Support the EDO Decommissioners
The decommisioners are six activists on trial for direct action taken against the massacre in Gaza. On January 17th, as the bombs rained on Gaza, they destroyed hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of machinery owned by EDO MBM, preventing the factory from manufacturing bomb racks and arming units for Israeli F16s.
Eight people are currently on bail and one is on remand, currently in Lewes Prison. All are charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage.
Between the 16th and the 23rd of October, actions were held across the UK and in Palestine in support of the decommissioners. On the 16th, in Manchester, a demonstration was held outside Brimar, a factory making display units for the Israeli Apache helicopter, launching a new campaign. Several of the decommissioning defendants were arrested at the demonstration for breach of bail but later released. On Monday a demonstration was held at Brighton Town Hall calling on Brighton and Hove Council to debate the presence of EDO MBM in Brighton, a petition will be handed in to the council meeting in December. On Wednesday some of the names of those killed during the Gaza massacre were read outside the EDO MBM factory in Brighton. On Thursday two pickets of the Foreign office were held and a petition calling for an end to arms exports to Israel and in support of the decommissioners was handed in. On Friday the Palestinian village of Bil In dedicated its weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall to the decommissioners.
Reports of Target Brimar Demonstration 1 | 2 | Target Brimar Campaign Statement about Arrests of Decommissioners | 3 | SCHnews - It's Brim Up North
Foreign Office Picket | Bil In Support the Decommissioners Demo | Video of Decommissioning | Decommissioners update and protest |
Links: Smash EDO | Support the Decommissioners | Bristol ABC | Anti-Militarist Network |
Click here to download 'If I had a Hammer', a 32 page booklet explaining why the decommissioning was necessary.
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March against Novartis on Saturday
ANIMAL rights supporters will be marching through Horsham in West Sussex on Saturday October 31 against pharmaceutical giant Novartis, which has a large site in the town.
Explained a Sussex Action for Animals spokesperson: "This facility holds primates, guinea pigs and rabbits which are all used in horrific tests for Novartis' commercial products. As well as this, Novartis pay for even more tests to be carried out at the notorious Huntingdon Life Sciences.
"The protest will be meeting midday at Horsham Park, behind the Pavilions Recreation Centre. There will be a march through Horsham going to Novartis where we will stop for a demo."
Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number one in revenues, which accounted over $53 billion in 2008, and number three in sales, which accounted 36.172 billon in 2008.
It is not just over animal rights that it has faced criticism.
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Solidarity with Vestas Workers!
SINCE the removal of the 'Marine Gate' 'Blade Blockade', and the Turbine Blades that remained in the Vestas Blades UK factory on St. Cross Business Park, Dodnor Lane, Newport, Isle of Wight, campaigners have been sorting out the original 'Magic Roundabout' Camp, and considering strategy.
A Marquee has been erected and a fair amount of furniture skipped / built to make the area comfortable and well-resourced in terms of power (80-odd watts of solar power for phone and laptop charging), a solar shower, and spare tents for visitors.
The campaign to keep the Wind Turbine Blade Factory on the Isle of Wight (the only sizeable renewables production facility in the UK) open was featured heavily in the national news media in July and August. Media, and activist, attention was grabbed by the Occupation of the offices at the factory by a small number of the 600 workers who were to lose their jobs (more would have occupied, but the management were tipped off, and the occupation had to be moved forwards).
The occupation began on July 20th. Vestas failed to sort out their eviction order the first time, meaning the occupation lasted 10 days beyond the closure of the factory on July 31st. Workers remained on full pay during this time, and many workers entered the company redundancy scheme thanks purely to this (Vestas was to refuse them any redundancy despite the fact they were days from the minimum time needed). This was one of many small victories.
With the end of the occupation, many in the local press spoke of the 'end of the campaign' - no doubt in part thanks to ideas put out by Vestas themselves. On the contrary, rallies and meetings continued, the local JobCentre was 'Rushed', demos happened around the Isle of Wight and nationally, including one march which ended with local campaigners and supporters invading the Vestas site, and temporarily occupying the factory (leaving of their own will).
Focus then shifted to the Wind Turbine Blades that were being stored both in Southampton (109 blades) and the St. Cross factory (9 blades). Activists occupied a crane and two barges in Southampton, and blockaded the gate wherby blades were moved to the River Medina on the Island. Vestas security attempted to make it known that Vestas were unconcerned about the 'Blade Blockade', but activists estimated the value of the Blades at £750,000, and the police operation to evict the camp suggests some degree of importance attached to the removal of the blockade.
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Public backs "troops out!" call
PUBLIC opinion has moved decisively against our military involvement in Afghanistan.
That's the only conclusion that can be reached after Saturday's stall in Worthing town centre marking the eighth anniversary of the start of the US-led war.
The message of "Bring the troops back from Afghanistan!" received considerable support from members of the public in Montague Street.
Hundreds of leaflets were handed out and several sheets filled with signatures supporting a petition calling for immediate withdrawal. There was also noticeable lack of hostile comment of the type that often greeted anti-war protesters in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.
Whatever the hype that originally paved the way for the "War on Terror", it seems to have now been replaced by anger that the country is still involved in what most people now see as a pointless and unwinnable conflict.
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Zippos Circus Campaign
With Zippos Circus now in Southsea, the Southern Animal Rights Coalition (SARC) have promised protests for the duration of time the animal circus is in the area, as well as working with groups in Horsham and London where the circus visits next. Zippos is one of only eight British circues' that continues to include animals in its performances, using horses, birds and dogs.
SARC reported they are currently touring with at least 4 horses, kept in tiny stables, 3 Shetland ponies in very tiny box areas, one of which was circling around - a sign of stress in animals, and an unknown number of budgies. Zippos has carted animals up and down the country since February this year, as part of their 2009 tour, and are remembered for supporting abuse against elephants and a chimpanzee named Trudy.
The group said: "It is highly stressful being made to perform in front of bright lights, loud music and crowds of people, and highly unnatural. They have no choice in whether they perform or not and humans just don't have the right to exploit animals in this way for money."
Newswire: Noisy activists dig up dirt | Campaign Continues | Another day, another demo | More protest | Opening night protest | Contact Portsmouth Council | Campaign starts in Portsmouth
Links: SARC Circus/Zoo Campaign | Captive Animal Protection Society | Animal Defenders International | Case Study: Zippos Circus | Animal Circues Campaigns | About Circuses |
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Vestas workers occupation
Around 25 workers have occupied the second floor of the offices of the Vestas St. Cross factory in Newport on the Isle of Wight, the UK's only industrial-scale wind turbine blade factory, following mounting concern over its planned closure on the 31st July. They are calling for government intervention to save the plant, jobs, and to ensure fair redundancy packages. Since the first day of the occupation on the 20th July the workers have been besieged by police and private security, with 15 arrests being made (as of 28/07), mostly for 'breach of the peace' as people tried to join and get food to the occupiers. A large crowd of fellow workers, locals, and environmental campaigners from around the UK have gathered outside the factory gates to show their support.
Related: Support the Vestas factory occupation - what you can do | Vestas Factory OCCUPIED | Vestas Workers Speak Out | Vestas situation update - two arrests; mass walk-in gets food to occupiers | Vestas Sit In - Photos|Daring Action Gets Supplies To Vestas Workers Occupation
London Solidarity Demo, Wed 22nd July: Report, Pictures: 1|2
London Solidarity Demo, Tue 28nd July: Report: 1|2
Birmingham Vestas Solidarity Picket: Report
Links: Save Vestas
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Support Isle of Wight factory occupation!
"SAVE JOBS and save the planet!" That's the rallying cry from workers at Newport on the Isle of Wight who have occupied a wind turbine factory threatened with closure at the end of this month, with the loss of 600 jobs.
Workers at the Vestas plant made their courageous move on Monday and are calling for urgent solidarity from all across the South Coast region and beyond.
As well as the need for ongoing support, demonstrations have been called for London on Wednesday and the Isle of Wight on Friday evening.
Said a spokesman: "There is a large picket of support starting outside the factory. This will be crucial in giving people confidence inside. We want hundreds of people. If you are not working, come now, by car, bus or train. If you are on the South Coast and working, come for the night and go to work exhausted and proud. "If you can’t come, call up friends and offer to pay the fare or petrol money for someone else to come down. Or part of the fare.
"Don’t just call the environmental and union activists you know. Call your friends and ask them who they know. Call your brother’s friends or your children’s friends. Text everyone. Get your friends calling and texting."
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Chichester protest against Nigel Lawson
THE REAL agenda behind Nigel Lawson and his book pooh-poohing climate change was exposed by campaigners on Friday July 10. They gathered outside St John's Chapel, St John's Road, Chichester, where the former Chancellor under Margaret Thatcher was giving a talk as part of the "Chichester Festivities". Lawson is not a scientist and it is clear that his attack on the environmental movement is politically motivated and stems from his key role in the world of neo-liberal politics. Sussex Police felt the need to provide protection for Lawson, with five uniformed cops plus various security bods outside and a meat wagon touring the area. However, this did not stop the local campaigners from handing out leaflets to virtually every member of the audience as they entered the building.
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No Border Camp at the UK Border extention beyond the channel
A farcical curtain of steel descended on Calais, and the massive campaign of demonisation of the camp by the local authorities continued in the press. The camp gradually grew to around 1000 people from all over Europe. Many local people visited the site, a group of around 100 mostly Kurdish and Afghani migrants participated at a daily basis and a lot of local kids and young adults hanged out in the Camp [Report and Pics]
It run alongside the main motorway from the port out of town and it was just a few minutes from the "Jungle", the makeshift camps where migrants are living. Migrants report that currently the controls at the border are very tight and that no one has been getting through for few weeks, consequently the number of migrants in Calais are at their highest in several years.
On Sunday 21st of July, people from the camp went to the festival in the town centre of Calais, with a sound system, to give out leaflets that explain the aim and nature of the camp, in an attempt to communicate directly with the locals beyond the media lies. After the prohibition to distribute any kind of literature that was issued the following Monday, giving out leaflets became an action in itself where people got arrested. Issues of the daily produced newspaper "Nomad" were also confiscated.
Assisting the migrants seems to be a criminal offence, which granted an arrest on Wednesday 24th June, but people have been thinking about some paractical ideas you can do this summer to help the hundreds of migrants stranded in Calais.
On Friday 26th morning, a man demanded showers for migrants when he glued himself to the entrance of La Mairie de Calais - one died trying to have one in the dangerous place where they are forced to wash themselves. In the afternoon, the local motorway was blocked to highlight the hypocrisy of allowing freedom of movement for goods and animals but not of people. Reports: [1|2] Pictures: 1 [Summary of Friday actions]
On Saturday 27th, the campers left the Camp at 10am to go to the transnational demonstration. Here there are reports and Photos 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Videos 1 | 2.
Back in the UK, a demonstration was called in solidariy with the detainees in hunger strike in Yarl's Wood detention centre [Photos 1 | 2].
People are using alternative and corporate tools for real time reporting.
General info and resources: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | After Calais what's next? | Reflecting on Calais No Border Camp 2009 | Video on S4 Welsh Chanel
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Protest against Armed Forces Day
ANTI-WAR campaigners are calling for a protest on Saturday June 27 against an "Armed Forces Day" event in Worthing. Meet-up point is 11am at the east end of Warwick Street in the town centre, next to Steyne Gardens where the event is to be held. Some protesters will be in the guise of war victims and people are also being asked to bring banners and placards explaining why they are opposed to the state's glorification of war.
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Mayday! Mayday!
Brighton's Mayday! Mayday! street party saw 2,000 people from all over the country gathered to protest against capitalism, war and the arms trade. It was called by Smash EDO, the movement that has been campaigning against the EDO MBM/ITT bomb component factory in Brighton for the last 5 years.
Dispatch: Indymedia - Timeline | Last Hours - Timeline
On the newswire: Mayday Mayday, Smashing EDO in pictures | Anti-War Clashes With Police | FIT shut Down in Brighton | Pics of Cops at Mayday | Businesses linked to ITT redecorated | HSBC Smashed | Photos | Video of the Day | Photos of FIT and EGT at Mayday | More Pics | Pictures and Video | Last Hours Pics | NETCU Watch Critique of the Day | Smash EDO claim Brighton demo a success (pressrelease)
Previous Features: Shut ITT - October 2008 | Carnival Against the Arms Trade - June 2008 | Freedom to Protest - June 2008
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Police told to "behave" at Mayday Street Party
Smash EDO's Mayday! Mayday! Street Party on 4th May looks set to be the next stop on the summer of rage. The mobilisation has been linked firmly to a new wave of resistance against global capital. A map has been published showing the location of EDO's key investors and business partners in Brighton. The list includes highstreet banks, BP, American Express and Mcdonalds. The message is clear, EDO cannot operate in a vacuum; it is propped up by the state and a network of global corporations.
Despite all this the police seem to be firmly on the back foot after the media backlash, triggered, by the killing of Ian Tomlinson, against police violence and repression at the G20. Sussex Police have been told to 'behave' by Chief Constable Richards who fears that “People’s confidence in policing has been shaken by things they have seen on their TVs and read in their newspapers". All this must be rather difficult for Sussex police as they have been gearing up for some serious repression of Smash EDO for quite sometime. Dick Barton, a Sussex Police officer seconded to the Home Office who was responsible for training Iraqi police recruits in Basra and Baghdad, has been given the dubious honour of coordinating investigations of 'crimes against EDO'. Past police tactics have included following 'organisers', supporting a dodgy injunction, engaging in ridiculous conspiracy cases, attempting to cultivate informers and attacking mass demonstrations
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Brighton issues Mayday call!
MAYDAY! MAYDAY! A mass street party against war and greed is being staged in Brighton on Monday May 4, from 12 noon.
"Smash EDO/ITT - Smash Capitalism!" is the theme and the dress code is red for the latest in an inspiring series of protests in the seaside Sussex city.
For centuries Mayday has brought people together and out onto the streets. People danced for the coming summer and the fertility of the crops.
People marched in remembrance and solidarity with their fellow workers around the world. People gathered in their cities to fight against global capital and exploitation.
Smash EDO invites you to a celebration of all these aspects of Mayday.
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Protest against police state
'STAND up for freedom!' is the call going out to Worthing people this week by campaigners holding a town centre protest on Saturday March 14.
They are urging residents and others to join them in a demonstration opposing a broad range of laws and measures which they say are taking away people's freedom and moving Britain closer to a police state. The protest is being staged by the Worthing Freedom Coalition as its contribution to a month of diverse events under the banner of Freedom March and will assemble outside the town hall in Chapel Road, Worthing, at 2pm.
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Update on the Brighton Group on their way to Gaza
On Friday 14 February a group from Brighton joined an aid Convoy consisting of 100 vehicles bringing much-needed aid and solidarity to the people of Gaza. The vehicles include a fire engine, 12 ambulances & a boat; they will all be left as donations on arrival in Gaza.
The aim of the Convoy is to provide essential daily-life commodities to the people of Gaza, as well as raising awareness of the plight of the Palestinians throughout the countries the Convoy will be travelling through.
Nine men who were heading to London to join the convoy were illegally arrested by police in an "anti-terror" operation" . Some of their group are now heading toward Gaza after being released. The convoy has travelled through Tunisia , Morocco , Algeria and Libya .
Links: Viva Palestina , Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campiagn , Videos of the demonstration to send off the Brighton Convoy
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New Coal Digs In
Climate Rush tackled more climate criminals last week when the UK coal industry got together for their annual 'coal awards'. In a protest timed to coincide with the UK Coal hosted awards, around 15 climate activists paid a visit to their Doncaster headquarters, dressed in Edwardian style complete with red sashes with the words 'No New Coal' written across them. A banner reading 'Leave it in the Ground' was suspended across the entrance.
In London, the dirty coal pushers shied away from confrontation with the modern day climate suffregette movement, abandoning their booking at the plush Landmark Hotel and scuttling off to Lords cricket grounds instead. At the hotel, around a hundred activists rushed inside through a fire exit and began an alternative awards ceremony to highlight the ecological damage that the coal industry is inflicting on the environment. After being ejected from the hotel, a couple more attempts were made to gain entry and one arrest was made before the alternate awards continued outside. The Landmark hotel management were less than happy about the righteous fury brought down on them by the climate criminals promised not to accept bookings from such damaging industries again.
Coal represent 50% of the electricity production in the UK and its greatest contribution to CO2 emissions so the coal industry has seen increasing attention from activists in the UK (and beyond). Last month activists and local resident disrupted work at the Rosewell open-cast coal mine in Midlothian, operated by Scottish Coal , and another protest stopped work at UK Coal owned Shipley open cast coal mine in Derbyshire. In the US capitol on Monday, 2,500 protesters blockaded the gates of a coal fired power plant for almost five hours.
Campaigns : Climate Rush | Coal Action Edinburgh | No New Coal | Capitol Climate Action | Coal Caravan
Newswire reports : Coal Rush 1 | 2 | 3 | Doncaster 1 2 | Rosewell | Shipley | USA 1 2
Previous Climate Rush actions : 'climate suffragettes' smash gov windows | chained to parliament | Heathrow 1 2 | Manchester 1 2 | Parliament 1 2
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Top HLS Investors Dump Shares
Just days before the SHAC global week of action kicked off and two weeks after Huntingdon Life Sciences' vivisection laboratories were exposed for the seventh time in ten years, revealing shocking undercover footage, HLS shareholders have sold 15% of the company (ticker symbol LSR). As a result the percentage of LSR stock held by institutions fell further from 20.1% to 17.7%, leaving them below the minimum listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange, a major target in the campaign to close down HLS.
Wells Fargo, who were one of LSR's top five institutional investors has sold all their 147,511 shares and the Bank of New York Mellon, previously third largest investor, sold most of their LSR stock dumping 149,157 shares. BNY Mellon now only have 26,634 remaining of the original 175,791 shares, with Turner Investment Partners Inc also selling their 56,880 stock.
The announcement was made the day before Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activists reported they had slashed car tryes at the home of BNY's Business Analyst in Hampshire, whilst other covert cells targeted HLS associates in solidarity with political prisoners, including the UK SHAC 7. Protests also took place at BNY and Wells Fargo's offices and executive's homes, as part of a three-month campaign based primarily in London [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ] (England) and New York City (USA) [ 1 | 2 ].
HLS have been suffering from a serious lack of investment since December 2007, with over a dozen corporations selling all their shares in LSR. Their share price as of February 25th is $5.78, the lowest since their high of nearly $40 in September 2008. With an unstable share price, activists continue to increase the pressure against HLS shareholders, particularly largest investor Barclays.
Videos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | More: 1 | 2 | 3
SHAC 7 Letters from Prison: 1 | 2 | 3 | More
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Worthing Freedom March Kicks Off
A REBELLIOUS 'Freedom Picnic' in Worthing town centre on Sunday March 1 will kick off a month-long festival of liberty-related events.
Publicity for the 2pm event in Liverpool Gardens calls on people to "defy the drink ban" and "irritate the town wardens", while bringing "food, drink and smoking substances to share".
It forms part of Freedom March, an eclectic mix of activities, including folk singing and photography as well as more traditional meetings, which is aimed at mobilising local opinion on the topical issue of freedom coming attack from the authorities.
Four days after the picnic, Freedom for Palestine will be on the agenda when a member of the International Solidarity Movement will be speaking at a Freedom March event staged at The Grand Victorian Hotel opposite Worthing station at 8pm.
The month will also include a talk by former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Desghayes at the Labour Hall in Lyndhurst Road at 2pm on Sunday March 29 and a protest against surveillance and 'police state' powers meeting outside the town hall in Chapel Road on Saturday March 14 at 2pm.
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From Brighton to Gaza - Viva Palestina
On Friday 14 February a group from Brighton will join an aid Convoy consisting of 100 vehicles bringing much-needed aid and solidarity to the people of Gaza. The vehicles include a fire engine, 12 ambulances & a boat; they will all be left as donations on arrival in Gaza. The aim of the Convoy is to provide essential daily-life commodities to the people of Gaza, as well as raising awareness of the plight throughout the countries the Convoy will be travelling through (France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia & Egypt),taking 17 days.
Links: Viva Palestina , Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campiagn
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Resistance Against the Illegal Sale of Israeli settlement products in the UK
This week activists have responded to an international callout for actions against the import of Valentine's day flowers.
On Saturday activists gathered at Carmel-Agrexco, Middlesex, to picket the main supply point for Israeli imports into the UK.
See Photos And Reports 1| 2| 3|and original press release On Thursday morning a group of fifteen women blockaded the warehouse again to prevent the transport of flowers to British supermarkets Links : Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | Who Profits |
Previous Actions: Carmel Agrexco's Depot Shut Down in Commemoration of the Nakba | Fortress Carmel Agrexco breached by Peace Activists | Video - Carmel Agrexco protest during Camp for Climate Action | Weekend of Action Against Carmel Agrexco | Activists Blockade Carmel-Agrexco's UK Headquarters for the Third Time | International Actions against Israeli Apartheid| Solidarity Actions in the West Bank, Gaza and the UK
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