Action Reports – Page 206

Councillor John Lines’ Homeless Village in Birmingham + update

5.11.2008
A protest camp named after Councillor John Lines who’s responsible for the city’s housing, was established last Thursday on derelict land owned by Birmingham City Council. Cllr. Lines has denied there is a homeless problem in Birmingham and also denies there is money available to build new ‘social housing’. The occupied land has been unused for around seven years whilst there are over 30,000 people in the city waiting for housing.

The protest is against the Council holding on to land that could be sold at a ‘friendly’ price to Housing associations thereby allowing Housing Associations to draw up to £100m of grants to provide ‘social housing’. “At a cost of £50,000 per unit, the £100m could provide around 2,000 homes” said one of the protesters. They claim the Council’s approach is speculative – by holding onto unused land and buildings with a view to selling them off to the highest commercial bidder.

‘The John Lines’ Homeless Village’ consists of tents, a fire, cooking facilities and is located on the Pershore Road in Balsall Heath. Originally the camp was intended to last a week, but now protesters are trying to stay there as long as they can. Up until now the Council have made no plans to meet or talk with the protesters. They have been served with a notice to quit by Birmingham City Council and are due in court this Friday.

A group of around 30 people from different parts of the city regularly sleep over at the camp, some of whom are on waiting lists for social housing and some homeless people have also joined the camp. The protesters have also attended and disrupted a council meeting yesterday where according to the local press, they threatened to occupy the roof of the home of Councillor Lines, and Lines in return has ‘threatened to set his dogs on them’.

Protesters at the camp are keen on meeting visitors who want to express some solidarity. They are also in need of food, blankets and donations.

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Update:

The council was granted the eviction order at Birmingham County Court on Friday to evict the campaigners who are on land off Pershore Road in Birmingham.

More careers fair antics – Cambridge, Birmingham, Oxford – update: RBS & e.on no-shows

Update: RBS didn’t turn up to a Cambridge careers fair and e.on have given a few a miss now – keep on going folks, there’ll be lots of other murderous companies coming your way…

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Careering Downwards, courtesy of Cambridge University!

Update: RBS didn’t turn up to a Cambridge careers fair and e.on have given a few a miss now – keep on going folks, there’ll be lots of other murderous companies coming your way…

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Careering Downwards, courtesy of Cambridge University!
5th November 2008
Today and tomorrow, Cambridge University are hosting a Careers Fair, which seems to comprise a motley collection of arms manufacturers, planet wreckers and Vivisectionists.

To highlight just how dubious many of the exhibitors at this event are, some activists decided to go along today.

Despite the extremely fluffy actions undertaken by activists, which were handing out flyers to visitors (for a while inside the venue as well as on the road outside), and displaying banners, there was a high presence not only of the expected Proctors, but also many police, including a FIT team who made a point of photographing everyone while they were there, but seemed to be strangely camera shy themselves.

Apparently earlier in the day there were at least two van loads of police in attendance, although by the time activists arrived in numbers they had gone, with ‘just’ several cars having a visible presence there all of the afternoon, including (I witnessed) the searching of someone’s Guitar case at the door!

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Students Dying to Ditch Dirty Development

Last Friday (31st October) students from Keele, BCU, Birmingham, Warwick and Aston People and Planet groups staged a die-in at Royal Bank of Scotland’s stall in the Graduate Recruitment Fair at the NEC in Birmingham. It was the latest in a series of actions as part of People and Planet’s Ditch Dirty Development Campaign targeting RBS at careers’ fairs and presentations at universities around the country.

Students gritted their teeth through the security checks into the careers’ fair arena, as well as resisting the temptation to target other companies in a who’s who of unethical companies (including defence contractors such as BAE Systems, and the Arcadia Group owners of notorious sweatshop high street brand Topshop) before congregating at the RBS stall. At an agreed time the students performed a mass die-in in and around the stall, dying on oil slicks to make the point about oil extraction and climate change already killing those in developing countries.

Security arrived promptly to remove protesters from the scene, protesters singing “Oil and Gas RBS” as they were removed from the fair. Some students were then questioned by security and the police, while others were taken outside and told to protest in a specially prepared pen outside the main entrance. Those being questioned were then removed from the premise, one was even threatened with arrest by police officers in order for them to obtain their name and address, and were informed that should they return they would be arrested, on rather legally dubious grounds.

Those in the “protest pen” outside were subjected to sniffer dog checks of bags for explosives, and also of persons for drugs in an attempt to try and pin more on the protesting students. Once this ordeal had been endured, with no shortage of cynical humour and gritted teeth, the remaining students continued to protest outside, and, despite a security presence, attempts to stop students using a megaphone, not being allowed to leave the pen without an escort, managed to engage members of the passing public in the campaign. Spirits were kept high with chants and songs before students decided to end the protest and were escorted out of the area by security.

While those who took part were satisfied with the day’s protesting, police officers questioning and threatening participants with arrest as well as the use of sniffer dogs represents was a worrying development, especially in response to what was essentially a very fluffy direct action protest. However, protests against RBS at careers events will continue no matter how much they hide behind security and police. The campaign continues….

Some of the exhibitors include…

Proctor & Gamble (vivisection funders)

Eon (Pro Nuclear and Coal power)

Rolls Royce (Arms Manufacturers, sponsors of University Engineering Department)

Shell (archetypal oil greenwashers)

…And many more besides.

It would seem that despite previous years’ Careers Fairs also having activists in attendance, due to the moral bankruptcy of the companies being booked for said event, the University still hasn’t figured out that it’s actually better for their wider reputation to display some ethics in their booking choices for such an event.

You could always come along and see it for yourself, as it’s open again Thursday afternoon (November 6th), by The Mill Pond at The Graduate Centre, although if you’re not a Cambridge University Student, you may get ID’ed.

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E.ON Recruiters Targeted AGAIN – in Oxford

6.11.2008
Climate-trashing energy monsters E.ON continued their national recruitment tour with a stall at the Oxford Careers Fair today. They seemed miserable but not surprised when a group of local activists turned up too…

This afternoon, Oxford Town Hall played host to a thrilling smorgasbord of unethical corporate recruiters, at the “Science, Engineering and IT Careers Fair”. BAe, AWE, npower, BP, Proctor & Gamble, and the Army were all in attendance, but it was coal-burning climate renegades E.ON who were in the spotlight today.

Over the last few weeks they’ve been targeted by activists at careers fairs across the land, and today was no exception. A group of campaigners from Thames Valley Climate Action were in attendance, making sure that everyone at the fair had an anti-brainwashing leaflet detailing what E.ON were really up to (with more general information on the other side about evil corporate recruiters, so the rest of them didn’t feel neglected). The recruiters wasted plenty of time talking to undercover activists, and every genuine student who visited the stall got a friendly chat from a campaigner as well.

Eventually, though, the shiny corporate displays all got too much to bear, and some more action was required. E.ON were (loudly) presented with a fantastic prize for the most egregious piece of greenwash on display (despite some stiff competition): their display read “Tackling climate change isn’t something that’s tacked onto our agenda. It’s at the heart of our business” (oh, for a bit of paint to remove the word “tackling”). Their prize? A fantastic bag of (char)coal, scattered all over their stall, and the sight of the protesters being firmly escorted from the building, still loudly detailing E.ON’s activities, much to the entertainment of the watching crowd.

The activists then spent some time dishing out the rest of their leaflets outside the fair – we’ll post the leaflet here in case anyone else wants to use it (we cribbed bits of it from the Nottingham careers fair leaflet, so let’s keep sharing it all around!).

Thames Valley Climate Action
oxford@climatecamp.org.uk
http://tvca.atspace.com

John Gormley interrupted by Plane Mad

November 5, 2008

November 5, 2008
Environment Minister John Gormley was interrupted during his speech to the Green Infrastructure conference this morning in Malahide. The environmental campaign group Plane Mad disrupted the conference to express their opposition to another runway at Dublin Airport. The group oppose the runway on the grounds that it will double the aircraft emissions at the airport. These emissions play a dangerous part in causing climate change. Two activists dressed as cartoon criminals mimed building a runway around the podium that Gormley was speaking from. Aircraft noise was simultaneously played from the back of the room. One of the “criminals” moved among the audience passing out information about the proposed new runway form his bag of “swag”. The minister was also presented with a letter by the group which he accepted.

The activists were dressed as criminals to represent the crime that it would be if Fingal County Council and the Dublin Airport Authority(DAA) were allowed to double capacity at Dublin Airport. The activists had “DAA-CLIMATE CRIMINALS” written on their backs.

Minister Gormley said that he agreed with them on this issue, indeed he had mentioned the “serious threat” of climate change several times in his speech. After the campaigners had made their point they were peacefully escorted out of the conference suite and Mr Gormley was allowed to continue. Despite all he says Plane Mad continue to be disappointed that neither John Gormley or his party are clear or vocal enough in their opposition to expansion at Dublin Airport.

Ian Clotworthy, one of cartoon criminals, said
“Fingal County Council are not fit hosts for a green infrastructure conference when one of the least “green” pieces of infrastructure in Ireland is currently being built at Dublin Airport.”
“We support “UPROAR” in their campaign against this second runway and we oppose it ourselves because of the contribution of aviation emissions to climate change”

UPROAR (United Portmarnock residents opposing another runway) have been opposing the construction of a 2nd runway for 8 years, since 2000. 850 people from the area objected to the runway after the campaign was launched around Christmas 2000. UPROAR were initially extremely successful in that the Inspector reviewing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and all the information available about the planned development found in favour of the objectors. The Inspector recommended that the planning application be refused on mainly on the issue of noise pollution and community welfare. Her decision however, was overturned by An Bord Pleanala.

Tara Sheehy of Plane Mad who was also in the conference suit in Malahide said,
“Doubling capacity at Dublin Airport will also double the amount of emissions. Spending money in an economic downturn on such a project of pollution is madness.”

The Environmental Protection Agency allocated just over 20,000 tonnes CO2 equivalent for each of the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 to Dublin Airport. This is only 1% of the 2 million tonnes of CO2 (at least), emitted by Dublin Airport’s 21 million passengers.

On a day when even America can elect a president who claims to understand the importance of climate change, Plane Mad would like to see this “Green-tinged” government halt their airport expansion plans. Plane Mad will continue to fight the second runway until it is stopped.

http://www.planemad.org

Wee demo in Glasgow against Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant. He will be back in June 09. Will you also you here?

Monsanto Chief Exec Hugh Grant came to Glasgow today. He and Scottish Enterprises were not so happy to find out that a few concerned citizens were there and were leafleting the staff calling for his dismissal from his role on the international advisory board. see press release below for some details. He comes twice a year for these meetings. Probably the only time aside from Monsanto AGMs (in St Louis, US) that anyone who wants to have a word with him knows when and where he will be. The next mtg is in June 09. We will be there to greet the Monsanto CEO. Will you join us the next time? Contact details at end of the PR, Cheers!

Press release: Common Action Scotland: Tuesday 4 November 2008, Glasgow

Controversial Monsanto Chief Exec Hugh Grant in Glasgow this week

Controversial Monsanto Chief Exec Hugh Grant is expected to be in Glasgow this week in his role as an advisor to the Scottish Enterprise Agency. However civil society group Common Action Scotland are demanding that Scottish Enterprise bosses dismiss the Monsanto CEO from its advisory board and are challenging Mr Grant to attend a public meeting to answer for the damage caused by his company and its business practices.

Lindsay Keenan spokesperson for Common Action Scotland said today:
“It is not appropriate to have the Chief Executive of Monsanto as an advisor to Scottish Enterprise. Hugh Grant represents a company that has lied and cheated and that has caused cancers, birth-defects and deaths in order to save a dollar. Today Monsanto products contribute directly to inflated prices of food on the global market and to world hunger. Hugh Grant and Monsanto are an international disgrace not a role model for Scottish Enterprises. We have asked Jack Perry the head of Scottish Enterprise and Jim Mather MSP, the Scottish Enterprise Minister to immediately dismiss Hugh Grant from his advisory role”.

Mr Grant is due in Glasgow this week for a meeting of the Scottish Enterprise International Advisory Board. Despite a Freedom of Information request Scottish Enterprise have refused to confirm exactly which day the meeting will take place but did confirm it is expected to be in Glasgow in the first week of November. Mr Grants office confirmed that he is expected to attend. Hugh Grant was born in Larkhall Glasgow and graduated from Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities. Since 2003 he has been the Chairman, President and CEO of the US based chemicals and genetic engineering company Monsanto. Based in St Louis, US he travels the world representing Monsanto and visits Glasgow twice a year for these meetings.

Keenan cont’d, “Mr Grants company, Monsanto, has in the past been responsible for producing some of the worlds most toxic chemicals including PCBs and Agent Orange. Amongst other serious crimes it has previously been caught falsifying scientific reports and bribing government officials. Today Monsanto is the worlds largest chemical company and is responsible for more than 90% of the genetically modified seeds sold in the world. Monsanto products and Monsanto’s way of doing business destroy soil health, destroy food security and contribute substantially to world hunger and environmental damage”.

Hugh Grant uses his role with Scottish Enterprise as part of his CV presumably because it opens doors for him and helps to give Monsanto what it most craves, the public acceptance that despite its great wealth and power it is otherwise denied. Mr Grants position with Scottish Enterprise gives the impression that Monsanto is supported in Scotland when in fact the evidence of public, farmer, food industry, political and scientific opinion over the last ten years makes it absolutely clear that there is no place for Monsanto or its products in Scotland (or indeed in Europe).

Keenan cont’d, “Hugh Grant is the smooth talking face of a very ugly corporation. His smooth talking style and his Glasgow/Edinburgh/transatlantic brogue has charmed the US stock markets and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr Grant has helped pushed up profits for Monsanto and for himself but at what price to real peoples lives and to the environment?

Common Action Scotland has tried on a number of occasions to get Mr Grant to agree to attend a public meeting in Glasgow/Scotland. However he shows no signs of being willing to be held publicly accountable. We note that if he is not willing to attend a public discussion despite the global importance of his company to the health and food security of so many people then this should provide further evidence of his unsuitability to be an advisor to a Scottish tax payer funded public body. “What does Hugh Grant/Monsanto have to hide?”

There is an overwhelming body of evidence available to support the case that Monsanto and its CEO are not good role models for Scottish business. Amongst a wealth of other publicly available factual information the recently released documentary called the World According To Monsanto by director Marie Monique Robin sums up the reality behind Monsanto.

The crimes Monsanto has committed, the lives it has damaged, the lies its spokespeople and executives have told and the massive influence that it has are laid out clearly. And it is perhaps the first documentary that really gets behind the approval process for GM foods in the US and reveals the manipulating hand of Monsanto at all levels. A copy can be obtained from French filmmakers ARTE www.arteboutique.com
It can also be found in 10 parts on Utube at
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CMleWZXhi6s

We would recommend that Jack Perry and Jim Mather view this documentary to get some understanding of Monsanto. We further recommend that it be screened at the Scottish Parliament and on Scottish TV so that we all may judge. Monsanto refused to be interviewed for the documentary but the director Marie Monique Robin has indicated to Common Action Scotland that she would be willing to attend a public meeting in Scotland to discuss her findings with Mr Grant, if he is willing.

For more information please contact:

Lindsay Keenan (Director)
Common Action Scotland
1 Cunninghame Road, Kilbarchan, Scotland, PA10 2EE
Office: 0141 577 0057 Mobile: 0750 392 0125
Email: commonactionscotland@yahoo.co.uk

CLIMATE ACTION NEWS SHEET 84, OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2008

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UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIONS:
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1) RBS, E.ON and Shell university recruitment tours, Oct/Nov 08
2) Climate Camp National Gathering, Bradford, 8/9.11.08
3) Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa, 10.11.08
4) Shared Planet Conference, Birmingham, 21-23.11.08
5) 48 hours of action against E.On and new coal, 28/29.11.08
6) Buy Nothing Day, 29.11.08

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RECENT HAPPENINGS:
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1) Towards Copenhagen 2009 – the first global gathering, 13/14.09.08
2) Coal power station blockaded in Virginia, USA, 15.09.08
3) Rossport – Solitaire leaves Irish waters with no pipeline laid! 20.09.08
4) Flashmob against airport expansion a success! 23.09.08
5) Climate Camp policing condemned, 30.09.08 & 28.10.08
6) Boston (US) Rising Tide pay Citibank a visit, 7/10/08
7) Day of Action Against PacifiCorp dam, 10.10.08
8) Parliament rushed by climate activists, 13.10.08
9) Oxford students just say no to BP jobs, 14.10.08
10) Art Not Oil visit the NT and hoax boss Hytner, 15.10.08
11) Protesters disrupt European biofuels summit, 16.10.08
12) Scottish climate activists target Scottish First Minister, 16.10.08
13) Greenwash Guerrillas EDF Action, 22.10.08
14) Manchester students flashmob RBS and E.On recruitment stalls, 23.10.08
15) Barclays’ coal investments targeted in Leamington Spa, 25.10.08
16) Protestors stop work at Shipley open-cast; Shipley Bodge court case
collapses, 27.10.08
17) The Rainbow Warrior goes to Kingsnorth, 29.10.08
18) Bristol University Death Fair
19) Conveyer belt lock-on stops Australian coal power station, 1.11.08

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UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIONS:
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1) RBS, E.ON and Shell university recruitment tours, OCT/NOV 08
Climate criminals are recruiting now, in a University near you. Find out when and where, as they have kindly posted their itineraries online.
www.makeitrbs.com/events/

www.shell.com/home/content/gbr/aboutshell/careers/students_and_graduates/calendar_of_events/calendar_of_events_30052008.html

www.eon-uk.com/Careers/Graduates/807.aspx

Stuck for a direct action idea? Check out Rising Tide’s “15 ways to topple
the Fossil Fuel Empire” on our website.

2) Climate Camp National Gathering, Bradford, 8/9.11.08
The next Climate Camp gathering will be in Bradford on the 8th and 9th November. Come along and get involved.This month we will be in the fair city of Bradford, based up at the student union. Food will be provided by the delicious Treehouse Cafe and crash space will be nearby.

Large Group Facilitation Training
Seeds for Change are running a Large Group Facilitation Training for Climate Campers on Friday November 7th in Leeds (just down the road from the gathering in Bradford), 11AM to 5.30 PM. Please email process at climatecamp.org.uk asap if you are interested.

3) Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa, 10.11.08
Film screening and fundraiser at 7PM at LARC in London, 62 Fieldgate St, E1 1ES. On the 13th anniversary of the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni 9 by the Nigerian state in 1995, with Shell in close cahoots, we will be remembering what they fought for and what they died for. We’ll also be hearing about the inspirational resistance of people around the world to Shell’s unfortunately far from unique brand of destruction, duplicity and overall mayhem in the chase for ever-greater profits. There will be film screenings of ‘Those Who Dance’ and ‘Shadows and Light: Oil, Power, and the Niger Delta’, inspirational art on the walls and food and drink. Funds raised will go towards Art Not Oil’s new campaign against the Shell-sponsored Oedipus production currently running at the National Theatre.

4) Shared Planet Conference, Birmingham, 21-23.11.08
The University of Birmingham – Shared Planet is the UK’s largest student conference on world poverty, human rights and the environment. It brings hundreds of students together for a weekend packed with big-name speakers, skills and issue based workshops, debates, discussions, film and a massive party! http://peopleandplanet.org/events/sharedplanet

5) 48 hours of action against E.On and new coal, 28/29.11.08

The UK Government is calling for an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, we are calling for 48 hours of action against E.ON and new coal NOW. Join us in saying ‘No to New Coal’: get your friends together and plan an action for your area. Go stickering, blockading, serving direct action warning notices at supply chain premises, organise an awareness raising talk, hang a banner, get creative on the streets, the options are endless. Get together, get creative, and plan an action! For more information visit – www.e-onf-off.org – where a list of potential targets, action ideas and plenty of resources will follow shortly.

6) Buy Nothing Day, 29.11.08
Saturday November 29h 2008 is Buy Nothing Day. It’s a day where you challenge yourself to switch off from shopping and tune into life. The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from consumerism and live without shopping. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending – better yet, get together with some friends and challenge consumer culture directly!
www.buynothingday.co.uk

7) National Climate March, 06.12.08
March on Parliament to demand that the government acts on climate now! The march this year goes to Parliament Square to demand that the government act now on climate. The march will start at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park – assemble 12 noon. The march will be preceeded by a climate protest bike ride starting from Lincoln’s Inn Fields at 10.30 am: see more here. There will be an After-Party in the Synergy Centre from 5.00 pm till late.!
www.campaigncc.org/index.shtml

8) Earth First! Winter Moot, 6-8.02.09
The Earth First! Winter Moot is a weekend to reflect on where we are as a radical ecologist movement and on where we are going. The moot will be about discussing strategy, strengthening the EF! network, security and communications and action planning. A session is also reserved for discussing a UK mobilisation for the UN climate conference in Copenhagen late 2009. The moot will be held in Brighton (t.b.c.). Please check this website nearer to the time for further details and email any items you would like to add an item to the agenda to moot2009 at earthfirst.org.uk.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/21557

9) Fossil Fools Day 2009, 01.04.09
Just in case you missed the news last month – Fossil Fools Day is back! Whether you’ve been looking for a chance to dip a toe into the growing climate action movement, or have had your kick-ass action planned since last year, now is the time to do it – whatever it is. On April 1st, join the global day of resistance and pull a prank that packs a punch. Call-out now available on the website, so get spreading the word. Info and resources will be posted on the website soon, and look out for leaflets to distribute in December.
www.risingtide.org.uk/fossilfoolsday2009

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RECENT HAPPENINGS:
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1) Towards Copenhagen 2009 – the first global gathering, 13/14.09.08
The first social movements’ meeting was from 13-14 September 2008, in a free school in Norrberg, hosted by the Danish movement ClimaX (klimax2009.org). There were about 100 people present from 21 countries around the world, and mobilisatations towards December 2009 were well and truly launched. For the call to action, translations, and a personal perspective on the meeting, see http://risingtide.org.uk/copenhagen. To get involved, send an email to climate09-int-subscribe at list.riseup.net.

2) Coal power station blockaded in Virginia, USA, 15.09.08
At 6:00am on September 15 around 40 people blockaded the construction site of Dominion Virginia’s Wise County coal-fired power station. Eleven protesters were arrested after four hours. Protesters locked their bodies to eight large steel drums, two of which had operational solar panels illuminating a banner that read “renewable jobs to renew Appalachia.” In addition, protesters held a 10’x30′ banner, which said: “we demand a clean energy future.”

3) Rossport – Solitaire leaves Irish waters with no pipeline laid! 20.09.08
On Friday the 20th September, the pipe laying ship, the Solitaire, finally left Irish waters. During the ship’s time in Ireland, Shell failed to lay any part of the offshore pipe line. The departure of the Solitaire is a massive victory for the Shell to Sea campaign. Resistance in the past six weeks has taken many different forms: fishermen preventing the ship’s access to the bay by refusing to move from her path, site invasions by local people and the Rossport Solidarity Camp, numerous waterborne actions to prevent work by supporters from other parts of Ireland and further afield, national and international solidarity actions and finally, an 11 day hunger strike by local campaigner Maura Harrington, that continued until the ship left Irish waters. The events of the last 6 weeks have inspired not only those involved, but also many who witnessed them from afar, new links and friendships have been forged and many lessons learned. In the aftermath, the Shell to Sea campaign can clearly be seen to have been revitalized, both locally and nationally. It is unclear when the ship will attempt to return to Broadhaven Bay. It is possible it could still be this year if repairs are quick and a suitable weather window appears, or it may not be until next spring. However, while it may be uncertain exactly when the ship will return, what is certain, is that it will meet even greater opposition upon its next arrival. Come and be part of it! The Rossport community is calling on people everywhere to put pressure on Shell, Allseas (the company that owns the Solitaire) and Irish embassies to demand that the Solitaire leaves Irish waters immediately.

4) Flashmob against airport expansion a success! 23.09.08
Over 100 campaigners staged a colourful flashmob against airport expansion at midday today outside Manchester Town Hall. The group included London campaigners opposed to the expansion of Heathrow. The flashmob was timed to coincide with the Labour Party Conference. At 12.45 precisely the campaigners stripped off to reveal red t-shirts with the words ‘Stop Airport Expansion’ emblazoned across them. They then lay down to form the words ‘TAKE TRAINS’ with their bodies. The protest marked the public launch of the recently formed ‘Stop Expansion at Manchester Airport’.

5) Climate Camp policing condemned, 30.09.08 & 28.10.08
A spokesman for Medway Trades Union Council said “We have decided to hold an inquiry into the Policing of the Climate Camp because of our concern over the level of policing and various incidents such as a policeman in riot gear assaulting a protester with a riot shield, as shown on TV, and other allegations including local campaigners being subjected to pepper spray and a local councillor being pushed to the ground”

Also, in the House of Commons, MPs accused police of unnecessary aggression towards climate campers. Home Office ministers were told that officers “provoked violence against peaceful protesters” and even arrested someone for “aggressively picking up litter”.
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/09/409732.htm

6)Boston (US) Rising Tide pay Citibank a visit, 7/10/08
Four activists chained themselves to the front entrance of the Citibank branch in Harvard Square, Cambridge. The action started as a protest in front of the Bank of America branch a block away before marching down the street to Citibank, where the four activists had already chained themselves to the front door, closing the bank for a period of time. Over 150 people attended the protest, while many more onlookers gathered in Harvard Square. The action, using the tag-line “Not With Our Money”, was intended to raise awareness of the connections between the current financial crisis and the impending climate crisis. Both Bank of America and Citi Bank are responsible for funding dirty coal power that harms the environment, and engaging in predatory lending practices that are fuelling the foreclosure crisis and have left families in Boston homeless. Several groups were involved with the protest including Rising Tide Boston and Rainforest Action Network, both environmental justice groups, and City Life/Vida Urbana, a tenants’ rights organization.

7) Day of Action Against PacifiCorp dam, 10.10.08
A coalition of Klamath River Indian tribes, fishermen, conservationists and local supporters (including Cascadia Rising Tide) ramped up their campaign to remove four fish-killing dams on the river today when they held a spirited protest in front of PacifiCorp’s headquarters in Portland. The “Day of Action Against PacifiCorp” started off at 8:30 a.m. on September 18th when local activists hung a banner proclaiming “Warren Buffett Kills Salmon, Jobs and Communities” over Interstate-84 in solidarity with the Tribes. Around 200 people converged in front of PacifiCorp for a press conference. After the conference, 70 people occupied the area in front of the headquarters, effectively shutting down the front entrance to PacifiCorp as company staff locked the doors.

8) Parliament rushed by climate activists, 13.10.08
Demanding deeds not words from the government, 500 Climate Rushers gathered in Parliament Square to celebrate 100 years to the day since the Suffragettes rushed parliament demanding votes for women. After sharing tea and cake on the lawn of Parliament Square, men and women dressed in Edwardian garb became a little less civilised, and the doors of to Parliament were locked as climate activists rushed the main entrance. Although no one got in, the sounds of protesters striking the doors were clearly audible from the inside.
www.climaterush.co.uk

9) Oxford students just say no to BP jobs, 14.10.08
Activists infiltrated an attempt by BP to woo Oxford graduates at a top-notch hotel on October 14th. One interrupted the cheesy BP PR man’s presentation as he claimed that he ‘loved the countryside’ – while putting the gloss on oil and gas exploration, extraction and financing – to ask, why then, has BP spent more on its green sunflower rebranding than on its annual renewable energy budget? Activists then gave their own presentation of BP’s activities around the world, why major oil companies are counter-productive to climate change solutions, and why any tempted graduates should reconsider their career options. A member of Colombia Solidarity Campaign gave a first hand account of BP’s complicity in environmental destruction, subverting peaceful social movements and funding death squads. A moment of stunned silence was followed by applause as the re-educated audience abandoned the shindig.

10)Art Not Oil visit the NT and hoax boss Hytner, 15.10.08
After a visit to the theatre (Darling!), arty climate activists cooked up a letter claiming to be from NT boss Nicholas Hytner questioning the use of oil sponsorship in the arts. The NT were none too pleased about this and the ensuing row reached the letters pages of luvvie-weekly “The Stage”(a first for the direct action movement?). Art not Oil ask: “We’re asking people if they’re up for making an artwork of some kind as a response This could be an image, song, film or poem to appear on our website, or to be printed on a postcard or something similar. We’re open to ideas. (Unfortunately, we aren’t able to pay for your work, but we have no wish to possess it!) If this is of interest, we’d love to see it as soon as possible, as ‘Oedipus’ runs until January 2009 only.”
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/10/411200.html and
http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/feature.php/22157/chit-chat-hytner-miss-or-maybe-an-attack-

11) Protesters disrupt European biofuels summit, 16.10.08
On World Food Day, 16th October, activists from Action Against Agrofuels disrupted the Biofuels Expo in Newark, one of the largest biofuel industry conferences in Europe. Four banners were dropped, as protesters climbed on the roof outside the main entrance and on a ledge inside the main exhibition hall, where they remained for over three hours. Rape alarms were set off across the exhibition centre. Banners read “Agrofuels for cars and power plants worsen climate change”, “Land-grabbing for agrofuels causes hunger”, “Agrofuels – a climate crime” and “Greenwashing hunger and deforestation”. Separately, Leeds University students held a banner and leafletting protest outside the conference.

12) Scottish climate activists target Scottish First Minister, 16.10.08
At 4am, residents from Clydebank, Paisley, Kirkliston and Cramond peacefully set up a stereo and blasted aeroplane noise through the entrance of the First Minister’s private residency in Edinburgh. The action stands as a protest ‘dawn chorus’ to highlight the experience of living life in the shadow of a growing airport. Ironically, the stereo caused 110 decibels of noise – the equivalent of a jumbo jet taking off. For half an hour about ten residents surrounded the building dressed in bright pajamas, night caps, clutching teddybears, with ear defenders to display the dangerous levels of noise pollution endured by their families and communities. Their placards stated “It’s time to wake up to the impacts of aviation” and “have a taste of your own medicine”. The residents took these steps to state loud and clear to the First Minister, who holds ultimate say over the fate of the expansion plans, that he cannot ignore any of the effects of airport expansion. These impacts include dangerous noise levels, rising air pollution, climate change and increasing economic uncertainty during the current credit crunch.

13) Greenwash Guerrillas EDF Action, 22.10.08
London Rising Tide’s Greenwash Guerillas Brigade, Detection Platoon #1, moved into action on Monday morning, 22 October, at 08:00 hours – targeting energy corporation Électricité de France (EDF) at the central London headquarters of their UK subsidiary EDF Energy. EDF has recently bought out British Energy and have announced that they plan to build 4 new nuclear power stations in the UK in the coming years. Inspired by our counterparts in France demonstrating against new nuclear power, we chose to target EDF’s attempts to muscle in their FALSE nuclear solution to the looming disaster of catastrophic climate chaos. Our action (consisting of 12 Greenwash Guerillas) highlighted the dangers of nuclear power to the biosphere, humanity, and REAL renewable energy solutions.

14) Manchester students flashmob RBS and E.On Recruitment Stalls, 23.10.08
A busy careers fair at Manchester’s GMex was interrupted yesterday by several long whistle blasts. 30 or so protestors suddenly revealed their yellow ‘Leave it in the Ground’ t-shirts and surrounded the Royal Bank of Scotland stall, holding banners and chanting ‘leave it in the ground!’. A protestor then read some extracts from the excellent report “Cashing in on Coal”, which shows that RBS is a climate criminal, pouring money into new fossil fuel extraction projects. The security guards eventually began dragging protestors out so they didn’t get a chance to visit the E.ON stall. However the protest continued outside where people handed out leaflets explaining how E.ON (with a fat loan from RBS) plans to build the first new coal power station in the UK in 30 years, while security guards repeatedly threatened to have them arrested for trespassing.

15) Barclays’ coal investments targeted in Leamington Spa, 25.10.08
Leamington Rising Tide took aim at a town centre Barclays on Saturday 25 October 2008 in protest at the bank’s heavy investment in dirty coal. Banners, leaflets and balloons let people know that ‘Barclays are fuelling global warming’. One of the banners used an image of scales to demolish the myth that Barclays cares about climate change: they invest a whopping 3,300 million invested in coal against 15 million in renewable tech on the other. Over the last two years, Barclays has been involved in 17 separate loans to the coal industry, and together with RBS and HSBC, has loaned $70 billion to E.ON alone.

16) Protestors stop work at Shipley open-cast; Shipley Bodge court case collapses, 27.10.08
Protestors from Earth First! stopped work at an open-cast coal site for over two hours – they ran onto the site and clambered on diggers & dumpers and held out banners stopping the work safely. Some of the digger drivers were very friendly and were glad to have a break as they work very long shifts, from 7am-6:30 with only lunch & half hour breaks at 10 & 3. Today work had not been able to start till 10 as nature was fighting its own corner, with rain drowning the site, and it was stopped again at 1 for 3 hours due to the protest.

Meanwhile, the first court case arising from the eviction of Bodge House, Shipley, where protesters occupied the site of the proposed open cast coal mine from June until August, collapsed today after the prosecution admitted that it didn’t have the evidence to support its case. The crown prosecutor asked for an adjournment, the defence objected, the district
judge agreed with the defence and dismissed the case. Let’s hope the others go the same way.

17) The Rainbow Warrior goes to Kingsnorth, 29.10.08
The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior led a peaceful armada of boats down the Medway to Kingsnorth, and thirty campaigners, each carrying flags from 30 nations, disembarked onto Kingsnorth’s jetty. E.on’s proposed new plant would emit as much carbon dioxide as the world’s 30 least polluting countries combined (hence the flags), dashing our chances of beating climate change and spelling disaster for millions of families around the world. Meanwhile, another group of volunteers – including two of the Kingsnorth Six (recently cleared of criminal damage to Kingsnorth’s smokestack using the defence of climate change) – occupied a small, concrete, E.ON-owned island just next to the jetty until they were forced to leave by a high court injunction.
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/vigil-ends-20081030

18) Bristohl Uni Death Fair, 29.10.08
This time it was the 4 horseman of the apocalypse (well, 2 of them) who highlighted the reality behind the shiny facades of companies like E.On and BAE Systems.
http://westsideclimateaction.wordpress.com

19) Conveyer belt lock-on stops Australian coal power station, 1.11.08
29 people from Rising Tide Australia have been arrested after a climate change protest at Bayswater power station today. Four people attached themselves to machinery, stopping the conveyor belts that carry coal to Bayswater’s furnaces for six hours while 25 others occupied the coal piles.
http://www.risingtide.org.au/node/802

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Compiled and sent out by Rising Tide UK.

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German anti-nuclear waste sabotage & actions this coming weekend

Anti-nuclear activists in Germany are gearing up for another transport of highly active nuclear waste to run through France and Germany from 7 to 9 November for dumping at the north German village of Gorleben. About 20,000 police will be deployed to guard the consignment against thousands of demonstrators.

CASTOR TRACK SABOTAGED: In the night from 30 to 31 October the CASTOR railway track between Karlsruhe and Mannheim was sabotaged near Stutensee. Rail traffic was brought to a standstill with a barricade. To stop any train running into it without braking, the first goods train using the track was stopped by an emergency signal before it got to the spot.

29 arrested after six hour Climate Protest at Australian power station

1st November 2008
29 people have been arrested after a climate change protest at Bayswater power station today. Four people attached themselves to machinery, stopping the conveyor belts that carry coal to Bayswater’s furnaces while about 25 others occupied the coal piles in protest against the Federal Government’s failure to stop Australia’s greenhouse pollution rising.

Spokesperson, Georgina Woods, said, “Australia’s greenhouse pollution is still increasing and our addiction to coal-fired power is the main cause. We are here because every day we hesitate, we are killing the Great Barrier Reef.”

In 2006/07, Bayswater Power Station created approximately 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution, making it equal greatest single source of greenhouse pollution in the country and among the top 100 polluting power stations in the world.

The Federal Government is expected to announce medium term greenhouse emission reduction targets at the end of the month, but protestors say that 2020 is too late, and want a commitment that 2010 will be Australia’s “peak emissions” year.

The Bayswater power station near Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter and the adjacent Liddell power station together supply around 40% of NSW’s electricity.

Details of People’s Blockade of the World’s Biggest Coal Port – 14 March 2009 Ma href=”http://www.risingtide.org.au/node/794″>here
The protestors say power stations like Bayswater will need to be shut down over the next few years: “Where is the plan to phase out facilities like these? Why are we twiddling our thumbs?”

“The nation and the world are watching and we will not get another chance. The people that are here today are parents and grandparents, professionals and tradespeople. We are demanding a commitment from the Government today: Australia’s greenhouse emissions must start dropping from 2010, we must do whatever it takes to save the Barrier Reef from wipe-out and the world from devastating runaway climate change.”

The fight for the climate is far from over; the need for people to protest our failure to reverse greenhouse pollution is greater than ever.

Local residents protest at Lodge Farm open cast site

At noon on Saturday 1st November, around 40 people braved rain and cold winds to protest outside the new open cast mining site at Lodge Farm, in Smalley Derbyshire.

At noon on Saturday 1st November, around 40 people braved rain and cold winds to protest outside the new open cast mining site at Lodge Farm, in Smalley Derbyshire.

UK Coal, which owns the site, plans to extract one million tonnes of coal from the 300 acre site over the next four years.

From the outset, UK Coal’s plans were opposed by local residents, several MPs and Amber Valley district council, and Derbyshire County Council refused planning permission for the open cast site. However UK Coal appealed the decision and following an appeal hearing, communities secretary Ruth Kelly overrode ordinary people’s concerns in favour of UK Coal’s interests and agreed that the scheme could go ahead.

Saturday’s protest was organised by Erewash and Amber Valley Environment Network, EAVON, and was just the latest in a long series of protests and direct actions by people concerned at the local and global effects of coal.

Speaking to the Ilkeston Advertiser, prior to the protest, Neil Padget, from The Smalley Action Group, said: “Opencast mining at Lodge House is bad enough, and the national precedent that has been set by the government, in allowing this, is appalling.

Many locals also fear, and with good reason, that UK Coal will be given permission to extend the site, and that mining in the local area may go on for decades.”

While there are justifiable fears for the impact on the local community, many of Saturday’s placards demonstrated that protesters were equally concerned with the wider effects on climate chaos of coal burning.

NPA rebels to continue anti-biofuels campaign

The communist New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros vowed Saturday to sustain its campaign against biofuels and to raid plantations dedicated to jathropa, a source of biofuel.

NPA Southeastern Negros spokesman Dom Pantaleon said the NPA will implement more “preventive measures” against private agri-business corporations for aggravating food supply problem by planting non-food crops.

The communist New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros vowed Saturday to sustain its campaign against biofuels and to raid plantations dedicated to jathropa, a source of biofuel.

In an article on the Communist Party of the Philippines website, he cited the Tamlang Valley Agricultural Development Corporation (TVADC) as causing worsening food supply problem and heightening military abuses in southeast Negros.

He said the NPA recently conducted another “punitive action” against the TVADC biofuels company mainly based in the village of Casalaan, Siaton, Oriental Negros.

Pantaleon said an NPA team last Oct. 3 was ordered to confiscate and burn two TVADC-owned tractors in Sitio Tamlang, Talalak village in Sta. Catalina town.

No one was harmed in the incident, he added.

“It was the second such operation in as many months by the Red army to protect upland peasants from the intrusive and harmful biofuels company co-owned by the family of ex-Congressman Herminio Teves and their Korean business partners. Last September 9, a separate NPA team seized and burned three tractors owned by the same company in sityo Cuadra, barangay Mantikil, in Sta. Catalina town,” the NPA said.

Pantaleon added the NPA will continue implementing similar orders for punitive actions to block the widespread growing of jathropa and cassava in and around the vast Sta. Catalina-Siaton-Valencia-Pamplona border villages of Oriental Negros.

He said the NPA will also impose armed punitive actions against the Army’s 302nd Brigade for “providing protection and even colluding with TVADC in forcing ordinary farmers to plant jatrhopa and cassava, instead of their traditional food crops like upland rice and corn.”

Pantaleon said the mercenary AFP has become the biofuels campaign’s most visible “errand boys” for the agri-business company and the Teves family in southeast Negros.

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For previous NPA protest against biofuels in the Philippines, see http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/21752

Fighting Climate Crime – Activists Lock Down Logging for Dairy Operation in New Zealand

29 October 2008
Early this morning Greenpeace activists took action to stop corporate dairy’s assault on New Zealand forests and the climate.

In the central North Island huge swathes of forest are being cleared to make way for industrial dairy mega farms.

29 October 2008
Early this morning Greenpeace activists took action to stop corporate dairy’s assault on New Zealand forests and the climate.

In the central North Island huge swathes of forest are being cleared to make way for industrial dairy mega farms.

Well before dawn this morning, in the forest near Tokoroa, several activists halted the sharp end of the logging operation by locking themselves to heavy equipment.

Meanwhile, on nearby land recently converted from forest to dairy pasture, another team have used rotary hoes to write CLIMATE CRIME in 5m-high letters into the fresh pasture.

We are calling for the main political parties to commit to an immediate halt to forest conversion for intensive dairy in the face of the worsening global climate crisis.

New Zealand’s agriculture sector already emits 50 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions – more than double the emissions of all transport combined. Deforestation releases huge amounts of greenhouse gas. We estimate that annual emissions from the two largest corporate conversion projects in the Central North Island alone equate to the annual emissions from the Huntly coal fired power station.

Forests trap carbon beneath the soil and in trees. Like a sponge, they soak up carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere – the main greenhouse gas contributing to climate change.

Dairy conversion of forestry land functions as a ‘double whammy’ on the climate destroying forests and replacing them with one of the most greenhouse gas intensive forms of land use.

This chainsaw massacre and the ongoing expansion of corporate, intensive dairy farming in New Zealand has got to stop.

The press release and related documents are here

UPDATE: The, the following day as the sun rose over sleepy Helensville, we unfurled a truckload of Ready-Lawn around the outside of National Party leader John Key’s electorate office. Then came some pine trees, some two-dimensional cows and a smattering of stumps. Finally a billboard went up saying: “Would John solve this climate crime?” See the video and blog.