London Indymedia

Tenth anniversary of Operation Roadblock against the M11 link road.

kriptick | 18.03.2004 22:56 | Ecology | History | Social Struggles | London

This is the second part of a series of articles on the tenth anniversary of the protests against the construction of the infamous M11 link road that was bulldozed through East London. Following the siege and eviction of Wanstonia, we decided that, for the next part of the campaign, we wouldn't passively wait for the next house demolitions to be carried out by the thugs hired by the Department of Transport. All of us were absolutely determined to stop this iniquitous road scheme from progressing further and we wanted the campaign to be much more proactive. We staged Operation Roadblock as a month long period of continuous direct action against all the destruction caused by the road. This part of the protest resulted in more and more people becoming involved for the first time in direct action campaiging on many other issues besides transport.

Read more on this event and pictures

On the outside of destruction site fences
On the outside of destruction site fences

Ouch! Roger wasn't quick enough getting over
Ouch! Roger wasn't quick enough getting over

Inside the fence
Inside the fence

Sitting on the fence waiting for a gap in the cops and guards
Sitting on the fence waiting for a gap in the cops and guards

One person was all it took to stop a machine
One person was all it took to stop a machine

Though often we sought safety in numbers
Though often we sought safety in numbers

Deliberately dragged through the mud
Deliberately dragged through the mud

Locked on to a digger by her neck with a bike D lock
Locked on to a digger by her neck with a bike D lock

Arrogant bastard. Transport minister McGregor pretending everything is normal
Arrogant bastard. Transport minister McGregor pretending everything is normal

First CJB protest was held on Mayday
First CJB protest was held on Mayday

Meeting in the partially trashed bender site
Meeting in the partially trashed bender site

Cafe at the indepenedent free state of Euphoria
Cafe at the indepenedent free state of Euphoria

Lifelong home of Richard Leighton re-occupied by protesters
Lifelong home of Richard Leighton re-occupied by protesters

Requiem for a landscape protest. The cutting through Twyford Down
Requiem for a landscape protest. The cutting through Twyford Down

Siege of Euphoria in progress
Siege of Euphoria in progress

Snatched from the roof in an undignified manner
Snatched from the roof in an undignified manner

But this tactic was potentially lethal
But this tactic was potentially lethal

Concrete filled oil drum lockon
Concrete filled oil drum lockon

Treetop eviction outside Euphoria
Treetop eviction outside Euphoria


For background history and the first part of the campaign against the M11 link road through East London 10 years ago, see:
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/02/285484.html

Following the siege and demolition of Wanstonia, the M11 campaign was without an office, as, having been located in Wanstonia in number 12, it too had been demolished. Fortunately as a result of all the media coverage, there were significant funds coming in to the campaign from supporters all over the country and so we rented a railway arch off Grove Green Road in Leyontonstone. It was during meetings here that we decided that for the next part of the campaign, we wouldn't passively wait for the next house demolitions to be carried out by the thugs hired by the Department of Transport. All of us were absolutely determined to stop this iniquitous road scheme from progressing further and we wanted the campaign to be much more proactive.

Some of us had read about and been tremendously inspired by the Franklin River blockade in Tasmania. This was a massive and completely successful Non Violent Direct Action campaign against an ecologically disastrous plan to dam a river. The Franklin River campaign had received huge coverage on Tasmanian TV and as a result, thousands of people had pledged to take part in a continuous daily rota of blockading. Our ambition was to create something similar with such a sustained level of protests that no destruction work could take place for an entire month. For several weeks we flyposted and networked massively with other activist groups from all around the country. We asked them to pledge support for our campaign and book several days at a time when they’d be prepared to join us and take part in the protests.

There was still hardly any alternative media in those days. Undercurrents were just starting up that same year. Their video clips were excellent but by the time undercurrent’s videos had been edited, duplicated on VHS and sold, the contents could be months old. We had continued to improve our links to the mainstream media. We saw this as vital, not just as a way of attracting new support for the campaign, but also so as to continually pile on to the embarrassment effect being experienced by the government with their idiotic 23 billion pound road spending program. Anti-roads protests were now starting to happen in other parts of the country at Solsbury Hill - near Bath and Preston and the government couldn't just ignore them as their coverage was being splashed across TV screens and newspaper front pages on a regular basis.

Two skipped 286 computers running Windows 3.1 had been added to our frantically busy office. Fax modems had only very recently become available and we added a newly bought modem to one of these PCs. By today’s standards it was absurdly expensive at over £180 but it turned out to be a really worthwhile investment that enabled us to achieve more and more widespread media coverage. By just clicking a few buttons on the computer, we were able to leave it unattended faxing out our press releases to dozens of newsrooms during the evening, while we relaxed in the pub. One of our volunteers also worked at Greenpeace and she said they had nothing as sophisticated as that. They still relied on a volunteer pushing a bit of paper repeatedly through a fax machine and manually dialling the numbers for hours on end.

In their usual secretive manner, the police had always used code words to name their large-scale operations. Their siege of Wanstonia had been called "Operation Barnard". So for our epic planned campaign of direct action we came up with "Operation Roadblock". The name did lack a little of the imagination of the names of previous actions. For instance when the police had staged "Operation Market Garden" at Twyford Down we had organised the amazing "Operation Greenfly" as a direct response. But the name Roadblock sounded grand and in-your-face so we stuck with it.

The kick off date for Operation Roadblock was set for March 15'th - the Ides of March. In the run up to it, we sent out ominous press releases warning the DoT and their contractors to "Beware the Ides of March!” The whole build up to Roadblock was immense. We would have looked very foolish if no one had turned up, so it was a great relief that plenty of enthusiastic supporters did appear on the very first day. The volunteers who had travelled here from all over the country congregated in one of the many squatted houses in Fillebrook Road. Here we served them breakfast followed by legal briefings, instruction in non-violent direct action and then exercises in fence climbing - all of this in front of TV cameras, which in those days we didn’t mind inviting in.

After all this preparation, we led everyone in a merry but decidedly nervous throng to the outside of the destruction sites ready to do battle with the forces of darkness. For a touch of surrealism, many protesters were dressed as lollipop ladies and men in white coats carrying lollipops bearing comical "Stop" themed slogans. We threw zebra crossing painted carpets over the barbed wire fences, stormed over and danced on the machinery inside. The first day had been relatively easy. The cops pretty much stood back and let us have our day in front of the rows of journalists who were present. Destruction work was stopped to much cheering.

On subsequent days when fewer journalists were around, the cops made things much harder and scarier. The whole protest was incredibly, unrelentingly full on. More so at this stage of the campaign than at any other time and it was extraordinary how courageous and committed people were. We had to dodge all the police running up and down the outside of the fences surrounding the destruction sites. We had to very rapidly climb the eight-foot high smooth wooden fences topped with barbed wire. If you were too slow then the cops would grab you by the ankles and be quite likely to roughly pull you down, not caring if you fell on your face or if you became snagged on the barbed wire. On the inside of the fence you’d be facing a line of security guards, some of them known to be violent. You’d wait sitting on top of the fence until the guards nearest to you were distracted chasing someone else. Then you’d have to jump down eight feet and sprint at incredible speed hotly pursued by security guards, zigzagging through mud, leaping over piles of rubble and building materials and then scramble onto any of the machinery operating inside.

Once you were on the machinery, it was best to climb to the highest and most inaccessible part to avoid the grasping hands of security guards. The more hardcore activists would use a bicycle D lock to lock themselves by the neck to some part of the machine. It could then take hours for heavy duty cutters to be used to free them. To my mind, the best machines to go for were the very tall pile sinking cranes. The view right from the top of the derrick was always spectacular though somewhat depressing as you could see the linear swathe of destruction stretching out in both directions. Once any person was on any of the machines, the driver would then have to stop the engine. Machinery stopped = destruction stopped = Result! Huge relief. It was usual to stay up on a crane until knocking off time when we'd all troop out along with the rest of the workers. One time though when a critical concrete pour had been disrupted, protesters had sleeping bags and food supplies brought in by special delivery so they could spend the night up cranes.

By having enough protesters repeatedly stopping work in this way on a daily basis for an entire month we hoped that Norwest Holst - the contractors for this section of the motorway would find it impossible to continue, maybe even go bankrupt. Some of us used to subscribe to New Civil Engineer and Construction News magazines so we knew that they were already in financial difficulties. Certainly the security costs for the project were spiralling higher and higher.

After a day of exhausting digger diving, John the cook would serve everyone an amazing meal cooked up from vegetables retrieved from supermarket skips and street market refuse. In this way we were able to run the campaign on a shoestring budget. Nearly everyone performed multiple roles and so the cook would also come on site invasions with the rest of us. We were always a little worried by this as if he was arrested, then we knew that we’d eat very badly that night as no one else was anything like as skilled as him. Finding sleeping accommodation for so many extra people was never a problem. At Twyford Down, the only accommodation had been in benders and tents so that during winter, when everything was a sea of mud, life for the protesters there had been desperately hard. For the M11 campaign however accommodation was very much easier. Over 300 houses were due to be demolished and so there were always plenty of condemned houses that we re-occupied, squatted and refurbished at every opportunity and made available for everyone that turned up.

On some days the main destruction site would be so saturated with cops and security guards that it’d be unfeasible for us to stop work on that site. So we’d all suddenly disappear down onto the tube & suddenly reappear at the less well defended Temple Mills site much further down the line of the route where we’d have little problem stopping work. Decisions like this were usually made on the spur of the moment and this was how we managed to stay one step ahead of the forces of darkness. People used to admire us, thinking that we must all be brilliant planning strategists. We certainly had people like that amongst us but the reality was that much of the time, decisions were made in a chaotic manner. That was our strength though, as the outcome of chaos is very hard to predict for highly structured organisations like government and the police. We lived and learned, continually gaining experience. During early days we discovered that just a few of us could build up a rhythm by pushing the eight-foot fence panels to and fro until they broke and collapsed in a very satisfying way. Contractors then added horizontal steel reinforcing bands along the outside and we soon found that these could be tugged out in a loop to make a handy step with which to climb up the fence from the outside. Similarly, diagonal bracing bars were added on the inside that then made it easier for us to climb down there.

In those pre-criminal justice act days, it wasn’t technically a criminal act to invade a work site and attempt to stop the destruction. It was simply a case of civil trespass and all that the dozens of security guards had to do was use “reasonable force” to eject any of us that they caught. Some of the sadistic guards used to delight in dragging us through as much mud as possible on the way to the gate. We were also photographed by men who were believed to be private detectives. Lawyers working for the DoT were trying to identify each of us in order to compile a list of “ringleaders” to serve injunctions on. The police would often remove persistent site invaders for the day by arresting them and charging them with breach of the peace. One of our guys was arrested 7 times in 14 days. We kept a list of all those arrested pinned to the wall in the office but when the bottom of the list started to drag on the floor numbering over 300 we gave up keeping tally. About a dozen people, nearly all of whom had made named appearances on the media and were therefore deemed to be “ringleaders” did eventually have injunctions served on them, ordering them to stay well away from the sites. This seemed to have negligible effect on the campaign though as there were so many hundreds of us involved. They would have had to collect evidence on and identify each and every one of us in order to serve sufficient injunctions to stop the protests.

It was as a direct result of this level and style of protest that the government started drafting new laws to criminalise dissent under the Criminal Justice Bill. This was a whole raft of deeply iniquitous laws drawn up for Michael Howard the home secretary that criminalised the lifestyles of ravers, hunt saboteurs, squatters, travellers and anyone engaging in direct action protest. The most significant clause of this new bill that was to affect road protesters was the new catch-all offence of aggravated trespass that made it a criminal offence for anyone to “disrupt any lawful activity”. The lawful activities included destroying communities, people's homes, ancient monuments, priceless landscapes, the environment and killing foxes.

The result of this new common threat on all these disparate groups was to bring them together and so new links were forged between us. Huge joint protest marches were held in the centre of London during the summer and lawyers and even lords spoke out against these unjust new laws that were clearly designed to outlaw protest itself.

Despite all the media interest brought about by the almost continuous protests, we were frustrated that those at the top who were really pulling the strings just weren’t hearing our message sufficiently loudly. One of our boldest and most imaginative actions was when we hired a long ladder and, very early one morning, 9 protesters used it to climb onto the roof of John McGregor, the transport minister’s house in Muswell Hill. From there a huge mock motorway banner was hung down the front of his house so as to cover the windows.

The police arrived within minutes looking very flustered. Maybe they thought we were terrorists intent on kidnapping a cabinet minister. They were hotly followed by all the media who were intrigued to see a senior government figure under physical siege in his own home. By making the protest this personal, we hoped McGregor would be forced to think about just what it must be like to have your home invaded and a road built right over it. Reports circulating at the time said that McGregor’s wife had been terrified on waking up and finding the windows covered over. This of course was very tame stuff compared to what the people living in Leyton and Leytonstone were experiencing on a daily basis. Vicious bailiffs would arrive early in the morning, batter down doors of condemned houses and dump families and all their possessions onto the pavement. To prevent squatters like us from re-occupying the house, a thoroughly evil firm of demolition thugs would often trash the roof and the insides of the house within hours. Sometimes they’d even demolish houses with people’s belongings still inside.

Fortunately, the case brought against the McGregor 9 collapsed in court. No damage had been caused to the house and because McGregor’s wife was not prepared to testify in court that she had been terrified, there was no evidence to proceed with. In fact McGregor did seek revenge when he later wined and dined a Sunday Times journalist who then wrote a demolition piece about road protesters claiming that we were violent etc. This was to mark a gradual turning point from the significantly positive coverage that we’d received until then.

Eventually, Roadblock became unsustainable. While the government seemed prepared to spend unlimited amounts of money on employing more and more police and security guards to protect the sites, it became harder and harder for us to maintain correspondingly adequate numbers on our daily rota. For many of those involved, the M11 campaign had taken over their entire lives. After an exhausting day storming around the destruction sites, many people would have to spend the evenings barricading their houses or return to the campaign office and stay up into the small hours either planning future actions or pounding out press releases or leaflets on the creaky computer. Working 36 hours at a stretch was not uncommon. As at nearly all road protest sites, defending a long linear route proved to be very difficult. While all the site invasions had been going on near Wanstead, there were few people available to defend all the threatened houses further down the route in Leyton and Leytonstone. Houses were being seized by baliffs, often illegally, and demolished on a daily basis and this caused some resentment that so much energy was being directed into attacking barren work sites when people’s beloved homes were being trashed at a faster rate than ever.

The campaign was lasting longer than any of us had predicted. By comparison, the protests at Twyford Down had ceased to be effective after only a few short months. The M11 protest had become no longer just about the government's inept transport policy. Spontaneously, a whole host of other social issues had been taken on board. The housing shortage, homelessness, poverty, social exclusion, police brutality, squatters rights, travellers rights, indigenous people's rights. We staged support protests and made links around the world with other groups such as the villagers in India whose homes were being drowned under the rising waters behind the Narmada dam. We also received many messages of support ourselves from people similarly threatened by callous development projects. By far the most affecting was a letter from indigenous Amazon tribes people who were constantly under attack from murderous loggers. They hoped that during our similar struggle, not too many of us had been killed.

Richard Leighton had been born and lived with his elderly mother in a house in Colville Road that was directly in the path of the M11 link road. He had been campaigning against the link road for decades and had refused to accept the compulsory purchase of his home. The bailiffs battered his door down early one morning and the shock to his mother was so great that she collapsed and had to be taken away by ambulance. Protesters triumphantly re-occupied his house shortly afterwards. This sort of event was a public relations disaster for the Department of Transport. They tried to justify their indefensible actions, but more and more of the public at large were now seeing them as completely brutish and uncaring. It was highly significant that the government slashed a third off the road building program later in the year.

All through the summer, trees were occupied, groups of houses and land continued to be squatted, barricaded and transformed by us; fought over in the high court... and then duly evicted and demolished. Leytonstonia - the bender site, set in a hidden corner of trees just off Fillebrook Road. Also in Fillebrook Road, the independent free state of Euphoria was created, a wonderfully laid back cafe.

One scorching summer’s day we cycled down to Hampshire to join up with thousands of others taking part in Requiem for a Landscape. This was to be the final protest at Twyford Down. We were all shocked and saddened to see how a former Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty had been so desecrated by the M3 motorway slicing through it, since protests there had ended the year before.

Eventually we lapsed back into a more defensive mode. Over the passing months, we were gradually forced to retreat bit by bit to the condemned Claremont Road. This was to become a legendary stronghold; a magnet for artists, photographers, social commentators and journalists and the grand finale of the campaign. We spent the whole of the summer and autumn furiously barricading the houses there against the epic, record breaking eviction that was to come on budget day.

More on this on the anniversary of the Claremont Road eviction in November.

kriptick

Comments

Hide the following 15 comments

Some video clips

18.03.2004 23:17

kriptick


you should do a book

18.03.2004 23:31

...

pluto press? verso?


Wow, what a flashback!!!

19.03.2004 04:58

Having been at Wanstonia and made a purpose of visiting all the London sites over the years... Wandsworth, Crystal Palace, usw... I can certainly say this is quite a pleasant flashback! Excellent history... is this material from the old Do or Dies???
I myself earned my stripes out on the tree protests in the West Country, and in fact wrote my own book on the subject of the birth of Reclaim the Streets in the Eco-protest scene in the UK... I have been the last few months trying to put it in a presentable fashion to interest publishers, though so far I've had little response.
Would any Indymedia readers like to read-factcheck-critique a few chapters you can contact me at supplied email... it's fiction prose, though everything is based on actual-events/ideas, but names changed, of course... a rough timeline is from the fairmile evictions (early 1997) until the May 16th 1998 1st global RTS.
Keep up the dedications, Kriptick, I shall be checking in with IMC-UK for more... Thanks!
Bernie Bird

Irish Bernie
mail e-mail: berniejbird@yahoo.ie


this is all very well...

19.03.2004 10:44

Um...ten year anniversaries - I've kind of had enough - all that stuff was amazing, but it was ten years ago. If those people who took part are doing any laurel resting, they'd better take a look around - things are worse now than they were then - more harsh legislation, evictions (gentrification everywhere)...people seem to be thinner on the ground - people are desperately needed at blackwood and elsewhere...if you ain't going to do it , who else is???

nowist


Talking of anniversaries

19.03.2004 14:50

thebeef


So who said this is all very well?

19.03.2004 16:26

Part of the reason for me posting these articles was to inspire people who weren't around then to stage similar protests NOW. That whole period of my life was an emotional roller coaster. There were times of deep despair like when Bush Wood was trashed and then high elation such as when we got one over on McGregor. What really made us survive it all though, was that for the most part during all the roads protests, we had such a laugh doing it. That's what kept us sane.

Believe me I yearn for a return to those times when everything was very simple and our actions were so very direct. There was a destructive road being built so we confonted and obstructed the men, bulldozers and cranes that were carrying out the destruction. We really did very little talking about it. We went digger diving because it needed doing and there was no one else doing it.

I often despair at the state of activism these days. Seems to be about incessant meetings, meetings about how to have meetings, people taking airflights to attend meetings about - amongst other things - climate change caused by airflights.

One of the most upsetting things for me now is just how few people are prepared to get involved in grass roots environmental protests actually on the ground. It seems there are only a handful of very brave protesters doing all the running down at Blackwood while the rest of the country only carries on talking about it.

So come on people, get out of the meeting rooms! Get over to Blackwood, Sherwood or Nine Ladies. It's really not very difficult to climb even a short way up a tree and stop it being felled. You could be surprised at just what you can achieve and you'll feel much better for doing it.

kriptick


Stuff

19.03.2004 16:48

Well said kriptick. I was doing roads stuff starting from the time of the M11, and then went on to other protests like manchester airport etc. I agree with your comments entirely. I managaged to get a group of people and myself down to Blackwood very early on, but not since. One of the reasons is that its quite far away and we don;t have much transport at the moment, but thats just one issue... I think it's inspiring to see the rise of eco-direct action camps lately, and esp Blackwood where they have been stopping work rather than just waiting for eviction.
Anyway just my twopennys worth.

anon


We'll not giv' up the fight !!!!

19.03.2004 18:03

I remember bunking off school to go to Claremont road for genuine life education
and that inspiration is still with me,ten years later still active and doing my best
to make a difference... BIG SHOUT OUT TO EVERYONE WHO'S STILL ACTIVE !!!

LONG LIVE THE SPIRIT OF OL'MICK
Joking

jo
mail e-mail: joking9@hotmail.com


Irony

20.03.2004 03:19

And it is important to take stock from time to time, looking at where things were - the history of such protest movements, and where they are now - our present. Ten year anniversaries, of which there are erm, quite a few this year, are important because they can focus attention on what's going on right now.

It does seem ironic that at this operation roadblock anniversary, Blackwood in wales has seen all of the trees not protected by the three camps destroyed, to build a road the local people never wanted in the first place, in a campaign that really WAS winnable if only more people had been prepared to sustain the effort. This should be a wake up call to anyone who can see the sense in using non violent direct action to fight such environmentally destructive schemes. There's still a lot of experienced people willing to take action, and equally there's a whole set of generations willing to learn how to do it. It's not rocket science, it just takes a little co-ordination.

ps. I don't think anyone's "laurel resting" here.

stump


the kids are resisting at blackwood, but...

20.03.2004 03:48

they and the others need support - this from one of the blackwood posts:

ok guys im 15 years old im in my final year of school it BREAKS MY HEART because i cant be up camp and i hear the metal monstors chewin away at wood thats older the blackwood WE NEED HELP theres not enough people up there showin these capitalist bastards wat the "GOD DAMN HIPPIES" are made of do it for your children or would be children they need2have the memories of playin tag in between the trees and makin their own tree swings and houses....

do it


All very well - what happened next

20.03.2004 12:47

To the person who said "this is all very well but"

You simply don't realise the wider and longer term effect that events like the M11 campaign have had in an indirect way

Firstly, it (and other campigns like it)was a major life changing experience for many people. If people hadn't got involved & seen the way the establishment works when its trying to protect its own interests then many people who are now working in all sorts of ways to achieve social change would still be stuck on the mainstream treadmill of life - job, telly, 4 weeks paid holiday & get to vote every few years...

People involved in full on direct action campaigns like this have their previous vierw of the world shaken up - tthis includes the local residents, some of teh Wanstead residnets went on to become heavily involved in other campaigning work later, for most people an event like this makes them more active, not less, and its only natural that people will change direction as they progress throuygh life, age and learn new skills and have new experiences

Here's some of the things that ex M11 campaigners have gone on to do:

Campaigners director of CTC (cycling pressure group now becoming quite radical)

establishing an environmentally friendly printing company supporting campaigns
with cheap & green printing

establishing a bike recycling workshop that promotes cycling and recycles hundreds of abandoned bikes a year

Becoming a very good carpenter who works with recycled wood

getting arrested at Fairford for attempting to disable bombers

running an alternative media organisation that screens news footage from actions and campaigns across the country

Running a timber recycling business in East London


I could go on...

The point is, just because the people who were doing this 10 years ago aren't doing it full time now is not a reason to criticise them - many are doing it on an occaisional basis, having lives, families, socially useful businesses and other things that take up time & responsibility. Furthermore, can you imagine how people would be if they were doing non-stop NVDA for 10 years? Have you ever heard of burnout? Its real & it screws people up bigtime.
And things aren't worse than they were 10 years ago - much the same in some respects -
yes there are new laws & regulations, there are some new roads going through. But there are also many positive things happening that you don't seem to have noticed. Ther's a rise in low impact living, rural crafts & woodland skills are on the rise, so is permaculture, renewable energy, alternative transport and so on. Its all good useful stuff.
NVDA is a powerful, life changing thing. It is one of the many ways forward

Gnome11







gnome11


this is all very well (2)

21.03.2004 17:31

In response to all the comments, on my comment I should make clear I'm not having a go any individuals - I don't expect people to continue direct action 4 ten years without respite, but it is true (I think) that all the various worthwhile activities like recycled timber yards, eco-printers etc. have taken people away from D.A. Many of the activists who visited blackwood could only stay for a day, as they had other commitments. It's not that I expect everyone to drop everything, but given the fact that very few people are willing commit to staying outside in poor weather, whilst wrestling with baliffs (I wonder why!) maybe those who are prepared to do it occasionally should re-assess their priorities - What is the UK short of ?- people prepared to do NGO-type local funded eco-projects, or those willing to use their bodies to save trees?

nowist


The responsibility is mine... and yours... and yours

22.03.2004 16:21

Yes to improve the state of the planet and its people we need as many people taking direct action as possibly possible....

But as far as i can see, it is the responsibility of those active now to find new and exciting ways to encourage people to engage in direct action....

We can not always rely on same 500 people to do all the work - and that would not be revolution either.... Isn´t real daily change about helping people discover that they have the power to say no to this or yes to that.... and that there are ways of making silenced voices heard.

Now lets think....tree protests engage with local often rural, communities that are being ignored because of overiding national/global international economic policy (usually)...

Something like the samba band might engage with musicians, dancers and community artists, who are politically inclined but have not say used their talents to enliven a boring demo, or to face off a line of police that is trying to control movement of people away from say a global summit conference centre....

Indymedia might attract people with a passion for writing and analysing local events or global politics....

People´s Global Action might attract people who want to engage in direct action in solidarity with people being oppressed by multi-national corporations in poor countries....

And Rising Tide might be a good vehicle for people to take their anti-war stance one step further in a general critique of the oil industry....

Social centres and open squats could help all the above to know each other and co-ordinate campaigns....

And festivals could be a great way to encourage with one-world types to get off their arses.

Squat parties with a political slant might just remind some of the urban yoof of today that they are in fact powerful powerful people.....

These are examples of methods of empowerment that are already in existence and that are struggling daily to increase the quota of direct activists in our area.

Grand prizes await for anyone who can think of other ways to engage with more people, get a posse together and DO IT. I´m afraid that i can´t offer a large cash sum, but what i can promise is a life that feels meaningful and inspired..... Do-It-Yourself culture really is about making it up as u go along.... You don´t need experience of this sort or that, just a good idea and a little time.... you´d be surprised....

MayB bit-off-subject


Rising!

25.03.2004 10:58

Excellent reports, keep them coming. I too started off at Twyford (Beltaine festival and protest) but got sucked into 'the life' at the M11, Roadblock and Leytonstonia (bender site). People at Blackwood included ex-Twyford and M11ers, there is definitely yet another 'Rising!' going on. Ppl in my town have suddenly exploded with energy and 'up-for-it-ness' (sap rising?). Yip bloody yip. I feel like I've been asleep for a while, now running about like a mad thing, but then I'm unemployed for a bit. Jobs and kid and...have kept me bound in place. Nevertheless, if you can get a day or two off, ANY level of help is appreciated in bundles at a Direct @ction camp. Give it a go and you'll never look back!!!

Social centres need a lot of commitment, parties are all very well for cememting community and having fun, projects locally are vitally important, but let's not forget we can hit and run at other sites, and it's a brilliant use of your energy in the 'point of purchase'. I think yesterday people locked on at Blackwood with arm-tubes that came straight from the Menwith action, let's roll!

And the pictures above were brilliant personally, I have no real photographic memory of those hard-core years, and it's lovely to see old faces and places (misty-eyed nostalgia never hurt anyone). That's me being removed from Euphoria's roof in an undignified manner, and that's one of only three photos I've ever seen of myself at the M11. After 10 years I can finally prove I was there!

How about an M11 reunion? No time, no date, no location. Just get to where it's kicking off......................................................
"Teapot, Fish kettle, Cheese and Onion Pasty Blah" to the Crap Posse
"Teapot, Hairwrap, Fucking Hot Curry Tribe!" to the Bender-siters
"Gablongas!" to the Dongas
"From Punk and Hippy came the Tribes" to Flowerpotters
"In order to have free minds, we must have free tea!" to @narchist Teapotters
"Boom Creation!" to Claremontians
"It's a state of mind" to the Euphorians
...and hello too to the Psychik Luddites, Green-Manians etc etc etc etc.

anarchoteapot


Speaking of 10 years..check this out!

28.03.2004 13:49

Speaking of 10 years..check this out



Alternative news network to be launched across Britain


For 10 years, the award winning media organisation Undercurrents has embedded video journalists among some of the most radical protest groups. Britain's latest - and most innovative - news provider, the Undercurrents News Network (UNN) will reveal their dramatic stories.

The first edition of this unique video news service shows how Hollywood star Martin Sheen supported bomber-bashing Christians. Also included: how student protests increased the wages of low paid workers, bringing one of the wealthiest corporations to its knees. Laughs are guaranteed when George and Tony's special relationship is revealed during a hilarious musical parody.

Undercurrents News Network seeks out and distributes cutting edge documentaries and animations overlooked by TV broadcasters.

In our music section, poet Taalam Acey voices his concerns about how his fellow black artists are being encouraged to promote gun crime and violence.

Our News Spinner reports how an oil corporation was successfully stopped from supporting the brutal Burmese military government. Our investigation team shows dramatic video images of how desperate Iraqi and Afghani refugees escaped from a detention camp in Australia.

UNN co-producer Zoe Broughton said:

"Undercurrents News Network will provide an outlet for views rarely expressed in the mainstream media. While the Bush administration's 'War on Terror' continues, we will report on the civilians who are suffering the most. Or when a greedy developer tries to destroy a local beauty spot, our camcorders will provide a witness."

UNN will be launched in London on 1st April 2004
the 10th anniversary of Undercurrents first news release

The evening will be presented by Undercurrent producers Zoe Broughton and Paul O'Connor,
they will screen the latest edition and be available for Q&As.

Entrance is free and there will be refreshments.

London
April 1st

Oxford
April 5th
Oxford Video & Filmmakers
54 Catherine St
OX4 3AH

www.ofvm.org

Swansea

April 17th
Monkey Cafe
13 Castle St
SA1 1JF

www.monkeycafe.co.uk

Bristol

April 26th
The Cube Cinema
4 Kings Square
BS2 8JD

www.cubecinema.com

Newcastle Upon Tyne

May 12th
The Side Cinema
9 The Side
NE1 3JE

www.sidecinema.com

Glastonbury Festival

June 25th, 26th & 27th
Groovy Movie Solar-Powered Cinema

www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk



UNN goes on tour with SchNEWS throughout April, so catch it where you can...

Find out more information at www.schnews.org.uk/extras/tour.htm

Bath April 10th The Bell Hotel
103 Walcot Street
Walcot-Upon-Avon www.hedonistpress.com/schnews

Bristol April 11th

Gloucester April 14th

Oxford April 15th

Leamington April 16th Community Gallery
Avenue Road

Bolton April 17th

Liverpool April 18th

Lancaster April 19th

Glasgow April 20th

Edinburgh April 23rd

Newcastle Upon Tyne April 24th

Sheffield April 26th

Nottingham April 29th

Norwich April 30th




UC
- Homepage: http://www.undercurrents.org/unn


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