Nice one Adam.

This must be one of the good Daleks created by Pat Troughton's Doctor way back
in the late 60's. -He got hold of some 'baby ones and altered them genetically to be good.

We could do with a lot more 'good' Daleks as well as all 9 Doc's at the G8 demo's....

(I just know the anti-genetics lot will snipe over this one- it's only fiction!)

Adam please re-size your pics to around 640*480 and compress them enough so people on dialup can appreciate them.

Also why the reference to Birmingham SWP?

I fail to see why they have anything to do with the event apart from being parasitical as usual :(

The newswire isn't meant to be used as a noticeboard for political parties like the SWP so I wouldn't be surprised if an Indymedia volunteer hides this post.

Shame really cos your other reports don't include any references to them and they're a lot better than this one :)

Sorry about the pics, I was pretty sure I shrunk them to less than half size - and they still seem huge. Do they all come up for those with broadband because I can't see them all on mac?
I will try to place smaller versions up if Indymedia allow it as soon as I get a chance so you guys can enjoy them.

Sorry the report is more of a brief summary. I had a busy day so couldn't take a more in-depth look at the event or get involved much, even though I would have loved to and hope I can at future events. I am including the meeting in my wider write-up on G8 for BBC Birmingham. I know my other reports are usually more personal and I didn't have time on this one but I thought people should know about the event all the same.

As for SWP, I wasn't trying to endorse any political parties but I brought back a various publciity material from stalls so was just trying to include some of it. Sorry if anyone was offended though. I know Indymedia have had discussions and posts about parties before on the site but if it's a problem, they can hide or remove that bit, so long as they don't delete the report as people will miss out on some local news, I guess.

I'll have some more recent pics or reports soon, if any of you are having any events or have some good ideas, feel free to email me : )

Thanks all the same.

Adam

They're part of this movement too. They're against most of the stuff we're against. They're for a lot of the stuff we're for. OK so they organise hierarchically, and they're a party. But that is generally how most politics is done. OK so we reject the mainstream, but must we be SO pure as to reject anyone interested in global justice which isn't alternative and progressive and anarchistic enough? SWP represent a significant part of the movement. We don't have to agree with them. We certainly don't have to let them take over and co-opt the movement. But to ban them from speaking on this website seems a bit harsh to me.

All it takes is a single reference to these guys and someone's guaranteed to call for censorship.

Give them a break, they're entitled to organise and they're entitled to let people know what they're doing. Everything in moderation...

I once asked someone what was so bad about them and she said "they turn up at demos with their placards, selling their newspaper and trying to recruit people". Not exactly a hanging offence.

I think they organise a lot of interesting events anyway. Marxism's always pretty interesting, and so are their smaller speaker meetings.

There's room for plurality in this movement, and that includes trots.

In my opinion, anyone genuinely against neo-liberal market-fundamentalist corporate globalisation should be welcome on indymedia, or even just anyone who cares about workers' rights and or peace and or the environment (etc). Blatantly that includes the SWP.

Dunno if it's occured to you but the swpies have got their own media, in the guise of a newspaper, that they fanatically try and ram down people's throats at every opportunity without fail - it's almost like they can't do anything else.

All in all they've got an appalling track record not just amongst grass-roots activists but also other groups on the left for being opportunistic and sectarian.

Their modus operandi is to hijack dissent using front groups (ANL, Globalise Resistance, Stop the War Coalition) and monopolise resistance with the intent of containing radical dissent.

Read the Schnews pamplet 'Monopolise Resistance' for more information  http://www.schnews.org.uk/sotw/monopolise-resistance.htm

For what its worth Indymedia is a grassroots alternative news channel for groups and people that don't possess the means to force newspapers onto you at ever possible opportunity and it's certainly not a noticeboard for hierarchially structured political groups like the SWP. If you need confirmation of this, check out Indymedia's mission statement and editorial guidelines.

If you want to find out what they're upto go and buy their newspaper or read their website.