UK Newswire Archive
Day of the Dead Lantern release CANCELLED
21-06-2012 19:20
Due to adverse weather (i.e shitty) we are postponing the lantern release. See you next time though!The Big Conversation
21-06-2012 19:19
Nicole has the outstanding ability to take seemingly complex and fragmented issues, such as energy, finance, and climate change, and their interactive dynamics, she explains how they are affecting each and every one of us.
Demo and blockade against G4S in Stockholm
21-06-2012 19:05
Ian Tomlinson - More Cops Identified
21-06-2012 18:29
Chris Leslie and police brutality
21-06-2012 14:55
The attack began after midnight, when a three uniformed cops stopped three teenagers yards from their doorstep. One eye witness tells us that “the lighter skinned boy was allowed to leave, whilst the two darker lads were stop and searched”. Another witness state that it took only a few moments for the situation to quickly get out of hand, with one cop screaming “When I ask you a fucking question why can't you answer it.” Within ten minutes their were two riot vans and four police cars. One local resident came to his door to see what all the noise was for, and was greeted with the sight of a dozen armed police running down the street. “They seemed so happy to be getting their guns out.” the resident tells us, “I've been here since the mid 90's and never seen anything like it.”. Another residents explains that “this incident has left me feeling uneasy now when it gets dark, and that I've lost faith in the police.”Chris Leslie M.P for Nottingham East witnessed a racially motivated attack by the cops on a Forest Fields family, and did nothing to intervene. The attack which happened last August left two teenagers and their father with bruised bodies, swollen faces, burns from c.s gas and cuts to the arms. One local who came out of his house early on says “The dad who had come out to speak up for his kids was grabbed and pushed up against a car by one police, at the same time he was calling out for everyone to calm down.”. Residents consistently describe the police as constantly antagonistic towards the family, and the family as co-operative throughout the incident. So, shocked were a number of the residents by the behaviour of the police towards the family that they arranged to speak to Nottingham East Member of parliament Chris Leslie to express their concerns. These residents say that Mr. Leslie stated that he and his assistant Josie had been in the riot vans driving around Forest Fields that night. He then encouraged the residents to hand over their statements so he could “take snippets from them”. Whether Leslie was in the riot van as part of regular exercise or because it was also a night where the T.V series Coppers was being filmed is unclear. This not the first nor the last case of attacks by police officers on Afro-Caribbean or Asian teenagers. Earlier this year national newspapers highlighting police racism with two cases in particular. Fireman Edric Kennedy Macfoy who was abused, assaulted and shot with a stun gun, whilst another 21 year old man was strangled by a police officer who was recorded saying “you'll always be a n----”. Of the latter case Estelle du Boulay, director of the Newham Monitoring Project, said: "Sadly, the shocking treatment of this young man at the hands of police officers – both the physical brutality he describes and the racial abuse he claims he suffered – are by no means unusual; it compares to other reports we have received. What makes this case different is the victim had the foresight and courage to turn on a recording device on his mobile phone." There have been various complaints of police harassment by people of all backgrounds living in Forest Fields and the rest of NG7. And a number of formal complaints are currently on going. What these situations tell us is that we must look out for one another, According to one resident “the cops just pick on those who might not fight back, those who'll give them an easy time, so they can make an example of them.” its up to other residents to ensure this doesn't happen. To make sure that no other resident has to deal with police harassment and brutality alone.
More photos from Wales-Israel match protest
21-06-2012 12:49
Report and Photos from protest at Wales-Israel match in Wrexham
21-06-2012 11:29
Yesterday evening, pro-Palestine activists from the local area and across the country including south Wales, north west Wales, Liverpool, Chester, Manchester and London demonstrated inside and outside the Wrexham Racecourse football ground. The action was called in protest at Israel's participation in international competitions while the Palestinian team is prevented from taking part, while Palestinian footballers including Mahmoud al Sarsak remain imprisoned without charge or trial, and while Israel continues to maintain its Apartheid regime.
Wales-Israel Football Protests
21-06-2012 09:42
Around 50 members of The Palestine Solidarity Campaign organised a protest picket of the Israel – Wales Women's European Championship qualifying match in Wrexham, N. Wales today Wednesday 20 June 2012 – Outside the main entrance of Wrexham Stadium.Defend Our Right to Protest: the Olympics and Beyond
21-06-2012 09:27
Tuesday 26th June, 7 - 9pmHarmony Hall, Truro Road, Walthamstow, E17 7BY
Day of the Dead - For the victims of aerial bombardment
21-06-2012 08:24
tonight - 9pm The Level, Brighton (weather permitting)Wales-Israel football match in Wrexham - Palestinian fans ejected
20-06-2012 21:39
10×100: sign the call for Genova 2001
20-06-2012 18:57
GENOVA IS NOT OVERTEN, NO ONE AND THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND
A CALL TO CIVIL SOCIETY – SIGN THE PETITION
Rally for Julian Assange taking place now at Ecuador Embassy, London
20-06-2012 13:06
Launch of 'How to Set Up a Workers' Co-op', 3rd edition, 23rd June.
20-06-2012 11:25
New guide to Workers' Co-ops launched at Futures North during International Year of Co-opsAt 12.30 this Saturday 23rd June, co-operators at the annual Futures North conference at Sheffield Hallam University (only a 10 minutes walk away from the Sheffield Anarchist bookfair!) will raise a toast and cut a giant cake, to launch the new edition of 'How to Set Up a Workers' Co-op'
Wrexham Divided: WPJF on Israel-Wales match tonight
20-06-2012 08:33
How to Complete Egypt's Revolution
20-06-2012 04:55
The Egyptian revolution's fight for life has reached a critical stage.
The massive energy that toppled Egypt's hated dictator seems to have hit a wall after Egypt's Supreme Court dissolved parliament in what many are calling a "coup.” The military then took further action to consolidate itself, putting a halt to their fake steps towards democracy. According to the New York Times:
"... the generals had shuttered the parliament and locked out its members, taken over legislative authority even after the election of a president, and unveiled a new interim constitution protecting their power and privilege. They also named their own 100-member panel to draft a permanent charter [constitution]."
The recent winner of the presidential election, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, now must operate within the narrow confines allowed by the military, which has seized all legislative power and nearly all real executive power. Martial law remains in effect. The new president has found himself surrounded by military officials who will not allow him to make a single independent decision.
How could this happen?
What the Egyptian revolution has thus far failed to do was to destroy the real basis of the old regime's power, ensuring that the regime would re-consolidate itself. The dictator was toppled, yes, but the institutions that upheld the regime are still in place; the state structures accustomed to a totalitarianism that serves the wealthy elite have finally made their intentions open to the public, now feeling confident that their positions are invulnerable to the revolution.
Consequently, the dictator's inner circle responsible for approving the killing of over 900 innocent protesters will not be imprisoned, nor will the ruthless police chiefs who carried out the orders. This is because the judiciary of the country was appointed by the old regime, and are using every power at their disposal - and creating new ones in the process - to turn the wheel of history backwards to pre-revolution Egypt.
After the dictator-appointed judiciary dissolved parliament, the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate, Mohammed Morsi, downplayed the event, accepting the decision.
"It is my duty as the future president of Egypt, God willing, to separate between the state's authorities and accept the rulings [?!] "
The Brotherhood has vowed to respect "the law,” when the law is merely the military's guns combined with a sock-puppet Supreme Court. The bizarre response of Mr. Morsi is not only a symptom of the Brotherhood's political cowardice, but proof of its collusion with dictators; the Brotherhood is desperately attempting to integrate itself into the ruling spectrum of Egypt's pro-capitalist politics, having accommodated itself to the old regime long enough to eat its crumbs. The new president finds himself in a situation from which any honest person would instantly resign.
Thankfully the Brotherhood's half-hearted "opposition" has been mostly exposed to any half-conscious Egyptian. This fact is proved by the results of the first round of the presidential election: the Brotherhood received half the votes it received from the months-earlier parliamentary election.
Also, during the first round of the presidential election, the largest cities in Egypt voted for the 3rd place candidate, a Nasserite "socialist,” who more closely resembles the striving of the average working person in Egypt. The more recent actions of the Brotherhood have further exposed their leadership for what they are: an unwitting prop for the military to remain in power.
Those who started the revolution and drove out the dictator are still in the process of funneling their revolutionary energy into an organizational form capable of destroying the political and economic power of the rich on which the old regime rests.
Once the revolutionaries re-establish themselves, they'll surely have learned that, in order to push the revolution forward the entire state apparatus of the previous regime must be shattered, especially the military elite, police, and judiciary, who are using their institutional power to strike blows against the revolution.
Equally important is the economic base of the state's power, which also needs to be taken from those who currently control it. Many of Egypt's big businesses are powerful because of their direct connections with the military, and are often owned by generals and their government friends.
The Los Angeles Times recently explained:
If the military's wealth isn't nationalized - and much of its wealth comes from recent privatizations of public utilities - the money will continue to fuel the power of dictators.
To reach these goals the revolutionary working people of Egypt need to act independently in massive numbers, as they did at the revolution's beginning. However, this independence needs to be organized enough to fully displace the existing powers of Egypt; the demands of "Mubarak must go" need to be replaced by new demands that address the deeper military and economic ties of the old regime.
To help give voice and organization to these demands, a revolutionary constituent assembly will likely remain a popular and necessary demand, so that a really democratic constitution can be created with the active participation of all working people. The demand for a constituent assembly has proved to be a revolutionary demand throughout the Latin American revolution, whose situations were very similar to Egypt's today.
The electoral process of Egypt has been proven a sham, and the working people will not so easily accept the same dictatorship with a slightly different face. Since the election failed to solve anything of substance, Tahrir Square will once again be the political venue of choice for working Egyptians seeking revolutionary political and economic change.
