DIARY

April

Friday 8th - Roma Nation Day
A commemoration for victims of the Nazi genocide against Gypsys and present day anti-Gypsy victims. At 11.30am.
Location: St. John’s Church, Waterloo, London.
Website: http://dalefarm.wordpress.com

Saturday 9th – Zero Eviction Day
A meeting between Human Rights monitors and Dale Farm residents. The event will also feature Romani activists from the International Romanyi movement.
Time: 11am, with a buffet meal at 1.30pm.
Location: Dale Farm. To get to Dale Farm from London, there is a half-hour train from Liverpool Street to Wickford Station. From there, Dale Farm it is a short bike ride or taxi.
Contact: 07888699256 for a lift or email dale.farm@btinternet.com.

Tuesday 12th – Public Meeting ahead of BPs AGM
Public meeting in advance of BP’s AGM on 14th April. Join First Nations from Canada, fishermen and women from the Gulf of Mexico, shareholders, NGOs, lawyers and activists for an evening of information sharing and strategising. A chance to listen to first-hand accounts of how BP’s decision to go into the Alberta tar sands will affect indigenous communities, the local environment, and the global climate. A chance to hear from those whose livelihoods have been destroyed by the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. And a chance to build stronger links between different campaigns and strategies working to restrain the destructive activities of one of the world’s oil giants.
Time: From 7pm – 11.30pm
Location: Rich Mix cinema, Bethnal Green Road, London
Email: info@no-tar-sands.org
Website: www.no-tar-sands.org/tar-sands-tour-2011

Thursday 14th – Third National Day of Action against Benefit Cuts
Coordinated actions across the country against cuts to benefits. In Brighton, 2-5pm in Churchill Square. In Bristol, Benefit Cuts Hurt Protest – 3rd National Day of Protest at Government Buildings, Flowers Hill, Bristol, BS4 5LA. In Leeds, 10.30am-2pm, meet at Leeds Train Station at 10am before moving to picket ATOS from 10.30 for an hour then move onto A4e/BEST for a couple of hours. The last picket was a great success and we hope to have another good day. Bring banners, flags, etc. In London: Stop the defamation! Stop the lies!, 2pm-5pm, Daily Mail Headquarters, Young Street (off Kensington High Street), London W8 5TT. The Daily Mail has a long history of abusing and defaming benefit claimants. Lurid headlines have dishonestly claimed that disabled people, people on sickness benefits, single parents and the unemployed are work shy, scroungers, or even fraudsters. Hate filled rants by Daily Mail columnists have spewed out propaganda about the most vulnerable in society, which have been used by politicians of all major parties to launch an attack on the Welfare State. In Poole, outside the Jobcentre at noon. Everyone welcome! Nationwide: National Troll A Tory Day 3 and Rat On A Rat!

Also in London: Mass food give away, 5pm-9pm in Westminster at City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QP.
Westminster Council have reacted with undisguised glee to the Housing Benefit changes which will see thousands of benefit claimants forced to leave the borough or face homelessness. On top of this they plan to make it a criminal offence to sleep on the street or hand out free food to the homeless in some parts of the borough. Bring musical instruments, noise, banners, placards, leaflets and lots of food and say no to the economic cleansing of Central London.

Websites: http://benefitclaimantsfightback.wordpress.com, www.housingjustice.org.uk/Westminster%20Byelaw/index.htm

Saturday 16th – Corporate Watch and Counter Olympics Network benefit
A night of steam punk, folk punk, ska, rock n roll, dub and house music with political stalls. In aid of Corporate Watch and the Counter Olympics Network.
Time: from 7pm until 2am
Location: The Victoria Pub, Queensbridge Road, London, E8 3AS

Saturday 16th – A Railway Adventure
At 12 midday Cliamate Rush protest for fair rail fares. Dressed as The Railway Children (as much tweed as you can manage!) we will hold a rally at monument before taking red flannel petticoats and flags to the railway platform. From there you’re invited to join the Unfair Fare Dodge as we pay a reasonable fair for a 30 mile journey (we’ll pay the amount you would pay for the equivalent journey in Europe). Our government plans to increase fares a massive 31% over the next 4 years. We can do something about that.
Website: www.railwayadventure.wordpress.com

Sunday 17th – Standing up to Surveillance Conference
A Conference hosted and organised by the Network for Police Monitoring, which includes campaign groups Fitwatch, CAMPACC, Newham Monitoring Project, Climate Camp Legal Team, and The Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp.
The gathering of ‘intelligence’ by police on political protesters and minority communities is now a commonplace activity. Some initiatives hit the press – the use of undercover police officers to infiltrate pacifist and environmental campaigns, for example, or installing ’covert’ cameras with counter terrorism money to watch the movements of Birmingham’s Muslim population.
Others have become routine and systematic; photographing people attending demonstrations; demanding names and addresses; ’mapping’ communities; gathering information from universities, Mosques and community organisations; building up a database of protesters and their activities. Intelligence gathering is big business, and there are huge sums to be made by the companies that produce and supply the latest surveillance equipment or analytical software.
What is driving this rapid and seemingly unstoppable descent into a surveillance state? Why are so many of us potential targets for state scrutiny? Is an increasing demand for intelligence driven by a fear of ‘extremism’? Or by the availability of technology and the millions that can be made from it? And what can be done to stop it?
Many of the speakers at the Standing up to Surveillance conference have first-hand experience of the personal and political consequences of intelligence-gathering by police or security services. The aim is to provide a space to share experiences, pool knowledge, and develop a deeper understanding of how our society as a whole is affected.
Everyone is welcome.
Time: 10.30am – 5pm.
Venue : Rich Mix 35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA
Entry: Suggested Donation £5 (unwaged) £10 (waged) . This includes tea, coffee and a light lunch.
Prior registration is essential.
Wesbite: http://standinguptosurveillance.wordpress.com

Saturday 30th – Brighton May Day
Mass party and protest in central Brighton, location and details TBA.
Our lives are under attack. Our future is being sacrificed to increase the power of an elite. The bankers’ crisis is being used as an excuse to push through a far-right agenda of vicious cuts – cuts which will hurt the poorest and line the pockets of the rich. The NHS, Education and Welfare systems are being stripped back while the bankers are being paid million pound bonuses. Their only answer to the disaster is more of the same, capitalism with the gloves off. More wars, more ecological devastation and we’re being asked to pay for it. We are being robbed blind – it’s time to reclaim what is ours.
email: brightonmayday@gmail.com
Website: http://brightonmayday.wordpress.com

May

Saturday 30th April – 6th May - Rossport Solidarity Camp Summer Gathering
Shell have begun work on their raw gas pipeline. Join locals and support the opposition to this project. The Rossport Solidarity House - across the estuary from Rossport – always welcomes visitors to learn about the campaign and help work with the local community to resist Shell’s Corrib Gas Project. They are balancing campaign work with trying to make the camp, house and garden as self sufficient and as sustainable as possible.
Contact: rossportsolidaritycamp-subscribe@lists.riseup.net or 0851141170
Website: www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org/content/may-day-may-day-rossport-solidarity-camp-summer-gathering-sat-30-april-mon-2nd-may