Grassroots Resistance to Capitalism & Government
Produced by South Wales Anarchists • http;//www.southwalesanarchists.org

Camp Combats Corporate Climate Crimes
This year’s Camp for Climate Action was held on squatted land at Heathrow, the world's busiest airport & a bigger source of CO2 emissions than most countries. The squatted land along with the nearby village of Sipson are planned to be turned into Heathrow’s 3rd runway, destroying over 700 homes. Despite press squealing from BAA that the camp would target hard-working families going on their summer holidays, a report in 2003 showed that 96% of Heathrow’s passengers were from socio-economic categories A, B & C1. At Stansted, where low cost carriers account for nearly all the flights, the average annual household income of passengers exceeds £51,000. The most recent figures show that 4.5% of the population take 44% of all flights. The core of the problem isn’t working class families flying to Greece every couple of years, it’s the rich jetting off to Paris or Manchester (the two most popular destination from Heathrow) five times a week.
Around 1000 people arrived at the camp to get involved in a week of self-organisation & direct action. Within a couple of days an empty field was turned into an autonomous community powered by the wind & sun. Over 1,800 police were mobilised to monitor the protests including the FIT political police (who have a pathological hatred of protesters) all of whom did their best to bully & intimidate everyone as much as possible. Experienced activists & local residents combined to struggle against continual police harassment, while at the same time the camp soon became the centre of a media frenzy. This resulted in huge press coverage worldwide, although much of it was nonsense - there was even talk of anarchists ‘infiltrating’ the site when we’d set it up!
The focus of the direct actions was the corporations promoting air travel. Although we all need to make changes to avoid ecological destruction the major problem is capitalism & the corporations that profit from aviation & who are pushing for its expansion despite the deadly threat of climate chaos. The actions were numerous & effective, with targets including the offices of Leeds Airport, carbon offsetting companies, private charter company XL (contracted to the Home Office to deport rejected asylum seekers, - climate change refuges now outnumber people displaced by conflict), as well as Carmel Agrexco's Heathrow warehouse (where produce is air freighted in from territories occupied by Israel). Blockades were held at BP headquarters, BA world cargo depot, World Freight Centre at Heathrow, nuclear power stations, Farnborough & Biggin Hill private airports, while others chained shut the doors of 6 travel agencies in London. The target of the mass action was BAA headquarters, as they’re the ones in charge of Britain’s fastest growing contributor to climate chaos: Heathrow Airport. About 300 people went on foot cross-country, while another group of about 100 people made it to BAA by road & shut it down for 24 hours.
The climate camp was a glimpse of the ideas we create & actions we can take when we get together & work collectively. It is just a tiny part of what we need to be doing to tackle climate chaos with people leaving inspired & hopeful for the future. The camp lasted a week but the causes of climate change are happening every day, as is the resistance. Check out  http://www.climateimc.org &  http://www.earthfirst.org.uk

The Great Recycling Swindle!
Recycling industry insiders have told us that Cardiff residents’ waste, which is picked up all in one bag without being separated, ends up far too mixed & contaminated to be recycled effectively. The situation is the same in most UK towns. Much of it is sold on to waste dealers who export it halfway across the world to Indonesia, India & China, burning tonnes of carbon dioxide to dump rubbish on poorer people in the global South.
Our waste should be recycled separately by operations in the UK, but because it is collected mixed together in one bag, paper mills, plastics, & glass handlers find it impossible to work with. Many UK paper mills have had to close down because councils are too short-sighted to implement proper recycling schemes to provide them with clean materials.
One insider told us: “Cardiff Council will claim that it sends its paper to the paper mill at Ayelsford in Kent to be recycled. But none of the kerbside recycling from Cardiff gets there. By the time it’s been picked up & taken to the central depot it’s been contaminated by broken glass & other materials, & it’s mostly unusable. I know this because I’ve been speaking to people at the paper mills. I don’t know exactly where it gets sent, but it stands to reason that if the UK recyclers are refusing it, it’ll be sold by middle-men to the big dealers in the Far East.”
Another industry expert, who also prefers to remain anonymous, told us that lots of our waste ends up in the global South where it is picked over by poor labourers in dangerous & unsanitary conditions. “There are containers full of mixed materials illegally exported to developing countries where health & safety is not a consideration & where children sift through what we would call landfill sites. I’ve heard rumours that Cardiff’s so-called recycled waste gets sent to Indonesia, but only a few people know for sure. They don’t want to broadcast it”.
Cardiff Council only recently opened the expensive recycling ‘sorting’ facility at Lamby Way. One source told us, “Lamby Way is a complete disaster. All it produces is low-grade contaminated waste that’s next to useless. That place was a total waste of money”.
Another told us that big & costly separating plants like Lamby Way wouldn’t be necessary if the public were asked to do the job in the home, or if collectors separated on collection. “Getting individuals separating waste in the home is not difficult – it’s common practice in other European countries like Germany, & it’s also done in Newport!”
One big difference in the Newport recycling method, apart from separating waste at source, not exporting it & actually recycling it, is it isn’t run by the council, it’s run by a community group! Check out:  http://www.realrecycling.org.uk &  http://www.wastesavers.co.uk

Cardiff incinerator
Politicians have a approved plans to build a massive incinerator in Cardiff Bay in the site of the former Nippon Electrical Glass factory. The companies who plan to build this monster claim it will not only dispose of our rubbish, but that the heat it produces will be used to generate electricity.
At first glance this may seem like a green & sustainable solution to the problem of what to do with waste. It is nothing of the sort.
Incinerators burn paper & plastics that could be recycled & re-used. Far from being an environmentally friendly way of dealing with our mountains of rubbish, simply burning them ends up perpetuating our use of plastics, which are made from oil, a fossil fuel that's gonna run out in the very near future.
Instead of building facilities like this, we need to start building proper local recycling facilities, while going about changing the way we consume non-renewable materials like plastic. Rather than hoping our waste problems will go away in a puff of smoke we need to seriously start to reduce, re-use, & recycle!

Gas Pipeline Sabotaged
Protesters have sabotaged the controversial liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline, causing significant damage both to the pipe itself & works vehicles. Meanwhile, National Grid is considering building a 2nd ecologically damaging gas pipeline across Wales.
The Brecon Beacons gas pipeline works were sabotaged during the night to coincide with the Camp for Climate Action. A small team bypassed security & rendered immobile a total of 11 machines including tipper trucks & excavators. Major engine & hydraulic components were destroyed & the pipeline itself was holed in several places.
The first pipeline, which will transport LNG from Milford Haven to Gloucestershire has already cut a huge swathe through the Welsh countryside. When activated it will transport dangerous highly pressurised gas through towns & villages, often running just metres from schools, homes & public buildings. Direct action by climate change protesters has already significantly delayed progress on the first pipe, & National Grid has spent thousands evicting several camps along the way. Due to a combination of determined protests & harsh terrain the first pipe is badly behind schedule. The company will be fined if they don't complete on time, so they’re spending more & more cash to catch up. Protesters have vowed to resist a 2nd pipeline as strongly as the 1st.

GOwer residents Oppose Dredging
Dredging is already having catastrophic effects on South Wales’ beaches. Now companies are looking to double the amount of sand they can take from the sea off the coast.
The companies - Hanson, United Marine Dredging & CEMEX UK - have a licence to remove up to 900,000 tonnes every year until 2010 from Nash Bank, off Porthcawl, where there has already been significant beach erosion. They are now seeking permission from the Welsh Assembly to dredge up to 1.8m tonnes a year from a new location south of Carmarthen Bay & west of Gower. If this carries on the coast will lose its beaches altogether, & an already fragile ecosystem will be destroyed.
Last week Minister for Environment, ‘Sustainability’(!) & Housing Jane Davidson gave the go-ahead for ‘Llanelli Sand Dredging Ltd’ to conduct more dredging off Gower despite a 30,000 signature petition of opposition to it. Check out:  http://www.gower-sos.com

Watching the detectives
FIT are police ‘forward intelligence’ teams that film & harass protesters. It has become normal to see these specialist police teams at all sorts of political meetings & events. The fact that it is now a normal occurrence does not make it right.
The first FITWATCH action was when FIT were attempting to film people attending a meeting about the DSEi arms fair. Having asked the police to stop photographing people who did not wish to be photographed two activists used pieces of cardboard to obstruct the view of the camera, stopping the police from taking footage. The police used physical force to keep the activists away from the camera, & then arrested both of them for obstructing a police officer in the course of his duty. They will be on trial at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on the 9th October 2007. All supporters welcome!
This trial will be the first test of whether FIT have a legal right to intimidate, harass, photograph & collect data on people attending political meetings.
"It is not acceptable for the police to be compiling data on people attending a political meeting," said Val Swain, one of the defendants. "We are not supposed to be living in a totalitarian society where police can hold data on people just because of their political views. The police behave in a very intimidating manner, forcing people to 'run the gauntlet' of camera flashguns & police scrutiny simply to attend a meeting. I believe that in acting the way that they do, the police are acting unlawfully & this trial will attempt to hold them to account.” Check out:  http://www.fitwatch.blogspot.com

Stop the st athan murder academy
On 23rd August, anti-militarists including South Wales Anarchists visited RAF St Athan, to oppose its planned expansion into an international training complex. The development, costing £14 billion, will be privately operated for the benefit of the entire British armed forces & allies. The ‘St Athan Defence Academy’ headed by the Metrix Consortium, & run in partnership with City & Guilds, Laing O’Rourke, Raytheon, & Open University will be operational by 2013.
The Welsh Assembly has forced this deal through with no public discussion, focussing on the supposed ‘economic benefits’, including new jobs for local people. Despite figures of 5000 being toted the vast majority will be re-located specialist personnel, there are only a few hundred low paid service jobs for local people (see Gagged #16).

Prison isn’t working so why build more?
As part of the Home Office’s plans for 10,000 new prison places in the next 2 years, privately run Parc Prison in Bridgend is to raise its number of inmates by more than a third to over 1,500, & a new jail in North Wales is proposed. The Probation Service is concerned by the costs of expansion & suggested there should be a debate about prison population.
No debate is needed. Prisons are a failure. Overcrowding is huge, more than half of all prisoners have mental health problems, while suicide & self-harm are rife. The number of innocent prisoners in the UK - victims of miscarriages of justice - is highly disputed but some claim it is as high as 3,000 ( http://www.portia.org). Despite the rhetoric, prison does not rehabilitate as it’s not designed to: re-offending rates are 70% for some categories. Inmates are forced to work for peanuts for private companies who make huge profits out of prison slavery ( http://www.againstprisonslavery.org). The fact is prisons do nothing to address the number 1 cause of crime: massive inequality between the rich & the poor.

Disarm the D.S.E.i. arms Fair
The world's biggest arms fair opens for business on 11th September. Defence Systems Exhibition International comes to London docklands every 2 years, along with warships, fighter planes, corrupt arms dealers & military dictators. For these businesses world conflict is successful capitalism. They are responsible for the fighter jets & bombers that have terrorised Baghdad, South Lebanon & Palestine. All for profit.
A day of action is planned on the 11th September. Further actions will take place later in the week when the arms traders celebrate their deals with dinner at a posh hotel. For those coming from out of town accommodation will be available at a convergence space, the location of which will be announced a week in advance. Check out  http://www.dsei.org

Welsh Republican Army threaten Charlie
A paramilitary group calling itself the Welsh Republican Army contacted a newspaper with threats to target Prince Charles if he doesn’t quit his estate near Llandovery & give up the title ‘Prince of Wales’.
“If he [Charles] continues to live here & continues to hold the title Prince of Wales, he continues to be a legitimate target for Republican action. The WRA's primary objective is to establish a Welsh socialist republic & free Cymru from its shackles. We will continue to oppose the British state's domination & rule of our country”.
We understand their feelings about Charlie, but as good as getting rid of royalty & the British state would be, Welsh politicians ain’t any better. We need a more fundamental change than moving parliament to Cardiff. The idea that independence would be a step closer to a more just, libertarian society doesn’t add up. Mind you their slogan “We shall see the last English Prince strangled with the entrails of the last capitalist” is a cracker!

End deportations & shut detention prisons
On 28th August members of the Congolese Community of Wales & supporters from No Borders demonstrated outside the Home Office against the deportation of Congolese asylum seekers. Despite Foreign Office advice to British nationals “not to travel at all” to eastern & north-eastern DRC & against “all but essential travel” to the rest of the country as it is deemed “too unstable,” the Home Office continues to deport Congolese asylum seekers, including children born here.
From September 19th – 24th there will be a No Border camp near Gatwick, next to the planned site of a new detention prison. The camp will be an opportunity to stop the building of the detention centre & to share ideas on how to fight against migration controls. There is transport organised from Cardiff to the camp. Get in touch with No Borders Wales to book a space. Check out:  http://www.noborders.org.uk

2 more polluting power stations?
Fossil fuel pushers at Npower have signed a deal to build a massive gas power station in Pembrokeshire, & serial polluters Severn Power have just had the go-ahead to build a second gas power station in Newport.
Both stations will be ecologically damaging & will waste hundreds of millions of pounds - money that could be spent on small-scale sustainable electricity generation using tidal, wind, & solar power. The move has been welcomed by carbon dinosaurs at Pembrokeshire & Newport councils, who say the stations will provide much-needed jobs. However, most of the jobs created will be filled by highly trained workers from outside our local communities, leaving only short-term construction jobs & low-skill low-wage positions for local people.
Both companies try to sell the use of gas as a clean alternative to coal & nuclear power, but in fact gas is just another fossil fuel adding to runaway climate change.

Picket Lines
At the beginning of August Lloyds TSB, the UK’s 5th largest bank, reported half-year profits of £2bn, up 15% on last year. Despite these profits, workers for Lloyds TSB in Cardiff will be amongst 550 made redundant across the UK as a result of the closure of more than 30 Cheltenham & Gloucester branches (which Lloyds bought in 1995) & moving IT jobs to countries where they can pay even lower wages.
• • • • •
The disabled employment service 'Remploy' is closing down it’s factories, in Aberdare, Abertillery, Bridgend, Brynamman, Treforest, Wrexham & Ystradgynlais making 465 people unemployed. Demonstrations have already happened in Wrexham & there will be more at the Swansea Shared Service Centre on 11 September, Bridgend, Treforest, Aberdare & Port Talbot on 12 September & Brynamman, Ystradgynlais & Abertillery on 13 September.
• • • • •
During the Camp for Climate Action, workers at Cargo company Nippon Express, Heathrow held a 48-hour strike against a new work regime, which would, amongst other things, see them working 25% longer hours for no extra pay & mean a £1265 pay cut for many of them. Many climate campers showed solidarity with them by visiting the picket line during this period & likewise some of the workers visited the camp. It’s not hard to see the link between these two struggles – capitalism & its insatiable drive for profit which is put above the needs of people & planet. It’s only by working to destroy capitalism that we will be able to end worker exploitation & climate chaos, & build a free world in harmony with our environment.
• • • • •
Prison officers in Wales & England staged a surprise strike over pay on 29th August, breaching the 1994 ban on strike action. Prison officers are clearly very confident. It is unthinkable that the government would cut back on prison officers while prison numbers grow. It’s definitely a growth industry, which gives them industrial leverage that just wouldn’t be available in other sectors. They received support from the Police Federation with threats that the police could consider following suit. More money for screws & cops? Forgive us if we are less than enthusiastic!! We suggest that they all think about making drastic career changes. Or jump off the nearest tall building....
• • • • •
Following Council workers rejection of a pay offer earlier this year, the employers made an improved offer, breaking Gordon Brown’s 2% public sector pay limit; 2.475% & a new minimum rate of £6 per hour. On 4th September UNISON’s National Executive decided to reject this offer & is proceeding to ballot for industrial action. As we go to press the GMB are consulting all members by post to decide if they will be balloting for strike action.


COPWATCH

Yet more sexual abuse in custody
A North Wales police detective has been suspended amid allegations of sexual assault & misconduct in public office. He has not yet been arrested or charged. It is thought the allegations may have been made by a female who had been in custody.

They do like to be beside the seaside!
Gwent cops are being investigated for taking trips to the beach when they should have been on duty. Only coming a cropper when they got a flat tyre in England & had to call for assistance! It’s claimed cops competed to see who could get furthest away from their Blackwood patrol area. Up to four officers allegedly took trips to places like Barry Island & Porthcawl.

Speeding cops caught out
It has been revealed that 20 South Wales police officers have been caught speeding on traffic cameras. Only 4 of them were prosecuted, with 3 cases still ongoing. In another case a Mid-Wales detective, Ashley Brice, got away with a fine & a 12-month ban after being found guilty of dangerous driving that caused the death of another driver in 2005.

Yet another death in custody
Recalled to prison after breaching parole, David King, 41, was discovered hanging in his cell by staff at Swansea jail on August 11th & pronounced dead.
It was the 57th suicide in jails in Wales & England so far this year, compared with 41 at the same point last year. Almost one third of suicides occur within the first week of jail. Many happen while people are on remand, not even convicted of a crime.

Metropolitan FIT police on holiday
FIT Officer LX365 - Ian Skivens was in attendance at a small demo outside the St. Athan RAF base on Thursday 23rd August with a photographer from Staffordshire police. When asked what he was doing such a long way from home, Ian said he was there to “check out how other UK forces deal with protests, nothing more sinister than that”. The Met already consider themselves head of a national police force.

Stun guns for welsh cops
Gwent & North Wales Police are now to be armed with 50,000-volt taser weapons. Until now Tasers have only been issued to police firearms units. Over 220 people have died after being shot with Tasers in the US since 2001.

Fine for being run over
A police car swerved off the road in Beddau, & ran over Daniel Horne's foot.
"The police car came on to the pavement, hit my right leg & I fell over – with my foot being crushed under the front wheel."
Instead of an apology he got an £80 fine – stating: “You ran into the nearside front wing of a marked police vehicle causing a dent.” He’s unable to work & plans to sue.

Diary Dates
September
11 - Disarm Dsei - actions against Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi), the arms fair. ExCel Centre, London.  http://www.dsei.org
13 - Cymru-imc-Wales benefit gig - Cosmo, Imran & Lou Noble & the Red Silhouettes. Minsky's, Charles Street, Cardiff, 8-11.30pm. £2
19-24 - No Borders Camp, near Gatwick.  http://www.noborders.org.uk
22 - All Wales Peace Festival Caernarfon.  http://www.cymdeithasycymod.org.uk/gwylheddwch
October
1 - South Wales Anarchist Forum - monthly meeting of all of the south Wales groups. 8pm. Glamorgan staff club, westgate street, Cardiff.
6 - Stop St. Athan Defence Training Academy, Temple of Peace, Cardiff, 2pm- meeting of the coalition campaigning against the development of new military training academy in South Wales.
27 - Anarchist Bookfair - Queen Mary & Westfield College, Mile End Road, London, E1. 10am-7pm  http://www.anarchistbookfair.org.uk
November
3 - Gagged! benefit gig - No Choice, KilnAboy, & Gunrack? Le Pub, Caxton Place, Newport. £3

Got any news or an event you want us to cover? send details to  news@gaggedanarchist.tk

An audio version of Gagged! is available, check out  http://www.gaggedanarchist.tk, where you can also subscribe online. 5,000 copies of each issue are distributed - can you help? If you are interested in getting involved, please get in touch  info@gaggedanarchist.tk

Peoples Autonomous Destination
a physical space in Cardiff for groups & individuals who cannot or will not work within the constraints of governmental or corporate control. Food co-op every wednesday from 5pm. meetings every wednesday from 7pm. Vegan-fry-up every sunday from 12noon. & lots more, call by & see notice board 118 Clifton Street, Cardiff CF24 1LW •  http://www.thepad.org.

Cardiff Rising Tide
is a grassroots group committed to taking action & building a movement against climate change.
 cardiff@risingtide.org.uk  http://www.risingtide.org.uk

No Borders Wales
organises on migration issues & acts to break down boundaries that divide us. Meet at the PAD thursdays 7pm.
 noborderswales@riseup.net  http://www.noborderswales.wordpress.com

Cardiff Reading Anti-Capitalism
is a study/reading group exploring revolutionary vision & strategy. Meet 7pm every other tuesday of the month at PAD.  http://www.myspace.com/cardiffanticapitalism

South Wales Anarchists
A network of collectives who are against all forms of exploitation & bigotry. We are concerned with taking direct action against capitalism & government. We spread information & build resistance to create a world based on justice & freedom. We organise autonomously without authority or hierarchy, so that everybody involved can have an equal say.  http://www.southwalesanarchists.org
Cardiff Anarchist Network (CAN) Meetings on Mondays 8pm, at the PAD. Contact  cardiffanarchists@riseup.net or  http://www.myspace.com/cardiffanarchists.
Gwent Anarchists Meetings on every other Monday 8.30pm at the Murenger, High Street, Newport. Contact  gwentanarchists@yahoo.co.uk or  http://www.myspace.com/gwentanarchists
Pembrokeshire Anarchists Contact  pembrokeshireanarchists@riseup.net or  http://www.myspace.com/pembrokeshireanarchists.
Rhondda Cyon Taf Anarchists Contact  rctanarchists@riseup.net.

For international news like the sort you find in Gagged! check out:  http://www.schnews.org.uk  http://www.indymedia.org.uk http;//www.libcom.org  http://www.anarkismo.net  http://www.infoshop.org