Nottingham Celebrates Mayday with Moazzam Begg

In recent years Mayday in Nottingham has once again become a major celebration with the march from the Brewhouse Yard already something of a tradition. As successful as these demonstrations have been, they have taken place on the nearest weekend to May 1st, with little happening on the day itself. This year, the Mayday Organising Committee (an off-shoot of the Nottingham Refugee Campaign Group) felt that something should be done to mark the day itself and decided to organise a rally addressed by a local asylum seeker and former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg.

The event had originally been intended to take place in the International Community Centre (ICC) on Mansfield Road, but Moazzam Begg is a well-known name and a major draw, so it was felt necessary to move to the New Mechanics on North Sherwood Street. This was probably a wise decision as something like 70-80 people turned up on the day.

Before Moazzam spoke, the meeting was adressed by Amdani Juma, a local asylum seeker, familiar to anybody whose been involved in refugee issues in Nottingham. A refugee from Burundi where he was a pro-democracy activist, for which he was tortured, Amdani came to the UK in 2003 and was granted humanitarian protection. Since finding himself in Nottingham he has busied himself campaigning on refugee issues, raising awareness about AIDS, involving himself in various fora around the city and even became a member of Home Office run National Refugee Integration Forum. Despite all this, his application for Indefinite Leave to Remain was rejected by the Home Office and his appeal against this decision unsuccessful.

Amdani recounted his earliest celebration of Mayday as a child of eight in Burundi. At his instigation a one minute silence was held to remember workers across the world who had died in the struggle for a better world. His talk was wide ranging, but he stressed that he was proud to be an asylum seeker, because it meant that he was a survivor. He described his life as being like living more than one life, with his current struggle for Indefinite Leave to Remain being his fifth life. He also used the talk as an opportunity to promote the sponsored walk he is planning to undertake later in the month to raise money for an AIDS charity.

Moazzam Begg began his talk by musing on the word "Mayday," which he noted is French for "help me." An apposite phrase given his own experiences. Moazzam was one of nine British Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay by the US government. Released in 2005 without charge he has yet to receive any compensation or an apology. Since his release he has spoken widely and published a book, Enemy Combatant, in which he recounts his experiences of extra-judicial detention.

His neatly honed talk explored issues of freedom in the shadow of the "War on Terror." He noted that in surveys of "Britishness," the signing of the Magna Carta was often pointed to as a key event. The document enshrined protection against unlawful detention, a principle which was exported across the world, but which is now under attack. He pointed out that shortly after his abduction at gunpoint in front of his wife and children, his family had issued a writ of haebus corpus in the Pakistani courts. While unsuccessful, it demonstrates the idea's power.

He seemed interested in the way such high ideals had been corrupted and noted with irony the motto which had been plastered across the facility at Guantanamo: "Duty bound to protect freedom." It is this bizarre interpretation of freedom, he suggested, which allowed the US to dub the invasion of Iraq "Operation Enduring Freedom," as if freedom were something which had to be endured.

For someone detained for almost three years, Moazzam was surprisingly fair about his captors. he asserted that, while bad, Guantanamo was not the worst prison on earth. Simply the most notorious. He was clear that there were worse establishments, specifically those where people were killed or forced to see others killed. These, he explained, were what interrogators would threaten recalcitrant subjects with and a number of people being detained by the US have found them shipped to the likes of Egypt for a more thorough going-over than Americans had a taste for. In fact, his relaxed view extends so far that he hopes to tour, later this year, with a young American who had been one of his jailers.

Moazzam argued that the treatment of Muslims in the "War on Terror" with compared unfavourably with that of the Irish Catholic population in northern Ireland at the the height of "The Troubles." He pointed out that even at the height of internment, people were only being held without trial for up to three days. Now the government is seeking to give the police power to detain people for up to ninety days. He clearly saw this as a far broader issue. Noting that even former Secretary of State Colin Powell had called for the closure of Guantanamo he stressed that this would not address the problem of other, less prominent, detention centres (Bagram, Diego Garcia and others).

After the speakers, the discussion was opened up to the floor for questions and contributions. There was also an announcement about plans to mobilise against the BNP's Red White and Blue festival. The event is being held between 15-17 August in Denby, Derbyshire with campaigners planning to mobilise on Saturday 16 August from 9am.

All in all, this was an impressive, well attended event. The organisers are to be congratulated and there's something to build on for next year, but first there's the actual Mayday demonstration: 12 noon, Saturday May 5 starting at the Brewhouse Yard. Hopefully I'll see you there.

Nottingham Uni: The Veggie's Friend (Interview)

The University of Nottingham was recently voted the Number 1 "Most Vegetarian-Friendly UK University," in a poll conducted by Peta2, the youth wing of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). In achieving first place, Nottingham beat Glasgow University, which has Vegan Society accreditation, into second place.

According to Peta2, the university has been "working alongside Vegsoc – Nottingham University Vegetarian and Vegan Society." Alex Claridge, the society's social security was kind enough to answer a few questions about what the group have actually been doing.

Links: Nottingham University | Peta2 | VegSoc

Q: What's your response to the university's success in the Peta2 poll?

AC: We’re delighted with the result, and incredibly proud of the accolade both as a society and more widely as a university. Although there have been previous animal ethics societies at the uni, this is our first year as ‘vegsoc’and, already, we’ve achieved a very great deal – although that isn’t to say there isn’t more to do! Recogition from PETA is really just the icing on the (vegan!) cake for everyone who has been involved in the society this year, and an affirmation that whatever we’ve done this far is working.

Q:What is your personal experience of being vegetarian on campus?

AC: It is probably more accurate to answer this one in terms of vegetarian and then vegan. As a vegetarian on campus, you can be sure that there will be options for you daily and usually a good selection. For vegans, Nottingham Uni is certainly better than many Universities; we’re currently going through the motions to finalise Vegan Society accreditation, and we hope to be the first English Uni and the second in the UK. In practice, this means that there will always be vegan options, which is a fantastic starting point, and beyond that we’re committed to ensuring that there will be a variety of exciting and great-tasting vegan friendly options.

Q: What have you been doing to encourage the university to become more vegetarian friendly?

AC: In terms of catering, the University have needed little encouragement! I think more and more people are recognising that vegetarian and vegan lifestyles have much to offer and attract a wide variety of people from all walks of life – including both students and lecturers! Perhaps we’ve hastened the process, by offering advice, feedback and the framework for development but our progress in terms of vegan and veggie catering has very much been a co-operative effort on behalf of both our society and the university. We went to the University with solutions rather than problems; I think it is important to be positive in whatever your goal – the emphasis is on what we can do, not what we can’t.

Q: What else do you hope to get from the uni?

AC: We don’t really see our work as a case of what we can ‘get’ from the University – we are after all technically part of the same institution! Rather, we hope that we can fulfil our role as a representative group for vegetarians and vegans at the University to the very best of our abilities. We hope to continue developing food at the University in the same direction to cement the University as truly a leader in terms of veggie and vegan catering. Likewise, we are always glad to tackle issues that might be raised by individual members.

We’re also hoping to expand our sphere of influence and involvement, beyond its current realm of food, to include other issues of concern at the university. We’re acutely aware that Nottingham, for all its achievements in some areas, doesn’t have the best reputation for its involvement in vivisection. We would certainly like to encourage a more open dialogue and discussion about the role of vivisection in the University’s research and teaching, and also open up the floor for feedback and discussion with the student population. Hopefully, this is something that the University will feel able to work with us on – it would be fantastic to boast of a University that is truly leading the way in all areas for vegetarians, vegans and animal-lovers alike.

Q: What other activities has the society been involved
 in?

AC: We maintain a busy social programme, including fortnightly meals out and a weekly bar night at the wonderful alley café. We’re developing a discount card for our members to get top offers at restaurants and stores around the city, and we’re currently administering a campus wide survey to get the first comprehensive impression of veggie/vegan numbers on campus and to tailor our work with the University over coming months to student feedback and needs. Over the summer vacation period we’re hoping to produce a essential guide to veggie Nottingham to distribute to new students in September. Members are also working on a compendium of great veggie and vegan recipes to offer online. We like to be kept busy!

Q: The group recently changed it's name from Animal Ethics Society to Vegetarian and Vegan Society. Can you say someting about the thinking behind this change and what it has meant in terms of your activities?

AC: The name change was, in many ways, one of practicality rather than any deeper meaning! The society is generally known as vegsoc - with the official title more one for forms and paperwork. Vegsoc is considerably easier to say, write and brand than Animal Ethics for a start. The society does have a different approach to the previous Animal Ethics society, although I would argue our aims are much the same - broadly speaking, we're in it for the animals. From the outset, our focus has been on showing the fun side of vegetarianism and veganism and dispelling any myths that people may have. We totally re-branded the society, and we've enjoyed a busy social schedule and met lots of new members along the way.

There are a million and one ways you could run a society under the banner of vegetarianism, but our particular take is that by creating a friendly, accessible, and relaxed atmosphere for would-be members and the curious we're doing our bit to take vegetarianism, and particularly veganism, to the masses. Recently, we've had a week of meals and vegan buffets and we had, at times, 50% non-vegetarians dining with us - non-vegetarians who chose to come to our events, on the basis of great food, and a good time. Veggies for the world, albeit one meal at a time! That isn't to say we don't have members who are interested in the academic, philosophical or campaigning side of things - certainly, we're glad to talk to anyone about the 'more serious' side of animal ethics - but there is no reason you can't have fun in the process. No egos, no attitudes, no nonsense - let the good (veg) times roll.

Q: As a society you've lobbied university authorities. You've also hosted former ALF-member Keith Mann an advocate of property destruction. Can you say something about the benefits of these very different campaigning methods?

AC: It was our pleasure to receive Keith, and we’d be interested in hosting similar talks in the future. The event itself offered our members and the local community alike a fantastic opportunity to watch ‘Behind the Mask’, an award-winning documentary considering the animal rights movement as a whole and also, the much-publicised Animal Liberation Front. Keith’s broad experience of the animal rights movement, and integral role in the documentary made him a fantastic speaker to introduce the film and also talk about his much-acclaimed book From Dusk ‘Til Dawn.

As a society we are strictly peaceful and campaign entirely within legal means for progress and change. Our approach is drastically different from that of direct action, however we also feel it is important to foster a wider awareness of the animal rights movement as a whole – both on an academic and a practical level. Detractors are keen to blurry the lines of distinction, or tarnish the animal rights movement as ‘extremist’ which is, I hasten to add, almost always unfounded. There is nothing extreme about opposing animal cruelty, and the issues at hand enjoy support from an ever-increasing and incredibly diverse cross-section of the general public. The best defence therefore, from would-be detractors, is to know your facts!

New Old Coal for Notts

A coal mining firm is considering reopening a pit in Nottinghamshire which could be the deepest in the UK and one of the largest in Europe.

According to the BBC, Doncaster-based UK Coal are looking at reopening the Harnworth pit which closed in 2006. The pit is likely to reopen later this year, and could, they claim, create 400 jobs, although production would not actually be restarted for a further three years. Studies are being carried out at the moment, but the company believes there could be as much as 40 million tons of coal available at the pit.

Jeff Wood, vice president of the Union for Democratic Mineworkers (UDM, most famous for scabbing during the Miners' Strike), welcomed the reopening of the pit, coming, as it does, when the Wellbeck colliery in Nottinghamshire is coming to the end of its workable life and facing closure by the end of the year: "The good news is... there's now an opportunity to transfer to Harworth, which could potentially mean another 20 to 25 years of work."

With coal power a central concern of various climate change action networks, the reopening of Harnworth may not pass entirely unopposed. All the coal produced by UK Coal goes to customers in this country. The biggest of these are Drax Power Station in Selby, North Yorkshire, which in 2006 was the target of the first Climate Camp, as well as power firms EDF and E.ON. The latter has already been visited by local climate campaigners on more than one occasion. Last year, activists came close to shutting down the the E.ON-run Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station and on April 1 this year, the company's offices on Mount Street, Nottingham were blockaded as part of Fossil Fools Day.

Links: Camp for Climate Action | Climate IMC | The Coal Hole | Eastside Climate Action | Network for Climate Action

One from our labour correspondent...

Conductors on trains to and from Nottingham are being balloted for strike action.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) is balloting around 150 conductors following a dispute over coverage of services on Sundays. The union is urging its members to vote in favour of industrial action. If the union does go on strike, it would affect local services from Nottingham, but not those to London.

The dispute stems from plans by East Midlands Trains to use managers to provide emergency coverage for senior conductors on Sunday services. Senior conductors are responsible for the safety of passengers and the train itself. East Midlands Trains offers a voluntary arrangement for covering Sunday shifts and as they're not prepared to pay any more for people to do this they've struggled to find volunteers and several services have had to be canceled for lack of a senior conductor.

A spokesman for RMT explained, "They proposed to use managers and all sorts to cover the job. That is unsafe in our view. A senior conductor is in charge of a train - not the driver. They are responsible for the safety of the train and customers. There is strict training for them. If there is a problem with Sunday coverage it is because they are not paying enough." The spokesman said that the company had recently introduced ad hoc payments for senior conductors working on Sundays, but claimed that when RMT requested this arrangement be formalised East Midlands Trains instead proposed emergency cover by managers.

RMT are also unhappy about the way the company has attempted to bring the proposal in. The union's General Secretary Bob Crow complained, "The company is acting outside the agreed negotiating machinery and has already poured petrol on the flames by stopping RMT reps being released to undertake normal union duties. We want a negotiated settlement to this dispute, but that will not happen while the company is throwing its weight about."

East Midlands Trains are predictably unhappy about the situation, describing themselves as "very disappointed" about union's decision to ballot its members. Managing director Tim Shoveller said: "We have actually run over 97% of all Sunday services. Under the previous franchise on some Sundays there were as few as 50% of services running because of a shortage of staff. This is a fantastic improvement, achieved through better management and with the flexibility and commitment of our staff. I thank our staff for their continued dedication but we must now find a permanent solution to ensure the reliability of Sunday services. We're confused and disappointed that the RMT do not understand that we must be confident that we can operate our trains every day of the week for passengers. It's not something we can leave to chance."

East Midlands Trains took over the rail franchise, formed from the amalgamation of the former Midland Mainline and the eastern side of Central Trains, in November last year. Legally known as Stagecoach Midland Rail Limited, the company is part of the Stagecoach Group which also owns South West Trains as well as 49% of the Virgin Trains franchise. The group has been criticised for its business practices on a number of occasions. Its co-founder and chairman is Brian Souter a evangelical Christian and outspoken homophobe.

Other coverage: BBC Nottingham | Derby Evening Telegraph | Nottingham Evening Post

"I am the law!"

This is pretty shocking, even for a bitter, old anarchist like me. What was it N.W.A. used to say?

Nottinghamshire Police shots somebody with 50,000 volts last week. Bizarrely this doesn't seem to have been a particularly controversial move with anybody other than myself. And all I did was write an Indymedia article about it. I bet the Chief Superintendent is quaking in his boots.

May 1 is International Workers Day (unless you live in the US where it's "Loyalty Day"). While there was a time when thousands of workers would come out to celebrate on the day itself, nowadays Mayday rallies (at least in the UK) tend to take place on one of the weekends on either side. In Nottingham we had ours on Saturday, and yours truly was there, camera in hand.

Yesterday, if you were out and about in the "real world" you might have bumped into me here. Fortunately for you, you probably didn't.

Take Back the Power

Image Source

Earlier today (April 10), activists from Nottingham entered Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station and chained themselves to equipment, preventing it from operating, while supporters maintained a presence outside. The power station is coal-fired and generates huge amounts of carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming. The action is part of Spring into Action, "a week of workshops, events, music and action on climate change happening at different venues across Nottingham."

One of those involved in the action explained in a press release, "The threat of climate change is so huge and the government so complacent that the people themselves are now acting in proportionate response to this and targeting the root causes of climate change. It's not enough to reduce emissions individually – we need to act together to challenge fossil fuel consumption."

Ratcliffe was targeted because coal-fired power stations (of which it is one of the largest) are the biggest producers of CO2 per unit of electricity generated. It is also symbolically significant because the power station is visible from much of Nottingham and familiar to anybody who knows the city. The story certainly seems to have piqued the interest of local media receiving coverage on the The Evening Post and BBC Nottingham sites and was the top story on BBC local radio during their midday bulletin.

The police inevitably turned up and reports suggest that eleven people were arrested. Inspector Glenn Harper, of Notts Police, told The Evening Post, "The site is potentially dangerous to anyone who is unfamiliar with its layout and there are busy roads close by." Protesters shouldn't be misled into believing that the police were there to ensure business carried on as usual with minimal disruption, rather, "Our main priority is to maintain the health and safety of all those involved; the protesters, staff at the power station and the police officers who attend."

In case there's any confusion and to preempt any questions in the comments, I haven't been involved in any of this, having been out of town for a few days. The foregoing is derived from media reports, primarily coverage on Notts Indymedia. For the timebeing that's all I know.

I realise it may be beginning to sound like I'm blowing my own trumpet, but some of the guys at Notts Indymedia have produced an awesome radio piece about the Nottingham blockade.

Outlaws outwit the Sheriffs

A group made up of students, pensioners, Christians, anarchists and Young Greens would normally be a recipe for disagreement, dispute and disunity, if not disaster. The contingent which travelled from Nottingham to Scotland last weekend as part of Faslane 365 incorporated all these demographics and more. Not only did the group manage to operate coherently, but it was able to block the North Gate of HM Base Clyde for more than four hours.

Faslane 365 is an attempt to organise a continuous blockade of the nuclear submarine base at Faslane in protest against government plans to replace the Trident nuclear missile system. Groups from around the world are encouraged to travel to the base and attempt to organise their own autonomous blockades. At the time of writing, the Faslane 365 website claims 102 days of presence by 75 different groups. Totals which have entailed 696 arrests, but only 26 prosecutions.

The group from Nottingham (which included a number of people from nearby Derby) travelled to the base on Saturday (March 31) and Sunday (April 1), blockading the base on the latter. The contingent's theme was Robin Hood, which allowed us to contrast his robbing from the rich to give to the poor, with the government's theft from the poor to fund Trident, and many members were dressed as members of Hood's Merry Band. The police seemed to find it very amusing to asking people why everybody was dressed as Peter Pan.


Saturday was spent milling near the North Gate (the main entrance to the base), marching around the base and relaxing on the beach, all without much of a plan. It is possible that the police took us for a bunch of disorganised fluffies, incapable of sorting out a serious blockade. Whether this was part of some grand plan or simply a reflection of the fact we actually were hopelessly disorganised is debatable. Once we started planning for the next day, however, the commitment of everybody involved became clear and things began falling into place.

The plan involved coordinating the arrival of three minibuses at the North Gate shortly after 6.30 in order to catch the morning shift change. Things looked bad when one of the minibuses suffered a puncture barely a mile from the base, but some quick thinking and everybody's understanding of the requirements of the plan meant that even this didn't stop us, although a fourth minibus did arrive later than planned.

Against everybody's expectations, the police seem to have been caught napping, having had only a handful of officers defending the gate. As a result, by the time the third minibus to arrive had deposited its passengers, there were fifteen people blocking access to the gate. Blockaders were secured by a combinattion of concrete lock-ons, chains, D-locks and a number had even volunteered to be plastered together. The police had little option but to close the gate and redirect traffic to the South Gate, which isn't normally used on Sundays.


Within about ten minutes the police began constructing a blue screen around the blockaders in order to "sanitise" them. This friendly-sounding euphemism is their way of justifying isolating those engaged in a blockade from their supporters while they proceed to cut them out. Fortunately those outside didn't relent in their nopisemaking, bashing barriers with sticks, stones and anything else which came to hand. The police were less than keen on this and, perhaps still smarting from their failure to anticipate our plan, took to threatening people with dubious charges of criminal damage.

People's spirits were lifted by the appearance of the Rebel Clowns who announced that as it was April Fool's Day they had declared themselves all King and Queen for the day and decided to put Faslane, along with the submarines it supports, up for sale. In their usual manner the clowns kept protesters entertained and confused the hell out of the police, although one was arrested, apparently (I wasn't there) after climbing into a passing car.

The clowns managed to make the police look particularly stupid when one of their number put a bike lock on the prisoner handling area, located just down the hill from the North Gate, apparently trapping the police inside. It emerged, once a cutting team, reinforcements and the Inspector in charge appeared, that the key to the aforementioned lock was sitting right next to it, leaving those inside looking distinctly red-faced. The Inspector gave those of us in the vicinity a lecture about the distinction between "lefitimate" and "anti-police" actions, which amounted, in my reading, to, "Nobody's ever thought of doing this before. We'd really rather you didn't do it properly in the future."


The police don't seem to have been in a massive hurry to cut-out the blockaders, but it's clear that one of the concrete lock-ons caused them some real difficulty and it was the blockaders attached to this who were the last to be arrested. Once they'd been cut-out, blockaders were taken to a prisoner handling area, for processing, before being sent off to various police stations across Strathclyde.

Later in the day there were two further arrests. I wasn't there, but these followed a Palm Sunday march up to the gate. According to the accounts I've heard, one of the marchers refused to move, carrying on singing hyms while the police insisted she returned behind the barrier. At this point she was joined by a man who was also arrested. By the end of the day there had been eighteen arrests, including the clown. All were released by 5pm the next day with nothing more serious than a warning letter, which says, essentially, "We have sufficient evidence to prosecute you, but we're not going to this time."

Everyone involved, as far as I can tell, regards the action as a huge success. We managed to function as a unit inspite of our difference and achieved a far more successful blockade than any of us had anticipated. Hopefully these newly formed alliances will not simply evaporate and we can work together in the future. I for one am already chomping at the bit to go after a new target and there's also talk of some people participating in the forthcoming student blockade.

Labouring under delusions

The other night I was invited to a Labour Against the War meeting in Nottingham. As the event was limited to Labour Party members and their friends, I had to pretend to be Tom's friend, although I suppose that's better than having to pretend to be a party member. Entry requirements aside, the event provided an interesting insight into the plight of deluded progressive elements within the party.

Maya Evans and Milan Rai from Justice Not Vengeance (neither of whom are party members as far as I'm aware) discussed the burdgeoning conflict with Iran and the ongoing assault on our civil liberties. As ever Mil was incisive and informative. Maya ran through territory with which I am more familiar, but her personal experiences (she was the first person arrested under Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 after she read out the names of the dead in Iraq outside Downing Street) were something I hadn't heard before.

Mohammed Azam from the National Assembly Against Racism arrived late after getting lost in the Meadows. Once he got underway he laid into the BNP and urged party members to make anti-racism central to their campaigning. While none of this was particularly disagreeable, it equally didn't strike me as particularly original.

Christine Shawcroft from the Labour Party National Executive Committee (NEC) meanwhile hit all the right notes on Iran and Trident, but decided to couple that with the hoary old cliche about "reclaiming the party," even encouraging people to rejoin "for peace." It would presumably be churlish to point out here that the combined forces of the nine people in the audience (of whom I was one) is likely to be insufficient to reclaim anything more impressive than the local bus shelter. Not that this seemed to lessen Christine's apparently boundless enthusiasm.

The key-note speaker was to have been Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Notingham South. He's always an interesting speaker and I'd figured he'd be even more so following his announcement over the weekend that he was standing down as an MP. Unfortunately, Alan was defeated by the complexities of the British public transport system, i.e. he got of at the wrong station and missed the meeting entirely.

My conclusion at the end of the evening was that the reclamation of the Labour Party is dead in the water. It's time to put the old girl out of her misery. This isn't a great surprise to me, but I hope it gave some of the people there pause for thought.

Simpy-thetic

Alan Simpson MP represents the area in Nottingham where I live and regularly speaks at political meetings in the city and further afield. As such, I've seen him talk more times than I care to remember, including a at several events I've been involved in organising, and spoken to him personally several times. While I agree with him on many issues, find him an affable chap and consider him an excellent public speaker (infinitely better than Broxtowe MP Nick Palmer with whom I once saw him share a platform), we do have a number of political disagreements, although his decision to stand down as a Labour MP suggests we've now got one less.

For years his big thing has been the need for progressives within the party to reassert control from the Blairites, warmongerers and neoliberals. In the run-up to the war, while party members were leaving in droves in protest against Blair's commitment to military action, he called on people not to do so. Subsequently, the line shifted to a call for people of a progressive persuasion to join the party in order to influence the forthcoming leadership campaign. For sometime I assumed - cynically, I admit - he was maneuvering himself for those elections, but if he ever had any such ambitions, he's clearly given up on them.

According to the Beeb, in a letter to constituency party members he explained that concern about the environment was central to his motivation and asserted that "he would be more effective campaigning for radical environmental change outside parliament, rather than remaining on the back benches." This, broadly correlates with my own perspective on electoral politics. It is my opinion, as I may have mentioned before, that change always originates outside Houses of Commons, forcing its way onto the Parliamentary agenda regardless of who our soi-disant representatives are, once the groups pursuing it become influential enough.

Simpson continues, "There are good people in the Parliamentary Labour Party but not enough of them. At times, I feel that colleagues would vote for the slaughter of the first born if asked to." They certainly don't appear to have been particularly troubled by the human cost of the invasion of Iraq. Which, as a friend noted, raises the question of whether there might not have been a time when his resignation might have exerted greater influence. Timing aside, I'm glad he's finally seen sense and look forward to working with him in the future.

Conference Call

Organising events tends to require a lot of effort and more often than not is decidedly stressful. When things go well that tends to make up for everything, though. That's probably a fairly good summation of my experience with the Peace Conference which I helped organise and which took place on Sunday.

By all accounts everybody involved including speakers and audience members seemed to find it enjoyable and interesting. The first session on the linkages between oil, war and environmental damage was slightly marred by Life of Brian-style exchanges, but nonetheless there was much of interest on peak oil, Iraqi unions and the connections between these issues and the state of the public transport system. While the No Sweat session didn't happen due to "limited" interest (a probably consequence of the aforementioned exchanges), but the workshops on life as an asylum seeker and peak oil, both of which I dipped into, were well attended and seemed to be stimulating healthy debate.The day's big event was Craig Murray, former British mabassador to Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, Craig was running a little late, which was a little worrying for myself and fellow organisers, but he more than made up for it when he got here with a compelling and amusing talk. To be fair, it was largely the same speech he gave when I saw him in Manchester, with many of the same jokes, but few of the other people in the audience had been there and, in any case, I still found myself laughing. This was certainly a personal highlight for me and afterwards I was able to get my copy of his Murder in Samarkand signed.

Whether because of the incredible organisation or by sheer luck, we finished in time for the awesome fireworks display put on, down by the lake just of campus, for Chinese New Year. Which was nice.

Notts Indymedia has more on the Conference and KnowledgeLab, an event which ran across the weekend and alongside on the Sunday, including various photos by the legendary Tash, from which the picture above has been purloined.

Oaxaca comes to Nottingham

I seem to be quite the busybody this week. Which is fine. It's not like I've got any work to do or anything. Tuesday night I found my way to the Nottingham stop on the speaking tour by an activist from Oaxaca. Apart from being the second poorest state in Mexico, Oaxaca last year witnessed a widespread revolt which challenged the state government and reverberated around the world. Andres Aullet is a activist-lawyer who was involved in the struggle and is now a member of Committee of Relatives of Political Prisoners of Oaxaca, which he described as a Trotskyist grouping.

The meeting was organised by No Sweat, (which for those of you keeping score is an Alliance for Workers' Liberty (AWL) front-group). It was chaired by Tom an "activist in the NUT," with some contributions from Sofie Buckland from No Sweat and the "students' movement." The event kicked of almost half an hour late due to technical difficulties, but once everything was sorted they quickly moved onto two short videos, one a fairly propagandist documentary and the other an assortment of video clips taken throughout the course of the struggle. Tom had suggested that the latter would include some riot porn, although in actuality it was fairly tame (much more so than many of the images of protests in Oaxaca).

Andreas spoke through a translator, which was just as well given how rusty my Spanish has become. He began by recounting the context of the struggle and how it had begun with a strike by teachers. Strikers took control of the main square, but were violently removed by the police. As the struggle escalated, its demands shifted from the purely economic (i.e wage increases) to the political (i.e. the resignation of the state governor) and incorporated increasingly broad sections of Oaxacan society, leading to the constitution of the APPO (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca, the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca).

Andreas described how a number of activists had demanded space to put their demands on TV. When refused, they had simply taken control of the TV station and had they say anyway. Similar scenes also took place with the local radio. Meanwhile, a number of teachers had decided (apparently against the wishes of some of APPO's leaders) to march to Mexico City, to put their demands to those in the seat of Mexican power.

Despite the militancy of the protests and the number of people on the streets (one march apparently attracted 1 million people, an impressive figure in a city of 2.5 million) various union leaders were keen to negotiate. While the movement had taken up the demand for the governor's resignation, the sycophantic bureaucrats were content to limit themselves to the initial demands of the teachers. This obeisance continued when the Federal Police sought to retake the city on November 25. Union leaders called for people to acquiesce to their return, but many ignored them and when it came to defending the final barricade in the university, thousands turned out to resist the police.

Andreas was critical of the movement's "betrayal" by the leadership, but felt that the strike had nonetheless been important. He argued that Oaxaca had shown that class struggle was still alive and that there were lessons for the workers, who he believed could have been victorious under a different leadership. During the Q&A session he extended his criticisms to the EZLN (the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, commonly known simply as the Zapatistas, a movement based in Chiapas which borders Oaxaca to the south) who he argued didn't understand the need to take power and had initially been wary of supporting the Oaxacan struggle because of the presence of corrupt union leaders. In his analysis this remained their position until the attempts to retake the city in late November. While I disagree with his assertions as to the need to "take power" (a Leninist obsession) I wonder if there isn't an element of truth to his analysis of the Zapatistas' approach. I certainly didn't become aware of any EZLN statements regarding the situation until late-November, but this may simply reflect my own ignorance.

While Andreas' political position is quite different from my own, his insight into the struggle was interesting. Oaxaca was hugely inspirational to activists around the world, including myself. It is always useful to learn about the successes and weaknesses of other struggles and hearing it from a Mexican trot is a helpful corrective to any illusions one might have about an imminent anarchist revolution in the periphery. Now if only we could bring a little bit of the Oaxaca spirit to Nottingham's Market Square...

Morning glory

There are a number of pieces of equipment which activists should not be without and an alarm clock is pretty near the top of the list. Of course, even if you've got one they're of limited use if you don't bother to set it. While several of my friends were forcing themselves out of bed at some ungodly hour to get down to Harmondsworth detention centre, I'd planned a more placid day with an hour or two giving out flyers in Market Square. Given that the Stop the War stall didn't kick off until twelve I figured I wouldn't bother with the alarm. Surely, I thought, my body long ago slipped into the routine of getting up fairly early. How wrong I was.

Things got off to a bad start when I woke up at one, something I haven't done for sometime. Honest. Once I'd got myself sorted and in to town, Stop the War were long gone. Some of the guys from the NHS campaign were holding a stall as were representatives of the putative Notts branch of Unite Against Fascism, so I offered my typically enthusiastic support to the former (i.e. I stood around looking uncomfortable, occasionally proffering any passing pedestrians a pamphlet). Unfortunately there wasn't a great deal of material to distribute (which is strange, because the unions ostensibly supporting the campaign are hardly short of money), although on the upside this did mean I didn't have to spend that long standing around in the cold before beating a retreat to the comfort of a public house.

Peace Out

In case you happen to be in the Nottingham area next weekend:

PEACE CONFERENCE
Sunday February 18, Portland Building

11:00 – What's oil got to do with it?
Sue Blount, local Green Party councillor
James Howard, Powerswitch
Tom Unterrainer, No Sweat

1:30 – Workshops
Destitution Group, Being an asylum seeker
No Sweat, Workers' struggles and solidarity
Powerswitch, Peak oil
More TBC

4:00 – Speaker
Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan

All Day – Atrium
Stalls from local campaigns (including Amnesty, Defy-ID, Faslane 365, No Sweat, Stop the War) and vegan catering by Veggies

Organised by Nottingham Student Peace Movement

This event is taking place alongside the Fourth Knowledge Lab, which you might also be interested in.

Financial health

In my predictions for 2007, I averred that the campaign to defend the NHS would be one of the major campaigns on the year. I stand by that claim, largely because it seems self-evident. Nottingham, might take a little while to catch up, however.

Last night I toddled along to the public meeting held by the local branch of Keep Our NHS Public. There were probably 20-30 people in attendance (I didn't bother to count), but to my mind the problem was not so much the limited numbers, but the limited representation of what I flipantly refer to as "real people." I probably recognised half, perhaps more, of the audience from assorted campaigns. The three largest socialist parties in Nottingham (SWP, AWL and SPEW) were all out in what passes for force in today's Marxist left. Much of the rest of the audience were made up of independent activists and trade unionists. The public were striking in their absence.

In some ways this is actually very surprising. Last year's "Protect the Patients" march in the city (which I missed because I was fighting the system elsewhere), was by all accounts huge, attracting perhaps 3,000 participants. Where have all those people gone? Are they actively resisting government cuts and reforms or have they all now gone back to their lives, content with the fact that they've "had their say" on the issue? Alternatively, are those people put off by a lefty-dominated public meeting in which they are told what many of them (particularly those who work in the NHS) already know? To be honest, I don't know, although I suspect there may be a combination of factors in play.

To be fair, the meeting was much more informative than many I've been to. Demagoguery was avoided in favour of that most dangerous of amunition, information. The picture of the NHS I came away with is an interesting one, but one which I think has not been widely disseminated. Various speakers acknowledged the fact that New Labour had invested record amounts in the NHS, but the key point is not how much money is in the system, but where it's going. It became apparent that what New Labour are doing (whether consciously or not, a question which was raised, but left hanging) is turning the NHS into a corporate welfare system, taking money from the public purse and handing it to corporate interests.

While my notes are less than comprehensive, some of the processes by which this takes place include: new rules require GPs to present patients with at least three "choices" when they are being referred, which must include at least one private provider; Independent Treatment Centres (ITCs) set up ostensibly to reduce waiting lists are guaranteed payment for a certain number of treatments whether they conduct them or not; the outsourcing of both support (catering and cleaning) and clinical roles; and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes which often lead to Trusts paying more for buildings in the long-term. The upshot of all this has been not only a proliferation of private companies providing health services, but a massive increase in administration costs. One speaker estimated that administration constitutes something in the order to 15-20% of the NHS' total budget (at least in England).

It is unfortunate that such an analysis of the problems afflicitng the NHS has not been disseminated more widely. It gets us beyond government obfuscation about the wages being earned by doctors and nurses, while providing an insight into the working of state capitalism (in which the state and capital are mutually reinforcing) which I think guides people implicitly towards a more radical critique than a broadly conservative (note the small 'c') appeal to "save the NHS."

As an anarchist, I'm wary of large state-run bureaucracies, but there can be no doubt that capitalism with a national health service is better than capitalism without (something the UK had not so long ago as an activist from the pensioners' movement noted). At least, if you care about things like quality and length of life. There is much about the NHS which merits criticism, but until we get around to organising the revolution (are you doing anything next Tuesday?) I think it behooves us to protect what's good about it (i.e. free, universal healthcare). How we do that and how we attract more people is a question which I'll leave open, but it's probably an important one.

Addendum: I forgot to mention that there's a regional demonstration in Birmingham on Saturday March 3, which speakers encouraged people to promote and participate in. This seems to be part of a national day of action, so maybe there's something going down in your area which you might care to check out.