Just in from campaigners against the arms fair at the University of the West of England, Frenchay, Bristol. The arms fair will be taking place on Wednesday this week. More info on the arms fair and plans for protests here: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/stop-uwe-arms-fair.html
Drop
beats not bombs rally
4pm
@ UWE, Frenchay campus
by
the bus stops
Tuesday19th.
Listen
out for the sound system!
The University of the West
of England in Bristol is hosting an arms and 'defence' business fair
on the 20th November 2013. This conference portrays itself as the
main networking and business event in the UK for the MOD and the
military community. See their website:
http://www.dprte.co.uk
Students
are coming together and welcome support to kick them off campus!
Students at UWE believe a decision to host this
event is not in the interest of students or education but part of a
wider shift towards profit-driven interests. We are calling on UWE
not to invest itself into, promote, support or enable profit-making
from/of/through wars, military uses of research, military networks,
and violent approaches towards conflicts. Students also denounce the
University's strategy of investing into large infrastructures which
are largely useless to students and education, like the planned
20,000 seats 'UWE stadium' or UWE's massive Conference Centre, where
this conference is to take place. Please sign our petition
here:
We've tried everything. Legal challenges, petitions, marches, boycotts, celebrity support, trying to get landowners to pull out, music videos, getting the press on board and getting a vote in parliament. All of the measures that could possibly be undertaken to stand up for the badgers, the scientific evidence and the wishes of the general public against the barbaric measures proposed by the Tory government, DEFRA and the NFU have been tried and failed. This is more than a horrific slaughter of our wildlife - this is the cold face of an undemocratic system that does not listen to reason or public opinion. They have left us with no other choice - the only option left is to get out in the field and make damn sure that no badgers die.
There will be night patrols in the two cull zones in Somerset and Gloucestershire. Last night the cull began and there was an estimated 500 activists in the cull zones. There will be badger rescuers out looking and taking care of injured badgers. There is an activist camp in Somerset - for directions ring 01386 761455. All who are willing and able are needed in the cull zones. The badgers need you!!!
Occupy LSX, outside St Paul's cathedral, has been evicted. With most of the camps gone, it might appear to some that the Occupy Movement has lost. Nonsense. Occupy is an idea, and the people involved haven't gone away. We're all still talking, and Phase 2 is taking off quite nicely. That's not to say that the loss of the St Paul's isn't a tragedy - as a friend of mine put it "why do things always have to end with a fence and bastards in hi-vis?".
Occupy LSX
Back in the mid-90s, occupying physical spaces was an almost as widespread form of direct action as in the last 6 months. Back then, the target was the government road schemes. Some occupations of the land made the national headlines - in particular the protests at Solsbury Hill, Twyford, the A30 and, of course, the Newbury Bypass. Their dedication to holding onto those physical spaces was much more than those trying to hold onto Occupy camps, for good reason - the woodlands and other important habitats were under threat. The pavement outside St Paul's and the land at Queen Square and College Green are not under threat, and not home to rare wildlife. It didn't matter so much where the camps were. The Newbury Bypass protest, and many of the other road protests, failed to achieve their primary objectives - protect the natural habitats faced with imminent destruction. But although those battles were lost, the protests scored some big wins in the long-term. The road protests caught the attention of the media in a big way, and turned a large proportion of the public onto the issues. By the end of the Newbury Bypass protest, scores of camps were set up along the route and many thousands of people had participated in some way in opposing the bypass. It's one of the biggest regrets I have, that I wasn't one of them. It was one of the most important battles fought in my lifetime. I visited Snelsmore Common (the site of several of the encampments) recently and was horrified by what I saw. The legacy of the road protests is that hundreds of proposed road schemes never happened, and that environment and wildlife laws are now enforced much more strictly at the planning and development stages. Another scheme like the Newbury Bypass would have a lot more difficulty getting off the ground today with the current planning laws and demonstrated the importance and effectiveness of direct action. As Swampy put it when evicted from his tunnel at Fairmile:
"I think it's the only way to get a voice these days. I mean if I
had
written a letter to my MP, would I have achieved all this? Would you lot
be here now? I think not!"
The victories scored by those brave people who put their lives at risk deserve never to be forgotten, and their achievements need to be upheld and protected. The coalition government are now branding our wildlife laws as "red tape", are trying to make developments easier to get through planning and attempted to sell off our forests. They are eroding our right to occupy, with the squatting laws and enforced evictions. We need to stop them at all costs.
It's easy to overlook a one-day protest, but long-term high-profile
protests get the media interested and, despite some media sources
painting negative pictures, a chance to get the word out to the public. Occupy has started an international conversation. When we had the camps in Bristol and Bath, we were
constantly on the TV, radio and newspapers. We were given the
opportunity to get our message across to the general public and the
people in charge, and they were listening, even if only to dismiss us.
The camps were in central locations. We had so many people walk past,
shouting at us to have a bath and, then go to the pub, start talking
about why we were doing it and come back with questions. Already the politicians are speaking about "fairer capitalism". I'm not
convinced they completely mean it, but there have been some positive outcomes - the
government are now cracking down on tax avoidance by the banks, and the
Move Your Money campaign has seen many people move to more responsible
ethical banks and credit unions. People are now more aware than ever, thanks to the months of Occupiers using whatever means they can - from social media to newspapers, TV, leaflets, talks and tent city universities - to get the messages across.
But even though we're onto the next phase and few are still camping, I don't think it's the end of direct action. If things get worse, the protest side of things will heat up again. The UNITE union leader is calling for protests during the Olympics, and the 15th of May is a significant date for Occupiers (the Spanish Indignados - the pre-cursor to Occupy - started on this date last year). Both of these are opportunities to expand on showing the fat cats, the government and the rest of the world that we're not happy.
I see the Occupy Movement as the latest manifestation of an ongoing war against the corrupt wealthy elite of this world who are hell-bent on wrecking societies and the environment for the sake of profit. Newbury was part of this fight - some of the dialogue from the protestors in videos from the evictions could just have easily come from an Occupier - as were the war march, the G20 protests, the CND movement and countless other protests and movements. From my perspective, the way forward involves "joined-up thinking". We need to connect poverty, environmental degradation, wars, loss of public services, political oppression and human rights violations with corrupt corporations, bankers and governments. There are many organisations and individuals out there fighting different battles of the same war. We need to come together as one, and attack them on all fronts.
In other news, the Move Your Money campaign is gathering momentum - more info here: http://www.moveyourmoney.org.uk/. March is Move Your Money month - if you don't want the big banks to hold the power and want to support better alternatives, now is the time to do so. If you haven't signed it yet, the petition to get Bath and North East Somerset Council to move from NatWest to an ethical bank like the Co-operative is here.
