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WAKE UP!! WAKE UP!! IT'S YER FUEL TO THE FIRE...

SchNEWS, Issue 694, Friday 9th October 2009

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SWOOPER TROOPERS

POWER TO THE PEOPLE AS DEVELOPMENTS FEEL CLIMATE PROTEST PRESSURE

Phew, what a scorcher of a summer it’s been for climate change
campaigners in Britain - with three climate camps, protest camps and
direct action targeting both open-cast coal mining and coal-fired
power stations. And it’s not over yet as next weekend (October
17th-18th) sees The Great Climate Swoop at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar
coal-fired power station near Nottingham.

This mass action is a follow up to the Climate Camp Swoop on the City
of London back in August (See SchNEWS 689), and is buoyed by recent
news that the development of the Kingsnorth coal plant – the
site of the 2008 Camp For Climate Action (see SchNEWS 642) has been
shelved (Who said direct action was ineffective?).

The Great Climate Swoop will descend upon Ratcliffe power station,
the third biggest polluting plant in the country. Ratcliffe is
represented as one the bastions of the new ‘clean coal’
industry by its corporate owners and government investors, by virtue
of their promise that technology to ‘capture’ and
‘store’ carbon might be possible sometime in the future.

The technology to trap and store carbon is unproven (unless of course
you just leave it in the ground where it is already of course trapped
and stored) - and the government and power stations themselves admit
that ‘clean coal’ power plants are unlikely to be
available for decades, if at all.

Coal is now the biggest growing source of carbon emissions, rising
some 20,000 times faster than at any point in the Earth’s
billion year history. And the UK is the world’s biggest per
capita emitter of fossil fuel carbon dioxide, followed closely by the
US and Germany. There are currently plans for eight new coal-power
stations to be built in the UK, all on the promise of ‘clean
coal’.

The Swoop is going to involve a convergence on the main gates of
Ratcliffe at 12 noon, where a camp will be held for 24 hours. Bring
warm clothes, tents and enough food for a day. There will be four
blocks, including a mass demo at the main gates and others who will
take direct action within the plant. Affinity groups from all around
the country are set to arrive, but if you are coming independently the
website gives all details including a map – see
www.thegreatclimateswoop.org

* Transport: The Big Lemon Bus is taking people from Brighton to The
Swoop on Friday Oct 16th , 6pm, from Old Steine, returning Sunday. Bus
tickets are £35 (£25 concession), to cover costs, and are
available at the Brighton Peace and Environment Centre or through Big
Lemon Bus website. For other transport see
 http://climatecamp.org.uk/actions/climate-swoop-2009/transport

** Over the last few months there has been a bombardment of action
confronting the fossil fuel industry – particularly the mining
and burning of coal – including: the Camps For Climate Action
(www.climatecamp.org.uk) in Scotland, Wales and London as well as
continued protests at Mainshill Protest Camp in Scotland (See SchNEWS
692), plus actions at Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine in Wales (See
SchNEWS 692). Elsewhere, there’s been a 1,500-strong mass action
at a coal-fired power plant in Copenhagen (See SchNEWS 693) as well as
a demo at Hazlewood coal-fired power station near Melbourne, which is
the dirtiest coal plant in the world (See SchNEWS 691,
www.switchoffhazelwood.org).

In Germany a couple of weeks ago the courts revoked permission for a
new coal fired power station in Datteln on environmental grounds. The
E.ON plant was half way to completion and would have become
Europe’s largest coal-fired power station. Despite the German
energy corporation being busy building power stations all over Europe
– including Kingsnorth and Ratcliffe-on-Soar – it goes to
show E.ON can be stopped, even on their home ground.

And it was more bad news for E.ON as this week their plans for a new
coal power station at Kingsnorth were scrapped. On Wednesday (7th Oct)
E.ON threw in the towel and stopped the development of the first new
coal-fired station to be built in the UK for 30 years. This is a
massive victory for environmental campaigners who have been taking
continuous action against the plans.

With Kingsnorth on the back burner, next stop
Ratcliffe-on-Soar… and then on to Copenhagen for the COP15
Climate Conference, December 7th-18th see
www.climate-justice-action.org


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BRIMAR REPUBLIC

The number of activists using incendiary Smash Edo style tactics to
organise against the UK arms trade continues to rise (up). The latest
group, joining other such luminaries as Smash Raytheon and Shut Down
Heckler & Koch, are Target Brimar; aiming to put a spanner or two
in the works of their local weapons manufacturer.

Last Saturday’s Manchester Anarchist Bookfair saw the launch of
the new campaign, going after Brimar, a company in Oldham producing
military targeting and viewing systems. Brimar’s controversial
heads-up, heads-down display systems, specialist cathode ray tubes and
in-helmet displays are used in wars in Gaza, Afghanistan and Iraq by
Israeli and British Apache helicopter pilots, US marine tank operators
and US fighter pilots. Although Brimar also has its civillian arm, the
majority of its output goes to producing military-use ‘visual
solutions’, allowing soldiers to aim and deploy their weapons
more effectively. The company even boasts on its website that
‘war-fighters around the world rely on Brimar products every
day’. Nice.

Target Brimar emphasise that the company was not always as heavily
involved in the production of military gear as it is now, and that it
would be perfectly viable for the company to return to only
manufacturing products for civilian use.

They kicked things off last Monday (5th) with a surprise action at
the factory as a number of civilian weapons inspectors turned up and
tried to search the premises. They also released a research dossier
detailing the links between Brimar and the bloodshed and publicised
their call out for a public demo at Brimar’s premises in
Chatterton on Saturday 17th October. The day’s actions will be
in solidarity with the EDO decommissioners* and will include a
Critical Mass from the centre of Manchester. For more see
www.targetbrimar.org.uk

* The decommissioners, of course, being the six people who broke into
EDO/ITT during the bombing of Gaza and trashed the place (See SchNEWS
663). Their court case has now been adjourned until May next year (See
SchNEWS 693) which doesn’t much help one them who is now stuck
longer on remand in HMP Horfield. Please send messages of support
to Elijah Smith, XP7551, HMP Bristol, 19 cambridge Road,
Horfield, BS7 8PS

** Those interested in coming to the October 17th demo from Brighton
or London can contact  smashedo@riseup.net for transport
details.www.smashedo.org.uk


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CALAIS-ING IT BARE

Throughout the last week French police have continued with their
brutal eviction of migrant squats and camps in Calais. A deportation
charter destined for Kabul had been scheduled for Tuesday (6th) but
was cancelled following outcry from migrant groups.

After police had broken up the Hunger Strike being staged by migrants
(see SchNEWS 693), chasing the participants away, news came that the
charter flight had been cancelled due to “Diplomatic
difficulties”. It later emerged that the French government had
pulled out on the joint British and French flight. The flight had been
fiercely and loudly opposed by a coalition of 32 refugee, human rights
and migrant support groups. The British flight went ahead and 25
Afghans were deported to Kabul.

The next day police evicted the migrant camp at the Calais docks,
arresting 55. They then fenced off the area to prevent anyone
returning.

On Thursday, more than 15 CRS vans surrounded a number of migrant
squats. Police moved in, arresting over 30 migrants. Migrants personal
belongings were dumped into containers before tractors razed the
homes, shredding sleeping bags, mattresses and clothes.

This side of the channel, the British government have also stepped up
immigration control as work continues to ensure more cells are made
available in a new deportation centre. The 245 ‘guest’
rooms of an Arora hotel near Heathrow are currently being converted
into prison cells to swell the number of existing places available at
nearby Tinsley House and Brook House. No Borders activists staged a
demo outside the proposed building on Tuesday (6th).

Word on the SchNEWSvine is that a weekend of action by international
solidarity groups against continued police harassment is planned for
the weekend of 16-18th. Contact your local No Borders group for more
information on getting involved in the uprising anticipated in Calais
over the next few weeks.

* See www.noborders.org.uk


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CONSTANT THREAT AT DALE FARM

The residents of Dale Farm in Basildon are living on a knife edge
facing forceful eviction from their homes at any time, as the council
plan to clear the whole site.

The 1,000 or so Romani Gypsy families have been building their
community, near Billericay in Essex, since the 70s and have been
fighting for the legal right to remain on the site for over seven
years. But, after the Lord’s recently refused to hear their
appeal case, eviction is now almost certainly on the cards.

Constant & Co, the unscrupulous, violent ‘gypsy eviction
specialist’ bailiffs (see SchNEWS 669), are expected to carry
out the eviction. It would be the biggest clearing operation of a
community from their homes in the UK, at an expected cost of three
million pounds. Gypsy Council president Richard Sheridan commented,
“Even now the council could buy land for an alternate site for
half the money being spent on bulldozing our homes. The eviction plan
makes no sense except to racists.”

The Government’s Health & Safety Executive has said if
bailiffs attempt to bring heavy machinery onto Dale Farm while
children are still present they will be committing an extreme breach
of health and safety law. An HSE official told SchNEWS, “If you
tell us bulldozers have arrived on your property with kids around,
we’ll phone the agents and the council right away and send
someone down if need be.”

In August, residents and supporters protested outside Basildon town
hall and presented a legal memorandum (supported by International
Human Rights NGO Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions) showing how
the eviction contravenes international human rights law and asking
Basildon council to seek out other alternatives.

The only legal avenue now left is an appeal to the human rights court
in Strasbourg, but this could take two years - time which Dale Farm
residents don’t appear to have.

Although Basildon council is required to provide land for travellers
by 2011, the council has stated they will not be reserved for homeless
Dale Farm families. Alternative places to live are not even being
discussed in the council’s so-called engagement talks with
Dale Farm representatives.

The threat of eviction coincides with the launch of ‘World Zero
Evictions Days’, calling for a new Urban Social Pact demanding
an end to evictions and increased funding for housing, and the UN
Habitat day. Richard Sheridan said, ‘We’re flying the flag
of the United Nations over Dale Farm in solidarity with Roma across
Europe, who, like us, are being victimized, attacked and driven from
their homes’.

* Email  dale.farm@btinternet.com

* World Zero Evictions info at www.habitants.org


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MADCHESTER REVISITED

Half-cut halfwits the EDL (see SchNEWS 693) are gearing up for
another attempt at pushing their islamophobic agenda, this time in the
centre of Manchester on Saturday (10th). They will again be met by a
coalition of anti-fascist and anti-racist groups.

The EDL say they’ve held lengthy negotiations with the police
and have agreed on a plan for the day. The idea is that EDL marchers
arrive at a Weatherspoons pub at noon, where they will be penned in by
police before being released for their march at 5pm.

Ever wary of the old honey-trap, the plan has sparked controversy in
the EDL world. Many members on the EDL forum (the things we do for
news and truth) are convinced the plan is a police conspiracy to get
them tanked up before unleashing them on an unsuspecting Manchester,
creating juicy footage for the vultures of the lefty press to use
against them. One of the more literate posters said,
“Weatherspoons is cheap as s**t for a pint/whiskey etc. Think
they may want us pissed to increase the possibility of bad behaviour
in front of the press? More chance of the odd mixed up gay jewish nazi
tagalong seig heiling for the cameras?”

There will be a counter-demonstration in Piccadilly Gardens from noon
organised by Unite Against Facism (UAF), Show Racism the Red Card and
the Muslim-Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester. They will be no doubt
also be backed by any members of the community not wanting to see the
fash marching in their backyard and anyone not wanting to see the fash
marching anywhere. In the words of that great Nazi-battler
Lance-Corporal Jones, “They don’t like it up
‘em”, so get down there. See
 http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com

* The EDL bonehead bandwagon moves to South Wales later in the month,
and again will be met with resistance. On October 17th they are in
Swansea – for counter-demo meet 4pm outside YMCA, St
Helen’s Road, Swansea. Then October 24th its on to Newport, meet
1pm at John Frost Square. Call 01633 8840098. For more about Newport
Communities Against Racism see  http://networkedblogs.com/p13232975


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YOUNG TURKS

As sure as night follows day, angry mobs follow IMF conventions. A
joint session of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
met in Istanbul this week to plan their nefarious scheme for world
domination / response to the global financial crisis. In response,
thousands of protesters converged on central Istanbul to focus their
anger at the global elites’ loan shark.

A crowd of assorted (mainly Turkish) protesters; students, trades
unionists, and the full spectrum of lefty groups from Stalinist
parties to the anarchist block (including the rather brilliantly named
Resistanbul) gathered at Taksim Square. A peaceful start soon turned
to full scale rioting when the police intervened to stop the
demonstrators from marching on their planned route to the Harbiye
Congress Center (where the bankers were meeting). Police tear-gas and
water cannons were met with Molotov cocktails and catapults: running
battles were fought as protesters weaved in and out of side streets
dodging the cops. Over 100 people were arrested and several banks were
damaged during the rioting.

Turkish people know the IMF only too well. Back in 2001, during the
country’s last crisis, the organisation arm-twisted the
country’s then government into accepting huge loans (it’s
only just managed to pay them off). Tayip Erdogan, the current leader,
has refused further IMF advice, and the country’s economy has
gone back into the black ever since.

The IMF’s blurb speaks of how a “fiscal stimulus
amounting to nearly 2 percent of world gross domestic product ($1
trillion)” has really helped turn things around for the global
economy. They have been promising “a virtuous cycle of peace
and prosperity” (actual quote), once this current crisis has
passed. For those who haven’t noticed, capitalism is always in
crisis. Crises serve as the excuse to fleece money from the people
that make it and stuff it into the back pockets of those in charge of
the global economy. Given that it cost $300 million in today’s
money to totally eradicate smallpox from the globe, thinking of the
benefits that a clean trillion bucks invested in water, food, shelter
and medicine could bring makes you want to take aim with that
Molotov.

* See  http://resistanbul.wordpress.com


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AND FINALLY

Operation Cast Lead and the ongoing Israeli stranghold on Gaza has
given the owner of Gaza’s only zoo a real headache after his
(ok, somewhat dubious) operation was damaged in the military
offensive. Some animals died and others escaped or were stolen.

Deprived of money and resources to rebuild, the
‘attraction’ has been ailing with the stock of animals
left to lure the punters with in depressingly short supply –
down to a mangy lioness, donkeys and some cats. Not exactly box
office. So the enterprising head keeper took the only option he could
come up with in the circumstances and hired a local artist to
cunningly paint the donkeys black and white to look like Zebras. Hey
presto, instant exotica. The tarted-up mules now apparently bring the
kids flocking.

Presumably he’s only copied the tactics of the Israelis who
have been painting an apartheid wall as a picket fence for years.


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Disclaimer

SchNEWS warns all readers, it'll take more than a spoonful of sugar
to make the climate medicine go down. Honest.

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