Manchester's campaign against the Database State is going from strength to strenth. Find out what's going on and how you can get involved!
Manchester NO2ID Logo
Volunteers Needed
=================
We need someone to contact more faith groups, local community groups etc.
and invite ourselves to come and talk to them about the Database State and
its implications.
We haven't sent out press releases for a while. Someone who has the time to
write press releases, or to adapt releases sent by other groups, would really
help raise the group's media profile. The [1]NO2ID Campaigner's Handbook has
some very useful tips on writing press releases, and you can see [2]previous
Manchester NO2ID releases.
Summary Of Actions
==================
Dave to find out whether / when the Alternative Fresher's Fair is happening.
Gwyneth to sign student society paperwork.
Dave to provide Matt with sample constitution; Matt to set up bank account.
Steve to organise a broad-spectrum anti-ID meeting as part of the Convention
of the Left during the Labour Party Conference in September.
Dave to see whether there's any life on the national Defy-ID mailing list.
Dave to organise a public meeting on ID cards during the Labour Party
Conference, invite local MP John Leech and Phil Booth / Guy Herbert.
Dave to design and print off 50 copies of an A5 leaflet / poster for our next
meeting, for people to distribute.
Dave to contact Matty Mitford about a meeting in Liverpool.
Barry to organise Dave speaking at Red Friday in Bolton, and at the Northern
Anarchist Network in Burnley.
Dave to follow up on the Preston list and try to get a group started there.
Dave to contact Councillor Joe O'Neill.
Tom to finalise arrangements for the "Freed Up" Poetry Night.
Dave to investigate a presence at the Mega Mela.
Tom to investigate a presence at another Platt Fields festival.
Tom to chase Kevin about the gig organisation.
Dave to discuss student loans and contacting banks with the group
co-ordinators' list.
Request For Assistance
======================
May's minutes didn't get written up, due to a lack of time on Dave's part.
Some people are volunteering to take on individual responsibilities which is
great, but we could always use a little more help - if you can spare even a
couple of hours a month, it'd be very useful for the group.
In particular, we need more people who are prepared to help out with
preparing and sending press releases.
Recent Events
=============
The Anarchist Bookfair was popular - we took many signatures and ran out of
leaflets. Thanks in particular to Helen and Eddy for sorting out the stall,
and also to Tom, Matt and Barry for helping.
Our monthly stall attracted lots of interest too. Thanks to Matt and Helen
for organising the stall, and to Eileen and Barry for helping. Apologies if
any names were missed!
Student Society
===============
The paperwork for Students Against ID has been completed and two of three
signatories secured; the paperwork should be in by the end of the week. We
should still be able to organise a stall for Fresher's Fair in September.
Fresher's Fair 2008 takes place on [3]Monday 22nd - Wednesday 24th
September, from 10am to 4pm. This overlaps with the [4]Labour Party
Conference (20th-24th), which means that we can immediately promote our
events around the Party Conference to the students, and invite them to come
and join us. There may also be an Alternative Fresher's Fair, either during
Fresher's Fair itself or shortly afterwards, which we should make the effort
to attend.
It was suggested that, like last year's Amnesty screening, we should
organise a screening of Taking Liberties early in the academic year.
Bank Account
============
Dave chased up Matty Mitford (NO2ID's local group co-ordinator) who has been
working on a sample constitution for local NO2ID groups to set up bank
accounts. This will be ready Real Soon Now.
Labour Party Conference
=======================
The [5]Convention of the Left is running concurrently with the Labour Party
Conference in September. Steve Durrant is giving a talk on civil liberties
during the Convention. The group considered having a meeting where
interested anti-ID campaigners could meet and network and plan. This would be
much like the meeting at the Basement in September 2006 where NO2ID and
Defy-ID groups and other campaigners met to share information and tactics.
Steve has agreed to look into including this in the schedule.
We also discussed having a public meeting during the Labour Party
Conference. Dave will look into this and liase with NO2ID HQ.
Broadening The Campaign
=======================
We discussed ways to make Manchester NO2ID more widespread and get a wider
range of people involved in the campaign.
Faith groups were mentioned as one route; Dave pointed out that for a long
time our flyers encouraged people to invite us to talk to their church,
mosque, social group etc. and that we had no response. Steve suggested we be
more proactive in contacting these groups. Dave mentioned that Rachel had
agreed to contact the WI some time ago and wasn't sure how far this had got.
Clare had offered to contact local union branches but we had decided to hold
off on this until after our bank account was sorted.
It was suggested that we hold more events, over a wider area. Dave
questioned whether we had the resources to do this and maintain our
Manchester presence, since the regularity of our Manchester stalls seems to
give us extra credibility. However, if people are prepared to take on the
responsibility of organising and supporting extra events, it would doubtless
be valuable for us.
Steve suggested putting up A5 posters advertising our meetings around
town.Venues suggested included the Buddhist Centre, the Unicorn grocery,
Affleck's, the Cornerhouse, the 8th Day, the Student's Unions, the Earth
Cafe, Nexus, etc. Dave will print off 50 A5 posters for the next meeting, and
people can take a handful and distribute them.
Dave will also print off copies of the latest NO2ID newsletter to distribute
at our stalls and meetings.
Local Groups News
=================
The Liverpool group is still quiet and has not yet organised any meetings or
events. Dave will be on Liverpool local radio soon, and will talk to local
groups co-ordinator Matty Mitford and the Liverpool people about organising a
meeting to plug on-air.
Dave needs to chase up his visit a few months back to Preston - it seemed
then that people were interested in the campaign but that nobody wanted to
take on the mantle of co-ordinator.
Barry suggested that a group might be started in Bolton, and that Dave talk
at the local socialist group's "Red Friday" meetings. Barry to organise this.
Barry also invited Dave to speak to the Northern Anarchist Network in
Burnley.
Councillor Joe O'Neill wants to campaign on civil liberties in Salford; Dave
to contact him.
Lancaster are looking for a new co-ordinator. St. Helens has been quiet.
Upcoming Events
===============
We have many events ahead of our next meeting. [These have already been
posted at
http://manchester.no2id.net - Dave]
Tom mentioned an upcoming festival in Platt Fields featuring Mr Scruff, I Am
Kloot and other bands, and reminded Dave of the Mega Mela.
References
==========
1. http://www.no2id.net/downloads/print/no2idCampaignersHandbook.pdf
2. http://manchester.no2id.net/taxonomy/term/2
3. http://www.umsu.manchester.ac.uk/freshers/freshersfairs.shtml
4. http://www.labour.org.uk/labour_party_annual_conference_2008
5. http://conventionoftheleft.org.uk/
=================
We need someone to contact more faith groups, local community groups etc.
and invite ourselves to come and talk to them about the Database State and
its implications.
We haven't sent out press releases for a while. Someone who has the time to
write press releases, or to adapt releases sent by other groups, would really
help raise the group's media profile. The [1]NO2ID Campaigner's Handbook has
some very useful tips on writing press releases, and you can see [2]previous
Manchester NO2ID releases.
Summary Of Actions
==================
Dave to find out whether / when the Alternative Fresher's Fair is happening.
Gwyneth to sign student society paperwork.
Dave to provide Matt with sample constitution; Matt to set up bank account.
Steve to organise a broad-spectrum anti-ID meeting as part of the Convention
of the Left during the Labour Party Conference in September.
Dave to see whether there's any life on the national Defy-ID mailing list.
Dave to organise a public meeting on ID cards during the Labour Party
Conference, invite local MP John Leech and Phil Booth / Guy Herbert.
Dave to design and print off 50 copies of an A5 leaflet / poster for our next
meeting, for people to distribute.
Dave to contact Matty Mitford about a meeting in Liverpool.
Barry to organise Dave speaking at Red Friday in Bolton, and at the Northern
Anarchist Network in Burnley.
Dave to follow up on the Preston list and try to get a group started there.
Dave to contact Councillor Joe O'Neill.
Tom to finalise arrangements for the "Freed Up" Poetry Night.
Dave to investigate a presence at the Mega Mela.
Tom to investigate a presence at another Platt Fields festival.
Tom to chase Kevin about the gig organisation.
Dave to discuss student loans and contacting banks with the group
co-ordinators' list.
Request For Assistance
======================
May's minutes didn't get written up, due to a lack of time on Dave's part.
Some people are volunteering to take on individual responsibilities which is
great, but we could always use a little more help - if you can spare even a
couple of hours a month, it'd be very useful for the group.
In particular, we need more people who are prepared to help out with
preparing and sending press releases.
Recent Events
=============
The Anarchist Bookfair was popular - we took many signatures and ran out of
leaflets. Thanks in particular to Helen and Eddy for sorting out the stall,
and also to Tom, Matt and Barry for helping.
Our monthly stall attracted lots of interest too. Thanks to Matt and Helen
for organising the stall, and to Eileen and Barry for helping. Apologies if
any names were missed!
Student Society
===============
The paperwork for Students Against ID has been completed and two of three
signatories secured; the paperwork should be in by the end of the week. We
should still be able to organise a stall for Fresher's Fair in September.
Fresher's Fair 2008 takes place on [3]Monday 22nd - Wednesday 24th
September, from 10am to 4pm. This overlaps with the [4]Labour Party
Conference (20th-24th), which means that we can immediately promote our
events around the Party Conference to the students, and invite them to come
and join us. There may also be an Alternative Fresher's Fair, either during
Fresher's Fair itself or shortly afterwards, which we should make the effort
to attend.
It was suggested that, like last year's Amnesty screening, we should
organise a screening of Taking Liberties early in the academic year.
Bank Account
============
Dave chased up Matty Mitford (NO2ID's local group co-ordinator) who has been
working on a sample constitution for local NO2ID groups to set up bank
accounts. This will be ready Real Soon Now.
Labour Party Conference
=======================
The [5]Convention of the Left is running concurrently with the Labour Party
Conference in September. Steve Durrant is giving a talk on civil liberties
during the Convention. The group considered having a meeting where
interested anti-ID campaigners could meet and network and plan. This would be
much like the meeting at the Basement in September 2006 where NO2ID and
Defy-ID groups and other campaigners met to share information and tactics.
Steve has agreed to look into including this in the schedule.
We also discussed having a public meeting during the Labour Party
Conference. Dave will look into this and liase with NO2ID HQ.
Broadening The Campaign
=======================
We discussed ways to make Manchester NO2ID more widespread and get a wider
range of people involved in the campaign.
Faith groups were mentioned as one route; Dave pointed out that for a long
time our flyers encouraged people to invite us to talk to their church,
mosque, social group etc. and that we had no response. Steve suggested we be
more proactive in contacting these groups. Dave mentioned that Rachel had
agreed to contact the WI some time ago and wasn't sure how far this had got.
Clare had offered to contact local union branches but we had decided to hold
off on this until after our bank account was sorted.
It was suggested that we hold more events, over a wider area. Dave
questioned whether we had the resources to do this and maintain our
Manchester presence, since the regularity of our Manchester stalls seems to
give us extra credibility. However, if people are prepared to take on the
responsibility of organising and supporting extra events, it would doubtless
be valuable for us.
Steve suggested putting up A5 posters advertising our meetings around
town.Venues suggested included the Buddhist Centre, the Unicorn grocery,
Affleck's, the Cornerhouse, the 8th Day, the Student's Unions, the Earth
Cafe, Nexus, etc. Dave will print off 50 A5 posters for the next meeting, and
people can take a handful and distribute them.
Dave will also print off copies of the latest NO2ID newsletter to distribute
at our stalls and meetings.
Local Groups News
=================
The Liverpool group is still quiet and has not yet organised any meetings or
events. Dave will be on Liverpool local radio soon, and will talk to local
groups co-ordinator Matty Mitford and the Liverpool people about organising a
meeting to plug on-air.
Dave needs to chase up his visit a few months back to Preston - it seemed
then that people were interested in the campaign but that nobody wanted to
take on the mantle of co-ordinator.
Barry suggested that a group might be started in Bolton, and that Dave talk
at the local socialist group's "Red Friday" meetings. Barry to organise this.
Barry also invited Dave to speak to the Northern Anarchist Network in
Burnley.
Councillor Joe O'Neill wants to campaign on civil liberties in Salford; Dave
to contact him.
Lancaster are looking for a new co-ordinator. St. Helens has been quiet.
Upcoming Events
===============
We have many events ahead of our next meeting. [These have already been
posted at
http://manchester.no2id.net - Dave] Tom mentioned an upcoming festival in Platt Fields featuring Mr Scruff, I Am
Kloot and other bands, and reminded Dave of the Mega Mela.
References
==========
1.
http://www.no2id.net/downloads/print/no2idCampaignersHandbook.pdf 2.
http://manchester.no2id.net/taxonomy/term/2 3.
http://www.umsu.manchester.ac.uk/freshers/freshersfairs.shtml 4.
http://www.labour.org.uk/labour_party_annual_conference_2008 5.
http://conventionoftheleft.org.uk/ 
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