Nottingham and Slavery – A Hidden History
15 Mar 2007
As Britain continues the 2007 celebration of ‘Abolition 200’, the legal end of Britain’s official involvement in trans-Atlantic slave trading, and with most eyes on the main slave trade ports like Bristol and Liverpool, our local councils seem quite unconcerned about direct or indirect involvement with the profits of slavery in Notts and East Midlands, and seem happy just to leave local churches to do the soul searching. Let’s ask some questions…An easy example of Notts involvement in slavery is the well-known Mellish family, whose name is probably best associated in local minds with a Nottingham school. The family is known to have had involvement with ownership and official dealings with plantation estates in the West Indies in the 18th century. Even a cursory look at the Mellish family online archive record reveals inheritance of slave plantation estate property from the governor of the Bahamas (John Tinker), and we can read about William Mellish’s official dealings with plantation monies in Jamaica as Receiver General for the Customs & Excise (he was also MP for Retford).Links: The Mellish and Buchanan Families of Blyth and Hodsock – A Brief History | The Nottingham Sparrow, Nottingham AF | ‘Slavery – the Hidden History’, Bristol Radical History Group

Yorkshire Anti-Trident Actions
13 Mar 2007
With the Government making a decision on replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system, Yorkshire activists have been busy having their say.Demonstrators from all across the country, including York, made their way to London for a national demonstration on February 24th. The vote date was then announced as being March 14th, and so activity was stepped up a gear with Leeds Quakers joining a larger group of Quakers, including four from York, in a blockade of Faslane on March 3rd/4th/5th.About 40 people held a Meeting for Worship outside Faslane nuclear base. After this 10 Friends were arrested whilst upholding Peace Testimony by non-violently blocking the road. All protesters were subsequently released with the usual warning letters.Then on March 11th/12th Leeds University sent a small group up to Faslane. But despite these small numbers and the wet weather, a very visible presence was maintained on both days.On the day of the vote, a number of actions were called for across the country, including a rally in Bradford and a benefit gig in York. The Bradford rally saw the samba band play, the usual speeches from politicians and then sitting around watching the results of the vote on the big screen.A group of around 50 campaigning Vikings from York plan on visiting Faslane on March 18th and welcome more people to join them. The group will include residents and students alike. One Viking described the planned blockade as a “peaceful and playful act of resistance”.

Amnesty makes noise over 5 years Guantanamo
10 Mar 2007
The University of Nottingham’s Amnesty International Society’s held a protest against the continuing human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay. On Saturday the 10th of March folks protested against the continuing human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay.It is now over five years since the first detainees were transferred to the detention camp and despite widespread international condemnation, hundreds of people from more than 30 nationalities remain there: without charge and with little hope of obtaining a fair trial. Alan Simpson, MP for Nottingham South, joined in the protest about half way through.Audio: Interview 1 | Interview 2Photo: Close Guantanamo Bay [Please] Photoreport | Slideshow (avi/19M)Links: Amnesty International Society | Amnesty International | The National Guantanamo Coalition | UK Feature article: Tackle the Shackles, Close Guantanamo | Other articles: Sheffield G8 Events: Guantanamo Bay orange jump suits | The Road to Guantánamo

Right to Protest march in Brighton
9 Mar 2007
LOCAL activist groups in Sussex are getting together for a march in Brighton defending the Right to Protest.

The Vortex Occupied Social Centre Evicted
7 Mar 2007
Early in the morning of March 6th, high court bailiffs and police moved in to evict the Vortex Occupied Social Centre. The old Jazz bar on Stoke Newington Church Street, North London, had been occupied since the beginning of the year and had been open for numerous and varied community events [ 1 | 2 | 3 ]. A demonstration against the eviction has been called for Saturday, 10 March, 11am – 1pm, at the entrance to Abney Park Cemetary, Church Street, N16.An International Women’s Day event, due to take place at the Vortex on March 8th from midday, is still happening, same time and day, but will be at a different location in the area (check the calendar for announcements or phone 079 5078 1893 for updates).

‘Defend the NHS’ National Day of Action
5 Mar 2007
Saturday, 3rd March, saw a national day of action to defend the National Health Service (NHS), called by NHS Together, an alliance of health service unions and staff associations together with the TUC. Demonstrations and rallies took place across the country, in Birmingham, Cambridge, Hackney (London), Leeds, Preston, Sheffield and other places. The aim of the protests, according to the organisers, was “to send a powerful message in celebration and defence of the NHS” against more cuts and privatisation. Almost three quarters of NHS trusts in the UK are reported last year that financial deficits are forcing them to make massive cutbacks; wards are being closed down, hospitals shut and jobs cut. Billions are going into ‘restructuring’ the service along market lines, with millions going on management consultants and financial advisers and millions more, in massive PFI payments, to shareholders and bankers.Reports and pics: Defend the NHS Day: Sheffield Demonstration [photos] | Demo against the privatization of the NHS in Preston | Hackney Save NHS Demo | Leeds General Infirmary For Sale!Previous Indymedia Features: Is Britain ready to defend its NHS? | The NHS in Crisis | Sheffield Children’s Hospital: Save Ward S2 | Local Trusts Take Scalpel To NHS | Indymedia UK’s Health topic pageLinks: NHS Together | Keep Our NHS Public

Eviction of Danish Social Centre Fuels Anger Across Europe
28 Feb 2007
The occupied house in Copenhagen, Denmark named ‘Ungdomshuset’ has functioned as a very important political and social cultural centre since 1982. It had been involved in a long political and legal battle for its existance. But yesterday morning at around 7am Danish police made an end to this by entering the roof of the building using a helicopter and start an unannouced full scale eviction. Riot-police sealed off nearby streets quickly and attacked the building using teargas. As the whole area was closed off, so documenting the action and police-behaviour was difficult. Some witnesses say that teargas and police violence was plentiful, although the eviction happened swiftly and according to police in a �relatively calm manner�.At the moment everything is but calm. Over 1000 people are reported to be back onto the streets last night and (burning) barricades blocked off some major roads in the city. Over 160 people have been reported to have been arrested, including 17 of non-danish nationality. Some people have been admitted to hospital. Riots have continued throughout the day and night and solidarity actions spontaniosly broke out in cities across europe: Berlin (300+), K�ln, Hamburg (700+), M�nchen, Karlsruhe, G�ttingen, Frankfurt, Bremen (300+), Magdeburg, Hannover, Vienna, Heidelberg, Gothenburg, Oslo, Helsinki, Stockholm (100+), Flensburg, G�ttingen, Marburg, Potsdam and Leipzig. Over the next few days many more demonstrations and actions are planned and Danish activists have called for people to make Saturday 3rd March an international day of action. Danish police have started to draft in re-inforcements from all over the country and many more activists are set to arrive in the capital in the coming days.An action has been annouced to take place at the Danish Embassy in London on Friday 2nd March.Links: Indymedia Denmark | Indymedia Germany | modkraft.dk | German Blog | UK Indymedia timelineArticles: Ungdomshuset evicted – Protests everywhere! | Pics of the brutal eviction of Ungdomshuset, Denmark | Police evicts social centre ‘Ungdomshuset’ in Copenhagen | Ungdomshuset Solidarity Demo Friday London

Bradford Climate Criminals Reproached
26 Feb 2007
On Wednesday evening, a number of concerned Leeds and Bradford residents decided to draw attention to the activities of a number of climate criminals in Bradford city centre. Advertisements for damaging air flights were modified to tell the truth; that flying is the fastest growing cause of climate change, the “single greatest threat to human-kind” according to the government’s chief scientist.

Everything But The Incendiary
25 Feb 2007
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has been active throughout the UK, since the 1980s, and operates globally today. Individuals campaigning for animal rights have liberated thousands of animals, and have caused millions of pounds worth of damage to those who profit through their suffering. Everything But the Incendiary is a celebration of all these individuals.Through different events, installations and information this exhibition at Manchester’s basement social centre will provide people with a space to discuss issues connected with animal rights, share skills, and promote direct action in the endless struggle to help those who are defenceless in the face of corporate greed, and in the name of so-called ‘science’.Full article

Dozens Deported to DR Congo
24 Feb 2007
Over 40 DR Congolese nationals, including 19 children, were forcibly ‘removed’ on Monday (26 February, 2007) on a charter flight run by XL Airways. The rejected asylum seekers had been snatched and detained by the immigration authorities over the last few days, despite various NGO’s, including the UN ‘peacekeeping mission’, reporting that, once again, the human rights situation in DR Congo is deteriorating.Protesters tried to stop the removals by locking themselves to the gates of Tinsley House detention centre, Crawley, where the deportees where incarcerated. A protest at the Home Office in London was called by the Congo Support Project and supported by Fight Racism, Fight Imperialism!, LSE FRFI society, NCADC, Unity Centre Glasgow, Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees and London NoBorders.On Wednesday, 21 February, over a hundred asylum seekers and supporters, mostly of African origin, held a lively protest outside the Home Office Reporting Centre in Glasgow. On Friday, No Borders Brighton protested and did a banner-drop at the main office of XL in Crawley, West Sussex, to highlight their involvement and making profits from deportations. In Leeds, over 70 members of the DR Congolese community, including groups from Huddersfiled and Kirklees, gathered at the Home Office reporting centre on Kirkstall Road to call for a stop to the planned removals. A solidarity march, Organised by: African Community Association in the North East (ACANE), took place in Middlesbrough on Sunday, 25th February.

Tens of Thousands Say ‘NO to Trident, NO to War’
21 Feb 2007
Called by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in conjunction with Stop the War Coalition and the British Muslim Initiative, tens of thousands marched in London on 24 February, 2007, to protest against the Trident and against the imperial wars in the Middle East, including Iraq and the looming one on Iran. People were there to express their opposition to militarism, the ‘war on terror’ and demand justice for Palestine. Scotland for Peace’s “Bin the Bomb Roadshow” also ran between 16 and 24 February, culminating in a march and rally on 24 February in Glasgow.Reports and photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | audioThere was a small autonomous block on the demo, but was apparently the focus of most of the policing and ‘intelligence gathering’ (see this Met leaflet).Links: Trident Vote Day | CND | Stop the War Coalition | Block the Builders | Greenpeace | Trident Ploughshares | Faslane 365 | Background: BASIC | Acronym | Indymedia UK’s Faslane topic page

EDO CORP: 2006 Alternative Report
20 Feb 2007
On Thursday 22nd February EDO Corporation released their report on the fourth quarter of 2006. The Corporation, of which the embattled Brighton based arms dealers EDO MBM are a wholly owned trading unit, has announced that it is operating below targets. See EDO’s Fourth Quarter Report Below is an ‘Alternative Report’ from the Smash EDO campaign…Brighton based EDO MBM has been the target of sustained protest and direct action since 2003 (see www.smashedo.org.uk:On Friday 16th a group of protesters occupied EDO’s car park and foyer blowing claxon horns and scattering photos of the carnage in Iraq. This was the second such action in the last month 1 2On Monday 19th Eight students from Sussex University locked themselves to EDO’s fence and gates delaying the opening of the factory and preventing deliveries Press Release Photo ReportOn Wednesday 21st protesters held a funeral procession and vigil for the victims of the US bombing of Somalia at the factory Press Release Report

How do we know?
19 Feb 2007
Over 50 people came together at Nottingham University for an event called ‘the Knowledge Lab’. The event was aimed at bridging the gap between activism and academia and to provide a collective space for anti-capitalist reflection. It was the 4th time the event was organised and focussed on ‘Knowledge’ this time. Workshops were based around questions such as ‘how do we know’? what is knowledge’? ‘where do we gain our knowledge from’? ‘does someone hold control over our knowledge’? ‘how does gender affect knowledge’? ‘how does education effect knowledge’? ‘how are our senses affected by advertising and the media’? and ‘how can suppressed knowledge be released into the mainstream’? Other sessions included a presentation and discussion on an alternative education project called ‘Travelling School of Life’, an experiment in anarchism and concensus decision making called ‘SOMA’ and an Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry session aimed at looking at what knowledge is and what controls, thus affects it.Audio: Organiser explains about the 4th Knowledge Lab | Chat with a Knowledge Lab regular about its history and aims | Audio of part of the Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry session on ‘Knowledge’ | Affective Knowledge & Alternative Media (part 1) + (part 2)Links: Knowledge Lab website | Peace Conference & Knowledge Lab :: some photos | Travelling School of Life Workshop at Knowledge Lab 4 in Nottingham | Audio reports and background from the 4th Knowledge Lab | Affective Knowledge & Alternative Media, some audio

McLibel: Human Rights Victory Anniversary
19 Feb 2007
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg declared that the notorious and long running McLibel case was in breach of the right to a fair trial and right to freedom of expression, thereby voiding any solace that McNasty may have enjoyed from the trial. The Court ruled that UK laws had failed to protect the public’s right to criticise massive corporations whose business practices can affect people’s lives, health and the environment. Meanwhile after spending £10 million to suppress free speach, McDonalds find that the most widely distributed protest leaflet ever, continues to be distributed worldwide… Mainly by a group in Nottingham! To celebrate the McLibel Human Rights Victory Anniversary, activists in Nottingham took to the streets in a small demo on Thursday at a McDonalds restaurant.Audio: Interview with an activist about McDonald’s and all its worksPrevious reports: Nottingham Another Anti-G8-McDonalds event (2004) | Nottingham McDonalds Celebrating the McLibel Two (2005) | Nottingham Day of Action against McDonald’s (2005) | Nottingham’s part of the Worldwide Day of Action Against McDonalds (2006)Links: McSpotlight | Veggies

How do we know?
18 Feb 2007
Over 50 people came together at Nottingham University for an event called ‘the Knowledge Lab’. The event was aimed at bridging the gap between activism and academia and to provide a collective space for anti-capitalist reflection. It is normally organised within universities, which the organisers say are ‘institutions essentially geared towards the production of knowledge as a resource for corporate interest and as justification for particular constellations of power relations. Hence the ‘Knowledge Lab’ has become an attempt to claim back some of the university’s space, resources and know-how from the military-industrial complex and make them available for people concerned about and working against the status quo of unceasing commodification, exploitation, war, and biospherical destruction.It was the 4th time the event was organised and focussed on ‘Knowledge’ this time. Workshops were based around questions such as ‘how do we know’? what is knowledge’? ‘where do we gain our knowledge from’? ‘does someone hold control over our knowledge’? ‘how does gender affect knowledge’? ‘how does education effect knowledge’? ‘how are our senses affected by advertising and the media’? and ‘how can suppressed knowledge be released into the mainstream’? Other sessions included a presentation and discussion on an alternative education project called ‘Travelling School of Life’, an experiment in anarchism and concensus decision making called ‘SOMA’ and an Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry session aimed at looking at what knowledge is and what controls, thus affects it. Audio: Organiser explains about the 4th Knowledge Lab | Chat with a Knowledge Lab regular about its history and aims | Audio of part of the Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry session on ‘Knowledge’ | Affective Knowledge & Alternative Media (part 1) + (part 2)Links: Knowledge Lab website | Peace Conference & Knowledge Lab :: some photos | Travelling School of Life Workshop at Knowledge Lab 4 in Nottingham | Audio reports and background from the 4th Knowledge Lab | Affective Knowledge & Alternative Media, some audio

McLibel: Human Rights Victory Anniversary
16 Feb 2007
To celebrate the McLibel Human Rights Victory Anniversary, there was a small demo on Thursday at the McDonalds restaurant at Exchange WalkThe European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg declared that the notorious and long running McLibel case was in breach of the right to a fair trial and right to freedom of expression, thereby voiding any solace that McNasty may have enjoyed from the trial.The Court ruled that UK laws had failed to protect the public’s right to criticise massive corporations whose business practices can affect people’s lives, health and the environment. Meanwhile after spending £10 million to suppress free speach, McDonalds find that the most widely distributed protest leaflet ever, continues to be distributed worldwide… Mainly by a group in Nottingham!Audio: Interview with an activist about McDonald’s and all its worksPrevious reports: Nottingham Another Anti-G8-McDonalds event (2004) | Nottingham McDonalds Celebrating the McLibel Two (2005) | Nottingham Day of Action against McDonald’s (2005) | Nottingham’s part of the Worldwide Day of Action Against McDonalds (2006)Links: McSpotlight | Veggies

Esso: Number One Denier
15 Feb 2007
Thirty climate activists shut down an ESSO petrol station Feb 9th on Upper Brook Street in Manchester for two hours, using bits of fencing and traffic cones. The action aimed to highlight the link between the oil industry and global warming. As a symbol against car culture, three people locked themselves with D-locks to bicycles. Two others were locked to concrete based signs. Two large banners were displayed reading “no.1 supplier, no.1 denier, no.1 profiteer” and “closed for denying climate change”.Climate change has become very topical of late. A week earlier and coinciding with the latest IPCC report on climate change, an illustration of a carbon footprint was found decorated on pavements in Manchester outside flight centres, petrol stations, supermarkets and a humvee garage. Remaining on a climate theme, there is to be a celebration in Manchester of the perfect antedote to global warming, the bicycle. From 30th March to 20th April the I Bike MCR festival takes place – a grassroots festival organised by cyclists for cyclists with diverse events that will entice any cyclist.Carbon Footprints: What Do They Mean? | I Bike MCR festival | Esso garage Shut Down

15 Feb 2007
Esso: Number One Denier Thirty climate activists shut down an ESSO petrol station Feb 9th on Upper Brook Street in Manchester for two hours, using bits of fencing and traffic cones. The action aimed to highlight the link between the oil industry and global warming. As a symbol against car culture, three people locked themselves with D-locks to bicycles. Two others were locked to concrete based signs. Two large banners were displayed reading “no.1 supplier, no.1 denier, no.1 profiteer” and “closed for denying climate change”.Climate change has become very topical of late. A week earlier and coinciding with the latest IPCC report on climate change, an illustration of a carbon footprint was found decorated on pavements in Manchester outside flight centres, petrol stations, supermarkets and a humvee garage. Remaining on a climate theme, there is to be a celebration in Manchester of the perfect antedote to global warming, the bicycle. From 30th March to 20th April the I Bike MCR festival takes place – a grassroots festival organised by cyclists for cyclists with diverse events that will entice any cyclist.Carbon Footprints: What Do They Mean? | I Bike MCR festival | Esso garage Shut Down

Esso: Number One Denier
12 Feb 2007
Thirty climate activists shut down an ESSO petrol station Feb 9th on Upper Brook Street in Manchester for two hours, using bits of fencing and traffic cones. The action aimed to highlight the link between the oil industry and global warming. As a symbol against car culture, three people locked themselves with D-locks to bicycles. Two others were locked to concrete based signs. Two large banners were displayed reading “no.1 supplier, no.1 denier, no.1 profiteer” and “closed for denying climate change”.Climate change has become very topical of late. A week earlier and coinciding with the latest IPCC report on climate change, an illustration of a carbon footprint was found decorated on pavements in Manchester outside flight centres, petrol stations, supermarkets and a humvee garage. Remaining on a climate theme, there is to be a celebration in Manchester of the perfect antedote to global warming, the bicycle. From 30th March to 20th April the I Bike MCR festival takes place – a grassroots festival organised by cyclists for cyclists with diverse events that will entice any cyclist.Carbon Footprints: What Do They Mean? | I Bike MCR festival | Esso garage Shut Down

Dozens of Iraqi Kurds Deported.. Again
11 Feb 2007
For the third time in less than two years, a ‘charter flight’ left the RAF Brize Norton military base in Oxfordshire today, carrying 38 Iraqi-Kurdish asylum seekers, who had been arrested and detained from across the UK, to Erbil, Kurdistan (Northern Iraq).Some 60 protesters gathered at the gates of Brize Norton this morning, in a protest called by the Campaign to Close Campsfield. It followed other protests over the weekend in London, Leicester and Manchester [reports from Harmondsworth demo 1 | 2 | pics 1 | 2 | 3 | video]. But neither these protests nor the repeated warnings from national and international human rights organisations [UNHCR | Amnesty] managed to convince the Home Office of halting forced removals to unsafe Iraq.Related: No Deportations to Unsafe Iraq | No Deportations to Iraq | New Labour’s War on the Kurds

Weekend of Action Against Carmel Agrexco
10 Feb 2007
This weekend saw two actions against Carmel Agrexco in Hayes, Middlesex Carmel Agrexco are the largest exporter of flowers from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The lead up to Valentine’s Day is one of their busiest times as their Middlesex depot delivers a large amount of Israeli flowers to UK supermarkets. On Saturday 120 Activists from the Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign blocked the gates of the depot for most of the afternoon. In the early hours of Sunday morning thirteen activsts shut the depot down for several hours by locking themselves to the factory gates Reports from Saturday’s Picket 1 | 2 | Video | Reports from Sunday’s Blockade 1 | BACKGROUND: Text of Letter to Carmel Agrexco | Apartheid and Agrexco in the Jordan Valley> | War on Want’s Report – Profiting from the Occupation PREVIOUS ACTIONS 1 | 2 | 3 LINKS Boycott Israeli Goods | ISM Palestine | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | Stop the Wall in Palestine | Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group |

The WSF and Opposition to the WEF
5 Feb 2007
From 20th till 25th of January 2007 the World Social Forum (WSF) took place in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the seventh Forum which coincides in opposition to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos Switzerland.Up to a 100 000 participants were reported at the WSF though criticism of exclusivity because of high entrance fees was raised from the local population. (The impact of the WSF on the people of Kibera: “a Failure” | Kibera fails poor). This lead to the local population storming tthe entrance and the overpriced catering: What happened in Nairobi .On Monday evening, the Indymedia Radio station was robbed by armed gunmen taking as much eqiupment as they could carry (audio).Newswire Reports: [ The Wider SF movement | What’s hot and What’s Not | WSF A Rolling Carnival of Resistance | WSF marches against EPA | March through Nairobi ]Reports about the WSF on other Indymedia sites: [ Indymedia.org | Israel Indy | Germany IMC | Ecuador IMC | Argentina IMC | Athens IMC | Belgium | Norway IMC | IMC Philadelphia | Barcelona IMC | LA IMC | Houston IMC | Marseille IMC (1 | 2) ]Meanwhile in the Northern Hemisphere, activists were marching and mobilising against the WEF in Davos, Switzerland. Further reports: Switzerland IMC (German | Italian), IMC Netherlands

Two Days of Action Target Climate Criminals
4 Feb 2007
Over the weekend of 3-4 Feb 2007, actions up and down the country and beyond have targeted dangerous ‘greenwash’ desperately pushed by corporations and politicians. The actions came in the wake of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released on Friday, which warns of world temperature rises of as much as 6.4C by the end of the century. The reports findings show a 4 degree rise would mean a 10% loss in global food production due to draught, increased flooding, water shortages, and an increased risk of diseases such as malaria. Most frightening of all, we risk run-away climate change. And while the world wakes up to the magnitude of climate chaos, Shell and Exxon Mobil last week announced record breaking profits. With the figures laid out so clearly, the nauseating hypocrisy spouted by corporations and politicians has spurred action from Paris to Aberdeen.LINKS: action report, photos & video | video of Shell exhibition action | Glasgow | Edinburgh | Protest against ESSO, 9th Feb | Shell sponsorship background | plane stupid | Greenpeace2006 indymedia page | Climate Camp website | 2007 Camp 14-21st August | next organising meeting 17-18th February

MI6 Iran Disinfo: The Prelude to War?
4 Feb 2007
Campaign Iran has pointed out that the current media spin about Iran, some of which appears to originate from MI6, bears more than a passing resemblance to the WMD hype that preceded the ongoing slaughter of 650,000+ Iraqis. So are we on the verge of a massive escalation of the criminal US-UK imperial war? There have been many warnings [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ] about the possible use of US or Israeli nuclear weapons against Iran. Furthermore, Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research has warned that this is just one part of the US “military roadmap” for the Middle East [ text | video | audio ], while Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed wrote last summer that the war had already started.Needless to say, a war on Iran would be illegal, and would only add to the long list of war crimes that Bush, Blair and their conspirators are guilty of. But then, what would legality matter if we became a planet of the nuclear dead?Read: Selected Articles on the Proposed US-Israeli Nuclear War on Iran | Articles on the looming war with Iran | Middle East: Cradle or Graveyard of Empire? | Indybay feature: The US gears up for war with Iran

Indymedia and British Intelligence Services
31 Jan 2007
Following the American pattern after 9/11, the UK government has used its own alleged terrorist attacks to push towards a police state, which is not exactly a new phenomenon, as Nafeez Ahmed, for example, explains. This has involved increasing the funds allocated to ‘security services’ and granting them extra-judicial powers; the systematic assault on civil liberties and human rights; media-spun fear based on dubious ‘terror plots’; the clamp-down on activists and the relentless attempts to infiltrate their networks. Even Indymedia, it seems, has not been spared. At least two Indymedia activists have recently been, in one way or another, approached by British intelligence services, offering them better-paid jobs.Read: Recruiting Spies at British Airports | Coincidence or Grooming? Oscar Beard’s chance to join MI5 | Is It Really About Terrorism?