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Story Links: Under Pressure | Crap Arrest Of The Week | Stave Off Disaster | One That Got Away | Stop The Bore | Bath Bomb | Positive SchNEWS | Action And Urgency | Totally Blocked | And Finally

UNDER PRESSURE

AS SUSSEX POLICE STEP UP THE CAMPAIGN TO SMASH 'SMASH EDO'

“This is the most heavy handed policing we’ve seen outside this factory in over two years. EDO have used Sussex police as their rottweilers before and their efforts have ended in failure and humiliation for the company. This is a desperate act by a failing company. The community has shown time and again that this aggression will not silence us. We will continue to protest against EDO until it has been shut down.” - Sarah Johnson, spokesperson for Smash EDO

It’s been quite an exciting couple of weeks up on Home Farm Rd, Brighton. The campaign Smash EDO have been pulling out the stops, and Sussex Police - for their part - have been clutching at straws with equal grit and determination. It seems that the cops have finally woken up after the humiliation of the failed injunction against Smash EDO (See SchNEWS 531) and are now trying to botch together a de-facto injunction through the selective application of local bye-laws and ancient statutes. The past two weeks has seen the highest numbers of arrests since the collapse of the injunction in February 2006.

Last week an early-morning action and some strategic application of super-glue saw Managing Director Paul Hills having to smash a window of the company premises so he could get to work (see SchNEWS 605). A person filming the action had their camera confiscated under a highly dodgy interpretation of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

But in a more onimous sign of legal battles to come, five were arrested that day, mostly for aggravated trespass and obstructing police, but all have now had their charges altered to ‘Conspiracy to Cause Criminal Damage’ – a much more serious offence which carries a maximum life sentence. They are in Brighton Magistrates Court on Thursday October 18th at 10am to have their cases transferred to the Crown Court.

The ‘Bad Karaoke’ demo this Wednesday (see Crap Arrest) saw police use a 1972 council noise bye-law - designed for loud neighbours and street drunks - to arrest two protesters and confiscate sound equipment. The member of the public ‘offended’ by the racket was one Paul Hills. The police then imposed Section 14 of the Public Order Act, nicking three more, penning the rest of the demo and pushing them halfway down the hill, away from the factory gates.

For the recent Smash EDO Action Camp (See SchNEWS 601), police trotted out the old 1875 Public Health Act – originally written to combat the spread of cholera – as a pretext to break up the camp.

Is this just the reaction of a weary plod to persistent demonstrations, or could there possibly be any connection between this recent excessive policing and the hostile takeover of EDO being attempted by German firm ITT (ex-Nazi former suppliers of planes to the Luftwaffe)? The campaign in Brighton against EDO MBM has made tangible dents into US parent company EDO Corporation’s share price, as ethics-bypass investors read about the protests in the finance papers and kept away.

Either way, give them what they don’t want and make sure that you come along to the Annual Masked Halloween Demo outside the factory on Wednesday 31st October, 4-6pm, EDO, Home Farm Road, Brighton. Come in a costume and don’t forget your Halloween mask...

* Smash EDO Noise Demo – every week outside EDO MBM, Wednesdays 4pm-6pm.

* For more see www.smashedo.org.uk

CRAP ARREST OF THE WEEK

For singing 'We Are The Champions'...

A 16 year old was arrested this week – along with four others - at Smash EDO’s awful ‘Bad Karaoke’ event outside the gates of the Brighton bomb factory.

Obviously the police and EDO MBM Managing Director Paul Hills weren’t feeling in the mood after having love songs sung to them plus an ‘extraordinary’ rendition of that hackneyed old gloating chant “We are the Champions”.

The cops singled our lad out from the talent contest after he and another - also nicked – had earlier been spotted setting up the evil karaoke machine. Obviously the police and Paul Hills aren’t fans of Queen (but quite probably The Queen).

* For film of this crap arrest and the rest of the day’s greatest hits see www.smashedo.org.uk/resources/jukeboxjuryeditMPEG1_VCD_PAL.mpg

STAVE OFF DISASTER

Don’t put yer tent away just yet. Next weekend is “Camp Hope”, opposing plans to extend the runway and radically increase services at Staverton Airport, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Saturday 20th October kicks off a day of planning and strategising against global warming, followed the next day (21st) by a protest. The location of the camp will be announced on October 19th for details contact campforthefuture@btinternet.com or see www.campforhopeatstaverton.blogspot.com

* This Monday Manchester Climate Action and Plane Stupid paid a visit to the security check-in of terminal 3 at Manchester Airport for domestic flights. Seven activists locked together using arm-tube devices and banners reading “Manchester City Council...supporting climate chaos”, “Domestic flights cost the Earth” were unfurled. Leaflets were handed out to some wilfully ignorant and some newly enlightened passengers. See www.planestupid.com

ONE THAT GOT AWAY

Following on from last Monday’s Big Blockade at the Faslane naval base (See SchNEWS 605), eight Swedes from the anti-militarist network Ofog broke into RNAD Coulport two nights later.

The activists split into two groups to break into the base – where the warheads for Trident nuclear missiles are stored – some going by foot, others swimming in. While seven were spotted and arrested, the eighth managed to swim for two hours alongside the jetty where weaponry is loaded from. It was only when protesters admitted that there was one who got away that a search party went out, and he was eventually spotted on the shoreline. (The BBC reported this as though he’d been saved from certain drowning by the navy).

Despite Coulport being protected by the infamous SOCPA anti-terrorist law (the one which makes protests at parliament illegal), the seven initial arrestees were given verbal warnings and released without charge, and the intrepid swimmer was charged for breaching a local by-law. Could it be that they got off lightly because the MoD don't want to publicise the fact that people can get into these bases?

* How's yer Swedish - http://ofog.org

STOP THE BORE

Last Monday saw an estimated 5,000 people gather in Trafalgar Square for the latest anti-war extravaganza to listen to speeches and join the march to parliament. The march had initially been declared illegal by police under the arcane Parliamentary Sessional Orders, however Stop The War Coalition (STWC) stated their intentions to go ahead with the march regardless (See SchNEWS 605). According to STWC, the march was given the all clear only minutes before the march was due to start. Our SchNEWS correspondents arrived late, with their balaclavas and bag of transit wheel nuts, only to find - to their disappointment - that the police had caved in. The prospect of nicking Tony “national treasure” Benn or giving Mark Thomas material for his next show was obviously too much for the Met.

The march ambled along to the edge of Parliament Square where the police forced the thousands of people to respect the green cross code and wait for the traffic lights to change before being herded into a pen on the edge of the fenced-off square, a process lasting two hours. The SchNEWS reporters declined to be herded and found themselves thrown up against the fence, searched under the Terrorism Act and then followed by an escort of two police officers. The reason given was that “you didn’t want to have your picture taken”. (For more information about the behaviour of the Metropolitan Intelligence Gathering team see www.fitwatch.blogspot.com)

Once in the pen some of the demonstrators decided to make a point by taking down the fences around the Parliament Square, which led to some push and shove. The police showed special concern over the statue of Churchill (remember the green mohican he was given one Mayday). The STWC stewards tried their hardest to do the job of the police by making everyone move onto College Green, with calls of “move along nothing to see here”, leading one irate liberal to snap at a stewardess, “young lady I have been told what to do by people in yellow jackets all day, I will not be told by you in your orange jacket!”

It seems therefore that although the STWC might have had one brief moment of rebellion against the forces of law and order, as soon as they got their own way it was back to business as usual and a distinct lack of support for those who wanted to make the point that fencing off Parliament Square and confining thousands of people to a pen was illegal and unnecessary.

BATH BOMB

Bath now has its own free radical news sheet. The Bath Bomb is a monthly round up of 'local news, scandal and rioting!' (SchNEWS has never heard of a riot in Bath, so we can't wait to read about one). This month’s issue has articles on anti-consumerism, climate change and nuclear power. They’ve basically nicked a certain familiar format and even adopted our tagline, changing it to: “Soapy suds of truth in a bathtub of bullshit!” It’s free/donation and anti-copyright, so feel free to print up as many as you want. As the editors of the Bomb say “Best viewed through your boss’s photocopier!” More info email: bathbombpress@yahoo.co.uk or see www.myspace.com/bathbomb

Positive SchNEWS

SchNEWS is proud (and a little surprised) to announce a first as a fox hunter was convicted of GBH this week...

In January 2005, the day after the landmark ruling which banned hunting with dogs, one particular lunatic huntsman went mental after a hunt at Spear Hill, near Horsham, attacking a hunt sab with his walking stick. John Hawkins, 69, may have been enraged by the new government policy, but hunt sabs are surmising that he was also pissed off because the sabs out-foxed the hunters that day, and not many foxes had been murdered.

Veteran sab Lynn Phillips was looking for a hound she believed may have been injured when ol’ Hawksy approached her and started swinging his stick wildly. Hitting her on the head with his cane, he put so much force into the initial blow that he fell over. After being helped to his feet by his blood-sporting mates, he lashed at her again and broke her arm. Sabs quickly moved in to get her away, but another pro-hunter nicked their van keys, so they couldn't whisk her straight off to hospital.

When arrested, the twat denied hitting anyone. In a strange but welcome bout of justice some two years later, he was found guilty at Brighton Magistrates Court of Grievous Bodily Harm.

* Despite the ban blood sports continue across the country - for more see www.huntsabs.org.uk

ACTION AND URGENCY

Campaigners in Worthing trying to stop the downgrading of Worthing Hospital have stepped up a gear and are calling for people to take over a public meeting on October 15th by the West Sussex Primary Care Trust. This meeting will probably be the last chance for the public to ‘participate’ in the process.

The Primary Care Trust has been engaged in a “consultation” under the banner “Fit for the Future”. Playing off people from different areas, they have presented three options of downgrading two of either Worthing and Southlands, St Richard’s at Chichester or the Princess Royal at Haywards Heath. There’s no fourth option of keeping things as they are. If a hospital gets downgraded, it’ll mean no Accident and Emergency Services and no Intensive Care. Maternity services may also close, with people from Worthing or Haywards Heath having to contend with the traffic and go to Brighton.

The leaders of the KWASH (Keep Worthing and Southlands Hospitals) campaign (with the opportunistic support of the local Tory MPs), are alarmed at this outbreak of potential direct action, claiming that such tactics are dangerous and could do harm to the campaign as they don’t need such tactics to be listened to. But as someone commented on Indymedia: “Hope is one of the greatest things that can be given to people to keep them quiet. If you give them hope that things will change then they will stay inside the law getting on with their lives thinking that others will achieve the results for them.”

* There’s a march to the meeting, starting 6pm Homefield Park, Worthing and mass cycle ride leaving 5.45pm from Worthing Station. Then at 7pm it's the consultation meeting at the Pavillion Theatre, Worthing.

TOTALLY BLOCKED

There’s been barrels of actions against Total Oil’s involvement with the Burmese regime in the last couple of weeks: three die-ins at Total’s head office in London, plus blockades at Total Service Stations in Cardiff, Oxford, St Albans and Bradford.

Total has been targeted because it is the biggest corporate investor in Burma, providing the dictatorship with a third of its export revenue since 1992. What you've seen on the news is just a glimpse of what this vicious, highly militarised regime does to its population.

There’s bound to be a Total Service Station near you...

* See www.totaloutofburma.blogspot.com

...and finally...

Optimistic vision as Che’s legacy leaves sight for sore eyes...

Commemorating forty years since the death of Che Guevara (if you haven’t heard of him you probably bought the t-shirt), here’s one for all you latin lovers of irony...

Operation Milagro (miracle), a continent-wide health project to treat eye diseases, has so far helped 600,000 people in twenty eight countries in the Americas (including the US of A) - places which have suffered from neo-liberal gutting of state-run healthcare programmes or a near total lack of health infrastructure. The 'miracle' has been possible through the winning combination of Cuban doctors and Venezuelan oil dosh.

In Bolivia over 100,000 have been treated for free including one Mario Terán, the man who pulled the trigger on the world’s most famous guerilla 40 years ago in the Bolivian jungle. Working for the CIA obviously didn’t include health insurance or a decent pension, and so in the decades following his dastardly deed he found himself living in poverty and unable to afford an operation to treat the cataracts that had left him blind for many years.

That was until Cuban doctors cured him, courtesy of the same internationalist sentiment that brought El Che to Bolivia in the first place. The revolutionary spirit continues to sweep through Latin America bringing tangible benefits to the people four decades after Che’s heroic but ill-fated foray in the jungle.

Sometimes revenge can take strange forms - as in the words of Nicaraguan Sandinista freedom fighter and victim of torture, Tomás Borge:

“My personal revenge will be your children’s right to schooling and to flowers.
My personal revenge will be to make you see the goodness in my people’s eyes, implacable in combat, always generous and firm in victory.
My personal revenge will be to greet you ‘good morning!’ in streets with no beggars, when instead of locking you inside they say, ‘don’t look so sad,’ when you, the torturer, daren’t lift your head.
My personal revenge will be to give you these hands you once ill-treated with all their tenderness intact.”

Disclaimer

SchNEWS warns all readers - if you want to break free from war, it'll take more than a kind of magic to prevent anyone else biting the dust. Honest!

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