UK Newswire Archive
Don't Quarry, Be Happy!
01-08-2011 16:55
Peace News Campers, including some from the Nottingham area, visited Huntington Lane anti-UK Coal protest site in Shropshire at the weekend. The site urgently needs solidarity as it is threatened with imminent eviction.
UK Coal is up to no good in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Last year it got permission to mine under Sherwood Forest and was also involved in the recently rejected incinerator proposal - it owned the land. In Leicestershire, UK Coal has recently won a three year battle to get planning permission for an opencast coal mine on the Minorca site near Measham.
Report from the visit:
I recently visited Huntington Lane anti-UK Coal protest site (http://defendhuntingtonlane.wordpress.com/) together with eight others while we were at Peace News Summer Camp. I was told that they had been served with an eviction order and could expect bailiffs and police at any time. They had built various towers out of the branches of trees that had been felled by UK Coal prior to them establishing the site. On one of the towers a banner had been put up reading 'Don't Quarry Be Happy'.
A statement from their website reads:
We would encourage any concerned individuals to pay a visit to camp whether it be to stay on, help out with defences, leave a donation or lend their moral support. Food and supplies to take underground would be very useful.
Peace News Camp: visit to Huntington Lane Protest Site
01-08-2011 16:51
Defend Crays Hill travellers site in Essex
01-08-2011 11:04
Cray Hill travellers site in Essex near Basildon is home to over 100 families and is facing eviction at the end of this months. Most of the residents have been there for many years and have absolutely nowhere else to go. People have agreed to move if the council offers an alternative site but they have offered nothing.General strike in Greece on the 28th and 29th June - Lessons and wrong trends
01-08-2011 00:00
We return to the social situation in Greece to comment on the so-called 48 hour general strike of the 28th and 29th June 2011 which was called by the three main trade unions, namely, the GSEE, which organizes workers in the private and state sector, the Adedy, which organizes public servants, and the Pame, the union linked to the Greek ‘Communist’ party, the KKE.
InfoUsurpa 1st - 8th August 2011
31-07-2011 17:55
InfoUsurpa brings you this weeks events happening in London's autonomous spaces and beyond.
Download, print and stick it up for others to see
Unless stated all events included are free
Enjoy your week!
Huntington Lane Protest Site Facing Eviction - An Invitation
31-07-2011 15:56
Nottinghamshire Pride 2011
31-07-2011 13:55
On Saturday July 30th, Nottingham's LGBT community and others gathered for Nottinghamshire (no longer merely Nottingham) Pride.
As in the past 2 years, the festivities were preceded by a march. This year this made it sway from the Market Square to the venue at the Forest Recreation Ground. Forming up prior to the march was an interesting affair with most of the square taken up by the giant litter tray known as the "Nottingham Riviera". As in previous years, the march was astonishingly punctual, leaving only minutes after the announced time of 10.45am.
Given the start and end points, I had assumed that the march would make its way up Mansfield Road, reversing the usual route. However, because of the gas works currently taking place, the march was taken onto Shakespeare Street and then up Dryden Street. We then made our way through various back streets (where few people but the residents will have seen us) before emerging onto Forest Road East. From here we turned left, past Nottingham High School and then entered the Rec from the gates, making our way down the hill to the fenced off area where the rest of the event was to take place.
The march was as colourful as ever with a wide array of drag queens and costumes. The parade was led by 2 police horses with the riders in what I assume is dress uniform. There was also a marching band (I think they were the same one who've joined the march in previous years) and it was interesting to discover that police horses are clearly quite disturbed by covers of cheesy pop songs. This may or may not be a useful insight for future public order situations.
Marchers were joined by various officials including the Chairman of the County Council, the mayor, the Sheriff and a senior police officer (whose name and rank I can't recall).
Corporate sponsorship of the event was more prominent than I recall from previous years. EOn were particularly prevalent with a banner on the march, a large stall and their logo on official signage and programmes. They are presumably significant sponsors. I'm as cynical about this as anybody, although I guess it's better they spend their money on Pride events than harassing climate activists. The Co-Operative also had three huge banners on the march and Smirnoff/Diageo banners were hung up around the arena and on the main stage. NCT meanwhile had a Pride-themed double decker bus.
The stalls in the arena were the usual mix of charities (Terrence Higgins Trust, the Samaritans), unions (Unison, RCN), councils (city and county) and instruments of repression (prison service, Notts Police, British Transport Police, "Community Protection"). At 60 quid a stall, the paucity of grassroots campaigns is hardly surprising.
As ever, the event was notable for its lack of politics, beyond a vague sense of "pride" and this year there was no fringe event. Apart from a few placards on the march (including one apparently comparing county council leader Kay Cutts with German Nazism), Nottingham Pride seems to have little to say. This is perhaps particularly surprising given the impact of the cuts on local LGBT services (including the LGBT Switchboard). Nevertheless, it remains an important - and fun - part of the calendar.
Cut the arms trade not public services!
31-07-2011 12:37
Shut down DSEi day of action – 13th September 2011 – details TBCFull article | 1 addition | 2 comments
Report Your Local Anarchist
31-07-2011 10:23
I doubt many people have heard of Project Griffin. It is a joint initiative between the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, set up in 2004 and based at the City Police's HQ, which has spread its network to police forces around the country and seeks to "advise and familiarise managers, security officers and employees of large public and private sector organisations across the capital on security, counter-terrorism and crime prevention issues".
Two escape from Morton Hall migration prison
31-07-2011 09:20
Two men successfully escaped last Thursday from Morton Hall IRC in Lincolnshire. Report from local newspaper. Freedom!Sea Shepherd Boat Seized in Shetland
31-07-2011 00:00
"Eco-pirate" Paul Watson is losing a race against time to recover his flagship boat, the Steve Irwin, which has been impounded in Shetland.
Summer Camp Peace News
30-07-2011 19:30
A participant in a “Using Indymedia” workshop at the “Peace News” Summer Camp writes and posts his first article to Indymedia, giving some of his impressions of the camp.by Boat, by Air..by Bike: UK activists pedal to Palestine (with Photo Essay)
30-07-2011 19:07
Hungarian restaurant takes down flag after repeated threats of violence!
30-07-2011 15:38
Pub receives threats from locals after flying Hungarian flag.Murdochs get VIP ‘Justice’
30-07-2011 15:03
The Murdoch ‘plate of foam’ incident shows once again the double standards of the police. Trivial crimes against VIPs and Police are treated as serious crimes, but serious crimes against ordinary people are often ignored.Political Policing during Royal Wedding in Edinburgh
30-07-2011 14:55
Lothian and Borders police are today conducting a systematic programme of harassment aimed at people who have been politically active in Edinburgh.
PHILIPPINES: Absent major policy reforms, there will be no social transformation
30-07-2011 12:59
Murdoch's Other Moral Crimes
30-07-2011 11:05
When Rupert and James Murdoch appeared before the House of Commons media select committee on July 19, not one of the MP inquisitors demanded accountability for News International’s biggest moral crime – its shameful role as a facilitator of war. Robin Beste, of the Stop the War Coalition, put it succinctly:
‘Rupert Murdoch's newspapers and TV channels have supported all the US-UK wars over the past 30 years, from Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands war in 1982, through George Bush Senior and the first Gulf War in 1990-91, Bill Clinton's war in Yugoslavia in 1999 and his undeclared war on Iraq in 1998, George W Bush's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with Tony Blair on his coat tails, and up to the present, with Barack Obama continuing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and now adding Libya to his tally of seven wars.’