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G20 update – police violence; what happened b4 Ian Tomlinson’s death witnesses; vigil on 11th; legal support; protest tactics

Channel 4 commentary on what happened to Ian Tomlinson just before his death – the latest ITN footage combined with the first footage published on the Guardian website. On the ground, protestors try to help before being cleared out of the area – counter the media-bottle-throwing hype, watch two eye witnesses.

New incident of systemic police violence – when an officer slaps the face then batons the legs of a woman – captured on film.

Even newer video evidence of yet more police violence – shields and fists used to punch without provocation – more details.

Newest footage which shows Ian Tomlinson’s head hit the ground from the push by police.

Police charge press photographers.

Collections of videos of police violence: 1 | 2
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New incident of systemic police violence – when an officer slaps the face then batons the legs of a woman – captured on film.

Even newer video evidence of yet more police violence – shields and fists used to punch without provocation – more details.

Newest footage which shows Ian Tomlinson’s head hit the ground from the push by police.

Police charge press photographers.

Collections of videos of police violence: 1 | 2
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London assembly and procession:

Easter rising!
Reclaim the City, Saturday April 11

* 12.00 noon Saturday – 12.00 noon Sunday
* Wear Black
* Assemble 11:30am, Bethnal Green
* Lay your flowers where Ian Tomlinson died
* Bring pop-up tents to stay with Ian through the night

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Edinburgh protest:

Four months ago it was a 15-year-old schoolboy in Greece – today it’s a 47-year-old newspaper seller in the UK.

Enough with the state murders!

Whether civilians’ deaths are caused because of “heart attacks” (most likely due to police terror) or head injuries (due to police brutality) or “misfires” (due to police stupidity), we say we had Enough!

Enough! Of your lies in attempting to cover up your mistakes
Enough! Of your “Robocop” attitude
Enough! Of your “to serve and protect” fake masks
Enough! Of you being the guardian dogs of the privileged elite

We say Enough! and we are going to say it out loud so everyone can hear us.

Saturday 11th of April at 1:30pm in Bristo Square (Edinburgh)

Bring friends, banners, candles and something to make noise with (drums, whistles etc.)

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Redditch protest:

The policing at the G20 protests was extremely violent and aggressive. Peaceful protesters were attacked and beaten, many of them suffering injuries. We’ve all seen the videos of police laying into the climate campers who stood there with their hands in the air calmly stating “this is not a riot”. And now we see film evidence that Ian Tomlinson, who was not even a protester, was brutally attacked from behind with a baton, before being shoved hard to the ground by a vicious cop. Ian Tomlinson died minutes later – I call this MURDER and it happened on Jacqui Smith`s watch!!

This is a call out for a National Demonstration in Redditch, the constituency of Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary.

Demonstrate against the increasingly violent and aggressive policing at peaceful protests. Demonstrate against the erosion of civil liberties in our so called democracy. Demand that Jacqui Smith ensures that the officers who murdered Ian Tomlinson are brought to justice.

Let`s see how Jacqui Smith likes it when 1,000s of protesters turn up in her home town demanding JUSTICE!!!

Saturday 18th April – 12 noon outside Redditch Town Hall.

The town hall is about 10 minutes walk from the train station.
http://www.multimap.com/s/QKjPxY9S

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A protest against the death of Ian Tomlinson and the growing use of violent tactics by police against protesters will take place 1 pm Saturday 11 April, Grey’s Monument, Newcastle

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Legal call-out

G20 LEGAL UPDATE
First, thank you for all the emails. We are reading them but not acknowledging them at the moment due to the quantity. Our apologies. For the time being, if you would like us to respond – please send us another email requesting a response.

HOW THE POST-PROTEST LEGAL PROCESS WORKS:
Lots of people are writing to us with evidence of police misbehaviour and there certainly seems to be grounds for complaint in many of them.
However, crucially complaints and legal claims need to be brought by individuals: we can’t do it on your behalf. Also, do NOT make a complaint if there’s a possibility that you will make a legal claim, or could support someone else doing so – complaining to the IPCC before suing the police will compromise the case.

What we are doing is:

1. We are making sure we have the evidence available to us sorted so we can locate supporting evidence for those arrested or those who bring complaints of assault and so forth against the police.

2. We are exploring whether there is a legal challenge strategically worth bringing this time. If so, we will be looking for potential litigants.

3. We are preparing report and film on the Camp and may be in contact with some of you to use your statements. We have made no decision as to what we will do with the report at this point.

4. We have a particular interest in how those with injuries or illnesses were treated by the police – so if you have relevant evidence there please let us know. Depending on the evidence, we may focus on this as an area of concern.

What you could do:

If you were wrongfully arrested, or assaulted and injured by a police officer, you may be able to bring a case against the police. Please contact Bindmans Solicitors in the first instance: 020 7833 4433. If they do not have the capacity then we can recommend other firms of solicitors who have worked with activists in the past. We may have supporting evidence so let us know if we can help. Please keep us informed of the outcomes – legal@climatecamp.org.uk.

If you were arrested and charged, let us know as we may have supporting evidence that may help with your defence. You will need to give your solicitor your consent to them talking to us or they will not be able to tell us about your case. Please keep us informed of the outcome – legal@climatecamp.org.uk.

N.B. If you have previously left any important legal information on an answering machine or sent to a different email address and nobody got back to you, please try again using the email address above

Meanwhile write up anything relevant now and email us, let us know if you have footage and we will send you some information on how to share it with us, keep copies of any original notes, photos and film (and keep them for 12 months).

Finally, if your witness statement relates to the G20 Meltdown protests at Bank, there is a separate legal support process. Please contact the Legal Defence and Monitoring Group – email ldmgmail@yahoo.co.uk or post to Legal Defence and Monitoring Group, BM Box HAVEN, London, WC1N 3XX .

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Public Order strategies to not get kettled and beaten by the police

For how to survive police tactics in big public order situations such as the G20 protests, and still do what you want to do, read the Guide to Public Order Situations – any comments or ideas please send them in to manchester@earthfirst.org.uk

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Video of police rush on climate camp – why you should read the above, rather than listen to someone on a megaphone suggesting people put their hands up AND link arms! The same charge but clearer and more brutal can be seen here. Other clips and reports from the day are all here.

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Journalists removed from covering G20 protests with illegal use of laws and through injury – see the commentaryhere.

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Beautiful & inciteful G20 photo essay – chapter 1: the anarchists are coming! | chapter 2 part 1: storm the banks? | chapter 2 part 2: a tale of kettles, and death | chapter 3: police work

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Correcting the media narrative of the G20 protests on April 1, 2009

The media coverage of the G20 protests has been systematically biased, writes Musab Younis – ignoring the violent policing, the tactic of open-air imprisonment of demonstrators, and the real chronology of events. “It has taken remarkable obedience by the press,” writes Musab, “to refuse to ask some simple and obvious questions.”

#1 – The reversal of events

“Anti-capitalist protesters embarked upon a wrecking spree within a City branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland today,” shrieked The Times on April 1, “and engaged in running battles with police as G20 demonstrations turned violent. Police were forced to use dogs, horses and truncheons to control a crowd of up to 5,000 people who marched on the Bank of England, in Threadneedle Street, on the eve of the London summit.”

This narrative of events is entirely typical. Under the headline “Police clash with G20 protestors”, the BBC reported that “protesters stormed a London office of the Royal Bank of Scotland”, later adding tha: “officers later used ‘containment’ then ‘controlled dispersal’” (BBC, April 1). The Guardian reported: “The G20 protests in central London turned violent today ahead of tomorrow’s summit, with a band of demonstrators close to the Bank of England storming a Royal Bank of Scotland branch … [S]ome bloody skirmishes broke out as police tried to keep thousands of people in containment pens” (The Guardian, April 1).

What is interesting about this narrative is that it precisely reverses the events of the day.

Eyewitness accounts of the day agree that the police began the now-infamous tactic of ‘kettling’ protestors – refusing to allow anyone in or out of a confined space held by police lines – as soon as the four marches had converged on the Bank of England, at around midday. An article in The Times a day earlier by a former Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Andy Hayman, suggested that the police had planned to use this tactic well in advance: “Tactics to herd the crowd into a pen, known as ‘the kettle’, have been criticised heavily before, yet the police will not want groups splintering away from the main crowd. This would stretch their resources” (The Times, March 31).

Note that the “violent outburst” (Telegraph) of window-breaking took place hours after the police had decided to “herd the crowd” of at least 5,000 people “into a pen” without access to food, water or toilet facilities – and without allowing them to leave.

The press was surely aware of this. The Guardian’s live blog from the day noted at 11.57 a.m. that “the barriers designed to fence in the protesters are not big enough”, an hour later it confirms that there is “a ‘kettle’ at the Bank of England”: half an hour later they report “clashes” and finally, at 1.30 p.m., “a window has been smashed.” An objective observer of the sequence of events here might ask whether the police ‘kettle’ had in fact been responsible for the “clashes”, “violence” and smashed window.

But this idea – that the kettle might have provoked the “clashes”, and that the police might therefore be responsible for the “violence” – is remarkably absent from virtually all of the reams of press coverage of the protests. We do, of course, have a spectrum of opinion: whereas the right-wing Daily Mail sees the protestors as “a fearsome group of thugs”, a “bizarre group of misfits” fuelled by “Dutch courage” and a “willingness to use violence” (April 1), for the left-wing Guardian only “a minority of demonstrators seemed determined to cause damage” whilst “much of the protesting” was “peaceful” (April 1).

Again, the notion that there was not a “violent” core of demonstrators at all, but that people were provoked into “clashes” with the police due to police tactics, is absent. Even the article which is by far most critical of the police actions – a piece by Duncan Campbell in The Guardian titled ‘Did police containment cause more trouble than it prevented?’ – only goes as far as to say: “As for the violent clashes that led to cracked heads and limbs, how much was inevitable and how much avoidable?”. Campbell concedes that “some demonstrators were bent on aggro” but adds: “so were some of the officers.” He also criticises the conditions inside the kettle and suggests that it will make people think twice before embarking on a demonstration in future. Thus Campbell suggests the “clashes” were avoidable, but does not indicate that the kettles actually led to the “clashes” – though, to give credit where it is due, his is the only piece in the press which dares to suggest that the police were themselves violent.

#2 – Justifications

Well before the protests, the press had been reporting with glee the “violence” predicted as “London went into lockdown” and “protestors issued a call to arms” with “police fears” of protestors “intent on violence” (The London Paper, 31 March).

The BBC posted a sympathetic article titled ‘The challenge of policing the G20’ (30 March) which pointed out that: “police officers spend their professional lives trying to play down the public order implications of demonstrations – it’s in their interests to keep things calm.”

“The security strategy of the day,” they reported breathlessly, “resembles a three-dimensional ever-changing puzzle” where “the unknowable factor is the demonstrator bent on violence”. The article ended with a quote from Commander O’Brien: “If anyone wants to come to London to engage in crime or disorder, they will be met with a swift and efficient policing response.”

This flurry of media coverage predicting “violence” from “anarchists” was clearly initiated by the police, who released a barrage of press statements before the protests which served to pre-emptively quell criticism of their actions on the day – actions which had, of course, been planned well in advance. The G20 policing was to be “one of the largest, one of the most challenging, and one of the most complicated operations” ever “delivered” by the Metropolitan Police, according to Commander Simon O’Brien, who hit the press circuit with gusto in the days preceding the G20.

The press obediently played their part by reporting police “fears” word for word, with complete sympathy, and with no question on asking those who planned to protest whether they thought the police reaction might be overly violent. After all, “the police have had to prepare for every possibility” on April 1, noted the Times: “from terrorism to riots” (The Times, March 31).

With ample opportunity to question an unusually talkative police force, barely a single sentence in the press asked whether the police preparation for the protests might be heavy-handed or that a violent reaction by the police to the protests might lead to serious injury or death. The protestors, of course, were to be “violent” “mobs” (based on police “intelligence” gleaned from “social networking sites”), but the police were to be calm, measured and undertake only necessary measures.

The effect of this press coverage was to justify in advance all police actions whilst de-legitimising any actions by protestors. Endless predictions of “violent protestors” meant that all the day’s “clashes” were sure to be blamed on the “minority” of “intent on violence” – even if evidence suggested that “clashes” were actually instigated by police, and that violence was in the main inflicted by the police on protestors. Within the press narrative, the police are merely reactive; forced to respond to a “violent” situation and “keep things calm”; the notion that they could have actively encouraged and provoked “clashes” seems patently absurd.

#3 – So what’s missing?

There are a number of important questions which simply didn’t appear in the press.

a) Did the police intend to ‘kettle’ demonstrators in a confined space regardless of whether there was any violence or not?

All the evidence, including past cases of the police using this tactic, suggests this was the case. (At the Climate Camp protest at Bishopsgate on the same day, the police beat protestors back into a kettle despite them holding up their hands and chanting ‘this is not a riot’, as can clearly be seen on the Indymedia video ‘Riot police attack peaceful protestors at G20 climate camp’).
Is there a possibility that the police were not in fact “forced to use dogs, hoses and truncheons” due to “violent” protestors, but that they inflicted violence on peaceful protestors?

b) Was there really “violence” from the protestors?

The Metropolitan Police state that “small groups of protestors intent on violence, mixed with the crowds of lawful demonstrators” (Met Police, 2 April) and The Guardian quotes Commander Simon O’Brien as claiming there were “small pockets of criminals” within the crowd who attended a memorial for Ian Tomlinson on April 2. Again, eyewitness accounts of both days state that virtually all of the violence came from police. Despite hours of kettling and media reports of “missiles” being thrown at police (translation: plastic bottles), the only tangible evidence of protestor violence at either of the two main protest sites seems to have been some smashed windows, which of course is damage to property and not “violence”.

The Guardian reports that a small group of demonstrators were “seeking confrontation as they surged towards police lines.” Of course you’re expected to sit quietly when you are being held against your will behind police lines and periodically beaten with batons. But is it conceivable that those who “charged” police lines simply wanted to leave? And why is it confrontational to “charge police lines” without using any weapons, but not confrontational to hold thousands of people in an area, keeping them there with kicks and batons? That the protestors could have actually showed remarkable restraint when being provoked in an unbearable situation is laughable according to all the press. Yet this is what eyewitness accounts point to. Only the Letters page in the Guardian gives any credence to this: one person writes that “the few scuffles we did witness were caused precisely at the frustration of people not being allowed to come and go as they pleased”; another states that: “an ugly mood developed after those who had come to exercise their democratic right to protest were detained against their will” (Guardian, April 3).

c) Were the police tactics responsible for the “violence” of the day?

Because the press has been admirably obedient in reversing the course of events, this is an impossible question – according to the media first there was “violence” from “anarchist” protestors, then the kettle began. Yet once we establish a more accurate chronology, and take into account police prior planning, it seems that it had always been intended to shut thousands of people into an enclosed space without being able to leave.

d) Was the ‘kettling’ tactic intended to make people think twice about demonstrating in future?

The most critical piece in the press, by Duncan Campbell in the Guardian, states that those “people thinking about embarking on demonstrations in the future may have to decide whether they want to be effectively locked up for eight hours without food or water and, when leaving, to be photographed and identified.” Yet it does not suggest that this may have been the initial intention of the police in adopting this tactic, even though it is absurd to suggest the police might have planned to use this tactic without imagining it would lead to anger and frustration on the part of those trapped in the kettle. In conjunction with the extensive restrictions to freedom of protest under the New Labour government, amply documented elsewhere, it might be reasonable to suggest that the police tactics were in part, at least, designed to deter protestors.

e) Were the police violent and should any officers face charges?

Remarkably, this question is absent from virtually all the press coverage – despite hundreds of injuries to protestors, the death of someone apparently trapped in a kettle, and video footage showing baton charges directed towards crowds of people with their hands in the air, the use of riot shields as an offensive weapon, and the beating with batons of protestors sat on the ground (see, for example, ‘Riot police attack peaceful protestors at G20 climate camp’ on Indymedia). The ample groundwork laid by the police suggesting there would be protestors “intent on violence” happily accounts for all the violence of the day and makes easy to ignore eyewitness accounts that state that peaceful protestors being kettled, charged, beaten and provoked by the police. Given the number of witnesses and video evidence, it has taken remarkable obedience by the press to refuse to ask this question – and for a media so obsessed with violence, it seems strange that the overwhelming violence of the day, that inflicted by the police on protestors, barely merits a mention.

Fossil Fool’s Day, Financial Fools & G20 reports

For the latest up-to-the-minute reports from London & elsewhere for the protests for Fossil Fools’ Day, Financial Fools’ Day and the G20 summit, see https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/actions/2009/g20/ and the IMC newswire.

For links to what’s planned, meeting points & resources, see http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/22201

We’ll feature compiled reports here later in the day. See you in the streets!

For links to what’s planned, meeting points & resources, see http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/22201

We’ll feature compiled reports here later in the day. See you in the streets!

Disabled activists occupy Birmingham City Council office: photos and video

Yesterday (Monday March 30th) the Disabled People’s Direct Action Network (DAN) occupied the main entrance of Louisa Ryland House (Birmingham City Council’s main housing an

Yesterday (Monday March 30th) the Disabled People’s Direct Action Network (DAN) occupied the main entrance of Louisa Ryland House (Birmingham City Council’s main housing and social services office) over the way that disabled people are treated by the council.

Around 20 activists, who had come from as far afield as London, Leeds and Manchester, marched from the city centre (pausing only for a photo opportunity outside the Council House) at 1pm, chanting slogans such as “What do we want? Freedom! When do we want it? Now!” and “I’d rather go to jail than die in a nursing home”. Despite the fact that an article about the action had already appeared in that morning’s Birmingham Mail, Louisa Ryland House were totally unprepared for the invasion, with not even security guards initially present when DAN entered, chanting “Business as usual – ain’t gonna happen!”

We occupied the lobby and blockaded the entrance with 2 wheelchairs chained together (with banners and people handing out leaflets to both council workers and passers-by outside in the street) for about 2 hours before any police turned up – initially it was a pair of “Community Support Officers” who essentially said they agreed with us and walked away, then about half an hour later the actual West Midlands Police came, but were very clearly totally unprepared to arrest a group of disabled people, repeatedly warning us that we were breaking the law (er, we knew that) and that if we stayed we would be arrested… however, they didn’t seem to want to get round to it…

(One officer did tell us that it would be “zero tolerance” if we did it again… not quite sure if that’s believable! Also amusing was the guy with a huge pair of bolt-cutters who BCC security called in, who essentially took one look at the small and flimsy-looking yet effective chain and left proclaiming it not worth calling him out for…)

At around 4pm, after the police had told him about our protest, BCC’s Director of Health and Social Care Peter Hay actually came out to meet us (the other councillors and executives we addressed our demands to were apparently still in their “important meetings”… presumably deciding just how little of their 2009 budget they could get away with doling out to disabled people), and after some negotiation we secured a meeting with him and other representatives of his department on Friday 3rd April, as a result of which we decided collectively to call the occupation off and retire happily to a local accessible pub.

DAN’s demands in Birmingham are for accessible, affordable housing for all disabled people (in ordinary streets and communities, not in the ghetto-like “Extra Care” housing developments that BCC is currently building, which will give disabled people living in them “in-house” staff as their only option for providing personal care needs, making them essentially no more than nursing homes under another name), Direct Payments to employ personal assistants (PAs) to be granted to all disabled people who need personal assistance (which it is a legal obligation for all local authorities to offer to all disabled people meeting the eligibility criteria – yet despite this number being in the tens of thousands in Birmingham, only 482 disabled people in the whole city currently get them), and an end to the unjust “care” charging policies which require the poorest disabled people to pay most towards their own “care”, driving them even further into poverty.

Birmingham DAN know many disabled people who are literally unable to leave their houses (if they are lucky enough to be housed at all) and living in squalor and hopelessness without the assistance needed for the most basic of daily tasks (such as cooking, housework, and in some cases even dressing and showering) and, even when supposedly having “independent living”, lacking any meaningful choice and control over our own lives. We demand true independent living (as defined according to the Social Model of Disability, meaning not “doing everything for oneself” but “having control over one’s own life”) and self-determination for all disabled people under the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us”!

The Birmingham Post and Mail (2 local papers owned by the same company) both covered us, with slightly different photos and stories, but the latter printed the ludicrous claim on behalf of Birmingham City Council that “We’ve always maintained we are happy to meet with DAN representatives and discuss their concerns.” – well, if that was the case, we wouldn’t have had to take direct action, would we?

BCC also exposed just how far they are from reality by openly admitting to the press that “the average waiting time for priority [housing] adaptations is 58 weeks” (yes, over a YEAR), as if that was something to be proud of… what planet are they on?

It remains to be seen what, if anything, will come of the meeting between DAN and Birmingham City Council on Friday, but we will assure them in no uncertain terms that if they continue to fail to meet their legal obligations to accessibly house and grant Direct Payments to disabled people, we will be back!

These issues are not just present in Birmingham but nationwide. After a relative absence for the last few years, DAN is rising up again to highlight and bring to an end these injustices. “When we are under attack – disabled people fight back!” Councils, charities and any other organisations which oppress disabled people around the country – watch out for forthcoming DAN actions near you…

Another DAN activist’s report with more photos here: http://clairlewis.livejournal.com/4495.html
Activist Youtube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMERfR4tmps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPXAPiVMztc
Mainstream media Youtube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EslOKMwz0vg
Story in the Birmingham Mail here: http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2009/03/31/wheelchair-blockade-at-birmingham-social-services-97319-23272364/

danmail-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Callout for organising! Scottish Camp for Climate Action

Building a more sustainable future in four easy steps:
1. Get out your diary and find a pen
2. Open it at the pages for the 4-16 June and 3-10 August
3. Write in very large, bold lettering: CLIMATE CAMP SCOTLAND across these dates

What’s the Scottish Camp for Climate Action?

Some time between 3-10 August, activists, campaigners and communities from all over Scotland will set up camp! We will be living sustainably and equally, and taking awe-inspiring collective direct action to hold greedy climate criminals to account.

In a time of epoch-making economic and environmental change, we’re going to be making direct changes for the better. We’ll be taking control of our lives, of our society, and standing up for what we believe in. We’ll refuse to believe the greedy polluters and financiers, when they say it’s just not the right time to clean up their act. We’ll clean it up for them!

The Camp (whether urban or rural) will be a living example of collective, imaginative low-impact living, full of practical solutions. Its not just about plastic bags and light bulbs any more, these things isolate us and distract us from the real problems. Instead, we will work together to build strong, sustainable and powerful communities.

Whilst we haven’t decided where the camp will be yet, there’s no shortage of options. Whole swathes of airports, coal power stations, open cast mines and agrofuel installations and motorways are planned for Scotland. We also have the luxury of hosting the headquarters of international banks like RBS and HBOS, whose greed got us into this economic and environmental mess.

What’s happening in the run-up to the camp?

Some time between June 4-16 there will be a Climate Camp Convergence, with informative and practical workshops and discussions, opportunities for building links between campaigns, and the chance for us to collectively plan the future of climate activism across Scotland. By the time the August Camp rolls around we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

How do I get involved now?

Making this happen needs loads of ideas, energy and input. In short, it needs you. And all your mates!

Come to an organising meeting!

We organise horizontally, without leaders, and everyone has input into decisions. At the moment, most of the organising is being done in Edinburgh. We want this to change! We plan for local organising meetings to feed into regular Scotland-wide Gatherings.

Next meeting: Edinburgh, Tuesday 24th March, 7pm
at the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh (ACE) www.autonomous.org.uk

The following meeting will be on April 7th , 7pm, ACE in Edinburgh.

On the agenda, Tuesday 24th:

1.What focus each of the summer convergences will have: direct action, education, movement building etc, And what some of the specific content will be.
2. What the exact dates of each convergence will be.

Start organising in your area!

– Get organising with people in your area and see how much time, energy and resources you can bring to a Climate Camp in Scotland. To be effective, Climate Camp Scotland needs to have strong, decentralised groups doing the planning and preparation.

– Please get in touch if you want to help organise Climate Camp Scotland! so we can work together to find meeting times and locations that as many people can get to from around the country.

– Host the Climate Camp Scotland Info Tour in your area, to find out what’s happening this summer, what has to be decided and prepared, and how you can get involved.

– Email: climatecampscotland@riseup.net to request the Info Tour and with any questions however big or small!

Philippines: Thousands protesting open pit gold mine

March 23, 2009

Thousands of local villagers in the Masbate province of the Philippines, are in their second week of protesting the “unwelcome and unsafe” presence of the Filminera Mining Corporation (FMC).

March 23, 2009

Thousands of local villagers in the Masbate province of the Philippines, are in their second week of protesting the “unwelcome and unsafe” presence of the Filminera Mining Corporation (FMC).

Working in partnership with Australia/Canada-based company, Central Gold Asia (CGA), Filminera’s open pit gold mine in Aroroy was scheduled to be fully operational on March 20th, but a massive show of local opposition halted the company from moving ahead.

On March 14, as many as 4,000 villagers from Aroroy barricaded themselves in front of the mine site.

A battalion of soldiers was flown in to protect the mine site soon after the protest began, reports the CBCP. A second report from the CBCP explains that, as of March 18, there were “about 50 armed men belonging to Alpha Company 22nd CAFGU Battalion who are roaming around the mining site, while three boats of the 9th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army are anchored at the municipality’s shores and most of its men are conducting check points and searches.”

Fortunately the military hasn’t taken any action yet, but they could make a move at any moment.

Meanwhile, the company has declared a “five-day work holiday” at the mine, and given away free banquets, bingo socials “and all sorts of sports” to try and hollow-out the protesters’ legitimate demands.

The villagers are asking the government to revoke Filminera’s mining permit, and to repeal the Mining Act of 1995 “which favors foreign companies” over environmental protection, human rights, and indigenous peoples rights.

A number of primary concerns are fueling the demands, as the diocese of Masbate Social Action Foundation Inc. (DIMASAFI) explains in a recent statement:

Central Gold Asia, at the beginning of its activity has painted a rosy picture before the eight (8) impacted communities with promises of employment and social development. After years of exploration, it began to show its ugly face:

An open pit mining with wide tracks of land being scraped while mountains and hills are being flattened, leaving the communities agape at the unexpected sight;

farmers being displaced with meagre monetary compensation and relocated in nearby cattle grazing land with no possibility of farming activities;

the small scale miners with thousands of dependents being driven out of their place of work resulting in their scampering everywhere to dig for their survival;

rivers being closed with embankment for the construction of the tailings pond, and some rivers rerouted, with the consequent drying up of rice fields and fish ponds and water source of a nearby community;

age-old trees being bulldozed with plants and crops to the disappointment of farmers who have tilled the land for many years;

the source of drinking water that serves the nearby community being cut off;

the port of Barrera, a long time source of livelihood of the people residing along the coastlines, now being made the catch basin of the mine toxic wastes in case of overflow and the possible contamination of the 21,000 hectares of 68 fishpond owners in 9 barangays.

The situation for local communities will continue to deteriorate if the mine becomes fully operational.

However, if support and solidarity is an indication, it’s that the mine will never see the full light of day.

As of March 23, the protest is attended by at least 7,000 villagers, fisherfolk, and other concerned citizens. Several NGO’s and Ecumenical groups, including the Catholic Church, have also expressed their support for the villagers.

It appears that the local government supports them aswell. Aroroy’s Sangguniang Panlalawigan (legislature) “has slammed them for lacking even the basic requirement of an Environment Compliance Certificate,” notes a press release from Alyansa Tigil Mina, a coalition of NGO’s opposed to large scale mining. “It was also recently revealed that FMC lacks a Mayor’s permit and a business permit.”

Contacts

Rodne R. Galicha (ATM Sites of Struggles Officer): 09087421905
Marcial Velasco/Danilo Corpuz (ACRA Members of the Board): 09209190274
E-mail: kalikasan101@gmail.com Website: www.alyansatigilmina.net

Arizona, US: Vivisector and mining executive visted at home

“Tucson Vivisector Katalin Gothard and Rosemont mining scumbag Kathy Arnold get a special home visit from Tucson H.A.A.N.D! (Hooligans Attack At Night Duh!) agents of change. Solidarity dedication with those four recently arrested

Beneath a security blanket of darkness during the early morning hours of Friday, February 20, Tucson H.A.A.N.D. (Hooligans Attack At Night Duh!) visited the homes of University of Arizona Vivisector Katalin M. Gothard and Rosemont Copper (RC) Director of Environmental & Regulatory Affairs Kathy Arnold.

We chose Kathy Arnold because of all her work she does with RC as their Director of Environmental & Regulatory Affairs. RC is attempting to mine in the beautiful Santa Rita Mountains for copper. We say no mine thank you!
Mining in the Santa Ritas would threaten numerous species, plants and sensitive wild areas. Mining for copper to build solar panels is a false solution and unacceptable. The Santa Ritas are part of the Sky Island Region a Biological Hotspot home to 404 bird species, 117 reptile species, 26 amphibian species, thousands of plant species. A number of these species are endemic to this region. The Santa Ritas should never be home to a mine.

Dear Kathy destroying the land of wild animals and plants for more ingredients of a larger Infrastructure nightmare is no way to live. You should know that our environment is no place for you to hold your twisted affairs! We slashed your tire so that maybe you will think of the Mountain Lions and Black Bears that live where you want to build a mine. We bet the etching cream on the window of your house will leave a lasting impression of our visit. Maybe the cost of replacing it will make you think twice about the lasting irreplaceable costs your companies proposed mine would inflict on the Santa Ritas.

Katalin Gothard is an assistant Professor (Vivisector) within the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine Life Sciences in North Room 327 of the University of Arizona Tucson, her Phone # is (520) 626-1448. Her Email is kgothard@email.arizona.edu.
Her home addy is [removed by Indybay]. Her home # is [removed by Indybay].
Katalin makes a living by performing research on rhesus monkeys. Her research procedures involve screwing metal plates into the monkey’s skulls and affixing magnetic search coils to their eyes. After these medical procedures are performed she then trains the monkeys to tolerate head immobilization and to fixate on objects presented on a computer monitor.
What the fuck type of demented mind could do such a thing? Apparently, Katalin Gothard and her cohorts.

To the sound of Coyotes howling in the mountains we lifted the utility cover to your water in front of your house, turned the water off and the poured in cement to make sure it stayed off for a damn long time! We bet it’s a little harder to wash the blood off your hands and scrub away all those thoughts of torturing monkeys all day long huh Katalin. If you insist on working, get a real job!

Kathy, stay the fuck away from our mountains you sick fuck! Katalin, Leave the monkeys alone (your a sick fuck too)!

We dedicate this action to our four CA comrades in the fight against vivisection that were arrested the same day.

Y’all fools can keep trying to stop us by throwing us in jail. Cause you can’t lock up Revolutionary Solidarity for the land and Animals, duh!”

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/02/21/18572574.php

Climate Rush at UK Coal HQ & coal awards – Doncaster & London – and next one 5th March at RBS

Northern Climate Rush visit to UK coal headquarters

Around 15 climate activists from the North of England visited the headquarters of UK Coal near Doncaster yesterday, 26th February, in a protest against new coal and calling for tougher measures to control CO2 emissions.

Two people climbed up lamposts to suspend a 6m banner reading ‘Leave it in the Ground’, while on the ground below the protestors played a bit of samba, danced, and had a picnic. The protestors wore Edwardian themed dress including red sashes with the words ‘No New Coal’ written across them.

UK Coal is the UK’s largest coal company. The Doncaster protest was timed to coincide with the Climate Rush at the UK Coal Awards, hosted by UK coal, in London.

The police reaction was fairly low-key and non-obstructive, although they did take an awful lot of photos (I suppose they had nothing else to do). A van driver was hassled by cops, had his details checked and was told he was not insured to drive the vehicle (which was not the case).

—

Thursday 26th February 2009
PRESS RELEASE: Northern Climate Rush visits UK Coal headquarters

Climate activists from the North visited the headquarters of UK Coal near Doncaster today in a protest against new coal and calling for tougher measures to control CO2 emissions. The protest coincided with the ‘Climate Rush’ in London where people intended to gatecrash the Coal UK Conference and Awards 2009 at the Landmark Hotel in Regents Park. However, the London protesters arrived to find the Conference had moved venue at the last minute. Around 200 protesters in London occupied the lobby of the Landmark and dropped banners. They asked that the hotel to refrain from hosting any future events with fossil fuel industries such as UK Coal, to which the management agreed.

The protestors of both demonstrations wore Edwardian themed dress including red sashes with the words ‘No New Coal’ written across them. In Doncaster two female protesters scaled lamp-posts to hang a banner reading ‘Leave it in the ground’ across the entrance to the UK coal headquarters.

Coal is the dirtiest form of energy production yet the government has plans to expand the coal industry, including a new coal fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent. UK Coal are responsible for operating several open cast mines across the UK. Open cast coal mining is particularly damaging to the local environment since it involves scalping the landscape and typically provides an average of only 40 jobs per site, for a handful of years only.

Vanessa Hall, spokeswoman for the Northern Climate Rush said, “It is essential that we take climate change seriously and move away from dirty fossil fuels like coal. There is no way we can avoid runaway climate change if we continue to burn coal.”

Megan Beech, 24, said, “The coal industry talk about Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as the magic bullet that will allow us to keep burning coal. However CCS is as yet an unproven technology. You don’t start a fire on the promise that one day we”ll invent a fire extinguisher with which to put it out.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

This is the third major ‘Climate Rush’ event, following from the first in Parliament square in October 2008 on the centenary of the Suffragette rush on Parliament. Protesters demanded ‘Deeds Not Words’ on climate change, including an end to airport expansion and no new coal. The second was at Heathrow and Manchester airports to draw attention to the threat of aviation and climate change.

The Northern Climate Rush is made up of campaigners from Manchester, Leeds, Huddersfield, Bradford and Liverpool.

www.climaterush.co.uk
www.northernclimaterush.wordpress.com

———

Climate Rush hosted cocktail party for the coal industry outside of the Landmark Hotel on Marylebone Road, London.

Coal UK planed to presented celebratory awards to the most damaging companies in the coal industry. Climate Rush offered an alternative awards based on the ecological damage that the coal industry is inflicting on the environment.

However after several tries at rushing the hotel people discovered that the award dinner had been cancelled.

Brochure for the awards dinner:
http://conf.mccloskeycoal.com/journals/McCloskey/Conferences/Conferences/attachments/Coal%20UK%20Brochure%20web.pdf

Climate Rush calls for:

1. No new coal to avoid runaway climate change

Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel, and by far the dirtiest way to produce electricity. We must leave coal in the ground and not build any new coal fired power stations if we want to avoid runaway climate change. CCS is an unproven technology that may never be a viable option. Climate change is happening now and we must act now to stop it.

2. We can’t have infinite growth on a finite planet

At this outdated and fossilized awards ceremony UK Coal is celebrating the worst excesses of our failing economic system. Just like overpaid bankers these heads of corporations are receiving plaudits for plundering the planet.

3. A transition to a low carbon society with sustainable jobs

We must counteract any jobs losses from the coal industry with a major re-skilling program in sustainable trades. Many more jobs will be created by a huge retrofitting program of old housing stock and in the new renewable energies sector than in new coal. The German clean energy revolution has seen the creation of 250,000 new jobs.

More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/filkaler/tags/climaterush/

—

Landmark Decision Against Coal Industry
For immediate release: 26 February 2009

LANDMARK DECISION

A top class London hotel has vowed companies and organisations which contribute to climate chaos will no longer be welcome to use their facilities for corporate promotion and entertainment

The move follows a Climate Rush action on the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, where hundreds of protesters converged on Thursday to halt a coal industry awards ceremony.

Coal is acknowledged among scientists and climate change activists as the world’s worst contributor to climate change in the form of CO2 emissions.*

The coal industry under the banner of UK Coal were booked into the Landmark to host an awards ceremony with five star food and drink where they planned to hand out gongs for UK coal personality of the year and the best open cast miners among other categories.

Protesters dropped banners and staged a peaceful sit-in to speak out at the hotel’s support and the coal industry’s insistence of “business as usual” in the face of evident escalating climate chaos.

The Landmark’s landmark decision has been applauded by activists. “At Last! For too long profiteering from climate change has been sold to the public as a necessity of ‘business as usual’. But with global temperatures rising and climate chaos running riot in the form of drought (Africa and Australia) and flooding (low lying lands all over), we all need to work together.

“ We applaud the Landmark for their good sense and the vision to say ‘enough is enough’. They rightly don’t want to be associated with the corrupt system that needs overturning. We welcome the Landmark to play their role in the new way of doing things so needed.”

The Landmark now plans to deny companies such as the Royal Bank of Scotland (the biggest single investor in coal and oil industries) and oil companies, such as ESSO, BP and Shell, as well as the coal industry from using their ballrooms and banquet halls to promote their cause.

The hotel has also pledge to communicate with the 24 other five star hotels in its’ group to suggest they do the same.

Climate Rush has pledged to work with the Landmark Hotel to ensure the right companies are blocked, to send a clear message to polluters: they’re not welcome.

ENDS
Notes and footnotes to Editors

Coal is responsible for 50 % of the climate change gases in the atmosphere caused by human activity.

Climate Rush is a cutting edge movement of carbon cutting individuals who have seen the light and want to spread the word through their remit: Deeds not words, based on the clarion call of the suffragettes

For high quality photos and further comments please ring 075 2839 8441 or email media@climaterush.co.uk

For comments from the landmark hotel please ring Francis T Green 0207 631 8000

—

UK No New Coal Awards

Climate Rush is delighted to announce that it will be presenting the following “Canary in the Coalmine” awards:

Science Fiction award
goes to the most unbelievable technology not yet available to stop CO2 emissions, Carbon Capture and Storage.

Financial Fool award
goes to the Royal Bank of Scotland, for helping to raise $16 billion in loans to finance the worldwide coal industry over the past two years.

Lifetime Achievement award
goes to Drax coal fired power station, for the Greatest Emissions in the UK, equivalent to that of the 54 poorest countries in the world.

Best Supporting Role
goes to the biggest Climate Coward, Gordon Brown, for his useless leadership over Climate Change.

Best Newcomer
goes to the next likely “factory of death”, Kingsnorth coal fired power station in Kent.

and finally…

UK Coal Personality of the Year
goes to Paul Golby, CEO of energy company E.ON, for outstanding services to Greenwash (whilst plotting to build Kingsnorth)

——

CLIMATE RUSH: THURSDAY 5TH MARCH, 1PM, RBS HQ

GIVE US OUR MONEY BACK and STOP TRASHING THE PLANET

Royal Bank of Scotland: £33 billion in bail outs SO FAR!

Using OUR MONEY!

RBS boss 50-year-old Sir Fred: retires early with a whopping £16 million pension fund.

Using OUR MONEY!

OUR bank: arranges £16 billion in loans to the coal industry in just two years.

RBS: the BIGGEST investor in climate chaos.

FOR THE LOVE OF OUR MONEY, WHAT PLANET ARE THEY ON?

Grab your mates, bring some lunch and get down to the bank to demand OUR money back.

Royal Bank of Scotland HQ

Thursday 5th March

1.OOPM PROMPT: think flashmob…

280 Bishopsgate, near Liverpool Street Station

ANGRY? You better believe it: Let’s rush!

See what they’re saying about the RBS Climate Rush in the Guardian here

Facebook invite here: invite ALL your friends

Please help spread the word by downloading the poster as a pdf here to print out and stick up wherever you go!

Be sure to keep checking the site for updates… and don’t forget to subscribe and join our facebook group!

Protestors To Go Bananas at Leeds Tesco

Banana flashmob at Leeds Tesco in protest of Tesco refusing to stock only Fairtrade bananas.

Ctrl.Alt.Shift, a movement of young agitators, is demanding that Tesco ban the sale of non-Fairtrade bananas for good. At 1pm on March 3rd 2009, Protestors will stage a flashmob protest at Tesco Metro in Leeds city centre. Using Fairtrade bananas as dummy phones, the protestors will hold loud phone conversations about the poor ethical standards that Tesco maintains. A viral video and social network campaign will run over the internet in the run up to the event.

Leaflet link here

Over the last five years, British supermarkets have engaged in banana price wars, matching each other’s price cuts to such a low level that it is now impossible for many plantation workers to earn a living – or even a legal minimum – wage.

Hannah Martin who is part of Ctrl.Alt.Shift and helped organise the Leeds flashmob said ‘It’s a scandal that a company as powerful as Tesco refuse to fully support an organisation as significant as Fairtrade, Ctrl.Alt.Shift want to show Tesco we wont sit back and let this continue’.

In 2007, both Sainsbury’s and Waitrose agreed to sell Fairtrade-only bananas. But Tesco refuse to follow suit. As the nation’s largest retailer, it is Tesco’s duty to support Fairtrade practices within the World’s supply chains. As a result, many plantation workers are still paid less than $2 per day.

CtrlAltShiftLeeds
flash@ctrlaltshift.co.uk
http://www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk

Work Stopped at Rosewell Open Cast Coal Mine Site

23.2.2009
At 9am today a group of eco-activists began to disrupt the operations of Scottish Coal at the Rosewell open-cast coal mine in the Midlothians. Some of the 10 activists stopping work today are local residents.

They climbed onto digging machinery to prevent works and climbed onto trucks to prevent coal from leaving the Rosewell site for 2 hours this morning. Then police arrived but no-one were arrested.

One activist said “the burning of coal to generate electricity is one of the most polluting and destructive of all human activities. We cannot deal with climate change while companies like Scottish coal continue to profit from coal exploitation.”

A local resident said “With a government committed to expanding opencast, deep mine and new coal power generation across Scotland, asking politicians will achieve nothing. Peaceful direct action is the only way people are going to stop coal expansion.”

Another said. “We are opposed to this climate disaster of an energy policy and to the scarring of scotland’s countryside with these horrible open-cast coal mines, Rosewell and Scottish Coal’s other operations have and will continue to be met by resistance from local people taking direct action.”

This action was done by individuals who are not affiliated to any particular group.

This is another example of the growing resistance to new coal in scotland. For more general info on how people are stopping new coal in Scotland, check out www.coalactionedinburgh.noflag.org.uk

26th Feb Climate Rushes – north and south

Northern Climate Rush – Rush on UK Coal!

Fresh from their Manchester Airport incursion, Northern Climate Rush is back, and we are paying a visit to the UK’s largest coal company! We will be travelling by minibus to the headquarters of UK Coal in Doncaster. Meet in front of the Manchester University Student Union building at 1pm on Thursday Feb 26. Dress in Edwardian fashion (if you so desire) and bring food to share, banners, and musical instruments.

WHAT IS NORTHERN CLIMATE RUSH?

It’s a group of intrepid activists who, taking inspiration from the suffragettes, use civil disobedience to bring about a transition to a low-carbon economy. We believe that, given government’s total failure to take meaningful action on climate change, a campaign of civil disobedience is necessary, and in fact it is the only responsible way forward, given that the fate of all future generations rests on the decisions that are made now and in the next couple of years.

Our sister group of Climate Rushers in the South will be paying a visit to a coal industry awards ceremony in London on the same day.

WHY UK COAL?

Coal companies such as UK Coal are actively standing in the way of the necessary transition to a low-carbon economy based on renewables. They invest in new coal mines, and by lobby government against the changes needed for a transition to alternatives.

HOW CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT COAL?

Various recent scientific reports* have shown how the UK could transition from fossil fuels, to a low-carbon economy. We would have to switch to renewable power sources (mainly wind and wave) and reduce our energy consumption by flying much less, by reducing the use of private cars by creating a vastly improved public transport system, by ensuring that within the next few years all UK homes and buildings are properly insulated, and by requiring all appliances to have the highest standard of energy efficiency.

WHAT ABOUT JOBS?

During the miners’ strikes of the 70’s and 80’s most coal mines in the UK were deep pit mines, which required hundreds of miners to work them. But now most of the coal that can be deep-mined has already been dug up, and new UK coal mines are open-cast – huge diggers are used to rip the top off a hill, and then coal is sifted from the rubble. It is tremendously destructive to local ecologies, and also employs far fewer workers.

By contrast the creation of new wind and wave-power infrastructure, a program of building insulation installation, and laying on more trains, trams and buses, would all create new, sustainable jobs. We are calling for government to provide training programs so that workers from fossil fuel industries which need to be phased out can move directly into positions in the new, sustainable industries.

It’s now or never time for the climate, join us!

All genders welcome.

* See for example:
– Nicolas Stern, “Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change”, http://www.occ.gov.uk/activities/stern.htm

– Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, “Decarbonising the UK”, http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/media/news/tyndall_decarbonising_the_uk.pdf

northernclimaterush@googlemail.com
http://www.northernclimaterush.wordpress.com

————-

UK Coal will be presenting celebratory awards to the most damaging companies in the coal industry on February 26th February at the Landmark Hotel on Marylebone Road, London. Climate Rush will be in attendance to offer alternative awards based on the ecological damage that the coal industry is inflicting on the environment.

We invite you to join us in your best cocktail finery (fabulous hats a recommendation, and sooty styling a suggestion) to show UK Coal precisely what “industry players can expect to challenge them in 2009.”

NO NEW COAL AWARDS

THURSDAY 26TH FEBRUARY

THE LANDMARK HOTEL
Dress formally for cocktails in the Winter Garden at 6.30 prompt.

WHAT CLIMATE RUSH SAYS TO THE UK COAL AWARDS

No new coal to avoid runaway climate change
Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel, and by far the dirtiest way to produce electricity. We must leave coal in the ground and not build any new coal fired power stations if we want to avoid runaway climate change. CCS is an unproven technology that may never be a viable option. Climate change is happening now and we must act now to stop it.

We can’t have infinite growth on a finite planet
At this outdated and fossilized awards ceremony UK Coal is celebrating the worst excesses of our failing economic system. Just like overpaid bankers these heads of corporations are receiving plaudits for plundering the planet.

A transition to a low carbon society with sustainable jobs
We must counteract any jobs losses from the coal industry with a major re-skilling program in sustainable trades. Many more jobs will be created by a huge retrofitting program of old housing stock and in the new renewable energies sector than in new coal. The German clean energy revolution has seen the creation of 250,000 new jobs.

http://climaterush.co.uk/