org/legal/appeals
and a couple more here...
http://ldmg.org.uk/witness%2520support.html
If you think that you can help please get in touch with LDMG and GBC asap
ldmgmail@yahoo.co.uk
and please cc your messages to
courtsupport@riseup.net
Vigil for Jimmy Mubenga
11-10-2011 14:32
A vigil to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Jimmy Mubenga.Capital And Crisis (Part 2.)
11-10-2011 14:00
This is part 2 of the article Capital and Crisis which concludes the analysis of the present economic and financial crisis, using Marx as a reference point. It is a contribution to understanding the underlying problems at the basis of society as well as the current phenomena of wild fiscal instability and the massive state debt problems.Birmingham Guild Reinstate the Vice President Education Mobilisation!!!
11-10-2011 13:00
Edd Bauer was arrested on Friday the 16th of September after unfurling a banner at the liberal democrat conference saying “Traitors Not Welcome, Hate Clegg Love NCAFC”. He has been constantly fighting to defend education through grass roots campaigning which he pledged to do in his manifestoOn Tuesday 27th of September Edd Bauer was suspended as the vice president of education “indefinitely”. Stop Fees and Cuts Birmingham are calling for Edd’s reinstatement to his position with immediate effect and are calling for national mobilisation.
MI5 recruiting telephone spies in West Midlands
11-10-2011 11:20
MI5 will be eavesdropping on the telephone conversations of Arabic speaking people in the West Midlands during the OlympicsThe role of the police in the occupations
11-10-2011 10:40
#OccupyLSX First General Assembly
11-10-2011 09:41
London’s first General Assembly took place on 9th October during UK Uncut’s Block the Bridge, Block the Bill action on Westminster Bridge. The General Assembly is the main decision-making forum for #occupylsx – as it has been for other international occupations, drawing on the model pioneered in Spain earlier this year. It’s a form of direct democracy, a space for debate that is totally open to the public – it’s there for anyone who wishes to make their voice heard and there is plenty of room for dissenting voices, although we try to reach consensus.
It is intended that the General Assembly become a permanent feature of the occupation, an open forum which will provide a platform for everyone to air their grievances, demands and proposed solutions. The hope is that the General Assembly will be allow us to create a list of demands democratically – a unified message that represents the sentiment of the 99%.