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STOP THE CUTS, London - Wednesday 20th October

20-10-2010 07:52

Stop the Con-Dem cuts!
Build the Resistance!
Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay!

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Urgent: Okpara family due for deportation on Monday 25th October

20-10-2010 07:37

Mildred Okpara and her three young children have been refused asylum and ordered to return to Nigeria next Monday 25th October. The family are at grave risk from the Nigerian separatist group, MASSOB (the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra). Mildred's partner was abducted and murdered by this group, who also attacked her baby son. If she is forced to return to Nigeria she is convinced that she and her children will be targeted and killed by MASSOB who continue to commit atrocities in the region. She is also terrified that her father will find her and insist that his granddaughters undergo female genital mutilation, a practice which is widespread amongst the Igbo community of which the family is a member.

Please write to David Blunkett, Theresa May, Nick Clegg and Paul Scriven (details below) to prevent the family's deportation. A sample letter is provided, but please write your own if possible.

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Unison Demo Re: cuts for school support staff

20-10-2010 04:25

4.00pm Monday 18th October, Market Square, Nottingham

Say no to pay cuts for school support staff. Around 5-600 gathered to protest these cuts.

Please view my video reports via these links

Video : Unison Demo Re: cuts for school support staff Part 1

Video : Unison Demo Re: cuts for school support staff Part 2

 

The latest single status proposals will mean massive pay cuts for many school support staff. Some Teaching Assistants will lose as much as £7,000 per year – with no pay protection, meaning salaries will drop from April 2011.

Average pay cuts for TA’s would be 25%. Other staff would also lose pay and possibly annual leave.

Although the council have now agreed to delay the timetable for implementation to allow for more discussion with the trade unions, the proposals have not changed and it is important that the protest still goes ahead.

We still need to let the City Council know that we are not prepared to accept the proposals – we need your support please come along and join in the protest.

Further information is available from jean thorpe at the unison branch office on 0115 9156890 / 9156883

Notts Save Our Services    http://nottssos.org.uk

 

*****

[Have had many technical difficulties in uploading this video report, in the usual way to an Indymedia posting. Have changed format, compression, size and length, all still resulting in errors.  So, in the interests in getting this up, before tomorrows gig, have used these 'external' links.  We hope to improve, so, please continue to try these medias yourselves. Txx].

____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham.  UK
Email:                 tash@indymedia.org
Web:                   http://digitaljournalist.eu
Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
                                   It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
<ends>

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Free Mohammed Hamid. Paintballing is not a crime!

20-10-2010 03:34

In 2008 Mohammed Hamid was convicted under the terrorism act having gone on a paintballing holiday which was to be filmed for TV. The police have claimed that paintballing is "terrorist training." The "evidence" provided in court included identical statements word for word given by two people and the police claiming that Mohammed was "holding a stick just like people in Iraq."

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Mp3: David Graeber & Stefano Harvey on Capitalism

20-10-2010 02:34

On 17 October 2010, the artists at the occupied JTG Gallery hosted a series of talks and discussions centered around the upcoming cuts. We're not exactly early risers, so we didn't make it down for the entire event, which lasted from 2pm until midnight, but we did manage to get some (not great quality) audio from the early evening.

The first set of remarks, by well-known anarchist direct actionist / theoretician David Graeber, was pretty much off the cuff, as the speaker scheduled to talk at 6pm was trying to find his way to the gallery from the more civilized half of the city.  Hackney is a pretty hellish place to get to if you're from south London.  Artists need to be squatting more galleries in Brixton and Stockwell. Regardless, keep in mind that this audio is not Graeber's talk from earlier in the afternoon, entitled Debt: The first five thousand years.

After his arrival, Stefano Harvey talked about capitalism, and specifically the kind of personal and ideological outlook fostered by value production in finance markets. In his view, taking part in banking activity generates an internally consistent system of ethics which divides people into 2 categories: those who can instantly and exactly measure the amount of value they have produced during the day (day traders looking at their screens), and those who can't (everyone else).  The talk was engaging and thought-provoking.

One thought I had during Stefano's talk: it seemed to me that I keep hearing people talking about "fugitive spaces", "escape", and other defensive measures when it comes to cuts, and I have now seen two waves of cuts in my lifetime (in the early '80s and mid '90s in Canada). This seems to be a standard line of thinking when people are talking about ideologically-driven government attacks on all the "nice" parts of the state, the socially beneficial parts which actually bring some benefits to the majority of the population: when the cuts come, get out of the way.  I don't think it's good advice, as there's not exactly much fat left in the system to constitute an escape route.

Looking around the room at a group of highly intelligent and motivated people, I wondered if a better message wouldn't have been, "tell the truth about the cuts".  The internally-consistent system Stefano describes, to me, has no more validity as an attempt to control fate, than a bunch of ancient Greek priests cutting the head off a chicken and attempting to divine the future based on which way the blood spurts.  It seemed to me that simply saying this, in artistic works, as part of a wider political movement, would have been better advice.

Many thanks to JTG gallery and http://no-w-here.org.uk/ for a great evening, although the talk after this one struck me as a whole lot of syllables spilled for very little intellectual purpose.  It is possible that I my subjectivity was not properly extended.  We fled to a Hackney blues bar for some pints.

Before leaving, we had a look around through the main-floor gallery, which was interesting all by itself. JTG is not a traditional art gallery space, it is best described as an artist occupation of a 25,000 sq foot space in the East End awaiting finance for its planning permission for conversion to luxury flats. In the meantime the gallery is an artist run live work space that sites exhibitions while facing a rolling 2 month notice of eviction. 

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Mad Pride, Anti-Cuts Demo - London Oct 26th 2010 - 1pm

20-10-2010 02:23

Mad Pride demonstration 26th October poster
Mad Pride is supporting a demonstration by survivors of the mental health system are doing on the 26th October against the cuts to benefits and services. It will be at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, London, UK. This will be in the wake of the Governments Spending Review. We are calling for a 24 hour medication strike on that day. Politicians will be executed at the traditional site of Tyburn.

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Message of Solidarity with the workers and students of France

20-10-2010 00:13

Message of Solidarity with the workers and students of France from the exploited masses of the United States

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Political prisoner fundraising calendar out now

19-10-2010 23:22

a 1o year old campaign and info project from north America
Bristol ABC is once again distroing this calendar for the Certain days collective - a project by Canadian activists & 3 long-term US political prisoners, who have collectively spent over 100 years inside prison. The 3 are all being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State, they are Robert Seth Hayes, Herman Bell & David Gilbert.

Funds raised by the calendar go to:
G20 Legal Defence Fund (Toronto – over 1000 arrested in June 2010)
New York State Task Force On Political Prisoners (for the release of 7 political prisoners in NY jails)
Addameer (a Palestinian prisoner support & human rights campaign)

The Calendar is 44 pages of campaign, support and biographical info, including 14 full-colour pages of artwork. Prisoners contributing include: Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Sundiata Acoli, David Gilbert, Jaan Laaman, Akili Castlin, Herman Wallace, Daniel McGowan, Marilyn Buck (RIP), Alvaro Hernandez. Other contributors are a mix of ex-prisoners, artists and activists. See more of the calendar artwork, contents and other info at http://www.certaindays.org/

Where you can get it:
1. Direct from us at our public events and events where we have stalls. Price £7.00. We'll have it at the London Anarchist bookfair this coming Saturday.
2. By post from us, prices include postage & packing. Cost per calendar is £7.50 in the UK, or £10 / 15 Euros in rest of Europe.
3. Online in the UK, using Paypal. Cost £7.50.
4. Direct from Kebele Infoshop whenever Kebele social centre is open, and also from Kebele's Infoshop stall at various events. Price £7.00
Why not take some copies to sell - contact us at bristol_abc@riseup.net for terms and with any queries.
For full details of how.where to buy it see here http://bristolabc.wordpress.com/calendar/

Why not let your friends, family and comrades know where you stand on political prisoners?

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Demo and Rally 23rd Oct - defend public services

19-10-2010 22:22

Defend Public Services this Saturday 23rd October. Demo and Rally against the ConDem cuts in public spending.
Saturday 23rd Octobrt

Assemble: 11am, Casle Park, Broadmead, Bristol

March though Bristol City Centre

Rally: 12 noon, College Green

Supported by trade unions and community groups from the South West of England

Join thr Anti-Cuts Alliance

bristolanticutsalliance@yahoo.co.uk

Don't just write emails or comments - do something - spread the word and join the demo!

Thank you

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7 days jail for peaceful protest

19-10-2010 22:22

peaceful protestor simon moore was sentenced to seven days imprisonment in wandsworth jail today for a protest he held in whitehall against the afghan war last may.

earlier this year, simon was one of two protestors who managed to enter the old war office building in whitehall and drop a banner "please bring our soldiers home now".

original indymedia story here

he was arrested under section 128 of SOCPA for trespass on a designated site, and under suspicion for criminal damage.

today he told the judge that he couldn't or wouldn't pay a fine, and he was then given the custodial sentence.

supporters will be protesting for his release tomorrow at 1pm in parliament square. all peaceful support invited.

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PUBLIC MEETING Ten Years of Intifada - What Future for Palestine?

19-10-2010 22:18

Wednesday, 27th October, 7pm
Upstairs at The Compass,58 Penton Street N1 9PZ (corner of Penton Street and Chapel Market) Nearest tube: Angel
Join us to debate and discuss with speakers: Ghassan Abu-Sitta, Palestinian surgeon Manal Masalha, Palestinian activist and PhD student

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The government is acting as if we didn't have a rich country...

19-10-2010 21:53

"The government is acting as if we didn't have a rich country, as if we didn't have the money. The thing is we do have the money," - French Protester



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Political Descent Poll

19-10-2010 21:41

Damage to County Hall
Just how far would you go? Is the criminal damage done to Nottingham County Hall ever justified, let us know what your opinion is in this Poll!

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Impromptu Demo's Hit London's Remaining Furriers

19-10-2010 21:00

Two in four furriers say "We're taking the day off work!"

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Defend Huntington Lane: Photo report and call-out (Part 2)

19-10-2010 20:42

Follow this path to the camp
More photos from the Huntington Lane camp, which is resisting UK Coal's attempts to destroy an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Shropshire. UK Coal plans to extract hundreds of thousands of tonnes of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel of them all, in a huge open cast operation over the next few years. The National Eviction Team now appears to be maintaining a continuous presence on part of the site. Support is needed to defend the main camp.

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The Angolan death on BA77 at Heathrow

19-10-2010 20:20

The paper reported that on the plane Jimmy was energetically resisting deportation. No, he was energetically resisting the imminence of protracted hunger and poverty; he was resisting an unjust economic order that skewered his country resources away from him to the benefit of western powers.

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Demonstrate against Britain's racist immigration laws Tuesday 26 October • 5-6pm

19-10-2010 19:38

Fight Britain's racist immigration laws! Close Communications House!
Tuesday 26 October • 5-6pm
outside Communications House Immigration Reporting Centre
Old Street London, EC1V 9BR
(called by Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! All welcome)

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The War On Terror

19-10-2010 17:43

"Pakistan warned Washington against future attacks. However, US military officials, under pressure from Obama to show progress in the endless Afghan war, responded to Pakistan’s warning by calling for expanding the Afghan war into Pakistan. On October 5 the Canadian journalist Eric Margolis wrote that “the US edges closer to invading Pakistan.”


In his book, Obama’s Wars, Bob Woodward reports that America’s puppet president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, believes that terrorist bombing attacks inside Pakistan for which the Taliban are blamed are in fact CIA operations designed to destabilize Pakistan and allow Washington to seize Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. "

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Palestine Today 10 19 2010

19-10-2010 17:22

Audio
Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Tuesday, October 19th, 2010.

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STOP THE CUTS, London - Wednesday 20th October

19-10-2010 17:16

Stop the Con-Dem cuts!
Build the Resistance!
Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay!