West Country Technology Feature Archive

Sainsbury's chilled food distribution centres were blockaded across the country on Thursday in protest against GM feed being fed to dairy cows. Sainsbury’s five biggest UK distribution centres were shut down as evironmentalists and consumers simultaneously blockaded the supermarket chain's chilled-goods depots in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol and Sheffield. They were chained together through steel tubes, or sat up scaffold tripods, blocking the depot gates. The co-ordinated action was intended to halt distribution of Sainsbury's dairy products that come from cows fed GM animal feed.

The protest follows Sainsbury’s failure to provide non-GM fed milk as standard, despite rivals like Marks and Spencer and the Co-op doing so. The action was taken in solidarity with farmers, demanding they get a fair deal of 2p on the pound for non-GM milk. The coalition of groups campaigning on this issue includes Farmers for Action, the Small and Family Farmers Alliance, The Small Farms Association, the Wholesome Food Association, the Institute of Science in Society, Genetic Food Alert and the Genetic Engineering Network (see GM animal feed campaign PDF). Also see National press release

Local reports: Birmingham report, photos and video | London
Yorkshire | Liverpool [ 1 , 2 ] and photos [1 | 2]
Bristol report and photos
Sainsbury's Essex Waltham Point Depot Blockade Report
See also Genetic Engineering Network

In a related action, farmers in Barnstaple blockaded a Sainsbury's store, while consumers and campaigners labelled GM milk inside the store: report and press release here.

Latest news:
Cows leaflet shareholders are Sainsbury AGM - Monday 12th July
Store demo in Plymouth - Saturday 10th July
Farmers vist Welsh store - Saturday 10th July
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During the last six weeks, unknown to most people, there have been a series of public debates up and down the country about whether the government should allow the commericalisation of GM crops in the UK. The deadline for public input is now over - did you have your say?

In an exclusive film made for Indymedia, people from all over the country reveal that the public consultation was a poorly advertised, ill concieved and miss-managed farce that failed to engage ordinary people. The film also demonstrates that much of the public believe that the decision has already been made to push ahead with GM (regardless of the will of the people) and that the government is an undemocratic tool of U.S. interests and big business.

Watch the video,

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Over five hundred people supported the CND national Scrap Trident demonstration in Plymouth. They came from as far afield as Southampton and Birmingham with local support from Plymouth and the surrounding areas to march, chant and show solidarity in the campaign against nuclear weapons.
They called for the UK government to comply with International Law and scrap the Trident nuclear weapons program. They also rejected Tony Blair's hypocritical pro-war stance in relation to weapons of mass destruction. Read more >>

DEFRA will allow the planting of the genetically modified winter oilseed rape trials following the results of seed testing for GM contaminants. Last week, Dorset Police Press Department were forced to correct their original media statement which claimed that protestors had targeted the wrong field during an action at Hilton in Dorest. Fourteen were arrested for 'criminal damage' and aggravated trespass when they attempted to decontaminate the illegal GM trial site. The protest was in reaction to the news that an unauthorised release of antibiotic-resistant GM oilseed rape has occured in over twenty five GM trials since 1999. [ contamination report | action report | photos | video ] Read more >>

Risks to Plymouth residents from nuclear facilities at Devonport dockyard are being deliberately downplayed for commercial reasons according to anti-nuclear campaigners and experts. Devonport Management Ltd. (DML) are hiding behind official secrets legislation, they say, to play down the danger the dockyard poses to the public. Read more >>

After seven weeks, a GM crop squat in Dorset is over. The field had been occupied by protesters with a 20ft tall pink castle since April 25th. The GM maize crop has now been completely destroyed and the trial written off. Protesters celebrated over the weekend then packed up and left the site. Read more. Read more >>

On May 7th, in broad daylight and in front of the gathered media, protesters dressed as chickens dug up GM maize from one of the farmscale trials in Dorset. They also hoped to draw attention to the findings of a study in which chickens feed the GM maize had a higher mortality rate than those feed on conventional varieties. About a dozen people took part in the action in Littlemoor near Weymouth. There were no arrests and the free ranging chickens had a quick organic picnic in the field before heading home. Read more >>

HMS Vanguard – a trident class nuclear submarine arrived in Plymouth, in a blaze of media glory for a long overdue refit, circled by an impregnable ring of police boats. Hundreds of anti-nuclear protesters had travelled from across the country to demonstrate at her arrival. The demo marched around the dockyards, then sat down at the dockyard's gates and observed a moment of silence. The march then finished peacefully and dispersed, but seven Trident Ploughshares protestors who stayed behind to block one of the gates were arrested for obstruction.

Numerous times before we have seen that when people feel strongly enough about something, they can make a difference. Those people may have gone away having made connections that will change their own lives and help to create a better future. The protest came just a week before the planned Big Blockade at the Trident submaring base is Faslane. Read more >>