4 Jan 2008
The January ride saw the first time in fourteen months that’s it’s been raining too heavily to get a CM off the ground!
Those of us that braved the storms saw the sense of retiring to a pub for a warming pint.
4 Jan 2008
The January ride saw the first time in fourteen months that’s it’s been raining too heavily to get a CM off the ground!
Those of us that braved the storms saw the sense of retiring to a pub for a warming pint.
The moral: there’s always a reason to turn up, first Friday of the month by the Minster, 5:30 for 6.
11.01.2008
Protest at midday tomorrow (Saturday) in Bonn Square. The proposed expansion of Oxford’s Westgate Centre doesn’t just threaten a group of beautiful trees, it also threatens to turn yet more of our city centre into a nightmarish consumer wasteland. Thanks to the people who’ve been up the trees, the Council are now on the back foot and there’s a chance we could force them to scrap the whole stupid scheme – but we need people there!
11.01.2008
Protest at midday tomorrow (Saturday) in Bonn Square. The proposed expansion of Oxford’s Westgate Centre doesn’t just threaten a group of beautiful trees, it also threatens to turn yet more of our city centre into a nightmarish consumer wasteland. Thanks to the people who’ve been up the trees, the Council are now on the back foot and there’s a chance we could force them to scrap the whole stupid scheme – but we need people there!
There’s currently a battle going on in town between some peaceful but determined tree-defenders, the Council, the Westgate Centre and the police (see http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/389089.html). Essentially, the Council decided to clear away some trees in preparation for the proposed Westgate expansion without telling anyone, but a group of locals found out and rushed to the trees’ defence.
Obviously, just losing the trees would be bad in itself, but this is also the tip of a much bigger iceberg. The proposed Westgate expansion has been criticised and challenged all the way through the planning process (it would require the demolition of a whole street of sheltered housing and fails to meet the Council’s own climate change building standards, quite apart from being a horrible and unnecessary extension to what is already an ugly temple to rampant consumerism sucking the lifeblood from independent shops and the character out of Oxford city centre). The Council has seemed determined to push it through at any cost, despite all the protests and complaint.
However, one of the major retailers with a place booked in the proposed extension – John Lewis – have reportedly started to get nervous about being associated with such a controversial development. Enough bad publicity from the battle over the trees might just be the last straw that could convince them to pull out – and without John Lewis, the whole execrable expansion plan could collapse!
This is where your help could make a real difference. Tomorrow is the anti-SOCPA protest in London, and people are feeling we should have our own demo (about freedom to protest as well as stopping the Westgate development) in Oxford rather than all our activists going off to London at what could well be the crucial moment. So if you’re up for it please come to Bonn Square at 12 midday tomorrow. Bring banners, noise and everyone you know.
In the meantime, please do go down to show your support (there weren’t many people around this afternoon) and see what needs doing.
Hope to see you tomorrow!
oarc@riseup.net
—————–
I spent 2 days up a tree outside the Westgate Centre in Oxford. This is a short an account of the how and why
Out of My Tree
I thought it might be interesting to any readers who have been following the Oxford Bonn Square and Westgate Centre tree saga last week to put down what happened from my point of view, seeing as it was me that spent 24 hours up the tree outside the Westgate and even good journalists, let alone readers, are bound to draw conclusions that are wide of the true mark
On Wednesday 9th Jan, I received invitations down to see what was happening around the Westgate Centre, where I was told that a number of trees were about to be chopped down. I was a bit dubious about going, as I was about to head off job hunting, my last job having finished just before Christmas but I went down intending to give my support for a short while. All seemed pretty peaceful down at the Westgate and I felt that there wasn’t much I could do as work appeared to have been stopped on the tree-chopping front. I was about to leave when there was a flurry of activity round the corner from where we were, between the Westgate Centre and the multi-storey car park. They had fenced off the area.
Workmen had begun chopping off the branches of one of the magnificent Plane trees next to the car park. Deborah Glass Woodin was visibly upset by this and was trying to prevent the workmen going any further. As a County Councillor she felt that she had been insufficiently informed that this was to happen. It was heart-wrenching to see a concerned five-foot female councillor being dragged off in tears by two carthorse policemen who seemed totally unconcerned that she was doing her duty. This was probably due to ‘Operation Rumble’ whereby the police are instructed to automatically arrest anybody interfering with council workers going about their job. However, as a councillor, Mrs Glass Woodin was going about her job by questioning the work that was going on as she had not been properly informed about it. Despite this she was dragged, tearful and wretched into a police car and prevented from doing the job she was democratically elected to do while the police shoved the rest of us trying to help her out of the way.
Once this bit of excitement was over, a friend and I watched sadly as the first of three trees designated for the chop was sawn up noisily with chainsaws and then fed into a pulping machine. I looked at the next tree in the line. It is a magnificent London Plane, probably around a hundred years old. Its branches soar up over the top of the four storey car park and brush against the top of the Westgate centre. Each branch forks repeatedly into lesser branches and at their very ends are twin seeds that dangle down like spiky chestnut baubles. There are thousands of them decorating the extremities and the tree’s elegant, stretching branches clawing up into the sky are more natural and beautiful than any spire and a welcome relief to the grey surroundings of the concrete blocks it separates. A number of people who live and work in the area have told me that they find them very comforting and I can fully appreciate why now that I have spent a couple of days in one. For anyone content with replacing them with saplings, I would say that they are decades out of date.
The first tree was removed in under half an hour and it was awful to think that this hundred-year-old example was about to follow it efficiently into the pulping machine. There were policeman patrolling around the eight-foot fence in front of it and we watched as a ladder was rested up next to the tree, ready for the workmen to begin the job of sawing off the limbs. A little sunshine lit up the soft khaki colours of the patchwork bark in fawns, greens and browns. The policemen in front of the fence moved away and with the flash of a grin telling us we were doing the right thing, my friend and I sprinted spontaneously at the fence. Suddenly I was over it and running for the ladder before anyone could stop me. Next thing I was scrambling onto the lowest branch looking down at the workmen who frustratedly removed the ladder. I looked back in vain at my friend, who had sadly been pulled back by policemen. Unfortunately for me, he still had the backpack with a thermos of hot coffee in it on his back. Nothing, however, could deflate the triumphant sense of satisfaction I felt that for a while at least this exemplary Plane tree was free from the violent severing that had just been visited on its neighbour.
Why have these trees been designated for hacking? The powers that be at Oxford City Council have seen fit to bless us with a brand new shopping centre to massively extend the one we already. The land itself is owned by the Council and is on a 150 year lease to Coal Pension Properties Ltd that started on March 3rd 1986. The original lease says that there should be “no more parking spaces” on the land than at present and somehow the planning department have interpreted this as to say that “it is incumbent upon the city council to provide at least the same number of parking spaces” there. Given that it is a residential area considered an ‘Air Quality Management Action’ (AQMA) zone due to the illegally high level of pollutants in the air, then surely less parking should be provided there and perhaps more stories added to the Park and Ride car parks that are so often full on the outskirts of the city. This solution would endanger the local residents’ health a lot less and benefit us all by letting fresher air sweep throughout the city.
There is some doubt as to whether the development will happen at all. Capital Shopping have said that if they are to go ahead than they also require the land at Abbey Place across the road from the car park, which at present is home to 18 vulnerable people in 14 houses. This more drastic part of the plan is still under review and could scupper the whole project if it is deemed a bad idea. So why are these amazing Plane trees, whose variegated bark actually absorbs air pollutants, being chopped down before it is sure that the development will go ahead? According to shopkeepers in the Westgate, some of whom have contracts for their businesses on the site until July 2010, Capital Shopping have given the Council half a million pounds to get on with the job and clear the way for the development. Could they have done this so that if the development comes up against any objections, then the developers will be able to say “..well the trees have all gone now so we have to get on with it anyway”? The very rushing of the job makes one suspicious.
Living in a tree is not a way of life I would recommend. Wedging oneself between two trunks so that one doesn’t fall out at night is an exceedingly uncomfortable way of trying to sleep, particularly in winter. Our system of democracy is not perfect in that we only get to vote once every four years and are then obliged to hand over the decision making to a handful of people whose decisions we may often disagree with. What is known as ‘protesting’ is simply exercising our endangered right to disagree with these decisions and ask if there may not be a better answer to the question in hand. England has a proud history of protest that has brought about a number of great benefits to our society, including the emancipation of women.
The amount of support I received while up the tree from both friends and passers-by has been absolutely extraordinary. I have had more thumbs-up than Jenson Button in a race and it is heart-warming and magical to tap into the invisible solidarity of the usually silent public in this way. The most extraordinary event was on Wednesday evening when a group of 9 fairies skipped past in pink dresses and fairy wings. They looked no more than ten years old. They shouted up asking what I was doing and I answered simply that some people wanted to chop the tree down and I didn’t want them to. They waved their magic wands and skipped away chanting “Save the Tree! Save the Tree!” It was the sweetest moment. I only hope their magic holds and our wish is granted.
If the development is planned on ‘council land’ means that this is Oxford City land. That means that this is our land as residents and taxpayers and so decisions on cutting down trees should be decided by all of us. There are a number of aspects about the future Westgate development that have been unsatisfactorily concluded. To begin with, it does not meet a number of reasonable environmental standards…
Personally I don’t think we need any more shops in Oxford. This is a small city with only 140,000 inhabitants. With all the wonderful architecture we have here it seems foolish to try and turn it into a shopping centre when that would risk spoiling the beauty of the city we already have. If we detract from the city’s attractive aesthetic then less people will want to visit here and less money will be spent on local businesses. It seems detrimental, in more ways than one to spend so much money replacing one shopping centre with another one so that we can have more shops that will drain money out of the local economy. Surely we have enough shops already and do we really want to cut down 42 decorative trees in order to make way for more? My foolhardy gesture of spending 24 hours in a tree was a personal challenge made in order to ask a question that on further investigation appears to have an answer in the negative: Is it absolutely necessary to chop these 42 magnificent Plane trees down? Well is it?
While I am in awe of Gabs Chamberlain who has spent over a week defending the beautiful Plane tree in Bonn square by living up it, I don’t intend to follow suit. I feel that I have made my statement and asked my question and if anyone would like to take over the defence of the Westgate Planes then I would enthusiastically encourage them to do so. While I have great affection for them, they are not mine to defend, they are everybody’s. I hope somebody else will. Meanwhile I will take the advice so kindly offered to me by one unsympathetic passer-by and go and get a job. After all, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be able to afford any of the doubtless fabulous products that the Westgate II will have to offer off the stumps of our beloved London Planes.
It has been reported that on the 6th January 2008, 129 rabbits were liberated from a lab breeder in Lincolnshire. This breeder supply HLS, as well as several UK universities. The photo’s show the cramped, unclean conditions of this hell hole – would we expect anything else?
It has been reported that on the 6th January 2008, 129 rabbits were liberated from a lab breeder in Lincolnshire. This breeder supply HLS, as well as several UK universities. The photo’s show the cramped, unclean conditions of this hell hole – would we expect anything else?
Click here to watch the video (.wmv format):
http://www.shac.net/images/generic/2008_images/january/rabbitlib/rabbits.wmv
Click here to download hi-res images of the rescue:
http://www.shac.net/images/generic/2008_images/january/rabbitlib/rabbitlib.zip
SMASH HLS
PARIS (AP) – Militant French farmer Jose Bove and about 15 supporters called off their hunger strike in its eighth day after the government ordered the suspension of the use of genetically modified corn Friday.
PARIS (AP) – Militant French farmer Jose Bove and about 15 supporters called off their hunger strike in its eighth day after the government ordered the suspension of the use of genetically modified corn Friday.
France will suspend cultivation of MON810, the seed for the only type of genetically modified corn now allowed in the country, until a European Union review is conducted, Prime Minister Francois Fillon’s office said.
The move was based on a recommendation this week by a government-appointed panel calling for ‘the need for additional analyses on the health and environmental effects of the genetically modified product MON810 in the long term,’ Fillon’s office said in a statement.
Bove and his supporters began the hunger strike Jan. 3, saying they hoped to pressure the government to make good on a promise in November to suspend cultivation of MON810. He said they only drank water or unsweetened tea during the protest.
The seed, which resists some types of insects, was authorized before a government-ordered moratorium on genetically modified products took effect in 1999. Last year, it was planted in about 54,000 acres in France – mainly in southern farmland.
Bove rose to fame in August 1999 when he and supporters used farm equipment to dismantle a McDonald’s branch under construction in Millau, in the foothills of France’s Massif Central mountains.
He has faced repeated trials and served jail time for destroying genetically modified crops.
The Associated Press, 11 January 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hq-PHd96BpmEGZYsFUZ4_KEto5zAD8U3VO802
During the Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow last year, large numbers of police invaded the site, only to be peacefully resisted by the Campers, and ejected from the site with impressive restraint. The pretext for this attack by the police was so that the Forward Intelligence Team could “do a headcount” (in spite of the face that local police officers were already patrolling the site, and were presumably perfectly capable of fulfilling this task). It is far more likely that the real reason behind the police action was their desire to provoke a riot, and thus have an excuse to destroy the camp and bang heads. After the incursion the Territorial Support Group (riot police) were ordered to kit themselves out in full gear, to prepare for a second assault on the camp.
During the Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow last year, large numbers of police invaded the site, only to be peacefully resisted by the Campers, and ejected from the site with impressive restraint. The pretext for this attack by the police was so that the Forward Intelligence Team could “do a headcount” (in spite of the face that local police officers were already patrolling the site, and were presumably perfectly capable of fulfilling this task). It is far more likely that the real reason behind the police action was their desire to provoke a riot, and thus have an excuse to destroy the camp and bang heads. After the incursion the Territorial Support Group (riot police) were ordered to kit themselves out in full gear, to prepare for a second assault on the camp.
This would have come to pass if it had not been for the swift response of an activist who superglued her hands to the gates in order to deny them access.
As a result of this action Penny Eastwood was charged with obstructing the police in the course of their duty, and she entered a plea of innocent on the grounds that the police were not acting in accordance with their duty.
After months of delay, the trial took place at Uxbridge on 8th and 9th January, at which the prosecution case collapsed. The district judge presiding rightly spotted that the police’s case was a load of rubbish, because they produced no evidence that they were prevented from carrying out a lawful duty.
This case proves (if any proof were needed), that the police are ever happy to employ violence in pursuit of their political aims. It also shows that the Met are spectacularly stupid. I suppose we should take some comfort that there are still judges in Britain who think that the provoking of riots is outside a police officer’s normal course of duty.
Penny said “I was trying to de-escalate the situation after aggressively over the top policing had created tension. There were riot police crouching behind the hedgerow. It was very scary, particularly as there were children on site”.
“I am a climate activist because I am a mother and I want to ensure that my children have a half-way decent future – that’s why I see it as my duty to oppose acts of environmental lunacy, like airport expansion. I thought that the riot police were trying to shut down the climate camp, and I didn’t think that that was right or fair. The trial has been hanging over me for several months, and it is a huge relief that my action has been vindicated by the judge.”
CONTENTS:
———————————————-
UPCOMING ACTIONS AND EVENTS:
———————————————-
1) FOSSIL FOOLS DAY – NATIONAL, 1.4.08
2) LONDON RISING TIDE BENEFIT – LONDON, 11.1.08
CONTENTS:
———————————————-
UPCOMING ACTIONS AND EVENTS:
———————————————-
1) FOSSIL FOOLS DAY – NATIONAL, 1.4.08
2) LONDON RISING TIDE BENEFIT – LONDON, 11.1.08
3) NEWQUAY AIRPORT EXPANSION, PUBLIC DEBATE – CORNWALL, 12.1.08
4) RADICAL ACTION VS. CLIMATE CHAOS, NATIONAL MEET – NOTTINGHAM, 12.1.08
5) CLIMATE CAMP NATIONAL GATHERING – LEEDS, 26-27.1.08
6) BIOFUELWATCH WEEK OF ACTION – NATIONAL, 26.1.08 – 1.2.08
7) MANCHESTER CLIMATE FORUM – 1.3.08
8) DAY OF ACTION VS. GLOBAL AGRIBUSINESS – INTERNATIONAL, 26.1.08
9) LOW-IMPACT SMALLHOLDING – BUCKS, 11-13.1.08
———————————————-
RECENT HAPPENINGS:
———————————————-
1) NEWQUAY AIRPORT ROOFTOP OCCUPATION – 15.12.07
2) SANTAS AGAINST EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION – NORWICH & LONDON, 15.12.07
3) BRISTOL RISING TIDE TAKES ACTION VS. SHELL GREENWASH – DECEMBER 2007
4) SHELL TO SEA SCALE GOVERNMENT OFFICE – IRELAND, 19.12.07
5) NATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE MARCH AND ACTIONS – 8.12.07
6) DUTCH COAL ACTION – 8.12.07
7) FLIGHT CENTRES SHUT FOR BUSINESS – MANCHESTER, 7.12.07
8) CHEADLE-HIGH-STREET AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE – DECEMBER 2007
9) SUBVERTISEMENTS IN LONDON AND MANCHESTER – DECEMBER 2007
10) WOMEN’S BLOCKADE OF DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT – 7.12.07
11) THE TIDE IS RISING! – 7.12.07
12) CLIMATE ACTIVISTS STOP WORK AT COAL MINE – SOUTH WALES, 5.12.07
13) INTERNATIONAL RT HOAX TARGETS BIG CARBON – 3.12.07
14) HOMELESS POLAR BEARS IN COURT – BRISTOL, 14.11.07
15) KEEP OIL UNDERGROUND – DECEMBER 2007
16) SIZEWELL NUCLEAR CLIMATE ACTION – 1.12.07
17) MANIAC MOTORIST MARS MASS – GLASGOW, NOVEMBER 2007
18) VIVA’S ‘HOT!’ CAMPAIGN – DECEMBER 2007
19) WHAT BETTER TIME? – DECEMBER 2007
20) BATH BOMB, ISSUE 5 – DECEMBER 2007
21) PACIFIC CURRENTS – DECEMBER 2007
22) A HOUSE OF CARDS – DECEMBER 2007
23) SOUTH WEST AIR ACTION – DECEMBER 2007
24) RISING TIDE LEAMINGTON SPA – DECEMBER 2007
25) RISING TIDE ON YOU TUBE
———————————————-
UPCOMING ACTIONS AND EVENTS:
———————————————-
1) FOSSIL FOOLS DAY – NATIONAL, 1.4.08
Just three months to go – are you out practising your routines? rehearsing your songs? building your props yet? I should get out more over Christmas…
However, it will soon be time to hatch your mischievous scheme, so get your friends round and start plotting!
http://www.fossilfoolsday.org/
2) LONDON RISING TIDE BENEFIT – LONDON, 11.1.08
In support of London Rising Tide, AMP is organising a night of live music at The Others, Manor Road, Stoke Newington. Entrance £5.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=38074566
3) NEWQUAY AIRPORT EXPANSION, PUBLIC DEBATE – CORNWALL, 12.1.08
Organised by Rising Tide with speakers from Groundswell and Plane Stupid.
7pm St. Mawgan Community Hall, Nr. Newquay, Cornwall. For more info. email; kernow@risingtide.org.uk
4) RADICAL ACTION VS. CLIMATE CHAOS, NATIONAL MEET – NOTTINGHAM, 12.1.08
11am – 6pm at The Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Forest Fields, Nottingham.
This meeting came out of the last Climate Camp gathering in November. It is focussed on growing our movement – how can we encourage more groups to form and more actions/campaigns to happen? What things do we want to do to help build a vibrant network of regional action groups doing actions locally and nationally?
For instruction on how to get there: http://www.veggies.org.uk/sumac/map.html
Also, 11 people are going to trial in Nottingham on Monday 14th for ‘shutting down’ the local coal power station, If anyone wants to stay to support them that would be great!
5) CLIMATE CAMP NATIONAL GATHERING – LEEDS, 26-27.1.08
The Climate Camp on its own didn’t stop climate change – but it’s part of a growing social movement that can! Come and take the next steps forward at the upcoming UK-wide meeting on Jan 26-27 in Leeds. Everyone is welcome, whether you came to the camp, or were simply inspired by it.
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/nextmeeting.php
6) BIOFUELWATCH WEEK OF ACTION – NATIONAL, 26.1.08 – 1.2.08
Biofuelwatch are calling for a national week of local action on agrofuels between 26th January and 1st February 2008. We will shortly update our website to provide more background information about the UK agrofuel industry and policies, as well as a draft leaflet and other resources. If you would like to get involved or find out more, please email us at info[at]biofuelwatch.org.uk.
http://biofuelwatch.org.uk/
7) MANCHESTER CLIMATE FORUM – 1.3.08
Manchester Climate Forum “Climate Change: it’s time to prepare”
9.15am at the Methodist Hall, Oldham St, Central Manchester
http://www.manchesterclimateforum.org.uk/index.html
8) DAY OF ACTION VS. GLOBAL AGRIBUSINESS – INTERNATIONAL, 26.1.08
On January 26 self-organized groups from all around the world will take creative action in their community. This will manifest in many ways, from nonviolent direct action, civil disobedience, street theatre, convergences, teach-ins and other activities and events. Grassroots movements around the world are making their voices heard and saying “Another World is Possible”. In coordination with the World Social Forum.
http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/category/front-page/
9) LOW-IMPACT SMALLHOLDING – BUCKS, 11-13.1.08
Next course by the Low-Impact Living Initiative;
http://www.lowimpact.org/courseoutlinelowimpactsmallholding.htm
———————————————-
RECENT HAPPENINGS:
———————————————-
1) NEWQUAY AIRPORT ROOFTOP OCCUPATION – 15.12.07
For the recently formed Kernow and Plymouth Rising Tide groups, this action marked an escalation in their fight against climate change and for environmental justice. However the planned rooftop protest at Newquay airport was given an unlikely boost when builders at the airport left a ladder propped up!
http://risingtide.org.uk/node/248
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7146159.stm
2) SANTAS AGAINST EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION – NORWICH AND LONDON, 15.12.07
Subversive Singing Santas Spread Seasonal Sanity in London and Norwich On one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Rising Tide activists in both London and Norwich dressed up as Santas Against Excessive Consumption and hit the high streets to sing a different tune to the usual buy, buy,
buy madness of the holiday season.
http://risingtide.org.uk/node/247
3) BRISTOL RISING TIDE TAKES ACTION VS. SHELL GREENWASH – DECEMBER 2007
A series of actions is being taken against the organisers of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award and Bristol Museum, in protest at the sponsorship of the event by Shell. A grumpy polar bear visited the offices of BBC Wildlife magazine, then activists disrupted Bristol Museum’s posh reception to kick off the exhibition with a Yes Men-style intervention. And on the opening morning, dozens of humans, polar bears, a snow leopard and a tiger gathered (complete with the Shell’s Wild Lie counter-exhibition) in front of the museum. They handed out leaflets and created quite a spectacle. Protests are expected to continue through Jan. 13th.
http://risingtide.org.uk/bristol
4) SHELL TO SEA SCALE GOVERNMENT OFFICE – IRELAND, 19.12.07
A special prayer and carol service was held on 16th December at Bellanaboy, County Mayo, marking the end of another year of community struggle against Shell’s proposed raw gas pipeline and inland refinery.
On the 19th, a small group of Shell to Sea activists scaled the heights of the Department of Natural Resources to place a banner reading PROTECT IRISH NATURAL RESOURCES on the balcony outside Eamon Ryan’s office.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/17942
http://www.corribsos.com/
5) NATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE MARCH AND ACTIONS – 8.12.07
Over 10,000 climate campaigners took to the streets to take part in marches in London and Glasgow over the weekend, despite pouring rain. Protesters braved the weather in one the biggest demonstrations calling for climate justice the UK has ever seen.
http://www.campaigncc.org/
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/387497.html
Environmental activists from direct action group Plane Stupid shut down travel agents and airline offices along the route of the Climate March in London.
http://www.planestupid.com/
Meanwhile, in Manchester airline billboards advertising cheap flights to European cities were subverted.
6) DUTCH COAL ACTION – 8.12.07
A collective of twenty Dutch EarthFirst! activists blocked the coal conveyor- belt to a plant owned by the German energy giant E.on on the Maasvlakte near Rotterdam.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/17893
7) FLIGHT CENTRES SHUT FOR BUSINESS – MANCHESTER, 7.12.07
All Flight Centre branches in Manchester city centre were super-glued shut in time for Saturday trading and to coincide with the climate march in London. They were pasted with notices saying: “Closed – we want your kids to have a planet” The UK’s only Hummer dealership, Bauer Millett, was also D-locked shut.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/17887
8) CHEADLE-HIGH-STREET AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE – DECEMBER 2007
Activists from Cheadle-High-Street Against Climate Change held a “A planet is not just for Xmas” campaign for a sustainable Xmas.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/17917
9) SUBVERTISEMENTS IN LONDON AND MANCHESTER – DECEMBER 2007
Two adverts promoting DVD’s by Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson now have large stickers stuck on declaring “This causes climate change”. Also, FlyBe appears to have spotted the errors of their ways and cancelled their short-haul summer routes. Bravo FlyBe!
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/17937
10) WOMEN’S BLOCKADE OF DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT – 7.12.07
Women climate activists blockaded the Department for Transport preventing staff from getting to work and carrying out their policies which are catapulting us towards dangerous run-away climate change. This action comes in response to the Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly confirming the government’s intentions to build a third runway and a sixth terminal at Heathrow and coincides with the opening of their first “consultation”.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/17883
11) THE TIDE IS RISING! – 7.12.07
A banner with this warning/statement was dropped to welcome all those entering the city of Manchester on the Princess parkway.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/17886
12) CLIMATE ACTIVISTS STOP WORK AT COAL MINE – SOUTH WALES, 5.12.07
More than thirty climate activists, including members of the Rising Tide network, joined with local residents from Merthyr Tydfil in stopping excavation work for a full day on Britain’s biggest ever open-cast coal mine at Ffos-y-fran in South Wales. Activists evaded police and security before taking over the 1,000 acre site on a hilltop near Cardiff. Dressed as clowns and polar bears, they chained themselves to bulldozers and other heavy machinery to prevent work on the mine.
http://risingtide.org.uk/node/242
13) INTERNATIONAL RT HOAX TARGETS BIG CARBON – 3.12.07
Climate activists with the international Rising Tide network embarrassed the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a lobby group composed of 33 prominent businesses and organizations, by distributing a spoof press release declaring that the consortium’s members had committed to a 90
percent reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In addition, the spoof release called for an immediate moratorium on the construction of all new coal-fired power plants.
http://risingtide.org.uk/node/240
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/dec/03/oil.bp
14) HOMELESS POLAR BEARS IN COURT – BRISTOL, 14.11.07
Four homeless polar bears appeared before Bristol Magistrates Court on 14th November. They were arrested after blockading the Royal Bank of Scotland corporate offices on Avon St. during the Rising Tide national day of action. After pleading guilty to charges of “wilfully obstructing the public highway with a non motor vehicle” (i.e. a suit case) they were given a conditional discharge and went on to picket the RBS branch on Baldwin Street!
http://risingtide.org.uk/node/243
15) KEEP OIL UNDERGROUND – DECEMBER 2007
The only way to fight climate change. A new report by OilWatch.
http://www.oilwatch.org/doc/documentos/Keep_oil_underground.pdf
http://www.oilwatch.org/
16) SIZEWELL NUCLEAR CLIMATE ACTION – 1.12.07
What else would you do at this time in the morning at a nuclear power station, other than lay on the road, lock yourselves together, unfurl your banner reading “nuclear power is not the answer to climate chaos” and wait 15 minutes for the security to notice you.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/17868
17) MANIAC MOTORIST MARS MASS – GLASGOW, NOVEMBER 2007
Unburdened with festive spirit, a middle-aged woman leant out of her car and pulled a cyclist off his bike.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/17889
18) VIVA’S ‘HOT!’ CAMPAIGN – DECEMBER 2007
“Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale. The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency.” United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation 2006
find out more at
http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/hot/index.php
19) WHAT BETTER TIME? – DECEMBER 2007
A free news sheet from the Scottish Climate Activist Network.
http://whatbettertime.livejournal.com/
20) BATH BOMB, ISSUE 5 – DECEMBER 2007
Christmas edition of the monthly Bathonian rabblerousiness.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/17905
21) PACIFIC CURRENTS – DECEMBER 2007
For updates on the work of Pacific Environment, a non-profit organisation that protects the Pacific Rim’s wild places and wildlife, see;
http://www.pacificenvironment.org/article.php?id=2658
22) A HOUSE OF CARDS – DECEMBER 2007
From fantasy finance to global crash.
Your guide to understanding the crisis that is sweeping through the global financial system and what it means for ordinary people.
Endorsed by Kevin Smith of Carbon Trade Watch and filmmaker Ken Loach.
http://www.aworldtowin.net/about/HouseOfCards.html
23) SOUTH WEST AIR ACTION – DECEMBER 2007
A new website.
http://www.swairaction.org.uk/
24) RISING TIDE LEAMINGTON SPA is born – DECEMBER 2007
The group had its first meeting on 3rd January and is now swinging into action. If you live in the area and want to find out more or get involved contact becqke@riseup.net
25) RISING TIDE ON YOU TUBE
Rising Tide action footage has been springing up all over youtube – check out http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=RisingTideNetwork for some RT films, some of the latest actions and links to other’s videos of RT actions.
———-
Please send anything you’d like included in this news sheet to:
newssheet@risingtide.org.uk
To view previous editions of the Rising Tide News Sheet, visit the News Sheet Archive at http://risingtide.org.uk/newssheet
This News Sheet was brought to you by Rising Tide, a grassroots network of groups and individuals committed to taking action and building a movement against climate change.
For more information…
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4.01.2008
The last tree left in Bonn square is being occupied in attempt to save it – please get support down there
4.01.2008
The last tree left in Bonn square is being occupied in attempt to save it – please get support down there
apparently the tree is over 100 years old, and there is a preservation order on the memorial to the tirah campaign in afghanistan, but not on the trees which are old and significant also.
If anyone can get media or support down there urgently please
The youtube version for online viewing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5kGNDlOyN0
Full rez for screening
http://blip.tv/file/get/Undercurrents-OxfordTree616.mp4
You can get more videos like this from http://visionontv.net
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eviction now expected Mon am
Text messages from the Bonn Square tree protest say that eviction is expected tomorrow morning, around 8 or 9am.
If you are free, please go along and support 🙂
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10.01.2008
Today ten protesters turned up to resist the removal of beautiful, mature London Plains trees behind the Westgate Shopping Centre in Oxford city centre.
These trees, along with sheltered housing, and – I was told by a group of young people – the Oxford and Cherwell Valley College students’ pub are being cleared to make way for a gargantuan cathedral to capitalism plus multi-storey car park. As one student sarcastically put it, “Yeah, ‘coz what we really need are more shops”.
Most people spent all day observing the goings-on of council employees and tree ‘surgeons’ and managed – albeit temporarily – to remove one guy rope from one of the trees along the west side of the Westgate car park.
However, this did not deter the Leisure and Parks people from beginning to remove the trees on the north side.
Once they started on the trees, emotions – which were already high – reached fever pitch. Councillor Deborah Glass Woodin was arrested for aggravated trespass (even though she didn’t quite manage to get into the fenced off area) and then held for 5 hours at St Aldates Cop Shop.
One other protester is spending tonight in the trees, braving the gale force winds; I feel slightly guilty for being inside on my laptop writing this report. If you can get down to the site to join him and others please do.
Bruce and friends (not the cops, mind) are on the corner of Norfolk Street, near Castle Street; around the back of the Westgate Centre near the multi-storey carpark. Map here:
http://openstreetmap.com/?mlat=51.75055&mlon=-1.2615&zoom=16
Video on YouTube ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=uXdLcAffXnE).
I counted the rings of the one of the first-felled trees, which you can see in the picture. It was nearly thirty years old; as old as I am.
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10th: just heard that Bruce, who has been up one of the trees behind the Westgate shopping centre in Oxford, has finally come down. He spent over 24 hours up the tree – braving the freezing gales and lashing rain from last night and today.
He was joined this morning by a fellow protestor; pics from today’s protest to follow soon.
And worryingly, one of the photographers from the BNP protest in November was on site too. This time he said he was from ITN rather than local news.
Westgate protest continues; court on Monday
9.01.2008
Tree-sitters in Bonn Square (Oxford) opposing the massive expansion of the nearby Westgate shopping centre were served with a court summons today for an eviction hearing on Monday. More action is sorely needed.
Since last Thursday one of the large trees in Bonn Square has been occupied in an attempt to save it from the chainsaws. It is one of around 40 trees, including many large mature ones, in the Westgate area marked for destruction as part of the grotesque expansion of Oxford’s plastic consumerland.
More background on the Westgate scheme is here, amongst other places:
http://matthewsellwood.blogspot.com/2006/10/westgate.html
There have been several eviction rumours in the meantime, but the clearest clue came today when the protesters were served with court papers. Since the hearing is on Monday, any eviction before then would be illegal, and seems unlikely, particularly since the council can easily continue cutting down the other -unoccupied- trees in the meantime. In fact, work has already started on felling the other trees in the area.
If you want to help, or find out more, pop down to Bonn Square. They have a petition which they are asking people to sign and are collecting donations to cover basic costs. If you’re feeling particularly inspired, you could even organise a bunch of people you know to go and disrupt the tree cutting which is taking place right now. Or target the sterile shopping centres, corporate scumbags and corrupt local politicians that are pushing the scheme!
The Westgate Partnership are currently chainsawing trees to make way for the Westgate expansion (this is slightly different from the Bonn Square project, which is linked to the West End ‘regeneration’ but not part of the Westgate expansion per se). This is despite the fact that a public enquiry is still going on over the demolition of Abbey Place housing – a clear indication of what the developers think of the legal process….
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9.01.2008
10am – trees being cut down in Paradise Square.
We’ve had a message that trees are being cut down now to make way for the new bloated Westgate shopping centre/temple to Mamon. If you can, get down there as soon as possible.
At the moment tree surgeons are at Paradise square, but probably won’t be for long. Maybe follow the sound of the chainsaws if they’re not there anymore.
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January 8, 2008
A 23-year-old woman involved in a forestry protest in Tasmania’s south has been plucked by a crane from her forest perch, arrested and charged.
A Tasmanian police search and rescue squad arrived at the protest site in a remote forest in the state’s south about 10am (AEDT) Tuesday to break up a four-day activist vigil.
January 8, 2008
A 23-year-old woman involved in a forestry protest in Tasmania’s south has been plucked by a crane from her forest perch, arrested and charged.
A Tasmanian police search and rescue squad arrived at the protest site in a remote forest in the state’s south about 10am (AEDT) Tuesday to break up a four-day activist vigil.
The woman was sitting atop a 10-metre tall tree trunk which had been concreted into the middle of a major access road.
She has been charged with trespassing, obstructing police, and disobeying directions, Inspector Mark Mewis of Kingston Police said.
She will be bailed to appear in court at a later date.
Two protesters remain sitting in trees at the Weld Valley site, which activists say is under threat from logging.
Police continue to negotiate with the protesters while cables which had connected the tree-borne activists to the road below have been removed.
Huon Valley Environment Centre activists say about 1,000 hectares of untouched “wilderness” could be logged, with plans by Forestry Tasmania to build a bridge across the Weld River to access the area for the first time.
Spokeswoman Jenny Weber said Forestry Tasmania had indicated it planned to start building the bridge before Christmas, and although work has yet to start, it could begin any day.
About a dozen people were at the protest when it got underway on Saturday.
Six people left on Monday after a Forestry Tasmania helicopter hovered over the area and another woman left on Tuesday morning.
The conservation group says the North Weld wilderness includes some of the best examples of ancient forests in Tasmania.
Forestry Tasmania said vast areas of the Weld were already protected.
It said 88 per cent of the valley was protected, with only 12 per cent of the area, in forests outside these zones, available for logging.
It said the designated forestry area would be logged for special timbers to be used for crafts and design, an important industry for the state.
Forestry Tasmania spokesman David Tuck said the protesters had been told repeatedly to leave.
“They have been told for four days to clear out,” he told AAP.
Mr Tuck said protesters wore balaclavas and hurled insults at Forestry Tasmania workers.
The activists were trespassing and had vandalised gates, he said.
“The incredible irony is that they’ve cut down trees in order to construct a tree-sit and put the forest in danger by having a campfire in peak bushfire season,” he said.
http://news.smh.com.au/woman-arrested-at-tas-forestry-protest/20080108-1ksf.html
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JAN 9 2007 – Tasmania Police have confirmed that three anti-forestry protesters were arrested in the Weld Valley, south of Hobart, yesterday.
Police and emergency workers used a crane to forcibly remove a 23 year old woman from a blockade yesterday afternoon.
She has been charged with trespass, causing injury to property, obstructing police and disobeying police directions.
A 29 year old woman and a 26 year old man were arrested last night and charged with trespass.
All three are from Lucaston, in Tasmania’s south. They will appear in the Hobart Magistrates Court in February.
source abc
A new Social Centre in Wiltshire requires volounteers. Accommodation is of course free.
Happy Januyear!
So we’re looking at setting up a social centre in wiltshire, busy town so we should be good but i think some added support for the first few days would be greatly appreciated. Do you know anyone who might be interested? We’ll be decorating, celebrating, gardening, having a film night, foraging and cooking etc! fun times for all. If you can help please email yarrow@mail.com.
A new Social Centre in Wiltshire requires volounteers. Accommodation is of course free.
Happy Januyear!
So we’re looking at setting up a social centre in wiltshire, busy town so we should be good but i think some added support for the first few days would be greatly appreciated. Do you know anyone who might be interested? We’ll be decorating, celebrating, gardening, having a film night, foraging and cooking etc! fun times for all. If you can help please email yarrow@mail.com.
Thanks!
Not 30 miles from the politicians in Westminster; the Surrey Union hunt chased a terrified fox along the A29 and around Ockley village green before ripping it apart on the cricket pitch. This was the reality in England on Saturday January 5th 2008 (3 years after hunting was banned)
Not 30 miles from the politicians in Westminster; the Surrey Union hunt chased a terrified fox along the A29 and around Ockley village green before ripping it apart on the cricket pitch. This was the reality in England on Saturday January 5th 2008 (3 years after hunting was banned)
What does it say about the law when the most piss-poor hunt in the country can hunt with impunity under the noses of the police and manage to kill a fox in full view of horrified villagers and motorists. Using the same hounds, continuing to hunt where they know they’ll find foxes, chasing them or putting them to ground, continuing to dig with terriers, they then expect you to believe this was an accident.
Anyone with any sense knows what is going on; it just needs you to do something about it. It’s not trendy or easy, but you can make a real difference – Join us and stop the killing NOW! http://hsa.enviroweb.org/features/joinleaf.html
HSA News Release 14th January 2008
Remember that hunting ban?
The Surrey Union foxhunt managed to kill yet again in public last Saturday 5th January. For the second year running they allowed their hounds to pursue and kill a fox in open view.
Last year it was after trespassing on a golf course at Newdigate.. This time it was in Ockley, Surrey. The hounds chased a fox into the middle of the village and caught and disembowelled it in the centre of the cricket pitch. The police eventually turned up after a 999 call and took a statement from a bystander who witnessed the horrific scenes as the animal was ripped apart by a full pack of hounds.
This happens almost every day the length and breadth of the country, but usually safely away from public scrutiny.
Hunt Saboteurs have to witness such scenes week in and week out, nearly three years after the Hunting Act came into force. Not surprisingly, foxhunts in England feel they are above the law. The Surrey police present in three vehicles on Saturday were miles away from the hounds when the fox was killed. The hunt packed up straight away, leaving the carcass in the village.
Based on the previous treatment of numerous submissions of video evidence, the police investigation will lack the gravitas and scrutiny it deserves.
Lee Moon, spokesman for the Hunt Saboteurs Association said: “Foxes are hunted and killed as if the ban never came into effect. By laying a trail through fox habitat, or having an owl in a box, the hunts can kill with impunity.
We have tried to let the law work, but with the police not interested, and a paltry number of cases brought to court, it has to be the time for a return to direct intervention; to no longer put up with the cosy relationship the hunts seem to have with the local constabularies; to make sure the wildlife of this country is safe from the barbarous practices of the past.
Animals are protected from hunts by law, but if the law won’t help them then hunt sabs will have to.”
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