Category: Action Reports

The Crude Awakening: Mass Action- 16.10.10

Mass Action in London to switch off oil

Mass Action in London to switch off oil

Floods in Pakistan – Drought in Russia – Huge glaciers breaking up in Greenland

Our climate system is rapidly sliding into crisis, as oil companies destroy people’s lives and the environment to keep sucking up their profits. Oil saturates every aspect of our lives. Oil profits lubricate the financial markets and its sponsorship clings like a bad smell to our cultural institutions. It flows through pipelines to the pumps, airports and factories of our cities.

The failure of the UN COP15 process showed us – if there was ever any doubt – that government and industry can’t tackle climate change. It’s up to us and it’s time to up the ante. As a movement, our actions against coal and aviation have made a real difference. Now oil’s time is up.

Together, on October 16, let’s give the oil industry a really Crude Awakening.

Sign up to receive updates and get more info at

http://www.crudeawakening.org.uk/

Resistance to ‘Factory of Death’ continues

On Monday several actions took place against the government’s nuclear weapons and their plans to develop new ones. The focus was AWE Aldermaston, the military base near Reading where these weapons are developed and maintained.

On Monday several actions took place against the government’s nuclear weapons and their plans to develop new ones. The focus was AWE Aldermaston, the military base near Reading where these weapons are developed and maintained.

Activists from Trident Ploughshares had been holding an “Aldermaston Summer Gathering” for several days sharing information and leafletting nearby villages. Co-inciding with this, folks from the Catholic Worker movement were holding a “Faith and Resistance” retreat in Oxford celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first Ploughshares action.

As the day began around twenty TP folks blockaded one of the main gates into the base, including four who “locked-on” with arm tubes. They left without any arrests after successfully blockading for two hours.

Soon afterwards, 3 of the Catholic Workers cut through the perimeter fence and broke into the base, “opening it for disarmament”, while others carried out a vigil at the gates of the base. They were arrested, held until evening, charged with criminal damage, and may also face SOCPA charges.

Friends Of The Earth Cymru information stall against the Monster Incinerator at Ffos-y-fran

Friends Of The Earth CYMRU are having an information stall in Merthyr precinct this Friday.
Join the Facebook page “No Monster Incinerator in Merthyr Tydfil” for a powerpoint presentation on the Health Impact of incinerators by world renown expert Prof Paul Connett!

Friends Of The Earth CYMRU are having an information stall in Merthyr precinct this Friday.
Join the Facebook page “No Monster Incinerator in Merthyr Tydfil” for a powerpoint presentation on the Health Impact of incinerators by world renown expert Prof Paul Connett!
It looks as if Covanta are going forward with submitting planning application on November 1st – Direct Action and Awareness needs to be ramped up as much of the community of Merthyr Tydfil are blissfully ignorant of the scientific facts on the impact of dioxins, nano-particulates and other very nasty shit such as “Fly Ash”!

Successful Hinkley Demo

September 13, 2010
Protestors blocked the Hinkley Point main gates for almost an hour this liunch-time as they demonstrated against the premature destruction of upto 435 acres of open land and wildlife habitats before major consents are approved for the two giant reactors proposed by EdF.

September 13, 2010
Protestors blocked the Hinkley Point main gates for almost an hour this liunch-time as they demonstrated against the premature destruction of upto 435 acres of open land and wildlife habitats before major consents are approved for the two giant reactors proposed by EdF.

A large group of campaigners, together with local residents including children, held banners and placards in front of Hinkley Point, preventing any traffic movements. The Hinkley main gates were forced to shut from 11.45 to 12.45pm and no traffic entered or left during that time. Some of the protestors wore face paint images of sunflowers, the Stop Hinkley logo and anti-nuclear signs. Others dressed as nuclear ‘boffins’ and with a loudhailer led a march through the ear-marked greenfield site.

The ‘nuclear boffins’ highlighted badger setts which had been cemented over or had been covered with metal grills, beautiful old woodlands and individual trees destined to be bulldozed and they walked down some of the scores of sunken lanes criss-crossing the fields lined by ancient hedgerows brimming with wildlife.

At the coast the tour-guides showed where the so-called ‘temporary’ jetty will be built over the 200 million year old fossil-filled rocky beach.

At the beach destination of the march, one campaigner read aloud a poem on the need to respect nature and its part in global ecology.

Crispin Aubrey, spokesman for Stop Hinkley who marshalled the demonstration, said: “There is obvious strong feeling against destroying this beautiful area. Despite being close to the existing power stations there are large expanses of beauty and tranquility. It’s wrong for EdF to jump the gun by trashing the area such a long time before it receives major consents for the two reactors.”

The protest was part of a two day Action Weekend. Yesterday a series of talks and workshops took place in Bridgwater for campaigners around the region. Three national-level speakers gave talks:

Greenpeace

Ben Ayliffe, nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace said: “Greenpeace is opposed to new nuclear power stations because they would make a minimal contribution towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, they have multiple dangers from long-lived radioactive waste through to nuclear proliferation, and they are a distraction from real solutions such as renewable energy.”

“In particular we see two major problems – waste disposal and economics – both could sink the proposal for Hinkley C,” he said.

“The coalition government has said that there will be no subsidies for new nuclear plant. Economics could be the thing that makes it impossible for Hinkley C to go ahead. No nuclear power station has ever been built without public subsidy.”

On waste he said that the amount EDF were being asked to pay for disposing of the radioactive legacy from Hinkley C was not enough to cover the true cost. “It amounts to a £1 billion subsidy to the company per year, according to our calculations,” he said.

He also referred to delays and cost over-runs on similar projects in both Finland and France, where the first reactors like the one proposed for Hinkley C are being built.

The Greenpeace strategy was to challenge the process of approving new nuclear power stations all the way. This included exposing the risky economics, promoting the alternatives and legal challenges.

Health

Professor Chris Busby talked about studies that he, and Somerset Health authority in the eighties, had shown that there was a higher incidence of cancers round Hinkley Point and other nuclear power stations. He said the international model used by regulators to estimate the effects of radiation on human health is being widely challenged, and a former head of the international radiation commission accepted that their model did not stand up in the case of a serious accident.

“Our studies have shown raised levels of cancer along the downwind coast from Hinkley to Burnham-on-Sea. Health officials have objected to our findings on spurious grounds including random clusters in other areas but year on year we keep finding an entrenched problem near Hinkley. The officials have got it wrong.”

Alternatives

Neil Crumpton, former Friends of the Earth energy campaigner, presented an alternative vision of the UK’s electricity supply in which nuclear power was marginalised and new sources of renewable energy, such as concentrated solar power imported from North Africa, were developed on a large scale. He also dismissed the suggestion that the lights would go out without nuclear, listing the many other options, including gas-fired plants, which were queueing up to fill any gap in supply.

“Friends of the Earth and other organisations are confident we can put forward a reasonable low carbon energy network based on current technology. More than that we can very soon tap resources like Clean Coal Technology and solar-power from the Sahara to boost our own abundant natural elements of wind, tide and wave driven electricity.”

Jim Duffy

Stop Hinkley Coordinator

www.stophinkley.org

07798 666756

Quotes from Crispin Aubrey who coordinated the Action weekend: 01278 732921 / 07920 523673

Professional photographs for the media available immediately from

Simon Chapman: 07889 747916

http://www.stophinkley.org

Happendon Wood Occupied! New Direct Action Camp Against Scottish Coal

Early evening on Sunday 12th September a group of autonomous individuals successfully occupied a new site in Happendon Wood, South Lanarkshire!

Early evening on Sunday 12th September a group of autonomous individuals successfully occupied a new site in Happendon Wood, South Lanarkshire!

Coal Action Scotland are inviting people to join The Happendon Wood Action Camp (THWAC) to help defend the wood from destruction by Scottish Coal, and to take action in solidarity with communities in the area resisting the expansion of the coal industry in the Douglas Valley.

You can find out more about the camp at http://happendon.coalactionscotland.org.uk — and more information about why we’re at Happendon and what we’re doing there will be coming very soon.

In the meantime, check our press advisory, for immediate release, below:

Contact:
Sam Macdonald (Off-site Contact: Information and Photos) 07984706188
Jo Reed (On-site Contact: Visits and Interviews) 07806926040
media@coalactionscotland.org.uk

Scottish Coal’s
Happendon Wood Occupied

Last night (12/9/10) a group of people occupied areas within Happendon Wood, South Lanarkshire (1) to defend it from destruction by Scottish Coal, part of the Scottish Resources Group. They have begun to build shelters and defences on the site, with large banners hung from trees at the front of the site that say: “Defending the Douglas Valley” and “No Opencast Here”. The Happendon Wood Action Camp has come out of a long-term struggle by the local community and Coal Action Scotland (2) to halt coal expansion in the Douglas Valley which is already one of the most heavily mined areas in Europe.

The Scottish Resources Group have applied for planning permission for a mixed use development (3) on this land (which is in an area of Great Landscape Value) in the Douglas Valley, but they intend to opencast the area first. The South Lanarkshire minerals plan highlights areas within the new development as having recoverable coal deposits that can be excavated during the current local plan. Scottish Coal actually wouldn’t be allowed to build on the land without open casting it first, otherwise this would be “sterilising the nations asset” and therefore illegal. (4)

Scottish Coal have not yet publicly declared their interests in opencasting Happendon Wood but many members of the local community have expressed deep concerns that they will be blighted with yet another opencast coal mine. In a recent meeting about the development, MSP for Clydesdale Karen Gillon told local residents that she did not doubt that they would remove the coal, in spite of the fact that the area that SRG wish to develop takes in the opencast workings at Poniel, which are currently due to be restored. Local resident and Douglas and Glespin Community Council Chairperson Lindsay Addison is enraged by the behaviour of Scottish Coal in South Lanarkshire:

“We have serious concerns that this is an excuse for another opencast. We do not want this development, let alone another mine. We will fight it all the way and support the efforts of the wider community in its opposition to new coal in the Douglas Valley.”

SRG’s application for planning permission for this development is ongoing; the decision by the council will likely be made in the coming months. Questions have been raised about the close relationship between Scottish Coal and South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) resulting in SLC issuing each member of the Douglas and Glespin Community Council legal notices stating that proceedings against them are to begin at Lanark Sheriff Court over alleged libel claims. This move is seen by the community as an attack on their freedom of speech. (5)

Notes to Editors:

1. Location: In South Lanarkshire, about 30 miles south of Glasgow, Happendon Wood is an area just off the B7078, surrounding the Dewers warehouse site and Poniel Opencast workings. To reach the site, driving south along the B7078 from Lesmahagow (running alongside the M74), take the first left after Happendon Services onto the C-road; the site front is on your left after about half a mile. A map is available at http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?page_id=1974#Where

2. Working with and supporting communities across Scotland, the Coal Action Scotland collective exists to challenge the advancement of coal as an energy source by informing people about the dangers posed by new coal, promoting alternatives, working with those involved, and directly challenging new coal exploitation from source to point of use. Mainshill Solidarity Camp was set up just along the road from Happendon Woods last year where people stayed for over seven months, ending in a five day eviction and a total of 45 arrests. See: http://coalactionscotland.noflag.org.uk/

3. This application is Poniel / Happendon Mixed Use Development application from the Scottish Resources Group (Scottish Coal). It is for “Mixed use development comprising industrial and storage and distribution warehousing, business units/office accommodation, hotel with conference and commercial leisure facilities, retail/restaurant floorspace, landscaping, open space and associated infrastructure (planning permission in principle)”, but it is expected that once they get permission for this they will actually be bound to opencast the area for coal. The planning reference for the application is: CL/10/0180.

4. The Coal Authority issue licences to coal companies. The following was discovered in correspondence between them and Scottish Coal:
‘Where development is proposed over areas of coal and past coal workings at shallow depth, The Coal Authority is of the opinion that applicants should consider wherever possible removing the remnant shallow coal. This will enable the land to be stabilised and treated by a more sustainable method; rather than by attempting to grout fill any voids and consequently unnecessarily sterilising the nation’s asset.’

5. For articles and quotations on the legal threats to the Community Council see:
http://www.lanarkgazette.co.uk/news/South-Lanarkshire-Council-copyright-threat.6526004.jp
http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1966
http://www.jonathanmitchell.info/2010/09/02/whats-wrong-with-south-lanarkshire/

Stop Nuclear Power Network UK Gathering

Date for your diaries:

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th October

Bristol
_______________________________________

Meet people from your region that are taking action, make plans together and build solidarity with people who live next door to Hinkley.
_______________________________________

Solidarity with Stop Hinkley

Date for your diaries:

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th October

Bristol
_______________________________________

Meet people from your region that are taking action, make plans together and build solidarity with people who live next door to Hinkley.
_______________________________________

Solidarity with Stop Hinkley
Hinkley C in Somerset near Bristol, could become the first nuclear power station built in Britain for 20 years, Stop Hinkley is a community campaign to stop deadly nuclear sites being built near their homes.www.stophinkley.org

Action against EdF
EDF is one of the largest electricity companies and fully owned by the French state. In Britain, EDF is pushing hard for nuclear new build, and wants new reactors at four sites, the first being Hinkley C. www.boycottedf.org.uk

Campaign against the rerere-CONsultation
The government is taking its pro-nuclear propaganda on tour around the UK for the third time this Autumn in an attempt to escape legal challenges to its nuclear ambitions. We plan to be there, letting everyone know the Greenwashed, profit driven agenda they are spewing out.

More info coming soon.

Sign up to our mailing list by emailing stopnuclearpower-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

Bath Bomb #33 Out Now!

THE BATH BOMB

@nti-copyright: copy and distribute!
Issue #33
free/donation
September 2010

“More rusty barbed wire than cutting edge”

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The First Cut Is The Deepest

Whilst we’ve never claimed to be the cutting edge of journalism, the Bath Bomb has become privy to a series of unpleasant plans from councils in the southwest:

THE BATH BOMB

@nti-copyright: copy and distribute!
Issue #33
free/donation
September 2010

“More rusty barbed wire than cutting edge”

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The First Cut Is The Deepest

Whilst we’ve never claimed to be the cutting edge of journalism, the Bath Bomb has become privy to a series of unpleasant plans from councils in the southwest:

Somerset’s most dedicated N.H.S. professionals are being “strong-armed and railroaded” into defecting from the Primary Care Trust to join social enterprise ventures, without the chance of a proper consultation. But at a meeting filled with angry health visitors, school nurses, local hospital and other workers in Bridgwater on Wednesday 1st September, they voted “No!” to privatisation. Their campaign is now seeking public support for the P.C.T. meeting at Wynford House, Lufton Way, in Yeovil on Wednesday 15th September from 10am, where the decision is expected to be made.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling has started a crusade to force the 260 young Incapacity Benefit claimants in B.&N.E.S. (and a further 530 in Wiltshire) into work – regardless of whether they’re fit to or not. There are already wider moves to slash the Welfare Bill, and expand the controversial Work Capability Assessment health test, but Grayling somehow seeks to frame this witch-hunt as a form of philanthropy: “Thousands of young people with their lives ahead of them just parked on sickness benefits with no way out.” A big man with a big heart.

Three out of seven youth key workers in the Bath area are to be cut, alongside their youth centres. Youth workers who have been colleagues for years are now being turned against each other, anxiously competing to not put a foot wrong and lose their jobs, or be ‘matrix’ed. Whether crime rates will go up as deprived kids are alienated even further, is hard to say.

Waste management services in the village of Old Welton are to be cut and shipped out to Bath. As they share the Transfer Station site with other public services, there is expected to be a knock-on ‘tipping point’ effect where more services are sent off to the big city, eventually draining the area of a large portion of its employment, and its economy.

Meanwhile G.M.B. union workers in Bristol are being illegally threatened with disciplinary action for sharing news of intended cuts with their unions.

But people aren’t just gonna sit and take it: a noisy 40-strong demo outside Bristol City Council took place on Tuesday 7th September, with many a union banner and speaker. Saturday the 4th saw the Bath Stop The War Coalition find unanimous consensus from the 90 balloted on their regular vigil, who would rather cut Trident than services. On Wednesday 22nd September, from 7.30pm, a ‘Fight the Cuts’ public meeting will take place, downstairs at Friends Meeting House on York Street. Though speakers will be present from the traditional unions – such as the N.U.T., G.M.B., Unison, U.C.U. and Bath Trades Council – we need a wider public participation from other affected people, so we can sort this crap out! You owe it to yourself to come along!

Who knows? Perhaps we might take a livre out of France’s book, where 2.5 million took to the streets on Tuesday the 7th, against Sarkozy’s austerity plans. No to Job Cuts! No to Pension Cuts! No to Service Cuts! Cut Tax Evasion! Cut I.D. Cards! Cut Trident! Cut the Pay Gap! Cut a Tory! Vive La Strike!

http://bathactivistnetwork.blogspot.com
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/260-25s-sickness-benefit-B-NES/article-2602689-detail/article.html
http://bristol.indymedia.org.uk/article/693333

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Tory Scum, Out Of Brum!

ACTION STATIONS! ACTION STATIONS! EVERYONE TO THE STREETS! Sunday 3rd October will be our first chance to show our anger at the Con-Dem cuts. As the Tories kick off their party conference in Birmingham, they will be met by thousands of angry protesters from the diverse sections of society that are being forced to bear the brunt of the cuts onslaught. The message will be clear: this crisis was caused by the rich, and we refuse to pay for it with job losses, pay reductions, service cuts and hiked V.A.T., while the toffs at the top continue to line their pockets. Plans for the protest are shaping up nicely, with many unions, community groups and others gearing up to make some noise. Those angry pranksters over at Class War have booked themselves a team at the Tory Party pub quiz, and are calling for as much help (with the questions of course!) as possible. There is also a ‘direct action’ bloc shaping up, which promises to disrupt proceedings nicely. So, whether you want to peacefully protest, or have something a bit more lively in mind, there will be something for you on the day. This will be the start of a massive campaign against the cuts and there will even be transport running to the demo from Bath – leaving at 9am from Laura Place fountain (though details may change), tickets are £10 waged or £5 unwaged, and to get yours, e-mail either bathagainstcuts[at]yahoo.co.uk or tel 07908 355456.

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Get Shorty

Kilter, Bath’s unique outdoor theatre company, plants the seeds of change with their playful, engaging ‘Roots Replanted’ show, investigating food-security in the fast approaching post-oil world. Elope to the Hampton Row Allotments from Friday 10th to Sunday 12th of this month, down the bean-rows, for an intimate tale of love and vegetables. Times are 6.30pm Thursday to Saturday, and additional showings at 2.30pm on Saturday and Sunday. Or catch them later at Peasedown St John Community Farm or Bloomfield Allotments at Bear Flat. Bookings can be made by ringing 01225 386777.

On invitation from Frome Friends of Palestine, “Israel’s bravest, most principled” historian Ilan Pappe will be speaking at the Masonic Hall on North Parade on Friday 17th September at 8pm. His talk will examine the ongoing history of Zionism, from its roots in the racist soils of the nineteenth century to the situation today. His book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, effectively cost him his job at the University of Haifa four years ago. Admission is £5.

B.&N.E.S. Council seem to finally be doing something right, as, from 4th October, weekly collections of food waste will reach 72,000 households, converting the £48+ per tonne taxpayer burden to agricultural compost in Gloucestershire. With any luck, the £400,000 implementation cost will come straight from John Everitt’s pocket? And maybe sorting out a portion of the annual 20 million tonnes of supermarket and industry U.K. waste will be next, right?

A gang of racists attacked the Indian Curry Nights restaurant in Augusta Place, off Upper Bristol Road, on Tuesday 24th August. Two waiters were minorly hurt, and a window was targeted by thrown rocks. Considering attacks on takeaways and mosques in the city over the last couple of years, perhaps it’s way past time that local anti-fascists stepped it up?

Police Sergeant Mark Andrews showed his true colours back in July ’08, when he smashed 59-year-old Pamela Somerville’s face against the cell floor at Colerne copshop. Recently sent down this week for six months for Actual Bodily Harm, for once a copper has paid a price for his actions. But can we all rest easy now that the friendly bobbies have cleaned themselves up once more? Or are cases like Andrews and (Ian Tomlinson’s killer) Simon Harwood perhaps not just a couple of bad eggs, but instead symptomatic of a wider institutional violence, and near-complete freedom from consequence, infecting the whole of the force?

Radical campaigning groups such as Bristol Rising Tide have called for an international day of action against the coal industry on Tuesday 12th October; more details to follow

http://www.kiltertheatre.org
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5245/is_7840_231/ai_n29412429/
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/Council-gears-food-waste-scheme/article-2604136-detail/article.html
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/Police-appeal-waiters-attacked-Bath-park/article-2603995-detail/article.html
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/Police-officer-faces-sack-cell-brutality-woman-59/article-2607007-detail/article.html

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GOT A STORY? WANT TO RECEIVE THE BATH BOMB BY EMAIL? HOPING TO SUE? Contact us by e-mailing bathbombpress[at]yahoo.co.uk. Large print e-versions available on request. And for more info on any of our stories, check out http://www.thebathbomb.blogspot.com

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Fash In The Pan

The August bank holiday weekend was due to be a big day for the British far-right, with two high-profile demos designed to put racist thuggery firmly back on the map; but unfortunately for them, it wasn’t to be.

The weekend started off with media revelations that, far from being a growing dynamic party, as fuhrer Griffin would have us believe, the fascist B.N.P. is in fact falling apart. On the verge of bankruptcy due to financial mismanagement, lack of support and a costly lawsuit (filed by Unilever when Griffin used the Marmite logo in a party broadcast), the rats are well and truly fleeing the ship. First to go was Richard Barnbrook, amateur gay porn director and the B.N.P.’s sole member on the Greater London Assembly, who quit after calling for a “full internal investigation” into corruption in the party. He was followed shortly by Lee Barnes, the party legal officer and ‘unsteady’ Eddy Butler, former National Front full-timer and B.N.P. press officer, both of whom asserted that Griffin was exercising a dictatorial stranglehold over the party. Just to prove them wrong, Griffin expelled a further 30 high-ranking party members for challenging his ability to lead the party. So, with the B.N.P. sliding off the scene, the stage was set for the thick-as-shit boot boys of the English Defence League to take the far-right limelight.

They intended to do this with a mass march through Bradford on Saturday 28th, in the hope of igniting further Asian riots to justify their anti-immigrant agenda. Determined to cause a ruckus, the E.D.L. banned women from the demo, predicted a turnout of 5,000, and dubbed the demo “the big one”. In the event, the ‘Battle of Little Big One’ was a disappointing washout, with only 700 fascists being dwarfed by several thousands of community and anti-fascist activists, who told the E.D.L. in no uncertain terms that they would not be goaded into full-scale rioting. However, that didn’t stop a few naughty lads and ladies smashing up the E.D.L. coaches as they fled the scene. The high point of the day came when a sympathetic copper forced a lone E.D.L. skinhead into a crowd of locals, despite his tearful protestations. Apparently no-one saw exactly what happened, but an ambulance was observed speeding away from the scene shortly afterwards!

So, on to bank holiday Monday, and sunny Brighton, where fringe fascist group the ‘English National Alliance’ had called a ‘March for England’ (their stated targets were muslims, immigrants, students and pacifists – nice!). They predicted a turnout of over 300 patriotic warriors, which turned out on the day to be around 50 jug-eared Burberry models screaming racist slogans at anyone unfortunate enough to be in earshot. The turnout then proceeded to get turned over by 300 assembled anti-fascists who disrupted the march continuously until the police called full-time and escorted the fascists home for their own safety!

What was billed as being a weekend that would put racist politics back on the map, ended in two woefully under-attended demos, vastly larger anti-fascist counter-events, unanimous rejection of the fascists by local communities and the virtual disintegration of the far-right’s brightest star, the B.N.P. It may be too early to cheer, as a dying beast still has fangs, but the news is encouraging and suggests that a few hard shoves could boot these groups to where they belong – the dustbin of history.

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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 and greens, and people who just want to change Bath for the better. For details on meetings, demos, or just to get in touch, e-mail bathactivistnet[at]yahoo.co.uk, or see our website: http://www.bathactivistnetwork.blogspot.com

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UPCOMING EVENTS

 

drawing classes: ‘Remembering the Present’, Mondays & Tuesdays, Stokes Croft Museum, 81-83 Stokes Croft, Bristol, http://www.stokescroftmuseum.info

 

London Road Food Co-op, Wednesdays, 4-7pm, Riverside Community Centre, London Road, http://www.londonroadfoodcoop.blogspot.com

 

exhibition: ‘Remembering the Present’, Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays, 11am-3pm, Stokes Croft Museum, 81-83 Stokes Croft, Bristol, http://www.stokescroftmuseum.info

 

Bathampton Community Growers workday, Thursdays, 10am-dusk, Mill Lane, Bathampton, e-mail thelostplot[at]googlemail.com/ tel Chris 07792 444628

 

Bathampton Community Supported Agriculture project: fruit picking, Thursdays and Sundays, http://www.transitionbath.org/bathampton-csa-news

 

Bath Stop The War Coalition vigil, Saturdays, 11.30am-12.30, Bath Abbey Courtyard

 

Bradford-On-Avon peace vigil, Saturdays, 11.30am-12.30, by the peace statue opposite Westbury Gardens by the Town Bridge, Bradford-On-Avon

 

exhibition: ‘Remembering the Present’, Saturdays, 12-4pm, Stokes Croft Museum, 81-83 Stokes Croft, Bristol, http://www.stokescroftmuseum.info

 

Recycle Your Sundays, Sundays, 10.30am, starts Abbey Churchyard, the regular series of sociable, easy-paced cycle rides, http://www.bathrys.org.uk/ tel Hazel 01225 469199

 

one year part-time ‘Practical Sustainability’ course, starts September 2010, Bristol; exploring permaculture design, organic horticulture, woodland management, green building, ecological interactions, energy, group dynamics, re-localisation, creating change, community engagement and more; http://www.shiftbristol.org.uk

 

Kilter theatre: ‘Roots: Replanted’ (performance about food security issues), Friday 10th September, Hampton Row Allotments, Bathwick, 6.30pm, £9 (£7 concessions), tel 01225 386777 to book, http://www.kiltertheatre.org

 

‘Bristol Green Doors’: 52 people will open their homes showcasing energy waste reduction, Saturday 11th to Sunday 12th September, http://www.bristolgreendoors.org

 

Bristol Anarchist Bookfair, Saturday 11th September, 10.30-6pm, Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol; e-mail bristolanarchistbookfair[at]riseup.net; http://www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org

 

Stop Hinkley ‘C’ talks and workshops, Saturday 11th, 11-5pm, Trinity Hall, St Saviours Avenue, Bridgwater, http://www.stophinkley.org

 

Kilter theatre: ‘Roots: Replanted’ (performance about food security issues), Saturday 11th September, Hampton Row Allotments, Bathwick, 2.30pm & 6.30pm, £9 (£7 concessions), tel 01225 386777 to book, http://www.kiltertheatre.org

 

Stop Hinkley ‘C’ protest/guided tour, Sunday 12th September, 12 midday, Hinkley Point power station, near Bridgwater, http://www.stophinkley.org

 

‘The Atmosphere Of Heaven’:  history walk, Sunday 12th September, 12 midday, walk begins 3 Rodney Place, off Cliftin Down Road, Bristol, http://www.brh.org.uk/misc/gas.html

 

Kilter theatre: ‘Roots: Replanted’ (performance about food security issues), Sunday 12th September, Hampton Row Allotments, Bathwick, 2.30pm, £9 (£7 concessions), tel 01225 386777 to book, http://www.kiltertheatre.org

 

film: ‘Grass’, Sunday 12th September, 7.30pm, Pierian Centre, 27 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol, £5 entry, http://www.pieriancentre.com

 

Bath Animal Action meeting, Monday 13th September, 8-9pm, The Bell, Walcot Street, e-mail bathanimalaction[at]yahoo.co.uk; http://www.bathanimalaction.blogspot.com

 

Kilter theatre: ‘Roots: Replanted’ (performance about food security issues), Thursday 16th to Friday 17th September, Peasedown St John Community Farm, Dunkerton Hill, BA2 8PJ, 6.30pm, £9 (£7 concessions), tel 01225 386777 to book, http://www.kiltertheatre.org

 

Taunton Womens Refuge punk benefit gig, Thursday 16th September, 7pm, Roadhouse, taunton, free entry, feat. Rat Attack, As We Sink!, Fights & Fires, Subgenerates & Bats About Bats; http://www.tauntonwomensrefuge.org.uk

 

‘Wild Food in Autumn’ walk & foraging course, Friday 17th to Sunday 19th September, Monkton Wyld Court, near Charmouth, Bridport, Dorset, £215 residential/£145 non-residential, http://www.monktonwyldcourt.co.uk/

 

Kilter theatre: ‘Roots: Replanted’ (performance about food security issues), Saturday 18th September, Peasedown St John Community Farm, Dunkerton Hill, BA2 8PJ, 2.30pm & 6.30pm, £9 (£7 concessions), tel 01225 386777 to book, http://www.kiltertheatre.org

 

Bristol Free Vegan Food Fair benefit gig, Saturday 18th September, 7.30pm, the Black Swan pub, 438 Stapleton Road, Bristol, feat Daddy Long Bones, Budd, Molly Samson, Ren, D.J. Dub Simian & The Long Dead Beat, £3/£4 entry

 

Regional South West Animal Rights Coalition meeting, Sunday 19th September, 12-5pm, Kebele Community Co-op, 14 Robertson Road, Easton, Bristol, e-mail regionalarc[at]googlemail.com

 

Kilter theatre: ‘Roots: Replanted’ (performance about food security issues), Sunday 19th September, Peasedown St John Community Farm, Dunkerton Hill, BA2 8PJ, 2.30pm, £9 (£7 concessions), tel 01225 386777 to book, http://www.kiltertheatre.org

 

Seed Saving workshop, Sunday 19th September, 2.30-5pm, put on by Bath Organic Group, places are limited, tel 01225 319117, £2.50 entry

 

‘The Global Circle of Peace’: multimedia work of art to celebrate U.N. World Peace Day, Tuesday 21st September, 6.30-8.00pm, Kingston Parade Gardens, http://www.theglobalcircleofpeace.com

 

two-day workshop: ‘Holding the Vision’, Wednesday 22nd to Thursday 23rd September, 10-4.30pm, Bristol, £45-75 entry, with Starhawk; e-mail shiftbristol[at]yahoo.co.uk; http://www.starhawk.org

 

Kilter theatre: ‘Roots: Replanted’ (performance about food security issues), Thursday 23rd to Friday 24th September, Bloomfield Allotments, Bear Flat, 6.30pm, £9 (£7 concessions), tel 01225 386777 to book, http://www.kiltertheatre.org

 

‘An Old Home Fit for the Future’: visit to victorian eco-efficient house, Friday 24th September, 3-7pm, 16 Pulteney Gardens, Widcombe, Bath, BA2 4HG,  http://www.transitionbath.org/old-home-fit-for-the-future

 

Critical Mass Bike Ride, Saturday 25th September, meet 1pm, Kingsmead Square, http://www.bathcyclingcampaign.org.uk

 

‘An Old Home Fit for the Future’: visit to victorian eco-efficient house, Friday 25th to Sunday 26th September, 11-6pm, 16 Pulteney Gardens, Widcombe, Bath, BA2 4HG,  http://www.transitionbath.org/old-home-fit-for-the-future

 

Kilter theatre: ‘Roots: Replanted’ (performance about food security issues), Saturday 25th September, Bloomfield Allotments, Bear Flat, 2.30pm & 6.30pm, £9 (£7 concessions), tel 01225 386777 to book, http://www.kiltertheatre.org

 

Bath Animal Action info stall, Sunday 26th September, 2-4pm, Stall Street, e-mail bathanimalaction[at]yahoo.co.uk; http:///www.bathanimalaction.blogsppot.com

 

Kilter theatre: ‘Roots: Replanted’ (performance about food security issues), Sunday 26th September, Bloomfield Allotments, Bear Flat, 2.30pm, £9 (£7 concessions), tel 01225 386777 to book, http://www.kiltertheatre.org

 

Transition Bath Social, Monday 27th September, 7.15pm, the Love Lounge/ back room of the Bell, Walcot Street; bring food to share; http://www.transitionbath.org

 

Bath Cycling Campaign meeting, Monday 27th September, 7.30pm, the Rising Sun, Grove Street, http://www.bathcyclingcampaign.org.uk

 

Bath Hunt Saboteurs meeting, Monday 27th September, 8-9pm, The Bell, tel Justin 07854 062336

 

Bath Socialist Forum meeting, Monday 27th September, 8pm, upstairs St James Wine Vaults, presented by Ken Loach

 

speakers & discussion: ‘Climate Justice: Think Global, Act Local’, Tuesday 28th September, 7-9pm, Unitarian Meeting House, Brunswick Square, Bristol; F.F.I. e-mail Katharine[at]wdm.org.uk / tel Katharine 020 7820 4900; http://groups.wdm.org.uk/bristol

 

No Borders Camp Belgium, Wednesday 29th September to Sunday 3rd October, Brussels, http://www.noborderbxl.eu.org/?lang=en

 

‘Low Carbon Bath Consultation’: Thursday 30th September, 6.30-8.30pm, Building of Bath Collection, The Countess of Huntington’s Chapel, The Vineyards, Paragon, Bath, for a booking, e-mail gkillick[at]bptrust.org.uk, or ring 01225 338727

 

National March for Farmed Animals, Saturday 2nd October, 12pm start, Cavendish Square, London

 

anti-Tory demonstration, Sunday 3rd October,  Tory Party Conference, Birmingham more details tbc

 

Bath Activist Network meeting, Thursday 7th October, 7.30-9pm, downstairs at the Hobgoblin, St James Parade, http://ww.bathactivistnetwork.blogspot.com

 

Legal fees benefit punk gig: ‘SUBVERT 2010 – A Festival Of Resistance’, Friday 8th to Sunday 10th October, Bristol, feat Hellkrusher, Ruidosa Immunidicia, War All The Time, Ignosy, The Wankys, The Extinguishers & Bulletridden, as well as vegan cafés/ stalls/ films/ workshops & picnic; more details tbc

 

Bath Green Drinks, Wednesday 13th October, 8pm, the Rising Sun, Grove Street

 

Regional day of action against the cuts, Saturday 23rd October

 

London Anarchist Bookfair, Saturday 23rd October, 10am-7pm, Queen Mary’s, University of London, Mile End Road, London, http://www.anarchistbookfair.org.uk

 

Bristol Free Vegan Food Fair, Saturday 30th October, 12-5pm, Broadmead Baptist Church, Union Street, Bristol, BS1 3HY, http://www.bristolanimalrights.org.uk/veganfoodfair

 

Coalition of the Resistance Conference, Saturday 27th November, London, more details tbc

 

Camp for Climate Action Australia, Wednesday 1st to Sunday 5th December, Bayswater Power Station, http://www.climatecamp.org.au

 

Climate Camp Aotearoa, Thursday 16th to Tuesday 21st December,  Wellington New Zealand, http://www.climatecamp.org.nz/node/51

 

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‘Fatcat Bosses Get The Cream’ Shocker!

Insult has been added to injury once again, as a G.M.B. union survey scrutinised 151 council and metropolitan accounts and discovered how 129 chief execs are paid more than £150,000 a year. It went on to note how two earned more than £300,000, and 76 earned between £200,000 and £300,000. In the southwest, B.&N.E.S. Council head honcho John Everitt netted a comfy £211,859 this year, including pension contributions and expenses; though his rivals at Cornwall County and Bristol City did better. Life’s hard, eh?

And this is at a time when councils claim to be hard up, slashing jobs, services, and handing out pay freezes like they were sweets to kids. Standing there shivering in the playground, in their plastic mac. Local government minister Bob Neill makes an interesting point: “We need to stamp out a culture of duplication, which is why, in many cases, councils should be looking towards sharing chief executives.” But actually stamping on the guy seems a bit harsh; instead of cutting the 300 out of 7,000 council jobs, surely it would make more sense to cut just one… After all, the dole queue is nice this time of year, John.

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Grub Street Meeja

Pity the shit-upon people of Bath, whose local lose-papers, the Bath Comic and the Western Daily Piss, are two of the apologies for journalism in the city.

Time was when the Comic would give regular and generous coverage to anti-war, anti-council and anti-developer stunts, but since the latest editor took over, it looks as if anything likely to rock the boat gets packed off on an extended Holliday. The big trouble with the Comic is that it has its head well and truly up the rectums of corporate crooks and shysters like B.&N.E.S., Bath Rugby, FirstBus, Crest Nicholson (Western Riverside), Morley Fund Management (Southgate), and others. Proof that the Comic had abandoned any pretence of serious news reporting and had achieved full Beano status, came with its hilarious but readership-insulting ‘Attack of the giant seagulls’ front-page last month.

The Piss, part of the same barrel-scraping Northcliffe outfit should, after the appointment of ITS latest, yes-man editor, be renamed the Western Military Gazette or Western Daily War, as all this current bunch of r-slickers do is pump out the same tired Cameron-loving warmongering propaganda drivel as their stablemate the Daily Fail.

All the Comic and Piss are good for is wiping your arse on; the only fault there is that the print comes off on your bum.

The glossies are no better. Bath Life, a criminal waste of newsprint, is stuffed full of estate agent waffle and other advertising, and page after page of ‘Invitation Only’ bashes featuring dozens of Bath Z-z-z listers grinning gormlessly for the cameras in a pretentious parody of Country Life’s society columns. Publishers guilty of this rubbish are Media Clash, the same bunch of brown-nosers who churn out the council’s spin-rag ‘Connect’. Someone should tell them that connecting is not enough; they should try switching on as well.

As for what little of interest the freebies Bath Magazine and Folio contain, you’d be better off buying Venue, which does arts and alternative far better. It is published by the Piss/Comic group, but, hey, nobody’s perfect!

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If I Had A Hammer…

Following the successful acquittal of the nine ‘Decommissioner’ activists who smashed up Brighton-based bomb factory E.D.O./I.T.T. (see B.B. #31), the Smash E.D.O. campaign is calling for one last shove to close the factory all together. For six years, the company, which supplies bomb components to Israel, Afghanistan, the U.S.A. and anyone else who has enough cash, has been under relentless assault from activists, who have blockaded, protested, smashed and exposed the company’s dodgy dealings time and time again. The demo has been called for Wednesday 13th October, and promises to be a little on the tasty side, and as the name ‘I.T.T.’s Hammertime’ suggests, people may have more than waving placards in mind! People have been requested to get down and stay at the convergence space from the night before, but also to help flier for the event in their home towns beforehand. For more information on the campaign, check out http://www.smashedo.org.uk, or drop them an e-mail at smashedo[at]riseup.net.

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Cruelty-Free: You Can’t Say Fayrer Than That

The second annual Bath Vegan Fayre 2010 filled a hole on Saturday 4th September, with over 150 passing through the doors. Held at Manvers Street Baptist Church in the centre, free of entry fee and cruelty, the event lasted from 12 til 4pm. Otherwise, the day stuck to much the same recipe as the previous year: with a tantalizing spread of steaming soups, nibbles, cakes, sweets and savouries – some nut-free, some wheat-free, all meat and dairy-free – filling the bowls and bellies of queues of hungry fayre-goers. The tea and fruit juices flowed like never before, whilst the tables were filled with relaxed conversation and ingested education. As well as the over-burdened info tables (with everything from nutrition, environmental ethics, recipes, animal rights, medical science and updates for campaigns against Noah’s Ark Zoo, hunts, foie gras outlets and animal labs), free samples table, reading corner and children’s area, there was also a prize raffle. Punters included the usual suspects of dreadied and alternative veggie types on the make for free pickings, for starters, but also a healthy flow of the uninitiated from the street.

By the end of the day, many a happy scavenger got their just desserts, and were heard uttering the immortal words: “I had no idea vegan food could taste this good!” Hey, even veggies need more than a diet of indescribable slop every now and again. Next up is the Bristol Free Vegan Fair at Broadmead Baptist Church on Saturday 30th October, from 12 til 5pm, and their benefit gig at the Black Swan on Stapleton Road, on the 18th of this month.

http://bathanimalaction.blogspot.com/p/today-uk-is-home-to-around-300000.html
http://www.vegansociety.com/home.php
http://www.bristolanimalrights.org.uk/

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Cycle-logy 101

Pedalphile activists group Bicycology will be cranking things up a gear in Bristol next weekend, with a trio of car-free fun days for all the family. On Saturday 18th September, they’ll be ‘Doing it without a car’ at Mina Park in St Werburgh’s; go sample their collection of bike accessories, book your ride in with the women bike mechanics for free advice and safety checks, or get down to some D.I.Y. creative sessions – turn tyres into bike belts, bike chains into bracelets or cobble yourself together a last minute carnie costume. All this just in time for the next day’s ‘Bristol Bike Carnival’ – starting in the city centre at 12 midday, expect dayglo, dinosaur skeleton puppets and two-wheeled gonzo weirdness. Then, after a day’s rest, Tuesday will be ‘Food is our Fuel – Cycle for your Supper!’ An exploration of modern agriculture, its problems and its solutions, this three-hour long gentle cycle starts at 6pm outside Tesco Metro in Broadmead, and heads out of the city for blackberry and wild food picking – hot food and drinks will be provided on donation. Bring your bike, lights, rucksack or pannier, and accompanied children.

And in related Bath news, a bike refurbishment/homelessness fund-raising project has recently re-opened, called ‘ReCYCLEd’, at 35 Corn Street. E-mail bikes[at]julianhouse.org.uk, for details.

*

Toys Tory

While the resistance against the Con-Dem cuts is shaping up nicely, the same cannot be said for the cut-crazy coalition who have been hit in recent weeks by a string of embarrassing fallings-out. Tories attacking Tories, Tories attacking Lib-Dems and Lib-Dems attacking both each other and the Tories (although we don’t think anyone has noticed or cared). The first of the cracks began to show when odious Osborne informed the press that nuke programme Trident would have to be funded by the defence budget, rather than the traditional funders, the Treasury. It turns out Osborne had let every one know his plans – except the Minister for Defence, Liam Fox. This news came to the delight of T.V. journalists as Fox branded the proposition “ridiculous”, asserting that after a 20% budget cut, there was no way the M.o.D. could pay for Trident. Osborne shot him down on live T.V. as a little bickering match erupted before the very eyes of borderline orgasmic telly journos. The spat has yet to be resolved.

This was quickly followed by bout #2, featuring Higher Education Minister David Willetts in the blue corner vs. Devey boy himself in the, ummmm, other blue corner. This time the argument was over milk. Now, some of you may remember that one of Thatcher’s less popular decisions was the removal of free milk from schools; so what has Willetts done? In the image of the Tory Godmother, Willetts proudly told the assembled press pack that under-fives no longer deserved their free milk, and that it was to be cut. After a rapid apology at the foot of this Thatcher shrine, Cameron popped his head out of the door of Downing Street to contradict his education minister, prompting opposition M.P.s to notice that “This is a coalition in chaos, making policy on the hoof. The Government doesn’t seem to have a clue.” As if Cameron didn’t have enough trouble keeping his own house in order, the Lib-Dems have also started having a pop, with many Lib-Dem M.P.s (in fact almost all of them that don’t have a cabinet seat) promising a rebellion over Con-Dem V.A.T. increase plans, with prominent Lib-Demmers such as Charles ‘5 years on the wagon’ Kennedy and Simon Hughes publicly criticising Con-Dem policy. To add another dollop of the stinky stuff on the smouldering feck pile that is the coalition, Clegg has crawled out of David’s cosy orifice to take the reigns while the Camerons sun themselves. Like a naughty schoolboy, Clegg took the opportunity to contradict key Con-Dem policies relating to immigration, Trident and housing benefits, something that he has been warned about in the past. Looks like some young upstart will be getting an Eton-style botty-thrashing when daddy Cameron rolls back into town!

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The Filth And The Furry

As mentioned back in B.B. #30, the U.K. Government has performed a spectacular U-turn on its policy regarding bovine tuberculosis, and has chosen to go ahead with a nation-wide badger cull. Last week, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman approved the cull for T.B. hotspots, handing the license to kill over to individual farmers’ discretions.  These wannabe 007’s of the National Farmers Union lobby will need to prove that a cull is necessary before being allowed to kill and/or vaccinate (shoot and gas first, a spoonful of medicine later?) anything black and white in a 50 square mile zone; what sort of proof required is yet to be disclosed, but a sham of a public consultation is expected later this month. At least this might stop farmers from rolling gunned down badgers onto highways in the middle of the night, as imitation roadkill.

The Welsh Assembly were pushed into a U-turn of their own, of sorts, back in July, when the Badger Trust and other animal ‘welfare’ activists won their legal challenge on a technicality, pushing kill-crazy plans back for months. These pro-culling decisions fly in the face of the ten-year Independent Scientific Study Group on Cattle T.B., who concluded in 2007 that culling couldn’t meaningfully control the disease, and that carrier badgers would disperse the disease over a wider area. This position has been loosely corroborated by Imperial College London and the Zoological Society of London. But screw all that, the Con-Dems say – let’s shoot us some varmints! Yeehaw! In a “carefully managed” and “scientifically-led” manner, of course.

As ever, animal rightsies are much-needed to save our furry friends – check out http://www.badger-killers.co.uk, or contact bathanimalaction[at]yahoo.co.uk for ideas.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7982848/Farmers-to-be-handed-powe
rs-to-cull-badgers.html
http://www.bathanimalaction.blogspot.com

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First Class News!

In a heartening bit of news just in, a public survey has found that seven out of every eight people oppose the privatisation of the postal service (one of the Tories’ key policies) and would prefer it to be kept public. Billy Hayes, head of the posties’ union said “This poll reaffirms what we already knew – the British public do not want their postal services sold off. The union and the company have worked hard to agree a fully funded modernisation plan and that work needs support from the Government.” However, the will of the public contradicts Tory plans to put a bill before Parliament demanding the privatisation of the service. Will this be another case of the Tories ignoring the opinions of the average person and trying to plough ahead with their agenda of cuts and privatization? We suspect so, so if you like your postal service public, lets get ready to fight for it!

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And now, to the disclaimer: as anyone is free to contribute, the opinions expressed in each article are not necessarily reflective of all contributors. Naturally, any right-wing or corporate bullshit will be binned and spat upon. Needless to say, the opinions of the author of this disclaimer do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any other contributor.

Crude Awakening info update

12 Sept 2010

THE CRUDE AWAKENING MASS OUTREACH EMAIL

A mass action to switch off oil

Saturday, 16 October 2010, Central London

12 Sept 2010

THE CRUDE AWAKENING MASS OUTREACH EMAIL

A mass action to switch off oil

Saturday, 16 October 2010, Central London

Have you been thinking it’s about time a whole load of people got together to take mass action against oil in central London? We thought so. And so it followed that the Crude Awakening was launched. The mobilization is now in full swing and everyone is invited to help publicize and prepare. There is loads to do….please have a read through this email and get involved!

The email is in three parts:

Upcoming events and how to get involved
Frequently asked questions
The call out – please copy and paste and help this get all over the Internet!

1. How to get involved and build up events you are all invited to.

Events already planned are listed bellow:

In London……

17th September, networking meeting at 6pm just inside the entrance to the Brunei Gallery at SOAS, a meeting for people interested in helping to do outreach in the London area the Climate Camp outreach group are meeting.

There is going to be a London coordinating and planning meeting for the Crude Awakening very soon, and the details will be announced shortly.

Thursday 23rd September at 7.30pm, Climate Action Film Night, London Action Resource Centre, Whitechapel (for address see www.londonarc.org)

An evening of films and discussion about climate activism and the oil industry, hosted by London Rising Tide.

A screening of two short films of recent actions against BP and Shell by Rising Tide and friends, plus Petropolis, a visually stunning and disturbing documentary about the Canadian Tar Sands. Followed by a brainstorming session on taking direct action against the oil industry in London – including all the latest info on the Crude Awakening, an oily mass action happening on Saturday 16th October. For anyone who believes in climate justice and wants to help make it happen; anyone hacked off with the greed and irresponsibility of oil giants like BP; anyone back from the Climate Camp and looking to get involved locally… everyone welcome….and there’ll be cake!

The Crude Awakening London Rabble Rouser – a mass outdoor team game, warming us up for the big day– date, place and time to be announced.

Saturday 2nd October. MOLASAPULTPARTY FUNDRAISER …. Venue TBC, more details to follow shortly

Saturday the 2nd and Sunday the 3rd October Stilt making workshop for the stilt block on the mass action!….
This time we’re thinking big, we’re thinking high, we’re thinking tall…. and we’re going as a Stilt Bloc.

Yep, thats right! On stilts!

So in order for this to happen we’re having a skill share weekend in London to build stilts and learn how to walk on them. The weekend is Sat 2nd and Sun 3rd October, 10am to 6pm.

And even if you don’t want to be up high, each stilt walker will need a buddy staying on the ground so there’s a place for everyone, young and old, big or small, high or low…… we need you at this weekend too!!!

Its all free and lunch is included….

We need RSVPs so we know numbers. Email: stilt.bloc@gmail.com

Oh and its MEXICAN DAY OF THE DEAD theme…..

In Manchester….

Sat 9th Oct – Mass Action training

Tue 12th Oct – Publicly announced rouser for CJA international day of action

Crude Awakening mobilisation

We hope that there will be loads more to follow but this is what is lined up so far. If you are planning a build up event let us know so we can advertise it please.

There is a huge amount to do to mobilize quickly for an event this big. Maybe you could organise a film showing or talk (we can probably send a speaker if you email us). You could put on an affinity group or action training workshop, or host a fundraiser. You could book a coach and fill it. You could run a workshop so people can build practical stuff , for example a load of disposable bikes to bring along (email us to let us know if you do make lots of useful stuff). You could have a stall and hand out flyers at your freshers fair (again email for materials). You could make a stencil and graffiti advertise for it all across your city/ region. Unless everyone gets involved there is a real danger we won’t get the numbers we need.
The Crude Awakening is now on crabgrass! Join it, join a working group and lets get planning! https://we.riseup.net/thecrudeawakening (crabgrass is a little bit like facebook for activists and is a way of organising on line). And sign up for more information by email and text alerts on the website. www.crudeawakening.org.uk. Our facebook page is a little slow to get off the ground but it will soon be buzzing.

Please also raise The Crude Awakening as an agenda point at the next organising meeting at your Social Centre/ Friends of the Earth Group/ Union/ Climate Camp neighbourhood/ Housing Coop etc. Get people talking and excited and committed to the idea that they are going! If you are not already in a group or affinity group you are of course still totally welcome. You will probably want to make contact with some like minded folk to talk things through and make some plans before the big day. For example you could go to climatecamp.org.uk or risingtide.org.uk and find your local active group, or email us and we can try to signpost you on. At the least try to get a couple of mates to come with you, so that you have some support as a group of friends (known by activists as an affinity group).

2. Frequently asked questions

Q. Neither the website nor the flyer gives much info. What is going on?

A. As you have probably twigged there is also a deliberate sense of mystery around the action. So often with recent mass actions we have said exactly where we are going to go, and the police have had as much time to prepare as us, making things much more difficult for people who want to be involved in mass and effective direct action . With this project we are experimenting a little bit. The 10 targets are left unspecified, giving the action more chance of being successful. But at the same time we can openly advertise that we all need to be in Central London so we can get loads of people together at the same place at the same time for the mass action. And those people need to be ready to take action and to have fun. This is not a march and it’s not a camp. This is an action that needs preparation and we can all be involved in most of that preparation….although the targets will be a surprise until much later.

We can’t be sure that this mix of secret and public planning will work, but we can give it a go, have some fun and maybe make some progress…..but maybe, just maybe we have got it totally nailed and this will be the best mass action in London ever! If you don’t show up there it will be difficult for you to know. Our advice is don’t miss it 😉

Q. So what do I need to do to prepare?

A. People need to be ready to move, and to stand their ground. Don’t bring with you anything that you can’t easily walk with or get on a tube with. But do bring with you stuff that will help you and your affinity group hold a space in what ever way you feel you want to. Whether you want to bring armtubes, disposable bikes or a huge slow moving metal and wooden tower with a papier-mâché rhino head (that can fit on and off a tube!?); diversity of tactics and affinity group planning are key to this working. People can also prepare stuff to make this action look beautiful; puppets, masks, banners, a portable molasses fondue……you get the idea.

Q. Why Oil?

A. For a whole host of reasons. Here are just a few…..
Because oil companies search for new oil reserves to make themselves richer while our climate spins into crisis.
Because the UK government starts wars for oil.
Because of human rights abuses and murder in West Africa.
Because of the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Because of the destruction of wilderness in the Arctic and the coast of Rosport in Ireland.
Because of UK public money being used by bailed out banks to fund new oil projects.
Because London is brimming with oil money, oil sponsorship and oil companies.
Because global energy resources are the peoples commons.
Because oil companies and the filthy rich people who profit from them have no place in a sustainable future.
Because Copenhagen failed and now it’s down to us.
Because oil has had it’s day and it’s time we pulled the plug.

Hope that that made things a little clearer. And more specific information will be sent out soon. If you are still struggling with the idea, it is a bit like the Great Climate Swoop of 2009, except where we are going is kept secret. Remember, you are being asked to come and move around London, so stay mobile, be creative, be prepated and be ready to stand your ground. So talk in your affinity group about the ways in which you are going to be able to hold a space and equipment and materials that you might want to bring along to help you. The action is open, and will be shaped by the people who are there. Only the targets and how we are getting to them are secret.

3. The call out – please copy and paste and help get this all over the Internet!

THE CRUDE AWAKENING

A mass action to switch off oil

Saturday, 16 October 2010, Central London

Floods in Pakistan, drought in Russia, huge glaciers breaking up in Greenland…

Our climate system is rapidly sliding into crisis, as oil companies destroy people’s lives and the environment to keep sucking up their profits.

Oil saturates every aspect of our lives. Oil profits lubricate the financial markets and its sponsorship clings like a bad smell to our cultural institutions. It flows through pipelines to the pumps, airports and factories of our cities.

The failure of the UN COP15 process showed us – if there was ever any doubt – that government and industry can’t tackle climate change. It’s up to us and it’s time to up the ante.

As a movement, our actions against coal and aviation have made a real difference. Now oil’s time is up.

Together, on October 16, let’s give the oil industry a Crude Awakening.

Meet in central London. Be ready to move. Be ready to stay and stand your ground.

Be creative. Be prepared. Be there.

Find out more, get involved and sign up for text alerts at www.crudeawakening.org.uk
Facebook: http://bit.ly/c6S0kg
Twitter: @crudeawake

Part of the CJA global week of action for climate justice
Supported by: Space Hijackers, Climate Camp, Plane Stupid, Rising Tide, Liberate Tate, Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, UK Tar Sands Network

Hope to see you on the streets,
Crude Awakening
crudeawakening.org.uk

Solidarity needed for russian anarchist forest defenders

The Russian movement to defend the Khimki forest is a movement defending all forests. If corporations and politicians working in the interest of a global neoliberal and environmentally destructive model is able to exploit the Khimki forest and continue repressing the activists in spite of a historically broad and strong movement in Russia defending the forest, than it can be done anywhere.

The Russian movement to defend the Khimki forest is a movement defending all forests. If corporations and politicians working in the interest of a global neoliberal and environmentally destructive model is able to exploit the Khimki forest and continue repressing the activists in spite of a historically broad and strong movement in Russia defending the forest, than it can be done anywhere. Solidarity with the activists is the only way to both stop repression and to save the Khimki forest more permanently. Please join the action called for by our Russian friends!

Patrick Bond, Centre for Civil Society Environmental Justice Project, Durban, South Africa

Mark Brown, Art Not Oil/Rising Tide, UK

Carmen Buerba de Comite de Defensa Ecologica Michoacana, Mexico

Nicola Bullard, Focus on the Global South, Thailand

Ellie Cijvat, Friends of the Earth Sweden

Joshua Kahn Russell, Ruckus Society, USA

Tom Kucharz, Ecologistas en Acción, Spain

Maduresh Kumar, National Alliance of People’s Movements, India

Marea Creciente Mexico

Adriana Matalonga, Miguel Valencia y Mauricio Villegas from Ecomunidades and Klimaforum10, Mexico

Uddhab Pyakurel, South Asian Dialogue on Ecological Democracy, India

Josie Riffaud, Via Campesina, France

Marko Ulvila and Thomas Wallgren, Democracy Forum Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, Finland

You find information and the call for action September 17-20 issued by Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages in many languages at www.khimkibattle.org. Below you find the text in English, Spanish, and French and more links on the issue.

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A Call for International Days of Action in Support of Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov

September 17­20, 2010

On July 28, 2010, more than two hundred young antifascists and anarchists carried out a spontaneous demonstration outside the town administration building in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow. They demonstrated in defence of the Khimki Forest, which was at that time in the process of beings cutting down
for the needs of big business. The demonstration, during which several windows were broken, received a great deal of public attention. The authorities responded with a wave of repressions. The day after the demonstration, two well-known social activists, Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov, were arrested. They are now threatened with up to seven years in
prison for disorderly conduct, although there is no evidence of their complicity in illegal activities. Meanwhile, the police continue to hunt down and harass other activists, especially those involved in the antifascist movement.

The campaign to save the Khimki Forest has been going on for the past three years. The authorities had decided to build a segment of a planned Moscow­Saint Petersburg toll highway, the first of its kind in Russia, through the forest. This would lead to the deterioration of environmental conditions in the region, and local residents and Muscovites would be deprived of yet another recreation zone. Despite the availability of alternative routes that would not require clear-cutting the forest and
vigorous protests by environmentalists and ordinary citizens against the planned route, the authorities f0r a long time ignored the voice of society and on several occasions took measures to suppress their critics.

Khimki authorities and the highway project contractor have used violence and other tactics against Khimki Forest defenders. They refused to give permission for protest demonstrations, recruited nationalist thugs to break
up a peaceful protest camp organized by environmentalists and local residents, and illegally arrested and beat up journalists covering the story. Nearly two years ago, Mikhail Beketov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda and a critic of the local administration, was severely beaten by persons unknown; the attack left Beketov permanently
disabled. Sergei Protozanov, the layout designer of another local opposition paper, was murdered in similar circumstances six months later.

After the July 28 demonstration, the Russian police and secret services unleashed an unprecedented dragnet against antifascists. People who had even just once come to the attention of the Center for Extremism Prevention and
FSB for their involvement with the antifascist movement have been forcibly taken in for questioning. In several cases they have been subjected to harsh physical coercion in order to compel them to give the testimony required by investigators. In addition, illegal searches have been carried out in their apartments. All these actions on the part of law enforcement
authorities are violations of Russian and international law.

Frightened by the numerous and growing protests against the clear-cutting of the Khimki Forest, the authorities have finally made concessions by agreeing to review the advisability of the planned route for the toll highway. But this does not mean victory. Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov are still in
police custody for no reason at all. They are hostages of the authorities.

In late September, the next hearing in their case will take place. The judge will decide whether to keep them in police custody pending completion of the investigation and trial. Everyone who cares about the fate of these two young men must do everything in their power to see that they are set free.
The Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages calls on people around the world to organize days of action on September 17, 18, 19, and 20 to pressure the Russian authorities to release Alexei and Maxim.

We ask you to hold protests outside of Russian Federation embassies, consulates, trade missions, and cultural centers, as well as at public events and concerts connected to Russia. We also ask you to send faxes,e-mails, and protest letters to the court, the prosecutor¹s office, and the country¹s political leadership. In the very nearfuture we will inform you of
addresses where you can send these protests as well as more details about the ongoing repressions in Russia. Look for this information on our website

http://khimkibattle.org in English, German, Russian, and French.

Join our campaign!

Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages

+7 (915) 053-5912 * info@khimkibattle.org * http://khimkibattle.org

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Back ground information:

Chtodelat news, Khimki Territory of Lawlessness
http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/khimki-territory-of-lawlessness/

Why we need solidarity with Russian environmentalists and antifascists
http://www.aktivism.info/socialforumjourney/?p=1748

Website Revamp

May 2011
We are really very sorry for the extraordinary hiccough with this site – this is the first time we’ve been able to even edit this message – it’s been so frustrating for everyone!

May 2011
We are really very sorry for the extraordinary hiccough with this site – this is the first time we’ve been able to even edit this message – it’s been so frustrating for everyone!

It’s working now (apart from old images not being accessible), and being gradually repopulated with the news we’ve missed. There’s a new Resources section too. Let us know (via submit story) anything that could be better.

We hope by the end of the process you’ll feel welcomed back with open arms, with new bells and whistles on their way. Thank you for bearing with us, and we look forward to your stories again making this a valuable resource for all.