Action Reports – Page 263

Activists set up “Camp Hope” at Gloucester Airport

Activists have set up Camp Hope at Gloucester Airport in a protest over proposed expansion and increased aviation at Staverton in Gloucester

Peaceful protest against the airport’s impacts on noise, the environment, and the area’s image

The airport claims “only a small minority are opposed to the development,” Come and show them that you are not part of a small minority by making your voice heard.

This campaign is about more than an airport. It is about our resolve to adapt to climate change.

You can come and camp for the weekend, or just come for the Saturday or Sunday.

For more information email CampForTheFuture@btinternet.com

Take Action at Camp Hope 20th/21st October. A Climate Camp @ Staverton Airport, Gloucestershire.

Camp Hope 20th/21st October, Staverton Airport, Gloucestershire Airport

At a location close to the airport, see

http://www.myspace.com/campofhope

http://CampForHopeAtStaverton.blogspot.com/

More images can be found at http://www.radical-images.co.uk
and on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/radical_images/sets/72157602561523510/

New Ring Fort discovered at hill of Tara-activist arrested, plus reminder of Samhain action & celebration weekend

October 19, 2007

URGENT

Calling out for support NOW and for the rest of the day at main gate Soldiers Hill N3.

2 Protestors are locked on to a tripod and are not moving until an independent archaeological survey is carried out on the newly revealed site.

October 19, 2007

URGENT

Calling out for support NOW and for the rest of the day at main gate Soldiers Hill N3.

2 Protestors are locked on to a tripod and are not moving until an independent archaeological survey is carried out on the newly revealed site.

Please bring banners, leaflets, warm and waterproof clothing, phone credit, cameras, video equipment, food and water.

SPREAD THE WORD, CONTACT ALL MEDIA.

Thank you

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Reminder: Tara the Great Feast and Samhain celebration Oct31/Nov3rd

Samhain Celebration and big Actions come and revel and resist,calling out to all up for it possee.

Calling ALL PEOPLE to the defence of the Tara Valley, Ireland.
Halt the destruction of this ancient sacred site by the proposed M3 Motorway. We need you NOW! Diggers are destroying this World Heritage site NOW.

We invite you to come to the Hill of Tara and celebrate Samhain, Wed. Oct31st-Sat. Nov.3rd, the ancient Celtic New Year.
As well as havin it actions on Thurs Nov1st and Fri 2nd.
Also a regular monday route walk and action,digger diving and free adrenalin rush.

Experienced activists urgently needed,tree house builders,tunnelers,techies,networkers,media spinners,and midnight pixie commandos.

Dust off your climbing harness and come,all help and support appreciated.
If u cant make it to Tara,network where u are,organise a benefit,film showing,network flyers email the EU commissioner Stavros Dimos info on websites below.

Also to come and support ongoing actions throughout the coming year.
The tide is turning the resistance grows these road building culture destroying crazies aint seen nothing yet.The people are awakening,hear the call of the Ancestors

Please download flyer and posters,from www.tarapixie.net. or view info on www.circlecommunity.org ( Liftshares are available from London,Bristol,Brighton,Wales check website above)
Email to all contacts on your network.
Print copies and distribute, particularly in public places community centres and libraries.
Network it to the maximum.Thanks from Tara Support.

For more information

www.tarapixie.net www.tarawatch.org
www.circlecommunity.org www.savetara.com
www.indymedia.ie www.indymedia.org.uk

Posters and flyers downloadable from www.tarapixie.net

tarasupport@googlemail.com

Norwegian Whaling Vessel’s Career is Finished

Sea Shepherd News Releases 10/16/2007

Norwegian Whaling Vessel’s Career is Finished

The Willassen Senior, the Norwegian whaling vessel that was scuttled on August 30, 2007 in the northern city of Svolvaer in the Lofoten Islands, will not be killing any more whales—ever again. The damage sustained by the vessel that was deliberately sunk by whale defenders exceeded $22 million kroner (over US $2 million). Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was pleased to learn that the Willassen Senior was not insured. The owners of the vessel have decided to scrap the ship, because they cannot afford to pay to repair the extensive damage caused to the electrical and mechanical systems by salt water. A group called Agenda 21 has taken credit for scuttling the whaling ship.

Sea Shepherd News Releases 10/16/2007

Norwegian Whaling Vessel’s Career is Finished

“One less whaling ship on the water translates into fewer whales being killed by these criminal whalers,” said Sea Shepherd Founder and President Captain Paul Watson. “The Agenda 21 team did an excellent job: no injuries, no evidence, no mistakes, and no more whaling. These are results that we can appreciate and admire.”

Immediately after the whaler was scuttled, the owners of other whaling vessels in Norway placed their ships under 24-hour guard. This translates into increased security costs for whaling ships, which cuts into whaling profits. “The whalers should be afraid of being scuttled,” said Captain Watson. “A vessel that is being operated in clear defiance of international conservation law and is involved with the illegal slaughter of these intelligent and gentle creatures has only one place—on the bottom of the sea!”

Norwegian police have been unsuccessful in identifying the Agenda 21 team members. All they have done so far is to seize a hard drive from an internet cafe in Svolvaer, based on a report that one of the sabotage team members may have been using a computer there. Police have confirmed that the Willassen Senior was deliberately sunk by a saboteur (or saboteurs) unknown. The ship was sunk when a pipe used to provide salt water cooling to the engine was removed. It took four hours for the ship to sink, allowing the whale defenders plenty of time to leave the area.

“This was not a crime,” said Captain Watson. “The Willassen Senior was a ship engaged in criminal activity specifically violating the International Whaling Commission’s global moratorium on commercial whaling activities. Sinking this whaler was an act of law enforcement, and we applaud this successful retirement of an illegal killing machine.”

www.seashepherd.org

French GM maize decontamination action

Monsanto files suit against French GMO activists

Oct 19 (Reuters) – The French unit of U.S. Biotech giant Monsanto has filed a lawsuit following the latest destruction of some of its test fields for genetically-modified maize. In a statement issued on Friday, Monsanto said that unidentified activists had ransacked three test fields in Valdivienne in central France after dark on Thursday.

Monsanto files suit against French GMO activists

‘This senseless new act of violence penalises French research into biotech crops yet again and has no scientific basis,’ Monsanto said.

It used a procedure in French law allowing legal action to be brought against unknown defendants.

Activists have ruined other Monsanto GMO test fields this year, prompting a series of official complaints which the company has said typically leads to court action.

Industry groups have denounced such attacks as disastrous for the country’s agricultural research work.

Some farmers supportive of GMO crops have called on the government during government-led meetings on the environment to pass a GMO law as soon as possible, in part to stress the illegal nature of such activities.

Heated debate has surrounded the use of GMO products across Europe and in France, where many consumers and green groups doubt the safety of GMO products and fear that they will reduce biodiversity.

REUTERS, October 19 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSL1944836620071019

“Common Ground” Community Garden Finally Evicted

Report on Thursday 18th Octobers eviction of Common Ground Community Garden.

It seems it was “fourth time lucky” for Reading Borough Council bailiffs today, when they finally realised that it’s not a good idea to inform anarcho-commies (and other assorted revolutionary reprobates) 2 weeks in advance if you want to evict them from council land. Arriving unannounced at 9.00am this morning, they began by evicting our squatting neighbours, giving us enough time to form an impromptu resistance of 3 people.

Report on Thursday 18th Octobers eviction of Common Ground Community Garden.

This reporter arrived at 10.00am, to find approximately 8 police, 4 bailiffs, 4 council representatives and a bunch of burly builders boarding up buildings. Council bailiffs had kicked a large hole in our garden fence, which they left unguarded. After a short consultation we decided to climb through it, sit in our garden and peacefully resist. This reporter is ashamed to say that his resistance lasted a matter of minutes, before he was convinced to leave the garden rather than face the possibility of arrest. The resilience of his comrades was somewhat more respectable.

Leaving the garden, he discovered that the 8 police had left just as the fun seemed to be starting, begging the question “why had they come in the first place?”

Bailiffs and council employees attempted to use diplomacy (a facet for which they are not well known) to convince the remaining two gardeners to leave. Both refused, and there ensued a minor kafuffle. A charming gentleman, sporting a fashionable red coat (pictured) blocked our photographer from taking any pictures of this. At one point, he even attempted to steal the camera prompting the question “What the fuck are you doing?”. He immediately desisted in his kleptomaniac-like actions, but refused to stand aside and allow further pictures to be taken of this incident.

By this time, there was but one comrade remaining in the garden. Council employees and bailiffs, unsure what to do about this final potential menace, decided to call for back-up. After a wait of 15 minutes, a riot van arrived containing 2 of Thames Valleys finest, aka da Five-0, da Fuzz, da Filth, da Feds aka PC 5479 A Hunt, PC 5292.

The officers of the law entered the garden and a new arrival from our group followed them. He was asked to leave, with the promise of some conversation, which he did not get. Once again we were down to one solitary individual, peacefully refusing to leave. The officers of the law asked him to move on; he refused. This called for extreme solutions: one police man got on the phone and asked his boss what he should do. The answer was clearly “do nothing”, for that is what they did….

It seemed that no police or bailiffs actually wanted to arrest our “last man standing”. Perhaps they realised the potential danger that they would be putting themselves in (for he is a 3rd dan black belt in origami…), but more likely there was nobody that was prepared to be “the one that arrested a gardener”. In any case, it eventually fell to a gentleman from the council to forcibly pick him up and remove him from the garden. This signalled the end of our resistance, and we called it a day.

At the time of going to press, several ideas are being floated about to keep up the momentum and build upon the community spirit that Common Ground has created so far. Needless to say, this is not the last that Reading Borough Council will hear from us, and it may not be the last time we set foot in our garden

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Common Ground Community Garden – on squatted land in Silver Street, Katesgrove – was evicted Friday morning. This is the third eviction attempt, the previous two, which the council announced in advance, were met with strong local resistance.

At about 9am on 18th October 2007 council officials, bailliffs, police and PCSO’s arrived, and council officials broke down the door to number 6 Silver Street (ex-Womens Information Centre). Police and officials entered the property and evicted the two people living there. They also broke a hole in the garden fence.

Around this time a couple of local residents, who have worked and relaxed in the community garden over the past 10 months, arrived on the scene, asking questions and attempting to take photographs of the event. After the eviction teams plans to “board-up” the garden were overheard, two more local people who have worked in Common Ground arrived.

Three people entered the garden and sat at a table, before council officials entered and told them to leave. An argument followed as the residents demanded that the community should be asked what it wanted to happen to the site, rather than a development being imposed without consultation, while council officials simply replied “its private property” – as if this is more important than social and environmental concerns or local democracy. When told “This isn’t right and you know it!”, officials replied “You may have a moral argument, but by the law this is right”. Surely there is something wrong with law when it conflicts with what is morally right or with local democracy?

One council official began to get aggressive and pulled one person’s seat from underneath them, throwing it across the garden. He then started shoving the resident and squaring up to him, while the resident stood his ground and asked the official his name. Eventually, two residents had to leave the garden for personal reasons, while one remained. Officials asked him to leave again, before asking the police, who had left, to return.

The Police once again asked the resident to leave, to avoid “embarrassment”, only to be told “I’m not embarrassed to defend this garden”. Eventually, following discussions between the council and the police, a reluctant council official was told to use reasonable force to evict the person. The protester was physically lifted and dragged out of the garden, before builders fitted boards over the garden gate and over the hole in the fence.

This is definitely not the end, and Common Ground Collective will discuss various options over the weekend.

The Council have stated in press releases and in the recent full council meeting that offers of alternative land had been rejected ‘out of hand’ by the gardeners. This is a misleading statement. Common Ground gave careful consideration to the offers and, as a group, agreed to continue defend the garden where it is, and push for a local democratic process where the community would decide what happens to the site long term.

However, individuals involved in Common Ground have begun engaging in discussion with local councillors and the Katesgrove Residents Association to discuss the viability of creating other community gardens on the land offered by the council. It should be pointed out however, that both alternatives are not without immediate problems as one is very small and slopes down to the river making it potentially dangerous, and the other is not wholly owned by the council. The identity of the part owner in the latter case is seemingly unknown. But all options will be considered and pursued as far as they can go.

Thanks for all support we have recieved over the last year, we’ll be back!

katesgrovegarden(AT)yahoo.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/common_ground_garden

24-hour Total petrol station shuts due to protest

18.10.2007
During the Thursday evening rush hour, the 24-hour Total petrol station on Marylebone Road in London shut down due to the presence of protestors calling for Total to pull out of Burma.

Fifteen protestors began their peaceful protest at 5.00pm with banners and leaflets informing motorists and pedestrians of Total’s links with the Burmese dictatorship. Several campaigners talked to motorists who drove in to buy petrol. Many motorists were supportive and vowed not to buy Total again.

However Total complained to the police (after about an hour and a half) and the campaigners were asked to leave the forecourt. Shortly afterwards the station was shut down completely. Employees moved cones and bins to block vehicular access to the station and the lights were switched off, including the 24-hour sign!

The petrol station remained closed until the protest finished.

http://www.totaloutofburma.blogspot.com/

BP Executive pied as Europe’s largest BioFuels Event disrupted, Blockade of D1 Oils & demo outside exhibition

17th October, 2007

17th October, 2007
The exhibition, featuring over a hundred trade stands, ran alongside a conference which opened on Wednesday with a key note speech from BP Biofuels’ Europe & Africa Director Oliver Mace, but was quickly thrown into chaos when a number of people dressed in suits marched onto the stage to target BP’s ‘dangerous and dishonest’ greenwash and protest at the catastrophic effects of replacing climate-stabilising ecosystems with arable crops for biofuel feedstocks.

A stunned audience gasped as a cream-pie was launched at Mace, while activists swarmed the stage and handed out leaflets to attendees. One of the protesters D-locked himself to the podium, telling delegates “we need to reduce our consumption now – technological fixes are not the answer.” Panic alarms were then set off around the room and the conference was halted.

Later a press conference was held at which Eastside Climate Action gave a statement saying: “Biofuels are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem. We need lifestyle and economic change, a reduction in consumption and local production of all our own needs.”

BP, the main sponsor of the Biofuels conference, did not represent themselves at the press conference through fears that attention would be focussed on the protest. Oliver Mace was said to be ‘shaken’ by the morning’s events.

Richard Price, conference organiser and Biofuels Media director, said that one of the aims of the event was to have some debate which surrounds issues such as food versus fuel. He also offered a platform for those wanting to raise objections and concerns with the biofuels industry.

Price pointed to future biofuel technologies, known as second generation biofuels, which use plant matter such as Jatropha and algae, and do not normally enter the food chain. Price and others are claiming that these may offer advantages such as higher oil yields and the possibility of using otherwise unviable land.

Price admitted “we should be using less fuel, being more economical, as well as exploring biofuels. Next year we’ll see what the issues are, but clearly we need a much wider base.” Asked if the conference would accept sponsorship from BP in the future, Biofuels Media have so far declined to comment.

Later on there were further protests as campaigners gathered at the main gates to the Newark showground, where the conference was held. Activists from pressure group Biofuelwatch were in attendance to explain their concerns, and those attending the conference were engaged in discussions and handed leaflets explaining that deforestation -such as to make way for oil palms for fuel in Asia- is a major cause of climate change, accounting for up to 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Biofuelwatch campaigner Deepak Rughani referred to a recent study by scientist Paul Crutzen, which found that Biofuels produced from arable crops are directly responsible for greenhouse gas emissions of up to 70% more than the equivalent of fossil-fuel. Rughani added, “when you add in elements of deforestation or land-use change, you are looking at massive further emissions due to the release of carbon stored in trees, plants and within the soil.”

Biofuelwatch campaigns against the use of bio-energy from unsustainable sources, namely biofuels that are linked to accelerated climate change, deforestation, bio-diversity losses, water and soil degradation, and the displacement and impoverishment of local populations and loss of food sovereignty and security. Aside from technological solutions, Biofuelwatch and other environmental groups believe cuts in greenhouse gas emissions must be based on overall demand reduction. This means reducing energy use and transport as opposed to replacing one type of fuel with another.

Biofuels Conference – Audio clip (intro & pie) – mp3 1.7M

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Press release –

Date: 17th October, 2007
Embargo: Immediate Release
CONTACT: 07880 937 511
Newark Showground, Newark, Nottinghamshire

This morning a group of 15 climate change activists from protest group Food Not Fuel entered the BioFuel Expo & Conference taking place at the Newark Showground and took over the keynote speech. Oliver Mace, CEO of BP Fuels, the lead sponsors of the event received a cream pie in the face. Another campaigner was D-locked to the podium and various alarms were placed around the place. The hall was emptied and talks were cancelled. There were no arrests.

They were protesting against planned expansion of biofuels citing its contribution to deforestation and the fact that it will continue to contribute to climate change. The activists complained that biofuels on a large scale is greenwash and companies such as BP are ignoring its negative impacts on the environment.

Protester Michelle Lynch said, “What they are promoting is a replacement to fossil fuels, but the reality is that they are little better. Large scale plantations are not the solution; reducing our consumption is the only realistic way forward.”

Another protester, Thomas Bradshaw pointed out, “Biofuels will be taking food from the mouths of the hungary when there are already 800 million people suffering from malnutrition. These corporations are effectively encouraging the erosion of valuable arable farmland and rainforests vital for combating climate change.”

-end-

Notes for editors:

1. The protestors can be contacted at 07880 937 511. Their critique argues that radical social change is needed to deal with the impact of peak oil and climate change, and that seeking solutions such as carbon trading and biofuels are not the answer, as the real problem is unsustainable economic growth.

2. The BioFuels Expo & Conference (www.biodiesel-expo.co.uk) is the largest of its kind in Europe, and brings together big industry players such as BP Fuels, Deloitte & Touche and many chemical, agricultural and manufacturing companies.

3. A comprehensive critique of biofuels can be found at BioFuels Watch (www.biofuelwatch.org.uk) who are a distinct group from Food Not Fuels, but are hosting their own demonstration against the Conference.

4. Text of leaflet distribute to attendees.

Biofuels & Fossil Fuels: Biofuels that are not produced by recycling waste oil are the direct product of large scale monoculture. Currently the amount of fossil fuels required to produce biofuels is greater than the amount of fuel you get out: you have to make the fertilizer, run the agricultural machinery, transport the feedstocks and fuels, and refine the plant matter into fuel.

Biofuels & Food: The land that is used to farm biofuels has to come from somewhere. If it is agricultural land used for food then there will be less food. Maize, Mexico’s staple crop, have increased massively due to American demand for bioethanol. Adding to the number of people living below the poverty line.

Biofuels & Land use: If not agricultural land, then biofuels will be grown on virgin rainforest or wetland. 1/3 of all greenhouse gas emissions come from the destruction of living carbon sinks. The Amazon rainforest is the largest driver of the climate on the planet and expanding bioethanol plantations will push it to extinction. Wetlands, eg peat, contain more carbon that the whole atmosphere and cover just 1% of the worlds surface. The largest peat bogs in the world, in Indonesia, are currently being drained for palm oil plantations. If greenhouse gas emissions continue as they currently are we will go beyond the climate tipping point causing mass extinction of life on earth.

Biofuels & Local Control: The driving force beyond the expansion in biofuels are big corporations such as BP & Monsanto, and government – the very people who have got us into this mess. They are using biofuels as a way to continue their position of power into the post peak oil world. To stand a chance of survival the control of land must be by local people for local people.

The Solution: We will need to reduce our consumption to levels that we can meet ourselves. This WILL mean a reduction in luxuries, like the luxury to travel. Some biofuels will be used, but at a fraction of our current oil use. We need to end the search for technological solutions to economic problems. We need to localise our economy, produce our own food, make our own tools and use less.

We need an end to economic growth.

foodnotfuel1@yahoo.co.uk

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Blockade of D1 Oils – anti-agrofuel demo

Protestors from No Agrofuels UK blockaded DI oils refinery and offices this morning to raise awareness of the detrimental impact of agrofuels. The protest was timed to coincide with the national Biofuels Conference in Newark.

18 Protestors chained the 3 gates to the refinery shut and 2 protestors were D-locked to the main gates. No vehicles were able to enter or leave the site and all work appeared to have been stopped.

Several banners were tied over the gates including “No Agrofuels, Land 4 People, Food, Biodiversity” and “Climate Change Profiteers”

Agrofuels (fuels produced from purposely and intensively grown crops) are not the green solution. They result in deforestation of tropical rainforests and burning of peatlands which increase carbon in the atmosphere. Studies have shown that when you include energy used to grow and produce the fuels including chemical production and transportation they use more energy then oil based fuels.

Agrofuels also cause food insecurity by reducing land availbale to grow food and increasing food prices. They result in land dispossession as people in Africa, Asia and South America are forced off their land to enable crops to be grown for the fuel of Europe and the USA. In Colombia there have been human rights abuses to gain control of the land.

D1 is one of the biggest traders worldwide of palm oil and oil seed rape. They have interests in India, Indonesia, China, South Africa, Zambia, Swaziland, El Salvador and are soon planning to get into Brazil and several otehr African countries. They are directly responsible for land dispossession, food insecurity and increasing poverty, they are not the providing the solution to our climate crisis, the only solution to climate change is a reduction in energy rather then exploiting the biodiversity, people and land of the Global South.

For more info see: www.biofuelwatch.org.uk

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Banner Protest outside Biodiesel Expo in Newark

About 40 protesters held a banner protest outside the Biodiesel Expo in Newark, Europe’s largest biofuel conference this year. Participants of the conference include BP, Virgin and D1 Oils, a biofuel company headed by former Shell CEO Lord Oxburgh which is acquiring rights over large areas of land in India and southern Africa. Protesters highlighted the devastating impact which the industry is having on global warming, rainforests, local communities in the global South and food security.

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PRESS RELEASE

Newark : 40 Protestors call for food for people, not cars

Over 40 environmentalists protested outside the ‘Biodiesel Expo’ today, Wednesday 17th October, at Newark Showground. The protest was to raise awareness of the damage that massive and rapid biofuels development is having on the climate, people, food security and forests.

The protest comes just the day after World Food Day October 16th when the UN Food and Agroculture organization (FAO) highlighted the impacts of biofuels of food security around the world.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, is so concerned that he has warned that rapid biofuel development is a total disaster for those who are starving. He will call for an international five-year ban on producing biofuels to combat soaring food prices in the UN General Assembly on October 25th. (see below).

Deepak Rughani from biofuelwatch says “The UN FAO is very concerned about biofuels. They have said that they ‘are gravely concerned that biofuels will bring hunger in their wake’. A battle is being created between food and fuel that will leave the poor and hungry in developing countries at the mercy of rapidly rising prices for food, land and water. The EU and the UK urgently need a moratorium of biofuels to make sure that we don’t push millions into starvation. We have protested today to support the call in the UN and demand the UK government stops the mad rush to biofuels”.

biofuelwatch, who are campaigning for EU moratorium on large-scale biofuel production and imports into the EU, say that from April 2008 UK consumers will have no choice about having to buy biofuels at the pump. The biofuels available will be blended from many difference sources across the globe depending on commodity market prices.

From April, consumers will not be able to avoid buying biofuel that may be accelerating destruction of tropical forests, increasing their carbon emissions, causing human rights abuses, and taking land from vital food production.

Information:

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food is to demand an international five-year ban on producing biofuels to combat soaring food prices at the United Nations General Assembly on 25th October. http://tinyurl.com/2ltgwd
The entire text of a report to the UN General Assembly from United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Zeigler, highlighting the risks to millions from biofuels is attached to this Press release.

Links to World Food Day press from around the world
Jamaica – Food prices set to rise – Tufton:

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20071016/business/business1.html

Biofuels highlighted in Colombia :

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuelwatch/message/1157

New Zealand: Food Prices Driven by Biofuels

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuelwatch/message/1149

Worldwide Women’s Energy issue :: Feed People, Not Cars

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuelwatch/message/1146

Biofuels and world hunger

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuelwatch/message/1145

Contacts:

Andrew Boswell, Biofuelwatch , UK : T: +44-1603-613798 M: +44-7787127881 (at the protest)

E: andrew.boswell[at]yahoo.co.uk

Deepak Rughani, Biofuelwatch , UK : +44–7931-636337 (at the protest)

info@biofuelwatch.org.uk
http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk

Burma activists ‘lock on’ to Total

16.10.2007
Three direct activists have today shut down a busy Total filling station in solidarity with the people of Burma’s nonviolent struggle for democracy.

Under a banner saying “May all beings be happy – Free Burma ” the activists have locked themselves together and begun to meditate, locking together the hoses, turning off the power and blocking the entrance to the premises in London’s Marylebone Road.

The group have targeted Total to highlight the company’s role in propping up one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships. The Burmese military rulers routinely torture prisoners, use rape as a weapon of war, and have forcibly displaced almost one million people from their land – including to make way for a 63 kilometre gas pipeline built by Total.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s pro-democracy leader, has said that “Total has become the main supporter of the Burmese military regime.” She told the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur that “Total knew what it was doing when it invested massively in Burma while others withdrew from the market for ethical reasons”. She added, “the company must accept the consequences. The country will not always be governed by dictators.”

Matthew Herbert, one of the activists, said: “All the peoples of Burma will be free. There is no force as powerful as the nonviolent resistance of a united people, especially when the cause is as just and urgent as this. As Aung San Suu Kyi says, Total will be held accountable. Today’s action plays just one small part in that reckoning.”

A fellow activist, added: “The authority to rule comes from the people themselves, the people of Burma have had enough, they are withdrawing their consent to be controlled. This action is in solidarity with the people of Burma struggle for freedom and a message to Total to withdraw from Burma now.”

For more information contact 07796 430141

Activist Film Festival is seeking submissions

Undercurrents is calling for submissions of short videos and animations on the theme of the festival: social justice and environmental action.

Subject: Political Activist videos wanted
From: undercurrents

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS OF FILMS

FOR BEYONDTV FESTIVAL NOVEMBER 2007

What is BEYONDTV?
From November 28 to December 2, 2007, Radical media charity, Undercurrents will host the 8th annual BEYONDTV festival of political documentaries, animations and music videos from inspiring media directors.

Undercurrents is calling for submissions of short videos and animations on the theme of the festival: social justice and environmental action.

Important Note: We do not screen dramas using actors

BEYONDTV will be hosted at the Dylan Thomas Centre and Taliesin Cinema Swansea from November 28 – December 2, 2007

More details at http://www.beyondtvfestival.info
beyondtv@undercurrents.org

Undercurrents
Old Exchange
Pier st
Swansea
SA1 1RY
UK

Brighton police make early morning raid against squat.

16.10.2007
At 4am Brighton police demanded squatters leave a new squat on Franklin road. Despite resistance by 5am the squatters had been evicted by the police, who were acting unlawfully without a court order.

The police refused to acknowledge the ‘Section 6’ notice and said they were ignorant of the law, even though the group of squatters had been previously evicted by the some of the same police recently.

There was a dog unit, 4 squad cars, drugs unit, and 2 undercover/civil cars (whose registration plates were noted), as well as a senior officer who was overheard saying that he would personally not tolerate squatting in Brighton. Not really a surprise there.

3 coppers kicked the door in, whilst 8 squatters resisted their efforts. Whilst this was happening the pigs laughed and joked about going holiday outside.

When the squatters were hauled out of the building they were threatened with arrest for not paying electricity or water bills. When the cops saw that there was 8 people, they couldn’t be bothered with the paper work and just took peoples names instead.

The squatters argued with the cops for half an hour until they were threatened with detention, as the squatters left the area with the few possessions they could manage to take from the disused building which had been empty for the last 3 years, they were followed and harrassed by undercover police for about an hour.

It comes as no surprise that the police don’t follow the law, they are an armed gang protecting what they think is normal society, but it is clear that if they think kicking young homeless people out into the rain at 4am is normal, they got a lot to learn.

Right now we are not going to give up squatting, because we have no choice, but organising ourselves against the pigs, landlords and politicians is the best adventure going right now – and we sure as hell ain’t going to work for a living!

We won’t stop squatting until the pigs fly off a cliff !

Squatters Association of Brighton