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UK 2011 Census Resistance Newswire Archive

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8 December, Liverpool: Another Census Refuser's Court Hearing

14-11-2011 12:46

Lockheed Martin F-16s used by Israel to bomb Gaza
Sarah Ledsom, 56, of Bromborough, Wirral, a grandmother who suffers with a disabling chronic condition, is due to appear at the Magistrates Court in Liverpool on Thursday 8 December to answer a charge of failing to complete the 2011 Census form. Sarah's objections to completing the census relate to the contract with arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin for processing census data. Sarah refers in particular to the use by Israel of deadly Lockheed Martin weaponry on the people of Palestine.

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More photos from Friday's Census court hearing and Remembrance

13-11-2011 23:19

CSOs
Some photos and a short report from Wrexham, where anti-war and anti-Lockheed Martin conscientious census objector Judith Sambrook appeared in court on 11/11/11.

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11/11/11: Census refuser Judith Sambrook in court. Report from Wrexham

11-11-2011 19:11

Demonstration outside the court
People started to gather outside Wrexham Magistrates Court from about 9.30am this morning in solidarity with conscientious census objector Judith Sambrook. Judith's census refusal stems from the involvement of WMD manufacturer Lockheed Martin in processing the data from the 2011 census in England and Wales.

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Occupy London - Solidarity with Census Refuser Judith Sambrook

09-11-2011 19:30

Banners at Finsbury Square
I spent yesterday afternoon and evening at Occupy London talking with people about Judith Sambrook who appears in court in Wrexham on Friday on a charge of failing to complete the 2011 Census. Those census resisters targeted for prosecution in the coming months need our support and solidarity, starting with Judith in Wrexham on 11/11/11.

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Flyer to download: Census court case

06-11-2011 21:41

Flyer about Judith Sambrook who's being prosecuted for refusing to complete her census form. Please print/distribute widely.

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Support Conscientious Census Objector with a Message of Solidarity

06-11-2011 21:31

Judith Sambrook is due to appear in Wrexham Magistrates court on Remembrance Day, Friday 11/11/11. She's being prosecuted for refusing to cooperate with the 2011 Census in protest at the involvement of deadly arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin in processing census data. There'll be a demonstration outside the court from 9.30am and a silent vigil at the war memorial at 11am. If you're not able to be there in person, please consider sending a message of solidarity to Judith. Messages can be sent to NoCONcensus[at]yahoo.co.uk.

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Solidarity from Canada for Census Resister Judith Sambrook

01-11-2011 08:16

Judith Sambrook from Shrewsbury refused to complete her census in protest at the involvement of deadly weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin in the data processing under a lucrative contract with the government. She will appear at Wrexham Magistrates Court on 11/11/11 (Remembrance Day) at 10.30am where a demonstration and vigil will be held in solidarity with Judith and all census resisters, and against Lockheed Martin, all those involved in the arms trade and all wars. These messages of support have arrived from Canada, where Lockheed Martin is also involved in the census.

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11/11/11: Demo and Vigil at Census Court Case

30-10-2011 10:34

Judith Sambrook refused to complete her census form in protest at the involvement of weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin in processing census data. She has been charged and will appear at Wrexham Magistrates Court on 11th November at 10.30am, which happens to be Remembrance Day. Judith, a single parent from Shrewsbury who is on dialysis three days a week, plans to continue her resistance by refusing to pay any fine imposed and is prepared to go to prison if necessary. Read on for details of demo and vigil:

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Guantánamo / Abu Ghraib interrogation firms and the UK Census

25-03-2011 11:30

Campaigners decry involvement of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib interrogation firms in UK Census

Friday, 25 March 2011

The London Guantánamo Campaign [1] is concerned about the involvement in the upcoming UK-wide Census of two private companies that were contracted to carry out coercive prisoner interrogations at the notorious US military detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, Iraq. [2]

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Disarm the Census

21-03-2011 16:22

A report on London CAAT's protest about Lockheed Martin's role in the UK census

As part of Count Me Out's weekend of action against Lockheed Martin's deplorable involvement in the census, Saturday saw London CAAT members carry out a protest at Victoria station.

The protesters engaged with the public for nigh-on two hours and found a lot of sympathy for our cause (one passerby even said we were saving the world but I wouldn't go that far!). We handed out 400 leaflets as well as a number of stock letters that people could send to their MPs. The Guantanamo Bay-style costume attracted a lot of attention (Lockheed contracts out interrogation at Guantanamo Bay) and enabled us to inform the public why we were there.

£150m of taxpayers money has been given to the biggest arms company in the world (according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's latest list of top arms-producing companies) to help run the census. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for Britain's Trident nuclear weapons and also produces Joint Strike Fighters and F-16 fighters.

Another issue stems from the fact that they are an American company - under the US Patriot Act any personal data held by companies with systems in the US has to be made available to government intelligence, thus meaning our details could end up in the hands of the US government. Finally, our government does not have a good record of storing data securely.

For more information, visit the Count Me Out website at http://www.countmeout.me.uk. Here you can find a number of actions you can take regarding the census, from boycotting it entirely to spoiling your census paper as well as writing protest letters to your MP and the Office of National Statistics.

Also, the Peace News log has a piece on how to fill in your census form without Lockheed Martin profiting - http://www.peacenewslog.info/2011/03/how-to-fill-in-your-census-form-without-lockheed-martin-profiting-short-version/. And finally Indymedia has a supplementary page you can enclose with your form - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2011/03//475485.pdf.

 

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Lockheed Martin and the 2011 UK census

19-03-2011 16:22

Demonstration against Lockheed Martin and 2011 UK census processing

 

A small demonstration was held outside Victoria station to raise awareness of the fact that the government has paid Lockheed Martin £150m of public money to help run the 2011 census. London, UK, 19/03/2011.

According to information compiled by 'Count me Out', (a collective taking action against the 2011 census as a result of the ties with Lockheed Martin UK) the government awarded the World's second biggest arms company a £150m contract to help run the data processing for the 2011 UK census.

Count me out take the view that "Our government shouldn't be paying an arms company, which fuels conflict and war, huge amounts of money to help run the census."

The company used to have offices in Victoria but they were recently moved to an unknown location.

Perhaps best know in the UK for producing Britain's Trident nuclear weapons, they have also sold weapons to Bahrain which have been used recently against anti-government protesters in line with sweeping protests across the Middle-East.

The census is undertaken by the government every 10 years and is a method of counting people and households in the UK. Under UK law, every household is obliged to fill in the relevant information which can be done online, by post or collected by census agents.

Census day for this year is March 27th.



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Scotland's census - Don't Co-operate!

16-03-2011 16:22

Census forms are dropping through letterboxes in Scotland. Some vital information is missing from them.

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If you're not religious, for God's sake say so

10-03-2011 12:45

British Humanist Association Campaign regarding the UK national census

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Misunderstanding the Census

08-03-2011 18:40

Lockheed Martin might make a tidy profit out of running the census (why else would they have bid for the contract?) but no branch of the US government is going to get the personal details of British citizens.

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Dodgy Census Employment Stats*& Jobfare

08-03-2011 12:24

It's the way you phrase the question. The census is starting to look and feel like a benefit form.

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'Supplementary Questions' - Lockheed Martin and the English census

07-03-2011 22:23

Supplimentary_Questions.jpg (jpeg)
"Do you think that paying an arms manufacturer £150 million to run a census is a good idea?" "How do you feel about being legally obliged to give your personal data to international arms dealers?". These are the questions we should be asking...

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UK Census 2011: Why I Will Be Breaking The Law on March 27, 2011

28-02-2011 16:14

On Sunday March 27, 2011 I will be breaking the law.

If you live in the England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland then I would also like you to break the law. We can do it together, and I know for a fact that an awful lot of people will be doing the same.

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National United Kingdom Census – 2011

09-11-2010 16:47

In 2011 there will be the 10-yearly compulsory national census that records a wide range of information on every person in every household in the United Kingdom.

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CACI Torturers in Scots Census Rehearsal

11-11-2008 16:05

The Scottish census of 2011 has been awarded to CACI. CACI interrogators, Mr. Steven Stephanowicz and Mr. John Israel, were key to the torture and abuse in Abu Ghraib, and were condemned by each report into Abu Ghraib, including the Fay report and the US militarys own investigation, the Taguba Report.
The first hurdle for the census is imminent and is ripe for dissent.