SHOPPING INSANITY!
PRIVATE PARADISE CLOSED TO "RIFF-RAFF"
A large part of the city centre surrounding Paradise Street, will be declared private property if the council has its way and people walking through it will merely be guests of business types. Guests who can be thrown out if they don’t fit in. Liverpool Council wants to privatise 35 public rights of way, which means people will lose the automatic right to walk through the area. Donald Lee of the Open Space Society is very worried that a “series of so-called ‘public realm’ routes that are nothing more than permitted ways under the control of private management”. After raising the issue with the council, he was told the measures are necessary because “the developers and the council needed to be in a position ‘to control and exclude the riff- raff element’.”
Similar measures in US cities such as Los Angeles have seen persecution of homeless people, political campaigners and street entertainers. Small businesses and groups in the area are fighting compulsory purchase orders, but they too are likely to lose out to the big developersand stores and be unable to afford rents in new shopping centres. The ‘sanitisation’ of OUR city continues, and it seems the only thing we’ll be allowed to do in it is shop. ‘OUR’ council is in the pocket of the already rich, but legalchallenges and campaigns continue. It may not be too late to influence things.

GRAVY TRAIN COMES TO TOWN AGAIN!
Meanwhile, Liverpool, with its ‘City of Culture’ (COC) status, has been chosen to host a major regeneration conference, by the Local Government Association. The event, scheduled for March 2004, will see around 1,000 delegates from councils across the country arriving in Liverpool, where they will presumably learn how to make large sums of public money disappear, make friends with important business people and pass the whole thing off as ‘regeneration’. Council chiefs are predicting it will bring tens of thousands of pounds of revenue to the city businesses, money which should perhaps be used for improving peoples housing and their lives. When will the regeneration funds finally trickle down to the people of Liverpool?

BOYCOTT THE SUN AND JUICE FM
Ever since 1989 when The Sun ran an inaccurate story about the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives, the paper has been the subject of an ongoing boycott by many people in the city. The headlining article called 'The Truth' gave false and derogatory comments about fans at the Leppings Lane End where the tragedy unfolded and the subsequent failure of The Sun to issue an apology now means the newspaper is largely unwelcome in Merseyside.
This has cost the newspaper approximately £125 million. This did not deter local radio station Juice FM from trying to cash in on selling advertising space to The Scum), which caused great anger and concern amongst listeners. When questioned on this Juice FM used the phoney excuse of "Our advertising is arranged on a national basis and as our ad-campaign manager has been on holiday, this somehow slipped through the net" - Bullshit!

BUSTING THE ARMS DEALERS
While the government was being grilled over its reasons for starting a war with Iraq, preparations were being made in London for similar conflicts in the future. Thousands of delegates came to the Docklands to buy weapons off UK and foreign companies at DSEI (Defence Systems & Equipment International). The arms companies are free to sell weapons to both sides in ongoing conflicts and governments who routinely kill, bomb and torture their own people were invited to the event. UK arms exports are heavily subsidised by the government and not so long ago we paid for some missile parts to go to Iraq after their government failed to pay. Many of the deals made at DSEI would be illegal under UK law, but will go ahead because the buyers and manufacturers are foreign.
With this in mind, a determined band of PNP people and friends went to London on September 10. There we joined a few thousand other protesters to take direct action against the fair. There was a massive police presence and protesters were routinely followed, searched and photographed throughout the week of action (in some cases using anti-terrorism legislation). Some groups blocked entrances to the centre and important roads close by, some got into the site to talk to delegates and others made one hell of a noise outside the hotel where they had their big, posh dinner. In contrast to the big antiwar demos there were organised attempts to physically disrupt the war machine and there was a lot of anger on the streets. Still, the only violence we saw was the odd bashing from the police.
The anti-war struggle continues on many different fronts. The issues go way beyond the Hutton enquiry and a dishonest Prime Minister. Many of the richest people in this country, one way or another, have got rich through war. None of the poor people in this country have benefited from war; military spending and arms exports cost us money and leaves less for public services. The trip to London was well worth while; a fairly small number of people caused a big nuisance, the policing bill is estimated to be £2 million and the Borough of Newham may think twice before hosting DSEI again.

IT'S A STITCH UP!
If there’s any doubt about who’s really running things in this country, here are some of the companies who helped pay for the recent Labour Party conference:
BUPA and Superdrug sponsored meetings on health policy.
Arriva, the badly performing rail and bus company sponsored a transport meeting.
Mobile phone companies sponsored a meeting on speeding up planning decisions (making it easier to build unpopular masts).
Sky TV – A meeting on the future of television.
Camelot – ‘Is the lottery working properly?’
The Finance and Leasing Association which represents the credit card, car loan and person credit industry paid for a discussion on the growing problem of consumer debt.
Barclays Bank, UPS (a parcel firm which would like the Post Office privatised), WHSmith and dodgy food company Nestle were also kind enough to help pay for the conference.
Meanwhile Tony Blair has a new helper. Dave Hill, his new ‘communications director’ is involved in a PR company called Chime Communications. Chime and it’s subsidiaries have some big business clients including Tesco, BP and Monsanto. All want to change government policy to help them make more money, or have already done so in recent years.

FESTIVAL SITE IS SAVED
Plans to dig up the Festival Gardens site in South Liverpool have been scrapped after a popular and determined campaign. People were worried about toxic chemicals in the ground being disturbed, the loss of a wild life haven, traffic problems and profit driven motives for the new housing and road. This is just the latest disaster for developers Wiggins, who’ve seen their share price drop to almost nothing recently. The council is apparently determined to see the site developed in some way, but leaving the place alone looks like a better option than most of the proposals that have been made.

NO FUN ON THE WIRRAL
Wirral authorities banned 2 festivals this summer. The Oxton Free Community Arts Festival was born last year with a small turnout and lots of hard volunteer work. There were big hopes for this years event, but the council stopped it after a petition from residents, not prepared to share their park for one day in a year. The Eden Festival was banned for health and safety reasons; a spokesperson for Wirral council said there were objections from the police and emergency services ‘there was no choice because public safety is paramount. Had somebody been killed, there would have been demands for a public enquiry.’ They did not say how people could get killed by the new event, which was planned to raise money for environmental charities.

NUCLEAR VISITS
Nuclear Submarines may be berthed in Merseyside in two years or more, according to the Royal Navy and a recent Big Issue article. The subs visited berths in Sefton up to the nineties and in the sixties one of them caught fire, almost leading to disaster. The subs would come on ‘rest and recreation visits’. Merseyside CND has more info.

IMC LIVERPOOL
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/liverpool is where you’ll find the brand new local activist and alternative news site. Help is wanted and you can post your own stories.

ANTI-FASCIST GROUP FORMED
The Merseyside Coalition Against Racism and Fascism was formed last month, to fight against the racist British National Party’s attempts to spread their poison on Merseyside. The Coalition is an umbrella group, including representatives from the local trade unions, youth groups, and individuals committed to a fair and equal society. Meetings will be held at the Trade Union Centre on Hardman Street, Liverpool, with regular actions and leafleting campaigns planned. Contact the Centre on 0151 709 3995 for details.

MORE FLATS
Residents living in North Studley Street, Aigburth are fighting plans to build dozens of luxury flats, which they claim would ruin their neighbourhood. Proposals are to convert the former Crofton day care centre into a four-storey apartment block including 71 flats and an under-ground car park. Liverpool City Council are too busy selling off day care provision for the elderly and the disabled, cashing in on the ‘Get-rich-quick’ schemes of regeneration and City of Culture. But local residents are mobilising quickly to counter this madness, hundreds of leaflets raising awareness of the plans have been handed out and residents will lobby the greedy planning chiefs.

ON THE ROOF AT WALTON
Walton Prison (now named Liverpool Prison) saw a series of protests after a damning report at the end of May, criticising the prison for its Victorian regime. The inspection found it swarming with cockroaches and prisoners’ hygiene was questioned as many had not got clean underwear for a week. At one point 100 prisoners refused to leave the exercise yard. A group of 14 prisoners climbed on to a low pitched roof at the side of the yard and stayed there demanding more time out of their cells, better access to showers and regular privileges for all detainees.
Police surrounded the Prison, roads were cordoned off and negotiators were called in. The men were persuaded to end their protests and prison chiefs said they would look into the demands, however, as far we know the same conditions continue.

EXPRESS YOURSELF!
At www.liverpool.gov.uk the council invites people to give their views on things, but letters can be posted to Town Hall, High St. Grosvenor Group, the big boys behind the Paradise St. development have a website where they pride themselves on their ‘ability to work with local communities to ensure the regeneration of their communities meets their wishes.’ They will be delighted to hear your views then:  rodney.holmes@grosvenor.com 020 7312 6247

GLOBAL ROUND-UP

BOLIVIANS STILL FIGHTING
Trouble is brewing in Bolivia as the President tries to sell off precious natural gas to the US. Trade Unions say this is another example of a rich country plundering their resources with no care for their long term future. They are also against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a scheme that will give more power to big western companies and force poor countries to put more of their natural resources and public services on sale. So far the president has not listened and indigenous people, peasants, the Socialist Party and others have joined together to strike, protest and block roads.

McDEMOS
Thursday October 16th 2003 will be the 19th annual Worldwide Anti-McDonald’s Day [UN World Food Day] - a protest against the promotion of junk food, the unethical targeting of children, exploitation of workers, animal cruelty, damage to the environment and the global domination of corporations over our lives. Many thousands of McDonalds staff around the world are expected to take strike action, joining their colleagues at the St. Denis branch is Paris, which has been occupied by its workers for over six months. The strikers are demanding the right to unionise, a 10% raise and overtime pay. The strikers say they hope to provide an example to other low-paid workers around the world. Join the McDonalds Workers’ Resistance at  http://mwr.org.uk or go to www.mcspotlight.org for news on anti-McDonalds action.
Meanwhile...scientists have discovered that high doses of fat and sugar in fast and processed foods can be as addictive as hard drugs. The research found that these foods can cause significant changes in the brain and once hooked, many people find it almost impossible to switch back to a healthy diet.

IRISH FIGHT THE BIN TAX
Ten people have been jailed in Dublin for protesting against the new bin tax, but resistance is still strong. Described as ‘an unjust form of double taxation’ which benefits business and industry, it has caused angry but peaceful demonstrations. A Working Class Action spokesman said “It is clear that there is no ‘right to protest’ in this country. When such activity proves effective the courts immediately lock up ordinary people, including a young breastfeeding mother.” Meanwhile, some have welcomed the tax as an incentive to recycle.