Alan Lodge's Blog

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4374853.stm

Pair lose protest damages claim

Two people have lost a High Court damages claim against the Metropolitan Police after being detained for several hours during May Day protests in central London in 2001.
Geoffrey Saxby, from Hastings, East Sussex, and Lois Austin, of Southwark, south London, claimed the tactics in 2001 breached the Human Rights Act.

They were among people corralled in London’s Oxford Circus without food, drink or access to toilets.

The Met said the action stopped serious injury to the public and the officers.

Mr Saxby and Ms Austin, who had claimed damages alleging false imprisonment, have been given permission to appeal against the court decision

Ms Austin said: “It is a disappointing judgement in terms of the right to protest in this country.

“We are worried that protesters are being criminalised for going on the streets and making their protests heard against war and world poverty.”

The court heard how Ms Austin, 35, had to get a friend to collect her 11-month-old daughter from a crèche because she was not allowed to leave to pick up her up.

Mr Saxby said he had told police he was not involved in the protest but had got caught up in the chaos while collecting money from a bank on behalf of his employer.

Widespread criminal damage

Ms Austin’s solicitor, Louise Christian, said the judge had found both her client and Mr Saxby had been detained but in this case the police were justified in doing so.

Ms Christian added: “Hopefully the Court of Appeal will take a different approach, otherwise the problem will be that the police will see this as a green light to use this tactic again.”

But Assistant Commissioner Steve House said after the case: “The Met believes that if we had not taken this course of action on 1 May 2001 we would have run the very real risk of serious injury to the public and ourselves, plus looting and widespread criminal damage.”

Mr Justice Tugendhat agreed with the Met was “duty bound” to impose an absolute cordon to prevent violence and the risk of injury to persons and property.

He added: “The organisers’ literature could reasonably be understood as incitement to looting and violence and it was hard to understand it in any other way.”

But Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: “Today’s judgment should alarm anyone who believes in the right to protest or that people should not be detained en masse like cattle.”

My pictures of this event, can been seen at the following links

http://tash.gn.apc.org/gal_mayday2001-1.htm

http://tash.gn.apc.org/gal_mayday2001-2.htm

http://tash.gn.apc.org/surv_mday1.htm

http://tash.gn.apc.org/surv_mday2.htm

http://tash.gn.apc.org/gal_action10.htm

” ” Don’t let the bastards grind you down ” ” 🙂

In advance of the main G8 meeting at Gleneagles, there are a number of mini-meetings. This one was for Environment & development ministers meeting at Breadsall Priory Hotel, a few miles north of Derby. However, demonstrations, outside of a market area, within the City of Derby, were banned.

There was thus, an area marked out by fencing in Market Place. Quite reminicent of cattle pens. People arranged themselves anywhere, but ‘in there’!

Pictures of this, and related events, can be seen at:

G8 Environment & development ministers Meeting at Derby Pt1
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306935.html

http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=384246 [more piccys]

G8 Environment & development ministers Meeting at Derby Pt2
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306956.html

http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=384247 [more piccys]

&

Recent ‘Collected links’ re: G8 matters:

UK Indymedia 2005 Shakedown ‘05 – Nottingham G8 — The Pictures
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306592.html
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=380071

UK Indymedia 2005 Nottingham Critical Mass Bike-About
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/02/305420.html
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=353433

UK Indymedia 2004 Nottingham Colwick ‘Oil’ Demonstration – Blockade
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/06/293040.html
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=129926

* * * * * *

For your interests, these links are about ‘public concern’ and disruption advice.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/4348429.stm

http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/7.html

http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/news/642.html

http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/news/641.html

and at this one, you can download a copy of the Public Order Act 1986, Sections 13 & 14. These orders having been applied for because of the ‘serious threats’ to public disorder

http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/news/644.html

These sections, together with the help of the Crime and Disorder Act 2003, now define an assembly as TWO OR PERSONS.

BLOODY HECK !!

As it turned out, a couple of hundred gathered, and to police these folks, cost the council tax payers of Derby £2,000,000. Still, the suppression of democracy, doesn’t come cheap, does it? If my maths is correct, that’s £10,000 per protestor.

Andy Worthington

I’m sure the impending 20th anniversary of the Battle of the Beanfield hasn’t slipped anyone’s memory – and if it’s something you don’t know about, the basic story is that on 1st June 1985, a convoy of vehicles en route to Stonehenge to establish the 12th annual free festival was set upon and ‘decommissioned’ with extreme brutality by the police.
To mark the anniversary, a few venues around the country will be hosting an exhibition of photos of the Stonehenge festivals, the Beanfield, and the exclusion zone – including photos by Tash and Adrian Arbib, as well some little-seen photos of the Beanfield. On the opening nights, we’ll also be showing ‘Operation Solstice’, the acclaimed 1991 documentary about the Beanfield, and I’ll be giving a talk on the Beanfield and its aftermath, based – in part – on my book Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion.
The opening night of the first of this year’s shows is next Wednesday (16 March), at 7.30 pm, at the Kebele Kulture Project, 14 Robertson Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 6JY, where the exhibition will run until 7 April.
On Wednesday 20 April, the exhibition will move to SUMAC, 245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham, NG7 6HX, where there will also be a showing of ‘Operation Solstice’ and I’ll also be giving a talk. The opening night starts at 8pm, and the exhibition will run until 8 May.
I’m also collating some information for a small book to commemorate the anniversary, with Neil Goodwin, the co-director of ‘Operation Solstice’, and other interested parties, featuring, among other things, a cache of photos, most of which have never seen the light of day, transcripts of interviews made during the making of ‘Operation Solstice’ and other documentation from the time, so if you’ve got anything to contribute, please feel free to contact me.
There’s more to come, but I reckon that’ll do for now.
All the best,
Andy

Kebele: www.kebele.org or 0117 939 9469
SUMAC: www.veggies.org.uk/diary.htm
Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion: www.hoap.co.uk/alternative.htm
‘It’s the best bit of modern British social history I’ve seen’,
John Hodge, SchNEWS

From pro-hunt rallies to fuel blockades, media-backed direct action campaigns have repeatedly captured the political agenda in the Blair years

Kirsty Milne
Tuesday March 15, 2005
The Guardian

http://media.guardian.co.uk/marketingandpr/story/0,7494,1438081,00.html

The budget is ready, the parties are poised. Everyone is braced for a general election – except the electorate. Pollsters predict a turnout lower even than the 59% of 2001. Politicians warn against apathy, evoking the image of a public too inert to heave itself off the sofa.
Yet outside conventional politics, civic life is far from inert. From pro-hunting rallies to fuel blockades, from raids on GM crops to demonstrations against the Iraq war, surges of single-issue protest have marked Tony Blair’s years in power. They suggest that voters, far from being apathetic, have interests that do not fit party platforms and are seeking other outlets of expression.

Popular protest has a history, so why pay any more attention to it now than 30 or 300 years ago? What is new is the congruence of protest, a partisan press in search of causes and an electorate whose anxieties are not being represented.

Direct action tends to be bracketed with the left. But the Countryside Alliance, fuel protesters and section 28 campaigners championed causes associated with the right. Protest has been reclaimed by anyone who feels their identity under threat, be they foxhunting polo-players or villagers with Gypsies on their doorstep.

These are issues that parties have been slow to spot or reluctant to take on. The fuel protests in September 2000 caught ministers unawares, although they knew from focus groups that the price of petrol annoyed voters. Hunting and section 28 belonged naturally to the Tories, yet the party had to run to catch up. A nationwide consultation found mistrust of GM crops, yet it was ignored by the prime minister.

The political vacuum has been filled by the press. The Countryside Alliance has been able to count on powerful allies at the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail. In Scotland it was the Daily Record, a Labour-supporting paper, that led the campaign to stop repeal of section 28. The fuel protesters were hailed by the Sun and the Mail, both of which backed a cut in petrol duty, as honest folk whose tolerance had snapped. The Mail, its finger on middle England’s pulse, has even opposed GM crops, featuring Jude Law’s designer activism.

Faced with falling circulation and competition from the internet, newspapers are joining a 21st-century mutation of the picket line. The alliance is symbiotic. Protesters want instant attention, usually from government; the press wants instant attention from readers. Things have changed since the 80s and early 90s, when striking miners and poll-tax resisters would have hardly made bedfellows for right-of-centre papers. The Iraq protests had backing from the Mirror, Guardian and Independent. But the broadening of the protest spectrum suits editors and owners who dislike the Blair administration and what they see as its pro-tax, politically correct agenda.

This is not to suggest an invincible media conspiracy. None of these protests succeeded in its primary aims. Gordon Brown did not slash duty on ordinary petrol. The government banned fox-hunting, though it took seven years, and repealed section 28 north and south of the border. The decision not to go ahead with GM crops was taken by biotech firms, which proved more sensitive than ministers to public opinion.

The success of the press-protest axis lies in short-lived coalitions that capture the political agenda. The hunting ban mutated from an animal welfare measure into a debate about freedom and the countryside. Fuel blockades established motorists as a martyred class and made it politically impossible to raise duty. Section 28 was rehabilitated as vital for protecting children and even marriage, leaving the Scottish parliament nervous of legislating on anything relating to morality or family values.

What’s wrong with that, a robust editor will ask. Papers respond to opinion, and it is not their fault if they make a better job of it than politicians. When the governing party has a big majority and a weak opposition, they act as a safety valve for dissent.

They also get results. Party policy forums may toil away, but it only takes a handful of campaigners and a newspaper to stop a hospital closure or speed the deportation of asylum-seekers. For a generation that can vote someone out of the Big Brother house in minutes, a month-long media uproar makes more sense than waiting four or five years to express a view.

But the press is going further, using dissent to challenge the legitimacy of elected politicians. The Record’s unofficial referendum on section 28 drew 1.2m votes – from a population of 5 million – with the vast majority opting to keep the clause. The Mail followed suit with its 2003 ballot on whether the EU constitution should be put to a referendum, a demand Tony Blair conceded a year later. This time 1.7m votes were received, with 89% in favour. Despite the lack of oversight and scope for multiple voting, these numbers are hard to ignore.

Press protest matters, for reasons heartening and disturbing. The good news is that people have not given up on politics. They may not care to vote yet feel strongly, if intermittently, on single issues such as cannabis laws or asylum – and could be engaged through some form of direct democracy.

The bad news is that newspapers create their own political ecology, a one-party state of yes/no answers where the majority wins and the losers are, Big Brother-style, evicted. The Sun’s campaign against Gypsies (“Stamp on the camps”) shows how press protest tends to close off compromise on issues that divide us.

· Kirsty Milne is the author of Manufacturing Dissent: Single-Issue Protest, the Public and the Press, published by Demos on Thursday

http://media.guardian.co.uk/marketingandpr/story/0,7494,1438081,00.html

http://www.m12.org.uk

Shakedown ‘05 aims to raise awareness of some global issues.

Shakedown ‘05 will bring together the diversity of Nottingham’s cultural life (live bands, DJs, visual artists, performance artists) at this very big one-off non-profit DIY all-night event that tries to bring together as large a variety of people, music and arts as possible.

Shakedown ‘05 also aims to raise awareness of some global issues such as world poverty, climate change and global institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and the G8. Stalls, film showings and a cocktail bar run by various campaign groups will try to raise awareness of these issues among people in a positive way.

* * * *

As happens with all good things at some point, Shakedown*05 has become a thing of the past, filed somewhere into our memories as something that was very enjoyable. We wish to thank all of you for making the event the succes we believe it has become.

We wish to thank all the visitors. There have been no incidents reported at Shakedown*05, or in and around Nottingham, and the atmosphere at the event was really good. We wish to thank all the bands, for playing for free. We wish to thank the volunteers of all the contributing organizations, for believing in this, and for making it happen.

We are certainly considering using the energy that Shakedown*05 has produced for something new, yet to be decided. All ideas are welcome, so feel free to contact us with any suggestions at: info@m12.org.uk

My pictures of the event on Tash’s FotoBlog entry at: http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=380071

and on Indymedia at: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306592.html

David Adam, science correspondent
Thursday February 17, 2005
The Guardian

http://society.guardian.co.uk/drugsandalcohol/story/0,8150,1416150,00.html

American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares.

The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

Scientists behind the trial in South Carolina think the feelings of emotional closeness reported by those taking the drug could help the soldiers talk about their experiences to therapists. Several victims of rape and sexual abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder, for whom existing treatments are ineffective, have been given MDMA since the research began last year.

Michael Mithoefer, the psychiatrist leading the trial, said: “It’s looking very promising. It’s too early to draw any conclusions but in these treatment-resistant people so far the results are encouraging.

“People are able to connect more deeply on an emotional level with the fact they are safe now.”

He is about to advertise for war veterans who fought in the last five years to join the study.

According to the US national centre for post-traumatic stress disorder, up to 30% of combat veterans suffer from the condition at some point in their lives.

Known as shell shock during the first world war and combat fatigue in the second, the condition is characterised by intrusive memories, panic attacks and the avoidance of situations which might force sufferers to relive their wartime experiences.

Dr Mithoefer said the MDMA helped people discuss traumatic situations without triggering anxiety.

“It appears to act as a catalyst to help people move through whatever’s been blocking their success in therapy.”

The existing drug-assisted therapy sessions last up to eight hours, during music is played. The patients swallow a capsule containing a placebo or 125mg of MDMA – about the same or a little more than a typical ecstasy tablet.

Psychologists assess the patients before and after the trial to judge whether the drug has helped.

The study has provoked controversy, because significant doubts remain about the long-term risks of ecstasy.

Animal studies suggest that it lowers levels of the brain chemical serotonin, and some politicians and anti-drug campaigners have argued that research into possible medical benefits of illegal drugs presents a falsely reassuring message.

The South Carolina study marks a resurgence of interest in the use of controlled psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs. Several studies in the US are planned or are under way to investigate whether MDMA, LSD and psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, can treat conditions ranging from obsessive compulsive disorder to anxiety in terminal cancer patients.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/drugsandalcohol/story/0,8150,1416150,00.html

Some of you might have already heard about it, others will have already signed up as a volunteer, while most of you will be wondering what all the fuss is about…

’Shakedown ‘05′ will bring together the diversity of Nottingham’s cultural life (live bands, DJs, visual artists, performance artists) at this very big one-off non-profit DIY all-night event that tries to bring together as large a variety of people, music and arts as possible.

Shakedown ‘05 also aims to raise awareness of some global issues such as world poverty, climate change and global institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and the G8. Stalls, film showings and a cocktail bar run by various campaign groups will try to raise awareness of these issues among people in a positive way.

Info numbers: 07910 428 895 / 07910 428 896
Check out the website http://www.m12.org.uk

Saturday evening: Cabaret at Sumac from 8.30pm.
Plus other warm-up events all over Nottingham.

Saturday Night: Shakedown Party 10pm-8am.
The location will be posted online at 9pm, when doors open.
You are advised to arrive early, or phone the Info numbers to check the capacity.

Sunday: Wind-down at Sumac from 10am; bar from noon.
D-i-Y Buffet catering and Veggies brunches, coffees, cakes etc.

Monday: Dissent Info Night & Social.

Tories and our beloved Sun newspaper (and now The Daily Nazi Rag, sorry Mail – Ed) reacted angrily to Labour’s recent about-turn on the Traveller Site issue. Finally conceding their right to have space to live, the Government have authorised councils to provide land for sale to Travellers, ending standoffs around the island.

That Voice of Reason, the Sun, has declared war on the travellers, urging people to “Stamp On The Camps”. Their racist bile in recent days has led to a prosecution for incitement to hatred by the Traveller Law Reform Coalition. Meanwhile, the head of Constant Baliff Co., a thug force that carries out Traveller evictions, had a home visit. Twelve people protesting Constant’s violent clearance of camps banged pots outside his house (Rough Music style) and leafleted his neighbours, telling them what a toe rag they live next to.

www.travellerslaw.org.uk

earilier, Constant and Co had yet more protest ……

Yesterday, Monday the 13th of December, Constant and Co.s office in Bedford was picketed by Gypsy Travellers and their supporters to protest their violent eviction of sites. Banners reading ‘Constant and Co bully Gypsys’ and ‘Constant and Co: Paid to destroy homes’ were put up in front of the building and leaflets talking about the upcoming eviction of Woodside and the amount of homeless Gypsies were given out. The police were unusully civil and the public were interested, there doesn’t seem to be that many demonstrations in Bedford. Some people stopped to complain about their own problems with bailiffs and show support. One man said he’d never noticed the office before, but now he had he’d know where to go the next time he got evicted. One man (suspected bailiff) started to make his way to the office, but turned and ran when he saw our (very peaceful) demo.
At the least we embarressed Mr Bryan Constant for a few hours, who stayed inside working.
This was the first step, we arn’t going to leave Constant and Co in peace to do their shameful work any longer.
If you want to help in the campaign against Constant and CO and the fight for Gypsy / Traveller rights and justice:
nooneisillegal2003@yahoo.co.uk
www.travellersupport.org.uk

Patrick Barkham
Thursday March 10, 2005
The Guardian

http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,7495,1434087,00.html

Gypsy groups reported the Sun to the police and the Press Complaints Commission yesterday, claiming that its new campaign against Traveller camps was an incitement to racial hatred.

Their leaders made formal complaints to the Hampshire and Sussex police, and communities spoke of the fear and intimidation caused by the tabloid declaring “war on gipsy [sic] free-for-all”, under the headline “Stamp on the camps”.

A woman living on a site in Kent was so worried by the Sun’s attitude that she contacted the police yesterday and asked for their protection. Other Gypsies said their children were frightened when they read headlines apparently declaring “war” on them.

The Sun’s campaign, which has had wide support from readers, warned of a “gipsy invasion”. It responds to the government’s instruction to local authorities to take account of resident Traveller populations when they draw up their housing plans, and identify land which Travellers can buy and develop.

John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, has also given local authorities enhanced “stop” powers to halt unauthorised camps, in an effort to reduce the tension between settled communities and those occupying temporary sites.

Len Smith of the British Committee on Romany Emancipation made a formal complaint and statement to Hampshire police, who said they would refer it to the Metropolitan police.

Andrew Ryder of the Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Coalition lodged an objection with the Press Complaints Commission.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,7495,1434087,00.html

Links to the Sun stories:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005111823,00.html

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005111824,00.html

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,5-2005111578,00.html

Setting out from Mill Cottages, Edale. up Ollerbrook Clough SK128865 up to the top of Kinder Scout at Ringing Roger. Along the tops, heading west to the top of Grindsbrook Clough. Round the ‘mushroom stone’ SK106873 to Grindslow Knoll SK110868. Then back down to Edale.

Quite energetic through the snow. Very sunny day.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=410650&y=387350&z=3&sv=410650,387350&st=4&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf&dn=818

Check out the pictures on my FotoBlog at:

http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=373952

http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=373969

http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=373983

with another mission, earlier in the week, in a complete blizzard:

Vale of Edale, South towards Mam Tor and Lose Hill, Peak District

http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=368943

http://www.thecannabisfestival.co.uk

The Brixton Cannabis Coalition regrets the decision supported by the Lambeth Executive to ignore the agreed public events policy and try to ban the Cannabis March and Festival on Saturday 7th May because of cannabis dealers at last years festival.

Instead of the application for a licence being taken by the relevant licensing committees the decision has been made by Cllr Clare Whelan, Tory Executive member for Environment and ratified by the Executive. This is contrary to Cllr Whelan’s statement to the Executive on 4th November 2004.

“If an application is received the outcome will be determined in line with the events policy and the decision of the relevant quasi-judicial Licensing Committee”.
The Police and festival organisers were not consulted on the ban.

The Brixton Cannabis Coalition request that our application is dealt with in the normal way. We ask supporters to sign our petition. We also acknowledge and share council concerns regarding cannabis dealers during the march and festival. This is a problem for us and any large open access event in Brockwell Park.

The organisers have requested police action, as in previous years, to deter dealers, but have ultimately no direct control over what they do or how they prioritise the issue of dealers. We invite Lambeth Council officers to join the police and the Coalition to work through these problems in a planning meeting on 11am Monday 7th March at Frank O’Neil House, Clapham Road.

Over the last 6 years the Council have taken the Festival to court twice for alleged minor licencing violations, both times we were found not guilty. They then doubled the cost of using the park by charging us a commercial rate. This year the Council has not even allowed us to put our proposals before the Licencing Committee. This is against the agreed Parks Event Policy. This is political football in Lambeth.

Last year the Cannabis Festival attracted only 4 public complaints, – based on noise, 7 arrests – one for dealing and was enjoyed by many thousands of people. We think there is a question of balance.

In a sane and tolerant society we would be consulted and recognised for putting on a safe and free event, instead Lambeth Council have made no attempt to overcome this problem but simply use it as a means to prohibit us.

We recognise that Cllr Whelan and the Executive may have more than technical problems with us. We suspect their reasons may be political. We may not fit in with their politics, their corporate, public relations driven, glossy vision of Lambeth.

The influx of West Indians from the 50’s, young urban professional clubbers and pragmatic policing in the 90’s, has given Lambeth reputation as a progressive, culturally rich and diverse area. We are part of this diversity.

We invite the Council to work with us and the police to overcome these issues, however if they refuse and simply try to prohibit the March and Festival then we accuse the Executive of being intolerant of diversity. We note the media’s reaction to the Council’s ban has already increased the size of the march. Presumably people will want to do something after the march. The question for the Executive is do they want it done licenced or unlicenced. A bit like the sale of cannabis really.

http://www.thecannabisfestival.co.uk

Major Nottingham fundraiser for campaign against the G8 Summit (which will be in Scotland from July 6th-8th).

The 12th of March is the date for a very large Dissent! fundraising event to take place in Nottingham.

The event, which will probably get over a 1000 people in, will see a large variety of bands, dj’s, vj’s, poets, artists, break dancers, and other performances on various stages throughout the night.

The pre-sale of tickets will start at the beginning of February. Venue TBA. Much help will be needed in the week before and especially on the day itself to get this off the ground.

PLEASE COME AND HELP! ! ! ! !

Full event details at http://www.m12.org.uk.

Email: info@m12.org.uk

Led by a wagon and horse and Romani musicians, Travellers will march through central London on Saturday, 9 April, calling for an end to evictions.

PLEASE JOIN US by coming to St James’s Church, Piccadilly, at 12 noon for the Commemoration of Roma victims of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

The march will start at approximately 1.30. It will be followed by a public meeting to launch the first-ever Traveller election campaign.

A candidate will be adopted stand against anti-Gypsy Tory MP John Baron, who is leading the campaign to “clear” Dale Farm, the biggest Traveller community in the UK.

Meanwhile, Cliff and Janie Codona have been forced to leave Woodside – having spent four years trying to get planning permission for their caravan park.

More details:
call Grattan Puxon 01206 523528

Global blogger action day called
By Jo Twist
BBC News science and technology reporter

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4278241.stm

The global web blog community is being called into action to lend support to two imprisoned Iranian bloggers.

The month-old Committee to Protect Bloggers’ is asking those with blogs to dedicate their sites on Tuesday to the “Free Mojtaba and Arash Day”.

Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad are both in prison in Iran.

Blogs are free sites through which people publish thoughts and opinions. Iranian authorities have been clamping down on prominent sites for some time.

“I hope this day will focus people,” Curt Hopkins, director of the Committee, told the BBC News website.

The group has a list of actions which it says bloggers can take, including writing to local Iranian embassies.

The Committee has deemed Tuesday “Free Mojtaba and Arash Day” as part of its first campaign.

It is calling on the blogsphere – the name for the worldwide community of bloggers – to do what it can to help raise awareness of the plight of Mojtaba and Arash as well as other “cyber-dissidents”.

Some blogs have already posted messages about the day, and some have downloaded the banner to mark it.

“If you have a blog, the least you could do is put nothing on that blog except ‘Free Mojtaba and Arash Day’,” said Mr Hopkins.

“That would mean you could see that phrase 7.1 million times. That alone will shine some light on the situation.

“If you don’t have one, find one dedicated to that – it takes about 30 seconds.”

Technorati, a blog search engine, tracks about six million blogs and says that more than 12,000 are added daily.

A blog is created every 5.8 seconds, according to a US research think-tank.

‘No man’s land’

The Committee to Protect Bloggers was started by US blogger Curt Hopkins and counts fired flight attendant blogger Ellen Simonetti as a deputy director.

She has since started the International Bloggers’ Bill of Rights, a global petition to protect bloggers at work.

Although not the only website committed to human rights issues by any means, it aims to be the hub or organisation, information and support for bloggers in particular and their rights to freedom of speech.

The Committee, although only a month old, aims to be the focal point for blogger action on similar issues in the future, and will operate as a non-for-profit organisation.

“Blogging is in this weird no man’s land. People think of it as being one thing or another depending on their point of view,” said Mr Hopkins.

“Some think of themselves as pundits, kind of like journalists, and some like me have a private blog which is just a publishing platform.

“But they do not have a constituency and are out there in the cold.”

‘Everyone doing it’

A spokesman for Amnesty International said: “Just as the internet is a tool for freedom, so it is being used as an excuse for repression.

“Amnesty International has recorded a growing number of cases of people detained or imprisoned for disseminating their beliefs or information through the internet, in countries such as China, Syria, Vietnam, the Maldives, Cuba, Iran and Zimbabwe.

“It is also shocking to realise that in the communications age just expressing support for an internet activist is enough to land people in jail.”

It is not just human rights issues in countries which have a track record of restricting what is published in the media that is of concern to bloggers.

The question of bloggers and what rights they have to say what they want on their sites is a thorny one and has received much press attention recently.

High profile cases in which employees have been sacked for what they have said on their personal, and often anonymous blogs, have highlighted the muddy situation that the blogsphere is currently in.

“This is a big messy argument,” explained Mr Hopkins.

He added: “It is just such a new way of doing business, there will be clamp downs.”

But the way these issues get tested is through the courts which, said Mr Hopkins, “is part of the whole messy conversation.”

“If you haven’t already got bloggers in your company, you will have them tomorrow – and if you don’t have a blogger policy now you had better start looking at having one.

Mr Hopkins said that the blogsphere – which is doubling every five months – was powerful because it takes so little time and expertise to create a blog.

“Everyone does this – mums, radicals, conservatives,” he said.

Many companies offer easy-to-use services to create a blog and publish it in minutes to a global community.

“That is the essential difference. What I call ‘templating software’ gives every single person on Earth the chance to have one.

“You don’t even have to have your own computer.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4278241.stm

Actually, being a piece of advertising, that has been ‘Subvertised’, it is a tory election poster that they thought should have said.

“The law should protect me, not burglars!”

I think you get the idea. Nottingham might see some more of this 🙂

http://www.subvertise.org for other examples

a few more piccys on my FotoBlog at: http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=357202

and, on Indymedia at: http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/02/305629.html

More links about this subject, check out:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,8542,708140,00.html
http://www.subvertise.org
http://tash.gn.apc.org/gal_ps-arty1.htm
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/10/299957.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/story/0,3604,707822,00.html
http://subvertise.org/details.php?code=8
http://subvertise.org/details.php?code=581
http://www.venue.co.uk/global/global04_32.pdf
http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15870/index.php

[this especially interesting, trying to get it on the telly]
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=557
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2001/05/5060.html

With the commencement of the Hunting Act 2004, this week, the League Against Cruel Sports, Huntwatch, Hunt Sabs and others, ask people to be on the look-out for such illegal activities. Further, and most importantly, to gather evidence of a suitable standard to help gain a prosecution.

http://www.huntcrimewatch.com

Please email them if you can help with any of the following activities:

If you want to attend an ‘introduction day’ to hunt monitoring.
If you see or hear anything that you think might be relevant and useful. If you have them, please send us details of where hunts are meeting. You might find this information by looking in local post offices and shops where hunts will sometimes advertise their meets. You could also phone your local hunt to find out where they are meeting.

Please see “Masters of Foxhounds Association” http://www.mfha.co.uk where you will find a list of hunts with contact details.

If you can help donate equipment such as video cameras (even if they are old-fashioned ones), camcorder batteries and tapes, handheld GPS, mobile phones, walkie talkies, compasses, binoculars, or small audio cassette recorders. Anything donated could be passed on to monitors who might need it.

Please send them news cuttings from your local papers with information about the hunt which will help us to piece together their movements and intentions.

Spread the word about the programme and the other ways in which people can help and encourage others to join us.

eMail at: info@huntcrimewatch.com

http://www.league.uk.com

The Law: Hunting Act 2004: http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/20040037.htm

On Tuesday 15th Feb, around 30 cyclists gathered at about 3pm in Nottingham for a critical mass ride with the theme of ‘no more blood for oil’ and ‘no G8 2005’, together with raising the issues of transport priorities in the city.

We set off towards the city centre and went round and round a key rounabout in the city centre until we became victims of our own sucess ie we couldn’t move because the roundabout was backed up with stationary traffic. We then set off through the centre of Nottingham and down to another key roundabout with chants of ‘no more blood for oil’ and ‘get out your car and on your bike’.

The drivers must have supported us because they were all beeping like mad at us. One or two SUV drivers seemed particularly inconvenienced, especially when they tried to pass us by mounting the pavement which they suddenly found to be blocked by bikes.

We cycled round for around two hours and fun was had by all.
It is hoped to make the critcal mass a regular monthly event so watch this space for news.

More piccys on my FotoBlog at: http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=353433

and, an Indymedia entry at: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/02/305420.html

Sumac ‘Events’ Diary: http://www.veggies.org.uk/arc/event.php?ref=213

* * * * * *

McDonalds, Nottingham.

After the Critical Mass Bike Ride around Nottingham, a few folks went down to the local McDonalds, to hand out leaflets and the tell passers by, about the court success of the McLibel Two.

Very well done guys.

Dosen’t anyone think that Burger King and the like, are needing a bit more attention?

FotoBlog at: http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=353453

Indymedia entry at: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/02/305441.html

Quarry firm and national park discuss land-swap

David Ward :: Monday February 14, 2005
The Guardian

http://society.guardian.co.uk/environment/story/0,14124,1412417,00.html

They are not coming down from the trees or filling in the tunnels yet. Nor will they abandon the hammock-like nets they have stretched across a deep and silent quarry filled with infant trees.

But there are signs that eco-warriors might be about to win their long battle to ensure that quarrying will not destroy the peace of the Nine Ladies, a bronze age stone circle on the moor above Endcliffe and Lees Cross quarries near Matlock in the Peak District.

Some thought they might leave when planners and the Stancliffe Stone company announced a cautious deal last month to solve the problem of squaring stone extraction with the protection of a treasured landscape in the world’s second most visited national park.

But the protesters say they will not budge until they are certain. “This is our national park,” said Julie, who has lived there for four-and-half years.

“We have put so much effort in here and I’m not willing to see it sold off for the profit of a few people.”

There are about 60 dwellings on the site, many of them, including a caravan up a tree and a narrow corrugated iron hut, rather more sophisticated than those built at the Newbury bypass or Manchester airport protests.

“Even if nothing happens for two years, it would be daft for us to move out if we have already been here for five years,” said Wookie.

In 1952, in the run-up to the creation of the Peak District National Park, the government granted planning permission for quarrying at the two sites until 2042. But in 1996, park officials listed Lees Cross and Endcliffe as dormant under the 1995 Environment Act, arguing that they had not been worked for many years.

Last year, Stancliffe went to the high court to claim that the quarries were active. They lost but appealed, with the case due back in court next month.

Now the park has agreed to a suggestion by Stancliffe that both sides ask for the appeal to be adjourned while they negotiate a land swap, with Stancliffe giving up its right to work in the two contentious quarries while seeking permission to cut stone on a site at Dale View close by.

To do that, the quarry company would have to make a completely new, and possibly unprecedented, planning application to cut stone in the national park because the scheme would not be covered by the 50-year-old permissions. Securing that permis sion could prove tricky. “None of us can predict … what will be in Stancliffe’s planning application, none of us can predict how we as officers will react to it, and none of us can predict the outcome when it comes to the planning committee,” said Jim Dixon, the park’s chief executive. “But we have made it very clear to Stancliffe that if they put in an exemplary application, address very thoroughly issues such as lorry movements, and are prepared to offer Endcliffe and Stone Lees, then there is a precedent for us approving that kind of proposal. If at the end of that process, Stancliffe are unhappy with the permission or we refuse it, we go back to where we are now.

“But the general sense of what we are doing now is mediation, trying to resolve the issue without the game of dice that is the high court,” he said.

The eco-warriors suspect a deal has been done behind closed doors, although the park denies this. “If I was the national park, I’d tell Stancliffe, ‘We’ve got you by the short and curlies. If you want to discuss the land swap seriously, drop the court action now’,” said Ben Hartley, a long-term protester.

The general manager of Stancliffe, Mike Jones, said the company wanted to secure the jobs of 68 workers and ensure that stone would be available for construction work.

“We are looking for an extension at Dale View quarry which is more in keeping with the park’s principles for quarrying,” he said.

“After the adjournment hearing we would hold a pre-consultation meeting with local residents, the park and other interested groups such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England, so that we can hear the views of interested parties.”

Sorting out the land swap deal could take two years. “This is becoming a running sore,” Mr Hartley said.

“The park is leaving it all hanging. Stancliffe could reactivate their appeal at any time and could win if the political environment changes. It’s a very powerful iron they have in the fire.”

He, Rosie and Wookie are looking forward to spring. But they do not believe it will be the last season they will spend at Stanton Lees.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/environment/story/0,14124,1412417,00.html

Cold today or what!!, blasting northern gale, so put on a pace, to keep warm. I could see snow on some far peaks, about 20 miles north.

Had started out from Monsal Head, along Monsal Dale, walking out west first of all, along the River Wye. Then returned on the other bank, back to the viaduct.

Then Struck north to Wardlow village. You can see this trig for miles all around.

Map of the Area at:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=417500&y=371500&z=4&sv=417500,371500&st=4&ar=N&dn=863

Triangulation Pillar at Wardlow [S4192]:
http://www.trigpointinguk.com/trigs/trig-details.php?t=6739

at: OS Ref: SK178739

More piccys of this landscape at:
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=351831

I had gone to the University of Nottingham students ‘Peace Conference’. Attended by the usual suspects, and a few extra, but really, not enough new faces. I had put in a couple of hours, listening to speeches, but I was getting a backache, so went outside for a walk.

A distant ‘kodo’ style drumming attracted my attention from the Lakeside Arts Centre, on the other side of the grounds. ‘Twas then I realised the so colourful spectacle I was missing!

There was some Chinese classical pieces, the regulation and truly splendid dragon, acrobatics, dance, and a children’s choir. I piece also put together by the Chinese society from Broxtowe College, here in Nottingham.

More piccys on my FotoBlog at: http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=353970

I wasn’t expecting any of this when I awoke this morning: but I’m going to put myself out, to find more of this culture’s entertainments. A fantastic performance.

Lakeside Arts – University of Nottingham :: http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk