UK Newswire Archive
McDemo
16-10-2010 21:27
International day of action against McDonald's
Protesters from Nottingham Animal Rights today joined with groups around the globe to mark international day of action against McDonald's.
Three different branches of McDonald's had activists outside during their lunch rush with placards, leaflets and a "Muck Donald's" spoof Ronald costume.
Although organized by Nottingham Animal Rights, in addition to the animal cruelty (e.g. factory farming) issues, many topics were presented to shoppers including human rights concerns (pity a person with a McJob) and climate change concerns.
Response from the public was overwhelmingly positive, almost all taking a leaflet or chatting to activists or smiling from distance and calling "wouldn't eat there anyway!".
In a culture where heart disease and cancer are the biggest killers and a culture where mainstream consumers are increasingly informed and sympathetic to issues of animal cruelty and climate change, there is surely no place for a Big Mac and fries.
audio announcement from crudeawake blockade
16-10-2010 21:26
audio from lunchtime today with announcement that refinery and depot is blockaded and that tankers cannot enter or leave
http://www.crudeawakening.org.uk
Mass Action Against Oil Industry - crudeawake pics
16-10-2010 20:26
PICTURES from the Crude Awakening blockade of Coryton Oil Refinery / Shell Haven Oils near Stanford-le-Hope. Around 500 people took direct action against the oil industry in a well co-ordinated blockade with different groups approaching from different directions and different blockades - 12 bamboo tripods, loadsa arm tube lockons, two vehicle blockades with people locked on underneath and more and more arm tubes with people locked on together. Sound systems - for updates and music, folks on stilts, giant chalk, pushing past police lines, running along fields, jumping streams and climbing fences, defending the space, defending each other, blocking the distribution of oil. Amazing.
http://crudeawakening.org.uk
btw... It's said around 50 oil tankers were prevented from entering or leaving the site during the action.
setting up communes in schools/colleges/unis
16-10-2010 20:11
I've been inspired by the recent wave of student protests and occupations in France, that I thought we need some of that over here - we need to start taking action!Beyond oil banner& solar panel drop 2010
16-10-2010 18:24
banner drop & solar panel out of the urban jungle on highrise flats in Nottingham, by "lookalike chilean miner"
in support of the beyond oil campaign by Greenpeace UK
http://www.gobeyondoil.org/ & in solidarity with the Crude awakening
http://www.crudeawakening.org.uk/
Drop done at what suspiciously looks like lentons highrise flats which face the south east on their longest width for sunrise& get full midday to sunset on the other.
Agent solar has experience using solar to power domestic& mobile systems from the 1990s & is working on cost figures for installing enough solar power for 50 flats on each block to supply 30-50% of power. One off cost of for safe sealed units with inverters fitted by access climbers for around £8,000.
£160 per resident on the scheme, which could be paid via installments. 25 flats could be done for around £5,000.
This would be even more viable for slightly more minted flats in the city & housing blocks & even more viable if it wasnt for the daft economic system.
A solar panel are being fitted& used in flats behind glass which maybe the easiest way to do it, though around 30% of efficiency will be lost depending on glass type& lighting in rooms will be restricted.
Solar panels generate power even on cloudy days, units are getting smaller & the batteries etc safer.
New York Times defends US government's right "to assassinate anyone it pleases"
16-10-2010 17:52
The open reactionaries like the Wall Street Journal and Fox News display their bloodlust unashamedly. The “liberals” like the Times prefer a dose of hypocritical moralizing and legalistic quibbling. The consequences for humanity are the same.
Life is too short 2 - Mobilisation Video
16-10-2010 17:22
Life is too short to be controlled - part 2.
30 October 2010, meet 3pm Piccadilly Circus/Corner Coventry Street.
http://london.noborders.org.uk/lifestooshort
pics of crude awakening oil refinery blockade
16-10-2010 17:22
Amazing action today with hundreds of people blockading shell's coryton oil refinery.
More at www.crudeawakening.org.uk
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Some photos from Crude Awakening, Essex
16-10-2010 14:22
Some quick photos from the blockade of Shell's oil refinery at Coryton near Stanford, Essex.
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War -good for few, bad for many?
16-10-2010 13:22
Workshop 19th at smiling chair 6pmWorkshop - arguments for and against the arms trade.
6pm at Smiling Chair library next to Sprinters stokes croft.
homemade cake for refreshments
Discussion and interactive exercises to develop our campaigning skills
resistencia from milano
16-10-2010 12:29
milan start burning ..squat evicted many actions going on...EDL descend on Leicester
16-10-2010 12:24
On Saturday October 9th, the English Defence League (EDL) brought their heady mix of football hooliganism, racism and copious quantities alcohol to Leicester. There was a mobilisation by local anti-fascists, with local youth organising to defend their own communities.
Newswire: Video: English Defence League Riot in Leicester | EDL in Leicester | "It's not easy being called Anakin Allcock." | Vote EDL? I doubt it | EDL fail to make progress in leicester | Anger at Leicestershire Police "press card"
Previous feature: Anti-fascists to face EDL in Leicester
While Leicester appears to have been a more successful demo than their recent trip to Bradford, anti-fascists suggest the EDL's "crowing about what a good time they had in Leicester" is unmerited.
As has happened elsewhere (including Nottingham), police, the local council and "community leaders" made a concerted effort to ensure that as few local residents joined the protests against the EDL as possible. Reportedly, messages were sent round all the schools, community centres, places of worship and even hospital staff, that people should stay at home. This approach seems to have been broadly successful.
Leicestershire Police had prepared for the protests by organising the largest police operation in the county since the miners' strike. They had also controversially, decided to issue their own "press cards" to journalists an inexplicable move to undermine the independece of reporters which drew the ire of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
The police operation did little to quell disorder. The EDL were more than happy to kick off and put in the windows of the Independent Arts Centre. Later in the day, between 3-4pm, a small group of around 100 EDL broke out of the police pen, began attacking local black and asian people, before heading for the predominantly asian Highfields area. Local people halted their progress at Humberstone Road and they ended up trying to go through the retail park where they got beaten up by riot cops.
There was a tense stand off whilst police kept back the angry crowds of locals on Humberstone Road and locked down all access roads into Highfields. Once again it was clear that the biggest effect that the EDL coming to town had had was to make people who weren't white afraid to walk around in their own city.
Bristol spoke, the Council smiled and waved
16-10-2010 11:22
The No Tesco campaign and the death of the democratic processThe democratic process has been exhausted. After 9 months of vocal opposition to its plans, Tesco Corporation are preparing are preparing to baptise their 'local' shop in Stokes Croft. This turn of events may come as a surprise after the multinational's attempts to open their 31st supermarket in Bristol have been repeatedly condemned by both crowds of protesters and the chair of Bristol City Council. 96% of neighbours objected, thousands of signatures were collected and the building itself was occupied by local residents and turned into a social centre.
Some may well breathe a sigh of relief when Tesco finally opens its doors. But the outcome of this campaign is a sign of the times. Yes, we have the right to protest, to petition, to lobby, to write letters to our MP, to march, to chant, to vote. But even the most naive of us, who bothered to vote for councillors who promised to take a stand against big business must now face facts. Voting changes nothing.
If we can't trust them to act in our interests on such a small issue as a cornershop, how can we expect them to stand up against the privatisation of the NHS, our schools and universities, council housing and all the other social services that Britons and Bristolians fought and died for?
Now is the time. Strike, occupy, resist.
Council Call Centres
16-10-2010 11:22
Whats the s.p.?A few weeks ago i asked for information about the situation in the council call centres. Cllr Rogers responded with info on Care Direct, whose workforce had not been cut, and had no vacancies, and so were doing well.
I have a strong feeling that the situation is not the same for the housing benefit and council tax call centres, which i think are based in whitchurch? Cllr Rogers said he would find out details but has not yet responded.
I am convinced that the council is deliberately creating 'parked' vacancies in the call centres that they are not filling on purpose, in order to provide jobs for some employees who's departments will be victims when the ConDems politically motivated cuts start to bite.
Having worked in a call centre myself for many years, and having worked in centres that were deliberately understaffed, i know the horrendous stress this puts on workers who are already employed in a very stressful job. The fact that private profit-hungry companies do this is horrendous enough. The idea that a public council would do it would be deeply shocking.
The Health and Safety Executive published a report on call centres and found the following:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr169.htm
"Conclusion to Question 1: Is working as a call handler more stressful than working in
other jobs?
Overall, based on the current data, the answer to this question is yes. The risk of mental
health problems is higher for call handlers and job-related well-being is lower,
compared to benchmark groups in other occupations."
"In answer to question 3, we found call handling is made stressful for a call handler when they
· have a high workload;
· are unclear about their work role;
· cannot make full use of their skills;
· have conflicting role demands. "
So, increasing workloads (less staff, same amount of calls = higher workload) means that staff in an already stressful job are deliberately being put under even more stress, creating a severe strain on their mental health, by a PUBLICLY ELECTED LOCAL COUNCIL.
And what of the staff that may be transferred into the call centres, from other non-call centres roles they held in other areas of the council?
The effect on them will be even worse. Anyone who has worked in a call centre knows that the most tragic sight is that of the old-school employee, usually 50+, dedicated to their role, trying to offer the same level of service and humanity as they used to in their old role. They have no chance, as they name of the game is not serving the customer, it is taking the call, clearing the queue, minimising wrap time, eliminating idle time. They end up losing the things that made their work, and lives bearable – their pride in their work, and their own self-respect, as team leaders half their age tell them they are 'not hitting targets'.
This causes stress depression and even suicide, as shown by the France Telecom scandal in France last year.
The idea that a publicly elected council could be contemplating doing such a thing to its employees is disgusting, and should be fought by anyone who claims to hold council employees in high regard, such as Cllr Rogers.
Of course, this may not be the case. The overdue freedom of information request put in by Bill Wren may come back as showing that call centres are working as they should, without adding stress to an already stressed workforce.
Cllr Rogers may come back with information about the grade of service targets and realities that similarly show there is no problem, and like Care Direct, there are no 'parked vacancies'.
The council may not be planning to transfer in staff who have no experience of the stress of call centre work, from other departments savaged by ideologically driven cuts.
If this is the case, no one will be happier than me to proved wrong. As I've said, i've seen with my own eyes what happens in those situations, and I would gladly take a bit of egg on my face and be proved wrong if it doesn't happen.
If it DOES happen, however, if this IS being planned, then everyone involved, including every councillor who agrees it, should be treated with the same contempt that they show to their fellow Bristolian council workers.
Dissident Island Radio - 15th October 2010
16-10-2010 10:24
EPISODE 68 featuring:
• IMCista Maqui, talking about the cuts in Spain, grassroots resistance, the general strike on Sept 29 and what's happening now...
• DJ experiences from the 80s and 90s rave scene, thanks to Tom Wrongspeed
• Music, a 'hot topic' discussion around the Birmingham Tory Party Conference demo and Smash EDO, banter, bollocks...
• DJ Wrongspeed on the decks
And its ready for download now!!! Check it out!!!
http://www.archive.org/download/DissidentIslandRadio15thOctober2010/DissidentIslandRadio-15-10-10.mp3
www.dissidentisland.org
Have you got IWW banner, please return
16-10-2010 10:22
Bristol IWW has lost its banner, it was used as part of the after party gig after the bookfair at the emporium and since then is hasn't been seen since.If you happen to have this banner, its probably been cleared away or taken by mistake, could you please return it to the Plough pub in easton, that would be great as we would would like to have it for the anticuts demonstration on 23rd October.
Come on comrades return our banner if you have it.
Cheers
Bristol IWW
The EDL Are Nazis
16-10-2010 10:04
The continued denials by the English Defence League that they are not nazis is beginning to sound very foolish as the evidence piles ever higher.Jimmy Mubenga posters in South London
16-10-2010 09:22
Because of the current practical media blackout and misinformation surrounding the events aboard BA Flight 77 where Jimmy Mubenga was murdered, anti deportation activists have taken it upon themselves to inform people about these tragic and disgusting events.
Jimmy Mubenga was murdered by 3 G4S security guards acting on behalf of the UK Border Agency. He was being deported, on BA flight 77, to Angola, where he had made an enemy of the ruling military regeme as a young man. Despite appearing calm when he borded the Plane, within minutes he had been attacked by the G4S guards. He was held down by the three men for up to 45 minutes, despite being in handcuffs. He was reported to be screaming "I can't breathe!" and "They're going to kill me!"
After around 10 minutes, the screaming stopped and Jimmy fell unconscious. He was taken to hospital and announced dead on arrival, having died from positional asphyxia.
Despite the shocking nature of these events, and the fact both Jimmy's family and several MPs are calling for an urgent inquiry, only the Guardian is currently running the story including Witness Statements. The BBC is still running the offical UKBA/G4S statment that he "fell ill" and was rushed to Hospital.
In response to this deafening silence, activists from South London have plastered the area from Elephant and Castle to Peckham with posters holding the Witness statements, and other info. We strongly urge people to copy this simple action in order to spread the news of this Governmental murder. Once people know what happened on that fatal flight, the true fight back against this racist brutality can begin!
