The Calais Olympic opening Day celebrations

 

Hi, yesterday, the 28.07.2012, saw the opening of Games without Borders in the French Port town of Calais. Here, only 21 miles from the English Coastline ( on clear days, you can see the white cliffs of Dover), life or, I should say, survive around 150 to 200 Migrants daily repressions by French and, when in the port area, English authorities. Yesterday, we had enough. So, we started the Calais Olympics. With around 60 Migrants, NO Border activist and other associations, we had a mix of Demonstration, Sport and Fun. Here a summary of the Day. At 13.30 was Food Distribution at the former French Customs house, afterwards assembly. At around 14.30, we started marching. First stop was the police station, where we was greeted by French Riot Police, CRS. They behaved and, after putting Stickers with the Names of two Migrants ( Ismael and Nurdin) who died not long ago under suspicious circumstances up, we continued our marsh to the Town Hall. There, a wedding was under way, so, the boys in blue hold us well in distance. After delivering our message, we then continued to a nearby Park. There, we had a couple of games, for example Badminton, Football and so on and a great 400 meter run. Some people had tee shirts with UKBA, CRS or PAF ( French Border Police) on and tried to stop the runners. After around one hour, we decided, to walk on. Back on the road, lots of plan less cops and we entered the centrum of Calais. And on we went, a noisy, leaf letting crowd in the middle of tourists and calaisians alike. It was great. Then, we arrived on the Tourist Beach. There, we swam a couple of rounds, watched from police on a boat. Every time, the police boat came nearer, Migrants hold in unison their hands up. What was the police thinking? That we swim to England? Who knows. Well, later we got Food, Soft drinks and Beer. The Day ended with nice Music, swimming and a lot of new friendships.

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The Head of a voluntary association who was a key member of the Future NHS Forum during the government’s ‘pause’, colluded with a private healthcare lobby group to agree a message, promoting the benefits of competition in the Health and Social Care bill, a newly discovered document has revealed. When the government decided to take a ‘pause’ in response to the increasing resistance to the Health and Social Care bill being rushed through parliament, the Department of Health set up the NHS Future Forum to front the so-called ‘listening’ exercise. The participants in the forum, were made up of individuals from across the NHS spectrum, without private sector inclusion, however, a certain Sir Stephen Bubb, was appointed by David Cameron as chair of the group on choice and competition.
Sir Stephen Bubb is head of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), which had been campaigning for a bigger role for the voluntary sector in the public services, a key part of Conservative party’s ‘Big Society’, mantra. Mr Bubb, had according to the newly released book by Nicholas Timmins ‘Never Again?’ - been in touch with Andrew Lansley before the ‘pause’, to see what could be done to promote the idea of ‘voluntary sector providers in the reforms’
His appointment according to the Timmins book, was requested by Health minister Simon Burns, who asked him to ‘chair the competition work group.’ The eventual clearance for his position came from No10, which was presumed to be by David Cameron. His appointment was canny, because the private sector were unable to get into the forum as members and Mr Bubb’s role for increasing the voluntary sector’s involvement in the ‘choice’ process, crossed over with the same desire’s of the private sector. However, if Sir Stephen Bubb thinks the voluntary sector will have the same chance as the private sector he is severely misguided. His involvement as pro-competition spokesman did indeed go far beyond the voluntary sector he represented. The newly discovered document handed to Social investigations, reveals his collusion with the director of the trade and lobby group of mostly private companies, the NHS Partners Network, which took the form of an agreed set of tactics.
The document titled: NHS Partners' Network: Director's update on the NHS Reforms was produced on the 20th May 2011, just as the ‘listening exercise’ was coming to a close, bringing together the various lobbying processes that had taken place for the members eyes only. Under the title ‘in terms of direct discussion’, David Worskett the director of the network informs us of how, early on in the pause, he had one ‘lengthy’ discussion with Sir Stephen Bubb at which ‘we agreed on the approach he would take, what the key issues are, and how to handle the politics.’ He has, he concluded, ‘not deviated from this for a moment throughout the period.’ The listening exercise it seems was fully underway.  
This damning statement, confirms what Mr Worskett said, as revealed in Mr Timmins book that ‘throughout the forums deliberations, Bubb was “our only real route in”. He “fought valiantly to ensure that an element of competition remained in the system”, resulting in what David Worskett saw as a “pretty pro competition…and that was mostly, though not entirely down to Steve Bubb.”  
Indeed, not only did Mr Worskett get through to Mr Bubb, but so too did other members of the network. According to the second bullet point of direct discussions, ‘a number of members secured individual meetings with him, thus reinforcing and validating the messages.’ Not content with this, a second ‘lengthy meeting took place in May 2011, a week before the network document was written, which took place under the ‘auspices of "Reform"’, the right-wing think tank, according to the update. The discussion involved other ‘all like-minded’ people and included ‘David Bennett’, the chair of Monitor, the industry regulator, who he claimed had also ‘consistently taken ‘the same line throughout.’
His ability to get the message across was appreciated by Mr Worskett who concluded: ‘…the arguments in favour of choice, competition, plurality and economic regulation put forward by the small handful of like-minded members ably led by Sir Stephen Bubb have often carried the day and won more support than we might have expected.’ By all accounts the lobby group have achieved what they said they had in their 2010/11 Annual Summary, which stated: 'Following the UK general election 2010, our main areas of activity have included: influencing the development of the NHS reforms.'

The NHS Partners Network have not finished there, having recently submitted their paper in a review set up by Andrew Lansley to look into whether healthcare providers are able to fully participate in providing NHS services. 
In their submission, the partner network complained that local NHS organisations are using ‘local or known organisations, rather than considering the opportunity to develop new relationships’, and that the’ structure and decision making systems are not inclusive of all providers on an equal basis.’
Heading the review is David Bennett, who attended the ‘lengthy’ meeting of 'like-minded' people, with Sir Stephen Bubb. Mr Bennett has previously and predominantly worked for global consultancy company Mckinsey & Co as a director, and without any previous experience in government, became the Chief policy Officer to Tony Blair. McKinsey & Co, were responsible for many proposals drawn up in the health and Social Care bill and despite leaving the company 8 years ago, his communication with the company hasn’t stopped.
Researcher of Green Benches blog Dr Éoin Clarke, obtained letters between Mr Bennett and Nicholaus Henke of McKinsey & Co, using the Freedom of Information Act. The correspondence revealed a cosy discussion between McKinsey & Co and the Department of Health (DoH) suggesting an informal meeting to discuss the passage and implementation of the NHS bill. In addition, Mr Bennett felt it perfectly acceptable to receive hospitality from McKinsey & Co in June 2011, just after the listening exercise had finished, where he flew business class to New York, stayed at a five-star hotel and attended a lavish banquet. Not very becoming of the head of a regulatory body of our NHS.

Naturally, the government and their apparatchiks will dismiss any consideration of bias under the marketing speak of ‘promoting the ‘interests of patients’, and ‘choice.’ However, one quote made by David Bennett in an interview with the Times and highlighted in Nicholas Timmins explosive book reveals just how bias the head of the ‘independent’ review will be. “We did it in gas, we did it in power, we did it in telecoms. We’ve done it in rails; we’ve done it in water. So there is actually 20 years experience of taking monopolistic markets and providers and exposing them to economic regulation.”
Of course this could read, there has been 20 years of handing over public resources into private hands raising the cost of living for the consumer and increasing subsidisation for the taxpayer, it just depends if you see the world through ideologue or economic fact. Indeed Mr Bennett was involved in the process that led to the decision process to set 49% of hospital income from private sources. How can a man with such clear bias be the head of Monitor, and a review process which will be making changes that will place private companies on an ‘equal’ footing with other NHS providers. The answer is it won’t, and his position as head of Monitor is just another piece in the jigsaw of handing the NHS over to private companies, one which Stephen Bubb has played a key role.
Do you think Stephen Bubb and David Bennett resign?
Note to editors: The NHS Partners Network membership largely consists of private healthcare companies, who are well connected to our parliamentarians. Six of their members have direct financial links to MPs, former MPs, and Lords providing a well-connected source to parliament. These include Circle who have Conservative MP Mark Simmonds on their team as a strategic advisor, who also acts as Vice Chair on the Associate Health Group. Care UK, whose Chairman John Nash donated £21,000 to run Andrew Lansley’s office when he was shadow health secretary, and Barchester Health, who have Baroness Ford as their chairman and Mike Parsons as their Chief Executive, who was voted the 2nd most influential person in healthcare by the influential healthcare magazine ‘HealthInvestor’ members in their top 'Power Fifty' awards. For a full list of our parliamentarians connections to private healthcare: http://socialinvestigations.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/nhs-privatisation-compilation-of.html Read more >>

Between thirty and fifty people were arrested today en-masse as a result of their participation in the traditional monthly critical mass.

The helicopter was already tracing circles above Waterloo Bridge at 6.30pm. The mass left the meeting point earlier than the usual 7.30pm. A van with police inside was emitting some unintelligible words and there were police on bikes, too, something unseen in years now, even since the House of Lords decided that the mass was indeed not a protest.

Some people crossed Blackfriars Bridge, some others Southwark Bridge. London Bridge was blocked by police to traffic when the Critical Mass arrived there. A police officer said to all there: “Guess what's waiting for you on Tower Bridge!” There were some scuffles and what looked like an arrest. A small portion of the mass sneaked through the line on the pavement, which was then joined by the rest in the City.

The mass then proceeded without major incidents until Rick Roberts Way. All riders that had reached thispoint were kettled under section 12 of the "Public Order Act", for disobeying the order apparently given by police to stay South of the river, and about an hour later, arrested, taken to a police station in Central London in a bus hired by police, and have their bikes put on another bus.

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Yesterday the Council in its infinite and omnipotent wisdom decided to carry out another* aggressive attack on the popular Heygate Community Gardens, near Elephant and Castle, by spitefully destroying the colourful and thought-provoking artworks that have been brightening up the dull spaces within the now empty estate that the council plans to demolish.

As part of  people’s amazing efforts to keep the place public and enjoyable local artists have been welcomed it to use the old walls of houses as canvases to paint murals, graffiti and street art on. These were a collection of lovely, considered and sometimes wry artworks created for the benefit of all. Yesterday,under the direction of Andrew Ashaye (Heygate & Aylesbury Case Management Officer), the Council aggressively decided to return the walls back to uglier and now badly painted over blank walls once again.

It was noticeable that they mostly singled out for painting over the large and thoughtful pieces around the Community Gardens and pond. However the rest of the estate is still covered with scribbles, tags, obscenities and so on but these remained up after the Council had done it’s paint slapping. We ask the questions: What possible offence can be caused by the Heygate murals and with what mindset does the Council operate with to come and destroy local artists work without even any warning or debate?

LET THEM KNOW THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE: We suggest that if you feel that this was an unnecessary, wholly unaccountable and aggressive act that you make your feelings known to those who carried it out and to CC in your email Peter John and Fiona Colley, who are the leading Council lights in the Regeneration Dept.

Write to:
Andrew Ashaye – andrew.ashaye@southwark.gov.uk
Peter John – peter.john@southwark.gov.uk
Fiona Colley – fiona.colley@southwark.gov.uk

For more than two years local people have been using the green spaces within to put into practice what the Council has been twiddling their thumbs about and that is how can the space within the Estate be used for community benefit whilst the bureaucratic stages of regeneration grind ever slowly on. Called ‘interim use’ it means that instead of sealing up the giant forest within the Heygate to await demolition in two or three years time, the space is maintained for exactly the sort of the thing the Heygate Community Gardeners have been doing there all along.

Not only does the act of growing flowers and vegetables, giving out free allotments, keeping chickens, running a pond, having growing and planting days, seed swaps and also showing films and having small social events maintain exactly the kind of things that grows communities, it also acts as a deterrent to crime inside the Estate. Leaseholders living on the estate have not been burgled since the community activity started something that had been a regular occurrence before.

All of this local effort and hard work comes from a desire to actually see the Heygate site as still part of the public space of The Elephant area and to maintain the enjoyment to be had at wandering amongst the 400 plus mature trees inside. As part of these acts of growing and nurturing, the work done by artists inside the estate has been welcomed and enjoyed by all involved in the Community Gardens. They were an integral part of keeping a community spirit alive against the whims and anti-social behaviour the Council engages in that pretends to care about community benefits but by it’s actions shows nothing but contempt for local people and how they make this a much needed reality here and now.

Full report with pics here.
—

* REPEAT AD NAUSEUM, AD ABSURDUM!
In March 2012, the Council came to the gardens and stole the pump for the pond and were threatening to remove all the exhibition stands and other objects by which we thought they meant the chairs and tables people use. It was pointed out to them that that ‘the council’s time and resources might be better spent on things including basic estate maintenance and cleaning‘. They argued that they would ‘continue to monitor the general health & safety on the site prior to demolition works taking place to ensure that the site also remains safe for the remaining residents‘. We had to laugh as the remaining residents are the only ones doing any actual looking after the site whilst the Council does nothing to the collapsing walls, holes in the paving and so on.

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In the wake of the English Revolution, 1649 saw rural eco-socialist communes created, at St George's Hill in Surrey and elsewhere, by Gerard Winstanley and the Diggers, aka the True Levellers [1] – centuries before 'ecology', 'socialism', and 'commune' were coined and became attractive radical beacons of hope for a better future for all. In 1871, the Parisian Communards created a city-wide urban commune [2], and English libertarian socialist William Morris moved in to Kelmscott Manor on the River Thames, where he'd be inspired to write his 1890 masterpiece: a post-revolution sci-fi novel called ‘News from Nowhere' [3] – of liberty, depopulated cities, love, agrarian commune villages, and happiness, all set in a moneyless, stateless, nationless, class-free, and ecologically harmonious global egalitarian community. In 2012, a Diggers Eco-Village commune was founded by the River Thames at Runnymede [4] – a 'Come & Try It' beacon of hope for the kind of low environmental impact future our species and our biosphere so urgently need to co-create. How large a part will it play in helping make a post-capitalist eco-socialist global community into a 21st century reality? And will YOU, dear reader, Come & Try It out for size and comfort, rest and happiness?

ECOLOGICAL REVOLUTION — IT'S BEEN A LONG, LONG TIME COMING

“I was born by the river
In a little tent
And just like the river
I've been running ever since
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change gonna come
Oh, yes it will”
~ Sam Cooke, from ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ (1963)
» music video with lyrics, 3:13 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-X9JkM9Bgo  

On 15 June 2015, folk will be commemorating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta – The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of the Forest – born by the river in a little tent, at Runnymede, Surrey, UK, and signed reluctantly by King John of England on 15 June 1215. Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an English King by a group of his subjects (the feudal barons) in an attempt to limit his powers by law and establish/protect their rights. For more info, see:
» Magna Carta 800th Anniversary website – http://magnacarta800th.com

So at Runnymede, there’s at least an 800ish-year-long heritage of the hoi polloi contending against the powers that be, and winning liberties for the common people through collective struggle. But what of Surrey as a county?

“Digger — any of a group of agrarian communists who flourished in England in 1649-50 and were led by Gerrard Winstanley and William Everard. In April 1649 about 20 poor men assembled at St. George's Hill, Surrey, and began to cultivate the common land. These Diggers held that the English Civil Wars had been fought against the King and the great landowners; now that Charles I had been executed [on 30 Jan 1649 – TDJ], land should be made available for the very poor to cultivate. (Food prices had reached record heights in the late 1640s.) The numbers of the Diggers more than doubled during 1649. Their activities alarmed the Commonwealth government and roused the hostility of local landowners, who were rival claimants to the common lands. The Diggers were harassed by legal actions and mob violence, and by the end of March 1650 their colony was dispersed. The Diggers themselves abjured the use of force. The Diggers also called themselves True Levellers, but their communism was denounced by the leaders of the Levellers.”
~ Encyclopaedia Britannica, quoted in ‘The English Diggers (1649-50)’
» lots more Diggers info – http://www.diggers.org/diggers/digg_eb.html 

Like me, you may have first heard of the Diggers of 1649 from the lyrics of the socialist anthem ‘World Turned Upside Down’, beautifully written by Leon Rosselson in 1974 by adapting the inspiring words of Gerrard Winstanley [1], and popularised as a single released by Billy Bragg in 1985. The song gives a richly detailed yet succinct lyrical summary of one one of the most radical factions to emerge from the 1640s English Revolution – and here’s a live festival rendition by Billy himself:
• Billy Bragg – "World Turned Upside Down"
— playing live at the Women Chainmakers Festival, Dudley, on 15 Sep 2007
» live music video, 3:24 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stmiyeLsErw
» lyrics – http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858584509/

So the county of Surrey can proudly claim, within its heritage, that 363 years ago it saw the foundation of the capitalist epoch’s very first rural eco-socialist commune, at St George's Hill. And what of the River Thames, whose meanderings have formed the Runnymede water-meadows?

The first great European exemplar of an urban commune was created by the Parisian working class in 1871 [2], and in that year the magnificent English libertarian socialist William Morris moved in to Kelmscott Manor, Oxfordshire, several score miles upstream on the River Thames from Runnymede. While cognisant of the class war thrown up by the industrial revolution, Morris was inspired – by the potential for peace, rest, and happiness inherent in rural living – to write his masterpiece of a post-revolution, futurist, sci-fi novel: 'News from Nowhere' (1890) [3] – of liberty for all, depopulated cities, love, agrarian commune villages, and happiness, all set in a moneyless, stateless, nationless, class-free, and ecologically harmonious global egalitarian community.

"Go back again, now you have seen us, and your outward eyes have learned that in spite of all the infallible maxims of your day there is yet a time of rest in store for the world, when mastery has changed into fellowship — but not before. Go back again, then, and while you live you will see all round you people engaged in making others live lives which are not their own, while they themselves care nothing for their own real lives — men who hate life though they fear death. Go back and be the happier for having seen us, for having added a little hope to your struggle. Go on living while you may, striving, with whatsoever pain and labour needs must be, to build up little by little the new day of fellowship, and rest, and happiness."
~ William Morris, from 'News from Nowhere', his post-capitalist future-glimpsing novel
» about – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_from_nowhere

The ‘fellowship, and rest, and happiness’ I enjoyed during my 2.5 day stay with the Diggers-2012 in their Runnymede Eco-Village have inspired me to spread the word of their bold 21st century re-igniting of that radical spark, which was first lit by Surrey’s Diggers-1649 – and to tell of the glimpse-of-our-future-happiness feelings provoked by visiting their eco-socialist commune (much the same as Morris’s protagonist William Guest did in 'News from Nowhere’, on his return to 19th century Britain, from his glimpse of a post-revolutionary new day of fellowship, and rest, and happiness).

• Diggers-2012 Runnymede Eco-Village
» website – http://diggers2012.wordpress.com


DECLARATION OF THE DIGGERS-2012
“We: peaceful people, declare our intention to go and cultivate the disused land of this island; to build dwellings and live together in common by the sweat of our brows.
We have one call:  every person in this country and the world should have the right to live on the disused land, to grow food and to build a shelter. This right should apply whether you have money or not. We say that no country can be considered free, until this right is available to all.
With our current system in crisis we need a radically different way of growing our communities. We call on the government and all landowners to let those who are willing, make good use of the disused land. Land that is currently held from us by force.  By our actions, we seek to show how we can live without destroying the planet or ourselves. Free from the yoke of debt and rent, our labors can be directed to the benefit of all.
Though we may be oppressed for our actions, we will strive to remain peaceful. But we are committed to our cause and will not cease from our efforts until we have achieved our goal.”
~ Diggers-2012, on their own website, 20 May 2012
» source – http://diggers2012.wordpress.com/about/

“Their aim is simple: to remove themselves from the corporate economy, to house themselves, grow food and build a community on abandoned land. Already the crops the settlers had planted had been destroyed once; the day after my visit they were destroyed again. But the repeated destruction, removals and arrests have not deterred them.
The young men and women camping at Runnymede are trying to revive a different tradition, largely forgotten in the new age of robber barons. They are seeking, in the words of the Diggers of 1649, to make “the Earth a common treasury for all … not one lording over another, but all looking upon each other as equals in the creation.” The tradition of resistance, the assertion of independence from the laws devised to protect the landlords’ ill-gotten property, long pre-date and long post-date the Magna Carta. But today they scarcely feature in national consciousness.”
~ George Monbiot, from ‘The Promised Land’, 16 Jul 2012
» article – http://www.monbiot.com/2012/07/16/the-promised-land/
 

WHEN INJUSTICE BECOMES LAW, RESISTANCE BECOMES DUTY

Diggers-1649
“When these clay-bodies are in grave, and children stand in place.
This shews we stood for truth and peace and freedom in our days;
And true born sons we shall appear of England that's our mother,
No Priests nor Lawyers wiles t’embrace, their slavery we'll discover.

…yet my mind was not at rest, because nothing was acted, and thoughts ran in me, that words and writings were all nothing, and must die, for action is the life of all, and if thou dost not act, thou dost nothing.”
~ Gerrard Winstanley, from ‘A Watch-Word to the City of London and the Armie’, 1649
» many more wise words – http://www.rogerlovejoy.co.uk/philosophy/diggers/quotes.htm

Diggers-2012
“My cause is the right to live and to grow food on the land which is unused and without causing harm, harmoniously and sustainably. There is sufficient land in this country to live freely and low impact in this country. To be honest I do not feel I have broken any of my own concept of what is right and wrong. I accept that my actions may cause alarm to the large land owners of this country and in a way it is strange that Alarm has been criminalised.”
~ Simon Moore, resident of Runnymede Eco-Village, from the dock of Guildford Magistrates Court, 12 Jun 2012
» source – http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12396

• Double Eviction Attempts: FAIL
? being a multi-person story-telling of the failure of the High Court, police and security personnel to evict Runnymede Eco-Village on either Wed 11 or Thu 12 Jul 2012 (more video links are in the ‘Video Coverage’ section below)
» video, 7:36 – http://bambuser.com/v/2822559#t=58s

Like the Diggers-1649, our courageous Diggers-2012 are facing hostility and harassment from those who believe that they can and do own parts of our home world. In Europe and elsewhere, land ownership has for so long been a fundamental right  claimed through the use of violent force by the ruling classes of successive economic epochs (from Roman patricians, through feudal aristocracies, to capitalist corporate bodies) that most folk just take it for granted as a well-known “fact” that common people are permanently excluded from making a living for themselves on unused/disused land. But the Diggers-1649 and the Diggers-2012, through both their words AND more importantly their actions, do challenge and contend against such an institutional “fact” – since it is, after all, merely a story, told by a bunch of tyrants, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Nearly all of our human ancestors, and all of our universal human psychology, originate in a time when much more wise stories about our relationship to our home world were common currency; for example…  


NO MAN HAS ANY RIGHT TO BUY AND SELL THE EARTH FOR PRIVATE GAIN
Let’s lend an ear to wiser and older stories of humankind walking softly on the Earth, and also to the horror provoked in such wise story-tellers by the obnoxious violence with which the white European ruling class seized the land which had supported the story-tellers’ people for millennia. These tales happen to come from First Nations folk of North America, but indigenous hunter-gather peoples of all continents possess similar, parallel, analogous wisdom.

"One does not sell the land people walk on."
~ Crazy Horse

"My reason teaches me that land cannot be sold. The Great Spirit gave it to his children to live upon. So long as they occupy and cultivate it, they have a right to the soil. Nothing can be sold but such things as can be carried away.”
~ Black Hawk

“What is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land is our mother, nourishing all her children, beasts, birds, fish and all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one man say it belongs only to him?”
~ Massasoit

“They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one: they promised to take our land and they took it. It was not hard to see that the white people coveted every inch of land on which we lived. Greed. Humans wanted the last bit of ground which supported Indian feet. It was land – it has ever been land – for which the White man oppresses the Indian and to gain possession of which he commits any crime. Treaties that have been made are vain attempts to save a little of the fatherland, treaties holy to us by the smoke of the pipe – but nothing is holy to the White man. Little by little, with greed and cruelty unsurpassed by the animal, he has taken all. The loaf is gone and now the White man wants the crumbs.”
~ Luther Standing Bear
» native American quotes source – http://www.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections/NA_Quotes.asp

“We come to work the lands in common, and to make the waste grounds grow. This Earth divided we will make whole, so it will be a common treasury for all. The sin of property we do disdain – no man has any right to buy and sell the Earth for private gain. By theft and murder, they took the land; now everywhere the walls spring up at their command.”
~ Billy Bragg / Leon Rosselson / Gerrard Winstanley / Diggers-1649
» lyrical source – http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858584509/

In the vast geological time-span of modern human existence (c. 200,000 years), the relatively short-lived skim of class-riven societies (c. 7,000 years) – in which “owning” the huge majority of the productive land is the violence-enforced privilege of a ruling elite – can be seen as an unnatural, unjust and merely temporary aberration of our species’ long-term history. If we are to play our part in creating a future society fit for our evolved human psychology, and in which we consciously fit ourselves into our planet’s ecosphere, rather than vainly attempting to dominate and thereby destroying it, then we necessarily need to abolish the “sin of property” in land ownership by the ruling class.

“If we go to prison we'll just come back … I'm not saying that this is the only way. But at least we're creating an opportunity for young people to step out of the system.”
~ Gareth Newnham, Eco-Villager

However, no ruling class ever voluntarily gives up the “rights” it has won through violence. So it is always a task for we 99%ers – the common people – to challenge and to contend against the oft repeated “WE Own This Land!” story, as told by the 1% boss class, and reinforced by the organisational expressions of their violent class rule – the courts, bailiffs, police, and privatised “security” forces. Runnymede Eco-Village is a fine example of the common people doing just that – demonstrating by the propaganda of the deed that another story (eg: “This Earth divided we will make whole, so it will be a common treasury for all”) leads to a way better and far greater future for people and planet. That’s why some of us see this marvellous Eco-Village as such a grand beacon of hope for humankind’s future – and also as a wonderful place to be, in its own right.
 

A NEW DAY OF FELLOWSHIP, AND REST, AND HAPPINESS

“Coopers Hill Woods – A natural haven
With carpets of flowers in the spring, sunny glades in the summer, and fabulous fungi in the autumn, the wooded slopes of Coopers Hill are wonderful to visit in any season. Leave the woods at the top of Coopers Hill for magnificent views across the river and meadows below.”
~ from the National Trust’s Runnymede website
» the countryside – http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/runnymede/things-to-see-and-do/page-2/

By accident of birth, I was lucky enough to be born and raised in the Cheshire countryside, and (in my teenage years) to have the freedom to give free rein to my exploratory curiosity – by roaming freely, inflatable boat in rucksack, over the wooded sandstone hills of Frodsham and Helsby, and the woodland tributary valleys of the River Weaver. So I discovered experientially, and early on in life, what I later found to be true for our species as a whole: one of the reasons we find so much beauty, majesty, and happiness in woodland-near-water is that this habitat formed a major part of our evolutionary adaptive environment, particularly in the east African rift valley, and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Our sense of belonging in highly biodiverse riverine woodland is a direct consequence of countless generations of our ancestors actually belonging to this kind of habitat, and making a living there by their own self-sufficient labour, as part of a hunter-gatherer tribe.

As you may detect from the photos above, I found it soooo easy to fall in love with the deciduous temperate forest ecosystem that covers the River-Thames-facing side of Coopers Hill. Through the interweaving of our species-memory (of our belonging as woodland creatures), and happy childhood memories (of tree-covered Cheshire hillsides), I experienced an unequalled sense of habitat-connected bliss while wandering through Coopers Hill Woods. And that’s as nothing compared to the uplifting feelings of belonging and connectedness that arose during my stay at the Runnymede Eco-Village.
 
A common feature of Eco-Village Open Days is an open-ended and egalitarian discussion concerning land rights. On Sat 07 Jul 2012, our discussion took place in the open air, at the Magna Carta Monument, just 400m down the hill from the Eco-Village. I did my best to record what was said with a view to publishing that audio track here, but despite the recording software appearing to have captured 1.5 hours worth of sound, on retuning home the recording was significant by its absence, and even an undelete utility app failed to find it – so my apologies to all for this technical mishap.

During our land rights discussion, I highlighted how open, free-ranging, radical discussion circles are a common feature of grass roots revolutionary change throughout the capitalist epoch, from the Levellers choosing which issues to raise during the Putney Debates in the English Revolution [5], via the English Chartists, Parisian Communards, and Russian Soviets, to the global Occupy movement of 2011 ? 2012 ? on-going. Afterwards, while sitting together around the village longhouse fire, not only did the Eco-Villagers suggest to me that formal meetings within the Eco-Village were kinda unnecessary, because open, free-ranging, radical discussion was happening all the time – but that’s what I discovered to be very much a living truth of village life. The majority of my stay was taken up by sitting in a circle of Eco-Villagers around the fire in the communal longhouse, the constituent members of which varied over time, chatting and discussing about everything under the sun, including but not limited to…
• practical and operational camp experiences, including group process
• forest stewardship – the National Trust forest stewards are both pleased and impressed by the Eco-Village’s intentionally low environmental impact, and by the villagers’ care for the forest ecosystem in which they have chosen to embed themselves
• land ownership and land rights
• inclusivity, and how to increase it, especially around women’s participation
• science as a collective progressive process cf. “personal science”
• liberation struggles, and particularly mad pride (personal interest: I have bipolar disorder)
• spirituality, religion, agnosticism, and militant atheism
• quantum mechanics, and especially the Higgs mechanism (following the Higgs boson success reported by two of CERN’s LHC detector teams)  
• Eco-Village history, including police relations
• a whole bunch of other stuff my old brain cannot recall in the moment

Inspired by the outcome of one villager asking another one afternoon, “Who are you?”, on a clear and dark Sunday evening, I facilitated a go-round based discussion where each person asked the person to their left that simplest of questions, “Who are you?”  Only in very rare circumstances indeed have I ever encountered a group of people so willing to share of themselves so deeply, with such clarity, honesty, and vulnerability, while including in their circle of trust a newcomer who is actually facilitating their sharing. An obvious conclusion is that village life had already forged immense bonds of trust, solidarity, and community among the Eco-Villagers, to an extent I’ve previously encountered only in groups who’ve been together much, much longer. But their openness to not only welcoming in a newcomer (albeit one demonstrating useful prior experience in camp life, group process, and radical history-&-politics), but also allowing such a newcomer to facilitate an egalitarian, deep-&-meaningful, group discussion on personal identity was uniquely wonderful to behold.

Another villager reported welling up with tears of joy on realising just how much of communal life he’d been deprived of for so long, in comparison to the rich sense of authentic human community he’d experienced as an Eco-Villager. And I too was overcome by tears of joy when it came time to leave, because it only took a couple of days of being there to realise that the Runnymede commune is re-discovering the hugely significant benefits – emotional, psychological, and (dare I say it) spiritual – of communal, self-sustaining, collective life in a temperate forest habitat. On that basis alone, I highly commend to you, dear reader, a multi-day stay at Runnymede Eco-Village – or even better, why not take up residence there and grow the village, even as it helps you to grow?

“We invite everybody to join us, especially those who have become dispossessed due to the unequal and cruel nature of our system of crises.”
~ Runnymede Eco-Villagers » http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12404

If you want to avoid the nauseatingly awful, weeks-long, corporate culture domination festival that masquerades as ‘London 2012 Olympics’, what better way than an extended stay with the authentically grassroots Diggers-2012 at their Runnymede Eco-Village?


CONTACTING RUNNYMEDE ECO-VILLAGE
For example: about your impending visit, stay, intention to become a resident villager – or owt else, really (support, donations, you name it):

• Phone – 07963 475 195 or 07905 283 114 – mobile phone / text message
• Email – diggers2012 at yahoo dot co dot uk
» Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/Diggers2012
» Twitter – http://twitter.com/freetheland/

“Please bring camping equipment – tent, sleeping bag, cup, supplies etc. – if you wish to join the camp. Whilst scouting around the area we have discovered ample disused land on which to grow food and communities.”
~ Runnymede Eco-Villagers » http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12404


FINDING YOUR WAY TO RUNNYMEDE ECO-VILLAGE
Please see these 13 images above for maps, aerial photography, terrain views, etc., &c. to help you find your way to Runnymede Eco-Village. The six short links in these captions will take you to the relevant cloud-based mapping resources for the related images. You can click on the images above for a full-resolution edition, which you could then print out or copy to a tablet or phablet, in order to show a taxi driver or a bus driver where you’re after going.

02. Eco-Village Location – Up Close – http://goo.gl/maps/hlXQ
03. Eco-Village Location – Far Out – http://goo.gl/maps/fGrZ
04. Eco-Village Location – Map – http://goo.gl/maps/BkIf
05. Eco-Village Location – Over Coopers Hill
06. Eco-Village Location – Up Coopers Hill
07. Eco-Village Location – Landscape and Lanes – http://binged.it/N1MYOB
08. Eco-Village Location – Street Map – http://binged.it/OaUIbd
09. Eco-Village Location – OS map – http://binged.it/N1MIPn
10. Eco-Village by Rail – London Waterloo for Egham Station – a Well Connected Terminus Station
11. Eco-Village by Rail – Egham Station, only 37 minutes from London Waterloo
A1. Cycle parking under the spreading cedar tree
A2. Runnymede Air Forces Memorial
A3. Magna Carta Monument

“The nearest train station is Egham, about 25 mins walk.”
~ Runnymede Eco-Villagers » http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12404

Egham overground rail station is only 37 minutes down the track from London Waterloo overground rail terminus station, which connects directly with:
• Waterloo East overground rail station
• Waterloo underground station:
— Bakerloo line        
— Northern line        
— Jubilee line        
— Waterloo & City line

Here are three cloud-based journey planner apps which can help you plan your visit to Runnymede Eco-Village:

• Transport for London – Journey Planner
» automated journey planning – http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk

• National Rail Enquires – Journey Planner
» automated journey planning – http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/planjourney/search

• Transport Direct – Route Planner
» automated route planning – http://www.transportdirect.info  

“If you want to get nearer the camp by public transport you can get on the Slough bus from Egham town and get off at the stop before the top of Priest Hill, Englefield Green. That saves you a walk up a steep hill and is ten mins from the camp.”
~ Runnymede Eco-Villagers » http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12404


YOU DON’T ONLY HAVE TO TAKE MY WORD FOR IT
How about these 1075 words of George Monbiot, climate activist, writer, public intellectual, and all round good egg? George visited Runnymede Eco-Village in the week of the double-eviction FAIL in mid-July 2012, and published this piece via the Guardian’s Comment Is Free section: 
• ‘After 800 years, the barons are back in control of Britain’, by George Monbiot, Comment Is Free at The Guardian, Mon 16 Jul 2012
— “The Magna Carta forced King John to give away powers. But big business now exerts a chilling grip on the workforce.”
» article – http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/barons-in-control-of-britain

And there are many more reliable reports of Runnymede Eco-Village too. For instance…

• ‘Windsor Eco-Occupation (regularly updated)’ by rikki, Indymedia London, 10 Jun 2012
» video-led reports – http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12379

• ‘Olympic ASBO arrest @ Windsor Eco village’ by Dean, Indymedia London, 11 Jun 2012
» photo-led report – http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12392

• ‘Update! Olympic ASBO arrest Released!!!’ by Dean, Indymedia London, 11 Jun 2012
» photo-led report – http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12396

• ‘Latest From the Diggers - Join Us!’ by Lucca, Indymedia London, 13 Jun 2012
» photo-led report – http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12404

Video Coverage
» Live Broadcasts – http://bambuser.com/channel/Diggers2012

» YouTube Channel – http://www.youtube.com/diggers2012

» Interviews – [to follow, once editing is complete – TDJ]


And What Is More…
If you come across other info sources and articles about Runnymede Eco-Village, please do add links to them in a comment below this feature.

And of course there is also plenty of info from the Eco-Villagers themselves via their own web presence:
 
• Diggers-2012 Runnymede Eco-Village
» website – http://diggers2012.wordpress.com
» Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/Diggers2012
» Twitter – http://twitter.com/freetheland/


VISITING RUNNYMEDE
While the Runnymede Eco-Village is undoubtedly by far the most engaging occurrence in the Runnymede area, nevertheless if you’re planning to visit, stay, or become a resident, then there are other attractions you may desire to check out.

Natural Beauty
• ‘Langham Pond – Runnymede’ by Alan Bostock
— pictures of the site of special scientific interest
» photo gallery webpage – http://www.runnymede2015.com/langhamponds.htm

• Runnymede Visitor Information – National Trust
» website – http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/runnymede/


History Lynx
• Magna Carta
The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of the Forest – granted (under considerable duress) by King John at Runnymede on 15 June 1215
» full text – http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/magna2.html
» Magna Carta 800th Anniversary website – http://magnacarta800th.com

• Runnymede Air Forces Memorial
“The Air Forces Memorial, or Runnymede Memorial, in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England is a memorial dedicated to some 20,456 men and women from the British Empire who were lost in operations from World War II. All of those recorded have no known grave anywhere in the world, and many were lost without trace. The name of each of these airmen and airwomen is engraved into the stone walls of the memorial, according to country and squadron. It is a Grade II* listed building and was completed in 1953.”
~ Wikipedians, from ‘Air Forces Memorial’
» illustrated article – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Forces_Memorial


Poetry Corner
• “The Reeds of Runnymede”, by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
— A poem commemorating the signing of Magna Carta at Runnymede, Surrey, on 15 June 1215
» poem – http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_runnymede.htm


MISSING IN INACTION
As ‘regular readers’ of mine may have realised, this is my first piece of photovideojournalistic activism since…
• State Deploys ‘Divide & Conquer’ Tactics on 09 Nov [2011]
» photo-red action report – https://london.indymedia.org/articles/10950

I’ve been ‘missing in inaction’ due to a major episode of severe bipolar depression, brought on my the British state’s attempts to screw over sick and disabled people by attacking our rights to benefits – to try to help lower our ‘burden’ on the profits of the UK capitalist class. Any road up, I’ve successfully negotiated the privatised assault on my living standards by ATOS, and emerged victorious, to renew my championing of a way better and far greater future for people and planet than the permanent crises by which decadent and decomposing global capitalism are jeopardising our survival.

This feature took waaay longer to create than I anticipated, so I thank my Eco-Village comrades for their forbearance (no doubt many stopped wondering ‘Whatever happened to that Indymedia piece we were promised by Tim?’ some time ago) – I’m finding slow-&-high-quality to be the radical antithesis of the time-is-money quick-&-dirty approach, and far better suited to keeping me sane. I can but hope that you agree that it was well worth the wait.


Up the Revolution,

Tim Dalinian Jones


Acquiring These Photos
The pix above are auto-downsized versions for onscreen webpage display. If you would like the free, edited, full-sized versions (up to 3072x2304px, 7.1Mpx, typically c. 3 MB) just click on an image: bingo! You can also right-click on an image and choose ‘Open Link in New Tab' (or similar) to open a full-sized version alongside the report webpage. If you'd like to take a copy of the full-sized image version, right-click on it and choose ‘Save Image As...' (or similar). Share and Enjoy!

All these photos are 'CopyLeft'
This means you are free to copy and distribute any of my photos you find here, under the following license:
• Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License
» Human-readable summary - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
» Attribution: tim.dalinian.jones@gmail.com

Footnotes-&-Lynx
[1] Gerard Winstanley and the Diggers, aka the True Levellers
» about Gerard Winstanley – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrard_Winstanley
» about the Diggers – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers
» the Digger Archives – http://www.diggers.org/top_entry.htm

[2] In 1871, the Parisian Communards created a city-wide urban commune
» about the Paris Commune – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune
» about the Parisian Communards – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communards
» History of the Paris Commune – http://www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/

[3] English libertarian socialist William Morris, and his 1890 masterpiece post-revolution sci-fi novel 'News from Nowhere'
» about William Morris – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris
» about 'News from Nowhere' – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_from_Nowhere
• ‘News from Nowhere’ eBook at Project Gutenberg – “Offers 40,000 free eBooks to download”
» free access, free to download – http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3261
• ‘News from Nowhere’ at LibriVox – “Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books”
» free audiobook download – http://librivox.org/news-from-nowhere-by-william-morris/

[4] The Diggers-2012 Eco-Village commune by the River Thames at Runnymede
» website – http://diggers2012.wordpress.com

[5] The Putney Debates in the English Revolution – a series of discussions from March to November 1647, between members of the New Model Army, a number of the participants being Levellers, concerning the makeup of a new constitution for England.
» about – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putney_Debates
And as the giant in ‘Twin Peaks’ was wont to say, “It is happening again…”

Subject: [Campaignforrealdemocracy] Urgent Ideas Request - October Levellers' Event
From: Mark Barrett via lists.aktivix.org [marknbarrett at googlemail dot com]
Date: 14 July 2012 [Bastille Day! – TDJ]

Dear Friends and Occupiers :)
 
Levellers Event - Urgent Request for Ideas

Following GA endorsement for the concept back in December, you may have heard some of us (from the Occupy London Economics, Real Democracy Working Groups, and Commons Grouping) are attempting to facilitate a 21st Century Putney Debates* / Levellers' Event this coming October.

As part of the preparation, I'm casting around for everyone's ideas on what this event should be about. For the first stage, everyone who wishes the event to be a success is invited to say, in three sentences what they would like to happen, and what they want from the Levellers' event.

This request for input in three sentences is stage one in a three stage planning process being developed by Sean B of EWG, using Agile.

So, if you are inspired by the idea of holding an event inspired by this  please get in touch with your ideas on what it should be about, and what you would like to get out of it. In case you're wondering the request for three separate bullet point-like sentences is important for the collaborative Agile process which Sean and John B both know all about.

Anyway, this is getting kind of urgent as we are nearly in August. Also I will be away for Ramadan, so please help us get the show on the road in good time by sending something back by latest Wednesday evening so then I can process the responses and send them all in one batch to Sean for stage two to go forward with all your wonderful ideas in the mix!

More info on the history of the Putney Debates* is set out below.

Love and Solidarity

Mark

[*The original Putney Debates, groundbreaking in their time started at St Mary's Church (Giles Fraser's old parish) on October 28th 1647. They ran until November 11th, considering the future of the English Constitution after the removal of the King from the old political order. And of course the Levellers, who sought a democratic constitution based on an 'Agreement of the People,' were famously excluded from the final political settlement.  You can read more about them here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putney_Debates ]
_______________________________________________
Campaignforrealdemocracy mailing list

[6] Eco-villager quotes – published in:
• ‘After 800 years, the barons are back in control of Britain’, by George Monbiot, Comment Is Free at The Guardian, Mon 16 Jul 2012
» article – http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/barons-in-control-of-britain

 

Read more >>

Open Our Towpath hosted their third demonstration against the closure of the towpath next to the Olympic site last Sunday 22nd July.

About 50 people on foot and on bike met at 11am at Leyton Marsh and walked to the closure site under the Eastway bridge. Once there, there was food to be shared and a barbacue in the afternoon and some music too.

The Lea towpath from Homerton to Bow has been closed from the 3rd of July (that's 23 days before the Opening Ceremony) until the 10th of September as a so-called “security” measure for the Olympics. This is a heavily-used green lane through East London and there can be no rational reason for it to be closed this far ahead of the games, or even during them.

LOCOG and the police claim, despite 6m high electric fences and cameras, that the path is closed for security reasons, forcing cyclists onto busy roads.

Two police officers and about half a dozen members of the press also attended the family-friendly demonstration, which eventually turned into a friendly picnic with a barbecue and music.

Simon Cole gave a guided walking tour of the area with an introduction to the history of the marshes.

Read more >>

Have a listen to the latest Dissident Island Radio show - an Olympics special featuring a montage of interviews highlighting some of the many political, social and economic issues - this show cuts through the propagandistic messaging to give a more accurate picture of what Londoners are experiencing as a result of 'the games'...[read more]

MP3 dowload link (110MB)

OGG download link (77MB)

This edition of Dissident Island Radio casts a critical eye over the 2012 Olympic games, which are set to open in East London in a week's time. Adam and Tim spoke to a number of people involved in campaigns surrounding the Olympics and discovered some of the hidden consequences of the games.

First up, an interview with Julian Cheyne, former resident of the Clays Lane estate in Newham, which was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Olympic athletes village. Next, a conversation with two activitsts, Caroline and Kev, who are part of the save Leyton Marsh Campaign, a grassroots campaign to prevent the destruction of a community open space to build a temporary basketball training facility. Following on, some historical background on the repressive tactics used at past Olympic games and injunctions and exclusion orders that are being used today from Brian Richardson, a barrister based in East London who is also the author of Tell it like it is: how our schools fail black children. Adam and Tim also speak to several people doing research into the corporations sponsoring the games. These include Richard Solly from the London Mining Network talking about the Greenwash Gold Campaign; Anna McMullan from the Play Fair campaign; and Tim Hunt talking about the great Olympic Tax Swindle.

The show features tracks from Red Snapper, Radikal Guru feat Cian Finn, Dub Trio and Kidkanevil. And to finish things off in the usual island way - a DJ set from Little Shit and Squeaky Grinder.

Read more >>

while marines abseil into london with the heavily militarised olympic torch, desperately protected from protest by a merciless 'security bubble' that has already assaulted a young boy on a bicycle, an altogether more dignified and peaceful ceremony saw the first outing of the official vancouver poverty torch to london today.

click on image for larger version. 'some rights reserved' - free for credited non-commercial use, otherwise contact author for permission

-----

the vancouver torch began life as part of an awareness campaign in british columbia to highlight poverty issues and broken olympic promises around vancouver's homeless and poor. the torch opened the 'poverty olympics' held in vancouver downtown eastside in february 2010, and it helped highlight housing issues and pressured the authorities into implementing some poverty-reduction plans for the area forcing them to keep at least some of the undertakings made as part of the vancouver 2010 olympic bid.

 

this year, the torch was brought to the uk after an official handover at the olympic cauldron in vancouver, and it made its first appearance in london at a counter olympics planning day at the bishopsgate institute in the city of london in april. it is the first time an alternative torch has been handed from one host city to another, and it will hopefully be carried on as a powerful tradition to highlight injustice, repression, and displacement at future games.

 

this afternoon, runners and supporters (numbering around 20 at the start) met outside stratford station, in the ugly corporate heart of the olympic machine. among groups represented were the leyton marsh campaign, the counter olympics network, and the carpenters estate against regeneration plan. police were represented by two 'protest liaison' officers on bicycles (neither of whom were sporting police identification badges).

 

after a brief speech on the steps to the westfield consumer mecca shopping centre, we were on our way.

 

as the runners made their way round stratford and up leytonstone high road, the public reacted with good-nature, many getting the point of it and cheering or tooting, as the runners shouted out slogans like "olympics for the sport, not for the millionaires", "no to the olympics for the 1%" etc.

 

amongst the traffic we passed several official olympic BMWs, including one followed by police and carrying members of the IOC - the runners offered the torch to them to hold, but they declined.

 

after a few miles, it was down some residential back streets, where some young boys joined us and carried the torch briefly, and on to the 'fred wiggs' tower, on the roof of which are stationed troops and missiles. 

 

the runners carried on round to the north of wanstead flats to visit the main entrance to the snappily-named 'police mustering briefing and deployment centre' (MDBC). i had to look up 'mustering' in this context, and it's a primarily military expression for assembling troops etc. - very apt!

 

after a photocall there, for the wanstead guardian and some foreign press, it was back to the shadow of the fred wiggs tower for a small reception and refreshments put on by locals from the wanstead flats campaign which has been fighting the huge police centre built on normally protected epping forest land.

 

the torch will make another appearance on friday afternoon in a run from clissold park to leyton marsh. 

 

there will be a large public protest next saturday in east london - see counterolympicsnetwork website for details.

 

links for more info: 

counterolympicsnetwork.wordpress.com

http://savewansteadflats.org.uk/

http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/

http://www.facebook.com/carpvoice/info

Read more >>

On tonight’s show, we cast a critical eye over the 2012 Olympic games, which are set to open in East London in a week’s time.

 

Adam and Tim spoke to a number of people involved in campaigns surrounding the Olympics and discovered some of the hidden consequences of the games. First up, we have an interview with Julian Cheyne, former resident of the Clays Lane estate in Newham, which was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Olympic athletes village.

We also spoke to two activitsts, Caroline and Kev, who are part of the save Leyton Marsh Campaign, a grassroots campaign to prevent the destruction of a community open space to build a temporary basketball training facility.

We also have some historical background on repressive tactics used at past Olympic games and injunctions and exclusion orders that are being used today from Brian Richardson, a barrister based in East London who is also the author of Tell it like it is: how our schools fail black children.

We also spoke to several people who have been doing research into the corporations sponsoring the games. These include Richard Solly from the London Mining Network talking about the Greenwash Gold Campaign; Anna McMullan from the Play Fair campaign; and Tim Hunt talking about the great Olympic Tax Swindle. Also including tracks from Red Snapper, Radikal Guru feat Cian Finn, Dub Trio and Kidkanevil.

And to finish things off we have a set from Little Shit and Squeaky Grinder

To hear this olympic effort, go to our website and click the 'Listen Live' button

D*I
http://www.dissidentisland.org

Read more >>

The ‘Occupy Eleven’, arrested and charged with “obstruction of a bailiff enacting a high court writ” during the eviction of the Occupy camp at St Paul’s Cathedral, have been found guilty but were released this afternoon with conditional discharges. The judge handed out the lowest sentence possible, despite the prosecution’s calls to exclude the accused from vast swathes of London.

 

On leaving court the defendants released a joint statement:

“Today we the Occupy Eleven have been found guilty of intentionally obstructing high court bailiffs performing duties. We maintain our innocence. Our intentions remain the same as when we first joined Occupy: To highlight the corruption in the financial sector and the influence that sector has over our political system. That message remains as significant today as when we occupied the London Stock Exchange on the 15th October 2011. We find it odd that those highlighting the crimes of high finance are criminalised, whilst Bob Diamond and the like remain free of any type of prosecution. We are resolute and will remain committed to the cause until the real criminals are brought to justice."

The OccupyLSX camp was cleared by bailiffs, with police assistance, in the early hours of February 28. The eleven defendants were amongst occupiers who climbed onto the camp’s kitchen shelves while the tents around them were dragged away. The eleven waved flags and chanted, remaining peaceful while police controversially cleared the church steps, carrying praying protesters away from what had been assumed to be a safe, sacred space. Bailiffs removed furniture piled up around the kitchen shelves and the ‘Occupy Eleven’ clung onto one another in an attempt to remain upright on their narrow ledge but, one by one, were pulled down by bailiffs and promptly arrested.

The defence argued that no clear warnings or instructions were given to those occupying the kitchen shelves, however the prosecution won the first round yesterday, with a District Judge declaring that there was sufficient evidence for the prosecution case to continue. The defendants returned to Westminster Magistrate’s Court on Marylebone Road this morning where the City Of London Corporation asked that year long exclusion orders from the City, Stratford and Westminister be imposed, and that the defendants each be awarded costs of £750.

This afternoon, having watched footage of the eviction and after hearing eyewitness accounts, the Judge acknowledged that the eleven were making a peaceful stand and awarded conditional discharges with no costs and no exclusions.

 

Read more >>

In April 2009, along with everyone else, we saw the shocking video of Ian being violently assaulted by PC Harwood just minutes before he died. After the unlawful killing verdict at the inquest last year - we expected to hear a guilty verdict today. The NOT guilty verdict really hurts. But this is not the end, - we are not giving up on justice for Ian. There has to be one formal and final answer to the question “who killed Ian?”. And we will now pursue this in the civil court.
The last three years have been a really hard uphill battle. We have had to deal with many obstacles, set backs and emotions on the way. It has been hard to keep going sometimes, it feels hard to keep going today. We do take strength from the support that we receive from so many members of the public. Thank you. And thank you also to Lucy Apps for the compassion you showed to our dad when you tried to save his life and comfort him on Cornhill that day.

Statement from Jules Carey of Tuckers Solicitors - civil lawyers of the family
This is one of the hardest days for the family, and there have been many:

• The morning an officer told them Ian was dead,
• the day they first saw that video,
• the day an investigator said it might be a protester in a policeman’s uniform,
• the day the pathologist changed his evidence about finding 3 litres of blood,
• the day the CPS said that wouldn’t charge the officer of any offence

PC Harwood may have been acquitted of manslaughter by this jury, but another jury, at the inquest a year ago, found that Ian Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed. It is impossible for this family to understand these two, apparently contradictory, verdicts.
Ian Tomlinson’s family have not given up on justice. They will now look to the civil courts to reconcile these verdicts, deliver justice and formally answer the question “who killed Ian Tomlinson?”.
It is a terrible truth that in the last 30 years there have been over a thousand of deaths in custody and after contact, there have been many unlawful killing verdicts but there is not one case of an officer convicted for manslaughter.
Those entrusted with investigating and prosecuting these cases will need to reflect hard on today’s verdict and the unbroken chain of similar verdicts.

Statement from organisation INQUEST
Deborah Coles, co-director of INQUEST said: 
"This verdict is a damning reflection of the systemic problems inherent in the current investigation system where deaths following police use of force are not treated as potential crimes. This failure has profound consequences on the proper functioning of the justice system in relation to such deaths.
"It is vital that the rule of law is upheld and applies equally to all, including police officers, and that they do not believe that they can act with impunity.
"For too long there has been a pattern of cases where inquest juries have found overwhelming evidence of unlawful and excessive use of force or gross neglect and yet no police officer either at an individual or senior management level has been held responsible."

Statement from Newham Monitoring Project - civil justice organisation who have supported the family campaign
"The message this verdict sends out to the wider public is that accountability systems are still failing and that police officers appear free to act above the law. The question of how Ian Tomlinson met such a tragic and sudden death still remains unanswered leaving a stain on British justice."

 

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We have finally received our court judgement! We’ve lost but we live to fight another day as the judge has granted us permission to appeal on our arguments around human rights.

Handing down the judgement this morning, Judge Karen Walden-Smith took on board our arguments around the right to respect for the home, under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. She upheld this right in the case describing the project as “much loved and well used” by the local community, despite arguments from the claimants that this right did not apply to squatters. While she ruled in favour of the owners, she agreed that we should not be evicted without our human rights case being heard in the Court of Appeal.

Grow Heathrow are asking for donations to support the costs of lodging an appeal to be made via paypal through the website.

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Steinmetz moves to conceal facts that could scupper $5.1 billion De Beers’ deal

With a $5.1 billion deal at stake and human rights activists increasing pressure on De Beers to remove the Forevermark Steinmetz Jubilee Diamond from the Tower of London, the Steinmetz Foundation recently scrubbed from their website all reference to their funding and support for the Israeli military during the assault on Gaza (Operation Cast Lead) in the winter of 2008/2009.

London-based mining giant Anglo American recently received final regulatory approval to purchase the Oppenheimer family's 40 percent stake in the De Beers Group. According to Charles Stanley, US president of Forevermark - De Beers’ exclusive diamond brand "Forevermark diamonds account for the vast majority of value if not volume of De Beers'business. Mr. Stanley, speaking in June at a conference in Las Vegas, also indicated that consumer trust in the ethical provenance of De Beers’ diamonds was of critical importance to their business.

The Steinmetz Company manufactures Forevermark diamonds. The Steinmetz Foundation "adopted" a Unit of the notorious Givati Brigade of the Israeli military which it funded and supported during Cast Lead.  The Givati Brigade was directly responsible for the massacre of 21 members of the Samouni family in one of the most despicable examples of gross human rights violations documented by human rights organisations and the UN Human Rights Council during the Israeli attack on Gaza.

A UN Human Rights Council investigation into the Israeli assault which killed over 1,400 people, including more than 300 children, concluded that the Israeli military committed serious war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

Last Sunday, for the fifth successive weekend since De Beers put the Forevermark Steinmetz diamond on display in the Tower of London to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, human rights activists in London staged a demonstration to highlight the linkage between the diamond and Israeli war crimes in Gaza.  Demonstrations have been held every weekend either at the Tower of London or outside De Beers’ jewellery shop on the corner of Piccadilly and Bond Street.

The surviving members of the Samouni family in Gaza have issued a video appeal calling on the Queen to remove the "offensive blood diamond"

Given the discretionary nature of a diamond purchase and the public's revulsion of blood diamonds, neither De Beers nor Anglo American can afford any loss of consumer confidence in the ethical provenance of Forevermark diamonds. Anglo American’s Investor Presentation relating to the proposed purchase of the Oppenheimer family’s shares in De Beers did not mention the linkage between Forevermark diamonds and Israeli war crimes. Anglo American produced a fact sheet on De Beers which claims "all De Beers' diamonds are conflict free" - a false and misleading statement considering that Forevermark Steinmetz diamonds fund the Israeli military which stands accused of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

Anglo American shareholders apparently were not informed of the serious threat to the Forevermark brand and De Beers' business prior to their agreeing to spend $5.1 billion to acquire the additional 40% stake in De Beers. According to various rules and regulations (the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Takeover Code”), the UK Listing Rules, the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the Financial Services Authority, the Listings Requirements of the securities exchange of the JSE Limited in South Africa, the SWX Swiss Exchange, the Botswana Stock Exchange and the Namibian Stock Exchange) Anglo American is obliged to carry out due diligence and make all relevant information available to shareholders and regulatory authorities.

END.

 

Notes

 

1. Steinmetz Foundation Website "http://www.steinmetz-foundation.co.il/main.asp?sel_nav1=6&sel_nav2=46&sel_header=Others&cat=site

It now says: "The Foundation donate to the IDF."

It used to say:  "The Foundation has "adopted" Tzabar Unit of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Givati Brigade. The Foundation fosters a close relationship with the commanders and their soldiers, helps the brigade organize evening events, buys equipment for end-of-course ceremonies and gives aid to needy soldiers. During Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, the Foundation helped the Unit purchase complementary equipment as well as visited and cared for the wounded soldiers.

 

2. Inminds website http://www.inminds.co.uk/article.php?id=10548

The site shows a copy of the Steinmetz Foundation web page before it was scrubbed. (red box added) It also has reports and photos of the demonstrations at the Tower of London and De Beers Jewellery shop.

 

3. Charles Stanley, Forevermark U.S. President speaking at the Rapaport Fair Trade Diamond Conference in LasVegas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAOg8KzyEuo

[Consumers]..."they want to know that our diamond is from a responsible source and that they can trust it."and "We are a diamond company and that's all we do. We mine $6 billion worth of diamonds every year and that‘s a high risk profile for any business. We can’t afford to have problems with diamonds. All of you who are selling diamonds as jewellers, we are ultimately a discretionary purchase. We rely on the fact that the consumers truly believe in the diamonds that they buy. If that promise gets unhinged in any way then economic value is eroded very very seriously and clearly as De Beers, that’s a huge risk for us and we can’t afford that to happen. So it's vital we have to do this [Forevermark Promise] in my view and it is why De Beers have done what they have done"

In response to a question from Alan Martin, Partnership Africa Canada, about the percentage of trade Forevermark represents for De Beers he said Forevermark represents "the vast majority of value if not volume so clearly going back to the economic issue we are clearly through that process, we continue to grow the credibility of Forevermark we will be protecting the vast majority of our value"

Full conference video - http://www.diamonds.net/news/NewsItem.aspx?ArticleID=40380

 

4. International Committee of the Red Cross report http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/palestine-news-080109.htm

The ICRC/PRCS team found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses. In another house, the ICRC/PRCS rescue team found 15 other survivors of this attack including several wounded. In yet another house, they found an additional three corpses.

 

5. UN Human Rights Council Report of the Fact-Finding Mission of the Gaza Conflict  - http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf  Relevant section pp.159-166

 

6. The Sammoni family's appeal to the Queen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpUTTGz6U-c

Helmi Sammoni, speaking on behalf of the Sammoni family, issued this appeal to Queen Elizabeth II.

"On behalf of the surviving members of the Sammoni family and the hundreds of other families in Gaza who have been killed by war crimes committed by the Givati Brigade of the Israeli Army, we are shocked and disappointed by the decision of De Beers to present the Queen of England with a diamond manufactured by the Steinmetz Diamond company – a company which supported the Givati Brigade during the Israeli war on Gaza late 2008 as they murdered 29 members of our family in cold blood. We the Sammoni family call on the Queen of England and the British people to decline this gift. We demand that De Beers be instructed to remove this offensive blood diamond display immediately. (Translated from Arabic)

 

7. De-Beers Forevermark Press Release - http://www.debeersgroup.com/ImageVaultFiles/id_1889/cf_5/Forevermark_Steinmetz_Jubilee_Pink_Diamond.PDF

The Steinmetz Forevermark Jubilee Pink Diamond has gone on display at the Tower of London to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. This unique, fancy pink-brown colour, 35.60 carat cushion cut Forevermark diamond has been inscribed with a bespoke number, 19522012 - the year of HRH Queen Elizabeth II's coronation and the 60th year of her reign. It took the experts at Steinmetz Diamonds six months to perfect the cut, crafting the beautiful cushion cut from the original 179.96 carat rough diamond.

 

8. Anglo American Investor Presentation -  http://www.angloamerican.com/~/media/Files/A/Anglo-American-Plc/investors/presentations/2011pres/hope-investor-presentation.pdf

 

9. Anglo American Fact Sheet on De Beers, November 2011 - http://www.angloamerican.com/~/media/Files/A/Anglo-American-Plc/media/de-beers-factsheet.pdf

"All De Beers' diamonds are certified conflict free and are produced in full compliance with national and international law, the Kimberley Process and De Beers' Best Practice Principles Assurance Programme.

 

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around a dozen local people joined organiser thomas cooper and 38degrees representative, sondhya gupta, to hand in a petition to jeremy corbyn MP against proposed government snooping legislation which is currently in committee stage at westminster.

 

 

click on image for larger version. 'some rights reserved' - free for credited non-commercial use, otherwise contact author for permission

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38degrees is a UK organisation with more than a million members utilising the internet to create a powerful voice able to influence government or big business with people-powered campaigns.

 

they decide on campaigns through an open system of proposals and polls and are funded by donations from their members. 

 

their most notable success to date was the campaign against the selling off of vast tracts of public forest land. the ensuing campaign included a petition of half a million people, and thousands of emails to MPs, as well as an advertising and poster campaign. the result was a huge government climbdown over the privatisation plans.

 

among their current campaigns, 38degrees are working to publicise government plans for draconian legislation to access everyone's phone, email and internet use without scrutiny or warrant. 

 

the campaign has already attracted more than 140,000 signatories, and in order to maximise and personalise the impact, 38degrees are asking people to organise local hand-ins to individual MPs. to date there have been dozens of these events.

 

in islington north, thomas cooper took up the baton and organised a meeting to hand in the uk petition and to represent the 926 local votes already registered against the bill.

 

despite last-minute diary clashes delaying mr corbyn, around a dozen local people joined in the event this morning at his constiuency office near finsbury park. when he arrived, jeremy assured the group that he was firmly against the legislation, and listened to a range of comments and observations from the group.

 

these included basic concerns of privacy, the right to freedom from intrusion into personal life, the dangers of databases, and the power of corporations, as well as the effect such legislation would have on the UK's right to pressure oppressive states.

 

after about half an hour of lively discussion, the MP officially accepted the petition and agreed to keep in touch as the bill progresses through parliament.

 

after mr corbyn left, people continued to share information and ideas about privacy, including alternative search engines such as startpage, the 'trackmenot' (TMN) plug-in for firefox browsers, the use of VPNs such as btguard, and the 'tor' anonymiser system.

 

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The betrayal and abuse of Omar Khadr has gone on for far too long: don't be a party to it, take action and add your voice to international calls for his immediate repatriation to Canada

Please take a few moments to add your name to the two petitions below to the Canadian government and copy and paste the letter to the relevant Canadian minister and Canadian High Commissioner to the UK

Take action now!

Omar Khadr, 25, is a Canadian prisoner who will have been held by American forces for 10 years on 27 July 2012; on this date in 2002, aged just 15, he was captured in Afghanistan. Shot, blinded, threatened with rape and other forms of physical and psychological abuse at Bagram and Guantánamo Bay, Omar Khadr is the only child soldier to have been tried as an adult before a military tribunal for war crimes allegedly committed as a minor since World War II. In October 2010, in a secret plea bargain and subject to the use of torture evidence approved by the military tribunal, Omar Khadr pleaded guilty to throwing a grenade that killed one American soldier and wounded another. As part of the plea deal, Omar Khadr was to have his sentence slashed to just eight years, of which he could serve the final 7 years in his native Canada. He has been due for release since October 2011. Although extradition proceedings have been commenced by the US and Canada in his case, Canada has not formally sought his return from the US; the US, on the other hand, is keen to return him, as it fears that the delay in honouring its side of the deal could deter other prisoners from entering similar plea bargains, on the basis that they may not be released eventually. Indeed, given Canada's foot-dragging, last week the US released another convicted prisoner to Sudan.

Canada has been constantly criticised for its failure to act in Omar Khadr's case. In 2010, the Canadian Supreme Court stated that the Canadian government had violated Omar Khadr's constitutional rights. Canadian Senator Roméo Dallaire, the retired army general who led UN forces in Rwanda during the genocide in the mid-1990s and an outspoken advocate for child soldiers, described his country's treatment of Omar Khadr as reflecting "Canada's moral drift" in 2010. The UN Committee Against Torture condemned Canada's stance in June 2012 and demanded the country seek the immediate repatriation of Omar Khadr.

The LGC has taken action for Omar Khadr with a letter writing campaign, along with an Amnesty International group, during the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 http://www.muslimdirectory.co.uk/viewarticle.php?id=484 and a demonstration and petition to coincide with his trial: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/08/456827.html  and http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/dangerous-international-precedent.html The LGC also spoke at an Amnesty International UK screening last week of the documentary "Four Days in Guantánamo" (the trailer can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZrERVO19Dg).

At the very latest, Omar Khadr should have been returned to Canada at the end of May this year. Omar Khadr's lawyers are now taking his case to court to force the Canadian government to take back ONE Canadian citizen, who has spent almost half his life in illegal detention. WE CALL ON YOU TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION AND ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE ON THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT TO HONOUR ITS OBLIGATIONS AND DUTIES TO ITS CITIZENS AND UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW.

1. Add your name to the petitions (and then get your friends, family and colleagues to do likewise):

Senator Roméo Dallaire has put together the following petition to Public Safety Minister, Vic Toews, who has to sign the letter for Omar Khadr's release: http://www.change.org/omarkhadr

The following petition has also been put to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper: http://www.change.org/petitions/prime-minister-stephen-harper-repatriate-toronto-born-omar-khadr-to-canada-and-rehabilitate-him

2. Send letters to Minister Vic Toews and the Canadian High Commissioner in London:

Amnesty International UK has put together the following letter. Please add your name to it and send or amend/personalise it and send it off. Please let us know if you get a response:

 

Letter:

I urge you to take swift action to approve Omar Khadr's pending request to be transferred out of Guantánamo Bay and back to Canada.

July 27th 2012 marks the 10th anniversary of Omar Khadr being taken into custody by US soldiers in Afghanistan, where he was held for three months before being transferred to Guantánamo Bay, where he has remained ever since.  He has endured a decade of human rights violations, without relief or remedy. Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed concern that Canada has failed to intervene to ensure that Omar Khadr's rights were properly safeguarded.  As a result, numerous serious concerns, including his rights as a child soldier, detention without charge or trial, credible allegations of torture and ill-treatment, access to legal counsel and family visits, and fair trial provisions, have been disregarded by US officials.

The plea deal agreed to by Mr. Khadr in October 2010 was based on the understanding that, as of October 31, 2011 he would be eligible for transfer back to Canada.  The Government of Canada acknowledged and accepted that transfer was integral to the plea deal by means of a diplomatic note provided to the US government at the time.  In November 2010 former Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon stated that "we will implement the agreement that was reached between Mr. Khadr and the government of the United States."  US officials have indicated they would support the transfer and are in fact eager to see it go through to encourage other detainees at Guantánamo to enter into similar deals.  His transfer application has been with your office for well over a year; and all necessary approvals for his transfer have been finalized by US officials. Your prompt approval of this transfer application will demonstrate that the Canadian government is now taking a strong stand for full and proper protection of Mr. Khadr's rights. 

Yours Sincerely

 

Please send copies to:

The Honourable Vic Toews, (address: Dear Minister:)

Minister of Public Safety,

Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Canada

E-mail: vic.toews@parl.gc.ca 

Mr. Gordon Campbell, High Commissioner for CanadaHigh Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom in LondonMacdonald House
1 Grosvenor Square
London, W1K 4AB
Fax: 0207 258 6333 

Other useful information:

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1227330--the-government-has-not-kept-its-word-in-the-omar-khadr-case

http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2012/07/10/bring-omar-khadr-home-from-guantanamo-please-sign-the-petition-to-the-canadian-government/

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 Protest by Haringey Private Tenants' Action Group against letting agent fees       

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Private tenants protested outside Drivers & Norris (D & N) letting agents in Islington's Holloway Road yesterday (Saturday 14 July). The action was in support of two prospective tenants who paid a total of £300 in fees for reference checks which has not been refunded, despite no services being delivered to them by D & N, and no tenancy agreement having been signed.

The "D & N Three" asking for the money back - Phil Tsappas, Kyri Tsappas and a friend who is supporting them - are still homeless.??As Phil put it to me, there was "no deal, no contract signed" for a tenancy via D& N. Kyri told me that he and his fellow "applicants applied to secure a tenancy... Drivers & Norris failed to provide service."

The action was called by the newly-formed Haringey Private Tenants' Action Group (HPTAG) – the two-bedroom flat that the three people had applied for that is let by D & N is in Haringey. ??The Drivers & Norris Three walked into D & N's Holloway Road office shortly after 11am, asking for the fees to be refunded, and to speak to the lettings manager, Sean Corrigan, although they were told his was out. It appeared at one point that lettings staff had phoned Corrigan and that he was on his way, but this turned out not to be the case. Meanwhile, HPTAG people assembled in the street outside, with banners and a megaphone.

Phil Tsappas told me that their guarantor had been charged £60, and that he and Kyri had been charged £120 each for each reference check, making a total of £300 for all of them. The guarantor had failed the reference check. One of the D&N letting team told the D&N Three that the issue of the £300 fee was "not our fault, we didn't conduct it" (the reference check.)

Phil told me the check had been carried out on D&N's behalf by FCC Paragon, who he says seem to do reference checks for most of the letting agents in Haringey. The Three then went to another letting agent – Winkworth, who also use FCC Paragon and, according to Phil, quoted them £150 each for a reference check.

D & N staff declined to give me their names and told me they had no comment to make.

Phil says he's done some research and the cost charged to a letting agent by FCC Paragon for each reference check is "£17-£19, we think."??A Police Community Support Officer arrived shortly afterwards and asked those protesters inside the D & N office to leave, as it was "private property" and that the D & N "guys feel like they're being harassed". Two police constables and Islington Division's CCTV van also showed up soon afterwards, with the police remaining in the D & N office for the duration of the protest.

The D & N Three left the office to join the protest outside. PC 577 at one point came to the door to tell them one of them could come into to talk to a sales manager from the lettings team. The D & N three declined – one of them told me that this was the same D & N employee who told him on the phone that he should consider himself lucky D & N hadn't kept their whole £800 holding deposit. 

Despite the pouring rain, most of the 800 leaflets the protesters had brought along were handed out to mostly sympathetic passers-by, including one of the very few customers going into the D & N office on what's normally its busiest day of the week.

Jacky Peacock, director of Brent Private Tenants' Rights Group – on of very few such organisations in the UK - explained to a concerned-looking PC NI 577 that there are currently "no regulations" in place on what letting agents can charge prospective tenants. Jacky told me tenants can only go to the Property Services Ombudsman if the letting agency is a member of one of the industry's associations. What about local trading standards officers? "Low on their list of priorities" according to Jacky.??Shoppers in busy Holloway Road were addressed by demonstrators by megaphone, who called for "affordable homes secure tenancy and end to rip-off fees!" One protester using a megaphone told the small crowd that "Drivers & Norris are having a laugh!"

One protester told me that letting agents offer "incentives that are designed to fail" - for every flat a letting agent has on books, five groups of applicants will look at it, "they take one [group of tenants], how many holding deposits do they keep?"

The D & N Three plan to return to demonstrate outside Driver some time end of next week, and until they get their money back.??Haringey Private Tenants' Action Group's next meeting is a on Saturday 21st July, 2012 11am, Cafe Life, North London Community House, 22 Moorefield Road, London N17 6QN, near Bruce Grove Station. All welcome. Email: haringeyprivatetenants@gmail.com

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Miners in the mountains of Asturias who have been on indefinite strike for nearly two months have arrived in Madrid to take their strike to the streets.

Faced by escalating police terrorism were wounded in the Spanish capital over the last few days by cannonades of plastic bullets and batons rained on them by the riot police.

The miners' only demand is that they be given back their jobs, with the Spanish State declaring an end to subsidies which effectively destroy the livelihoods of thousands of people, which effectively add up to the destruction of the main source of income to the region.

The strikes kicked off in the mountains of Asturias, (in the north of the country between Galicia and Cantabria) and then spread to other parts of Spain, including Leon and Galicia. Parrallels have already been drawn to the insurrections of Asturians in the Spanish Civil War as miners of the time led the charge against feudalism and autocratic repression.

Now the State is playing the same game and like in Britain where two of the strongest politically active cities have been targeted by EDL marches, political thinkers believe there is a conscious attempt to target the bases of popular dissent with the same fascist policies of repression as an attempt to prove the public are too comfortable to do anything when faced with dictatorship.

However, the miners have refused to lie down. The austerity cuts have been resisted with all manner of physical protest, as they barricaded themselves in streets and fired homemade rockets from the mountains in response to plastic bullets and tear gas from the militarised police repression. Roads were blockaded by burning tyres and trees which prevented dangerous men in riot gear reaching them except on foot, further slowing State forces. And everytime police units managed to overcome these defences and moved into the towns and villages they were greeted by verbal abuse by the elderly as well as the youngest generations as the local community turning out in force to support the miners.

The movement, hailed as one of the first joint regional resistances against the cuts in Europe has seen various other businesses strike in solidarity with the miners who bring in the majority of funds to other industries like services.

"We refuse to lie down!" exclaimed one of the miners. "All we want to do is work and there is any reason for the government call us terrorists. Mining is really hard work but we are prepared to fight to the end because our families are worth it"

The irony of the situation is that while the government decided to cut around 300,000,000 pounds of aid to the miners, and thus to the livelihoods of thousands of people reliant on their hard work in their local areas, they agreed to a 100,000,000,000 pound aid package to save the banks. "This is injustice of the highest order," said one of the miner's wives in a recent interview. "A government is supposed to take care of the people, not a select elite who individually earn millions every year. Every rescue package just means we pay for the blatantly irresponsible behaviour of the bankers, who don't even go to prison like in Iceland where they have been jailed for playing God with others' hard-earned saving".

The miners then proposed to take their fight for justice to the State capital and literally walked there over two weeks to voice their dissent. But rather than being met with dialogue they were attacked with bullets despite the overwhelming solidarity of many city-dwellers. "When they use bullets and batons to repress our democratic right to protest we are no longer in a democracy. This is a dictatorship which, like in Libya and Syria, has to be removed by any means necessary," exclaimed one protestor as blood dripped down her forehead.

And while the miners' power base is attacked in Spain, in London one of the largest military lockdowns in the capital's history continues to build up and with around a combined force of 50,000 private and public security personnel set to hit the streets for the Olympics, political commentators are fearful of a nationwide repression of the already impoverished under class. This class, which includes people from backgrounds as diverse as ethnic minorities, the unemployed and squatters will most likely be targeted by a wave of repression which is sure to increase their already impoverished state, with police controls, house raids and imprisonment without trial to become the norm. This will connect to the mass gentrification of areas around London over the last year with rent hikes as much as four times the original amount being recorded in areas like Hackney and Brixton.

Some of these factors were reportedly behind the riots last summer and with brute force and nationalist propaganda created by the Jubilee the authorities are expecting a smoothly operated authoritarian summer of profit for the fat cats from BP, Coca-Cola and McDonalds.

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On Friday, Kick Nuclear and London Mining Network took part in two demonstrations in central London - at the Australian High Commission and at the UK headquarters of mining giant BHP Billiton - to show solidarity with The Lizard's Revenge protest festival taking place this weekend in the South Australian desert. The protests, in solidarity with local aboriginal communities, are in opposition to BHP Billiton's planned expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium (plus copper, gold and silver) mine at Roxby Downs, which was recently approved by the Australian Federal Government and the South Australian State Government, and would make it the largest such mine in the world.

Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/vd2012.pics/OlympicDamSolidarityDemos

Background:

http://londonminingnetwork.org/2012/07/protest-against-bhp-billitons-olympic-dam-expansion

http://lizardsrevenge.net/5-2

Twitter: @lizardsrevenge

All images are Copyright (c) 2012 Kick Nuclear / London Mining Network, but may be reproduced free of charge for non-commercial use if credited. For larger, high resolution versions, please e-mail vd2012-imc [at] yahoo . co . uk

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They are branded as one of the most persecuted communities in the world by the UN and referred to as the Palestine of Asia, yet nobody knows their name.

The Rohingya people have been subject to a programme of state sponsored ethnic cleansing by the Burmese government. Despite their existence in Burma dating as far back at the 8th century, Rohingyas are condemned as ‘non-citizens’ and ‘illegal immigrants.’ Targeted as a result of their religion and race, the Rohingya suffer oppressive levels of discrimination in face of the Rakhine Buddhist majority. Land confiscation, forced labour and denial of very basic human rights including education, marriage and healthcare are characteristic of everyday reality for the Rohingya people.

The injustice the Rohingya face is one of institutionalisation; rooted in Burma’s infrastructure and governmental systems. This can be seen in the 1982 Citizenship Law introduced by the Burmese junta which recognises the 135 national races in Burma but specifically excludes the Rohingya. This legislation has received widespread condemnation for its discriminatory nature and incompatibility with international human rights standards including the right to a nationality.

This systematic denial of human rights is premised on the Burmese government’s refusal to grant citizenship to the Rohingya people. Rendering them stateless in their own state. The denial of citizenship is being manipulated as a tool of ridding the Rohingya people of their identity, their right to being and their very existence.

This severe marginalisation and restriction of basic fundamental rights and freedoms has forced the Rohingya to flee their homes, in search of a life capable of living. As such, between 1978 and 1992, approximately 200,000 Rohingyas left Burma to escape the tyranny of the Burmese military. Most escaped to Bangladesh where they remain as refugees. In one of the most densely populated countries in the world and with prevailing attitudes of discrimination towards ethnic minorities life in Bangladesh has proved little improvement. Similar to the Rohingyas living in Burma, the Rohingya refugees are restricted in their movement and subject to exploitation. In refugee camps, the Rohingya women are victims of sexual violence and basic resources are heavily limited. Hostility in Bangladesh has also led Rohingyas to seek refuge in other countries including Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia; however have faced similar antagonism.

The role of Bangladesh with regard to the Rohingya plight has resurfaced in light of recent ethnic clashes beginning in June 2012 in Burma. The escalating violence has displaced 90,000 Rohingya people. Villages are being burnt, people are being abducted, concentration camps are being created, women are being raped and children mercilessly killed. Survivors are desperately trying to escape persecution and seeking refuge in Bangladesh. However, the Bangladeshi government seem to be forgetting their own struggle for existence and have adopted a closed border policy. Boats of starving, injured and dying men, women and children are being turned away forced to make a choice. Return to death in Burma or wait for death on open sea. It is true that Bangladesh as a nation faces its own difficulties and also that it is not signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. However it remains bound by customary international norms, primarily that of ‘non-refoulement;’ a principle which forbids the return of a victim of persecution to their persecutor.

Bangladesh’s obligations aside, it remains the primary responsibility of Burma to address not only this current humanitarian catastrophe but the context of which this has been born. Reality dictates that despite Burma’s move towards ‘democratisation’ the rights of the Rohingya will continue to be absent from the new agenda. Thus this is no longer just a national issue. Nor is it just a regional issue. This has become an issue which demands international concern, condemnation and action. The persecution against the Rohingya can be described in no other terms but that of ethnic cleansing and genocide; worthy of the same recognition of some of the darkest times in history including Rwanda and Bosnia.

The plight of the Rohingya people is yet another stark demonstration of the impotence of the UN and the international community to act, when action is truly necessary. It is the inaction in the international arena with regard to the silent massacre in Burma which exposes the saturation of politics and power which rests at the heart of our global governance systems. In light of these failings, hope can only be found in grassroot movements, civil society and in the spirit of those courageous enough to say; no more.

Restless Beings is a grassroot international human rights organisation taking the lead in championing the Rohingya issue and thus is an embodiment of this hope. We are currently delivering an international campaign; ‘Voicing the Rohingya.’ We have adopted a multidimensional approach in order to broadcast the realities on the ground to as far and wide an audience as possible. We have lobbied the Bangladeshi government via sending a letter and petition via the High Commission in London. This petition received 2640 signatures in just five days from people spanning 90 countries across the world. This action was coupled with a demonstration outside of the Bangladeshi High Commission in London on Monday 2nd July 2012. This demonstration marked the beginning of an intense, highly pressured strategy where we are currently mobilising students, professionals, academics, community leaders, charities, artists, activists and alternative press to join us in supporting the Rohingya community and demanding direct change. We have initiated this by starting a new petition this time to the UK, calling for diplomatic action and human rights compliance. At the time of writing this petition has received 4672 signatures, with our target being 10000. Following this, we are looking to organise a follow up protest and engage in a programme of active MEP lobbying in order to achieve some recognition of this issue on an international level.

Whilst the powers that be refuse to act, it is the responsibility of individuals on the ground, to unify in solidarity with the forgotten. It is with this unity and solidarity that collective change becomes a real possibility, strong enough to topple the inaction of the powerful; passionate enough to break new ground. This is a call for action, a call for change. Not because we are Rohingya and these are our people, not because we are Muslim and share their faith, not because we are Bangladeshi and feel we owe a duty but because we are humans and thus bound by a common humanity and the ability to feel. To feel love, loss, suffering and despair.

Please join us in our quest for justice for the forgotten Rohingya people and sign our petition. Let the world know, that this stateless, silenced injustice is not in your name.

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This is a personal account by the defendant of an 11 year fight for justice against the Italian police. Every once in a while a legal case comes along in Italy which will shape the future path of a country concerning the standard of its human rights and its legal system. The raid on the Diaz school during the G8 meeting in Genoa in 2001 is such a case. 

This is a text written by nessuno last week in the build up to the final outcome of the "Diaz' trial:

Almost eleven years have passed as the Diaz case has travelled and navigated a legal system challenged and pulled apart by Berlusconi until it has finally arrived at the highest court of the land. This court is the Corti of Cassazione in Piazza Cavour. It is a very imposing building in Central Rome and is situated on the west side of the Tigris river. Cassazione does not use juries but has five Supreme court judges considering the case before it.

What they are considering is a high controversial police brutality case that has multiple victims and many police on trial for multiple serious charges. These are not rank and file policemen but commanders who now represent the top tier of power in the Italian police force. The very people, if acquitted, who will steer Italy through an economic and public order crisis of enormous size.

There are 26 anti-terrorist, DIGOS, flying Squad and state police commanders who are accused of masterminding and planning the bloody 'Mexican butchers shop' massacre at Diaz during the Genoa G8. A raid of such brutality, Amnesty called it the biggest suspension of democratic rights in a western country since World War II. A raid that was described by Genoa judges as the darkest page of history of the Italian police force. Even a movie has been made Domenico Procacci has been made called Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood. It was released at the Berlin Film festival to critical fame and many Italian youth have seen it in cinemas last month. The movie script is based upon the basic facts of what happened. Fandango, the production company researched and read over 10,000 court documents.

As an English Indymedia journalist who was covering the summit, I was attacked and almost killed at Diaz (it is estimated) by up to 14 Italian policemen. So were another four British victims to a lesser degree of injuries. They are Dan Macquillan, Norman Blair, Richard Moth and Nicola Doherty. They were very peaceful non-violent protesters who were genuinely concerned about the state of the planet before 9-11 changed the world. What hasn't changed since 9-11 is the rise of powerful fascist politics that now threaten the stability of Italy and Europe in this current economic crisis. Whilst politicians and journalist analysis the rise of fascist politics in Greece, the Diaz case is the frontline of the struggle against fascism in Italy.

Gianfranco Fini, currently speaker of Rome Parliament, is still the most powerful fascist politician in Europe but since his breakup with Berlusconi, he is biding his time and staying below the radar. When Fini is quiet, he is planning his path to become prime minister. The fascists are allowing the Monti Government to be seen to fail before they offer their extreme right wing policies on law, Public Order and Immigration. Fini's view of Europe and the EU is that Italy should leave union of states. This is where he finds common ground with Cameroon who also wants to leave but for the different reasons of protecting the bankers in the city of London.

Fin grew powerful under Berlusconi. At the Genoa G8 summit, he had the special job of being G8 security minister and he was supposed to handle the Bin Laden threat to fly a wooden plane into the G8 but he was more interested in having his private fascist war with the anti-globalisation movement. Instead of protecting the G8, he took a personal interest in making sure the Diaz raid was carried out and that many people were tortured for fun.

Of the G8 itself, it was expedient to allow a man like Gianfranco Fini and his fascists to do the dirty job of smashing any democratic and popular protest that was being mounted against them as they carried out plans to exploit the planet for even more resources and profit and to maintain their powerful grip over the world.

For the human rights abuse at Diaz and Bolzaneto, Berlusconi and Fini handed out promotions whilst offering money and very expensive lawyers to get them off the serious charges being presented by Dr Zucca and the Genova prosecutors. It is rumoured but not proved yet that Gianfranco told the convicted Diaz police that they were 'Covered to do anything they liked at Diaz'.

Francesco Gratteri, second in command of the anti-terrorist squad at Diaz, has recently been promoted to Deputy chief of police of Italy.

Gilberto Caldarozzi, Gratteri's deputy, has been promoted into the Justice ministry and Spartico Mortola, Commander of the DIGOS in Genoa at the time of G8, has been promoted to be chief of police in Turin. The only commander (7th mobile heavy riot unit) not to of been promoted was Vincenzo Canterini, the 'Butcher of Diaz'.

And they did do anything and everything to the victims of Diaz and Bolzaneto. Like planting Molotov cocktails at Diaz whilst knowing everyone there was innocent and with the firm intention of sending the victims to jail as a grand conspiracy of criminality for the next 15 years on trumped up false charges . It should be remembered that the Italians were using emergency G8 military powers which double the sentence of most crimes in normal times.

What happened to me is an illustration of how far the Diaz police were prepared to go to dispense their kind of idealogy. In three attacks over the space of 15 minutes, my left hand was broken, eight ribs on my left side, my left lung was shredded, I suffered massive internal bleeding, a damaged spine, 16 broken teeth and was put into a coma. I was then left to die outside the main gate of Diaz Pertini despite the fact that Carabineri medical teams were present.

I actually count myself lucky that the police never succeeded kidnapping me out of hospital and sending me to Bolzaneto where I would of certainly died at the hands of a prison doctor (Toccafondi who was convicted during the Bolzaneto trial) who joined in the torture with the police. Others were not so lucky and endured four of the five basic torture techniques as invented by the parachute regiment in 1972 Northern Ireland conflict (yes... Bolzaneto is compared to that conflict. It was not just a few hippies being slapped about. It was systematic torture).

In the hours and days after the Diaz raid, a cover-up went into place by the Diaz police whilst they gave press conferences telling the international press that all the victims were dangerous terrorists. Dr Zucca calls it a 'Code Blue' wall of silence. The commanders at Diaz ordered civil servant police who attended Diaz later to write false reports and statements (which they later signed). My attempted murder was written out of the statements and to this day, only two policemen out of 340 who had to pass me to get into Diaz, ever said they saw me. No honest policeman had the courage to face up to the power of these commanders and attempt to tell the truth for fear of being threatened and killed by their superiors. A few did attempt to tell some truth about the basic facts. Fournier was one such policeman. He testified that Diaz was a 'Mexican Butchers Shop'. However, on the whole, very few spoke out about what they had seen.

In the years after the Diaz raid, I attempted and succeeded in rebuilding and synchronising the video evidence. 'Supervideo Diaz', as it was nicknamed, was finished and presented by the italian legal human rights team in the actual Diaz trial. This reconstruction is an irrefutable major piece of evidence in front of the Cassazione judges.

Diaz is a special trial in the sense that so many police are on trial and they are not just the rank and file. Most of them are commanders. Police trials like Diaz have to have a much higher level of evidence involved even if you are to be in the situation of bringing a case, let alone winning it. We called it the 500% rule. The police had to be caught absolutely red handed in performing a crime before we presented a legal argument. At Diaz much went wrong for them and yes they were all caught red-handed beating innocent protesters and journalists, planting false evidence - namely two Molotov's, falsely accusing and arresting the victims and caught sending victims off for torture at Bolzaneto by another set of police.
This is why Diaz breaks all known records in the legal sense. I have not found another case yet where more police have been put on trial as in the Diaz trial.

However, through the last eleven years, Berlusconi sought to move the legal goalposts of the Diaz case. First, he shortened the statute of limitations. This was primarily to get himself off charges related to the John Mills affair. However, this law also caused many of the Diaz charges to go beyond the statute of limitations despite being found guilty of all of them.

The three charges still on the statute book are false arrest, false statement and forgery. If found guilty of these three charges, the may 2010 verdict will stand and 15 of the Diaz police are jailed and a further eleven will be thrown out.

However, many italian commentators say that Cassazione will use a law passed in 2005 that suspends the first three years of a sentence. Its known as Berlusconi's 'Pardon' law. This will mean that all Diaz police walk and most will keep their jobs.

If Cassazione exists for justice for the victim, where is the justice? Why does the court have to protect and let go the butchers of Diaz? Why does the court have to use laws from a criminal like Berlusconi? Is the court going to do anything about what Amnesty International said? Will yet another serious injustice persist into italian history?

Photo resources: [1|2]

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Update:

G8/Diaz: Supreme Court confirms conviction against police. All 26 found guilty.

July 5, 2012 - 19:32

(ANSA) - Rome, July 5 - The Supreme Court has definitively confirmed the sentences against the officials of the State Police raided the Diaz school in Genoa during the G8 in 2001. Among the accused, the sentence of five years for the former commander of the first mobile unit in Rome Vincenzo Canterini, four years for the current head dell'anticrimine Francesco Gratteri and the former Deputy Director John UCIGOS Luperi, four years, and one to three years and eight months for the former head of the Digos of Genoa, Spartacus Mortola and the former deputy head of the SCO, Gilberto Caldarozzi .

Officials will be suspended from duty and 'applied the penalty of disqualification from public office for 5 years.

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ROME - The Fifth Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the convictions for forgery for police chiefs and prescribed the injury to the other officers involved in beatings at the Diaz school in Genoa during the G8 in 2001. The decision came after nine hours of deliberation. After 11 years, the Supreme Court thus puts an end to the mexican butchers shop called Diaz.

The agents are involved in the beating and sentenced in illegal arrests of anti-globalization to the school in 2001. Then confirmed the sentence of 4 years for Giovanni Luperi (chief of AISI - italian MI6) and Francesco Gratteri (Deputy chief of police), the 5 years to Vincent Canterini (commander of 7th mobile), as well as penalties, equal to 3 years and 8 months, imposed on Gilberto Caldarozzi (anti-drugs chief), Filippo Ferri, Fabio Ciccimarra, Nando Dominici, Spartacus Mortola (chief of police of turin) , Carlo Di Sarro, Massimo Mazzoni, Renzo Cerchi, Davide Di Novi and Massimiliano Di Bernardini. Prescribed, however, the alleged crimes of a serious injury to nine agents belonging to the seventh special unit of the mobile at the time. "The judgment of the Supreme Court today to be respected as all decisions of the Judiciary.

The Interior Ministry will comply as provided by the Supreme Court, "said Interior Minister, Anna Maria Cancellieri. Police "welcomes the judgment of the judiciary with full due respect and reaffirms its commitment to continue the steady improvement of the training on the complex field public order and security, "said Chief of Police, Prefect Antonio Manganelli after the verdict. Confirmation of the judgment of the Court of Appeal will take immediate enforcement of sentences. Between prescription and pardon the sentences in each case there will be sentences but officials would mean immediate disqualification from office and suspension from duty, since for each of the 26 defendants the appellate court has ordered the penalty of disqualification from public office for five years.

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The verdict issued tonight by the Supreme Court on what happened at the Diaz school in Genoa in July 2001, Amnesty International announce that it is an important ruling that finally and definitively, although very late, recognizes that agents and state officials were guilty of serious violations of human rights of people who were supposed to protect.

However, Amnesty International points out that the failures and omissions of the state to give full justice to the victims of the violence of the G8 in Genoa are of such magnitude that these convictions still leave a bitter taste: arrived late, with sentences that do not reflect the severity crimes detected - and that mostly will not run because of the requirement - and following investigations difficult and hampered by agents and police officials that they should feel the duty to contribute to the finding of facts so serious.

Above all, these sentences involve a very small number of those who participated in the violence and criminal activities designed to hide the crimes committed. For Amnesty International, the conclusion of this difficult process can not be the end of the attempt to give full justice to the victims of the G8 in Genoa. After the phase of the investigation of individual responsibility, it is all to do an analysis that leads to shared conclusions about what did not work in Genoa in 2001 at the system level and how to ensure that this does not happen again.

Amnesty International will continue to ask the Italian institutions:
- Publicly condemn human rights violations committed by police 11 years ago and provide an apology to the victims;

- Undertake to ensure that violations such as those that happened in Genoa in 2001 will not occur again through the implementation of concrete measures to ensure the determination of liability for all violations of human rights committed by the police; 

- Introduced in the Penal Code the crime of torture (Hence the appeal to be signed) and a definition of torture that includes all the features described in Article 1 of UN Convention against Torture; 

- Creating the National Human Rights Institution in line with the "Principles concerning the status of national institutions" (Paris Principles); 

- Ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and establish an independent national mechanism to prevent torture and ill-treatment; 

- Conduct a thorough review of the provisions in force in the operations of public policy, including those relating to training and deployment of police forces employed in the demonstrations, the use of force and firearms, and takes into account the need to introduce elements of individual identification of members of the police in public order operations.

 

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Rome, 6 July (AKI) - A major reorganisation at the top of Italy's police force will follow the upholding by Italy's top court of 13 senior officers' convictions over a brutal attack by riot police on protesters at a school during the Genoa G( summit in 2001.

"The men who have been convicted at the final level of appeal must be replaced," justice minister Anna Maria Cancellieri told Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Friday.

Several of the officers are investigators close to Italy's police chief Antonio Manganelli.

They include Franceso Gratteri, head of anti-crime operations, who was involved in many high-profile investigations against the mafia; Gilberto Caldarozzi, head of the police central operations unit, who played a role in capture of mafia "boss of bosses" Bernardo Provenzano in 2006; and Giovanni Luperi, the head of the police counter-terrorism unit.

The officers were convicted on Thursday by Italy Court of Cassation for complicity in planting of evidence to try to justify the unprovoked attack at the Genoa school, including a petrol bomb and clubs.

The officers will not be jailed because they benefited from a general pardon for certain offences in 2006. But they are banned from public office for five years after their definitive conviction and will be suspended from duty.

Cancellieri said Italy was losing some of its best policemen but said she wholeheartedly condemned the violent attack by police on the G8 protesters.

"Serious errors were committed at the Genoa G8 and now those who are responsible for this must pay," she stated.

"The price is very high, because we are losing some of our best men."

Twelve riot police were previously convicted for beating protesters in the school but never jailed because of Italy's statute of limitations.

More than 60 anti-globalisation campaigners were savagely beaten and one left in a coma by the police raid which occurred on the night of 21 July after rioting and pitched battles with police in Genoa.

One Italian protester was killed during some of the worst rioting seen at international summits.

Amnesty International described as the most serious suspension of democratic rights in a western country since the second world war.

Manganelli said the police would, "accept the sentence with utmost respect and commit to the constant improving of training with regard to the complex field of order and public security".

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This has been reposted from Urban 75 discussion board where Nessuno posted the above texts last week

Some short films about the case.

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