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WAKE UP!! IT'S YER FULL FRONTAL RIOT P*RN...

SchNEWS, Issue 671, Friday 3rd April 2009

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BANK STATEMENT

'What is needed from the G20 is a radical shake up of the global
economy; what we got was world leaders desperately rearranging the
deck chairs on a sinking Titanic.' - Julian Oram, World Development
Movement.

Quietly ignoring all the noisy protesters outside, leaders of the G20
nations spent the last couple of days attempting to save the world by
posturing and cajoling each other into knocking together a statement
that Gordon Brown could triumphantly read out.

At the centre of the G20"s rescue plan is $1.1 trillion. This money,
designed to jack a bit of life into the imploding economy, will mostly
be given to our old friends at the IMF (See SchNEWS issues from J18 to
9/11) to hand out in loans (and them with their exemplary record of
success). Just when we thought the IMF was all washed up, along comes
the credit crunch and bails them out. Not that they"re actually gonna
be given a suitcase with a trillion quid in it - it"s all on tick.
More debt will be created and plans also involve the IMF devaluing
it"s own "currency" by just printing more IMF "money" - special
drawing credits (SDR"s) which countries can cash in for a no questions
asked loan from a rich country.

But we all know IMF help doesn"t come for free and the G20 has done
little to guarantee that other IMF administered cash won"t be
accompanied by the usual failed economic policies and stern words
about "good governance". Not to mention that much of that loan cash
will find its way back into the hands of western corporations looking
to "invest" in developing countries to bleed "em dry in the familiar
privatise and profiteer pattern.

With Free Trade still at the centre of the solutions, the top nations
seem still determined to maintain rigged trade rules and to continue
pushing smaller countries into unfair trade deals. As 17 of the
countries that pledged to avoid protectionist policies have already
taken action to protect domestic markets it seems the old hypocrisies
seem set to go on.

$50 billion of the money has been earmarked for the worlds poorest
countries but given the record of the richest nations delivering on
previous aid pledges it"s unlikely those poorest countries will be
holding their collective breathes waiting for the cheque to arrive.

Much has been made of French president Nicolas Sarkozy and his German
counterpart Angela Merkel"s supposedly unmoveable position of tax
reform and banking regulation. While some concessions were made they
completely failed to get their desired cross border "global regulator"
and then promptly declared success. "We would never have hoped to get
so much," Sarkozy said.

The G20 statement also declared that 'the era of banking secrecy is
over' with there to be a clampdown on tax evasion. However, it"s hard
to take that claim too seriously, especially when Britain is already
trying to stall on the immediate naming and shaming of tax havens.

Meanwhile, climate change barely got a look in and the chance to
reform the economic system to tie in with environmental
sustainability issues was predictably nowhere on the agenda.

Gordon Brown, with his knack for modesty and understatement declared
that 'a new world order is emerging with the foundation of a new
progressive era of international cooperation.' Right on, Comrade!

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CRAPPING ARREST OF THE WEEK

For giving a shit about the bank crisis...

What do you do when you feel a rumbling in the guts and there"s two
thousand cops between you and the nearest khazi? One old punk the felt
the call of nature in the kettle near the Bank of England on Wednesday
but no sooner had he dropped his keks and started to strain than he
was snatch-squadded by twenty cops, no doubt to be whisked away
somewhere with en-suite facilities.

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BOILING KETTLE

Despite the media"s apocalyptic predictions, the four horsemen (See
SchNews 667) did at least make it to the Bank of England. Whether this
was a good idea or not is open to question. It certainly brought a
measure of mayhem to the financial heart of London, which seemed
largely closed down for the duration. Our numbers were impressive -
given the short notice and the media hype of extreme violence. But
tactics adopted gave the Met free rein to place a huge cordon around
the entire demo - the so-called kettle.

As soon as the final Black Horse (ironically the one symbolising land
enclosure) arrived, police lines rapidly snapped into place across the
streets surrounding the plaza that the bank sits on. Unfortunately -
although many did successfully make a break for it - the majority of
the crowd, with little idea of what to do (unless they"d read last
week"s SchNEWS public order guide obviously) stood around as this
manoeuvre was executed. Whilst we know that the protests were
organised on very short notice, there seemed to be little aim other
than simply getting into the area - there were no bust-cards, and no
attempts at crowd co-ordination.

At first most seemed happy to be inside the huge kettle - a few
soundsystems were blasting out and there was even a bizarre outburst
of contemporary dance in front of the The Royal Exchange. As the hours
wore on and the few city types caught in the circle had shown ID and
got themselves extracted, it became obvious that if the police had
their way no-one was getting out "til long after dark. No water, no
food, not even a toilet. The reason given? - "to prevent a breach of
the peace".

By around half-one the kettle had been truly brought the boil and
fighting had broken out along Threadneedle St. A line of police were
pushed back by a crowd shouting, 'Let us out'. A few bottles were
lobbed but even without these the cops were forced to give way to the
sheer physical pressure. Alerted by the noise, support streamed over
from the other exits to reinforce Threadneedle and push the cops back
to the junction with Bartholomew Lane. This left the windows of Royal
Bank of Scotland exposed. They were duly smashed, although rioters
were outnumbered by photographers by around fifteen to one. However
police lines here were too strong to breach.

At around 2.30, the crowd facing a thinner police line across
Victoria St suddenly surged forward and by sheer weight of numbers
pushed their way through. One of the shovers told SchNEWS, 'It was
amazing - we were resigned to being in the kettle until midnight but
the lines broke right in front of me and confused police were shouting
asking each other, "What"s the plan?"'. Despite the rapid deployment
of riot cops, possibly up to a thousand people escaped at this point.
Soon the windows of HSBC on Cheapside had gone in.

SchNEWS has heard reports that others managed to sneak or blag their
way out over the next few hours but during the afternoon the noose was
gradually tightened with baton charges. Eyewitnesses reported a sense
of panic developing inside the pen. People were not allowed out until
after 8pm and only then after being photographed.

One man, Ian Tomlinson is known to have died inside the cordon.
SchNEWS has heard conflicting reports as to whether he was struck by
police. Perhaps a coroners inquiry into his death will expose police
tactics to public glare (unless they invoke their handy new powers to
keep it all secret of course).

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TENTS AFFAIR

As the kettle was boiling at the Bank of England, tents were
springing up outside the European Climate Exchange in nearby
Bishopsgate, kicking off the day-long Climate Camp in the heart of the
city. Soon the street was a colourful sea of pop-up tents, banners,
bunting, bikes and fancy dress, with needs met by vegan kitchens, a
farmers market and a compost toilet.

A carnival atmosphere reigned as many took respite at the oasis of
peace that was the camp after getting away from the police batons and
shields at the Threadneedle St. Workshops, live music, and samba were
on offer to the couple of thousand thronging Bishopsgate. The mood
changed towards office closing time as hundreds of fully- kitted riot
police were deployed at either end of the street and city workers in
dress- down gear hurried home making sarky comments about the climate
campers supposed lack of employment.

Despite assurances made in the morning by cop Commander Broadhurst to
climate campers in a Lib Dem MP"s office, the camp was brutally
evicted. Without warning, at 7pm baton wielding riot police waded in,
trashing tents and bikes. Campers swiftly reacted by forming blockades
with their bodies. Holding up their hands and shouting "this is not a
riot", campers formed a wall to prevent police incursion. Several were
injured and arrested in this unprovoked attack.

Only the restraint of the campers prevented a riot, although not
their injuries. One SchNEWS correspondent, who narrowly avoided the
cordon and witnessed the attack from outside said, 'We are clearly
entering a new era of policing. I have never before witnessed such an
unprovoked police attack. They felt they could do what they like. It
was as if they were taking vengeance on the campers for their
inability to keep protesters penned in at the Bank.'

After it was clear no further progress could be made, the police
kettled those remaining in the camp and turned on those left outside,
moving a large group back towards the Bank of England and as far as
London Bridge, which was then closed. Another group just outside the
camp tried a different approach, sitting down in the road but not
blocking any traffic as the police had already closed the road.
According to one, 'We were sitting on the ground as we had been for
hours. Unprovoked and giving no warning they forced their way forward
swiping at us with batons. I"ve been hit over round my mouth.' Those
who continued to sit were kicked whilst others were chased out of the
area with the help of some swinging batons.

After several such attacks into the camp, including the use of snatch
squads, the police finally cleared the last of the camp, which had for
12 hours turned a stretch of the City of London into part of the
climate solution. As Climate Camp 09 put it: 'Street empty. They beat
us out and squashed our tents. But oh what a world we created! Shame
on the powers that be.'

* See www.climatecamp.org.uk


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STORMING THE RAMPARTS

Two London squat centres were raided yesterday (Thursday) as police
took a swipe at the infrastructure of the G20. The long term squatted
social centre Ramparts and the G20 convergence centre at Street in
the City were both raided on Thursday at midday in coordinated
operations.

The police had kept Earl Street residents awake for much of Wednesday
night, banging on the doors and windows and switching their sirens on
outside. In the morning they had been searching anyone coming or going
and demanding people"s names and addresses.
SchNEWS eyes on the ground at Earl St told us 'At around midday I
heard "they"re coming in, they"re coming in," we all ran upstairs to
the second level, people were getting panicked, some people split to
the front of the room, others of us stayed where we were and decided
to sit down with our hands in the air.'

As dozens of police battered their way through the door, 30-40
activists congregated on the top floor and 'sat in a circle with our
arms in the air to show the police our non-violent intentions'
However, cops in full riot gear brandishing taser guns forced them
face down with hands on the floor. People were brought out handcuffed
one by one and sat on the pavement whilst police searched the
building. Two were taken to hospital with head injuries inflicted by
the police and two others were arrested.

Other cops cordoned off the street while supporters of the detainees
kept up a lively protest denouncing the illegal police actions. They
were released after giving their details two hours later. At hand
during the raid was the cops" latest toy, the urban military-style
armoured Ford F450 vehicle. Although police allowed people in one by
one to get their possessions, they emptied the building and started
ripping up the floorboards.

Meanwhile over at RampArts, it was party time for the FIT throughout
Thursday morning as a large number of bobbies gathered to stop and
search all traffic in and out of the well known London squat. Anyone
leaving the building that morning were pressed for information and
filmed with glee by the FIT eager to make ID"s and arrests. Shortly
after midday, as Earls Street was busted open, bobbies in balaclavas
smashed their way in through the roof, assaulting everyone in their
way as batons and tasers were drawn. With an embedded ITN camera team
in tow, they screamed at everyone to get down on the ground, jumping
on them and handcuffing them, firing off insults and taunts like 'one
of you croaked last night'. After checking IDs four were arrested
including two who had been injured during the raid. The others were
released and the centre remains open, see www.therampart.wordpress.com


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REACHING THE SUMMIT

Arriving at Excel Centre - the venue for the day"s G20 Summit - at
around 10.30am, police had cordoned off a pen on Tidal Basin Road
where a rowdy group of Ethiopians took the lead in protesting over the
fate of the Ogaden people who are being targeted by the military. By
about 1pm the only piece of argy-bargy to be seen was the outing of a
known white supremacist who was confronted by Antifa activists and
rapidly sent on his way after video-ing his "outers".

Half the assembled - numbering about 3-400 then decided to head into
the city to Battle of the Bank II, joining up with the thousand or
more already there to pay tribute to Ian Tomlinson who died during the
protests the previous evening. In the baking afternoon sun tempers
flared as police eventually penned in four separate cordons of
protesters. Bottles and missiles were thrown as the all new dark blue
police riot vans made a blatant posturing parade down Threadneedle St.
This was followed by repeated charges from police horses as protesters
took over the junction of roads at the front of the Bank. Tame
compared to the previous day but at least the City came to a stilted
standstill for the day.

By 4pm it looked like the cops had things sewn up with the four
cordons of previously up for it activists diminished as people drifted
to pubs to regroup...Oh well, the Summer of Rage is a marathon not a
sprint...

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RAVENS ART

Ravens Ait, the squatted island in the middle of the Thames in
Surbiton (See SchNEWS 670), has sent an urgent call-out to SchNEWS
readers to phone, email or write to Kingston Council to help swing the
debate as negotiations continue with the local council to secure the
island as an eco-community and autonomous space for all. The island
continued to be used productively throughout the G20 protests with
skill shares, workshops, an eco-cinema, a new permaculture garden,
music jams and a kids space set-up to provide a creche for activists
during this busy period. A wide range of local groups hope to utilise
the space for non-commercial activities and networking and save it
from being sold off to property developers and lost forever.

There is a call-out for people to come and get involved in any way
they can - check out the website www.ravensait.org.uk or
www.circlecommunity.org or head to the river from Surbiton station and
hail the ferryman for a tour round the island and a welcomed stay. To
demonstrate solidarity from further afield let the council know how
you feel about their plans to sell off historic common land to make
some quick cash.

Annoy head man Bruce McDonald, the chief exec. of Kingston council
with your sweet support on 02015475151, email him at
 bruce.mcdonald@rbk.kingston.gov.uk or write to The Royal Borough of
Kingston upon Thames, Guildhall, High St, Kingston upon Thames KT1
1EU.

Others to hit are the mayor at  mayorsoffice@rbk.kingston.gov.uk and
 derek.osbourne@councillors.kingston.gov.uk

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SPANNERS IN THE WORKS

While protesters were taking out their anger on the causes of the
financial crash in London, groups of sacked car industry workers
directly affected by British car production dropping by 60% are
occupying factories in Britain and Ireland. Some are considering
restarting production as worker run businesses, as has been happening
in Argentina (see below).

It"s not that you"ll catch SchNEWS trotting out some old lefty dogma
about good "ol working class jobs being more important than the
environmental impact of the industry they are part of - particularly
when it comes to the car industry. But what"s notable here is workers"
attempts to re-take control of their workplaces.

Hardest hit by the protests has been car part manufacturer Visteon
who last week announced the winding down of its British operations, a
process which will see 565 of its 600 UK based employees lose their
jobs. Most of the cuts were to take place immediately - redundancy pay
for many workers was slashed or none existent and pensions were
frozen.

The protest kicked off in Belfast last Wednesday when all 200 workers
were dismissed by an administrator with an hours notice. 'The worst
thing about it is the way we were treated - that"s why we"re so
angry,' one protester was quoted as saying. 'There"s no humanity in it
- they wouldn"t even let us stay to empty our lockers'. In response,
100 of the workers began an occupation of the building and are
demanding action to save jobs and treat workers fairly.

Since then the protest has spread to the mainland. Around 80 workers
have now occupied a factory in Enfield while 100 more have been
staging a sit-in outside the site in Basildon. Workers have now also
descended on Britain"s main Ford factory in Dagenham, establishing a
picket outside the entrance and appealing for solidarity from the Ford
workers.

Until 2008, Visteon was owned by Ford. Although now officially
separate companies, Ford were Visteon"s sole customers and many of the
employees had been there so long that they were still on Ford
contracts. Workers claim that Ford had promised that any redundancies
from the company would receive the same compensation as employees
employed directly by Ford, a promise on which they subsequently
reneged. Ford is currently denying any responsibility for the workers
and refuses to get involved in the dispute.

If the Visteon workers are looking for something to keep them busy
during the occupations they would do well to look to Dundee for
inspiration. As SchNEWS reported earlier in the month (see SchNEWS
667) employees at Prisme Packaging responded to a similar situation
also by occupying the factory. Already into their fifth week of
occupation they are now investigating the possibility of restarting
the business as a workers co-op.

In Ireland however, the occupation at Waterford Crystal glass finally
came to an end after an eight week stand off. The workers had kept the
factory running during the occupation but finally had to admit defeat
when the American private equity firm that took it over threatened to
withhold EUR 10m of pension payments. Before its demise the protest
caught the imagination of Irish workers and led to a number of actions
in support, including a rally of around 10,000 people in Dublin on
February 21st - the largest in 30 years.

* Continuing to show the way towards a genuine alternative is the
workers co-op movement in Argentina. Towards the end of January
SchNEWS reported on the worker seizure of Indugraf - a Buenos Aires
graphics company (see SchNEWS 664). Operating under the name of the
10th of December Cooperative, the workers have since recommenced
production despite continued threats of eviction.

Meanwhile, workers at another Buenos Aires company "Disco de Oro"
have also occupied the factory after owners tried to close down and
strip the premises without informing employees. They have since begun
the process of meeting with the Ministry of Work having laid their
claim to the business while attempting to restart the factory.

Both new co-ops receive extensive support not only from the network
of other worker run businesses but also from their community - one of
the reasons there are more than a 150 of these "recurperated
businesses" operating in Argentina. The movement in Argentina began
after the 2001 economic crash. In the eight years since, what began
out of desperation and necessity has grown into a viable option in
Argentina and a potential a model for action here in Britain.

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NATO SUMMIT STRASBOURG

The anarchist circus moves on to France and Germany for the NATO
summit in Strasbourg on April 3rd-4th. Top of the agenda for the
assembled militarys and governments will be a new strategy for the
failing war in Afghanistan. The French Interior Minister,
Alliot-Marie, declared the countries borders closed to those whose
"looks and clothing" don"t fit due to the "threat of terrorism" and
"unrest of radical proportion". Dozens of protesters travelling from
Germany were forbidden entry into France, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
The police has already been questioning protesters, water cannons have
been moved in to place and helicopters are circling overhead. 3000 are
estimated to have gathered at the camp.

On Thursday afternoon around a thousand protesters, including a large
black block, marched from the camp towards Strasbourg city centre. As
the police fired tear gas, the marchers erected barricades and set
rubbish bins on fire. An army barracks had its windows smashed and was
paint bombed. Getting carried away some of the black block also
smashed bus shelters and car windows. Hundreds were arrested as police
chased the marchers back to the camp. Later in the evening the police
besieged the camp, firing in tear gas and rubber bullets and making
incursions into different areas of the camp.

Meanwhile across the border in Baden-Baden a smaller demo with around
200 was taking place.

* See  http://linksunten.indymedia.org

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CREEPY CRAWLEY

Seven anti-deportation campaigners who locked on outside Tinsley
House immigration
detention centre earlier this month (See SchNEWS 669) pleaded guilty
to "aggravated trespass" at Crawley Magistrates Court this week. All
seven were released on conditional discharge and ordered to pay the
court fees. Two others who were also arrested on the action, have
pleaded not guilty and are due in court again soon.

For more info tel 07506904269 email  stopdeportation@riseup.net

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MAL MAISON

A group calling itself 'Justice Not Crisis' (JNC) have occupied the
disused Beechcourt Hotel in Bristol Road, Birmingham. JNC plan to
clear up the abandoned hotel, closed after the Council shut it due to
complaints of noise, burning tyres and its alleged use for 'immoral
purposes'. They hope to make it a useful community resource and clean
up the gardens which are an eyesore to local residents.

Email  phm@sdf.lonestar.org web www.justicenotcrisis.com

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LADY OF THE LAKENHEATH

Lindis Percy, veteran peace campaigner with countless arrests to her
name, managed to cause traffic chaos last Monday (30th) at Lakenheath
US Air Force base in Suffolk. When she stood outside gate one of
airbase with an upside down American flag, the base responded by going
on "lock down" apparently concerned that people might drive at her
when exiting the base. After a friendly copper declared Percy"s
protest to be peaceful and legal, he made it clear he wouldn"t
intervene the gridlock persisted and the base was forced to open
another gate.

* See www.caab.org.uk

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EDO BRIEFS

On the night of March 29th, the prison probation service building of
Brighton was attacked with paintbombs and spraypaint signs saying 'No
War' and 'EDO 2'. (The HSBC bank next door also suffered smashed
windows for good measure.) The actions were taken in solidarity with
the "EDO 2", Robert and Elijah, who are currently jailed for their
part in smashing up the EDO factory on January 19th (See SchNEWS 663)

Meanwhile, ITT Corp face a challenge from religious shareholders
(holy rollers such as the Dominican Sisters of Hope, the Presbyterian
Church (USA), and the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the
Episcopal Church) to disclose all details of the company"s foreign
sales of military and weapons-related products and services. The god
squad plan to bring the motion at the May 12th ITT AGM - SmashEDO
activists will obviously be watching from afar with interest...
www.smashedo.org.uk

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RIGHT OFF

Luton has resisted yet another invasion from the BNP when their
planned march in the town centre during the military parade last
Saturday failed to get off the ground (See SchNEWS 670). Activists
from trade unions, Unite Against Fascism, Hope not Hate and others
gathered to stamp upon the ugly reared head of the fascist front.
Anti-fascist leaflets were dropped liberally, a petition was signed by
locals and the march fizzled out. Totalitarian policing was put to
good use for a change as the pigs stopped and searched BNP members,
persuading them to leave the planned demo.

Email  kittyplant@btinternet.com

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Disclaimer

SchNEWS warns all readers - this could be the fall of capitalism,
but don't bank on it. Honest.

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