Page 216 – Respect existence or expect resistance!

Wee demo in Glasgow against Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant. He will be back in June 09. Will you also you here?

Monsanto Chief Exec Hugh Grant came to Glasgow today. He and Scottish Enterprises were not so happy to find out that a few concerned citizens were there and were leafleting the staff calling for his dismissal from his role on the international advisory board. see press release below for some details. He comes twice a year for these meetings. Probably the only time aside from Monsanto AGMs (in St Louis, US) that anyone who wants to have a word with him knows when and where he will be. The next mtg is in June 09. We will be there to greet the Monsanto CEO. Will you join us the next time? Contact details at end of the PR, Cheers!

Press release: Common Action Scotland: Tuesday 4 November 2008, Glasgow

Controversial Monsanto Chief Exec Hugh Grant in Glasgow this week

Controversial Monsanto Chief Exec Hugh Grant is expected to be in Glasgow this week in his role as an advisor to the Scottish Enterprise Agency. However civil society group Common Action Scotland are demanding that Scottish Enterprise bosses dismiss the Monsanto CEO from its advisory board and are challenging Mr Grant to attend a public meeting to answer for the damage caused by his company and its business practices.

Lindsay Keenan spokesperson for Common Action Scotland said today:
“It is not appropriate to have the Chief Executive of Monsanto as an advisor to Scottish Enterprise. Hugh Grant represents a company that has lied and cheated and that has caused cancers, birth-defects and deaths in order to save a dollar. Today Monsanto products contribute directly to inflated prices of food on the global market and to world hunger. Hugh Grant and Monsanto are an international disgrace not a role model for Scottish Enterprises. We have asked Jack Perry the head of Scottish Enterprise and Jim Mather MSP, the Scottish Enterprise Minister to immediately dismiss Hugh Grant from his advisory role”.

Mr Grant is due in Glasgow this week for a meeting of the Scottish Enterprise International Advisory Board. Despite a Freedom of Information request Scottish Enterprise have refused to confirm exactly which day the meeting will take place but did confirm it is expected to be in Glasgow in the first week of November. Mr Grants office confirmed that he is expected to attend. Hugh Grant was born in Larkhall Glasgow and graduated from Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities. Since 2003 he has been the Chairman, President and CEO of the US based chemicals and genetic engineering company Monsanto. Based in St Louis, US he travels the world representing Monsanto and visits Glasgow twice a year for these meetings.

Keenan cont’d, “Mr Grants company, Monsanto, has in the past been responsible for producing some of the worlds most toxic chemicals including PCBs and Agent Orange. Amongst other serious crimes it has previously been caught falsifying scientific reports and bribing government officials. Today Monsanto is the worlds largest chemical company and is responsible for more than 90% of the genetically modified seeds sold in the world. Monsanto products and Monsanto’s way of doing business destroy soil health, destroy food security and contribute substantially to world hunger and environmental damage”.

Hugh Grant uses his role with Scottish Enterprise as part of his CV presumably because it opens doors for him and helps to give Monsanto what it most craves, the public acceptance that despite its great wealth and power it is otherwise denied. Mr Grants position with Scottish Enterprise gives the impression that Monsanto is supported in Scotland when in fact the evidence of public, farmer, food industry, political and scientific opinion over the last ten years makes it absolutely clear that there is no place for Monsanto or its products in Scotland (or indeed in Europe).

Keenan cont’d, “Hugh Grant is the smooth talking face of a very ugly corporation. His smooth talking style and his Glasgow/Edinburgh/transatlantic brogue has charmed the US stock markets and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr Grant has helped pushed up profits for Monsanto and for himself but at what price to real peoples lives and to the environment?

Common Action Scotland has tried on a number of occasions to get Mr Grant to agree to attend a public meeting in Glasgow/Scotland. However he shows no signs of being willing to be held publicly accountable. We note that if he is not willing to attend a public discussion despite the global importance of his company to the health and food security of so many people then this should provide further evidence of his unsuitability to be an advisor to a Scottish tax payer funded public body. “What does Hugh Grant/Monsanto have to hide?”

There is an overwhelming body of evidence available to support the case that Monsanto and its CEO are not good role models for Scottish business. Amongst a wealth of other publicly available factual information the recently released documentary called the World According To Monsanto by director Marie Monique Robin sums up the reality behind Monsanto.

The crimes Monsanto has committed, the lives it has damaged, the lies its spokespeople and executives have told and the massive influence that it has are laid out clearly. And it is perhaps the first documentary that really gets behind the approval process for GM foods in the US and reveals the manipulating hand of Monsanto at all levels. A copy can be obtained from French filmmakers ARTE www.arteboutique.com
It can also be found in 10 parts on Utube at
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CMleWZXhi6s

We would recommend that Jack Perry and Jim Mather view this documentary to get some understanding of Monsanto. We further recommend that it be screened at the Scottish Parliament and on Scottish TV so that we all may judge. Monsanto refused to be interviewed for the documentary but the director Marie Monique Robin has indicated to Common Action Scotland that she would be willing to attend a public meeting in Scotland to discuss her findings with Mr Grant, if he is willing.

For more information please contact:

Lindsay Keenan (Director)
Common Action Scotland
1 Cunninghame Road, Kilbarchan, Scotland, PA10 2EE
Office: 0141 577 0057 Mobile: 0750 392 0125
Email: commonactionscotland@yahoo.co.uk

CLIMATE ACTION NEWS SHEET 84, OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2008

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UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIONS:
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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

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RECENT HAPPENINGS:
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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

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UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIONS:
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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

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RECENT HAPPENINGS:
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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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German anti-nuclear waste sabotage & actions this coming weekend

Anti-nuclear activists in Germany are gearing up for another transport of highly active nuclear waste to run through France and Germany from 7 to 9 November for dumping at the north German village of Gorleben. About 20,000 police will be deployed to guard the consignment against thousands of demonstrators.

CASTOR TRACK SABOTAGED: In the night from 30 to 31 October the CASTOR railway track between Karlsruhe and Mannheim was sabotaged near Stutensee. Rail traffic was brought to a standstill with a barricade. To stop any train running into it without braking, the first goods train using the track was stopped by an emergency signal before it got to the spot.

29 arrested after six hour Climate Protest at Australian power station

1st November 2008
29 people 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 while about 25 others occupied the coal piles in protest against the Federal Government’s failure to stop Australia’s greenhouse pollution rising.

Spokesperson, Georgina Woods, said, “Australia’s greenhouse pollution is still increasing and our addiction to coal-fired power is the main cause. We are here because every day we hesitate, we are killing the Great Barrier Reef.”

In 2006/07, Bayswater Power Station created approximately 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution, making it equal greatest single source of greenhouse pollution in the country and among the top 100 polluting power stations in the world.

The Federal Government is expected to announce medium term greenhouse emission reduction targets at the end of the month, but protestors say that 2020 is too late, and want a commitment that 2010 will be Australia’s “peak emissions” year.

The Bayswater power station near Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter and the adjacent Liddell power station together supply around 40% of NSW’s electricity.

Details of People’s Blockade of the World’s Biggest Coal Port – 14 March 2009 Ma href=”http://www.risingtide.org.au/node/794″>here
The protestors say power stations like Bayswater will need to be shut down over the next few years: “Where is the plan to phase out facilities like these? Why are we twiddling our thumbs?”

“The nation and the world are watching and we will not get another chance. The people that are here today are parents and grandparents, professionals and tradespeople. We are demanding a commitment from the Government today: Australia’s greenhouse emissions must start dropping from 2010, we must do whatever it takes to save the Barrier Reef from wipe-out and the world from devastating runaway climate change.”

The fight for the climate is far from over; the need for people to protest our failure to reverse greenhouse pollution is greater than ever.

Local residents protest at Lodge Farm open cast site

At noon on Saturday 1st November, around 40 people braved rain and cold winds to protest outside the new open cast mining site at Lodge Farm, in Smalley Derbyshire.

At noon on Saturday 1st November, around 40 people braved rain and cold winds to protest outside the new open cast mining site at Lodge Farm, in Smalley Derbyshire.

UK Coal, which owns the site, plans to extract one million tonnes of coal from the 300 acre site over the next four years.

From the outset, UK Coal’s plans were opposed by local residents, several MPs and Amber Valley district council, and Derbyshire County Council refused planning permission for the open cast site. However UK Coal appealed the decision and following an appeal hearing, communities secretary Ruth Kelly overrode ordinary people’s concerns in favour of UK Coal’s interests and agreed that the scheme could go ahead.

Saturday’s protest was organised by Erewash and Amber Valley Environment Network, EAVON, and was just the latest in a long series of protests and direct actions by people concerned at the local and global effects of coal.

Speaking to the Ilkeston Advertiser, prior to the protest, Neil Padget, from The Smalley Action Group, said: “Opencast mining at Lodge House is bad enough, and the national precedent that has been set by the government, in allowing this, is appalling.

Many locals also fear, and with good reason, that UK Coal will be given permission to extend the site, and that mining in the local area may go on for decades.”

While there are justifiable fears for the impact on the local community, many of Saturday’s placards demonstrated that protesters were equally concerned with the wider effects on climate chaos of coal burning.

Grass Roots Gathering in Cork in November

The next Grass Roots Gathering will take place in Cork on the weekend of the 14th, 15th and 16th of November.

This Gathering will have the twin themes of Inclusion and Community Building – Surviving the ‘ Recession’ . During the early planning stages we spent some time thinking about who comes to these gatherings and how we could encourage and enable more diverse participation, especially for people who have found it difficult to attend previous gatherings. To facilitate this we are holding the event in city centre venues with full accessibility, making it child, parent, teenager and elder friendly and asking as many groups and communities as possible what we need to do to make them feel welcome ( Basically trying to let go of thinking that we have all the answers and doing a bit more listening ! ) If you are planning on attending we hope you will try stepping outside your comfort zone and invite or enable a friend you may not have approached due to shyness or stereotyping to join you.

Workshops, activities and events being planned so far include : The present legal situation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender people, Travellers and settled people working together, Telling stories, sharing experience looking at exclusion. Housing coops, food security, tackling racism in times of unemployment, reproductive rights, women’s right to choose, conflict resolution, social centres, recent experience, L.E.T.S. , reclaiming our natural resources, energy security,

+ Film showings, crimes of the built environment, swap shop, creative corner, activist well being, art activism, welcoming area for people dropping by and the shy among us, and displays by various community groups and campaigns. Also expect some surprises we want to keep people awake at this gathering !

On Saturday night there will be a traditional Cork cabaret. We are inviting some classic local acts but leaving plenty of time free to show case your talents so come prepared ! music , dance , poetry , interventions , comedy ,readings , circus or whatever you fancy all welcome.

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I’m organising accommodation for people who are coming to the Grassroots Gathering 14th 15th and 16th November, Cork City, so if anyone in Cork can put people up for the weekend, or anyone travelling to Cork needs accommodation please email me at:
tracywall@email.com
or text me on:
085 7560078

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Email address for getting in touch with gg organising group as follows:
ggcork08@gmail.com

NPA rebels to continue anti-biofuels campaign

The communist New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros vowed Saturday to sustain its campaign against biofuels and to raid plantations dedicated to jathropa, a source of biofuel.

NPA Southeastern Negros spokesman Dom Pantaleon said the NPA will implement more “preventive measures” against private agri-business corporations for aggravating food supply problem by planting non-food crops.

The communist New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros vowed Saturday to sustain its campaign against biofuels and to raid plantations dedicated to jathropa, a source of biofuel.

In an article on the Communist Party of the Philippines website, he cited the Tamlang Valley Agricultural Development Corporation (TVADC) as causing worsening food supply problem and heightening military abuses in southeast Negros.

He said the NPA recently conducted another “punitive action” against the TVADC biofuels company mainly based in the village of Casalaan, Siaton, Oriental Negros.

Pantaleon said an NPA team last Oct. 3 was ordered to confiscate and burn two TVADC-owned tractors in Sitio Tamlang, Talalak village in Sta. Catalina town.

No one was harmed in the incident, he added.

“It was the second such operation in as many months by the Red army to protect upland peasants from the intrusive and harmful biofuels company co-owned by the family of ex-Congressman Herminio Teves and their Korean business partners. Last September 9, a separate NPA team seized and burned three tractors owned by the same company in sityo Cuadra, barangay Mantikil, in Sta. Catalina town,” the NPA said.

Pantaleon added the NPA will continue implementing similar orders for punitive actions to block the widespread growing of jathropa and cassava in and around the vast Sta. Catalina-Siaton-Valencia-Pamplona border villages of Oriental Negros.

He said the NPA will also impose armed punitive actions against the Army’s 302nd Brigade for “providing protection and even colluding with TVADC in forcing ordinary farmers to plant jatrhopa and cassava, instead of their traditional food crops like upland rice and corn.”

Pantaleon said the mercenary AFP has become the biofuels campaign’s most visible “errand boys” for the agri-business company and the Teves family in southeast Negros.

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For previous NPA protest against biofuels in the Philippines, see http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/21752

Fighting Climate Crime – Activists Lock Down Logging for Dairy Operation in New Zealand

29 October 2008
Early this morning Greenpeace activists took action to stop corporate dairy’s assault on New Zealand forests and the climate.

In the central North Island huge swathes of forest are being cleared to make way for industrial dairy mega farms.

29 October 2008
Early this morning Greenpeace activists took action to stop corporate dairy’s assault on New Zealand forests and the climate.

In the central North Island huge swathes of forest are being cleared to make way for industrial dairy mega farms.

Well before dawn this morning, in the forest near Tokoroa, several activists halted the sharp end of the logging operation by locking themselves to heavy equipment.

Meanwhile, on nearby land recently converted from forest to dairy pasture, another team have used rotary hoes to write CLIMATE CRIME in 5m-high letters into the fresh pasture.

We are calling for the main political parties to commit to an immediate halt to forest conversion for intensive dairy in the face of the worsening global climate crisis.

New Zealand’s agriculture sector already emits 50 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions – more than double the emissions of all transport combined. Deforestation releases huge amounts of greenhouse gas. We estimate that annual emissions from the two largest corporate conversion projects in the Central North Island alone equate to the annual emissions from the Huntly coal fired power station.

Forests trap carbon beneath the soil and in trees. Like a sponge, they soak up carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere – the main greenhouse gas contributing to climate change.

Dairy conversion of forestry land functions as a ‘double whammy’ on the climate destroying forests and replacing them with one of the most greenhouse gas intensive forms of land use.

This chainsaw massacre and the ongoing expansion of corporate, intensive dairy farming in New Zealand has got to stop.

The press release and related documents are here

UPDATE: The, the following day as the sun rose over sleepy Helensville, we unfurled a truckload of Ready-Lawn around the outside of National Party leader John Key’s electorate office. Then came some pine trees, some two-dimensional cows and a smattering of stumps. Finally a billboard went up saying: “Would John solve this climate crime?” See the video and blog.

When you threaten One you threaten All: Eviction Succesfully Resisted in Bristol

An attempted illegal eviction occurred this afternoon at Unity Home, number 87 Ashley Road, St Pauls, Bristol. IT WAS RESISTED

An attempted illegal eviction occurred this afternoon at Unity Home, number 87 Ashley Road, St Pauls, Bristol. IT WAS RESISTED

Ownership of the house is claimed by Places for People, Britain’s largest housing association. Its chief executive, David Cowans, topped the list of richest “social” housing providers with a salary of £257,928 in 2007 (Every single penny on the backs of the poor). Instead of providing adequate social housing they work for corporate gain and through speculation with our money are feeling the pinch of the property market crash. This is a social housing provider playing with public money.

Number 87 is actually owned by Places for People’s charitable arm (Places for People Individual Support), which is supposed to provide housing for homeless and the elderly. They plan to turn the majority of the house into private owned apartments. It currently is housing 20+ people.

It has been empty for over 3 years and squatted by a large number of otherwise homeless people since April 2008.

At 12.00pm today (28 Oct 2008), bailiffs acting for Places for People arrived – shortly to be accompanied by the police – demanding that the residents be out by 12.30pm. They claimed paperwork had been sent through to the occupants, but in fact no notice of eviction had come through. This was an illegal attempt at making people homeless and was answered with solidarity.

A critical mass of people began to build in response to those resisting the illegal eviction and by about 1.30pm there were between 30-50 people outside the gates on Ashley Road, with many many more inside, ready to resist what the bailiffs and police were preparing.

People took to the roof, occupied spaces in windows, defended the doors – fortifying the building. A banner was dropped explaining: WHEN YOU THREATEN ONE YOU THREATEN ALL – for the defence of squats and autonomous spaces. Against companies like Places for People – Britain’s most commercialised, corrupt landlord.

A stand off ensued and eventually by around 2.00pm the bailiffs and police departed the scene. A beautiful victory for solidarity in resisting the corporate takeover of our city.

This eviction threat is imminent and all support is needed.

The residents of the building have made repeated attempts to negotiate a settlement with P4P but commercial gain seems their only aim. The residents ask all those who believe in housing for all and the stand against gentrification to join them.

Squatters and residents together against corrupt landlords!

Greece and the growing re-appropriation attacks against Super Markets

Attacks in Capital circulation and revenue
Greece and the growing re-appropriation attacks against Super Markets

Τhe saturday of May 31st 2008 was a beautiful day for the greek movement of insurrection. One action organised by a small group of comrades caused a fracture in the greek social process. On the last days a big debate was goin’ on in the streets, in the working places, cafes, houses and -in appearance only- on the tv screen. Basic products (milk,rice etc.) were becoming more and more expensive, a process which started since the introduction of the Euro currency, January 2002 and by the last months prices kept raising steeply. Peoples’ resentment concetrated during all these years of price stagnation, was so big that although grossly mediated by the TV news, forced finally the government to introduce measures that were , supposed , to control the rising of the prices, but whose actual target was to calm peoples anger down. (It is interesting to add that inflation rate was steady and did not rise, probably because of “creative” tricks due to Eu rules that oblige member-states to keep a low inflation rate)

Super Market brand owners were profiteering in a really high grade in expense of the peoples pockets and the actual resistance and pressure was rather low. Consumer unions, some newspaper articles, calls for lowering the prices, one day boycotts. But what to do?People are dependent from big Super Markets that control most of the food market and wages in Greece are rather low for eu standards (Pensions are worse) and prices were among the higher in EU. Old people, low income and the unemployed were affected most but we can say that almost all working class people and even lower middle class (petit bourgeois) were having a hard time to get around . So the government announces on the 28 of May “41 measures against price stagnation”.

True is the politicians did not really cared. “So what are they going to do,anyway?”. Opposition parties do nothing but talk, and people rely on the media “apparent” opposition. But it is in these times were nothing seem to happen, when the forces of insurrection that are exorcised to stay away from the fight, make their sudden and unexpected appearance in the scene. And nothing is the same as before..

On Saturday May 31st 2008 a group of comrades, wearing their masks entered a big Super Market in the city center of Athens, re-appropriated products, carried them to a street fruit-market nearby (mostly old and lower-income people go there) and distributed the products to them. Oil, cheese, milk, detergents,shampoos … The action met great correspondence from the people. Clapping applauses, exclamations, whistles. The products disappeared within seconds. The manifesto of the action said : “The game is set. We don’t want to be a part of this fake game, with the governments’ communication tricks, the oppositions’ abstract talking about some “bad” people making profit and the shit of the media. We put into practice our own measures against price stagnation. Re-appropriation now. Everything is stolen from us, Everything belongs to us… That was it…

The attacks start to spread widely. In June three more actions against Super Markets took place in Athens. One more in July. Then came the summer (movements have holidays?) and on September actions started again. Two happened in Thessaloniki , the second biggest city in Greece. One attack was planned on the day when the Prime Minister traditionally addresses the nation , from the International Expo of Thessaloniki and speaks about the government policy of the year to come. Last week three such actions took place (15,16,18 October). In most of the attacks products are distributed among people in street markets, to people passing-by and on one action the loot was left on a central Athens square where many immigrants live and at the exits of the metro station there.
These actions are really popular among people. It would not be an exaggeration to say that people wish every time they go to a street market for an action like that to take place. Media can’t hide the facts , but try to distort them. They like to call us “Robin Hoods”. We are not at all “Robin Hoods”, it is not about charity. The issue at stake here is the diffusion of such “illegal” practices among the society, so that other social groups adopt such practices to defend social autonomy and interests. To debunk the normality that orders “Work-Buy-Pay-Sleep-Shut Up”. To make people collaborators in “illegal” attacks against capitalist order. To promote Mutual Aid.

The Police is really confused. Cashiers have a short work-break. Super Market owners feel anxious about the situation. People have fun.

So what about us Comrades. In Balkans, East and West Europe, States, Latin America, Oceania, everywhere? Can we plan something? What are we waiting for? Capitalist crisis is already here and we are the ones to pay again for the fucking banks and their tricks. The plan is simple, believe us. Two douzins of comrades, masks , sunglasses, an appointment. You converge suddenly and you attack. Some people watching, some others filling the trolleys, everybody distributing them. It is simple, it is direct, dangerous for the enemy and really amuzing. We wish you nice actions and lot of success.

Make Plans
Be Ready