DALE FARM: FIGHT THE POWER

CALLOUT AS EVERYONE GEARS UP FOR IMMINANT EVICTION ATTEMPT 

As the eviction date for Dale Farm is only a matter of days away, Basildon Council has announced that it will take the draconian step of cutting off all water and electricity to the site once the eviction notice period expires on midnight 31st August. This will leave sick, elderly, young, and pregnant residents without access to water or electricity. Amnesty International have condemned the removal of vital water and electricity in these circumstances, and asked their supporters to put pressure on the council to cease this serious violation of human rights. An injunction has been sought in consideration of two residents who are dependent upon a constant electricity supply for nebulisers, without access to which their lives are placed in serious jeopardy.

Also, notices have gone up along Oak Road, adjacent to Dale Farm, saying that the road will be closed to all but residents from Friday, Sept. 2nd.  Both ends of Oak Road will be blocked (blocking access via both Hardings Elm Road and Gardiners Lane North). Additionally, the lay by on the southern end of Oak Lane (leading on to the A127; by the white ‘Basildon onion’ water tower) will be blocked. There will be a no stop zone on the footpaths on the A127 between A176 at Billericay and A132 at Wickford. Residents are feeling under siege, with children asking how many more nights they are going to be able to sleep in their beds. Dale Farm is a big site, so it should be possible to find routes in, but be advised that after Sept. 1, it will be harder to get in, and likely impossible to get vehicles in.

* For more on what to expect at the eviction see SchNEWS 738

CAMP CONSTANT: On Saturday, 27th August, join the launch of a solidarity and resistance camp for supporters of the Dale Farm community. Details of the current state of play, the roadblocks and the ‘Big Weekend’s’ programme of practical eviction resistance workshops, training for legal observers and human rights monitors, music, films, media sessions, sleeping arrangements and more at: http://dalefarm.wordpress.com
 

 

ZAD: BREAKING DA VINCI CODE

The occupiers of the ZAD were facing court last week as the authorities began the eviction process against the anti-airport community. The ZAD -Zone d’Aménagement Differé  (dubbed the Zone A Defendre by the activists) is an area of 6 square miles in the French countryside near Nantes due to be flattened in order  to make way for a new international airport, high-speed train and motorway (see SchNEWS 750).  

Activists held a demonstration of 300 people outside the court last Monday 17th August. The court cases were postponed until September 6th and 15th which allows more time to plan and prepare for eviction attempts.

Despite the fact that there is already an airport near Nantes, the new €580 million project has been in the planning since the sixties. As well as being another massive step back in the struggle against climate change, the building of the airport would destroy miles of beautiful countryside, including woodlands and meadows, and evict whole communities of people including around 50 farmers. Some community members gave up and moved away whilst many others have been fighting against the airport and in the defence of the land and their homes. Since the announcement of the plans, local residents, farmers and other activists have expressed their resistance through petitions, demonstrations, tractor occupations, blockades and machinery sabotage.

The campaign got a new boost of energy in 2009 when people gathered in the ZAD for the first French climate camp. People then began occupying spaces on the threatened land creating over 20 varied protests, projects and homes. Some people determined to do whatever they can to stop the airport, others just looking for somewhere free to live during this financial crisis. People from many different places and backgrounds have come together to autonomously start community gardens, set up forest occupations, squat caravans and farmhouses. Some people are even building their own timber-frame houses. There’s a welcome centre with a free supermarket from skipped food, a help-yourself tat shed so you can start your own projects, bike workshops, welding workshops, a bakery and libraries. More recently there has been a skill share week in April, a reclaim the land demo in May and an anti-G8/G20 camp in July.

This environmentally catastrophic project is inevitably sold to us with the full green wash package, claiming to be ‘the first airport to have a positive energy balance ...with the aim of preserving the natural state of the site and protected natural spaces’.  The specifics of how they actually plan to do this seemingly impossible task are, unsurprisingly, no-where to be seen. The corporate face of this is Vinci, an international transport infrastructure company, amongst other things, that also claim to have built France’s first ‘eco-motorway’. They own many of France’s motorways so they are the people who profit every time anyone drives on one of their paege (toll) roads. Anti-airport activists have taken advantage of this, however, by creating a popular and effective action. They hold the barrier of a pay point open allowing people to travel for free. All drivers get a flyer about what Vinci are up to and many donate money thus raising funds for the campaign whilst at the same time denting the pocket of Vinci.

Activists from the ZAD have made a call out for people to come and get involved and help create ideas for actions and strategies against the forthcoming eviction. Their eviction wish list includes scaffolding, steel cables, barbed wire, nets, fencing, metal cutters / pliers, rope, banner material, fire extinguishers, saws, hammers, nails, gas masks, goggles, helmets, pallets, welding materials, megaphones, paint, blankets, bicycles, monsters...

How to get there: The ZAD is north of Nantes, near the towns of Notre-Dame des Landes and  Vigneux Grandchamp des Fontaines. It is made up of many different squats but the best place to head first is les Planchettes, the welcome centre (someone will be there to welcome everyday between 12-2pm) which is on the D28. It’s a big farmhouse with big banners hanging above it.

If you can’t make it to France, Vinci also have their fingers in many pies in the UK including motorway and airport construction as well as offices across Britain which can be visited.

* For more info visit zad.nadir.org or keep an eye on Nantes Indymedia. Email zad@riseup.net

 

SPLINTER OF DISCONTENT

ANTIFASCISTS RESIST EDL DEMO

The far-right English Defence League (EDL) have continued to drag their knuckles from one failure to another in the lead-up to their ‘big one’. Officially they are still going ahead with a march through Tower Hamlets on the 3rd Sept, although details are pretty thin on the ground, with many of their own members asking what the plan is. Others are even getting their excuses in early and bottling it.

The obligatory splinter groups are currently positioning themselves to capitalise on an EDL failure.

The North West Infidels are predicting a washout, and are salivating at the prospect of increased membership post Tower Hamlets. NWI are even further to the right than the EDL – taking the anti-semitic, white nationalist stance which has proven such a crowd pleaser on #1 fash site Stormfront. Though it’s worth bearing in mind that their leader (John ‘Snowy’ Shaw) was very publicly kicked out of the EDL, something he still holds a grudge about.

The now almost defunct English Nationalist Alliance (See SchNEWS 735 & 737) led by Bill Baker (another ex-EDLer kicked out for being a bit too crazy) are teaming up with the Combined ex-Forces (CxF) and taking the soft option of marching to Downing St on 3rd September.

The anti-fascists are looking to be in better shape – the UAF have organised transport from over 20 cities around the UK to Weavers Field, while various autonomous groups have called for people to group up around Whitechapel High St.

* See web for more in depth version of this story

 

GADDAFI DUCKS OUT

“Any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should have his head examined,” Robert Gates, US Defense Secretary (and clearly from the Princess Bride school of geopolitics), February 2011.

Instead of a big land army, NATO sends in the drones and bombers to help a local uprising overthrow the world’s bad guy de jour.

And it looks pretty much game over for both Gaddafi’s career as Brother Leader, as well as the unique, bizarre political experiment that was the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (as Libya was/is officially known). Having promised to fight to the last, it looks like the Lady Gaga of dictators snuck out by the back door of his presidential palace to beat a hasty ‘tactical withdrawal’ to the desert, where fighting still rages. Events are unfolding quickly (too quickly for a weekly newsletter to hope to keep up with) so perhaps its time to take a look back, at the highs, the lows, and the downright weird during the 42 years of Gaddafi’s rule over Libya.

Unlike the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, material conditions weren’t such a major factor in the rebellion. Under Gaddafi, Libya enjoyed one of the highest incomes-per-person in the whole of Africa. As a country with large reserves of high quality oil conveniently situated across the Med from major European consumers, making money was never really difficult. But the big difference between Gaddafi and say, Equatorial Guinea or Nigeria, is that Gaddafi did a fair bit of redistribution; funding education, health, roads and other mega projects. The Colonel was never shy to wield a stick, but there were quite a few carrots dangled under the citizens’ noses as well.

And with only 6m inhabitants, a little redistribution went a long way.

Gaddafi has always been one of the world’s more entertaining leaders (from afar; from within Libya his ‘quirks’ probably don’t seem so funny). When the Colonel first rose to power in a military coup he was young, semi-literate officer. After being taught to write, he penned his ‘Green Book’- a weird fusion of Anarchism, Stalinism, Islam and Arab Nationalism. Gaddafi explained that representative democracy was a sham, and that party politics and politicians seek only to further their power (sounds fine so far). His solution was to abolish all political parties, and do away with formal leadership titles. Because of this Gaddafi has never held any formal position in Libya. He just rules the country with an iron fist is all.

Gaddafi tried his hand at pan arab nationalism. After the defeat of Egypt and Syria in the Yom Kippur War, he boasted that if only they’d let him in on the invasion they’d have conquered Israel in a day. Shunned a role in arab politics, he then decided to rebrand himself as a world revolutionary, funding Basque separatists, Irish nationalists, and pretty much anyone who claimed anti-imperialist credentials.

In his final years he metomorphasised into a Pan African. His main contribution to African unity was to involve himself in most of the continent’s wars;  from Liberia to Congo, Gaddafi used conflicts abroad to sell weapons and increase his influence. Just like us really.

However, just like merry old England, racism against black Africans ‘coming over here’ is rife in much of Libya, and this helped fan the rumours of foreign mercenaries in Gaddafi’s army. The black men that were paraded in front of tv cameras by the rebels later turned out to be undocumented farm labourers seeking work. To date no proof of Gaddafi’s use of foreign mercs has surfaced. The same can’t quite be said of the rebels- as well as US / UK / French spies active on the ground, south african mercenaries have been witnessed by journalists. Of course, the rebels’ air force is NATO, hardly a homegrown Libyan phenomena.

Despite the enthusiasm and popular support for the rebels and rebellion, the chances of a NATO proxy war working out for the best are still fairly slim (see SchNEWS 777). If history is any guide the Libyans have several years of bloody chaos to look forward to, with no guarantee that their new government will be any freer or more democratic than the last. A weak and divided Libya could mean easy pickings for Western oil companies to exploit. Or there’s a chance that the Islamist fighters NATO armed and trained will attack the West. Again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATOS SHRUGGED

Parasitical corporate cripple-kicking scum Atos (see SchNEWS 767) don’t like any criticism - this week they’ve censored the website of Carerwatch - a small charity catering to the needs of sick and disabled people and their unpaid family carers. Atos didn’t even bother threatening the charity, they just went directly to the server host  and demanded that they shut down the site’s forum, in one fell swoop severing a lifeline for vulnerable people. They won’t even disclose which posts they deem libellous or legally actionable.

The Carewatch forum had been used by its members to share stories and vent about their mistreatment at the hands of the Atos-run assessments, where vulnerable people are regularly chopped off from their only means of support after a curt meeting and some box ticking.  

In a letter written by Carerwatch in protest: “We have many members who are very fragile and the sudden disappearance of a support group has caused a lot of distress and fear. Some are ringing us in tears. We cannot get in contact with all of them though as we have lost their contact details through the closure. “

This is the third website run by disabled activists to have been forced offline after heavy legal threats from Atos, without the company ever having to have their supposed evidence tested in court (or held up to ridicule more like). Some of the things the sensitive company has found unbearble in the past include subverted logos, the website name ‘AtosRegisterofShame’ and the phrase ‘Atos Kills’.

The only thing to do with a bully is overwhelm them with sheer numbers. The company has gone through an extensive – and no doubt expensive – corporate rebranding; online activists have been responding by suggesting a more honest corporate identity (see http://benefitclaimantsfightback.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/fighback-against-atos-censorship/).

Republish ‘em or come up with your own, in solidarity with the websites already closed and the communties that need their voice and a point of contact. It is vital that every time Atos, or anyone else try to silence us (we’re looking at you, the Mr. Men! ) we just shout louder...

* Atos logo competition: http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/the-great-atos-origin-rebrand-call-for-support/

** SchOCIAL NETWORK TIPS: Tweet away to #atos #atoskills #atosblog or visit Atos’ new space at www.facebook.com/Atos?sk=wall - comments don’t stay up long, but there is a list of alternative Atos facebook pages to join on the left (is it the far left though?). There is also a Facebook-led call out for a National Day of Action against Atos Origin on 30th September. Search and you shall find.

 

AUTONOMIST UNDER ATTACK

In a blatant assault on activist media, police raided the home of one of the editors of a local Bristolian newspaper, the Autonomist. Police are desperate to link them to recent disorder, and figure that even if they can’t find any evidence, damaging the homes of members of the collective and confiscating their computers will put them out of business.

Whilst the police warrant justifies the seizure of rocks and white paint, it also extends to ‘clothing’ and ‘literature.’ It goes without saying that these items are only found in the hands of those that indulge in what Avon and Somerset police refer to as “domestic extremisim” (no- that’s not our typo, this time). If anyone suspects anyone of possessing any of these things, we advise them to contact the police immediately.

Luckily, living as we do in the modern age, the Autonomist is still online and still functioning. It  advertises itself as “the only local newspaper not funded by Banksy”, and has not been pulling its punches. While they report on acts of sabotage against corporate & state targets, it has been their coverage of the riots that has earned them the full on enimity of the police.

The newsletter is given out for free and mainly written by homeless people. Collective member Lucy Parsons says “The seizure of phones, computers, and paperwork relating to the production of the Autonomist just as we start to compile the September edition is a clear, worrying, and damaging attack on journalistic independence. The demonisation of those who report the news as “domestic extremists”, and the willingness to use violence to silence them, does not fill us with confidence in the police or the future of liberty in this country. Regardless, we will continue to produce the Autonomist, using computers at the library if we have to, and you can expect the September issue at the turn of the month.” Spoken like a true radical newsletter editor...

 

AND FINALLY

It’s not often SchNEWS applauds the boys in blue for pepper spraying drunkards, but there are always exceptions. Tory councillor Andew Draper, of Waveney Council, Suffolk, thought that there couldn’t be any harm in driving home after getting bladdered. Unfortunately for the red-faced Tory scum pisshead, he managed to crash his car into a kerb, bringing the attention of the old bill his way.

Not too shy to try and pull rank, he demanded “Do you know I’m a councillor?” before kicking the copper in the knee and chest. Needless to say, Councillor Draper came off worse from this scuffle- after being pepper sprayed in the face he was arrested and charged with assault police. Later convicted, he received an £800 fine and a 2 year ban; a sentence a wee bit more lenient than the normal treatment meted out to copper-kickers.

Funnily enough, drunken-Draper had been pushing for the authorities to get tough on the “culture of binge drinking” and alcohol related crime.