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UK Social Struggles Newswire Archive

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Occupy Oakland General Strike interviews

05-11-2011 16:41

Audio
Ecoshock special with Bay Area media activist Karen Nyhus. Citizens & environmentalists speak out on why they are part of the Oakland General Strike November 2nd. From the down-but-not-out to Greens seeking climate justice - real on-the-scene alternative audio.

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7 November - IWW International Day of Action against Sodexo

05-11-2011 16:20

On 7 November, protests are taking place around the world in solidarity with cleaners (janitors) who work at the City of London Corporation’s Guildhall, employed on contracts by the French based corporation Sodexo.

The vast majority of cleaners at the Guildhall are members of the independent trade union the Industrial Workers of the World. In summer 2011, the cleaners waged a successful campaign to secure months of unpaid wages, and achieved the reinstatement of a victimised trade union member. Since then the cleaners have been campaigning to secure justice on pay, equality and respect at work.

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Harsh and psychological torture unit

03-11-2011 23:58

Here I am in the harsh and psychological torture unit (aka Close Supervision Centre CSC) at HMP Woodhill, in a high control cell with a six-officer riot unlock. You will have been reading about CSC recently in MOJUK and FRFI articles by John Bowden, Kevan Thakrar, which are all true.

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Pragmatic suggestions for improving security at Occupy protests

03-11-2011 22:35

Pragmatic suggestions for improving security at Occupy protests, and a common-sense response to feminist critique/s of Occupy protests

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VIDEO: University of Birmingham Occupation

03-11-2011 20:25

Video
Video of some of the speeches just before the occupation happened

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You say “national unity”, we say “loot”! Robin hoodies strike again in Athens

03-11-2011 19:01

You say “national unity”, we say “loot”! Robin hoodies strike again in Athens

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UG#575 - From Oily Sands to Greasy Palms

03-11-2011 18:44

Audio
Focussing on Canada's Tar Sands this week, we examine the murky reality of 'free trade', and interference by the Canadian Government in the European Climate Change legislation. Who makes and enforces these agreements, and who benefits? We look at how the SPP is being revamped for re-introduction after concerted efforts to kill it by citizens' action groups.

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Resisting the lure of the Freeman movement

03-11-2011 16:55

The last few years have seen a significant growth in the Freeman of the Land movement. Increasingly, its voice is being heard at environmental and other anarchist based protests and events, from the various UK climate camps to Rossport Solidarity Camp.

Nebulous in its nature, its promise of ways of claiming back power from the state is clearly seductive. Indeed, on a superficial level, it even looks quite like anarchism in action. The aims of the Freemen movement is to use a particular interpretation of the legal system against the government in the name of gaining back freedoms and advantages.

Its mixture of family, moral conservatism and individualism has given it the appearance of an apolitical movement that can easily hook up with both the left and right. So while you can find the Freemen at protests camps, where its apparent anti-government stance will fall on fertile ground, you can just as easily find them being supported by right-wing groups with racist agendas, whose critique of government is more it does not represent their own jaundiced views.

As I will hopefully show, the Freemen agenda is already falling into the sort of bastardized political thinking that gave rise to the likes of anarcho-nationalism. If anything, what it is, is individualist libertarianism, and as such acceptance of this movement needs to be challenged by anarchists.

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Against conspiracy theories: Why our activism must be based in reality

03-11-2011 16:28

The text of a talk given at Occupy Wellington, New Zealand, on October 27 2011. The talk was organised to try to counter the prevalence of conspiracy theories amongst the local wing of the Occupy movement.

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Two Dramatic Hours at Occupy Bournemouth

03-11-2011 13:14

I had little idea what the afternoon had in store when I arrived at the town hall at 2pm to visit Occupy Bournemouth. Of course, I knew what was happening in the Occupy movement globally, but I'd recently spent eight months living in the town, and had seen precious little sign that its people would challenge the austerity-blasted status quo. And now? Well, we'll see...

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Nepal :Police crackdown on the peaceful assembly of Tibetan exiles

03-11-2011 05:42

Our source who was present in the spot during the attack of police on peaceful Tibetan said Tibetan exiles held a memorial service at Jawalakhel Settlement on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Before that there was a notable presence of intelligence officials on that area. Police surrounded the venue for the religious service and blocked the entrance before the service started.

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Photos from University occupation

03-11-2011 02:46

Photos from today's occupation of the University of Birmingham.

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Why we occupy, our statement.

02-11-2011 23:59

University of Birmingham Occupation: We have come together to discuss democratically alternatives to cuts, privatisation, we are debating what we believe and will publish our points here.

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University of Birmingham Occupied!

02-11-2011 23:44

We have just marched into University of Birmingham Corporate Conference Centre. Our actions are not disrupting education or learning but rather those working to destroy public education in the interests of private profit.

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A Return To Mubarak's Prisons

02-11-2011 19:23

Alaa Abdel Fatta
The jailed Egyptian revolutionary Alaa Abd El Fattah has written a secret letter from his prison cell, accusing the country's military rulers of murder and lamenting what he views as the army's hijacking of the revolution.

The letter, produced covertly from inside Bab el-Khalq prison where Abd El Fattah is being held, was handed to his pregnant wife, Manal, during a visit on Monday. It is being published in Arabic by the Egyptian newspaper al-Shorouk and in English by the Guardian, and is likely to intensify the growing divisions between Egypt's increasingly repressive army junta and pro-change activists on the street.

Abd El Fattah, one of Egypt's most prominent anti-regime voices and a former political prisoner under the Mubarak dictatorship, was taken into military custody on Sunday evening following public criticisms of the army's conduct on the night of 9 October, when at least 27 people were killed during a Coptic Christian protest in downtown Cairo.

Like many other activists, Abd El Fattah accused the army of direct involvement in the bloodshed, a claim that appears to be supported by extensive witness reports and video footage. He was charged by military prosecutors with "inciting violence against the army", and is being held initially for 15 days – a detention period that can be renewed indefinitely by the authorities. His arrest has provoked outrage across the Middle East and beyond.

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What next for the Birmingham Social Centre? meeting this Friday 7pm.

02-11-2011 11:28

In April, we wrote this as our reasons to why we should set up a squatted social centre:

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Bakers' Struggle Highlights Plight of Agency Workers

02-11-2011 10:58

Park Cakes are "baked with love" on £6.08 an hour
On Saturday, seventy workers employed by northwest cake manufacturers Park met to discuss strike action later this month. Bakers are in dispute over the pay and conditions of temporary workers, with staff saying changes could cost them £4,000 per year. But the dispute has wider implications - including the unions' championing of the new Agency Workers Regulations (AWR), which far from their claims, are being used to attack the living standards of temporary workers.

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Squat news from Amsterdam

02-11-2011 00:15

Amsterdam: Persistent resistance at the 01-11-2011 eviction wave

Solidarity with the squatters in the UK!

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Bournemouth Occupied

01-11-2011 21:08

Bournemouth goes into occupation in solidarity and support of the other ongoing protests.

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St Pauls used to be ACTUAL stock exchange...

01-11-2011 14:50

Whilst reading a book on the english civil war recently, I found an interesting piece that explained the the st pauls cathedral was actually used as the stock exchange in the years immediately prior to the english civil war breaking out. the practice of using the cathedral for this capitalistic venture was eventually stopped by some body or other (cant recall his name) and then the war broke out. with the current protest happening outside st pauls, i believe this information to be very relevant today, especially as the bods that control st pauls now are trying to persist in stating that there actions against the camp are not politically motivated. also, below, is a quote about st pauls taken from wikipedia: