 |
 |
|
||
|
Home
| 30th June
1995 | Issue
28/29 SchNEWSCJA ARRESTOMETER DIRECT ACTION BOMB-SHELL!OIL GIANT BACKS DOWN OVER BRENT SPAR RIGAs the Brent Spar dustbin inches towards Norway, Greenpeace's spectacular victory over the world's biggest multinational is heralding a new era of mass public support for positive direct action. The North Sea rig, squatted twice to highlight the ecological disaster of deep sea dispersal, is to be broken up on land after international pressure produced the hulk's historic U-turn. Shell's hell is telling. A Gallup Poll this month shows 68% of people believe there are times when protestors are justified in breaking the law, 62% support disruptive motorway protests and 70% would back illegal protests against the building of a nuclear power station. The old channels of protest and party politics are dead! All over the country all sorts of people are standing up for what they believe in while the government rocks. GET ON THE CASE AND IN THEIR FACE - WE'RE WINNING! McFUCKED!On Wednesday the McLibel trial (the longest ever libel trial in the UK) entered its second year McDonald's are desperately trying to pull out of the trial (which is costing £80,000) a day as their cred is dropping rapidly and more and more unsavoury facts about them are coming to light. (Did you hear the one about the McD's rep who told Japanese businessmen that eating at McD's would make them tall, blond and pale?) Another victory came for the anti-Mc Donalds campaign this month when a group in Leicester actually stopped a new outlet being built for the first time. After public pressure, Leicester Council took McD's to the High Court to stop them opening the 'restaurant', which would cause extra traffic and reduce the quality of life of local people. Unfortunately McDonalds is still plan to open 50-60 new outlets every year in this country till the millennium. Join the campaign! 0171 713 1269 SHOREHAM LATESTShoreham is over - but not for over 300 live export protesters who were arrested during the shameful six months. Thousands are expected to turn out on Monday to protest against their treatment. When local residents stopped the convoys of lorries by peacefully sitting in the road, over a thousand extra police were called in from surrounding areas, outnumbering protesters five to one. This time it was so-called 'Middle England' that quickly learned the realities of police repression usually reserved for more traditional 'enemies of the state', like striking miners, Irish people, black youth and travellers. The police operation, costing £4 million, has involved the routine filming of everyone involved. Protesters have been kicked, punched and batoned before being arrested, handcuffed, thrown in the back of police vans and held overnight in the cells. They are then dragged up in front of the magistrates and charged with various public order offences. These have been mainly petty offences such as jumping up and down on the kerb, beeping car horns and protesting against the arrests of others. One 5'2" woman was charged with assaulting a 6'4" policeman! The vast majority of defendants will be denied legal aid and a jury. They will have to face a trained prosecution solicitor while protesting their innocence against three lay magistrates. These same magistrates have believed the police even when directly contradicted by video evidence! The Criminal Justice Act makes the situation even worse. Defendants using their right to silence can have this used against them in court; while anyone arrested may not get bail, if they are on bail for something else. The demonstration is organised by a group called The Shoreham Pensioners Against Live Exports. A spokesperson for the pensioners said, "The issue is not just about animal rights it is also about the Criminal Justice Act. Section 70 of the act can even ban demonstrations. Anti-live export protestors are getting it now, you could be next. It is in the interests of all progressive groups and individuals that oppose the CJA to support the demonstration." "THE MOTHER"THE BIG EVENT OF THE SUMMER! Next weekend. Huge anti-CJA festival somewhere in Southern/middle England. Go and persuade everyone else to as well. This will only succeed if critical mass is achieved! SECRET LOCATION UNTIL FRIDAY. Tel: 0171 501 9253 or 01273 685913 ON THE DAY. BAN THE TRADE NOT
THE PROTESTS
SchNEWS EXCLUSIVE! SHELL TRIED TO KILL METhe only man to squat the Brent Spar twice, Greenpeace activist Al Baker was nearly killed during Britain's most spectacular and successful direct action. Here, for the first time, he recounts for the SchNEWS the epic gripping drama on the High Seas which brought the world's biggest multinational to its knees and wobbled the UK government ' It was so simple. Black and white. We knew absolutely everyone would be behind us." The reason Government scientists are saying deep sea disposal is environmentally more sound is that they're gonna lose a lot of research money. They could only do that if the Brent Spar was dumped. This was a really big dustbin - no-one can have looked at it before. Over a year ago 500 companies offered to dispose of it on land including Heeremac, a Dutch co. for £19M, yet Shell told the government it would cost £46M. It is now going to Norway for a structural survey and an inventory of the toxic stuff There are 500 similar structures waiting to be dismantled. This was the first one so we thought we'd nip it in the bud. The Offshore industry is really going down - it will be a massive boost to the industry to dismantle on land. There's 14,000 tonnes of high quality steel, for example. The first time I boarded the Brent Spar was on the last of three weeks of the initial occupation. Eighteen people were on the rig, covered in dirt and washing in sea water. It was carpeted though, we had a top French chef, sleeping bunks, and the place was jam-packed with tools and £100,000 worth of diving gear. That night Shell brought a floated rig, called a Staydive, a hundred miles across the sea. It arrived at dark and looked like a small city covered in lights, it parked just 20ft away for two days. That was quite stressful because we knew the bosses were screaming JUST GET THEM OFF and we didn't know when they were going to try and make a move. We kept busy tying scaffold poles everywhere on the platform to stop their helicopter landing and let off party balloons, silly string, flying kites - anything! Then they raised a two tonne basket full of Shell security on a crane from the Staydive to try and land on the edge of the deck. The Staydive is run by computer with wires leading down to the seabed to stop it moving - accurate to two inches! We knew if we grabbed the wires and took off it'd follow. They started freaking and had to make their move. They could, at best, set them down on the edge. The ten guys in the box were screaming and shouting - we turned the box round so the gate was facing the sea and pushed them out! I got a spot-light in the crane-drivers face - strong lights are great on actions - and he was just fucked, man! In the end they just managed to dump it and we all legged it. The skipper, Jon Castle, was welded in eight decks down -below sea-level - and had welded each door on each deck shut behind him. Some were welded up in the communications room -we had satellite phones - and others were chained up. I'd instinctively run up this crane, locked the door at the top of the ladder and watched the madness below. I was up there l4hrs in the rain - they thought they could force me down. I was still in contact with the Moby Dick support ship and they told me to get down because it 'would not look good for the campaign'. In other words they thought I would die of exposure and a dead activist wouldn't look good. I was radioing back to tell them I was ok but the batteries went dead so I chucked it. A photographer, Dave, was with me. He'd accidentally stood on and snapped the key to the padlock so there we were, stranded 200ft above the Sea with one Kit Kat and a litre of orange juice. Come the morning Dave said 'I wanna go" so I B-Layed him down. I tried to blag another radio but they kept spinning me out so I said "You've got three minutes to get me a radio or I'm going to bed!". In the morning they brought on the skipper who asked me to come down. When I'd woken I felt pretty stiff and cold and was worried about exposure so I came down. ...they thought I would die of exposure and a dead activist wouldn't look good. I was radioing back to tell them I was ok but the batteries went dead so I chucked it... As soon as we left Shell came straight in and stripped the Spar to making it inhospitable and rigged it up to two tugs to drag it off to its deep sea death while I made it back to Sussex. Greenpeaee tried to sab the tugs but the police came in and literally run them over. Once they'd started tugging it I wanted to get back on. Moby Dick by this stage had been trashed by 20ft waves and everyone on board was knackered - no-one could sleep because they had to continually hold on to something. So we chartered a pilot ship in Holland. Shell had dumped our possessions in Shetland so we just picked them all back up, put them on the new ship and set off! We took over from Moby Dick and followed the Spar For two or three days hatching plots of how we were going to re-occupy die rig. They were keeping a very close eye on us - a chopper above, another ship behind and the two tugs either side of the Spar. HMS Alderney turned up - and pretended not to be there! We could hear Shell on the radio: "HMS Alderny, HMS Alderney, this is Shell" but they wouldn't answer. They kept peering out from the deck then ducking back down - it was really funny. Then they turned on the water cannons. Shell reckoned it was a fire drill - if it was, it was a 24hrs a day, seven days a week fire drill - shooting water at us 60 tonnes a second. Then they tried serving us with an injunction. They said they'd lower a guy down to read this great wad of paper to us. We told them it was too dangerous so they produced this bloody great megaphone and started shouting the words. So we hit the ship's horn! After five minutes of mouthing words lost in the siren he stopped. The poor guy was hoarse. Then they dropped someone on to the ship following us and launched a boat to try and land the injunction papers which were wrapped in polythene. So we said: "Right lads, time to clean the decks" and got out the fire hoses! The papers landed and zipped straight off with the jets. If the injunction hits you it's served. It was like a school game. We were accused of blowing raspberries at die Scottish Law system - and we were! The tugs' water cannons were hydraulic remote-controlled and we knew if we could cut the hydraulics they wouldn't be able to aim. Out of the blue a press chopper arrived - because Shell didn't know who they were they aimed the cannons and nearly rocked it out of the sky. We were shocked - we didn't think they'd do that. The Greenpeace chopper was having problems - and all the time the Spar was heading for the dump site. By this time we were out of the Hebredes and into the Atlantic Ocean. Then we found this German pilot who didn't seem to give a fuck - a real nutter -who arrived to help us in this tiny chopper, then the cannons started again. We made it look like we'd attempt to occupy the Spar from the water as a decoy for the cannons and it worked. There were three of us - Harold, Eric and me crouched in this little chopper and we went for it. We flung the door open 50ft above the rig and the cannons were aiming straight at us. We were dodging rivers in the sky so we were forced to return to the Dutch ship. Our next plan was to go back to the mainland, fly so high as not to be noticed and then zoom down in the dead of night from on high. We took off again - me, Eric, an engineer and our lunatic German pilot - and the guy just flew us straight in there. Suddenly we were above the rig - the engineer had a freak-out and tried to push me out so I jumped and Eric jumped hitting me on the way down and fucked his feet up. So there we were dazed on the deck getting hosed down by the cannons and shouting "YIPPEE!". We couldn't believe it! We went under the Heli-deck but Eric couldn't walk. The cannons were like Monsoon rain - there was no direct hit. By this time Shell had three tugs with two cannons on each. Our chopper tried to drop supplies but got hit so the supplies came tumbling down - BOOM! - and creamed everything! The Spar shook. We edged down the ladders - now exposed to the sea - to the accommodation deck and I got Eric comfortable. He was in a hell of a lot of pain. I went back up to the Heli-deck to get more supplies. I got hit twice by the cannons and whanged against a wall with salt water up my nose and under my eyelids. I legged it for cover. They were trying to kill us - but I was full of adrenaline and we had stuff to do. I'd got Eric comfy in a lovely room - then I opened a supply barrel and it spilled and smashed up the room with baked beans and squashed gunge creating this big sort of soup. We'd trashed the best room and it was all useless! They'd put razor wire all over the Spar. I cut loads of it off and made a nest on the Heli-Pad to stop them landing. It looked good and it felt good to be doing something. I got hit twice again and me and this big roll of razor wire slipped across the deck. I was saved by the wire - I would have shot straight over the edge. I thought "Fuck that I'm not going out again!". ...They'd tried to kill me with the cannons, would they think twice about blowing us up? It was hard to think rationally. They could have pressed the button and claimed we had killed ourselves by tampering with the explosives - no-one would know. Should I cut the wires or not? Most of the Spar was flooded. It was freezing cold. The cannons had blown in all the windows - they've got unbelievable power. The jets had knocked down Asbestos walls and I was worried about the effects of the dust. We knew they could blow us out if they knew which room we were in. Wires of plastic explosives were all around - and we didn't have the button. It was all radio controlled. They'd tried to kill me with the cannons, would they think twice about blowing us up? It was hard to think rationally. They could have pressed the button and claimed we had killed ourselves by tampering with the explosives - no-one would know. Should I cut the wires or not? I called through to the Dutch ship. "I'm going to cut the wires - get me an explosives expert!" I wasn't asking them I was telling them. Shell believed VHF communications were all we had and were monitoring them but this call was private using a crappy CB! We made like we were hi-tech used the code word 'microwave' when we wanted to use the CB. Greenpeace made some enquiries and the advice came back: "You are possibly safe!". I cut the wires at strategic points. Nothing happened. It was a great relief. I covered the clumps of wires so it didn't look like I'd done anything. When they fired on the Heli-deck again it provided cover so they couldn't see what I was doing. I snapped all the aerials [to stop remote controlled explosions] which they'd then think they would have broken with the jets. I could imagine them sending an explosives expert who would hit the button and nothing would happen! I put a tracking device on the Spar - a Pinger. A Pinger is just a device which goes Ping! so you can find it. We were trying to get comfortable. We had a radio which had two channels. One was Norwegian. I could hear them saying 'Brent Spar' and 'Shell' a lot. The other station was Talk UK - I switched it off after two minutes. The weather was getting very rough but Eric was getting better. We told the Dutch ship over the VHF we were four decks down and you could see the cannons lowering to fire. We were, of course, much higher. Jon Castle warned Shell they'd kill us and they actually eased off a bit. We worked out that we had 40 day's food but that wasn't so comforting - we didn't want to be there for forty days! At one point I got a hit of Hydrogen Sulphide - I legged it. It kills you. [there had been three fatalities among former workers on the Spar]. The gas was very worrying. The two of us had been alone on the Spar for three days. We went to sleep. Suddenly, at 4am, we were woken by two guys pounding frantically on the window of the accommodation deck! I jumped up and realised I recognised one of them. The cannons were coming round and these guys didn't know where to go! Neither of them had been on the Spar before. We showed them in. Another of Greenpeace's four ships, the Solo, had turned up and flown them on board. No-one had told us! I was fucked off - we only had two beds and one cup and then these two others turn up! They were good blokes. By l0am we heard that the SAS and Shell had two choppers lifting off from Stornaway and they'd be here in one hour. We were getting tip-offs from everyone - including Shell employees. I thought that's it. We made a half-hearted attempt to barricade ourselves in, and had a last fag and cup of coffee. We all thought by now it'd be a relief to get off. I was so tired I fell asleep. I woke to Eric screaming his head off in Dutch. I thought that's it - they're here. I called the ship. They said: "Shell have done a U-turn - it's all over". I called again - same message. I called a third time not able to believe what they were saying. We climbed up on deck and saw that the trailing ships had fallen behind. Then I watched as the tugs started turning slowly round and the biggest rainbow I'd ever seen arced across the sky - I kept pinching myself. We'd saved one banner SAVE OUR SEAS which we'd been sleeping on and I fetched it. I stood on the deck in a state of shock holding a flare, my face agog, going 'Wow!'. They came and picked our stuff up. I wanted to get back to the ship so I abseiled down myself - they never got me off. I came down. I remember leaving the radio on the this really good Norwegian Jazz channel. It's probably still playing! Then we got really drunk! We followed the Spar for another couple of days just to check - then we got criminally drunk! We headed for the port. Most of the Scottish people on the quay thought we'd caused Major to resign. They love anything which fucks the Tories up there! I think we might have acted as a trigger. We got to Shetland and the press flocked wanting to laud us on this hero trip. It was really difficult. I just said we have shined a light and said 'Look, this is happening'. It was the customer boycott which did the damage. ...Then I watched as the tugs started turning slowly round and the biggest rainbow I'd ever seen arced across the sky - I kept pinching myself. We'd saved one banner SAVE OUR SEAS which we'd been sleeping on and I fetched it. I stood on the deck in a state of shock holding a flare, my face agog, going 'Wow!'... The success is a little beacon of light - we don't have to get pushed around by these people. We took on the world's biggest multi-national and they just fell over. I didn't realise the support we were getting. I thought we were a couple of idiots who would get blown up. It's a lot easier to do these things if everyone's behind you. I don't want to do anything like that again. Not for a few weeks. I think it is time Greenpeace did a lot more positive things. All the technology is out there - Greenpeace Germany have invented a car engine which runs on half a teaspoon of petrol a day. We've got a lot of power - perhaps more than we ever realised. Many thanks to Al for his time. Inspired? Getting involved is easier than you think. There are countless actions every week in the UK. Just call any of the groups in the SChNEWS and go for it. See yer there!
AYM AMO TORIST CULTWend cults like the Aum Shion Kyo' (allegedly responsible for the Sarin gas attacks in Tokyo) are not confined to Japan. For instance there is the shadowy 'Aym Amo Torist' cult, whose influence is now so widespread in Europe that many people belong to it without realising. Most of them would be shocked to learn it is devoted to ritual suicide by mutual asphyxiation. Its adherents become subject to unconscious urges, prompted by subliminal messages, which make them take part in mass gatherings known as 'drives'. During such a gathering, large numbers of cult members meet on major roads in their ceremonial coffins, which they are each brainwashed to call 'Mymo Torka', even though there are millions of them. Each coffin emits poison gasses which progressively stifle people, first nearby, then further afield. When enough coffins have been built and a big enough 'drive' takes place. the doctrine goes, cult members will achieve their goal of suicide by atmospheric poisoning. Curiously. these 'drives' tend to occur in extremely hot or extremely cold weather. The period May 3 to 8 this year was one of the earliest recorded and was widely reported in the press (though from fear of reprisals, the role of the cult was mentioned only obliquely). The Times (May 5) reported: "A cocktail of pollutant gasses blanketed large areas of Britain yesterday as traffic fumes reacted with the sunshine to accuse breathing problems for millions ... in many areas, levels of ozone, NO2 and SO2 exceeded internationally recommended safe levels and even the Government's less stringent limits ..." The Chairman of the British Lung Foundation commented "Britain may run out of fresh air in many parts of the country." * To prevent being seduced into cult membership try chanting 'Theemo Torka is crap' and follow the diary below * real quotes (not spoofs!) TODAY - NATIONAL DAY
OF GRIDLOCK TOMORROW - CRITICAL MASS II Brighton. 12:30pm, St Peters Church. Just arrive on a bike! MONDAY - ROAD BLOCK H Wanstead, London. 8-9am @ George Green (outside Wanstead Tube) MONDAY - WELLS RELIEF ROAD ACTION. 7am @ Old Railway Bridge, Dulcote. Two arrested under CJA last week. Police stopped a digger driver swinging around to make the arrests! Tel: 01749 880639 SAT 8th JULY - MARCH AGAINST COVENTRY N/S LINK RD Tel: 0973 241521 JULY 23rd - STREET PARTY II 'RAVE AGAINST THE MACHINE'. Reclaim The Streets @ Battlebridge Rd (behind Kings Cross Stn) 0171 254 2290 JULY 31st - TWYFORD DOWN IN COURT Demo at Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand before judge makes final decision over DoT damages claim against 50 protesters. Tel RA! For updates call ROAD ALERT! on 01635 521770 e-SchNEWS INSIDE SchNEWSMARK SKELLY. one of 70 arrested at the Hyde Park Criminal Justice Act Demo last October, is expected to be sentenced for between one and two years at Southwark Crown Court today. He is charged with affray. Leading up to the trail Mark gained access to Operation Greystoke HQ - the police unit set up to trace regular 'rioters' - and saw 400 mugshots and 36hrs of footage which had been seized from the media. "The surveillance operation was very together especially the Helli-telly (helicopter spy in the sky). I remember seeing it circling but the footage is amazing - it can pick up the time on someone's wrist watch," Mark told the SchNEWS. "I threw a couple of banner sticks -no-one got hurt - but they've got me down as a prime trouble-maker." said Mark who has a previous conviction for affray during the ambush on travellers at Glastonbury Festival in 1990. "I'd advise anyone going on a march to mask-up. I'm not advocating violent action I'm just saying that you should take precautions just in case you are targeted and they want to stitch you up". * Germany this month outlawed wearing balaclavas on demonstrations Meanwhile PHIL, who has already served 8 months for his part in the anti BNP Welling demo, was found not guilty of affray at Hyde Pk at the Old Bailey last week. He writes: "the judge threw the case out of court as it looked like the police were making it up as they went on. Remember 'When oppression is law, revolution is order' ha! Take care and be free. Anarchy, peace and freedom. Phil." Write to him at EJ3496, HB2, HMP Elmley, Kent ME12 4AY JIM CHAMBERS has now been inside 142 days for alleged criminal damage to a road construction site. Write to him a PV 2504, HMP Pentonville, Caledonian Rd, London. N7 8TT CHRIS COLE also at Pentonville for six months for breaking an injunction against British Aerospace PB 0538 FLYPOST FOR FREEDOM! JULY 1-10thDirect Information Drive! New glossy A2 posters 'IDENTITY CARDS - CONSUMING HUMAN RIGHTS' with contacts on reverse now available. Order NOW! Send donations & large sae. Make yer own! Subvert others! Freedom Network, 372 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton. London. SW9 8PT. Tel: 0171 738 6721. THE WHITE BOOKThe White Book is out! Now known as The Book it lists 200 active collectives - invaluable for info on doing your own local direct actions as well as on groups that are active near you. Make sure you get a copy - £3.50 + 50p p&p (cheques payable to 'The Book') to Justice'? @ address on backpage. SchNEWS IN BRIEFBALLYHOOLY WOODS, NORTH CORK, IRELAND .... Forty mainly English travellers have been 'imprisoned' by the Irish Forestry. Coillte have locked all entry and exit barriers to the beautiful wood nr Fermoy. "People around here in the shops and pubs are great", said one traveller, Jamie. "We are only making our own amenities on land which isn't being used." *** HOWARD IN PAIN(E) .... Michael Howard was greeted with a barrage of flying eggs when he visited White Hart Hotel in Lewes. Sussex last week. "It's ironic that Mr Howard is going to the pub where Thomas Paine [author of The Rights of Man] used to debate. The Criminal Justice Act is the most serious threat that Paine's democracy has seen in 200 years. The Act will even make Lewes bonfire procession illegal," said a protester. Four people were arrested. Last November at the annual bonfire celebrations in the town - which attracted 70,000 people - an effigy of the Home Secretary was burned *** Munstonia, the last squatted house on the route of the M 11 was evicted last Tuesday. It was a peaceful eviction with protesters out on the roof basking in the sun *** 2 Essex hunt sabs were acquitted recently after police who brought the cases were shown to be blatantly lying. One policeman who said a hunt sab had broken his arm had in fact had his wrist sprained by someone falling on him. The acquittal comes at the same time as that of 5 other hunt sabs on charges of trespass, and the publication of stats showing 43% of CJA charges don't even make it to court and only 7% end in convictions *** KENEDJACK, WEST CORNWALL Thirty travellers evicted by the National Trust have been moved straight on to another site which already has six vehicles immediately creating another 'illegal' gathering under the Criminal Justice Act! During the eviction the travellers pretended to be tourists and one man chained himself by his wooden leg to his trailer. *** .AND THE FENCES CAME DOWN! Glastonbury was declared Europe's biggest Free Festival after 300yrds of 10ft fencing was ripped down above the Sacred Space field last Friday night. The Glastonbury 'Greenpeace' Festival raised £360,000 for the police. Party and ProtestSAT 1st JOB SEEKERS ALLOWANCE Set to be piloted in Reading - JSA? No Fucking Way! 11am-5pm 75a Mildmay Pk, Newington Green, N1 SAT 1st Mass Action at proposed Open Cast mine Cwmgrach, W Glamorgan. 01222 383363 SUN 2nd Direct Action Video benefit for the Shoreham Defence Campaign. Videos of environmental actions throughout the country and Shoreham arrests for most shipment days. Donation only, Brighton Unemployed Centre, Tilbury Place, 2PM -10PM. SAT 8th YOUNG PEOPLE'S FESTIVAL -SCREAM & SHOUT! A Voice for Children and Young People 11am-5pm @ Brighton College of Technology, Pelham Sq. JULY 26-30th Big Green Gathering. Delightful eco-festy. Details PO box 123, Salisbury. Wilts, SP2 0YA. Tel: 01747 870667 *FREEDOM NETWORK ACTION LINE 0171 501 9253 and Finally...A politician has resigned. He will be replaced by another Or not Who cares?
To subscribe to SchNEWS
send stamps/donations (payable to Justice?) SchNEWS c/o on-the-fiddle
PO Box 2600 Brighton East Sussex . Tel: (01273) 685913. Justice? meet every wednesday 7pm @ the prince albert trafalgar st Hot! Hot! Hot! See you on the beach... Strictly @nticopyright - customise . photocopy. distribute.
|
||||
|
@nti copyright - information for action - copy and distribute! |
||||
