earthfirst – Page 240

Actions during the UN Biodiversity Summit in Bonn (MOP4/COP9)

Nature for people – not for business!

Nature for people – not for business!

The 4th Meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (MOP 4) and the 9th Conference of the Parties (COP 9) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are taking place in Bonn from the 12th to 30th May.

Behind the disguise of nature protection, transnational companies use these negotiations to increase their control over natural resources. Many of the solutions they push for to tackle climate change and the loss of biodiversity (agrofuel, GM crops and trees, Terminator, protected areas,…) in fact lead to the privatisation of biodiversity, at the expense of rural and indigenous communities.

A coalition of social movements and activists’ networks calls to protests under the motto “Nature for people, not for business!” We believe that in front of massive environmental destruction resulting from the plundering of resources by corporate interests, the priorities are an immediate end to privatisation and a fair distribution of natural resources in the benefit of local communities.

Join the mobilisations, resistance is fertile!

More info at ASEED and Biotech Indymedia
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Protest reports:

About 100 people protested outside Bayer on 17th May & delivered this –

Open letter to the Bayer Corporation in Leverkusen
Bonn, 16 May 2008
Dear Board of Directors of the Bayer Corporation,
Dear Bayer Employees,
During international conferences the Bayer Corporation attempts to exert enormous influence upon both, the process of negotiations as well as the results. This is now the case during the Convention of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 9), as well as the negotiations of the Biosafety Protocol (MOP 4), taking place in Bonn. Thus, your company strives to maintain a “green” image, as indicated by the fact that your company was a sponsor of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) last year.

However, this is nothing more than a “greenwashing” campaign, since in other instances your lobbyists are taking every effort to fight attempts to protect nature—from the Kyoto Protocol, to the prohibition of CFCs to the new EU laws on chemicals known as REACH.

In addition, Bayer is a producer of many highly dangerous products; it emits large quantities of dangerous gases and greenhouse gases; it promotes the planting of genetically modified products and thus belongs to one of the large destroyers of biological diversity.

to name but a few examples:

Bayer is responsible for the insidious poisoning of soils and sources of water; it is responsible for the eradication of useful plant and animal varieties, an increase of pesticide-resistant pests and the massive damage of ecological valance through agrochemicals. Pesticides are known to be a main cause of the loss of plant and animal varieties. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has termed this “an environmental tragedy”. Bayer is the second largest producer of pesticides and is a world leader in the production of highly poisonous insecticides. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), several million people currently suffer from the effects of pesticide poisoning every year. Of these, up to 200,000 result in deaths.

One of the most recent cases concerning dangerous chemicals took place in the US Bayer factory in Institute, West Virginia. On December 28, 2007, several vats containing Thiodicarb, a pesticide, exploded. Dozens of citizens had to be treated for headaches and breathing problems, including at least one person who had to be hospitalized. Thiodicarb is one amongst the most dangerous agricultural chemicals that exist. It has been banned in Europe and during the past year there were 154 organizations in 35 countries which demanded from the Bayer Corporation to stop the sale of pesticides catalogued as being among the most dangerous, including Thiodicarb. The same factory in West Virginia contained extremely poisonous substances, including Phosgen, MIC and Phosgen gas, the latter of which was used as a weapon during the First World War.

Nature, consumers and users are also threatened by the Bayer-made herbicide, Glufosinat. According to a report by Swedish authorities which was based on research by the European Food Safety Authority, Sweden asked that Glufosinat be banned. Almost all genetically-modified plants made by Bayer are resistant against Glufosinat. The Genetic manipulation of plants is not aimed at fighting hunger, as is often claimed by Bayer. It is aimed at securing a market for herbicides. For ecological reasons, continuing the sale of Glufosinat can no longer be justified.

Bayer is responsible for the massive endangerment of biological diversity and the environment through the use of genetically modified plants. The company belongs to one of the most important protagonists of “green” genetic technology. Currently we are threatened with the likelihood of the EU approval of a variety of rice produced by Bayer—the same variety which was the center of the largest scandal concerning genetic technology to date, as rice which had not been approved for consumption reached trading markets worldwide. The massive planting of genetically-modified seed would inevitably be responsible for contamination and displacement of traditional rice varieties. Thus, biological diversity among crops would be harmed and the long-term food security would be threatened.

Other examples include the contamination of canola seeds through genetically-modified canola, which are illegal in Germany. This kind of pollution can be traced back to a herbicide-resistant product from Bayer CropScience which was tested many times in the field.

But Bayer refuses to take legal responsibility for the damages. This example goes to show once again that coexistence without the contamination of native seed varieties is impossible. Nevertheless, Bayer pushes forward to capture new markets: genetically modified canola is to be planted in Australia. Bayer has also requested permission for importing genetically-modified rice and canola.

Bayer is responsible for the privatization and monopolization of genetic resources such as seeds and medicinal plants. Bayer belongs to the largest transnational companies in the area of pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals which share the largest portion of patents granted to date. The attempts to monopolize them harm biological diversity in the fields and rob indigenous communities of their medicinal plants and traditional knowledge.

Years of intensive influence on lawmaking on the part of transnational companies resulted in the TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement of the WTO. This agreement results in the legal commitment to intellectual property rights such as patents on biological and genetic material – that is, property rights on life. Bayer was involved in this.

A particularly insidious mechanism of control and power is so-called terminator technology, officially known as Genetic Use Restriction Technology. This technology results in sterility of plants after their harvest, such that they may not be reused for re-planting.

A moratorium was placed on terminator technology in 2000 as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, since it represented too great a risk to biological diversity. The Bayer corporation is also involved in the development of terminator technology—as is attested to by circa one-half dozen patent applications with titles such as “New Gene for the Coordination of Cell-Ablation” or “Process for the Production of Sterile Female Plants”.

According to Bayer CropScience, however, the corporation only owns terminator patents as a result of its acquisition of Aventis Cropscience. This is a false statement. Bayer is owner of at least five patents on seed sterilization technologies. This suggests that Bayer continues to be interested in research and use of terminator technology. During the 2006 COP 6 meetings in Curitiba, Brazil, Bayer lobbyists were involved in trying to reverse the moratorium of these technologies.

Bayer is also involved in the development of pharmaceutical plants, thus threatening biological diversity.

A new development concerns large Agricultural Companies’ application for hundreds on few patents on plants that are genetically modified to withstand droughts and other climactic stress factors. This is part of the struggle to compete a lucrative market that is growing due to global warming. The Bayer Corporation is a participant in this process.

Bayer is responsible for the warming of the earth. Presently, the Bayer factory in Krefeld is involved in the building plan of a giant coal-burning power plant which would be expected to release 4.4 million tons of carbon dioxide and 4,000 tons of nitrogen oxide into the air each year.

Bayer is responsible for water contamination with 700 tons of phosphorous, 2,700 tons of nitrogen, 1.5 million tons of inorganic salts, 73 tons of organic chlorine and 28 tons of heavy metals. Bayer belongs to the ten largest water polluters in Germany. In addition one must consider Bayer’s enormous use of water, amounting to 2 million cubic meters daily. The Bayer factory in Leverkusen has a higher consumption of water as the neighboring city of Cologne, with roughly one million inhabitants.

Bayer is responsible for the planting of energy plants for Agrofuels, which compete with food crops. Bayer plans to produce agrofuels from canola oil as well as the tropical plant, Jatropa. In order to do so, it will rely on vast monoculture plantations as well as the heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides. The massive plantations of Jatropa will be responsible for the devastation of natural landscapes and the displacement of small farmers, as well as of a higher number of deaths through hunger. In India, landless people were already displaced from land which was purportedly “fallow”. This is the same land on which Bayer is planning to produce energy plants for agrofuels.

Bayer is also responsible for the death of millions of honeybee colonies in southern Germany, as suggested by the news of the last few days. The sudden death of honeybees happened immediately following the planting of corn. Many of the corn seeds were coated with a neurotoxin, Clothianidin, of Bayer CropScience. Beekeepers suspect that this could be responsible for the death of the bees. The Association of Beekeepers reports that this is the worst case of the death of honeybees of the past 30 years. Vicepresident of the Association, Manfred Raff justifies his suspicion of the Bayer neurotoxin based on the experience of Italian beekeepers, since planting in Italy happened several weeks earlier. In the latter case, Clothianidin was found in the dead bees. According to the Association, it is part of the agrotoxin Poncho Pro which is used for the etching of corn seed.

Bayer is responsible for hunger on the planet. While riots have erupted worldwide as a result of hunger, Bayer corporation states in its latest annual report, “we have been able to participate in the positive development of the world agrarian market”. This is a cynical formulation in the face of the drastic growth in prices of basic food products and the rise of hunger across the globe. The World Food Council considers that a substantial cause of the current food crisis can be traced back to a reduction in harvests caused by agricultural land that has been damaged by agrochemicals. As the second largest producer of pesticides, Bayer is significantly responsible for this development.

On the occasion of the negotiation of the Biosafety Protocol (MOP 4) from the 12.-19. of May in Bonn and considering the fact that liability in cases of genetic contamination are being discussed there, Bayer CropScience —together with Monsanto, Syngenta, BASF, DowAgroSciences and Dupont/Pioneer have proposed what they term a “compact”. They claim that they are willing to pay reparations in cases in which their products are responsible for the damage of biological diversity.

On the face of the matter, this seems positive. However, their compact pertains only to damage to biological diversity and human health. The environment as a whole or socioeconomic or cultural damages are not considered.

According to the proposal, damages to biological diversity are only to be considered if enough documentation on this biological diversity exists. However, no country holds such extensive documentation on biodiversity in order to be able to fulfill the requirements as have been presented. Therefore, the promises to make reparations remain empty! Moreover, contamination through genetic material has been said explicitly not to count as damage.

In addition, only states may be plaintiffs in these cases, such that individuals who have been caused damages remain without the possibility of receiving reparations. All legal procedures are to take place privately, leaving no transparency in the compact as proposed.

What is thus presented as a step towards corporate responsibility is an adept strategy of the company in order to protect itself against many instances of liability.

We highly criticize, therefore, that German as well as European policies continuously provide a platform for Bayer to carry out its “greenwashing program”, thus greatly supporting the interests of industries despite losses suffered by populations, biological diversity and the environment.

Worldwide, many individuals and organizations are resisting the health and environmentally damaging policies of the politics of the Bayer Corporation. We declare ourselves in solidarity with them and demand that the Bayer corporation end its deadly and poisonous production.

We demand that Bayer end immediately its environmentally harmful business, that it stop destroying biological diversity, and that it stop its privatization and monopolization. We demand that it take responsibility for its current actions and that it accept responsibility for any damages that may follow from these actions hereafter. As long as the corporation does not realign its practices, its claims to contribute to the conservation of nature ring both hollow and menacing.

Bayer—hands off from biological diversity
Hands off from ‘nature protection’ driven by profits and power.
For ecological agriculture and forestry, free of genetic technology and pesticides!
For the end to patents and intellectual property rights on life!
For the free access to seeds worldwide!
For a final prohibition of terminator-technology and any similar technologies causing sterilization!

Nature for people—not for business!

Signatories:
Aktionsnetzwerk globale Landwirtschaft, BUKO-Kampagne gegen Biopiraterie, La Via
Campesina, Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren, Bonner AK gegen Gentechnologie,
Aktionsbündnis COP 9, Verein fair-fish e.V., Indienhilfe e.V., Rettet den Regenwald e. V.,
Arbeitskreis Eine Welt Buchloe e.V., autofrei leben! e.V.

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Bonn, Sunday May 18 – Around 60 people have been protesting in Bonn against the large scale production of agrofuels. At two petrol stations car drivers had to make a choice: ‘petrol’ to the right, ‘food’ to the left. Banners were stating “agrofuels, no solution for oil addiction.”

Nowadays the media are frequently reporting about the negative impacts of the use of crops for energy production. But so far the honest conclusion that we have to change our lifestyle and overconsumption of resources and energy is ignored by the same media and policy makers. In global capitalism a small minority exploits 80 per cent of the global resources.
Most drivers had some sympathy for the action but wanted to fill up petrol anyway this time. They had to for example to go to a football match. What can you do?

The worker in the Shell station was furious about the counter information in front of her petrol station and called the police. After some discussions the action was allowed, although drivers had to be given more possibilities to go around the ‘gate of choice’.
At the BFT station everything stayed very relaxed.

Amongst the activists were many people from Via Campesina, the international network of small farmers. For them and the millions they represent, the large scale introduction of agrofuels is a direct danger for their livelihood and life. You can read more arguments against the overconsumption of energy and agrofuels in the text of the brochure that has been distributed to the passers-by.

After two hours the group started to move again for a short demonstration ending on a field with a picnic with healthy and local food, as it is still possible.

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Flier text:

Agrofuels are no solution for the climate and energy problem!

Action against biofuel and high energy consumption!

Food – Petrol

Hereby we want to draw your attention to the problems and consequences of the introduction of agrofuels. The cultivation of biofuels forms a direct competiton to food production.

You, as a driver, have to choose between food or petrol, as there is only 1,8 ha agricultural land available for each human being on earth.

You have the choice between:

a) Petrol: You tank but you get a negativ voucher which states how much less food you can consume the coming days.
b) Food: You receive something to eat and your car leaves without petrol.

The reason for the action
This week COP 9 is taking place in Bonn. The participants will debate on issues related to biodiversity and genetic resources. It concerns marine biodiversity, agrofuels, genetically motified plants, protected areas and the rights of indigenous people. However, biodiversity is also related to agriculture: ernormous areas are taken over by agricultural land, and large scale agriculture, as well as genetically modified monocultural plantations, are increasing. This is practically the opposite of biodiversity.

The situation regarding agrofuels in Gemany and the EU
In Germany regular petrol is currently mixed with 3 % Biodiesel / Bioethanol. The German government aims to reach a percentage of 6,75, although the EU imposes only 5,75%. Instead of promoting energy saving cars, the German government is supporting the production of big energy wasting cars. Unsuprisingly ernergy imports become a necessity. Recently at a meeting with his Brasilian (now resigned) collegue Marina Silva, the Minister of Environment Sigmar Gabriel announced a bilateral agreement to be signed in May 2008. This would enable Brasil to export ethanol to Germany, under the condition of sustainability.

Social and ecological consequences of agrofuels (three out of many)
1.Agrofuels are competing with food: The current food crisis is telling. Within a few month, the price of rice has increased with about 100 % and the price of grains by 130 % in 2007. One of the effects being food riots in many countries.
2.Large scale production of agrofuels is not environmentally friendly at all: as it extends monocultural cultivation, the use of human and environmentally polluting pesticides, the over-use of the soil, the loss of biodiversity and the use of genetic modification.
3.Small scale farmers loose their land and resources: as large scale agriculture is led by a relatively small number of large scale farmers and foreign companies. With small scale agriculture 40 families could sustain their livelihoods on a surface of 200 hectares. Large scale soja production, however, only needs one labourer for the same acreage.

The World Bank, the International Monitary Fund and governments have been pushing the liberalization of the agricultural sector during the past decades. As a consequence, food became a speculative good and profits of food companies and investors have increased enormously. Rich people can afford paying high prices for driving a car or flying, whereas poor people can not even pay for their daily bread any longer. This is unethical!

We demand: Food sovereignity, as well as the right for local communities to protect their food production, and to decide on their land use.

Our request to you!
These problems can not (only) be solved by the politicians at COP9. We have to change our energy consumption. Especially in ‘western industrialised’ countries, as here the consumption level has been high for decades. It’s time to face the mirror and reduce your own energy consumption drastically.

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On Monday, May 19, a demonstration against the German Plant Breeders Association (BDP) and in front of the botanical garden at the University of Bonn took place.

About 30 activists and peasants protested against bio-piracy and patents on life. Afterwards at the International Diversity Market at the Munster square in the centre of Bonn, there was a street theatre and colonized seeds were given back to peasants from Asia and Latin America.

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We combined our Bonn sightseeing tour with some adbusting. The city of Bonn has placed 450 billboards around the town: “Biological diversity needs our engagement” Nice, but oh so vague – they fail to say anything about how and why our lifestyles are destroying biodiversity, or how to preserve it. To prevent further loss of biodiversity we have to challenge not only our shopping habits, but also the corporate-governmental elites who are driving the destruction.

We decided to help the city and put forthward a clearer message. So we printed hundreds of speech bubbles to add to the billboards saying “Biological diversity needs our engagement”, with the following messages:

– …and our engagement needs action. Stop driving, start biking. –

– …and our engagement needs action. Boycott meat industry, go vegan! –

– …and our engagement needs action. Sabotage polluting industry. –

– …and our engagement needs action. Support small scale, instead of industrial farming. –

– Without you…nothing will happen. –

We also had some other posters that we put in suitable places, such as “Biosprit macht hunger”

Armed with glue and self-made billboard keys, we made our way through the centre. It was messy, great fun!

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Happy Shareholders support Corporations at Business Lunch during COP9

Thursday may 22 is the UN day for Biodiversity. This was the occasion for a group of shareholders to visit a lunch-meeting organised by the International Chamber of Commerce, the lobby organisation of worlds largest corporations.

“We, ‘The Small Shareholders Initiative’, TSSI are very glad about the important issues we have to report on behalf of the International Profitdiversity Day today:

Business gets 220.000 US $ to support companies in their work at the CBD. This means that we can give our profits to the shareholders and still make people believe that we work for biodiversity.

During the high level meeting Thursday May 29, business rightly gets a full hour to present its ideas. All other stakeholders together have to share the other hour. Afterwards all delegates are invited, as part of the official programme, by business for a lunch. Another possibility to make the delegations do what we want.

Hear hear!”

The rest of the speeches of the happy shareholders you can read in the flyer they handed out to during the party: http://www.aseed.net/pdfs/SlideEvent_versionA5.pdf

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Via Campesina Disrupts CBD

23.05.2008

VIA CAMPESINA JOINS BIODIVERSITY DAY CELEBRATIONS

This afternoon activists from all over the world have hung a banner, banged on teacups and handed out messages by Via Campesina during the official celebrations of Biodiversity Day at the 9th Conference of Parties (COP-9) of the UN convention on Biodiversity. They did so at the end of a message by UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon read by the Programme Officer of the Secretariat of the CBD to the distinguished delegates of the Convention.

The banners read “No Agrodiversity Without Farmers” and “Nature for People Not for Business”. The written message was brought to the attention of the delegates by farmers’ group Via Campesina, who were refused to be part of the celebration ceremony just before biodiversity day.

According to Via Campesina as well as many other present at the convention small farmers are the key to both the solution to world hunger and the safeguarding of the world’s biodiversity.

Via Campesina also warns against corporate interests advocating for a new Green Revolution in Africa as a strategy to increase productivity. Although they use concepts such as “sustainability”, “participation”, and “biodiversity management”, the production model is the same as that which has created the present crisis and growing loss of biodiversity

Small farmers, though, have the ability to feed the world. Peasant agriculture promotes food diversity, sustains traditional cultures and does not burden the environment. Moreover, small-scale, local and ecological production is an effective and immediate way of reducing carbon emissions and cooling down the planet.

After a few minutes the banners were taken away by UN police officers and officials and the people holding them were escorted out of the Maritim Hotel, and lost their accreditation badges, which are required to participate in the meetings.

Members of Via Campesina were given a round of applause from the delegates when they chanted “nature for people, not for business”.

Prior to the banner hanging action, members of Aktionsbündnis COP9, Via Campesina and supporters disrupted an industry lunch where agro-industrialists were congratulating each other for their excellent work at monopolizing the seed supply and destroying agricultural biodiversity. CBD Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf, who has been criticized for his pro-industry actions, presented at the side event following the lunch.

Forest defender arrested as activists halt work on road to climate chaos in the Styx Valley, Tasmania

2008-05-20

2008-05-20
This morning, forest activists halted work on the construction of a new ‘road to climate chaos’ in the Styx Valley to highlight community concerns with the continued destruction of Tasmania’s ancient forests. Activists are halting roading operations which, if completed, will access significant tracts of giant eucalypt forest in close proximity to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area boundary. A female activist, who had been attached to roading machinery for over 9 hours was arrested this afternoon. Police arrived at the site, located near Jubilee Road in the South Styx, around 9am. The activist was cut off the machine at approximately 2pm and was arrested and charged by local police officers.

“Once again, Forestry Tasmania is using taxpayers money to smash new roads through some of our most unique and irreplaceable ecosystems. This road to climate chaos in the South Styx will enable woodchipping barons Gunns Ltd. to devastate some of the island’s most carbon rich old growth forests” said Still Wild Still Threatened spokesperson Ula Majewski.

“The Rudd Government must take decisive action and put an immediate stop to these environmentally criminal acts, rather than standing back and endorsing the large scale woodchipping and torching of some of our most precious natural heritage. In this era of increasingly dangerous climate change, the destruction of Tasmania’s ancient forests is a global issue” said Miss Majewski.

Forest defenders will continue to take peaceful action against the continued decimation of Tasmania’s globally significant old growth forests.

http://www.myspace.com/stillwildstillthreatened
http://campflorentine@gmail.com

Diddly squats reports – Cambridge, London & Brighton [updated – eviction threat]

Cambridge: former Wilco building squatted – to be turned into social centre

Cambridge: former Wilco building squatted – to be turned into social centre

On Monday night, 19 May, the former Wilco building on Mill Road (the very site where Tesco want to open a new supermarket) was squatted. On Tuesday afternoon, acting on a ‘tip off’ from a neighbour, armed police entered the premised on the pretext of looking for illegal drugs. There were a total of three police cars, a police van, and at least eight officers. The premises were searched, but no illegal substances (bar a supermarket trolley that was already on site) were found. The building is now being turned into a social centre. Tonight (Tuesday) there will be a big clear up, before the space is spruced up with some furniture. There are plans for a cinema corner, an activity corner, and a space to hang out and drink coffee and tea.

Please come and help with the clear up or donate some furniture, rugs, etc.

The squat or the social centre are not connected to the No Tesco on Mill Road campaign, but will create a more useful, positive role for the building.

http://millroadsocialcentre.wordpress.com/
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WominSpace Eviction, the story of a squatted social center in East London

The short-lived but infamous WominSpace Social Center by Mare Street was, after a successful resistance, and some weeks of tension, eventually evicted on the 9th of May.

For the past three months the WominSpace social center has hosted amongst other things, welding, stencil-making, herbal skill-share, feminist singing workshops, photoshop and piracy, and a women’s direct action group. There has been a DIY Womin’s Health weekend, regular café and kids space. The space has been open to all self-identified women and trans people and aimed to be respectful to each individual’s autonomy and experience.

Although we managed to resist the first eviction with wider support from friends and the North East London Squatters Network, we have now lost our house by the canal in East London.

Out of experiences with the WominSpace it was decided to form an anarcha-feminist collective, open to all self-identified women and trans people. If you want to be part of the early stages of forming this collective, get in touch: womenorganise@yahoo.co.uk

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New Name, New Website, Old Threat

London’s latest social centre has finally given itself a name, set up its own website and received a visit from the owners saying “get out!”

Squatted over the long Ester weekend in March the new social centre opened its doors on the 11th April for the International Days of Action For Squats and Autonomous Spaces.

Among the activities over that weekend was a Squatters Estate Agency which attracted the attention of the mainstream media.

Operating with an open collective in the style of the rampART social centre that proceeded it, the new social centre took some time to reach consensus on a name. Among those in the running were Two Point Two (indicating only its lineage and legacy in relation to the rampART), Front Line (indicating it’s strategic position between Shoreditch and the expanding developments of the city), The Liberty of Norton Folgate (a reference to a historic ‘freespace’) and Sod The Rich (a handy anagram of Shoreditch). However in the end the name Bowl Court was agreed, which simply and unorriginally refers to the little cobbled street the building is located in.

Finaly given a name a new website was set up (see http://bowlcourt.co.nr) but no sooner than the site created, the owners of the building put a downer of things by dropping round to say ‘get the fuck off my land’.

Needless to say, this is far from the end of the story, perhaps just the beginning, and now is the time to get involved.

The location is amazing and offers an unrepeatable opportunity to work with the local community against the massive wave of development threatening to sweep away much of Shoreditch.

The collective meets every monday at 7pm. You will find Bowl Court off Plough Yard which is next to the Drunken Monkey at the junction of Shoreditch Hight St and Great Eastern Street. (See the map here http://tinyurl.com/4xeq2q)

If you need to contact us, email bowlcourt@riseup.net or phone 0208 8192596

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Free Skool event this thursday

thursday 22nd from 7pm onwards people will be coming together at bowl court social centre to discuss the concept of a free skool and how this could be put into practice within the space.

so, this is a call for people who want to share knowledge and skills to come and get involved. through the institutionalisation of education, knowledge is taken out of the hands of the masses. a free skool aims to reclaim that education for all through sharing theoretical and practical knowledge. this can involve anything from a one off workshop on building a bicycle powered washing machine to individuals with shared interests meeting on a regular basis. come along to bowl court social centre (6 bowl court, off plough yard, next to the great eastern street/shoreditch high street junction) at 7pm on thursday if you are interested. if you cant make it but would like to get involved email us at bowlcourt@riseup.net

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Bowl Court social centre under threat

21.05.2008
the new social centre in shoreditch was served papers today for a court hearing on the 4th june. the owners hammerson have no immediate interest in the building which they have yet to secure planning consent to demolish for their huge redevelopement plans for the area. the developments are the biggest in london since the creation of dockland and canary warf.

the social centre which was opened last month for the days of action for squats and autonomous spaces is planning to fight this threat loudly through the mainstream media and to contribute as much as possible to the campaigns against the bishops place developement during the time left in the building.

hammerson is a massive property company concentrating mostly on retail and office parks. they are partcularly active in the uk, france and germany.

more info soon….

if you can help the social centre go on the offensive on this, please get in touch

bowlcourt at riseup dot net
http://bowlcourt.co.nr

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East London Against Gentrification: Two Events this week

Both Wednesday the 21st and Saturday the 24th will see two events held in East london hosting international activists from the Vancouver Anti Poverty Committee, (Canada) and the Movement for Justice in El Barrio (Harlem, NYC) both fighting gentrifcation and displacement. See details below.

Vancover Anti Poverty Committee Fight the Olympics: Public Talk on Wednesday the 21st of May 8pm

Action Eastend and London Coalition Against Poverty (LCP) are organising a joint public meeting for a Canadian comrade involved in the Anti Poverty Committee in Canada and anti-olympic solidarity there, she is going to be in London on the Wednesday 21st May
and is going to introduce the ‘Five Ring Circus’ film about the travesty of the 2010 Winter Olympics and is willing to discuss and answer any questions people have.
Please feel welcome to attend and please distribute as widely as possible.

Venue is at
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=bowl%20court%2C%20shoreditch&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl

Film Trailer
http://www.thefiveringcircus.com/

Anti Poverty Committee
http://apc.resist.ca/

Movement for Justice in El Barrio: Gentrification from Harlem to Dalston
Public Talk Saturday the 24th of May

Juan Haro, a speaker from Movement for Justice in El Barrio will talk in Dalston, about their struggle against displacement by gentrification in Harlem, New York city. On Saturday the 24th of May @ Passing Clouds, on Richmond Rd, just off Kingsland road in Dalston, 10 mins from Dalston Kingsland Station. Buses: 149, 242, 243, 67.Free or donation entry to talk from 7.00pm.

Followed by Latin bands and DJs hosted by Movimientos at around 9pm “From folkloric to electronic Movimientos is the sound of London’s Latin alternative”. (£5 entry)

Dalston, like many other parts of London is undergoing development that will mean rent rises for tenants already struggling to pay extortionate London rents. When an area becomes appealing for investors and “regeneration” it’s those people with money who end up enjoying the new housing, expensive cafes and shops, and the people with less money who end up having to move further away from the centre of the city or who, if they stay, lose the shops, cafes and resources they rely on. Movement for Justice, the organization of tenants in Harlem, New York that have been struggling against the landlords that want to price them out of their area say;

“This displacement is created by the greed, ambition and violence of a global empire of money that seeks to take total control of all the land, labor and life on earth. Here in El Barrio (East Harlem, New York City), landlords, multi-national corporations and local, state and federal politicians and institutions want to force upon us their culture of money, they want to displace poor families and rent their apartments to rich people, white people with money. They want to change the look of our neighborhood, with the excuse of “developing the community.”

The talk will explore issues around resisting gentrification and the model of organization that Movement for Justice have used to work with each other – an inspiring and educational example from across the Atlantic that we could learn from in London.

“Together, we make our dignity resistance and we fight back against the actions of capitalist landlords and multinational corporations who are displacing poor families from our neighborhood. We fight back locally and across borders. We fight back against local politicians that refuse to govern by obeying the will of the people. We fight back against the government institutions that enforce a global economic, social and political system that seeks to destroy humanity.”

Talk organized by Hackney Solidarity Network, Hackney Independent, Haringey Solidarity Group and London Coalition Against Poverty.

Contact: hackneysolidarity@hotmail.co.uk

—

Also for news on what’s happening at the Spike squatted centre in South London, see http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/20636
——

Free Kaff in Brighton

Residents and supporters of 88 London Road, Brighton – the former Methodist church where a recent eviction attempt was successfully resisted – have been holding frequent free food stalls like this one on Sunday.

For a report on the attempted eviction, see: http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/20653

LOCAL SUPPORT

Since the events of a week ago, when a large number of Brighton residents witnessed the day-long attempted eviction of the squatters and the story was featured on the front page of the local evening paper, support for the squatters has been growing, with a lot of positive feedback, offers of help and donations of food from local residents and shops.

METHODISTS – A DODGY CORPORATION

Few people seem to be convinced by the Methodist Church’s position that it ‘needs’ the building back again, especially as it has been left empty for several years already. The Methodist Church is now so rich and profitable that it has been forced to register as a corporation rather than a charity and the job of the trustees is to make as much profit for the corporation as they can, which they do by making the usual dodgy investments with a few lame excuses for failing to drop these. Of its investments in Nestle, for instance, it says: “[Nestle’s] operations are not unethical in a way to preclude investment.” Since it also invests in Rio Tinto and BP, one wonders just what a company might have to do to be considered unsuitable for Methodist investment. A quick look at the make-up of the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church sheds some light on the situation – the board includes former managing director of BAE Systems Pensions fund, John Gibbon, along with accountants, tax experts and other financial high-flyers from a range of private companies.

NEW LONDON ROAD – BRIGHT OR BLIGHT?

It seems likely that the Methodist Church hopes to cash in on investment proposals for ‘revitalising’ the healthy mix of local shops along London Road by demolishing them and creating a so-called ‘Bright New London Road’, http://www.brightnewlondonroad.co.uk. The only non-negotiable part of this plan appears to be a Tesco superstore and car park. See http://www.transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk/2008/05/friday-9th-may-at-7pm-community-base.html for more information on these proposals. Many of the local people and shopkeepers who have given their support to the London Road squatters have also expressed serious concerns about these development plans.

COMMUNITY BUSINESS AS USUAL

While the residents of 88 London Road remain in the church, they plan to continue to use it as a community space and to run their ‘free kaff’ with surplus food which would otherwise have ended up as methane-producing landfill.

PRE-EVICTION CALL-OUT

If you’re in the Brighton area, please keep an eye on http://www.indymedia.org.uk for news of further eviction attempts. If you can get yourselves down to the church to assist and resist when it’s needed, this would be much appreciated.

Cheers!

http://www.myspace.com/88londonroadsquat
our e-mail is 88londonroad@live.co.uk. please get in touch if you wanna get involved in any way, shape, or form!

Saved from landfill or stolen? What do you think?

A Wrexham woman is facing a possible criminal charge of theft under Section 1 of the Theft Act 1968 for allegedly taking four green plastic garden chairs out of the landfill skip at the local household ‘recycling’ centre.

The ‘recycling’ centre is owned by Wrexham County Borough Council (WCBC) and run by the Waste ‘Recycling’ Group (WRG) under contract. The alleged theft was reported by WRG to WCBC, who apparently own the stuff in the skips that they then chuck into landfill, and it is WCBC who asked the police to investigate the matter. It also had the option of taking a civil action under the Environmental Protection Act. Stopping people from rescuing stuff from landfill is a serious business for the council.

The council’s ‘Vision, Strategic Aims and Priorities’ for 2008-9 include the following: “We are committed to dealing with waste in the most economical and environmentally sustainable way – setting an aspirational target to divert 40% of municipal waste away from landfill. We also aim to recycle, reuse or compost 65% of the waste received at household recycling centres…” It is difficult to see why the council would seek a theft charge against someone who was helping to achieve that target.

Instead of politely telling the council not to waste their time, the cops obligingly arrested and interviewed the suspected ‘thief’ just over a week ago and threatened to search her house and garden in order to recover the ‘stolen’ goods which they say must be returned to their ‘rightful owner’ (so they can be put back in the landfill skip, presumably). When the suspect answered bail today, she was told that the police would like to arrange a photo/video identity parade before submitting a file to the Crown Prosecution Service which will have to decide whether prosecuting the case would be good use of public money and in the public interest etc.

In the council’s view it is just too risky to allow anyone to take plastic garden chairs out of skips. Just suppose there was a problem with one of the chairs, and just further suppose that this problem wasn’t noticed and a child should sit on that chair and fall off and injure themselves, and just suppose that the parent of that injured child came back to the council and threatened to sue. Just suppose, eh! Never mind that the council is supposed to be conserving its dwindling landfill capacity; never mind that the mixture of plastics and other chemicals that end up in landfill poison the earth and lead to babies being miscarried or born with cleft palates, that children develop breathing problems and tumours from living near landfill. The causes of such tragedies are much harder to prove in the courts.

Given that the suspect in this alleged crime has been attempting to persuade the council to set up a proper re-use section at each of its household ‘recycling’ centres for some time now, making polite, sensible and helpful suggestions that have been stubbornly rejected or ignored, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the council is trying to shut up the troublesome citizen by reporting this ‘theft’ to the police.

Although WCBC and WRG have lots of excuses about how a re-use scheme would not be possible, desirable or workable, and could leave them open to prosecution if faulty goods were taken for re-use, councils in many places including Islington and the Isle of Man operate just such schemes, apparently without any problems and keeping large amounts of stuff out of landfill. The council claims that it has tried a scheme like this before but withdrawn it after complaints from the public. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that this was a scheme whereby ‘totters’ sorted through people’s rubbish as they put it into the skip, which some people found upsetting, whereas a proper re-use scheme would allow members of the public themselves to select those items which might be useful to someone else, and leave them in a covered area within the recycling centre (or elsewhere) for other people to take for their own use.

Freeconomy Wrexham has recently set up a small re-use scheme which is proving very popular, and which has satisfied the Trading Standards department of the same WCBC that it is operating safely and responsibly. It’s a bit of a mystery why the Environmental Services Department of WCBC has such difficulties with the concept of re-use, especially since it’s right near the top of the waste ‘hierarchy’ which the council claims to be committed to.

It does look as if the police are determined that the case should be prosecuted, and if it goes ahead, it should prove a very interesting court case. If anyone has experience of such cases, it would be good to hear from you.

freeconomywrexham_at_yahoo.co.uk

Unlock the labs, lock up the trolleys! Boycott Proctor and Gamble Day Protest

Unlock the labs, lock up the trolleys! Members of Animal Rights Cambridge marks Global Day of Action against P&G!

To mark anti-animal testing group Uncaged’s 12th International Day of Action against Proctor and Gamble (P&G), who test on animals and whose brands include the likes of Daz and Fairy, members of Animal Rights Cambridge headed to Tesco, ASDA and Sainsburys to speak out against this needless violence.

Campaigners headed to Tesco in Cambridge, some stayed outside with leaflets whilst others entered the store and filled trolleys with P&G products before heading to the front of the store and securing the trolleys with pad locks and beginning to chant. This continued for sometime getting the attention of shoppers with some taking leaflets.

Tesco staff told campaigners that they could continue protesting outside in the car park area. The police were just driving up and the activists took up Tesco’s offer and unlocked the trolleys. They leafleted outside Tesco for a while and then moved on to ASDA to do the same thing.

The reaction at ASDA was a little different with a campaigner’s banner being torn by a member of ASDA staff and two campaigners being grabbed and forcibly ejected from the store. Staff even took a leaflet away from one of their own shoppers! This reaction from ASDA added to the spectacle the protest created and sympathetic shoppers stopped for a leaflet after seeing the employees’ behaviour.

Another campaigner who could not make the main protest educated the public (about the cruelty P&G are involved in) at Sainsburys handing out leaflets and Uncaged’s anti-P&G reusable carrier bags to shoppers. This allowed three supermarket chains to be covered in Cambridge, hopefully getting people thinking about the products they buy.

Please check out the video of the protests at ASDA and TESCO, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHRJZmcpVvI

For a full list of all P&G products see http://www.uncaged.co.uk/pgproducts.htm. For more info on Animal Rights Cambridge http://animalrightscambridge.bravehost.com

If you would like to become involved in the group, meetings are on the fourth Monday of the month at The Bath House. Just off Mill Road. (£1 hall hire per person)

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHRJZmcpVvI

Grassroots Gathering 2008, 30th May-1st June, Ireland

Call-out for GG 2008, June Bank Holiday weekend 30/05/08 to 01/06/08, Dublin

The Grassroots Gatherings – an institution of the movement-building seen in Ireland post-2000 – are coming out of hibernation this June Bank Holiday weekend in Dublin. But it won’t be quite like before…

The story so far

The upsurge in social movement struggles around the turn of the century, from the streets of Seattle to the barrios of Argentina, from the townships of South Africa to the docks of South Korea, set the tone for much of the oppositional politics seen in the 2000s. Drawing clear lines around such moments is always difficult: establishing when something has peaked, when something has hit a plateau, and when something is in decline. But UK-based collective The Free Association captured a widespread sense of unease regarding this historical continuum in summer 2007 when they observed that “the ‘we are winning’ sentiment of the couple of years following Seattle has disappeared and been replaced by, at best, head-scratching and soul-searching. More a case of WTF than WTO…”

The social movements landscape of Ireland did not go untouched by this chain of global events: we’ve had our WTO moments and more recently our WTFs. From 2001 – a highpoint of the international wave of struggle – a key local symbol of global developments was the Grassroots Gatherings, open get-togethers for anyone who wanted to transform Irish society and the world in radical ways – ‘grassroots’ ways, in their focus on real democracy, and bottom-up methods, in keeping with the ethos of global networking bodies born in the turn of the century moment such as People’s Global Action (PGA). Though never really intended as organising platforms, the Gatherings made up a key hub of Irish movement-building and action: reclaiming the streets, building social centres, resisting war, environmental destruction and EU neoliberalism, the networks formed around the Grassroots Gatherings took their place in the global uprising against capitalism.

But reflecting the collapse of that ‘we are winning’ sentiment internationally, the Gatherings themselves had stalled by the end of 2005. It’s not as if this marked the death of Irish anti-capitalism – far too many good things have happened in the meantime, and too many great people have got on board for this to be true – but the sense of distance from the heady days of the early part of the decade has become stronger. Lots has changed since Seattle.

So why resurrect the Grassroots Gathering in 2008? Falling back on forms that have already broken down, until they break down again, is a self-defeating strategy. It’s what you might do when you have no strategy at all. We need a time capsule back to 2003 or 2004 – to a happy-clappy lucky dip of the same old workshops on the same old campaigns, skill-shares and alternative lifestyle ideas – like we need a hole in the collective head.

But unless we want to wallow in cynicism, and bail out of history like so many broken, bitter ex-radicals before us, what we do need – and what is more challenging – is to create a space in which to be critical about our mistakes and handicaps, rather than just look back on them with a baleful eye; to learn from them, and to start to look forwards and outwards.

Maybe this means admitting that the forces set in motion at the turn of the decade have run their course. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it means we can’t speak of a ‘movement of movements’ anymore. Or maybe we can. Maybe it means that the idea of a ‘Grassroots Gathering’ is obsolete.

But one thing it definitely means is this: amid the legacy of the turn of the century moment, a political sensibility (and maybe even a critical mass of people) now exists here that didn’t exist ten years ago: one that’s committed to radical social change, but not trapped in the dismal cul de sacs of Leninist, Stalinist and other dogmas. Whatever else has happened, we have broken through the ‘end of history’ of the 1990s. Our local experience of post-2000 anti-capitalism has been idiosyncratic (compared to wider trends, the course of Irish history often is); without the same movement traditions to draw upon as elsewhere, we reached our high-points later, and while some other nodes in the global network have even collapsed, ours hasn’t. Activists from overseas sometimes remark that the movement in Ireland seems fresh and outward-looking, unburdened by much of the baggage found elsewhere.

It may be that our situation is marked as much by opportunity as by defeat. So what are we going to do about it?

What’s happening?

While this Grassroots Gathering, like past ones, retains a vital element of straight ahead ‘popular education’ – with workshops on themes as diverse as Militant Research and Biotechnology – running through it are also some more focused workshop streams.

One of those ‘streams’ looks outwards: ‘Radical civil society and the state: hopes, fears and experiences’ is geared not so much towards the concerns of a typical Grassroots Gathering activist milieu, but towards those of community workers and activists, who will join us at this Gathering, and whose struggles against the vicissitudes of Irish society parallel the goals of the Grassroots Gatherings.

Another stream looks forwards and, to some extent, inwards: ‘Thinking about the Grassroots Movement’ takes in sessions on strategy; on how to create movement cultures of respect and solidarity; and on the question: across our uneven efforts to build networks regionally, nationally and globally, who are we, anyway, and what is it that unites us?

While some workshops are yet to be finalised, a list of confirmed sessions is below. Follow the links for more information and blurbs on workshops and streams. Watch this space for the final timetable, coming soon. Fun and games throughout the weekend provided with help from Electronic Resistance, Seomra Spraoi and friends.

Where?

Ground zero for GG 2008 is in the heart of Dublin’s Liberties: the building’s called Casadh, and it’s at 13, Newmarket Square, D8. A map will be posted below.

Other stuff

Take a look at our wish-list if you’d like to help out. We might even have a few openings for last minute workshop proposals, so don’t be shy about dropping us a line. We hope to make Grassroots Gathering 2008 a child-friendly space. We also hope to accommodate anyone with special needs, so if there’s anything we need to know, get in touch as soon as you can.

Contact

grassrootsgathering08@gmail.com for all correspondence; or

Tel: +353 85 724 3832

Links

http://www.myspace.com/grassrootsgathering08

http://grassrootsgathering.baywords.com/

Information on sessions and streams at:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog&pop=1…ate=1

Texts on the history of the Grassroots Gatherings:

Laurence Cox, “The Grassroots Gatherings: Networking a ‘movement of movements'”.
http://www.wsm.ie/story/2799

Terry, “A short history of the Grassroots Gathering”
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/73804

Sessions

Stream A: Radical civil society and the state: hopes, fears and experiences

(1) Radical civil society and the state: hopes, fears and experiences
(2a) What do we know?
(2b) Is what we’re doing working?
(3) Plenary

Stream B: Thinking about the Grassroots movement (big ‘G’)

(1) Catching up on who and what we are
(2) Going places: strategy and the Grassroots movement
(3) Solidarity? Building a healthy movement culture

Stream C: Learning about grassroots movements (small ‘g’) – and everything else
(1) Timeline of the ‘Movement of movements’
(2) ABCs of social change
(3) Militant Research
(4) What would it mean to win?
(5) Biotechnologies, food sovereignty and climate crisis
(6) Migrants in the movement
(7) The war against war
(8) Community garden wander
(9) Social centres network update
(10) The ‘gathering of gatherings’: round-up from a season of meets

More details and reader at http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87693

Collection of Latest Radical Newsletters & Magazines available to download

All of the following are available from here:

http://www.natterjackpress.co.uk/menu/downloads.php

All of the following are available from here:

http://www.natterjackpress.co.uk/menu/downloads.php

Get down to your local radical social centre or bookshop for these newsletters – if they aren’t there then print them out / photocopy and take down there. If your nearest social centre isn’t that local, then you now know where you can get all the latest publications without having to trawl the net for them.

We are always looking for newsletters/ zines/ pamphlets/ magazines/ articles to host on our download page (preferably as ‘imposed’ ready to be printed PDF) email us if you are involved in a publication.

* SchNews Weekly – from their web site

* Rough Music – Issue 18 – May/June 2008 – Local Brighton ‘trouble making, dirt digging’ newsletter

* Workers Solidarity – Issue 103 – May/June 2008 – Irish Anarchist News

* No Pasaran – Issue 1 – May 2008 – New Antifa UK Anti Fascist newsletter

* Infoshop News – Issue 1 – May 2008 – New 40 page roundup of news from the Infoshop anarchist news site

* Earth First! Action Update – May 2008 – another great new issue – a quarterly roundup of ecological and other direct action from Britain and beyond

* Mesho – April 2008 – spoof newspaper made for the international days of action for squats and autonomous spaces

* Corporate Watch – Issue 40 – April/May 2008 – Iraq Inc., European Investment Bank, Arab-British chamber of Commerce, West Papua, Review of Klein’s ‘Shock Doctrine’, Diary + More

* Gagged – Issue 23 – April/May 2008 – South Wales Anarchist Newsletter

* Resistance – Issue 102 – April/May 2008 – monthly newsletter of the Anarchist Federation UK

* No Borders – Issue 3 – February / March 2008 – No Borders UK network newsletter

* Rupture – February 2008 – a great zine for and about free parties, squats and social centres

* 325 – Issue 5 – February 2008 – an insurgent magazine of social war and anarchy

* Class War – Issue 93 – Winter 2007 – “Save the Planet – Get Rid of the Rich” getting straight to the point as always

* Organise! – Issue 69 – Wnter 2007 – magazine of the Anarchist Federation

* Fire to the Prisons – Issue 2 – December 2007 – Excellent new newsletter/magazine 30 pages of insurrectionary anti-prison/domination news and analysis and prisoner support information

* Crossing Borders – Issue 4 – November 2007 – a newsletter on movements and struggles of migration (this issue focusing on the No Borders camp in the Ukraine)

* Frontline – Issue 6 – June/August 2007 – Colombia Solidarity Campaign quarterly magazine

* Direct Action – Issue 39 – Summer 2007 – mag of UK anarcho-syndacalist Solidarity Federation

* Warrior Wind – Issue 3 – May 2007 – a newsletter in support of political prisoners

* Incendio – Issue 1 – Spring 2006 – a bilingual (english/spanish) magazine on Latin American struggles and solidarity

* Rolling Thunder – Issue 1 – Summer 2005 – ‘an anarchist journal of dangerous living’

mail@natterjackpress.co.uk
http://www.natterjackpress.co.uk

Camp Titnore birthday protest!

CAMP TITNORE, the eco-protest site near Worthing, West Sussex, is celebrating its second birthday on Saturday May 24.

To mark the occasion, a party is being held on the steps of Worthing Town Hall in Chapel Road.

CAMP TITNORE, the eco-protest site near Worthing, West Sussex, is celebrating its second birthday on Saturday May 24.

To mark the occasion, a party is being held on the steps of Worthing Town Hall in Chapel Road.

The event has been given added poignancy by scenes at the recent election count, when heavy-handed security and police threw out Save Titnore Woods! candidate Dawn Smith and her supporters.

Campaigners are inviting anyone who supports the camp and the wider campaign to turn up in party mode – with hats, balloons, cake and music. One said: “The campaign has, of course, being going a lot more than two years, but the extraordinary achievement of those who have kept alive a continued presence in the woods since May 2006 just cannot be over-emphasised.

“Not every one is able to get down to the camp to express their support, so this event in the town centre is a great opportunity to show the protesters you are with them in spirit.

“Let’s make a real effort to celebrate in style and communicate our ongoing determination to see off this threat to Worthing’s environmental heritage!”

The incident at the count happened on Friday May 2, when Dawn, who was standing for the Stop Durrington’s Overdevelopment – Save Titnore’s Trees party, in the borough’s Northbrook ward, was arrested after a row at Worthing’s Assembly Hall, apparently for “disorderly behaviour”.

She was thrown to the ground by police, held down with her hands behind her back, knelt on and handcuffed, then held for four hours at Durrington police station – all for objecting to her supporters being violently ejected from the count.

Dawn, who has not been charged, explained that there was confusion over the passes for her guests at the count, who included Titnore eco-campers. Names she had registered did not seem to have been recorded, in an official bungle.

Other people, considered of “respectable” appearance, were waved through by security but they demanded ID from her supporters.

While she went to try and sort the error, some of the campers wandered through into the hall and were attacked and physically thrown out by security staff in what she called a “complete over-reaction”.

Dawn objected vocally. She said: “I shouted at them. The only reason they did this was because the guys had dreadlocks. I’m not going to stand by and see someone jumped on.”

June: Anti-Nuclear Festival in Olkiluoto, Finland!

June 23-28, 2008 Eurajoki Finland

The decision to build a long contested fifth nuclear reactor in Finland has been considered by many in the capitalist milieu as the beginning of a ‘renaissance’ of nuclear power in Europe. The reactor is now under construction, and State and Capitalist elites are pushing for even more nuclear power. The Finnish government is explicitly demanding new applications from Energy Corporations, and suddenly three more reactors are under discussion. Limiting growth and consumption, and turning back to sustainable local community alternatives are naturally out of question, since that would be suicidal to the capitalist economy.

This summer, an international camp will be organized to call for sustainable energy solutions in Finland and Europe, and to highlight the risks and problems of nuclear power. You don’t want to miss it!

Join us

to stand up for positive energy solutions
for workshops, seminars, fun and games
and a radiant midnight sun party

In close vicinity of Olkiluoto nuke plant and building site of the world’s biggest nuclear reactor, a fault ridden prototype.

Come expose nuclear madness – come create better solutions – come party

Spread the word in your networks. Bring your skills and resources to make the camp happen.

We are looking for help with logistics, funding, communications, food, workshops and other program

To register & ask for more info: camp@olkiluoto.info

http://www.olkiluoto.info/en

Squatters resist Church eviction

12.05.2008

“As we forgive those who trespass against us”

12.05.2008

“As we forgive those who trespass against us”

As we write a standoff is playing itself out on the streets of Brighton as sweating police and bailiffs scratch their meaty chins and wonder what to do as for the first in years people are refusing to go quietly from their home. The space was opened up for the Days of Direct action for Autonomous Spaces on the 11th and 12th of April.

For the last month, the derelict abandoned Methodist church on the London Road, Brighton has been used for the first time in years by the community as people have held workshops, film screenings, free food, hosted bands and opened the large space for free to any event that needs it……………. Almost what church halls were supposed to do!

However, despite attempts to contact the Methodists and ask them to honor their pledge to support “community development for justice, especially among the most deprived and poor” The space received its court papers on the 2nd of May.

Barricaded in (actually to the point where there are no doors left), “Locked on” and hung with banners police and bailiffs are trying without success to gain access. The occupiers are refusing to move. A crowd has gathered in support outside as people wonder what the powers of law and orders next move will be…supply’s are being hoisted in from supporters by basket as the “siege of London Road” looks set to continue…..Watch this space for further reports.

Check out http://www.myspace.com/88londonroadsquat for more details.