5pm, Sat 27th Feb
@ Easton Community Centre
Kilburn St,
Easton

£donations towards the Free Gaza Movement (www.freegaza.org), nobody
turned away through lack of funds

Sharyn will be reading from her book, recently published on Pluto
Press, and answering questions on her time in Gaza. ... read full story / add a comment

Last night the magistrates court next to the bus station in the middle of bristol was attacked. all the reachable windows were smashed out and spray paint messages left on the walls "fuck the law not the poor!" ... read full story / add a comment

Kernow Action Now are calling on people to supply information on any empty buildings that they are aware of across Cornwall which may be suitable for squatting. ... read full story / add a comment

Kernow Action Now has produced their first news sheet. ... read full story / add a comment

New Latin American pages in the process of being updated on the Bristol ABC blog ... read full story / add a comment

A packed meeting in London Sunday 24 saw Anarchist groups from:

London, Leeds, Halifax, Bristol, Hereford, Norwich, Cambridge, Brighton and Southampton plus individuals from Freedom Press,Liberty and Solidarity, IWW, Anarchist Federation, Antifa,Camden Anarchists,Croydon Anarchists and Whitechapel Anarchists.

... read full story / add a comment

On Monday 18th January, the first anniversry of the final day of the Israeli massacre in Gaza, Smash EDO are holding a mass demonstration in Brighton against arms manufacturer EDO/ITT. Indymedia will be running an up to the minute timeline of events for the day.

Be the Media:Phone or text in your reports from the demonstration to Indymedia Dispatch on 07943685168 (from Monday morning).

Timeline:
15.46 - One person has been hit with a police baton

15.45 - Cops now blocking Lewes Road at Comet. Some people are corralled in the carpark of Brighton university. Lines of riot police in front of lines of riot vans are at the front of the demo.

15.37 - The front of the march is now at BandQ on Lewes Road. Police have effectively shut down Lewes Road. The police tried to stop protesters by Brighton university but were outflanked as people "fought their way down the road". The march is continuing towards town and people from the second bloc are joining it in dribs and drabs.

15.34 - Police units KB 3B, KB4A, KB4B, KB4C in several vans are racing after the bloc that has moved off into town on the wrong side of the road. Some of the activists from the second bloc, which went into the park,

15.29 - Original demo, which stayed at the bottom of Home Farm Road, is now marching into town along Lewes Road

15.28 - Lots of sirens going off at the bottom of Home Farm Road

14.56 - One of the fences close to the rear of EDO has been breached. Police have responded violently.

14.55 - There are around eighty people at the original demonstration at the bottom of home farm road with coffins, banners and sound systems.

14.43 - Reports in that a stand off is still going on with police on horseback at the rear of the factory

14.39 - The majority of people in the woods have been dispersed from the back of EDO by police with dogs and mounted police. They are now in the park above EDO.

Anti-Militarist actions elsewhere... Kernow Action Now are holding a demonstration today outside Barclays in Falmouth calling on Barclays to cease providing market maker services to ITT (click here for more info on Smash EDO's Target Barclays campaign). Barclays in Hastings have also been picketed. In Nottingham today activists from the Shut Down Heckler and Koch campaign are holding a street theatre event in market square.

14.35 - The bloc in the woods has reached the rear of EDO/ITT, police are attempting to form lines in the woods and encircle protesters to escort them out of the woods, however not succeeding yet.

14.09 - Around 200 people have split off from the main demo, pushed through police lines, and are now heading uphill into the woods... police are dithering.

14.04 - The funeral procession has reached the bottom of Home Farm Road

14.03 - From The Argus 'Liveblog' - The march has moved off towards Lewes Road. Behind banners saying "Blood on your hands" featuring red handprints and "Remember Gaza" the protesters are shouting "Smash, smash, smash EDO". The protesters are about to reach the Lewes Road and a small line of police officers is forming with officers on horseback ahead of the march.

13.58 - Police have informed local businesses that they will close Home Farm Road today and it will be closed until 6pm. EDO's switchboard is closed for the day. The officer in charge of the operation is Inspector Cundert. Police have claimed to The Argus that today's demo is being handled by Brighton public order coppers, not other forces...

13.57 - Numbers have risen to 300 people

13.50 - The demonstration is now moving off from the Wild Park Cafe

13.40 - A short speech is being read over the megaphone about Israel's 22 day massacre in Gaza and EDO's complicity

13.35 - Estimates are now 200-250 people all masked up and in black at the meeting point. The police have only one cameraperson. Large notices have been erected at the bottom of Home Farm Road. One person is dressed in a top hat and theatrical funeral garb.

13.33 - A large black clad crowd is still gathering at the Wild Park Cafe

13.20 - The Argus is running an online poll on whether Smash EDO's demonstrations should be banned or not here

13.10 - There are lots of police - half a dozen bikes, four cars and half a dozen vans on Home Farm Road. There are two cages built with Hares fencing 100 metres up the road on either side. Signs have been placed on the fencing.

There are three police vans situated between Home Farm Road and the Wild Park Cafe

13.06 - The police Gold Command is standing at a vantage point in the Wild Park opposite the cafe with four police horses... More people are arriving all the time

13.06 - There are three coffins and banners saying Remember Gaza, ready for the funeral march, at the Wild Park Cafe. A sound system is (predictably) playing Rage Against the Machine

13.03 - 150 people have assembled already - police are giving out a section 14 order but no one is taking it.

12.45 - People have begun to arrive at Home Farm Road

11am - Four cops currently at Brighton station

Reports of police spotters at the junction of Trafalgar Street and London Road

10am - there are two FIT officers at the back of the Cowley Club in Providence Place

18/01/10 - The Brighton Argus website shows barriers erected at the bottom of Home Farm Road (where the factory is situated)

01:40 - Police kick the door of a local squat down and enter on the pretext that they are investigating a "burglary". Eleven people confined to one room until 7am. Police request details and arrest one person for not supplying them with a name. The council (who own the property) show up in the morning to say that they are planning to apply for a possession order in the future but haven't done so yet. The squat has not been evicted but there are police outside and the front door is broken. Residents say the raid was clearly linked to the Remember Gaza demo

18/01/10 - First anniversary of the final day of Israel's massacre in Gaza

17/01/10 - 17.30 - Officers from the FIT team are outside the Cowley club taking notes on people going in, no cameras though. One activist has been harassed by the FIT

17/01/10 - 17.00 - People have started arriving for the Smash EDO Remember Gaza Action

Links:Smash EDO's Remember Gaza webpage|Directions to the Demo Meeting Point|Some notes on masking up|Smash EDO on Dissident Island Radio|SchNEWS - Wild at Heart

... read full story / add a comment

The NF have made another gaff and the infighting continues on the far right. ... read full story / add a comment

Antifascists gather in memory of fallen comrades ... read full story / add a comment

Did you finance Christmas by putting it all on your credit cards?
Are you struggling to pay your water bills?
Are you woried about your next quarterly electric/gas bill?
Are you going to have enough money to pay your next months rent/mortgage.
Are you getting all the money you are entitled to?
Would you like to have a full benefit check? ... read full story / add a comment

Gaza Anti Arms Campaigners to Converge on Brighton Weapons Factory

Smash EDO Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday 14th January 2010

Contact Chloe Marsh or Andrew Beckett on 07754135290 or email
smashedopress@riseup.net

On Monday January 18th: Hundreds of anti-arms campaigners will converge on EDO MBM/ITT, a Brighton arms manufacturer, to take action on the first anniversary of the final day of Israel's assault on Gaza.

Israel's assault on Gaza, lasting from 27th December 2008 to 18th January 2009, killed 1417 people, over 300 of whom were children. Campaigners maintain that EDO/ITT manufacture components for bombs and bomb racks supplied by the US to Israel.

Smash EDO, have asked activists to meet at the Wild Park Cafe in
Moulsecoomb at 1pm on Monday 18th January. Carrying coffins and wearing black to symbolise the dead, they will march on the factory.

Chloe Marsh, press spokesperson for Smash EDO said “The Remember Gaza demonstration will be a chance to show our disgust at EDO/ITT's complicity in Israel's attacks on the besieged population of Gaza. Thousands of people in Brighton took to the streets in protest during the massacre in January 2009. The fact that in the same town, a company is equipping the Israeli military to commit these atrocities is an outrage”.

Notes for Journalists

For details of how EDO arms the Israeli military see
http://www.smashedo.org.uk/How%20EDO%20Supplies%20the%2...y.htm EDO MBM, based in Moulsecoomb, is a weapons manufacturer owned by the American multi-national ITT. Based on Home Farm Rd Moulsecoomb, they make weapon components for the Paveway guided bomb programme, which was the most used aerial weapon in the attack on Iraq. They also own the patents of the Zero Retention Force Arming Unit and the Ejector Release Unit ERU 151, both essential components for the F16 aircraft’s VER-2 bomb rack, used by the Israeli Air Force against civilians in Gaza.

Since 2004 there has been a growing campaign against EDO MBM in Brighton. Campaigners have used diverse tactics to highlight and resist this murderous business in our city. There have been blockades, rooftop occupations, street theatre and hundreds of noise demos outside the factory. Thousands of people have also taken to the streets against them during nationally advertised events.
EDO own the patent for the Field Replaceable Connector System (FRCS), a component for the F 16. It was invented by EDO MBM director John Eaton in 2002.

Since 2004 the USA have been delivering over 100 F-16I fighter/bombers to Israel as part of the Peace Marble V arms deal.

Contact: Andrew Beckett or Chloe Marsh, Smash EDO campaign
Tel: 07754135290 E-mail: smashedopress@riseup.net Website:
www.smashedo.org.uk
... read full story / add a comment

The BNP is facing a financially difficult general election and also its vote may be split by the NF and UKIP. ... read full story / add a comment

Remember this ?
One year after this amazing effort to bring war criminals to account activism against the arms trade in Bristol appears to be faultering.
Despite sub-zero temperatures a rooftop occupation was maintained between October 2008 and January 2009.
Since then the rest of the country appears to be waking up to the fact that the UK government has been guilty of commiting the mass murder of civilians in the name of financial profit.

What are you going to tell your children when they ask, "Daddy/Mummy what did YOU do during the WARS?" ... read full story / add a comment

There has previously been articles relating the murder of Brizzle-ian Jean Charles de Menezes to Bristol. Further revelations on that issue.

You may find it far-fetched and difficult to believe and that is up to you. I am confident in it. On the last occasion a huge amount of vitriol was directed at the author. I have done a great deal of research on this and related issues so be warned (i) that I understand and have experience of applying gematria and of the associated belief system while you probably don't, and (ii) that there is far, far more. Please appreciate that gematria is a complex system that is difficult to explain. There is also the issue of the associated belief system. I don't want to discourage critical analysis and comments but - from experience - that has so far been mostly absent. Please keep your insults to yourself. ... read full story / add a comment

Employment opportunity:
Bristol Wood Recycling Project needs a Temporary Site Manager
Are you energetic, outgoing, organised, and have a love of all things wooden, and be looking for a short term period of work?
If so… then you might be able to help us.
... read full story / add a comment

Your Vegan Buddy can help either on phone, email or in person, for example:
Find your local vegan food shops
Give you vegan recipes and cooking tips
Tell you about vegan social events
Suggest ideas for eating out
Listen to any challenges you come across and offer solutions where possible
... read full story / add a comment

Here's a quick summary of the latest additions to the BTUF website..... ... read full story / add a comment

Money raised will go towards supporting Elija Smith who is still remanded in custody due to his decommissioning of the EDO factory in January this year.
... read full story / add a comment

On the night of 6th December Manpower offices in Bristol were attacked with hammers. All the big plate glass windows on the front of their office were smashed. ... read full story / add a comment

New radio show to provide info for activists on things in other places, as well as things here at home.

Chat, music, laughter - fun for all the family (warning: contains swearing and disturbing descriptions of defilement of deities, , definitely NOT for all the family) ... read full story / add a comment