THE BATH BOMB

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Issue #19
free/donation
Feb 09

‘Bad puns: it snow laughing matter’

Over 150 In Bath Gaza Demo!

Responding to the brutal onslaught of the US/UK-backed Israeli war machine against the people of Gaza, people all around the world rose up in acts of anger and solidarity. In the UK, London saw a series of demos, each numbering up to 75,000, Bristol saw hundreds marching and all over the country, from the smallest towns to the biggest cities, thousands marched and blockaded and smashed symbols of the Israeli regime. Bath was no exception. On Saturday the 17th of January, over 150 people gathered in town to voice opposition to Israeli war crimes. The demonstration began after the weekly Stop the War Coalition vigil outside the Abbey and moved off under the banner ‘Stop the Slaughter in Gaza’. The demo, called by Bath Activist Network, was attended by a wide range of people, from anarchists to pacifists, a Muslim contingent, and many first-time protestors appalled at the Israeli state’s butchery of Palestinian civilians. They took to the streets, blocking traffic, and made their way through the centre of Bath, resounding to chants of ‘Free, Free Palestine’ and coloured with homemade placards and banners. The demo first stopped outside Starbucks, a staunch financial supporter of Israel, forcing a temporary closure through sheer weight of numbers. From there, the demo moved off to Lloyds TSB, who have cancelled the bank account of a Palestinian humanitarian charity. Activists entered the branch, chanting and leafleting customers before demanding an open debate with the manager. The response was the closing and locking of the branch, hiding behind police and security rather than argue their indefensible position. After a brief stay, activists moved on to M&S, the Israeli government’s biggest UK-based backer. The day was an inspiring one, set to the backdrop of thousands of others elsewhere out on the streets, being large, vibrant, angry, educational and overwhelmingly supported by the public. The message sent out was clear; the people of Bath will not sit back and watch as Israel commits war crimes with impunity and both the ideological and financial support of the UK Government.

In related news, if you want to support the Bristol EDO decommisioners’ campaign, check this out:  http://decommisioners.wordpress.com/

 http://www.bathstopwar.org.uk/index.html
 http://www.stopwar.org.uk/
 http://palsolidarity.org/
 http://electronicintifada.net
 http://www.maannews.net/en
 http://www.freegaza.org
 http://talestotell.wordpress.com

Born Free, Taxed To Death

As the recession tightens its grip, B&NES Council have taken several brave new steps forward in sheer stupidity and greed. Not content with frittering away our money on debacles such as the Spa and other cash-guzzling schemes aimed at dazzling tourists with a rose-tinted view of Bath while ignoring the rest of us, they’re now set to approve a 3.5% hike of our already disproportionately high council tax. At this time, when homes are getting repossessed and bailiffs stealing our possessions at a record level, what will this achieve? All it will do is push more people further into poverty, create a higher backlog of unpaid tax and demonstrate the complete contempt with which the Council views the average Bathonian. Once again, we are being asked to pay and suffer for a crisis for which we are not responsible. Yet not only are B&NES showing how little they care for our financial wellbeing, but they are also agreeing another measure that will compromise our immediate safety. Yes, in their infinite wisdom, B&NES will save themselves a bit of money by… turning off our street lights! Ignoring the obvious rape and mugging risks involved in plunging the city into darkness, they’re looking to push ahead with this literally Victorian measure in the near future, so don’t be surprised if you run into a bureaucratic-looking robber on a dark street corner fleecing you for 3.5% of your stuff! A recent ‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay’ stall in Whiteway showed the strong wave of feeling that average people feel against bailiffs, excessive taxation and the disdain with which politicians treat us. So, as the political elite in Guildhall further distance themselves from us, forcing us to sacrifice not only our money, our safety and our dignity to prop up their system, it is time to start building another system – one that is run by the people in the interest of the people, not for the greed of the selfish few.

InterPal Interference Unpolitical?

Continuing with the Gaza crisis theme, the Viva Palestina! convoy leaves the UK on the 14th February as we go to press, with a string of 20 vehicles delivering much-needed food, medical supplies, clothing and other aid, across land, in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade – which has already been hassled by police on spurious terror-related charges. As mentioned above though Lloyds TSB have made the decision to actively block humanitarian relief to beleaguered Palestine; back in November, they ordered the Islamic Bank of Britain, for whom they provide financial clearing, to close the account of UK-based charity InterPal, who deliver vital aid to Palestine. Although they’ve been investigated several times by the UK Charity Commission, there have never been found to be any links to anything even remotely terrorist. Not even harsh language. So on the 24th of January, 16 activists from BAN and Bath SWC picketed Lloyds on Milsom Street for three hours, leafleting and collecting 150 signatures to persuade the bank to change its evil ways. The reply was a hastily-produced statement whining that “America made us do it.” Whilst similar actions have been ongoing around the country, the UK has also witnessed a spate of university occupations – from London to Oxford to Manchester to Scotland, and many more in between – with students’ demands specifying a withdrawal of all funding from arms companies and other human rights violators, campus-wide boycotts of Israeli goods (produced on stolen Palestinian land), scholarships for Gazan students, and for surplus educational material to be sent to centres in Palestine. Nice one.

 http://www.bethlehemlink.org.uk
 http://tinyurl.com/dmwn28
 http://tinyurl.com/araqp2

EVENTS

Bath Hunt Saboteurs meetings, 2nd and 4th Monday of the month, 8pm, The Bell, Walcot Street
London Road Food Co-op, Wednesdays, 4-7pm, Riverside Community Centre, London Road
Bath Stop The War Coalition vigil, Saturdays, 11.30am-12.30, Bath Abbey Courtyard
Exhibition: ‘Portrait of a Road Protest’, Tuesday 17th February-Saturday 28th, Walcot Community Chapel
Film: A Crude Awakening, Thursday 19th February, 7.30pm, upstairs at The Cork, Westgate Street
Reclaim The Night, Friday 20th February, College Green, Bristol, 6pm,  http://www.bristolfeministnetwork.com
‘Beat the Bailiffs’ listening post, Saturday 21st February, Whiteway
Talk: ‘Portrait of a Road Protest’, Sunday 1st March, 3-4pm, Bath Central Library, £6/£4 entry
Exhibition: ‘Portrait of a Road Protest’, Sunday 1st March-Sunday 8th, Bath Central Library
Bath Friends of the Earth meeting, Monday 2nd March, 8pm, Stillpoint, Broad Street Place
Bath Animal Action meeting, Wednesday 4th March, 7.30-8.30pm, back room of The Bell
Bath Activist Network meeting, Thursday 5th March, 7.30-9pm, downstairs Hobgoblin
Bath Greenpeace meeting, Monday 9th March, 7.30-9pm, Stillpoint, Broad Street Place
Transition Bath Forum, Tuesday 10th March, 7pm, Widcombe Social Club
Bath Green Drinks, Wednesday 11th March, 8.30pm, the Rummer, Grand Parade
Bath FreeShop, Saturday 14th March, 12-3pm, outside Pump Rooms, Stall Street
Bubbling Under, Sunday 15th March, 1-4pm, Porter Cellar bar, George Street

Rabid Tran-Shit Plans

Local government extremists took a further leap from the bridge of sanity on the 21st of last month, when Tory-controlled B&NES held an open meeting to inform the loving public of their new transport plan. Key to their plot are the two most-protested local environmental issues of recent years – the building of a Park and Ride on the ancient flood-prone Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Bathampton Meadows, and the so-called Bristol ‘Rapid Transit’ plan – nothing more than a glorified bus route cutting through an old railway line (an important wildlife corridor) and various residents’ back gardens. Even though the buses will be rapid enough as they approach the city from the east, they’re doomed to snail pace in the trademark gridlock of London Road and Walcot Street. Expansion of existing Park and Rides is also on the cards. Lying Tories claim that these plans are already set in stone, but in fact there is actually still room for change: as they say, politicians are politicians are politicians. So, a ridiculous and shortsighted waste of the £54 million central government grant for sure, but what exactly are the figures? Well, pen-pushers are evasive about disclosure as usual, but an estimated £20 million is to be blown on 2,500 planned new parking spaces… At £100,000 per space, what’re they using? Solid gold?

 http://response2route.co.uk
 http://www.savebathamptonmeadows.org.uk

Wildcat Strikes Spreads Like Wildfire

No sooner had the news reached us that workers at Lindsey Oil Refinery (LOR) had taken unofficial strike action, than word started filtering through that thousands had joined them in solidarity actions across the UK, from Aberthaw in Wales, to Plymouth, to Stirling and Sellafield, and dozens of other sites. Despite the best attempts of the bosses, media and government to portray the strike as a racial issue, the workers held firm and articulately spelled out the fact that the strikes have everything to do with cynical corporate government policies towards workers of all nationalities, and nothing to do with racism. The action was initiated when it was announced that LOR would be subcontracting work to Italian firm, IREM. This company would, in turn, employ Italian and Portuguese workers, subject to Italian minimum wage, trade union laws and pension arrangements (all worse than here) – to be shipped over and housed in offshore ex-prison ships. Amongst the demands of the strikers were commitments to incorporate foreign workers into British trade unions to guarantee them the same rights that we have. Almost entirely unreported by the media were the ‘Workers of the World Unite’ slogans and the hundreds of organised Polish workers that took part. The capitalists survive by pitting the working class against each other along the lines of race, religion and nationality, yet these strikes transcended that divide, making demands for a united international working class with equal access to jobs, fair pay and decent conditions. The strikers bravely broke the law en-masse, defying repressive anti-union laws and demanding an end to exploitation of all workers, foreign or domestic. The first of many hard battles of this recession has been fought, and the victory lies firmly in the hands of the workers.

 http://www.bearfacts.co.uk/Forum/index.php?topic=155.0

Squat A Blind Bit Of Notice

Our brave boys in blue distinguished themselves on the 9th of February with a violent and illegal eviction of a squatted property in Twerton, where a small group of locals had occupied a Grade 2 Listed building and begun work to reverse many years of neglect at the hands of Network Rail. Fortunately, this nefarious behaviour was curtailed when British Transport copper 1306 – acting without warrant, permission, or any form of legal authority, following orders from a company with neither actual claim to the property or to direct police activity, ripped the door off and arrested those inside. So, nothing wrong there then.
The lone occupant present at the time was held in custody until the house could be boarded up and all the fuses stolen. Meanwhile, the police kept their prisoner in a cell with no emergency buzzer, and repeatedly denied him access to his phone call, whilst trying to do him on a succession of increasingly bizarre charges: burglary – dropped upon realising that burglars take stuff out of buildings, not in; criminal damage – apparently this doesn’t apply to people repairing and maintaining a building; padlock theft – dropped after the police failed to boltcrop said padlocks away; and trespass – dropped when the CPS pointed out that trespass isn’t actually a crime. Eventually, the would-be homemaker was cautioned on the fictitious allegation of electricity theft. However, having been chucked out on the streets in the snow whilst their clothes and sleeping bags were boarded in, the former residents were heartened to find a ‘help the homeless’ collection tin in the reception of Bath police station… Although shaken by this blatantly political repression, the squatters have vowed to fight on for housing for all and a community-controlled social space in Twerton.

Fry In The Sky

The environment took another glancing blow on the 28th January when, despite massive Labour party revolt, the Government approved a third runway for Heathrow. To strike back in the running battle to save 1,100 homes, ancient architecture and the entire village of Sipson from demolition, Greenpeace and various celebs have pooled together and bought a 1 acre patch of land directly in the proposed runway’s path, selling square meter plots of the land away to hundreds of anti-aviation campaigners. It’s hoped that cracking the land into tiny shards, figuratively speaking, will make for a legal migraine when Neo-Labour is forced to implement not one Compulsory Purchase Order, but thousands. For once, it seems, the rich and famous are making themselves useful. In related news, Plane Stupid, the group who pulled off the blockade of Stansted Airport in December, are now being targeted for infiltration and surveillance by the newly formed police Confidential Intelligence Unit, designed to gather any info it can on ‘domestic terrorists’ such as environmentalists, strikers, anti-war activists and animal liberationists. Working closely with universities and big business, based at Scotland Yard, any doubt that the police are just another private commercial venture quickly fades. And remember, you’re safer when you’re watched.

 http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/airplot

Chronic Misreporting Of Dissent

BAN have had a mixed bag of reporting from the Chronicle, but the coverage of the recent Gaza solidarity actions in Bath crosses the line between inept journalism and political censorship. Now, not much happens in sleepy Bath, so one hundred plus marching through town centre and closing a bank is somewhat newsworthy (Bristol readers snigger now). But what adorned the front page of that week’s Chron? A rugby player who had been caught taking drugs – big deal. Not until page 22 was there any mention of the demo, and that fairly short article failed to mention the numbers present and was accompanied by a picture conveniently showing only four protestors stood outside Lloyds. This is not an issue of local activists demanding favourable media attention – much of the activism that happens in Bath is never reported to, or makes it into, the Chronicle – this is an issue of a newspaper taking a political decision to play down the size and effectiveness of one of the biggest demos Bath has seen for years. The conspiracy deepens when you look at the scant coverage of Palestine-related protest featured in the Chron’s parent group Associated Newspapers, including the Daily Mail. Soon a picture starts to emerge of a rightwing publishing empire taking the decision to censor a nationally widespread act of solidarity that it politically disagrees with. Not unlike the BBC’s failure to cover the Gaza appeal, in fact. But it is not for the media to decide what is newsworthy, or what stories deserve to be told: it is their job to report all news, proportionally to its impact and interest and allow the reader to make up their mind based on the facts presented to them (just like the Bath Bomb, cough cough). On this occasion, this was something the Chron and massive sections of the national press failed in their responsibility to do.

Online And Ready To Go

Whoever says that Bath is stuck in the Georgian age will be feeling pretty stupid today, as Bath’s activist scene projects itself bravely into the modern era. That’s right, the Bath Bomb can proudly reveal the unveiling of two new websites for Bath. The first is our very own humble effort, where you can find our most recent issue, all of our back issues, news and views from Bath and beyond, get in touch with us, and generally keep up to date with the busy world of Bath activism (check us out at www.thebathbomb.blogspot.com). In a completely unrelated piece of news, Bath-based malcontents the Bath Activist Network have started their own website - www.bathactivistnetwork.blogspot.com (we're not the same people - honest officer!). Featuring piccies, contact info and all the latest from the protest, politics and opinion from the guys over at BAN HQ, the website looks set to be a surefire hit with the punters. Spokesperson Matt Banning said “With the digital age well and truly upon us, we thought it only right to give the public a more convenient way to live vicariously through our daring exploits – oh, and hopefully get some new activists, too!” So, make sure you check out both sites, and be a part of what is surely history in the making. First Bath, then cyberspace, then the world!

Raise Your Voice

We here at the Bath Bomb are pleased to announce the birth of yet another local grassroots newsletter, this time from Easton in Bristol. Eastside Voice is produced by an ad-hoc group of local residents concerned about the quality of life and environment in their neighbourhood - particularly sustainable transport plans and public land sell-offs - and had their first issue last month. Whilst they may not achieve the same degree of journalistic integrity and quality control as this here rag, we tip our hoodies to ‘em. Contact velorution [at] yahoo.com for more info.

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