London – Page 23 – Earth First!

Palm Oil Gala Dinner & Dance pictures

The Climate Rush held a Gala Dinner and Dance outside the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, London last night (1 July 2009) as a protest against the deforestation of tropical forests to grow biofuel crops.

A jazz band played, and suffragettes and orang-utans danced in the street outside the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair as profiteers from global despoliation were having their own party inside.

Tropical forests are being felled, releasing vast amounts of carbon dioxide, to grow biofuel crops such as palm oil. Global corporations are making huge profits, indigenous peoples are illegally forced off their land and wildlife in these areas is largely eliminated.

As the Climate Rush flyer states, “90% of orangutans have disappeared since the Suffragettes first appeared 100 years ago.

The event started with a picnic in the park, the garden of Grosvenor Square opposite the hotel. Then the jazz band began to play and people moved out onto half of the street, rejecting the pen police had created “for your safety”. Many demonstrators waved and posed and shouted greetings to Neil, the police photographer who was photographing and filming the event.

After dancing on the street for around half an hour there was a “rush” across the street to the hotel doorway, which made little impression on the row of police across its front. Many of the police seemed rather amused throughout the event, although there were one or two who slightly lost their temper in the rush itself, and at one point two people were rather roughly thrown to the ground by a small police charge. Neither seemed badly injured.

Following this, a number of the demonstrators sat down on the road for a while. Half of the police then withdrew and watched from around 100 yards down the road. Eventually people got up and briefly danced a conga, then decided to go back into the park to continue their picnic, and I went home for dinner.

Update from the Kew Bridge Eco Village

Week 2…

Since arriving on the 6th June, we have cleared the site of most of the rubbish, put our tents up, built a compost toilet and a kitchen, and have built a half roundhouse as a communal structure!

Week 2…

Since arriving on the 6th June, we have cleared the site of most of the rubbish, put our tents up, built a compost toilet and a kitchen, and have built a half roundhouse as a communal structure!

We have opened the gates to the local community and so far we have had full support from the neighbours and those in the nearby communities, as well as the local businesses and some unofficial support from certain local councillors. So far we have received a load of donations, including plants, wood, tents and building materials, but we are always in need of more things. Please check our wish list in the discussion page of our facebook group!

Our gates are open everyday as we are essentially a community garden. We encourage everyone from the local area to pay us a visit and share their ideas about what we should do with the land, as well as getting them to help us plant our vegetables and also just to chill out and get to know us all.

We will hold a public meeting every Thursday night at 7pm on site, and we shall try to make every Saturday an event filled open day.

Needless to say, we still welcome everybody from all over London and the world. We have had quite a few international visitors lately! Everyone is welcome to come and stay as long as they follow site rules which include no drugs and alcohol, as well as being considerate to others and you must actively participate as a member of the community.

We especially welcome anyone with any skills or knowledge which may be useful or interesting. We encourage people to hold workshops to share their skills, whether it is about common law, herbal remedies, yoga, or even how to make didgeridoos or repair bicycles! Or even if you know nothing but just want to learn, come along too!

We are in the process of setting up a proper website where we can publish our wish list, pod casts, and an event diary for all the workshops we will be holding.

Until then, please follow us on twitter! http://twitter.com/KewEcoVillage

Please come and visit us! We are open between 11 am and 8 pm, and are located at 2 Kew Bridge Rd, Brentford. Our nearest station is ‘Kew Bridge’ and the nearest tube is ‘Gunnersbury’.

Kew Bridge Eco Villagers

Hands Off Lewisham Bridge – Eviction Alert – Call for support

An eviction notice has been served on the occupation at Lewisham Bridge.

Bailiffs are arriving at 10.30 on Wednesday morning.

An eviction notice has been served on the occupation at Lewisham Bridge.

Bailiffs are arriving at 10.30 on Wednesday morning.

Hands Off Lewisham Bridge are asking for your support in resisting the eviction. We need as many people as possible to stay overnight on Tuesday. If you can’t stay overnight then please come down as early as possible on Wednesday morning to support the occupation.

We want to let Lewisham Council know that they are evicting people who have been peacefully protesting over the destruction of community education at our school.

Lewisham Council still don’t have planning permission for their new school. Lewisham Council still haven’t told us why the decant had to take place at Easter, when children were taking SATs and banding tests. Lewisham Council still haven’t told us why they are prepared to wash their hands of the responsibility of educating our children.

If Lewisham Bridge Primary School is given to Leathersellers we parents will have no say in the governance of our school. Staff will be employed by Leathersellers who will set their own terms and conditions taking those teachers out of a collective national teaching body.

This is privatisation! This is bringing the market into our kids’ education, where the only motivation is profit and the only measure is league table.

Trusts and academies will compete for those children they believe to be desirable and leave those whom they don’t on the scrapheap. Why have Prendergast rejected the Travellers Education Service that used to be based at the school? Why have Prendergast rejected the proposal to establish a SEN (Special Educational Needs) unit at the new school?

A consultation process has already started for a trust led by Goldsmiths University which will govern 3 schools: Addey & Stanhope, Deptford Green and Crossways. It is a process that has exactly the same goal. To take our schools out of the public sector and hand them over to the private sector.

We cannot let them get away with this. We can fight this together and we can win!

Come down to Lewisham Bridge Primary School and let the bailiffs know that we’re not going easily.

Hands Off Lewisham Bridge

07946 541 331

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/timbo.davies#/group.php?gid=94554226367

Climate activists blockade Peruvian Embassy & companies list

19 June 2009
Climate change activists have blocked the entrance to the Peruvian Embassy today in protest the country’s killing of indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest.

Up to 100 people have been killed in recent clashes over attempts to extract oil, gas, minerals and timber from the forest where indigenous people have lived for centuries. On June 5, the government’s security forces attacked a peaceful blockade, leading to bloodshed on both sides with 30-100 estimated deaths, over 100 injuries and numerous disappearances.

Since the clashes, the Peruvian government has suspended some exploitation in the area, but it is unclear whether some companies will be allowed to continue.

Protesters from London Camp for Climate Action are demanding to deliver a letter of protest to Peruvian Ambassador Ricardo Luna. The calls for oil and gas companies in the Amazon to suspend their operations until the government agrees to peaceful negotiations with local representatives; for an independent and impartial inquiry into the violence; and for the lifting of all charges against Alberto Pizango (the President of Peru’s Amazon Indian organisation, AIDESEP)

Protester Sam Gardener said: “This protest is to show solidarity with the thousands of indigenous people that are risking, and sometimes losing, their lives to protect their homes in the Amazon.

“By destroying the Amazon rainforest to extract fossil fuels, we are accelerating catastrophic climate change. The Amazon removes vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. By cutting it down to remove yet more fossil fuels we are speeding towards a worldwide catastrophe.”

—

15.6.09: Lively and well attended demo at the Embassy by Colectivo Peruano, together with the Coordinadora Latinoamericana, and was supported by Latin American Youth Against Violence

—

Some of the companies with new contracts in the Amazon and elsewhere in Peru (signed April 2009, some individually and some as part of a consortium with Perupetro) that I can find (but unable to secure direct links/locations in the UK) are:

Pluspetrol – http://www.pluspetrol.net/
Reliance – http://www.reliancepetroleum.com/
CNPC – http://www.cnpc.com.cn/eng/
Petroperu – http://www.cnpc.com.cn/eng/
Faulkner Suits Exploration (US)
Olympic (US or Canadian)
Petrolifera – http://www.petrolifera.ca/
Pan Andean Resources (Dublin based) – http://www.panandeanresources.com/contact/
Kei (Australia)
PetroVietnam (Vietnam)
Golden Oil – http://www.goldenoilcorp.com/new/english/company/company01_4.php

However, some of these companies DO have UK based offices and trading:

EMERALD ENERGY PLC
http://www.emeraldenergy.com/contact.htm
With a registered office in London.

CONOCO PHILLIPS
http://www.conocophillips.co.uk/ContactUs/index.htm
An American company that is reported to have a new “mega concession” of 10.5 million hectares in the Amazon for oil exploration.
Offices and activities in London, Aberdeen, Teesside, Humber, Theddlethorpe, Warwick

There’s a report on their activities in Peru here: http://www.amazonwatch.org/conoco2009.pdf

The situation in Peru currently is dire…. the indigenous communities have been mobilizing and resisting since April and at this time when their leaders are threatened with arrest and there are widespread murders and disappearances occurring it is key that those of us benefitting from these explorations (in the Global North) do what we can to show solidarity and to put the pressure directly on the companies that are treating Peru as a smorgasboard of ways out of the current economic crisis…

Happy J18 – Ten Year Anniversary – Pics + Links

June 18th 2009
Ten year’s ago today and a global Carnival Against Capital was erupting across the world with co-ordinated protests taking place in over 40 countries on June 18th 1999.

June 18th 2009
Ten year’s ago today and a global Carnival Against Capital was erupting across the world with co-ordinated protests taking place in over 40 countries on June 18th 1999.

Directly targeting financial centres the J18 day of International Action was stunning in its scale and ran alongside the G7/G8 meeting in Koln Germany. It followed the Global Street Party that had been held alongside the G7/G8 meeting in Birmingham in 1998 and co-ordinated through Reclaim The Streets.

To remember it, here’s a set of 23 pictures from London J18 courtesy of a photographer who was there for the morning and the party, but who missed the ensuing riot as police fought to regain control of the City of London.

The reasons for struggle are greater now than then, and climate change and economic meltdowns threaten the lives and livelihoods of us all.

There’s too much to mention about J18, from the sheer joy of taking the City to the full-on battles, from the dancing and the masks to the spoof FT paper to pirate radio broadcasts, from the bricking up and storming of the London International Financial Futures Exchange to the knocking out of CCTV cameras, from the electronic disturbance actions to the beginnings of Indymedia, from the exhaustion to the recriminations and the state backlash against RTS and everyone else protesting for a better world.

But most of all it was GLOBAL: “Our Resistance is as Transnational as Capital”

See this collection of 2 pages of web links to original reports, websites, analysis, pictures and video:

http://www.delicious.com/directmedia/j18

Enjoy.

Greenwash Guerrillas confront the Guardian – Mon 15 Jun 09

Dateline: theguardian CLIMATE CHANGE SUMMIT 2009, Hotel Russell, London, UK, 08:30-09:30, Mon 15 Jun 09 – Despite climate criminal corporation E.ON’s efforts to bag billions of quid from the British State to build new filthy dirty coal fired power stations at Kingsnorth, north Kent and elsewhere, the Guardian still too

* theguardian MULTICULTURAL SUMMIT 2009, sponsored by the BNP?
* theguardian GEOGRAPHY SUMMIT 2009, sponsored by the Flat Earth Society?
* theguardian ABORTION RIGHTS SUMMIT 2009, sponsored by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children?

The Greenwash Guerillas, London Brigade, Detection Platoon #1 could not let this obscenity go un-protested!

Vidz at YouTube

• Greenwash Guerrillas – 1. Action
» youtube.com/watch?v=NzEASynZxck

• Greenwash Guerrillas – 2. Interviews
» youtube.com/watch?v=M5A6NYpvArs

An excellent full colour spoof edition of the Guardian, using the newspaper’s own articles from the last year to expose the destructive role E.ON is playing in the UK’s fight against climate change, was available en mass for distribution to summit attendees, and a couple of plucky comrades infiltrated the venue early doors to distribute them.

Greenwash Guerillas actions work best without interference from the filth, but because this event had already attracted activist attention…
• Greenwash Alert – Guardian Climate Change Summit (17 Apr 09)
» www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/leedsbradford/2009/04/427737.html
…a Press Release was published in advance…
• Greenwash Guerrillas Targeting Guardian Climate Change Summit (14 Jun 09)
» www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/06/432268.html
…and sure enough Plod turned up mob-handed.

However… the cop-in-charge, a Sgt Saltmarsh – EK 10, was unlike any cop I’ve come across before – communicative, co-operative, open to compromise and negotiation, even charming, while at the same being controlling and coercive. As we donned our white ‘greenwash hazard’ suits in leafy Russell Square, he approached us and told us of the pen we’d be restricted to, on the opposite corner of a crossroads from the summit entrance to the Russell Rooms in the Russell Hotel, wherein the summit was being held. But… although he mentioned that our two infiltrator comrades were ejected from the venue, he said he’d made sure a copy of our spoof Guardian was on every attendees seat inside. Whether this was actually so remains unverified. And… I found it easy to negotiate freedom from being penned for media news gatherers (myself and a videographer documentary film-maker), such that when a couple of cop bottom-feeders tried to interfere with my recording the event on camera, I could say, “We’ve already secured a freedom arrangement for media workers with your sergeant – you need to speak to him,” which terminated their interference and put them on the defensive.

We initially occupied the wide pavement space outside the summit entrance, and lashed our TOXIC GREENWASH HAZARD banner to the railings flanking the Russell Rooms entrance. A hotel manager emerged and began taking it down – and in a later confab with Sgt Saltmarsh, got his smug grin wiped off his face (oh, for a sensitive rifle microphone!). While threatening us with arrests under Section 12, Public Order Act 1986, Sgt Saltmarsh agreed to compromise over the location of the protester pen, and got his underlings to drag crash barriers across Herbrand Street to opposite the Russell Rooms entrance. And two non-hazard-suited comrades were “allowed” to hand copies of our spoof Guardian to summit attendees as they arrived. But the modus operandi raison d’être of Greenwash Guerillas – consensually running e-scanners over arriving summit attendees, and interpreting the scanners’ “moop-moop-NEEK” noise as “TOXIC GREENWASH DETECTED”, as both a street-theatrical performance AND a serious conversation-starter – was completely negated by Sgt Saltmarsh’s impositions of Public Order Act conditions.

But… in conversations afterward, he intimated that his post-event intelligence report would emphasise how fluffy, peaceful, and (if only under the coercive threats of multiple Section 12 arrests) ultimately co-operative the Greenwash Guerillas were on this occassion. Who knows – maybe in future he’ll have no grounds for pre-judging our actions to entail a threat of “serious public disorder, serious criminal damage or serious disruption to the life of the community”, and we can protest without arrest threats? But I’m not holding my breath, so to speak – better by far to only send advance Press Releases embargoed until the action’s start time, or only send them at the action’s start time, so we’ve a higher chance of peaceful protest without ANY interference and obstruction from the filth.

Whatever Next?
I recommend another Government of the Dead protest production:
“New” Labour Zombie Lunchtime Lurch
• Date: Thu 18 Jun 09, 13:00 & lurching onwards to 15:00
• Rendezvous: “New” Labour Party HQ, 39 Victoria St, London, SW1H 0HA
• Shout Out: Brown barely survived the Parliamentary Labour Party meeting on Mon 08 Jun 09. Since he’s hanging on for grim death, we can look forward to a period of “Zombie Dead Man Walking” government in the run up to an election. Can we take the power to the streets? YES WE CAN!!
• Who-What: The Government of the Dead will be sending a whole lurch of zombies down there to “New” Labour Party HQ on Thu 18 Jun, from 13:00 lunchtime, when zombies could be hungry. Zombies are not known for their sense of direction, so they could head off to Parliament and Downing Street at a slow shuffle, or they might end up staggering across St James’ Park to Buckingham Palace, demanding to be dissolved and put out of their misery.
• Dress Code: this can be ordinary clothes, but torn up or bloodstained is a good look, especially with trendy blairite suits; on the other hand, why not go for the gothic?
• Makeup: green/white pale skin, good healthy look for a zombie, blood, wounds, sores all recommended; PVC glue gives good skin-peel effect.
• Locomotion: SLOW, gets there in the end.
» Location & Public Transport Map: tinyurl.com/NLZLL-map
» Facebook Event Page: tinyurl.com/NLZLL-FB
» Web: tinyurl.com/GotDead-future

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).

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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

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Thugs Seek Jobs at Shell HQ

The main doors at Shells headquarters were closed to staff at 9am today, 12 June as protesters dressed as ‘thugs’ turned up for a job interview. Shell security locked all doors as protesters tried to enter the building for what they said was a job interview “we hear Shell are hiring thugs to sink ships in Ireland”.

Protesters tried to enter the Headquarters but the doors were locked as they went in. The doors remained locked for about an hour and a half, despite the various demonstrations the protesters gave of their ‘thugery’ skills even simulating how they coud hold a fisherman captive why sinking his boat.

One of the protesters Samantha Johnson said “Shell have been hiring hit squads to terrorise local protesters at their activities abroad, as with the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta. Now, they have imported these methods to Ireland. Indeed, last month a former Shell security guard was identified as one of the mercenaries employed in an assassination plot in Bolivia”.

This protest is in response to an incident in Rossport, Ireland at 2am yesterday morning where 4 masked men sunk a local fisherman’s boat, with the owner and a crewmember still on it. 2 of the men were armed and held the fishermen while the others went below deck to sink the boat.

One of the protesters today Sean Reilly said “This shows the extremes Shell go to, to get what they want. They are willing to put 2 men in hospital for vocally expressing opposition.

Plane Stupid stage ‘Corporate Takeover’ at London City Airport

June 10th: 5 eco activists have shut down operations at London City Airport. The group, who are wearing pinstriped suits and bowler hats entered at 2.30 am today.

June 10th: 5 eco activists have shut down operations at London City Airport. The group, who are wearing pinstriped suits and bowler hats entered at 2.30 am today. They cut through the perimeter fence and formed a human wheel clamp around one of the airport’s business jet fleet at the west end of the runway. The need to avoid sparks around highly flamable aviation fuel could meen that the normal process of cutting them out of their armtubes could be severely hampered.

Check out the photos on our Flickr photostream.

Video

The ‘eco-takeover’ puts the spotlight on the selfishness of private jet use:

“Because of their low passenger capacity, small jets emit between five and 10 times more carbon per passenger than commercial flights,” said spokeswoman Nancy Birch. “In an age where we face potentially catastrophic climate change, this is no longer an acceptable form of transport. It’s time that private jets were grounded for good.”

Until the downturn, the private jet business was the fastest growing segment of the aviation sector. Over the last ten years it has expanded by almost 50%.

“This is yet another example of the insane rush towards massive airport and flight expansion,” Birch concludes. “The aviation industry seems to think it can pollute its way out of climate change. But anyone with half a brain will know that this is just plane stupid.”

London City airport blights the lives of some of the poorest people in London. Newham has been known to experience air pollution levels which regularly exceed EU safety limits for hightly toxic chemicals such as Nitrus Oxide and has the highest levels of mortality in under 30s in the UK from asthma, a matter that AsthmaUK are currently investigating.

While it seems the group have successfully shut down the private Jet centre part of the airport, locals are reporting that public flights started running from City from 7am. No one is claiming that the protesters have yet been arrested or removed, which suggests that the Airport are breaching health and safety by continuing operations in this restricted area. If the five are still in position then they will have been locked on for 7 hours and a half hours now…

——

Police cutting teams weren’t sighted in the area at the time the press team were forced to leave. Acsess roads have now been shut down, and the woman with the phone in the armtube can’t take calls anymore, so it’s difficult to get any news of what’s going on. More photos are available on the Plane Stupid website, check out the flickr stream.

——

Notes to the editor

A total of 27 local and regional airports around the UK are currently seeking to expand their activities.

London City Airport recently received local authority permission to expand its commercial flights from 80,000 to 120,000. The airport aims to increase this total to 170,000 by 2030.

Activists targeted London City Airport because it is one of the key drivers of the private jet business. The airport currently sees an average of 170 movements (take-offs and landings) per week. The airport’s Jet Centre predicts this figure will increase to more than 530 a week by 2030.

London City Airport was closed at the time of the eco-takeover. Security was given two hours’ warning before the first flights of the day.

The airport’s Jet Centre comprises a mixture of privately-owned jets and a for-hire business jet operation run by PrivateJet.

——
8:30am update & local group press release:

Locals are confirming that flights started from city airport at 7am. While the private Jet Centre where the group are locked on does apear to have been sucessfully shut down, it is alarming that the airport is prepared to disregard health and safety regulations and continue to run flights in the area. There have been no reports that the group have been arrested or removed so far. If they are still there then they have been locked on for 7 hours now…

For the local campaign group perspective see below-

PRESS RELEASE FIGHT THE FLIGHTS – LONDON CITY AIRPORT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10 June 2009

FIGHT THE FLIGHTS RESPONSE TO PLANE STUPIDS ACTION AT LONDON CITY AIRPORT

Fight the Flights is not a direct action group, but we fully appreciate the frustration that the climate change activists feel in getting their voices, and concerns heard on aviation expansion, and how aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of CO2 emissions.

It is no wonder that some campaigners feel they are being pushed into taking non violent direct action because the system is failing people of their democratic rights to protect their communities, futures and their environment from harmful ‘runaway’ airport and flight expansion.

Just under a 100,000 residents in east and south east London will be affected by the increasing excessive noise levels from London City Airport upon expansion, and yet less than 10,000 were claimed to have been consulted by the London Borough of Newham. Most will not be entitled to any noise insulation. They will have to live with the consequences every day of their lives, each time a flight takes off and lands. The majority do not have the option to move, and many lived in the area long before the airports creation.

Benefits?

In just over 20 years the airport has only managed to directly employ 120 Newham residents out of the 406 directly employed staff the airport claim to employ.

London taxpayers have also paid £24million for the airports security provided by the Metropolitan Police over the past 5 years, which the airport refuse to pay.

In addition the air quality above London City Airport exceeds EU directive levels by 50% and was termed as ‘toxic’ but this was not acknowledged by the London Borough of Newham. In a borough which has the highest level of mortality in under 30s with asthma in the whole country, Newham should be focussing on improving air quality, not adding to the pollution by approving further expansion at this residentially situated airport in the most densely populated area of England.

Eroded Democracy

Residents have been constantly thwarted and ignored by this government and the London Borough of Newham when providing evidence against the expansion. Requests for a public inquiry into the planned 50% expansion of flights at London City Airport was refused by Hazel Blears, Secretary of State in 2008, whilst the London Borough of Newham showed no concern that 100s of homes in Greenwich will now be in the crash zone and failed to address the risk to residents and communities who live, work or travel through the crash zone in both Newham and Greenwich. However in contrast the government and council appear to consistently listen to the aviation at the expense of the communities: this is expansion at any cost.

With a government that does not listen to local concerns on the effects of expansion on third party safety, increasing pollution levels, the effect on residents health and children’s development, and the contribution to climate change, it is no wonder that we are seeing actions such as this more frequently.

London eco-village occupation – wish-list, directions, & film

Around 70 protesters have occupied an empty plot of land next to Kew Bridge in Brentford, London (TW8 0EW). They’ve set up an eco-village.

This will showcase community based sustainable methods of living such as vegetable growing, compost toilets. They in the process of setting up tents and are cleaning the site of rubbish.

London eco-camp: Day One – video/quicktime 13M

We could do with the more of the following if you are thinking of visiting:

>Big water containers (>10ltrs)
>Oil for bolts
>Screws, bolts, coach bolts.
>Stationary: paper, pens, sticky tape, etc.,
>Banner making material/paints.
>Tarps
>String and Rope
>Spades shovels and forks
>Lots of hose for moving water.

We have a really awesome and secure site, it looks like we are staying we have one large issue. Most of the site is heavily overlooked so we need to keep things tidy, make things visually interesting and have banners/posters so people know what we are up to. The local have been very supportive so far due to the proposed use of the site we are occupying. Lets keep it that way…any help much appreciated.

If you would like to join our autonomous space in west london then how do you get there?

1. Cycle; from central london there is one road with no change. The A315, it changes names to many things but starts south of Hyde Park (as Knightsbridge and Kensington Road) and continues through Chisick (Chiswick High Street) right untill the round about where the camp is setup. From kew bridge the camp can be clearly seen.

2. Take a train: from south east london this is the best option. Train are regular out of waterloo and take about 25 minutes to get to Kew Bridge station. You can take your bike on these trains.

3. Get daddy to give you a lift in his helicopter: you may get thrown out.

We are at Kew Bridge
Map: http://tinyurl.com/n7ny33