Yorkshire & The Humber – Page 14

CLIMATE ACTION NEWS SHEET 85, December/January 2008/2009

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UPCOMING/ONGOING EVENTS AND ACTIONS:
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1. Camp for Climate Action Gathering, 31.01.09-01.02.09
2. Earth First! Winter Moot, 6-8.02.09
3. Mobilising for the COP, 13-15.03.09
4. Do It Yourself! Course, 22-27.03.09
5. Fossil Fools Day 2009, 01.04.09
6. Coal Caravan, April 2009

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UPCOMING/ONGOING EVENTS AND ACTIONS:
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RECENT HAPPENINGS:
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1. Case collapses against E.On blockaders, 14.01.09
2. Heathrow’s third runway gets the go-ahead and activists respond, January 2009
3. Plane Stupid shut down Stansted Airport, 08-12.08
4. 48 hours of action against E.on and new coal, 28-29.11.08
5. Scottish coal rail terminal shut down, 15.12.08
6. E.ON forced to abandon recruitment tour, November 2008
7. Kelsterback Forest Occupation (Frankfurt Airport), ongoing

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UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIONS:
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1) Camp for Climate Action New Year Gathering, 31.01.09 – 01.02.09
2008 saw the biggest Climate Camp to date and the most incredible array of direct action against climate change on record. But what does 2009 hold in store? Regardless of whether you’ve been to a climate camp, all are welcome to come along to this exciting weekend gathering. We will be asking ourselves whether there should be another big summer event and, if so, what it should be. Already there have been many possibilities raised, ranging from another rural camp to a singular day of action. Other ideas include an urban convergence or a climate caravan. The gathering will also provide a forum to talk http://climatecamp.org.uk/?q=node/468

2) Earth First! Winter Moot, 6-8.02.09
The Earth First! Winter Moot is a weekend to reflect on where we are as a radical ecologist movement and on where we are going. The moot will be about discussing strategy, strengthening the EF! network, security and communications, and action planning. A session is also reserved for discussing a UK mobilisation for the UN climate conference in Copenhagen late 2009. The moot will be held in Brighton (t.b.c.). Please check the website nearer to the time for further details and email any items you would like to add an item to the agenda to moot2009 at earthfirst.org.uk.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/21557

3) Mobilising for the COP, 13-15.03.09
The UN Climate Conference of Parties number 15 is set to take place in Copenhagen on the 30th of November 2009, and it will be the biggest climate summit ever to have taken place. More than 12,000 delegates – business leaders, politicians, diplomats and lobbyists – are going to be discussing an international treaty to replace the failed Kyoto Protocol.

Tens of thousands of activists and protesters will be making their way to Copenhagen for this major event. In September 2008 people from more than 23 countries met in Copenhagen and agreed on a Call to Action, calling for people to start mobilizing and to carry out actions locally as well as coming to Copenhagen for mass actions.
Another international planning meeting will take place in March (13th-15th) 2009 where the concepts and strategy for action will be discussed. http://climateaction09.org/

4) Do It Yourself! 22-27.03.09
A course exploring tools for empowerment and grassroots social change, at the Findhorn Foundation

Can we manage our own lives and communities at the grassroots rather than retreating into fear, blame and stereotypes or looking to others to solve the problems? Many people believe that the answers to the big questions lie in community empowerment, bottom up organising. This course provides a chance to become confident using a range of techniques designed to this end and to clarify our visions for the potential of these approaches. We will also put aside time to deal with the emotions and doubts raised and include a range of short films and contemporary case studies.

The main aims of the course are to share with participants tools, knowledges, and initiatives which can be used to empower themselves and their communities, and inspire positive social change, based on co-operation and solidarity. The course will draw on the book DO IT YOUSELF – A Handbook for Changing Our World edited by TRAPESE (see handbookforchange.org) Email for more info: trapese@riseup.net

5) Fossil Fools Day 2009, 01.04.09
Just in case you missed the news – Fossil Fools Day is back! On April 1st, join the global day of resistance and pull a prank that packs a punch. Call-out now available on the website, so help spread the word. If you would like leaflets and/or posters send us an email and we’ll post you some – info@risingtide.org.uk
www.risingtide.org.uk/fossilfoolsday2009

6) Coal Caravan, 17.04.09 – 04.05.09
The fabulous climate caravan lives on. This time we will be the COAL CARAVAN, walking and cycling between the sites for proposed open cast mines and new power stations in the Midlands, Yorkshire and North East. On our route we’ll be talking to local people, organising bicycled power films and events, holding public discussions and displays, and linking groups from different areas to help strengthen isolated campaigns.

Precise details of the route are to be confirmed, but put the dates in your diary now! Meet up Friday 17th April (W. Midlands), to start our journey on Saturday 18th. The Caravan will end two and a half weeks later with a grand finale on Bank Holiday Monday (4th May).
The caravan itself will not involve direct action (although we may offer training, if local groups so request).
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/21915
/caravan@climatecamp.org.uk.

7) Earth Activist Training, 11-26.07.09
Learn the skills to transform a piece of land, a community, and our political and economic systems. Spend two weeks in rural Devon learning: Nature and wilderness awareness, Diversity in ecosystems and social movements, Solutions that exist: alternative energy; organic farming; natural building; bioremediation & restoration, Soil and woodland ecology and much, much more …

On completion participants will receive a permaculture design certificate. The course will be held at Landmatters Permaculture Cooperative in Devon. Costs: £200 – £650 sliding scale according to income. http://www.landmatters.org.uk / earthactivisttraining@riseup.net

8) Nonviolence for a Change Training, 2009
Turning the Tide will offer monthly workshops in nonviolent methods and strategies for social change. You can participate as a member of the year-group (committing to all eleven sessions) or only come to those workshops which interest you.
http://www.turning-the-tide.org

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RECENT HAPPENINGS:
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1) Case collapses against E.On blockaders, 14.01.09
Two environmentalists, arrested following a blockade of E.On’s Nottingham offices on Fossil Fools Day 2008, had the case against them dismissed on Wednesday 14th January. The case collapsed after it emerged that the prosecution had offered no evidence to support the charge of aggravated trespass. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were found to have been negligent in their administration of the case and were ordered to pay the defence’s costs.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/419126.html

2) Heathrow’s third runway gets the go-ahead and activists respond,
January 2009
Both Heathrow and Manchester airports were targeted Monday 12th January with the domestic departure lounges of both airports simultaneously occupied by protesters. In London over 500 people defied airport bylaws by staging a sit-down dinner, forcing airport operator BAA to close 18 check-in desks. In Manchester police used powers under Section 14 of the Public Order Act to contain up to 100 protesters on the ground floor of Terminal 3, with one arrest.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace revealed that a plot of land within the proposed expansion site had been purchased in an attempt to delay the construction.

When the announcement came on Thursday 15th, ‘climate suffragettes’ smashed the windows of the Department of Transport (http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/418697.html) and on Saturday 17th Jan, 500 flash mobbed at Heathrows terminal 5.

For all the details, pictures, videos and more visit –
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/418105.html

3) Plane Stupid shut down Stansted Airport, 08-12.08
50 activists from Plane Stupid shut down Stansted Airport by camping on the runway and surrounding themselves with fortified security fencing. Plane Stupid announced ‘We are genuinely grateful for the level of support from people who have agreed with us that desperate times call for desperate measures. We have used this action to ask for everyone to ‘please, do something’. We hope that all those that have expressed support for today’s action will now think about what they are going to do to ensure the survival of our planet and people on it’.
http://www.planestupid.com/?q=content/plane-stupid-shuts-stansted-airport

4) 48 hours of action against E.on and new coal, 28-29.11.08
The 48 hours of action was a great first shot across the bows. E.On were rattled, local and national media took an interest, resources were gathered and are now ready to go, a new website is now up and running (http://www.e-onf-off.org.uk/), a list of targets has been compiled and E.on know that if they try to build a new coal fired power station at Kingsnorth then they will face a barrage of direct action – both towards their daily operations and their supply chain. E.on be warned. Actions took place in: London, Brighton, Bristol, Norwich, Coventry, Nottingham & Coventry and at Kingsnorth itself. http://risingtide.org.uk/node/309

Plus, ‘Green Banksy’ invades Kingsnorth during the 48 hours: An
unidentified group allegedly penetrated Kingsnorth security and switched off almost 500 megawatts of generating capacity, cutting almost 2% off the nation’s power supply for about four hours.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/414463.html

5) Scottish coal rail terminal shut down, 15.12.08
30 campaigners from Coal Action Scotland together with local residents peacefully blockaded the entrance to the Scottish Coal-operated Ravenstruther coal rail terminal in South Lanarkshire for 8 hours. The protestors were acting to oppose the five open cast coal mines that deliver coal to the rail terminal and in resistance to the thirteen new open cast coal mines due to open in Scotland. Protestors erected and scaled a 15ft scaffolding tripod, blocking trucks from entering the terminal. Others locked themselves by their necks to a conveyor belt and a bulldozer, preventing coal stockpiles from being loaded onto trains. An
estimated 6,380 tonnes of coal were stopped from being transported from the coal mines to power stations, preventing the equivalent to 11,675.4 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.
http://coalactionedinburgh.wordpress.com/

6) E.ON forced to abandon recruitment tour, November 2008
Anti-coal protests at graduate careers fairs around the UK forced E.ON to cancel its recruitment tour. The energy company, which is planning to build a new coal power station at Kingsnorth, Kent, saw seventeen of its careers events disrupted. This was a co-ordinated national effort from students involved in People & Planet, the Coal Action Network, and the Camp for Climate Action. Leaflets, banners, fancy dress, conversations with attendees and eye-catching stunts were used to embarrass E.ON and dissuade graduates from joining the company. The Royal Bank of Scotland, one of E.ON’s main financial backers, were also targeted at the fairs over their role in providing loans to build the proposed new power station.
http://leaveitintheground.org.uk/?p=185

7) Kelsterback Forest Occupation (Frankfurt Airport), ongoing Resist Frankfurt Airport Expansion – defend the forest camp. After Heathrow, Frankfurt is the largest airport in Europe. Fraport (the company running the airport) and the German government are trying to build a new runway, to massively increase flights. To build the new runway, Fraport need to clear 250,000 m2 of protected forest. For seven months, activists have been squatting the forest, building tree platforms and floating rafts to resist attempts to chop down the forest. January 2009 is bringing threat of eviction – and they need all the help they can get.
http://waldbesetzung.blogsport.de/english-information/ or
http://waldbesetzung.blogsport.de/photos/

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Rising Tide UK,
c/o 62 Fieldgate Street,
London E1 1ES
www.risingtide.org.uk
www.artnotoil.org.uk
www.fossilfoolsday.org
Tel: 07708 794665

See also the Camp for Climate Action (www.climatecamp.org.uk), Network for
Climate Action (www.networkforclimateaction.org.uk) and Climate Indymedia
(www.climateimc.org)

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Leeds Social Centre in court next week

This article was written by volunteers at the Leeds-Bradford Independent Media Centre following interviews with volunteers from The Common Place, Leeds’ radical, autonomous social centre.

The CommonPlace is a social centre located in Leeds, accommodating a broad range of community groups. The CommonPlace has been open since 2005 when it received funding to establish a community resource in central Leeds. Since then, it has been entirely volunteer run. Despite having no wages to pay, The CommonPlace pays rent and bills just like any other city centre venue. More recently, The CommonPlace has been financed by bar sales at community orientated clubnights, supplemented by membership subscriptions and donations. Without income from the bar, they would be forced to close permanently.

As a democratic club, all major decisions are made at a general meeting, open to all members.

At the end of July 2008, The CommonPlace has its Club Premises Certificate (license) withdrawn by Leeds City Council (LCC), under Section 90 of the Licensing Act 2003. The club believe this was unfair and are appealing to have the licence reinstated. The CommonPlace cannot discuss the specifics of the appeal process at this time due to legal reasons: They are keen for their story to be told in due course.

The CommonPlace has met with LCC twice in court (30th September, 28th October), also delegates of The CommonPlace met with the Licensing department on 15th December 2008 with a view to resolving matters. On each occasion The CommonPlace has tried to deal with the council’s concerns in order to regain the original license.

A volunteer from The CommonPlace said, “We were sorry to hear after our last meeting with them, that they didn’t want to talk to us again before the hearing.” The appeal is due to be heard on 22nd to 26th January 2009 at Leeds Magistrates’ Court.

Another volunteer, from the Bar Committee said, “We’re puzzled by how much interest the Police have shown since we’ve never had any trouble or arrests when we’ve been putting on a night here … we just want to get things back to normal.”

The CommonPlace are adamant that they are a members club, and that LCC have withdrawn this license wrongly; The CommonPlace is grateful for the continuing support of members, donors and over 1000 Leeds residents who have signed a petition in support. To be kept informed, please see www.thecommonplace.org.uk where there are also instructions on joining the mailing list and getting involved as a member.

COAL CARAVAN – route & dates update

The fabulous climate caravan lives on.

This time we will be the COAL CARAVAN, walking and cycling between the sites for proposed open cast mines and new power stations in the Midlands, Yorkshire and North East.

The fabulous climate caravan lives on.

This time we will be the COAL CARAVAN, walking and cycling between the sites for proposed open cast mines and new power stations in the Midlands, Yorkshire and North East.

On our route we’ll be talking to local people, organising bicycled power films and events, holding public discussions and displays, and linking groups from different areas to help strengthen isolated campaigns.

24 April 2009 Co2al Caravan launch party, Sumac Centre Nottingham
25 April – set off to Shipley Glen
27/28 April – cycle to Yorkshire
29 April – Fairbairn Ings
30 April – 2 May – cycle to North East
3 May – Anti-opencast workshops
4 May (Bank Holiday Monday) – Grand Finale

The caravan itself will not involve direct action (although we may offer training, if local groups so request). It will be openly organised and if you would like to go on the list please email caravan@climatecamp.org.uk.

Stop the new Leeds Opencast

Join us on Saturday 10th January 2009 to march around the proposed open cast coal mine site at Newton Lane, near Fairburn Ings nature reserve and Castleford.

YANC SAYS:

NO CO2AL HOLE

It’s time to say NO!

We don’t want a dirty opencast coal site adding to climate change

Join us on Saturday 10th January 2009 to march around the proposed open cast coal mine site at Newton Lane, near Fairburn Ings nature reserve and Castleford.

YANC SAYS:

NO CO2AL HOLE

It’s time to say NO!

We don’t want a dirty opencast coal site adding to climate change

Join us on Saturday 10th January 2009 to march around the proposed open cast coal mine site at Newton Lane, near Fairburn Ings nature reserve and Castleford. Meet at the White Horse in Ledston at 12 noon for a 12:30 start. We will take a route on public rights of way around and through the proposed open cast site. The walk should take no more than an hour.

This protest event will be a joint venture between YANC (Yorkshire Against New Coal) and RAGE (Residents Against Greenbelt Expansion).

For a map of the area including location of Ledston, see the RAGE website at: www.savefairburnings.org.uk

White Horse pub postcode is WF10 2AB. Add this postcode to multimap for directions.

Multimap link: http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=WF10+2AB&countryCode=GB

We will have some banners and placards but please feel free to make and bring your own.

Media will be invited.

If we are to tackle climate change, coal must be left in the ground. We need clean, green renewable technology, energy efficiency and decentralised energy.

Your New Years Resolution? To stop climate change!

For further information see the YANC website: www.yanc.org.uk or find us on Facebook.

Yorkshire Against New Coal
events@yanc.org.uk

protests against the roll-out of the ID card scheme & database

Against the imposition of ID cards on Non-EU students and marriage visa holders.

This is not the first time foreign nationals or migrants have been used as guinea pigs to test a law or technology. Examples include the Asylum Registration Cards (ARC), which is a similar card that asylum seekers have been required to carry since 2002. Once migrants have been used as a ‘road test’ for the widely opposed ID scheme, the government will start on the rest of us. From 2010 on, the government predicts that one million cards will be handed out every year.

For more background information on how this ‘drip drip’ approach to imposing biometric ID cards relates to migration management and the Home Office’s points system read:

http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=3147
http://nobordersmanchester.blogspot.com/2008/11/defy-id-cards-no-one-is-illegal.html

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27th November 2008
This evening approximately 13 activists from No Borders North East handed out 200 anti-ID card leaflets to shoppers in Central Newcastle. Banners and placards were also held, and a very positive response was given from the public.

Tuesday saw the introduction of Identity Cards for non-EU citizens. No Borders views this as yet another attempt to victimize an often voiceless group, and so has orchestrated a series of protests this week throughout the country.

http://www.noborders.org.uk

…..

This morning, during the peak rush hour time of 7.30 – 9.00 am, 4 activists from No Borders North East performed an anti-i.d card banner drop from a bridge over one of the city’s busiest inner motorways. The largest banner read “No To ID Cards, Freedom For All!” and was accompanied by a smaller No Borders banner.

The reaction from the drivers below was overwhelmingly positive, with many honking horns, waving and giving thumbs up.

Today sees the start of the ID card scheme, with non-EU citizens applying for, or renewing visas for study or marriage, being made to carry a card and have their details put on the Government’s database. Immigration law already gives the Home Office powers it would like to exert over everybody. Under a cloud of anti-immigration hysteria the government is increasing it’s social control and attempting to usher in unprecedented powers of surveillance over the whole population.

The police came along while we were doing it, but didnt seem to have any problem with it. Interestingly however, they said that an anarchist symbol can be deemed offensive and thus removable under a public order act (?!). We told them that our No Borders banner with a large anarchist symbol wasn’t in fact anarchist related, and they believed us for some reason…. 😉
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Yorkshire Activists blockade Sheffield Border Agency Centre

1.12.2008
At 8am this morning a group of Yorkshire activists blockaded the Sheffield Border Agency Interrogation Centre at Vulcan House using bicycle locks and superglue to attach themselves to both entrances. The group are there in response to the introduction of compulsory ID cards for non-EU people on student or marriage visas. They are displaying two banners, one reads “My identity is not your property” and the other “Nothing to hide? Everything to fear! Defy ID!”

Some applicants have been turned away by the Border Agency staff but many were supportive of the actions the group has taken. Speaking to a blockader, one applicant said that by introducing compulsory ID cards, the government have shown that “they just want to control people”. Border Agency staff have called the police to remove the protesters but at the time of sending (10:30am) the protesters are still in place.

An activist from Bradford (who is currently superglued to two others in front of the main entrance) said “The government are trying to introduce ID cards through the back door, targeting some of the most vulnerable people in the country.” A Sheffield activist added “If we want to save the people of Great Britain from ID cards, we must act now!”

Government legislation has meant that, since 25^th November, foreign spouses and non-EU students who apply for, or renew, visas will be forced to attend an interrogation and be issued with an ID card that will hold their name, photograph, nationality and immigration status, along with a biometric chip that will hold their fingerprints and digital image. The details will be held indefinitely on the UK Identity Service database. Delays meant that the Sheffield Border Agency Centre only began interrogations from today (1^st December).

Update – 11 activists were arrested (significantly more than were thought to be locked on) after holding the blockade for more than three hours. All released with with verbal cautions.

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Identity Cards Protest, Lunar House, Croydon

26.11.2008
On the corner of George Street in Croydon, London, a November sun was warming the shoppers and office workers on their lunch breaks, but a few hundred metres north on Wellesley Road a biting Siberian wind seared the demonstrators outside Lunar House. It seemed appropriate that such a freezing blast should surround the UK headquarters of the Border and Immigration Agency and indeed be generated by its twenty stories of the grim early 1970s office complex. After all its raison d’être is to give would-be immigrants and asylum seeks an extremely cold reception.

Its bleak anonymity is also a warning of things to come for all of us in a Brave New Britain of state surveillance and control whose infrastructure is increasingly with us through security cameras, the interception mobile phone signals and electronic communications and the planned introduction of universal ID cards.

The picket, called by London NoBorders http://london.noborders.org.uk and NO2ID http://www.no2id.net/, marked the start of Biometric ID cards, which are being issued from today, 25 November 2008, to all non-EU students and spouses applying for, or renewing visas for study or marriage. The cards will have a photograph with name, date of birth, nationality, immigration status and biometric details, including fingerprints and digital facial image will be stored on a chip on the card as well as being held indefinitely on the UK Identity Service database.

Soon all foreign nationals in the UK will be required to have these cards, which will be rolled out to other groups including students who want a student loan by 2010. And from 2011 you will need to get one – and have your details on that database – if you want to renew or get a passport.

What worries many of us is not just the use to which our own government and security services might make of such data – linking to face recognition software working on images from security cameras and mobile phone data would enable our every move to be tracked – but the certainty that it will get into other hands – such as those of our US friends in the CIA, as well as criminal and commercial organisations who will have their own ideas about how such all-pervasive data might be used.

Among those at today’s demonstration was David Mery http://gizmonaut.net/bits/suspect.html a man who has achieved a small personal victory against the juggernaut database state.

Mery was stopped by police entering Southwark tube station on 28 July for being “calm on arrival, almost too calm” and having a largish rucksack and a strong French accent. It was three weeks after the London bombing – and – perhaps luckily for him, six days after the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. This time at least the police didn’t shoot first and ask questions later, but his treatment in the months and years following the event can most favourably be described as Kafkaesque. He finally (or at least probably) succeeded in having both his fingerprints and DNA record removed from the police databases, but it took over two years of fighting. His blog http://gizmonaut.net/ and articles are essential reading for anyone who wonders why civil liberties are important.

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Leeds NO2ID have burnt a mock ID card in protest at the introduction of the ID card scheme for foreign nationals

Video – video/quicktime 13M

Around 20 activists braved the freezing temperatures and rain to gather in Leeds last night on the eve of the introduction of ID cards for foreign nationals.

The protest was made my burning a mock ID card in public.

The Protest passed off peacefully without the presence of West Yorkshire Police.

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Liverpool anti-ID picket: No One Is Illegal

20 students and No Borders/anti-ID campaigners from Manchester made their way to Liverpool on 25th November, the day that the government introduced ID cards for non-EU nationals living in the UK. There they joined a group of 30 Merseyside activists outside Reliance House to protest at the introduction of compulsory ID cards for international students and non-EU spouses on that day.

Reliance House is where interviewing, photographing and fingerprinting will take place from 4th December before being issued with a biometric ID card. It is also Liverpool’s reporting centre where those seeking asylum have to ‘sign in’ on a regular basis while their claims are being processed. If their claims fail they can be held, without prior notice, in the immigration detention facility in the same building for up to 7 days.

It is thus imperative to make the connection between ID cards and the assault on the rights of non-EU nationals wanting to live, work and study in the UK. People from Manchester No Borders had brought along placards and banners proclaiming that “no one is illegal”. Where the state reinforces the division between legal and ‘illegal’ people our solidarity must extend to those most affected by the scheme.

Some mention in the news:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/11/25/protests-in-city-over-id-cards-100252-22330184/
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.2470740.0.Protests_as_first_ID_card_scheme_launched_in_Britain.php
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/11/26/protesters-say-no-to-introduction-of-id-cards-for-foreign-students-64375-22341365/

(During the picket of Reliance House, some first contact was made with individual No Border activists from Liverpool, Merseyside and North Wales. If you are from this region and want to get active in a No Borders group, please email us, so we can get you in touch)

manchesternoborders@riseup.net
http://www.manchesternoborders.org.uk

—

Over 60 people attended our protest against the introduction of Biometric ID Cards for non-EU students and spouses on Tuesday. The demonstration was held for a couple of hours at midday outside the Cardiff office of the UK Border Agency at 31-33 Newport Road. People the government is forcing to carry ID cards will have to attend this centre for interrogation, photographing and fingerprinting.

We displayed banners, held placards, waved giant mock ID cards and distributed 600 copies of this leaflet – the reaction from passers by was completely supportive. Many people used their lunchbreak to join the protest for a short while before returning to work or study. This protest was part of a nationwide day of action outside UKBA centres by No Borders Network who, along with Defy ID, NO2ID and other groups, held protests in Croydon, Liverpool, Glasgow, Solihull, and Newcastle. Though many of these protests around the country got into local newspapers, Welsh media coverage has been minimal.

This protest appears to be just the start of resistance to ID Cards, the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has threatened industrial action if the government goes ahead with it’s plan to impose ID cards on airport workers next year. Tens of thousands of people have signed up to NO2ID’s pledge not to register for a card, even if that means going to prison. No Borders South Wales will be protesting outside the Border agency again, on Wednesday 10th December when the Cardiff office will start to register people, join us if you can.

“These new ID cards are not only a repressive measure against non-EU students and spouses, they are the first shot in an attack against everyone’s liberty. In targeting a largely voiceless migrant group, who have the least chance to complain and the most to lose, the government is following a familiar path of repressive regimes throughout history. Immigration law already gives the Home Office powers it would like to exert over everybody. By resisting the repression of migrants, we defend the freedom of everyone!“

For links to leaflet, video and other stuff, see http://noborderswales.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/cardiff-protest-against-id-cards/
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Solihull protest against the imposition of biometric ID cards on migrants

26.11.2008
Yesterday Noborders Birmingham protested against the imposition of biometric ID cards at the UK Border Agency Office in Solihull. They were met by a puzzling disproportionate police response at Dominion Court, 41 Station Road, Solihull – around 12 police officers, including 3 police vans and an evidence gatherer. This may have something to do with the policing of a previous protest around the corner at Sandford House, the home office reporting centre, where hundreds of Congolese demonstrators facing mass deportation occupied the main road http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2007/04/368076.html

A banner proclaiming ‘Freedom of Movement for All’ was held by the entrance of the UK Borders Agency Office. The police offered to ‘facilitate’ our protest by a seemingly polite offer to arrange for a metal barrier to hang our banner from. However, we realised that the six foot high hedge in front of the building would make our protest invisible to almost everyone, so instead we hung our banner by the main road and distributed around 600 leaflets to some very interested members of the public.

Following a concerned report from a dedicated community police officer earlier in the day, two equally committed council workers from the environmental and health department at Solihull Council turned up in their lunch hour to ensure that the literature being distributed was of a political, rather than commercial, nature and thus would not run afoul of local bye-laws on littering/flyering (no one seemed quite sure). This follows several other incidents known to us in central Birmingham where council officials have attempted to apply similar bye-laws (with accompanying threats of fines and court appearances) to dissuade people from handing out political literature. It has been noted before that the parliamentary legislation which serves as the basis of these bye-laws specifically exempted materials of a political nature. The council workers also showed some interest in the banner, raising concern over the manner of its attachment to some local shrubs and something else about private property, but in the end they seemed to decide that neither the public nor the shrubs were at any risk (potential, real, or otherwise) and returned to what remained of their lunch hour.

Two students from Pakistan informed us that they had to book an appointment to begin the biometric ID card process and they couldn’t return home until this had been completed. They claimed today they were told by staff that they would be required to give blood samples and have iris scans for their biometric cards so if they committed any ‘crimes’ in the UK they could be identified immediately. It appears that the private company contracted to the tune of £5.6 billion, and entrusted with sensitive biometric data, are already doing their best to impress upon applicants that ID cards will be effective at ‘fighting crime’. Liberty, the civil liberties and human rights organisation, have already expressed concern about the Government’s ability to safeguard individual’s intimate details on the National Identity Register after Government departments last year lost 30 million pieces of personal data, including those of 25 million child benefit claimants. ‘We have ID cards in our country but they aren’t biometric’ said one of the students. ‘It feels very discriminatory that we are being targeted first. Why aren’t they processing UK nationals first?’ The international students also pointed out that this was costing them a great deal of money. Not only did they have to pay exorbitant fees for their courses but on top of that they have to pay £300 for their visas and now they have to pay for their biometric ID cards and they are only permitted to work 20 hours a week. They also added that these measures would serve to put overseas students off studying here citing Australia as a more welcoming alternative.

The use of foreign nationals as guinea pigs for the more widespread introduction of ID cards is a strategy to run a testbed for the technology on people without a voice. It has become apparent that the government is likely to pick off certain sections of the community in Britain one at a time. This divide and rule strategy has been used throughout history, most notably by the Nazi regime in Germany.

When the British government came for the migrants,
I remained silent;
I was not a migrant.

When they came for the airline workers,
I remained silent;
I was not an airline worker.

When they came for the convicts,
I did not speak out;
I was not a convict.

When they came for the health workers,
I did not speak out;
I was not a health worker.

When they came for the students,
I did not speak out;
I was not a student.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

noborders-brum @ riseup.net

—

http://glasgowanarchists.wordpress.com/

—

Also in the news:

ID ‘reading’ machines on Canada and Mexico borders
‘Smart’ CCTV in Portsmouth

TopShop SwapShop (London), Buy Nothing Day action (+ Steal Something Day) + Leeds + Liverpool + Bristol

Ladies and Gentlemen we are proud to announce the restyling fashion mash-up event of the year!

TOPSHOP SWAPSHOP
2pm Sat 29th November – Topshop Oxford Street
Credit Crunch!

Ladies and Gentlemen we are proud to announce the restyling fashion mash-up event of the year!

TOPSHOP SWAPSHOP
2pm Sat 29th November – Topshop Oxford Street
Credit Crunch!

In the light of the current economic crisis and the outrage over the sweatshop conditions that most high street brands make their clothes in, the swapshop is your chance to re-vamp your wardrobe with a free conscience! Leaping away from the drudgery of big corporate fashion with it’s dodgy business practices and spend spend spend attitude, the Topshop swapshop takes fashion back to it’s roots.

Simply turn up at TOPSHOP on Oxford Street wearing an outfit you wish to upgrade, then on the stroke of 2, marvel as hundreds of fashion moguls offer to trade your clothes with you.

Fancy that girls jumper? Why not offer to swap your belt for it?
That boy’s hat is to die for, how about a trade for your jeans?
Nice skirt, fancy trading my t-shirt for it?

After a hectic re-working of your look you can then walk proudly back onto the streets of London town with a new wardrobe and not having spent a single penny.

You can buy lots of clothes but you can’t buy style.

Please spread far and wide…

DISCLAIMER:

The above event is in no way supported or condoned by TopShop. Any similarity to any brand living or dead is merely coincidental.

http://www.spacehijackers.org

============

Steal Something Day, a shameless 24-hour stealing spree! a critique of BND and call to action, recycled from previous years for your entertainment

============

Buy Nothing Day Leeds

In Briggate this Saturday (29th of Nov) there will be a Buy Nothing extravaganza. We will have Christmas carols telling people of the woes of shopping, there will be hot tea and coffee to help ex-shoppers readjust to there new found happiness, and ideas of presents that do not involve consumerism. From
11am – till dark we will be asking people to question consumerism and join us in buying nothing!

Last year was a major success and BND strikes again. Please bake cakes, bring food and anything you would like to give away. There will be a free shop, music and tables. Bring anything down to join in the party!
Leeds BND

============

Liverpool

next to nowhere is proud to present an opportunity for all the liverpool activists to join together in a spirit of togetherness, openness & communication.

i guess we can all agree that over-consumption is a very bad thing & i reckon that most of us see capitalism as the root of the sickness that is infesting our society. yes?
anyone a racist? no? oh my, we seem to have something in common after all!

well, on saturday 29th november it’s time to put your mutual aid where your mouth is.

at 11am maybe meet & greet nick griffin (bnp) who could be pleasuring our city with his presence in his bid to become mep for the north west of england. he’s called for the party faithful to gather in protest at thearrest of several members last week. are we really going to let this happen?
meet at the top of church street at 10am.

afterwards, from 12pm, the social centre shall be transformed into an oasis of anti-capitalism.

we’ll have:
a fabulous free-shop full of quality free goodies,
free tea n’ coffee,
vegan cafe (donations only),
open mic, film, performance, spoken word…

now, i know that some people are a bit scared of actually getting involved in next to nowhere, prefering to discuss the shortcomings of the booking policy from a safe distance. just to be clear, and restate the bottom line of next to nowhere from its constitution – everyone is welcome to get involved at the social centre provided that they are willing to work in a non-hierarchical way through consensus.

‘actions speak louder than words’ – please can people work together in mutual support to help make this world a better place and take on the evils which are fucking up our world or say nothing and stop this on-going criticism from the sidelines, whilst doing nothing at nowhere.

who knows, the open-mic forum could even provide an opportunity for people to express their feelings about the social centre, in a non-hierarchical way of course!
or, we could just have a good old-fashioned knees up…

together, let’s start to dance on the graves of multi-national corporations!

feistyfingers[at]yahoo.co.uk
http://www.liverpoolsocialcentre.org

============

Buy Nothing Day 2008 – Freeshop in Broadmead, Bristol

Free shop, live music, circus skills and face painting? UWE students from the People and Planet society are going to be taking part in a ‘buy nothing day’ and will be running a free shop on Saturday, brightening up the cold, grey, wintry streets of Bristol city centre.

To recapture some of that lost Christmas Spirit (the giving that is, not the spending!) we’ll be giving away clothes, bric-a-brac and plenty more little gems for you to get your mitts on as well as bringing a little sunshine to the often not-so-happy shoppers of Bristol. If you have anything you want to get rid of, bring it along!

We’re looking for volunteers to help inform and entertain (musicians, circus entertainers, etc) so if your game bring your unicycle down and get involved! It kicks off at 11am and will be running till 4pm, so Pop down to our marquee in-between the Galleries and Cabot Circus (Just down from Ann Summers!).

For more info e-mail Lisa at lisatozer@hotmail.com

I’ll see you there!

A report from the No Borders network gathering

A report from No Borders gathering in Newcastle

On 9 & 10 November a gathering of No Borders activists was held in Newcastle with groups and individuals from Brighton, Bristol, South Wales, London, Oxford, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow taking part. Altogether, about 50-60 people attended.

A report from No Borders gathering in Newcastle

Saturday began with report backs from local groups, giving us an impression of the activity of the No Borders network. Opposition against ID cards and the IOM, and actions against deportation airlines and immigration snatch squads, are as much part of the No Borders agenda as is solidarity with detainees, deportees and migrant workers. It was obvious that the volume and variety of actions is one of the strengths of the network which has helped it to continue to develop and grow without losing momentum.

The international dimension of the network was stressed when people told of large-scale blockades of a detention centre in Belgium, of Hamburg airport to stop deportations, and of the attempt to dismantle a detention centre in Denmark. People felt it is increasingly important to continue developing info and action-sharing networks with people across Europe and elsewhere. UK No Borders activists are making connections with campaigners in Northern France to highlight the situation of hundreds of refugees trapped in Calais.

Discussions also developed around the idea of organizing a bigger No Borders event in the future that would include actions and info-sharing.

On Sunday, the need to develop No Borders politics was stressed in a discussion on ‘who are our allies’. At a local level, whilst working on some issues in coalition with groups and organisations that differ in character, No Borders has a firmly anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian stance. Over all, the network reiterated its explicit anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian position, and a group formed to work on publicity that offers an easily accessible guide to No Borders politics. This could take the form of written publications and media projects such as the development of a film.

All in all, sharing information and stories was an inspiring experience and by strengthening communications and network-wide tactics, people across the UK will continue to develop their ideas and inspire each other to take action against borders and to promote freedom of movement for all.

The next gathering is proposed for February/March 2009 in Bristol
www.noborders.org.uk

Remember remember, action security in November… [update: Observer article withdrawn]

Remember to think about security when planning actions & campaigns, every month – there’s been a helpful reminder in a Sunday newspaper that our aims and the aims of the state are somewhat different!

Though the article can be taken to be a police unit safeguarding their ongoing budgets and employment – as has happened in the past with similar scare articles (from the police & the security services) – it’s also a handy reminder of the security issues we should think about to ensure that our campaigning remains effective. Check out the background dirt on the journos below…

Also, try out this selection of links:

Security, Privacy, & Anonymity for Autonomy…
ELF Press Office’s security page
Top 100 Network Security Tools

The original newspaper article:

Police warn of growing threat from eco-terrorists

Fear of deadly attack by lone maverick as officers alert major firms to danger of green extremism

Mark Townsend and Nick Denning,
The Observer, Sunday November 9 2008

Police have warned of the growing threat of eco-terrorism after revealing they are investigating a group which has supporters who believe that reducing the Earth’s population by four-fifths will help to protect the planet.

Officers from a specialist unit dedicated to tackling domestic terrorism are monitoring an eco-movement called Earth First! which has advocates who state that cutting the Earth’s population by 80 per cent will ease pressure on other species. Officers are concerned a ‘lone maverick’ eco-extremist may attempt a terrorist attack aimed at killing large numbers of Britons.

The National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit, which collates intelligence and advice to police forces, has revealed that eco-activists are researching a list of target companies which they believe are major polluters or are exacerbating the threat of climate change.

The unit is currently monitoring blogs and internet traffic connected to a network of UK climate camps and radical environmental movements under the umbrella of Earth First!, which has claimed responsibility for a series of criminal acts in recent months.

A senior source at the unit said it had growing evidence of a threat from eco-activists. ‘We have found statements that four-fifths of the human population has to die for other species in the world to survive.

‘There are a number of very dedicated individuals out there and they could be dangerous to other people.’

Earth First! says its mission is ‘about direct action to halt the destruction of the Earth’ and advocates ‘civil disobedience and monkeywrenching’, tactics that include sabotage and disruptive behaviour. The movement has links to US environmental extremists which have waged a campaign of violence in America, including the firebombing of a string of 4×4 car dealerships in California in 2003 and alleged arson attacks on other property.

The anti-extremist unit has already alerted a number of major companies which have been accused of being carbon polluters with advice on how they can withstand being targeted by eco-terrorists. Companies are thought to include airport operator BAA, an international mining conglomerate BHP Billiton and firms connected to UK coal-fired power stations.

‘They are doing research of possible targets, looking at shareholders and financiers. For example, they could research an airline and see how many of its aircraft are not environmentally friendly,’ said the NETCU source.

Although green extremists have yet to embark on an orchestrated campaign of violence in the UK, officers warn that they may be about to launch a campaign of intimidation and fear aimed at disrupting businesses. ‘For some people, if they can justify it in their minds, then it’s a noble cause even if it’s a criminal action. They haven’t started yet, but we believe they will come up with a strategy and tactics,’ said the source at the unit, who described the movement as well-funded and organised.

A spate of recent attacks, for which Earth First! supporters have claimed responsibility, has included vandalism of branches of seven German banks such as Deutsche Bank and Allianz AG. The actions were apparently because the banks hold shares in UK Coal, which plans to build new coal-fired power stations.

A statement on the Earth First! website explains the attacks by saying: ‘Exploitation of the environment and people by the state and industry go hand in hand. They cannot be separated and both must be attacked. Social war, not climate chaos.’

Another attack hit a quarry in Staffordshire which belongs to Bardon Aggregates, a company hat also owns a controversial quarry at Glensanda on the north-west coast of Scotland. The Scottish quarry is accused of spoiling the Highlands environment. The Earth First! website states: ‘We slashed tyres, stripped paint jobs, glued locks and trashed conveyor belts. All the earth movers were hit and many of the cement and aggregate trucks. This action cost us very little but should cost Bardon thousands.’

Among the network of groups under the Earth First! umbrella are various climate camps. Last August police found a stash of knives and weapons beside one such camp in Kent. Protesters, however, said they had nothing to do with the weapons and accused police of launching a ‘smear campaign’.

A spokesman for Derby Earth First! said the movement was strictly non-violent, if not always law-abiding. He said: ‘If someone does ecological damage we would perhaps break the law and protect the ecology, but the ecology also includes humans.

‘We’re all about communities. Capitalism is the problem and we want to return to a more sustainable time. But we are not about reducing the population, that is just scaremongering by the police.’

The rise of eco-extremism coincides with the fall of the animal rights activist movement. Police said the animal rights movement was in ‘disarray’ and that its ringleaders had either been prosecuted or were awaiting prosecution, adding that its ‘critical mass’ of hardcore extremists was sufficiently depleted to have halted its effectiveness. Last Thursday a prominent animal rights activist accused of planting petrol bombs at Oxford University was cleared of possessing an explosive substance with intent.

Reports on the Earth First! Journal website, which tells users how to send encrypted emails, reveals connections to the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) which has been linked to a series of violent attacks in the US. ELF was classified as the top domestic terrorism threat in the US by the FBI in March 2001.

The ELF was founded in 1992 in Brighton by members of the Earth First! movement who wanted to form a breakaway group that would use more extreme tactics.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/09/eco-terrorism-earth-first-elf

Dirt dug on article writers:

From: http://ianbone.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/the-guardian-eco-terrorism-and-the-armyexclusive/

THE GUARDIAN ECO-TERRORIST JOURNO IS ARMY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER……..EXCLUSIVE!

Curioser and Curiouser……I’m checking for Nick Denning – co-author with Mark Townsend of yesterday’s hilarous Observer piece on eco -terrorism. He doesn’t appear to have any previous as a journalist. But what’s this?? A piece written by Townsend in Afghanistan in August 2007 where he’s embedded with the Royal Anglian Regiment in Sangin………and sharing a helicopter ride with NICK DENNING – COMMANDER OF 1 PLATOON A COMPANY in the Royal Anglian regiment!!! And less than a year later this Denning is providing intelligence to his mate on The Guardian on eco – terorism!!! Some explanations from The Guardian reqired on this one methinks! Watch this space…………

Also see http://ianbone.wordpress.com/2008/11/09/guardian-journalists-police-patsies-yet-again/
And http://ianbone.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/god-bone-youre-a-cunt-the-observer-replies/

Funny & informative.

—OR—

This ‘Nick Denning’ is clearly not the cricketer and Ian Bone’s suggestion that he is an army officer is unlikely. It is more likely to be the ND who worked at the BBC as a researcher and a bit of work on Google pulls up a number of requests that he has made for information.

For instance:

http://www.stewartbyfc.co.uk/fusionnews/archive.php?show=month&month=July&year=2004

The most likely explanation is that this is the person – that he is a researcher who wants to break into national journalism.

——

Schnews article & quotes from the journo

——

The Observer/Guardian blog on the subject if you want to post something there is http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2008/nov/10/activists-kingsnorth

——
Update:
The readers’ editor on … anonymous sources and claims of eco-terrorism

The Observer, Sunday November 23 2008

You might think The Observer’s concern for the environment arose only in the past 20 years as global warming became apparent, but it has actually been reading the signs since 1925. Waldorf Astor, then the paper’s forward-thinking owner, took a keen interest in all things environmental and urged his editor, JL Garvin, to appoint a correspondent to cover ecology and agriculture. Step forward Sir William Beach Thomas, who became, in effect, the first environment correspondent.

Much later, The Observer was to investigate and reveal the ‘greenhouse effect’ and to warn of its possible consequences. Thousands of words have been devoted to the subject ever since, winning a loyal audience, particularly among those who are active in the environment movement. So there was understandable dismay at a recent story which told of a ‘growing threat from eco-terrorists’.

Police were said to be investigating the eco-movement Earth First! which, they claimed, had supporters who believed that reducing the Earth’s population by four-fifths would help protect the planet. The National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit was concerned that a lone maverick might attempt a terrorist attack. It had also warned several companies they were being targeted as major polluters by the group and had offered them advice on how to withstand attack.

It’s perfectly legitimate to report police security concerns, but none of the statements were substantiated. No website links were offered, no names were mentioned, no companies identified and no police source would go on the record.

The article linked Earth First! to climate camps established last summer, including one at Kingsnorth power station, Kent, and at Heathrow.

While the paper had no intention of suggesting that every activist was a potential terrorist, several climate campers wrote to protest. ‘If a journalist is told by a single anonymous source that a movement of people has among it individuals who would take the lives of men, women and children in a terror attack, what standard of evidence does that journalist require? In this case: no evidence whatsoever. The claim itself was the story.’

We’ve been here before. Other newspapers reported on a predicted ‘summer of hate’ at climate camps that never materialised and the Press Complaints Commission found against the Evening Standard at climate campers were planning attacks at Heathrow.

Environmentalist Keith Metcalf explained that Earth First! supported direct action against property, but not against people. He believed that the debate around sustainable population size had been twisted to imply that environmentalists wished to kill people.

He also repeated the belief of several others that Nectu was briefing in this manner in order to make prosecutions easier and to boost its funding, which is at risk owing to the decline in animal rights campaigns. I can’t verify that or the fears about mass murder because, despite repeated requests, Nectu won’t respond. Accordingly, The Observer has decided to withdraw the story.

CLIMATE ACTION NEWS SHEET 84, OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2008

————————-
UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIONS:
————————-
1) RBS, E.ON and Shell university recruitment tours, Oct/Nov 08
2) Climate Camp National Gathering, Bradford, 8/9.11.08
3) Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa, 10.11.08
4) Shared Planet Conference, Birmingham, 21-23.11.08
5) 48 hours of action against E.On and new coal, 28/29.11.08
6) Buy Nothing Day, 29.11.08

—————-
RECENT HAPPENINGS:
—————-
1) Towards Copenhagen 2009 – the first global gathering, 13/14.09.08
2) Coal power station blockaded in Virginia, USA, 15.09.08
3) Rossport – Solitaire leaves Irish waters with no pipeline laid! 20.09.08
4) Flashmob against airport expansion a success! 23.09.08
5) Climate Camp policing condemned, 30.09.08 & 28.10.08
6) Boston (US) Rising Tide pay Citibank a visit, 7/10/08
7) Day of Action Against PacifiCorp dam, 10.10.08
8) Parliament rushed by climate activists, 13.10.08
9) Oxford students just say no to BP jobs, 14.10.08
10) Art Not Oil visit the NT and hoax boss Hytner, 15.10.08
11) Protesters disrupt European biofuels summit, 16.10.08
12) Scottish climate activists target Scottish First Minister, 16.10.08
13) Greenwash Guerrillas EDF Action, 22.10.08
14) Manchester students flashmob RBS and E.On recruitment stalls, 23.10.08
15) Barclays’ coal investments targeted in Leamington Spa, 25.10.08
16) Protestors stop work at Shipley open-cast; Shipley Bodge court case
collapses, 27.10.08
17) The Rainbow Warrior goes to Kingsnorth, 29.10.08
18) Bristol University Death Fair
19) Conveyer belt lock-on stops Australian coal power station, 1.11.08

————————-
UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIONS:
————————-

1) RBS, E.ON and Shell university recruitment tours, OCT/NOV 08
Climate criminals are recruiting now, in a University near you. Find out when and where, as they have kindly posted their itineraries online.
www.makeitrbs.com/events/

www.shell.com/home/content/gbr/aboutshell/careers/students_and_graduates/calendar_of_events/calendar_of_events_30052008.html

www.eon-uk.com/Careers/Graduates/807.aspx

Stuck for a direct action idea? Check out Rising Tide’s “15 ways to topple
the Fossil Fuel Empire” on our website.

2) Climate Camp National Gathering, Bradford, 8/9.11.08
The next Climate Camp gathering will be in Bradford on the 8th and 9th November. Come along and get involved.This month we will be in the fair city of Bradford, based up at the student union. Food will be provided by the delicious Treehouse Cafe and crash space will be nearby.

Large Group Facilitation Training
Seeds for Change are running a Large Group Facilitation Training for Climate Campers on Friday November 7th in Leeds (just down the road from the gathering in Bradford), 11AM to 5.30 PM. Please email process at climatecamp.org.uk asap if you are interested.

3) Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa, 10.11.08
Film screening and fundraiser at 7PM at LARC in London, 62 Fieldgate St, E1 1ES. On the 13th anniversary of the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni 9 by the Nigerian state in 1995, with Shell in close cahoots, we will be remembering what they fought for and what they died for. We’ll also be hearing about the inspirational resistance of people around the world to Shell’s unfortunately far from unique brand of destruction, duplicity and overall mayhem in the chase for ever-greater profits. There will be film screenings of ‘Those Who Dance’ and ‘Shadows and Light: Oil, Power, and the Niger Delta’, inspirational art on the walls and food and drink. Funds raised will go towards Art Not Oil’s new campaign against the Shell-sponsored Oedipus production currently running at the National Theatre.

4) Shared Planet Conference, Birmingham, 21-23.11.08
The University of Birmingham – Shared Planet is the UK’s largest student conference on world poverty, human rights and the environment. It brings hundreds of students together for a weekend packed with big-name speakers, skills and issue based workshops, debates, discussions, film and a massive party! http://peopleandplanet.org/events/sharedplanet

5) 48 hours of action against E.On and new coal, 28/29.11.08

The UK Government is calling for an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, we are calling for 48 hours of action against E.ON and new coal NOW. Join us in saying ‘No to New Coal’: get your friends together and plan an action for your area. Go stickering, blockading, serving direct action warning notices at supply chain premises, organise an awareness raising talk, hang a banner, get creative on the streets, the options are endless. Get together, get creative, and plan an action! For more information visit – www.e-onf-off.org – where a list of potential targets, action ideas and plenty of resources will follow shortly.

6) Buy Nothing Day, 29.11.08
Saturday November 29h 2008 is Buy Nothing Day. It’s a day where you challenge yourself to switch off from shopping and tune into life. The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from consumerism and live without shopping. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending – better yet, get together with some friends and challenge consumer culture directly!
www.buynothingday.co.uk

7) National Climate March, 06.12.08
March on Parliament to demand that the government acts on climate now! The march this year goes to Parliament Square to demand that the government act now on climate. The march will start at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park – assemble 12 noon. The march will be preceeded by a climate protest bike ride starting from Lincoln’s Inn Fields at 10.30 am: see more here. There will be an After-Party in the Synergy Centre from 5.00 pm till late.!
www.campaigncc.org/index.shtml

8) Earth First! Winter Moot, 6-8.02.09
The Earth First! Winter Moot is a weekend to reflect on where we are as a radical ecologist movement and on where we are going. The moot will be about discussing strategy, strengthening the EF! network, security and communications and action planning. A session is also reserved for discussing a UK mobilisation for the UN climate conference in Copenhagen late 2009. The moot will be held in Brighton (t.b.c.). Please check this website nearer to the time for further details and email any items you would like to add an item to the agenda to moot2009 at earthfirst.org.uk.
http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/21557

9) Fossil Fools Day 2009, 01.04.09
Just in case you missed the news last month – Fossil Fools Day is back! Whether you’ve been looking for a chance to dip a toe into the growing climate action movement, or have had your kick-ass action planned since last year, now is the time to do it – whatever it is. On April 1st, join the global day of resistance and pull a prank that packs a punch. Call-out now available on the website, so get spreading the word. Info and resources will be posted on the website soon, and look out for leaflets to distribute in December.
www.risingtide.org.uk/fossilfoolsday2009

—————-
RECENT HAPPENINGS:
—————-

1) Towards Copenhagen 2009 – the first global gathering, 13/14.09.08
The first social movements’ meeting was from 13-14 September 2008, in a free school in Norrberg, hosted by the Danish movement ClimaX (klimax2009.org). There were about 100 people present from 21 countries around the world, and mobilisatations towards December 2009 were well and truly launched. For the call to action, translations, and a personal perspective on the meeting, see http://risingtide.org.uk/copenhagen. To get involved, send an email to climate09-int-subscribe at list.riseup.net.

2) Coal power station blockaded in Virginia, USA, 15.09.08
At 6:00am on September 15 around 40 people blockaded the construction site of Dominion Virginia’s Wise County coal-fired power station. Eleven protesters were arrested after four hours. Protesters locked their bodies to eight large steel drums, two of which had operational solar panels illuminating a banner that read “renewable jobs to renew Appalachia.” In addition, protesters held a 10’x30′ banner, which said: “we demand a clean energy future.”

3) Rossport – Solitaire leaves Irish waters with no pipeline laid! 20.09.08
On Friday the 20th September, the pipe laying ship, the Solitaire, finally left Irish waters. During the ship’s time in Ireland, Shell failed to lay any part of the offshore pipe line. The departure of the Solitaire is a massive victory for the Shell to Sea campaign. Resistance in the past six weeks has taken many different forms: fishermen preventing the ship’s access to the bay by refusing to move from her path, site invasions by local people and the Rossport Solidarity Camp, numerous waterborne actions to prevent work by supporters from other parts of Ireland and further afield, national and international solidarity actions and finally, an 11 day hunger strike by local campaigner Maura Harrington, that continued until the ship left Irish waters. The events of the last 6 weeks have inspired not only those involved, but also many who witnessed them from afar, new links and friendships have been forged and many lessons learned. In the aftermath, the Shell to Sea campaign can clearly be seen to have been revitalized, both locally and nationally. It is unclear when the ship will attempt to return to Broadhaven Bay. It is possible it could still be this year if repairs are quick and a suitable weather window appears, or it may not be until next spring. However, while it may be uncertain exactly when the ship will return, what is certain, is that it will meet even greater opposition upon its next arrival. Come and be part of it! The Rossport community is calling on people everywhere to put pressure on Shell, Allseas (the company that owns the Solitaire) and Irish embassies to demand that the Solitaire leaves Irish waters immediately.

4) Flashmob against airport expansion a success! 23.09.08
Over 100 campaigners staged a colourful flashmob against airport expansion at midday today outside Manchester Town Hall. The group included London campaigners opposed to the expansion of Heathrow. The flashmob was timed to coincide with the Labour Party Conference. At 12.45 precisely the campaigners stripped off to reveal red t-shirts with the words ‘Stop Airport Expansion’ emblazoned across them. They then lay down to form the words ‘TAKE TRAINS’ with their bodies. The protest marked the public launch of the recently formed ‘Stop Expansion at Manchester Airport’.

5) Climate Camp policing condemned, 30.09.08 & 28.10.08
A spokesman for Medway Trades Union Council said “We have decided to hold an inquiry into the Policing of the Climate Camp because of our concern over the level of policing and various incidents such as a policeman in riot gear assaulting a protester with a riot shield, as shown on TV, and other allegations including local campaigners being subjected to pepper spray and a local councillor being pushed to the ground”

Also, in the House of Commons, MPs accused police of unnecessary aggression towards climate campers. Home Office ministers were told that officers “provoked violence against peaceful protesters” and even arrested someone for “aggressively picking up litter”.
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/09/409732.htm

6)Boston (US) Rising Tide pay Citibank a visit, 7/10/08
Four activists chained themselves to the front entrance of the Citibank branch in Harvard Square, Cambridge. The action started as a protest in front of the Bank of America branch a block away before marching down the street to Citibank, where the four activists had already chained themselves to the front door, closing the bank for a period of time. Over 150 people attended the protest, while many more onlookers gathered in Harvard Square. The action, using the tag-line “Not With Our Money”, was intended to raise awareness of the connections between the current financial crisis and the impending climate crisis. Both Bank of America and Citi Bank are responsible for funding dirty coal power that harms the environment, and engaging in predatory lending practices that are fuelling the foreclosure crisis and have left families in Boston homeless. Several groups were involved with the protest including Rising Tide Boston and Rainforest Action Network, both environmental justice groups, and City Life/Vida Urbana, a tenants’ rights organization.

7) Day of Action Against PacifiCorp dam, 10.10.08
A coalition of Klamath River Indian tribes, fishermen, conservationists and local supporters (including Cascadia Rising Tide) ramped up their campaign to remove four fish-killing dams on the river today when they held a spirited protest in front of PacifiCorp’s headquarters in Portland. The “Day of Action Against PacifiCorp” started off at 8:30 a.m. on September 18th when local activists hung a banner proclaiming “Warren Buffett Kills Salmon, Jobs and Communities” over Interstate-84 in solidarity with the Tribes. Around 200 people converged in front of PacifiCorp for a press conference. After the conference, 70 people occupied the area in front of the headquarters, effectively shutting down the front entrance to PacifiCorp as company staff locked the doors.

8) Parliament rushed by climate activists, 13.10.08
Demanding deeds not words from the government, 500 Climate Rushers gathered in Parliament Square to celebrate 100 years to the day since the Suffragettes rushed parliament demanding votes for women. After sharing tea and cake on the lawn of Parliament Square, men and women dressed in Edwardian garb became a little less civilised, and the doors of to Parliament were locked as climate activists rushed the main entrance. Although no one got in, the sounds of protesters striking the doors were clearly audible from the inside.
www.climaterush.co.uk

9) Oxford students just say no to BP jobs, 14.10.08
Activists infiltrated an attempt by BP to woo Oxford graduates at a top-notch hotel on October 14th. One interrupted the cheesy BP PR man’s presentation as he claimed that he ‘loved the countryside’ – while putting the gloss on oil and gas exploration, extraction and financing – to ask, why then, has BP spent more on its green sunflower rebranding than on its annual renewable energy budget? Activists then gave their own presentation of BP’s activities around the world, why major oil companies are counter-productive to climate change solutions, and why any tempted graduates should reconsider their career options. A member of Colombia Solidarity Campaign gave a first hand account of BP’s complicity in environmental destruction, subverting peaceful social movements and funding death squads. A moment of stunned silence was followed by applause as the re-educated audience abandoned the shindig.

10)Art Not Oil visit the NT and hoax boss Hytner, 15.10.08
After a visit to the theatre (Darling!), arty climate activists cooked up a letter claiming to be from NT boss Nicholas Hytner questioning the use of oil sponsorship in the arts. The NT were none too pleased about this and the ensuing row reached the letters pages of luvvie-weekly “The Stage”(a first for the direct action movement?). Art not Oil ask: “We’re asking people if they’re up for making an artwork of some kind as a response This could be an image, song, film or poem to appear on our website, or to be printed on a postcard or something similar. We’re open to ideas. (Unfortunately, we aren’t able to pay for your work, but we have no wish to possess it!) If this is of interest, we’d love to see it as soon as possible, as ‘Oedipus’ runs until January 2009 only.”
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/10/411200.html and
http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/feature.php/22157/chit-chat-hytner-miss-or-maybe-an-attack-

11) Protesters disrupt European biofuels summit, 16.10.08
On World Food Day, 16th October, activists from Action Against Agrofuels disrupted the Biofuels Expo in Newark, one of the largest biofuel industry conferences in Europe. Four banners were dropped, as protesters climbed on the roof outside the main entrance and on a ledge inside the main exhibition hall, where they remained for over three hours. Rape alarms were set off across the exhibition centre. Banners read “Agrofuels for cars and power plants worsen climate change”, “Land-grabbing for agrofuels causes hunger”, “Agrofuels – a climate crime” and “Greenwashing hunger and deforestation”. Separately, Leeds University students held a banner and leafletting protest outside the conference.

12) Scottish climate activists target Scottish First Minister, 16.10.08
At 4am, residents from Clydebank, Paisley, Kirkliston and Cramond peacefully set up a stereo and blasted aeroplane noise through the entrance of the First Minister’s private residency in Edinburgh. The action stands as a protest ‘dawn chorus’ to highlight the experience of living life in the shadow of a growing airport. Ironically, the stereo caused 110 decibels of noise – the equivalent of a jumbo jet taking off. For half an hour about ten residents surrounded the building dressed in bright pajamas, night caps, clutching teddybears, with ear defenders to display the dangerous levels of noise pollution endured by their families and communities. Their placards stated “It’s time to wake up to the impacts of aviation” and “have a taste of your own medicine”. The residents took these steps to state loud and clear to the First Minister, who holds ultimate say over the fate of the expansion plans, that he cannot ignore any of the effects of airport expansion. These impacts include dangerous noise levels, rising air pollution, climate change and increasing economic uncertainty during the current credit crunch.

13) Greenwash Guerrillas EDF Action, 22.10.08
London Rising Tide’s Greenwash Guerillas Brigade, Detection Platoon #1, moved into action on Monday morning, 22 October, at 08:00 hours – targeting energy corporation Électricité de France (EDF) at the central London headquarters of their UK subsidiary EDF Energy. EDF has recently bought out British Energy and have announced that they plan to build 4 new nuclear power stations in the UK in the coming years. Inspired by our counterparts in France demonstrating against new nuclear power, we chose to target EDF’s attempts to muscle in their FALSE nuclear solution to the looming disaster of catastrophic climate chaos. Our action (consisting of 12 Greenwash Guerillas) highlighted the dangers of nuclear power to the biosphere, humanity, and REAL renewable energy solutions.

14) Manchester students flashmob RBS and E.On Recruitment Stalls, 23.10.08
A busy careers fair at Manchester’s GMex was interrupted yesterday by several long whistle blasts. 30 or so protestors suddenly revealed their yellow ‘Leave it in the Ground’ t-shirts and surrounded the Royal Bank of Scotland stall, holding banners and chanting ‘leave it in the ground!’. A protestor then read some extracts from the excellent report “Cashing in on Coal”, which shows that RBS is a climate criminal, pouring money into new fossil fuel extraction projects. The security guards eventually began dragging protestors out so they didn’t get a chance to visit the E.ON stall. However the protest continued outside where people handed out leaflets explaining how E.ON (with a fat loan from RBS) plans to build the first new coal power station in the UK in 30 years, while security guards repeatedly threatened to have them arrested for trespassing.

15) Barclays’ coal investments targeted in Leamington Spa, 25.10.08
Leamington Rising Tide took aim at a town centre Barclays on Saturday 25 October 2008 in protest at the bank’s heavy investment in dirty coal. Banners, leaflets and balloons let people know that ‘Barclays are fuelling global warming’. One of the banners used an image of scales to demolish the myth that Barclays cares about climate change: they invest a whopping 3,300 million invested in coal against 15 million in renewable tech on the other. Over the last two years, Barclays has been involved in 17 separate loans to the coal industry, and together with RBS and HSBC, has loaned $70 billion to E.ON alone.

16) Protestors stop work at Shipley open-cast; Shipley Bodge court case collapses, 27.10.08
Protestors from Earth First! stopped work at an open-cast coal site for over two hours – they ran onto the site and clambered on diggers & dumpers and held out banners stopping the work safely. Some of the digger drivers were very friendly and were glad to have a break as they work very long shifts, from 7am-6:30 with only lunch & half hour breaks at 10 & 3. Today work had not been able to start till 10 as nature was fighting its own corner, with rain drowning the site, and it was stopped again at 1 for 3 hours due to the protest.

Meanwhile, the first court case arising from the eviction of Bodge House, Shipley, where protesters occupied the site of the proposed open cast coal mine from June until August, collapsed today after the prosecution admitted that it didn’t have the evidence to support its case. The crown prosecutor asked for an adjournment, the defence objected, the district
judge agreed with the defence and dismissed the case. Let’s hope the others go the same way.

17) The Rainbow Warrior goes to Kingsnorth, 29.10.08
The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior led a peaceful armada of boats down the Medway to Kingsnorth, and thirty campaigners, each carrying flags from 30 nations, disembarked onto Kingsnorth’s jetty. E.on’s proposed new plant would emit as much carbon dioxide as the world’s 30 least polluting countries combined (hence the flags), dashing our chances of beating climate change and spelling disaster for millions of families around the world. Meanwhile, another group of volunteers – including two of the Kingsnorth Six (recently cleared of criminal damage to Kingsnorth’s smokestack using the defence of climate change) – occupied a small, concrete, E.ON-owned island just next to the jetty until they were forced to leave by a high court injunction.
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/vigil-ends-20081030

18) Bristohl Uni Death Fair, 29.10.08
This time it was the 4 horseman of the apocalypse (well, 2 of them) who highlighted the reality behind the shiny facades of companies like E.On and BAE Systems.
http://westsideclimateaction.wordpress.com

19) Conveyer belt lock-on stops Australian coal power station, 1.11.08
29 people from Rising Tide Australia have been arrested after a climate change protest at Bayswater power station today. Four people attached themselves to machinery, stopping the conveyor belts that carry coal to Bayswater’s furnaces for six hours while 25 others occupied the coal piles.
http://www.risingtide.org.au/node/802

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Compiled and sent out by Rising Tide UK.

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The latest EF! Action Update is out, bringing you reports of eco-resistance for the darkening days…

Bringing light & inspiration to the darker evenings are the action stories in the latest Earth First! Action Update.

Blockades of nuclear power, roads & rivers around the world were joined “with this Shell-blockading D-lock I thee wed”.

Bringing light & inspiration to the darker evenings are the action stories in the latest Earth First! Action Update.

Blockades of nuclear power, roads & rivers around the world were joined “with this Shell-blockading D-lock I thee wed”.

And if anti-fascist action, quarry sabotage, squats, tree platforms, wrekin’ opencasts, scaling luxury hotels & the latest protest camp news wasn’t enough for you, chuck in some glue, arm tubes, a pool of oil, stink bombs, airborne rape alarms and a Lego-sized occupation, then there’s full reports from this summer’s antics at the Camp for Climate Action, Rossport solidarity camp, EF! summer gathering and Saving Iceland camp, plus a crop of global climate camps & news of protest & resistance from all 5 continents.

“No nukes, no coal, no kidding” – with people dying (both literally & symbolically) from the activities of the Earth-destroyers, people have been shouting to just “Leave it in the Ground”, dragon boats have clashed with navy gunboats in Ireland, an oil war was declared in Nigeria, and ‘moles’ spent a week underground digging further and further away from the forces of darkness at an open-cast coal site.

Details of the new Coal Action Network, upcoming dates & a full contact list should help launch (or boost) you into the orbit of eco-resistance.

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