UK Indymedia

GM corporation to stop trials due to direct action

04-10-2003 01:21

Bayer CropScience - previously known as Aventis have - has announced that they now intend to stop testing crops in this country. Just less than 2 months ago anti-GM activists at the Earth First Summer gathering decided to target the company company Bayer Crop Science. Several actions have already been carried out but this announcement comes before the campaign could properly get going.

Bayer made clear that direct action played a major role in their decision. Dr Julien Little of Bayer CropScience was cited as saying: "(...) if we are not going to get anything out of [trials on oil-seed rape] because they are wrecked there is little point so this year we will not be doing any."

Bayer had asked the government to allow vaguer descriptions of test sites so that they could not be found and trashed by activists. But the proposal has been vetoed.

Links: Full reports [1],[2],[3] a Bayer update, background info on Bayer, Stop Bayer campaign

ANTI-GM CAMPAIGNERS RAISE FLAG AT BAYER CROPSCIENCE, WIDNES

26-09-2003 11:59

A group of protesters yesterday raised their own anti-GM flag at the Bayer CropScience factory in Widnes, to hammer home the message given by the British public in the government’s recent consultation – NO to GM crops in the UK!

Bilston Glen road - action alert - trees being cut down

19-09-2003 23:49

News just in from the struggle to stop the road through the woods and country-side in Midlothian - trees have been cut down and people are needed.

Busy Busy Busy...Road Resistance at Bilston Glen, Midlothian

28-08-2003 23:00

New treehouses going up, old barriers coming down. The resistance to the road through Bilston Glen Woods and the Midlothian countryside needs people to come down, build defences, cheer us up, etc.. Come and join in our September events.
We are expecting eviction this winter/autumn!

More wasteful summits?

25-08-2003 13:09

One year on, the complete failure of the Johannesburg Earth Summit is obvious. But should activists therefore give up on UN Summits altogether? Daniel Mittler of Friends of the Earth Germany doesn´t think so.

When I got on a plane one year ago to attend the biggest ever UN Summit, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, I was under no illusion that this Summit would have any chance of being a giant step for mankind. It had become all too obvious in the long and ardeous preperatory process - involving some 8 weeks of day and night meetings of bureaucrats from all over the world - that there was no desire by those who call themselves our leaders, to address the root causes of global inequality and unsustainable development.

Full article | 5 comments

Inhabitants of Narmada Valley Fighting for Proper Rehabilitation

23-08-2003 18:42

The Sardar Sarovar Dam on the lower Narmada River is just one of 30 projected large dams of India`s Narmada mega-dam project, an area prone to earthquakes. In May 2003, three Indian federal states had given clearance to increase the height of the dam to 100 meters, which caused the submergence of several villages and devastation of standing crops, after monsoon rains started at the end of July. The clearance was given inspite of a legally binding Supreme Court Order and the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal Award, which had stipulated the previous resettlement of all project-affected persons. But at least 13 500 families suffering from the present monsoon floods are still waiting to be resettled. So far they haven’t been granted any compensation for the destruction of their property. The inhabitants of Chimalkhedi village in Maharashtra resisted Police Forces, who attacked and forcefully evicted them, arresting 74 plus 40 temporarily. 20 houses of this hamlet were also demolished.

Highland cows threatened with eviction by Suffolk business man

22-08-2003 22:06

The Kinlochroag Highland Fold and their owner and breeder, Finlay Macdonald, are under threat. This famous Fold of Highland Cattle that feature in

http://www.highland-coos.com are fit and healthy and an asset to the rough moorland they inhabit. But due to the ancient nightmare that has plagued Scotland there is a chance that some of the fold may have to be dispersed. In some cases this may not be possible, the alternative for those gentle highlanders is too horrendous to contemplate.

More information under

http://morsgail.co.uk

Full article | 22 comments

Earth First Summer Gathering

20-08-2003 23:35

A report from the UK's biggest direct action gathering.

This years EF summer gathering took place over 5 days from 13th August on an idyllic nature reserve near Ripon in North Yorkshire. These gatherings have been taking place annually now for almost a decade and continue attract around 4 - 500 people each year. There is no hype, no big name speakers to tell you how it is, and no mass marketing campaign advertising the event in cities all over the UK: all very different from say, the SWP's annual 'Marxism' event in London.

Nine Ladies Under Threat

11-08-2003 15:10

The area around the ancient sacred site of Nine Ladies Stone Circle, a place of outstanding natural beauty, is under threat by the quarrying companies Stancliffe Stone and Marshalls PLC. The Nine Ladies protest camp has succesfully managed to stop the companies quarrying for the last 4 years, but the end of August is a crucial time and help and support is much needed.

Trident Ploughshare activities

08-08-2003 12:04

Here is a summary about current Trident Ploughshares activities.

Ecuadorian Goverment adopts 'new' oil policy to expand drillling in the Amazon.

05-08-2003 16:38

Recent actions by the Ecuadorian Government appear to confirm fears that new oil concessions will be made in the near future, affecting millions of acres of pristine Amazonian rainforest and their indigenous inhabitants.

Earth First! Summer Gathering 2003

28-07-2003 18:17

Earth First! are hosting their annual Summer Gathering between August 13-17 on a beautiful site 'somewhere' in North Yorkshire.

The Gathering provides a much-needed space for all those involved in direct action in Britain, Europe and the rest of the world - and for all those who want to be involved in direct action - to meet and talk about what’s been going on and what we’re going to do next.

Ten years on from the first EF! Gathering, some are questioning the usefulness of the Earth First! network which is seen by some as a social club and as not expressing many peoples politics. Many people are saying change is needed.

In response to recent years' events, the content, workshops and discussions of this year's Gathering have been organised so that everything is up for discussion.

For constant updates on venue, events, directions and appeals, see the Summer Gathering website

GM Debate? The People Speak

19-07-2003 19:39

During the last six weeks, unknown to most people, there have been a series of public debates up and down the country about whether the government should allow the commericalisation of GM crops in the UK. The deadline for public input is now over - did you have your say?

In an exclusive film made for Indymedia, people from all over the country reveal that the public consultation was a poorly advertised, ill concieved and miss-managed farce that failed to engage ordinary people. The film also demonstrates that much of the public believe that the decision has already been made to push ahead with GM (regardless of the will of the people) and that the government is an undemocratic tool of U.S. interests and big business.

Watch the video,

New Road Scheme Planned

14-07-2003 19:39

The Highways Agency has advertised an Â£85m early contractor involvement road project in Derbyshire, known as the A57/A628 Mottram-Tintwistle bypass and A628/A616 route restraint measures scheme. The work will require approximately 14 structures, including a 200m-long tunnel section associated junctions, earthworks, accommodation works and environmental mitigation. Full story

Baku pipeline protest - AMEC Warrington blockaded

11-07-2003 15:35

Early Morning a group of people from the Earth First! and Rising Tide Baku campaigns closed off the entrance to AMEC House in Warrington, Cheshire in protest against the construction company's role in the proposed Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline.

London Rising Tide Highlight BP's Sponsorship Shenanigans

08-07-2003 14:36

London Rising Tide (LRT) took the struggle to bury BP's planned Baku-Ceyhan pipeline to the heart of the British cultural establishment on Saturday 5th July 2003. Following on from last month's protest at the BP-sponsored National Portrait Awards in June, this time they could be found at the British Museum in central London, which is currently hosting the BP-sponsored 'Museum of the Mind - Art and memory in world cultures' exhibition.

After 2 of the group, impersonating BP operatives in dark suits and dark glasses overlaid with spoof 'flaming helios' company logos, began loudly to sing the praises of BP, museum security insisted that they leave the building. Other LRT-ers offered 'spontaneous' critiques of the BP line, video'd the proceedings, gave out leaflets and unfurled a 'BP sponsors climate chaos' banner wherever they could. One of the BP types was told that his invitation to visit the museum had been permanently revoked. Police arrived for some reason, were aggressive, and left, while LRT-ers gave out leaflet and chatted to supportive visitors at the gates.

Solway's Silver Bullet

08-07-2003 13:44

The Gulf War started a long time before we saw it on outr t.v.'s. Depleted Uranium contamination shows the contempt the British State has for the people of Scotland - and the time for opposition is now.

"Unborn children of the region are being asked to pay the highest price, the integrity of their DNA."
Ross B. Mirkarimi¹

A new kind of nuclear war is being waged. It's already being fought in Scotland and the combatants are you and me. Our attackers are the Ministry of Defence, a force which has already poisoned its own soldiers and threatened the health of the civilian populations of the former Yugoslavia, Kuwait and Iraq.