Northern Indymedia Launches
01-08-2009 00:06
August 1st 2009 sees the official launch of Northern Indymedia by the alt-media monkeys of IMC Northern England. Having revived the dormant IMC Leeds/Bradford and merged with IMC York, the collective is officially launching their new site as a news resource for all those seeking a better world in the grim north and beyond. 9 Months of hard work are culminating in the public unveiling of the new site at Hyde Park Unity Day in Leeds, where there will be a solar powered "Be the Media" centre provided by the collective. The pitch will also include members of the Climate Camp Yorkshire neighbourhood who are helping to launch "The Great Climate Swoop" on the same day. Full coverage of all the goings on will be put up on the new site:
Links: New site of IMC Northern England | Join our mailing list | Collaboration tools on Crabgrass | IRC Chat room | New IMC form submitted | Letter sent to IMC York proposing merge | Letter sent out to local groups in the North of England | Northern IMC at Glastonbury 2009
Highgate Farm Protest Camp
01-08-2009 00:47
On Monday 27th July, activists occupied land near the entrance of Highgate Rabbit Farm, in Lincolnshire, in protest against their breeding of rabbits and ferrets for the vivisection industry. Highgate Farm supply several university and commercial laboratories, including Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). In conjunction with Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) the campers are holding a peaceful protest, calling on the closure of the farm, and for the farmer to hand the animals over to a suitable organisation for rehoming.
The protest has recieved positive coverage on the front page of the local newspaper and support from locals who put up Highgate Farm posters in local villages for the upcoming national demonstration. This caused a Stafford police officer to express concerns that it may be the beginning of "the new Newchurch", begging campers not to visit the now guarded farm during the night. In reponse, Ian Caswell from South Yorkshire FIT team made an appearance, the council threatened an eviction (that was subsequently retracted), and a police helicopter hovered over the camp.
During Wednesday night, a shot rabbit with a rope tied around their neck was then thrown at the camp from the direction of the farm, which is now under investigation by CID. Protesters have therefore called for more people to come and support the camp after extending it past Friday.
Timeline: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday
Links: Background info about the Highgate campaign | SHAC topic page
Full article | 1 addition | 4 comments
Vestas workers occupation
27-07-2009 20:38
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
Full article | 2 additions | 23 comments
Destruction of Calais migrant camps planned next week
18-07-2009 22:39
Following the announcement of a £15million plan to 'strengthen their borders', the British and French governments are planning to destroy the Calais 'Jungle' in northern France and mass-deport hundreds of refugees stranded there. Reports from Calais say the French authorities are preparing for the destruction of the make-shift camps next Tuesday, 21st July, with a mass deportation flight to Afghanistan planned on Friday, 24th July.
Calais refugees and their supporters are calling upon activists, independent journalists and legal observers to go down to Calais and help prevent this tragedy. A protest outside the French embassy in London has been called by No Borders on Monday [more action ideas]. A group calling itself 'Calais Witnesses' has prepared a statement and is asking groups and individuals to sign it. Two UK Green MEPs have also issued a joint statement condemning the 'inhumane' plan.
Related: SALAM: Destruction of the Jungle on Tuesday, 21st July | The Law of 'Jungles': The situation of exiles on the shore of the Channel and the North Sea (pdf) | No Border Camp at the UK border extension beyond the channel
Links: Calais Migrant Solidarity | Calais No Border | No Borders UK
Israeli Navy seizes humanitarian aid ship in International Waters.
08-07-2009 11:12
Activists from Free Gaza.org and the International Solidarity Movement, determined to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, gathered in Cyprus and set sail for Gaza on the ‘Spirit of Humanity’ on June 29th. The following morning, over 20 miles off the coast of Gaza, the boat was surrounded by Israeli Naval vessels who threatened to fire on the boat unless it turned around. The boat continued towards Gaza, and was then boarded by Israeli soldiers, who took control of the boat, and took all 20 passengers and the captain hostage, along with aid including building materials, medical supplies and childrens art supplies. By attacking the vessel in International Waters, and by preventing it from sailing into Gaza, Israel once again showed that it has scant regard for International Law, and confirmed that it is the de facto occupier of Gaza.
The majority of the prisoners were taken first to Ashdod, and then to Ramle Prison, accused of trying to enter Israel illegally. In fact the boat at no point entered Israeli Territorial waters, and nor did it intend to do so. Whilst in prison, the passengers were able to give a number of interviews, but the mainstream reporting of the incident has been patchy. Several of them have commented on the plight of the asylum seekers trapped in Israel’s immigration detention centres, some with no way apparent way out. The majority of the passengers have now been deported, and the charge that they attempted to enter Israel illegally has been dropped.[Interview with deportee] The boat remains in the hands of the Israelis. The Free Gaza movement is already fundraising in order to be able to undertake another journey as soon as possible.
Two activists who entered Gaza on a previous successful Free Gaza voyage, have been stranded at the Rafah Crossing since June 10th, despite having permission to exit from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On the other side of the border, 100 US activists with $1m of medical supplies are trying to get in.
Links:
Previous Free Gaza Journeys: Free Gaza boats arrive in Gaza | Dignity sets sail for Gaza | Israel FIRES on Free Gaza Ship | International Witnesses speak from Gaza
Full article | 3 additions | 7 comments
No Border Camp at the UK Border extention beyond the channel
25-06-2009 20:47
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
100 000 March In Support Of Tamils
22-06-2009 22:54
On Saturday 20th June, around 100,000 People, including many Tamils, marched in Central London in support of the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The march was organised by the .British Tamil Forum.
There have been accusations of genocide having taken place in Sri Lanka in the last few months. So far this year, it is estimated that over 50,000 Tamils – mainly civilians - have lost their lives in a massive military onslaught by Sinhalese Sri Lankan government forces as the 26-year civil war was brought to a climax with the use of cluster bombs and shelling of civilian areas. Sri Lankan Armed Forces are also alleged to have used chemical weapons.
Over 280,000 displaced civilians are being held in prison camps – where conditions are reported to be dire, with poor sanitation, widespread diseases and a lack of adequate security. Amnesty International has received consistent reports of serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearance, extra-judicial executions and torture and sexual violence, including young girls being abducted from the camps.
Links:
March Reports: 1 | 2 | Short Film | Photos: 1 | 2 | 3
Parliament Square Protest Ends | Protest Against Sri Lankan President At Lords | Previous blockade of Parliament Sq by Tamils
Full article | 5 additions | 7 comments
Detention protests met with brutal assaults
18-06-2009 16:08
Update: More than 40 women in Yarl's Wood continue their hunger strike for the 5th day [more].
A mass hunger strike by families detained at Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire has been met with violent assaults on men, women and children by Serco security guards who mange the prison on behalf on the UK Border Agency. The detainees started the hunger strike on Monday and staged a sit-in in the corridor over their inhumane conditions.
Meanwhile in Brook House, the newly opened detention centre at Gatwick airport, a 'disturbance' broke out on 12th June and a fire was set by rioting detainees in the exercise area causing some damage.
A solidarity protest outside Serco's offices in London (22 Hand Court, Holborn, WC1V 6JF) has been called by No Borders London in support of the Yarl's Wood hunger strikers on Friday, 19th June, from 12noon. Activists from the Tyneside Community Action for Refugees (TCAR) gathered outside government offices in Newcastle on Wednesday to protest against racism and all immigration prisons.
Links and sources: No Borders UK | NCADC | TCAR
Full article | 2 additions | 2 comments
SOAS occupied in protest at cleaners immigration raid
16-06-2009 12:18
Update: Occupation ends with (partial) success.
Students and staff at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), along with anti-deportation campaigners, have occupied the School's main building in protest at the management's and immigration authorities' attack on migrant workers at the School. Nine cleaners were detained on Friday, 12th June, in an orchestrated dawn raid in which the management and cleaning contractor ISS reportedly played a 'sickening' role [details].
Five of the nine have already been deported, with the others held in detention pending their deportation. A well-attended rally was held on Monday, 15th June, outside the building [pictures]. Another rally and demonstration were held on Tuesday [pictures | update].
Campaigners believe the raid was the management's 'revenge' against the cleaners' successful campaign, Justice for Cleaners, which saw them winning the London living wage and trade union representation.
Links: Occupation's blog | the Justice for Cleaners campaign | London Indymedia feature | Shouldn't the SOAS raid be the beggining of a campaign against subcontracting?
Full article | 1 addition | 5 comments
Rossport resistance intensifies ahead of arrival of Solitaire
07-06-2009 20:05
On the evening of Monday the 1st June, dredgers and accompanying boats returned to Broadhaven Bay to begin work on the off-shore pipeline for Shell's Corrib Gas project in County Mayo, Ireland. The pipe laying ship, the Solitaire, is expected to arrive within the next few weeks.
The boats have met stiff resistance from people at the newly formed Rossport Solidarity Camp. There have been attempts to dismantle the causeway at the Shell compound and numerous water based actions against dredging work . On Tuesday night the crane on one of the dredgers was occupied for over 10 hours, halting work for this period.
The camp is currently well occupied and the area seems set for another summer of action... Last year, the pipe laying ship, the Solitaire, was forced out of Irish waters with no pipeline laid. The time frame for pipeline work is limited; if resistance can be sustained for enough time pipeline work can be halted again. The camp is calling for people to go to Mayo to support the struggle against Shell.
Links:
Recent Reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Campaign Website | Directions to camp | Indymedia Ireland
Preparations for Calais No Border Camp taking shape
04-06-2009 23:31
Initiatives from the UK, France, Belgium and Germany are currently preparing a protest camp against border controls in Calais, France. The camp, which will take place between 23th and 29th June, will include a transnational demonstration on Saturday, 27th June. The callout describes the aims of the camp as "highlighting the realities of the situation of migrants in Calais" and "challenging the authorities on the ground, to protest against increased repression of migrants and local activists alike." The camp mobilisation in the UK is carried by the No Borders UK network, which calls for the freedom of movement for all and an end to all migration controls.
Resources: Callout for the camp | Transnational demonstration | Red Pepper article | Schnews article | Mobilisation video | London No Borders page about Calais | Travel to demo from London
