earthfirst – Page 248

T5 a complete shambles, but Flashmob a success.

Heathrow’s Terminal 5 opened today with a great fanfair. By mid afternoon the much vaunted, computerised, luggage system was shut down and dozens of flights cancelled.

However the 11am Flashmob went ahead without a hitch.

10.59, and the International Arrivals area was a predictable dull grey.

11.00, and it turned red, as hundreds of activists stripped off their outer layers to reveal their ‘Stop Airport Expansion’ T-shirts.

We’d all taken cameras, expecting to crack of a couple of shots and run to the bogs to hide the memory cards but – no need!. The balcony above was packed shoulder to shoulder with photographers and film crews, all ignoring the meedja ops provided by BAA in favour of covering the Flashmob.

Later coverage was disappointing (dunno about tomorrows papers) but because even better news was emerging that the T5 opening had turned out to be a complete fuck up. After promising to the flying world that Heathrow’s problems were licked, the place ground to a miserable halt within hours.

Amongst others, www.news.bbc.co.uk writes:

“The suspension of luggage check-in was just the latest problem to hit passengers hoping to leave T5 on its opening day.

BA earlier announced “initial teething problems” with car parking provision, delays in staff security screening and staff familiarisation had resulted in a backlog of baggage. “

Very good news indeed for everyone except BA and BAA. Now all we have to wait for is for BAA and its parent company Ferrovial to go bust, widely expected to happen less than a year from now, see:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3ca6b20a-fad7-11dc-aa46-000077b07658.html

Watch some footage of the flashmob here

£1,700, Including Grant Money, Stolen from the Kebele Bike Workshop by Former Volunteer

The well-known Kebele Bike Workshop, serving the community for more than 11 years, was ripped off by a former volunteer earlier this month.

Harvey Tadman, who over the past year had been heavily involved in the daily operation and organization of the bike workshop, and also well-known through Critical Mass and the St. Werburghs’s Bike Project, emptied the workshop’s account on 14 March. He had no authority to do so, having been asked to leave both the Kebele Co-op and the Bike Workshop at the beginning of February.

The money stolen included a £900 grant that was given to the Kebele Bike Workshop specifically to run bike maintenance classes, on the basis of an application made by Tadman, by the Easton Neighbourhood Renewal scheme.

He was able to withdraw the money from the Bike Workshop account, protected by needing two signatures for transactions, by illicitly adding someone unrelated to Kebele to the account two days before making the withdrawal.

In a text message to Kebele members, Tadman wrote, ‘The resources stay to maintain/support bikes in Easton’. When confronted by Kebele members on 21 March, Tadman claimed that he had contacted the funders, and that they had given him permission to use the grant money ‘elsewhere’. Neither Easton Neighbourhood Renewal not grant managers Quartet Community Funding could confirm any contact from Tadman, and he has refused to provide any proof.

Kebele contacted Tadman and demanded that the money be returned in full, both the money belonging to the Bike Workshop and Kebele as a whole, and the grant money, designated for use by Kebele Bike Workshop. He has not responded.

Kebele has decided to release this information publicly as we feel we have a responsibility to warn other groups with whom this individual might be involved.

Other organizations, workshops, and community groups should take note that if Harvey Tadman offers any resources, in the form of money, bike tools, parts, or other, they are stolen property. He is not to be trusted.

T5 a complete shambles, but Flashmob a success

27.03.2008
Heathrow’s Terminal 5 opened today with a great fanfair. By mid afternoon the much vaunted, computerised, luggage system was shut down and dozens of flights cancelled.

However the 11am Flashmob went ahead without a hitch.

27.03.2008
Heathrow’s Terminal 5 opened today with a great fanfair. By mid afternoon the much vaunted, computerised, luggage system was shut down and dozens of flights cancelled.

However the 11am Flashmob went ahead without a hitch.

10.59, and the International Arrivals area was a predictable dull grey.

11.00, and it turned red, as hundreds of activists stripped off their outer layers to reveal their ‘Stop Airport Expansion’ T-shirts.

Amongst others, www.news.bbc.co.uk writes:

“The suspension of luggage check-in was just the latest problem to hit passengers hoping to leave T5 on its opening day.

BA earlier announced “initial teething problems” with car parking provision, delays in staff security screening and staff familiarisation had resulted in a backlog of baggage. “

Very good news indeed for everyone except BA and BAA. Now all we have to wait for is for BAA and its parent company Ferrovial to go bust, widely expected to happen less than a year from now, see:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3ca6b20a-fad7-11dc-aa46-000077b07658.html

Mainstream media links:

19 April Sheffield: Climate Action Movement Building Day

A date for your diary!

Climate Action Movement Building
Network for Climate Action
Saturday 19th April, 10am – 5pm
Friends Meeting House Sheffield
Map – http://home.btconnect.com/sheffieldquakers/hire.htm

A date for your diary!

Climate Action Movement Building
Network for Climate Action
Saturday 19th April, 10am – 5pm
Friends Meeting House Sheffield
Map – http://home.btconnect.com/sheffieldquakers/hire.htm

Are you involved in local climate action or would you like to be? Climate Chaos is getting real and we need to act now – building a vibrant grassroots movement taking action all over the country.

The Network for Climate Action is a Uk network of local groups and and national networks with the aim of sharing skills and providing support for each other as well as organising for action.

We’d like to invite you to a day of networking, skillsharing and organising!

What’s going to happen?

1) DAYS OF ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Review of Fossil Fools Day and planning the next round!
1 May: Invasion of the Climate Snatchers (day of action against false solutions to climate change)
3 June: Day of Action on Food and Climate Change
(for more info see: http://www.daysofclimateaction.org.uk)

2) NETWORK FOR CLIMATE ACTION
What do we want the Network to do? How should it function? What needs improving? How do we organise skillsharing, support, information sharing, direct action training, outreach etc?

3) BUILDING MOMENTUM for the Climate camp and beyond
Ideas for building momentum for the climate camp locally

4) WORKSHOPS
on topics such as getting a local group going/keeping momentum, planning actions and local press work. Let us know if you could contribute to a workshop, or even offer to run one.

We’re still in the planning stages – please get in touch if there’s something you’d like to see happening on the day!

PRACTICAL INFO
Saturday 19th April, 10am – 5pm
Friends Meeting House Sheffield
Map – http://home.btconnect.com/sheffieldquakers/hire.htm

We aren’t able to provide lunch, but there is a fantastic vegan/veggie cafe nearby or you can bring your own food.
We’re asking people for a donation of £2-3 towards the cost of the room. Some accommodation will be available (please email us if needed).

The venue is wheelchair accessible. Please let us know if you have any special requirements.

Please let us know whether you are planning to come, so we can get an idea of numbers! Email us at contact_NO@SPAM_networkforclimateaction.org.uk

Check out our website with hundreds of resources for climate action and a directory of local groups! http://www.networkforclimateaction.org.uk

For info about the days of climate action check out http://www.daysofclimateaction.org.uk

Appeal for international solidarity: Nianfors Uranium drilling blockade, Sweden

Activists organise blockade to prevent test drilling for Uranium in Nianfors, North Sweden. We appeal for your support!!

During the last three months local activists have been involved in a dispute with a drilling company over prospecting for uranium close to a small village called Nianfors in north east Sweden.

Nianfors is located in a breathtakingly beautiful valley at the foot of the Majsaberget Mountain, the area is renowned for it’s forests, crystal clear lakes and rivers which provide habitat for a wide range of wildlife, flowers. insects and funghi.

In a bid to prevent test drilling activists have set up camp and have set up a blockade to prevent test drilling going ahead. The weather conditions this time of year are tough, some nights the temperature reaches -20 the snowfall can be up to 30cm deep, but people dress heavily and the comradery is wonderful, so the spirit is strong. We make food, sing songs and tell stories among ourselves to pass the time.
Any comrades who happen to pass this way are welcome to join us, everyone is welcome (Except test drilling companies!).

Our website is in Swedish and English, so hopefully you can read about our campaign. We have posted an online Petition and appeal to our comrades to extend the hand of international solidarity and sign it.

We can prevent this, but we need all the support we can get, so please circulate this message to as many other comrades as you can. Say ‘NO TO CORPORATE PLUNDERING OF OUR PLANET – NO TO NUCLEAR POWER!’

In comradeship

Our site : www.nianfors.nu/engvers.html
Our online Petition : http://www.nianfors.nu/engjustnu.html

Oxford community-run bar under threat from local cops

East Oxford Community Social Club is a social club run for and by its members, based in a local community centre for which it raises money. It’s unique not just for the way it’s run but also because of its diverse, inclusive and friendly atmosphere, cheap prices and availability as a community venue.

A personal account and call to action. Corrections and comments welcome!

THE BACKGROUND

A personal account and call to action. Corrections and comments welcome!

THE BACKGROUND

In February 2007, secret collusion between community centre bureacrats and unelected council officers came to light dramatically when it emerged that the Council were planning to shut the club down – at the request of the Community Association (which runs the centre)! Rather than talk to the Social Club committee about the problems they had with the club, they went behind everyone’s back to try and seal the fate of the club before support could be mobilised. They failed. A flurry of last minute activity – packed emergency meetings, letter writing campaigns to councillors, petitions etc – bought the club time to sort its act out and a last chance to stay open.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/oxford/2007/02/363768.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/oxford/2007/02/363408.html

With the threat of closure, the authorities clearly had the club over a barrel and proceeded to issue all manner of demands – everything from handing over financial control to installing CCTV on the building. The club gave in to almost every request and many a compromise was made.

A new committee took over, and through a huge amount of patience and hard work proceeded to rebuild the club; it became safer, more organised, was redecorated and gradually began paying off its debts.

THE CRISIS

Fast forward to the present day and changes in the attitude of the police may finally finish the club off for good, trampling all the work done over the years by countless volunteers. See, the club has also historically been a place where (shock! horror!) cannabis was smoked. The police had always turned a blind eye to this aspect of the club’s culture and there was an unofficial understanding that it was convenient for them to continue doing so. In any case the February crisis and the smoking ban ensured that people stopped skinning up in the bar, though of course those that want to can always smoke outside in the street.

A few months ago the policy changed dramatically; sniffer dogs patrolled bars and pubs all along Cowley Rd, and the club was raided repeatedly, with some arrests taking place. The police wanted to be seen as ‘tough’ on drugs and were willing to bully their way to that reputation.

Now they have threatened that unless the Social Club turn its alcohol licence over to a single named individual (whom they can then persecute individually as they choose) thus ceasing to be a members-run club, they will use their influence to ensure the entire community centre has its licence revoked.

The Community Association, led by Sarah Lasenby (who it seems has always wanted a more sanitised, middle-class-friendly bar) went along with this, and despite attempts at compromise and dialogue by the social club, gave us 28 days notice to leave. To be fair to the Community Association, they can reasonably claim to have been given little choice by the cops, at least if they want to hold onto the licence in some form or another – and it’s clear the centre would collapse without the ability to hold events.

But they *could* have done things differently. They could have worked with the club to try and find a solution instead of rejecting their attempts. They could have kicked up a fuss when first threatened by the cops, contacting local councillors, newspapers, and community centre users to point out what was happening. In the ensuing controversy, the cops might have been forced to back down. The way to stop a bully is to stand up to them and to shout loudly for others to help you, not to give in and hope they will go away. Sooner or later the same forces may come after the community centre as a whole, and they need to be confronted sooner rather than later.

But after February 2007 we are used to such breaches of solidarity from the Association, and we have to be clear that the main culprits are the cops.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

1) Come to the club’s AGM this Saturday (29th) at 6pm in the bar (East Oxford Community Centre, Cowley Rd). Doors close at 6.30, and everyone gets a free drink at the end about 7.45pm. We need everyone’s energy and ideas to talk about what we can do.

2) Contact your local councillors to let them know if in your opinion the Club is a safe and friendly place; whether it improved during 2007; and whether it would be better off run by the EOCSC committee or by a franchisee. Contact details are here:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/oxford-activism/2008-03/msg00014.html

You might want to ask them to get the police to clamp down on the big powerful venues that are the real source of Cowley Rd’s late night problems instead of bullying small community outfits.

3) Watch out for news of a special emergency Community Association meeting to hold those responsible accountable for their recent actions and try and reverse the decision.

4) You could also contact the social club: 01865 640059 enquiries@eocsc.co.uk to offer your practical support and join if you aren’t already a member.

5) Contact Sarah Lasenby to ask her to overturn the decision to kick out the social club, and to work with the social club to try and keep the club open:

sarahlasenby@breathemail.net
01865 725991

Sarah Lasenby
EOCA
Princes St
Oxford OX4 1HU

THE FUTURE

Ultimately we can only secure the long-term future of the social club and spaces like it by re-asserting community control over East Oxford itself. It’s *our* club, it’s *our* community and those are *our* streets. We should keep reminding ourselves of that! It’s all part of a wider struggle against capitalist gentrification of our spaces and culture, and they have to be fought every step of the way.

********
Another account of recent events that has circulated:

So as far as I understand,

Despite fulfilling ALL the criteria outlined in an ACTION PLAN last year by THE POLICE and THE COUNCIL….

at the TIME, ENERGY AND PERSONAL EXPENSE of the Social Club Commiteee membership and supporters who are all local VOTERS which included completely redecorating the whole space, bar and cellar and managing to clear all the debts left by the committee from years ago in ONE YEAR !…..

and DESPITE the fact that the Social Club is now running the BEST it has EVER been run…..

and DESPITE fact that there is a FULLY FUNCTIONING MEMBERSHIP WHICH many HUNDREDS OF LOCAL VOTERS Have subscribed to for 08/09…..

THE POLICE simply do not want this UNIQUE INDISPENSIBLE COMMUNITY RESOURCE which is run BY THE COMMUNITY FOR THE COMMUNITY to stay open…..

And that they have SUGGESTED to the Association (whic runs the building) the unless they abolish the social club, the POLICE will SUGGEST that the LICENCE for the ASSOCIATION will NOT be renewed either…….

AND as event s are the bread and butter life and soul of a community centre (By the People for the People) the Asssocialtion will go bust and the building will become another great white elephant like like so many others run by a Council appointed (ie unelected) manger (probably Sajid Malik from the Asian Community Centre) who will decide what is allowed to take place in the building from which the Council will recoup ALL the income….

(in this lovely rejuvenated building redecorated by unpaid labour…)

OR they will simply sell it off for more student housing aor another STARBUCKS as the property alone is worth millions – which means the end of FUSION and RAP and OX POTS THe OXFORD BEFRIENDING NETWORK and the CLAIMANTS UNION – and affordable use of the space by the local community.

New collective aims to help grassroots events

We are posting this to let people know about a new collective designed to help grassroots groups through networking equipment and expertise when it comes to putting on campaign events. But first they need to know what you have to offer…

Do you have a pile of useful equipment that you hardly use, cluttering up your space? Do have or know of a large storage space being underused? Do you maintain large vehicles that never quite earn their keep?

If you answer yes to these and would like to see them benefit other good causes, then the AT Collective are interested in hearing from you. They are currently compiling a list of equipment, skills and spaces that people have and wish to see used for the benefit of other groups engaged in radical social change.

If you do have any equipment, skills or storage on offer then please fill in their survey at http://tinyurl.com/3bl8ny

You can also contact them directly. For more background info, please see below.

AT Collective
Email: atcoop@atcoop.org.uk
Web: www.atcoop.org.uk
Tel: 0845 217 8997

————->

AT Cooperative: An Overview

From camps to urban convergences and squats, we want to help campaigns groups access the skills and materials they need to be effective and sustainable. This helps reduce work load of campaigners putting on grassroots events and effectively distributes equipment and knowledge throughout our networks.

However, we will be more than that – by working with AT Coop we will ensure that your equipment is not just used for good causes but is properly maintained and stored as well. We want to take the risk and worry out of lending your equipment by being truly professional about it. Though cooperation everyone benefits, and as AT Coop grows we can provide more and more at ever cheaper rates.

The AT Coop is a new, not-for-profit collective, formed to acquire, store, maintain and monitor materials like solar panels, wind turbines, vehicles, tools, marquees, field kitchens and other equipment. It also aims to provide practical support to grassroots campaign groups by sharing the knowledge and skills of those who have them already. For example, building grey water systems or compost toilets, plumbing, power generation, site management, transport logistics, and so on. Currently we are compiling a database of equipment, skills and spaces which can be made available to other social change movements.

Our aim is to reduce reliance on expensive commercial businesses, and encourage groups to support each other by sharing their resources. We will focus on recycling and reusing equipment wherever possible. Aside from our database of skills and equipment (and what we are planning to provide ourselves) we are working on a how-to guide for putting on events, developing skills and maintaining equipment. We can then enable groups to become more autonomous by providing training and knowledge based what we learn. Longer term we plan to invest in our own vehicles and equipment.

The newly formed collective works along the principles of non-hierarchy and mutual aid. Our focus is to support non-discriminatory forms of campaigning on issues of social justice, ecological defence, animal rights, or any other groups adhering to the PGA hallmarks. All of us are experienced in putting on various campaign events, both rural and urban.

If you are working on a project or event which needs volunteers, or might provide an opportunity for training then please let us know. If you want to support the ATC but don’t have skills or equipment, we are currently fundraising to move into the next phase of our project…please get in touch!

To help you we need information about what is available! Please forward this onto contacts within your movement, post this text on your website, and get in touch for more information.

AT Collective
atcoop@atcoop.org.uk
http://www.atcoop.org.uk

17th April: International Day in Solidarity with Political Prisoners

Four years have gone by since the International Solidarity with Political Prisoners Conference was held in Donostia, Basque Country.

Four years have gone by since the International Solidarity with Political Prisoners Conference was held in Donostia. Over there, individuals and organizations committed to the solidarity with political prisoners who suffer retaliation and against the repression, assumed the task to initiate mechanisms to improve our communication and the starting-up of common initiatives of reporting and strategies. For that purpose, the designation of April 17 as International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners was one of the measures that were issued and that, to this day, maintain all its significance and importance.

Today we are confronting in various places of our planet a persistence of governments of repressive measures that limit more and more the rights and freedoms of the population, an extension and justification of practices such as torture, isolation, and even the physical elimination of the political dissident. It is very clear a serious deterioration of the living conditions of people who suffer retaliation in different detention and penitentiary arrangements. This has also caused the wealth of criminalization each time more acute of the organizations that work to report the repression and show solidarity with the ones who suffer retaliation.

This way, the living conditions of political prisoners in Turkey, the measures of criminalization of the protests performed by the Mapuches, the utilization of war mechanisms against third countries conducted by the narco-government of Colombia, the extension of the “anti-terrorist” fight to the legitimate political associationism and dissidence in Cataluña, Madrid and Italy, the starting-up of radical measures confronting the basic international legislation and the respect to the sovereignty of third countries conducted by the United States of America and the creation of new spaces outside the law, like Guantanamo or the secret flights with detainees exempt of any rights, the starting-up of new detention measures and the lengthening of sentences sine die in Spain and France, the repression continuing in Sahara or the military aggression to the political organizations and civil population in Palestine, the criminalization of the ones who show solidarity with Basque people who suffer retaliation in the Basque context…

Let’s make April 17 a day to give voice to these complaints and claims, to create a common space for shared strategy, a retaining wall against these measures that limit our rights and freedoms, a meeting place for the anti-repressive resistance. Again we are calling on you to work towards these objectives and to once more, find each other, raising the flag of solidarity with political prisoners.

They suffer the globalized repression; let us globalize the willingness and the hope.

International Initiative for the Political Prisoners KALERA
contact@kalera.org
www.kalera.org

Activists “Mung Bean” 4x4s

22 March 2008
Activists in Edinburgh claim responsibility for ‘disarming’ ten 4x4s over the last two months, stating that they are fighting climate change.

22 March 2008
Activists in Edinburgh claim responsibility for ‘disarming’ ten 4x4s over the last two months, stating that they are fighting climate change.
The saboteurs say they have targeted the 4x4s to raise awareness about these highly fuel inefficient vehicles and the disastrous effects they have upon our climate, and more generally about the relationship between wealth and climate change.

They are using mung beans to deflate the tyres of 4x4s by unscrewing the dust cap that protects the valve of the tire, placing a mung bean in the cap, and replacing the cap, which depresses the valve, deflating the tyre. Activists then place a letter explaining their actions on the windscreen.

The activists say that they plan to escalate their disarming of SUVs, saying “we hope these actions will increase in number, from a slight annoyance into a real obstacle, putting an end to this polluting vehicles popularity”.

They say that they are inspired by the Swedish group, the Indians of the Concrete Jungle, who have apparently provoked much anger from SUV owners.

Over a thousand 4x4s are reported to have been disarmed in Sweden, and three people have been caught by police.

See the website of the Indians of the Concrete Jungle for more information on the Swedish group:
asfaltsdjungelnsindianer.wordpress.com/in-english/

RAMpart2 is dead – long live rampART1

Following the granting of an Interim Possession Order on Thursday the 20th March, RAMpart2 was left empty by squatters after a final party…

The rampART has outlived it’s backup venue which was opened new years eve. The new building hosted just two parties, a handful of meetings and a climate camp direct action training gathering. Meanwhile, the rampART itself is still open four months after being served court papers for a repossession hearing.