UK Newswire Archive
Back our badgers!
27-09-2012 20:55
Over thirty campaigners protested outside a Tesco store in Nottingham today in a peaceful demo against the intended badger cull, which is scientifically flawed, unrepresentative of the public's views and morally reprehensible.
With the exception of supermarkets Co-op, Waitrose and Marks & Spencers, all the others will be selling milk that comes from within the cull zone. Campaigners were outside the store on Angel Row from 12:30pm until 4:30pm to raise public awareness about the issue and to encourage shoppers to use their consumer power and go elsewhere. They voiced their belief that supermarkets have an ethical responsibility to not support the badger cull: specifically to not sell products from cull farmers, especially when there is no shortage of more scrupulous farmers that will not have the cull on their land.
There was a fantastic amount of public support throughout the day, with bus drivers giving thumbs up as they drove by and lots of interested shoppers stopping to ask what was happening. Morale was high amongst campaigners, and was boosted by free vegan samosas and cake from the wonderful Veggies! It was so successful that the protest will be repeated on Monday 1st October at the same place from 4pm-6pm.
The very well-attended demo also received lots of media attention, with ITV Central giving it lots of coverage. They held a poll on Friday 27th to find out feeling towards the government's proposed badger cull as a measure to control the spread of Bovine TB. The results are an overwhelming majority at 92% against the cull, with just 8% saying they agree.
Their full coverage of today's demo can be seen on the ITV website: http://www.itv.com/news/central/story/2012-09-26/badger-cull-protest/
The Nottingham Evening Post also covered the event, and posted a minute long sound bite from one of the day's activists:
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Badger-cull-protesters-target-Nottingham-city/story-17000075-detail/story.html
A spokesperson for the anti-cull group sent the following statement to the press before the demo:
"This autumn the government plan to cull badgers in two pilot areas, one in Somerset and one in Gloucestershire. The results from these pilots will determine whether or not the cull is rolled out to bTB hotspots nationwide in future years. DEFRA is prepared to kill at least 70% of our badgers within cull areas; this may effectively kill all the badgers in those areas.
We oppose culling badgers for three reasons:
1. It is unethical. Badgers are intelligent, sensitive animals with their own reasons to live rather than being an expendable piece of an environment just there for us to use. The species cleansing planned by the government is a harrowing violation of the badger's right to life. In addition the shootings planned are inhumane: there will not be 100% kill shots, inevitably there will be some maimings; and parents will be killed leaving cubs to starve.
2. It is unscientific. To determine the efficacy of badger culling, a study costing around 34 million pounds (and the lives of 10,000 badgers) was undertaken by eminent scientists (collectively known as the Independent Scientific Group or ISG).
It took almost ten years, was rigorously peer reviewed and remains the most thorough and widely respected investigation into the scientific validity of badger culling as a method of controlling bovine TB.
Their final report was published in 2007, and is freely downloadable from DEFRA here:
http://archive.DEFRA.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/diseases/atoz/tb/isg/report/final_report.pdf
Helpfully, the ISG's chairman, Professor John Bourne provides the following executive summary at the front of the report:
'The ISG's work - most of which has already been published in
peer-reviewed scientific journals - has reached two key conclusions.
First, while badgers are clearly a source of cattle TB, careful
evaluation of our own and others' data indicates that badger culling can
make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain. Indeed,
some policies under consideration are likely to make matters worse
rather than better. Second, weaknesses in cattle testing regimes mean
that cattle themselves contribute significantly to the persistence and
spread of disease in all areas where TB occurs, and in some parts of
Britain are likely to be the main source of infection. Scientific
findings indicate that the rising incidence of disease can be reversed,
and geographical spread contained, by the rigid application of
cattle-based control measures alone.'
3. It is unrepresentative. A public consultation was held by DEFRA which considered the question of a badger culling policy in areas of high TB incidence in cattle. The consultation document presented a summary of the scientific evidence, the balance of costs and benefits, and considered the implications of a badgers cull for animal welfare and
conservation.
Over 47,000 responses to the consultation were received.
95% of all respondents were opposed to a cull of badgers.
Brian May's petition against the proposed cull has in a few weeks shot to over 130,000 signatures.
That the government is once again doggedly sticking to a policy of animal cruelty with a flagrant disregard for overwhelming public opinion, makes a mockery of our democracy.
People can keep up the pressure by signing the petition at: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/38257
Fighting back against insecurity
27-09-2012 20:55
Often dubbed the 'insecurity' industry by its opponents, the military-industrial complex that arms the police and dictatorships, runs increasingly militarised detention centres and controls housing for migrants is a many-headed hydra. In the past few days, Nottingham has seen activists take on the beast in different ways. On the morning of the 26th, anti-militarists took to the streets of the Lenton Lane industrial estate to picket arms dealers, Hecker & Koch. In the previous night, militants sabotaged vehicles belonging to multinational 'security' company, G4S.
Newswire: G4S vehicle's sabotaged | Wet but successful picket against gun dealers H&K | Still Shutting Down H&K - recent news
Previous features: Campaign says no to G4S in Nottingham | Heckler & Koch armed Bahrain regime | Notts Arms Dealer Back in Spotlight | Shut Down H&K Goes to Church
On Wednesday morning, anti-arms trade activists picketed the Lenton Lane premises of international arms dealers, Hecker & Koch. The picket was timed to coincide with an event at the Trent Vineyard church, which is next door to the gun dealers. They were also responding to a recent documentary about the company's sale of arms to Bahrain, which may have been used to suppress the recent protests against the Bahraini regime.
According to their report, almost every car entering the Easter Park industrial estate stopped to take a leaflet or two from them and "most expressed shock and surprise at not knowing what was going on there and were clearly disturbed to find out."
In the early hours of the same day, a group calling themselves "Petty Vandals" sabotaged two G4S vehicles in South Nottingham. They slashed their tyres, stripped paint and snapped off the exhaust pipes in protest at the way the company "profit[s] from this prison world". In their communique they cited the company's contract to run accommodation for asylum seekers in the East Midlands, as part of the "society of control" whose goals are "too have the working class monitored, categorised and punished at all times".
"G4S are not the reason for this, they are merely a vehicle for capitalists to make their profit from. But they are a mercenary bunch of thugs who should be challenged at every front by those of us whose lives they wish to seize."
Save the Bees Stop Bayer
27-09-2012 20:03
Oppose the EDL in Walsall
27-09-2012 19:09
Saturday 29th September meet in central Walsall at 11amPicket the Bigots
27-09-2012 18:52
Picket the Bigots protest from 12.30 on Monday 8th October in Victoria Square outside the Campaign for Marriage rally in Birmingham Town Hall.Worldwide Echo In Support Of The Zapatistas
27-09-2012 17:45
WORLDWIDE CALL TO ACTION FOR THE ZAPATISTAS OF COMANDANTE ABEL, UNIÓN HIDALGO, SAN MARCOS AVILÉS, MOISÉS GANDHIAND FRANCISCO SÁNTIZ LÓPEZ
Cuts Cafe #Oct20 organising space: 1st Public Mtg
27-09-2012 14:55
As you probably know, for the two weeks leading up to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) demonstration on October 20th, Cuts Café will provide a radical reclaimed space in London to build resistance to the cuts, and to explore real alternatives to austerity.
We’re holding a public meeting, to give everyone – groups and individuals – the chance to find out more about the project and how to get involved.
Venue: Unite Head Office (ground floor suite), 128 Theobald’s Road, Holborn London WC1X 8TN
Date: Monday 1 Oct
Time: 7pm
Speakers: including Disabled People Against the Cuts (Andy Greene), Greater London Pensioners Associations, UK Uncut, and ourselves (Ewa Jasiewicz)
[Facebook event]
Cuts Cafe will be open between 8th - 19th October. If you or your group would like to facilitate a workshop or skillshare, screen a film, hold a discussion, or use the space in any other way please get in touch!
About Cuts Cafe
The government tells us that cuts to public services and social security are needed to save an economy in crisis, but in reality the crisis is capitalism.
For the two weeks leading up to the Trade Union Congress demonstration on October 20th, Cuts Café will provide a radical space in Central London to build resistance to these devastating cuts, and to explore the real alternatives to austerity.
It will be open for all of us who are affected, whether we are people with disabilities, women, migrants, workers, pensioners, students, unemployed… or anyone else not part of the privileged elite who are enriching themselves in this ‘crisis’.
By sharing this reclaimed space, we hope people working in their community, local anti-cuts, student, or autonomous groups, as well as the trade unions, will be able to collectively and democratically build positive alternatives with which to challenge the ‘politics as usual’ forced upon us.
This will be an opportunity for connections to form outside of those groups that we may already be involved with, and to reinvigorate the anti-cuts movement at the grassroots level.
Cuts Café, being part of a movement for creating equality and real democracy, will be organized without discrimination and, as much as possible, without hierarchy. We welcome you to come and participate in the running of the space.
If you or your group would like to facilitate a workshop or skillshare, screen a film, hold a discussion, or use the space in any other way please get in touch! You can also contribute by helping to provide some of the more material resources needed for the day-today running of the space, or just by coming down to share a bit of your time.
See List of stuff needed for space
For more information email cutscafe@riseup.net or to propose an event get us at eventscutscafe@riseup.net.
Bikes Without Borders: Cycling to Calais
27-09-2012 14:45
Calais: road blockade of port after mass evictions
27-09-2012 14:36
The housing crisis is a war- Squatting is our (not so) secret weapon
27-09-2012 14:10
Some Thoughts on Squatting In a Roughly Situationist manner, this is a guest blog piece which can be seen in its original form at
http://cutscafelondon.wordpress.com/.
Radical anti-capitalist Call for #Oct20 TUC demo
27-09-2012 12:55
#Oct20. Cut the crap. The problem is Capitalism.
CALL OUT: for a radical anti-capitalist presence on October 20th
The TUC (Trades Union Congress) is organising a mass demonstration in London against spending cuts and austerity. Up to a million workers may take to the streets.
We know an afternoon spent marching through the streets of London will not force the Government to back down. This Government – like any government – has no answers, or solutions. We need to face the real enemy: capitalism.
Capitalism exploits and oppresses the many, for the interests of the few. It is the source of countless hardships. It is the driver for climate change, as natural resources are plundered for profit. Capitalism dictates poverty and austerity.
Over the past 100 years, workers the world over have struggled against capitalism, winning – with greater or lesser degrees of success – a range of “concessions”. In the UK and Europe, for example, workers have won improved wages and working conditions, pensions and the welfare state. Now the elites are trying to claw back these hard-won gains, using the excuse of the financial crisis they caused. But people are resisting: in work places, within communities, on the streets.
The crisis of Capitalism is global. While we are divided and alienated by borders, capitalism moves freely, inflicting its misery world-wide. People across the continents of Africa, Asia, and South America have long lived at the coal face of this destructive system. Cuts and privatisations are imposed upon workers in the Global South to service crippling international debt repayments mis-sold as “poverty alleviation”. Our resistance to capitalism must also be global, linking up strikes, revolts, and solidarity across the world.
The time to join this resistance is now. Hence the call out for a radical presence on the streets of London 20th October. To organise for the day, there will be open meetings held from around 5 October on at the CUTS CAFE (an occupied meeting space in central London opening two weeks prior to 20th October to build resistance to the cuts, and to explore real alternatives to austerity).
For further info contact:
stopg8@riseup.net
https://network23.org/stopg8
WE ARE MANY, THEY ARE FEW, AND WE ARE EVERYWHERE.
signed:
StopG8 – StopG8 formed to prepare a massive anti-capitalist response to the G8 summit being hosted in the Uk in 2013 and help spawn a movement. We hope you’ll join us, starting October 20th.
Smash EDO – is a direct action campaign aimed at closing down the EDO arms factory in Brighton
ALARM — All London Anarchist Revolutionary Mob
warning to parents about....
27-09-2012 11:32
scientology, the CULT. ripping off and brainwashing your children.Terrorist Drones come to Lincolnshire
27-09-2012 10:55
Walk and Demo on 13th Oct to oppose Drones base near Lincoln
Drones are planes without pilots which are increasingly seen as the preferred weapon of war. They are also being used in targetted killings in countries which are not at war particularly Pakistan but also in the Yemen and Somalia. Targetted killing has become an accepted form of military behaviour. We do not accept it.
Britain uses drones extensively in Afghanistan. The armed Reaper drone has fired 281 weapons in Afghanistan up to the end of May 2012 but it is very difficult to get information about the number of civilians killed in those attacks. Drones are surrounded by secrecy. Currently controlled remotely from the Nevada Desert, the control base is soon moving to RAF Waddington in Linclonshire. Britain has been renting a surveillance drone from Israel, the Hermes 450, but will soon have its updated equivalent, the Watchkeeper drone, in service. This is a surveillance and targetting drone and is being made in Leicester with the engine made in Shenstone near Lichfield at the Israeli owned Elbit factory.
BAE Systems is also developing the Mantis drone which is not remotely controlled but runs on a preprogrammed plan. 31 countries now have large drones in military use. They fly for longer periods than piloted aircraft and present less danger to the attackers. They make war more likely. They are terrifying to those on the ground.
During Drones Week of Action from 6 - 13 October a group of people will be walking from a drones factory near Lichfield to the drones factory in Leicester, and finishing at a drones control base near Lincoln. They will pass through five counties to raise awareness of the drones issue as we walk through towns and villages and visit drones sites to protest at what they are doing in solidarity with all those killed, injured or harmed by drones. The Walk:
- Saturday 6th October Shenstone - meet at the train station at 10.30am then demonstration at the nearby Elbit factory - 11.30 walk 8 miles to Tamworth, evening meeting, venue to be confirmed
- Sunday 7th leave Tamworth 9am for long walk (approx 17 miles) to Hinckley
- Monday 8th - leave Hinckley 10am for 12 mile walk to Leicester and demonstration at the Thales Watchkeeper factory, Scudamore Road at 3.30, hosted in houses
- Tuesday 9th - gather at Gandhi's statue, Belgrave Road 9.30 for readings, 10am leave for Loughborough 12 miles, evening meeting in Loughborough, venue tbc
- Wednesday 10th - leave Loughborough 9am, walk to Nottingham, 15 miles, staying in Friends Meeting House, peace supper.
- Thursday 11th - leave FMH 9am, walk to Southwell, 13 miles
- Friday 12th - leave Southwell on bus 28 to Newark at 9.38, then bus 47 from Newark at 10.40 to outskirts of Lincoln then walking 5 miles to Friends Meeting House. Hosted in houses. Possible evening meeting.
- Saturday 13th - leave Lincoln 9am, walk 6 miles to RAF Waddington and demonstration from 12 noon til 2pm.
There are regular buses along most of the route. Lunch and tea stops are being arranged giving us an opportunity to speak with people along the way. Some venues are yet to be confirmed and times may vary so please contact Penny at Leicester CNDif you are planning to take part - we also need numbers for hosts. 01163 199487 or 07414 465695 or pennywalker@riseup.net
Dozens of indigenous Chiapans flee from paramilitary aggression
27-09-2012 09:01
** The situation in La Dignidad autonomous municipality is grave: Frayba** The firing of shots forced EZLN supporters to take refuge in other communities
Hermann Bellinghausen
Last hope for freedom for innocent prisoner of conscience, blinded by the Mexican state
27-09-2012 08:57
PRESS RELEASEWEDNESDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER 2012
Noam Chomsky Stands With The “Worldwide Echo” Campign For The Zapatistas
27-09-2012 08:46
“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas” http://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/ 9 Oct at Menwith Hill: The Faceless Face of US Military Drones
27-09-2012 07:38
The Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases (CAAB) will be marking Keep Space for Peace Week and Ground the Drones Week of Action at Menwith Hill during its weekly Tuesday vigil from 6-8pm on Tuesday 9 October in an event entitled The Faceless Face of US Military Drones. CAAB will be joined by Yorkshire CND's recycle the bases cyclists on a three day ride from Whitby to Menwith Hill via Fylingdales.
Philippines: The Marcos’ Legacy of Fraudulent and Illegitimate Debts
27-09-2012 01:25
