Come and find out about a campaign to stop arms manufacturers from carrying on their trade in death and destruction.

WMTS, 1 Salop Road, Wrexham.

Anti-racist, anti-fascist march and rally in Wrexham

Wrexham Trades Union Council organised an anti-racist, anti-fascist march and rally in Wrexham on Saturday 12 April as part of the Hope Not Hate fortnight.

This week four BNP community councillors were returned unopposed in the local elections in Wrexham county. With Gordon Brown saying things like ‘British jobs for British workers’, with the Daily Mail and most of the rest of the mainstream media promoting bigotry and hate, and with a draconian and punitive immigration policy which treats victims of torture and other asylum seekers as criminals and locks them up in detention centres under appalling conditions, the BNP is seeing more and more of its views ‘legitimised’ in the mainstream, to the point where it felt able to have an election stall in the middle of Wrexham.  After the event, a group of the marchers went back into town to counter-campaign.  Our ‘End Fascism Now’ banner was held up in front of the stall and hundreds of anti-BNP leaflets were given out to passers-by.

Hopefully, this will not be an isolated event, but will mark the start of an active anti-racist movement in Wrexham.

Cycling to Aldermaston for ‘The Bomb Stops Here’ CND Demo

It’s nearly a couple of years since I cycled from Parliament Square in central London to a demo at Aldermaston.  It turned out to be further than I’d anticipated, mainly because the map I’d very stupidly assumed was 4 inches to a mile was, in fact, 8 inches, so everything was twice as far as it looked.  That, combined with a relentless headwind which made the virtually level route feel like a steep hill all the way, and my cycling mate Karl’s borrowed bike, which proved to have only one usable gear and very poor brakes, made what should have been a pleasant summer’s ride into a waking nightmare.  After about eight hours we had completely exhausted our energy resources and resorted to sleeping in a field in bivi-bags about 6 miles from Aldermaston. This bit was not as bad as it sounds. After two nights under tarps in Parliament Square, with tubes rumbling under us and sirens wailing all night and being attacked by drunk revellers, sleeping in a peaceful field was pure bliss.  Day dawned dewless, clear and calm, but by the time we’d re-packed and cycled the last few miles, the demo was all but done. This time round I was determined not to make the same mistakes.

Read on… 

There was a demonstration outside the Shell garage on the A541 Mold Road in Wrexham on Saturday 23 Feb as part of the international ‘Hands Off Iraqi Oil’ day of solidarity action. Despite small numbers, we managed to make ourselves very visible thanks to the conveniently placed pedestrian crossing.

Members of Wrexham Peace & Justice Forum and Wrexham Women for Peace took part in a solidarity action in support of the people and oil workers of Iraq, who are fighting to keep Iraqi oil under national control in the face of pressure to accept a new ‘oil law’.  If this law is passed, it will allow foreign companies such as Shell, BP and Exxon to control Iraq’s oil production, guaranteeing massive profits for western oil companies and leaving Iraqi oil workers in poverty.

Protesters put up banners and placards at the Shell petrol station on Mold Road, Wrexham on Saturday and handed out leaflets.  The aim of the demonstration was to raise awareness of these issues and to show solidarity with the people of Iraq.

Genny Bove of WPJF and Wrexham Women for Peace said:

"We deplore the British government’s efforts to push this oil law through for the benefit of western oil interests and at the expense of the needs of the Iraqi people who have already suffered so much.  After years of sanctions which harmed ordinary Iraqis and led to the deaths of half a million Iraqi children, the British government supported the 2003 invasion which has led to up to a million more deaths. We cannot stand by now while Iraq’s most valuable economic resource is sold off.  The banners we displayed on Saturday - ‘Iraq for the Iraqis’ and ‘No Profit from War’ sum up our feelings."

From the Hands Off Iraqi Oil website -

STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE IRAQI PEOPLE

For the Iraqi people, the ongoing war and occupation have led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, relentless insecurity and crippling poverty. But for foreign oil companies, the desperate situation in Iraq is an opportunity to make massive profits at the expense of the Iraqi people.

In February 2007 the Iraqi cabinet approved an oil law which, if passed into law, would allow the likes of Shell, BP and Exxon to take over control of most of Iraq’s oil reserves, depriving ordinary Iraqis of scores of billions of dollars. Shell and BP, with the help of the UK Government have been actively pushing for this law and these contracts since 2003.

One year on, despite five US administration- and IMF- imposed deadlines, the law is still being contested at every level of Iraqi society. However, a 18th February deadline for international oil companies to register to compete for tenders to help develop Iraq’s oil  http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/26507) represents a first official foot in the door.

We need to keep the pressure up here in the UK and support the Iraqi people in their ongoing fight.

The Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions is at the forefront of grassroots campaigning against the privatisation of Iraq’s oil industry and has threatened strike action should the law go ahead. Oil experts, lawyers, academics, trade unionists, and students are rejecting the occupation-imposed oil law and the economic occupation it serves.

Who should decide the future of Iraq’s economy and resources? The people of Iraq, or Shell and BP? 

Wrexham Women for Peace and supporters returned to Hoole TOTAL petrol station in Chester on Saturday 26 January, to build support in Chester for the Boycott TOTAL campaign, which is calling for people to buy their petrol elsewhere until TOTAL stops supporting the violent and oppressive military regime in Burma.

With more people, banners and placards than last time and a beautifully sunny morning, most members of the group positioned themselves over the road and opposite the petrol station which is on a bit of a blind bend. From here, approaching motorists had plenty of time to take in the messages before they reached the garage; even better, we were in the warm sun. The rest of us handed out leaflets to passers-by on the other side of the road and to motorists on the garage forecourt. After we’d been asked several times by a very polite and embarrassed TOTAL employee to stay off the forecourt, a lone policeman turned up in a car, but didn’t even trouble to get out and put on his helmet to talk to us.

Our new ‘Beep 4 Burma’ banner had the desired effect, and soon the air was filled with the cheery, and occasionally startling, sound of tooting horns. Using the pedestrian crossing to, er, cross (and re-cross) with our banner also worked well.

Many motorists changed their minds and drove right on after indicating for the petrol station; others drove in and straight out; some filled up and vowed never to return; just a few refused to take the leaflets. This is a petrol station that regularly has queues for petrol on a Saturday morning. Trade for the morning was no more than a trickle, with the forecourt completely empty for long periods.

After the demo, one of the participants said: "By taking a stand I felt I could contribute to raising awareness of Total’s investment in Burma. It was so empowering to see an empty forecourt and and realise that the people of Chester were no longer willing to give their money to a company that funds the Burmese junta."

In a rare piece of direct action by the authorities - supporting our efforts to encourage people to buy their petrol elsewhere - all motor traffic is going to be diverted well away from Hoole TOTAL garage from next week while the railway bridge is being repaired, so we might need to find another local TOTAL petrol station to visit. Suggestions on a postcard, please.

Want to find out what’s going on in Wrexham for animals, people and the environment?

Get yerselves down to the Vic on February 9

Wrexham Veggies, along with a load of other campaigning groups in the Wrexham area, is holding an

• Find out about the benefits of vegetarian and vegan diets
• Sample our vegan refreshments
• Browse at stalls run by local groups working on: animal rights and animal sanctuaries; vegetarianism; peace and justice; alternative news; local campaigns; environmental issues
• Help yourself to anything you like from the free shop - shoplifters will NOT be prosecuted! - or bring along something you no longer need to donate to the shop
• See what’s going on; meet like-minded people; get involved!

If this event is successful, we plan to make it a regular thing.

So come along on the 9th - bring your friends and family - tell everyone you know.

More information from Wrexham Veggies: info@wrexhamveg.org Tel: 07904 375178

Website: www.wrexhamveg.org

Wrexham Women for Peace and supporters held a demonstration in support of the people of Burma (Myanmar) this morning.

Campaigners targeted the TOTAL petrol station on the A483 Ruabon by-pass to draw attention to the links between French-owned TOTAL Oil and the Burmese military junta. Banners were hung on nearby bridges, placards displayed on the roadside and leaflets handed out to motorists on the petrol station forecourt in a peaceful action designed to raise awareness of this issue and to encourage a boycott of TOTAL petrol stations until the company severs its links with Burma.

Burma’s democratically-elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi - who has been under detention or house arrest for the past 12 years - has said that TOTAL is the biggest supporter of the Burmese junta and should pull out of Burma immediately. There is also a call for TOTAL to give up its interest in the Yadana natural gas pipeline to Thailand, constructed using forced labour, which it operates in conjunction with another oil giant: Chevron-Texaco.

Less than two weeks ago, European pension funds withdrew over £100 million of investments in TOTAL following protests over the company’s involvement in Burma.
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/04/oilandpetrol.news)

A spokesperson for Wrexham Women for Peace said:

"Burma is a country rich in natural resources, yet its people are poor and hungry. Almost half of government spending goes on the military; very little is spent on health and welfare. There are more child soldiers in Burma than in any other country. Rape is used as a weapon of war. Many of Burma’s political prisoners are tortured by the regime.

The demonstration comes one week before a national day of action against Total’s involvement in Burma.

National protest 24 November: http://totaloutofburma.blogspot.com/

Readers can pledge their support for the campaign by signing a postcard to Total asking it to pull out of Burma. Visit this website:http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total.html

To contact Wrexham Women for Peace or to join in the national day of protest, call 0845 330 4505 or email wrexhamwomen@yahoo.co.uk.

Reading the comments below the report, I was dismayed to see one which criticised the use of the word ‘action’ for leafleting.  The poster said: "Could we please keep the word ‘action’ for referring to actions rather than demos and leafleting?" and I was inspired to write this reply, which started out as a straight comment and ended up as a poem:

(Have added a couple of extra lines now - see comment below)

doing something

Action is doing
Action can be covert or overt
fluffy or spiky
engaging or confrontational
educating and demystifying
challenging
subverting
publicising
making music and theatre
art and poetry
writing, speaking, clicking, filming
recording and reporting
cooking, cleaning, mending
feeding people
healing people
building places to sit and talk
and sit and shit
waiting at the nick
legal help
court support
just being there
with a smile and a hug
and a listening ear
All these are Actions
We need them all
and together
We are Activists

The SOCPA case against five activists who took part in the No More Fallujahs Weekend of action last October collapsed today at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court when judge Quentin Purdy found no case to answer and dismissed all charges against the five at the end of a protracted and at times farcical hearing which lasted almost four hours.

The five - Brian Barlow, Steve Barnes, Genny Bove, Rob Clohesey and David King - were all charged with taking part in an ‘unauthorised demonstration’ within the ‘designated area’ around Parliament on 29/30 October 2006. The cases had been joined together following a pre-trial hearing in May, where the five had agreed that they would not require any of the arresting/reporting police officers to be present at the trial.

Maybe the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had assumed that the case would therefore be a push-over and hadn’t bothered to prepare, or maybe they really are cracking under the strain of all those new laws and endless prosecutions. In any event, the prosecutor was ill-prepared for the case which she claimed to have only seen for the first time five minutes before the trial, and struggled to present a coherent prosecution from the six separate files piled up in front of her. She counted the defendants and then the files and then appealed to the magistrate that there were six files and only five defendants, having failed to notice that Steve was facing two charges.

To begin with, the defendants were all ushered - protesting - into the defendants’ box (behind a glass screen) to confirm names and addresses. Some of the five declined to give dates of birth, which went unremarked, thanks to Milan Rai’s and Maya Evans’ earlier stand on this, I guess. Standing in a glass box at the back of the court is not the best way to feel part of (or indeed hear) the proceedings against you, so the five vociferously expressed their wish to be seated in the main courtroom, which was agreed and turned out to be much more satisfactory. All the defendants represented themselves.

Before the case began, Genny asked to make a submission that to proceed with the case would be unlawful and an abuse of process, drawing on rulings from the European Court of Human Rights which talk about the need for any restrictions on the right to freedom of expression to be tightly drawn, with clear processes, foreseeable consequences and so on, and pointed to the duty of the magistrates court to stop the case going ahead given SOCPA’s complete lack of process for its ‘unwritten law’.

Rather surprisingly to the defendants, who were expecting to be silenced at the earliest opportunity, Genny was given time not only to make the submission in full, but also to give some examples of the problems that have arisen in the past due to SOCPA’s shortcomings in this area. The prosecutor asked for time to go and dig out the caselaw to respond to this submission and asked if there was anything else the defendants wanted to raise so she could deal with that at the same time. Genny stood up again and outlined an argument, based on information contained in the CPS’s website, that the ‘public interest’ test for bringing a prosecution could not possibly have been met, and that such a prosecution would do nothing to reduce crime, would not increase public confidence in the criminal justice system, nor be value for money. This also gave an opportunity for us to talk a little about the events we’d taken part in, our motivation and our dismay that we were being treated as criminals for remembering the dead. After that there was an adjournment for the prosecutor to scurry around and for the defendants to take a breather, before it was back in for round 2.

Read the rest of the court report here and letters to the press here.

SOCPA has removed the right to protest within a kilometre of Parliament, and has replaced it with the right to protest in this area only with prior police authorisation, the police being able to set conditions on the place and duration of the demonstration, the size of banners and the number of people who may protest.  This picture sums up my feelings about SOCPA.  I’ve had some correspondence with MP Steve Pound about SOCPA after hearing his defence of the Act on Radio 4 just after Christmas.

Anyway, I did take part in an unauthorised Peace Camp in Parliament Square last October.  It took the Crown Prosecution Service six months to decide that it was in the public interest to prosecute under SOCPA, but now they have, and I’ve got a provisional court date of 14 September.  I’m planning to plead not guilty because I cannot accept that it is a criminal offence (serious organised criminal offence, even) to remember the British soldiers who have died in Iraq by reading out their names in a solemn remembrance ceremony, even if I choose to do that outside Downing Street without asking for police permission.

I’ve written an article for indymedia about the court cases to date, which you can read here.