earthfirst – Page 284

European activist gatherings (Ecotopia, Portugal 4-19 Aug & ASEED international activist camp, Bulgaria, 26-29 July)

You are invited to Ecotopia 2007 – Migrations

This year Ecotopia will take place between 4 – 19 August in Aljezur in the south of Portugal.

Ecotopia is a two-week activist camp and an open event for everyone interested in environmental and social justice issues.

You are invited to Ecotopia 2007 – Migrations

This year Ecotopia will take place between 4 – 19 August in Aljezur in the south of Portugal.

Ecotopia is a two-week activist camp and an open event for everyone interested in environmental and social justice issues.

More info at http://www.ecotopiagathering.org/

International Activist Camp – Bulgaria 2007 July 26th – 29th

In the skirts of Pirin mountain, south-west Bulgaria, about 2.5 kilometers away from an old village, people from Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe will get together to share ideas and strategies for campaigning on environmental and social issues and get inspired by each others’ activities and work.

More info at http://www.aseed.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=381&Itemid=1

mobile phone masts destroyed by tank, Australia

July 15, 2007

A FORMER Telstra worker allegedly stole a tank and used it to demolish six mobile phone towers as he led police on a wild two-hour rampage through western Sydney yesterday.

July 15, 2007

A FORMER Telstra worker allegedly stole a tank and used it to demolish six mobile phone towers as he led police on a wild two-hour rampage through western Sydney yesterday.

More than 20 police chased the tank but were powerless to stop it, retreating to a safe distance as the huge vehicle cut a path of destruction through six suburbs.

They could only watch as the driver, hanging out of the top at times, allegedly rammed the tank through fences and into six mobile phone towers, telecommunication relay sheds and an electrical substation.

The damage caused major disruptions to mobile phone services in Sydney’s west yesterday.

The divorced father allegedly stole the 1967 Trojan armoured personnel carrier (APC) from his former workplace, A One Lift Truck Service, at Minchinbury.

His former boss, Greg Morris, said the man had a beef with mobile phone towers.

“He used to work for Telstra and told us he was going through a medical claim for his head injury.

He said something about the radiation from the towers had caused it,” Mr Morris said.

“He actually worked on the tank he stole, doing a lot of wiring and putting the engine in.”

The drama began at 2am when the ex-British Army tank – complete with steel tracks and replica gun turret – was taken from a holding shed and headed straight for its first target: an electricity substation at Michinbury.

The tank then allegedly rammed a police car as it drove from the Mount Druitt Hospital car park.

At its maximum speed of 52km/h per hour, it continued on through the suburbs of Mount Druitt, Dharruk, Emerton, Glendenning and Plumpton with 10 police vehicles in pursuit.

Several times police were forced to retreat when the driver allegedly swung the tank towards them.

He taunted police by leaning his head out the side window to wave at them.

The joyride ended at 4am when the vehicle stalled as the driver attempted to destroy a seventh mobile phone tower.

Police used capsicum sprayto subdue the man, who was dragged head first from the tank by officers.

Mr Morris said he bought the tank from the British military.

He restored the vehicle, which is valued at $1 million, and he hires it out for weddings and for motor shows.

A colleague who would not be named said the man who stole the tank had a “vendetta” against phone towers.

“He told us he’d worked for a government agency where he had to work around the towers and got radiation poisoning.

“So he planned out a map of where the towers were that he wanted to destroy.”

Mr Morris said he was “devastated” at the news.

“I can’t believe it,” he said.

Mr Morris described the man responsible for the carnage as a “quiet, well spoken” man.

He left in December but Mr Morris saw him often.

“We were mates, he’d call in for a chat and a few beers.’

“The problem he’s got is not with us. It’s just that it’s the tool he needed to do it.”

The chase attracted a lot of attention with drivers following the tank.

“It’s not something you see in Mount Druitt every day,” William Errington, 26, said.

Another local resident expressed similar disbelief after being woken up by her partner to chase the tank.

“Mick said we were going to follow a tank and I thought yeah a fuel tanker. Then the thing drove past us,” said Oakhurst resident “Ally”.

Mount Druitt Chief Inspector Guy Habberly said the man had not been drinking and did not appear to be affected by drugs.

Yesterday John Robert Patterson, 45, of Dharruk, appeared in Parramatta Court charged with stealing the tank, dangerous driving and malicious damage.

He did not enter a plea or apply for bail and he was remanded to appear in Penrith Court tomorrow.

His defence lawyer Ivan Bertoia told the court that in a police interview his client “suggested he had the authority to behave in such a manner”.

Magistrate Terry Forbes said there was a strong case to be made for the case to be dealt with under the Mental Health Act.

Mayo shell site blockaded, later occupied, jailings & solidarity demo

13.07.2007

Local Protesters Blockade Shell Construction site in Mayo

A number of Shell to Sea campaigners have established a non-violent blockade of the road leading to the proposed gas refinery site at Bellanaboy. Two protestors are locked on to an immobilized vehicle, preventing access to the site.

13.07.2007

Local Protesters Blockade Shell Construction site in Mayo

“It is vital for the preservation of Erris and the protection of its people that all work on this destructive and exploitative project be stopped immediately. Despite a contemptible strategy by the authorities that either ignores or maliciously persecutes those opposing the project, residents remain resolute in their opposition.” says John Monaghan

This action comes in the wake of the conviction of three local residents on a charge of assault, a charge they vigorously deny. The judges’ verdict has been met with surprise and chagrin from the community.

Today Shell to Sea supporters are clearly demonstrating that they will not be deterred by Gardai violence or false imprisonment

for timeline etc go to http://www.indymedia.ie/article/83416

Occupation of refinery site

Breaking news – 10pm

100 people have just occupied the proposed refinery site in Ballinaboy!

People jumped the main front gates of the refinery site and just walked on. Over 100 people occupied the site. The atmosphere was very relaxed and peaceful.

People chatted to the security staff and challenged them as to why they feel the necessity to work for Shell.

People stayed on site for roughly half an hour. They had a walk around, and a good look around. People walked right to the top of the site and back down again.

There were no Gardai there for the duration of the occupation.

People have just left the site together as a block and are going on to have a bonfire together and with the fishermen that have just been released from prison.

This follows a day of all out action by the people in Erris. Two people had locked on this morning to a vehicle. This blocade, supported by road blocades done by people on another road prevented the trucks from working for the vast majority of the day. The two men that ‘locked on’ have both been charged with numerous public order and road traffic offences. They are due to appear in the District Court in Castlebar on Wednesday.

Shell to Sea campaigners jailed for police assault

A text message and short phone call last night revealed that three Shell to Sea protestors have been jailed on assault charges against the Garda.

The text message from one at the Rossport Solidarity Camp said the three men were found guilty of assaults on the police.

One man received three months, another one month and the last is facing four months in prison.

A forth man is also facing the same charges.

An appeal is set for today to see if they can over turn the charges, but as the message I received last night said it did not look good.

For further updates keep your eye on here or on: http://indymedia.ie/mayo

Solidarity with Jailed anti-Shell Protesters- Picket at Department of Justice, Dublin

No Justice in Rossport- the Gardaí work for Shell

Supporters of the campaign to have Shell site their refinery offshore and for the Irish govt to secure Irish natural resources for the people showed their solidarity with the three Erris fisherment who have been wrongly jailed. A large group of about forty protesters handed in a short letter (signed by them all) to the minister expressing outrage at the treatment of the three men.

The Gardaí complained that the presence of such as a large group of people at the entrance of the building had health and safety implications, and tried to order those present to move, but it was poined out the health and safety implications of Shell’s scheme for Mayo were a much greater threat to us all.

Garda reinforcements arrived and tried to intimidate the protesters, who included some Sinn Féin and Green Party members (as well as members of smaller groups and none), but no one paid any attention to them, since they are widely recognised as simply being used as merceneries for Shell now, their authority is slipping away.

First Directions to The Camp for Climate Action 2007…..

The camp dates are drawing nearer and nearer and we’re all desperate to know where it will be… but we’ll just have to wait a little longer!

But what we do know is that if you get yourself to Staines railway station in West London by 10am on Tuesday 14th August, you will be greeted by our friendly welcome team and promptly transported via a magical mystery tour, to the camp! (There will also be lifts to the camp later in the day and throughout the week.)

The camp dates are drawing nearer and nearer and we’re all desperate to know where it will be… but we’ll just have to wait a little longer!

Camp for Climate Action comes to Heathrow this summer.

Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, and all our efforts to tackle climate change in other sectors are undone by the massive growth in air travel.
Holding the camp at Heathrow aims to highlight the lunacy of the government’s airport expansion plans, target industry giants profiteering from the climate crisis, and raise awareness of the need to fly less.
The camp will also support local residents in their long-term struggle against the building of a third runway and the destruction of their communities.

There will be a day of mass direct action aiming to disrupt the activities of the airport and the aviation industry, but in the interests of public safety there will be no attempt to blockade runways.

Although the location is different, the philosophy of the camp remains the same: to be a place for the burgeoning network of people taking radical action on climate change around the country to come together for a week of low-impact living, education, debate, networking, strategising, celebration, and direct action.
The camp will feature over 100 workshops covering topics such as climate change impacts, carbon offsetting, biofuels, peak oil, permaculture, practical renewables, campaign strategy, skills for direct action, and much more.
Run without leaders by everyone who comes along, it will be a working ecological village using renewable energy, composting waste and sourcing food locally.

It all comes down to us, now. We are the last generation that can do anything about climate change. In 20 or 30 years’ time, should we not change our ways, we’ll be committed to emissions increases that will see forests burn, soils decay, oceans rise, and millions of people die. If we don’t get this issue right, so much else is lost too.

We still have time, but not for long. Make it count.

Why target aviation?

It is the fastest growing source of CO2 emissions.
It has been left out of the first faltering frameworks to control emissions, eg. the Kyoto Protocol and the Climate Bill.
It is the most damaging form of transport.
Unlike the other high emitting sectors (e.g. energy and food production), there is no alternative sustainable technology.

The only way to reduce emissions from aviation is to reduce the number of flights.
And unlike those other sectors, aviation is not a necessity.
There is a major airport expansion programme planned at 21 airports, with increases in capacity equivalent to a new Heathrow every 5 years. This expansion programme locks us into increased emissions, and undoes all our other efforts elsewhere to reduce emissions.

Why target Heathrow?

Nowhere in the UK is there a larger source of CO2 emissions. Most countries emit less greenhouse gases than Heathrow’s planes.

Heathrow is the world’s busiest international airport. It is an iconic global symbol of aviation.
Heathrow is the heart of the UK?s aviation industry.
Heathrow is the central plank of the government’s airport expansion plans. Heathrow has a planned third runway that can be stopped.

The third runway would bulldoze entire villages and destroy communities. There is a big, established, long-term local campaign against Heathrow and BAA that we can join forces with.

There is an opportunity to highlight bias in the corrupt planning process in favour of big business and development.

The presence of Harmondsworth detention centre nearby highlights the plight of environmental refugees and the fact that climate change is fundamentally an issue of social and global injustice.

Aboriginal Elders Occupy Barrick Gold’s Australian Head Office

July 13th, 2007
Wiradjuri Elders Neville “Chappy” Williams (third from left) and Ron Gardner (back to camera in wheelchair) in tense negotiations with Barrick’s Steve Robinson (fourth from left) while other Barrick staff and protestors look on. Barrick Gold office foyer, Perth Western Australia 11 July 2007.

(Spanish version available at: http://barrick.live.radicaldesigns.org/article.php?id=165)

Elders and supporters of the Wiradjuri Aboriginal Nation have occupied the Australian head office of the world’s largest gold mining company, Barrick Gold.

Around 35 people peacefully occupied Barrick Gold’s Australian headquarters in Perth, Western Australia on Wednesday in a bid to force the company to meet Wiradjuri protocols relating to people with bloodlines to Lake Cowal in Central New South Wales where Barrick is operating a gold mine.

Elders Neville ‘Chappy’ Williams and Ron Gardner sought from Barrick:

* copy of the Cowal Gold Project Ancillary Deed between Barrick Australia Limited and the so-called ‘Wiradjuri Condobolin Native Title Claim Group’
* a response to an eviction notice delivered to Barrick
* a meeting with Barrick senior management, and
* any legal papers the company has that are the property of the Wiradjuri Elders.

Barrick’s response was to call the police and to ask the protesters to leave the premises saying they were ‘trespassing on private property’. After a sit-in lasting around an hour and being threatened with arrest, the Elders and supporters agreed to leave on the condition that Barrick agree to respond to the Elders’ verbal and written demands in writing.

“We’re fed up with Barrick’s lack of courtesy to Wiradjuri Elders so we’ve been forced to take this kind of action. We’ve been trying to get a copy of the ancillary deed and other documents like a full inventory of artefacts collected at Lake Cowal for a long time now,” Mr Williams said.

“All the Wiradjuri with ties to Lake Cowal have a right to see the deed and the inventory, not just the five sell-outs who have signed away our ancient cultural heritage. We’ve gone through the correct channels, through Freedom of Information, letters to Barrick and a request I made personally to Barrick Chairman, Peter Munk in Canada on only 2 May at their AGM. They keep saying the deed is ‘commercial-in-confidence’. So what have they got to hide? They should be open with all of us Wiradjuri people, but they keep on acting in secret and putting a lot of spin on their publicity about the mine and its so-called ‘benefits’. Their Perth public relations officer was extremely rude to us and showed us no respect at all.”

“Barrick has not gone through the appropriate protocol, nor have they spoken to the right Wiradjuri people about Lake Cowal,” Ron Gardner said. A nine-year veteran of the campaign to stop the gold mine in the Wiradjuri Nation’s heartland, Gardner has strong feelings about the mine. Until recently ill health has kept him away from the lake.

“I was shocked and emotionally upset to the point of tears when I saw the mine infrastructure on our sacred place,” he said.

“There are burials out there and it’s a massacre site. There are thousands of artefacts and scarred trees in the area that are testament to our People’s long and continuing occupation of the region, yet Barrick won’t release an inventory of all the artifacts they have collected or tell us what has happened to the scarred trees that have been removed to make way for the mine.

“The mine has split the Wiradjuri community. You don’t know who you can talk to or trust any more. Barrick continues to deal with just a small group over the $9.2 million deal they made. They’ve set up the Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation (WCC) but you have to join to become a member. As Chappy says, “We know who we are. You’re born into Wiradjuri. You don’t need a membership application”.

“The WCC is not benefiting the majority of Wiradjuri people. Most of us still have the same problems, poor health, housing in need of maintenance and upgrade and lack of education and job prospects.

“Barrick are wrecking the ecology out there at Lake Cowal. The company is drawing up to 3650 megalitres of water a year out the groundwater and Lachlan River near the lake and we’re still in the worst drought in recorded history.”

“They are using cyanide to leach gold from the ore. This inevitably leaches into the soil and can make its way into the water system. Despite what the company says in its PR spin, gold mining is just not safe. One teaspoon of 2% cyanide can kill a human and a lot of cyanide spills have occurred around the world. They are digging up a massive mount of earth out there and will leave a pit 1 kilometre long, 825 metres wide and 325 metres deep. It will be there forever, never to be filled in, a legacy for future generations.”

“They’ve cut down thousands of old trees that take hundreds of years to grow and provide habitat for lots of native species. Yes, they’ve replanted some vegetation but thousands of trees have died because they weren’t watered in the continuing drought”, Mr Gardner said.

“So we’re not going to stop our protests against Barrick until we get some justice,” Mr Williams said.

“They’ve made their position very clear and looks like they won’t budge. But we’re not alone. We have many rock solid supporters here in Australia like Kungarakan/Gurindji Elder Speedy McGuinness from the Northern Territory, who is fighting his own battle against new uranium mines on Aboriginal land there.

“We have great support from the students who sat in at Barrick’s Perth head office and our Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal friends across Australia and the world in the Coalition to Protect Lake Cowal. We’ve also got a great international coalition going with First Nations peoples where Barrick is damaging and destroying Aboriginal lands in Africa and North and South America. We’ll never give up the fight until the mine is stopped and our land is returned to us,” he said.

This is an ongoing story. Barrick faxed a letter to the Elders yesterday afternoon Perth time in response to their demands. The Elders have referred it to their legal counsel for advice.

http://www.savelakecowal.org/intro.html
Contact: Neville ‘Chappy’ Williams +61 416 316 774
Ron Gardner +61 414 098 536

Saving Iceland Summer of Resistance Kicks off in Reykjavik

12.07.2007
A day of action in Reykjavik kick starts Saving Iceland’s Summer of Resistance to heavy industry and the aluminium industry’s corporate invasion of Europe’s largest wilderness.

Following on from Saving Iceland’s international conference: ‘The Global Consequences of Heavy Industry’ where speakers and delegates from five continents gathered to unite struggles against the aluminium industry, was a day of public actions.

The International Summer of Dissent begins!

Firstly at Kringlan Shopping Mall:

Over 50 people from 5 different continents started the day at Kringlan Shopping Mall, Reykjavik, to protest against the consumer culture that demands new aluminium factories. Reverend Billy, from the Church of Stop Shopping, and his new deciple Reverend Snorri, lead a flock of devoted and extremely noisy earth lovers (also known as Saving Iceland activists) through the consumerist hell that is a the shopping mall.

“The foreign corporations who want to dam Icelands great rivers, and put polluting smelters on our shores – they want us to keep shopping.”

“The Aluminium industry makes most of its money from warplanes, tanks and missiles (30%, actually.) They propose the complete damming of Icelands wilderness rivers, this isnald’s famouse beauty buried under industrial reservoirs. Let us stop the war machine and the ruin of Iceland’s wilderness. The same corporations that keep us shopping, make war around the world. Isn’t a shopping mall like a ‘human’ dam? We re stopped, hypnotized, put in debt. Our energy is taken from us. Save the country and save ourselves…”

…Then a march down Laugavegur (Reykjavik’s busiest street)…

… for a rally at Alþingi

On the lawn outside the Alþingi, the Icelandic Parlaiment, people gathered together to speak out against the aluminium industry. People from Trinidad, who are winning a fight against Alcoa, from South Africa, who are fighting a nuclear powered Alcan plant, from the East of Iceland, who have been devastated by the recent Alcoa Reydarfjdur factory and Karahnjukar dams, from Brasil, who is fighting the damming of the Amazon for aluminium factory energy, and many more gave inspiring speeches and lead energy filled songs against the aluminium industry.

…and finally at the Prime Minister’s Office
Street theatre activists then set up an aluminium smelter, installed some tomb stones and handed out dirty Icelandic water (Iceland prides itself on its pure water, yet it is polluting and destroying its water for the sake of heavy industry dams).

activist video footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJF7uK4cCOM
RUV coverage (Iceland’s state TV): http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/sjonvarpid/?file=4338360/5

For updates and details of upcoming actions see: http://www.savingiceland.org/
For more videos of Saving Iceland actions and the recent conference see: http://www.youtube.com/user/octoplasm

Cabinet refuses consultation with Herefordshire public: ‘Hereford Eight Arrested’

July 12 2007 – Herefordshire Council Cabinet refused this afternoon to guarantee that they would consult with the public or even allow full council to debate the future of the Dinedor Serpent.

Cabinet member Cllr. June French told reporters and protesters that it would not be an agenda item today, but that it would be discussed at an unspecified future date. She could not guarantee that it would be debated by the full council or allowed a vote. Cllr. French announced an internal inquiry into how the council had handled the publicity around the Serpent.

8 protesters subsequently refused to leave the Council building until Cabinet members guaranteed a full public consultation. When this guarantee was not forthcoming, the prostestors, including an elderly people, refused to leave. They were peacefully escorted from the premises by the police.

Update 10:15pm: The protesters were arrested on charges of ‘aggressive trespass’. They have just been released on bail having spent several hours in police cells in Worcester and are expected back in Hereford shortly. They will have to report back on July 26th and face either a caution or be taken to court.

“All the Council had to do today was guarantee a proper public debate, and then this would not have happened”, said a campaign spokesperson. “What do they have to hide? Those arrested are the Hereford suffragettes – all because Herefordshire Council won’t be open and democratic in it’s procedures.”

Calls continue to grow for Herefordshire Council to pause construction to allow a full public consultation and for all elected councillors to have a say in the final decision and not just the Cabinet.

Background info & other campaign news at http://www.rotherwasribbon.com/

For court case updates, see July 2007 archive.

Camberwell Squatted Centre: Under immediate threat!!! Court & events update

The Camberwell Squatted Centre has seen its court date brought forward to TUESDAY 10th JULY placing the Centre under danger of eviction in the very near future. How can you help?

Camberwell squat flier The Camberwell Squatted Centre has seen its court date brought forward to TUESDAY 10th JULY placing the Centre under danger of eviction in the very near future. How can you help?

Emergency meeting MONDAY 9th JULY at 7.30 pm
Camberwell Squatted Centre
190 Warham St
off Camberwell New Rd
Camberwell SE5
bus 185, 36, 436
tube Oval

We have been in occupation of the building on Warham St since 10th March. Since then we have filled almost every day with events for any and everyone.

Now we are facing the reality that we have always faced, that we will be thrown out of the building we have lovingly restored to life.

So see you in court Mr Property Speculator…

Please check our website for news and also to see how you can keep the spirit of the Camberwell Squatted Centre alive

Black Frog Collective
@
blackfrog@alphabetthreat.co.uk
http://www.56a.org.uk/warham.html

Court update
>>>>>>>>>>>>

Camberwell Squat – owners granted Possession Order

Camberwell Squat Centre | 11.07.2007 01:43 | Free Spaces | Social Struggles | London
Tuesday July 10th, the owners of the building were granted a Possession Order to regain the property. Bailifs could pay a visit any time from Wednesday 11th. Please come along, we plan to stay in the centre for as long as we can…

After two adjournments and much legal shenanniganing the Camberwell Squatted Centre at 192 Warham Street SE5 has entered its final phase…

Twice we have managed to gain adjournments on the grounds that we had a licence to stay in the place granted by Sean Davey and John Desmond, the two characters we had been dealing with from the owners’ side, which had not been properly ended before the case was brought… This time the licence argument was properly tested in a court. We thought we would lose.

Although we were telling the truth and Sean had granted a licence, the other side claimed Sean and John hadn’t done any such thing and anyway even if they had, had no authority to do so, ie they aren’t the owners, only caretakers and builders, not entitled to give us permission to stay…
They gave evidence, we gave evidence. The Judge chose to believe them.

Property being nine tenths of the law, we had expected that this would happen, regardless of the facts in the case. The Judge in fact called us liars, though not in such words. And said they were reliable witnesses. I.e. we were squatters and they businessmen. They want the space to demolish
it, build yuppie flats or whatever money-making scheme they can concoct. Our whole project was about subverting their world-view.

So it goes. When we squatted the building, we expected a short time there; the licence, quickly revoked, gave us hope of longer, but in fact we have strung it out thus far and achieved much, We have had some brilliant events, met and got to know some fine people, explored new ways of being, in a space under our control, not for profit but for fun and with a view to working towards a different world.

We always knew we would be moving on some time – but this is not the end. Every such occupied space is a creation in itself, as well as a stage along a road. The processes we have evolved in running the space, interacting there, as well as the ideas, information, socialising, exchange of ideas and experiences, add up to more than the rickety four walls or the dead hand of property.

Other projects will arise, other spaces will be squatted, all of us who have been through the building will take the four months we have spent there forward in our hearts.

We don’t yet know how long we have before the bailiffs arrive. While we are still there we will carry on having events, using the space, celebrating the time we still have. We hope you will all come by, hang out, help to keep up the amazing atmosphere that has grown up in the place. We do need people to come and hang out in the day, to keep the building secure, in case of early eviction attempts… Do drop by. You have all helped to make this project a living thing.

Check the website or come by the Squat to keep in touch with what’s happening on the eviction front.

Camberwell Versus Death!

EVENTS PLANNED –

Obviously we could be evicted before the later ones here!

WEDNESDAY 11th?FILM NIGHT: THE WORKING CLASS GOES TO HEAVEN?
Lulù is a real hard worker. For this reason he is loved by the masters and hated by his own colleagues. The unions decide agitations against the masters. Lulù doesn’t agree…Classic REFUSAL of WORK movie from Italy!! Subtitles. 7.30pm

THURSDAY 12th:?A talk about the Operation Spanner case of the 1990s, the prosecution and jailing of consenting gay men for their sado-masochistic sex lives and the struggle against their criminalization. Talk by a founder of the Spanner Campaign.

FRIDAY 13TH: Café/Bar, 8 till 1… Is there anyone out there fancies cooking for this…? The usual cooks are a bit tired and all Ramsayed out… Any volunteers email us… It’s not that hard.

SATURDAY 14th
Starbucks Workers Rebel… A film night, talk and social in support of Starbucks workers organising against their evil capitalist bosses in 3 continents. We will be showing the film ’Coffee Sirens’ about Starbucks workers organising, plus talks from people involved in picketing Starbucks here over their attacks on union organisers in the USA and elsewhere. 8pm onwards, plus social after.

SUNDAY 15th
3pm: open meeting to discuss what happens next: Camberwell Squatted Centre is in court on the 20th of July, facing eviction… We will probably lose, after heroic adjournments in the last two court appearances. So what next? For those who want to see another local autonomous social and rebellious space, we’re meeting to work out where to go and how things carry on.

MONDAY 16th
BUILDING MEETING
7pm

TUESDAY 17th
POLISH LESSONS. For the very beginners and very commited. Bring pen and paper. Some homework. 7.30pm
SPANISH LESSONS. For the not so beginners. 7.30pm

WEDNESDAY 18th FILM NIGHT: INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION
Another classic movie from 1970’s Italy!! A disturbing portrait of police power as played out through twisted eroticism and State repression. Subtitles. 7.30pm

THURSDAY 19th Peace Time In Palestine: Illegal occupation. Illegal Confiscation. Humiliation.?The Wall of Shame. International Support. A talk and slideshow by a witness and human rights observer after two months in Palestine (more on http://ana-en.blogspot.com). 7.30pm

Saving Iceland Camp Location

BRINGUR, Mosfellsheiði, South West Iceland. You will go through the flat valley of Mosfellsdalur and as you start climbing up to the moors you will pass the white villa of Gljúfrasteinn. It is the first dirt track on the right after you have passed Gljúfrasteinn. Keep going on the track until you finally see the camp! The track is a bit rough but fine for small cars as long as you drive slowly.

How to get to the camp:

Take bus 15 from Hlemmur to Háholt (the end station).

It goes from Hlemmur 16 min and 46 past every our on weekdays, but 11 and 41 past every our in evenings and weekends.

From Háholt take bus 27 to Laxnes.

It leaves at 12:28, 16:28, 20:08 and 22:08 on weekdays.
8:08, 12:08, 16:08; 20:08 and 22:08 on saturdays.
12:08, 16:08, 20:08 and 22:08 on sundays.

From there you will have to walk on the main road until you see a small road to the right, which will lead you to the camp. There is a small sign and some banner or clothes hanging on the gate.

A bus ticket costs 280 kr. and you should ask for a ticket called “skiptimidi” so you will not have to pay for both buses.

critical masses (reports from end June/beginning July 2007)

Manchester:Ace mass on friday woo! despite all the students being away for the summer there was still an ace turnout of around 30-40 people.nice. and a few stayed for a nice bbq in the park which was real lovely.

Critical mass has a my space account
here:http://www.myspace.com/mcrcriticalmass
and a facebook account here:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=597661675&ref=mf

also an email list at http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/manccriticalmass

so if you have photos or film of the masses please post or upload them or email for the passwords and i’ll send them out to you. also please use these and this list to discuss ideas and calls for help with future events for after the critical mass. In the past we’ve had benefit gigs, party in the woods, film nights, meals, beers in pubs, picnics, bike polo workshops, art exhibition, roller races etc etc. It would be ace if everyone could be involved in organising these. maybe we could even get together a little cm events working group..would anyone be interested in this? we could get together either after cm or in the month to share ideas, organisation and tasks.

these things can be discussed on this list or on myspace comments or on the facebook note or wall

ALSO
At previous critical masses in Manchester we decided on the following tips to ensure that we are all safe,that we cause least annoyance as possible, to make sure the ride stays together and to ensure that everyone feels comfortable. Remember sometimes people on critical mass come because it is a chance to reclaim the road and to feel safe, people who wouldnt usually ride in central manchester and also children, so its good to keep the nice friendly atmosphere to encourage cycling and that safe environment…if people want to discuss these its great, they were points that were agreed at several critical masses by people shouting and waving hands and that kind of thing. there is no organiser and everyone should be able to have their say. (in a way that is responsible and looking after each other)

1. If the light goes on red as the ride approaches the lights we stop and wait for green.
2. If the light changes part way through the ride getting through around 2 people per lane of oncoming traffic stop and cork the road. This basically means that they stand in the middle of that lane holding up their hand/ a sign saying ‘thank you for waiting’ so that cars will stop and let the ride stay together and go through the light safely. Thanking the drivers when everyone is through..we are trying to get drivers onto bikes not to hate us!!!
3. Slower riders and children and people with less confidence ride at the front of the ride and to the left hand side so that they can set the pace and help to stay together and also feel safer as they are less likely to be near traffic/ annoyed drivers.
4. We don’t have a set route for critical mass, instead whoever is at the front at the time can choose where we go, so we take it in turns! just shout left or right or straight on in plenty of time!
5. Have fun!

Future critical mass dates are

MEET CENTRAL LIBRARY 6PM FRIDAY:
27th July
31st August
28th September
26th October
30th November
28th December

2008
25th January
29th February (woo leap year!)
28th March
etc etc

London: Critical Mass 29th June – The June Critical Mass, with a few hundred cyclists, was a fun ride through the City and Holborn and managed to stay dry the whole way through!

Several hundred people left Waterloo bridge at about 7pm, cycling across Blackfriars bridge, along Ludgate Hill, past the Museum of London and onto Liverpool Street station. After some circling of Finsbury Circus the mass kept moving on to Old Street where we had a brief rest. Moving off the mass headed for Cambridge Circus along Theobalds road and High Holborn. From there it moved up and along Oxford Street and down to Westminster Square where there were some skirmishes with the cops over the sound system (see the account: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/06/374738.html)

It was a fun ride. The police for the most part seemed to keep their distance. Entertainingly a couple of police started head bobbing to the music in Old Street – I’m hoping someone got a film of it! Let’s hope next month is slightly sunnier though.

Edinburgh: It went pretty well. Around 50 people. Considerably more than last month. There was no police intervention, apart from preventing all vehicles to go across North Bridge, since it was shut again. We simply diverted down Leith Street, went all the way round the roundabout, then along Queen Street to the meadows from there. In the last 5 minutes the heavens opened.

Glasgow got the sun and a ride out to the West End complete with bike lifts and a film screening afterwards.

July York Critical Mass Ride Small but Successful

Well, it wasn’t a big ride, with just 19 people taking part, but we had fun, made cycling visible and encountered some complete idiots who need their 2 ton weapons removing from beneath them. The driver of a bright red Audi on Nunnery Lane expended much petrol revving, overtaking (twice) and generally being an idiot without any gain for himself, other than a nice picture showing that he, like a notable group of York’s drivers, has no concern whatsoever for cycle lanes or cyclists. No one was hurt, but as one person put it later “we gave as good as we got”, verbally of course.

Next months ride will probably also be small, but that’s no excuse not to show up. On Friday August 3rd we’ll be returning to the streets of York to promote cycling, sustainability and fun, same time and same place.