Author: earthfirst

Genetix Update issue 26 out now

8 pages of news of GM actions and campaigning in the UK and beyond.

UK news
Amaizing Grace – Bayer abandon Chardon LL
Wot no trials – only one UK GM field trial in 2004
Off with their heads – Bayer sack bioscience bosses
Whine and Cheese parties (a Supermarket special) – reports on supermarket actions, stopping GM animal feed and spotting newly labelled GM foods
British Biopiracy – English Nature to allow bioprospecting in UK nature reserves

International news from
Australia (Bonza no canola!), New Zealand, US, Canada, India, Phillipines and the CBD in Malaysia

pdf download: http://www.geneticsaction.org.uk/news/XUpdate/GUissue26.pdf
txt download: http://www.geneticsaction.org.uk/news/XUpdate/GUissue26.txt

More information on the Genetix Update, the Genetix Update archive and how to subscribe to the paper version of the update go to http://www.geneticsaction.org.uk/news/genetixupdate.htm

Linslade anti-bypass protest need people; plus injunction details

Linslade anti-bypass protest site near london (leighton buzzard/milton keynes) urgently need people. They have started cutting trees and a site has been establised.

Look at www.roadalert.org.uk for more information.

Before you come please call victoria harvey 01525 385097 or 07815 817108 AND someone from the site 07868740689, 07854631024, 07799816888.

We really need you, the site is getting quite sorted but more protestors will be a very welcome relief.

I don’t have time to go into great detail about the protest but you can get this off road alert. We are abot 30 miles south of london, near leighton buzzard and milton keynes.

There is an injunction against anyone who goes to the site to protest against the road (persons unknown!) This goes to the high court tomorrow (tuesday 8th february), it used to cover the public roadway but we won the right to stand there. There are people squatting in the zone with the injunction on it.

I’m very sorry about the lack of detail, time is very limited, please look on the protest website, roadalert and telephone us.

We need you. You can help!!!

www.linsladeprotest.org.uk

 

 

Bucks County Council applied for the catch-all secret Injunction banning ‘Persons Unknown’ from any form of protest at the site of the road, at a secret hearing on Friday 28th January, without protesters being able to challenge it. It banned any form of protest. There was a Hearing today, Tuesday 1st February, at the High Court in London, and a compromise was reached.

The terms of the Injunction have been changed. I haven’t seen the injunction, but I understand it now allows observing and protesting on the footpaths and B4032 road – so the local protests against the road can continue on the B4032. Locals are also very concerned that they are not allowed close enough to get evidence of alleged breaches of the Habitats Directives, as they are felling trees with bat roosts in, without Ecologists on site, or licences from DEFRA.

The way they got the original Injunction was appalling, and shows their attitude to free speech. It was served at the camp at 7pm, so no one could seek legal advice over the weekend (no-one knew the implications of it, so that is why there has been a silence over the last couple of days!). They applied for a secret hearing and a fast track process and were granted that. Anyone wishing to contest the Injunction was given until 4pm on Monday 31st January to seek Legal Advice and file a Defence (7 working hours!).

Direct action is still possible! Today campaigners hung a banner saying “Challenge Car Culture” opposite the Aylesbury HQ of Buckinghamshire County Council. This occurred at the same time as Garrett Emmerson, Head of Transportation, was having meetings with Bedfordshire County Council about the Bypass! See  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/02/304619.html

Bilston Glen Protest Site update, spring 2004

Here’s a short update from our camp:

Here at Bilston Glen Anti-Bypass Protest Site we get more sorted for every day that passes by. More defences are coming up constantly and the standard of the camp is steadily improving. We have a new kitchen, a new info-space, a well sorted and cosy communal, a new guest house and a new shower. We’re currently building a huge communal tree-house and some other tree-houses are also underway. For three months we’ve been organizing “Sunday Free Cafes” (open days) the first sunday every month, which we intend to continue with. Spring is here, the birds are singing and the leaves are coming out, we’re looking forward to the summer. The 1-4 of July we’re inviting like-minded for a green anarchist gathering to discuss how to fight the megamachine and learn primitive skills.

The planning permission for the road is still there. PPL, the company who where gonna finance the road have gone bust (way-hey!) though, so as it looks now it’s up to the local council to pay for the road. But PPL has been bought up by Bayer, the enormous bio-tech monster, so they might very well finance the road. Central government money might also come in as Tony & co want to see the biggest bio-tech cluster in Europe here outside of Edinburgh, and a road for the transports to and from it.

So we still want and need more people to fight against this part of the horrible destruction of our world. You and everyone else who support us is very welcome to join us!

Save Bilston Glen! No More Roads! For a life wild and free!

by Bamse, part of the Bilston Glen collective

e-mail: info@bilstonglen-abs.org.uk
Homepage: http://www.bilstonglen-abs.org.uk

Phone and Email Blockade of Bayer Cropscience

Monday 22nd of March saw a phone and email blockade of Bayer Cropscience, aimed at undermining their communications and disrupting the smooth running of their offices.

The direct line of Paul Rylott, the head of Bioscience, was chosen along with the main Cropscience email address. Unfortunately Rylott’s line appeared to have been disconected so for the rest of the day it was the backup number – for the bioscience department – which was called instead. It is not known how many people took part in this action but we must have caused some bother as the operator was taken off the phone early in the day and the answerphone switched on instead. Hopefully when they listened to it it was full of anti-gm messages. Hundreds of emails were also sent.

This was the latest of several phone, fax and email blockades, and a ‘virtual sit-in’ to have taken place against Bayer over the last 6 months. There will no doubt be more in the future. To be kept informed of them subscribe to the Stop Bayer’s GM Crops email list – you can do this at www.stopbayergm.org.

Bayer Cropscience are targeted as they only remaining company trying to get approval to grow gm crops commercialLy in the UK.

PHONE AND EMAIL BLOCKADE – AGAINST GM & BAYER

Phone 01223 252514 – direct line of Paul Rylott, head of Bayer Bioscience.
Email ukinfo@bayercropscience.com

Paul Rylott may have been sacked by Bayer but he’s not gone yet! And he is still one of the key players in the attempt to bring GM crops into Britain.
Please take the time to phone in and let them know what you think of their plans to grow GM crops in Britain. It doesnt take very many people doing this to affect their communications and disrupt the working of their offices. (And it only takes 20p!)
If you can’t get through on these then try
01223 252557 or tech@bayercropscience.com

NB – it’s best to use a phonebox and dial 141 before the number….just to keep yourself safer!

Or try me directly on paul.rylott@bayercropscience.com

However, please dont keep hanging up after one ring, and saving your 20 pences, you cheapskates. I really upsets me when people do that repeatedly. Some nasty people keep doing that for hours on end so we end up having to disconnect our phones. So dont do it, cos it’s really not nice.

And if I’m not around contact my colleague Julian
Tel: 01223 252426
Fax: 01223 252427
Email: julian.little@bayercropscience.com
……………………………………………………………………….
THE GM PHONE BLOCKADE – CHANGE OF NUMBER: 01223 252557

Paul Rylott’s landline has been disconnected: reception claims he is no longer employed there.
So keep ringing and emailing, but use the reception phone: 01223 252557
or ukinfo@bayercropscience.com

More sabotage of Bayer

Locks jammed at Bayer Crop Science in North Yorkshire

On the 30th of January the Bayer Crop Science facility in North Newbalds, North Yorkshire had all its locks jammed with metal and superglue.

This is the 3rd or 4th time this has happened at this building.

The jamming of locks is a quick and simple action which can be carried out very safely at pretty much any Bayer location in the country. It can also have an effect disproportional to the effort put into it – when workers are unable to get to work productivity will surely suffer.

Activist’s Guide to the Peat Industry published, Corporate Watch’s ‘Turning Dirt into Dollars’

Published in November 2003
Turning Dirt into Dollars, an Activist’s Guide to the Peat Industry, includes addresses, maps & detailed background.

http://archive.corporatewatch.org/publications/peat/peat2.htm

Hulme Developer gets a Roasting (Manchester)

Digger trashed in action relating to 25 mature trees being felled in Manchester

A property developer, who plans to build on the Loretto College Playing Fields, got a visit from upset local people early on Tuesday 29th July. Around 25 mature trees on the playing fields have recently been destroyed and a large JCB digger has started ground works.

Local people despair at the useless politicians who get voted in for 3-5 years, then enclose green spaces, close swimming baths and sell off schools and playing fields. These are all sold to private developers, who are only there to make money for their shareholders, not our local community.

People broke into the large digger using cutters and doused the cab, electronics and computer in paraffin. Then standing back, threw in the spark. Damage has been estimated at up to £100,000.

Hopefully insurance companies and contractors get the message. Developers who destroy our community green spaces, close footpaths and kill our trees, are not welcome.

It is sad that new diggers only take around a month to build, mature trees take a life time.

======================

There has been a group set up by local residents in response to this unexpected felling of mature trees.

—extract—-
We are a collective mainly based in Hulme but with a network of organisations supporting our cause from all over the city. Our aim is to halt to further expansion of the construction in Birley Fields as well as to activley protect our green spaces that we are sadly loosing by the day.
Through non-violent, peaceful but direct action we will prevail.
Rally interested people to this egroup and we can start the resistance to the destruction of our area, stand up for the environment which we so desperatley need and prove that people power is all we need to make a difference.

Local residents directly oppose development in Hulme, Manchester

How local residents begin campaign against – diversecity – (a not-so-local development company)

Around 10am ish today (and i say 10am ish cos i dont have a watch) Diversecity a development company began survey work on a lovely tree scattered site in Hulme . By 11am ish local residents were waking up to the reality of the Leaf St. development and decided something had to be done! And fast! So a few folk went and spoke to the surveyors giving them fair warning that people didn’t want them to continue their work . One of the surveyors even agreed with local residents, saying “I wouldn’t want it if I lived round here.”
Anyway lets cut to the chase…around 1pm ish the surveyors head of for luncheon… and there it is…

A golden opportunity of spontaneous energetic bliss…….. a free-form-freena-na-gig-group is formed and the butter knife* of justice is called upon and before a surveyor can say “chips peas and gravy, luv!” the bore drill cable is cut through like warm soya margarine…and that’s all the surveying work done for one day at least!!!!!

BIG WHOOPS OF JOY!!!!!!! round one….. local residents – 1 diversecity – 0

* for (butter knife) insert (bolt crimpers)* 🙂