Alan Lodge's Blog

I have not been to this event in years. I with thousands of others, help build this event. The history of it is very chequered and inter-twined with the troubles at Stonehenge.

In recent years, it is nothing like what I thought we were doing, now even less so, with the involvement [profit rake-off] of Mean Fiddler Corporate LTD.

So, now we have 112,000 tickets at £105 sold out in 24hrs. With no announcement as to who on yet!!

So, if you want a ticket to such an event, you’ll have to bid in auctions or go to ticket touts. 4 tickets recently went for £5100.

Think I’m joking?? well check out for yourself.

eBay Auctions – Search for Glastonbury Tickets

I’m a hippy, a traveller, a festival goer, an ‘alternative thinker and doer’

Why on earth would I be interested in this event? Except it was stolen from me.

As I have remarked before,

“With peoples past in-action on the law changes [CJA etc] and commercial insurgency :: You now have the events you deserve, discuss”

Really, I know it is not very helpful, but am going round, telling people “I told you so!”

Personally, I come from a free festivals and travelling background. New Age Travellers etc.

A number of sayings have helped guide my life over time. Like….

Bring what you expect to find?

If no you, who?

If not now, when?

If not here, where?

In sum, this means self-reliance. It means gigs are ALWAYS better, when people attending don’t just attend , but are a main part of the act. It is obvious to all those there, when this magic happens.

This is actually where I came in. 1972 Windsor, Stonehenge etc….. These were my motives then and remain so now.

Of course the authorities have difficulty with a system that means they are not in sole charge, hence all the law and violence since the Beanfield etc……

Over time, I have been involved I raising awareness about the law changes and their implications to us all.

 Public Order Act 1986

 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

 Noise Act

 Barry Legg MP: Places of Entertainments (Increased Penalty) Act

 Security Services Act

And now all the Acts that have been going through parliament – with the words

“conduct by a large number of persons in pursuit of a common purpose” being a new definition of serious crime!!!

With the new definition of serious crime, that enable the use of some ‘heavier’ police departments to be applied against us. And will be the end of all the RTS and similar gigs.

Shame eh?

Now, in ‘rave mode’, I have spent time with the Velvet Revolution and All Systems gigs, I had written ‘Sound Advice’ and the ‘Right to Party’ – to try and raise these matters in peoples minds.

Well, we have lost each of the matters I’m on about here. Whoever you vote for, the government gets in!

What I am absolutely positive about though, is that people involved in the scene,

DID NOT DO ENOUGH ABOUT ANY OF IT AS IT HAPPENED AND NOW IS STILL GOING ON.

People have to realise that self-interest and their own immediate happiness ( hedonism?), is not enough to make a festival, party rave, traveller site, gathering.

Important, but not enough.

Some folks on reading this will have been too young, to have had any objection to these changes as they have happened over recent years. But many others of you will have been.

The way parties are now organised, between those trying to conform with some pretty onerous conditions, (ie half to 2/3 of a ticket price to ‘self-police’ and pay for your own public order management and drug search.!) and those involved with the ‘free’ end of things but at continued ‘personal’ rather than ‘sheared’ risks.

This division is of course orchestrated by the other side.

This old hippy / raver? Is now of the opinion that folk have now got the party they deserve. Discuss……..

Love

Tash

http://www.reclaimthebases.org.uk

Reclaim the bases is an event – aiming at stopping/disrupting the war machine across the UK. If you want to organise something for the weekend at your local military base (going in, blockade, vigil, symbolic weapon’s inspection, or anything else) on an autonomous basis, and would like to coordinate with other groups (press work, mobilisation material, etc.), get in touch with us and/or join the mailing list.

Reclaim the bases actions should not harm or dehumanise other people

contact: email@reclaimthebases.org.uk

Telephone: 07887 585721

Yahoo Group: reclaimthebases-discuss-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

These are some of the planned event, though I imagine your allowed to think up your own.

http://www.reclaimthebases.gzzzt.net/listing.html

Anyway, this is what I think I’m doing:

Saturday April 5th. Assemble at 12:45 at Stafford market square for the march, or at 14:00 at the base.

RAF Stafford (Stafford, Staffordshire) March, Reflective ceremony at RAF. Bring objects, poems, etc. to share and attach to the fence.

The Tactical Supply Wing is at RAF Stafford. Over 100 men and women have gone to the Gulf to maintain the battlefield helicopter force, including fuel resupply, storage and delivery. It will be an integral part of the deployments being made by all 3 forces. Stafford is also the major Equipment Supply Depot, and provides transport assistance for unit moves, and the handling of large or abnormal loads.

Phone : 0845 3303877 / 07960 030038 (Alsion Crane) The event also includes a Vigil at Stafford market square (12:00 to 13:00) and a nonviolence workshop (10:30 to 12:00 Friend meeting house, Foregate street)

* * * * * *

Sunday 6th of April, 2pm to 4pm.

RAF Cottesmore Vigil (Bring banners, placards, etc.)

RAF Cottesmore is a key component of Joint Force Harrier, and is currently home to three squadrons of Harrier GR7 aircraft. A significant element of the Harrier force is now in the Gulf.

For more information see http://www.raf-cott.demon.co.uk

email zinazelter@yahoo.co.uk or phone 0116 220 3944

Home Office have announced a guns amnesty. Folks are invited to hand in weapons between 31st March and 30th April.

I wish the project well, but most locally, wonder at its effectiveness. There has been a vast increase in gun crime, here in Nottingham. Find it pretty scary. Not just the gangsters, but the police responce. Too many young lives lost. You have to wonder, why most are black.

http://www.getgunsoffthestreets.co.uk

Earlier entry on guns, gangters, and police

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2003_02_02_tash_lodge_archive.html#88756662

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2003_01_26_tash_lodge_archive.html#88374768

Mothers Against Guns

http://www.mothersagainstguns.net

I photographed the event when the mother of murdered Nottingham teenager Brendon Lawrence, lead a march through Nottingham on Saturday, 1 February in the latest stage of a national community-led fight to end the devastation that gun crime causes to families.

This is awful! it is lying. I know the photos, described here, were only taken a few seconds apart. BUT, I and any other serious photographer, likes to be believed, when you are trying to tell a tale. To accurately describe how it is! Integrity is so important with these matters, we are not just talking about ‘art’ were anything goes to produce ‘interesting work’. Documentary Photography and News are supposed to function to different / higher rules.

Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles

Thursday April 3, 2003

The Guardian

The Los Angeles Times has sacked a battlefront photographer for altering a photograph which showed a British soldier telling Iraqi civilians to take cover from Iraqi fire. The photo appeared on the front page of the newspaper on Monday.

Brian Walski, an experienced news photographer who had been on the LA Times staff since 1998, was contacted by telephone in Iraq by the paper after questions were raised about the photo.

It was noticed that a number of the Iraqi civilians in the background of the picture appeared twice.

According to a statement on the front page of yesterday’s LA Times, Walski “acknowledged that he had used his computer to combine elements of two photographs, taken moments apart, in order to improve the composition”.

The dramatic photo shows a British soldier manning the Zubayr bridge and cautioning Iraqis to take cover by stretching out his arm. An Iraqi man can be seen in a crouching position clutching his child. The headline beneath the photo read: “In Basra, Panic as a Tactic of War.”

Yesterday the LA Times published the two photos that Walski had used to make his single image.

In the original photo where the British soldier is making his gesture, the Iraqi man is looking the other way and is in the background.

In the image that appeared on the front page, the Iraqi man and child have been brought forward to create a more dramatic composition. It is only on close study that it is possible to see that some of the people in the background appear twice.

Walski, an award winning photographer, has covered international stories including the Gulf war, the famine in Somalia, the funeral of Princess Diana and the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Kashmir. An LA Times spokeswoman could not say whether he had left Iraq.

The LA Times, like most big American newspapers, has a policy which forbids the alteration of news photos.

The Guardian has a similar policy. “All the desks are under instructions from the editor not to alter news photos,” said Roger Tooth, head of photography at the Guardian.

He said that it was now easier than ever for photographers to alter photos.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,928392,00.html

Editor’s Note – Los Angeles Times

On Monday, March 31, the Los Angeles Times published a front-page photograph that had been altered in violation of Times policy.

The primary subject of the photo was a British soldier directing Iraqi civilians to take cover from Iraqi fire on the outskirts of Basra. After publication, it was noticed that several civilians in the background appear twice. The photographer, Brian Walski, reached by telephone in southern Iraq, acknowledged that he had used his computer to combine elements of two photographs, taken moments apart, in order to improve the composition.

Times policy forbids altering the content of news photographs. Because of the violation, Walski, a Times photographer since 1998, has been dismissed from the staff. The altered photo, along with the two photos that were used to produce it, are below:

The actual photographs

. .

The Altered Photo

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-ednote_blurb.blurb

* * * * * *

The National Union of Journalist [NUJ] in this country, also has an attitude about these matters, and the guidelines are laid-out here. I am a member and I follow them!!

Marking manipulated photographs – NUJ

http://www.gn.apc.org/media/manip.html

http://media.gn.apc.org/manipsym.html

My ‘news / doc photographs’ and PhotoShop work, are in entirely different pages within my site. No confusion.

I feel so strongly about this sort of thing, that I have laid out out a page, dealing with these and associated issues. You see it matters so much. Say if I was to go to court of someones behalf, with a digital image, will a jury trust me? Policeman are having to deal with these issues also. Perhaps I should compare notes 🙂

Digital Imaging & Evidence

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

A cameraman working for the BBC in northern Iraq has been killed after stepping on a landmine. Kaveh Golestan was a Pulitzer-prize winning freelance cameraman who worked for the BBC’s Tehran bureau. He was an outstanding photojournalist who had worked in support of freedom of expression in his native Iran and elsewhere and was well known to many western news organisations.

I was first introduced to his work, while studying photography at Nottingham Trent University and had a number of exchanges with him by email. He to, liked black and white, and a little humanity. I felt his influence wash over me, and make me better. He said he liked my work also.

I cried tonight! Just another, of the many, casualties of war.

Please check out some of his work. It’s prize-winning.

http://www.kargah.com/golestan/index.htm

* * * * * *

BBC cameraman killed in Iraq The Guardian

Claire Cozens: Wednesday April 2, 2003

Kaveh Golestan: Pulitzer prize-winning journalist

The BBC cameraman Kaveh Golestan has died while covering the war in Iraq after stepping on a mine.

Golestan, an Iranian national who had worked for the BBC in a freelance capacity for the past three years, was killed instantly when he stepped out of his car onto a mine.

He was travelling with the BBC producer Stuart Hughes, who has been taken by ambulance to the American military hospital in Sulaymaniya for treatment to a foot injury.

BBC correspondent Jim Muir and the team’s local translator, who were also travelling in the car, were unhurt.

“Kaveh Golestan was an outstanding photojournalist who had worked in support of freedom of expression in his native Iran and elsewhere and was well known to many western news organisations,” said Richard Sambrook, the director of BBC News.

“He had worked with the BBC for many years. Our deepest sympathy goes to his family and friends. This once again underlines the dangers faced by news teams covering the war in Iraq.”

The incident occurred at lunchtime today in Kifri, a town in the southern part of the Kurdish area of Iraq.

Golestan, 52, became the BBC’s contract cameraman in the Iranian capital Tehran in September 2000, and had worked for many western news organisations.

He was also a Pulitzer prize-winning photographer, acclaimed for his work during the Iranian revolution and of the gassing of the Kurds during the Iran-Iraq War in 1988.

He is the third journalist to be killed as a direct result of the conflict.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,928257,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2911419.stm

News just in. Have been sent the following recently. Not really news, just the latest example of folks being horrid to my kind.

Look, there are some criminals amongst us! I bet you have some criminals in your circle [if you know it, or not!]. BUT I’m fed up to the back teeth of a WHOLE COMMUNITY BEING CRIMINALISED. Entirely labelled for following a lifestyle, outside of the norm.

Talk about ethnic minorities, race etc, in these terms and you’ll get plenty of obrium.

Hippies / Travellers, well that’s allowed, isn’t it !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Builder’s Merchant’s Attack Police Inaction Over Travellers

Britain’s builders’ merchants have been asked by the Home Office to compile a dossier of police inaction over the menace of travellers – which costs the industry millions of pounds a year in theft, damage, intimidation and loss of business.

The bosses of the country’s largest chains of builders merchants have met with the Home Office, angry that police refuse to intervene, leaving merchants spending millions of pounds on civil actions. One major chain – which doesn’t want to be identified for fear of reprisals – told the Home Office that last year it spent £500,000 on evicting gypsies and a further £1 million on putting right the damage they caused.

Another major chain said gypsies from a nearby encampment caused £90,000 worth of damage to a new branch only days before it was due to open. “These people seem to be above the law,” said Jeremy Hawksley, the director of the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF), which represents 3,200 branches throughout the UK with a combined annual turnover of £7.2 billion.

Mr Hawksley, who initiated the Home Office meeting, said: “They get onto land owned by builders merchants and intimate staff, steal stock and fuel and generally leave a terrible mess behind. In the meantime, our members lose trade and run up hefty costs in obtaining court orders, which take from seven to ten days to be issued. Then there are the additional costs of enforcing evictions and court orders, followed by the cost of removing rubbish and human and animal waste from the site. “And yet, despite the damage, trespass, theft and intimidation of customers and staff, the police are not interested because the crimes are taking place on private land,” he said.

Mr Hawksley said there was a lack of will by police to enforce the law, even though existing legislation allowed for eviction. At the Home Office meeting, a BMF member said that in 12 years of his reporting theft and other crimes involving travellers, the police had never taken action.

“Home Office minister John Denham is sympathetic to the complaints and his office has asked us to prepare detailed evidence concerning the lack of police co-operation – which we are in the process of doing. Builders’ merchants are entitled to the same police protection as any other citizen,” said Mr Hawksley.

Mr Hawksley said the Home Office told BMF members that the post bags of ministers and MPs were full of complaints about travellers and that a consultation document issued in the summer was aimed at strengthening the law, adding that there was no reason for travellers to be excused from legal action.

Melanie Wiggins

Marketing and PR Executive

Builders Merchants Federation

http://www.bmf.org.uk

It’s a splendid award and Undercurrents video is one of the winners this year

2003 Big Brother Awards: The Winners

By Drew Cullen

The Register

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29917.html

Privacy International today announced the winners of the 2003 Big Brother Awards. One of the judges, estimable Dr Ian Brown of the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), writes: “It was alternatively amusing and depressing to be one of the judges for these awards. RIP and data retention played a large part in our deliberations…”

Here is Privacy International/FIPR’s press release in full.

The judges of the 5th annual UK Big Brother Awards have today (Tuesday 25th March) announced this year’s shameless winners.

The awards are presented each year by Privacy International to the most persistent and egregious privacy invaders in Britain. From their inception in London in 1998 they are now an annual event in fifteen

countries.

THE WINSTON WINNERS On a more upbeat and encouraging note, the judges each year give a number of Winston Awards to individuals and organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to the protection of rights and privacy. This year those winners are:

Posthumously, to the greatly respected Dr Roger Needham

Teri Dowty, Joint national coordinator, Childrens Rights Alliance for England and Wales

Marion Chester, Legal Director, Association of Community Health Councils of England and Wales

STAND http://www.stand.org.uk

Richard Norton-Taylor and Stuart Millar of the Guardian

Undercurrents http://www.undercurrents.org

Privacy International offers its best wishes and gratitude to these champions of privacy. Their contribution has made a huge difference to the defence of rights in the UK. ®

* * * * * *

I won a ‘Winston’, on the first year of the existance of this award.

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

The 1998 UK Big Brother Awards: London, 26 October 1998

http://www.privacy.org/pi/bigbrother/uk-awards.html

Privacy International http://www.privacy.org/pi

The Activists’ Legal Project provides information about the law to people who are thinking of taking direct action, or who have taken direct action.

We provide briefing sheets and workshops by activists with first hand experience of the criminal and civil justice systems in Britain. We are not laywers or solicitors although we consult with them. The Activists’ Legal Project is run by volunteers.

http://www.activistslegalproject.org.uk

Some of my own legal adventures – http://tash.gn.apc.org/legal_assortment.htm

Bust Advice – http://tash.gn.apc.org/bust.htm

Protest Advice – http://tash.gn.apc.org/action1.htm

Just checked my ‘site statistics’ for my ‘Stop the War’ webpages at: http://tash.dns2go.com

A few entries ago, in this blog, I introduced the work I had made from the ‘Foil the Base’ protest at RAF Menwith Hill, North Yorkshire.

http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2003_03_23_tash_lodge_archive.html#91479779

So, just after circulating a note to say I’d put the work online, I found it interesting that I’d be visited by someone with af.mil address. Menwith Hill ‘listening Station’ is of course, a United States military asset.

Expect the front door to come down shortly …… !

I’ll put the kettle on .. .. .. !!

http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/menwith_hill/index.htm

This kind of reply gets generated from time to time. Thought i’d share this with you ……..

Newsgroups: alt.photography

Very good photography but would be interesting to see a “4,790 lb

Cluster Bomb” explosion over the top of these yellow, cowardly

traitor’s.

Perhaps they would all like to live under the rule of Saddam.

The Old Chief KS

news.ntlworld.com wrote:

> Photography, stop the war, protest, actions, festivals, party etc etc ……

http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=alt.photography&selm=3E84722E.4090707%40cox.net

Pro-peace messages are being posted on websites

More than 20,000 websites have been hacked since the war on Iraq began according to one security firm.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2888589.stm

Photography, stop the war, protest, actions, festivals, party etc etc ……

STOP THE WAR: Main page for [Photo Gallery :: Photoshop Gallery :: Streaming ‘Slide-Show’] at:

http://tash.dns2go.com/stopwar.htm

Hello

Have added more work to my website, and thought I’d put this note about, to say so ….!

I hope you find all interesting and that you enjoy the photos and shows.

Still very much ‘work in progress!”

The latest added, is work that I’ve just finished scanning from:

‘Foil the Base’ protest demo at RAF Menwith Hill, nr Harrogate, North Yorkshire. on Saturday 22nd March 2003.

http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/menwith_hill/index.htm

Also covered on these pages is photography of ‘STOP THE WAR’ events from the London Demo [15feb], Nottingham Demos [8 – 20mar], Chetwynd Barracks, Chilwell [15mar], Army Careers office gets ‘painted’, Graffiti and banners, RAF Menwith Hill [22mar], and ‘streaming’ shows with interviews, speeches etc.

‘Direct links’ to the coverage of these issues:

Main Page http://tash.dns2go.com/stopwar.htm

London Demo http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/stopthewar_feb03/index.htm

Nottingham Demos http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/stopwar_nttm/index.htm

Chetwynd Barracks http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/chetwynd_barracks/index.htm

Menwith Hill ‘Foil the Base’ http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/menwith_hill/index.htm

Nottingham Anti-war graffiti http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/nottingham_graffiti/index.htm

Armed Service Office ‘painted’ http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/stopwar_nttm/images/1904_035bw.jpg

Photoshop Gallery http://tash.dns2go.com/stopwar_photoshop.htm

‘Streaming’ Shows http://tash.dns2go.com/stopwar_show.htm

London Demo [with soundtrack] http://tash.dns2go.com/RAMfiles/stopthewar_1_320x240.ram

Web-Galleries [10sec change] http://tash.dns2go.com/slide_shows.htm

—————————————————————————–

‘STREAMING’ MEDIA

[Slideshow :: Video :: Performance] http://tash.dns2go.com

MAIN WEBSITE

[Info :: Photography :: History :: Events] http://tash.gn.apc.org

BLOG

[stuff what happens, when it happens] http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com

—————————————————————————–

Hope you enjoy

Best

tash

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Tashs’ Festival, Travellin’ and Environmental Archives.

I am a photographer with a special interest to document the lives of travelling people and those attending Festivals, Stonehenge etc, what the press often describe as ‘New Age Travellers’.

With my photography, I have tried to say something of the wide variety of people engaged in ‘Alternatives’, and youths’ many sub-cultures and to present a more positive view.

I have photographed many free and commercial events and have, in recent years, extended my work to include dance parties (‘rave culture’), gay-rights events, environmental direct actions, and protest against the Criminal Justice Act and more recently, issues surrounding the Global Capitalism.

Further, police surveillance has recently become a very important subject for me!

I am based in Nottingham, UK

____________________________________________

ALAN LODGE

Photographer – Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK

Web: http://tash.gn.apc.org

Email: tash@gn.apc.org

WAP phone http://wappy.to/tash

ICQ #24654598

My Blog! http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com

BroadBand http://tash.dns2go.com

My WAP on web http://tash.gn.apc.org/wap_phone.htm

Member of the National Union of Journalist

____________________________________________

“It is not enough to curse the darkness.

It is also necessary to light a lamp!!”

___________________________________________

OS Grid Ref: SK 575414 – Lat/Lon: 52:58:03N, 1:08:38W

Sheffield Mobile Sound System

http://www.burngreave.net/~trollyd

sheffield’s trollyd crew came together for their first outing back in 2001 but had been knocking around together for a few years doing small-scale parties and community events. we’ve been around a bit… havin been involved in free parties/soundsysytems/pirate radio… arts projects/workers’ co-ops… politics/protest/green stuff.

since the first sheffield anti-war demo [dec01] we’ve participated in critical mass [bike actions]… mayday sheffield… the second london anti-war demo 02 and numerous ‘static’ events… stonehenge 02… big green gathering 02 [briefly].

trolley itself is currently in its second incarnation… the first trolley was an old steel works number but was borrowed from a mate… the current one is custom built with a battery box underneath… sadly though we’ve got axle problems at the mo and might be looking for a replacement…

The Guys have a background with Smokesceen, and were one of the outfits, that came together in opposing the Criminal Justice Act. We did many gigs and events as ‘ALL Systems!!’ http://tash.gn.apc.org/allsystm.htm

‘Foil the Base’ RAF Menwith Hill. North Yorkshire on Saturday 22nd March.

Have now finished scanning iof this work, and you can see a ‘best edit’ web-gallery at:

http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/menwith_hill/index.htm

A slightly smaller version, but with 10sec ‘change’, can be see at:

http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/menwith_hill_vert1/index.htm

Hot of the press, hope you find informative …….

For more info, check out: Menwith Hill – CND Yorkshire

http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/mhs

There are also a number of reports on Indymedia and the like. Some appeals for witnesses to the police action, of course …..

http://uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=59136

Have just got back to Nottingham, after travelling back from RAF Menwith Hill.. Protest of a couple of thousand. Usual speeches etc. There was a carnival atmosphere with many people dressed in tin foil, music was provided by the Sheffield Samba Band and the Trollyd Soundsystem amoung others. Went for a march around the base. Various attempt made at trying to breach the fence. It did get a bit dynamic, with much pushing and shoving. There was a heavy police presence and several scuffles and some arrests. Some police in protective clothing and full kit!

Yet again, the police ‘evidence gatherers’ were out and about, filming the citizen, there assembed. They get to film you in a public place, you try and do it to them, and they don’t like it! Treatend with obstruction, pushed and shoved, poked in the ribs with his stick etc etc ………. Anyway, after all that, I pointed out I would be applying to North Yorkshire Police Data Protection Officer next week for a copy of the video tape that they produced during the day, being so entitled to a copy under the Data Protection Act. They didn’t like that either.

14 rolls of HP5 this time. Loads of work. Process and Scan tomorrow…… nite nite….

UK No War Radio stream

by mantee 7:54am Fri Mar 21 ’03

STREAM http://freeteam.nl:8000/uknowar

11-12am LIVE

CALL US with your news: 0795 2003528

http://freeteam.nl:8000/uknowar

Just got in from a day of actions and photography around Nottingham.

This morning, folks handed out leaflet, waved banners etc, at many of the main road junctions in town. Traffic chaos ensued, but that that was still much support.

A gathering was getting bigger in the Market Square from early on. Taking piccys for much of the afternoon. Got harrased by a policeman [again:-)] , who reckoned he had a right of privacy. Really! even when stood there, in uniform, in a public place. Anyway continued to record the scene ie, his harasement of a number of people and me. So I set him straight about the law. Silly man !!

Someone had thrown, and painted, red paint all over the Armed Forces Careers Office next to the Victoria Centre. office now shut.

At 5.00pm numbers gathering were vastly increased, few speeches etc. Quite a cross-section of folks there. Gathering on the Square, then suddenly became a march, an off we went, causing more traffic chaos around Nottingham. On getting to the Mansfield Road, in the centre of town, many hundreds sit down.

Have to process film and might get some piccys up of it all soon,

Main Stop the War page at: http://tash.dns2go.com/stopwar.htm

But am also preparing for a mission the Menwith Hill, Yorkshire on saturday. So, doing my best…… Bed shortly, scanning and web work, tomorrow.

Well, we’re off!! Not much I can add really. You read the papers, and watch TV as well as I do.

For another point of view on it all, Indymedia are one of the most updated and up-to-date sites that there is. Please keep up with everything..

http://uk.indymedia.org

Protest and opposition is being reported on the ‘straight’ national media, and a few oppositional interviews are going out. BUT, it’s not in proportion to the scale of what’s happening in most towns and cities, across the country.

Not much new there then ……. !

NO BASIS FOR WAR

Foil the Base 12.00, Sat 22nd March, 2003.

A day of peaceful creative direct action, music, speakers and a tour at US military base Menwith Hill, Yorkshire. Supported by CAAB and CND

http://www.now-peace.org.uk/events.htm

Menwith Hill plays a crucial role in war on Iraq. As the largest electronic monitoring station in the world it picks up communications from satellites covering the Middle East it even won an award for its eavesdropping in the last Gulf War. It is the brains of any attack on Iraq.

Menwith is also a key base for the project of long-term military aggression – Star Wars.

To foil the base disrupt satellite signals at the base – there has to be as much foil in the air as possible. Bring foil kites, foil balloons, foil puppets and use your imagination!

All welcome.

Let’s make our demonstrations visible at the real heart of the military machine – if only a fraction of the people marching in London take action at military bases the war will become unworkable.

This time in March is the Spring Equinox the turning of the seasons when night and day are of equal length. It’s the time to celebrate life’s ability to regenerate, to de-legitimise the military system and transform our frustration into hope and active resistance for a better world.

For direct action training, for speakers on Star Wars and Menwith Hill, or to be a transport organiser for your area contact Neighbourhoods Opposing War (NOW) at mail@now-peace.org.uk

For those making their own way, Menwith Hill is off the A59, approx. 5 miles west of Harrogate. On ordnance survey maps, the grid reference is CP205570.

OS Map http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/mhs/map.htm

Base Map http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/m4/map.htm

Legal Briefing http://www.now-peace.org.uk/legal.htm

http://www.now-peace.org.uk