WATCH MY LIPS

A hunger strike by 6 Iranian asylum seekers, five of whom have sewn their mouths shut, is currently in progress in London. Three are camping outside Amnesty International's offices in Clerkenwell, and three are at the Home Office in Croydon. The action mirrors a similar hunger strike in Greece last October, where seven Iranian men and women sewed their mouths closed in a demonstration of defiance against the Greek authorities' lack of recognition of Iranian asylum seekers.

The protesters in London are members of Green Wave Voice, an organisation protesting against the results of the Iranian presidential election in 2009, and haven't eaten since 5th April. Two of the men were taken to hospital by the police but refused to let doctors remove the stitches. All 6 have recently had their asylum applications turned down and instructed to leave the UK immediately, despite overwhelming evidence that they would be almost certain to be imprisoned, and even executed, if forced to return to Iran.

In Australia, asylum seekers at Villawood detention centre in Sydney overthrew guards on Wednesday (20th) and set fire to nine of the complex's buildings. What started with two detainees in a rooftop protest quickly spread to a riot of over 100 inmates, and as SchNEWS goes to press, seven remain on the roof as security forces scramble to regain control. An oxygen cylinder exploded late on Wednesday night, destroying a kitchen, laundry, medical facility and a computer centre. Fire fighters were unable to gain entry for some time as protesters threw roof tiles and furniture, and much of the centre lies in ruins.

Australia has recently been struggling to cope with an increased number of refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iran, and overcrowding in detention centres has become a serious issue. Villawood is run by Serco, who are the main contractors for Australia's detention centres as well as infamous UK institutions Yarl's Wood and Colnbrook. Serco have acknowledged the increased number of arrivals and longer periods of detention have placed significant pressures on their operations. After a string of riots and fires at Australian detention centres, many are now calling for their contract with the Australian government to be scrapped.

SLICKING WITH IT

Climate Camp London protested against BP's calculating sponsorship of cultural institutions last Saturday (16th). The group pitched up outside the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich Park and proceeded to distribute literature and cup cakes, and collect signatures and paper boats from passers-by. As the afternoon drew to a close, the activists delivered a letter to the Director of the museum and a flotilla of over 100 boats.

BP's propaganda machine is still in overdrive, trying to gloss over the whole destroying-the-gulf-of-Mexico mishap, and has even become the official oil and gas partner and – wait for it – sustainability partner of the 2012 Olympics.

CARRY ON SUING

After being successfully sued by many activists for wrongful arrest after storming the convergence space of the G20 protests in 2009, the Met may now be facing more claims from those kettled at the Climate Camp in Bishopsgate on the same day.

The High Court ruled that police tactics towards the peaceful protest amounted to 'false imprisonment' last Thursday (14th), but the cops are trying to avoid shelling out the compensation, and vindicate themselves, by appealing the decision. If you were innocently pitching your tent in London's financial district that fateful April afternoon only to be detained for hours on end, watch this space.

ROTTEN TO THE CORE

Well we all knew they were bad apples but didn't think they were that rotten. Apple's iPhones and iPads have been secretly recording their owner's movements. The devises have a hidden file system built into them that sneakily records people's whereabouts. Without permission? That's not very nice. The information is stored at the core of the device. They helpfully transfer them to computer devices and store them. So when you hook them up to the screen to charge the data is stored in that computer. It is almost every aspect of people's existence monitored and recorded by these nifty gadgets. For whoever has the power to access the information. Phone thieves, jealous spouses, politicians, axe wielding maniacs...(the list goes on and on).

It is interesting to note that the data is passed on to a new device whenever the user updates it. Glad they covered that one. Oh what glee! A couple of researchers made this discovery which they unveiled at the Where 2.0 conference in San Francisco. They contacted Apple with this information but haven't heard back yet. No comment, eh? Well what could they say? Yeah we are sneaky, d'oh! If you want to see just how much of your history your iPhone has stored the guys that made the discovery have developed an application that lets you see. It is called iPhone tracker, the application lets anyone with access to your computer see what you have been up to.

WHAT NOW?

The sun is shining, there's four public holidays coming up and you've already bought your SchNEWS commemorative teatowel for the wedding, so what now? Don't worry, there's plenty more to keep you busy, so get involved with one of the upcoming actions planned for the next week.

22nd - 25th April, Suffolk: Sizewell Camp - Spend Easter weekend camping on the beach at Sizewell, on the picturesque Suffolk coast, eastern England, to show your opposition to new nuclear power and highlight the need for sustainable energy solutions. Mass demo on Saturday 23rdth, 12noon at the entrance to Sizewell A and B nuclear power stations. Workshops and cinema on the Sunday.

23rd April - 1st May, Sussex: Resurrection for the Insurrection - South Coast Climate Camp host their own week-long action somewhere in Sussex. Workshops are invited from, UK Uncut, Plane Stupid, SolFed, Smash EDO, No Borders, Grow Heathrow, Transition Towns, the Rebel Clown Army and many more. Skill shares will be held on permaculture, guerilla gardening, workers rights and tactics of resistance, cooking, building rocket stoves, bee keeping & community organising; among other stuff. A mass action at the end of the week to join Brighton's convergence of direct action groups at the May Day celebrations (see below).

24th April, Brighton: Oppose the March for England - The far right March for England will be holding a demonstration in Brighton this Sunday, 24th April. Despite their claims of being a non political celebration of St George’s Day, their supporters have a large overlap with the English Defence League and other far right and fascist groups, including those who recently attacked a Unite Against Fascism meeting on multiculturalism in Brighton. Meet at the bus stops  in front of Brighton Station at 11am.

29th April - 6th May, Rossport, Ireland: May Day! May Day! Rossport Solidarity Camp Summer Gathering - Come up to the Rossport Solidarity Camp Summer Gathering for the May Bank Holiday weekend to see for yourself what's at stake and learn more about the campaign. Come for a weekend of workshops & actions. Meet the affected community and hear their stories of resistance to Shell. See this incredible place and go on the Walk the Pipe tour. This will be a family friendly space with a kid's area. This will be a busy time for actions as Shell will be attempting to work on the pipeline so if you haven't been up to the camp yet, the gathering is a great time to get involved.

30th April, Brighton: May Day! May Day! Mass Party and Protest - A coalition of direct action groups including Brighton Anarchist Black Cross, Smash EDO, South Coast Climate Camp, Sussex IWW, No Borders Brighton, Squatters’ Network of Brighton, Brighton AntiFascists, Brighton Hunt Saboteurs, Brighton Uncut, Queer Mutiny Brighton and many more gather for a day of mass action. The bankers’ crisis is being used as an excuse to push through a far-right agenda of vicious cuts – cuts which will hurt the poorest and line the pockets of the rich. The NHS, Education and Welfare systems are being stripped back while the bankers are being paid million pound bonuses. Their only answer to the disaster is more of the same, capitalism with the gloves off. More wars, more ecological devastation and we’re being asked to pay for it. We are being robbed blind – it’s time to reclaim what is ours. Meeting time and location TBA.

30th April, Bath: Defend Our Mayday - The Con-Dem coalition have announced plans to scrap the May Day bank holiday and relocate it to the autumn as 'Trafalgar Day'. Yet there are already far too many religious, military, rich or royal figures that we are forced to revere; May Day is one of the few days celebrating the achievements of ordinary people, and our self-styled leaders want to take it from us. So, to defend our history, Bath Trades Council, the Bath Anti-Cuts Alliance and others will gather on Saturday the 30th May, from 11.30am, outside Marks & Spencers at the bottom of Stall Street. Why not join us with banners, placards and leaflets? Remember: the powerful give nothing up willingly, and neither will we.

AND FINALLY

It was always going to be a recipe for disaster. The US's biggest vegan magazine 'VegNews' has been getting fried by critics this month after an online blog outed them for beefing up their output by using doctored photographs of meat dishes to illustrate articles about vegan dishes.

Pictures of 'vegan' beefburgers, hot dogs, spare-ribs (with the bones photoshopped out) and more were all found to be stock images of their meat equivalents.

After a sustained grilling, the magazine was forced to issue a grovelling non-denial, admitting that they were forced by pressure of costs to use stock images on occasion - which the whole team agonised about each time - and that they 'hope' to able to use vegan photographs from began photographers 'soon'.

In an ironic twist, the exposé blog was forced to amend one of the pictures it used as a supposed example of a VegNews porky – apparently they posted an illustration of a real veggie burger and later had to replace it with the actual beef one used in VegNews after an sharp-eyed reader spotted their whopping meat-stake...

For the full story with 'before and after' pictures see www.quarrygirl.com