Tag: SOMERSET

ANARCHY VS. CHAOS: A REVIEW

ON SATURDAY 24TH November, Bath’s Black And Red Federation (B.A.R.F) hosted a polite public discussion on anarchism at the Manvers Street Baptist Church, complete with tea and (vegan) cake. Anarchism has received a bad press over the centuries, with anarchists forced into stereotypes of either violent thugs or sandal-footed hippies – caricatures repeated by both the media and political establishment on one side, but also by self-proclaimed anarchists on the other. But many anarchists see it differently: the philosophy had become a relevant and mass movement of hundreds of thousands of everyday people fighting for freedom in 1920s Ukraine and 1930s Spain, however briefly. Far from embracing destruction and chaos, anarchists say that ‘Anarchism is Order’! On the day, 25 attended to hear three local speakers’ presentations, examining the Peterloo Massacre and its repercussions, anarchism in the workplace and the links, if any, between anarchism and violence. The day then broke down into a wider discussion on the challenges facing anarchist organising today; all in all, a well-received and thoughtful day. Keep an eye out for the next one!

https://network23.org/barf

GETTING STARBUCKED

THE RECENT UPROAR surrounding Starbucks has once again pushed the issue of tax-dodging, and its relation to austerity, into the limelight. Starbucks is one of the largest coffee chains in the U.K., and the second largest café/restaurant chain in the world. Yet, in the last three years they’ve paid no corporation tax at all in the U.K., despite making sales of £3.1bn. And on Saturday December 8th, despite their sudden agreement to pay back £20m of their £400m debt, U.K. Uncut and friends hit them with a wave of 40 protests and occupations around the country. And their execs’ new-found generosity to the tax man came with a hefty price tag – two days before they publicised the details of their ‘gift’, they also told over 7,000 staff how they’re cutting paid lunch breaks, sick pay, maternity leave and a string of other work benefits.

But the only reason that companies like Starbucks are able to employ a workforce with such scroogery at all, is due to state support, in the form of working tax credits and housing benefit (benefits now also under threat, thanks to George Osborne). And we’re not just talking Starbucks: other big names recently have been Vodafone, Amazon, and the Arcadia group. And Osborne knows this. That’s why you won’t see him raising corporation tax, or closing tax loopholes, or clamping down on offshore tax-havens.

With that in mind, up to 40 activists in Bristol shut down both the Broadmead Starbucks and Park Street one, meeting overwhelming approval from passers-by. And in Bath, a collection of 20 activists held a demo outside the High Street branch, alongside the monthly Bath FreeShop, handing out free fairtrade tea and coffee.

Outside of protests, though, one way that Starbucks workers can fight such attacks is to unionise, and take action. Starbucks, a company previously infamous for its union-busting, has now seen workers out on strike in Chile and New Zealand, and also unionising under the International Workers of the World (I.W.W.) in North America. Starbucks have clearly offered concessions in the hope of staving off disruption to their business, and the potential loss of profits that this represents. It also shows the power that protest groups can wield. Making big companies pay their tax won’t stop the cuts, but a sustained wave of pickets, occupations and blockades – alongside strike action – just might.

http://www.starbucksunion.org

http://www.iww.org.uk

http://www.bathanticutsalliance.blogspot.com

http://m.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/dec/03/starbucks-slash-lunch-breaks

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9728630/Starbucks-20m-gift-makes-joke-of-tax-system.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/interactive/2012/dec/03/starbucks-uk-employees-new-contracts

FRACK YOU, HIPPY!

WITH THE NEWS that hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’ – pumping a chemical/water cocktail into shale rock at huge pressure, to release gas) is to take place in Keynsham, Frack Free Somerset – a coalition of groups opposed to fracking in the region – have been touring town and city centres to show off their street theatre am dram, and on both the 10th November and 1st December (the national day of action, alongside other groups in Wales, Sussex and Lancashire), they took centre stage in central Bath: The Big Rig Revolt!

Mother(Earth)fuckers UK Methane have submitted their planning application to undertake fracking in Keynsham, in order to extract trapped methane gas. There is much hot air surrounding the process, with evidence pointing again and again at contamination of groundwater in fracked-up areas, but there are also links to air pollution, food source poisoning and even the odd earthquake in Lancashire.

Frack Free Somerset’s daring play involved a mock fracking rig and the 20-strong cast delivering a 5-star performance in their portrayal of ‘Frack the World Inc.’ employees, a fictitious company, proclaiming the safety of their drinking water, while pumping ‘toxic chemicals’ into drinking cups via a tube. Members of the public unsurprisingly refused a sip.

But back to real life: with news that recommencement of fracking in Lancashire has just received approval on the 13th of this month, campaigners are calling on the public to object to the planning application, details of which can be found at: http://www.frackfreesomerset.org/what-you-can-do/keynsham-action-alert/planningobjections/

www.frackfreesomerset.org

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20707574

STATING THE OBVIOUS

A DEFIANT YET modest group of eight activists from Bath Anti-Cuts Alliance, Occupy Bath and B.A.R.F. anarchists, were all out in ‘force’ on the freezing night of Wednesday 5th December, leafleting with blue-tinged fingers, and bemoaning George Osborne’s mopey Autumn Statement. A statement that basically stated: “Yes, the evil Con-Dem austerity package has failed to turn around the economy’s nosedive” and “Yes, we’re gonna do at least another six years of the same, and feign surprise when it turns out it didn’t work”. As well as the recent years of frozen wages, ‘Workfare’ neo-slavery and dismantled public services, the new plan similarly attacks benefits, pensions and teachers’ unions. Meanwhile, the Sunday Times Rich List reported that the wealthiest 1,000 UK citizens have seen their fortunes increase by over £18 billion over the past year, to more than £414 billion – over a third of the national debt. Without meaning to state the obvious, but perhaps it’s about time for a bit of old-fashioned wealth redistribution?

LAST ORDERS AT THE BELL?

DARK DAYS FOR Bathonians last month, with the announcement of the impending sale of Walcot Street’s Bell Inn. For those not in the know, the Bell has long been one of the city’s most distinctive waterholes, with a reputation for real ale, almost nightly live music and independent spirit. The foil-hatted amongst you can almost be forgiven for thinking that some sinister Illuminani-esque conspiracy has been targeting the city over the last decade or so, with closures of real pubs like the Hat and Feather, the Porter Butt and the Longacre (even Moles’ future is looking shaky), the expansion of boarded-up wasteland along the London Road, and increased gentrification (yes, this is Bath we’re talking about). Walcot Street, the so-called ‘Artisan Quarter’, whatever that means, has been hit hardest, with the loss of Doolallys cafe and the sabotage of Walcot Nation Day festival, an annual fest of true weirdness.

Maybe the Bell’s motley crue of dedicated boozers and misfits can save the pub, though, and buy it up themselves; providing they can cough up the £925,000. But failing that, this might well be the pub’s final death knell. Well, we’ve always thought it high time the city had another gastro-pub.

http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Regulars-fear-future-Bell-pub-goes-sale/story-17392550-detail/story.html

GROUNDHOG DAY, OCCUPY BATH-STYLE

NOVEMBER 16TH-18TH saw the return of Bathonian regulars Occupy Bath, for their anniversary weekend trip down memory lane. Barred by the Council from their old haunt in Queen Square, campers made a last minute detour to upmarket Royal Crescent, to dirty the stuffy elegance with their tents and banners and ghastly cookfires. After a swift set-up, and hot nosh (care of Bath Food Not Bombs), they resumed the old General Assembly meeting format – open, consensus-based discussions where all present get to air their views and decide camp policy. A year on, this camp was more firmly focused on the government austerity program, as well as Britain’s corrupt economic system. As well as bathing in the glare of the B.B.C. and Bath Chronicle’s media spotlight, the campers found themselves also dazzled by the flash of busloads of tourist cameras, who must have thought they’d encountered some post-apocalyptic human zoo – and maybe they had. The next day, it was all out to hassle Starbucks on their tax evasion, complete with banner, megaphone and minor security guard scuffles. And then come the Sunday they packed up and went their separate ways, rather than outstaying their welcome for weeks on end, like last time! But unlike many of the Occupy cells, the Bath group are still very much active, particularly in the form of their brainchild Bath People’s Assembly, which meets every month at the Friends Meeting House – and maybe you should do, too?

http://new.bathpeoplesassembly.org/

http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/

UP AND ATOM

IT’S A BAD time to be in the nuke biz. Remember that global recession that we’re apparently out of? Well, the con-alition government’s nuclear plans (for an extra 10 power stations by 2025) are currently showing the cracks, as three catchy-named nuclear engineering companies from both France and China – Areva, China National Nuclear Power Corporation and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group – have pulled out of buying Horizon Nuclear Power (planning reactors in Wylfa and Oldbury), due to economic doubts. Iberdrola, Spanish owners of Scottish Power (with designs on Sellafield), are also having second thoughts.

Frenchies E.D.F. are also in financial straits, but that’s not all their problems, as anti-nuclear campaigners have recently finished their ‘Reclaim Hinkley’ weekend action camp. Hinkley Point in Bridgwater is to house two untried-and-tested brand nuke reactors, as well as a storage facility to hold radioactive waste for at least 160 years, assuming some other authority agrees to later take it off their hands. The camp lasted from 5th to 8th of October, and was set up on occupied land nearby, complete with catering, wooden H.Q., solar panels and between 70 and 120 eco-warriors at any time.

After the obligatory day of talks and action training, proceedings ended with a bang on the Monday, as they led a colourful march – complete with toxic yellow barrels rolled through the streets – to the power station’s gates and did a ‘die-in’ blockade. And then it was all on E.D.F.’s proposed Hinkley C site for a jolly mass trespass, where 50-plus surrounded the five mile perimeter, dodged G4S goons, hung massive banners, sang, waved placards, and lobbed 577 seedbombs (the number of days since the Fukushima Dai-chi disaster in Japan). While all that song and dance went on, 30 managed to scale or breach the 8′ high barbed wire-topped fence, and planted wildflowers; six were arrested, and one got a suspected broken arm for their troubles.

South West Against Nuclear say that the £60bn earmarked for ‘new nuclear’ needs instead to be diverted to energy reduction and renewables development, for a cleaner, greener future. Maybe the government will listen?

http://tinyurl.com/8zeqwyz

http://theoccupiedtimes.co.uk/?p=7265

http://tinyurl.com/9ejqr5h

http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/pictures/Photos-Stop-Hinckley-Protest-pictures/pictures-17046040-detail/pictures.html

http://stopnewnuclear.org.uk/node/1500

http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Video-Anti-nuclear-campaigners-begin-Stop-Hinkley/story-17048137-detail/story.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/03/british-nuclear-china-investors-pull-out?newsfeed=true

A CASE OF BLACK AND WHITE

UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN living in a sett for the last few months, you’ve probably heard that the government plan to undertake a badger cull in order to stop badgers giving cows T.B. Of course, no-one wants to kill badgers, but the government and the National Farmers Union claim that this is necessary; except that no one else seems to think so. Going back a few years, over 10,000 badgers were killed by scientists in order to see if culling them reduces T.B. in cattle, only to conclude that it will make “no meaningful contribution” to controlling the disease. Several studies suggest that cattle movement is the most significant cause, and that this needs to be controlled much more than badgers. Now, these very scientists, as well as conservation and animal welfare groups such as the R.S.P.B. and R.S.P.C.A., the likes of David Attenborough and Bill Oddie, a large proportion of the public, and top of all of this, a majority of M.P.s in the House of Commons, are opposed to the cull and support alternatives such as vaccination and biosecurity measures.

So, why are they trying to kill the badgers? The decision appears to be an entirely political one, as the Tories depend upon the votes of farming communities who do not want to admit that that they’ve made mistakes with cattle movement, and the increasingly low genetic pool of cattle, poor conditions and lack of biosecurity has led to an increase in susceptibility and the spread of the disease. In the words of John Bourne, the scientist who led the previous trial of badger culling: “I think the most interesting observation was made to me by a senior politician who said, ‘fine John, we accept your science, but we have to offer the farmers a carrot. And the only carrot we can possibly give them is culling badgers’”.

Anti-cull activists are therefore on the case, with pickets of supermarkets selling milk sourced from the cull zones (Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda) in Bristol and Bath throughout last month. Far be it from us to give shopping advice, but if you’re not lactose-intolerant or one of those funny vegans, you might consider heading to Co-op, Waitrose or Marks’s for your milk. Indeed, we take our hats off to Brian May and his more clandestine friends, a combination of whose e-petitions, lobbying, ‘gentle pressure’, late night sett-monitoring and prank phone calls led to not only a tough day in the office or two for new environment minister Owen Paterson, but also to M.P.s voting to delay the cull until next June!

But don’t pack up your waterproofs, maps and torches just yet – if the cull does still go ahead next year, there is plenty work to be done. Country estates (such as Forthampton Estate) and some farms are still signed up to the cull, and many badger setts have already been baited for culling, and activists are making note of these to go out and interrupt the shooting when the time comes. And campaigners are also targeting coffee shops like Starbucks and Nero, who deal with pro-cull dairies: if you would like speak to them, their details are below:

Starbucks U.K. and Ireland Media Inquiries

tel: + 44 20 8834 5164

e-mail: ukpressoffice@tarbucks.com

Caffe Nero

http://www.caffenero.com/contact/default.aspx

http://badger-killers.co.uk/

http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/

http://badger-killers.co.uk/shoot-to-kill/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/25/badgers-wildlife

INDEPENDENTS DAY

WITH DEBATE RAGING about the future of the high street, the increasing dominance of the big four supermarkets and the nature of our villages, towns and cities, this is a perfect time to discuss such big issues. In Frome, there are plans to redevelop the town, which sparked the founding of ‘Keep Frome Local’, a group pledged to resist a giant town centre supermarket. After a busy year and a half, they are bringing people together to share their experiences of campaigning and navigating the bullshit brown waters of local planning. What kind of places do we want to live and work in? Is there an alternative to so-called ‘big box’ retailing? For one day of workshops, discussions and more, ‘Independence Day’ will take place on Saturday November 17th, from 10.30a.m. to 4p.m. at the Wesley Chapel, in Frome town centre. To encourage as many local participants as possible, they are offering travel subsidies and subsidised tickets; e-mail info[at]tescopoly.org. On another note, whilst we welcome resistance to Tesco and multinational corporate monoliths, the root of the problem is the capitalist system itself; swapping out big capitalism for smiley small-scale capitalism is only the tip of the iceberg.

http://www.independenceday2012.co.uk/wp/?utm_source=Tescopoly&utm_campaign=ff3c898fa0-Supermarket_watchdog_campaign&utm_medium=email

 

NO FRACKING WAY!

A NEW CAMPAIGN has been launched to fight back against ‘fracking’ (hydraulic fracturing), the latest lunatic scheme to extract natural resources. Fracking involves blasting pressurised liquids deep underground in an effort to free up and extract shale gas, and has been linked to an increasing number of dangerous side effects: contamination of crops, air and groundwater, by methane. In Lancashire, where fracking is underway despite fierce opposition and direct action from locals, there has been a massive increase in respiratory problems for nearby residents, as well as earthquakes, due to the high pressure subterranean hosedown. Fracking also promotes the use of fossil fuels, of course, meaning that it will do nothing to reduce CO2 pollution. At the moment, the Mendip hills are the intended target of these carbon-crazy frackers. ‘Frack Free Somerset’ is a new group dedicated to fighting back, and they will be holding a public meeting on Tuesday 25th September between 7 and 9p.m. in the town hall of sleepy Wells. Contact them at info[at]frackfreesomerset.org, or via their website: http://www.frackfreesomerset.org.

PUN HOTLINE: as the word ‘fracking’ is so obviously open to all manner of linguistic abuse, any headline suggestions will be gratefully received, to the usual address; after all, we don’t want to do all the hard work ourselves.