Welcome to the new look Bristol Indymedia website. We've redesigned the site so that (hopefully) it looks cleaner and is easier for users to navigate between various types of content, and we've rearranged some of the front page's sections.

Welcome to the new look Bristol Indymedia website. We've redesigned the site so that (hopefully) it looks cleaner and is easier for users to navigate between various types of content, and we've rearranged some of the front page's sections.

Probably the biggest change is the blogfeed on the far right hand column. While we've had an aggregated RSS feed from numerous Bristol based blogs for a while now, it used to appear halfway down the page, and so was not very visible at first glance. Now that it appears alongside the open newswire, we hope this will give more prominence to some of the excellent material that is being published by authors around the Bristol area.

When Indymedia started out in 1999/2000 the concept of using the web as a platform for user generated news content was quite new and groundbreaking, but fast forwards a decade to today and increasingly the web is used by people and groups as a way of directly publishing news to their audience. While we would still encourage people to publish directly to Bristol Indymedia, we recognise that there are a plethora of blossoming independent media platforms online, and that in many cases, the problem is no longer publishing material, but getting that material out to as wide an audience as possible. Consequently we want Indymedia to be a platform which supports and promotes other alternative media outlets, and we hope that the blogfeed will do this. If you write a blog, or would like to suggest a Bristol/SW based or focused blog for us to aggregate, please contact using the contact us

How To Contribute Articles A Brief Guide | Publish an Article/Event | Help Guide | Calendar | Indycycle | Bristol Just Living Positive Guide to Bristol | Get Involved with Bristol Indymedia | @bindymedia

Thursday 5th August at The Plough, Easton, from 8pm-late. £4 on the door.

On Saturday March 27th in Portland, Oregon, Luke Querner, a long-time anti-fascist activist and skinhead, was shot by neo-nazis. Fortunately Luke survived, but he has been left with a mountain of medical bills. Comrades in Bristol have organised a benefit gig to raise funds to help Luke out. The line-up features two bands from Brazil, who are visiting the UK to take part in an anti-racist football tournament, with support from local acts, and all bands are playing for free.

| Full Story | Luke Querner, S.H.A.R.P. shot by boneheads needs your help (torontosharp.blogspot.com) | Donation Page (via PayPal) |

How To Contribute Articles A Brief Guide | Publish an Article/Event | Help Guide | Calendar | Indycycle | Bristol Just Living Positive Guide to Bristol | Get Involved with Bristol Indymedia | @bindymedia

P.A. writes Around this time of year many students are leaving, or have just left, their private rented accommodation. Aside from the frantic cleaning and figuring out how on earth they are going to move the junk collected through three years of university back home; one topic bothers pretty much all of them. How to get their deposits back.

A deposit for a student house is often a lot of money and it is not uncommon for students never to see a penny of it. Many others lose large chunks; £50 to mow the lawn, £150 to professionally clean the carpets, £75 to repaint that wall with all posters sellotaped to. It mounts up.

The frustrating thing about this is that landlords are very often seriously in breach of the law in making these claims. The Housing Act 2004, in force since 6th April 2007, requires the landlord to pay the deposit into one of three tenancy deposit schemes (Deposit Protection Scheme, Tenancy Deposit Scheme or mydeposits). They are then required to notify the tenants of which scheme is being used. If you are currently in a dispute with your landlord over deposits, get in touch with the three schemes listed above. If none of them have your deposit, your landlord is in big trouble.

Under s.214 of the Housing Act 2004, failure to pay the money into a scheme within the required period (14 days after recieving it) can result in a court order requiring the landlord to pay the tenants a fine equal to three times the amount of the deposit. Suddenly the boot is on the other foot.

Full Story

How To Contribute Articles A Brief Guide | Publish an Article/Event | Help Guide | Calendar | Indycycle | Bristol Just Living Positive Guide to Bristol | Get Involved with Bristol Indymedia | @bindymedia

Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign Writes: Twenty to thirty Palestine supporters maintained a vigorous picket throughout the evening outside the O2 Academy, in Bristol on Tuesday 20th July.

Chanting “Johnny Rotten, Johnny Rotten, Gaza must not be forgotten” they waved flags and placards. They spoke to fans attending the gig and handed out fliers and cards. Accompanying the picket were two eight-foot high stilt-walkers. These were dressed as Johnny Rotten in his punk-rock era garb of union-jack jacket and spiked hair, plus a machine-gun armed Israeli Soldier.

About a eight hundred to thousand fans attended the gig from all across the South West. A few weren’t interested in talking to the protesters, and some obviously misunderstood the issues. One fan said “Johnny Rotten is an anarchist - so he’s not interested in politics!” But many others were very interested to engage and were keen to explain they were Palestine sympathisers. Comments like “I really support what you’re doing, Johnny Lydon needs to reconsider his Tel Aviv gig” Or “I really agree with you, I’m totally on the side of the Palestinians” One fan asked advice from protesters about ways to visit Palestine to help with the olive harvest! Another fan donated a spare ticket so one of the protesters could go in and shout slogans during the performance.

Full Story | Rotten Row Kicks Off in Bristol

How To Contribute Articles A Brief Guide | Publish an Article/Event | Help Guide | Calendar | Indycycle | Bristol Just Living Positive Guide to Bristol | Get Involved with Bristol Indymedia | @bindymedia