Transport – Page 11 – Earth First!

Drax 29 defendants found guilty

News is being tweeted out of court – all defendants found guilty of obstruction of the train.
Judge has stated that he will be imposing community service type punishments and no prison time.
Defendants liable for costs and compensation.

The 22 were acquitted of actually stopping the train, after evidence that no one knew which of them had donned fake railwaymen’s uniforms and used red flags to bring it to a halt (2 ill & 5 earlier admitted guilt).

A defendant’s summing up (3rd July):

“Members of the jury.

I’m going to try to summarise why we feel that we are not guilty, why we feel that what we did was right, despite the very proper laws against obstructing trains, why we feel that it was the wrong decision of the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute us in this case, and why we don’t feel that we are guilty of a crime.

I want to start by responding to your request for clarification yesterday about “lawful excuse”. His honour may say [in his summing up] that it’s true that there are ways in law to make space for circumstances, to allow a bigger picture to be considered.

These ways can have different names for different offences — so for example “lawful excuse”, which you asked about yesterday, applies only to the charge of criminal damage. For example, last September, a jury in Kent found six protesters not guilty of committing £30,000 worth of criminal damage to Kingsnorth coal-fired power station, since the group were acting to prevent a greater crime. Those on trial did not disagree that criminal damage is a crime, just that, in certain circumstances, it may be necessary and proportionate to cause some damage to prevent a great crime. That jury agreed.

His honour may explain that there is a legal defence of “necessity”, that applies to most laws, and that it was on the basis of “necessity” — the fact that we believed our actions were going to save lives and that we had to act — that we prepared a legal defence before this trial. Along with many legal professionals we were very disappointed by his honour’s decision prior to the trial that this defence was not available to us in law. Nonetheless we decided not to appeal against it. We felt that you the jury would be free to decide on the facts of a case as you find them – and not just the ones his honour tells you are relevant.

It’s up to you to decide whether what we did was necessary. I would like to emphasise to you that we believed and we still believe that it was urgently necessary to do what we did, and proportionate to the scale of the problem, that the consequences of that train taking coal into Drax are so serious that any reasonable person would understand our reasons for stopping it. To help explain why we were so sure of the links between Drax’s activities and deaths around the world we had expert witnesses lined up to talk to you about the immediate and ongoing harm that Drax’s emissions cause. However from what evidence we have been able to get across to you, with his honour’s indulgence, we hope that you can see that these facts speak for themselves, and our actions, though harmful, were indeed necessary to try to stop a greater harm. And if you agree with that then you still have a legal right – as the jury – to find us not guilty.

You’ve heard it said already I think, that the judge decides about the law, but the jury decide about the facts. What does that mean? It means you the jury can decide as you see fit. You the jury have a constitutional right to follow your own judgement and not necessarily follow the judge’s directions to find us guilty. In other words, you get to make the final decision. In law this principle is called the jury’s power of nullification, and it’s been a right that has been regularly used over the years when juries have felt the law has been applied harshly, or inappropriately, or unjustly, or incorrectly.

Perhaps I can explain this with a quote from a very senior judge, Lord Denning. He said:

“This principle was established as long ago as 1670 in a celebrated case of the Quakers, William Penn and William Mead. All that they had done was to preach in London on a Sunday afternoon. They were charged with causing an unlawful and tumultuous assembly there. The judge directed the jury to find the Quakers guilty, but they refused. The Jury said Penn was guilty of preaching, but not of unlawful assembly. The Judge refused to accept this verdict. He threatened them with all sorts of pains and punishments. He kept them ‘all night without meat, drink, fire, or other accommodation: they had not so much as a chamber pot, though desired’. They still refused to find the Quakers guilty of an unlawful assembly. He kept them another night and still they refused. He then commanded each to answer to his name and give his verdict separately. Each gave his verdict ‘Not Guilty’. For this the judge fined them 40 marks apiece and cast them into prison until it was paid. One of them Edward Bushell, thereupon brought his (case) before the Court of the King’s Bench. It was there held that no judge had any right to imprison a juryman for finding against his direction on a point of law; for the judge could never direct what the law was without knowing the facts, and of the facts the jury were the sole judge. The jury were thereupon set free.”

This was affirmed as recently as 2005, in relation to the case of Wang, where a committee of Law Lords in the highest court in the land, the House of Lords, concluded that: “there are no circumstances in which a judge is entitled to direct a jury to return a verdict of guilty”. So you do have that right to decide for yourselves. And unlike in 1670, his honour won’t be able to fine you, or put you in prison for making what he sees as the wrong decision.

There have been many cases over the years where juries have decided, on reflecting more broadly, to find people not guilty despite directions from the judge. For example, the case of Zelter and others who were accused of damage to an aircraft about to be used for bombing civilians. In all of these and others the judge said that the defendants admitted the offence and so must be found guilty. But the jury chose to look outside the limited view of the court room, and to find them not guilty.

The freedom that you have is what enables the law, where necessary, to move forward. It is what allows you to look beyond the confines of this court to the wider world, and to make a judgement based not just on law, but to make a judgement based on justice. Justice is the force that underpins and breathes life into the law, and it is your role as the jury to see that justice as you see it is done.

We all know that times change, and what was acceptable in one era may not be acceptable in another. You have heard of how it was once legal to own other people, how it was illegal for women to vote. Well one way or another we are going to have to stop burning coal and move on from the fossil fuel era. And that means that the law will eventually have to change and acknowledge the harm that carbon emissions do to all of us, by making them illegal. The only question is whether the law will catch up in time for there to be anything left to protect.

We are not trying to tell you how to decide. We are only trying to say that it is up to you, and we are grateful for that.

I want you to think back to that situation of there being a person on the tracks ahead of that train going on its way to Drax. Members of the Jury, it may sound like a strange thing to say but in truth there is a person on the branch line to Drax. The prosecution have not challenged the facts we presented to you on oath about the consequences of burning coal at Drax. 180 human lives lost every year, species lost forever. There is a direct, unequivocal, proven link between the emissions of carbon dioxide at this power station and the appalling consequences of climate change. That many of those consequences impact on the poor of other nations or people in Hull we don’t know and should not in any way negate the reality of this suffering. We got on that train to stop those emissions, because all other methods in our democracy were failing. Just because we don’t know the name of the person on the tracks or where they live or the exact time and day of their dying, does not in our view mean they are less worthy of protection.

We don’t dispute that there’s a law against obstructing trains. We don’t dispute that obstructing trains is a crime and should continue to be a crime. We just argue that in this case, we should not be found guilty of a crime for trying to block this train on its way to Drax.

On Tuesday the prosecution argued that what we did was quite simply a crime, and as a result we should be found guilty. They were trying to suggest that if you find us not guilty, the whole world would fall apart. We argue that the more likely route to the whole world falling apart is if we continue burning coal in the enormous quantities that it is being burnt at Drax.

His honour may say that we have been telling you stories, that we are trying to introduce emotions into the trial to distort the evidence. But we have been telling you the facts. If those facts move you, that’s because they are moving, and they are what moved us to do what we did.

We are happy to be judged by you, the jury.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to us.”

bikesnotcars am*dam july3,4,5

In the weekend of july 4th we declare a war on cars. In this weekend there will be a bike festival in Amsterdam. On different locations events, workshops, info stands, fun & games, parties, and direct actions to block and frustrate the traffic will be held. Cars lead to pollution, climate change, deaths and injuries. They are a nuisance, and are dominating the public space.Where the public space is not designed to facilitate the ever consuming shopping frenzy and industry it is designed to please fossil-fuel-traffic.

The program of the bike fest in amsterdam july 3rd, 4th and 5th is out…

Friday, ijsbaanpad 12, amsterdam
– opportunity for those without a bike to fix one
– banner painting
in the evening soup and a band

saturday
– 14.00h critical mass, museum square, sith bikepolo and slowbiking on the way
– 19.00h ijsbaanpad, voku, folowed by bands:
de fatwas
de reclassering
hysteria
and one more band

sunday
– infomarket
– workshops
– cargo bike race
– tall bike jousting

please dont bring your dogs to ijsbaanpad

there is a place for sleeping but bring a matres and sleepingbag

to bring list:
bed + sleepingbag
bike(s)
basic repairkit
banners
no id
no dogs

see you there

bikesnotcars@gmail.com
http://bikesnotcars.wordpress.com

Bath Bomb #23 Out Now

THE BATH BOMB
@nti-copyright: copy and distribute!
Issue #23
free/donation
June 09

“Nick Griffin: if you’re reading this, we’re in your house”

Pulling A Fash One: Bath 3, BNP 0

THE BATH BOMB
@nti-copyright: copy and distribute!
Issue #23
free/donation
June 09

“Nick Griffin: if you’re reading this, we’re in your house”

Pulling A Fash One: Bath 3, BNP 0

The BNP went three goals down on Friday the 22nd May in the continuing grudge match between themselves and the people of Bath. This time the venue was the prestigious BRLSi, on Queen Square. Nearly 100 people from a variety of backgrounds (including antifa, anarchists, greens, IWW, socialists and a good number of pissed off Bathonians) responded to a call out from Bath Activist Network to protest a hustings meeting featuring the fascist BNP.

The demo was a huge success, seeing the front doors blockaded for nearly two hours, preventing the meeting from going ahead. The majority of speakers due to represent their parties pulled out of the meeting and opted to speak on the street instead, many making the decision to do so on the night. A tiny mob of eight fascists, most from out of town, turned up and made a pitiful attempt to force their way in before giving up and spending the rest of the night moaning to the police (one of whom had an anti-BNP leaflet mysteriously taped to his back). Bristol-based BNP member Clive Courtney was arrested after shoving a local man to the ground.

The blockade ended when the 50 police who were eventually drafted in demanded that the demo move out of the public view – protesters unanimously refused, and the picket was violently broken up, allowing the fascists entry to a deserted building, as the real democracy was in full swing on the streets! While addressing the empty room, BNP Chippenham MEP candidate Jeremy Wotherspoon denied being racist, said he recently ‘shook hands with a negro’ (his words, not ours).

In an interesting side note, members of the public let protesters know that the police were describing them as ‘scum’ and activists have some interesting video footage of angry, rotund Bristol BNP high-up Mark Warren-Clutterbuck having a private chat and a laugh with senior police. The BNP requested that once the blockade was ended, they should be allowed to move in en masse – a request that the police were all too willing to facilitate. The back-patting and obvious mutual support between the cops and Nazis was sickening, but on the night the facts spoke for themselves – public support was overwhelmingly in favour of the blockade, and the ‘no platform for fascists’ position.

The BNP still features hatemonger activists convicted of bombings, murder and assault, internally calls for a reduction in democratic decision-making in the party, and only permits white ethnic, ‘indigenous’ Brits to join as full members. It is impossible for the BNP to publicly advertise, or hold a meeting without protection from the police and a huge and angry reaction from the vast majority of the public. Well done to everyone who turned up and showed once again that the BNP are not welcome in civilised society, let alone Bath. It’s just a shame that the BRLSi organizers toothlessly felt obliged to provide the BNP the credibility they so crave by inviting them; hopefully, there won’t be a next time. And if you do have any info on BNP activity in your area, email either bathactivistnet [at] yahoo.co.uk, or phone 08451 265011.

http://bristolantifa.org
http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/inyourtown/corsham/4365146.Corsham_family_stands_as_BNP_candidates/

Eco Battle For Bathampton: Round 2

News has reached us that B&NES Council has made the public-friendly decision of approving the massively unpopular drain on financial and environmental resources that is the park and ride at Bathampton Meadows. The park and ride, part of a ludicrously expensive, environmentally/socially destructive and massively flawed transport package, is to be built on the ancient meadowlands which are part of the Cotswolds AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and contain two ancient monuments. The location is poorly-chosen and the council themselves have conceded that the traffic easing effects of the park and ride will be ‘minimal’.

Maybe the council have forgotten the headache that was caused last time the authorities tried to bulldoze the natural habitats surrounding Bathampton. In 1994, a large tree camp was set up to oppose the Bathampton A36/A46 link road, costing the authorities thousands in security costs and putting the project way behind schedule. The same looks set to happen again, with local activists honing their eco-defence skills. Rest assured that if the bulldozers roll in, so will scores of angry locals and activists determined to fight for the meadow inch by inch. The council’s disregard for the environment looks set to ignite a battle that will be giving them serious headaches for years to come. You can still write letters of objection to the scheme, and a template letter can be found at http://www.savebathamptonmeadows.org.uk, and, short notice, push a ‘call in’ for a public enquiry by the 23rd of this month.

Stop the press: at a recent public meeting, we have just heard that the Government Office for the South West have just initiated an ‘Article 14’, a modest-sounding bit of jargon that indicates that they now require more time to consider the scheme – so nothing’s set in concrete yet.

Debt Advice Centre Opens In Twerton

The Bath ‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay’ campaign has opened a drop-in centre for advice on debts, benefits, bailiffs and general help with the recession – and possibly any other problems you may have! Pop round the Twerton social centre (4 Day Crescent, Twerton) on Wednesdays between 4pm and 7pm, for a friendly cuppa and a chat with one of our helpful trained volunteers.

EVENTS

Bath Hunt Saboteurs meetings, 2nd and 4th Monday of the month, 8pm, The Bell, Walcot Street

London Road Food Co-op, Wednesdays, 4-7pm, Riverside Community Centre, London Road

debt advice drop-in, Wednesdays, 4-7pm, Twerton social centre, Day Crescent

The Lost Plot workday, Thursdays, 10am-dusk, Bathampton

anti-foie gras demo, Fridays, meet Queen Square 7pm

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

Bubbling Under, Sunday 21st June, 1-4pm, Porter Cellar, George Street

Calais No Border Camp, 23rd-29th June, France

Bath Cycling Campaign meeting, Monday 22nd June, venue TBC, 7.30pm, http://www.bathcyclingcampaign.org.uk

Transition Bath talk on public transport issues, Wednesday 24th June, 8pm, Widcombe Social Club

Transition Drinks, Wednesday 24th June, 8pm, upstairs at The Raven

anarcho-punk gig, Friday 26th June, 8pm, The Porter Butt, London Road, Bath, feat. Citizen Fish, A heads, Surrender, Filthy Habits

animal sanctuaries benefit gig Saturday 27th June, 7.30pm, The Plough, Easton, Bristol, feat Babar Luck, Ratface & Tracey Curtis, £4 entry

Recycle Your Sundays, Sunday 28th June, the regular series of sociable, easy-paced cycle rides, www.rysbath.org.uk/Hazel 01225 469199

Bath Animal Action meeting, Wednesday 1st July, 7.30-8.30pm, backroom of The Bell, Walcot Street

Bath Activist Network meeting, Thursday 2nd July, 7.30-9pm, downstairs at The Hobgoblin, St James Parade

Bath Friends of the Earth meeting, Monday 6th July, 8pm, Stillpoint, Broad Street Place, Broad Street

Film: ‘Wedding in Galilee’, Tuesday 7th July,7.30pm, Masonic Hall, Frome, £5/£3 concessions; presented by Frome Friends of Palestine – part of Frome Festival

Bath Green Drinks, Wednesday 8th July, 8.30pm, the Porter, George Street

Bath FreeShop, Saturday 11th July, 12-3pm, outside Pump Rooms, Stall Street

Broadlands Orchardshare Volunteering Day, Saturday 11th July, 12-4pm, Broadlands Orchard, Box Road, Bathford, email broadlandsorchardshare [at] googlemail.com or phone 07532 472 256

Danish Climate Camp, Denmark, Saturday 11th July – Sunday 19th July, http://camp09.dk

Recycle Your Sundays, Sunday 12th July, the regular series of sociable, easy-paced cycle rides, www.rysbath.org.uk/Hazel 01225 469199

Bath Greenpeace meeting, Monday 13th July, 7.30-9pm, Stillpoint, Broad Street Place

Transition Open Forum, Tuesday 14th July, 7pm, Widcombe Social Club

French Climate Camp Monday, Monday 3rd August – Sunday 9th August, France, http://www.campclimat.org

Belgian/Dutch Climate Action Camp, Monday 3rd August – Sunday 9th August, near Antwerp, http://www.klimaatactiekamp.org

The Camp for Climate Action in Scotland, Monday 3rd – Tuesday 11th August, Scotland, http://climatecampscotland.org.uk

Cymru Climate Camp, Thursday 13th – Sunday 16th August 2009, Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, http://climatecampcymru.org

Greek No Borders Camp, Tuesday 25th August – Monday 31st August, Lesvos, Greece, http://lesvos09.antira.info

The Camp for Climate Action 2009, Thursday 27th August and Wednesday 2nd September, London, http://www.climatecamp.org.uk

Bristol Anarchist Bookfair, Saturday 12th September, The Island, Silver Street, Bristol, 10.30am-7pm, http://www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org

Bristol Co-Mutiny: Social Change Not Climate Change gathering, Sunday 13th September – Saturday 19th September, http://www.comutiny.wordpress.com

International Day of Climate Action, Saturday 24th October, http://www.350.org/ oct24

Exclusive: Dirty Don’s Dodgy Expenses

With the ample evidence pouring out of the cash trough that is Westminster to attest to the corrupt nature of the vast majority of our MPs, it may come as no surprise to many of you that our own ‘Dodgy’ Don Foster MP is also apparently on the take. Our favourite everyman has been claiming a staggering £380 per week allowance for his second home (£230 above the national average, and working out to a huge £19,760 per year). In addition to this, Mr Foster’s ‘miscellaneous’ claims per year total over £5,000 and have risen by 60% since 2001. Obviously as Don gets more and more used to rubbing shoulders with the shower of cheats and liars that pass themselves off as our leaders, he gets more and more comfortable with helping himself to a plush life using our cash. But, on a salary of a mere £65,000 a year, can we blame poor Don for claiming an additional total of £92,000, including expenses, secretarial services and ‘miscellaneous’ expenses in 2007?

As if this weren’t enough, Don makes a nice little earner for his political career by accepting huge wedges of cash; £99,015.09 in 2007 alone to be exact, from a shady character with his roots in white collar crime. The super rich and super crooked Paul Strasburger is a local millionaire, owner of no less than three local estate agents and by far the largest bankroller of the local Lib Dems. While hugely distasteful, being a millionaire and a land shark is not technically a crime. What IS straying towards the illegal however is Strasburger’s dealings with a certain Michael Brown, another bankroller of the Lib Dems. While on the run for theft and money laundering (Brown is now hiding out in the Caribbean) police took an interest in searching the home of Strasburger who had put his house forward as Brown’s bail address. This is just another example of big business scratching the back of politicians – the old boys’ club in action – and adds to the image we are seeing more and more of the rich and political classes sneering at us while they rob for the poor and keep for themselves. Yet still, we can’t hold Don and his Dodgy big business pals solely responsible; after all, when in Rome…

…And The BNP Are At It, Too!

Wonk-eyed Nazi Nick Griffin has gone to great lengths to distance his party from their white supremacist, fascist image, dressing the party up as an alternative to corrupt mainstream politicians. But while the party has temporarily un-stiffened their arms, and tries not to be openly racist (an attempt foiled by even the lightest scrutiny), a brief look over their expenses claims show them to be just as bad as the rest. In Barking and Dagenham, seven BNP councillors attended only 27% of meetings while still pocketing their full £9,801 allowance. A BNP councillor in Sandwell attended none of the meetings at which he was expected and took the full allowance while the party’s 2007 accounts failed their audit as several grand of expenditure was not properly recorded. They have also been in trouble recently after being caught claiming some paid-up party members were self employed to avoid paying income tax and NI contributions. So, as well as being obviously racist (Nick Griffin recently expressed a hope of igniting a racial war while addressing a KKK rally in the USA, and has published books denying the Holocaust), violent and generally repressive and obnoxious, it turns out that the BNP are just as corrupt as the rest of them, and have been joining all the other parties in wallowing in unearned piles of our cash. Bastards, the lot of ‘em!

Nobody Wins Euro Elections

The recent European elections were a resounding defeat for mainstream political parties – and another example of how undemocratic the European Parliament actually is. Labour suffered their biggest setback since the birth of Tony Blair, UKIP struggled to keep the votes they already had, whilst leftist mainstream parties such as the Greens made significant gains. However, the real winner was Nobody. Europe-wide, an incredible 57% voted for Nobody – 65% in the UK – an astonishing mandate for social change on a scale unseen since the inception of the Liberal party in the 1870s.

Unfortunately, and to the disgust of a disillusioned electorate across the continent, the EU REFUSED to acknowledge these votes, and declared that all the seats fairly won by Nobody would be REDISTRIBUTED amongst the other parties. And so we have a situation where parties such as the BNP, who took LESS votes in this election than the last, have taken seats in the EU Parliament for the first time in history.

In France in 2007 the state’s refusal to recognize a 16% vote for Nobody led to rioting in most major cities. Earlier this year, the Icelandic government’s refusal to allow Nobody to take positions of power democratically theirs contributed to the popular overthrow of that government. With the anger currently brewing across Europe, can similar uprisings be far away?

Art With A Capital ‘F’

Those dastardly johnnies from B.A.D. (Bath Arts Dictatorship) have been up to their old tricks again. This lot make up the secretive little cabal of the Bath Festivals committee who hide themselves away in their suite of rooms atop the city’s Tourist Information Centre, busily massaging their fantasies and egos, laying down the law to you, the Bath public, on vot you vill and vill not enjoy, ja?

Their latest two fingers-up to public opinion came in the form of a pair of monstrous and ugly mashed-wire-coathanger ‘sculptures’ by Gloucester ‘artist’ Sophie Ryder, which were dumped in Abbey Square in early April. These metal horrors have no link whatsoever to Bath, other than as a shop window for Ms Ryder’s other output, currently on sale at extortionate prices in the city’s Victoria Art Gallery. Are we seeing yet another B&NES-sponsored example of stealing from the poor to give to the rich?

In arguably one of the best and most enjoyable displays of direct-action ad hoc public comment since the Bush shoe-throwing episode, both beasts were pulled (or pushed) over at Easter weekend. The only thing which marred this display of sound artistic judgment was their miraculous resurrection by crane soon afterwards. How much public dosh was wasted on hoisting them back on their plinths?

Was it just coincidence that Bugs Bunny and pal Bully from TV programme ‘Bullseye’ pitched up at the same time as the Bath Comedy Festival? As they formed a backdrop to the comedy stage itself, how could anybody take them seriously? So is there a bunch of cultural worthies, not a million miles from Kingston Buildings, extracting the urine?

Care In The Co-Mutiny

Activists and groups, dreamers and schemers from across the southwest are coming together from the 12th to the 20th September in Bristol for a week of themed autonomous days of action and practical skill shares, promoting an alternative fairer and more positive future, in contrast to the current nightmare scenario of corporate greed, social injustice and environmental degradation. If you want to get involved and join the Co-Mutineers – you know you do – email comutiny [at] riseup.net.

http://www.comutiny.wordpress.com

Nobody Takes You Seriously Until You Have An Insane Arch-Nemesis

Bath Animal Action’s campaign against foie gras – overpriced liver from tortured ducks and geese, produced under such appalling conditions that only obscure EU trade laws allow its sale in the UK – remains defiant and committed in the face of one of the most reticent restaurateurs yet.

Upmarket tapas restaurant Minibar are still refusing to remove foie gras from their menu, despite bogus claims of ethical concerns, poor sales of the dish, and confessions to the Chronicle that they have a “terrible night” and lose money whenever protesters visit. The reason for this apparently suicidal devotion to cruel cuisine may be related to a small, balding and clearly unstable man claiming to co-own the restaurant. His combination of abuse, mockery and deliberately running down an activist with his expensive 4×4 has brightened up several dull nights already.

Despite an increasingly diverse and desperate array of responses – pushing an activist in the road, claiming to have proof that the food was ethically produced and then refusing to show it, the aforementioned vehicular assault, repeated and groundless threats of arrest from an openly one-sided police farce, and being bored to death for hours by an idiot who could barely hold an opinion for five minutes, let alone an argument – the campaigners have vowed to fight for a foie-gras free Bath!

www.banfoiegras.org.uk/
www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/foiegras/index.html

Upping The Veg-Ante

Last month’s Bristol Vegan Fayre – an annual celebration of vegan food, health and animal-cruelty-free ethics – went shiningly on the 30th and 31st May at Bristol’s Harbourside. Open to people of all dietary decisions, the food and drink flowed freely, particularly the free samples of chocolate and delicious fake meats, and there were stunning displays of Sikh swordfighting, and a solid line-up of reggae and rock over both days. Also on offer were info stalls on nutrition, charities, animal rescue centres and campaigning groups – although unfortunately there were slightly fewer vendors and higher costs this year, and a more commercialised atmosphere than previously: with stalls reflecting the social issues connected to veganism being relegated to out-of-the-way spots in favour of companies intent on tapping into the burgeoning vegan market. Still, a somewhat more grassroots vegan fayre is planned for Bath in late Summer/early September, so keep your eyes peeled.

http://www.bristolveganfayre.co.uk

Bath Activist Network are a local umbrella group campaigning on issues as diverse as development, environmentalism, anti-war, animal rights, workers’ rights and more. Helping to produce The Bath Bomb, we are open to anyone, and our members range from trade unionists to anarchists, liberals to greens, and people who just want to change Bath for the better. For details on meetings, demos, or just to get in touch, email bathactivistnet [at] yahoo.co.uk, or see our website: http://www.bathactivistnetwork.blogspot.com

GOT A STORY? WANT TO RECEIVE THE BATH BOMB BY EMAIL? HOPING TO SUE? Contact us by e-mailing bathbombpress [at] yahoo.co.uk. Large print e-versions available on request.GOT A STORY? WANT TO RECEIVE THE BATH BOMB BY EMAIL? HOPING TO SUE? Contact us by e-mailing bathbombpress [at] yahoo.co.uk. Large print e-versions available on request.

And now, to the disclaimer: As anyone is free to contribute, the opinions expressed in each article are not necessarily reflective of each contributor. Naturally, any right-wing or corporate bullshit will be binned and spat on. Needless to say, the opinions of the author of this disclaimer does not necessarily represent the views of any other contributor…

For further info on any of our stories see www.thebathbomb.blogspot.com

World Naked Bike Rides UK (& Manchester Critical Mass)

Brighton:

In Brighton, organisers of the seven-mile ride were warned by Sussex Police last month that participants could face prosecution if officers received complaints about the nudity.

But, after advice from civil liberties group Liberty, cyclists entered discussions with local police chiefs and resolved the impasse.

Brighton:

In Brighton, organisers of the seven-mile ride were warned by Sussex Police last month that participants could face prosecution if officers received complaints about the nudity.

But, after advice from civil liberties group Liberty, cyclists entered discussions with local police chiefs and resolved the impasse.

Co-organiser Duncan Blinkhorn said: “This is a fun if outrageous way to make the serious point that we should not have to tolerate roads, cities and a planet dominated by the brutishness of cars that routinely foul the air we all breathe, destroy lives and impoverish the environment.”

—-

London:

On Saturday 12 June 2010 the seventh London World Naked Bike Ride will return to the streets of the capital, allowing riders to see the city sights from the comfort of a bike or skates. The ride is easy and upbeat, and riders decorate their bodies and bikes with messages of protest against oil dependency and car culture.

Around 1200 riders turned out for the London World Naked Bike Ride on Saturday, completing a 10km circuit through some of the major tourist and shopping streets of the capital and as in previous rides creating quite a stir for the five minutes or so while they passed.

London police, also on pedal cycles but fully clothed, accompanied the cyclists and eased their passage through the traffic. Nudity is not in itself an offence and police allow the now annual protest to take place.

Crowds several deep lined the edge of the road in popular tourist spots including Trafalgar Square, and even many of the shoppers in Oxford St stopped consuming to watch, although from the many comments I heard, many were unclear about the purpose of the event.

Some riders did have slogans on their bodies, mainly about oil and traffic, and some bikes carried A4 posters reading REAL RIGHTS FOR BIKE and CELEBRATE BODY FREEDOM or had flags stating ‘CURB CAR CULTURE’ which made clear the purpose of the event to the careful onlooker, but for most people it seemed simply a spectacle of naked or near-naked bodies. Though of course also a rare treat for any bicycle spotters.

Riders rode in a variety of dress and undress. Apart from shoes – virtually essential on a bike – some wore nothing, while others added body paint, cycle helmets, hats, shorts or briefs, bras and often a camera; a few rode fully dressed. As on previous events there were considerably more men than women, something that isn’t fully reflected in my pictures. Although there were fewer women, more of them were in colourful body paint or otherwise stood out from the crowd.

This is an event that many – riders and watchers – enjoy and something that really does make thousands of people stop and stare, but as in previous years it seems to fail to get a clear message across, perhaps because those taking part do so for such varied reasons. This isn’t essentially a naturist rally and nudity alone just isn’t enough to get the point of the event across.

* London is the largest daytime WNBR event in the world. We had 1,200 participants on Saturday 13 June 2009!!! Previously we had 1,000 (2007 & 2008), 800 (2006), 250 (2005) and 58 (2004).

—-

Manchester:

The weather was perfect, the riders were exceptional and the starting point was lovely. We rode in joy and fun and lots of noise for almost the whole route and the crowds loved us. It all went a bit pear-shaped on Portland Street when some well-intentioned but sadly ill-informed constabulary stopped the ride and tried to make us get dressed. We undressed around the corner anyway, and we did get a lot of wonderful media coverage. It ain’t gonna happen again folks, we’ll make sure of that! Next year’s going to have the best ride ever!

—-

Sheffield:

There were 18 naked riders which was down from last year’s 27 participants, although the weather was just as nice and sunny with a warm gentle breeze. The golden sunshine and clear blue skies, made it a wonderful day for everbody. This year, as it was our second annual ride, we were hoping for around one hundred naked riders. However, as the London WNBR was held in the afternoon, this may have lowered the turn out as folk thronged to the London ride which had over one thousand riders.

—-

Southampton:

On a dry and ‘warm enough’ evening 150 riders attended. The convoy was led in fine style by a pair of Penny Farthings dating from the 1890s. We felt that these vehicles from a time before the internal combustion engine neatly debunked the foolish idea that roads are made for cars! Helped by the stately pace of the vintage bikes, the ride stayed closely bunched together which gave a sense of unity. We were greeted warmly by bystanders as we passed, and most car drivers were tolerant (though there were the odd few aggressive exceptions). Though numbers were about the same as last year, it seemed to me there was a greater show of nakedness this time, so hoorah for Southampton riders!

—-

York:

AN 87-year-old woman was among the participants in this year’s York Naked Bike Ride.

Margaret Dustman, who lived in Acomb for more than 50 years before moving to Mirfield, said she took part because she was against people’s devotion to petrol and fashion.

Mrs Dustman cycled off in the altogether, but others were there in various states of undress, wearing Indian headdress, bikinis and various slogans daubed on their bodies.

Other reports, photos and things at http://www.worldnakedbikeride.org/uk/

—-

The Critical Masses in Manchester have been attended by well over 100 people each month, for the last couple of years – hoorah!

Videos of May 2009 ride parts 1 2 3 4

See you there – every last friday of the month 6pm central library MCR

—-

3rd, 4th and 5th of july amsterdam cyclist declare a war on cars

When the wars on cars begin we’ll have: critical masses, alley cat races, tall bike joustings, bike wars, bike polo, road blockades, workshops, infostands, food not bombs, parties and a lot of fun! Bike action days, this summer in amsterdam.

Manifesto

Since there is so little time left to prevent climate change to turn into catastrophic disaster we consider it irresponsible to invest in any type of fossil fuels. To give way to the same corrupted industries that got us in this mess in the first place is rediculous. Still the government is constructing more roads and highways, more lanes on existing highways, and investing in more industry and world trade. Even ‘Agro-fuels’ are not going to save the world. On the contrairy they will starve most of the world’s population. The oil-age is at its end and western society is clasping on to its unfairly acquired concentration of wealth and luxury. Now not only devastating life elsewhere on this planet but with climate change also making sure that in the future of the whole earth will not be so pleasant and bio-divers.

We are not going to take it anymore! When the war on cars begins we will send out a message to car users that they do not have ultimate priority in public space anymore, that cars are outdated technology since oil will not be affordable for ever and that we demand a healthy earth for the next generations. We will temporarily reclaim some public space for games and fun, promoting bikes and demanding more space and facilities for bikes, and for informing people about alternatives to an oil-based society.

Throughout the weekend there will be an ´alley-cat´-race, a carrier bike (bakfiets) race, tall bike jousting and bike wars. To enter an event send an email of your team name and which event to enter to or just show up with your (carrier)bike, tall bike or warbike. Also a lot of help is needed in organizing, and mobilizing. Especially outside Amsterdam and Holland! So get in touch, inform your surroundings, get involved, get active!

bikesnotcars@gmail.com
http://bikesnotcars.wordpress.com

Climate Rush Pedal Power

…A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED START-OF-SUMMER BIKE RIDE!

On Monday 1st June the UK Parliament returns from recess for the summer sitting.
We want to give them a warm welcome and remind them of the heat they can expect if they continue to ignore climate change.

…A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED START-OF-SUMMER BIKE RIDE!

Ed Miliband (Secretary of State Energy and Climate Change) is in Bonn that evening, discussing with other ‘world leaders’ the agenda for the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen. Let’s give our ‘leaders’ a taste of the civil disobedience they can expect if real climate justice fails to materialise.

It is also the first evening of a coal conference at the illustrious ‘Chatham House’. Everyone who’s anyone, at least in the coal world, will be there.

We’ll begin our bike-ride outside their conference before winding our way through town.

Meet us from 5pm on St James Square, SW1Y 4LE. We’ll then move off at 6pm and take our bikes for a relaxed tour through London. Labour might think that investing in electric cars is the solution to climate change but we know that cars using electricity from coal-fired power stations is yet another red-herring.

The Coal caravan has arrived in West Yorkshire! AND daily blog

29.04.2009
The coal caravan is now in West Yorkshire and has visited Fairburn Ings which is threatened with open casting and Ferrbybridge power station which will burn the coal.

The Coal Caravan reaches Ferrybridge

29.04.2009
The coal caravan is now in West Yorkshire and has visited Fairburn Ings which is threatened with open casting and Ferrbybridge power station which will burn the coal.

The Coal Caravan reaches Ferrybridge

The Coal caravan has arrived in West Yorkshire! After a day of cycling 54 miles in the rain the caravan has set up in Pontefract.

Today activists and locals walked from Pontefract to Fairburn Ings, a site which will be devastated by open cast coal mining if HJ banks and the Ledstone Estate are given the go ahead to remove coal. On the way we passed the monstrosity which is Ferrybridge power station and were able to see exactly where the coal from the Fairburn Ings area will be burned. The coal taken from this area will only power the three local power stations for 11 days, yet it is predicted to take 50 years for the area to recover. The affects on global warming will be felt indefinitely if we don’t move away from a coal based power source, to renewable technology fast.

Last night the Caravan had an evening of discussion around the history of coal and the future of coal. The event was booked to take place at Pontefract New College, but the police leant on the college and then told the public the event had been cancelled. Thankfully we were still able to go ahead with the event in the Town Hall instead! The police have been overly present at some aspects of the caravan, but this has simply increased the public’s curiosity with our events and shown how much the police waste their time.

This evening the Caravan will show the Age of Stupid in Pontefract Library.

Tomorrow we cycle North, towards events in Durham and the North East. If you are interested in the caravan there is still time to come along. We have a full timetable over the bank holiday weekend with the local community and extra hands would be welcome. Please check out our website for details of accommodation and ring the caravan on 07729575582 to let us know you are coming.

caravan@climatecamp.org.uk
http://www.coalcaravan.org.uk

Daily blog during journey – http://coalcaravan.wordpress.com/

Arrest @ CRITICAL MASS in Elephant and Castle in London – ACAB

25.04.2009
One person was arrested after the mass today… the cops surrounded us in elephant, started being aggressive and arrested one person…

We were just arriving in elephant and castle and the coppers sent at least 4 police cars to welcome us at the elephant roundabout.

25.04.2009
One person was arrested after the mass today… the cops surrounded us in elephant, started being aggressive and arrested one person…

We were just arriving in elephant and castle and the coppers sent at least 4 police cars to welcome us at the elephant roundabout.

After one round of the roundabout we all stopped in the green area and we had a 1 min commemoration about one cyclist killed in the roundabout.
soon after the police come and surround us … there are about 15/20 cops… one person probably pissing on the grass has been told off by the police…

the person reply with bad words… he does not speak english well… being from netherland…

end of the story police start getting violent, other people try to help… coppers take him away…

THERE WERE NO REASON TO COME AND HARASS PEOPLE DOWN AT THE END OF THE MASS WHEN WE WERE JUST HAVING GOOD TIME AND BEING PEACEFUL>>> ONCE AGAINST THE POLICE MANAGED TO INSTIGATE VIOLENCE AND REPRESS PEOPLE FREEDOM TO CYCLE…

Coppers F.O.

a masser….

Coal caravan coming very soon – route info & how to book if you are coming – & phone number

COAL CARAVAN
24 April-4 May 2009

Hello !

**Now we’re enroute, contact us by phone if you are planning to join us and want to get in touch then please call 07729575582**

COAL CARAVAN
24 April-4 May 2009

Hello !

**Now we’re enroute, contact us by phone if you are planning to join us and want to get in touch then please call 07729575582**

Here is the latest route plan and event diary for the coal caravan as well as the nearest train stations for people who wish to join us along the way.

Remember you need to tell us where you are joining/leaving the caravan!
http://sounddevastation.co.uk/coalcaravan/booking.html

There is alot of cycling involved! We will be cycling up to 45 miles per day (though usually less) and it will not be flat. We will however have different paced parties to accommodate the fastest and the slowest, but this is a great excuse to do some training at get fit!

You will need a working bike (see the Bicycology website for advice on on basic maintenance www.bicycology.org.uk/guide_pages.htm).

You will also need to be able to carry all your belongings on your bike (see www.bicycology.org.uk/guide_pages.htm) as there will be no support vehicle.

If you plan to join us after the Friday night, please make sure you arrive before 8.30am or after 6pm.

You can view a Google map of the route here, though be aware it is subject to change. http://tinyurl.com/coalcaravanroute

There will be some people travelling the route by bus, email for more information.

Fri 24th April
Meet at the Sumac Centre in Nottingham at around 3pm, for a bicycle fix-up workshop, Critical Mass, and a great vegan meal, before a send-off party in co-operation with the Demo ethical nightclub project.
Nearest train station – Nottingham

Sat 25th
Cycle to Shipley, Derbyshire, where we will be holding an activity afternoon and an evening event.
Nearest train station – Nottingham (morning) Langley Mill (evening)

Sun 26th
A walk with local activists around the Shipley open cast site. This will include talks on the natural history and wildlife of the area.
Nearest train station – Langley Mill (all day)

Mon 27th
Cycle to Doncaster
Nearest train station – Langley Mill (morning) Doncaster (evening)

Tues 28th
A press call outside Ed Milliband’s constituency office at 10am, then cycle to Pontefract doing outreach and visiting sites along the way. The evening event is “the History of Coal; the future of coal”, at The Main Hall, Pontefract College. Curry supper from 6pm., with discussion from 7.
Nearest train station – Doncaster (morning) Pontefract (evening)

Wed 29th
A walk to Ferrybridge power station, and from there to the site of the proposed open-cast near Fairbairn Ings/Ledstone, then in the evening to Pontefract library for a bicycle powered screening of the Age of Stupid.
Nearest train station – Pontefract (all day)

Thurs 30th
Cycling north, visiting sites and talking to people all the way.
Nearest train station – Pontefract (morning) Ripon(evening)

Fri 1st May
Cycling north.
Nearest train station – Ripon (morning) Newton Aycliffe (evening)

Sat 2nd
Cycle to Dipton, Stanley, Co. Durham, where there will be a welcome event about the Coal Caravan 7pm.
Nearest train station – Newton Aycliffe (morning) Durham (evening)

Sun 3rd
10.30am meet at Dipton Community Centre for a site walk in the beautiful area around Bradley. We will have a local historian on the walk which will be 4-5 miles, off road and unsuitable for buggies. The evening event will be “The History of Coal; The Future of Coal” at 7.30pm, Dipton Community Centre.
Nearest train station – Durham (all day)

Mon 4th
Workshops about campaign strategies and action training in the Church Hut at Cambois, North of Blyth. 10- 6pm. There will be children’s workshops and games from 11.30am please bring bikes. 7.30pm Cambois Miner’s Institute, a bicycle powered screening of the Age of Stupid.
Nearest train station – Durham (morning) Cramlington (evening)

Tues 5th
Relax then head home by train in the afternoon. You will need to book your train!
Nearest train station – Cramlington (all day)

Email: caravan@climatecamp.org.uk
Post: Coal Caravan, c/o 245 Gladstone St, Nottingham, NG7 6HX
www.coalcaravan.org.uk

Why climate camping & other protest? Ecological debt day for your city…coming soon!

Ecological debt: no way back from bankrupt

While most governments’ eyes are on the banking crisis, a much bigger issue – the environmental crisis – is passing them by, says Andrew Simms. In the Green Room this week, he argues that failure to organise a bailout for ecological debt will have dire consequences for humanity.

“Nature Doesn’t Do Bailouts!” said the banner strung across Bishopsgate in the City of London.

Civilisation’s biggest problem was outlined in five words over the entrance to the small, parallel reality of the peaceful climate camp. Their tents bloomed on the morning of 1 April faster than daisies in spring, and faster than the police could stop them.

Across the city, where the world’s most powerful people met simultaneously at the G20 summit, the same problem was almost completely ignored, meriting only a single, afterthought mention in a long communique.

World leaders dropped everything to tackle the financial debt crisis that spilled from collapsing banks.

Gripped by a panic so complete, there was no policy dogma too deeply engrained to be dug out and instantly discarded. We went from triumphant, finance-driven free market capitalism, to bank nationalisation and moving the decimal point on industry bailouts quicker than you can say sub-prime mortgage.

But the ecological debt crisis, which threatens much more than pension funds and car manufacturers, is left to languish.

It is like having a Commission on Household Renovation agonise over which expensive designer wallpaper to use for papering over plaster cracks whilst ignoring the fact that the walls themselves are collapsing on subsiding foundations.

Beyond our means

Each year, humanity’s ecological overdraft gets larger, and the day that the world as a whole goes into ecological debt – consuming more resources and producing more waste than the biosphere can provide and absorb – moves ever earlier in the year.

The same picture emerges for individual countries like the UK – which now starts living beyond its own environmental means in mid-April.

Because the global economy is still overwhelmingly fossil-fuel dependent, the accumulation of greenhouse gases and the prognosis for global warming remain our best indicators of “overshoot”.

World famous French free-climber Alain Robert, known as Spiderman, climbed the Lloyds of London building for the OneHundredMonths.org campaign as the G20 met, to demonstrate how time is slipping away.

Using thresholds for risk identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on current trends, in only 92 months – less than eight years – we will move into a new, more perilous phase of warming.

It will then no longer be “likely” that we can prevent some aspects of runaway climate change. We will begin to lose the climatic conditions which, as Nasa scientist James Hansen points out, were those under which civilisation developed.

Small dividend

As “nature doesn’t do bailouts”, how have our politicians fared who ripped open the nation’s wallet to save the banks?

Not good.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UK spent a staggering 20% of its GDP in support of the financial sector.

Yet the amount of money that was new and additional, announced in the “green stimulus” package of the Treasury’s Pre-Budget Report, added-up to a vanishingly small 0.0083% of GDP.

Globally, the green shade of economic stimulus measures has varied enormously. For example, the shares of spending considered in research by the bank HSBC to be environmental were:

* the US – 12%
* Germany – 13%
* South Korea – 80%

The international average was around 15%. HSBC found the UK planned to invest less than 7% of its stimulus package (different from the bank bailout) in green measures.

Comparing the IMF and HSBC figures actually reveals an inverse relationship – proportionately, those who spent more on support for finance had weaker green spending.

So here we are, faced with the loss of an environment conducive to human civilisation, and we find governments prostrate before barely repentant banks, with their backs to a far worse ecological crisis.

Extreme markets

On top of low and inconsistent funding for renewable energy, the shift to a low carbon economy is being further frustrated by another market failure in the trade for carbon seen, for example, in the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme.

Bad market design, feeble carbon reduction targets and the recession have all conspired to drive down the cost of carbon emission permits, wrecking economic incentives to grow renewable energy.

Worse still, the difficulty of accounting to ensure that permits represent real emissions has led both energy companies and environmentalists to warn of an emerging “sub-prime carbon market”.

Relying on market mechanisms is attractive to governments because it means they have less to do themselves. But they will fail if carbon markets are just hot air.

There seems to be a hard-wired link between memory failure and market failure.

As the historian E J Hobsbawm observed in The Age of Extremes: “Those of us who lived through the years of the Great Slump still find it almost impossible to understand how the orthodoxies of the pure free market, then so obviously discredited, once again came to preside over a global period of depression in the late 1980s and 1990s”.

Perhaps the greatest failure is one of imagination.

Some people alive today lived through those past recessions and depressions. They know they can be nasty and need averting.

But the last time the Earth’s climate really flipped was at the end of the last Ice Age, more than 10,000 years ago. No one can remember what that felt like.

Lessons of history

Looking forward, the IPCC’s worst case scenario warns of a maximum 6C rise over the next century.

Looking back, however, indicates that an unstable climate system holds worse horrors.

Work by the scientist Richard Alley on abrupt climate change indicates the planet has previously experienced a 10C temperature shift in only a decade, and possibly “as quickly as in a single year”.

And, around the turn of the last Ice Age, there were “local warmings as large as 16C”.

Imagine that every day of your life you have taken a walk in the woods and the worse thing to happen was an acorn or twig falling on your head.

Then, one day, you stroll out, look up and there is a threat approaching so large, unexpected and outside your experience that can’t quite believe it, like a massive gothic cathedral falling from the sky.

In tackling climate change we need urgently to recalibrate our responses, just as governments had to when they rescued the reckless finance sector.

Then officials had to ask themselves “is what we are doing right, and is it enough?”

They must ask themselves the same questions on the ecological debt crisis and climate change.

The difference is, that if they fail this time, not even a long-term business cycle will come to our rescue. If the climate shifts to a hotter state not convivial to human society, it could be tens of thousands of years, or never, before it shifts back.

Remember; nature doesn’t do bailouts.

Andrew Simms is policy director of the New Economics Foundation (nef), and author of Ecological Debt: Global Warming and the Wealth of Nations

——

One Planet Living http://www.oneplanetliving.org

Your city’s Ecological Debt Day:

Using the latest data available WWF has calculated when residents of British cities will have consumed their fair share of natural resources for 2008 – or when their ecological debt day is.

City Ecological debt day

Winchester 10 April
St Albans 13 April
Chichester 14 April
Brighton & Hove 14 April
Canterbury 17 April
Oxford 17 April
Southampton 21 April
Durham 22 April
Cambridge 23 April
Portsmouth 23 April
Edinburgh 23 April
Chester 24 April
Aberdeen 24 April
Ely (East Cambs) 26 April
Hereford (County of Herefordshire) 28 April
Stirling 28 April
London 29 April
Lichfield 29 April
Lancaster 30 April
Newcastle upon Tyne 30 April
Wells (Bath and NE Somerset) 1 May
Bath (Bath and North East Somerset) 1 May
Ripon (Harrogate) 2 May
Manchester 2 May
Inverness (Highland) 2 May
Preston 2 May
Norwich 2 May
Peterborough 2 May
Dundee City 3 May
Leeds 3 May
York 3 May
Sheffield 3 May
Derby 4 May
Carlisle 4 May
Leicester 4 May
Worcester 4 May
Bangor (Gwynedd) 4 May
St Davids (Pembrokeshire)4 May
Nottingham 4 May
Liverpool 4 May
Bristol 5 May
Birmingham 5 May
Lincoln 5 May
Bradford 5 May
Glasgow 6 May
Cardiff 6 May
Exeter 6 May
Coventry 7 May
Swansea 8 May
Salford 8 May
Wolverhampton 8 May
Truro (Carrick) 8 May
Sunderland 8 May
Wakefield 9 May
Gloucester 9 May
Stoke on Trent 10 May
Kingston upon Hull 10 May
Salisbury 10 May
Plymouth 11 May
Newport 11 May