Tag Archives: Cardiff

Making merry on Mayday – and other dates

Mayday has traditionally been a time of both celebration and rebellion – and 2015 will be no exception. Here are a few events taking place this year that we have heard about – let us know of others to add to the list over the next couple of weeks.

Milan: International anti-capitalist protest

Noexpolittle

Six weeks after the massive protests against the opening of the European Central Bank HQ in Frankfurt, European anti-capitalists will be gathering again, this time in Italy, to take on another major showcase of European neoliberalism. The mobilisation on Friday May 1 is being billed as “a joyful angry international demonstration through the centre of Milan” and starts at 2pm at Piazza XXIV Maggio on the south side of the city centre. It is focused on the opening day of Expo 2015, an extravagant six-month “world fair” celebrating the corporate wealth built on the exploitation of workers and the destruction of the environment.

London: Mayday street party

fuckparade

Reclaim the Beats – join the Fuck Parade! Class War 12V multi rig street party at 1 Commercial Street, London, from 6pm on Friday May 1.

London: Occupy Democracy

occupy democracy

As Britain gets ready to go to the polls,Occupy Democracy has announced a ten-day occupation of Parliament Square, from May 1 to May 10,  to continue building “a movement for real democracy: free from corporate control, working for people and planet”. They say: “We will return to Parliament Square to expose our broken democracy and work towards real democratic solutions through engaging workshops, lively discussions and creative direct action”.

Cardiff: Radical Workers Bloc (May 2)

Mayday Cardiff

South Wales Anarchists will be demonstrating in Cardiff on May 2 to celebrate this year’s May Day. We call on all those struggling for a world of justice, dignity and freedom to come together and join us this May Day in Cardiff. Bring your red and black flags and class struggle banners! Meet at 12 noon on Saturday May 2 at the southern end of St Mary St, under the railway bridge near the Great Western Wetherspoons. March starts at 12.30 through the streets of Cardiff City centre to…. somewhere with no bureaucrats’ speeches!!!

Future events

Didcot, UK. Reclaim the Power: Direction action camp May 29 – June 2. 

RTP

Reclaim the Power is holding a direct action camp near Didcot Power Station (Oxfordshire) as part of a global day of action, ahead of the UN climate talks (COP21) in December 2015.

Basque Country: International anti-fracking camp, July 13-19

Frack camp

The Frackanpada is an international protest camp against fracking that will take place this summer in Euskal Herria (Basque Country), called by the local movement against fracking (Fracking Ez) and with the support of a committed team of people based in different European countries.

Rhineland, Germany: Climate Camp – mass civil disobedience, August 14-16

degrowth summer school

“In a big colourful action of civil disobedience we will obstruct the exploitation of lignite (soft coal) with many hundreds of people. Thus we will resist one of the crucial root causes of climate change. We will use a variety of actions, about which we will communicate in an open and reliable way. Let’s make the Rhineland the focal point of a strong and powerful anti-coal-movement!” Also Degrowth Summer School,  August 9-14

Peak District, England: Earth First! Summer gathering, August 19-24

EF!SG15poster-small

The gathering is billed as “five days of skills sharing for grassroots ecological action” revolving around the struggle against fracking, new roads and lots more, with a particular emphasis on community-based campaigns. It is “a chance for people and groups from across the country and beyond to get together to network, share practical skills, ideas and inspirations to help our actions and campaigns be as strategic and effective as possible “.

Other sites with events info

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The Acorn

 

Opposing the DPRTE arms fair in Cardiff

On the 8th of October, DPRTE – “The UK’s Premier Defence Procurement Event” was held in Cardiff’s Motorpoint arena. A demonstration had been called by Stop NATO Cymru, Anarchist Action Network and South Wales Anarchists to oppose it, starting at 8.30am to coincide with the start of delegate registration, when the those buying and selling weapons and toys of war would be entering the arms fair.

dptre

Several times people managed to get very close to the entrance before being kicked out by security, giving the delegates a piece of their mind in the process. At around 9am 3 men in suits entering the arms fair were covered in red paint. Two people were arrested and subsequently kept for 12 hours. They were both charged with criminal damage for staining the suits.

Food not Bombs Cardiff gave vegan breakfasts to passers by and the demonstrators. Food not bombs are a group who draw attention to food waste, and also the absurd fact that under capitalism we can afford to go to war but yet so many are going hungry and in many parts of the world people are starving to death.

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The arms industry benefits from perpetual war that has become the norm. Arms dealers make money from the deaths of innocent people. They came to Cardiff, a city that had a small taste of what it is to be in a militarized zone with the NATO Conference coming to south Wales just a month ago. If DPRTE come back next year people will be there to oppose them again. We don’t want these dangerous psychopaths in our city, buying and selling weapons that kill people.

Protesters continued to have a frank exchange of views with delegates at the fair for the remainder of the day.

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No Borders S. Wales and Stop NATO Cymru Day of Action Against Racism, Prisons and Borders.

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No Borders South Wales

You can tell what country NATO is currently terrorising by who’s desperately trying- and dying -to get to the “safety” of the UK. From Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and other parts of North Africa, and more recently Syria. Countries that the West – frequently with their Saudi friends – have turned into “failed states”. People fleeing death, rape, their homes destroyed. Drowning in the Mediterranean. Being battered by cops in Calais, asphyxiated on container lorries, locked up in the prisons laughingly refered to as UK detention centres, put in solitary confinement or regular prisons if they standup for themselves. And then deported, often to their deaths.

Immigration control – aka racist state terrorism – is not just about UK racism. It’s about global capital’s strategy of free movement of capital. And selective control of labour, where wanted skills are allowed entry and the rest are expected to die quietly.

No Borders South Wales calls for a day of action on the theme of borders and anti-racism. We call for a “noise demo” at 12 noon on September 2nd outside the regional headquarters of the Home Office, 31-33 General Buildings, Newport Road, where life and death decisions are made and dawn raids ordered and carried out. We also call for actions by affinity groups throughout the day, see Stop NATO Cymru map (coming soon) for ideas.

For more infomation on days of action and opposition to the 2014 NATO summit see: http://network23.org/stopnatocymru