Monthly Archives: May 2013

Fighting the Racist Police State: discussion night 9 June

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Fighting the Racist Police State.

London Sunday 9 June 7pm.

An evening of film and discussion with individuals and groups active against police killings and repression, immigration raids, stop and search, and the prison and detention system. Bringing together communities in struggle.

The evening will include a screening of the 2012 film “Who Polices The Police” about Sean Rigg, who died in Brixton police station, made by Ken Fero / Migrant Media. We will then have a round-table with short introductions from a number of groups, and a discussion open to all.

Groups taking part will include:

United Friends and Families Campaign (UFFC) (friends and families of people killed in police custody)  http://uffc-campaigncentral.net/

Latin American Workers Association (LAWAS) (association fighting workplace exploitation and attacks by the immigration system) http://www.lawas.org.uk/joo/

Anti-Raids Network (network standing up against immigration raids) https://network23.org/antiraids/

Newham Monitoring Project (fighting racism, discrimination and injustice in the East London borough of Newham since 1980) http://www.nmp.org.uk/

Defend the Right to Protest (campaign against state repression of protests)  http://www.defendtherighttoprotest.org/

More to be confirmed. If you would like to make a presentation during the evening please contact stopg8events@riseup.net, or just come along and join the discussion.

The event is part of the StopG8 week of action, which includes the June 11 Carnival Against Capitalism and a packed programme of other actions and events. See full calendar here: https://network23.org/stopg8/calendar/

The event will be held at the StopG8 Convergence Centre. Venue details will be publicised the day before on Saturday 8 June, see here for more info: https://network23.org/stopg8/week-of-action/accomodation/

Information on Affinity Groups for the Stop G8 week of action

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A street action like the Carnival Against Capitalism on June 11 will only ever be as effective as we all make it. The more prepared we come, the more we can achieve on the day. One good way of preparing for action is to create affinity groups which are planning to work together on the streets and have talked about the event together beforehand. We would encourage you to come as an affinity group if you have one, but there will be both public order and affinity group training sessions held within the convergence space for those who don’t. Continue reading

Useful Information: Convergence/Sleeping Space, Info Point and Useful Phone Numbers

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Convergence and Sleeping Space

The convergence centre will open on 8th June and will close on 15th June. There will be space to sleep, as well as workshops, skillshares, food, films and more here.

At 11am on 8th June, we invite people to meet us at Freedom Books, Angel Alley, 84b Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX, and we will travel together to the convergence space. If you arrive after 11am, the location of the convergence will be announced on our website (https://network23.org/stopg8), on www.indymedia.org.uk and via Twitter (@stopg8uk), by midday. To contact the Stop G8 Convergence Space call 07586 096079 or 07586 096083. This phone number will be active from 8th June.

There will be an info point at Freedom Books from 8th-15th June. This will be open from 11am on 8th June, and people will be there to direct you to the convergence space throughout the week.

We need everybody’s help to make the centre a safe and secure space. Cops and journalists will not be welcome in the space at any time.

Stop G8 Infopoint

There will be an infopoint at

Freedom Books, Angel Alley, 84b Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX (next to KFC)

where you can find information about the protests during the week of action, legal support and where to find the accommodation. This information point will open at 11am on 8th June and close on the morning of the 15th June.

Useful Numbers

The following phone numbers will become active on 8th June.

Green and Black Cross Legal Support – 07946 541 511

Hodge Jones & Allen Solicitors – +44 207 874 8300 (9am-6pm) / or 07659111192 (out of hours)

Stop G8 Convergence space – To contact the Stop G8 Convergence Space call 07586 096 079 or 07586 096 083

Media centre – We need you to call in reports from the streets. There will be an independent media centre reporting on the actions. To find out more or to phone in a report call 07721 595 081 or 07586 096 081

Wellbeing – Have you or your friends suffered from police violence? Call us for a chat or to organise coming to a safe space – 07946 069 401

StopG8 Week Events Programme

beija flor

The calendar for events during StopG8 week (8-15 June) is now online. You can check it out here:

https://network23.org/stopg8/calendar/

It is still being added to as we speak, with more talks, films, and other happenings being confirmed. And we want even more! Please email stopg8events@riseup.net if you’d like to run a workshop or organise any kind of event.

Highlights so far include:

** Action days through the week, as well as the J11 Carnival Against Capitalism on Tuesday 11 June.

** “Fighting the Racist Police State” info-evening bringing together groups fighting deaths in police custody, stop and search, state repression, immigration raids, and the prison and detention systems.

** Greek solidarity info-evening on anarchism, anti-fascism, social centres and migration struggles in Greece, and how we can support our comrades fighting on what’s becoming one of the front lines of European struggles against capitalism and fascism.

** Practical workshops, legal info sessions, street action and affinity group training, etc.

** Talks and films throughout the week on anarchism, radical history, international struggles, anti-cuts campaigns, ecological struggles and much more.

** Solidarity benefit parties to open and close the week. “The Word is Power” on Saturday 8 June with Bocafloja from Mexico and loads more, supporting Antiraids and SolFed. “Against Repression” on Friday 14 June with hip hop from UK and Italy: Logic, Caxton Press MCs, C.u.b.a. Cabbal, DJ Steaz, DJ Leleprox and more, supporting United Friends and Families Campaign (against deaths in police custody) and Italian Genoa G8 prisoners Marina and Alberto.

Although there is a lot already happening, we’re very much open to add more events. There will be space for at least 3 events to run in parallel in the convergence centre and other spaces nearby.

In particular, we would really like to have more events to do with:

** struggles of gender and sexuality

** international struggles beyond Europe

** anti-fascism

** anarchism: what can it mean today?

** practical workshops and skillshares

And anything else that fits with our principles: against capitalism, against hierarchy and authority. If you have an idea for an event, check out the calendar and think what time will suit you, then just send us an email to stopg8events@riseup.net and we’ll add you in.

All events except for gigs can be run in the stopg8 convergence centre, which will open on 8 June. The address will only be publicised on opening. In case of emergencies, we also have back-up spaces for events.

AGAINST REPRESSION. Solidarity Benefit Night 14 June / end of stopg8 week party.

kID&COPS

https://www.facebook.com/events/527725420619450/

Benefit night Friday 14 June. London: stay posted for venue information.

Logic [People’s Army]; MC C.u.b.a. Cabbal (Militant rap from Italy); Caxton Press MCs; DJ Leleprox; DJ Steaz; and more acts to be confirmed …

ONE COMMON STRUGGLE AGAINST REPRESSION.

The StopG8 week of actions and events ends with a big night of Militant Music. Top hiphop MCs from London and Italy; African sounds; Jungle, Drum n Bass, Dubstep and Reggae through the night.

In support of Marina & Alberto – jailed last year for the anti-G8
protests in Genoa 2001; and of families & friends fighting for justice for those killed in police custody in the UK.

Finishing up the StopG8 week in London. See you at the #J11 carnival against capitalism on Tuesday 11 June.
https://network23.org/stopg8/j11-carnival-against-capitalism/

Against state & police repression. Freedom for all prisoners.

All funds raised will go to:

10×100 Years of Jail Campaign in Italy
www.10×100.it

United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC) in the UK
uffc-campaigncentral.net

StopG8 Network
https://network23.org/stopg8/

Militant music – Hip Hop / Jungle Drum n Bass / Reggae / Dub

From 9pm: Militant Hip Hop. 5£

MC Logic [People’s Army]
www.thepeoplesarmy.org

MC C.u.b.a. Cabbal (Militant rap from Italy)
http://www.myspace.com/cubacabbal

Caxton Press MCs
http://caxtonpresshiphop.com/

More MCs and DJs to be confirmed

D&B till late

DJ Leleprox (D&B old school from Italy)
http://www.myspace.com/leleprox#!

DJ Steaz (dubstep and D&B)
http://www.myspace.com/djsteaz#!

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There will also be an info-evening with talks and information about campaigns from 4PM. More details coming soon.

PS: also check out the WORD IS POWER benefit on Sat 9 June with MC Bocafloja from Mexico. https://www.facebook.com/events/573633195991487/

Activists defy police attempts to gather intelligence on resistance to G8

Two UK anti-capitalists, returning to the country on Sunday May 19 after
attending an anarchist festival in the Netherlands, were intercepted by Kent
Police Special Branch officers at Dover, then detained and questioned for
three hours under Schedules 7 and 8 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Schedule 7 makes it a crime not to provide information to an officer if the
questions are intended to investigate ‘terrorism’. However the activists
refused to provide information, claiming the police’s questions were,
instead, intended to gather information on political dissent.

The focus of the questioning was on the Carnival Against Capitalism being staged by Stop G8 in the West End of London on Tuesday June 11. Continue reading

Accommodation in London for StopG8 week

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There will be a Stop G8 convergence centre in Central London, close to the main actions and the workshop programmes. There will be  sleeping spaces for everyone coming to the mobilisation. We plan to make the space fully wheelchair accessible and a safe space for everyone using it. Food will be available for donations, provided by a team of people’s kitchens, so no one will need to go hungry. There will be a women only space within the convergence centre if people wish to use it. The convergence centre will also be a place to find out about legal support and to get information about the actions. If you have any special accommodation needs or questions about the space please email stopg8 [at] riseup.net.

The convergence centre will open on 8th June and will clear up on 15th June. The location, as well as details of how to get there, will be announced one week before the space opens.

We need everybody’s help to make the centre a safe and secure space. Cops and journalists will not be welcome in the space at any time.

Stop G8 will also have several other spaces during the week of action including a media centre (for non-corporate media, radio, film-making, etc.) and a safe space away from the actions.

Safe Space policy:

We aim to make this space as we want the world to be. We oppose all forms of oppression or domination, including the domination of anyone on the basis of class, race, sex, gender, sexual preference, colour, belief, age, ability, or any other differences. We ask everyone to be aware of their personal privileges and to modify their behaviour accordingly.

Everyone has a right to be respected within the space. Sexist, racist, ableist, homo/transphobia and other oppressive statements/behaviours will not be tolerated and may result in a person being asked to leave.

Everyone has the right not to have their lives affected by substance use. It is our collective responsibility to make sure that nobody is visibly affected by drugs (e.g. alcohol) and impacts negatively on other people. Additionally, meeting and sleeping spaces are alcohol- (and other drug-) free zones. There is a designated smoking area, so please don’t smoke anywhere else in the space.

If you feel uncomfortable or unsafe around another person in the building, please talk to someone from the maintenance crew and ask for support. Be aware of what is going on around you and take responsibility if needed. If you are witness to a violation of the safer space agreement and don’t act, you make yourself complicit in the oppression.

Hedge funds to go into hiding on J11: StopG8 media coverage

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(Pic: Hedge Fund boss John Paulson and friends).

The secretive vulture funds are not best pleased with their addresses being publicised on the J11 action map. According to the Financial Times hedge funds are arranging for staff to work at offices elsewhere in London on 11 June, or asking them “not to dress like a hedge fund manager”.

FT article link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d94be886-c229-11e2-8992-00144feab7de.html#axzz2U2Lp6a9O

(Also this story in yesterday’s London Evening Standard, in which a lazier journalist calls the police and just cuts and pastes from our website.)

London hedge funds ‘mapped’ by G8 protesters

By Madison Marriage, Financial Times

A number of London-based hedge funds including Man Group and Brevan Howard have been targeted by an anti-capitalist group ahead of the G8 summit next month.

The group, Stop G8, has drawn up an “action map” of what they call the “hiding places of power in the West End”, which highlights potential targets for protesters.

The map identifies the names and addresses of 17 hedge fund companies, which also includes Paulson, Odey Asset Management, Lansdowne Partners and BlueBay.

Stop G8 cites insider-dealing scandals, profiteering from the financial crisis and the short selling of state-owned companies as some of its primary grievances against the fund groups. The protest is planned for June 11, one week before the next meeting of G8 leaders in Northern Ireland.

A partner at one of the hedge fund groups included in the map, who wanted to remain anonymous, says his company is “aware of [the potential protests] and is on top of it”.

He added that several hedge funds have been liaising over how to handle on-site protests on June 11 and have been in contact with the Metropolitan Police regarding ways to deal with the threat.

A senior employee at another targeted hedge fund, who did not want to be named, said his company is “aware of the potential for disruption” and is “evaluating” its options.

He said that the contingency plan may include staff working at offices elsewhere in London on the day of the protest, or asking them “not to dress like a hedge fund manager” on their journey to and from work. “People will take this very seriously,” he said.

A number of smaller London-based hedge funds that have not been openly targeted are nonetheless circulating the map among themselves in case they are affected too.

In an email to members of a group of London-based financiers, the chief operating officer of one hedge fund said: “[The map] is being taken seriously and my understanding is that all police leave has been cancelled in anticipation of trouble.

“Some units who were due to police Northern Ireland have now been instructed to remain in London.”

The Metropolitan Police said they are “in dialogue” with Stop G8 but could not yet confirm how many protesters are anticipated on June 11.(**See NOTE below**)

Man Group, BlueBay and Lansdowne Partners were contacted about their plans to handle the threat of disruption but declined to comment.

Spokespeople for Brevan Howard, Millennium Global and Horseman Capital said they are aware of being targeted but did not want to disclose details regarding contingency plans. Aima, the hedge fund industry’s lobbying group, also declined to comment.

Stop G8 has singled out the hedge fund industry as a significant target, claiming that it “specialises” in risk taking and secrecy while feeding off “blood money” generated by speculation on war, food and debt.

It added that many fund bosses are “big political party donors, which helps them fend off regulation and investigation despite their unsavoury reputations”.

Supporters of the Stop G8 movement, which has local networks in London, Nottingham, Oxford, Brighton and south Wales, as well as links to groups abroad, have been encouraged to “show [their] anger” at these companies’ addresses.

The group, which describes itself as a “network made up of autonomous groups and individuals”, is distributing the action map via Twitter and Facebook . Members of the Occupy London movement are also expected to take part, according to a spokesperson for the group.

Stop G8 plans to publicise the protest abroad, having organised an “info tour” across Germany and Holland over the next two weeks and translating its publicity material into 17 languages.

The map of targets also features the names and addresses of several banks, private equity houses and security organisations, as well as energy, arms, mining and media companies.

A number of exclusive nightclubs, shopping venues and restaurants, dubbed the “dens of the rich”, have similarly been identified as targets for the protest.

Additional reporting by Helen Warrell.

**NOTE**. The Metropolitan Police are not “in dialogue” with StopG8. Unless you count as “dialogue” Community Support Officers sent to knock on the door of our meeting and ask for a headcount, or maybe Special Branch stopping people at Dover ferryport and threatening them with arrest under Schedule 7 (anti-terrorist law) unless they give information on the network. These intimidation tactics have not been, and will not be, successful.

8 June: StopG8 welcome party & Antiraids benefit gig

The StopG8 convergence centres will open on Saturday 8 June, and there will be welcome events and talks ahead of the action week that starts on Monday 10 June. On Saturday night we kick off with a benefit gig supporting the South London Solidarity Federation and the new Antiraids network, a network fighting immigration controls and raids in London. Full details below.

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Come down to LimaZulu, north London, on 8th June for a night of excellent spoken word, poetry & international hip hop, with a headliner from Mexico! All in the name of an excellent cause, that being the Anti Raids Network ( https://network23.org/antiraids/) & SLSF (solfed.org.uk/?q=south-london/)

Featuring:

BOCAFLOJA – straight outta DF (Mexico City) via NYC, conscious, articulate & intellectual hip hop about race, migration and geopolitics. The HOTTEST ticket in bilingual hip hop is in the UK for 2 nights only, especially to support the Anti-Raids Network!
 http://www.emancipassion.com/music.htm

DEAN ATTA – fresh from publishing his poetry collection, “I Am Nobody’s Nigga”, the “Gill Scott-Heron of his generation” will grace us with some of his work.
 https://soundcloud.com/deanatta

WANDA CANTON – sharp & insightful feminist spoken word from East London
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wanda-Canton-Performance-Poet/140322266132995?id=140322266132995&sk=info

OSA COLLECTIVE – at once breezily cool and redhot, South London’s ‘free poetry’ collective and NTS Radio stars bring rhymes and reason
 https://www.facebook.com/OtherStateArt

OPEN MIC – got something you wanna say?

+ more acts & DJs TBC! Watch this space!

This event will be a joint benefit, with proceeds split equally between two initiatives:

Anti-Raids Network – a migrants right & detainee group, who support the undocumented and the invisible against the witchhunts of the UK Border Agency and Metropolitan Police alike. We are 100% dependent on donations and fundraising to keep our crucial work going!
 https://network23.org/antiraids/

South London Solidarity Federation – the project to build a truly independent & revolutionary union for all workers, both in and out of employment. We’re currently over a year into a huge campaign against the government’s brutal Workfare regime, fighting to save Lewisham Hospital from the hatchet man, and plenty more:
 http://www.solfed.org.uk/local/south-london

It’s also part of the Stop G8 Week of Action:  https://network23.org/stopg8/week-of-action/

Come down early & show your support!

8pm-2.30am
@ LimaZulu, Unit 3j, Omega Works 167 Hermitage Rd, N4 1LZ
Tube: Manor House
 http://www.limazulu.co.uk

£5 waged
£4/donation (what you can afford) unwaged

South London Solidarity Federation & Anti-Raids Network
- e-mail: southlondonsf@riseup.net
- Homepage: https://www.facebook.com/events/573633195991487/

europe against the G8

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With under a month to go now, the StopG8 mobilisation is gathering speed both in the UK and across the Channel. The StopG8 infotour moves on to the Netherlands today (Saturday 18 May), with a talk this afternoon (16.15pm) at the Pinksterlandaddagen Festival

More Dutch dates: Monday 20th – Wageningen: Droevendaal, Droevendaalsesteeg, 16:00; Tuesday 21st  – Groningen: Kale Kip; Wednesday 22nd: Nijmegen, 19:30-20:00 at de Klinker (van broeckhuysenstraat 46.)

Elsewhere in mainland Europe, a group in Germany is mobilising under the banner “Fight G8“. They are supporting the J11 carnival in London, and also calling for actions back in Germany between 14-18 June.

In Italy, StopG8 appeared on Rome’s free radio station Radio Ondarossa to talk about capitalist London, the carnival and the action week. You can listen to the programme (in English and Italian) here. We are also organising solidarity events during the action week to support the Italian comrades imprisoned just last year with 10 year plus sentences for so-called “devastation” during the 2001 G8 in Genoa. More info on that soon. For now, you can read about them here. Love and solidarity to Marina and Alberto!

The StopG8 international call-out is now online in 18 languages: click on the العربية, Türkçe, ελληνικά… tab above to check them all out. If you can help make it 19+, or can help translate the new information text on crossing the UK border, please sign up for the translation list by going to this site and clicking “subscribe”. There will also be a general legal guide for people coming to the UK which will be ready and need translating in the next few days.