UK Promoted Newswire Archive
Cruelty companies closing sites, Cops obstruct Science Park road. Good Times!
01-05-2010 22:18
Demonstration against Israeli exhibition at the Scottish Parliament
01-05-2010 21:00
MayDay Pics in Parliament Square
01-05-2010 20:23
A few hundred people gathered today at Parliament Square following the call for a MayDay Carnival & People's Assembly. A mixture different stuff related to the fothcoming general election was taking place around the square, whilst the Dissident Island's mobile sound system and the samba band kept blasting out tunes for the whole afternoon. I wasn't exactly at the same scale as what went on exactly 10 years ago in the same spot with the RTS May Day action then [report | pics] but still, below there are some pics of today.
Later in th afternoon the samba band started marching down Westminster Bridge towards Waterloo's tunnel where a Rave Against the Machine party started with a few hundred people dancing to DI's tunes and the Samba Band. Another mobile system also turned up later in the evening. The party is still on as we type :-)
Early on the day there had been the traditional MayDay demonstration with a strong anarchist presence. We did not make it there so hopefully someone else will publish some pics of that one.
Today it is also exactly 10 years since Indymedia started in the UK. It is time for cellebration! so don't forget Indymedia London's and Dissident Island's all nigther on Saturday 22nd of May. See details
May Day?
01-05-2010 11:22
Never forget!1 May, is May Day, or International Workers Day, whose efforts of course have led to us getting a public holiday on the nearest Monday. Bit of a quiet one in Bristol this year isn't it? Although around the world plenty of class conscious workers will be commemorating past and present struggles with some vigour.
Sizewell Camp Against Nuclear Power - Chernobyl Weekend - pics
30-04-2010 18:31
More details here:
http://stopnuclearpower.blogspot.com/2010/04/sizewell-campers-mark-chernobyl.html
Save Bita Ghaedi from Deportation, Home Office - Pictures
30-04-2010 18:04
Personal Appeal from Huseini Abubakar - Removal Monday
30-04-2010 12:33
Around the Campaigns Friday 30th April 2010
30-04-2010 07:06
Octavie Bei, won't be flying next Tuesday. . . . as UKBA hoped, though told by immigration at Yarl's Wood, Removal Directions (RDs) had been cancelled, no explanation of why was given.
Many thanks to all who Emailed/faxed on Octavie's behalf
ANSU UK campaign group /
g_macv@yahoo.co.uk
Solidarity picket for Serbian anarchists report
29-04-2010 22:25
Picket report...
On the 23rd April 2010, members of the North and South London locals of the Solidarity Federation and their supporters picketed the London offices of Jat Airways in central London. Hundreds of leaflets were distributed to people visiting the offices as well as passing by, informing them of the situation of the six anarchists currently awaiting trial on completely fabricated charges. Supporters also carried placards with slogans such as "Belgrade Six Innocent" and "Free ASI union activists".
After distributing the leaflets, a letter was presented to the Serbian embassy informing them of the picket and that if the injustice continues there will be more protests, in London and abroad, to bring more publicity to the active political repression going on in Serbia.
We would like to extend our solidarity to the six currently on trial, their friends and families and our sister-group, the ASI, whom the Serbian state is clearly attacking for its attempts at building a libertarian and internationalist working class movement in Serbia.
The police in Kirklees on a rampage
29-04-2010 18:49
A hard look at how the police force in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, are failing the working class, while pursuing a fanatical campaign against foreign workers in the area.
Workers Memorial Day
29-04-2010 14:09
Full article | 2 additions | 2 comments
Climate Protesters Face Potential Life Sentences
28-04-2010 14:37
18 people from Bristol and Bath, have been charged under the MaliciousDamages Act of 1861 after they blockaded the railtrack which carries coal between the controversial Open cast Mine at Fros y Fran, near Merthyr Tydfil and Aberthaw Power Station on Monday, 26th April.
Israel exhibition counter protest Scottish parliament
28-04-2010 14:19
Occupation of the Hellenic Centre in London
27-04-2010 18:23
The Building of the Hellenic Centre in the heart of London is occupied since earlier this noon, 3 banners are flying on the roof and the balcony of the buillding.projection outside RBS AGM building
27-04-2010 12:27
Anti-nuclear protests in Germany – "We'll be wherever they don't want us to be"
27-04-2010 11:09
London Needs Social Centres
27-04-2010 09:23
In a time of political crisis, we need effective bases from which to mobilise effective resistance but why is London one of the few large cities in Europe which currently doesn't have a thriving social centres movement despite the fact that squatting in England is still legal?
With Mayday less than a week away, and a General Election following shortly after, the signs of any coordinated opposition to the ruling regime (in whatever colours it presents itself), in London at least, seem to be very thin on the ground. Aside from the usual high profile events in public places on Mayday itself, there is very little high visibility demonstration of resistance at a local level and, perhaps more importantly, no social centres providing a base from which to organise.
Approximately three weeks ago, a group of people connected with the rampART collective opened a space in East London with the intention of providing living space for five people and using the remainder of the building as a social centre. Last Friday, during the opening night cafe, the owner attempted an illegal eviction which was successfully resisted. So far, so business-as-usual. The events the following day, however, while being boringly familiar to some who have been involved in squatting and managing social centres for some time, raise some serious questions about the meaning of squatting as a political activity.
A call was put out for people to turn up at 2pm on the Saturday when the owner had promised/threatened to return and we were well prepared to defend the building. However, one of the residents took it upon himself to contact the owner beforehand and negotiate for the five residents to stay with the provision that he would get rid of the 'troublemakers'. Not all the other residents were complicit and, in fact, were not consulted.
This was almost a carbon copy of the events that led to the collective voluntarily leaving the Lift 'n' Hoist building in Elephant and Castle. In that case, we were invited by two of the people already occupying the building (with the agreement, we thought, of the other residents) to set up a social centre in the basement and first floor but someone who moved in a few weeks later, again, contacted the owner and negotiated terms that precluded the operation of a social centre in the space. They were evicted four weeks later.
Although we are well aware of the problems faced by people who need to secure living space in a city where alternatives to squatting are, for many, impossible, we are also becoming increasingly aware that, for others, squatting is a lifestyle choice and, it seems, a chance to exercise power in a situation where people, because they are homeless, are vulnerable to manipulation.
We have perhaps been naïve in believing that everyone who agrees (or appears to agree) to live in a social centre shares our political views. But we also necessarily have to trust that anyone who approaches us or gets involved understands what we stand for and supports our project to challenge the commodification of public space, expose the inequalities which lead to homelessness in the first place and provide accommodation, not only for living but for the free exchange of ideas and skills, as well as for political projects and fundraising. These things can't happen if we become exclusive and constantly suspicious but they can't happen either if divisive tactics are used against us.
We know that our recent experiences are not unique to us or to our particular project. They are, perhaps, symptomatic of the culture of competitive individualism which we are committed to fighting. But having to deal with people's personal agendas is tiring and depressing and deflects energy from the urgent project of establishing viable movements for change.
Many of us have been made welcome and been invited to participate in the social centres which exist in many European cities but, currently, we feel as if we cannot offer similar hospitality in London or establish effective networks outside the country. The recent 'Social Centres in a Time of Crisis' meeting in Leeds seemed to us to demonstrate a dissipation of political commitment and capitulation to dominant agendas rather than a real force of resistance. Despite, or perhaps because of this we are more committed than ever to continuing the fight. We will not be beaten. and, once we have found a new building from which to operate, we will call a public meeting to discuss what people want from social centres and how we can best serve the interests of the many active social movements who are mobilising against politics-as-usual. Meanwhile, please leave a comment or email rampartATmutualaidDOTcom.
Trident: women campaigners to challenge police abuse of power
27-04-2010 08:20
Take action to stop Anselme being deported
26-04-2010 21:17
Anselme Noumbiwa is a person seeking sanctuary in Great Britain. He faces deportation to his home nation, Cameroon, where he will be in danger of torture and possibly death. Please take action to stop his deportation.