Most people believe sex workers should not be criminalised. "Paying the Price", the first review of the prostitution laws for 50 years, hides the impact of the prostitution laws on women's and children's safety, protection and welfare, and makes way for more criminalisation. Sex workers and others discuss a response. See Paying the price of criminalisation - A response to the government consultation paper on prostitution by the English Collective of Prostitutes.

International Conference on prostitution, Saturday 4 December 9.30 - 6 pm St Mary's Church, Eversholt St.

See the full aganda and speakers and there is more info at prostitutescollective.net

Background info: Sex workers & other Soho residents demand protection not eviction | Reclaim the Night | The International Union of Sex Workers

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On tuesday the 23rd of November almost 7 months since human rights activists Ewa Jasiewicz and Pennie Quinton were charged with aggravated trespass for entering the Iraq Procurement conference,a major contract signing event attended by the Iraq interim government ministers and Brian Wilson, Blair's envoy for reconstruction in Iraq held in London last April. In what was unquestionably a political decision by the CPS both women have been fully aqquited and awarded costs, despite a strong case against the protestors who managed to disrupt the conference when they unfurled banners and informed conference attendees that their order of business was infact nothing less then the pillage of Iraq and therefore illegal under the 1907 Hague regulations and the Geneva conventions.
The women's defense argued that they could not be charged with aggravated trespass, 'the of disruption of a lawful event' as infact the Iraq Procurement conference was unlawful as it was facilitating the pillage of Iraq which was under occupation by the US and the UK at the time of their action. Naomi Klein who was to have been a key witness at the trial attended a press conference at the NUJ on wednesday the 24th of November to speak about the implications of the CPS's decision in relation to this first attempt to put the Pillage of Iraq on trial.
See also Fallujah Eyewitness Newswire article (27th Nov).
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15th Nov: In an admission of immense significance to the entire genetic engineering industry, Bayer Crop Science has conceded to Greenpeace India that all of its projects on genetically engineered crops in India have been "discontinued" [see newswire report | Bayer Admission Letter (pdf) | Greenpeace Statement]

"We don't need genetically engineered crops to feed India," said a genetic engineering campaigner for Greenpeace India. "Around the world, in fact, the promises made by the genetic engineering industry have been unfulfilled, whether of increasing crop yields or reducing pesticide use."

This retreat follows other recent decisions that set Bayer back - on 9th November Bayer Crop Science removed the last 2 GM crop varieties still in the approval process for the UK National Seed List [see report]. Previously in March 2004, the company announced they would be pulling out of GE crop research in the UK. A few months later, in June, Bayer announced they would not pursue commercialization of GE canola in Australia. Bayer's letter to Greenpeace India following direct action against the company, concedes that research into engineered cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, tomato and mustard seed has all been halted.

"It is clear that popular resistance to genetic engineering is not diminishing as the industry had hoped it would," said Doreen Stabinsky, GE campaigner for Greenpeace International. "No matter what country we're talking about, consumers are on the same page. They don't want to eat genetically engineered food. That's good news for farmers and good news for the environment."

For more see: Indymedia UK Biotech Section | Biotech IMC | Genetics Action | CBGnetwork
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A few days before the Mayday protests in Dublin earlier this year, 2 protestors from the UK, Polly and Joe, were arrested in the vicinity of a derelict building under suspicion of trespass. They were initially denied bail and and kept in jail for a full week. When they were granted bail, stringent conditions were attached, requiring them to surrender their passports, remain in the country instead of returning home and sign on in a police station every week. Polly and Joe had to remain in Ireland for seven months - finaly their court case took place on 10th November and all charges against them were thrown out by the Judge, not least beacuse no solid evidence could be presented by the prosecution [see reports 1, 2].

Thirty people were arrested during Mayday, many of whom still have to sign on at police stations and many of whom are still being dragged through the courts. Supporters say they were made victims of media sensationalism and made scapegoats by the State in an attempt to justify draconian and military tactics deployed during Mayday in Dublin.

Related News: One of the four people who were surrounded by police and arrested at Kings Cross station [pics 1, 2] on Sunday Oct 17th on their way to the European Social Forum closing demonstration, walked free from court on Monday 17th Nov. The defendent returned from Greece to attend court, only to find the prosecution dropped the case, saying they would be providing no evidence to support the charges [see report]. Read more >>

Roundup of recent actions and campaigns:

Ship Blocked Against Marine Quarrying: Ministers are planning to give the go-ahead to strip clean a vitally important area of the English Channel (the Median Deep - halfway between the Sussex coast and northern France) by mining nearly 200 million tonnes of gravel from the seabed to satisfy the house-building boom on the Southeast. The good news is that residents of Sussex are not taking this lying down. On 11th November, the latest in a series of actions against the dredging saw people using bicycle locks to close the Newhaven Swing Bridge on the A259 in East Sussex, blocking the departure of a Hanson dredging ship at high tide on Sunday.

Morecambe Bay Bridge Project - Directors Resign After Protests: Two directors of a company planning to build a bridge across one of Britain's last wildernesses, and most protected wildlife area, have resigned after local protests. English Nature have expressed their opposition to the Bay Bridge scheme, which is nevertheless being spun as a 'green bridge' because of wave turbines that may be built at the same time. On 4th November, local people with banners and drums stopped work at Renewables Northwest - the General Manager there, Julian Carter was also a Director of BABC, the company behind the bridge project - he resigned later that day [see report and background]. Protests also took place at the Lancaster Environment Centre, whose Director Bill Davies was also a Director of BABC [see report and background] - he resigned a few days later.

Hastings Bypass Turns in Link Road: Anti-roads campaigners had thought they had seen off the Hastings Bypass, but now part of the route has been resurrected as the Bexhill Link Road. This scheme has some of the worst environmental aspects of the original scheme ­ cutting through ancient woodland and endangering wetland bird species. There’s a route walk on Sunday 21st Nov [see SchNEWS | related news at Road Alert]

Save Coate Water Country Park from Development: On Saturday 13 November, local campaigners surrounded the lake at Coate Water Country Park in Swindon with a chain of over a thousand cardboard cut-out hands, each with someone's personal message of why Coate Water is special to them. The campaigners are trying to save the park (a Site of Special Scientific Interest) from the development plans of the local council [see report and pics | Save Coate Campaign]

Residents Oppose Illegal Tree Felling: On Saturday 30th October hundreds of local residents demonstrated in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, against illegal tree felling at the Millpond site that took place on 19th October - then many residents tried to obstruct the chainsaws - several residents were assaulted, and although they stopped the chainsaws, many of the trees had been cut down [see Pics 1, 2 | Background]

See also: Barnstaple Western Bypass Gets Go Ahead
Scotland: Dump protesters take direct action against landfill company
Oxford Friends of the Earth oppose county rubbish incineration plans
Manchester Uni students protest against tree trashing
"Esso-sponsored" Scientists @ the Campaign Against Climate Change march
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Saturday 27 November, 7pm till late, St George's church, 49 Tufnell Park Rd, London N7. Entry by donation, all proceeds to fund new IMC servers.
Indymedia will be five years old on 30 November, the anniversary of the Anti-WTO protests in Seattle. Plus the FBI has seized a London-based server that was used by 20 IMC's worldwide. So we'll combine the celebration with the need to raise money for new servers and invite everybody to the Fifth Birthday of Insurrection (FBI) Party, after the Anarchist Bookfair.
Line-up: Fun-Da-Mental, Rhythms of Resistance, The Rub, Penny Rimbaud, The Unpeople, The Internationalz, Angel.

rampArt will stream the party and offers accomodation for anarchist bookfair weekend. They are also having a pre-bookfair social on the friday night.
Meanwhile in Berlin: Another IMC birthday party.
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On the 14th November outside the recording studios in Hampstead where "Do They Know It's Christmas" - Band AID, was being re-recorded, demonstrations took place by protesters arguing that Band Aid is a screen "whitewashing the real issues behind world poverty". Shouts of 'real aid, not band aid', 'don't whitewash Africa' and boo's were audiable over the screams of fans and onlookers. One protester was arrested while handing out leaflets explaining the reasons for the protest - [read full report].

Protesters from the Dissent! Network, organising against the G8 summit next July, argue that the song is obnoxious, patronising and out of date with the real situation in Africa.

Several initiatives are now underway to re-write the lyrics - upload your own, or send lyrics or recorded mp3s to doyouknowitscapitalism@yahoo.co.uk Read more >>

November 9th to 16th saw the 2nd International Week against the Apartheid Wall , with actions throughout the world, including a number of events in the UK.

These included a blockade of the Hayes, Middlesex premises of Agrexco, Israel's national exporter of fresh produce. Activists erected a cage at the entrance to the factory, and a barrier at the exit, stopping all collections and deliveries for 8 hours, at an estimated cost of 30k - 40k to the company.

Seven activists were arrested and charged with Aggravated Trespass and Section 69 of the The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. They plan to use the court case to challenge the legality of trade with a company that deals in settlement goods, especially in light of the International Court of Justice Ruling which ruled that countries have an obligation not to not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the construction of the wall.
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The judge investigating the Aubonne Bridge case has concluded that any mistakes made by the police on the bridge were "understandable" because of the stress of the G8 summit taking place nearby, and that the activists shouldn't have put themselves in such a dangerous situation. The report states that it was the activists' fault that the police cut the rope from which two climbers were suspended, whilst blockading a delegation on their way to the G8 summit in Evian in May 2003. Despite being warned by activists on the blockade that there were people hanging from it, a policeman took a knife and cut the rope causing a 20 meter fall of Martin Shaw. Fortunately he survived, but was left with very severe injuries to his back, pelvis and foot. Gesine Wenzel on the other end of the rope was saved at the last moment as activists grabbed the other end of the rope. The judge's declaration, which took 18 months to produce, seems to have been written to give "carte blanche to the police to do whatever they want without fear for any legal consequences", the activist's Swiss lawyer said. [Report]

In response to the judge's decission, the climbers of the Aubonne Bridge Action entered the Chateau in Lausanne on Friday 12th November - the seat of the government of Vaud (Switzerland) - with a banner saying "Your cops are your responsibility!". The two activists, together with supporters and the press, asked the Conseil d'Etat to accept responsibility for the actions of their police force. [Report and Pic]

Martin Shaw and Gesine Wenzel still maintain their demands:
* Charges to be brought against both the policeman who cut the rope and his senior officer.
* Compensation for injuries and loss of earnings

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One month after the harddrives were taken out of the servers Ahimsa I and II in London, indymedia had many responses from civil liberty groups and professional journalist organisations. Legal steps are being taken or considered on both sides of the atlantic. The US State Attorney (ie the lawyer for the US government) has responded to a Motion to Unseal the server seizure court order in the US. A solidarity statement has been signed by more than 10,000 people, parliamentary questions have been asked in the House of Commons, and old hardware has been delivered to various Italian Embassies and to the FBI. Check the Electronic Frontiers Foundation for a factsheet and read on for a round-up of a wide range of responses.

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