Bristol Anarchist Bookfair 2015

2015_poster_medIt’s back! It’s Angry, not apathetic!

Coming at you live and direct from east-central Bristol, just 13 days before the 2015 British General Election & local elections, we are pleased to invite you to the 7th Bristol Anarchist Bookfair – and there wont be a single lying, corrupt, austerity-enforcing, media-spinning politician in sight.

Saturday 25th April 2015,
11.00am – 6pm,
at
Trinity Centre, Trinity Rd,
Bristol BS2 0NW
.

Forms for booking stalls & proposing meetings/workshops are available online now. Full Bookfair Info.

Seven years on from our first Bookfair, 7 years on from the start of the global financial meltdown, after 7 years of austerity cuts and the rich getting richer, we are still here struggling and acting, providing alternatives and creating a new world based on co-operation, total equality, and freedom – a new world we carry in our hearts and dreams.

We’ll bring you probably Bristol’s largest, free, open to the public, political event in the month before the election. As just a small part of a Britain-wide anarchist intervention into the key issues & events surrounding the election, we may well be a part of the largest electoral block – the Non-Voters. Because just as you know, whoever the public votes for – the government always gets in.

The Bookfair will include – 2 halls filled with stalls from local campaigns & groups to national anarchist distros & publishers; workshops & meetings to discuss & debate the key issues; the Radical History Zone down the road at Hydra Bookshop; activities in Trinity Garden’s outdoor permaculture green space; an outdoor Soap-Box for Ranters; a quality vegan cafe; an indoor kids space; and a few surprises too!

The Bookfair is a space for you, radicals, independent thinkers and those pissed off with & alienated from the political system, to come together and think outside the box. To discuss, network, laugh, cry and share the ideas, inspirations and strategies to resist and thrive. Leaders, politicians and representatives are never going to create the future we want. A better world is in our hearts – but it is only through considered self-organised action, together, that we can make it a reality.

In solidarity!
Bristol Anarchist Bookfair Collective

Note: for further info see ‘2015 Bookfair
FB – bristolanarchistbookfair
FB event – 7th Bristol Bookfair
Twitter – @bristolbookfair and hashtag #BABF2015
or email us queries at bristolanarchistbookfair[at]riseup[dot]net

Operation GRhone and the Badger hunt

from Bristol Anarchist Black Cross

Picture of three people in badger masksWhen Bristol anarchist Huw ‘Badger’ Norfolk legged it somewhere in late-August 2011, word spread fast across Bristol’s anarchist & radical communities. His decision to absent himself from all and any police investigations was immediately apparent to the many friends he’d had no time to say good-bye to. No doubt many suspected this escape to somewhere would be short-lived. Instead nothing, just the one shout-out from online anonymity(1) two months later, in which he stated his non-compliance bluntly.

Fast-forwards to December 2014 and Badger’s face is staring at us from every national and many local media outlets. Crimestoppers and Avon & Somerset Police’s Operation Rhone announce a £10k reward for information, whilst forcing his parents in north-west Bristol into the media spotlight too(2). Badger is wanted for two specific actions, although no evidence is cited for either. It’s made clear the Badger hunt, and the two actions, are just a part of their investigation into over 100 actions by ‘persons unknown’(3) over the last four years.

So why the sudden flurry of police & media attention? In reality the police have been active all the time, supported by their slavish media-hounds at the Bristol Post. We, at Bristol Defendant Solidarity(4), have a timeline of their activity since August 2011, when victims of an unproductive police raid on a Bristol squat contacted us for support and advice. Since then police activity has ebbed & flowed, nothing for months, then intense activity, such as the last 6 months of 2014 – triggered it seems by forces from outside the area(5), which resulted in Operation Rhone being formally set up. As well as finding and arresting suspects, the aims of this operation include gathering intelligence on “the threat from domestic extremism” and to “maintain public confidence”. (6)

It is clear the police know nothing. No leads beyond Badger’s identity and statements posted online by ‘persons unknown’. So like a man blind-drunk in a dark alley, they’ve lashed out at anyone they think could be intimidated, or entrapped. There’ve been numerous arrests leading to extended police bail, and even taggings, with at least 6 since June 2014, but no convictions; searches of homes & vehicles; visits to homes & workplaces for a ‘chat’; phonecalls to private mobile numbers; harassment of individuals current & former partners; stops at airports; endless requests that people snitch; and no doubt countless incidences of covert surveillance. All to no avail, and at huge cost. There has now been one arrest and guilty plea relating to an incident on New Years Eve, but this appears to be a stand alone case and was not the result of Op Rhone work – even if they got involved afterwards. Operation Rhone is said to involve at least 10 CID officers – in any other line of work somebody would’ve been sacked by now!

One harassed individual’s statement sums it up: “One morning a few months ago, I woke up and found my house full of police. When I say full I mean literally – it was hard to move around! They had already arrested the person they’d come for. He was released a bit later with no charges and has now had the case against him dropped completely. If they didn’t even have enough evidence to charge him, I don’t see how they can justify raiding my house in the first place – I don’t think they had anything on him at all. Anyway, as well as taking electronic stuff (like a hard drive and laptop), they seemed to be bagging anything that looked political…”

Four mugshots of police

So why the wall of silence, and why the lack of police success? On the one hand they are harassing people – anarchists & radicals involved in public activity, musicians, and mere acquaintances – who clearly know nothing at all. On the other hand, the reality is that large numbers of people have a complete distrust of, and hatred for, the police. Whatever personal views people have on the validity of actions by ‘persons unknown’, they wont be co-operating with the police – they are the enemy, the heavy-handed arm of the state, and they have a long list of previous. Hence the many who supported a public ‘Statement against police harassment’(7). In addition to the timeline, Bristol Defendant Solidarity has published advice for people facing police harassment, and helped those who contacted us to get together and plan a response. Among other things, this group organised a protest at the headquarters of Bristol CID, which upset the police so much that they responded with armed officers and a dog unit. (8)

It is generally accepted the police exist to maintain the status quo – the rule of the few over the many. Their history of fit-ups, and denial of what limited rights we have, is endless. Their support for the bosses against workers struggles is continual. Their sexism & racism institutional. Their violence well documented as they kill with impunity(9). Their surveillance powers out of control. Their weaponry & equipment ever more militarised. Their undercover officers act as agent provocateurs and coerce individuals into relationships(10). Their corruption breathtaking. Complaints against them and investigations by the IPCC are rising, even the Chief Constable is suspended and the subject of an IPCC investigation(11). Why on earth would anyone, never mind the anarchists & radicals, have anything to do with them?

By Bristol Defendant Solidarity
(BDS is an independent, self funded group run by local volunteers, formed after the Stokes Croft riots in April 2011. We aim to provide effective, lasting unconditional support and solidarity to anyone arrested or imprisoned as a result of demos, riots, direct action and escalating class war. We take a clear stand against state repression and police brutality).

Bristol anarchists start investigation into dangerous police extremists

from Bristol Anarchist Federation

Around 20 local anarchists, friends & badgers visited the HQ of the Bristol CID & Special Investigations at Sir Kenneth Steele House on Feeder Road in Bristol last Saturday 15th November. Officers operating from there have recently been visiting people’s homes and workplaces, harassing and putting pressure on local activists, musicians and their friends to become informants for the police. As a response, it was decided to turn the tables and start asking some questions of our own.

Armed with police style spotter cards displaying some of the ugly faces of Big Brother, our investigations began in the car park as decidedly nervous looking CID operatives arrived for their dirty work. Our unannounced presence seemed to produce a sort of mild panic for the first officer on the scene. All requests for “A friendly chat” and information on “shadowy figures stalking people and harassing communities” were met with a stony and awkward silence. Interestingly, they didn’t have anything to say on the matter and most stared straight ahead, avoiding eye contact and going No Comment all the way. We could only conclude that they were feeling the pressure and had something to hide. The CID photographers were visibly nervous and especially camera shy but found themselves in a few photo opportunities anyway.

Deciding that our investigations could go no further today we left the premises. Soon afterwards armed police, dog units and a lot of agitated cops arrived, playing catch up and blocking the street. After a brief show of the sort of over reaction they’re well known for and what we pay our taxes for there was a stand off around the theme of “Give me your details”, “No!” “Well then we’ll arrest you”, “No you can’t!”. Once they realised we knew the law and were standing our ground the disgruntled police backed down and skulked off. Satisfied that our investigations had rattled a few cages we adjourned for refreshments and to plan further lines of enquiry… and solidarity!