Author
IRL IMC'ista
Here's some of the stories from Indymedia London Radio's weekly broadcast on Resonance FM - taken from UK and Global Indymedia, and this week a few stories culled from the excellant Schnews. Audio from this weeks show is uploaded below
(1hour 40.7MB 96kbps mono .mp3)
Only half these stories were used on the radio show, as there was also a phone interview about the ongoing 2001 Diaz school raid court case in Italy, and a 20 min piece about the High Court challenge of the use of Section 44 of the terrorism act against protestors.
Also featured was the protest after the sad death of Bereket Yohannes who hung himslef at Harmondsworth Detention Centre (http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332427.html)
Listen to the show every week at 1pm every Wednesday in London on 104.4FM or on the web at: http://www.resonancefm.com
...or check out other imc audio at http://radio.indymedia.org
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Indymedia Radio London - 1st February 2006
Last week the final group of British witnesses gave evidence in the Italian court case concerning the brutal police raid on the Diaz school back during the G8 protests in Genoa in 2001.
29 police officers stand accused of crimes of brutality and of fabricating evidence - trying to cover up the bloody raid that left scores of people innured.
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For more see:
https://www.supportolegale.org/?q=taxonomy/term/15
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/831973.shtml
Recent imc uk reports:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332008.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332603.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332601.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332599.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332622.html
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Activists across Britain are resisting on a range of different fronts as neo-liberalism attacks communities and environments. It seems this new wave of direct action is washing over the country.
In Bristol, a city with a long tradition of anarchist community action, a group of local agitators have dipped a toe into radical politics in their struggle against the closure of a local swimming pool. This is their story in - mostly - their own words…
For several years, locals have been campaigning against the closure of their swimming pool, Bristol North Pool. The issue was one of huge local concern: a petition with over 6000 signatures was presented to the council, and there was even a Save Bristol North Pool Party candidate in local elections. Nonetheless, in October last year, the council closed it. The huge building, which is grade II listed, and in a prime location, was left standing empty to fall derelict. Enquiries about its future to the council were met with the response that ‘discussions have not yet taken place’.
An action group came together and planned an occupation of the building. More people got involved, and came up with the idea of a community space. Finally, around a week and a half ago, eleven members of a local group entered the pool through an open window. They stayed there overnight and a public protest hit the streets outside the next morning..
A press release was put out to local media: QUOTE:
“We are a group concerned about the disappearance of public space and the privatisation of public services in Bristol. On Friday 20th January 2006, we reclaimed Bristol North Pool on Gloucester Road. This year we have witnessed the closure of Speedwell and Filwood pools, the Robin Cousins sports centre as well as Bristol North. We’ve also seen recent cuts in library services glossed as “restructuring”, a process which also threatens our hospitals.
With this protest, we are asking the question, Who owns Bristol? and providing our own answer.As part of this community, we want to see more not-for-profit public spaces, where we can exist as people, not consumers. As a practical symbol of this we are now rescuing this building from closure and disuse with the aim of providing a non-commercial space in the local community. It will be a place where all people in the local area are free to create, meet, share skills, learn, connect and entertain in a non-hierarchical environment.”
A drumming, singing, banners and free-cake style protest got going on Saturday 21st of January...
Hundreds of passers-by were made aware of the issue. Almost all of them were very supportive. The council, clearly embarrassed by the publicity if not their failure to do anything with the pool building, acted abnormally quickly. At about 5pm on the same day they received an eviction notice, calling them to court at 10am on Monday morning. The timing of the summons meant that we had no opportunity to seek legal advice.
Having barricaded the doors, on Monday about forty people turned up to protest theeviction but they lost the case in court giving the council the go ahead to evict the occupiers.
When the bailiffs arrived local media recorded them smashing one of the windows and smashing open two exterior doors, for no apparent reason.
The council later issued a press statement saying that £5000 worth of damage had been caused by the protest, implying that the occupiers had caused it!
Eventually all the protesters were evicted. Nonetheless, they believe their efforts were far from wasted. They gained an unbelievable level of community support. And on the Tuesday they held a meeting about the building’s future, attended by over 70 people. They intend to continue campaigning for the building to remain used for community use.
For more see:
http://www.schnews.org.uk
http://bristol.indymedia.org
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Meanwhile here in central London a new occupied social centre is openning its doors.
The former School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies is located at 21-22 Russell Square and was empty for several months before a coalition of university students and others occupied the building around christmas time.
The group said they were aiming to create free accommodation, denied by increasing property prices and refusing the debt trap made worse by the creeping privatisation of education. They said:
"We seized what has been denied, and we don’t seek to re-create private property, but rather, to realise a new radical, public space for all."
There's a launch event this Saturday 4th February, which starts at 7pm
For more see:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332624.html
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On Monday at around 6.30am, groups of blockaders successfully shut two gates at Britain's nuclear weapons factory at Aldermaston.
Eight people were arrested, but police failed to cut through some of the lock-ons people had used to block the gates at Berkshire's Atomic Weapons Establishment.
The action follows hot on the heels of the approval of the building of a new high powered lasar facility at Aldermarston, which would allow the UK government to test and build the next generation of nuclear weapons.
Around 60 people took part in the action, with the direct action campaign group "Block the Builders" saying they intend to continue opposing the three year redevelopment of the nuclear site.
For more see:
http://www.blockthebuilders.org.uk
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332573.html
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Each year the NATO Security Conference takes place in Munic, Germany. The city becomes a militarised zone as thousands of riot police try to stop thousands of protestors from reaching the conference centre.
This year the security conference takes place from 3rd to the 5th of February - or in a few days time.
Saturday sees the main demonstration...
For more info see:
http://www.no-nato.de
Check out the reports and pictures on germany indymedia at:
http://www.indymedia.de
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Billed as the latest large scale protest in Oxford following the resumption of building at the controversial new university animal laboratory on South Parks Road, animal rights protestors last week held several demonstrations around the city.
Last month a similar event resulted in five arrests when campaigners say the police went back on their word in negotiations over the permitted route, by surrounding and penning in 650 protesters.
Last week however protestors split into smaller groups to hold mutliple pickets and marches despite a large police presence trying to prevent the demonstrators reaching Oxford city centre.
For more see:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332506.html
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Next month, the Italian city of Turin has the dubious honour of hosting the Winter Olympics. Many Italians are opposed to this televised corporate sport fest, with all the so-called investment going into the hands of a few big companies.
Protests have been hotting up over the TAV high speed rail link which will cut a path of devastation through the Susa Valley. For several weeks the railway has been interrupted with demonstrations, road blockades, and graffiti messages against the railway line and the police occupation of Susa Valley cover the area. Just over a week ago a protest camp in the valley was violently evicted by police - 20 people including five police officers were hospitalized by the clashes. Earlier that day a major highway and the streets of Bussoleno were barricaded. The car of the President of the Piemonte region, two police cars, and an Olympics store were attacked.
Recently Publicity seeking anarchists also tried to snatch the Olympic torch as it was being paraded through the streets of Trento in northern Italy by Italian athlete Eleonora Berlanda. The action was to highlight the corporate exploitation of the Olympics, especially Coca Cola’s sponsorship of the Olympic flame. The four campaigners were arrested were charged with theft, causing injury, violence, and resistance.
But this isnt an isolated case - since arriving in Italy the olympic torch has been involved in over THIRTY seperate protest incidents, targetted by anti-rail link campaigners and anti-capitalists alike.
Watch the developments over at Italy Indymedia...
http://italy.indymedia.org
http://www.schnews.org.uk
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332213.html
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It all went pear shaped for an Israeli fruit importer in court last week when seven protestors who had blockaded Carmel Agrexco’s premises in Uxbridge back in November 2004, were acquitted of aggravated trespass.
Campaigners say Carmel Agrexco is 50% owned by the Israeli state and is the largest importer of Israeli produce into the EU. They deal extensively with produce from settlements in the Occupied Territories.
Before taking part in this action many of the defendants had witnessed first hand the suffering of Palestinian communities under the Israeli occupation, having served as volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), documenting human rights abuses by in the West Bank and Gaza, and taking part in non-violent civil resistance to the occupation.
The action, which shut the factory down for a day, was taken as part of a week of protest against the apartheid wall, built by the Israeli state on Palestinian land. The 9 metre high wall, condemned by the International Court of Justice, is called a ‘security fence’ by the Israelis.
In a bizarre case of life imitating court, the case was thrown out because Agrexco themselves had built a security fence at their depot on land they didn’t own! The fence had been erected some years earlier to keep out ‘undesirables’. The protesters weren’t on Agrexco’s land so they weren’t trespassing.
For more see:
http://www.schnews.org.uk
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332469.html
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Back in May 2003, an affinity group of activists from the UK blockaded the Aubonne Bridge in Switzerland in order to stop a G8 delegation from reaching their summit in Evian. The police cut the climbing rope that activists were suspended from nearly killing two people.
The policeman who cut the rope and his senior officer are now about to appear in court. They are charged with bodily harm and negligence… The trial runs from Monday 13th to Wednesday 15th of Feb in Nyon.
This follows a court appeal last May after the police had charges against them dropped in 2004.
While the activists hope they see justice this time, they say it's more important to keep highlighting such cases of abuse and repression, in an effort to ensure similar abuses don't happen again in the future.
For more see:
http://www.aubonnebridge.net
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Staying in switzerland...
The World Economic Forum (WEF), a foundation whose membership consists of chief executives of the world's richest corporations, some national political leaders (presidents, prime ministers and others), and selected intellectuals and journalists, met last week in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos.
This neo-liberal institution has been a focal point of the anti-capitalist movement in Switzerland for the last few years.
After facing huge intimidation in recent years from the state's repressive forces (6,500 soldiers were protecting the WEF this year), activists had decided to focus on a decentralised Day of Action.
The Day of Action was held on 21st January and saw anti-WEF events in a dozen towns with thousands of people participating in creative and militant actions. Activities ranged from 'Reclaim the Streets' parties to street theatre, demonstrations and public meetings. Banks were covered in paint and on 28th January up to 2500 people took the streets in Basel.
For more see Feature on Global Indymedia:
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/832448.shtml
Indymedia Switzerland
http://www.indymedia.ch/demix/2006/01/37827.shtml
http://www.indymedia.ch/demix/wef/
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In Essex, residents of anti-roads tree protest site Camp Bling, and campaign group Parklife are keeping up the pressure on the local council in their fight against a proposed dual carriageway. An extensive and deep tunnel was unveiled at Camp Bling last Wednesday, adding to the defenses of the camp against eviction, and Government Offices were occupied by activists on Monday.
For updates see:
http://www.savepriorypark.org
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332499.html
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Anti-quarrying environmental campaigners in the Peak District National Park are claiming a victory after the Park Authority served a stop notice on the quarry company Merriman, preventing further destruction of the site until a planning inquiry reports its findings.
National Park minister Jim Knight who visited the site this week pledged his support to the campaign opposing the quarrying.
The inquiry is now scheduled for April this year and should report in the Autumn.
For more see:
http://www.longstone-edge.org.uk
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332592.html
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Twelve environmental groups last week unanimously rejected government plans for new roads at Stonehenge.
The British government announced five new options for upgrading the A303 road through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. The groups opposing the plans including the National Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
For more see
http://www.savestonehenge.org.uk
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332607.html
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Corporate Watch have published a report which looks at what the IT corporations who stand to take the contracts for the proposed National ID card are saying privately about the technology.
And guess what - the companies themselves are saying it will be a ‘disaster’.
The report finds concerns about the lack of transparency, the inability to manage an IT project of this massive scale, and biometric scanning technology which is too unreliable.
For more see:
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk
In related news Swindon Borough Council last week passed a motion opposing the government's ID cards bill. It was supported by most of the majority conservative group and the lib dems, and opposed by about half of the dwindling labour group.
For more see:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332459.html
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Last Thursday Sainsburys opened a new store at Rayners Lane in North West London. Not letting this opportunity go past, protesters, including a pantomime cow, picketed the store handing out warning leaflets to shoppers. The campaign group is part of a coalition, from farmers unions to the Women’s Institute who are concerned by the fact that milk from Sainsbury’s stores come from cows fed genetically modified animal feed.
For more see:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332373.html
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South African authorities have detained the Sea Sheppard anti-whaling vessal and her crew.
The vessal along with Greenpeace boats hit the headlines recently over their Antarctic clashes with japanese whaling ships.
The sea sheppard's captain said recently it would be impossible to meet conditions set for the release of the vessel, held since Wednesday, because South Africa has classed it as a commercial vessel and Canada had registered it as a pleasure craft.
However he argued:
"What we do is at our pleasure. . . . We harass outlaw fishermen for pleasure . . . We go watching for whalers for pleasure . . . We hunt whalers and sealers for pleasure. In fact I derive a great deal of pleasure from defending marine life on the high seas."
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A worker from Zanon, the most famous of Argentina's occupied factories, is coming to speak in Britain on a tour organised by No Sweat and the Argentina Solidarity Campaign as part of the first anti-sweatshop week of action.
The Zanon tile factory in Neuquen is one of many ‘recovered’ factories in Argentina – factories taken over and run by the workers. Faced with pay cuts and redundancies – and then no pay at all – the Zanon workers occupied and began to run the factory.
The first speaking tour date is in london - On Sunday 12 February: at 6pm at the Bread and Roses, 68a Clapham Manor Street
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