Another busy few months of sabbing

Members of York's Jammed held a jam packed flash mob at a traffic hotspot in York on March 27th. The jam themed action drew attention from crowds of passersby and car drivers as dressed as waitresses, chefs and 1950s housewives we offered jam sandwiches and jam tarts as an alternative to traffic jams.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons have today (24.3.2010) issued a report summarising the findings of an unannounced inspection of the Yarl's Wood Immigrant Detention and Removal Centre last year.

Many people in the North of England have acted in solidarity with women who are on hunger strike in Yarl's Wood, protesting at the conditions of their detention.

The media and the riot police in Bolton portrayed the so-called "English Defence League" as friendly, happy-go-lucky "treehuggers", but the ugly truth shone through later Saturday evening when a gang of chanting EDL thugs gathered in a pub on Oldham Road, Middleton, intent on violence. 

Seven Arts centre in Chapel Allerton, Leeds, saw the launch of the new Rape Crisis service for the district on the 17th March.

Leeds Friends of the Earth report that plans for a biofuel power station in Leeds have been scrapped. The company Green Frog Power still have plans to build a 5.5MW power station at Buslingthorpe Green, but after concerns were raised by campaigners it will now use diesel and natural gas.

On Tuesday 9th March the Feminist Archive North held an event for International Women's Day on women's peace camps.

UK Coal are responsible for 11 proposed surface mine sites throughout England totalling well over 5975000 tonnes.

 http://coalintheuk.org/new/



Here’s a little information about the company and its major share holders:

Members of Defend Welfare Newcastle (including benefits claimants) and Tyne & Wear Left Unity, were joined by a “Fat Cat” when they offered support to striking workers at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).  By attending pickets, and a rally at Newcastle Monument, organised by the PCS Union during their strike on March 8th and 9th, they showed their solidarity with workers at the DWP, incl…

Seven activists today held a mobile demo against the University of Bradford's animal testing facilities and highlighting the barbarism happening inside them.

Community members rallied in front of former Royal Park school to voice support for its transformation into a community centre, and to oppose bids to Leeds city council that would turn the space into businesses or more student flats. Watch the video here.

Benjamin is a 37-year old Iranian human rights campaigner. Detained by the UK Border Agency and facing imminent deportation, he urgently needs help and solidarity.

Please take the time to fax British Airways and the Home Office to protest his deportation, scheduled for 10 March. Model letters and more info are online at

http://www.noborderscotland.org.uk/

Members of No Borders North East unfurled a banner from a rooftop in Newcastle city center this morning (6th March 2010). They were showing their support for the women from Yarl's Wood detention center, who have been on hunger strike for several weeks, and demanding an end to immigration detention.

Strike Spreads: Up to 55 detainees have also been refusing food for the last four days in Harmondsw…

Below is an audio report on the demonstration held on Thursday 25th February in Leeds by staff and students against education cuts.

The actual banning of Islam4UK and the effectual banning of the EDL will only create more and more tension until something finally gives – which, in turn, will give the state an excuse to come down on ALL supposed dissident groups, including anarchists.

In recent weeks a struggle has begun to emerge at the University of Leeds. The university management is claiming that they need to cut spending by £35 million due to the economic crisis. The lecturers union (UCU) rightfully claims this could cause the loss of 700 jobs. The effects will go beyond just job losses but will continue the degradation of education caused by deep rooted systematic problem…

This years EF! winter moot was held in Dipton Community Centre, which looks over the proposed site for an open-cast at Bradley. Members of the local campaign against the mine have asked if people who attended the moot, (as well as those who didn't) would write in their objection to the development.

Activists from the Northern region yesterday took part in a huge blockade of AWE, Aldermaston, which builds nuclear warheads for the UK's Trident Submarines.

Links: Zombies Take To The Streets Of Bradford | Zombies For A Nuclear Apocalypse | Aldermaston Big Blockade

We are appealing for witnesses or anybody with footage from the march & rally on saturday at the University of Bradford who observed or filmed any of the arrests.

On the evening of February 14th 2010, some people came to Bradford's 1in12 club to see one of a series of global screenings of Tactical Tech's "Ten Tactics" hosted by the Northern Indymedia Collective. I went because I thought I was probably an "info-activist," and so, like most political film-goers I've met, I wanted to be told more about myself and feel like part of a global movement. And I didn…

At 12pm on Saturday 13th February, 2010, between 100-150 Animal Rights activists gathered at Centenary Square in the centre of Bradford to protest against the use of animals for experimentation at the University of Bradford.



A march through the streets and up to the University building witnessed several arrests and what many regarded to be heavy handed policing tactics, as protestors were prevented…

Sanctuary for Mireille Mbimbo (Very urgent support needed)

Mireille Mbimbo a national of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a resident of Bradford, is currently being held at Penine House Manchester STHC (Short Term Holding Centre) and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Monday 15th February @ 19.00 on Kenya Airways flight KQ101, from Manchester to Nairobi for onward transit on flig…

Today, Friday 12th February at 9am, 66 people in Bradford, West Yorkshire began a hunger strike in solidarity with hunger strikers in Yarl's Wood Detention Facility, Bedfordshire over the imprisonment of children and general conditions of detained asylum seekers. The solidarity strike will continue until 9am tomorrow, Saturday 13th.

84 women have gone on hunger strike in Yarl's Wood Detention Fac…

Bowing to the inevitable, Bradford Council confirmed this morning that the hoardings around the Westfield[1] hole would be taken down soon, and the area within partly landscaped. Alas the wide-open vistas we dreamed of will still be blocked by the maroon hoarding being repositioned around the massive hole at the centre of the project, with little perspex windows through which public art may be gl…

Equipment for subsea mining is being built in Newcastle.

Campaigners plan to shut down nuclear bomb factory as they call for disarmament of Trident and abolition of nuclear weapons



On Monday 15 February, from 7am, hundreds of campaigners from England, Scotland, Wales and other countries will aim to block access to every gate of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston, Berkshire, England.[1] The blockade, initiated by Trident Ploughshares (…

Debating radical political culture in Germany, the UK and beyond

Money grabbing UK coal have overcome one of the largest barriers in their plans to opencast the PONT VALLEY,

OPPONENTS of a large opencast mine in a picturesque valley fear the worst now that planning permission has been granted to move a colony of Great Crested Newts – a protected species.

Durham County Council planners agreed to an application by UK Coal to create four habitat ponds for wild…

High Point, or the YBS building as it is more commonly known in Bradford, is on Westgate and has been empty for about a decade. It's called High Point, it had to be done really.