UK UK Newswire Archive
Seattle Solidarity Network meeting
10-09-2012 10:26
Public meeting with speakers from Seattle Solidarity NetworkReport exposes the hundreds of homes the council are leaving empty
10-09-2012 10:13
Victory! Lowell Group backs down
10-09-2012 08:55
On the eve of our phone blockade of the Lowell Group, yesterday, we had some great news. James Coll, who Lowell were threatening with litigation received letters from the debt collection company saying that they were closing his case and pleading with him to let the Nottingham Solidarity Network know. The threat of direct action from James’ enraged community was enough to make even a company as established as Lowell back down.
This is great news for James and we wish him the best of luck with his recovery, but it is also great news for the solidarity network. Our campaign worked and we hope that this inspires other members of our community to have confidence in collective action.
As a result of this good news the phone blockade of Lowell for later today is cancelled. But Lowell should be warned that James will let us know straight away if they go back on their word.
James contacted us about the harassment he was getting from Lowell in June. Following this we asked our members to email Lowell to ask them to cancel the debt because we did not feel that James was liable for it. Lowell responded saying that they were reviewing the case.
However, at the end of last month James received further correspondence from Lowell saying that they had passed the debt to Hampton’s Legal, their legal arm, and that he would be faced with litigation to recover the money. We responded by calling for a phone blockade of the Lowell Group that was due to take place today.
Fortunately this will no longer be necessary as Lowell seem to have realised that we will not be intimidated and will continue to fight.
Collective direct action (and the threat of it) have got the goods!
-
Unpaid wages? Denied deposit? Unsafe workplace? Refused repairs?
Don’t let bosses and landlords use and abuse you!
We are a network of working people and tenants who work to defend ourselves through direct action and mutual support. Nottingham Solidarity Network will help you get back stolen wages and deposits, get repairs made, and stop evictions.
We are a collection of Nottingham residents who have lived in the city for a number of years. We are all volunteers and anybody who wishes to show solidarity is able to join us. Each of us at some time has suffered from unjust treatment by employers, landlords, or other wealthy people who hold power over our lives.
We’ve learned from experience that the only way we’ll be treated fairly, equally, and with dignity is by being prepared to stand up to such people and defend our rights. It’s hard to do this alone. That’s why we’ve come together, and we’re seeking out other local people with similar problems who feel the same way. Together we can find ways of dealing with abusive bosses, greedy landlords, and those who would deny us, our friends, families, neighbors and co-workers the right to a decent life.
See this page for more on how to get help from the network.
the Met say they want to protest with DPAC against ATOS
10-09-2012 07:40
Subject Future Atos protests
Message Sir/Madame – I would like to discuss the arrangement for future peaceful protests at ATOS offices.
Looking For An End - Ecoshock
09-09-2012 23:55
Ecoshock fall opener! Alex inteviews Gareth Renowden, co-host of New Zealand's "The Climate Show" on the big stories. From Beijing, Li Yan Greenpeace East Asia climate campaign co-ordinator on China's emissions & coal dependence. Plus "Tip of the Iceberg News" with blogs & audio you might have missed. Radio Ecoshock 120905 1 hr CD Quality 56 MB or Lo-Fi 14 MB. Blog with all the links here.This week's 9/11 anniversary: Vital questions UK mainstream media will not ask
09-09-2012 20:44
Blogger Gari Sullivan interviewed about what's really going on in Syria
Demo Against New Coal 22nd Sept
09-09-2012 19:04
Come to Derbyshire to join the Hilltop Action Group on a Demo March, Saturday 22nd September. Beginning at 10.30 am from the Royal Oak car park, Tupton, on the A61 (postcode S42 6LA).Please come along to show your opposition to open cast mining.Bring your family, dog, a picnic, banners and placards.
Freedom under the law at Runnymede?
09-09-2012 18:55
Diggers2012 and ‘Persons Unknown’ (meaning anyone in the known universe) have been served with court papers. Despite the fact that there are no tents, structures or other items on their land, The National Trust is seeking an order for possession and an injunction prohibiting trespassing from a large area of land (over 200 acres) including parts of the ‘Runnymede’ and ‘Ankerwycke’ Estates (which is managed by the National Trust). The case will be heard in Slough County Court this Thursday, 13th September at 12 Noon.
Freedom under law at Runnymede?
We currently have no tents or structures on any National Trust land. Our Eco-village is situated on the disused land on the ex-Brunel university Runnymede campus owned by a private housing developer. As such the possession order requiring vacant possession of the land where the NT claim seems pointless. We have no tents on the piece of land that the NT are referring to. What carries greater ramifications is the fact that the NT are also requesting a ‘perpetual final injunction’ (meaning forever) to prevent Diggers2012 and ‘Persons Unknown’ from ‘trespassing further on the Runnymede Estate and the National Trust’s land at Ankerwycke’. The Runnymede Estate is home to the Magna Carta monument, marking the sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215. Consequently Runnymede is regarded as the birthplace of modern democracy. If granted this injunction would allow the National Trust to use ‘reasonable force’ to remove anyone deemed to be trespassing on or around the historic site of the Magna Carta. This is ironic when considering the association of this location with ideals of democracy, limitation of power, equality and freedom under law.
One reason the witness on behalf of the NT gives for requesting an injunction concerns an extract from our website from minutes of a ‘Diggers discussion’ that took place at the Magna Carta Memorial on Saturday 30th June 2012 (page viewable here). The witness statement states: ”On their website, the Defendants have set out plans for a three year occupation campaign to mark the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta.” What the minutes actually said was: ”strategic planning to build over the next three years towards 2015 and creating a massive event for the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta (which has inspired ‘democracy’ and civil rights across the world).” This was an idea to create a grass roots gathering at the Runnymede site in 2015 to celebrate the idea of freedom and civil liberties. It contained no specific reference to use of tents or occupation.
One only has to glimpse at the website setup by the Magna Carta Trustto see that the authorities wish to shape the commemoration of the sealing of the Magna Carta in their image. The website states: ”The 800th anniversary of the sealing af Magna Carta will be a commemoration of national and international significance… a large number of high-profile events are being planned.” Last year it was announced the Queen has agreed to become patron of the Magna Carta Trust for the commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15th June 2015. Perhaps the prospect of a rabble of common people turning up at the same time as dignitaries to commemorate the same event has irked the authorities and lead to this legal action. Whatever the reason, the effect of such an injunction if authorized will be to grant the National Trust the power to forcibly remove anyone who they do not want on the land at Runnymede forever.
In the Magna Carta Lecture which took place this year at Royal Holloway University, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, defined law as ”as all those protocols that stop society being run exclusively in the interests of whatever group happens to be dominant at any
moment, and that thus guarantee fairness and redress independently of status or power.” Here in Runnymede, where the notion of modern law, justice and equality are said to have sprung from, you could be forgiven for thinking that the law may reflect Rowan William’s definition. And yet the reverse appears to be true. Instead we find a minority of land owning elites hold almost total power of over access to the thing whose life we all depend on: the land.
Those of us here at Runnymede Eco-Village have become quite used to breaking the laws as a by-product of simply trying to live on disused land in a low impact and harmless way. We will carry on doing what we think is just as the primary guide over and above these laws. Stay tuned 8)
The Diggers Festival, old ideas reclaimed
09-09-2012 13:19
Wigan has taken a long time to acknowledge Gerrard Winstanley; 361 years to be exact. The borough held the first Diggers Festival to celebrate his life and ideas only in 2011. The second Diggers festival was held this weekend, an eclectic mix of historic re-enactment, commemoration, and celebration of old and new socialist ideals.A honest letter from the MoD and Faslane exercises in futility
09-09-2012 11:28
Uncharacteristically honest Ministry of Defence letters winged their way to the thousands of residents next to the Faslane Naval Base this week to accompany their Emergency Response Excercise to an unrealistically optimistic nuclear accident.From Truth to Action, Stopping the Repression
09-09-2012 07:04
CALL TO ACTION
“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas:
Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López”
http://sanmarcosaviles.wordpress.com/
Chiapas community threatened with attack
09-09-2012 06:59
Aricle published in the UK in Peace News September 2012 | Issue 2549Zapatistas call for international solidarity
EDL return to Walthamstow Oct 27
08-09-2012 22:07
http://twitpic.com/asioh3
Nottingham MP's vehicle sabotaged
08-09-2012 18:30
In May the Labour MPs wife, Labour councillor Jo White, was sent a dead bird through the post. In August, MP John Mann for Bassetlaw in North Notts nearly crashed his car after anonymous sabotage of his car. A car wheel nearly fell off after it was loosened and the hub cap was screwed back on to hide the sabotage.
The number of people pissed off enough by the politicians to make an attempt on one of their lives is uncountable.
BBC report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19354209
Chiswick 'peace' fair features fur stall
08-09-2012 07:51
'this is a peace fair, nothing to do with animal rights' says organiserCardiff ATOS Office Blockaded
07-09-2012 23:10
CARDIFF DISABLED PROTESTERS BLOCK DWP AND ATOS STAFF LEAVING WORK
Protect Chapetown Residents
07-09-2012 10:21
SchNEWS: Brought to Book
06-09-2012 23:39
North London library closed by cuts, opened by squatters