Mark Barnsley Has Been Moved from Wakefield Prison. His new address is:
Mark Barnsley, WA2897 HMP Leeds 2, Gloucester Terrace Armley Leeds LS12 2TJ. Read latest report.
Mark Barnsley may be in segregation by now for refusing to do work paid at 10% of the minimum wage. Read full report
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More than 100 demonstrators have broken into a major British defence site in North Yorkshire. Greenpeace activists entered the Menwith Hill base, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, at 0500BST in protest against American plans to use it as part of the so-called "Son of Star Wars" national missile defence programme.
Some have chained themselves to buildings or hidden around the site, while others are demonstrating by the main gate as workers arrive at the radar early warning complex.
North Yorkshire Police say they are at the incident, and a Ministry of Defence spokesman has confirmed that some arrests have been made.
Read more at: news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1419... or the Greenpeace article
Work on the Bingly ‘Relief’ Road is due to start tomorrow despite the fact the road has not been subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment in accordance with Directive 85/337/EEC. The Highways Agency have repeatedly refused to conduct such despite two referrals to the European authorities. The contract to build the road was let to AMEC on 22/3/01. It is proceeeding in an unlawful manner! A protest picnic against the road was planned for today - the first protest the new government's intensified road construction programme.
Scott’s peat works were occupied yesterday by people protesting against the mining of some of the last peat lanscape. Read report
The Bernard Road incinerator is to close said Onyx, the company who will take over waste disposal in Sheffield in August. Their contract runs for 30 years and is worth £1.3 billon.
Unfortunately they have plans to build another incinerator in its place 30% larger. Also announced were their plans to get recycling in the city up from 5% to 18% (the Government’s minimum). This figure is well below other cities in Europe where some are already recycling 40% - 50%. One town in Canada currently recycles 70%. Incinerators are one of the main forms of dioxins the most toxic substance known. They're also a source of heavy metals and particulates. Particulates are very fine dust particles which can enter the lungs.
Paul Robinson, a member of UNISON is being held in solitary confinement accused of being a ringleader. Report and letter to send to Swedish Embassy. Send a card to him for his birthday - July 4th. Click here
On June 18th Gap unveiled a new promotional display that could turn every protest into an advert for Gap. Read more.
Around 80 people gathered in the Peace gardens yesterday to protest against CSL redundancies. CSL is the company that took over running housing benefits when it was privatised some months ago.
Several people from different organisations spoke but the message was pretty much the same. The housing benefit system is already massively overworked leaving claimants having to wait for up to a year before receiving their benefits. At best this leads to stress and misery. A woman was recently evicted from her home because of these delays, whilst down south a man hanged himself when he received a summons to pay money he didn’t even owe. Cutting the workforce can only make matters worse. Two of those picked for redundancies were stewards who opposed privatisation, whilst others, who volunteered to leave, were refused.
Some claims have been transferred to Barrow (where wages are lower) contrary to the terms of the contract CSL signed with Sheffield Council.
Here's the Star’s Monday report and photo on Saturday’s local anti-incinerator protest by the Star and some comments on it’s misleading nature. Click to view
June 18th is a date of significance for two reasons. Firstly for the Battle of Orgreave Lane (Hansworth) when the police attacked miners during the 1984 strike. This was marked on Sunday (17th) by a re-enactment of the events that day by a London based art project. Local people, including some of the miners in the strike, took part in the re-enactment which was also filmed for television.
Secondly it was the anniversary of June 18th 1999, the global day of action against capitalism that rocked the world two years ago, and has inspired the mass protests across the globe, beginning with Seattle in November of that year.
Sheffield Environmental Action organised an evening about the Zapatistas, the Mexican rebels who rose up in 1994 and who were the precursor to People’s Global Action. The PGA is the network from which June 18th and subsequent Global Days of Action have been born. The first speaker was a Mexican, now living in Essex, who had been studying the Zapatista movement for her PhD. Secondly an activist from Seattle spoke of her experiences on the Zapatour, the trip that took the Zapatistas from the Laconda Jungle in Southern Mexico to Mexico City earlier this year. Finally a Reclaim the Streets activist linked the importance of the Zapatistas to June 18th and beyond.
All 3 talks were superb and inspiring. An excellent video about the Zapatistas could not be shown but will be shown in the future - keep an eye on the calendar page to find out when.
HUNDREDS of staff from America's most secret agency are to move from Germany to turn a Yorkshire radar base into one of the most advanced spy centres in the world. Read full report
Despite showers and virtually no publicity, around 100 people marched from Barkers Pool to the Town Hall to demand the closure of the Bernard Road incinerator that Greenpeace occupied last month. They took with them bags of plastics and cans as a symbolic act to demand that Sheffield should recycle its rubbish rather than burn it.
Graham Wroe of Impact spoke about the dangers of incineration and also how the council had already agreed to close the medical waste incinerator at Bernard Road. This is the second concession the council have made since the Greenpeace occupation, last week they announced a new paper recycling scheme to be set up in the next few years.
A speaker from Sheffield Environmental Action said the fact that local people had organised and come to the protest was important because it contradicted the Council claims that the Greenpeace action had no local support. A Socialist Alliance speaker told of the recent successes of the binmen in Brighton who, like Sheffield, are also fighting privatisation. Lastly a local woman, unconnected to any group, echoed the sentiments of a local Greenpeace campaigner, saying it was not just for us but for the children also.
Four compulsory notices of redundancy have been issued to UNISON members in CSL Housing Benefits section yesterday. Six people who volunteered for redundancy were turned down, so it appears victimisation is at play: two of those receiving the notices are the shop stewards who campaigned against the privatisation of the service. The other two are a woman who has had a lot of sickness related to maternity and a young man with a disability. An emergency resolution is going to national UNISON conference next week calling for a campaign of opposition to the decision.
On Friday 8th June, a group of around 20 anarchists gathered in front of the British embassy in Madrid as an act of solidarity with the Sheffield framed prisoner Mark Barnsley.
3 anti riot police vans surrounded the gathering and "protected" the embassy. 3 British covered policemen were also identified by the demonstrators.
Some people tried to throw flyers inside the embassy, but the anti riot police didn´t let them. Every demonstrator was identified and all bags were inspected searching for "dangerous belongings".
An e-mail forum for campaigning against the Bernard Road forum has been set up. To join simply send a blank e-mail to: noincinerator-subscribe@lists.riseup.net.
The Sheffield Star ran a front page article today with a very large headline which said: “City’s plant IS safe”. The extremely one-sided article was mostly made up of quotes by the Council’s chief executive, Bob Kerslake. Greenpeace or the local campaign group were not quoted. Read the article here
Several responses to the Greenpeace Critique have been made. Click here to read them.
Around 400 people marched through Sheffield today in solidarity with William Cooks steelworkers who are on strike for refusing to take a £120 pw pay cut. The workers are currently locked out by Cook who is advertising for new workers, despite this being illegal under labour protection laws.
On Friday 25th May Ann Widdecombe visited Sheffield but her schedule was disrupted when Sheffield people tried to demonstrate their opposition to her racist policies. Report and newspaper article
On Saturday 26th May around 50 people marched to the Peat Mining company Scotts. Coming in an assortment of fancy dress from big Sesame Street style furry monsters to a giant-flowerpotted Bill And Ben. They brought dozens of letters from people in the surrounding villages. The police said that two people could give the letters to a foreman but the protesters had other ideas... Full report
Around 80 people attended a community meeting about the Bernard Road waste incinerator after the recent Greenpeace occupation. Speakers from Ecologika and Greenpeace gave a detailed analysis of the hazards of incinerators and represenatives from all the main political parties were also invited. Only speakers from the Green Party and Socialist Alliance bothered to show up though. Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats sent letters to be read out instead.
An action group is now being set up to campaign for the closure of of the plant. More at Sheffield Incinerator Campaign
The last 5 Greenpeace protesters came down from their chimney occupation at around 9.30pm ending what must rate as one of the best bits of direct action Sheffield has ever seen.
Earlier in the day the chimney activists painted “Toxic” on the south side of the chimney after painting “Toxic Crime” on the north side yesterday. Lower down, on the side of the main plant, the sign “Green Energy” had the word “Green” crossed out and replaced with “dirty”.
In the afternoon an injunction was served on Greenpeace which meant if they did not come down all their assets would be seized (worth around £250,000). Then around 5pm the solar power Greenpeace van was impounded and all its occupants arrested, including legal advisors. The legal advisors were released later.
Finally the last 5 people who had been on top of the chimney arrived down on the ground to cheers from a small group of protesters who had climbed on top of a wall by the canal to greet them. Around 30 people cheered at the gates as the police vehicles drove the heroic 5 away.
Local activists, supporting the aims and style of Greenpeace's incinerator action, have criticised Greenpeace for making them feel disempowered, unwelcome and useless. Read one person's letter to Greenpeace.
Sheffield City council threats to privatise the bin service has lead to binmen taking their first action in about 20 years. Currently working to rule there have been talks of strikes next week. One of the most likely candidates to take over the council run service is owned by Vivendi, a french company, who also own the SARP incinerator in Killamarsh. The Killamarsh site has been the scene of much protest and direct action by residents over recent years. The site has been subject to accidents and leaks of dangerous gases including a spectacular orange gas cloud which engulfed the village a few years ago.
 | Greenpeace activists remained inside the Bernard Road Incinerator today. 5 are on top of the chimney while a number are still inside the building believed to be locked on to conveyor belts. This morning the words “Toxic Crime” were painted on the top of the chimney. Greenpeace's report on incineration crime. |
Greenpeace activists stopped work at the incinerator on Bernard Road this morning which is said to be the worst polluting incinerator in the country. After a number of activists entered the works causing disruption 3 managed to scale the inside of the chimney. They have enough supplies for a week and are not intending to come down. Read report or Greenpeace Press release
Sainsbury’s have said they plan to stop using poultry fed with genetically modified food. But they say they cannot find suppliers for beef, pork or lamb. This news comes just a short time after the action in Sheffield against Sainsbury's (see below). More on GM animal feed at: www.animalfeed.org from June 1st.
Morrisons, Budgen, Quicksave, Safeway and Somerfield have still not yet said they will change policy on this issue.
Two people from Sheffield were arrested at London's May Day protest, both for carrying offensive weapons. Violent anarchist thugs? Not exactly. After being caught in the first march to be stopped by police they were routinely searched. One had a plastic handle key ring which could have been used to help make a fist.
The other, a girl, thought she'd help the Samba band by carrying their bag of drumsticks and canes. In the bottom of the bag was a pair of garden secateurs - so obviously the police deduced she intended to use these as weapon (something which must be proved to be found guilty).
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