earthfirst – Page 274

Deportation Alert! Icelandic State Cracks Down on Saving Iceland Activists

The Icelandic State has hounded and harassed Saving Iceland activists since the network was formed in 2004. In the latest episode of this sordid saga; Miriam Rose, an activist from the UK who lives in Iceland is threatened with deportation for being: “a threat to ‘public order and security’ and ‘fundamental societal values’. She has only ever been convicted of ‘Disobeying Police Orders’ contrary to the draconian ‘Police Acts’ for which she has served a short prison sentence; in solitary confinement in a men’s prison.

On Friday 21st September, Saving Iceland activist Miriam Rose was presented with a letter from the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration threatening her with possible expulsion from Iceland. The letter claims that due to her participation in two actions at smelter sites she may be considered a threat to ‘public order and security’ and ‘fundamental societal values’. The letter also claims that Saving Iceland pays activists for being arrested, a claim repeatedly denied and proven to be false.

Saving Iceland is an international grass roots network that uses direct action to confront the Icelandic government’s Heavy Industry Policy. The government are intent on building aluminium smelters to exploit the country’s geothermal and hydro-electric potential, an ecological and environmental catastrophe sold as ‘green energy’. Saving Iceland also promotes and practices solidarity with struggles against the aluminium industry worldwide, such as in Trinidad, South Africa and India.

Miriam has already served 8 days in prison for protesting against the destruction of Icelandic wilderness, for which the UK Green Party Principal Speaker Dr Derek Wall accused the Icelandic government of political harassment and demanded her immediate release. In Radio 1 Icelandic news program Spegillinn yesterday, the police admitted that this was to be the first of many attempted deportations of activists.

Miriam is now waiting for a decision by the Directorate of Immigration, having submitted her objection to deportation. ‘I am very shocked that the Icelandic government continue to punish me, after already paying so heavily for my actions and ideals. This seems to be an attempt to scare people from protesting here, and I find such treatment surprising in a supposedly developed democracy like Iceland. I am a peaceful and educated person and have never posed a threat to the police or any other person during my time here. I was intending to settle in Iceland, and have been making moves to learn Icelandic and contribute to this society.’

In 2005 the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration attempted to deport 21 Saving Iceland activists. Activists were snatched off the streets of Reykjavik by plain clothes police, held overnight with no food, water or even pretense of a legal process. An elderly academic with no connection to Saving Iceland was hospitalised with serious head injuries after he witnessed activists being bundled into an unmarked car. Plain clothes police also broke into buildings in an attempt to get to activists on the ‘blacklist’. The Directorate of Immigration, denied that there was such a list in an interview with tabloid paper DV, fortunately Saving Iceland was able to supply them with a copy complete with the Directorate’s seal and Hildur Dungal’s (the Director’s) signature. Eventually the Directorate of Immigration admitted it had no legal right to deport anyone on the list.

In 2006 14 activists were tried and convicted for ‘Disobeying Police Orders’ and received prison sentences of up to 18 days a small group was also convicted of ‘Repression of Liberty’ and sentenced to 2 months suspended for 3 years on the false witness of a manager at engineering firm Honnen where they had attempted to occupy offices, the same manager punched and kicked protesters and slammed a door on someone’s head.

Earlier this year after Reykjavik’s first Reclaim the Streets the Icelandic police began to confiscate passport of foreign activists, something they have no legal authority to do. The Icelandic State have also had a long history of harassing Icelandic activists, in one case they have allegedly made false reports to Interpol accusing a Saving Iceland activist of traveling on a forged passport and attempted to strip the activists Icelandic Citizenship.

If the Icelandic Police and Immigration Directorate can get away with deporting Miriam, then they will use deportations more frequently to silence dissent and undermine solidarity with Icelandic environmentalists. They must be stopped!

The website of the Directorate of Immigration is http://www.utl.is/english

The director’s name is Hildur Dungal: hildur@utl.is

See also:
Report on Miriam’s deportation and statement from Saving Iceland:
http://www.savingiceland.org/node/983

Report on Miriam’s Incarceration in Solitary Confinement in a Men’s Prison:
http://www.savingiceland.org/node/892

Statement of Support from UK Green Party:
http://www.savingiceland.org/node/985 and @ http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/3171

Report on Saving Iceland’s funding:
http://www.savingiceland.org/node/846

Report of Previous attempts to Deport Saving Iceland activists:
http://www.savingiceland.org/node/144

Report on how the Icelandic Immigration Directorate can behave quite differently if you are pals with a Government Minister:
http://www.savingiceland.org/node/759

Report from Anti London Olympics/regeneration march and meeting plus comment

Sunday the 23rd September was a sad day in the history of gardening. It was the day the Manor Gardens Allotments were closed by the Olympic Delivery Authority.

It was also the day former allotment holders and many other people decided to march and demonstrate their concern over the way in which development and so called regeneration is soaking up much needed green space. Martin Slavin an Olympic researcher was on the march and comments “ … so called regeneration projects like the Olympics are more about the careers of those involved in the Olympic industry, and the profits of developers and construction companies than they are about improving the lives of ordinary people”.

The Manor Gardens Allotments, were a little piece of the countryside in London, and were given to the gardeners of East London by Mayor Villiers, an old fashioned philanthropist, he was dedicated to improving the life of working class Eastenders by a transfer of resources from him (rich) to the people of East London (poor). As well as the allotments, the Olympic project has swallowed up a huge chunk of land in East London, most of it compulsorily purchased. The acquisition of the Olympic Park land is virtually a mirror image of what Major Villiers did all those years ago.

The compulsory purchase of the Olympic Parkland has been funded by public money, and as such it can be argued that it should stay in public ownership, post Olympics, however, exactly what will happen to the land remains undecided, but both Ken Livingstone and Ruth Kelly have publicly stated that they plan to bank role the Olympic project by selling off land within the park to developers when the Games are over. Major Villiers would no doubt turn in his grave, as his beautiful allotments along with virtually the whole STATE AREA site is bulldozed for a project which will most likely result in a transfer of land from public to private ownership. As the Olympic project runs further and further into financial difficulty the pressure will be on to claw back as much money as possible. This will inevitably mean getting into bed with property developers who, along with the construction companies, will be the main beneficiaries of a project that has been flawed from the very beginning.

An added tragedy to this story is that much what will form Olympic Park was previously available for use, on a non-income dependent basis, a cycle circuit, allotments, social housing, football pitches, little nooks and crannies, were all sorts of marginal business and artists had found a foothold. There was also a rave scene at Hackney Wick, with tired and dazed ravers leaving parties on Sunday mornings whilst the well dressed congregations of the many African Churches filed by. It was an area that had grown organically over more thaan a century and though it has some rough edges the area had an authenticity rarely found in 21st century London. This has been lost to what will more than likely be an Olympic legacy of expensive flats within gated communities, a sterile, privately owned area similar to the docklands.

It would be impossible to sell the Olympics to the nation for 3 weeks of sport, it is simply too expensive, so those making their living out of this project have marketed it on the supposed benefits of a legacy which remains unplanned. One of the problems is that New labour has control of the project, it has central government backing and with New Labour also controlling all 4 of the boroughs in which the Olympic Park is situated, and with the Olympic Delivery Authority awarding planning permission to itself the Olympic project can be pushed through virtually unchecked.

Sunday’s march from Hackney Town Hall to the new security gates of the Olympic construction site was a sign of the public’s misgivings over this deeply flawed project. After the march there was a meeting where discussions were held relating to development and regeneration. One interesting point covered in this discussion was the way these large projects evolve. First plans are made, then a so-called consultation takes place and then the work begins. However the meeting agreed that the consultations were generally a public relations exercise and that they made little difference to the outcome of projects, which are usually forced through despite any public misgivings. The Olympics appears to be a case in point.

Tara frontline Action -avin it

On Monday September 24th, thirty brave cultural conservationists donned face paints and headed off on a route walk from the Rath Lugh direct action camp. Film director and actor Stuart Townsend, fresh from the highly successful aerial photograph on the hill attended by an estimated 3,000 people on Sunday, arrived with four massive bags of shopping for Tara’s soldiers before everyone set off. Stuart’s continuing support is massively appreciated!

Once on route activists erected barricades along the paths of the diggers and bulldozers to slow destruction work. Activists proceeded to Baronstown where seven to eight diggers were occupied, climbed and danced upon. The walk continued as our merry band arrived at Collierstown, an ancient Fianna graveyard. The two diggers working when we arrived were quickly halted with people climbing into buckets of diggers, onto roofs and onto their tracks. Songs were sung and people danced. Work was halted for half an hour before scouts indicated that machinery was working up ahead at Trevet. We headed there and on the way occupied another digger. The driver of this digger refused to turn off his engine despite the fact that activists occupied his machine, a clear violation of health and safety laws and a sackable offense.

Our next stop was Trevet, where one bulldozer was prevented from working by activists. It was then that the Gardai made their appearance. Taking some of our group aside, names were taken and no further action occurred. As our walk was slightly behind schedule, when Garda officers approached we decided to pick up the pace, keeping twenty to forty feet between ourselves and the law. Officers continued to follow us for another 100 metres before heading back the way they came. Having stopped work for hours it was near dinner time so we headed back to base camp. Throughout the day as we passed the sacred sites in the path of the proposed motorway short talks were given about the historical and archaeological significance of each site. No one was arrested and a great day was had by all. The campaign to protect Tara from the money mad mile continues picking up pace after the phenomenal success of the international Harpists for Tara event and John Quigley’s stunning aerial photography. Every Monday route walks will continue.

Completion of the M3 through the Tara Valley is years away and there is everything to play for! Be at the Tara Solidarity Vigil camp on the hill by 9.30 am or at Rath Lugh by 10.00am. Please come, please support and network!

www.tarapixie.net
www.savetara.com
www.tarawatch.org
www.indymedia.ie

Critical Mass and Carfree day in Brussels

What a weekend for cyclists. Friday evening and the regular Brussels Critical mass was held one week early to coincide with mobility week. Around 80 cyclists sprouted up at the Porte de Namur and reclaimed the streets of Brussels for an hour or two. This month there was a practical theme to create a DIY cycle lane. Recently the Major of the city decided that the cycle lane along the main boulevard through central Brussels was a menace to traffic and even encouraged cyclist to get in the way of honest car driving citizens. What to do when that Major takes away the cycle path. A simple question, you get together with your friends and paint it back again. Getting rid of the cycle hating Major will probably be the next step but that’s another action.

Brussels is a city of contradictions and for Saturday lunch time the city invited cyclists for a sumptuous nosh up. Anyone who was a cyclist was welcome to help themselves. A wonderful feast for non vegetarian wine lovers and the deserts were out of this world. Not so good on the cycle lanes but the free food almost makes up for it.

Sunday was the carfree day and it really was carfree in the whole city, not just one or two streets. It’s hard to describe the difference banishing the cars can make to a city. Brussels, if only for one day became a place for people. Swarms of cyclists filled the streets people on foot could and did move about without risk of being run over by impatient drivers. The sun was shining the air was clean for once and the angry honking of car horns beautifully absent. If only every day could be like this. The street is a place for people, city children need to play and a cup of coffee on a pavement café somehow tastes better when there isn’t traffic roaring by a few feet away. This might just be my opinion but the people of Brussels did seem to agree with me, well at least the ones who still remember how to move about without a car.

Also for mobility week the Brussels based environmental group, Auto-nomie presented an environmentally friendly car, truly an environmentally friendly car. Zero emissions is a thing of the past, this car has negative emissions. If you care about the planet but still want a car that turns heads this is the model for you and the conversion is cheap and easy. Take out the engine replace is with a few wheelbarrows full of good quality soil and plant your favorite fruits and vegetables. Cruising through the streets of Brussels in a customized car like no other is the way to go. When your friends get tired of pushing what better way of revitalizing them than a tasty car grown strawberry. The car was on display in central Brussels all last week.

Join Big Blockade of Faslane Nuclear Base 1st October

Hundreds of peace activists will risk arrest on October 1st when over a thousand people are expected to join in a “Big Blockade” of Faslane Naval Base. This will be the culmination of the Faslane 365 year of actions against Trident, Britain’s weapon of mass destruction. People and groups from all over Britain (and abroad) will use diverse nonviolent methods to block the entrances to the nuclear base and disrupt the ongoing deployment of Trident.

As they have done over the past twelve months, the groups and individuals, who will include Members of the Scottish and European Parliaments and well-known singers and artists, will highlight the illegality, insecurity and waste of resources inherent in the deployment and renewal of Trident. Throughout the day there will be colourful, creative and dramatic actions at the gates, including many different kinds of lock-ons and sit-downs.

“This Big Blockade will be a carnival of resistance to celebrate Faslane 365’s achievements in highlighting and disrupting the illegal nuclear deployments over the year,” said Dr Rebecca Johnson from the Faslane 365 Steering Group. “We will join together to mark the end of this year’s campaigning, and to make clear our determination to keep up pressure on the Scottish and UK governments to get rid of Trident and to take the lead in moving the world towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, in accordance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the wishes of the majority.”

As diverse groups of activists blockade the gates, folk legends Leon Rosselson and Seize the Day will be providing music, and the renowned Roy Bailey and David Ferrard will perform songs from a forthcoming album about the Iraq War. A twelve-member choir will sing the oratorio Trident – A British War Crime, by Camilla Cancantata, first performed at the Edinburgh High Court in 2005. The Rev. Kathy Galloway, leader of the Iona Community, will celebrate a communion service at 10am at the North Gate with Clergy Action and Christian CND. Several Members of the Scottish Parliament, including Marlyn Glen (Labour), Robin Harper (Green) and Patrick Harvie (Green), as well as Jill Evans MEP (Plaid Cymru) have confirmed their participation and will be available for interviews.

Since Faslane 365 started on October 1, 2006, thousands have participated and more than 950 people have been arrested. Participants have included elected representatives from Scottish, UK and European Parliaments and local councils, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Buddhists, Christians, ‘Unity!’ union of asylum seekers, artists, writers, academics, students from the UK, Europe and Japan, atomic bomb survivors from Nagasaki, teachers, lawyers, health professionals and pensioners. Specific groups have come from many regions of Scotland, England and Wales and from eleven other European countries, as well as Japan and the United States. Prominent participants included the Bishop of Reading Stephen Cotterell, former UN Assistant Secretary-General Prof Sir Richard Jolly, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, Adrian Mitchell, A.L.Kennedy, actor Roger Lloyd Pack and singer-songwriter Billy Bragg.

NVDA trainings and accomodation will be Sunday afternoon and evening in Glasgow. Coaches leave from Edinburgh at 4:30 am and Glasgow at 5:30am
Monday. For details and to book see www.faslane365.org/1Oct

For further background information on Trident, a summary of the political context of the campaign, and a selection of photos from the yearlong blockade see the full Press Briefing Pack on the website. www.faslane365.org/1oct/press

Contacts: 0845 45 88 365 / 07733 360955 / 07768 312 676
info@www.faslane365.org
http://www.faslane365.org

Playing with Fire: The Story of Daniel McGowan, “eco-terrorism” and the Green Scare

Growing up in New York City, Daniel McGowan saw first-hand how pollution fogged the air and fouled the beaches in some of the city’s poorest communities, setting him on a lifelong path of environmental and social justice. But how he ended up drenched in gasoline and setting fire to Oregon’s Jefferson Poplar Farms in 2001 and was later targeted as a “domestic terrorist” is the story of someone who cared too much and didn’t know what else to do.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens’ Rockaway Beach, Daniel McGowan grew up sandwiched between asphalt and the sky, in a forest of buildings and buzzing streets. Until Dec. 7, 2005, the 33-year-old with a round face and a chipmunk smile was mostly known in local circles for his involvement in a variety of activist projects. Today, after a nearly two-year legal battle that saw him labeled an “eco-terrorist” by the U.S. government, McGowan is serving a seven-year sentence at a federal prison in Minnesota on 15 counts of arson, attempted arson and conspiracy to commit arson against two private companies in Oregon in 2001.

McGowan, whose arrest shocked his family and friends, and his case was lumped together with nine others as part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Operation Backfire, which produced 65 indictments for actions at 17 targets, including private companies, universities and government facilities across five states from 1996-2001, in what the FBI called a “campaign of domestic terrorism.” The actions were all claimed by the Environmental Liberation Front (ELF) or the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), an underground, decentralized movement of radical environmentalists, which McGowan participated in between 1999 and 2001 while living in Eugene, Oregon.

“At a certain point, I got involved in the ELF,” McGowan told The Indypendent at his Brooklyn home in June, a few weeks before reporting to prison. “At the time it seemed like a natural progression, but it also coincided with my increasing grief and rage I was feeling about the environmental destruction I saw. I went to Oregon and I couldn’t believe how okay people were with what was going on. We’d drive to the edge of town and you saw the logging mills, or you went into the forest and stumbled upon a clear cut. It just blew me away. I had to find a way to channel that grief and rage.” The dilemma McGowan faced has troubled activists for generations. When you try every form of “acceptable” advocacy to make change with little success, what do you do?

“A Campaign of Domestic Terrorism” In the middle of the night on May 21, 2001, McGowan found himself in the vehicle shop of Jefferson Poplar Farms in of Clatskanie, a small town in northwest Oregon on the Columbia River. He had just finished laying out soaked gasoline sheets and towels connected to a homemade incendiary device, designed to set fire to a fleet of SUVs and the company office. The privately owned facility had been selected as an ELF target because McGowan and his accomplices believed it was involved in genetic research by growing a hybrid variety of poplar-cottonwood trees that would help timber companies replace the region’s old-growth forests with commercial tree farms.

“We torched Jefferson Poplar because hybrid poplars are an ecological nightmare threatening native biodiversity in the ecosystem,” the saboteurs wrote in a communique that was released after the action. “Our forests are being liquidated and replaced with mono-cultured tree farms so greedy, earth-raping corporations can make more money.”

“At some level, I thought it [ELF actions] was effective,” McGowan said. “If I would have written a statement that I think genetic-engineered trees are bad and oldgrowth logging is bad and sent it to every media outlet in the country, it wouldn’t have been paid attention to,” he explained. “There is something really strange about when you attach a statement to an arson it suddenly becomes newsworthy … it is like propaganda with teeth.”

For McGowan, the actions were part of his search for the right mix of tactics to make positive change.

“For me, the actions were not grotesque or not about destroying things. I had a hard time getting into the mind set to destroy other people’s stuff or even living [genetically modified] organisms,” he said. “I would get sick before actions, get nervous — it was really difficult. But I did it because I felt that the other things weren’t working, and that while there was a preponderance of other tactics being tried, these tactics weren’t being tried and I thought that maybe there is something we can do to help the issue.”

Between 1996 and 2001, an underground cell of activists based in Eugene, Oregon, called “the Family” in government documents, targeted federal and university research facilities, meat and lumber companies, a car dealership, wild horse corrals and other “earth rapers,” as described by communiques released at the time.

According to the FBI, the string of high profile actions that hit 17 targets in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1990s caused nearly $80 million in property damage. These actions are only a few of the more than 600 incidents claimed by the ELF and ALF nationwide since 1996. “I think that’s really what all these actions are about — is really getting public attention to some of these issues,” said Jim Flynn, a Eugene-based environmentalist in a July 2007 USA Today article. “If we were able to affect policy change through more legal means, then certainly that’s the way these people would go. Nobody enjoys being underground, and that lifestyle.”

TO CONTINUE READING ARTICLE, VISIT: http://www.indypendent.org/2007/09/15/enemy-of-the-state/

SIDEBAR ARTICLES:

Why Green Makes the Right See Red
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/09/15/why-green-makes-the-right-see-red/

The Birth of a Buzzword: “Eco-terrorism”
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/09/15/the-birth-of-a-buzz-word-eco-terrorism/
NOTE: See Ron Arnold’s response)

The Net Widens: Free Speech on Trial
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/09/15/the-net-widens/

Underground Eco-defenders
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/09/15/underground-eco-defenders/

Please leave comments on the articles if you want!

THE INDYPENDENT is the newspaper of the NEW YORK INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER – www.indypendent.org

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For his address to write to, other eco-prisoners, tips for writing etc, go to http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk

Sun 23rd Sep: Rally Against Olympic Evictions – on Allotment Demolition Day

Details of March & Rally Against Olympic Evictions on Allotment Demolition Day – Sunday 23rd Sept
Meet 2pm outside Hackney Town Hall

The demo will be in solidarity with other evicted groups such as Clays Lane Housing Co-op who have already been evicted from their homes and traveller/Gypsy communities soon to be evicted. The demo in Hackney calls into question the excessive social, economic and environmental costs of the Olympics as a catalyst for (de)regeneration.

Details of March & Rally Against Olympic Evictions on Allotment Demolition Day – Sunday 23rd Sept
Meet 2pm outside Hackney Town Hall

“Development” – at what cost?
Their consultation = we know best

Planning permission for the Manor Gardens Allotments temporary relocation site at Marsh Lane Fields in Waltham Forest was granted on Tuesday June 12th 07. The London Development Agency’s plan has always been to remove them to make way for a footpath to the stadia needed for the four weeks of the Olympics.

Manor Gardens, bequeathed to be allotments ‘in perpetuity’ by their original owner the ‘Right Hon’ Major Villiers, sit in the North central section of the Olympic Park. The site has been earmarked to be vacated on Sunday 23rd September.

However, allotment holders aren’t going out with a whimper. Tomorrow, they are going to hold a march and rally on Allotment Demolition Day. Allotment holders, supporters and campaigners will be meeting at 2pm outside Hackney Town Hall, marching to Hackney Wick Community Association Baths, 80 Eastway, E9.

National Camp for Climate Action Meeting Nov 3-4 Oxford

The Climate Camp on its own didn’t stop climate change – but it’s part of a growing social movement that can! Come and take the next steps forward at the upcoming UK-wide meeting on Nov 3-4 in Oxford. Everyone is welcome, whether you came to the camp, or were simply inspired by it.

The Climate Camp had 4 key aims: education, direct action, sustainable living, and building a social movement to collectively tackle climate change and build a better world. Regional meetings have been happening up and down the country, and in Oxford we will meet to collectively share all our ideas for taking our aims further.

The agenda for this meeting has not yet been set – if you have any ideas about topics you think it is important for us to discuss, or if you are up for helping with planning and facilitating this meeting, please email meetings@climatecamp.org.uk.

Local groups: please send any write-ups of discussions from your debrief meetings to website@climatecamp.org.uk, so they can be put on the website, and meetings@climatecamp.org.uk, so they can be fed into the national meeting agenda.

Practical info:
The meeting will run 11-6 on Saturday Nov 3 and 10-5 on Sunday Nov 4.
The venue is the East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford (see http://www.eocsc.co.uk/find_us.htm for directions and a map). Vegan food will be provided at a cost of approximately £10 a day. Floor accomodation is available (bring a sleeping bag!) and do please email oxford@climatecamp.org.uk in advance so we know how many people are coming! If you have any dietary, access, creche, or other needs, please get in touch by emailing oxford@climatecamp.org.uk.

Further information will be added to the website, www.climatecamp.org.uk, soon.

Allotment Holders Sowing the Seed of Resistance in Reading

On Monday 17th September 07 Cow Lane allotment holders began their first action against plans to bulldoze the site to make way for a new road as part of the Reading station upgrade.

See http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/377780.html for previous report.

Allotment holders where alerted to the arrival of surveyors gathering information for the new road design last week. To ensure this event did not go unnoticed allotment holders quickly mobilised to greet and dismiss the surveyors.

Most allotment holders were at work, however a small group managed to make a very visible presence at the gates to the allotment site. They erected a 10 metre long banner over the entrance, fashioned some makeshift placards and handed out 500 leaflets to passing motorists, many of whom where very supportive, hooting there horns and stopping to take leaflets. The usual sharp-witted rant of ‘Get a Job’ was only heard once towards the end of the day. Friends from Common Ground community garden and associated activists also turned up to show support.

One Landscape Architect had the audacity to turn up only to be turned away with a clear message that we intend to fight to save our allotments, and those companies involved would not be immune from action.

The allotments are under threat due to the closure of one of the Cow Lane bridges and a subsequent diversion of the road as a part of development plans for Reading station. The road will also affect the Reading Festival site, Mobile home residents and the Riverside Sports and social centre.

We also made it into our local rag ( http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/2015/2015224/protest_over_allotment_land)

Find out more about us and our campaign at www.cowlane.org.uk

Other allotment sites under threat!
www.lifeisland.org
www.eastleigh-allotments-association.org.uk

Critical Mass to oppose Mottram – Tintwistle bypass

Last Friday saw a dozen people attend for the inaugural Glossop Critical Mass. Glossop had seen nothing like it – all kinds of cyclists, including a mobile sound system, with people coming from as far afield as Manchester and Trafford (cycling all the way to Glossop and back from it!) to attend. Plus some friends from Glossop Kinder Velo.

We certainly attracted a lot of attention – along with a van load of police and a motorcycle policeman. We’re clearly doing something right.

And the press attention has followed in its wake – today’s Manchester Evening News gave away a half page article and photo, along with a page on their website. The latter is attracting a fair amount of debate (with predictable comments from petrolheads), so please feel free to join in.

The organisers, Road Alert Glossop, are keen to repeat the event in the not too distant future, although next month’s clock changes mean Friday evenings will be out until 2008.

We are told that video-pixies were present to film some of the proceedings, and that a film will follow soon…

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PROTESTORS got on their bikes during the rush hour to campaign against the controversial Mottram – Tintwistle bypass.

They set off from Glossop railway station to cycle to Tintwistle at Friday teatime on a four-mile route organised by the Road Alert Glossop group.

The stunt was intended to highlight the fact that bikes and people should be catered for on roads, not just cars and traffic, and raise awareness of Swallows Wood, which is threatened by the proposed 3.5-mile bypass.
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“It went really well,” said organiser Jonathan Atkinson.

“We got about 20 people out. One guy brought a sound system on a little trailer with him! We had people from Glossop Cycling club and people from Stalybridge and Manchester as well.

“There was a five year old on the back of a bike and the oldest person there was in his 70s I’d say.”

Cars beeped their horns in support of the cyclists and the campaigners ended their wheeled protest with a well-deserved drink at Tintwistle’s Bulls Head pub.

Jonathan added: “We had a police escort, as well, which really helped us.

“There was an article in the Guardian saying more money should be spent on cycle lanes to save the government thousands in health care and congestion costs, so we really do need to do something.”

The public inquiry into the bypass was set to resume yesterday (Wednesday) after it was dramatically halted when the Highways Agency admitted it had got its figures wrong.

For more information on the group you can visit http://www.myspace.com/roadalert

(from the Glossop Advertiser)