Gagged! 16 - South Wales Anarchist Newsletter

 http://lists.riseup.net/www/d_read/gagged/gagged16.pdf

Anti-pipeline campaign continues on full flow
As the corporations & authorities press on with their ridiculous & outrageous pipeline project, activists from both south wales & further afield continue the campaign to stop it. The proposed 150 mile pipeline pumping liquefied natural gas at a dangerously high pressure is intrinsically wrong on many levels:
The jetty under construction at Milford Haven hasn’t had an adequate risk assessment by the harbour authority. Ex-pilots for the harbour have expressed severe concern for the positioning of the jetty, which is so far out into the channel to accommodate the enormous ships bringing in the gas tanks, that a serious risk is posed to other ships trying to navigate into dock. In the last 6 months there have been 1200 reports to the health & safety executive of leaks by tankers owned by a single operator. The risks involved with the construction of the pipeline & it’s associated reprocessing stations has been called into question several times. In the USA a pipeline of this pressure isn’t allowed to be laid within 10 miles of houses, due to the risk of leaks & explosions. But here it runs through villages & past schools.
The environmental impact is massive, as the pipeline slashes through ancient woodland including parts of the Brecon Beacons national park flattening everything as it goes. Despite government greenwash & public recognition of the very real threat of climate change £700,000,000 is being spent on a project which only serves to increase our dependence on fossil fuels. More & more people are realising that our governments aren’t to be trusted & that the only way to maintain a world for our children & grandchildren is to take matters into our own hands & take responsibility or our own future.

This Is Terminal!
On Wednesday 14th February Activists blockaded the main entrance road to the South Hook LNG terminal construction site. 5 people locked onto heavy arm tubes in a circle, blocking the road, which is owned by Esso. The police arrived within a few minutes (basically, they were expecting us) & aggressively attempted to pull the people in arm tubes apart. The large police presence dragged away people supporting the protest & illegally holding them in a worker’s bus for hours, finally releasing them with a warning & a ban from the area.
The blockade continued for 6 hours despite police threats to use pepper spray & to lift people locked-on, risking broken arms. Police played good cop/bad cop depending on whether their cameras were on. The blockade resulted in a tailback of over 50 lorries unable to enter & many vehicles unable to leave the construction site. This resulted in an estimated loss of £700,000 for Esso/South Hook LNG.
The state were a little annoyed about this protest. 5 people were charged with aggravated trespass & 7 released on bail for conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass. Held for nearly 24 hours, they were let out separately in middle of the night. 3 vehicles were impounded & 3 houses unofficially raided with doors being kicked in, property trashed, computers & other personal items confiscated & no receipts or official documents left. Ridiculous bail conditions were imposed including ‘residing at home each night’ (basically being grounded) & not going within 200m of the pipeline – even though at 150 miles it’s hard to avoid in South & Mid Wales. People were photographed & monitored when attending court 2 weeks later.

Police Oppression
Circumstances around the terminal protest suggest Big Brother has been watching closely recently. As many as 300 Police gathered at Swansea police station at 6pm the day before. The intelligence they had about the protest suggests meetings had been infiltrated or listened to, with evidence that activists were being being watched & followed.
Although scary & uncomfortable at times for those involved, the reaction of the state proves that direct action is effective. If we are not a serious threat to governments & big business then they would not need to go to these extreme measures to try to intimidate us & stop us from fighting back. We will not stop! See you at the next action!

GAGGED! SEIZED!
In the raids following the blockade, police seized 100s of copies of Gagged! Is what we print so dangerous it has to be confiscated by the cops?! More of a worry is people having 100s of copies of Gagged! a month after it was printed! We’re trying to distribute faster, contact us for copies & to get involved.

Trebanos footpath occupation
The Trebanos protest site (see #15) continued until early February with an empty nearby pub occupied to provide warm & dry rooms for those ‘off shift’. All work was stopped until National Grid applied for the closure of the footpath.
However, evicting the camp without the full 7 days notice meant activists returned early the next morning. 4 days later with the notice time up & protesters returning, the site was suddenly swamped by over 40 old bill. People were given 5 minutes to leave the site, some, now known as the ‘Faffing Five’ took precisely 3.58 minutes to decide, & were promptly arrested. Though banned from Wales in their bail conditions, the charge of aggravated trespass is unlikely to stick in court due to the lack of 1.02 minutes captured on video.

Brecon Tree Camp
On Monday 22nd January a protest camp was set up in Penbont in the Brecon Beacons National park. Occupying woodland set for destruction to make way for the pipeline. The camp has 5 treehouses, suspended nets, walkways & ground structures with burners. Residents of Brecon & lovers of the park have donated foods & supplies. Protesters are busy building defenses (more materials needed!) & visiting other sites to stop trees being felled.
Pop down for a day, a few days or even longer! Help & visitors always welcome. The camp is at 4 miles west of Brecon town on the A40. Site phone: 07733190958

www.fightthepipe.co.uk www.safehavenpembs.co.uk risingtide.org.uk/bristol/pipeline


privatisation vote cuts both ways
Whilst 72.1% of Swansea tenants rejected the privatisation of their homes 59.2% of Torfean tenants voted for stock transfer. All Torfean council homes & assets (land buildings, playing fields, green communal areas etc) will be given to Bron Afon Ltd. Seeing that Torfean Council spent £1.2 million on propaganda, employed privatisation consultants ‘tact@dome’ & used Union & GMB members to spread a totally 1-sided pro-transfer argument (both unions are anti-transfer) the result isn't a surprise!
Torfean Defend Council Housing are proud that 40.8% of tenants voted against privatisation & did not give in to the blackmail of "vote yes, or else your homes won't get repaired". Those who voted "No" will be proved right. Interestingly in Scotland Mid-Lothian council are actually building 1000 new council homes. In Wales the assembly & local councils are looking to make a quick buck & shift all responsibility.
We’ll be watching Bron Afon Ltd as they try to keep pre-ballot promises. Remember new kitchens, bathrooms, etc have to be fitted by 2012 to meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standard. www.publicnotprivate.org.uk

An Anarchist group serving the Swansea/Llanelli & west Wales area is setting up. If your interested in getting involved with ‘FEP’ (Freedom, Equality, Peace) please get in contact:  El_fuser@riseup.net

MURDER COLLEGE
at St. Athan, Vale of Glamorgan
The Welsh Assembly Government announced with great pride that the contract for the ‘UK Defence Training Academy’ has been awarded to RAF St Athan. The contract worth £14 billion was given to The Metrix Corporation whose main UK business partner is the Ministry of Defence.
The fact that troops from all the UK's armed forces would be trained in murder & destruction at the airbase was welcomed by Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Tories & the Lib Dems, none, including so-called ‘anti-war’ politicians have spoke out against it. In their desire for headlines about jobs & ‘financial growth’ they overlooked the fact that the vast majority of the 5000 jobs (3500 permanent 1500 trainees) promised by 2012 will go to specialist military personnel who will have to re-locate, aside from the odd cleaner & estate agents no-one else in the region will benefit. A further £100,000,000 of taxpayer’s money will be spent on transport to serve the enlarged base including road widening on sections of the A48 to cope with military traffic.
This ‘centre of excellence’ will train civilian & armed service personnel in defence technology. Skills will be used to make people better killers so the government can run a more effective killing machine to protect UK economic interests around the world. More specifically destroying lives in Iraq, Afghanistan & maybe soon, Iran.
ALL the welsh political parties are in favour of this murder college. Though some may oppose Trident nuclear missiles they welcome this institution of death. Such hypocrisy is typical of politicians who are interested only in power. We don’t need people being trained to commit murder either in south wales or anywhere else. We are led by killers don’t care about human life.

If you’ve got nothing to hide.....
Recently released statistics show that the police have taken DNA details from 1 in 14 people in South Wales. Even though loads of these were later released without charge, their details have been logged into a massive central database.
3.3 million people across the UK have had DNA samples taken & logged by one of the 43 UK police forces. That’s about 6.7% of the population, (even higher in black & ethnic minority groups with 1 in 4 black men) & nationally the number of samples held on the database is set to rise to 4.25 million within 2 years.
It’s obvious the Government is gradually expanding this database as the basis for a national register of the details of the whole population. This just goes to show how important it is for the powers that be to keep tabs on us at all times.
We are already being watched by over 4 million CCTV cameras, some with facial recognition capacity, keeping all our town centres & public spaces under constant surveillance.
Biometric information which will be stored on a central database through the new national ID card scheme could soon be linked to facial recognition systems & CCTV cameras to identify individuals anywhere in the UK, or to compile a database of our movements without our knowledge.
They say they’re watching us for our own protection, that if we’ve got nothing to hide we’ve got nothing to fear. This isn’t true! Surveillance doesn’t keep us safe from crime or terrorism. It creates a climate of distrust, fear & paranoia. Surveillance is always bad news for the marginalised, the disadvantaged, & those who don’t want some civil servant, cop, or greedy politician knowing every last thing about them.

Though Gagged! has only been about since 2004 there’s been anarchist activity in south Wales for alot longer. Did you know that:
The term ‘anarcho-syndicalism’ was coined by an engineer from Neath? Cardiff’s army recruitment office was petrol bombed by anarchists? Malatesta was smuggled out of Cardiff docks? A Swansea anarchist newsletter got a several local councillors jailed? Emma Goldman married a Camarthanshire miner? Crass’ last gig was in Aberdare? Issue 1 of ‘Class War’ was produced in Cardiff?
Some people are trying to compile a history of anarchism in wales, if you have any information about Wales’ anarchist past or if you have any old literature by or about anarchists from Wales, they’d love to hear from you. Email:  buckfast4breakfast@hotmail.com

close all detention centres
On February 10th, ‘No Border’ activists from south Wales joined over 200 others from around the UK & beyond to demonstrate outside Harmondsworth & Colnbrook detention prisons, near Heathrow, to call for an end to the forced detention & deportation of asylum seekers. Private companies such as Kalyx (which runs Harmondsworth) & Serco (Colnbrook) are making huge profits from imprisoning tens of thousands of people every year. These peoples’ only crime is to have entered the UK in search of a better life, free from poverty, torture & war. The irony is that these same companies are also exploiting the cheap labour of migrants. Under capitalism, corporations are free to use the resources & labour of poorer countries to produce their products cheaply, yet the people of such countries are not free to move to a better life. We are told by certain parts of the press that immigrants come to the UK for an easy ride. In reality they can face discrimination, poverty & live in fear of being forcibly deported to countries they put everything at risk to escape from. Those seeking asylum have a right to do so, & the UK has adequate space & resources to provide this asylum.

Operation Phoenix
Swansea Police’s anti-crime & disorder initiative ‘Operation Phoenix’ has the same name as the notorious campaign of torture, assassination & imprisonment that took place in Vietnam between 1967 & 1971 in which 20,000 civilian were executed without trial. Does the Swansea police force aspire to warcrimes or is it their ignorance of history? Either way Vietnamese people in Swansea must be feeling fairly uncomfortable.

Reclaim the Night
On the 29th December 2006, over 150 people, some from south Wales gathered in Ipswich for a Reclaim the Night March. The march was called to show solidarity with the murdered prostitutes in Ipswich & the ensuing police statement that recommended that all women should stay at home. This type of statement encourages the culture of fear that keeps women from walking the streets at night, so that the ones who do venture outside are isolated & more at risk. The march, organised by a queer collective, was attended by both women & men for the freedom of all vulnerable people to walk the streets safely at night. As we marched we sang, “we don’t need protection, we need a revolution!”

toxic waste Dumped near cardiff
It has just become public knowledge that throughout the 50 to 70’s Monsanto paid contractors to dump 1000s tonnes of highly toxic waste in the Brofiscin quarry at the edge of Groesfaen, near Cardiff. It could cost up to £100m to clean up the site. Not that Monsanto will have to pay to clean up their mess of course. The unlined porous quarry erupted in 2003, spilling fumes over the surrounding area, but the community has been told little about the real condition of what is in the pit.
“The authorities have known about the situation for years, but have done nothing. There is evidence of not only negligence & utter incompetence, but cover-up, & the problem has grown unchecked” said Douglas Gowan, a pollution consultant who produced the official report into the Brofiscin quarry in 1972 after 9 cows on a local farm died of poisoning.
The company knew from 1965 that the PCBs manufactured at its plant in Newport, were accumulating in human milk, rivers, fish & seafood, wildlife & plants. Monsanto stopped producing PCBs in the US in 1971, but the UK government, which knew of the dangers in the 1960s, allowed their production & disposal in Wales until 1977.
Monsanto has conveniently split into several corporate entities since 1997. ‘Solutia’, who owns the Newport site says parent company ‘Pharmacia’ informed contractors on the type of waste before disposal, & did not dump wastes from its own vehicles. Well that’s alright then, is it? The Environment Agency has so far spent over £800,000 investigating the tip. That’s public money being spent just to monitor the site!

The Great Rhondda land swindle
Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) Labour council must surely be one of Wales’ dumbest & most arrogant institutions. Having closed down a number of schools in the Rhondda against the wishes of local communities, councillors have now sold them & other sites to property speculators without a hint of consultation. The result of the sell off? More homes meaning more school places will be required! Even before any new homes have been built, parents in Clydach, who fought hard to save Blaenclydach infants school, are complaining that class sizes in other schools in the area have gone above 40, even though the council promised that class sizes shouldn’t exceed 30. The land grab has netted the council £3.7 million (minus the cost of the piss up in the bar of the four star London hotel following the auction, of course). An RCT spokesperson claimed the funding would contribute to the development of the Youth Service. Perhaps the council should engage first with the young people of Clydach where youth club membership has fallen by 50% after the council closed down Blaenclydach school. As the requests for planning permission start rolling in, watch out for brown envelopes…

From Our Correspondent in Palestine: Checkpoints
For Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the delays & humiliations of Israeli checkpoints are an unavoidable & constant fact of life making all travel unpredictable. Checkpoints are sites on roads where the Israeli army controls all Palestinian traffic whilst Israeli vehicles - recognisable by their license plates - are not stopped. They vary in size from one jeep to large ‘terminals’ where people must leave their vehicles & pass on foot, often waiting for hours, sometimes without shade. ID must be shown & soldiers can refuse passage at whim. Harassment & violence by soldiers is common. The movement of young men & people from the cities & refugee camps is heavily restricted. Checkpoints are sometimes closed completely due to undisclosed ‘security threats’. I witnessed a growing crowd of hundreds waiting to pass a closed checkpoint, being controlled by soldiers standing on top of their jeep, waving guns & shouting. The level of tension was extremely high, & I understood then how people are sometimes shot at checkpoints. There are 54 permanent & around 100 ‘flying’ (temporary) checkpoints in the West Bank, an area around 35 by 80 miles in size. Since the beginning of the 2nd Intifada in September 2000, there have been 42 deaths due to people requiring medical attention being delayed at checkpoints. International solidarity organisations spend time monitoring checkpoints, & an Israeli women's organisation called Machsom Watch is devoted to this. Checkpoint monitoring is frustrating – seeing the fear which is drummed into the young Israeli soldiers which leads them to treat Palestinians as less than human; having to chose which of the waiting people to advocate for with the soldiers; feeling that your presence as the ‘eyes of the outside world’ may prevent some of the worst violence or abuses, but may also antagonise the soldiers & cause them to delay people longer.
Israel justifies checkpoints as necessary to protect against acts of ‘terrorism’ by Palestinians. However, most checkpoints are inside the West Bank, not between the West Bank & Israel, so don’t prevent anyone entering Israel. Also the arbitrary functioning of checkpoints undermines this logic completely. Of 6 buses I saw pass a flying checkpoint near our village,two had all passengers searched, three had a few searched, & one passed without anyone being searched.
This does nothing to ensure security, on the contrary, the humiliation & disruption to daily life caused by checkpoints can only serve to intensify ill-feeling towards Israel. Check out: www.machsomwatch.org The blog - eisoj.livejournal.com

Is this man an IDIOT?
How long will it be before the welsh health minister Dr Brian Gibbons resigns on grounds of complete incompetence? Recently ambulances were queuing outside the Heath hospital unable to discharge the sick & wounded. Gibbons defended himself saying this was a one-off incident due to heavy snow. A week later 7 ambulances were queuing outside the Royal Glamorgan hospital with no snow in sight! Needless to say, Gibbons is refusing to answer questions about the cock up.

Let's read together!
Do you ever think to yourself; "What is the best way to bring about the revolution?" Or, do you just want to read for pure enjoyment about current neo-liberal global institutions & alternative economic systems structured around human values rather than profit? If so, an exciting new group called 'Cardiff Reading Anti Capitalism' has been formed, focusing on vision & strategy for attaining alternatives to Capitalism!
Contact  Kitsday@gmail.com for current texts & see diary dates for meeting times!

Whoever you vote for, the government always wins
Vote Nobody for the assembly on May 3rd
Voting is not an expression of power, but an admission of powerlessness, by voting you do nothing but legitimise someone who doesn’t represent you. At the last assembly election only 37% voted, NOBODY won with a whopping 63%! Politicians go on about apathy, but they’re missing the point. We DO care about the NHS, education, & other issues that affect our lives. The fact is we know that there is no real choice to be had. History shows us that those in power of whatever party do nothing for the needs of the majority of people & everything for the rich. So why give the assembly yet another opportunity to treat us like fools? This isn’t apathy, it’s antipathy! Let the politicians know how unpopular they really are! myspace.com/votenobody

kick the nazi’s in!
The British National Party (BNP) has announced it will stand in the Welsh Assembly elections on 3rd May, contesting the five regional lists. Founded by ex-National Front (NF) chairman John Tyndall who said: “Many who feel that Hitler was right do not believe it is safe yet to state such views openly. But times will change.” Under the leadership of Nick Griffin, who’s standing in South West Wales, the BNP has become the most successful far right party in the UK’s history, with a total of 53 councillors in local government.
They claim to have changed their image, which means they wear suits & avoid marching (which always got them beaten up). With Labour abandoning it’s lip service to working class politics, the BNP have posed as socialist, even forming a racist “Union of British Workers” called Solidarity. However, far from being ‘new look’ its the same old fascist filth. Prominent members have convictions for violence & explosive making, Nick Griffin has been charged with incitement to racial hatred. Areas with BNP activity get increased racial violence. After the first council meeting since the BNP were elected in 2006, an Afghan refugee was murdered outside Barking tube station & wrapped in an England flag.
Opposition to fascism has to start in our communities, workplaces & streets. Its in these places that battles must be fought & won. Anarchists do not offer the quick fix of the ballot box to solve the society’s problems. The long haul is the only way we can see genuine social justice, & finally nail the coffin shut on the conditions that give rise to the far right.

Diary Dates:

MARCH
Saturday 24th, Carnival Against the Pipeline! A street party to protest against the gas pipeline. 2pm at Trebanos
Sunday 25th, G8 2007 UK Mobilisation Meeting. Rising Sun Arts Centre, 30 Silver Street, Reading, Berks, RG1 2ST www.dissent.org.uk
Monday 26th, National day of action against ID-Cards & the database state. www.no2id.net 8pm Cardiff Anarchist Network (CAN) meeting. upstairs in the Glamorgan Staff club, westgate street, Cardiff. Fortnightly.
Tuesday 27th. 8pm Cardiff Reading Anti Capitalism. A study group looking at economic alternatives Upstairs at the Glamorgan Staff Club. Monthly.
Saturday 31st Food Not Bombs, Cardiff

APRIL
Monday 2nd , 8.30pm Gwent Anarchist Meeting, The Murenger, Newport. Fortnightly.
Tuesday 3rd, 7.30pm Vote Nobody! Campaign meeting, Glamorgan Staff Club, Fortnightly.
Thursday 5th: Expose Exxon Day 24 hours of protest at the HQ of the world’s largest oil company, ExxonMobil (Esso), Leatherhead, south of London, www.campaigncc.org
Thursday 5th –11th Spring Into Action A week of workshops, events, music & action on climate change, across Nottingham. www.eastsideclimateaction.org.uk
Monday 16th, 8.30pm Gwent Anarchist Meeting.
Tuesday 17th, 7.30pm: Vote Nobody! Meeting.
Thursday 19th- 22nd Bath Climate Camp, focused on the headquarters of Land & marine, the company building the LNG pipeline through Wales.  bathclimatecamp@yahoo.co.uk
Saturday 21st World Day for Laboratory Animals March & rally against Manchester Airport, from where animals are taken by cargo plane to vivisection labs.
Monday 23rd, 8pm CAN meeting.
Tuesday 24th, 8pm Cardiff Reading Anti Capitalism. Monthly
Monday 30th, 8.30pm Gwent Anarchist Meeting.

May
Tuesday 1st : International Workers Day!
Monday 8th 8pm, CAN meeting.
Friday 11th- 13th: SchNEWS Alternative Media Conference, Cowley Club, 12 London Rd, Brighton. www.schnews.org.uk
Monday 14th 8:30pm, Gwent Anarchists Group meeting. Fortnighlty
Monday 21st 8pm, CAN Meeting.

Welsh anarchist Assembly. 22.9.07

Gagged! can be found in all sorts of strange places around south wales, 5000 copies are printed per issue plus several thousand are emailed out. If there's not a pile of gagged! in the corner of your favourite pub, club, cafe, hairdressers, tattooists, record, book, head or anything else shop, get in touch so you can take a pile in yourself! Check out: www.gaggedanarchist.tk We always need more help in production & distribution. Send any articles, pictures, reports, diary dates or offers to help to  gwentanarchists@yahoo.co.uk

Cardiff Anarchist Network (CAN) is a collective of people who want to pursue political demonstrations through direct action. There is no membership, no leaders, just like minded individuals. Email:  cardiffanarchists@riseup.net

Gwent Anarchists are like-minded individuals believing in autonomy, respect & justice; against all forms of exploitation & bigotry. Aiming to increase the knowledge of & create a resistance to governments & big business abusing people & the earth. Email:  gwentanarchists@yahoo.co.uk

Rhondda Cyon Taf Anarchists are an autonomous group of free-thinking individuals who reject capitalism & resist state control through direct action. We work towards the creation of a world based on justice & freedom. Email:  rctanarchists@riseup.net

No Borders South Wales organises on migration issues & acts to break down boundaries; racial, cultural, gender, sexual, class & political that divide us. Email:  noborderswales@riseup.net

South Wales Against the G8 (SWAG8) is a coalition of groups wishing to mobilise against this year's G8 Summit both in Germany & in the UK. Email:  swageight@yahoo.co.uk

Peoples Autonomous Destination (PAD) aims to create physical space in Cardiff for groups & individuals who cannot or will not work within the constraints of governmental or corporate control. Email:  thepad@riseup.net Phone: 07910973876 Web: www.thepad.org.uk

Cardiff Rising Tide is a grassroots group committed to taking action & building a movement against climate change. Email:  Cardiffclimateaction@hotmail.com
South Wales Hunt Sabs saving animals’ lives now, actively sabotaging bloodsports. Newport Post: PO Box 70, Newport NP20 5XX . Phone: 0770815642 Swansea Email:  swansea_ar@webtribe.net Post: PO Box 7, Swansea, SA9 2YE Phone: 01792475092


Keep up to date with news from all over the world like the sort you find in Gagged! online at a variety of websites. Here are a few that we’d recommend: www.schnews.org.uk www.indymedia.org.uk www.libcom.org www.anarkismo.net www.infoshop.org