Support the Antifascist Prisoners
21 Jul 2011
In a miscarriage of justice reminiscent of the Ratcliffe case, six antifascist are currently being held in Wormwood Scrubs and one is on bail after being found guilty of "conspiracy to commit violent disorder". The first trial, of 11 of the 22 activists facing this absurd charge, ended on 28th June 2011 with four people being acquitted, four sentenced immediately to 21 months in jail, two others sent to prison awaiting sentencing, and the other released on bail pending sentence. A second trial of the 11 other activists is threatened to start on 12th September 2011. The incident that led to police raids across the country and 23 arrests occurred on 28th March 2009 when a number of antifascist activists travelled to Welling in south-east London to protest against a neo-Nazi "Blood and Honour" skinhead gig at the Duchess of Edinburgh Pub. No fascists have been arrested or charged or have even appeared as witnesses in the court case and in the absence of any evidence forthcoming from the fascists the Police and Crown Prosecution Service spent a vast amount of time and resources to press charges which are tantamount to a thought crime and if widely applied would in effect make it illegal to organise protests against fascist events. The use of "conspiracy" charges against large groups of activists ? charging them for things that might have thought about rather than charging them for anything they have actually done is clearly being done to suit a political agenda which involves the draconian repression of progressive activists, no doubt intended as a "deterrent" to others. While at the same time real corporate criminal conspiracies are covered up and swept under the carpet, contrast the treatment of the activists with the kid-glove treatment by the state of the Murdoch media crime family, as the collusion between powerful media, corrupt police and the political establishment is further exposed.Articles: UK Antifascist Prisoners In Need Of Support | Freedom: Comrades Jailed | Inside SchNEWS | Support Our Six Proud Antifascists | UK Antifascist Prisoners | Antifascist Prisoners In Need Of Support | Antifascist Prisoners In Need Of Support

Oxford’s early summer round up
17 Jul 2011
Asylum has been high on the agenda recently as 24 Iraqi refugees went on hunger strike in Campsfield House. This was followed up with a blockade of Heathrow Airport [ 1 | 2 ] by No Borders.Anti-military action has also been around recently. First, a group of Oxford-based campaigners managed to force the the British Government to admit that it was still training Bahraini officers, despite the brutality going on in that country as part of the ‘Arab Spring.’ This was followed by an apparently unconnected act of resistance against the military as the armed forces building in Oxford was daubed with red paint.Fighting the cuts continued with the return of the Big Society Hospital, the launch of the Save Garsington Buses Campaign, and the continuing refusal of the City Council to listen to the public.Education was on the agenda as activists told Grayling exactly want they thought of his plans for private universities, whilst locally based NGO - People & Planet published the Green League asking ‘how green is your university?’Climate change concerns raised their head again as the defendants from the Ratcliffe 114 (many from Oxford) launched an appeal against their convictions, and Oxford-based Campbell Road Productions announced their new film investigating the Tar Sands.In other news, the summer also saw the fourth happening of the Oxford Radical Forum.Don’t forget to keep posting your news here on Oxford Indymedia.

Solidarity Actions for Assange
10 Jul 2011
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took his appeal against extradition to Sweden for alleged sexual offences to the High Court in London on 12 and 13 July. Assange has been electronically tagged and required to sign on daily at a police station for over six months since being released from Wandsworth prison in December 2010 prior to the extradition hearing which took place in February this year. The manner in which the allegations against him have been pursued has led many to conclude that the extradition is being sought neither for the benefit of the two women involved nor in the interests of protecting other women, but rather to secure Assange’s extradition to Sweden with a view to onward extradition to the US where he would face the full wrath of the Empire, an Empire comprehensively exposed by WikiLeaks revelations. Assange has received many death threats from the US; there have been calls for him to face the Death Penalty over the WikiLeaks disclosures, as well as calls from prominent politicians and media personalities for him to be ‘hunted down’ and assassinated.In the two weeks leading up to this appeal hearing, solidarity actions and events took place in London. Anti-war supporters of Assange and others maintained a presence outside the Royal Courts of Justice from 9am on Tuesday 12 July and throughout the two day appeal hearing. At the end of the hearing, judgment was reserved and is expected within the next few weeks.On the newswires (re. current hearing): Report from the court Wed 13 July | Tues 12 July | Call-out for support at extradition appeal |

RIP: Simon Levin 1974 – 2011
5 Jul 2011
Friends and family will gather in Brighton on Thursday 7th July to celebrate the life of Brightonian activist, Simon Levin. who passed away on Friday 24th June, aged 36.Simon was an enthusiastic supporter of the Palestinian struggle for justice, and travelled to Palestine where he spent some months in the Balata refugee camp outside Nablus. He returned several times with the Brighton Jordan Valley Solidarity Group and in 2008 he was involved in the building of a new school at FasayilBack in Britain Simon was involved in Direct Action Campaigns against Caterpillar, Agrexco and the SmashEDO camapign. He was a defendant in the Decomissioners trial where activists were acquitted for their part in smashing the EDO arms components factory during Israel’s onsaught on GazaFriends of Simon have suggested that those who want to remember Simon go to their local arms factory, importer of Israeli goods or oppressor of workers and "do a vigil, noise demo or action. Have a beer. He would have liked that". On Monday Rossport Solidarity Camapigners dedicated their Blockade of Shell offices to Simon.From the newswire:Caterkiller activist defends right to protest | 5 EDO decomissioners found NOT GUILTY!! RIP Simon Levin – EDO DecommissionerBlog Posts by SimonJordan Valley 2008 | Resourcefulness and tenacity | Transference

Sheffield J30 Strike
1 Jul 2011
On June 30th thousands of strikers and their supporters gathered in Sheffield for a protest against the governments cuts to public sector pensions and public sector cuts in general. following a rally in Barkers Pool there was a short march down the Moor and back up to Division Street and back to Barkers Pool for a second rally.Earlier in the day there was a Sheffield Uncut action and there is a Uncut – ‘Teach In’ planned for Saturday 2nd July, 12pm, City Hall steps.Newswire: Sheffield Rally at start of March | Sheffield March Against Cuts | Sheffield Rally at the end of the March | Public sector strike hits across Britain | More rally pics

J30: Generalise the Strike
29 Jun 2011
Read full article for a round-up of J30 action: a day of protest against pension cuts and moreSee also regional features (links below) and the J30 topic.All newswire posts on J30: J30 Topic | Indymedia features: Sheffield: [ 1 | 2 | Bristol | London 1 | 2 | NorthernWebsite: J30 Strike | Twitter: J30 Strike

#J30 March Together, Strike Together!
29 Jun 2011
On June 30th over 800,000 public sector workers will be on strike against attacks on their pensions. This is a key fight for everyone who wants to defend public services and oppose cuts to pensions, benefits services and our communities. Strikers and anti-cuts campaigners from across South Yorkshire will be marching through Sheffield, please join them.Thu 30 Jun 2011, 12 noon assemble at Peace Gardens; 1pm rally Barkers Pool, organised by Sheffield Anti-Cuts Alliance, supported by Sheffield Trades Council.Other protests listed on j30strike.org are, a student march around the pickets, meet on Howard Street (Sheffield Hallam Uni main entrance) at 9am and Sheffield Uncut action, meet at tram stop outside the Cathedral at 10am.Newswire: J30: Building up for the next ?big one?? | J30 List of UK Protests | Sheffield Trades Council March and Rally TomorrowLinks: sheffieldanticuts.wordpress.com | www.ukuncut.org.uk | www.j30strike.org

Deportation flight to Iraq blockaded and stopped
26 Jun 2011
No Borders and refugee solidarity activists blockaded the Harmondsworth and Colnbrook immigration prisons, near Heathrow airport on 21 June to stop a mass deportation flight to Baghdad. About 70 Iraqi refugees, mostly Kurds, were due to be forcibly flown on a specially chartered flight from an undisclosed airport at 11pm. A last-minute court injunction forced the Home Office to call it off, so the blockaders decided to end their protest at 9pm, after making sure that the migration prisoners were safely off the buses. The action was an important step in escalating resistance to the deportation machine, in solidarity with the hunger strikers in Campsfield, the rioters in Brook House, the Yarlswood four, and all migration prisoners in their everyday struggle.

SchNEWS 776: Squatting at Heaven’s Door
25 Jun 2011
As Tories threaten hallowed ancient squatting rights.As expected: Following the opportunistic yelps of a jumped-up tory media-whore (see SchNEWS 764), against the background of a right-wing ideological crusade, the criminalisation of squatting is now on parliament?s agenda. This week the government announced a brief consultation period was under-way on the issue of occupation without authorisation. The sights of the Tory legislative blunderbuss are slowly being zeroed in, battle lines are being drawn and arguments rehearsed. As every day goes by, the corporate press prejudice people further against one of the few remaining laws that empowers the many against the few.The squatting community and it?s supporters have to fight their corner without the benefit of funds, media presence or political influence – they must work from the ground up and rely on the ability of people (and in this case, worryingly, politicians) to judge fairly between logical arguments. Some squatters have already risen to the challenge – Squattastic is an irregular though frequent series of open meetings, held in a chain of different squatted properties, mainly in the London area to discuss ways in which this crack down can be combated.In a more mainstream stylee – The SQUASH Campaign is a dedicated group of activists and researchers who have already given a briefing to Parliament attacking the proposed change to the law – this was presented on May the 18th and was attended and supported by several well-known groups involved with homelessness issues, including Crisis and Shelter.From the newswires: A short and incomplete history of squatting in Brighton | Resist the Dutch ban on squatting | Whatever they say, squatting will stay – update … | The criminalisation of squatting | Squatting is to change from being a civil offence … | Squatting Europe KollectiveIn Schnews: SchNEWS 776

Brian Haw 7/1/49 – 18/6/11 RIP
19 Jun 2011
Early on Saturday morning 18 June 2011, veteran peace protester Brian Haw, 62, passed away just after the camp he established right opposite the Houses of Parliament had celebrated its tenth anniversary of highly visible opposition to the wars being waged on ordinary people. Brian had been suffering from lung cancer, diagnosed less than a year ago.Newswire: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8Links: parliament-square.org.uk | brianhaw.tv

New Email Lists and Wiki for UK Indymedia
8 Jun 2011
Two of the key tools that Indymedia activists use for communication and collaboration are email lists and wiki pages. UK Indymedia activists have made extensive use of lists hosted by the global Indymedia list server and of the global Indymedia wiki over the last decade. But at the end of May 2011 key lists were shutdown without agreement and wiki accounts deleted.In response to this situation, new email lists have been set up for people who wish to contact the site admins or to be involved in discussions about features and moderation. There is also a new wiki site for UK Indymedia related documents. In addition there is now a new Users list for users of this site to raise matters which are not covered by the Moderation, Features or Tech lists.Links: lists.indymedia.org.uk | wiki.indymedia.org.uk

Activist Films at Sheffield Doc/fest
7 Jun 2011
In the past Sheffield Indymedia has hosted its own fringe documentary film festival alongside the international annual event hosted at the Showroom Cinema. Although we don’t have the time and energy for that this year the main event has a number of great looking films of interest to activists, including the premire of the new British Film about climate change related direct action, Just Do It and the UK premire of If a Tree Falls about the Earth Liberation Front.