An anti-war campaigner has come up with an unorthodox way of paying a civil disobedience fine.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3159242.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3159242.stm
An anti-war campaigner has come up with an unorthodox way of paying a civil disobedience fine.
On Friday, Nick Buxton, 31, will hand a court a cheque for £120 - written on a gravestone.
Engraved on the other side of the stone will be a memorial to those who have died in the war in Iraq.
The charity worker was fined, along with at least 50 other protesters, for trying to blockade Northwood military base in north London in January.
"I took direct action at Northwood because I felt the war was illegal and immoral but the government was not listening to demonstrators," he told BBC News Online.
'Graphic'
"This war has had a devastating impact on Iraq - primarily in terms of loss of life in Iraq.
"By paying my fine like this, I wanted to bring the reality home to the public, the courts, and the staff at the bank where the cheque will be cashed - and in quite a graphic way."
It suggested that any legal object can be used as a cheque, provided the account number, date, payee, amount payable and signature are clearly visible.
Nick Buxton's bank said it could not say whether it would agree to make the payment on his behalf without being able to scrutinise the details of the cheque and his account.
But it did say there have been precedents for such unusual payment methods.
"We had several instances of payment like this during the era of the poll tax - people paying on paving slabs, and so on," said a Co-operative Bank spokesman.
"My understanding is that legally we had to accept that."
The Guinness Book of Records says the strangest known cheque was written on the side of a live cow.
Nick Buxton will present the cheque to Camberwell Magistrates Court in London on Friday at 0930 BST.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3159242.stm
On Friday, Nick Buxton, 31, will hand a court a cheque for £120 - written on a gravestone.
Engraved on the other side of the stone will be a memorial to those who have died in the war in Iraq.
The charity worker was fined, along with at least 50 other protesters, for trying to blockade Northwood military base in north London in January.
"I took direct action at Northwood because I felt the war was illegal and immoral but the government was not listening to demonstrators," he told BBC News Online.
'Graphic'
"This war has had a devastating impact on Iraq - primarily in terms of loss of life in Iraq.
"By paying my fine like this, I wanted to bring the reality home to the public, the courts, and the staff at the bank where the cheque will be cashed - and in quite a graphic way."
It suggested that any legal object can be used as a cheque, provided the account number, date, payee, amount payable and signature are clearly visible.
Nick Buxton's bank said it could not say whether it would agree to make the payment on his behalf without being able to scrutinise the details of the cheque and his account.
But it did say there have been precedents for such unusual payment methods.
"We had several instances of payment like this during the era of the poll tax - people paying on paving slabs, and so on," said a Co-operative Bank spokesman.
"My understanding is that legally we had to accept that."
The Guinness Book of Records says the strangest known cheque was written on the side of a live cow.
Nick Buxton will present the cheque to Camberwell Magistrates Court in London on Friday at 0930 BST.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3159242.stm 
Comments
Hide the following 9 comments
RESTORE TRADITIONAL HONOR
02.10.2003 19:40
THe USA should have killed the Ogre they created, not gone to war on the Iraqi people.
Having taken over the US Govt, the Mafia has lost its touch. They were efficient killers when they were a free enterprise bunch free of the hidebound bureaucracy of Government. Now that Criminals control the Government they have become degenerate. Oh for the good old days before the Godfather pointed out that legal business was a far more efficient way to thieve the peoples' assets.
Now that they hide behind Corporations they have lost their honor. No more open extortion and intimidation done by an enforcer. Now they have financiers and the World Bank, and The International Monetary Fund as their hirelings, they are a disgrace. They should return to their roots as defenders of the oppressed, but just like the Labour Party, they have become the Oppressors.
Restore Democracy to the people of the USA. Their Government have become Comedians when they offer the American version of Democracy to the rest of the World.
DARKERCLOUD
WTF?
02.10.2003 22:52
What are you on about? Lost the plot?
ram
Time for Regime Change?
03.10.2003 08:54
People, some as young as twelve, are being "disppeared" and detained in the same prisons Hussein used. Doctors don't have a bandage or aspirin to treat limbs severed by cluster bombs. There is no water or power. Protestors are getting shot by troops. Cops are being shot by troops. Journalists are "silenced" and children are starving, so what's changed?
The Shah
If I may comment on Rockwell
04.10.2003 13:39
First Rockwell has not threatened anyone with death or similar instead simply regurgitated pigswill which epitomises the majority view of the UK citizens.
Second if (s)he knows few simple facts then bypassing IP blocks is simple.
Rockwell certainly is not stifling any debate. Maybe repetetive but then again being able to type fast and manage the occurings of the newswire is not Rockwell's fault.
If the guidelines do not cover repetetiveness then it could be introduced at the risk of stifling the freedom to counter wrong repetetive arguments (eg: UK is a democracy)
Have you tried to counter Rockwell's arguments instead of hurling abuse and threats?
Just proclaiming to be site administrators! (who the f*** asked you to volunteer in the first place .... I think you are an irresponsible lot for an independent media centre in the UK which is in the core of propagation of global fascism)
What is all this constant " rarely-used "ban" feature and zapping you, because your behaviour is obsessive, disruptive, and unacceptable".
You zap genital warts not human views and opinions. You counter them or shut up and put up.
Maybe think of promoting Rockwell's views on a global scale to highlight our pathetic plight. There are almost 60 million Rockwells in this cursed island.
Maybe you would care to volunteer to publish them on the world section and give publicity to it.
> "having an Indymedia meeting in person, or a live debate, and Rockwell showed up .."
WTF?! You hold a meeting probably called by plants and is an opportunity for plants... IMC is a means to overcome the police state and stop trying to undermine its effectiveness you fool!
>"which many of us work very hard on"
Again I plead with you. Please leave/'take a break' if you feel you are totally useless having worked hard and it hurts.
> his posts should be hidden for a while until he learned how to deal with other people - his posts seem expressly designed to stifle debate.
What a load of bollocks. Maybe you will wear leather and don a cane and punish naughty Rockwell next.
> There is a whole internet out there to play on
It is a shame there are idiots with views that the internet is to be played with except for the activist corner behind IMC-UK. Liberate the whole internet and do not dump your shit on someone else's front door!
> there are very few other moderated sites that would have tolerated Rockwell's behaviour this long
WTF?!!!! If there are some web applications run by egotistic idiots so what? IMC is a collective effort to bur the flame of freedom in our digital futures.
> Rockwell, if you are reading this, I would appreciate some sort of response from you. Not looking for anything special
If you are reading this I would expect you to convey the views expressed here to your next gathering.
Probably Rockwell is already another admin with a crusade to subvert IMC to their selfish means. It is easy to do. Just rub shoulders setup a regional IMC like Stafford Nth. and capitalise on the middle class ego wankers (and implicit agents of the police state) who simply depend on newcomers to do the work (even serious administrative tasks) so they can explore ways to market the content (including harvested IP numbers) collected from those who are genuinely concerned.
Sort it out!
ram
In the name of Bob and the Holy Cheeses
04.10.2003 13:49
My guess Rockwell is a person who knows how to "philosophically" cut and paste theories and statements into his belief system that meet his desire to be proved right.
He should try actually learning about geopolitical realities and historical factual precedents and then apply them to the current dilemna.
My Tuppence worth,
1. The war on terrorism is not a war of national survival.
2. The war on iraq happened for political expediency.
3. People who share rockwells belief system want a better world for themselves.
4. People who DO NOT share rockwells belief system want a better world for EVERYONE ELSE.
Bob (Jr)
RAMadamadingdong
04.10.2003 13:59
With a passion like that i'm amazed you dont get off your ass and get involved in a rival indymedia group as you seem to know exactly where they are going wrong and exactly what to do to set them right.
Good job you're a dedicated constructive team player or you could easily take their entire audience in just a few months of work.
But then you would probably need to interact with other human beings on a face to face level to make that happen and somehow i believe you would'nt play that well with others.
Still should you ever decide to leave the kndergarten school and join people who can be arsed feel free to call me.
Bob (Jr)
Now listen up Bob (Jr)
04.10.2003 14:15
I hope you are not serious.
Bragging about getting off your arse is not the answer to anything nor is shaking your arse to Samba.
I bet you run the fastet when the pigscum _really_ charge on you.
Being constructive.....
Don't ban Rockwell. Clearly he has not abused the guidelines and Rockwell is stands for everything that is British. If you feel embarassed take this opportunity and follow Rockwell's posts and try and post how much ashamed you are.
ram
Bob the glint in the milkmans eye
04.10.2003 15:12
I have heard that he is in fact an auto response system mailer program designed to insert randon bullshit into every post that is ever put on the site.
Clearly not a very good program as it is unable to answer any queries sent to its central processing unit.
As far as running from the pigs goes. What are you on about. This is clearly a comment designed to provoke a reaction and I will not rise to your bait.
As far as any sort of demonstartion action goes it is down to the day. I am sure you are adept though at beating up coppers etc.
Why dont we just get on with some discussion of note instead of getting bogged down in a flame war.
Mr Hopeful Sperm
Ram....
07.10.2003 12:54
I think it's time that you left IMC alone till you matured.
In the meantime go fuck a pig! OINK, OINK, OINK, OINK, OINK!
Thomas J