Leeds Bradford Education
Over a dozen university occupations for Palestine
22-01-2009 13:00
Students across the country are holding occupations and sit ins in solidarity with Gaza. SOAS shut down a MOD exhibition on their campus whilst students at LSE declared victory after seven days when the university agreed to all of their demands.
They are followed by others at King's College,Essex, Warwick, Sussex , Birmingham and over 80 Oxford University students have occupied the historic Bodleian building to demand that the university releases a statement condemning the attack on Gaza and cancel the lecture series at Balliol College inaugurated by Israeli war criminal Shimon Peres. There are also early reports of occupations at Manchester Met, Newcastle, Leeds, Cambridge [Pics], Bradford, Queen Mary, Sheffield Hallam, Nottingham, Strathclyde and Manchester universities. Update Wed 28th: The occupations have started to bring in results as both Sussex and Bradfod students have declared "victory" [See Sussex and Bradford declarations] On the other hand, the Cambridge University occupation is under threat of eviction [more] Update Sun 1st Feb: Nottingham occupation violently evicted [more | video] Update 11th Feb: Golsmiths University and the University of East Anglia are occupied.
In Yorkshire, students have occupied a building at Leeds University whilst the Bradford AGM voted to give the university the weekend to comply with demands to support the Palestinians, or expect action on Monday. On Tuesday morning, around 80 students occupied the university boardroom. The students say they "are enraged and horrified by the unspeakable atrocities that have been committed by the Israeli military on the people of Palestine, and ... will not tolerate the complicity of ... institutions of education in this violence."
Regional features: Cambridge | Nottingham | Sheffield
Read more | 4 additions | 6 comments >>Earth First Summer Gathering
20-08-2003 23:35
A report from the UK's biggest direct action gathering.
This years EF summer gathering took place over 5 days from 13th August on an idyllic nature reserve near Ripon in North Yorkshire. These gatherings have been taking place annually now for almost a decade and continue attract around 4 - 500 people each year. There is no hype, no big name speakers to tell you how it is, and no mass marketing campaign advertising the event in cities all over the UK: all very different from say, the SWP's annual 'Marxism' event in London.
Read more | 22 comments >>Earth First! Summer Gathering 2003
28-07-2003 18:17
The Gathering provides a much-needed space for all those involved in direct action in Britain, Europe and the rest of the world - and for all those who want to be involved in direct action - to meet and talk about what’s been going on and what we’re going to do next.
Ten years on from the first EF! Gathering, some are questioning the usefulness of the Earth First! network which is seen by some as a social club and as not expressing many peoples politics. Many people are saying change is needed.
In response to recent years' events, the content, workshops and discussions of this year's Gathering have been organised so that everything is up for discussion.
For constant updates on venue, events, directions and appeals, see the Summer Gathering website
Read more | 2 comments >>Leeds Bradford Education Feature Archive >>
