Home | 20th September 1996 | Issue 91

WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IT'S YER UP-BEAT OFF-BEAT DEAD-BEAT

SchNEWS 91

REPETITIVELY BEATEN?

"The commercial based festivals and parties have changed our very concept of 'entertainment'. We are in fear of becoming passive consumers to the entertainment industry, paying for the privilege. Commercialism changes the festival or party from a way of life to an escape from life".

The leaves have begun to fall from the trees, the central heating is on and the SchNEWS team need a bit of seasonal adjustment. Nostalgia has already begun to kick in hard, as we look back over another summer. Kickin' or crap? You decide...

The Big Chill in Norfolk was cancelled after licensing problems with the local council. It was eventually changed to a later date, after the organisers were forced to sign a 34 page document of rules and agreements. Despite selling tickets at £40 a throw, the organisers are thousands of quid out of pocket.

At the Big Green Gathering in Wiltshire, a notoriously chill event, the local cops set up a mobile unit, strip searching and carrying out intimate body searches. Why? So that the police could be seen to be earning the massive £25,000 they charged for policing the event. The organisers signed a contract with the police, agreeing to let them strip search fasti-goers...

Even the money grabbin' Tribal Gathering was cancelled at the eleventh hour after being refused a licence. The new venue, at Luton, was finally agreed after a huge wad was paid to the police in return for them keeping things sweet. At one time, festies were about a gathering of people, coming together to sell their wares, party, communicate and celebrate. As recently as the early 90's, festivals were still community affairs. Flyers would ask that you bring what you expect to find. Fly pitching was cool. Then came the final nail in the coffin - the Criminal Justice Act - telling us that we can't gather in large groups and have fun, But even festival organisers who have been trying to play by the rules are being hit by 'licensing, fencing and policing'.

Harvest Fayre, Big Chill, Big Green Gathering, and Brighton Festival of Freedom are all in debt to the tune of thousands. High policing costs, endless rules and regulations and miles of metal fencing have bumped up prices, with people either too poor to go or getting into a bit of polevaulting. P'haps we can make a SchNEWSY suggestion: How about a group getting together to buy fencing, and other essential festie gear... and hiring it out to sorted festy crews at a cheap rate?

Of course, the SchNEWS team doesn't want to dampen your spirits. There were some successful legal and free events, and the Reclaim The Streets parties have shown the movement's initiative and imagination when faced with the killjoy crew. In the face of diversity, creativity rules. SchNEWS had a good summer, as the remnants of the festy scene continued to mutate onto the streets and into the protest camps. And as legal festivals find it harder to pull off events, the mutation and creativity must grow if we are to have fun...

PARTY POINTERS

* SchNEWS has heard the old Festival and Federation Group could be resurrected, and a festival organiser's 'how to' guide is in the offing.

* Southampton's Last Resort Collective are holding kickin' parties every Friday and Saturday at the squatted Ship Inn, Northam. They run a cafe and info space from the premises - give 'em yer support.

* The Brighton party scene took a bit of a bashing last week, when a Brighton based sound system collective had part of their rig stolen after being served with a section 63 (powers in relation to raves), despite having received no complaints. A court date is yet to be set

* Brighton Party Collective are holding their first meeting on Monday 23rd September 7.30pm at The Lift (above the Pig in Paradise) on Queen's Road.

* Right to Party, the free party information resource is being wound down to just a web site. Log onto http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/tash_lodge/

* Stop The Clampdown - Reclaim The Future: 3 days of party and protest in support of the striking Liverpool dockers. T'will be massive and large... the biggest action this year? 0171 281 4621

* 'Sound Advice', the booklet for sussing out party and festi legalities is available from the Advance Party PO Box 3290, London NW2 3UJ - Send an SAE and 4 stamps.

* Luton's Exodus Collective learnt this week that they could soon lose their farmhouse. Ditches are being dug even as we type! In another twist to the Exodus corkscrew (wot?), Biggs' fit-up murder charge has been dropped to a charge of GBH/ self defence. The judge was ousted after it was revealed he had Masonic links! Watch this space for a big Exodus-stylee article next week. The next Squall will be a bumper festival issue - available from October £2 inc postage from PO Box 8959, London, N19 5HW

UNDERCOVER COCK-UP

Lancashire Special Branch made a big mistake when they attempted to recruit a peace activist to snitch on her friends. Janet Lovelace was approached at home by two cops and asked to infiltrate the 'Swords into Ploughshares' movement, starting with the Liverpool group. They offered her a substantial salary, mobile phone, pager, and expenses, as well as some kind of protection if she was arrested.

She stalled them, sought legal advice, and then agreed to meet them again. Two days later they had arranged a meeting at a pub of their choice (the Fielden Arms outside Falmesbury, site of a British Aerospace (BAe) base!). They offered her £200 a month initially, saying that this was five times the normal level. They wanted 5 hours of work a week, but offered a bonus for "good information", and knowing that she is a single mother of three they also agreed to pay her childcare expenses. When Janet asked who was financing this scheme she was told it was Lancashire Police - apparently they are concerned about the "possible loss of jobs if BAe pulled out of Lancashire." At the height of their conspiratorial meeting the cops offered to give her a code-name, and D.S. Paul Elms gave her his pager number and code-name - 'Paul, the college tutor'. D.S. Elms said that they wanted to "build up a relationship of trust" and if she had any information they could "make an evening of it; have a meal and a discussion."

It seems highly unlikely that Lancashire Police would seek undercover information for the sake of preserving jobs. Could it be that BAe has a vested interest in the activities of the peace movement?

Janet refused their offer and has exposed the lengths to which the police and BAe are prepared to go to for information. They wanted to know the names and beliefs of people at meetings, car registration numbers and details of future actions. When SchNEWS spoke to Lancashire Police about their job - saving activities they refused to comment. A BAe spokesman told us that he had no knowledge of their involvement in such tactics - but refused to deny that they went on.

Since the acquittal of four women who trashed a Hawk jet bound for Indonesia, BAe have become increasingly worried. Right now 11 people have High Court injunctions forbidding them from protesting against BAe - in August three people were banned from such protests for life. Activists also report that security at some sites has increased.

We all (should) know that Special Branch, ARNI, MI5 etc. are spending time and money on collating information about protestors, including the recruitment of informers. Janet writes: "no matter how skint I am, I would not grass on anyone involved in any struggle against injustice/oppression." Hats off to you, Janet.

A30 RED-ALERT!

Notices to quit have now been served on the three protest camps along the A30 Exeter to Honiton route in Devon. Fairmile, Allercombe and Trollhiem are expecting eviction from next Monday. The 16 mile dual-carriageway is being built by the Connect Consortium comprising Balfour Beatty, WS Atkins and the Bank of America, under the new DBFO (public money-private profit) road.

The DBFO is the beginning of the privatisation of road building in this country. The companies foot the bill for the road (and the evictions!) now and then get paid back over 30 years on the basis of shadow-tolling - i.e. the more cars use the roads, the greater the profits for the roadbuilders! One activist told SchNEWS "For 2 years, the sites on the route have explored alternatives to the consumer nightmare by demonstrating how autonomous communities can use land to provide for the needs of people, not the demands of capital," The camps have been barricaded to the max - but that won't mean anything unless more people GET DOWN THERE! For directions to the sites ring 01404 815729.

OPERATION NO-GRASS

Friday the 13th saw the launch of 'Operation No-Grass', a campaign of direct action against the DSS 'shop-a-cheat' hotline. The government have spent £500,000 on advertising the grass-line, encouraging people to shop claimants in their community. To express her disgust one woman called and said she suspected her neighbour of hiding a Jew in the attic. She was stunned to be repeatedly asked by a DSS official "Do you have the name of the person? ... Not the Jew in the attic, the person whose house it is?" Other callers are reporting non-existent fraud, ranting about the Job Seekers Allowance and generally expressing their anger. SchNEWS have been told "Instead of spying on and grassing up your neighbours why not harangue the DSS, at their expense? Call 0800-854 440. After all, it's good to talk."

BRITISH PEOPLE ARE EXTREMISTS - OFFICIAL!

Some findings from a recent poll of what people want from their politicians - funnily enough not what politicians are offering people:

* 74% of people think the government 'should give a higher priority to environmental policy,' even if this means 'higher prices for some goods'.

* 70% of people believe it's better to pay higher taxes and have better public services than lower taxes and worse services.

* More people agree with 'more socialist planning' than are against it This week's competition is to find a single Labour, Tory or any other parliamentary party spokesperson who will agree with these three statements supported by most British people. First prize - a flying pig and half a million quid.

BIFFA BACON BASHES BIG MAC

McRip-Off are facing legal action for plagiarising Viz jokes in their latest advertising campaign. Radio and Billboard ads entitled 'McDonalds Money Saving Tips' reproduced five Viz 'Top Tips' virtually word for word. Through their solicitors, McDonald's ad agency claimed that the campaign was "based on jokes people had heard over the years'. Viz have complained that their copyright has been infringed and their reputation has been damaged by association with McDonalds.

McFOOD POISONING

Parents of a six year old girl who died from food poisoning after eating at McDonalds are to sue the burger-chain. Joanna Nash contracted E. coli, dubbed the 'burger bug', spent five days on dialysis and eventually died of heart failure. Her parents claim that the only beefburgers she ate were from McDonalds, and believe they were contaminated. This is not the first time McGarbage have been associated with food poisoning cases. In 1991 the multinational made a series of out-of-court payments to people who fell ill after eating burgers at its Preston branch. Fourteen people suffered from food poisoning, payments were made, but the store refused to admit liability! And you thought they only McMurder animals.

MOBILISE AGAINST BIG MAC

With the longest case in British legal history - the McLibel trial - coming to an end this year, the Mclibel Support Campaign have organised an Autumn gathering. As grassroots campaigns against McMurder are growing this will be an opportunity to discuss evidence uncovered during the trial and organise actions for the end of the case. There will also be a meeting of the Green Anarchist defence group about the imminent GA conspiracy trials.

The McLibel Gathering will be held on Sunday 29th September - 10.30am to 8pm at Conway Hail, Red Lion Square, London (nearest tube Holborn). Don't forget the 12th worldwide day of action against McDonalds on October 16th - stores across the globe will be picketed and people leafleted: don't get left out! Leaflets £15 per 1,000 - Tel 0115 958 5666.

SchNEWS IN BRIEF

Students staging a nine day protest in a South Korean university, demanding unification with North Korea, threw more than just normal rocks at the police - some were samples that the geology department had taken 30 years to collect. Geology professors said of the collection of 10,000 rocks, "These are not like missing window panes or broken desks, They are lost forever."

*** An advert by a Yorkshire Solicitors firm showing a man being lifted out of his wheel-chair and held upside down by police after a London disabled rights protest has got cops all hot under the collar. They reckoned the caption "Being arrested could turn your world upside down" portrayed the force 'in a negative light' - and they duly complained to the Advertising Standards Authority - who told them the advert was in fact OK

*** SchNEWSnight to open at the Sanctuary (Hove) on Oct 19 Acoustic bands, performers, etc. wanted. Ring the office

*** Theatre techies still needed for the play on squatting (props, sound, set builders): (01273) 685-913

*** Cambridge Reclaim The Streets... In spite of a massive police operation, aided by the Essex police helicopter, several dog sections and Suffolk and Norfolk cops, over 1,000 people successfully reclaimed Mill Road in Cambridge for six sunny hours last Saturday - turning one of the city's most congested roads into a free party zone. Near the end - with the sounds off and most people departed - riot cops moved in to baton charge the few remaining partygoers. 20 arrests were made as locals looked on bemused. Even the local MP is making a complaint to the Cambridge Chief Constable. If anyone was arrested, or witnessed any arrests or police violence please contact: Box A, 12 Mill Rd, Cambridge 01767 692326 ASAP

*** Denmark saw a new species appear... Tripods. A group called the Ecotopists have started actions against the bridge which is being built between Denmark and Sweden. Apparently direct action is starting to take off in Scandinavia. Contact 0045 2087 0973.

*** The Mayor of New York has proposed the creation of a new crime , 'premeditated arbicide'. Anyone found guilty of wilful mistreatment or destruction of trees could face a fine of $10,000 or a years imprisonment

*** The Hanson Corporation, responsible for the Whatley 'Super' Quarry expansion are holding their A.G.M. in London on Wednesday 25th September, Shareholders will be meeting inside the Four Seasons Hotel, Hamilton Place (nr Hyde Park/Marble Arch tube station). Turn up at 9:30 and show them how you feel!

*** Sellafield women's peace camp 27-29th September also 6th birthday camp 22-24th November

*** Costain, the main contractors for the Newbury Bypass, had an AGM, and what an entertaining time was had too. Nearly 220 people had brought shares in the company and protestors outnumbered 'proper' investors two to one. Costain has reported a loss of £140 million for this year, with the chairman saying "These results are quite unacceptable" - we agree and advise they should cease trading as soon as possible!! The meeting had to be abandoned when protestors trashed the stage and the 10 directors had to flee to save their dignity to the chants of "Costain-Ecostain!!"

*** Mel is well, eating, and out of the nick!

*** Epicentre, Brighton's new collective of music and mayhem opens Sat @ Jubilee Hall, Gardner St

DISCLAIMER

The SchNEWS warns all readers not to organise legal gatherings or attempt to try and stay inside the law purely to stay in their good books. Do not set up limited companies where there should be pure DiY disorganisation. Always know your arse from your elbow and do not allow yourself to be tangled in red tape. Know the score as to their attitude to freedom and fun and you'll feel content. Honest.

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Next Justice? meeting is Tues Oct. 1, 7:30pm. @ The Albert, Trafalgar St. 
Films and chats about Direct Action Conference.

Dave Roberts RIP: "He was welcome everywhere he wanted to go. I'm sure he still is."

SchNEWS, PO Box 2600, Brighton, BN2 0EF, England
Phone/Fax: +44 (0)1273 685913
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