After supposedly being refused permission of march in Bristol, the closest to the West country the far-right group came was EDL's Welsh branch, the WDL, who made plans for marches in Swasea and Newport. Meanwhile the EDL planned a march in Leeds. Here is an update.

anti-BNP writes: First off, the EDL announced a demo is Swansea on the 17th October. About 60 people turned up to support the WDL - far less than they had expected. Opposing them were 200 anti-fascist protesters. The police arrested one WDL supporter for racially aggravated public order offence and the usual crowd of skinheads doing Nazi salutes appeared in support of the Swansea demo. The EDL claim they are not a racist organisation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/831...3.stm

Following this disterous turn-out, the WDL moved to cancel the Newport demo on the 24th. Anti-fascist protesters gathered anyway, should the WDL have tried to pull a fast one. Around 600 turned up to oppose the WDL; "WALES IS now an E/WDL-free zone" declared Socialist Party member and Unite convenor Rob Williams as over 600 people defied the attempt of the English/Welsh Defence League to spread their racist poison in Newport. After being marched out of Swansea the previous week the EDL did not even dare show their faces in Newport last Saturday as the city's John Frost Square filled up with anti-racist protesters. http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/8291


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While People take action acrsss the UK this week - Occupation of Didcot Coal Fired Power Station, and occupations of Mainshill (Lanarkshire) and Shipley (Derbyshire) Open Cast Mines, the Danish Prime Minister States that there will be no deal at the COP15 climate negotiations in December this year... 17 years on from Rio... and they still can't sort it out.

Details of further Bristol based preparations...

Risingtider writes: In June this year, 33 people died defending their land and the climate against the state...maybe you could make it to Copenhagen to show some solidarity ?

A two part preparatory gathering for activists going to take part in the protests at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. The gathering is designed for those wanting to take action and ideally people should come to both parts. A chance to meet other activists and gather our strength for the fun and games on the streets of Copenhagen in December. Both sessions will start at 6.00 p.m. with supper at the Kebele Social Centre, 14 Robertson Rd, Easton and finish by 9.30.

Part 1 – Monday 23rd November

How we can look after each other and act together on the streets of Copenhagen (including essential first aid and forming affinity groups)

Part 2 – Tuesday 24th November

Knowing the legal limits and methods /ideas for joint action to uncop the COP (including a briefing on relevant Danish law, taking action in affinity groups and blocks)

The Governments of the world are delegitimizing themselves by there own (in)actions... Lets make The COP15 count for us !


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sticker1.jpg 0.56 Mb People taking action in Peru 0.5 Mb

Nick has written extensively on the notion of living off grid, that is how to disconnect yourself from energy and utility companies in order to make yourself self-sufficient and sustainable.

. Why would you want to do that you may ask? Well as climate change and energy resources such as oil continue to decline, the cost and availability of cheap energy will also decline. Currently our energy needs are being fulfilled by others, such as gas from Russia and Oil from all over the world putting the UK in a very precarious position in terms of energy. This means that new energy solutions will have to be found for the population of the UK. So how do people live off-grid, well there is no one way of doing this. Nick outlines a variety of ways that people are living off-grid in his book, from those who are living in forests and using a minimal amount of energy, to people who have developed complex technological systems to provide themselves with large amounts of energy, to those living in canal boats and storage containers. All of these people are finding ways to live off grid using a variety of methods such as solar power, water power, growing their own food in a drive to become self sufficient. Off grid communities are springing up everywhere and Nick has recently been travelling around the US talking to them. Nick also runs a website http://www.off-grid.net which has huge amounts of information on all aspects of living off grid.

The option of living off grid has never been so important - with unemployment about to rise above 3 million (and real unemployment above 4.6 million), with the collpase of banks and companies and houses still out of reach of first time buyers, living off-grid maybe the only solution to survive in these austere times.

Living off-grid is destined to become more and more part of public debate as time moves on and energy resources change, recently it has featured on the front cover of Wired magazine.

So come along to the Cube Cinema and find out more about How to live off grid on the 2nd November at 7.45pm / £4 or £3 (but nobody refused for lack of funds).

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It's been an interesting few days for The Decommissioners. In the past few days there have been brushes with the law, and the prison authorities... and now another protest is coming up...

Bristol ABC wrote last week, that "two of Bristol’s 6 EDO Decommissioners were re-arrested on Saturday at an anti-militarist protest [for breaching bail conditions]"... But the bad news soon became good:

The three were taken to Oldham court on Monday 19th, the prosecution first tried to charge the three with ‘Associating’ with each other. Realising this wasn’t actually one of there bail conditions the charge was changed to ‘communicating’ with each other. Realising there was insufficient evidence to prove the defendants had communicated with each other, the charge was changed to ‘indirect communication’. Once again realising there was no evidence to prove this, a final charge was weighed against them, this was unbelievably ‘likely to break bail conditions’ then all of a sudden the clock struck 13:18 and all charges were dropped because of a time-out. For if your arrested on breach of bail it has to go through the courts within 24 hours...

Decommissioner recorded another victory: "Yesterday two of the defendants in the decommissioning trial, were successful in their appeal of their conviction for offences relating to the 2008 'Carnival Against the Arms Trade'. Both defendants had been arrested in a mass invasion of the EDO MBM/ITT carpark."

It's not all good news though. Bristol ABC again:

Meanwhile word has come in that the remaining Bristol Decommissioner on remand, Elijah (James) Smith, was ghosted out of Lewes prison sometime last week, and its believed taken to Doncaster prison... ‘Ghosting’ of prisoners involves their sudden unannounced movement to another prison, and is an old trick by the state to stop awkward prisoners... getting settled anywhere or communicating their grievances to others.

Supporter has more: "Currently Elijah is back in Lewes prison where he’ll stay until November 5th. Write to him please at: Elijah Smith, VP 7551, HMP Lewes, 1 Brighton Rd, East Susses, BN7 1EA."

You can also provide support by attending the protest this Saturday. Meet opposite the Hippodrome, central Bristol, at 2pm. Peaceman tells us why we should be there:

There are alternatives. The withdrawal from countries and regions we have no right nor reason to be in. The end of support to corrupt, totalitarian and oppressive regimes. The end of sales of military hardware to those same regimes, along with the withdrawal of 'military experts'. Trade and locally-led development not state-sponsored terrorism. The re-tooling and retraining of western factories and workforces to produce socially useful goods and equipment not weapons of mass destruction. Come on Bristol, wake up!

[ Decommissioners' website | Story of arrest and 'ghosting' | Details of release | Successful appeal | Elijah's situation | Saturday protest call-out | More on Saturday protest | Schnews coverage | Bristol ABC ]

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