Saturday, August 29, 2009

climate camp 2009

..is go!
and has been for a few days now.

they swooped on london on wednesday - six separate 'swoops' receiving text messages revealing the camp's whereabouts that afternoon.
and it's at blackheath.

i couldn't get there until yesterday evening, but they obviously coped just fine in my absence - there have been actions held at the carbon exchange on thursday, and yesterday kick-started an anti-bank holiday at barclays.

there's a fantastically well-functioning site, compost toilets, excellent communal cooking and some well worth it workshops - and i'm off back there now with me tent.

see y'all down there....

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

the national - royal festival hall, 10 august

setlist:

runaway
start a war
mistaken for strangers
brainy
baby, we'll be fine
slow show
vanderlyle cry baby
squalor victoria
abel
all the wine
racing like a pro
ada
apartment story
available
fake empire

(encore)

green gloves
blood buzz
mr. november
about today


i was in seat k9 :)
new album rumoured to be out next year. and the new stuff's sounding brilliant......

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Protest Boris Johnson’s Funding cuts to Rape Crisis Centres - 20 July, GLA


Why Protest?

The rape conviction rate in the UK is only 5.3% - one of the lowest in Europe.

93% of rape victims do not tell the police.

Every 34 minutes a rape is reported to the police in the United Kingdom. Thousands more women do not come forward.

Every woman and girl who has suffered violence has the right to specialised support to rebuild their lives.

Yet over one in four local authorities in Britain have no specialised support services for women who have experienced violence. London has only one Rape Crisis centre for 3.9 million women. The failure to bring rapists to justice amounts to a near licence to rape.

Women are being failed by the criminal justice system, and left with nowhere to turn for support.

Rape Crisis centres provide a vital service for women who have suffered violence at any time in their lives.

Women who suffer violence are not alone. Sexual violence must be taken seriously. We must act in solidarity to fight for sustainable funding for specialised women’s services.

Why now?

Boris Johnson made an election promise to fund Croydon rape crisis and three new centres for at least 4 years. When he was elected it became clear that he had not budgeted for this promise.

Boris launched a strategy in April 2009 calling ‘for action to end violence against women’. The strategy contains many more promises to women and is open for public consultation until 20th July.

Women need specialised rape services NOW. The ‘postcode lottery’ must end. We need to keep the pressure on to make sure that every woman who has suffered violence has access to support.

What do we want?

* The immediate establishment of a cross-government, ring-fenced Rape Crisis fund of £5m a year
* Greater investment in Rape Crisis by local and regional statutory agencies that refer women to centres
* The number and capacity of centres increased so every woman and girl can access support
* The professionalism of Rape Crisis workers recognised and appropriately remunerated through improved funding to Rape Crisis centres
* The impacts of sexual violence are long-term and far-reaching and funding for services should reflect this
(from Women’s Resource Centre)

*We also support Southall Black Sisters opposition to British National Party Representative -Richard Barnbrook (GLA member for Barking and Dagenham)’s scandalous inclusion on a committee of an evidence session, meant to feed into London mayor Boris Johnson’s violence against women strategy. *

What can I do?

1. Make your voice heard in the consultation before 20th July here: http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/crime/vaw/

2. Protest At the GLA on the day the consultation closes
20th July 12:30 – 14.30

For more info

Boris Keep Your Promise


Women’s Resource Centre

Southall Black Sisters’ Statement

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

ian tomlinson. r.i.p.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/07/video-g20-police-assault

"Dramatic footage obtained by the Guardian shows that the man who died at last week's G20 protests in London was attacked from behind and thrown to the ground by a baton–wielding police officer in riot gear.
Moments after the assault on Ian Tomlinson was captured on video, he suffered a heart attack and died.
The Guardian has handed a dossier of evidence to the police complaints watchdog.
It sheds new light on the events surrounding the death of the 47-year-old newspaper seller, who had been on his way home from work when he was confronted by lines of riot police near the Bank of England.
The submission to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) includes a collection of testimonies from witnesses, along with the video footage, shot at around 7.20pm, which shows Tomlinson at Royal Exchange Passage.
The film reveals that as he walks, with his hands in his pockets, he does not speak to the police or offer any resistance.
A phalanx of officers, some with dogs and some in riot gear, are close behind him and try to urge him forward.
A Metropolitan police officer appears to strike him with a baton, hitting him from behind on his upper thigh.
Moments later, the same policeman rushes forward and, using both hands, pushes Tomlinson in the back and sends him flying to the ground, where he remonstrates with police who stand back, leaving bystanders to help him to his feet.
The man who shot the footage, a fund manager from New York who was in London on business, said: "The primary reason for me coming forward is that it was clear the family were not getting any answers."
The Guardian's dossier also includes a sequence of photographs, taken by three different people, showing the aftermath of the attack, as well as witness statements from people in the area at the time.
A number of witnesses provided time and date-stamped photographs that substantiate their accounts.
Some said they saw police officers attack Tomlinson.
Witnesses said that, prior to the moment captured on video, he had already been hit with batons and thrown to the floor by police who blocked his route home.
One witness, Anna Branthwaite, a photographer, described how, in the minutes before the video was shot, she saw Tomlinson walking towards Cornhill Street.
"A riot police officer had already grabbed him and was pushing him," she said.
"It wasn't just pushing him – he'd rushed him. He went to the floor and he did actually roll. That was quite noticeable.
"It was the force of the impact. He bounced on the floor. It was a very forceful knocking down from behind. The officer hit him twice with a baton when he was lying on the floor.
"So it wasn't just that the officer had pushed him – it became an assault.
"And then the officer picked him up from the back, continued to walk or charge with him, and threw him.
"He was running and stumbling. He didn't turn and confront the officer or anything like that."
The witness accounts contradict the official version of events given by police.
In an official statement on the night of Tomlinson's death, the Metropolitan police made no reference to any contact with officers and simply described attempts by police medics and an ambulance crew to save his life after he collapsed – efforts they said were marred by protesters throwing missiles as first aid was administered .
The force said officers had created a cordon around Tomlinson to give him CPR.
"The officers took the decision to move him as during this time a number of missiles - believed to be bottles - were being thrown at them," it said.
Yesterday, the IPCC began managing an investigation by City of London police into the circumstances of Tomlinson's death after the Guardian published photographs of him on the ground and witness statements indicated he had been assaulted by police officers.
The IPCC commissioner for London, Deborah Glass, said: "Initially, we had accounts from independent witnesses who were on Cornhill, who told us that there had been no contact between the police and Mr Tomlinson when he collapsed."
"However, other witnesses who saw him in the Royal Exchange area have since told us that Mr Tomlinson did have contact with police officers.
"This would have been a few minutes before he collapsed. It is important that we are able to establish as far as possible whether that contact had anything to do with his death."
The IPCC added that Tomlinson was captured on CCTV walking onto Royal Exchange Passage.
"This is the aspect of the incident that the IPCC is now investigating," it said.
It was here the video was shot. A post mortem carried out by a Home Office pathologist last Friday revealed Tomlinson died of a heart attack.
Prior to seeing the dossier of evidence, Tomlinson's family said in a statement: "There were so many people around where Ian died, and so many people with cameras, that somebody must have seen what happened in the Royal Exchange passageway.
"We need to know what happened there and whether it had anything to do with Ian's death.
"We know that some people who were at the protest may not feel comfortable talking to the police.
"People are putting pictures on the internet, writing on blogs and talking to journalists. But we really need them to talk to the people who are investigating what happened."
• The Guardian's Ian Tomlinson video is on YouTube if you wish to embed it on your website or blog."

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

climate rush - northern style

Out of hours right to protest

Manchester airport 12th January

Freedom of expression between the hours of six thirty and nine o' clock occurred yesterday at Manchester Airport's Terminal Three. A protest was held by Climate Rush, in a designated zone, away from all passengers and prying eyes with a cordon for the press and some police horses. The press had their own pen, pens and, um, penises?.

Approximately a(two) hundred protestors genteelly descended to make their views on airport expansion known. Edwardian dress was the order of the day, and we didn't disappoint. Top hats and tails, corsets, shawls and a street urchin all made an appearance.








The police were trying to beat us at our own game by leafleting – colour flyers detailing the restrictions on the protest and specifying which lines we were not allowed to cross. We weren't allowed to enter the building without taking a flyer.



Police deployment was so large in Operation Overkill that they predicted up to two hundred baby eating anarchists ready to dissemble planes. Or a bunch of students , or a few anarchotroublemakers and chaos merchants (which is what they got). In return, they had horses outside, a fair few employees on overtime, and also had waiting tactical support unit vans crammed with 20 officers each.

Protestors confirmed their initial thoughts of direct action being the Only Way.

The protest consisted of : a fantastic banner, many people, a string duet (half a quartet, at least); picnic a-plenty, and a brief spiderman impression.


We came, we ate, we danced, we Made Our Feelings Known.


There was (that we know of) one arrest. He'd told me beforehand that he was going to go for it, so i lent him a book to read in the cells, before he made his arrestable dash.


nice work, flower :)

The protest was against airport expansion and domestic flights. In a time of recession and climate crisis, government money should be spent on improvements to rail, trams, and buses, not on subsidies and infrastructure for the aviation industry.

We have waited too long and been misled too many times. It is time for us to take control and to lead social change.

http://www.stopmanchesterairport.org.uk
http://www.climaterush.co.uk/

Monday, January 12, 2009

the girl

is interested and aroused
and embracing, but yet
somewhat saddened
by cybersex.

it's not so much that she's a prude.
in fact, she wholeheartedly approves
of the concept of sex on the net, and
the folk who enthusiastically get
their rocks so very extremely off
in that fashion.

it's a passion.

but


her frustration lies in getting involved,
and as a result, she has resolved
to contact, tomorrow, the RSA
to enquire, without delay,
whether they could help endorse
an Initial Text Processing course (level III)
in one-handed
touch ..
typ...
i...
nnnnnnngggh

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

so this is the new year

and a happy and joyous 2009 to anyone who may be reading this.

i spent the last night of 2008 playing records for a little bit, drinking whisky and lager (mistake! mistake!), falling over on the dancefloor... when the bells went, i didn't realise the time, and was around nobody that i knew. it felt kinda nice.

i also got given some lovely glittery green liquid eyeliner, and girled it up to fuck :)



unfortunately (?) i didn't get home til 3pm on new year's day, a wee bit shaky and broken. the nice man in wetherspoons, where i had been drinking many tea with chaosmongers, gave me a fluffy blanket to make things all better.

2008 was a weird one. started it with a whimper (falling asleep in a horrible room in leyton, after megabussing back down south after a particularly traumatic visit to my folks). then continued in a whimpery style - got a temp job as a PA to a top parliamentary exec type person. was bored as fuck - in the end, i ended up sorting through a cupboard about three times my height, sifting and filing and shredding papers dating back to the seventies.
it was when my only task was to photocopy a 1970s office procedure manual, that i handed in my notice. and went straight from the fryingpan into the fire.

ended up on a six month contract for an organisation whose in-house publications were full of praise for kingsnorth; my manager came in one day to tell us his son'd been arrested for 'queerbashing' (or words to that effect) and that he was fully behind him/didn't see a problem with his behaviour. the casual racism was rife too.
and what did i do?
absolutely nothing, save stare at the floor, very hard indeed. i'm a bit disgusted with myself.

for about six months of last year, i disappeared completely. woke up, went to work, came home, and then a) watched hollyoaks and whatever else was in front of my eyes b) cried c) drank wine. sometimes independently, sometimes a combo of all three.

and then i quit my job.

i've had three months of running around a bit, finding out who i am again (and i'm NOT the sort of gal who stares at the floor during fuckwittery. really i'm not), taking long baths, hugging my knees, writing again...

in the bigblankhalfyear, i went to my doctor and did one of those tickboxy 'have you felt depressed? suicidal? worthless? wobbly?' test thingies. and got a worried look, a prescription for anti depressants (which i took for a couple of months until i felt kickstarted enough to stop), and an appointment for a clinical psychologist assessment. or, as i prefer to call it, clinical psycholologist. it took a wee while to come through....

it's in two hours - wish me lucks :)


2009 is going to be a very different year.