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Action Update
news
issue 87 january 2003
BP takes a beating
CBI
Having just recovered from a hundred-odd protesters charge the CBI conference
in Manchester on the opening Sunday night, Monday’s delegates from
a deeply emotional meeting on corporate citizenship returned to the lobby
to find the BP stall (Beyond Parody) covered in several bottles of fake
blood. With all the greenwash execs chatting to suited-up NGO representatives,
its getting harder and harder to tell who’s who. One suit, however,
has reappeared…as a damages claim against two people arrested. Although
claiming £750 for a suit and £300 for a shirt seems a bit
rich…
For more info on the Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline campaign see the feature on
the centre pages. The action was also in solidarity with the people of
West Papua whose lives are being destroyed by BP; web: www.eco-action.org/ssp,
email: ssp@eco-action.org, tel: 01273 695505
ERM occupied
December 2nd: protesters from Rising Tide occupied the offices of Environmental
Resource Management, a group of ‘environmental consultants’
whose contribution to ecology is to write greenwash reports for the likes
of BP. Recent activities have included research on the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline,
designed to carry oil through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The protesters
declared their intention of staying in the office of ERM boss Robin Bidwell
until the company withdrew from the project, but were out by that afternoon,
having worried numerous staff by letting them know what their employers
were actually up to. They also hung banners from the offices reading ‘oil
makes war’ and ‘ERM makes climate change,’ and carried
out an ‘impact assessment’ of their action modelled on the farcical
consultations carried out by ERM of communities affected by the pipeline.
Januray 14th: Manchester and Leeds Earth First! occupied the ERM Manchester
branch. During the five hour occupation activists negotiated via fax with
BP Azerbajhan and ERM Europe managers.
West Papua action
On 18th December BP also had to put up with one of their Manchester garages
being blockaded in a protest against the Tangguh gas project in West Papua.
Two tripods (one seen on right) sealed the entrance and exit, prompting
BP to offer a meeting with the area manager. This was turned down on the
grounds that he had no influence at all. Meanwhile, local police tried
to convince the protesters to come down on the grounds that they should
go visit the BP HQ instead…a great excuse for an office occupation?
In the end, despite the brandy coffee, it was the cold that won out after
four hours.
Car-ving up the country…
Brum, brum
This year’s Birmingham Motor Show saw a string of anti-car actions.
On 22nd October, the press preview day, five people were arrested in a
mass occupation of digging equipment on the notorious Birmingham Northern
Relief Road. Local climate activists dropped a 40 foot banner off a bridge
over the busy M42, which runs along the BNRR. For the next week thousands
of motorists every hour - many on their way to the motor show - saw the
message “Car Culture=Climate Chaos”
The 23rd was the open day for people (99% white males) from the trade
and car industry. They were met by a loud and noisy demo organised by
Birmingham Friends of the Earth outside the main entrance. The protesters,
wearing wet weather gear marked with tyre tracks, brandished a model globe
with a tyre track across it bearing the slogan “What was that Bump?”
Two people from Rising Tide were stopped by security as they started to
climb the 60 foot flagpoles outside the front of the show to unfurl a
banner, and were escorted off the site. On this and subsequent days 3,500
leaflets denouncing car culture were handed out or left on car windows.
A cycle-powered anti-car-show radio station by pir8radio broadcast throughout
the protest and the following week. The repeating 20 minutes show contained
interviews, climate news items, spoof adverts and jingles. See www.anticarshow.net
or www.roadalert.org.uk for more info.
Grim up north
Job advert: “About eight miles from Edinburgh near Penicuik is Bilston
Woods. It is a SSSI or the Scottish equivalent, and faces having a bypass
ripped through it. There is a river running through the site and a pond,
mature trees, a medieval bridge and tower, animals and flowers, and most
importantly a lack of tarmacadam. Work has started on the roundabout to
the site with a pond due to be drained. This shit needs to be stopped
before all our environment and heritage is destroyed by these fuckers
in fluro jackets. A site is being set up so anyone who wants to help should
call the number below. No experience required as training will be given.
Must have own sense of humour.” Site Mobile - 07753 808709. The road
is partially intended to give greater access to the Roslin Institute,
home of Dolly the Sheep and the mad scientists trying to clone more like
her.
Lancashire hot pot
Campaigners in Lancaster are fighting to stop a huge development by construction
company Chelverton. The developers, backed by Carillion (formerly Tarmac)
want to build a massive superstore, dozens of ‘large scale’
retail units and a major road on land between the city centre and the
tranquil Lancaster canal. According to the local council the new scheme
would close down traders in the city centre and threaten the Homeless
Action Centre, the Polish Centre and the Musician’s Co-op, which
are all situated on the threatened land.
To find out about upcoming actions, or to let the campaign know if you
are fighting against Chelverton elsewhere, contact: Stop Chelverton!,
Lancaster Activist Resource Centre, The Basement, 78a Penny Street, Lancaster.
Tel: 01524 383012 stopchelverton@gmx.net, www.nephridium.org/lancaster
In brief
Billboard liberation
Bristol, October 2002 - A billboard, advertising a car, was sawn down
in the Fishponds area, while in January 2003 a former Esso station on
the Bath road was redecorated to protest against environmental damage
and war in Iraq. In Cheshire, meanwhile, a retired couple tired of speeding
cars rigged up a fake speed camera in their front garden and watched the
results…
Road scheme
Local residents have been sizing up the probable damage the Harnham area
faces from new road developments. The road scheme will disturb pedestrian
rights of way and cut across fields and wetlands around Salisbury. More
from www.sinkthelink.org.uk
For peat’s sake
In November more vehicles, were sabotaged at Solway Moss, this time about
15 peat cutters, owned by L&P Peat, while 3 more were trashed at Bolton
Fell, owned by William Sinclair. Both targets are expanding their role
in the peat industry as other players back out, and both companies are
fighting efforts to protect their sites on environmental grounds.
Crystal Palace park
Just before Christmas, members of the Crystal Palace park Liberation Front
tore down part of the illegal fence cutting off parts of the park from
the public. They also left a spray-painted message wishing park users
a merry Christmas. The action is part of an ongoing campaign to fight
Bromley Council’s illegal enclosure of sections of the park and their
plans to try and develop some areas, after the failure of initial attempts
to build a multiplex cinema there. Contact savecrystalpalacepark@yahoo.co.uk
Mast campaign
Bossiney, near Tintagel, 29th November – villagers prevented contractors
delivering equipment which formed part of the extension of a communications
mast near the village. Residents blocked the entrance with cars and formed
a human chain, demanding that they and their children should not be exposed
to the health hazards posed by the addition to the mast of equipment to
improve police communications.
Acting up in the States
In Philadelphia, USA, residents also showed their disapproval of the expansion
of urban sprawl onto wild land. Construction vehicles on the housing site
were trashed, tanks sugared, locks glued and slogans sprayed. The showroom
was also attacked. Meanwhile, in Erie, Pennsylvania, 4 SUV’s were
destroyed and others damaged (an estimated $90,000 damage) as a protest
against the environmental destructiveness of these ludicrous vehicles.
Rule Britannia…
Protest against closure of Sangatte Refugee Shelter
October 19th: The first cross-channel demo was held by activists from
a range of anti-racist groups in France and Britain. It started at Dover
Removals Centre, continued at the Red Cross Camp in Sangatte and was supported
by Kent Refugee Action network, Barbed Wire Britain, Committee to Defend
Asylum Seekers, CAE Paris Commite Anti-Expulsions, Green Pepper Magazine,
Amsterdam, European Youth For Action, Amsterdam, and London noborder group
- and by hundreds of people inside Sangatte, mainly from Afghanistan and
Iraq.
STOP PRESS: Sangatte was closed at the end of December, with Britain accepting
around 1,200 refugees on work permits, but thousands more accumulated
outside the centre to protest at being left off the lists. Over 200 ‘sans-papiers’
and supporters also occupied the International Employment Office in Paris
to condemn its racist attitudes, allowing the exploitation of undocumented
migrant workers whilst refusing them basic benefits and protection.
Red alert for travellers
Roma travellers living at Woodside Caravan Park near Sandy in Bedfordshire
were given a stay of execution on the eviction of their site, but are
still under threat. The site was partially trashed by contractors who
tried to kick Irish families off another area of the site but met active
resistance. Bedfordshire council’s resident NIMBYs have announced
that there are no suitable alternative sites in the county. Anyone who
would like to add their name and number (and email address) to the RED
ALERT list in the event of a new eviction date can send an email to ustiben.5@ntlworld.com
or phone 01206 523 528 (mornings please). Similar protest action may be
called for at other sites under threat of closure including those at Basildon,
Brent and Nuneaton.
Viva Palestina!
1st December: dozens of volunteer soldiers in uniform
armed with water pistols declared the site of an Israeli trade fair in
Alexandra Palace a Closed Military Zone. Like the Israeli army in the
Palestinian Occupied Territories, the soldiers erected a checkpoint at
the entrance to the site. Closed military zones are a tactic regularly
used by the Israeli authorities to restrict the movements of Palestinians
and of internationals attempting to support resistance to the Occupation.
www.ism-london.org.
Solidarity
In Palestine, the ISM and GIPP (Grassroots International Protection for
Palestinians) issued a callout for internationals to help the Palestinian
olive harvest during October and November. This is one of the few economic
activities even remotely accessible to Palestinians, as well as providing
a mainstay of their diet. Israeli troops and settlers, using often deadly
violence to impose curfews and closed military zones, made the harvest
almost impossible in many areas, but using the presence of internationals
some harvesting was allowed. Activities included forming human chains
to prevent the bulldozing of homes and olive groves, and the accompaniment
of farmers onto their fields. Internationals also took part alongside
Palestinians in demonstrations against the giant wall which is being built
on Palestinian land, splitting villages, families and farms, allegedly
to prevent suicide bombers from entering Israel. A number of internationals
were deported/injured; many more have returned inspired to continue fighting
for the Palestinian cause. See www.palsolidarity.org, www.rapprochement.org.
Badgering
31st October: 30 badgers armed with water pistols stormed the Starbucks
on Oxford St, claiming it as their ancestral home. The badgers evicted
customers and erected the first badger settlement in London, handing out
copies of the Badger Bible to prove their right of occupation. The self-styled
Badger Defence Force set up checkpoints to inspect shoppers and tourists
for concealed weapons. “If they’re not a badger, they could
be a terrorist” a spokesbadger said. The badgers have selected the
store because of the role of its CEO as a major supporter of the Israeli
state, as reported in last month’s AU. A spokesbadger said “Since
the chief executive of this company clearly believes it is ok for one
group of people to grab land belonging to another and say they have a
right to it, we believe they won’t mind if we take some of theirs.”
Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza now number 400,000 in 308 illegal
settlements.
Meanwhile, activists in Beirut have been having regular
free Arabic coffee drink-ins to protest Stabucks’ support for Israel,
as well as its flag-waving for US imperialism and GM products.
OTHER NEWS STORIES
Blatant Incitement Project
“BLINC exists to empower people to organise themselves without hierarchy,
for radical action towards social ecological change, by sharing skills,
knowledge, and inspiration…” If you have something you can share
with others, or if there is something your group would like to learn,
get in touch.
A group of people spent a couple of days together recently sharing experiences
of doing BLINC events – eg. supporting the setting up of a new direct
action group, helping people work out how to pass on their practical skills,
and thinking of strategies to work with people and groups we don’t
at the moment. We also figured out ways to improve how BLINC functions.
From the summer’s EF! Gathering, and October’s Rising Tide gathering,
well over a hundred new offers have come in to BLINC, ranging from subvertising
and street art, to catering for gatherings, to free computing and pirate
radio. In order to facilitate and protect the offers that people have
made there is now a closed admin group.
BLINC is a tool that belongs to all of us – please make use by requesting
anything shown on the BLINC website. There are resources on the web and
flyers to download so you can do your own promotion of BLINC locally.
Also, let us know how it works for you and how it could be made to work
better.
Future plans: February 2003, groupwork skills training days; meeting during
EF! Winter Moot; early 2003 - ‘6th form college’ workshops in
Manchester; now onwards - new offers being put up on website. See www.eco-action.org/blinc
or the EF!AU contacts list for phone and post.
Consume less!
Buy Nothing Day on November 29th hit Plymouth in full colour. In an attempt
to bring a different take to the pre-christmas consumer mayhem, and remind
people that shopping really doesn’t make you happy and fulfilled,
and generally being joyous and running round in a silly fashion is actually
much more fun, several giant credit cards roved the pedestrianised town
shopping centre. Sparkly, Spend Faster and Fat Pest Cards entertained
endless eager shoppers, advertising cans full of happiness and joy (on
special offer with 50% extra free!) and being chased around the streets
by their very stressed owners whose spending seemed to be out of control.
Thousands of ‘buy nothing cards’ (with receipts) were given
out to passers by which, being short and funny, prompted much immediate
reading and discussion. Meanwhile Commercial FM loudly broadcast music,
infommercials and subverts with an anti-shopping theme. A good day was
had by all.
New primate labs
A plea for help has come from a group opposing the construction of labs
where brutal primate experiments will be carried out. The planning application,
from Cambridge University, involves underground labs so that the facility
is ‘in keeping with the greenbelt.’ Protesters, who describe
themselves as ‘mainly middle-aged and elderly women’ are appealing
for help to enable them to block the roads more effectively and to warrant
the police’s constant harassment of their pickets under section 14.
See www.x-cape.org.uk
Animal rights activists are also being held publicly responsible for anti-hunt
actions in the village of Stocking Pelham. ‘Fox killers’ was
painted on the village church and an animal feed business which supplies
the Puckeridge Hunt was torched, allegedly causing £250,000 worth
of damage.
Police raids
A number of activist events and addresses have been raided in recent months.
At 8:45 on Thursday 28th November both houses which make up Cornerstone
Housing Co-op in Leeds were raided by the police. The raid was in connection
with an action against the ‘New Tribes Mission’ (in solidarity
with the indigenous peoples of the South Pacific). Everyone in the houses
was arrested and computer equipment impounded.
On Saturday 23rd November , Aspire, Leeds’ occasional squatted social
centre, was raided during a party there. Gas canisters were thrown into
the unventilated building and police used aggressive force in removing
and arressting people.
WINTER MOOT 2003
The EF! Winter Moot is the annual network gathering to
discuss UK-based ecological direct action; our strategy, tactics, campaigns,
communication, gatherings and actions. The Winter Moot 2003 will be held
in Nottingham from Friday 7th February - Sunday 9th February. It is open
to anyone who identifies with the EF! Network, and is interested in these
issues. Cheap vegan food will be available for the weekend, as well as
crash space and a creche. The building has disabled access; if you have
any special needs please let us know well in advance. For all enquiries
please contact the administration group at the address below.
We hope that people will come to the Moot having thought about the things
they want to talk about. This is our only chance in the year to talk about
what we are doing and where we are going as a network. We would really
like to receive writings/rants/thoughts etc to help us plan the agenda,
and to circulate before the meeting. Please keep them short though - 2
sides of A4 maximum. Please send any writings to the address below by
Jan 15th 2003.
Any writings we receive will be sent out with a copy of the agenda and
venue/travel details. If you want to receive this information please send
an SAE to the address below by the end of January 2003 or brought to the
Moot.
We will be having a meeting in Nottingham at 12 noon Saturday 18th January
- 2pm Sunday 19th to plan the structure and content of the Moot. The venue
for the meeting is The Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Forest Fields,
Nottingham, NG7 6HX. This meeting is entirely open to anyone who is interested
in planning the Moot agenda. Any enquiries to the address below NOT TO
THE SUMAC CENTRE!
Contact Details
EF! Winter Moot 2003 c/o SDEF! 6 Tilbury Place, Brighton BN2 2GY. Tel:
07763 552627 (leave a message) Email: efmoot03@hotmail.com
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