UK UK Newswire Archive
Demo outside of Wandsworth council leaders house
18-08-2011 18:55
Only one week after the riots, the media and politicians have been trying to out do each other on how draconian they can be to placate the 'hatemail' readers of midlle England. Wandsworth council have served a single-parent family with an eviction notice after the tenant's son was charged in court over disturbances during the recent troubles, its aim is not justice but revenge. Housing Solidarity has started a campaign to stop this happeneing and today a demonstration has been held outside the house of the Council leader of 25 people showing their distaste for this vindictive act. Also present are 10 police and a camera crew. People are chanting "one two three four, evict the tories not the poor..." and a letter is being delivered to a house St. Ann's hill.
more later
Merkel, Sarkozy plagiarise from indymedia
18-08-2011 18:04
Can you help female victims of sexual violence?
18-08-2011 17:47
Construction Workers hold fight back meeting
18-08-2011 14:55
Over 400 construction workers met at Conway Halls last Saturday to hold a mass assembly to decide how to fight back against the 8 major construction companies who are tearing up the national agreement for electrical construction workers. They propose to slash rates, de-skill the industry and pave the way to smash the organised workforce. The rest of the national and smaller regional employers are set to follow. If they succeed they will move on the remaining national construction agreements and finish off the hard won conditions fought for by construction workers over the past 40 years. See here for information.
The workers ware members of various unions and many were members of no union. They passed a resolution calling for the organisation of both official strikes and wildcat stoppages of major jobs. A rank and file committee was elected to coordinate the campaign.
At a report back meeting last night it was reported that the national Unite officers are not willing to support the motion passed by the mass assembly, are not prepared to ballot their members at the present time and recommend recruiting more members to Unite and to sit tight for 6 months before deciding about balloting!
The dispute will be won or lost by then.??The truth is that since the merger with Amicus and T&G, the majority of electricians are not members of any union and union organisation is weak which is why the employers are moving to tear up the agreements.??It was agreed to commence the campaign to hit the major contractors who are threatening to pull out of the JIB agreement and to coordinate mass, national wildcat strikes and stoppages across the industry.
The amount of anger and motivation of many electricians means this could turn into a bigger dispute than we saw at the Lindsey Oil Refinery. Some of the workers involved in this current campaign are veterans of many disputes from Lindsey to the Jubilee Line to Wembley.
The first action will be a mass picket at the Balfour Beatty job at Blackfriars station and to close the site down.
This will take place at 7am, Wednesday 24 August. Assemble 6.30am.
As this is an external picket to close the job, mass numbers of bodies are needed to help hold the pickets. Please spread the word and also spread the word that the leadership will come from the electricians on the day so leave the flags, banners and political leaflets at the door and instead come and support workers in struggle by shutting the job down.
Crime and Punishment (and Justice)
18-08-2011 14:39
The Sumac's Back
18-08-2011 13:55
After a short summer break the Sumac Centre opens once again for it's usual foray into politicizing, drinking, dancing, growing, eating and meeting up with similarly minded people.
We're kicking off in August with a handful of events to engage, enrage and empower.
We have three Anarchist Black Cross fund-raisers, each to raise money to support those who have been imprisoned for their ideas, beliefs and their realtionship to the state.
On the 25th Belgian dub punk band Cop on Fire will be playing a benefit gig in support of antifascist prisoners.
On the 27th it's another punk night which will be accompanied by the first of the Saturday People's Kitchens.
On the 28th there's going to be a Hunt Sab skills day for those of you inspired and energised enough to come and learn what it takes to sab some hunts.
On the 30th a night of feminist related DIY music and food starting from 6pm.
Then in September we'll be having an Introduction to the Sumac Day on Saturday September 17th. A full day of skillsharing on how the hell to run the Sumac centre.
We'll be having sessions on the library, the kitchen, the bar, the finances, how the Sumac is legally set up and how it is practically organised.
We welcome all people old and new to come and join in.
We're hoping it'll be an opportunity for more people to understand what the Sumac is and how people can get involved and take ownership of the space.
We'll end the day with a big old people's kitchen where we can plan where the hell the Sumac is heading over the next few months and years, what people are up for for organising and how we can make best use of the wonderful space we have.
West Yorkshire Hollaback! Launched
18-08-2011 12:55
A new website has been launched for those who have been harrassed in the street to anonymously share their story, feelings and information about their experiences. The site is called West Yorkshire Hollaback! and is now live, featuring a map of location of incidents described on the website.
You can contribute a story by going to the site and clicking on 'share your story', you can also upload pictures of the person or vehicle involved if you have them.
From te WY Hollaback! website:
Hollaback! is a movement dedicated to ending street harassment. Street harassment occurs on a daily basis all over the world, and indeed all over West Yorkshire. We cover the whole County including the Cities of Leeds, Wakefield, Bradford and Huddersfield. The term ‘Street harassment' is used to describe sexual harassment which takes place in public spaces, and refers to behaviour such as staring, sexualised commenting, shouting, following, touching, grabbing, groping, flashing, assault, and violence.
The Hollaback movement started in New York in 2005 with a group of Men & Women frustrated at there being no real response to street harassment. Hollaback West Yorkshire uses a web based platform to begin drawing attention to and addressing these issues. Users of the site can post their stories in a safe environment, uploading them to the website so they can be shared with others and collated on a map & woven together to build a clearer picture of street harassment in West Yorkshire than has ever been done before.
Grantham Honours a Rebel
18-08-2011 10:55
Arch-Tory home of Thatcher salutes one of England's greatest revolutionaries - by mistake?
It seems vastly counter-intuitive that the arch-Tory town of Grantham, forever blighted in the pages of history for sending forth into the world one Margaret Hilda Thatcher, should commemorate one of England’s finest rebels; but on the 17th August 2011 that’s exactly what it did.
Yesterday a blue plaque was unveiled in the George Centre to commemorate Grantham’s connection with Tom Paine, arguably the finest Englishman who ever drew breath. The connection is fairly tenuous. Tom Paine was an excise officer here from 1762 to 1764 – so not his finest moments. He lodged at the George Inn in the High Street, which became the George Hotel until its current sad transformation into the George Shopping Centre was effected almost twenty years ago.
Paine was a strident, outspoken opponent of state power. He narrowly escaped the hangman’s noose in England where his writing was considered seditious, libellous and traitorous; was an active supporter of the American War of Independence, and then popped over to France where he actively supported the French Revolution, and only narrowly escaped the guillotine.
His best-known book is “Rights of Man”, which has never been out of print. His last book, “Age of Reason”, is arguably even more important, annihilating, as it brilliantly does, the bible. Both are very readable and should be compulsory in every school in the country.
Here are a couple of the great man’s quotes, which are every bit as fresh and true today as they were when he wrote them:
“Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.” (Common Sense p. 19)
“Change of Ministers amounts to nothing. One goes out, another comes in and still the same measures, vices and extravagances are pursued. It signifies not who is minister. The defect lies in the system.” (Rights of Man p. 315)
“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind and monopolise power and profit.” (Age of Reason p.7)
About thirty people attended yesterday’s unveiling of the blue plaque. The two main VIPs were the head honcho of the Rotary Club (which apparently commissioned the plaque) and some young woman from the American embassy. The plaque was hidden until the unveiling by a US flag – which, if Paine knew what that country was to become would not have pleased him. The presence of the American official yesterday probably explained the large contingent of chain-wearing dignitaries from the local council who also turned out.
As I stood and watched them all I smiled as I wondered how many of them knew the first thing about the man they were commemorating. I suspect not many.
Did Tenet Hide Key 9/11 Info?
18-08-2011 06:38
With few exceptions – like some salacious rumor about the Kennedy family – the mainstream U.S. news media has little interest in historical stories. Such was the case when an ex-White House terrorism official accused a former CIA director of withholding information that might have prevented a 9/11 attack, Ray McGovern reports.Daylight Robbery, Meet Nighttime Robbery
18-08-2011 06:35
I keep hearing comparisons between the London riots and riots in other European cities—window smashing in Athens or car bonfires in Paris. And there are parallels, to be sure: a spark set by police violence, a generation that feels forgotten.Youth sentenced to years in jail for posting Facebook notices during riots
18-08-2011 06:22
The state clampdown against working class youth in Britain continues unabated. On Tuesday, crown court judges in England handed down long jail sentences to two young men for posting comments on Facebook.The stench of a police state
18-08-2011 06:20
The events of the last 12 days are a warning to the working class in Britain and internationally. The state repression and right-wing hysteria unleashed in response to youth rioting in London and other cities reveal the preparations of the ruling class for police-state forms of rule.Bristol Police raid squat looking for riot suspect(s)
17-08-2011 18:27
Bristol police, in conjunction with the media circus, have began a repressive operation against those suspected of involvement in the recent disorder.Bristol Indymedia Collective Meeting
17-08-2011 17:55
BIMC meetingCafe Kino
108 STOKES CROFT • BRISTOL • BS1 3RU
7pm
A general meeting of the Bristol Indymedia Collective to discuss various issues regarding the website, film nights and other BIM projects. All welcome to attend
Palestine Today 08 17 2011
17-08-2011 17:08
Oxford social centre gets first court papers served
17-08-2011 16:16
Oxford's new social centre (aka "Pleb's college Free Uni") has just been served court papers.RAF Tornadoes from Norfolk probably behind Zlitan massacre.
16-08-2011 23:54
RAF Tornadoes from Norfolk bombed Zlitan August 8.-9.Ensuing criminal damage can be seen on the links.