Action Reports – Page 225

Support Sarah Whitehead

Sarah Whitehead is a committed vegan activist who has dedicated her life to saving animals and helping people. She worked tirelessly as a nurse whilst rescuing and rehoming abused and neglected animals, as well as campaigning against the notorious Huntingdon Life Sciences. She is not someone to sit back and let animals be tortured and abused, she stands up and fights wherever she sees injustice and never puts herself first.

Sarah had been informed about an abused beagle. It was living outside in a wooden cage, and was muzzled at all times except for when it got to eat. The dog was made to wear an electric shock collar and the neighbours informed Sarah that they had witnessed beatings from its owners. The neighbours had also heard the dog screaming on many occasions.

The RSPCA had been called numerous times, but they failed to help this dog and left it with owners who had on occasions tied it to a radiator.

All avenues had been explored in trying to lift this animal from hell. The RSPCA, despite numerous complaints and visits to the owners, did nothing; even the police had been called by neighbours, but they just told them to call the RSPCA.

What else was Sarah to do, but rescue the beagle herself? How else could this beagle be saved? Knowing how much it was suffering, could anyone just leave this beagle to live in pain?

Sarah was already on a suspended sentence for rescuing animals from a notorious puppy farmer in West Sussex, which meant that if she re-offended within two years she would be sent to prison for that “crime”. Even knowing this risk to her freedom, Sarah put the dog’s life and well-being first and lifted him to freedom.

Unknown to Sarah she was under police surveillance during the rescue as part of Operation Achilles and the campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences. Police followed her and watched her rescue the beagle, and then watched her take the dog to its second stage of its journey to it’s new home.

However, once the beagle was handed over, instead of following the beagle in order to return it to its owner, they carried on following Sarah. Luckily this means that the beagle is still safe and living in a loving home.

Some time later once the police had finished following Sarah around she was arrested, the police weirdly tried to accuse her of stealing the dog so that she could sell it for £500 to raise money for SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) Where this sum of £500 came from is anyone’s guess and it shows how little the police understand the concept of animal rights!

Sarah went on trial for burglary in June 2008. She pleaded not guilty to the offence as she believed she had not committed a crime in rescuing this beagle. She told the court she believed she had acted reasonably and honest and that it was the right thing to do because the police and RSPCA had failed to save this dog. Statements from the neighbours were read in court which described the cruelty to the dog, the beatings, and the screams but bizarrely the jury took the view that Sarah should have left the dog where it was and she was found guilty.

The judge sentenced Sarah to two years in prison, nine months of this is from the suspended sentence she was on, and the extra 1 1/3 years is for rescuing the beagle.

You can write to Sarah at:

Sarah Whitehead VM7684
HMP Bronzefield,
Woodthorpe Road,
Ashford,
Middx
TW15 3JZ.
United Kingdom

Click here for Sarah’s support page

Before going to prison, Sarah campaigned for the following groups, so please check out their websites:

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty
Southern Animal Rights Coalition
Greyhound Action
Uncaged
BUAV
Vegan Prisoners Support Group
Dr Hadwen Trust

ELF target Coca-Cola twice and wild boar freed

In solidarity with the Austrian activists, imprisoned illegally by the state, the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) twice this month targeted Coca-Cola in Mexico for their crimes against the earth and its inhabitants, whilst in Spain, ELF and Animal Liberation Front activists reported that they freed a boar that was awaiting death.

Reported: 28th June

received anonymously:

“On June 1 the bottler and distributor of the multinational coca cola was attacked in Mexico state; its walls were covered in paint and a large painting at the entrance read, ‘Multinational murderers;’ the attacks do not stop and will go on increasing.

Solidarity with prisoners of Austria!
For animal liberation!
For the liberation of the land!
For human liberation!
Sabotage and direct action!

FLT/ELF”

Reported: 24th June

translation from www.accionvegana.org:

“On thursday 12 of june we freed a wild boar in Caceres. We opened the fence that kept him encaged. This easy action has given back freedom to an animal that was waiting to be murdered by hunters.

We want to show our solidarity with our Austrian comrades repressed and to every animal liberation activist in jail.

ALF/ELF”

Reported: 7th June

anonymous communique (translation):

“Coca-Cola, one of the American multinationals responsible for the destruction of our planet, complicit in the exploitation and theft of water from indigenous communities (Chiapas), generating human exploitation by forcing children to work more than 10 hours a day in their sugarcane crops (El Salvador), massive pollution of rivers with toxic products (India), contractor of paramilitary groups that killed union workers (Colombia), financer of death by voluntarily giving a portion of their profits to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, racist since the days of Nazi Germany, partnering with large magnates and multinationals such as Nestle, McDonalds, Chrysler, Texaco, (likewise) responsible for global warming, the brutal exploitation of the land and the food crisis afflicting the world today, should be a primary objective for all those combatants who are fighting against the many aberrations and for the liberation of the land, animals and humans, because this global company alone is an example of the influence of the capitalist system on its owners, the extreme abuse of power and the advancing of its global control over many innocents.
Hence the Frente de Liberación de la Tierra has taken firm action against this scourge; in the evening of June 5 the walls of the company were splashed with paint with a special stench, the vehicles of the administrators were likewise victims of our first but not last attack.
We will return but with even more force.

Dedicated to the fighters of Austria = recently imprisoned by the fascist state of that country.
Forward!

..:FLT:.. – Estado de México”

See also the previous Mexican ALF/ELF action, click here

coal power station actions in Australia

Yesterday (Friday June 27) CIA (Concerned, Independent Activists) locked on to and shut down a conveyor transporting coal into Muja power station in Collie. Two activists were arrested.

In the early hours of this morning a group of climate campaigners entered the perimeter of the Muja coal-fired power station near Collie. Western Australia and shut down the conveyor belt supplying coal into the station. This is a peaceful protest against the continued use and expansion of polluting and unsustainable power generation in Western Australia. One person has locked onto the conveyor belt used to transport coal into the power station, preventing its operation and stopping the conveyor belt supply of coal into the plant. Benjamin Cody, a thirty year old father of four from Bunbury said that he was shutting down the plant to highlight and protest against government approval of two new coal-fired power stations and plans for the construction of two more. “Each of these will have a lifetime of at least thirty years, committing ourselves and future generations of West Australians to dirty, polluting and unreliable energy until around 2040. The Carpenter and Rudd Governments need to be held accountable, and the transition to WA’s dean energy future has to start now,” Mr Cody said. “Generating electricity from coal-fired power stations is the dirtiest way to produce power on the planet Collie could be the ‘Silicon Valley’ of renewable energies if the government were to direct investment into renewable technology. Instead this money is all being directed towards the coal industry”.

Concerned Independent Activists (CIA) spokesperson, Nicholas Morgan said, “It is disappointing and frustrating that short sighted politicians and vested interests are preventing WA from moving forward into the renewable energy industry. This is not about taking away jobs, it’s about creating more jobs in energy industries that are sustainable and reliable, such as wind, solar, wave, and geothermal. Currently in Germany, there are roughly 250,000 jobs in the renewable energy industry which is growing every year,” Mr Morgan said,”The worldwide renewable industry is worth over $100 billion and is doubling in size every 20 months. Australia has real innovative strength and could play a big part, with environmental, employment and other economic benefits to follow. Australia risks being left behind in the dark ages”.

The action is also taking place in the shadow of WA’s gas and energy crisis. “It is absolutely unacceptable that in this day and age the West Australian government is still relying on fossil fuels for the state’s energy needs” said Mr Morgan. “Western Australia’s energy emergency highlights the need to invest in a range of clean and reliable resources such as solar and wind. It is a sad joke that the government is responding to the lack of gas by reopening the states dirtiest power station which was decommissioned because it used old, polluting technology”.

This action is part of a growing trend around Australia of communities who are frustrated with the lack of action being taken by governments on climate change. “All over the world people are reclaiming their power and asserted their right to live in a world free from dangerous climate change”.

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3rd July 2008 – Climate Camp hails Greenpeace action: promises more to come…

Organisers of the Camp for Climate Action have applauded Greenpeace for this morning shutting down the country’s biggest single source of carbon dioxide, Eraring Power Station, south of Newcastle…

Eraring power station is equal first in the dubious honour of biggest CO2 emitter in Australia with another Hunter power station, Bayswater in Muswellbrook.

Camp spokesperson, Holly Creenaune, said that direct action against the causes of climate change was a reasonable response to the inaction of Government on reducing coal dependence.

“The longer the Government prevaricates on this issue, the more people will take action themselves against coal power and exports.”

“Greenpeace have taken action that any reasonable person would take in the face of the urgent need to stop emitting greenhouse gases and the hesitancy of Government to take leadership.

“Next week hundreds of people will follow their bold lead and take part in the largest single direct action against the causes of climate change that Australia has ever seen.”

The Camp for Climate Action will culminate in a peaceful direct action on 13th July at the Carrington coal terminal, where hundreds of people will walk onto the coal rail line and stop coal exports in their tracks.

“This is the reality of the situation: having wasted the last decade doing nothing about climate change but carrying on increasing our greenhouse pollution, we are now faced with the need to begin decommissioning power stations and winding back coal exports.”

For further information

Holly Creenaune 0417 682 541
Georgina Woods 0438 223 771

Issue Two of the ‘Roadblock Report’ Now Out!

3/7/2008
Issue two of the independent newsletter of the I-69 campaign is now out for your downloading, printing and distributing pleasure.
You can find both the first and the second issue on the website of Roadblock Earth First! http://stopi69.wordpress.com/resources or on the media archive section of the I-69 Media Office’s website http://i69mediaoffice.wordpress.com/media-archive

– letter from the editors about media/independent media
-breaking news stories about
• the tree sit eviction,
• Bloomington torch march,
• retaliatory actions across Indiana,
-action reports on:
• home demos,
• solidarity demos,
-updates on
• the nature walks on the route,
• the community barbq,
-opinion pieces about
• the flooding in Indiana,
• a response to allegations of violence in office demos.
-I-69 Listening project interview
-Critical thought piece on the future of the ‘anti-globalization movement.

The second issue is formatted in 8.5”X11”, to be double sided. Email roadblockreport (at) yahoo.com if you would like a different format.

As well, the I-69 Media Office is announcing the launch of its new website, i69mediaoffice.wordpress.com . The I-69 Media Office is an independent clearinghouse for anti-I-69 information and action reporting. Please explore our ‘under construction’ website for more information on what we do.

Brighton squatted social centre eviction

88 LONDON ROAD SOCIAL CENTRE EVICTION

At 7am this morning the anarchist social centre at 88 London Road, Brighton was forcibly evicted, despite resistance. The Victorian church had been occupied since the Squatting Days of Action on the 4th and 5th of April. The space was intialy opened as part of a two day international event, committed to creating autonomous spaces and highlighting the importance of squatting and global networking.

Since then, the community at 88 London Road had successively resisted one prior eviction attempt from police. The space was being used as a social centre for grassroots movements, free cafes, workshops and a lot of other possible projects for the benefit of the local community.

Two of the occuping members of 88 were arrested when they prolonged the eviction by climbing to the rafters, clambering into a cargo net and hanging high above the injustice below. The whole eviction was over by midday and the council spent the rest of the afternoon boarding up an amazing space that held so much potential.

we will be back……..

http://www.myspace.com/88londonroadsquat

Wembley Summer Camp Open: Squat The Land, Smash School Privatisation

Teachers, residents and campaigners in Wembley, Brent, North West London, have re-squatted the Wembley Sports Ground and are calling out for people to join them, squat the land and join the largest protest against

Brent local teachers, residents and campaigners have made a call out for people to help squat the land at Wembley Park Sports Ground on Bridge Road, next to Wembley Park underground station, and join the largest and most prominent campaign against the accelerating privatisation of the UK education system, the brain child of ex-prime minister Tony Blair.

People are asked to join the Tent City Occupation or just visit, help build networks, share information and knowledge on non-violent-direct-action, and when the construction workers arrive, which could be as early as this week, help in and execute non-violent-direct-action to halt the project.

On 03 June 2008 Brent Town Council approved the child charity Ark proposal to begin the construction of the privatised Wembley Academy School.

The meeting held by council heads at Brent Town Hall, descended into farce, as the local community, angry that they were ignored during all public consultations with the council and Ark, were threatened with removal from the planning meeting and the Academy planning application decision to be made in secret, which would have been an illegal move on the part of the council.

That planning meeting approved the temporary housing of 200 school pupils in huts while the Ark Academy is built around them over the next two years, putting children in danger on a construction site, cranes overhanging the portacabins and temporary accommodation, just so the money flow from UK taxpayer to the privatised school investor, and the profit, can start by September 2008.

One reason the Wembley Academy opening date was moved forward from September 2009 to 2008 was because local opposition against the Academy and the privatisation of UK education has been so massive in Brent, Ark thought that advancing the school start date would crush the resistance.

Connections are being made with the Battersea Crane Disaster Group, the Construction Safety Campaign and the Pimlico school teachers who are also fighting the privatisation of their school by venture capitalist, and Tory party funder, John Nash and his company Sovereign Capital.

Pimlico school pupils are already being put at risk, as 1050 children are being educated while the school is demolished around them. Cranes are already overhanging their class rooms and construction debris and dust believed to contain asbestos is sweeping across the playground into classrooms.

But this situation, authorised by local and national government, will see 200 children being educated in the middle of a construction site. With the current safety record of UK construction sites, it draws serious concern for the wellbeing of the students.

But another concern is private investment taking over the UK education system, instilling their private, corporate, and religious individual beliefs in the education system.

The Vardy Foundation, set up by Christian fundamentalist Reg Vardy, already has its hands on several UK Academies and has since eradicated evolution from the schools, teaching only creationism.

The Wembley Ark Academy will be run by french/swiss and multimillionaire Arki Busson – long-term friend of Tony Blair – who is known to hold what can only be described as strict Catholic beliefs.

Ark is set to run 12 UK Academy schools, six of which will be opened by September 2008.

As construction work begins and the resistance turns to non-violent-direct-action to halt the project, construction could begin as early as this work, private security and police are expected to be employed to force eviction on the protestors.

The teachers, residents and campaigners of Brent have asked for all to come, squat the land, save the Wembley Sports Ground and surrounding green space for the local community and wildlife, and halt the further gentrification of Wembley.

Bring your mum, your brother, your dog – squat this land, join the protest, make a stand and to say no to the privatisation of UK education. Say no to education for profit. Join the Wembley Park Tent City Occupation.

Make a stand. Say no to privatised education. Get on the Metropolitan Underground line to Wembley Park, bring a tent, bring a friend, and make a stand.

Tent City Occupation (see here for contact details)

http://www.tentcityoccupation.co.uk/

—-

Previous coverage

Anti-Academy Teachers Take To The Trees

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/09/380945.html

Wembley Teachers Say No To Privatised Schooling

http://jasonnparkinson.blogspot.com/2008/06/wembley-teachers-say-no-to-privatised.html

200 School Pupils In Huts On A Construction Site

http://jasonnparkinson.blogspot.com/2008/06/200-school-pupils-in-huts-on.html

Save Our Schools 22-minute film available on Reel News issue 13

http://www.reelnews.co.uk/

Climate Camp Bike Ride

People will be riding to the climate camp, starting from Glasgow, descending southerly picking up thousands en route.

The final leg, London to Kingsnorth is on sunday 3 August meeting under Waterloo bridge (southside) at 9am
For more info on the route and how to get involved e-mail climatecampbikeride@lists.riseup.net
Up the the velorution.

People will be riding to the climate camp, starting from Glasgow, descending southerly picking up thousands en route.

Coal Gets Left In The Ground A Bit Longer

Activists occupying Bodge House / Lodge House / Prospect Farm (all the same place) to obstruct its destruction for opencast coal extraction had a court victory on Monday.

Harworth Estates (Agricultural Land) Limited, the new greenwash name for the outfit formerly known as Harworth Mining International Limited were sent packing by the judge with a flea in their ear. They couldn’t prove they actually owned the place or had properly ended the farmer’s tenancy. If they do the all homework set by the judge properly, they’ll be allowed to try again on 18th July.

Meantime, the occupation goes on.

pre-Climate Camp street medic training – Leeds- 18-20th July 2008

The UK Action Medics are running a 2 1/2 day street medic training in Leeds during the run-up to Climate Camp. It will be a 20 hour course that will teach you the basics of general First Aid, as well as skills to deal with medical situations specific to direct action, such as dealing with chemical weapons and the police. We will also be offering sections specifically tailored to situations likely to arise at this year’s Climate Camp, such as water safety and public health. The course will involve scenarios and hands-on practice and, although we cannot offer you any official accreditation, the 2 1/2 day training is the minimum standard for membership of the Action Medics, and will equip you for a wide range of situations, from hypothermia to baton wounds.

The training will be on the 18th-20th of July, which is Friday to Saturday. There will be 3 or 4 hours on Friday evening and two full days on Saturday and Sunday. Vegan food will be provided, as well as accommodation if needed – we ask for a donation of £30 to cover costs, although this will be less if we can find a venue for free.

The venue is as yet unconfirmed, but the training will take place in central Leeds, and we can give you directions from the train/bus station. It is essential to book a place so we know how many people are coming – please email medics@climatecamp.org.uk to do this, or with any questions.

The Action Medics will be running a medic space at this year’s Climate Camp. Your help would be welcome – we require that volunteers have either taken:

a) our weekend Action Medics training & CPR training
OR
b) First Aid At Work, with experience of scenarios and CPR training

If you’d like to be involved, please email us at medics@climatecamp.org.uk

www.actionmedics.org.uk

Products expropriation from supermarket (Athens, 1/7/2008)

“Another novel robbery of foods was realised at Marinopoulos supermarket on Evdoksos street, Neos Kosmos. Unknown persons entered the super market as mere customers, filled their trolleys with foods and left the store without paying. Continuously, they distributed the foods at the people shooping in a nearby open market, throwing leaflets with slogans against costliness…”

Translation from: http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=887219

Today around 12:30 an intervention was realised at Marinopoulos supermarked on Evdoksos street, at Neos Kosmos. The people’s behaviour was encouraging and supportive. A typical example of that is that during the expropriation, outside the store people gathered with their wheel-carts waiting for the products distribution.

Following is the text distributed at the open market.

Every day that passes we experience intensely the consequences of the increasing raise of prices the capital is enforcing on society, the same time that wages and pensions remain at the same poor level, leading us below survival limits. Simultaneously, every kind of experts and responsibles, cry out for the continuous raise of prices suggesting “boycottage” styled solutions that lead to the illusion of a stronge reaction to the problem.
We select to react taking products of basic needs from shelves of large supermarket chain stores and distributing them freely to those that they belong to.
We do not regard our action as robbery, because these products are the fruits of our own exploited work and belong to all of us.
This action isn’t altruistic, but a symbolism with the aim to encourage the social ensemble to an unconstrained, free circulation of goods and the conscious erasing of the cash desks, overcoming the legal limitations. For the generalisation of the challenging of state and capital.
Our choice to act with our faces covered doesn’t mean in any case to frighten the people, but to our personal security against those that think our action is illegitimate.

Initiative of anarchists for the free circulation of goods

Note: It is the fourth of this kind of expropriations. Previously, there were Sklavenitis on 31/5 and Veropoulos and DIA on 13/6