UK Promoted Newswire Archive
Dale Farm Solidarity Bulletin 27th July
28-07-2011 14:55
The date for eviction looms heavy. Dale Farm family homes are liable to bulldozing from midnight on 31st August. Dale Farm residents are devastated. Meantime, Saturday activity days at Dale Farm are growing in strength each week. Supporters from across the UK are visiting Dale Farm each Saturday, spending time with residents, taking part in legal observer training sessions, helping with practical logistics for the site, meeting with experts from Essex University Human Rights Clinic, and joining a growing network of committed solidarity workers preparing for resistance through civil disobedience. There’s a huge amount of work to be done, but each week brings new faces, ingenuity, thoughtfulness, energy, and hope.
Actions for supporters:
1. Attend the next solidarity activity day at Dale Farm on Saturday, 30th July
Come to Dale Farm this Saturday, 30th July, 11am. Another briefing for later arrivals at 1pm. See http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/activity for details. We're only 30 mins from London Liverpool St. and can pick you up from the station http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/contact
2. Sign up to join ‘Camp Constant’, opening 27th August
To sign up to a txt alert in case of eviction, or to spend a night at Dale Farm so that we have a constant presence there, visit https://smsalerts.tachanka.org/dalefarm/ . Please send this link to your friends and share it on social networking sites.
3. Dale Farm Solidarity Demo – demo callout, Saturday, 10th Sept:
Dale Farm Solidarity together with numerous other groups (including No One is Illegal, London No Borders, Unite Against Fascism) has called a demonstration starting at 1pm on Saturday, Sept 10th or earlier if the eviction starts before then. Join us at Wickford Train Station, just 30 minutes by train from London Liverpool Street Station. The march will then proceed to Dale Farm and Camp Constant, a base at Dale Farm for human rights monitors and those who will engage in civil disobedience to stop the bulldozing. Buses will also be available. Please share the link http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/demo/ or use this callout to spread the word. Please invite your friends to the facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=245406565483199
4. Sign and send a letter to Kenneth Clarke, Secretary of State for Justice expressing your concern that the Legal Aid Bill as currently formulated which will disproportionately impact on Travellers and Gypsies. This Bill threatens to remove Gypsies and Travellers access to legal support, and as a consequence seriously undermines the protection under the law of their rights. Here’s a letter written by members of the Essex Human Rights Clinic, which can be printed out and signed; just add your name and address, and put it in the post, or you can email a copy to: office@rushcliffeconservatives.com . You can also sign the petition here: http://www.petitiononline.co.uk/petition/no-mad-laws/3062
5. Oppose the Localism Bill. See previous post here.
Palestine Today 07 27 2011
27-07-2011 15:54
Report on HAG Library InfoNight
27-07-2011 11:55
Hackney libraries are an essential community resource which are under threat from cuts in public services. Staff face redundancies and down-grading and the many services which libraries provide, like community events are threatened. Hackney Anarchist Group held a Libraries InfoNight at Well Furnished on July 21st to draw attention to the role of libraries in social cohesion and education to hear from campaigns to save libraries and protect jobs around London.
What emerged from the night were some very inspiring stories of solidarity. We learned how ESOL workers at Hackney Community College had won the fight against redundancies and the wholesale closure of courses and had, at the same time, recognised their own strength as a community and ability to determine their own futures. Similarly, we were the first to hear the news that Hackney council had acceded to the demands of library workers and that, voluntary redundancies aside, had backed down on plans to downgrade existing workers and slash services. This was due, in no small part, to the collectively formulating alternatives to the councils slash-and-burn polices and making the case for the value of the services that libraries provide.
The extraordinary story of the Feminist Library’s 35 year survival as a voluntary organisation was also presented as a caution against the encroaching ‘big society’ and problems faced by volunteers battling to provide a service with extremely limited resources. We also heard how prison libraries, that receive their funding from council budgets, are struggling protect their resources and their role in enabling prisoners, many of whom have learning difficulties, to take steps into education.
Many of the steps proposed by local councils to reduce spending on libraries have already been implemented in universities where the value of library services should not be in question. Many university libraries are now open 24 hours but the extended opening hours and cuts to university budgets have meant a reduction in library staff in favour of self service electronic borrowing and the employment of security guards to police the space during the night. The result, as we heard from an employee of Queen Mary University of London library, has been an increase in mis-shelved and missing books with staff powerless to provide an adequate service. Further restructuring at Queen Mary has been mooted at a time when academics, who’s support is vital in enabling library staff to argue for maintaining essential services, areaway from the campus.
We also heard from Kim, a library user of Friern Barnet library where a library users’ group have mounted successful events to the many services that libraries provide apart from lending books and providing a space for reading and the hardships that the loss of library services would entail. 150 people crammed into a space designed for 25 to hold a read-in and demonstrate to council management that library users in Barnet are in full support of staff demands.
Libraries have, traditionally, existed as much more than a place to read and borrow books. Despite that the internet has replaced many of the functions previously provided by libraries, the fact remains that many in the community do not have access to cheap broadband or the necessary skills to navigate the web. Libraries are one the few remaining social spaces that are free to use and are also sources of both information and knowledge. Local libraries are the archives of our everyday lives, a resource for self education and a meeting place for the community. The HAG Libraries InfoNIght was an essential part of our campaign to support library workers and connect communities struggling to preserve valuable public services against the encroachments of the free market.
Shell delayed again
27-07-2011 08:23
SchNEWS on Oslo Massacre
26-07-2011 19:52
The Norway attacks have led to frenzied speculation around the nature of the crazed ideology that could lead to such horrific acts. Handily Andre Brievik (or Andrew Berwick) not only allowed himself to be captured but posted a 1500 page manifesto online - Grandly entitled 2083 - A European Declaration of Independence (www.slideshare.net/darkandgreen/...) , apart from a load of weird stuff about body-armour, the Knights Templar and the appropriate use of steroids, at the heart is a vision eerily familiar to readers of such fringe esoteric publications as say the Daily Express, Daily Mail or Sun.Palestine Today 07 26 2011
26-07-2011 15:37
Palestine Today 07 25 2011
25-07-2011 15:51
Morton Hall demo - pics
25-07-2011 13:55
Some pictures taken at Saturday's noise demo.
Main report here.
Full article | 1 addition | 3 comments
Shell blockaded on the first day
25-07-2011 07:45
At 6.59 this morning a tripod was erected on the road between Shell's Ballinaboy refinery and their compound at Aughosse, Co Mayo.
Demo against cuts to social care in Oxford
24-07-2011 14:40
A smallish, but lively crowd took the streets (OK, pavements!) of Oxford yesterday to protest against cuts to social care in a "March of the Uninvisibles".Calais: "Welcome to Fortress Europe" action at City Europe
23-07-2011 18:38
Noise demo at Morton Hall detention centre
23-07-2011 16:55
People from Notts and Lincolnshire held a noise demo outside Morton Hall IRC, the UK's most recently opened prison for migrants. A sound system, horns, whistles and pots and pans were used to let those inside know we were there outside in solidarity, wanting to close down Morton Hall and all immigration prisons. Close down Morton Hall!
Unfortunately, due to harassment by the British Transport Police at Nottingham station, many of us missed our train and the demo didn't start on time. Once we arrived we were greeted by Lincolnshire constabulary's Wildlife Crime Unit, although once they realised we weren't there to give cigarettes to underage squirrels they left us alone. We did a tour of the quite extensive perimeter fence with our banners making noise and chanting 'No Borders, No Nations, Stop Deportations' and 'Close Down Morton Hall'. Some of the centre is still under construction and there are a lot of boarded up houses nearby. Once we'd got back to the main gate we turned off the music out of respect for those visiting loved ones inside and held our banners up for the gawking prison guards and the Wildlife Crime Unit's photographer.
We will be back, again and again, until they close this prison down.
UG#560 - Cyberluddism (Reclaiming Luddism on the Bicentennial)
23-07-2011 03:54
Climate activists' convictions quashed
22-07-2011 18:55
The convictions of 20 climate activists were quashed by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday. The 20 had been convicted of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, in December last year. However, revelations about the withholding of evidence gathered by undercover police officer Mark Kennedy led to the Director of Public Prosecutions requesting an independent review into the safety of the prosecutions. Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, said the convictions had been a miscarriage of justice.
On the newswire: Climate activists’ convictions quashed | HM Court of Appeal: Lord Chief Justice Appeal Judgement on Ratcliffe20 | NottinghamshirePolice extremely disappointed shame | Ratcliffe power station protesters cleared on appe
Previous features: Guilty verdict in Ratcliffe trial | Ratcliffe Trial: Week 2 | Ratcliffe Trial: Prosecution Opens | Ratcliffe Conspiracy Trial Begins | Mass Arrest of 114 Climate Activists in Raid
Activists’ statement
We are 20 of the 114 people who were preemptively arrested near E.ON’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal power station over two years ago. During our trial last year we argued that our plan to safely shut down the power station was necessary in order to protect the ever escalating numbers of people dying as a result of climate change. We later found out our trial was rigged by the police and CPS to get convictions.
Through placing undercover officers in our movement, using mass preemptive arrest and rigging our trial, the state has deliberately attempted to silence dissenting voices. This quelling of dissent, now repeated in the young people facing prison for protesting against the attacks on public services, is fundamentally undemocratic. It is yet another example of those in power protecting their own interests. Whether it’s E.ON Energy or News International, the government and police have a track record of colluding with big business. We need to look at the root causes of climate change, and ask why the profits of corporations such as E.ON are being prioritised over future generations, and the millions already on the front line of our changing climate. Taking action on climate change is not an act of moral righteousness, its about protecting our future. History is full of examples of ordinary people acting to defend their rights and those of others, and we need a strong movement of people doing just that. Winning this appeal is just one small victory in the fight against the systemically political nature of policing. We stand in solidarity with all those have suffered injustice from the state or face repression for daring to take political action.
This Week in Palestine week 29 2011
22-07-2011 16:03
Fracking Hell? What will shale gas mean for the UK?
22-07-2011 11:23
On Tuesday 19th July the Conway Hall was host to a public meeting on shale gas. With such a great list of speakers (Caroline Lucas, Kevin Anderson, Michael Meacher...) we decided it would be a shame not to record the meeting, so we did. The link is below - note that it is available to download as an MP3.Censorship at the Fairford Air Tattoo
21-07-2011 13:04
Occupation of Shell peat storage facility in Rossport
20-07-2011 17:13
At 10.30 am this morning Shell to Sea campaigners stopped work for the second day in a row at the Bord na Móna site at Shramore, near Bangor, Co. Mayo. They are currently on the site and occupying machinery.
Palestine Today 07 20 2011
20-07-2011 16:19
Defend Internet Activist Aaron Swartz
19-07-2011 22:44
Aaron Swartz, who has been a life long progressive and highly ethical, internet activist, who founded Demand Progress, has been charged in the US for downloading academic documents and potentially faces up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine. A political campaign to support Aaron Swartz has been launched and he deserves the widest support — the charges, threatened sentence and fine are truly outrageous.