2008-12-16
Seven activists were charged with trespass today after shutting down Gunns’ Triabunna mill for over seven hours this morning. Fifteen people occupied the woodchip mill at 4:45am, with seven activists attaching themselves to a conveyor belt and other machinery.
2008-12-16
Seven activists were charged with trespass today after shutting down Gunns’ Triabunna mill for over seven hours this morning. Fifteen people occupied the woodchip mill at 4:45am, with seven activists attaching themselves to a conveyor belt and other machinery.
“The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme White Paper makes it plain that the Federal ALP is not committed to ‘serious and credible’ emissions reductions. There is a failure by policy makers to grasp that we are facing a climate emergency – the policies proposed by the White Paper will result in the disappearance of Tasmania’s unique alpine ecosystems, the collapse of the Barrier Reef, and the salination of Kakadu,” Huon Valley Environment Centre spokesperson said.
“Targets of a 5% reduction by 2020 are pitiful and internationally humiliating. The Australian Government’s increased assistance to large emitters provides a clear demonstration that their priorities lie with heavily polluting big business, and not with Australia’s people and natural environment,” Warrick Jordan said.
“In Tasmania, the logging, burning and woodchipping of old growth forest releases massive quantities of carbon. Gunns Limited is the driver of this grossly irresponsible and morally reprehensible situation,” Still Wild Still Threatened spokesperson said.
“Gunns hides this immense climate crime behind official carbon accounting figures which exclude the logging of native forest. Tasmania’s old growth forests are globally significant as unique ecosystems and carbon stores, and their protection can play a significant role in Australia taking real climate action,” SWST
“The Tasmanian Government has publicly expressed a will to address climate change. If the Bartlett government is serious about addressing climate change then it will legislate an end to old growth logging” concluded SWST.
15/12/2008: this morning thirty campaigners from Coal Action Scotland together with local residents peacefully blockaded the entrance to the Scottish Coal-operated Ravenstruther coal rail terminal in South Lanarkshire. Having stopped its reopening after the weekend, this action is currently preventing the delivery of thousands of tonnes of coal to power stations across Scotland. Protestors intend to stay in place as long as possible.
15/12/2008: this morning thirty campaigners from Coal Action Scotland together with local residents peacefully blockaded the entrance to the Scottish Coal-operated Ravenstruther coal rail terminal in South Lanarkshire. Having stopped its reopening after the weekend, this action is currently preventing the delivery of thousands of tonnes of coal to power stations across Scotland. Protestors intend to stay in place as long as possible.
With Scotland’s CO2 emissions increasing significantly, continuing the consumption of coal will make it impossible for Scotland to meet its 80% target reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050. Angus Mcloud said “The fact is that the government will not meet its own targets. This confirms what climate protestors have believed all along – that the Scottish government is paying lip service to the dangers of climate change.”
The action is aiming to disrupt the operations of Scottish Coal and Scottish Power in the region. The protestors are acting to oppose the five open cast coal mines that deliver coal to the rail terminal and in resistance to the thirteen new open cast coal mines due to open in Scotland.
Protestors erected and scaled a 15ft scaffolding tripod, blocking trucks from entering the terminal. Others are locked by their necks to a conveyor belt and a bulldozer, preventing coal stockpiles from being loaded onto trains.
Tilly Gifford who is at the site said: “In the face of dangerous runaway climate change, increasing our dependence on coal – the most polluting of the fossil fuels – is simply unacceptable. We urgently need to make the transition to renewable energy and close existing mines. We shouldn’t even be thinking about new ones.”
The demonstration today is in support of communities opposing new open cast mines. Rebecca Mackenzie, a local resident said: “We’re here today to send a clear message that we don’t want parts of Scotland such as South Lanarkshire to become the most heavily mined areas in Europe, as they will be if permission is granted for all the new open cast coal mines currently being proposed. If sites such as Mainshill near Douglas can’t be stopped through legal avenues, then action will have to be taken to make sure these last remaining areas of un-mined countryside aren’t destroyed”.
Beth Whelan, the campaigner perched on the scaffolding tripod, said: “Local authorities, the Scottish government and companies such as Scottish Coal and Scottish Power are ignoring the scientific evidence on climate change. We have to take responsibility for our climate and our future, and stop the coal industry and its expansion. This is what we doing today: acting responsibly”.
It is estimated that 6,380 tonnes of coal were stopped from being transported from the coal mines to power stations, equivalent to 11,675,400 kg CO2 (11,675.4 tonnes) released into the atmosphere.
Coal Action Scotland apologizes to any workers affected by today’s demonstration, but in recognizing the desperate need to stop burning coal sees no other choice but to target the companies responsible for mining it.
The action lasted over 8 hours and resulted in 6 arrests and not a single chunk of coal was transported from the terminal.
On Sunday, 14.12. about 150 people demonstrated in the forest of Kelsterbach (near Frankfurt / Main) against the construction of the new runway north of the current airport site.
On Sunday, 14.12. about 150 people demonstrated in the forest of Kelsterbach (near Frankfurt / Main) against the construction of the new runway north of the current airport site.
To familiarize with the surrounding of the forest, which fraport (the company which runs the airport) wants to destroy and in view of the area which probably will be cleared first, the demonstration moved trough the forest towards the airport grounds, along the current path to where the road Okrifteler crossed the motorway 3 and the fast-train tracks. Throughout the Kelsterbacher forest are the preparatory measures (removal of munitions, sub-wood and animals) largely completed. Among the preparatory measures include marking work on the trees. These were from the demonstrators numerous and varied with paint and spray cans supplemented, so that the orientation for forestry workers in the forest in the future will be more difficult.
At the bridge on the ICE route had already posted the cops and blocked the transition towards soundproofing wall of the airport. Under the observation of a police helicopter there was a short rally, while on the road Okrifteler many new slogans against the expansion were painted.
The forest walk was a good step from the activist lethargy of the past few months!
Upcoming events:
4th January 2009: The first colourful walk in the forests in the new year will again explore the area and make the extent of forest destruction clear. Meeting: 14 clock Forest Camp
From the 12th January 2009: possible grubbing beginning, Day X
Day X is the day on which the site is fenced and / or with the clearing work is begun. Get on the alarm lists (soon under www.waldbesetzung.blogsport.de or in the forest camp)!
14th January 2009: demonstration together with pupils, students and others against the Hessian conditions in Frankfurt. Check: www.14januar.de
Even between the years, there will be activities around the camp and against the expansion type. Keep you updated on www.waldbesetzung.blogsport.de or www.flughafen-bi.de
Join us on Saturday 10th January 2009 to march around the proposed open cast coal mine site at Newton Lane, near Fairburn Ings nature reserve and Castleford.
YANC SAYS:
NO CO2AL HOLE
It’s time to say NO!
We don’t want a dirty opencast coal site adding to climate change
Join us on Saturday 10th January 2009 to march around the proposed open cast coal mine site at Newton Lane, near Fairburn Ings nature reserve and Castleford.
YANC SAYS:
NO CO2AL HOLE
It’s time to say NO!
We don’t want a dirty opencast coal site adding to climate change
Join us on Saturday 10th January 2009 to march around the proposed open cast coal mine site at Newton Lane, near Fairburn Ings nature reserve and Castleford. Meet at the White Horse in Ledston at 12 noon for a 12:30 start. We will take a route on public rights of way around and through the proposed open cast site. The walk should take no more than an hour.
This protest event will be a joint venture between YANC (Yorkshire Against New Coal) and RAGE (Residents Against Greenbelt Expansion).
For a map of the area including location of Ledston, see the RAGE website at: www.savefairburnings.org.uk
White Horse pub postcode is WF10 2AB. Add this postcode to multimap for directions.
We will have some banners and placards but please feel free to make and bring your own.
Media will be invited.
If we are to tackle climate change, coal must be left in the ground. We need clean, green renewable technology, energy efficiency and decentralised energy.
Your New Years Resolution? To stop climate change!
For further information see the YANC website: www.yanc.org.uk or find us on Facebook.
Five brave counterculture warriors don Santa Suits, sing anti-consumerist and anti-capitalist Xmas carols, and leaflet for more mindful attention to love, gifts, and catastrophic climate change – in Oxford Street, in the heart of the shopping district of Old London Town, on the busiest shopping day of the year: Sat 13 De
Five brave counterculture warriors don Santa Suits, sing anti-consumerist and anti-capitalist Xmas carols, and leaflet for more mindful attention to love, gifts, and catastrophic climate change – in Oxford Street, in the heart of the shopping district of Old London Town, on the busiest shopping day of the year: Sat 13 Dec 08.
Turning material wealth into possessions makes you happy; shopping till you drop and retail therapy are good for everybody; proving you love somebody means giving them an expensive present. The bullplop promoted by Capital’s advertising and marketing psyche-manipulators has never needed challenging more than it does today, in the worst of the madness of Xmas shopping mass-psychosis during a cash-strapped credit crunch recession.
Our yuletide ‘tradition’ at London Rising Tide [1] involves a ‘Santas Against Excessive Consumption’ [2] choral street action – mass dressing as Santa Claus, social singing of anti-consumerist Xmas carols, and letting folks know by leaflet that there is an alternative to the dominant the-one-who-dies-with-the-most-toys-wins idiocy of hyperconsumerism. Since the rain was heavy and steady, we sought shelter and performance space in the West One indoor shopping mall on Oxford Street, by Bond Street tube station. But anti-capitalist choristers only dampened what little Xmas spirit the security boss had left – and he threatened to call the cops if we didn’t leave forthwith.
Thankfully, his remit seemed to run out at the doors to Oxford Street, which still left us with a suitably sized covered area in which we could sing to our hearts content, and compete with the McDonalds McFlyer to see who could give away the most leaflets per unit time. The applause of shoppers happy to be spared, if only temporarily, from the soul-rotting rounds of shopping for tat was much appreciated.
The lyrics of the songs you can hear us singing in the video (so you can sing along, or even stage your own Santas Against Conspicuous Consumption street action) are as follows.
___________________________________________________________________
1 (& 3). Jingle All The Way – to the tune of Jingle Bells
Chorus:
Profits here, profits there,
profits everywhere
Christmas time is funny
we smell money in the air
Advertise, glamorize,
fool you with a flair.
Let’s make sure that Christmas
is a businesslike affair.
You’re eating up our lies and dashing to the stores
Then all our prices rise and how the money pours
If we don’t keep you drugged and watching your TV
You might see the hypocrisy
then where would business be?
Chorus
We’ll tell you how to think and tell you what to try
What to eat and drink and how to live and die
And if our plan succeeds, when Christmas-time is nigh
Instead of seeking love and peace you’ll hunt for gifts to buy
Chorus
___________________________________________________________________
2. Consumer Wonderland – to the tune of Winter Wonderland, lyrics by Erica Avery
The TV’s on / are you watching?
Another product / that they’re hawking
one more thing you need
to make life complete
Welcome to Consumer Wonderland
In the stores / you will hear it
“Pricey gifts / show holiday spirit”
That’s what they call it
to get to your wallet
Welcome to Consumer Wonderland
At the mall we can go out shopping
and buy lots of stuff we can’t afford
we’ll have lots of fun with our new toys
until we realize that we’re still bored
When you shop / ain’t it thrilling
until / you get the billing
the money you still owe the stuff broke long ago
Welcome to Consumer Wonderland
___________________________________________________________________
4. Oh Come All Ye Shoppers – to the tune of Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Oh come all ye shoppers
Burdened and despondent
Come all ye followers of ma-a-mon
Come and buy things
Sparkly and redundant
Oh come let us ignore it
Oh come let us deplore it
Oh come let us abhore it
Money and greed.
Ring tills with profit
Ring in exploitation
Ring all ye registers of capitalism
Glory to profit
At it’s highest
Oh come let us ignore it
Oh come let us deplore it
Oh come let us abhore it
Money and greed.
For capitalists, giving means buying tat from them first. For anti-capitalists, a gift economy can undermine the market economics that poison our environment, our culture and our minds – for example, see ‘Creating Our Future World One Gift At A Time’ – http://tinyurl.com/gift-economy
Update, Monday 15th:
another person has climbed up into the same tree; council want to finish work before Christmas; local residents sending hot water bottles up tree. Get down there to help – contact numbers below.
—–
Sunday, 14.12.2008:
Update, Monday 15th:
another person has climbed up into the same tree; council want to finish work before Christmas; local residents sending hot water bottles up tree. Get down there to help – contact numbers below.
—–
Sunday, 14.12.2008:
One protestor still in trees, with the others coming down on Friday and Saturday – chopping down of trees clearance work continuing all weekend. “They’re already over half way through cutting them and they’re working today and have been working over the weekend.”
—–
11.12.2008
Action in the trees now get there.
Urgent many trees being cut down some over 400 years old. For another unneeded road. There was a camp at the site 12 years ago with some of the Fairmile posse there. Which won and camp dismantled ..now roadbuilders , the council and homegrown Timber company are at it again.
The site is …Two Mile Coppice next to the railway line Weymouth..
3 activists currently in trees with security around…. any old tree protesters dust off your harnesses and get there. Or any new recruits next generation welcome.
On site mobiles ( batteries getting low) 07792717821 / 07807952822
Just get in da van and get there now.
—–
Ancient tree sit-in against road
12th December 2008
Two protesters are sitting in trees in ancient Dorset woodland to try to stop clearance work taking place ahead of the building of a new £84m relief road.
Work to clear part of Two Mile Coppice restarted on Thursday after a legal bid by the Woodland Trust temporarily suspended work on Tuesday.
The Weymouth relief road aims to ease traffic around Weymouth and Portland, which are hosting the Olympic sailing.
Dorset County Council said work would continue despite the protesters.
A spokesman said trees would be cut down around the demonstrators and that the council hoped to complete the work by Christmas.
“The council is now discussing how the protesters can be safely and legally removed,” he added.
One protester, 35-year-old Nicky Baines, came down from the trees on Friday.
He told the BBC the two remaining men, Nick Pepper, 41, and a man known as Noddy, had both lived in Weymouth in the past.
He said they did not represent any particular group but the idea was to “stick it out as long as possible”.
“We’ve been having a bit of trouble with the amount of equipment – food, water and staying warm.
“But at least one person has got a lot of stuff they can keep going with.”
Work restarted
Trees and other vegetation were being removed from 1.5 acres of woodland on the western edge of Two Mile Coppice, when Tuesday’s legal challenge halted work.
The Woodland Trust, which owns the land, said the county council had failed to provide a Notice to Enter document.
The coppice is among land in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) that Dorset County Council was given permission to buy, using compulsory purchase orders, in September.
But until the orders are processed, the land still belongs to the trust. The correct documentation was later provided and work was allowed to restart.
Steve Marsh, of the Woodland Trust, said the legal challenge was started to make sure the council was following the correct procedures.
“We didn’t think we’d ever be able to stop the work in the long term,” he said, adding that the trust was against the road.
“This is the last remaining ancient woodland in the Weymouth and Portland area. It’s a very much-used wood and a much-loved wood.
“Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever, it can’t be recreated because the climate was different 400 years ago.
“Ancient woodland is the richest habitat we’ve got in Britain – it’s our equivalent of the rainforest.
“We feel the road is a near act of vandalism on the environment, all to help cut people’s journey times by five minutes.”
Environmental groups, including the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), lost a High Court legal bid to stop the road in 2007.
A public inquiry followed, which ended in March 2008, but many residents and businesses said they supported the plan for the road.
Work is due to start in spring 2009, if the Department for Transport (DfT) gives the funding.
Just to let those wishing to help know that there is a local campaign group – Bypass the Bypass and they have a website: http://www.bypassthebypass.org/
Also, the Woodland Trust have been fighting this road for years (they own Two Mile Coppice) and have held it up for years through various means. You can view info on the Weymouth Road on their website here
THE BATH BOMB
@nti-copyright: copy and distribute!
Issue #17
free/donation
Dec 08 ‘No, he doesn’t exist you whiny little brat’
Bathonians Stand Up As The Economy Falls Down!
THE BATH BOMB
@nti-copyright: copy and distribute!
Issue #17
free/donation
Dec 08 ‘No, he doesn’t exist you whiny little brat’
Bathonians Stand Up As The Economy Falls Down!
Saturday the 22nd of November saw the start of BAN’s latest campaign, aimed at community self-defence against the effects of the recession. The ‘We Won’t Pay For Their Crisis!’ campaign has these key demands: fair heating subsidies, bailiffs out of our communities, no more house repossessions, no job or benefit freezes, control of the banks and no to lay-offs. The demo started off with around 20 activists (although the number later grew to around 35) congregating at Bath Abbey before taking to the roads and making a beeline for Milsom Street. Outside the strip of banks, the crowd started a spontaneous roadblock, snarling up traffic and taking advantage of the huge amount of attention to inform the public what the action was about and shame the banks through BAN’s shiny new megaphone! During the roadblock, several Xmas shoppers decided to join the action, and stayed with the march until the end. From there, the demo moved towards Guildhall, where a brief blockade was staged (this was only lifted to allow a wedding party into Guildhall; the supportive bride-to-be even posed for piccies with protesters!). After this, marching in the opposite direction that the (by now slightly despairing) police pushed the crowd in, the protest moved back up to Nat West, where another blockade took place, and during which the bank was adorned with ‘Where’s our bailout?’ stickers. In many ways, the day was a huge success. Many on the march were first time protesters, who refused to be intimidated by pushy and threatening police. The public were overwhelmingly in support of the march – with hundreds of leaflets being given out, and frequent cheers and applause coming from the pavements. Above all, the march marked the beginning of what promises to be a strong and effective to defend our communities against greedy bosses, politicians and landlords, who would rather see us freezing, jobless and homeless than sacrifice their own mountains of wealth.
How To Survive A Recession
With the recession now deepening, all of us are feeling the pinch. Some already cannot afford to turn on their heating, while others are getting laid-off and having property stolen by bailiffs. We have talked a lot about taking the fight to the greedy system that caused the recession, and we have given a lot of column inches to promoting the idea of fighting against the system to protect and improve our standard of life. While this is definitely vital if we are to roll back the effects of this recession, we at the Bath Bomb have not given much time to talking about what we can do in the here and now to make things a bit easier. All of the ideas we will look at involve the reclaiming of your own life – breaking the umbilical cord of dependency on super markets, banks and politicians, and it is this disassociation from the rich’s system of capitalist greed combined with direct attacks upon it that will allow us to live our lives free of their financial crisis and social oppression. With the rant behind us, let’s have a look at some budget-busting recession survival measures:
1. Grow some veg!: now is the time to be planting garlic and winter peas, and from January to March, everything from runner beans, tomatoes, carrots and potatoes go in the ground. If you have an unused fence, you can grow runners, and even the tiniest bit of garden can be turned into a good source of food. If you don’t have any space, start gardening with friends, or pop down to the Bath Organic Allotments on Upper Bristol Road, who exchange huge bags of veg in return for volunteering.
2. Start a food co-op: this is a really simple idea. It involves you and your mates chipping in, ordering from a wholesaler and getting the goods at cost price, sidestepping the huge profits slapped on by supermarkets. You will each have to stick in a bit of money to get started, then ‘buy’ the food from yourselves to generate money to order in next month’s stock. Trust us – it’s cheap, and more info can be found at http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop/cg_special.html.
3. Five finger discounts: a bit controversial, but hey, supermarkets have been stealing from us for years. They steal land and resources from impoverished farmers here and abroad, then steal our cash by charging tens of times above the cost of transport and production. So go on, rob – don’t feel guilty, you are poor and they are grossly rich, and most of their wealth comes from our pockets.
4. Jacking electricity: there are loads of good ways to jack electricity to help beat those winter bill blues. One involves locating the cog that turns the meter on your electricity box, heating up a pin and pushing it through the casing to stop the ticker turning. Hey presto, free electricity! But make sure to take the pin out for a few hours a day so the electric company doesn’t start asking questions.
So there we go, just a few hints and tips to get you started. We will try and bring you monthly advice on beating those recession doldrums (by any means necessary) from now on, and we’d love to hear your ideas. All messages to bathbombpress@yahoo.co.uk
The Little Big Screen
Sunday the 30th November saw yet another fine Bubbling Under offering at the Porter Cellar, showing ‘Live Nude Girls Unite’ – a documentary chronicling the formation of the first exotic dancers’ union in the US in the late 90’s. This proved to be both entertaining and inspiring, as it tackled racial discrimination, exploitative bosses, family struggles and common stereotypes of the sex industry. After all that excitement, though, Bubbling Under is taking a well-earned break this month. However, it’s coming back thick and fast on Sunday the 18th of January from 1-4pm, with both a documentary about the British Poll Tax riots, and GI resistance to Vietnam with ‘Sir No Sir’. More fraggings and lobbed bricks than you can shake an iron lady at! Get there early to get a good seat, or bring your own.
Bath Bomb Wordwatch: fragging (v); the act of killing a superior officer with the use of a grenade
Here at the Bath Bomb we’re often accused of hating the upper class. So we thought to ourselves, what better time to prove it! So, to win a free exclusive one-year subscription to the Bath Bomb, simply send in your stories about how you’ve managed to get up a toff’s nose this festive season.
EVENTS
2nd and 4th Mondays of the month, Bath Hunt Sabs meeting, 8pm, the Bell, Walcot Street
Wednesdays, London Road Food Co-op, 4-7pm, Riverside Community Centre, London Road
Saturdays, Bath Stop The War vigil, 11.30am-12.30, outside Bath Abbey
Friday 12th December, anti-foie gras demo, 7-9pm, meeting at the Circus
Friday 19th December, anti-foie gras demo, 7-9pm, meeting at the Circus
Wednesday 7th January, Bath Animal Action meeting 7.30-8.30pm, back room of the Bell pub, Walcot Street
Thursday 8th January, Bath Activist Network meeting, 7.30-9pm, downstairs at the Hobgoblin
pub, St James Parade
Saturday the 10th January, Bath FreeShop, 12-3pm, opposite Holland & Barrett, Stall Street
Tuesday 13th January, Transition Bath Forum, 7.15pm, Widcombe Social Club
Wednesday 14th January, Bath Green Drinks, 8.30pm, upstairs at the Rummer pub, Grand Parade
Thursday 15th January, The Power of Community film screening, 7.30pm, the Cork pub, Westgate Street
Sunday 18th January, Bubbling Under film screening, 1-4pm, Porter Cellar, George Street
Monday 5th February, Bath Friends of the Earth AGM, Stillpoint, Broad Street Place, 8pm
My Big Fascist Greek Shooting
Many of us in England have witnessed police brutality, either first hand or on the news. To those of us who have been on the receiving end of the raised truncheon of the law, it will come as no surprise that in Greece, the brutality has reached a peak. On Saturday the 6th of November, a detachment of blue-shirted police (hated in Greece, and usually reserved for situations of political turmoil) provocatively cruised through, and parked in a traditionally left-wing estate in Athens. Exerting their right to be free from unnecessary surveillance, local anarchist youths intervened to remove the police from their community. The police responded with stun grenades and live ammunition, leaving 15-year-old anti-capitalist Alexandros-Andreas Grigoropoulos dead on the street. Greece has since erupted into spontaneous rioting, described by Greek police as the worst in a generation with dozens of banks and police stations getting burned to the ground. Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating since Saturday night, and are already planning for further unrest. The cities of Thessaloniki, Athens, Patras and others have become battlegrounds in which an angry civilian population is fighting the police and demanding an end to indiscriminate and brutal repression. While the senseless murder of a child by arrogant and violent police is news enough, this story fits into a bigger picture. This is not just the story of a Greek tragedy, but one that resonates across the world. In countries where police are allowed to kill indiscriminately (e.g Burma and Indonesia), they do so. In countries where police are given access to tear gas, pepper spray and stun grenades (Germany, Spain and Italy etc.), they use them with abandon. As anyone who remembers the miners’ strike, the Poll Tax riots in Trafalgar square, the Beanfield, the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes, or any other example of police brutality in the UK knows, the difference between a cop in this country and the murderers in Greece has nothing to do with compassion or decency of the British bobby, but more to do with the fact that the average cop in this country does not have access to lethal weaponry… yet.
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Monsieur, With Zees Protests You’re Really Spoiling Us
Friday the 28th of November saw a follow-up demo in the third rendition of the campaign against foie gras seller The Pinch of Margaret’s Buildings. Long-time readers should be well versed in the ins and outs of this exciting saga, or maybe sick to death of hearing about it – well, so are we! Come on, Christophe, haven’t you had enough yet? After two hours of megaphones, noisy chanting, leafleting, spontaneous song and dance routines, heated debates and even the odd fisticuffs (some well-to-do jolly old bean’s birthday meal got ruined), the demo and attendant PCSOs moved off. Local opinion seems mixed, with some residents in great support of the campaign, whilst other big spenders couldn’t yank the wads of cash out of their wallets quick enough as they spluttered their red-faced way inside the restaurant – that’ll teach them bloody protesters!
So now the campaign is upping the ante: the demos will now be every Friday night, from 7pm. So, if you like your fine dining to be sans ear-splitting disruption, it’s best to eat elsewhere. And if you live local, and you want a bit of peace and quiet, tell owner Christophe LeCroix to do the right thing: stop selling foie gras!
Saturday the 22nd was also the date of the first Bath Vegan Fayre, showing nearly 200 punters just how simple eating vegan can be. Info on nutrition and animal rights issues was available, as well as recipe books, but the food proved more appetising: pizza, soft drinks, pies, cheesecake, biscuits, burgers, veggie bacon and sausage, soups… This journalist is getting hungry just thinking about it! Though the scheduled talk on genetic engineering was replaced short notice with one on food security, the event was very much a success, and happy bellies were made full. Look out for their next bigger, better (don’t quote us on that) instalment in early summer, when the next is planned.
Bath Activist Network are a local umbrella group campaigning on issues as diverse as development, environmentalism, anti-war, animal rights, workers’ rights and more. Helping to produce The Bath Bomb, we are open to anyone, and our members range from trade unionists to anarchists, liberals to greens, and people who just want to change Bath for the better. For details on meetings, demos, or just to get in touch, ring us on 07949 611912, email bathactivistnet@yahoo.co.uk, or see our website: http://www.myspace.com/bathactivistnetwork
Steal Something Day
Saturday the 29th of November has been celebrated as Buy Nothing Day for some years now – a day aimed at highlighting the human rights and environmental concerns generated by excessive consumerism in the run up to Xmas (the season of shoddily made sweatshop goods, and overflowing rubbish bins). But this year, anonymous Bathonians decided to make a slightly different point. While we can make responsible decisions when buying – it is not our fault that the products we buy are made using slave labour in far off sweatshops, not our fault that most large companies show scant regard for the environment and certainly not our fault that the company puts a mark-up of several hundred % on the product before passing it on to us. While the sweatshop workers who produce the products are the biggest victims, we are also victims of corporate greed emptying our pockets at every opportunity. With this in mind, activists set off on a marathon ‘steal something’ spree. While declining to comment whether they themselves indulged in an orgy of shoplifting, the activists did reveal that, over the course of several hours, they visited some of the biggest, baddest chain stores and human rights abusers in town and improved hundreds of products with invitations encouraging consumers to liberate the product rather than part with hard-earned cash. The letter outlined the ethical argument for shoplifting, and the unethical argument for rampant free-market capitalism. The message was well and truly spread that ‘buy nothing’ can also mean ‘take something back’. If you want to join the campaign against sweatshop conditions, why not contact either No Sweat or Labour Behind The Label? After what these companies have done to our environment, our high street and our fellow human beings, the question begs to be asked – who are the real thieves?
Welcome to Tesco Town: the hotly contested Tesco Express on Bathwick Hill finally opened on Monday the 24th of November, though not without incident. They’d been dragging their heels ever since their projected opening in February, after being vocally opposed by residents every step of the way for two years; the tale of toadying, bribery and trickery that finally got them their desired store is a legend unto itself. They also got away with not installing the traffic-calming measures they promised… but what’s a broken promise among neighbours? For their so-called ‘grand’ opening, singers from local charity Golden Oldies provided the music, and manager Brendan Tucker wore his fixed grin. However, proceedings were disrupted by two modest-sized protests that day, with four cheeky pirates waving a jolly roger during the opening credits, and then another five later on, from 6pm, freezing their bits off long into the night.
The charity above was set up to combat alienation, community breakdown and loneliness amongst the elderly. The great irony is, though, that when local independents like Bathwick Stores are worn away, then that is itself yet another example of community erosion: what sort of familiarity or communal bonds can you construct with a revolving door policy of bored checkout staff? The cash that Tesco injects into these groups is a drop in the ocean compared to the PR payback they reap through such associations. Not that you should be taken in by their friendly face, anyway – not when they’re sponsoring sweatshop conditions in ‘fair-trade’ banana packing houses in Luton, responsible for the deaths of cockle-pickers in Morecambe Bay, or engaging in such other humanitarian ventures as helping kill off local food varieties, industrial farming health scares, pollution and animal abuse, or building up retail monopolies. And they’ll probably lock up their skips, too. In terms of positive solutions, ironic leaflets and subvertising notwithstanding, local food co-operatives are a much better way to go – such as the London Road Food Co-op, the Southside Food Co-op or, if you can afford it, Harvest on Walcot Street. But the question still stands with these food giants (and Tesco aren’t the only culprit) – what to do about them?
Antifascists across the land last month were celebrating Christmas early, as the entire BNP membership list was leaked on November 18th. Whilst threats of legal action, arrests and the hypocritical invocation of the Human Rights Act (which the BNP actively oppose) has been bandied about the net, it’s all a bit futile as the list has beamed far and wide. In Bath we allegedly have a measly nine proud bulldogs to disown, and Frome has four, whilst Bristol seems to have a 100-strong infestation to clean up. For a party that is all about apparently rescuing the endangered great white working class, it’s curious that the majority in Bath are from middle class areas; how disappointing. If anyone has any more information on the fascist scene to impart, such as shoe size, IQ, favourite chat-up lines or places of work, send in to the usual address.
You know you’re in trouble when the band you book for the end of your protest stand around making snide remarks at your expense. “Of course, we could all go and occupy parliament,” suggested that nice chap from Seize the Day, to sheepish laughter and nervous foot-shuffling from the crowd of hippies in Parliament Square. We were in London for the annual Climate March, expecting to join 15,000 marchers and a healthy anti-capitalist bloc, using our sheer force of numbers to make the government listen.
Sadly, on the day only around 5,000 turned up, and our anticipated bloc didn’t quite break double figures. We marched a winding route from the empty-looking US embassy to the definitely empty Parliament, demanding CO2 cuts, no to airport expansions, and green jobs. Feeling increasingly marginalized, surrounded by a sea of ‘Carbon Cap, Not Hippy Crap’ placards, and in constant danger of being run down by an encroaching samba band, our merry group clung together behind our ‘Capitalism Isn’t Working’ banner for half the march, then promptly disintegrated.
Two of us, red and black flags in hands, ended up at the very head of the march for almost a minute before being quickly removed by the stewards. Walk behind the greenhouse, they told us. It’s the symbol of the campaign. Go on; get back in your box. Everyone else is doing it.
And that’s the issue. The campaigners turn up once a year to demand somebody else fix their problems, then they go home. The only way this march will help at this point is if it becomes an annual get-together to unite the movement and give us a chance to brag about all the successful direct actions of the past year. Otherwise, the reduction in marchers from 30,000 to 5,000 in a handful of years will be reflected in the movement as a whole. Without solid actions and solid accomplishments, we’re all fucked.
Now hand over those boltcroppers – I’ve got stuff to do tonight.
Special Yuletide Disclaimer: Like you, we probably disagree with everything every contributor has written. We’re just in it for the scene points. We especially wouldn’t encourage anyone to do anything that might get themselves in trouble with the law… Play safe kids!
On Monday 12th January 2009 at 7pm the Climate Rush will hit Heathrow. We will arrive in Edwardian dress (under a big coat!) with hampers of food to have our ‘Dinner at Domestic Departures’. This will be an action against the construction of the third runway and the unsustainable use of short-haul, national flights.
On Monday 12th January 2009 at 7pm the Climate Rush will hit Heathrow. We will arrive in Edwardian dress (under a big coat!) with hampers of food to have our ‘Dinner at Domestic Departures’. This will be an action against the construction of the third runway and the unsustainable use of short-haul, national flights. It will take place on the day that the MPs return from their winter holiday.
When the string quartet plays its first note we will reveal our dress and share our food. Ours will be the first peaceful sit-in of the environmental movement. Hundreds will join us and together we will make history. We have waited too long and been misled too many times. It is time for us to take control and to lead social change.
After a hugely successful storming of Parliament, The Climate Rush is back in town!
Any day now the government will announce its plans to expand Heathrow and no amount of marching or letter-writing will make them stop. Sipson Village will be demolished. Millions of Londoners will find themselves under new flight-paths. The UK will continue to lag behind the rest of Europe and the world as it misses climate target after climate target.
It is time to take our future into our own hands. It is time to take action.
You and all of your friends, networks and neighbours are cordially invited to our ‘Dinner at Domestic Departures’, 7pm on Monday 12th January at Heathrow Airport Terminal One. Join ‘The Climate Rush’, ‘Climate Action Now’, ‘The Women’s Environmental Network’ and Caroline Lucas MEP as we celebrate the UK public’s commitment to beating climate change.
8.12.2008
Over fifty young protesters from the climate action group Plane Stupid have this morning shut down Stansted Airport by camping on the runway and surrounding themselves with fortified security fencing.
8.12.2008
Over fifty young protesters from the climate action group Plane Stupid have this morning shut down Stansted Airport by camping on the runway and surrounding themselves with fortified security fencing.
The peaceful protest began at 3.15am this morning (Monday) whilst the runway was temporarily closed for maintenance work. Plane Stupid aims to prevent the scheduled reopening of the runway at 5am. The group intends to maintain its blockade for as long as possible, preventing the release of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
10:20am update: The Press Association reports that 57 people have been arrested, and 56 Ryanair flights cancelled.
8:10am update: At least 39 people have been arrested and the runway
re-opened. BAA are claiming that 21 flights have been cancelled. Every
minute the airport emits around 4 tonnes of CO2.
6:00am update: BAA have confirmed that the first flights out of the airport have been delayed. The average flight out of Stansted has a climate impact equivalent to 41.58 tonnes of CO2.
One young woman, Lily, aged 21 said:
“We’re here because our parents’ generation has failed us and its now down to young people to stop climate change by whatever peaceful means we have left. We’re afraid of what the police might do to us, we’re afraid of going to jail but nothing scares us as much as the threat of runaway climate change. We’ve thought through the consequences of what we’re doing here but we’re determined to stop as many tonnes of CO2 as we can.”
The young campaigners have raised a banner reading ‘CLIMATE EMERGENCY’. Wearing high visibility vests which have the message “Please DO something” printed on them, they chose this day for the peaceful trespass as they knew the runway was closed for maintenance works and no flights were due to take off or land for two hours after they arrived.
Tilly, 21, said:
“We all grew up listening to Blair and Brown talking about the urgent need to slash emissions, but nothing ever happened. Even now politicians from our parents’ generation are in Poland holding talks about talks, but still nobody’s actually doing anything. The scientists tell us we’ve got about seven years to make emissions peak then drop, and if we fail it will be the people on this runway, and our children, who’ll live with the consequences. That’s why I’m doing this.”
The campaigners chose to close Stansted after the government approved the expansion of capacity at the airport by ten million passengers a year. Aviation is Britain’s fastest growing source of emissions, already amounting to at least 13% of our country’s climate impact. With plans for new runways across the UK, including at Heathrow and Stansted, experts from the Tyndall Centre for climate research say Labour’s aviation policy alone will scupper any chance the UK has of hitting its climate targets.
Daniel, 24, said:
“We fully appreciate the scale of what we’ve done here today and we know many people will struggle to understand why we’ve done it, but the Arctic ice cap is disappearing, the seas are rising and our last chance to save our future is vanishing. With people taking more flights in Britain than anywhere else on earth, we have a unique responsibility to tackle emissions from flying.”
Police have begun an investigation after protesters broke into one of Britain’s biggest power stations last week [28th November 2008] and cut almost 2 per cent of the country’s electricity supplies.
Police have begun an investigation after protesters broke into one of Britain’s biggest power stations last week [28th November 2008] and cut almost 2 per cent of the country’s electricity supplies.
Up to 500 megawatts of generating capacity was lost from the national network for about four hours after the incident at Kingsnorth coal and oil-fired power station in Kent, The Times has learnt. An intruder scaled an electric fence, entered a secure area and switched off one of four turbines supplying London and the South East.
E.ON, the German power group that operates the plant, is understood to suspect that some of its own staff or contracted employees were involved in the incident last Friday night.
According to figures from National Grid, total UK electricity demand at the time was about 33,000 megawatts – meaning that 500 megawatts represented more than 1.5 per cent of the total, enough to power a city the size of Bristol.
The protesters, who have not been caught despite much of the episode being caught on CCTV, climbed an electric security fence that was not working at the time. Having switched off Unit Two, they left through an entrance that only employees would have been familiar with. They also managed to go through a complex procedure at a control panel inside one of the turbine halls to turn the machinery off.
Kent police are involved in the investigation. E.ON has ordered an internal investigation, and is examining its own security procedures.
E.ON has become a key target for climate change protesters because Kingsnorth has been earmarked for construction of Britain’s first new coal-fired power station in decades. The plant, which has a total generating capacity of 1,960 megawatts, making it one of Britain’s biggest power stations, is to be retired from service soon and E.ON wants to build a £2 billion coal replacement, which environmentalists say would lock in the emission of many millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases for decades to come.
Protest messages were also left strewn across the turbine hall during the incident.
An E.ON spokesman confirmed that an incident had taken place in which the site was entered illegally and equipment was tampered with. “While we are respectful of people’s right to peaceful and lawful protest, this was clearly neither of those and could have had very serious implications, not least because of the potential for serious injury or worse. Thankfully, our site team responded very quickly and professionally to ensure that the situation was brought under control.
“We have launched an investigation and are working closely with the police on their inquiries. Kingsnorth power station remains operational.”
E.ON has defended its plans for a coal-fired plant at Kingsnorth by saying that it would be fitted with equipment designed to strip out carbon dioxide for safe storage.
So-called carbon capture and storage (CCS) remains an experimental technology that has not yet been demonstrated on a commercial scale anywhere in the world.
— from The Times newspaper.
— or the below from BBC News; pick & mix the facts you prefer:
Intruder shuts down power turbine
A turbine at a power station in Kent where climate change campaigners have been holding a series of protests was shut down by an intruder.
Energy company E.On said it believed whoever shut down the turbine must have had specialist knowledge to carry out the “potentially deadly” sabotage.
The shut-down happened on the night of 28 November during two days of action by the Camp for Climate Action group.
However, no organisation or individual has claimed it turned off the turbine.
“We don’t know whether it was a protester or not,” said E.On spokesman Jonathan Smith.
“But they gained access to the site, tampered with a pretty specific board and managed to turn off unit two.
“It is completely unacceptable. If you ignore the fact they have broken into our site, what they were doing was potentially dangerous, potentially deadly even.”
Targeted offices
He said engineers located the problem quickly and turned the turbine back on.
Customers were not affected by the shutdown because the shortfall was made up by other suppliers to the National Grid.
During the two days of action, Camp for Climate Action protesters targeted E.ON offices in London and across England.
It followed a week-long Climate Camp near Kingsnorth power station on the Hoo peninsular in August.
The current Kingsnorth power station is due to close in 2015 and E.ON wants to replace it with two new coal units, which it claims will be 20% cleaner.
Mr Smith said police were investigating the shutdown.
He said Kingsnorth was probably the most secure coal-fired power station in the UK.
“Security at Kingsnorth is extremely high,” he said.
“We are looking at security and working with police to make sure this can’t happen again.”
— from The Guardian newspaper:
“It was extremely odd indeed, quite creepy. We have never known anything like this at all, but it shows that if people want to do something badly enough they will find a way,” said Emily Highmore, a spokeswoman for E.On.
Yesterday the full story emerged of what happened. “It was about 10pm, very dark indeed,” said Highmore. “It looks from the CCTV like he came in via a very remote part of the site by the sea wall and got over the double layer of fences.”
The intruder then crossed a car park and walked to an unlocked door. But instead of going to the power station’s main control room, where about eight people would have been working, he headed for its main turbine hall, where no one would have been working at that time.
Within minutes, says E.On, “he had tampered with some equipment” – believed to be a computer at a control panel – “and tripped unit 2, one of the station’s giant 500MW turbines”.
“This caused the unit to go offline,” she added. “It was running at full 500MW load and the noise it would have made as it shut itself down is just incredible. CCTV shows that he then just walked out, and went back over the fence.
“It could be that no one has taken responsibility because they were so frightened by the noise it would have made. It’s probably taken them a week just to get over the shock.”
“He left a banner but it was a real DIY job. It was really scrappy. This was an old bedsheet with writing done out of gaffer tape. It was very crude,” said Highmore
“People at the station are gobsmacked,” she added. “This is a different league to protesters chaining themselves to equipment. It’s someone treating a power station as an adventure playground. You have to be trained to work here. People do not just wander about on their own. He could have killed himself. We do not have a problem with public protest but this was reckless. Whoever it was has crossed a line they should not have gone over. Power stations are dangerous places.”
2008-12-16
15/12/2008: this morning thirty campaigners from Coal Action Scotland together with local residents peacefully blockaded the entrance to the Scottish Coal-operated Ravenstruther coal rail terminal in South Lanarkshire. Having stopped its reopening after the weekend, this action is currently preventing the delivery of thousands of tonnes of coal to power stations across Scotland. Protestors intend to stay in place as long as possible.
On Sunday, 14.12. about 150 people demonstrated in the forest of Kelsterbach (near Frankfurt / Main) against the construction of the new runway north of the current airport site.
Five brave counterculture warriors don Santa Suits, sing anti-consumerist and anti-capitalist Xmas carols, and leaflet for more mindful attention to love, gifts, and catastrophic climate change – in Oxford Street, in the heart of the shopping district of Old London Town, on the busiest shopping day of the year: Sat 13 Dec 08.
THE BATH BOMB
On Monday 12th January 2009 at 7pm the Climate Rush will hit Heathrow. We will arrive in Edwardian dress (under a big coat!) with hampers of food to have our ‘Dinner at Domestic Departures’. This will be an action against the construction of the third runway and the unsustainable use of short-haul, national flights. It will take place on the day that the MPs return from their winter holiday.
8.12.2008