UK Analysis Feature Archive
Monday Love Returns....
29-01-2008 18:13
For the valentine month of February, Monday Love will be bringing you the finest in uptown, underground, raise your spirit and blow your mind live music, film and real life grassroots media.
Feb 25th - Monday Love 'Oil & Culture'
Come down for the last Monday Love of the season
Documentary films Source an award winning film about BP's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, presented by Platform Londons own Mika.
Live Music from Ruth Theodore and Hip Hop Poetry from 'The Assembled Servants'
DJ Snuff bringing Protest Reggae, Funk & Hip Hop from (Speakers Corner)
free entry to all those who believe in something more than money & fear
Preserving disorder: freedom to protest and the future of SOCPA
16-11-2007 20:14
The Home Office has recently published a consultation paper which hints at what was really meant by Gordon Brown's promise to look again at the law which restricts demonstrations near parliament, far from repealing this legislation the consultation indicates that the government wants to extend the restrictions on demonstrations to cover the whole country.
The current law on demonstrations around parliament bans spontaneous protests, requiring demonstrators to seek advance police permission, which allows the police to impose arbitrary limits on numbers and effectively act as political censors. See a timeline of its effects.
A public meeting challenging the new proposal will be held at the London School of Economics on the 2nd December.
Links: SOCPA the movie | ASBOwatch | Repeal SOCPA | State of Emergency | schNEWS article | the Consultation Document | SOCPA topic page
Developments at rampART
13-11-2007 09:22
Breaking News December 12th: rampART gets eviction papers. The rampART social centre in London today received court papers for repossesion on the grounds of Tresspass. The hearing date is the 20th Dec. A meeting of all the effected groups/individuals to discuss a response and plan what will happen over the next month or so, will take place on Monday December 17th at 7pm
The rampART social center in East London has been open for over three and a half years, hosting thousands of meetings, screenings, performances, exhibitions and benefit gigs. During that period the building and resources have steady evolved to adapt the demands of its users. Now gentrification approaches with property developers planning to partially demolish the squatted houses next to the social center and build three new properties at the back.
The rampART itself is under no immediate threat and regular activities continue as normal with Food Not Bombs, Rhythms Of Resistance, Radical Theory Group, Dissident Island Radio, WANC, and a new homeopathy clinic among the regular users. Coming up are a benefit for 'Papers For All' and an indymedia training session. Meanwhile the rampART collective is taking stock of its past and looking to the future with a special users meeting taking place on the Sat 17th Nov. All groups that have used the space or might like to use the space are invited to take part in discussions about how the social center is being run and the direct it should take in the coming year.
Links : The rampART and its evolution | Developers make their move on Rampart Street | Rampart Update in Indymedia Offline #21 (oct07) | Free food criminals | Reclaim Your Health | Load of WANC | Indymedia training session - be the media |
Events : Thursday - bands and distros | Friday - Papers for All fundraiser | Saturday - rampART user meeting, plus party
Full article | 1 addition | 24 comments
Indymedia UK Facing Legal Censorship… again!
06-10-2007 07:25
Indymedia UK has been issued with a takedown notice [10th of September & 21st of September] from lawyers acting for Alisher Usmanov. The notice served to Indymedia charged Indymedia with publishing allegedly libellous accusations about Usmanov, one of the richest men in Russia, recently linked to a possible hostile takeover of Arsenal FC.
The author of the posting, Craig Murray, is a former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan and claims to have inside knowledge of the businessman’s allegedly illegal dealings. Murray was sacked by the UK government for exposing the Uzbek government’s use of torture to attain ‘intelligence’ information, and for exposing and criticising UK-US support for a vicious dictator in pursuit of resources.
Murray’s allegations are that Usmanov “is a criminal”, “a gangster and racketeer”. Allegations of criminality seem partly to have been inferred from his connections to “Uzbek mafia boss and major international heroin overlord Gafur Rakimov”. However, Murray also suggested that Usmanov has a criminal past, having been charged with “various offences” in the Soviet Union.
Usmanov’s lawyers minded Murray that Usmanov was pardoned, and all charges against him were removed from police records. However, in response to what seems an inaccurate statement from Usmanov’s lawyers, Murray alleged that "Usmanov is a criminal. He was in no sense a political prisoner, but a gangster and racketeer who rightly did six years in jail. The lawyers cunningly evoke 'Gorbachev', a name respected in the West, to make us think that justice prevailed. That is completely untrue". Furthermore, Murray implies that the pardon was spurious because the real source was the Dictator of Uzbekistan, Islom Karimov.
Karimov himself is an unsavoury character. On completing his investigation into allegations of torture in Karimov’s Uzbekistan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur noted that the use of torture was ‘pervasive and persistent’. He also reported that he had ‘no doubt that the system of torture is condoned, if not encouraged, at the level of the heads of the places of detention where it takes place or of the chief investigators’
Though evidence to support Murray’s allegations has not yet been presented directly to Indymedia UK (but has been collected in his book "Murder in Samarkand"), the Daily Mail informs us that, ‘[r]eports years ago claimed Britain's National Criminal Intelligence Service was monitoring him for alleged links — never proven — to suspected mafia figures.' More recently, the allegations have been repeated by Tom Wise MEP in the European Parliament
Indymedia UK is now waiting for Usmanov’s lawyers to confirm exactly what information posted on the web site is defamatory, and it looks like they have resolved to remove any defamatory material. Indymedia, as with other small non-commercial media groups, has very limited options available to them due to the UK’s archaic and elitist libel laws.
Indymedia hopes, however, to avoid the forms of complete censorship that other web hosts have pursued.
For further information on this case, see Bloggerheads | Chicken Yoghurt | Moscow Times.
For further information on Murray’s research on UK-US (at least tacit) support for terrorism in Uzbekistan, see
Legality, Morality and the War on Terror: [ video | audio | report ].
No to Torture - former British ambassador to Uzbekistan speaks out against UK/US torture collaboration [ audio 1 | audio 2 | report ]
Nerve 10 - Injustice For All?
03-05-2007 21:50
Nottingham and Slavery - A Hidden History
16-03-2007 18:48
As Britain continues the 2007 celebration of 'Abolition 200', the legal end of Britain's official involvement in trans-Atlantic slave trading, and with most eyes on the main slave trade ports like Bristol and Liverpool, our local councils seem quite unconcerned about direct or indirect involvement with the profits of slavery in Notts and East Midlands, and seem happy just to leave local churches to do the soul searching. Let's ask some questions...
An easy example of Notts involvement in slavery is the well-known Mellish family, whose name is probably best associated in local minds with a Nottingham school. The family is known to have had involvement with ownership and official dealings with plantation estates in the West Indies in the 18th century. Even a cursory look at the Mellish family online archive record reveals inheritance of slave plantation estate property from the governor of the Bahamas (John Tinker), and we can read about William Mellish's official dealings with plantation monies in Jamaica as Receiver General for the Customs & Excise (he was also MP for Retford).
Photos: George Africanus: Re-dedication of former slave's grave
Links: The Mellish and Buchanan Families of Blyth and Hodsock - A Brief History | The Nottingham Sparrow, Nottingham AF | 'Slavery - the Hidden History', Bristol Radical History Group | Anti-slavery march demands reparations for slave trade
How do we know?
19-02-2007 18:27
Over 50 people came together at Nottingham University for an event called 'the Knowledge Lab'. The event was aimed at bridging the gap between activism and academia and to provide a collective space for anti-capitalist reflection. It is normally organised within universities, which the organisers say are 'institutions essentially geared towards the production of knowledge as a resource for corporate interest and as justification for particular constellations of power relations. Hence the 'Knowledge Lab' has become an attempt to claim back some of the university's space, resources and know-how from the military-industrial complex and make them available for people concerned about and working against the status quo of unceasing commodification, exploitation, war, and biospherical destruction.
It was the 4th time the event was organised and focussed on 'Knowledge' this time. Workshops were based around questions such as 'how do we know'? what is knowledge'? 'where do we gain our knowledge from'? 'does someone hold control over our knowledge'? 'how does gender affect knowledge'? 'how does education effect knowledge'? 'how are our senses affected by advertising and the media'? and 'how can suppressed knowledge be released into the mainstream'? Other sessions included a presentation and discussion on an alternative education project called 'Travelling School of Life', an experiment in anarchism and concensus decision making called 'SOMA' and an Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry session aimed at looking at what knowledge is and what controls, thus affects it.
Audio: Organiser explains about the 4th Knowledge Lab | Chat with a Knowledge Lab regular about its history and aims | Audio of part of the Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry session on 'Knowledge' | Affective Knowledge & Alternative Media (part 1) + (part 2)
Links: Knowledge Lab website | Peace Conference & Knowledge Lab :: some photos | Travelling School of Life Workshop at Knowledge Lab 4 in Nottingham | Audio reports and background from the 4th Knowledge Lab | Affective Knowledge & Alternative Media, some audio
MI6 Iran Disinfo: The Prelude to War?
05-02-2007 21:49
There have been many warnings [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ] about the possible use of US or Israeli nuclear weapons against Iran. Furthermore, Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research has warned that this is just one part of the US "military roadmap" for the Middle East [ text | video | audio ], while Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed wrote last summer that the war had already started.
Needless to say, a war on Iran would be illegal, and would only add to the long list of war crimes that Bush, Blair and their conspirators are guilty of. But then, what would legality matter if we became a planet of the nuclear dead?
On 9th Feburary 2007 Iranian refugees dropped a banner in Birmingham with the slogan "Support movement for democracy in Iran, No to criminal regime in Iran, No to imperialist war on Iran".
Read: Selected Articles on the Proposed US-Israeli Nuclear War on Iran | Articles on the looming war with Iran | Middle East: Cradle or Graveyard of Empire? | Indybay feature: The US gears up for war with Iran | Iran: A Chronology of Disinformation
Full article | 1 addition | 4 comments
Indymedia and British Intelligence Services
02-02-2007 01:21
Following the American pattern after 9/11, the UK government has used its own alleged terrorist attacks to push towards a police state, which is not exactly a new phenomenon, as Nafeez Ahmed, for example, explains. This has involved increasing the funds allocated to 'security services' and granting them extra-judicial powers; the systematic assault on civil liberties and human rights; media-spun fear based on dubious 'terror plots'; the clamp-down on activists and the relentless attempts to infiltrate their networks. Even Indymedia, it seems, has not been spared. At least two Indymedia activists have recently been approached, in one way or another, by British intelligence services, offering them better-paid jobs.
Read: Recruiting Spies at British Airports | Coincidence or Grooming? Oscar Beard's chance to join MI5 | Is It Really About Terrorism?
Full article | 2 additions | 11 comments
The Racist 'War on Terror'
13-10-2006 18:08
If the 'war on terror' were really about stopping terror, then you would have thought that, when the largest ever haul of bomb-making chemicals, rocket launchers and a nuclear biological suit were found by police at a house in Lancashire, the suspect would be interned for 90 days, the story would make headlines for days, and they would be assumed to be guilty. Well, that's what you would expect if the suspects were Muslims.
But in this case, they are white nationalists; one of the two was the BNP candidate for the Vivary Bridge ward of Colne last May. So the police assumed he was innocent: "He's not a terrorist and it's not a bomb factory", Superintendent Neil Smith said, reassuring residents. He has been charged under the Explosives Substances Act 1883 and remanded in custody, and is due to appear in Burnley Crown Court on October 23rd. The second suspect was released without charge.
Read: Genuine Terror Cell Found | The fascist bomb factory you won't hear about | The terror plot that didn't fit
The 61st Hiroshima Day
06-08-2006 17:17
61 years ago on 6th August 1945 the first nuclear bomb, "Little Boy", a uranium bomb, was dropped on a civilian target, the city of Hiroshima in Japan, 3 days later on 9th August "Fat Man", a plutonium bomb, was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. These Americian acts of genocide, which killed as many as 210,000 people, were unnecessary and were designed "to kick-start the Cold War rather than end the Second World War".
CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) in the UK have shown that 59% opposes the replacement of Trident, Britian's submarine-launched nuclear ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missiles) system. On Friday 5th August protestors handed in 53,000 signatures on a petition to 10 Downing Street calling on the government not to replace Trident or develop any new nuclear weapons system. On Tuesday 2nd August two peace activists were arrested after painting "Trident is Terrorism" outside Faslane naval base. In October Faslane 365 begins — a year-long continuous peaceful blockade at Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons submarine base.
Protests against nuclear weapons are expected to take place around the world, 80 protests have been organised across the USA: To mark the 61st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, rallies, vigils, teach-ins, and nonviolent protests will be held in more than 60 cities in 24 states across the country to demand an end to nuclear weapons and wars. Antiwar, nuclear abolition and indigenous rights groups are focusing on facilities run by the Bechtel Corporation, one of the world's leading nuclear weapons contractors, war profiteers, and violators of indigenous rights. Activities will take place under the banner: From Hiroshima to Yucca Mountain to the Middle East: No Nukes! No Wars! End War Profiteering! Support Indigenous Rights!
Protests are also expected in Perth and across Europe.
Links: CND | Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space | Nuking Iran is not off the table | Calculating the risk of war in Iran | The Hiroshima Myth | Wikipedia: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Hiroshima / Nagasaki Memorials: Swindon 2006 | Cambridge 2006 | Cambridge 2005 | Nottingham 2005 ( 1 ) ( 2 ) | Oxford 2005 | Sheffield 2003
Read on for analysis on the danger that the USA might nuke Iran [ indymedia.org version with translations ].
Protests against the Israeli assult on Lebanon
06-08-2006 09:43
The Israeli war of agression against Lebanon has now been going on for almost four weeks and there have been two protests against it in Sheffield, the first one was held on 22nd July and it involved a spontaneous march around the city cente in a downpour and the second was held on 2nd August, it involved a five-minute sit down protest in Pinstone Street and a speech from Jews against Zionism. On 5th August many people from Sheffield attended the London demo against Israeli attacks.
Israel has been targetting civilians, journalists, the UN and ambulances using cluster bombs, depleted uranium munitions, bunker busters flown in via Scotland and a catalogue of other illegal weapons, the USA is the main source of Israeli weapons. According to UNICEF: "Thirty per cent of those who have died are children and 45 per cent of those who are displaced are children".
The capture of two Israeli soliders, which has been used by Israel to justify the attack on Hizballah, has been shown to be a pretext: "Israel's assaults on the Occupied Territories and Lebanon were planned well in advance with the full knowledge and approval of the US." The Israeli government was given the green light to attack Lebanon by the United States and the other states attending the G8 in Russia. The US-Israeli goal for Lebanon appears to be, as a minimum, regime change or worse, total annihilation, as with the wars in Iraq and Afganistain the role of oil appears to be key. Wider Middle East war was predicted at the end of June and the unfolding events appears to be part of an imperialist carve up of the Middle East.
One response, from a branch of the CNT in France has been to say: "Just as we firmly denounce this military escalation, calling for an immediate cease-fire, and an end to the bombings, and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, we believe, as internationalist workers, that one of our urgent tasks is to support the development of a third camp - the camp of the workers - in the Middle East, at one and the same time against imperialist domination and against Islamist oppression."
Indymedia Beirut has made an Urgent Appeal for Solidarity with Lebanese Civil Society
The Summer of Truth
31-05-2006 14:50
A Month of Film Screenings on:
9/11, Oil, War and Globalisation
Every Sunday in July at SIF (Sheffield Independent Film), films start at 6:30pm and 8pm
The attacks on New York and Washington on 11th September 2001 have been described as a "New Pearl Harbor" and they have been used to justify the war against Afghanistan and Iraq, the erosion of civil liberties in the US and the UK and the permanent "War on Terror".
Since 9/11 conspiracy theories have flourished, however one of the least credible conspiracy theory is the official narrative this selection of films explores some of the 9/11 smoking guns and the possible motivation of those responsible.
Read on for a complete listing of the films...
Full article | 1 addition | 2 comments
Immaterial Labour
28-04-2006 13:44
Ed Emery of the Universitas adversitatis has organised the "Immaterial Labour, Multitudes, and New Social Subjects: Class Composition in Cognitive Capitalism" Conference in Cambridge this weekend (August 28-30th). This conference will be feature a large international gathering of radicals and militants, with a focus on autonomous inquiry in the digital era and a keynote open to the public by Antonio Negri, co-author of Empire.
This diverse revolutionary current believes that the era of the "material labour" of the factory has been superseded by the "immaterial labour" that includes unpaid family work, "service with a smile" and the production of affects, and symbolic-linguistic production such as computer programming and entertainment. There is also an increased focus on the cybernetic communications of both capital, and as opposed to vanguard parties, the natural antagonism of labour to capitalism and their ability to subvert their own machinery - including the Internet (see texts related to the themes of the conference).
Antonio Negri will give his keynote in French on the evening of the 28th on the topic of "J.M. Keynes, Guaranteed Minimum Income and the Recent Events in France," an analysis of the recent revolt in France against the neoliberal CPE.
To make this conference as widely available, there will be live audio-stream available on www.radiovague.com and an IRC chat room at chat.indymedia.org#immaterial. This room will allow people, regardless of their location in space, to discuss the speakers and ask questions. A full archive will also be made.
Update: At the last moment, Negri had to cancel for personal reasons, but his paper will be delivered by his esteemed colleague Andrea Fumagalli at 7:30.
The NHS in Crisis
11-04-2006 20:30
Crisis can be an overused word, but in the case of the NHS it’s difficult to get across the scale of the problem without using it. Three quarters of the NHS trusts in the UK are reporting that financial deficits are forcing them to make some form of cut backs this financial year.
But, hold on. The government says it’s putting more money into the NHS than ever before. For once the government is telling the truth - they are spending far more on the NHS than ever, but the cuts are still taking place... how on earth can they both be true?
The answer is simple, it's not a question of how much money, but where it goes. Private companies have become more deeply entrenched in the health service than ever before, on a level that would have been unimaginable even under the Tories.
Keep our NHS Public, Indymedia coverage [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ]
Its anarchy on the streets
20-03-2006 15:46
As our society becomes ever more complex our ‘representatives’ in local and national government feel they have to make more laws and regulations and implement new controls on people’s behaviour to ensure the safety of the majority. If they did not then very soon chaos and disorder would reign right? Well, as we know in our hearts this is nonsense, it is not laws and regulations that make people care for each other, all it needs is for the removal of all the extraneous impediments to mutual aid. Here is very practical example.
An Old War with New Battles: An Interview with an Anti-Fascist Campaigner
15-03-2006 09:20
A scouse streetfighter looks back at the revival of the militant group Anti-Fascist Action in the 1980s“The main thing is not to lose sight of what the fascists are, whatever they're wearing and however they are trying to spread their message. Just have in your mind's eye an image from the holocaust and you will always feel motivated to no platform the scum whenever the opportunity (and balance of forces) presents itself.”
Campaigners gear up to save Little London from gentrification
12-03-2006 18:44
After four contested ballots, £millions of taxpayers money spent and five years of resistance to Leeds City Council's drive to demolish 435 council homes and replace them with private housing, the moment of truth has finally arrived for tenants of the Little London housing estate. The Council has just announced in a press statement that tenants have overwhelmingly backed controversial plans for an £85m regeneration scheme under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) after a highly disputed door-to-door consultation process in February. Despite consistent opposition from both the Little London Tenants and Residents Association and the Save Little London Campaign, Council officers are now expected to make their recommendation to the Council Executive in April to go ahead with the controversial 'Comprehensive Regeneration Option'.
But the PFI scheme is far from a done deal. At a community action day last Sunday (5 March), local residents and campaigners vowed ‘to fight on and win’ regardless of the Council’s decision. Possible courses of action include standing independent candidates in the May local elections, a legal challenge to the alleged irregularities and bias of the Council's consultation process, and alternative proposals for regenerating the area. As part of the fightback, this Tuesday (14 March) at midday, a lobby of tenants and campaigners will march from Little London Community Centre to Leeds Town Hall to make their voices heard outside a Stakeholders Meeting between the Council and tenants representatives.
- Full Story and background
Short campaign film 'Little London - the story so far'- Eye witness account of biased consultation
- Campaign reports: January Picket of Council and Call out; Save Little London Community Day, 5 March
- Anger of Leeds Council tenants at alleged corruption
- Mainstream media reports: Council accuses 'left-wingers of misleading tenants'; Campaigners reply 'Tenants misled over Little London'
- Related stories about Leeds City Gentrification: 'City Flats to Become Height of Fashion'
Creative working the way forward - a photo report
23-12-2005 16:14
More and more artists within Nottingham seem to join the recycling art craze, as tetra-packs, plastic bages and cans are brought to new life. In the last few weeks various workshops were organised in the Sumac Centre in Forest Fields and the Old School Hall in Sneinton. The Rubbish Day Out in Sneinton was organised to raise awareness of recycling and waste issues. Here a collection of photo's from people who think creative workshops are fun and the way forward to promote environmental and social issues.
There is a creative campaigning workshop planned on Sunday 15 January 2006 from 11 am to 4 pm (with lunch break) at The Place, 2a Melrose Street, in Sherwood, Nottingham. It is all about drawing attention to your message. The Place is just off Mansfield road behind the old bus depot.
Justice vs Revenge: the failure of the CJS
16-11-2005 11:10
